Meet Anwen…
I’m Purple Sky Consulting’s Leadership Coach and Founder.
Nice to meet you!
Well, this isn’t something I’m comfortable with, but since selling my house to go travelling at the same time as setting up my first business, I’ve accepted that to change things, you’ll experience discomfort. So, in the same amount as it’s excruciating, I’m also excited to share with you what I know about myself.
You may have been subscribed to the blog for a little while or just joined; either way, thank you for being part of Purple Sky Thinking and supporting me and my business. I wanted to write this blog to open a window into who I am and why I do what I do. I hope you find it interesting, and I’d love to hear what you think.
Who am I?
I’m Anwen. I was born in Normandie, France, and mainly raised in North Wales, but I’m now an adopted Mancunian. My parents separated when I was three years old, which resulted in Dad staying in France and Mum, my little sister, and I moving to a small town in North Wales. I was very lucky to spend pretty much every school holiday in France with my family there.
Experiencing separation and divorce is incredibly challenging for everyone involved, and it certainly left its mark. The good thing it gave me was the opportunity to experience two different worlds and know two different languages; sadly, Welsh isn’t one of them!
After getting married young, at 22 (I think it should be illegal to do that, btw lol!!), I was divorced by 27 and found myself needing to make a big change in my life. So, in 2008, in steps the wonderful place that is Manchester. It was the first time I’d been that far away from home as I’d gone to Uni locally, but it was incredible. I loved it.
Whilst we have been travelling (more on that in a bit), if anyone asks where we are from, then I say, without thinking – “Manchester”. It’s home; it’s now part of me, whether it likes it or not.
I care about the people that matter to me, and I love having time with them, but I’m mainly an introvert with a few extrovert tendencies. I’ve been challenged by my mental health, self-image, and confidence most of my life, and this has contributed to significant issues with anxiety. I did some intensive CBT after turning 40, I wanted to change things, and I’ve learnt to like who I am, even though some days can be harder than others. I am now much more in control and aware, which I like a lot.
My travel buddy, my best friend, oh and my hubby is Adam. We met not long after I moved to Manchester, and we got married at Manchester Town Hall in May 2016. That was a very happy day that I will never forget. I couldn’t have a better person supporting me.
I love…Travel
I’m not sure there are many other reasons that I would give up my home, a good job and change our way of living entirely, but travel made it a no-brainer. Spending the last 11 months exploring new parts of the world at a slower pace than on holiday has been an absolute treat, and I’m so happy that we decided to do it.
We’ve been to; the west coast of the US, driven from Calgary to Vancouver via Jasper, taken a cruise to Alaska and then explored inland. We visited Iceland and then Singapore before heading to Bali. After Bali, it was Hanoi and Ha Long Bay before a stop in Kuala Lumpur. We’ve then had five months in Thailand with a few short trips to Laos and Cambodia with the unmissable treat that is Angkor Wat. Then it was a stop in South Korea and Japan, before a bit more of Thailand and a quick stop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We are now back in the UK.
I’ve been capturing some of the locations on our ‘Big Dreams, Small Suitcases’ Instagram account. We already have a couple of films on YouTube, too, so go subscribe, and you can follow some of our adventures when the new films are posted.
We hope to do more travel like this and make the most of living and working in a more flexible way; we don’t know how or when that will happen. We’ll see.
The quick-fire round.
I love working with brilliant people, and I’ve been lucky to do that on many occasions - they have taught me so much about who I can be and what I want to be. I love Manchester United and Formula 1. I love my pyjamas. I love taking a walk with a podcast or audiobook. I love cake, ice lollies, bubble-gum-flavoured fizzy sweets, Doritos, raspberries, meringue, and Chinese food. I’m very lucky to have wonderful friends and family in my life, some are new, and some I’m fortunate to have had with me for always.
I love multiple cups of tea, a well-made latte and hand me a glass of fizz or a G&T, and I’m happy. I love getting dressed up to go to a fancy restaurant or for afternoon tea. I love the sunshine or getting wrapped up in the cold, but putting both of those together, and that is energising to me. I love watching anything about travel on YouTube, I’ve watched The West Wing too many times to admit, and I love the Harry Potter films and the MCU.
I dislike cleaning, spiders (just writing that makes me squirm), and anything medical or squeamish. I don’t like Whiskey, sweet white wine, or black coffee (I don’t know how I was born in France!). I don’t like celery; or ginger, and I don’t understand Jaffa Cakes!
Why I set up Purple Sky Consulting.
With the desire to travel more, I wanted to create a new working life for myself. Setting up my business has been one of the most challenging things I’ve done. It is not easy, and I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone most days. That is a very good thing.
I’m learning how to be the CEO of everything, but I’m also getting to do work that I love – working with leaders through coaching and development.
The purpose I’m working to achieve with Purple Sky is to inspire leaders to love what they do so they and their teams have brilliant working lives.
That’s what I’m working towards every day.
Q&A – I got a couple of questions submitted on LinkedIn; here are the answers.
Question: What was your funniest experience whilst travelling?
There are a few, but the one that stands out and makes us both laugh is when we were in Hanoi. We were exploring one of the beautiful temples, and there were lots of teenagers celebrating their graduation. Adam was minding his own business taking pictures of the temple, and one of the teens asked if he could have his picture taken with him. Adam said yes, and then a whole group of them pilled in. We can’t work out if this was a strange dare or if they thought he was a celeb. We loved it either way!
Question: What lessons have you learnt about staying connected to others whilst travelling?
Staying connected is important, but it can take different forms. The main point is about making time for it and being deliberate. For example, my dad prefers to catch up on Skype rather than messaging, my mum it’s WhatsApp for either face-to-face or messaging, and it’s a mixture with other people.
I’ve taken care about not overdoing it, creating space for myself to be in the moment but also staying connected in a way that is meaningful.
Question: How are you using these insights in your work with leaders in a hybrid world?
For me, the key insights are to be deliberate and to adapt. These are key themes for working in a hybrid way and for leadership in general. Pay attention to what is needed and what different people respond best to. Be deliberate and make the interactions valuable and enhancing.