As we honour international women’s day on the 8th March “empowerFULL” is launching the #WhatIf campaign to support women’s empowerment journey.
The #WhatIf campaign aims to share stories of women who have followed their dreams regardless of their journey’s barriers.
Inspiring women from all around the world have shared a challenging question starting with #WhatIf and some tips on how they have challenged limiting beliefs.
We present you with Alison Porter, she has held senior management roles in the telecommunications, technology, and criminal justice sectors. Alongside this, she has experience as a Non-Executive Board Member in 7 Government Agencies (NCA, CPS, Home Office, MOD, HMRC, DEFRA, Land Registry). You can find more about her work on LinkedIn.
Alison Porter, PhD Practitioner-Researcher
What if you could be anything you chose?
No baby is born a doctor or a dancer, our lives are formed by the choices we make and by how hard we’re prepared to work to fulfil our dreams. Some people are born into a circumstance that makes their fight harder but there are no shortcuts to success, just the occasional lucky break.
When I was a child, I wanted to be a poet or a spy, as neither seemed likely to provide a steady income I became a civil servant and then a businesswoman.
At fifty I abandoned my ‘regular’ life to go to drama school and since then have been an actor, a writer, and an academic researcher.
My tip would be don’t think of yourself as only one thing; we all have many skills and will never know what they are if we’re not prepared to try things out.
Along the way, I’ve been a bad saleswoman, a good waitress, a magistrate, and a mother. Each role has taught me something useful for the next.
Dare to dream – keep searching for a role that fulfils you, take small steps towards it, trust your instincts and if you persist, you’ll get there if even if it’s not until you are fifty!
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