I was born to a single mother, and raised on a tough council estate (it was nicknamed the Bronx) and I never had the kind of people who taught me I could be anything if I wanted to be.

I was raised to ‘know my place’. How women were meant to care and keep house and business was a man’s place. And I’m sure nobody in my life wanted me to not succeed, and to not be ok, but I was never pushed to dream. In fact, I was often punished for dreaming. That didn’t stop me, though. Even today, I’m a dreamer!

My teenage years were….hard. I had some issues that affected my schooling, and I left school without even doing my GCSES. College was equally as hard, so here I was…’uneducated’, How could I possibly succeed?

My adult years have been strange. I have suffered from some mental health issues and I “job hopped”. But I also started to gain qualifications, but my mental health was always my “kryptonite” and I reached the point where I just gave up. I thought I’d never work or do anything. I felt my life, my ambition, had ended. I couldn’t succeed.

Covid happened, and my mum got ill (not with COVID. Her health started deteriorating during that time) and after she passed away, I had that lightbulb moment. I had to know that I was ok. I was responsible for myself. It wasn’t my mum’s responsibility, or my partner’s responsibility, or even my friends responsibility, to make sure that ok. I was responsible for making sure i was ok.

I found a place, the South Tyneside recovery college, where I did a lot of work on me, and found that I did have a lot to offer. I wasn’t done. Far from it, I had dreams and hopes and plans again.

And I got employment as a mental health peer supporter and it made me realise that I wanted to help people in their recovery journeys, help inspire and motivate them, and more importantly, make them feel less alone. And when my job finished, I knew I wanted to continue to help people….and here I am.

I am a business owner. I am a success and it’s early days, but Im out there, helping people have better wellbeing. I’m making a difference. I’m not planning or dreaming about doing it. I’m doing it. Yes, I’m still dreaming and planning, alongside doing.

I’ve realised that I tend to balance a few different things at once; but that’s because I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I can succeed at things. Having a job isn’t important because society tells me I should have a job. I want a job because I was never encouraged to apply for jobs I wanted, or think about a career. I want to see what’s out there and do what I can do, while doing this because this business is mine. I created it. I built it, when I didn’t really believe I could.

I push myself so I can see how far I can grow. If I stay in the same place, I won’t ever go anywhere.

And the reason I’m sharing my story is to hopefully inspire you when you have times when you think you can’t go on, or you’ll never succeed. It’s not always easy, but if you have the tiniest bit of faith, then that’s enough to help you grow. It’s enough to help you cling on.