Hello! It's taken me a little while to introduce myself.
I’ve reached mid-life and I had a lot of figuring out to do. It’s been wild and a total shit show at times. And I never know where to start on introductory posts!
But here we are so let’s go!!!!
I grew up in England, born in London. Travel, fashion and textiles were threaded through my life from my earliest memories.
My parents instilled in me, many important values. They taught me to work hard, earn my own money, follow my dreams. They worked hard and made sacrifices to faciliate that for me, something I’m forever grateful for.
At 15, with my gran and her sewing machine, I made a gold silk vest hand-embroidered with a Chinese dragon, and a corset embroidered with symbols from the African continent. For my GCSE textiles final.
I was enchanted. It wasn't what anyone else was doing - it seemed different - another thread about me I never embraced - I tried to ‘fit in’ - to ‘belong’. It didn’t work out.
I went to university, studied fashion, textiles and business, majoring in hand-weaving. I loved it. It was the environment for me.
And then I let it go.
I bent myself into roles that made sense on paper, on my CV, following a 'linear path'. A stereotype that wasn't mine to hold or to move in.
Including a buying role at a global fast fashion retailer. Creativity meant trying to make £15 jeans look more interesting. I was far, far from myself and what I saw to be creative.
In 2008, my now-husband Steve, got a role in Kuala Lumpur. We packed our suitcases with no fear - just adventure. It meant I could also leave my job in fast fashion (fuck that shit).
I ended up working as Director of Administration at an international school in the city. The ambitious side of me was satisfied.
Everything else wasn't. I was there for 8 years. Working long hours. Burning out. Never listening to the voice that told me this wasn't for me.
Through all of it - Steve has been my rock and a guiding force. None of where and who I am now has been possible without him.
But Malaysia gave me many extraordinary - literally - life-changing events and gifts.
I travelled. Frequently. Always following textiles, craft, weaving communities - artistry that is embedded in the countries' cultures and lives.
Every artisan and person I met welcomed me with so much warmth and generosity.
Yet it was also in these spaces and places that I began to learn about the impact of colonisation and the legacy it had left.
Those trips planted the seeds for everything that came next.
I had my daughter Remy in Malaysia. My maternity leave was 3 months, Malaysian labour law at the time. I stretched it to 4 with accrued holiday.
I knew it was far too early to go back to work. And when I did, I could no longer breastfeed - the system made it impossible.
I didn't realise then the global systems at play - not just for women and mothers but fashion - playing out through capitalism, the patriarchy and white supremacy.
The guilt was very real. Once I understood what I hadn't known - about the science of breastmilk, about what I never got to experience fully with Remy - stayed with me.
After Remy was born, I left the school.
It was unexpected and changed my life course.
But through it, I began to come home to myself and creativity.
I started Eloma, initially a brand, then a consultancy rooted in women, artisans and craft.
At the same time, Covid brought my family back to the UK.
It taught me many things. And it reconfirmed how exploitative the fashion industry is. A system by design, needing urgent change.
And then I found Claire, of all places - on LinkedIn. Or she found me. Or the universe sorted it out, who knows!
Meeting Claire was like finding the missing jigsaw piece I'd been subconsciously seeking.
She was passionate, rebellious, determined and driven by her experience of motherhood and breastfeeding. She invited me onto the Human Milk team, first as Retail Director, then as Partner.
8 years previously, after leaving the school and starting Eloma, I wrote in a journal that I wanted to do something that forwards women, their rights and position in the world - and Claire and Human Milk was this piece.
And here's what I believe.
Fashion and clothing is one of the most powerful tools we have for shifting culture. What we wear tells the world who we are and what we stand for.
And a brand with substance - one that uses fashion to share the science of breastmilk into the world - that forwards women's bodies, women’s rights, women's knowledge and women’s intuition - is worth building. Now more than ever.
Because, if breastmilk is the foundation of human health, soil is the foundation of fashion. I would love to bring craft and women-led organisations into Human Milk one day.
One thing I'd change about the industry, immediately?
Stop cultural appropriation. Brands copying artisans, their craft and artistry is theft, period.
Stop the exploitation of women. 80% of garment workers in our supply chain are women, many will be mothers. We refuse to be part of a system that does this.
Artisans have been practising sustainability for millennia. When working with artisans - stewards of their craft, culture and ecology - especially artisans in the global south - we are students. The hierarchical approach brands typically use needs to be flipped on its head.
What do I believe about the importance of women here?
That we need a return to the matriarchy. Not to eliminate men - but to restore and return to a healthy, collective way of organising the world. One that centres children, community, and women's wisdom.
I believe mothers are going to play a big role in systems change. There is something rebellious about a mother who is awake in the world.
That the information about breastmilk that most mothers never receive isn't an accident. It's systemic and Human Milk can be a part of the change. It’s going to take some work but we are here for that.
Creativity is not a nice-to-have. It's resistance and rebellion. It's healing. It's connection to ourselves and others. It's how we build, differently.
Something I live by - The person who believes they can and the person who believes they can't - are both right. If I have the luxury of being able to make that choice, I choose the former.
My role at Human Milk is Retail Director and Partner.
I'm here, as part of the team to build collections as well as the retail and supply chain. All with the same values I'd want from any brand I'd spend my money with. Integrity. Beauty. Purpose. Nothing throwaway, nothing exploitative. Rooted in reciprocity.
I came to Human Milk because women, motherhood and breastfeeding is a portal into every foundational conversation our generation needs to have. Because how we listen to women - to their bodies, their instincts, their knowledge matters enormously.
Not just for women, but for the collective.
Building Human Milk feels like returning to beauty, joy, creativity, playfulness and ambition.
To the threads that have always run through my life.
If you’ve got this far, thank you!
I’m excited to see how this plays out.
It's not just us - it's all of us, together, co-creating.
