If you cut me half, you’d find running down the middle, like a stick of Blackpool Rock, the word ‘explore’. This does not mean hiking to the North Pole, it means discovering the world around me and finding spaces to breath, discovering the subtle shifts in the micro seasons each week, turning those foraged fruits into chutney, following my dog down an unknown track and wondering just how that ancient monument is still standing. I have worked in travel and tourism for 36 years, starting in an urban setting in central London, but quickly gravitated towards the then undeveloped (in tourism terms) Southbank, Bankside and the East End where I honed my skills: project management, marketing & comms on a shoe-string, collaboration and partnership working. I moved to the Chilterns 20 years ago and discovered a wonderful but unknown countryside with massive opportunities for business, locals and visitors. I got involved and became a co-founder of the first Tourism Network that was formed to bring together a disparate group from the public and private sectors to work collaboratively to promote the Chiltern Hills. This was my first experience of working with countryside organisations including the AONB, public bodies and interest groups. We collectively wrote the business and comms plan, secured funding, built a website, ran networking and workshops and started new partnership projects. The network is still going, and has 180 local visitor economy providers across four counties and multiple sectors. We are currently supporting a new countryside access and welcome project led by the Chilterns Conservation Board. I have been running my own businesses for 23 years, but that doesn't mean I just work on my own. Far from it! Whilst able to get on and meet deadlines and deliver outputs, I am usually part of a project team made up of different skill-sets or sectors, where my contribution is communications and product development, underpinned with a strong sense of place. It informs everything I do. Over the past 15 years I have worked increasingly in a rural setting for AONB’s, National Trails, Destination Marketing Organisations and with many SME’s who supply into their local visitor economies. I have also worked for regional and national governments abroad supplying market intelligence and strategic communications advice and support.