Meet JJ - The Confidence Queens Academy

Courage, Empowerment, Action & Growth.

I stopped doubting myself and took action, then watched as my passion led me to my purpose.

My name is JJ, and my life, well, it’s been a rollercoaster filled with fears which I’ve had to face.

Like, when I found myself about to get married to someone who was not right or good for me and had to tell a church filled with over a thousand people, that I was calling off the wedding.

Or when I found myself accepting a job in the Middle East and left everything and everyone I knew behind, to start a life, alone, in the UAE.… fear, fear, fear!

One thing which was always constant for me is the ability to build my career and land great jobs and promotions. That was my thing!

I literally applied for five jobs in a different city, went to five job interviews in the same day and landed five job offers.

So, I accepted one full time, and consulted part time for another…as you do!

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!

The job I accepted was very prestigious. I was working in, what was at the time, the 3rd largest law firm in the world.

Sounds great right… well, I hated it!

I spent a year thinking about my escape while the UK was going through an economic crisis.

So now what?!

What came next was tonnes of prayer and stress. Did I just make the biggest mistake of my life to leave a company that I loved to progress my career?

Anyway, long story short… No one in the UK was hiring. Recruitment agencies had nothing on their books to offer me… until I got the call!

“There’s a job going in Dubai, but”

Before she finished her sentence, “I said send me the job spec”.

Not because it was in Dubai, actually, I was naive, I didn’t even know where Dubai was at the time. I just heard the word ‘job’ and said, ‘Thank you God”.

Another BIG change
in my life

I took advantage of the touristy stuff, desert safari’s, camel rides, visiting all the Emirates.

I lived in some of the most amazing properties, gym, and pool as standard. The view from my balcony was the Burj Khalifa, The Address Hotel and Dubai Mall.

I started singing again, at the top hotels and venues in Dubai, singing on live TV, recording songs, signed to a record label, live gigs with a band.

I played hard

BUT I WORKED EVEN HARDER

I lost my passion

Amongst all the play, my career skyrocketed.
I travelled to many countries as my role covered the UK, Middle East & Asia, three different time zones. My homelife was a wreck, as I was trapped (due to strange circumstances brought on by being in the Middle East), in a relationship that had turned physically abusive, so I hid by working up to 15 hours a day just to stay away from being at home.

But then came the overwhelm followed by the dreaded burn out! Then the loss of self-belief, loss of self-confidence, loss of passion.

By the time I had come out of the other end, I discovered my job was no longer giving me what I wanted, I was shaken because I thought my career made me who I was. I had to spend time working on myself and figure out what I wanted from my life and how to get it.

I had lost my passion and meaning and went on a journey to figure out how to get it back. My journey of self-discovery led me to realise who I was again. It was, afterall, my faith and my new found spirituality that saved and maintained my life. I began to put together the frameworks that bought me back into alignment and started to refocus myself by putting my career back together again. I loved the earlier stages of my career because I was investing and adding value to people, but as I progressed in my career, I was adding value to ‘processes and systems’.

My passion was working with people, supporting, listening and empowering them to go after their dreams, so I had to find the courage to go after mine! I wanted to work for myself and have a more flexible lifestyle. I didn’t want to work long hours, spending my time improving systems and processes; instead, I wanted to set my own hours and do the work which I love.

I was determined to live my life as the new and improved version of me, but setting up my own business still felt impossible. I told myself, I couldn’t set up my own business because I was too busy, my team needed me, my job was too important, I didn’t have start-up capital, I’m not cut out to be a business owner – and many other excuses, to avoid dealing with the fear of setting up my own business.

Someone saw past my excuses and recommended I read the book ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. Initially, I thought, I know this stuff already, I’ve always been that person who ‘does it anyway’. When I began reading the book, I realised, I had succumbed to a deep-rooted fear based on lack of financial security and self-doubt. I even got to grips with the fears that caused me to enter negative relationship cycles and one-sided friendships. My ‘Chatterbox’ was telling me I couldn’t go it alone; my business would fail; no one will pay to work with me without a global company brand behind me. I wasn’t worthy, I wasn’t good enough and no one would ‘choose me’ because they never did.

It was time to tune in to my higher self and face my fear so that I could be reconciled with my passion. I remembered the decision I made that moved me out of the abusive relationship which was to choose myself, and I decided from now one, I need to choose myself daily. This was the only way to keep the momentum and sustainability of my new life, JJ 2.0.

So, in the words of Susan Jeffers, I decided to feel the fear and do it anyway.

And now...here I AM.

Every day you see me, you are seeing the best version of me. Every day I commit to being better than I was the day before. I’ve learned so much and I continue learning. But now, I pay it forward by sharing what I have learned with other Queens, so they can also live their best lives with sustainable self-confidence.

One of the things I learned is, if you don’t live intentionally and define your passion and your values, you will never find meaning or purpose in your life.

This is what led me to create The 4-Step Value System, because I never wanted to lose my passion again. This System forms a framework that I know works and instills you with the formula to create sustainable confidence. The values are, my philosophy, and they are ‘Courage, Empowerment, Action, and Growth’.

They feed into each other, so courage empowers you to take action, which is the starting point for growth. I believe all four of these things need to be present to create a confident life of success, meaning, and satisfaction -the life you deserve. These values fuel each of the coaching sessions and programmes I create.

I’m an International Coach and CEO of Ability Business Group, a coaching and consulting business, serving individuals and organisations. I’m the Founder of a grassroots community interest company called We Excel and a Feel the fear and do it anyway, Certified Trainer for the Susan Jeffers Corporation. Also, certified in Dyslexia Therapy and Dyslexia Awareness, I deliver training and coaching support for adults who require help with workplace coping strategies, studying skills, and Disability Impact Training.

And of course, I am the Founder of The Confidence Queens Academy, my treasured, inner circle.

My Mission is to support women to learn how to choose themselves as by doing so they can develop the tools they need to have sustainable self-confidence and overcome the barriers and obstacles in their lives that prevent them from reaching their potential. I’m also committed to contributing in the reduction of the gender and ethnicity pay gap. I aim to empower women to be the best, most courageous, and most confident versions of themselves. To be proud of who they are and fairly compensated for what they do. Why? because we ALL deserve to live the lives we desire but also because representation is massive to me. When our younger generation sees us, I want them to know women, regardless of colour, ethnicity, orientation, or background, can do anything, be anything, and be successful!

Representation matters.

I represent courage, empowerment, action, and growth.

What do you want to represent?