The journey continues...

In my very first blog post I left you all wondering what was going to happen next! As I'm a bit of a tease, I then wrote about the food I found in beautiful Lisbon. But I think it is time to continue with the story. 

If you recall at the end of my first blog post I was starting my last ever contract and then I would be free! The shackles of the corporate world would hold me no more and I would start being my own boss. However, life hardly ever goes to plan and my last contract was extended but, when it was coming to an end once again and they wanted me to stay on, this time I firmly said no. A woman has to do what a woman has to do!

Really what I was saying no to was no more long meetings, no more office politics and certainly no more having to comfort drunk sobbing bosses. There were also mixed feelings about turning my back on a career that I had fought so very hard for. When I first finished my PhD, I was expecting job offers to just come knocking even if it was the recession. I wasn’t expecting it to be so hard I met with recruiter after recruiter who refused to send my C.V. anywhere without having had some experience in the industry. But despite it all I did it, I worked in places I hated, I did the long commutes and I climbed that corporate ladder all the way up to an Account Director. I was working in an industry that is very female dominated with many women at the top, I was in a very empowering position. I was earning a great salary and yet there was something missing.

Don’t get me wrong there were many happy moments in my career too. Some of the people I have met along the way have even become part of the family. But in at the back of my mind there was a constant little voice saying “I want more” and at times I could ignore it, particularly on pay day. However, the voice kept getting louder to the point where I just couldn’t ignore it any longer. I concluded in my head that I was a strong independent woman and I could start again and be my own boss and with that I took my first step into Leith’s Cooking School.

I guess what I’m trying to demonstrate here is that any woman can change their life. It is a really scary thing to do and it might not be successful but isn’t it worth finding out?