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Fiona Flintham was, what I usually call, a corporate beast. She used to work for large a media and entertainment companies in the UK.  15 years of a very established and rising career, leading a team, having well organized child care, working late night after the kids’ bed time, and traveling. I can picture her running from meeting to meeting with a cup of coffee in her hand whilst talking with a colleague about the last project. She was happy and satisfied because it was a very good life, but it was also the only life she thought was possible for her at that time.

This was her life until one day – The day when she met a senior woman manager she admired and looked up to as role model. This woman innocently commented to Fiona:

“ Happy to be back to work after 2 weeks holiday with my children. It has been exhausting spending 2 weeks with my kids.”

 

Fiona, who at the moment was in awe of this senior manager, got a wake up call. She understood that she did not want to be like this. She loved to stay with her children, and 2 weeks with her family was heaven, not hell.  This encounter left Fiona with a sense of unease she could not shake off. Because in life nothing happens without a reason, shortly after having this feeling, her husband received a proposal to relocate to Zurich. She took the opportunity to leave her career and they decided to move.

 

Fiona. “It was the right moment to move. I know it was going to be hard but it was right for me and my family.”

 

The entrepreneur

 

Fiona found a fresh start, eventually a new job, and a new family equilibrium. Moving with two boys, ages 6 and 3 years old, is never easy, and when they started to go to school, it was even harder.

 

F: “The Swiss school system was not helping me to find a new job. They come back for lunch and have threes afternoons free. It was basically impossible to find a job without involving a nanny.  I knew I had to do something but going back into the corporate world was not an option. I could not figure out what to do.”

 

She decided to start her own consultancy business. She found out very quickly how hard it was to work alone.

 

F: “ I was used to working with a big team – people who were experts. I was doing all the work alone while the kids were at school. It was lonely and hard. And since it was my own company, I also had to put my face out there, something I had never done before in the corporate world. I understood I had to find my voice, my authentic self, and leave behind my corporate identity.”

 

Co-Founder of Drive Women

 

Despite having founded her business, Fiona was still looking for something. In 2017 she was  introduced to Miisa Mink founder of Driven Women in London. Fiona describes this encounter like a game changer in her life.

 

F “ I was looking for a networking group I could join on a regular basis, which could help me move forward with my projects. Miisa’s concept with Driven Women was exactly what I needed. An accountability group for ambitious women helping each other to move forward with their goals.”

 

6 months later she founded Driven Women in Switzerland (find more about it here), noticing that not only did Fiona need this group, many other women across Switzerland needed it too.

 

F: “I feel so privileged to do something I’m good at and love to do it. I have my family equilibrium, and my work contributes to changing women’s lives! In Driven Woman we deliver good values, meaningful results, and real-life transformation. The concept works because everyone joining a working group contributes to the success of the other women.”

 

Fiona glows with excitement while telling me some examples of success stories of women working with Driven Woman. She is very committed to her mission and she has finally found her equilibrium between her family life and her work life. It is a joy for me to witness her transformation from a corporate beast to a mum entrepreneur.

 

Meet Fiona Flintham, a working mom committed to help other women to find and succeed in  their professional way.