Working abroad was a huge step, working at sea was an even bigger one. I had moments at the start, where I thought I would never pass my STCW course (sea safety, fire fighting etc, a course that is required to work at sea) I ended up having to do the course 3 times throughout my career as it has to be renewed every 5 years. I never thought at the start of my career at sea that I would become an actual uniform wearing officer. What I mean by this is an officer in a white uniform with gold stripes (Epaulettes) on my shoulders - but I did when I became the Front Office manager onboard Thomson Spirit, what a massive learning curve I did it!

At TUI, we have a very open culture. We all call each other by first names only and my personal experience was that everyone is really helpful and has an open ear for your questions and your ideas.

I'm the sort of person that says "go for it" and "what's the worst that can happen?" I struggled for years not being able to get my foot in the (creative) door. I wound up managing a kitchen for a large pub chain - which is an absolutely fine career, but it simply wasn't for me. I started to apply to every role and opportunity that could offer me some experience to add to my CV - this included assisting photographers hang their work for upcoming exhibitions and photographing charity events for PR assets - all in my spare time. All of this rather random experience allowed me to start understanding which avenues I'd like to explore for my career. That career ended up beginning at TUI and i've never looked back.