About

It all started when…

I became deeply disillusioned and somewhat ‘traumatised’ after leaving a toxic work environment. I had been bullied by my own manager for over a year and a half. The worst part of all this was that in spite of his unacceptable (but acknowledged) behaviour they sided with him.

Surprisingly, however, eventually it dawned on me they did a huge favour for me as this made me realise what a powerful effect it has for us to be surrounded by toxic people in a toxic environment. Powerful, but not in a good way! I am also a single mum to a gorgeous and supersweet little boy who is the love and the meaning of my life but having gone through hell in this immoral environment the pressure was mounting to provide him with a positive home environment even more than ever. How could I do that when I felt so broken myself?

This traumatic experience was a great eye-opener moment that made me realise and understand the things and the people whom I did not wanted to be associated with and the ones that I did. It made me question at the core of who I was and what I truly wanted to do with my life not only as a mother but also as a human being in an ever so fast and isolated society. Some of you might as well think and say I had a midlife crisis… Who knows, and to be honest, it doesn’t even matter.

It doesn’t matter as it all turned around to the better. From being an emotional punchbag of an egomaniac at work, I found a truly worthy purpose, one that will hopefully help other mums as much as it helped me.

The idea gradually evolved and it became clearer and clearer that I wanted to create something constructive, something that would bring positivity into people’s lives, something that would give back to society and create a community where everyone could feel like the real themselves without fear.

Having been diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety I had been looking for the solution to fix it, to fix me, ever since. What I discovered was that there is plenty help out there, you just need to find the right people and try out different things and see what works for you. Once I started telling about my depression to my nearest and dearest, it transpired that some of them also suffered with a similar condition or that they knew someone who did, even though they were seemingly all well. In fact, my condition and direct experiences helped me to give a great friend of mine a shoulder to cry on and to listen with understanding and compassion when she’d gone through a difficult period in her life. Without magnifying my positive involvement in her recovery I did notice that approaching one with the right and compassionate attitude, visible improvement can be achieved.

These are the reasons why I’m so passionate about mental health (MIND). And as Mums I think we all agree that not only society and our cultural background but that also us put too much pressure on ourselves. Pressure that we are afraid to admit to suffer under with fear of someone deeming us to be unreliable or incompetent mothers.

Due to this, I started paying attention to things that evoked positive feelings, one of which was the effects of certain scents and fragrances through the sense of our smell. I’ve always loved the scent of lavender, but jasmine, sandalwood and rosemary were amongst my favourites too. As it transpired, lavender is proven, through a number of scientific studies, to be helping with anxiety, and various other things. So does rosemary. This prompted me to look in more detail into the effects of aromatherapy and the great benefits provided by essential oils (AROMA).

During my further research and investigation, I learned what an important part our skin plays in our lives and how one of our other senses (touch/feel) can improve our wellbeing. Our skin is our largest organ, and I soon realised that the correct skincare regime through mindful self-care (that we all seem to forget so easily) can be enormously beneficial. I wanted to make sure, however, that I can find a solution that is not only advantageous for our wellbeing but one that isn’t a burden on our environment and our surroundings. As I was always passionate about sustainability, this was an element that I wanted to be a major part of this vision (SKin).

And hey presto, the combination of Mind. Aroma. SKin. (M.A.SK.) has been born.