Update

Update

First, I would like to thank so many of you for your DMs and emails over the last two years - please accept my sincere apologies for failing to respond to so many of your kind messages. In respect of my lack of engagement on this portal and industry events I thought it was time to explain my absence from both industry events and EBACE, where many of you kindly asked where I was during the event this year.

In May 2019 my mother had a stroke, as her daughter I had the incredible privilege of being her carer along with my sister during this period. My Mother was an incredible fighter throughout, however after a very long and brave fight, last September she contracted pneumonia and sadly passed away. My Mothers passing has left a huge hole in our lives and a legacy that I hope will last for many generations to come.  My number one fan and biggest cheerleader in life, kind beyond words, wise and beautiful with an enormous heart.  She was probably the most glamourous 85-year-old you’d ever come across. Mum never went anywhere without her lipstick (appropriately called ‘make an entrance’) my one lasting memory of that first week of her stroke was Mum mustering all her strength to put her lipstick on – and she did, everyday! I have never been prouder of my Mum than in those last two years. Upon her exit from the hospital, two of the nurses were crying , that was the impact she had on people. In a world where you can be anything, be kind, that was Mum.

In August 2019 I too was admitted to Hospital and was later diagnosed with an abdominal tumour and skin cancer. After some 6 operations over a period of 10 months I am glad to say, all is well and whilst I have a few more battle scars, I am indeed very lucky to be here. I will be forever grateful for the medical teams at both Chelsea and Westminster and the Royal Marsden - how well they looked after me! C&W is indeed a well-oiled machine and where the rest of the NHS maybe failing, I have nothing but praise for the team and all those that cared for me.

By far the hardest part of this rather brutal journey over the last two years has been the loss of my mother and also my best friend, Gilly Parrot. Over this period, I have lost 7 people who all played a significant role in my life, and I cannot deny the loss is huge and grief is a journey and one I am still on. To witness the suffering of others and to feel so utterly powerless is much harder than the physical pain of our own ailments and those scars run much deeper and take longer to heal. So whilst I am beginning to arise to this new day, it will take time and thank you for your patience.

I would be lying to say that running a business during all this has been easy, but my mother brought me up to be strong, resilient and we survived just ??. I will have news on ConnectJets and ConnectSkies over the next few weeks as many of you have been asking. I am so very grateful to all my clients who have remained with me during this time, loyalty is a wonderful thing – thank you!

And finally, I have a new venture, called Gold-Air! You cannot keep a good woman down as they say ?? but more on that later.

Thank you once again to my colleagues, friends and the LinkedIn family for your support and grace during this period and for checking up on me. I am back and ready for my new venture.