Biography

Traditionally, biographies start with ‘I was born’ and then…… Well, we all know that part otherwise we wouldn’t be here, would we? So I’ll start with what’s been going on for the last 55 years of my life.

I found my niche as a motivational speaker and coach at the age of 9 while sitting on the steps of my tenement building in Edinburgh, Scotland freely giving advice to the neighborhood children. I didn’t realize until 45 years later that I could earn a living doing it!  I was also a big dreamer and wanted to be a writer, a singer and a traveler.  So far, I’m managed to do all three, but it took me a while to get there.

As the eldest of three, including two brothers, I was challenged in several ways. I grew up in poverty, my youngest brother was severely retarded and my father was an alcoholic, who loved to fly into a rage and beat his wife and children. I could say it was character forming, but there are better ways to form things. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t change any of it…….Well…. Maybe one or two things.

At 15, I left school and home and ran away to London where I met a gypsy woman who told me I would have five children. My first thought was, not in this lifetime! Well, Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.

By the time I was 19 I was pregnant for the first time and gave up my daughter for adoption a year later. Within two years I had married and had another child, but that didn’t last long either. I divorced and left my son with his father. Nobody said it was easy. Nineteen years later, I had 2 more children and a stepdaughter and married for a second time. The gypsy’s prediction was complete.

I also moved from London to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Paris to Amsterdam and finally to New York with a small side step to Bali, Indonesia. Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about raising a family, learning how to commit to a relationship, fought the demons of alcohol and drug addiction, and made peace with my family of origin and the people who inhabit my life now. I’ve also learned how to live life as a foreigner with home being where your clothes are. Diversity is part of being global and I love it. My family is the epitome of global. My son is English, my step-daughter is Thai, and my daughters were born in California. My husband is a New Yorker, and they say I’m the odd one out!