I thought I had made it. After nearly 2 decades of hard work I had the dream job, working for a global company, I had autonomy to lead our communications and PR strategy work and was highly respected by our senior leadership team. So why was I waking up each morning and dragging my feet? It made no sense. What more is there? My company provided a great working environment with some of the most capable professionals I had ever had the pleasure of connecting with so why didn’t it feel right for me. I know, at this point it's hard to muster any sympathy for me. I know I couldn't.

While pondering this seemingly ridiculous conundrum I had an unexpected email arrive offering executive coaching. I had benefited from this previously (shout out to the amazing Sophie Weithaler) so I thought it might be the right time to give it another go. After all, I was in a completely different place in life, both literally and figuratively, so what did I have to lose?

I’m not a naturally nervous person but I felt all the nerves on that first day. I almost bottled it and cancelled but took a few deep breaths – very few problems can’t be solved with a few deep breaths – and dialled in.

My coach's Canadian accent immediately made me feel at ease for no other reason than the coincidence that some of my closest friends are from that lovely part of the world. The first session was largely introductory but towards the end of the call she had coaxed the courage out of me to say something that had been playing around with in my mind for years. “I think I might want to start my own business”.

Ten words. Life changed.

As soon as I said out loud, the vision that had been slowly crystalising, I knew it was what I wanted. I didn’t want to be a cog in a single machine but the wrench that could go into lots of machines, meet all the other parts, and help to make things better. To mix my metaphors, I always liked being the "Mary Poppins" who could drop in, solve a problem and leave the family better than before I had been.

I confided in her that at school a wise friend of mine, Kelly, had told me that we always know the answer deep down, we just need to be brave enough to say it out loud and here I was, saying it. Finally ready to do it.

And in that moment Periwinkle Public Relations was born.

I’m not going to lie, there have already been ups and downs and I know those are going to continue but at no point have I felt like I’m heading down the wrong path. I spring out of bed and look forward to work. I recently listened to the comedian Kevin Hart accept an award, saying that he fell in love with comedy and he committed to it 100%. He put all of his eggs in that basket and took the gamble. That’s what I’ve done. I know I love communications, I know I love learning and I know I love helping others succeed so I’ve put all of my eggs in that basket and taken a punt on myself.