My Story
Keynote speaker, author and CEO of PVL. Cult survivor turned culture builder.
I grew up in one of the most notorious religious cults, moving between communes around the world. I didn’t go to school. I was raised to believe the world was about to end, and I became an expert at being whoever people needed me to be on the outside while slowly falling apart on the inside.
By 26 I’d left, with two young children and an alcohol addiction, and I didn’t want to be here any more. So I gave myself one year. In that year I tried everything people said made a good life, even when I didn’t believe it: gratitude, movement, sobriety, connection, honesty, therapy.
That year changed everything. I learned I could take responsibility for my mental health, that my past didn’t have to define me, and that I could rewrite my story.
Then I kept learning. I trained in youth mental health, psychotherapy and coaching, and completed a Masters in the Psychodynamics of Human Development. I worked in the employee wellbeing industry until I couldn’t ignore the hypocrisy of telling people how to live well while the culture behind the scenes was just as toxic. So I built something different: a business where my team and I practise what we teach.
Today I share a message of hope and accountability, on stage, in my books, on YouTube and on my podcast. And I help People and Culture leaders build workplaces where people do their best work, because work should be good for our health, not something we recover from after.