Creative Career Change

Back in 2023, not long after I’d left my teaching job behind, launched my interior design business and was starting out here on Substack, I came across the wonderful Lucy Werner. As a newly initiated business owner, Lucy was the PR guru I didn’t know I needed. I became a member of her paid community almost immediately and haven’t looked back since. Lucy has been through the mill - not least when s...

Jennie and I first met back in 2023 at a creativity retreat with Emma Gannon and Tanya Lynch . Jennie’s debut novel ‘The List of Suspicious Things’ was not yet out in the world and I had just left my 16 year teaching career behind. Change was afoot. Since then, Jennie’s world has turned on its head and she is now a Sunday Times bestselling author of two books and is currently writing her third. I...

When Carolyn Boyd’s book Amuse Bouche: Eating Your Way Around France came out a couple of years ago, I felt like it had been written just for me. It was the coming together of several of my interests - France, food, culture and writing. I hoovered it up. And then, a couple of months ago I saw Carolyn post on Instagram about her 10 year anniversary since going freelance. What did she do before? I w...

Series 4 is finally here! This time round I’m handpicking guests rather than putting a call out, and my attention was peaked when Becky and I crossed paths on Instagram. She spotted my giant monstera plant, I looked at her profile and was instantly interested as soon as I saw that she hadn’t always been an artist. Becky Ullah spent 15 years in medicine, 10 of them as an NHS GP, before leaving to b...

It’s been several months since the last episode of Creative Career Change and a lot has shifted in that time. At the start of 2026, I removed the safety net I’d always kept in place. I stopped teaching entirely and went all in on my interior design business. And do you know what? The world didn’t cave in. In this reflective solo episode, I revisit the very first podcast I recorded back in Septembe...

At the beginning of the year I was invited to be a guest on Irene Ruby’s podcast Makings and Musings . It was the first time I’d been on the other side of the microphone and I enjoyed it very much and Irene and I found much common ground to chat about. (I’ve included a link to the episode further down this post) Having learned a little about Irene’s own career journey during that conversation, I w...

From time to time, I interview a podcast guest and we really, truly just click. The conversation flows (usually with me over-excitedly interrupting too often) and we could continuing talking for far longer than the allotted time. That’s exactly what happened when I interviewed Lara Hayward several weeks back. It had taken us some time to pin down a suitable date to record due to various life and w...

Helen Ridley is an illustrator, specialising in live illustration, who has carved out a successful career by following her instincts and doing what feels right. I found Helen’s mindset to be inspirational and I hope that, you too, will be interested in her methodical, yet highly creative approach to freelance life following redundancy. Helen used this difficult situation as an opportunity and she...

Former teachers’ career change stories will always be of special interest to me due to my own educational background. For Hannah Miller, it has been more than 10 years since she left the classroom to become a coach and I was delighted to have the opportunity to discover more about her career journey. Hannah and I talk about the challenges of leaving teaching, bizarre transferable skills and Hannah...

Fashion and textile designer Carla Bentele achieved her dream of moving to London and working in the fashion industry, but along came the pandemic and a family, and Carla’s priorities and dreams changed. I had the privilege of chatting with Carla to hear about the joys and the struggles of redundancy, trying new things, moving to Todmorden and launching a business all whilst juggling family life....

How many of us now have jobs that didn’t exist when we were young? That is certainly the case for Instagram strategist for authors, Nicola Washington . Nicola’s journey from secondary school English teacher to carving out a freelance career that encompasses many of her talents and passions has been a long one and not without its challenges. Listen to hear how Nicola has diversified and adapted her...

I often talk about how I am inspired by the women I interview on this podcast, and this was especially the case when I had the pleasure of speaking to Gabrielle Treanor in early January. Gabrielle began her career working in publishing in the 90s and has navigated many career twists and turns since then including launching a stationery business and more recently becoming an ADHD coach supporting q...

Almost two years ago, I came across an episode of the Interior Design Business Podcast titled ‘Career Changing To Interior Design’. It featured several established interior designers who talked about their route into the profession. Charlotte Dawson was one of those designers and she, like me, had previously been a teacher. I was captivated and I can truthfully say that hearing Charlotte talk abou...

Hosting a podcast is a wonderful thing, not least because I regularly find myself talking to truly fascinating individuals who inspire me and open my eyes to what work can look like for women across the world. Lucy Pearson is testament to this. She is a freelance writer, a bibliotherapist (listen to find out what that is), a curator of libraries for hotels and a literary salon host. Her work is ce...

Judith and I first met in 1996 when we started secondary school together. We’ve been friends ever since despite living in different countries for the past 13 years. With a career in business that has evolved and been shaped by changing family responsibilities, Judith has carved out a career that is both practical and fulfilling. This is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing someone...

Emily was one of the first people I connected with on Substack when I joined the platform just over a year ago. It was clear from the start that we had several interests in common, namely that we are both highly focused on exploring our creativity. An accountant for most of the week, but also a published illustrator and a multi-faceted creative, Emily is not afraid to try new things. I’m certain y...

Brina Patel is a California-based content writer and copywriter. Her work primarily covers mental health and BIPOC representation and I was fortunate enough to connect with her some months back. It became clear to me that Brina had much to share that would resonate with listeners of Creative Career Change and I was delighted when she agreed to be interviewed. Now considering herself to be a multi-...

Several months back I was lucky enough to go to a writing retreat with and hosted by . It was a day spent with 14 other women, sitting around a big oak table in a gorgeous farmhouse in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside. It was November, yet the sun was shining and it was a day filled with hope, creativity and new connections. One of the new connections made that day was with . Sara is a sales...

The new series of Creative Career Change is here, complete with a new logo and a few changes here and there! I’m thrilled to share these interviews with multi-hyphenate women as we explore the challenges, the joys and everything in between of navigating a variety of income steams. I’d read about the term ‘multi-hyphenate’ some years back, and the idea of it hugely appealed to me. At that time, I w...

Substack is a place of constant connection, and over the past few months I’ve had the pleasure of discovering and getting to know many people from all over the world via the platform. Collaborating with others is by far my favourite way of working, so I was delighted when reached out to see if I was interested in creating something together. Sarah and I share a background as teachers who moved awa...

Hello and welcome to the final episode in the ‘Inspiring Creative Career Change’ series. Starting a podcast was never on my agenda until one sunny September afternoon last year I couldn’t think of doing anything else, and so the Chez Hanny podcast was born. I feel so privileged to have been able to connect with, and interview, thirteen women who have all made changes in their career at some point...

It was back in 2012 when I discovered adventure athlete Sophie Storm Roberts. I read an article in a magazine about the Three Peaks Challenge that she had completed with fellow adventurer Sean Conway and I was totally hooked. At that time, I was a super keen cyclist and reading about Sophie’s achievements contributed to inspiring me to complete a triathlon in 2013. Since then I’ve followed Sophie’...

It was an absolute dream to spend an hour chatting to a few weeks back. Emily was made redundant last year, but instead of it causing the devastation that many would experience from this kind of news, Emily used it as a springboard to gather a new experience in a different country with her brand new husband (after getting married in Vegas, of course!). Emily and I talk about the desire for flexibi...

Like me, began her career as a teacher. Over the past few years she found herself making a big change due to an “unplanned, pandemic-induced transition” and now absolutely considers herself to be a writer. In this episode, we talk about giving yourself permission to become a writer, honouring the ideas when they come and listening to whispers. Have you ever found yourself to be an ‘Ideas volcano’...

Korynn and I first connected on Substack several months back, and as soon as I’d discovered a little about her career journey, I knew I needed to hear more and share this inspiring woman’s story of determination and immense creativity. To check out Korynn’s amazing work, take a look at her website: www.korynnmorrison.com and Instagram page Subscribe to Korynn’s Substack page here: Whilst I’m here,...