My Inner Artist

My personal artistic journey began when I was a small child, devising theatre shows with other local kids and putting them on for our parents. I naturally turned to writing and the visual arts, but the arts was not viewed as a sensible career move by my parents and after I completed my A-levels, I allowed myself to be persuaded to follow a more “sensible” route – a degree in English Language and Literature. I didn’t want to teach or become a secretary, common jobs for women in those days, but that is what I ended up doing and I wasn’t happy about it! I eventually moved into media and public relations which I found much more satisfying, but two recessions led to me being made redundant five times, so I decided the safest decision would be to become self-employed alongside temporary and part-time work. In 2003 I started a community radio show. Cultural Collage was a two-hour magazine show exploring diverse arts. It ran for 11 years and led to me setting up a world music agency and annual world music festival in Manchester during that time. In 2013 after consistently working long hours on the projects I loved for very little financial reward, I had an emotional and physical breakdown brought on by the stress of work and the sudden death of my mother. This led to significant memory loss and a realisation that I would never be able to work the same way again. I then developed Type 2 Diabetes and suspected bowel cancer which proved to be a massive wake up call to making my health and wellbeing my first priority

Since then I’ve been turning back to the arts which I loved when I was younger and they, together with moving to a rural area and generally slowing down, walking and taking to time to cook healthy meals, have led to a new contentment. I still run my music agency and DJ, but I am now also working as an actress, film extra, poet, songwriter and arts workshop facilitator. In other words, I am having fun! I have recently received my first poetry commission and funding for a songwriting project and I hope that my new focus and creative energy will lead to further work. I am also exploring the history of my mixed heritage and embedding this into my creative practice – particularly the stories around how my indigenous Latin American, Scandinavian and Celtic ancestry related to the natural environment. I love working with other female artists on new projects, so if you are interested in exploring themes which encompass the experience of women, nature or other cultures, please get in touch.