Wow. 2017 has been an incredible year.

A year filled full of grafting and hard work, a year filled with new places of work and a year filled with life lessons.

It has been my first full year as a freelancer and despite some days of exhaustion, frantically living exactly by my diary and feeling sometimes a little confused what day of the week or where exactly I need to be working, I am happy to have made it.

During the start of the frosty months of 2017, I worked for  KLFM as a drive time cover presenter, started a new part time position as a traffic broadcaster at INRIX Media, and had my first professional TV presenter job for a corporate company. Then, summer rolled through and I left the beloved Mi-Soul Radio station as breakfast co-host and started working for Winkball Video as a presenter and producer (alongside my positions at Eagle Radio and eagle3). As the autumn leaves began to fall, I left part time teaching at Wemms Education to focus more on my freelance work, building on the relationship I already have with freelance drama companies, and as frost started to freeze, I began to develop my passions for music, creative arts and culture, through presenting and producing TV features in London.

My life has evolved similar to the seasons, a constant cycle of change and renewal. It was with great sadness to leave Mi-Soul Radio, Wemms Education, Super 8 Stage and Screen and Dandelion Theatre Arts, but I was over joyed to work with KLFM, INRIX Media, Bush Theatre, Winkball and NCS The Challenge. I have enjoyed continuing to deepen my relationship working at Eagle Radio and eagle3, further pushing my love for local radio.

Life has been quite a challenge at times for me in 2017, with multiple life decisions to be made somewhat daily, gaining a running injury and having to cut out of a marathon earlier than planned, and facing a break up.

But…I have met some incredibly inspiring people not only within the media industry who have pushed me to continue to chase my dream, but travellers from all over the world who have made me recognise that your own life is what you make it, your decisions are yours and yours only.

And so here is my year in numbers:

Bucket List Ticked Off

1. Held A Tarantula– which actually ended up being really sweet, read the full post here. 
2. Flew A Helicopter– a thrilling experience, definitely not one for anyone who doesn’t like heights or gets travel sick!
3. Travelled to Myanmar– a beautiful country filled with stunning architecture and warm friendly people.

Travel

1. Travelled to Berlin and experienced Berlin nightlife (which is a whole new level).
2. Ran a (half) marathon in Tromso and cycled around the beautiful woodlands of Oslo in Norway.
3.  Drove E scooters around the stunning ancient temples of Bagan in Myanmar with fellow solo travellers, which is only one of the highlights of Myanmar!

Life

1. Facilitated a drama workshop for NCS The Challenge with a group of young people that really challenged themselves by working with elderly people and created a show purely about dance (and dancing) which made me so proud!
2. Filming at the Audio Production Awards for Winkball and interviewing a number of inspirational professionals from the audio industry, combining my love for audio and TV.
3. Leaving both a job at Wemms Education and a relationship, that was holding me back.

I am feeling extremely excited, hopeful and positive about 2018, a year I feel, where things will come together a lot more! But with a fresh new leaf, I set myself new challenges and goals which are:

2018 Resolutions

1. Finish my TV showreels (and share them with the world!)
2. Continue to pester
3. Hone in on places of work that value and respect my input- remember less is more (and right now I have more)
4. Write more- take the time to write more articles and share them with other platforms
5. Go to more gigs, talks and plays (I went to many art galleries in 2017 but not enough gigs, talks and plays!)
6. Get back to running again (and continue to go to the gym 3 times a week)
7. Stress less
8. Eat less meat, I mean is it really necessary three times a day?
9. Continue to believe in myself
10. Make more “me- time”

What are your 2017 highlights or 2018 resolutions? Let me know in the comments below!