Once upon a time,
in a galaxy far far away…
.
ABOUT
Ok, ok, that’s not how my story starts. I’m from Earth, I’m a mother of small boys and I run a documentary production business. Although I do sometimes find my thoughts are in outer space.
Deep into lockdown 2.0 in 2020, I decided to create this blog, my new side hustle. I’ve been a working mother for as long as I’ve had children because running a business with my husband meant there wasn’t really any maternity leave, just a reduced work schedule. And as we travel A LOT for our work, I’ve been dragging my boys all over this green earth since they were little, very little, newborn in fact. But not lately, for obvious reasons.
Have a dream
Take a chance
Make the change
As all working mum’s know, being a working mum is hard, and it’s easy. It’s hard because time is always an issue and focus is always divided, but easy because having kids is fabulous and loads of fun (mostly!) I’m sure being an at home mum is great too, I’ve just not had the chance to do it.
Personally, I’m not into vacuuming, I was so relieved when our cleaner was able to come back after lock down ended. I do like cooking but not every night and I really enjoy writing. Voila, this blog. I also had to embrace working from home again, distractions and all but am so glad to be back at the office with the team. I’ve become very good at time management and organising and I’m all for supporting women to find their feet in the world. Parenting, working or just finding their way.
The Backstory
It was somewhere around 2015, Isaac was only 2 and I was finding it hard to work and parent when he was home with me. I think in my mind I was dreaming about becoming a famous mum blogger telling everyone about my crazy life and adventures. I’m not sure why I wanted to share it, but it was a burning desire to do so?
My husband Mike and I run an impact film production house creating content with a purpose. We’ve been working together since before we were together and now we run Moonshine Agency. Much of our documentary work takes us overseas and the focus is often on health. I have become more and more interested in equity, health equity and financial equity over the years. Witnessing first hand just how hard many of us live across this planet, it’s hard to see and do nothing. Which is why we tell stories about the things we see, to help others understand them and to advocate for a better world.
It all sounds very noble and woo woo. If I’m being honest, I don’t really enjoy travel. I like it when we get there safely but I get very anxious about getting on planes. But it has it’s upsides and it defiantly has some stories behind the adventures.
Anyway, it was at around this time that I discovered audiobooks and somehow I’d come across Jack Delosa’s book Unwritten and it struck a chord with me. I’ve always struggled with not having a clear vision, one great passion or knowing my purpose or why. When people say things like ‘follow your passion and it will lead to your career’. I’ve always been stumped. I don’t have one great passion that’s driven my success. It’s like when people ask you to recall a moment or the single point that changed the course of your life. I draw a blank.
Trying to pinpoint a spot in time that’s my ‘Aha that’s it’ ‘my ‘Eureka’ it’s just not there. I can’t answer it any more than I can answer what is my most embarrassing moment, perhaps there have been many!
So my philosophy is that you don’t need to know your why before you start. For me, my purpose, my why came after I got started. I found some success in my pursuits and it drove my passion.
I’m now a big believer that if you don’t start, you won’t get anywhere. Sounds obvious, but so many people are stuck on the starting block, or simply won’t put their foot on the block to get started so it’s not even an option. If you keep waiting for the right time, or for someone to point the way, it will never happen. So you just have to start.
Collins is my maiden name and I’ve kept it for work, so please Call me Collins. As romantic as it is, taking Mike’s name for my personal life has caused endless confusion, for myself mainly. It’s a great benefit to have the same surname as my children, especially when we’re travelling but I often forget which name I’m using- except when I’m at work. At work I’m always Collins. For everything else I’m a Hill. So it should be easy right? Nope, I should have gone all-in with Hill or stuck to Collins.
I’m constantly mixing it up. At the hairdresser, social functions or anywhere else that involves a surname, I can never remember what I booked under. Is it under Hill or Collins? And the feminist in me thinks “Why did I change it anyway?” So here it is…
Call me Collins
Many Walter Mitty moment to come.