MY STORY
I started my ‘career’ as a fashion design student at Westminster University, I lived and breathed Fashion (believe it or not!) and my ultimate goal was to work for my idol Vivienne Westwood.
I’d always been inspired by her humanitarian work and activism around human rights and the environment. I spent 6 months calling her office consistently, pleading for an internship.
Even when I had to get up at 3am to call from Australia I was on that payphone, until I finally got the email offering me an internship in their Archives…where I spent many happy months dressing up in vintage Westwood, trying on the Carrie Bradshaw wedding dress and infamous crocodile wedges that Naomi Campbell fell off mid runway!
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”
Vivienne & I at my last show working for her - Red Label in Paris 2011
I worked all day long with a huge smile on my face, I was over the moon to work within those walls and get a front row view into wonderland. All those hours spent being pinned into corsets as Pamala Anderson’s body double (wearing a heavily padded bra!), dressing models into the early hours and carrying armfuls of high fashion around London & Paris, paid off and I was offered a job at Vivienne Westwood HQ and went on to work at Net-A-Porter in their buying team.
My mantra was ‘work hard, play hard’… and believe me I did! Fashion was where I cut my teeth working alongside some seriously powerful women, in a high pressure, creative, but not always healthy environment.
It was when my closest friend and I both sadly lost people very close to us that I stopped long enough to question my life and what was important to me. She was searching for meaning too and wanted to travel to India.
I’d been practicing yoga in London with a teacher from India and she’d opened me up to a whole new world of yoga philosophy and its origins. She’d always encouraged me to go there if I ever got the chance and this felt like that opportunity, so I quit my job the next day and booked a plane ticket!
We spent 3 magical months in India and whilst in Rishikesh, we joined the last week of a yoga teacher training and were unwittingly immersed in a zealous yogic community,
I fell in love.
Next we travelled to Nepal to volunteer at a children’s charity. Sadly, it was here I learned first-hand about the horrors of child trafficking. Shortly after this I came across another volunteer role in Bali. working for the Safe Childhoods Foundation to combat child trafficking. It felt like I was being led towards the meaning I’d been searching for…
That next year in Bali was the most transformative of my life. Not only were my eyes opened to the harsh realities of the world, I was simultaneously immersed in a whole new realm of yoga, wellbeing, juice detoxes, spirituality and magic.
I begrudgingly returned to London, my feet had barely touched the ground and I was whisked up once more by my old fast-paced high fashion life. I was grateful for the familiar comfort of family and friends, and was lucky to be welcomed back to work, but Bali was still calling.
A year and a half later and I’d finally saved enough to return to Bali and complete my Yoga Teacher Training. Once again I found myself immersed in the smell of incense and offerings, the sight of sacred banyan trees and rice paddies, I was back in my bliss. I didn’t want to leave but once again, life had other plans…
To cut a long story short, through a sequence of twist and turns at a corrupt clinic a very minor eye infection became a very dangerous eye infection that could have caused me to go blind and I found myself, once again on a plane home, this time being wheeled through the airport and straight to hospital.
Too much had happened and I’d changed too much to go back to my old life in fashion. I knew I wanted to do work that made a difference in the world, and was over the moon when I was offered a role working with the inspirational CEO of at the mental health platform, Big White Wall. Alongside this I began teaching yoga all over London (literally) and on retreats around the world.
I was offered, and turned down, a very enticing job at a small fashion label, despite the salary being thousands more than I’d ever been on because I knew in my gut it wasn’t right. However, when BWW was sold and my time there sadly came to an end I received a call once again offering me the role…One month into the job I was signed off work with Malignant Hypertension and Generalised Anxiety Disorder: a lesson to ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INTUITION!
What followed was a dark period in which I realised just how important mental wellbeing is and the shame and stigma that surrounds it. I hit rock bottom but it turned out that helping others was the road to my own recovery and teaching yoga was the only place I truly felt present and at peace.
I taught classes everywhere I could, waking up at 4am and getting home after dark. I was essentially working my old fashion schedule, but in the yoga world - and what a difference that made. I enjoyed some personal highlights of teaching yoga on stage at the OM Yoga Show, at Shambala and Wilderness festival, at the Shard with Xtend Barre & covered in glitter at Morning Gloryville. I became closely involved in MoreYoga as their ‘Head of Vibes’ – a title I will treasure forever!
It felt like I was in the right place, with the right people, doing the right things, as synchronicities unfolded around me and I attracted others who shared my vision of de-stigmatising mental health. I also finally met my amazing fiancé whilst teaching at Wilderness!
When I completed my training as a well-being coach it felt like the missing piece of my puzzle. Not only had I learnt to prioritise my own wellbeing, now I had the skills to help others transform their relationship with their mental, physical and spiritual self.
I now work in London as a Holistic Well-being Coach, Yoga & Meditation Teacher and Writer. I also proudly hold the title of ‘Head of Wellness’ at MoreYoga where I co-founded the MoreMind Programme with Dr. Stephanie Minchin, the yoga psychologist, to promote positive mental health and tackle the taboo that still exists around it.
I teach Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin, Meditation & Restorative Yoga, specialising in Yoga for Anxiety & Stress, lovingly weaving elements of Mindfulness, Positive Psychology and Talking Therapy into my holistic approach. I’m a proud advocate for Mental Health Awareness, Body Positivity and promoting accessible wellbeing free from stigma.
“Those who don't believe in magic will never find it”
I’ve always loved this Roald Dahl quote and even in my thirties I still firmly, and unashamedly believe in the existence of magic. If you follow your heart & trust your intuition life can be guided. If you tune into your own personal magic, who knows what adventures life might take you on!
Love Liz
xXx
