Towards the end of lockdown, I met Nikki from Creative DeZigns for the first time, she had got in touch with me to ask if I would be interested in working with her, trying some of the styles from her lovely range of cotton and sustainable clothing and maybe sharing my thoughts on the blog.  I suggested we meet up and chat, I wanted to find out more about her and her small ethical fashion business.  We hit it off immediately and I loved her story.  I loved the clothes too!  So I asked if Nikki would be happy to share her story in more detail on my blog.  So here it is, as part of my (somewhat irregular) Embracing Life (in Midlife) series.

In this interview series, I invite inspirational women, normal women like you and me, who are busy getting on with it all and keeping all the plates spinning, to tell me about their life and their business.  I am always amazed at their stories.  And I am very impressed with how they manage to do it all. 

Nikki is no exception, she has two grown up children, she spent a large part of her childhood growing up in South Africa and she then took over Creative DeZigns form her mother and has enjoyed taking the business in a new direction whilst staying true to its original ethos.  

I really loved reading Nikki's responses to my questions, I am sure you will agree, that she is certainly very talented and very inspirational.  Do take a few moments to read what she has to say and support her small business!  I've been looking forward to sharing this post!

Welcome to the next interview in my occasional series - where I talk with amazing midlife women who are being brave and trying new things - maybe a career change or a new business venture.  I meet so many women who inspire me and I love to share their stories with you.  

This is Mary who I met a few years ago when I was volunteering at the Citizen's Advice Bureau for one morning a week, my first foray into something outside of the home other than our own business.  I volunteered for a year but then it became a little difficult with my available time as I was needed to help out with some family commitments.  Anyway I met Mary who was working there and then bumped into her again at a networking event in Marlow last year.

Mary has recently retrained and set up her own coaching business specifically focusing on menopause and midlife.  Here she tells us a bit more about her and her life and why she decided to change her career and retrain.

A few years ago, like everyone else, I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and then more recently I have taken a look at Marie Kondo on Netflix in her new series, Tidying Up.  Now I am a pretty tidy and organised person, I try not to accumulate too much clutter, my lovely cleaner comes every week and I am at home quite a lot .... but I still felt I needed a good declutter!  I kept saying I was going to do it myself but I never quite got around to it.  Or I'd start and get distracted.  Sound familiar?  Then I met Jo Hall and she arrived like a real live tiding up fairy and has been absolutely fantastic!

We started off with my son's bedroom - yes I know he is 21 and yes I know he should do it himself - but I was getting desperate and I wanted to decorate so I asked his permission and while he was away on holiday Jo arrived and we set about finally decluttering about 15 years of 'stuff'. I was hooked so I booked Jo again to help me with the utility room and kitchen.  Then again to do the office!

Jo is so lovely!  So I asked her if she would share her story and details of her decluttering services on my blog ....