My book

Coming soon!

Business in the Bath: creating a life and living with bipolar is part memoir, part roadmap for building and sustaining a life and living you love, while managing bipolar.

For some time, I felt the business world was off-limits because of my bipolar diagnosis. Prominent and loud voices preach hustle, productivity at all costs, and 5am starts – all ideas that don’t feel safe for my brain. I’d escaped the 9 to 5 lifestyle years ago, but the loudest self-employed voices clashed with my lived experience of meds, motherhood, and episodic moods.

I couldn’t see my lived experience reflected in the business world. It was easy for me to start feeling like it was a “me” problem, and not a symptom of a deeper societal challenge. We know work can provide a sense of purpose, dignity, and autonomy, but too many of us are excluded from participating in meaningful employment because bosses don’t know how to – or refuse to – make the necessary accommodations.

Once I had come to terms with my bipolar diagnosis, I started to get curious about work and reframe success. I found community over competition and listening to my limits, rather than pushing through at all costs, allowed me to build two businesses I love and can sustain. Along the way, I discovered my struggles, symptoms and enforced hospital stints have shaped me, but they aren’t the most interesting parts of me.

Ever wondered what it’s like to experience mania, psychosis, and depression? In a real and raw way, I don’t shy away from the painful topics, but I don’t revel in them either.

I explore some of my hardest moments, including when I was hospitalised twice. Once in the most unlikely of places, St Lucia, when my dad had to fly over to bring me home. And again, in New Zealand, when my daughter was only three months old, and one of my greatest fears came true when we were separated. I was in a general psychiatric ward, not a mother and baby unit.

I take you through my life over the last 15 years; from struggling to keep my corporate job in my twenties because of regular panic attacks, insomnia and undiagnosed bipolar; to becoming a mum in my thirties and being diagnosed with bipolar shortly after; and starting my own businesses – realising I could finally take mental health days without shame or guilt.

You’ll read why it’s so important to build a strong support network, and the vital role of creativity, compassion, and acceptance in healing, recovery and hope.

I shatter the illusion of “we all have the same 24 hours”, by introducing more gentler mantras like: “I’m at peace with my pace.” The image of the bath underpins the book – demonstrating the necessity of making space for times to be soft and slow and gentle.

This book is ultimately about owning bipolar and designing a life and living on your terms. I can’t wait for you to start viewing your bipolar differently – with more compassion, hope and acceptance.