NestAway
Until recently, my life looked very different.
For twenty-four years, I was a professional circus artist. I performed around the world as an aerial acrobat, before eventually founding and leading my own circus business. It was a demanding, exhilarating, and deeply rewarding career that shaped much of who I am today.
Yet after reaching many of the goals I once dreamt of, I began to feel something unexpected: a growing sense that there was another path waiting for me.
Leaving the circus wasn't easy. For years, I had been known as a performer, coach, and the CEO of Gravity, a London-based circus school, training centre, and agency. The circus community had given me much of what I lacked growing up – connection, belonging, purpose, and confidence.
But over time, a new question emerged: what comes next?
Nearly eighteen years into my career, my focus had already begun shifting. I became increasingly interested in nature, sustainability, animal welfare, and the ways humans interact with the world around them. I adopted a vegan lifestyle, explored the writings of Daniel Quinn, and discovered the philosophy of permaculture – a framework that profoundly changed how I viewed community, nature, and our place within it.
Eventually, a new mission began to form. I wanted to help people reconnect - with themselves, with one another, and with the natural world.
After retiring from the circus, I spent more than two years exploring what that mission might look like in practice. During that time, I considered establishing a permaculture farm and educational centre of my own.
But as I explored the realities of that path, another opportunity revealed itself.
The inspiration for NestAway arrived unexpectedly. One morning, after completing a run and settling onto my mat before a Pilates class, I experienced one of those rare moments of complete clarity. The idea appeared almost fully formed.
The timing was no coincidence. For months beforehand, I had been trying to book myself on a new activity related to the sector, specifically, I was looking for permaculture farm stays and immersive sustainability experiences, but the process was surprisingly difficult.
I joined numerous Facebook groups, searched countless websites, and spent hours messaging hosts individually. Responses often took days. Many conversations led nowhere. Information was scattered, difficult to compare, and frustratingly inaccessible.
Eventually, I gave up.
A few weeks later, my brain offered a solution. What if there was a single platform dedicated entirely to nature-led experiences, conscious living, sustainability, regenerative education, and community-based learning?
A place where facilitators could easily showcase their offerings and where guests could discover and book meaningful experiences in minutes.
That vision became NestAway.
As I researched the idea further, I discovered that while many incredible people and organisations were already doing inspiring work, there was no central platform bringing them together on a meaningful scale.
Rather than building one destination myself, I realised I could support hundreds of thousands.
NestAway was created to simplify discovery, communication, and booking for both facilitators and participants, while increasing visibility for a sector that has enormous potential to create positive change.
Drawing on my background in business, marketing, community-building, customer service, and innovation, I immediately began turning the idea into reality.
Within just a few months, the company was registered, trademarks were secured, and an incredible core team came together around a shared vision. Each member saw the potential not only of the business itself, but of the movement it could help support.
As I approach another significant birthday, I find myself standing between two chapters of life.
One chapter was defined by circus, performance, and a global creative community that gave me so much.
The next chapter is about connection of a different kind.
It is about building bridges between people who are creating regenerative farms, educational hubs, healing retreats, sustainability projects, and countless other experiences that help make the world a better place.
At its heart, NestAway is about belonging.
I want it to be a place where people can find community, discover purpose, learn new skills, and reconnect with what truly matters.
I believe that kindness, cooperation, and meaningful human connection are some of the most powerful forces for change available to us.
And I believe that when we come together around shared values, we become stronger, wiser, and more capable of creating the future we want to see.
NestAway is not simply a business venture. It is my contribution to a world where people, animals, and nature can thrive together.
For the first time in many years, I feel the same excitement about the future that I felt when stepping onto a stage to perform my first circus act.
I cannot wait to see where this journey leads.