Creative Women In Neighbourhoods

You Never Know What a Spark of Creativity Might Set in Motion

One day to awaken our invisible giants. Six one-to-one coaching sessions. An email a year later. Another two years on. And a journey that shows us how far a dream can travel when we create the conditions for it to come alive.

“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”— Eleanor Roosevelt

It started with an email…

In 2025, a year after delivering a Creative Women in Neighbourhoods workshop at Sholver Community Centre in Oldham, I received an email from Julie, one of the women who had attended.

It was an update on her life since our time together, and reading it brought a huge smile to my face. Julie was exploring opportunities, making connections and taking steps into areas she was passionate about. There was a sense of possibility running through every line.

She told me she was now working two days a week in graphic design at the Neuromuscular Centre. She was also collaborating with some wonderful people on research into adaptive clothing with a new start-up called Reconditioned.

Then came the news about something else she had done. Julie had contacted Javeno McLean, the personal trainer known across social media for his inclusive approach to fitness, and asked whether he would train her at his gym in Manchester. She had attended his first inclusive 5K walk and run event at Boggart Hole Clough, introduced herself and given him her number.

He invited her to the gym. She had an appointment to train with him the following week.

What struck me wasn't simply the opportunities Julie was finding. It was the willingness to reach out, make connections and explore what might happen next. She was putting herself out there, following her interests and discovering what could open up when she took action.

And then she wrote something that has stayed with me:

“All these things that are happening are down to myself but also down to you for helping me see the potential I have and investing in me to reach bigger opportunities by putting myself out there.”

She ended with a heartfelt thank you.

I was delighted for Julie. But what I couldn't have known then was that this was only the beginning of a story that would continue to unfold in ways neither of us could have predicted.

A spark in 2024

To understand why that email meant so much, we need to go back to 2024.

Between 2001 and 2024, I delivered a series of Creative Women in Neighbourhoods workshops across Greater Manchester. In 2024, I delivered one of these workshops at Sholver Community Centre in Oldham, funded by First Choice Homes Oldham.

These days were about something much bigger than arts and crafts. They were invitations to think differently, question the familiar, explore what genuinely matters and open doors to deeper inspiration. They were about awakening our invisible giants — our imagination, resourcefulness, creativity and extraordinary capacity to see beyond what we have always known.

At the heart of this work was a simple but powerful idea: creativity is one of the greatest gifts of being human, yet it can remain untapped, veiled beneath misunderstanding, expectations and limiting beliefs about who we are, what we are capable of and what might be possible.

Creativity isn't simply about making something. It's our capacity to imagine differently, make unexpected connections, see beyond the familiar and discover possibilities we couldn't previously see. It's the spark behind a new idea, the moment an old assumption falls away, the possibility that emerges when we give ourselves permission to think beyond what we've always known.

And it belongs to all of us.

Following the workshop, I continued working with Julie through six one-to-one coaching sessions. These offered further space to explore her ideas, listen to what mattered to her and consider possibilities that might previously have felt out of reach.

There was no predetermined destination. No prescribed version of success. No plan that mapped out what Julie would achieve.

There was simply space to explore, the opportunity to listen more deeply and the possibility of taking inspired action.

The myth of confidence

One of the fascinating things we explored during the workshops was the language we use and the stories we tell ourselves. One of the biggest myths we unearthed was confidence.

How often do we hear, “I'd love to do that, but I'm not confident enough”? How often do we put our dreams on hold, waiting to feel ready before we take the first step?

But what if confidence isn't something we need to have before we begin? What if the belief that we need it is actually keeping possibilities out of reach?

We can be uncertain and still be curious. We can feel apprehensive and still follow what inspires us. We don't need to know how things will turn out.

Instead of asking, “Am I confident enough?”, what if we asked, “Does this matter enough for me to explore it?”

This was at the heart of Creative Women in Neighbourhoods: reconnecting with our innate creativity, listening deeply to what inspires us and taking inspired action — without waiting for permission from a feeling called confidence.

Julie's 2025 email was a beautiful example of what this can look like in real life. She was making connections, asking questions, exploring opportunities and taking steps towards things that mattered to her.

She wasn't waiting for someone to hand her a roadmap. She was discovering her own way forward.

And the story was still unfolding.

Two years on: an unexpected email in 2026

In 2026, another email from Julie arrived, completely unexpectedly.

Two years had passed since the workshop at Sholver Community Centre. As I read her latest update, I discovered just how much had happened since that day — and even since her first email in 2025.

Julie was continuing to train with Javeno McLean, working to become stronger mentally and physically while navigating life with a disability. Her involvement in adaptive clothing had grown, and she had been providing research and advice to Reconditioned, bringing her perspective and passion into conversations about inclusive fashion.

She had taken part in two fashion shows: one supporting a stoma bag charity and another at the first adaptivewear catwalk at Factory International's Aviva Studios in Manchester.

Her photograph was displayed in the window of Schuh on Market Street in Manchester. She had also undertaken BBC television work relating to adaptive clothing, helping bring greater visibility to a subject she was passionate about changing.

And there was more to come. Julie told me she had been invited to speak on a panel in Birmingham about disability and clothing, alongside further television work.

I was delighted, moved and genuinely surprised.

We could never have mapped out this journey in 2024. We couldn't have predicted the opportunities that would emerge, the people Julie would meet or where her passion would take her.

Yet here it was, unfolding one step at a time.

You never know what a spark of creativity might set in motion.

“Thank you for lighting the spark that day”

As wonderful as Julie's achievements were to read about, it was the closing part of her 2026 email that touched me most.

She wrote:

“I cannot begin to thank you enough for lighting the spark that day and your mentoring which gave me the first bit of confidence to try and see what I could achieve with my passion to change disability and fashion.”

Two years had passed, yet Julie remembered that day and the conversations that followed.

I felt incredibly grateful that she had taken the time to tell me. I also felt humbled.

Julie was clear in her first email that her achievements were down to herself as well as the support she had received. That matters. Her passion was already hers. Her ideas were hers. Her achievements emerged through her own choices, determination, curiosity and willingness to pursue opportunities.

I cannot claim ownership of Julie's journey, but I am grateful that the workshop and six follow-up coaching sessions formed part of it.

Her story reminds me that sometimes we don't need to give people the answers, tell them what their dreams should be or decide where their journey ought to lead. We need to create the conditions in which they can explore what matters to them, discover possibilities and find their own way forward.

Sometimes, an idea needs room to breathe. Sometimes, a conversation helps us see something differently. Sometimes, we need someone to listen deeply enough for us to hear what matters to us ourselves.

And sometimes, years later, an unexpected email arrives to show us just how far that first spark has travelled.

“Who knew that could eventually result from one of our small grants?”

After receiving Julie's update, I shared her story with Kevin Field, Funding and Social Value Officer. His response captured the surprise and delight of seeing where the original opportunity had led.

He wrote:

“Great to hear from you and well I never. That’s extraordinary! Very well done to her and thank you for supporting her after the grant had finished. I’ve just had a look and it looks great. Who knew that could eventually result from one of our small grants.”

Who knew, indeed?

When the workshop took place in 2024, nobody could have predicted Julie's subsequent journey in adaptive fashion. These achievements weren't guaranteed outcomes written into a funding application. They emerged over time through Julie's own passion, decisions and actions.

Kevin's response captured something important about investing in women and communities: the story doesn't necessarily end when the funded activity ends.

Her story is a reminder that some of the most meaningful outcomes cannot be fully anticipated or measured on the day an activity ends. Sometimes, the ripple is still travelling long afterwards.

The freedom to dream our own dreams

“A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.”— Coco Chanel

There's something powerful about giving ourselves permission to explore who we are and what matters to us, without feeling we have to fit into somebody else's idea of what our lives should look like.

What might we discover if we gave ourselves the space to be curious? What ideas might emerge if we stopped dismissing them before they had a chance to develop? What might we pursue if we allowed ourselves to explore a possibility without first needing to know whether it would work out?

Julie followed a passion that was uniquely hers. Through her work in adaptive fashion, she began finding ways to contribute to a conversation she cared deeply about. Her journey is her own, and that's the point.

Creative Women in Neighbourhoods isn't about every woman reaching the same destination. It's about making room for different ideas, dreams and possibilities to emerge, because the future doesn't have to look the same for everyone.

Our role isn't to decide what women should aspire to. It's to create space for them to explore what matters to them and discover what might be possible.

The Great Unknown: where the possibilities live

We often want certainty before we begin. We want to know that an idea will work, that a decision will lead somewhere worthwhile, that the next step will make sense when we look back.

But what if we don't need to know?

In fact, the best place to create is in the Great Unknown — where there's no place for certainty, old habits or discouragement.

It's where we loosen our grip on what we already know, become curious about what we haven't yet imagined and allow fresh possibilities to emerge. It's where creativity can surprise us, where deep listening reveals what genuinely matters and where inspired action can take us somewhere we could never have planned.

Julie's story reminds us that we cannot always see the potential of an idea when it first appears. We cannot plan every connection, anticipate every opportunity or predict where a passion might lead.

In 2024, we couldn't have predicted that Julie would be involved in adaptivewear research, take part in fashion shows, have her photograph displayed on Market Street in Manchester, work with the BBC or be invited to speak on a panel about disability and clothing.

In 2025, even as Julie was already taking exciting steps, we couldn't have known what the following year would bring.

That's the beauty of the Great Unknown. We don't have to see the entire journey to take the next step.

We can make room for exploration. We can listen deeply. We can follow what inspires us. We can take action without needing to know the whole story in advance.

The Great Unknown isn't a promise that everything will turn out as we hope. It's an invitation to step beyond the familiar, let go of the need to have everything figured out and discover what becomes possible when we give creativity room to lead.\

After all, we cannot dream a new future while insisting it must look like everything we already know.

And sometimes, as Julie's journey so beautifully illustrates, the possibilities waiting for us are far greater than anything we could have imagined at the beginning.

“At Our Happiness Factor CIC, we're about creating the conditions for dreams to come alive. We may never know what a single day, a conversation or a spark of creativity might set in motion. Our role is to create the space, listen deeply and open the door to possibilities. What happens next may be beyond anything we could have imagined.”

And Julie's closing words from her 2026 email say it all:

“I write this with hope for more women to be able to live out their dreams.”

Creative Women in Neighbourhoods: You never know what a spark of creativity might set in motion.

Sometimes, the ripple is still travelling two years later. And sometimes, the most extraordinary part is discovering that the story is only just beginning.

And now, it's time to dream bigger…

The story doesn't end here.

In the coming weeks, we'll be launching a new programme for the new year: Creative Women in Business — a space to explore big dreams, bring bold new ideas into the world and discover what's possible for your business through 2027 and beyond.

It's time to think bigger, venture beyond the familiar and awaken your invisible giants of creativity, inspiration and possibility. To look at your business with fresh eyes, explore ideas you may have been holding back and open the door to opportunities you might never have imagined.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You don't need to wait until you feel ready. You just need to bring your curiosity, your ideas and your willingness to explore what's possible.

Because what if your next breakthrough is waiting in the Great Unknown? What if the idea that changes everything is one you haven't even thought of yet?

Creative Women in Business is about creating the conditions for your dreams to come alive — and giving your business the space to flourish in ways you cannot yet imagine.

If you want to know more, please do get in touch.