ABOUT
Who I am...
Coach. Mum. Smiler. Writer & Author
I am Andrea Anderson
I'm a creative being, I love nature, colour, texture, movement and music.
After a lifetime of desperately trying to fit in, to find out who I belong with, I finally found out why these things had been so hard for me.
At 45 I discovered I am autistic. I couldn’t fit the way others do because I am wired differently. This was a vital piece of information that had not been available to me for a large part of my life.
I’d spent a lifetime unconsciously trying to mould myself to blend in. For I’d been messaged in various different painful ways that my natural way of being and behaving was “wrong”
It’s not wrong to be different in how you connect & communicate with the world. It is incredibly damaging to your identity and mental well being to cover up these unique and pretty wonderful differences.
Discovering this difference in myself has sparked a mission & purpose to change that - to create environments for neurodivergence to belong.
For neurodivergence has been misunderstood for too long. The rejection and exclusion of those who experience and engage with the world differently has caused too much damage and marginalisation to wonderful human beings
As well as sparking a new purpose in me, my late life autism discovery has cultivated a deep love of writing.
Writing was a lifeline to me when my autistic discovery hit me hard and unravelled my whole life. I had to re look at my whole existence through a new autistic lens. Writing helped me to make sense of those big thoughts and emotions.
In my first book This is Who I am… the autist's guide to belonging, published by JKP, I go deep into the raw reactions and difficult emotions that surface in uncovering an unknown difference in yourself.
I explore both practical and emotional elements from that first awareness of your autism to the messy tangle you go through to get to acceptance of yourself as autistic.
For that’s really what will get you to finding belonging- acceptance of your difference from within. From there finding belonging, and much, much more is possible for you.
In this book I use my many years of experience as a Coach, where I have helped many wonderful humans to get to their own version of self acceptance, of who they truly are and what is possible for them. Many of my tools and activities are in the book to help you progress to finding your own belonging.
Where I live...
I live with three wonderful people, a lovely man who I am married to and two gorgeous, mischievous, wonderfully adventurous boys, who I am Mum to.
We live in Brighton, a (sometimes!) sunny place, in the south of England, a gorgeous hive of creativity, friendliness and refreshingly down to earth!
My career story...
I have had the privilege of working with some brilliantly creative and talented people.
For over ten years I worked in fast growth fashion and digital businesses, including TOPSHOP, TOPMAN and ASOS.com.
My focus and drive when working with these businesses was on activities that delivered inspirational leadership; happy people; cultures of freedom; innovation; and ultimately achieved growth.
Whilst it definitely helped me to grow as a person, and I loved the creative and pioneering spirit I both experienced and helped to create, as I progressed through the “ranks” I found it soul destroying to become something I was not…. tough minded, focused on short term gains, detached and ultimately burnt out.
I’ve worked with some passionate and committed people, with huge amounts of energy to making a creative vision happen, and I’ve witnessed some ugly toxic corporate behaviour.
I’ve learned that organisations can only positively change and transform if those who are founders and leaders in the business are prepared to listen and accept hard truths, and to be brave enough to be uncomfortable and face up to what’s holding them, and the organisation, back and to get clear on what it will take to get to where the business wants to get to.
(Ahem, this will not happen overnight! )
My most rewarding and transformational work comes from working with people who want to invest in themselves, who recognise the fulfilment that will come from getting clear on who they are, what they want and where they’re heading.