I work supporting women leaders in Education because of my own raw, messy, lived experience of breaking under the weight of it all. I know what it feels like to be the woman who juggles the emotional labour of an organisation and a chaotic household, who shows up every single day because you’ve always been told you “just need to work a bit harder”, put in “a few more hours”, be “resilient”, and “hold everything together for everyone else”. And while you’re doing all that, your sense of identity is quietly eroding, and perimenopause is making you question your sanity.

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My burnout didn’t happen overnight. It crept up on me stealthily for years. I kept pushing, kept performing, kept being the capable one, the steady one, the one who could handle anything, the expert plate-spinner. And then it finally hit me. Full in the face. Hard. There was nowhere to hide, and my world began to unravel frighteningly fast.

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My personal ‘baggage’ became too heavy to leave at the office door. I could see I didn’t have the resources I needed, and eventually it resulted in me walking away from a role I had poured years of energy, passion, dedication, skill, and expertise into. I took all that sector‑specific knowledge, experience, and insight with me because I simply knew I wouldn’t survive staying.

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Since then, I’ve realised just how many women leaders are burning out. Quietly. Unseen. Secretly, in some cases. We are facing a crisis. A potential unmitigated disaster. Midlife women who have given their everything for years are running on fumes, and they still have a significant number of working years ahead before retirement is even an option. If we don’t intervene, these women will walk away believing the problem was them, that they failed. They won’t see that the system has been working against them. And if they go, whether by choice or otherwise, the system continues to lose brilliant, compassionate, wise women.

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I simply can’t let other women reach the point I did. And collectively, we cannot continue to let the Education sector fail these incredible women. Women in Education lead with heart. They hold communities together. They carry the emotional weight no one names. They deserve a system that sees them not just as leaders, but as humans, and celebrates that very fact.

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I believe coaching is a fundamental right for women leaders. Not a perk. Not a performance tool. A core part of their ongoing self‑care and mental wellbeing. Coaching shouldn’t be about climbing the corporate ladder with “grit and resilience”, it should be about giving women real choices about what their ladder looks like, where it’s heading, how they want to climb it, and what they want to carry with them.

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I am determined to stand beside women. To help them find clarity in the noise. To help them truly believe they are amazing. To help them see the incredible impact they are having, and the true value they bring to every part of their lives.

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