I drew a picture of myself teaching naughty children when I was little. While everyone else wanted to be a dancer, a doctor, or a footballer, I knew, even then, that I wanted to be there for the children who felt a little different: the ones who felt misunderstood, unnoticed, unseen. The ones who just needed an adult to look at them, really look at them, smile, and yes, love them.

I grew up in an environment that didn’t always feel safe. I know what it is to be hyper vigilant, to read rooms and faces and silences just to feel secure. That experience, though painful, became a gift. It taught me, from the inside, what every human being needs most: to feel safe, seen, soothed, and secure.

At eighteen, I founded the charity Cherished. Over the next seventeen years, I worked across hundreds of schools throughout the Midlands, providing mentors, training, and support to children, teachers, and families navigating trauma. I learned that behaviour is always communication, never just a problem to be managed. I learned to deal with the root, not the fruit. To be curious, not furious. And I learned that the small, heart shaped decisions we make every day, the ones that cost nothing but attention and care, are the ones that change lives.

That belief sits at the centre of everything I do now: as a trainer, a speaker, and an author. My work has been recognised with The King’s Award for Voluntary Service, The Pride of Birmingham Award, and The Lord Mayor of Birmingham Award for Inspirational Community Service. I write and speak from both professional expertise and lived experience, because I believe that’s what makes the message land: not theory alone, but truth that’s been tested and lived.