THE STORY BEHIND THE BUSINESS

"You don't always get to choose what happens but you can choose what happens next"

At the age of 26, I went in for what should have been routine eye surgery

That surgery didn't go according to plan

So, while my career was taking off, my personal life was falling apart

Immediately following the surgery, I knew something was wrong

It was more than pain. There was a dullness and a slowness in how my eye moved. At first, it was barely noticeable however, over the months and years that followed, my eyelid began to droop and the eye itself started to turn

In those early years I was committed to finding an answer - test after test and countless specialist appointments - all of which revealed nothing

To this day, there's still no formal diagnosis. Just a noticeable facial injury and no explanation as to why

How I Was in the Beginning - Spoiler Alert, Not Good

For a long time, I buried myself in my career, using it as a way to avoid dealing with what was actually happening

Unsurprisingly, that strategy didn't work

I avoided cameras, social occasions where I couldn't wear my glasses and, of course, any uncomfortable questions about the injury / what happened

I assumed relationships, a family, the life I had planned - were no longer available to me - all because of how I looked

Silly, I know. But at the time, that's genuinely how I felt

The Shift

Even though my personal life felt like it was falling apart, my gut was telling me this was something I could overcome… if I could just find a way

That was somewhat of a lightbulb moment for me. There wasn’t going to be a medical breakthrough so I needed to make a decision – allow myself to keep waiting for an answer OR move forward without one

It’s worth noting that this is right about when my engineering brain kicked in – I started thinking about what was happening like a problem to solve

What’s within my control and what’s not?

I decided that I wasn't going to let the injury control the narrative anymore – rather than allowing it to have power over me, I was going to find a way to redirect that power & turn it into a positive story

It’s like if I allowed it to be a negative in my life that’s all it would ever be but if I used the lessons I’d learned to help others then it wasn’t such a waste

I started doing the work - reading the books, completing the courses. And somewhere in there, I noticed the lessons I learned didn't just apply to me, they infiltrated every part of my life - especially how I showed up, led teams and managed projects

It wasn't the big moments that changed things. It was the standards I held myself to and the decisions no one else saw, over and over, until they just became who I am

In 2026, my social media went viral - and some of the comments were wild. The thing I'd feared for so long actually happened

But by then, I'd done the work. I responded calmly. Consistently. And people started asking how

I wish I’d been able to learn those lessons without the eye injury but that's just not my path

Others can benefit from the same lessons in a much less traumatic way - that's why I share my story

How We Can Work Together
Get the Worksheet

1:1 Sessions

One-on-one sessions for when you're stuck, overwhelmed or need help working out what comes next

 Request a Session

Speaking + Workshops

Keynotes and workshops for organisations, teams and events — designed to challenge how you think

Enquire About Speaking
Back to Home Page →