The majority of my career was spent in business intelligence for the big banks. Essentially, it was my job to dig into the data and find the story behind the stats. So when I first left that job, six years ago, the obvious new career path was reporting. What better way to combine an understanding of statistics, analysis and group-thought with my love of writing and research?
I first set up as a freelance boxing journalist, working for several magazines covering the big events and the up-coming fighters. But even covering my favourite sport didn’t give me the true sense of change that I was looking for. I wanted to use my writing to help people improve their lives, by following some of the principles that I’d utilised myself when making the leap from finance to fight sports and beyond.
It was at this point that I decided my skill-set would be better applied to writing about lifestyle, fitness & mental health. Or, more specifically, ‘Mental Strength’ and how to build it up again after a literal or metaphorical loss. So, I set up a regular article under this name with Buzz Magazine in Wales, exploring the mental health benefits of a new topic each month, such as diet, travel, meditation and trying out combat sports later in life.
I went on to become a panellist for BBC Radio Wales and a regular on ITV’s Lorraine show, but I now spend my week reporting on healthcare data and my weekends working on my first book – about the fitness, food and philosophy of fight-sports since the dawn of civilisation.
TV/Radio/Presenting
Some of the activities I tried out whilst writing for magazines, from park runs, to hill runs, to zip wire, to coaching boxers, to extreme speedboating, to yoga in the snow!
Climbing Table Mountain, South Africa for sunrise
Safari, South Africa
Lanna Muay Thai Boxing Camp, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2001
Early start for the Pamplona Bull Run, 2008
