This was
never just
about skin.
A toxic city job. Becoming a mum. Starting a clinic. A divorce. Living my best life and launching my dream clinic. Here's my story — and by story I mean absolute chaos.
Successful on paper.
Exhausted inside.
Seven years ago, my life looked "successful" on paper. I was working in recruitment in the City of London, leading a high-performing team after a decade in the industry. I knew how to sell, how to build, how to lead.
But behind the scenes, I was exhausted. Burnt out. Stressed. And quietly questioning everything.
I had a great career, great friends, a great social life. But none of it felt like mine.
"I didn't want a life where work came first
and my family came second."
I had a daughter.
Then another.
And a decision.
After having my daughter Margot, something shifted. I couldn't ignore the feeling that I was missing the moments that actually mattered. I was exhausted, questioning everything — and I needed out.
I retrained in skin at 33 — not as a grand business plan, but as a way to create something that felt like mine. I'd always been fascinated by skin. But more than that, I wanted freedom.
Nobody warned me how scary that decision would be. But I made it anyway.
The beginning
of something
new.
In 2019, I started The Face Tonic — pregnant with my second daughter Vivi — and stepped into something completely unknown.
Then I helped a client clear their acne. And the feeling? It was unlike anything I'd experienced before. That was the moment I knew — this wasn't just a side project. This was the beginning of something much bigger.
We launched, we celebrated, and before I'd even had time to breathe — the world went into lockdown.
Baby on my back. Full PPE. Whatever it took.
We kept going.
No matter what.
The treatment room was small but beautiful. Every client who walked through the door mattered deeply. We were building something real — results-driven, relationship-led.
Covid hit us hard. Full PPE. Closed doors. Uncertainty about everything. But when we reopened, the clients came back. And we grew stronger.
I hired Lucy, who is now the heart of the clinic and someone I trust completely. Together, we built something so special.
Just as things
got good —
I had to leave.
Just as the clinic became fully booked, life threw another curveball. I had to leave my dream home and move to Great Dunmow. It felt isolating, unfamiliar. If I'm honest, I hated it.
I packed up everything I'd built and started again. From scratch. Again.
I rebuilt it.
Client by client.
I converted a stables into a proper clinic space. It sounds mad when I say it out loud, but it was mine. And once more — we grew to fully booked.
My daughters grew up watching their mum build something from nothing. More than once.
That chapter taught me resilience I didn't know I had. It also taught me what I was actually capable of.
When everything
fell apart.
While I was building that business, I was also rebuilding myself. My marriage was breaking down. And life felt incredibly heavy.
Eventually, I made the decision to leave. I moved the clinic again and put everything I had — financially and emotionally — into starting over.
But honestly? I manifested the most beautiful divorce. Two people who grew in different directions and handled it like adults. I never thought I'd say the word divorce and feel at peace — but here we are.
"There was no safety net.
Just belief."
Women started
asking how.
As I was building the clinic, something else started to happen. Other women in the industry began asking how I was getting clients, how I was growing, how I was making it work around my children.
So I started sharing. At first, informally. But quickly I realised something powerful — I had a real skill for teaching women how to make money, build businesses around their families, and create freedom in their lives.
That's when my mentoring business was born. What started as a few conversations has grown into programmes like Scale Up Society and Clinic Launch Lab.
Both sides
of my business
are thriving.
On 22nd November 2025, I finally opened my dream clinic. The clinic I'd been building towards across two counties, three spaces, and more hard nights than I can count.
The clinic. The team. The women I now mentor and support. But more importantly — so am I.
The last seven years have been messy, emotional, challenging and completely transformative. And that journey is exactly why I do what I do now — because I know what it feels like to want more. To rebuild. To start again. And to create something that truly supports your life, not takes from it.
Seven years on.
Still here. Still building.
Seven years since I opened The Face Tonic. Standing here with Lucy — the heart of the clinic — celebrating something neither of us could have imagined when we started. Proof that the long way round is sometimes the only way.
"This was never just about skin.
It's about confidence.
It's about transformation.
It's about building a life
on your own terms."
If you're a clinic or skin business owner
with a dream that feels too big —
good.
That's exactly where I started. I built every single bit of it myself. And I'm here to help you do the same.