ABOUT
I spent most of my childhood and teenage years growing up in a single parent household on the Holmewood Estate in Bradford. The realisation that we were somehow disadvantaged only started to dawn on me when I realised our council school uniform wasn’t the norm! I didn’t see the frowns at my school bus pass or the free meal token I would collect each day. There were some people who actually lived in their own homes too, actually owned them, some even had sliding doors on their wardrobes! At the time I thought me and my friends were oblivious to the poverty and prejudice that surrounded us. Everyone it seemed was in the same boat, some more than others.
The Last Druid Trilogy
The Last Druid Trilogy is my attempt to bring together my love of stories, with my love of business with a desire to give something back. I realised much later that the books are deeply autobiographical, some would call it autofiction, (a literary style blending autobiography and fiction). It is a story that believes in hope in a fragmented and uncertain world. For me, the hope, partly, came from those children’s books from my childhood. The stories that dare us to believe, to have faith, to hope that good will always defeat evil. That light will always overcome darkness. I was reading an article recently, by a lady called, Elizabeth Wainright, she believes the best children’s books ‘shows us how to hope, and shows us what right action can look like when we invoke that hope’.
Business
I launched my current venture, Talent Insight Group, to give something back to its community guided by our social cohesion, values and purpose: with the ambition of creating a culture that promotes kindness, authenticity and continuous learning. These values mean a proportion of Talent Insight’s annual profits go to charities who give people and children – who might be disadvantaged in some way – belief that they are important and valued.
I have been building and leading businesses for the past twenty five years. I founded and helped build the Write Research Group into the number one talent intelligence business in the UK before it was acquired by Capita Group in 2013. I was very grateful to be awarded the 2020 Northeast Entrepreneur of the Year by the Entrepreneur’s Forum which aims to inspire and support fellow entrepreneurs.
We launched Talent Insight Group to give something back to its community whilst helping its clients win the war for talent, by building a world class talent acquisition and intelligence consultancy guided by our social cohesion, values and purpose: We have done this through creating a culture that promotes kindness, authenticity and continuous learning.
What’s Next is a no-nonsense marketing agency focusing on content, digital and brand strategy for SMEs across the UK. What’s Next combines strategic expertise with practical and affordable implementation to help businesses reach their marketing goals on time and in budget.
I love Dave Cantin’s philosophy of philanthropy ‘Growing to give, and giving to grow’. I always tell people you can’t pull people from the quick sand if you are waist deep in the same quick sand. It’s not just about giving money, time, energy and providing support but sharing my experience of growing corporate and social enterprises.
PHD
I feel very privileged to have been accepted to study for a PhD at the School of English at the University of Nottingham. My supervisor is Professor Spencer Jordan.
My research will explore hope, truth and certainty in a fragmented and uncertain world. It will explore the transition from modernism to postmodernism and how this plays out in metamodernism and the philosophy of truth. The book rejects absolute narratives whilst embracing narrative fragmentation, intertextuality and the unreliable narrator whilst at the same time yearning for stability, certainty and meaning. I am interested in exploring the force behind this tension and whether we can ever know truth in a post-postmodern world. As Professor Jordan suggests, ‘There is a desire in metamodernism for authentic experience while knowing it is an impossibility’ (Jordan, Metamodernism and the Postdigital in the Contemporary Novel (Bloomsbury Studies in Digital Cultures).
My research will explore hope, truth and certainty in a fragmented and uncertain world. It will explore the transition from modernism to postmodernism and how this plays out in metamodernism and the philosophy of truth.
I feel very privileged to have been accepted to study for a PhD at the School of English at the University of Nottingham. My supervisor is Professor Spencer Jordan who’s work you can view by following the link below.
Nottingham is a fantastic place to study creative writing. From readings to workshops, to guest lectures, there are a wide range of literary and cultural activities on offer. Since 2015, Nottingham has also been a UNESCO City of Literature, offering an annual programme of literary events.