About me

Rather than give you a boring biog, here are twenty random things you might not know  about me

If you want to read a more formal CV, click here. 

1.  Birmingham has been home for over ten years, but I was brought up in a small town seven miles north of Glasgow called Milngavie, the start point of the West Highland Way.
2. My earliest memory is going to the adoption service with my parents to ask if I could have a sister.  I was under two.
3. When I was younger I used to tie my sister to a tree in the back garden.  Regularly.  It hasn’t happened recently, I promise.
4. I wanted to play the French Horn from the age of 5.  When I was 11 my parents relented, and then told me that my birth father had been a hornplayer.
5. I can’t ride a bike – I had the choice of getting a piano or a bike when I was a kid and I chose the piano.
6. I have never been sledging or ice-skating as I have an irrational fear of losing my front teeth (probably linked to 4)
7. I love being by the seaside but I haven’t swum since I was 13 as I’m allergic to chlorine.  You don’t swim in the sea off the west coast of Scotland and survive to tell the tale…
8. I’ve played for Scotland.  I was a proud member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland for eight years.
9. I am a former Miss Strathclyde Schools Symphony Orchestra.  No, I still can’t believe it either.
10. If I hadn’t studied music, I’d like to have been an architect.
11. When I was studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, I mingled with Doctor Who, and a Hobbit.
12. Once a term at the RSAMD I helped with the mailing to all the alumni and honorary fellows.  We used to put secret messages into the letters to Sean Connery.
13. I’m qualified to teach all brass instruments.
14. I know it’s not environmentally friendly, but I love driving my car.  For me it signifies independence.
15. Despite chairing several organisations and speaking regularly at conferences, nothing makes me wobble and feel like it’s my first day at primary school like walking into a room of people I don’t know.
16. I get bored quite easily so am always hungry for new information.  I particularly like spotting ideas from other industries that can be adapted for the creative industries.
17. I’ve probably learnt more from the bad bosses and colleagues I’ve worked with, than the outstanding ones.  Fortunately there have been many more of the latter!
18. Running my own company is one of the biggest challenges of my life, but also one of the most rewarding.
19. I’m a late convert to the joys of exercise, but I now love my ‘me time’ in the gym.
20. My favourite dish is tiger prawns and scallops fried in butter and chilli, over linguine with a side salad of rocket, tomato and avocado.  Never fails to cheer me up, but usually leads to bouts of no 19 when the guilt sets in.