So this really where it all started for me. 

I had been invited by some friends to an evening of amateur dramatics with a local theatre company they belonged to. This was completely new to me as I’d never had the opportunity to do Drama at school, and having left school with no qualifications I didn’t really know much about plays and playscripts. I had always been a very sociable person though, and the opportunity sounded interesting. And it was, I found the whole experience most enjoyable until the final part.

At the end of the evening we all had to share a part of Dickens' play 'Hard Times' that we’d been working on, and when it came to my turn Aaaaarrrrgh, I froze!!! I stood there in front of this small group of friendly and lovely people and felt my whole torso lock up as I tried to speak the words from the play. With so many pairs of eyes staring at me and waiting for a sound I felt the increasing heat of my face as it turned red with embarrassment, the palms of my hands become clammy, beginning to sweat profusely, and my breathing become faster and more shallow. This was as fascinating to me as it was frightening. I wasn't used to struggling so painfully when it came to trying new things, and here I had this massive block, a hugely uncomfortable experience I later found out was known as ‘stage fright’. 

So this became a mission for me – how to get through this stage fright, this fear of speaking in public in a live audience situation.

And I know now what I didn’t know then. That public speaking is a skill, or rather set of skills – and like any other skill can be learned through technique and practise.

So at 35 years old I returned to education and completed a B.A. (Hons) in Theatre, Performance and Media, and learned the art of communicating meaning to an audience. Now, after many years of teaching Drama, Performance and Media, leading and creating teacher training programmes, becoming a master in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, coaching, hypnosis and Time-line therapy™, plus becoming certified in several healing modalities, I’ve now blended all my extensive knowledge, skills and experience to teach and coach public speaking and presentation skills, whether to a live audience and on camera. Having spent some time as a therapist I very much appreciate that most healers and therapists, and also many solopreneurs that are coaches and consultants, struggle when it comes to public speaking and/or getting in front of a video camera to 'sell' their service. So this is now my new mission in life.
And for the icing on the cake, I now feel like I’ve found my true life's purpose!