About me
Friday 13th. Unlucky for some.
It was July 2018. And my world had just imploded.
I had been forced out of a job I loved just days before, when my partner strode into the room and told me our relationship was over; that when our house sale completed we were to go our separate ways.
In that moment I lost my home, my relationship and the ready-made family that had filled the void left by my inability to conceive my own children.
I was bereft. Broken. My life felt utterly pointless.
A few days later. Suicide beckoned.
Despite over 20 years building an enviable corporate career, working for some of the World’s largest employers and most recognisable brands, Carolyn Hobdey’s personal life had been a self-confessed mess…
Mid-way through 2018, life taught her a spectacular lesson by striping away all the tenets of success and the personal stability on which she’d thought she could finally rely; it was a turning point that forced Carolyn to take notice of the innumerable warning signs that had punctuated her life for decades.
Her world having been razed to the ground, what began was a total re-set not just of her life’s foundations, but of who Carolyn was.
After struggling for years with her identity, battling low self-worth and unable to find where she was meant to ‘fit’ in the world, what was needed was an extensive reconstruction of mind and body.
Carolyn embarked on a process of deep self-discovery; it led her to leave the corporate world behind and focus instead on helping others to bring about change in their lives.
Whilst this voyage too was littered with trials and triumphs, it was different. It was a striped back, now or never, you-only-get-one-chance-at-life type of change that those who fear that more of their life is behind them than ahead of them will identify with.
Knowing that there are others out there who are, like she once was, grappling in one way or another with working out why their life isn’t ‘quite right’, are concealing their self-doubt behind an image of ’success’ and are managing daily the relentless requirement to look like they have life sussed, Carolyn began to write and speak publicly about her experiences.
Her intention is to shine a light into the dark corners where shame, low confidence, unworthiness and sometimes even worse lurks about how we speak to ourselves. By being a role model for uttering the truth about how we feel about ourselves and with the fervent belief that we can change our self-narrative to live a happy life, Carolyn works to share and guide others through the ‘How To’ process that she’s discovered along the way.
Carolyn’s passion is to help people thrive and shine based on her belief that everyone has the right to live the life that’s right for them. A life where our flaws are accepted and then worked upon from a place of positivity and self-kindness.
If you want to be a happier, more confident and self-compassionate version of you, then Carolyn’s teachings are ideal.
Carolyn’s corporate career was centred around her specialism in Human Resources (HR), which eventually earned her a seat at the boardroom table in some notable organisations.
Having initially gained a BA (Hons) in English & Creative Studies at Portsmouth University, she then supported her practical work experience with a post-graduate qualification in HR at Leeds Metropolitan University, where she won the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) Student Award for West Yorkshire.
Later followed a Masters in Lean Operations gained at Cardiff University, where she was the first HR specialist to undertake the course in it’s 13 year history. She became the winner of the inaugural Sir Julian Hodge Prize for Logistics, Operations & Manufacturing. She is now also a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.
Today Carolyn is the Founder of MayDey Limited and COO of 15ten15. She is an author and media commentator on topical, imperative women’s issues. She lives in North Yorkshire and in her spare time trains in boxing & weight-lifting, sings in a choir, learns Latin & Ballroom dancing and is a car enthusiast.
