"Lived experience is not something we carry, it's a resource for use."
Here's some of my writing that I've shared via LinkedIn and Medium. Offering perspectives on social mobility, inclusion, leadership, and life experiences shaped by both personal and professional journeys. The articles range from responses to national surveys and policy developments to reflections on career choices, family transitions, and the impact of advances in science and technology.
Each piece is grounded in lived experience and supported by wider evidence, to spark conversation, share practical insights, and highlight opportunities for change. New content is added over time, and the list below is arranged in order of most recent publication.
Asking for Help Isn’t Weakness. It’s How We Beat the Stats
This article examines how people facing multiple, overlapping disadvantages can improve their chances of success through support networks, mentoring, and community resources. It explores the concept of intersectionality, showing how factors such as race, class, gender, caring responsibilities, and poverty combine to amplify barriers, and uses real-world statistics to illustrate the scale of those challenges.
The piece highlights evidence that seeking help is not a weakness but a proven strategy for improving outcomes. Drawing on data from charities, public bodies, and research organisations, it explains how mentoring, peer support, and practical assistance can increase resilience, reduce isolation, and open up opportunities. It also shares examples of organisations offering tangible help, from digital skills training to emotional support.
Read the full article here: Asking for Help Isn’t Weakness. It’s How We Beat the Stats
From the 93%: Ten Thousand Voices, One Story – Class, Careers, and the Realities of Social Mobility
This article responds to the 93% Club’s Big State School Survey, the most extensive study of state-educated alumni in the UK, with over 10,000 respondents. It explores the survey’s key findings on career advice, access to networks, geographic mobility, accent bias, and workplace perceptions, placing them in the broader context of class and opportunity.
The piece examines how these experiences resonate not only in the UK but internationally, showing that feelings of exclusion, underestimation, and limited access to opportunity are common across cultures. It discusses the ongoing challenges of social mobility, the role of lived experience in policymaking. It highlights current initiatives, from digital inclusion projects to career bootcamps, aimed at creating fairer pathways.
Read the full article here: From the 93%: Ten Thousand Voices, One Story – Class, Careers, and the Realities of Social Mobility.
Career Uncertainty Through to Opportunity
This article explores how much career decisions can be shaped by the quality and timing of the advice we receive. I look at the challenges faced by young people who don’t have access to informed guidance at home or school, and how that lack of information can quietly close off options before they even know they exist. I also highlight the difference it can make when the right advice comes from the right person at precisely the right moment — sometimes that single conversation can change the course of a life.
Using National Careers Week as a starting point, I share why mentors, networks, and visible role models matter so much in helping people see what’s possible. This piece is written for both those looking to guide and those searching for direction, showing that even the smallest intervention can help someone make better, more informed career choices.
Read the full article here: Career Uncertainty Through to Opportunity
Reflections on Completing a Unique Family Transition
This article reflects on the 12 months that followed a major family milestone: supporting my daughter, Georgia, as she moved from child to adult care services in the UK. The process was complex and intense. A 10-point plan compressed into just 3.5 months. It covered everything from legal deputyships and healthcare changes to social care planning, education, transport, and benefits. Starting later than we should have made it even more complicated, and the lack of coordinated services meant we had to take the lead as parents to ensure Georgia’s care remained consistent and high quality.
I share the key challenges we faced, including the sudden loss of parental decision-making rights once a disabled child turns 18, changes in staff and peer networks, fewer activity options for adults, and legal restrictions on finances and medication. I also describe some of the bureaucratic hurdles, the emotional impact on Georgia, and how we as a family managed the transition together.
To help other parents facing a similar journey, I share three practical tips: know the relevant laws, digitise every vital document, and keep a detailed record of your child’s history. I close with an open invitation for carers to connect for mutual support, and a call for those in positions of influence to listen to and learn from families navigating these transitions every day.
Read the full article here: Reflections on Completing a Unique Family Transition.
Making a Career Transition to Support Another Important Family Transition
This article shares how I adapted my career to support my youngest daughter’s transition from child to adult care services. It traces a 10-year journey of planning, home adaptations, and care arrangements, beginning in 2012 when we accepted we would be long-term carers. Over that decade, we made significant changes to our home to ensure accessibility and safety, and I learned the personal and emotional resilience needed to manage daily life while also preparing for my daughter’s future.
As the transition approached, I initially thought I would need to step away from work completely to become a full-time carer. Instead, I had open and honest conversations with my employer, Accenture, about how to balance my professional responsibilities with the demands of this period. Together, we agreed on a restructured role, reduced travel, and a planned “circuit breaker” period so I could focus on meetings with health and social care teams, legal preparations, and service providers.
I close the piece with practical advice for both carers and professionals. For carers, I emphasise the importance of early planning, building supportive networks, and finding communities that understand your journey. For all readers, I share career insights about communicating needs, setting realistic expectations, and adopting a mindset of unconditional positivity. My experience reinforced that plans can change for the better when you invite others into the conversation and build solutions together.
Please read the full article here: Making a Career Transition to Support Another Important Family Transition.
A Decade in a Year – My Story
In this piece, I reflect on the personal and professional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which for me felt like living a “decade in a year.” I begin by acknowledging the losses of friends and relatives to the virus, and share the lasting positivity I’ve seen in family members who faced their life-altering health challenges.
I talk about the realities of parenting my youngest daughter, who has a rare genetic condition called DDX3X syndrome, during a time when vital support services disappeared. I explain how our family adapted to restrictions, embraced remote healthcare, and coped with the closure of respite and activity programmes, while finding new ways to stay connected and maintain well-being.
I also share how this period has deepened my commitment to improving health experiences and accelerating treatments, drawing on my own experience of caregiving and resilience. The pandemic sped up digital adoption in both healthcare and everyday family life, and these changes will remain for the better.
Read the full article here: A Decade in a Year – My Story
What it Means to Know a Diagnosis Through Genomics – DDX3X, One Year On
Almost a year after receiving my daughter Georgia’s diagnosis of DDX3X syndrome, I reflect on how having a clear answer has changed our lives. For nearly 12 years, we had lived with uncertainty. Georgia’s developmental challenges were unexplained, and every appointment felt like chasing answers that never came. Not knowing made it harder to plan her care, harder to explain her needs, and harder to sleep at night.
When the results finally came in, everything shifted. We could connect with other families across the world, refer doctors to scientific research, and point carers towards practical resources. It became easier to communicate her needs to schools, services, and new health professionals. The fear of the unknown was replaced with a network of support and knowledge we could act on.
Knowing earlier would have made a big difference. It might have spared us years of uncertainty and some difficult decisions, but I am grateful for the clarity now. Professionally, this experience has deepened my connection to my work in Life Sciences. I have seen firsthand how diagnosis changes lives, and it has strengthened my commitment to projects that advance research, improve patient outcomes, and make innovation meaningful on a human level.
Read the full article here: What it Means to Know a Diagnosis Through Genomics – DDX3X, One Year On
Turning an Unknown into a Known Through Genomics, Then Learning Through Digital
For almost 12 years, my daughter Georgia’s developmental challenges were described only as Global Development Delay. It was a label that confirmed something was wrong but did not explain. That changed when we joined the 100,000 Genomes Project, an initiative to sequence thousands of genomes in search of answers for rare and undiagnosed conditions. Through this work, we learned Georgia has a DDX3X gene mutation, a condition identified only in 2015 and known to affect a small number of girls worldwide.
The diagnosis opened the door to a wealth of knowledge. Using digital channels like PubMed, Science Direct, and geneticist networks on social media, I could trace the history of the discovery, connect with other families, and read scientific papers directly relevant to Georgia’s care. While the symptoms vary, finding another child with a similar combination to hers provided reassurance and context.
This journey reinforced why I chose to work in Health and Life Sciences. It is an industry that pairs scientific progress with the responsibility to meet patient and family expectations in every interaction. Personalising services, improving access to information, and fostering connections between research and lived experience are not simple goals, but they are essential. Being part of that mission gives my work meaning and purpose every day.
Read the full article here: Turning an Unknown into a Known Through Genomics, Then Learning Through Digital
