From Burnout to Breakthrough: How I Found My Voice in Music!

6 months ago, I followed my dream.?

2 years before that, I was recovering from a severe burnout, actually, I would say it was more healing from a deep core wound - I discovered that I did not belong in a system I’d been working in for almost 20 years.?

I started my career as an Executive Assistant and experienced great joy in looking after someone, making sure they were taken care of and creating systems that helped someone else do their job easily. I worked in Corporates, I worked for CEO’s, I worked in the finance sector and it led me to one of my favourite roles as the Assistant to the Art Director/Head of Culture at The Southbank Centre where I reconnected with my love of creativity, art and literature and actually, it was this skill that helped me follow my heart to Amsterdam.

Over the years, I’ve changed direction many times, trying to find the right ‘fit’; I worked really hard, invested in learning and gave things a shot. I asked myself questions like what do I love to do, why do I do it, who do I do it for and where do I get energy from? The red line is that I’ve always loved bringing people together, I love helping people feel understood, I love connecting the dots and it brings me joy to know that someone got a great project or met a great friend because I saw potential in a connection. I am great at playing matchmaker and I spent many years organising events, networking, and much much more.?

Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Now everything made sense! The ability to change direction and discover new things, always an idea to turn into a business idea (since school I was an entrepreneur; making toys, sewing clothes, creating ideas and selling them to my school mates!) and if you know me, I’m always looking for the next invention to patent! Anyway, it also was glaringly obvious that somehow the system I was trying to be in didn’t support me not only as a woman, and as a Black woman but as a neuro-spicy person too! I struggled to find my why and it was hard for me to crawl out of one of the darkest periods of my life.?

6 months ago we launched ‘A New Voice in Music’, a monthly podcast dedicated to telling stories from people in the music and creative industry! The idea was to hear what other people’s life stories were, how they got there, what obstacles did they face and how did they overcome them and like me, how did music play a part in all of this? I remember that music was my saviour, I could remember the good times and the bad times all in one song!?

Aside from the podcast, I wanted to build a community - I’ve met so many amazing people over the years and I wanted to bring them all together. Not only am I passionate about helping people feel understood, seen and heard, I also want people to experience belonging - maybe because that’s something I struggled with throughout my whole life.?

Over the years I’ve done many things from recruitment to culture management, moderating, speaking at events, I even started my own company, FreshhhConnections to connect creative agencies to brands directly and now, I am using those years of experience to focus on events which share knowledge and meaning through art and music. You might have seen lots of things coming past and thought, what’s she up to now? That’s why I wanted to get personal, to share my story with you instead of you just seeing the other side. Goddess of Queens has been a long time coming and I’m using all my strengths and lessons from the past to create something that I believe in and I’m happy I get to share it with you.?

Yes, I started a new direction at 43 to become a DJ! Yes, I am organising events and producing a podcast! I suppose I’m sharing this with you because sometimes in the process I did feel like a fraud… like, what am I doing now? I am writing this to say, if you have a dream, follow it, if you fail, start again and keep going. My partner always says “Fast will kill” and they’re right! Every day I wake up to a new possibility and I am grateful that I have the support and confidence of my friends and family to keep going.?

This month, I took a break from the podcast, however, we’ll have a double whammy for you on the 25th August! More details to follow and in the meantime, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to all the episodes , this is your chance before the next one {two} comes out!?

Thanks for listening!?

Maxine aka Goddess of Queens