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Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash I once was interviewing a candidate for a design engineer role and I was really struggling. The candidate was trying to explain their final year project thesis and, from words alone, I couldn't follow. Without thinking, they picked up a pencil and started drawing on a nearby notepad, and their dialogue immediately stopped. They needed to communicate visually in order to explain more clearly. Words for them was not enough. A visual c

Photo by Charles R on Unsplash My sister absolutely revels in this time of year; it’s gifts galore. She uses her almost uncanny ability to find the perfect present, then quietly delights in watching the reaction when it’s opened. The care she puts out bounces straight back to her. If you’re nodding along, you might already recognise that gift giving is one of your love languages. For me, it’s the opposite. Gifts are probably the thing I care about least. What matters most to

Photo by Andrey Larionov on Unsplash A friend of mine, dipping her toe into people management for the first time, was having a hard time. She’d been working with a virtual assistant, and despite good intentions on both sides, it just hadn’t worked. Tempers had flared. Assumptions were made. It was exasperation at dawn! When she talked it through, she wasn’t asking how to be a better manager in a textbook sense. She was asking something much simpler: " What do I need to look

AI Generated Image - Rewritten I was sitting across from a friend in a tiny coffee shop in Central, Hong Kong. We hadn’t seen each other in five years , but within minutes we were deep in conversation like no time had passed. She’d doubled down on her side hustle this year and was doing brilliantly — but she was exhausted. Really exhausted. With twenty minutes left before I had to leave for the airport, she paused, looked at me, and asked: “Do you feel better now than you di

Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash It was never my intention to start a side hustle. It just… happened. And then it happened again....

Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash I’ve just finished judging a national student design competition for Design Truth . It’s been...

AI Generated Image of Tracy blowing out candles on a 21st birthday cake My family had taken me to the train station in Edinburgh and...

Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash "I see you have a podcast! I've been thinking of starting one myself — do you have any tips?" Three...

Hong Kong Big Buddha 2015 A couple of weeks ago, I received a message in my LinkedIn inbox from a colleague from my time living and working in Shenzhen.   They were setting up their China office and were planning to send associates out for stints to support the product development process…. And wanted to hear my reflections on my time there.   Firstly, I was delighted that some thought was going in to set up their team for success, because whether we like it or not, experienc

Photo by charlesdeluvio  on Unsplash In 2021 I jacked it all in. Walked away from a 15+ year career in engineering. Just like that. Done. I was utterly fed up. Burnt out to a crisp. Unfulfilled. And I had no idea—zero inspiration—what might come next. So I went down a completely different path: retraining, relaunch, repair. I don’t regret it. But I won’t sugarcoat it either. It’s been a really, REALLY difficult road to walk. In the last couple of years, I’ve spoken to a numbe

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams  on Unsplash I’ve always struggled at being nice to myself. To everyone else? No problem. But when...

Photo by Nadir sYzYgY  on Unsplash I recently wrapped up another cycle of the Kerning the Gap  mentoring program, where I’d been...

Photo by Burst on Unsplash If you work in a technical field, you've probably faced the question at some point: should you move into management or stay on the technical path? It’s not always an easy decision. I had a conversation with a mentee of mine a few months ago and I was stunned with their question, 'How long do I have to tolerate the technical path before I take the step towards management' Either path shouldn't be something you tolerate. The way you feel now, will li

Photo by Raquel Moss on Unsplash I’m getting a bit tired of hearing stories of women in STEM being passed over for promotion — or...

Photo by Joshua Hibbert on Unsplash A recent restructuring left me questioning my place. The uncertainty made me wonder if I should...

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash We’ve all been there—feeling like maybe we’re just not good enough at work. This thought can creep in at the worst times, and its aftershocks ripple through every part of our lives: how we show up in relationships, how we view ourselves, and even how we manage our mental health. It’s a horrible feeling, believing that you’re not adding value or worth in your workplace. Even I’ve been there—and not just a long time ago, but recently! If you’r

Photo by Fernando Venzano on Unsplash I’ve been seeing this call for help far too often over the last couple of years, and honestly, it...

6 years ago I was sitting on my sofa in Shenzhen. I had worked hard my whole life to get to this moment. I had a beautiful apartment with...

Let me know if this sounds familiar. You go to school and you do well in certain subjects, therefore you elect to study this further at...

I recently attended a wonderful masterclass courtesy of Jo Oogarah last week. It was called 'How to elevate your career using feminine...