I am an adopted Mancunian. I moved to the city in 2008, and it changed my life. Manchester is where I call home; it makes me happy and is part of who I am now.

A big part of that is Adam; we met shortly after I moved to Manchester and married in 2016. I have met wonderful friends since moving to the city, some through my relationship with Adam and others through work or socialising. I am also fortunate to have some dear friends that go back a long way; I love them and appreciate them still being part of my life.

I have several other loves associated with Manchester, the main one being Manchester United Football Club. I’ve supported the club since my teens, and I’m proud to love them still. Adam and I have had season tickets since 2013, and although the post-Sir Alex years have been challenging, I love going to the games and it being a big part of our lives.

Another big sporting commitment is Formula 1; this is Adam’s passion and always has been, but I have been very happy to go along with this one. We’ve got up at stupid o’clock more times than I can remember, and I was even proposed to at the beginning of the Australian Grand Prix on my birthday in 2015. Sadly, we weren’t actually in Australia! The F1 is now something I love, and I’ll happily spend hours of the weekend devoted to it.

I love the band Elbow (Guy Garvey is a God), and I enjoy walking (travelling has helped this) and dancing. I love Chinese food, peanut butter on toast, Doritos, and Dairy Milk, and I am more than happy with vanilla ice cream. I love a cup of tea or a beautifully made latte, but a glass of fizz, gin and tonic or cocktail will do just nicely for a celebration. I love to have drinks at a lovely rooftop bar, but I am just as happy at home with takeout in my jimjams.

I love podcasts, and my favourite is the Off Menu Podcast with James Acaster and Ed Gamble, Layovers and The Missed Apex F1 podcast. I spend too much time on YouTube watching others travel the world (I think it helped inspire us to travel), and I have a complete addiction to The West Wing (I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve watched it; it is no doubt my comfort blanket). I discovered Taskmaster during the pandemic and enjoy getting lost in Harry Potter and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Towards the end of 2020, I was ready to take a break from my job; you could say I’d lost my passion for it, or maybe I just needed a rest, but things just came together. It became apparent - we would leave the world of permanent work, sell our house and create more space for travel. This was about creating as much freedom and flexibility as we could achieve.

I left my senior-level HR job in March 2021, Adam was working on interim contracts, and we sold our house in June 2021. By May of that year, I knew we wouldn't be able to start travelling as soon as we’d like, so I had to decide what to do next about my own work.

I knew I wanted to focus on developing others and supporting them to have brilliant working lives. I knew that going back into a permanent job just wasn’t the right thing for me at that time. That’s when I decided to fulfil a long-term goal by starting my own freelance business, and Purple Sky Consulting was born.

Starting Purple Sky Consulting meant I would have complete freedom to work with clients to focus on their leadership development and coaching needs, and I would continue to have the space to enable our travel plans. I also planned to continue developing my new business as we travelled to see where that would start taking us. I started a coaching qualification as I knew this would be a big part of what I’d do, and then in May 2021, I was open for business!

We started travelling in June 2022, and part of the ‘work from anywhere’ lifestyle meant I continued working with new and existing clients. We got back to Manchester in May 2023, and during that time, we visited 13 different countries. We had a fantastic time.

I’m continuing to develop my business, and I love how much I’m learning and the opportunity to work with different clients. Long may it continue!

If you’d like to know more about working with me for your Talent and Leadership Strategy, you can book a strategy call directly here or email me at anwen@purpleskyconsulting.co.uk.