During a 20+ year career spanning social impact, non profit and corporate environments across four continents, I worked my way to the top leading at CEO and Director level for more than a decade.

Over the years, as I battled imposter syndrome and crippling self-doubt, failing, to succeed - i.e. learning how to win by knowing why I failed - became something of a personal motto.

My professional journey began when I left school at 16 with a fistful of A-grades and unexpectedly became a parent the same year (Gasp! My parents were horrified. Friends’ parents were delighted it wasn’t their daughter. And Society repeated - regularly - that shame was the best coping mechanism for a girl like me.)

After a few crazy years working in news media in London I jumped back into education, hoping to unearth the academic potential I’d abandoned as a headstrong teen.

I read Psychology, Sociology and Politics at the University of Cambridge. Juggling parenting duties with lectures and rowing, my daughter and I fell into a happy routine amongst the scholars and spires of Cambridge.

After university I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers’ graduate training scheme. When a financial crisis hit the City of London I was - quite mercifully - made redundant. I’d passed the professional accountancy qualifications but wanted something more.

Unemployed and keen to do something purposeful I took a deep breath and a big leap, relocating to Africa with my daughter. We lived internationally for many years while I established my career in the international development and do-gooding sector.

In Kenya, Tanzania and Switzerland I led climate projects for the Danish government, partnered with Maasai communities to improve livelihoods, advised the United Nations on communications, delivered the BBC’s international development projects to more than 5 million people across East Africa, and led a global programme leveraging private-sector resources to support women-led business in global majority countries. Later, back in the UK, I worked closely with Buckingham Palace to widen educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, and led global work to stop children dying from hunger.

Although I loved the purpose of my work, once I made it to the top I realised how lonely the C-suite echo-chamber can be, and how overwhelming the burden of leadership feels when you're living in Burnout City.