Founding Members
Our founding members ensured the success of Unplugged Ambition by signing up early, meaning that today there is a place where those wearied, traumatised, angered or frustrated by corporate and start-up cultures have somewhere to share, seek support and develop their own escape plans in a community devoted to self-actualisation and sustainability rather than dollars and status.
In many cases their stories, support and encouragement both publicly and in private messages, inspired and made possible the conception and early iteration of the community.
This page is dedicated to them and will list details of all founding members who are happy to be acknowledged here.
If you qualify for Founding Member status (if you signed up as a member in June 2024 and have held continuous membership since then) please submit your bio on our Contact page.
If you come across a founding member on the site, know you are talking with a visionary, who recognised, articulated and acted early to challenge the culture of the 2020s which increasingly exploits, manipulates and gaslights white-collar workers.
Founding members meet online quarterly to consider the strategic direction of Unplugged Ambition and in-person annually for sustanence, inspiration and white wine.
Whilst every Unplugged Ambition member has voting rights on the direction and development of the site, Founding Members are granted access to site data, financial data and hold additional voting rights. This helps ensure that as the site grows, there is transparency and accountability as well as expertise and support.
This site will be updated after go-live with bios of members as they join including links to their sites or projects.
Suzi Butcher
I’m Suzi, a GenX recovering journalist.
I am mainly interested in two things:
Making the world of work better, so that it actually supports the way people live. To this end, I do leadership and management training that encourages autonomy, mastery, purpose, belonging, and job shares, while writing endless LinkedIn posts on the need for more flexible working.
Helping people who don’t want to work for an organisation to do their own thing.
My particular passion is supporting other GenX women who feel disillusioned, frustrated, undervalued and out of love with the jobs they’ve been doing for the past few decades, to make a change - especially when they don’t know what that change actually is.
I have a group coaching programme designed to help women challenge the conditioning that has kept them quieter than they'd like, figure out what their mission is, and then take steps to make it happen.
If that resonates, you can find out more about it here: https://suzibutcher.com/missions-accepted/
We could also connect on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzibutcher/
or you can follow me on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/suzi.butcher
So looking forward to hearing more about what everyone else is up to!
Rowena Roberts
Hello, unplugged people!
I'm Rowena, and I love writing and deep conversations about the things that truly matter to us, which likely explains why I'm here.
I run a business called Words Inspire which offers workshops, courses, coaching and (most recently) retreats dedicated to helping people tap into their "authentic creativity" - what they truly want to express and explore in life.
I usually work with writers, as that's my own background and I use intuitive writing prompts in my work, but I'm happy to work with whoever gets curious about the creative genius that lives inside them (yes, you have one, too).
Other than that, I home educate my two little monkeys, and I write about my ongoing "reluctant spiritual journey" on a rather irreverently titled Substack: "Oh Shit - I Think I've Found God".
You can find me on social media here:
instagram.com/wordsinspireuk
linkedin.com/in/wordsinspire
And my Substack here:
rowenaroberts.substack.com
You can also book a chat about my work and what it might do for you here:
calendly.com/wordsinspire/creativitychat
See you in the comments.
John Conway
Professionally, John is a consulting Data Scientist with multi-industry experience in analytics and management: ex-RSA group, MoneySuperMarket.com, and Cardlytics. Latterly an independent consultant and business owner, he helps brands such as Eurostar, Volvo, Pret A Manger and others take data science out of PowerPoint decks and into an applied setting.
Personally, John is (re)building his life around wanting to be more present, more connected with the world and others, breaking negative patterns, and co-creating businesses he likes, with people he likes. He is interested in mindfulness/non-violent communication, health and well-being, his relationships, and watching his kids develop.
URLS:
iota-ml.com
datastudio.tech
Simon Hepburn
Hi - I'm Simon. Over the past 30 years I've bounced between Chemistry (my degree subject), marketing, PR and teaching, working for myself, schools and small and large companies. After a traumatic few years with family illness, I'm in a position where I can strike out and do something that brings these all together....
So I'm just about to sign the lease on a shop in Altrincham, Greater Manchester that will help people to capture, tell and share stories. I was incredibly lucky to get the URL www.shareyourstory.uk which is where you can find out more about it. And I was also lucky to find a really good design company that has believed in me and is helping with everything.
In a nutshell, Share Your Story will take people through the following stages...
1. Inspiration - showing how powerful photos, videos, podcasts, written articles, film development and so on can be.
2. Equipment - trying out and finding the right equipment for your needs - and ideally moving away from phones to something more mindful and thoughtful
3. Support - everyone I talk to knows someone who has bought a camera and then never used it - we want to give ongoing support until any hurdles are overcome
4. Training - linking people with local experts to extend their limited
5. Community - finally we want to help people learn from others and perhaps share their work to inspire others!
I'm well aware that retail entrepreneurship is something totally new for me and hope to learn a lot from this site!
Beth MacLeod
Hello!
I joined this community as it chimed with my experience of toxic workplaces (both corporate and charity sectors sadly). After losing my charity marketing director job during Covid I tried a number of new things in a bid to find my future path without having to deal with office politics.
A chance encounter at a festival led me to investigate becoming a celebrant and I then chose to train as an Independent Celebrant as I want to help people create the right ceremony for their most important life and death events, whatever their beliefs.
Alongside creating unique and personal ceremonies I am volunteer Chair of a local befriending organization and organize the EarlyBird Afternoon Cabaret for the over 70s in our village.
I believe strongly in the power of community and real life connection, as well as learning new skills and delving curiously into the unknown. In the last two years for me this has meant ikebana, burlesque and clown courses - as well as sitting as a life model.
I live in Ashdown Forest near Forest Row, Sussex with my wife, two and our two small dogs.
Laura Rich
Painter, designer, mother of 3, keeper of Grandma’s Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe, shouty sideline mum, history geek and Rightmove junkie.
Frank O'Mahony
I'm 67 - sometimes (and especially at work) I think that's my brand, for better or worse.
Born in Dublin, I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I've landed after a decade-long career in London (head of PR for Apple there) and California (Apple, PayPal, etc. etc.). I don't miss London's dreary skies, or California's endless hustle.
I work in the comms group at St. John's College, a liberal arts college in Santa Fe: in the group I am by far the oldest, and also the only male. That's...interesting, on both counts.
I won't be there forever (although it can feel like it) so I've started to think about what's next. Of course, I've started a substack about it, called The Next Stage (www.thenextstage.org) and I'd be delighted, dear reader, if you'd do a free follow. Started a YouTube channel called the same, but that's not really ready for prime time.
So pleased to be part of this group, and hope to have opinions as it progresses.
Lynda Thompson
Hi, I'm Lynda. I live and work in County Durham, UK (but I'm originally from 'down south').I'm a customer/market/social researcher with a part time job with a charity and I also do freelance work for various clients. I have a 16 year old son and I'm shortly to be divorced. I'm a people person who loves my own space and company so work and life are a continued search for the right balance of these!
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynda-thompson/
A bit more about me here https://www.significantinsightsmedia.com/how-did-you-get-there-lynda-thompson/
If you'd like to hear me/see me waffle on about stuff:https://podtail.com/en/podcast/what-s-the-point-7/s1-e6-what-s-the-point-lynda-thompson/https://youtu.be/mjF0ZLD-Pgk?si=HzBhiM7iUKcgOw-D (you'd need to be pretty into the built environment and product specification to get through this one...)
