Our story starts here

You

You are in the right place MY FRIEND. I SEE YOU. I HEAR YOU. I UNDERSTAND.

  • You are the passionate Founder or Leader of a purposeful small to medium-sized business in London, Herts, or South East of England.

  • Your product or service is there to cater for people's enjoyment of life.

  • You are not a start-up, scrambling around in the early stages. You’ve come up for air. Things are stable, but they could be better.

  • Dissatisfied with external agencies that demand much but deliver little?

  • Spending loads of money in silo across your Branding, Marketing, Employee Engagement, Recruitment and Customer Retention? Would you rather spend less all together, or channel your hard-earned cash instead into worthy partnerships that increase the quality of life for you, others and the planet?

  • You might want to grow, to punch with the big boys. But how to get there? Can YOU get there?

  • Or maybe you are happy with the size that you are (after all, it’s how you use it!) But is your business really operating efficiently and sustainably?

  • Either you have a compelling personal story that people should know. Or you operate from a wonderful building, on beautiful land, or based on someone else’s dream that came true.

  • Maybe it’s time for you to step away - for you. For others - Is there a plan for how?

  • Or you are not going anywhere, but don’t want to burn out.

  • You may well be frustrated with one-time customers or a disengaged team.

  • You are committed to Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility. But is this shining through?

  • Your Marketing & Sales, HR, and Community Engagement strategies - do they lack alignment and impact? How do you know? What is missing?

  • Are you sick of toxic marketing bullsh*t, social media noise and bad advice?

  • Are you aspiring to make a significant impact in your market whilst bringing love, creativity, and care?

  • Your board of trustees or advisors isn’t quite cutting the mustard. 

  • Or perhaps you do not have a board i.e. no-one is taking take of YOU.

  • You’d love a wingman but cannot afford a full-time, highly qualified listener, processor, creative thinker, doer and objective thinker.


    You need not fear leaving a legacy of unfulfilled potential.

    Today is an opportunity to celebrate humanity through your work by sharing your experiences - building a positive future for the world and being PART of the system.

    If it’s a “Hell, Yes!”, please read on…

Me

Some call me a Fractional Executive, Fairy Godmother or Non-Executive Director.

I call myself a Story Strategist.

My role in your company is to help you use your incredible story and those of the people around you. I want to help you spend less and say more - to achieve your ambitions, improve your bottom line, punch with (or above) the big boys, and do good in the world – all with joy and without burning out.

My experience over 20 years spans the four key areas that I think a good, healthy, ambitious business should focus on:

  • Marketing & Sales

  • Team Engagement

  • Customer Loyalty

  • Community Care

What I’ve learned (over and over again) is that a streamlined business is based on a good story.

And what frustrates me is that most businesses are only being taught and supported to use storytelling in their marketing. In silo. Which is a huge wasted opportunity to capitalise on the one thing that is free to use and that makes them unique. 

My big picture “System Change Manifesto” is to help passionate, conscientious people to do more good in the world - to diversify the economy and contribute to the health and happiness of future generations, and our planet.

In my experience, to really support a person and business is to be there for the long game, not to fly in and out offering a workshop here or a strategy paper there and then leave. To be IN the thick of it. All of it. Not to deliver in silo. And at the same time, to be able to be objective and see the bigger picture. To be brave and bold. To know a good - or bad thing when you see it. And to be able to name it and change it.

I can only do that with a few companies at a time! 

Money. Experience. Commitment.

I cost the same as a junior member of staff, but have more experience than many managers.

I have been working with storytelling and narrative for decades - in Corporate Communications and through Theatre, Art & Design, Literature, Psychotherapy, and Cultural Theory.

My mother is a Group-analytic Psychotherapist, my father is a Solicitor-turned-Film-Maker and my brothers are professional musicians. Communication and creativity runs in the family.

I come to you with a unique combination of hands-on experience and networks in the worlds of Marketing, User Experience, HR & Corporate Social Responsibility across a range of sectors - Corporate, Charity, Government and The Arts.

I have worked in Start-Ups and hundred-year-old businesses. I’ve been bottom rung and am now a business owner.

I have written two papers and spoken on panels about Corporate Social Responsibility and have university qualifications in Graphic Design, Cultural Theory & Sociology and Art History.

I’ve been… 

  • the youngest Marketing Manager at the world’s only art-led insurance company

  • the dedicated HR and Comms Trustee of an international charity dedicated to better education, poverty-relief and social enterprise in the developing world. 

  • a Manager, a Trustee, a Director and Consultant as well as an Assistant and a Dogsbody. 

I know how it feels at every level of employment. 

I’ve been both seen, heard, understood and respected and also ‘just the little marketing girl’ in a big bad bluechip ocean. 

I’m very good at making everyone feel involved and appreciated. 

After years of working “in-house”, I co-founded Better Bolder Braver with Simon Batchelar, author of Reframing Marketing. “BBB” is a thriving community supporting coaches to put themselves out there in the world with more confidence, clarity and joy, through good, ethical marketing. I love the entrepreneurial life and the squiggly career that brought me to where I am today.

I want to help you stand out, grow, become sustainable, be inclusive, a great place to work and a responsible global citizen.

I bring together your brand, your people and your communities to save you money and do good in the world.

Together

Storytelling has been the most effective way through history to engage people.

Let’s do this. By unearthing, crafting and sharing your most beautiful stories. Listen to others and make sure others listen to you.

Back to the village.

I am not for you iF

  • You are a big organisation and it’s difficult for the left hand to talk to the right.

  • You want to appear slick in your marketing - and are scared to admit to vulnerabilities, a pivot or a bigger-picture system change that you may not be able to create on your own.

  • You prefer to outsource thousands a month to external Marketing, Branding, PR, HR, Market Research, Sponsorship and Events agencies, Learning and Development and Wellbeing activation and coaches to get stuff done in silo.

  • You are not prepared to let down your guard and give your people a bit more of the authentic “you”.

  • You do not have the space or time to listen - no, REALLY listen - to your employees, customers and community.

  • Want to grow but don’t really want to get personally involved.

What next?

Send me an email or book a call so you can tell me your story and I’ll tell you how I can help.