Be yourself
My journey.
From starting over to finding my purpose.
55
August 2019
The age at which I stepped into a new life, with very little except the belief that I could begin again.
01 · Starting over
I stepped into a new life empty-handed.
In August 2019, at the age of 55, I stepped into a new life — completely alone, and with very little that I could call my own.
I had spent much of my life working quietly behind the scenes. I was a housewife. I had run an institute, taught, created, managed and built things for others, but I had no formal career, no impressive degree and no conventional work history to fall back on.
What I did have was a dream: to do something that could change an ordinary person's life into something extraordinary.
Extraordinary does not have to mean money or success.
It can mean hope, courage, opportunity, dignity, or the belief that you can begin again.
02 · The first step
2021
One practical skill became a door.
I started with the one practical skill I had: baking. A small online bakery slowly became Sugar & Spice in 2021.
Baking was never my passion, but it became my first step into the world of business, people, risk, failure and possibility. For years, I kept looking for someone to take it over because I thought it was only a means to an end.
Eventually, I understood that perhaps that was exactly what it was supposed to be: a step, not the destination.
A room where people could arrive as they are
03 · Be Yourself · 2023
A space built around freedom.
In 2023, I opened Be Yourself, a cafe built around an idea that mattered more to me than becoming a corporate entity: the freedom to be myself and to create a space where others could do the same.
From there came Circles in the Sand, a growing space for conversation, connection, hope and inspiration.
“I did not want to build only a business. I wanted to build somewhere people could be themselves.”
04 · What came next
One idea began opening into another.
Connection
Circles in the Sand
A growing space for conversations, connection, hope and inspiration. No theme, no speaker, no fee.
Come sit with usWellbeing
Ketora
An exploration of healthier possibilities: food that still feels generous, useful and close to home.
Explore KetoraA microphone
Unsung Heroes
A podcast platform for ordinary people with extraordinary stories, especially those who are rarely given a microphone.
The next step is unfolding
How I measure success
Not by arriving. By how far I have come.
Looking back, I consider myself a great success, not because I have reached some final destination, but because I have come so far from where I began.
I have built homes, created businesses, opened spaces, started conversations and, most importantly, kept moving.
But I have not reached my biggest dream yet.
The staircase
They are not separate dreams.
Everything I have built is part of one journey. Each name is another step toward the purpose that still lies ahead.
- 01Sugar & Spice
- 02Be Yourself
- 03Circles in the Sand
- 04Ketora
- 05Unsung Heroes
The dream ahead
To reach people, help people and change lives.
I want to share what kept me going, what helped me survive, why I never gave up, and how someone can keep moving forward when the road is rocky and the next step is uncertain.
I want to take that message beyond one cafe, one business or one country — and eventually travel the world doing it.