APPLETON
My Version Of Success Was Perfect On Paper. Until I Broke.
My story will be different from yours. We're all unique.
This is a story of reinvention from burnout and overgiving to clarity, boundaries, and when I finally said 'no'.
Building a life that actually fits, allowing my version of success to evolve. By learning to trust my energy, honour my desires, my needs, and lead from who I really am.
I made thriving non-negotiable in 2015, the year I burnt out and five people replaced me. It was a wake-up call. Even as a freelancer running my own business, I’d put myself, my needs, my values and my priorities at the bottom. And I broke because of it.
Feeling good, in myself, my body, my work, my life, became essential. I gave up ‘fitting in' and succeeding on paper. I wanted to live and lead in a way that works for me, because that’s when everyone wins. When you don’t betray yourself to succeed.
On paper, my life was great. I’d bought a flat, travelled, worked on cool projects. But something was missing and I didn't know what. Why am I here? What am I doing? What’s my purpose? There had to be more than this.
The Breaking Point
In 2010, I set up a business to contract; a big leap, giving up the regular paycheck. It's not for everyone. But I knew if I stayed in full-time employment, it wasn't sustainable. My business meant freedom: to buy a flat in London, travel when I wanted, live on my own terms. I wanted more. I was offered five jobs straight off, and since then I’ve walked into job after job, freelance and perm. The work kept coming but work doesn't equal alignment.
What Happened in 2015?
I’d lost sight of who I was. I took on too much, said yes too much, stayed in environments that didn’t align with my values. I got swept up in client deadlines, busyness and priorities that weren’t mine. And I paid the price.
Being the Leader
Being any kind of leader or Producer is all-encompassing. It’s high-pressure, fast-moving, invisible work. You hold it all together, until you can't. Demands come from all directions. And staying centred isn't optional. It's everything.
But I hadn't learnt to be the leader of my life.
Rebuilding From the Inside Out
Choosing to thrive meant learning to set better boundaries, reconnect with who I am at my core. To create a life and business that continues to light me up, and evolve with my ambition. To continue to evolving with clarity and alignment. This journey led me into deep training across mind, body, and spirit practices. Today, these modalities form the foundation of my work, creating powerful shifts for my clients:
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Neuroscience & psychology (certified coach): clearing the patterns that once ruled me
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Somatic intelligence (including EFT, nervous system regulation, inner child work): taught me my body's intelligence is far greater than the mind for processing trauma, change and guiding decisions
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Systems & ancestral tools: revealing hidden dynamics, family constellations, and unlocking generational patterns which I had put down to fate
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Energetic coherence & identity (inc human design): continuing to align my inner and outer world so life feels congruent
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Emotional intelligence: navigating feelings with clarity, not chaos
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Holistic integration (naturopathic chef & yoga teacher): food, health, yoga, and mindfulness to thrive and regenerate life
We are always changing, consciously or unconsciously. But evolving with clarity, purpose and integrity, becoming more me, continues to be the greatest gift.
It doesn’t have to be hard. We’re meant to have fun.
Becoming more sovereign, leading my life was, and still is, one of the best things I’ve continue to do.
To make conscious decisions.
To show up as my full self, even when it's hard.
To have fun and create the life I want to live.
To notice and break through old patterns that no longer serve where I’m going.
Success Looks Different for Everyone
Thriving looks different for everyone: time with family, travelling the world, or simply showing up as your whole self. The more we live in our truth, the more we all rise.
Looking back, I always wanted to make things better, to improve what already existed. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, and life wasn’t always easy because of that. It made me determined to succeed. These days, success for me is about integrating it all, alignment and impact. Creating big visions with an open heart and moving towards them, taking the steps and trusting my path, especially when it doesn't make sense.
Transitions have always been a big part of my life. We moved house 6 times before I was 18, attended 6 different schools. Always new people. Adapting was and still is a way of life as I navigate life in Spain and evolve.
Creative Leadership
Getting into the ad industry didn’t come easily. I dug deep into my willpower to break in. Once I did I led million-pound one-of-a-kind digital projects. Making it up as I went along. Hand-picking projects, incredible projects finding me; from the launch of EE to cutting-edge installations around the world. Running them independently. Calm in the unknown. I led myself, and I led others.
I’ve had to master my emotions. I absorb energy. As a kid, I didn’t know what to do with them. When my Dad died in 2013, I lost my emotional anchor. I was cracked open and found a new kind of strength, and finally learnt how to feel my emotions (radical I know). Emotional resilience is now my foundation. And my superpower.
Burnout taught me boundaries. It forced me to define success for myself. To thrive. To know what I love. To create a life that reflects who I am. Not just what I do. And to keep doing that.
I didn’t find my purpose by following my passion. I was it all along, by showing up as who I am. There are tools that can help (and no it’s not Ikagi). But your truth, your experience, your blueprint can’t be copied or recreated. You are you and that's what makes us all unique.
A Life That Fits
Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. But for me, there's no other way. A school report once said, I’d never settle in a 9-5. They were right. But I’m happy to support others to, if that’s what they want. I’m here to live my life, thrive and support others to do the same.
We’re all different. Each of us here for a reason, bringing different gifts, skills and ways of being. Under all the conditions we learnt to adapt to. Our own truth is in there.
I’m drawn to beauty in the world, different ways of living. I started travelling at 18 and now live in Spain, immersed in new cultures, ways of creating, and connecting. That expands me.
I need beauty, I need change, I need heart & soul.
Success to me is freedom. Breathing. Thriving. Feeling all the feels. Being true to myself. Nurturing my soul. Giving in my unique way. It's also ambition. Creativity. Living in alignment. Continuing to evolve. And trusting where I am and the next steps.
What's true for you? There’s so much more available when we stop trying to fit into someone else’s version of life. Or even the one we've outgrown.
Client Testimonials
Are you ready to evolve?
If you're here, you know it's time to move.
I’ve waited too long before, you don’t have to.