In the year since I was made redundant, it’s been a hell of a journey. A rollercoaster you might say…
For a good couple of months I was a bit of a wreck. I literally couldn't function for a while and my confidence was shot.
I have been made redundant before, but back in 2001, at the age of 24, my whole life and the world was ahead of me, and it wasn’t such a blow. At age 50 – being the only breadwinner, a mum to two AuADHD kids, having been recently diagnosed as AuADHD myself, and leading an amazing team at work for 4 years, it was a hammer blow.
As I saw those of my colleagues, who had also been redundant, find work relatively quickly, I soon realised I was looking for work as a senior marketing leader, in one of the toughest markets I have seen – this view was reinforced by the many, many recruitment consultants I was speaking to.
Staring at the future with a statutory redundancy payment – and a mortgage and the usual outgoings - I needed to find work fast but at the same time I wasn’t ready. So, with the help of my incredibly suportive husband, we made some plans, and I decided to be kind to myself and take some time to recoup. It was a financial cat’s cradle but we managed it.
I was still keeping an eye out for work but despite needing the money, even more important was that I needed to make sure my next role was the right one, in the right company, with the right potential. So I had a few conversations, an interview here and there, but I didn't seem to get anywhere.
The genie was out of the bottle
I started to realise, after my diagnosis, and combined with my redundancy, my AuADHD genie was out of the bottle and I didn't really know how, or to be honest want, to put it back in. But I was hitting a problem – people with neurodivergence don’t interview very well – especially when they are stressed and nervous. I was both.
I got to a couple of final stages but I was not successful. I kept wondering, like so many people do, "What was I doing wrong?" After my diagnosis I spent a lot of time reflecting on my whole life and my career, and things started slotting into place. I could see patterns criss-crossing throughout which I could now relate to my neurodivergence.
In the course of my work life this has included, struggling to hold down a job when I was younger, difficulty progressing, like I saw my colleagues and peers doing, coming up against behavioural expectations at work that I couldn't seem to fulfil, even when I was masking (which I didn't know by the way that’s what I was doing), and just not quite fitting the mould that was expected of a senior leader.
Despite being a CIM Fellow, a highly qualified, award-winning and chartered marketer, I was too different. I think I made my neurotypical work colleagues uncomfortable. I felt this was happening in the job interviews I was having too. I didn't fit the idea the hiring managers had of what a senior marketing leader should "be" like.
Adjusting to neurodiversity
I was starting to lose faith and we were running out of money. The reflection about my difficulties in the neurotypical business world and job market, sparked an idea. I had run my own marketing consultancy before so why not try it again? After I had to do something to get the money coming in.
I had been wondering, since my diagnosis, what my life would have been like if 1. I wasn’t neurodivergent, or 2. I had known at a much earlier age, or 3. If the different employers I had had in the course of my varied career had truly understood the impact and experiences of being neurodivergent in a predominantly neurotypical workplace.
Within about a week of "the spark", We Are Spicy was born and the website was live. I started reaching out to some of my contacts and other neuro-spicy individuals and organisations on LinkedIn asking for their support in getting the We Are Spicy brand out there.
This is how I met my now business partner, the incredibly talented and most definitely ADHD Martin Muncaster.
#DifferentNotDeficient
We Are Spicy started out as a marketing, creative and media neurodiverse collective, with the aim of providing neurodiverse talent a safe and empowering place to do their best work, and be accepted and understood as themselves. No rigid expectations here – just kindness and understanding - combined with a desire to do amazing work for our clients and be successful.
I want this business to be a profitable one, but also be a force for good – trying to change the workplace for neurodivergent people like myself, and Martin. We have both had bad experiences because of our neurodivergence, but we didn't know it at the time, and we even blamed ourselves.
So We Are Spicy is still a marketing, creative and media agency, but we also have an organisational education arm to the brand. New info on the website coming soon!
We are working with highly qualified individuals and organisations, involved in the scientific research behind neurodiversity in the workplace, to create and deliver workshops, training, accreditation and more to businesses and organisations, that truly want to harness and nurture the power of their neurodiverse talent, no matter how junior or senior they may be. And we can do it from the viewpoint of actually having lived experiences of what this is like.
It’s so exciting to be able to share this news with you all. We have such amazing plans for We Are Spicy, but at the heart of it will always be making sure that neurodivergent people are valued, understood, respected and included in this predominantly neurotypical world.
We are hoping to launch our first workshop offering in the next couple of weeks so please spread the word, especially if you know someone who is neurodivergent – or who thinks they are – and has experienced some of the same struggles I have shared with you here.