About

Born and raised in the bonnie Highlands of Scotland, I am an autistic creative that wears many hats; educator, director, writer, producer, actor, arts manager, yoga enthusiast and avid motorcycle rider. Let’s take a whistle stop tour…

From a young age I wanted to be an actor. Craving the spotlight, many a show and tell was spent singing a song, or telling a story to anyone who would listen. In some ways, nothing has really changed. I was involved with the local drama club participating in many a play and panto. At the age of fourteen, I began taking drama classes working towards acting certificates in conjunction with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, through TFX Arts Academy.

By the time secondary school was ending, it was clear that continuing to study acting and performance was the obvious next step. I gained a place at Dundee College, however, as the fates would have it, this was not meant to be. A myriad of factors impacted the journey, mainly that of a very young seventeen year old not being equipped to live alone in a big city. Plenty a culture shock and a drugs raid later, I packed it in and came home, returning to the Highlands.

It wasn’t long before I got a job working in an IT service centre. Quickly rising through the ranks from call handler to incident manager, and even client liaison. The perks being working in Cardiff one week each month on the company credit card. Hello Mariott Hotel. Things were going well.

Until they weren’t.

At the age of nineteen, I became unwell due to a kidney infection. As time passed following on from the infection, there was little progress in getting better. Appointments, assessments and diaries later, I was diagnosed with a chronic health condition – Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, ME for short. During the peak of the illness I was bedbound for eight and a half months, sleeping between sixteen and twenty hours a day. Aside from the fatigue the condition is accompanied by many other unpleasant symptoms; problems with thinking, memory and concentration, muscle and joint pain, headaches, bouts of insomnia, flu-like symptoms, and an inability to regulate body temperature.

After eight months of being bedbound, things started to change. The long road of recovery started, with physiotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and support from a GP and a mental health nurse. It was a long and challenging road where energy was in short supply, but pain and frustration were plenty. The support from family throughout was unwavering. Combined with positive thinking and reframing thoughts, I started to feel hope again that I could have a life again. At this point it was unclear how much of a life I could have, as many who have ME are debilitated for the rest of their lives. That wasn’t going to deter me from giving recovery everything I had. There aren’t words to articulate quite how challenging and tough it has been, and at times continues to be. It’s a condition I will have all my life and although now, fourteen years on the condition is generally well managed and only flares up about four times a year, and the flares, although intense, do not last anywhere near as long as eight months. The condition is part of me, but it does not define me.

Five years after the first attempt at studying further afield, I settled nicely in Edinburgh, living there for seven years gaining a BA(hons) in Acting and English from Edinburgh Napier University and a Masters in Arts, Festival and Cultural Management from Queen Margaret’s University Edinburgh. I worked on as many projects as I could manage as an actor, with twelve credits in short fims with the Skillset Screen Academy. The more projects I worked on the more I realised that I wanted to direct and produce. In my freelance career I have worked nationally and internationally with companies like Grid Iron, Artichoke Trust, Strangetown Theatre, Toaster Lab, Lemon Bucket Orkestra, New Celts Productions, and Marvel Studios to name a few.

At present I am working as a university lecturer teaching all things drama, acting, performance, and production. I teach across both Further and Higher Education teaching through levels six to eleven. I have developed undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and written new ones. Most recently having written modules on the BA(hons) Drama and Production programme and having written a new Post Graduate Certificate in Festival and Events Management.

In my free time I love to make memories, spend time with family, write, do yoga, run, adventures on my motorbike and think about the big and small questions of life. Thus smartPonders was born.

Welcome to SmartPonders.

Sending Love
Steph x