I’m in my 40s, married to my high school sweetheart and boy-mum to our two teen boys. I’m a Dunedin-based wildminded creative with endless ideas and dreams big enough to scare me a little.
For years I tried to be “more this” and “less that” – I forgot to just be… me. And once I stopped trying to be everything I wasn’t – everything I actually was finally got to breathe.
But if you really want to know what gives me all the feels?
It’s this:
Nothing makes me more emotional than watching someone fully see their own unique magic and bring their dreams to life right before my eyes.
And equally, it hits me just as hard when I see someone hiding their brilliance – or reaching the end of a chapter carrying the heavy weight of “what if.”
I’m here because I believe your “too-much-ness” is exactly what the world is waiting for.
I grew up in Dunedin – a backyard girl through and through. You’d find me climbing trees, swinging as high as I could go, building huts out of whatever I could find and losing whole afternoons in my sandpit.
I had an imagination so big and dreams so wild that I dared tell no one
about them. Not even my diary. Just my imaginary friend, who never once told me I was too much.
I was a watcher. An observer. I learned very early that being quiet, agreeable, sweet and polite made the adults around me happy. So I became the good girl. I soaked up every small smile of approval like sunshine and tucked myself neatly into the shape I thought I was supposed to be.
I expressed everything I couldn’t say out loud through dance, art, drawing, music, fashion and movement. Anything that let me be fully alive without needing to find the words. Because the words felt risky. What if they came out wrong? What if I was too much, or not enough, or just…odd?
So I stayed quiet. I stayed small. I stayed good.
And then, somewhere along the way, the very people who praised my quietness started telling me I needed to speak up more. Ask more questions. Share my opinions. Be more. Yet still didn’t enjoy it when I did!
I genuinely didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
In my 20s I was in the thick of a beautiful, chaotic tug-of-war. Founding a fashion brand from the kitchen table while raising my boys – living in a whirlwind of trying to fit in at fashion events and hosting playdates in the same breath. I was doubting myself constantly – as a new mum, as a fashion designer and business owner.
I didn’t know how to put myself out there. I felt like I was missing something. I was deep in comparison, trying to figure out what I was doing “wrong” and why business wasn’t working the way I wanted it to.
On the outside I was doing it. On the inside I was drowning in shoulds – trying to be the professional business owner, the on-trend designer and the perfect mum all at once.
The lesson: You don’t need a permission slip to build a life that looks different.
You just need the audacity to trust your own dreams over everyone else’s shoulds.
Stepping into my 30s I felt a pull toward something deeper. I had always loved making people look and feel great on the outside – but I was starting to notice how much personal growth on the inside could change everything.
I began to realise that I could actually create the life I wanted.
And then came the moment I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognise the woman looking back at me.
I felt a deep disconnect.
So at 32 I made the call to close my fashion brand and start again. I became a student of growth – studying Reiki, life coaching, NLP, hypnosis, meditation and mindfulness. I dove into personal
growth books, podcasts and courses.
I rebuilt my self-trust from the ground up, slowly, bravely, messily – and started my Reiki and coaching business.
The pivot: I stopped trying to fix my wildmind and started the brave, messy work of finally embracing it.
(I’m only 41 – so this era is very much still being written!) Everything changed when I got my ADHD diagnosis at 40 and finally understood myself on a whole other level.
It was the ultimate lightbulb moment – explaining why I had always felt “too much” and “not enough” all at once. There was so much hope and relief. And also grief – for all the years of misunderstanding myself and feeling so deeply misunderstood.
But alongside all of that came something else entirely.
A clarity I had never known before. A
deep-rooted confidence. And a growing recognition that what I love most – what I am here to do – is work with wildminded creative women in business. To help them bring their ideas to life, grow their businesses and step fully into themselves.
My 40s are for being as me as can be. Unmasked, unfiltered, fully seen – and building something huge.
The superpower: Being wildminded isn’t a problem to solve. It’s the magic that allows me to see the world – and your potential – in high definition.
For a long time I thought the things that made me different were the things I needed to fix. But once the fog lifted I realised something that changed everything:
The parts of you that you’ve labelled as “too much” are actually the parts the world is waiting for.
I don’t want you to spend another decade hiding your brilliance or waiting for a permission slip that’s never coming. Whether you’re a creative with a huge vision or someone who has been feeling beige in a technicolor world – I’m here to hold the mirror up until you see what I see.
You are not a problem to be solved. You are a masterpiece to be unmasked.
Coffee order: A classic Americano. Always.
Current soundtrack: Loving anything from Olivia Dean – but seriously? Anything I can dance & sing along to – love a good throw back!
Current hyperfocus: At the moment I am obsessed with watching Youtube – people bringing their dreams to life – the raw, real, unfiltered magic of someone’s journey from idea to reality. I’m often a sobbing mess. No apologies.
My home team: My hubby and boys, who embrace my unfiltered energy 24/7 and put up with my random outbursts and
general silliness. And my besties, who see absolutely no limits to what I can & will create – love you all!
You’ll find me: In Dunedin with an Americano in hand, snuggled up by a fire or candle – love a flame (not in a weird way promise), fairy lights on and a good book, Netflix series or sudoku on the go.
What i’m guilty of: Having my laptop, phone or paper & pen beside me – I have a constant flow of ideas, urges to create & a very busy brain to empty/organise/keep busy!
Your dream isn't too big. Your plot is being written every single day and your magic is YOU, exactly as you are.