The Spin For Smart Works challenge is getting real now! I’ll be joining my team and cycling 500 miles in the week leading up to International Women’s Day to raise money for our North East service. 

I’m cycling for North East women, and for my younger self (some real talk coming below...)

In 2015, I moved back to the UK following my dad’s suicide. Six months after this, while dealing with my grief, finding a place to live, starting a new job, readjusting to life in the UK after coming home with just a suitcase and leaving everything I had built up behind, I was made redundant. I then spent 4 months out of work, unable to get a job in my sector, and not knowing how to change careers. My confidence was non-existent, and I thought I had dealt with my grief (I hadn’t). It took a long time to pull myself back together finally secure a job and move on, and I wish I had been able to access a service like Smart Works to support me and assure me that I wasn’t “nothing” and that I could succeed.

This is the reason I do what I do and why I’m so passionate about our charity. 

Being a woman is hard (as is being a man) and unfortunately we don’t live in an equal world. I really believe that the women in our community need all of our support to help us all thrive.