Kathryn Eade is an expert in mindset and resilience, and helps to inspire a different way of thinking. She is the founder of Up+thrive and is motivated by seeing people thrive out of their comfort zone, and knowing that she played a part in their journey to success. Kathryn supports female entrepreneurs and aspiring leaders with the mindset (self belief, courage and resilience) to embrace change and thrive.
Kathryn, tell us about you?
I’m motivated by seeing people thrive out of their comfort zone, and knowing that I’ve played a part in their journey to success. I support female entrepreneurs and aspiring leaders with the mindset (self belief, courage and resilience) to embrace change and thrive.
I work as a consultant and coach, collaborating with organisations to develop and deliver mindset programmes and create positive and inclusive working cultures.
I’m British and currently living back in the UK, after three years in Montreal. However as we (my family and I – I have two children) plan to go away again one day it’s important for me that Up+thrive is portable, so whilst I do some ‘family to family’ work with clients locally, I also work online, continue to collaborate within a global network and build my ideas through thought leadership.
When I’m not supporting my clients to push the boundaries, I’m trying push my own either through running, open water swimming or planning our next family bike or backpacking adventure.
When did your business journey start?
My business journey started in 2003, when I left my job in the International NGO sector and set up my own learning consultancy – thinkingpeople. In my job I supported expats to prepare for the change of working overseas and how to work as part of a diverse team alongside local staff in some of the poorest communities in the world. I loved that job, but the travel left me a little jaded– so I looked for ways that I could apply skills in supporting people through transition and insights in how to build an effective global team in organisations closer to home. I was lucky enough to work with clients including the Premier League, the NHS, MTV and many UK universities.
My audience are in the large part foreigners living in a foreign land. At Up+thrive you empower women entrepreneurs and aspiring leaders with the mindset and resilience to embrace change and thrive’ – what in your experience is the biggest threat we feel as women expats to change and how can we be overcomers?
I think the biggest obstacles to women expats to taking the leap and doing something different isn’t their lack of vision or desire to change, but it’s having the self belief that they can do it. Women expats are highly resilient. They have so many strategies to deal with change and uncertainty that they’ve used to support themselves and others to transition and settle on to a new country, but often they don’t recognize them, or give themselves credit for what they’ve achieved. We need to find ways to be kinder to ourselves, reduce the inner critic that gives us a hard time and holds us back, to support and celebrate each other (collaboration, not competition). By doing that we also inspire other women to do the same. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
What has been the biggest change in your life and how did you cope with it? Any special tips?
There’s been a number of big changes in my life, as there often is with women of a certain age – getting married, taking the leap to run my run my first business, having children, but my most recent influential change was in 2015 when I moved with my family to Montreal, Canada. It was something I’d aspired to do for a long time – a family overseas experience, – I wanted my children to experience something beyond where they had been born and grown up. However, even though I was an aspiring expat it was still a challenge. In particular was the challenge to my sense of identity – previously I was a mum of two and a small business owner (which I closed when I moved to Montreal), now I was defined partly by my children, but mainly by my husbands job. I knew quite early on that wasn’t going to work for me – and set on a journey to find my new sense of purpose. I went from being an expat partner to creating a global career using experience of cultural transition and entrepreneurship to support expat partners to redefine and reinvent their success.
In terms of tips – my big one would be work out what’s important to you and discuss and share that with your partner so that you both buy in to it from the outset. Knowing your purpose and creating a vision based on that is what will keep you going when you hit obstacles down the road. Want more tips – there a blog on my site here
Who, or what is your main source of inspiration for change and why?
My main inspiration for change is my children. I want to show them that whilst you cant do everything, you can do anything – and that by engaging with someone or something different – pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, is how we learn about others and ourselves – and grow as people. We become self aware, more self reliant, self confident and that’s the type of people I believe our future world needs
“You can’t do everything but can do anything!” – Kathryn Eade
Are you a serial expat, or are you now creating roots?
A little bit of both. I’ve lived and worked in different parts of the world across three continents. I’m now currently living back in the UK which is where I’m from, in part to enable my children to create roots and reconnect with extended family. Our aspiration though is to move and work overseas again, so a key part of my business vision is portability, and connecting with my global network – people like you and your followers/audience.
What item do you always travel with when you move around the world to make it feel more like ‘home?
If I’m not taking my family with me, then its photographs of them that help me to make a place feel like home
One thing you will achieve in 2019 to inspire, evolve or transform?
I’ve just been nominated an award for the work I’ve done this year to inspire female entrepreneurs, which I’m really proud of. I’m not normally one to shout about my achievements, but I’m learning that celebrating our success is important because it reflects an overall attitude of gratitude – enjoying what we have rather than on what we don’t or only hope to have in the future. I also hope that by talking about what I do, I can inspire other women to see that’s its more than possible for them to do the same.
What books have you read this year because they inspired you?
Storybrand, SUMO, The Beauty of Discomfort by Amanda Lang, Atomic Habits by James Clear, & Daniel Preistly’s The Entrepreneuarial Revolution are some of the books I’ve read in the last year. There’s no one that stands out for me, but there are bits in all of them that have been useful for me as I’ve worked to move on from my old story to creating a new one – and establish my business – Up+thrive
What would be your advice to the younger you?
Cultivate patience, manage expectations, enjoy the journey – and not just advice to a younger me, I’m still working on those now!
I am waving my magic make it happen wand – what dream are you daydreaming about?
Ha, just the summer arriving! It’s been so cold here in the UK for May. I’m dreaming of sitting out in my garden, working, chatting to friends and family, enjoying the long summer evenings
What’s your preferred method of connecting with you?
website – www.upandthrive.com – sign up for my newsletter – or connect with me on linkedin