Finding a Creative Life

Finding a creative life isn't always a straight line. It certainly wasn't for me. Some experiences are turning points.

For me, becoming a mother was one of them.

It influenced every chapter that followed, including my work.

It opened me up to a creative life.

Motherhood reintroduced me to play. To seeing the world with curious eyes again.

Before children, my world revolved around work.

I'd completed an Honours degree in Psychology, built a career in retail leadership and discovered that I genuinely enjoyed working with teams of people, improving businesses and solving problems. My days were measured by budgets, promotions, staffing, sales targets and business plans.

I was people-oriented but also analytical and commercially driven. Looking back, I could be a little serious.

I liked having a plan. Life made sense when it could be measured and improved.

Then I became a mother.

My days looked entirely different.

Play-Doh replaced paperwork. Dance parties replaced deadlines. Stories replaced strategy meetings.

Our home became wonderfully alive with paint, music, colour, imagination and the beautiful chaos that young children bring into a house.

I didn't leave business behind. I simply stepped into another chapter.

There was no single moment when I decided to study design.

Instead, it happened gradually.

As I created a home for our young family, I found myself paying attention to things I had barely noticed before.

Why children instinctively gathered in certain spaces. How gardens invited adventure. How colour influenced mood.

How rituals around a dining table or kitchen bench could become family memories.

I started asking different questions.

Not, How does this work?

But, How does this feel?

Those questions led me to study colour. Then interior design.

They were all part of the same journey.

Watching my daughters, I saw that creativity was a natural part of learning, problem solving and everyday life.

In the process, I found myself rediscovering it too.

This changed the way I approached almost everything.

Psychology taught me to understand people.

Business taught me to solve problems.

Motherhood taught me to relax and play.

Hospitality taught me stewardship.

Together, they shaped the way I work today.

Looking back now, I can see that every chapter of my life taught me something different.

Today, when I walk through a home, a hotel or a garden, I don't think only about how it will look.

I think about how it will be lived in and enjoyed. How memories might be made.

Where children might play and friends might linger over dinner.

Where someone might sit quietly with their morning coffee.

Beautiful places aren't memorable because they're perfectly designed.

They're memorable because they become part of people's lives.

Motherhood taught me many things.

But one of it’s wonderful gifts was opening me up to a creative life.

One that continues to shape the places I create.