Sometimes, I get clients who ask me how I got started as a writer. I would tell them my story when I was asked, but it doesn’t always come up. So, here it is, for you, lovely readers.
Why? Because it’s our stories that make us unique.
The Beginning: I used to work as a copywriter for a small marketing agency – fresh-faced and eager to elevate up the creative ladder to a cushy writer position, where I’d be working on all kinds of fun stuff. But I soon learned that the confines of four walls and neon lights weren’t exactly conducive to bursts of creativity. Nor did the busy, chatter-filled offices fit my surprisingly introverted writing ways.
I was called to adventure, fuelled by the unknown. New cultures, people and perspective to colour my writing. The world, my canvas.
But, I had zero business knowledge and no idea where to begin.
The Middle: The seeker in me led me to discover a solution: freelancing. I spent the following two years working 60+ hour weeks to get my business off the ground – to take it flight globally. I took anything I could and sometimes, got paid less than minimum wage. I had as little as $100 in the bank and was ready to give up, sick of chasing payments. I had no creative fuel left in the tank and ‘leaving work at the office’ started to sound pretty good.
But that deep knowing, that inner compass, kept me on my path. I invested in myself and got an Editor and Mentor – who both grounded me and kept me reaching at the same time. I sent that life-changing email: “I’m going to work from Bali”, giving myself a 6-month, no commitments, remote work stint.
And, you can probably guess how the rest of the story goes.
Now? Six months turned into three years of playing continent hopscotch (50+ countries), an international writing business, and a new home in the place that teaches me more about humility and resilience than anywhere else: New York City.
My work has been published with well-known brands such as Singapore Airlines, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, The Advertiser, News Corp, and TEDx. I am, in every sense of the phrase, living mydream. And friends, boy am I having a lot of fun!
This newsletter is an ode to, and a home for, everything I’m learning on this wild adventure we call life.