Menu

Hi! I’m Cassie

I’m a narrative practitioner, writer, mentor, and guide for people who are ready to step into a new story, do life, business, and everything a little differently, or just want to talk human-to-human with someone who can trace back your history, map out your story, and help you figure out where you want to go – and show you that, chances are, you already have everything you need to get you there, you just need to recalibrate your compass a tiny bit.

As someone who seems to have figured everything out the hard way – or just perhaps has a penchant for taking the scenic, unconventional route – I then discovered that, actually, the threads of where I wanted to go were there all along; I just got too caught up in “trying to live a good story” to see them. Now, I’ve worked with hundreds of people from all walks of life, using their stories – the real ones, not the polished or “good” ones- as a way to help them map out where they’ve been, what they’ve learned, where they want to go next, and how to get there.

Something else I’ve learned along the way, though, is that when I work with people, I want to know more about their stories – what they’ve learned, what they’ve been through, what/where/how they’ve trained, and what makes them someone I want to trust with my stories. So, without further ado, here’s mine:

In 2019, I flipped a coin and ended up in Western Australia. At the time, I thought it was just the next step on a lifelong journey of exploration and adventure. And sure, technically it was – just not really in the way I expected…

After spending nearly 20 years exploring the outer world – from learning languages to hitchhiking across continents and spending nearly seven years on the road as a travel writer and disaster relief worker – I had no intentions of stopping. But, soon after I arrived, everything came crashing down, and I was forced to turn that map and compass inwards, instead.

Now, though, whether it’s through 1:1 sessions, my creative community, The Lemonade Factory, my workshops (wordshops), or even my personal writing, I use that map and compass to help others navigate their own major life transitions.

I’m especially passionate about turning those unplanned crises and crossroads – the ones that seem to hit all of us sometimes – into wayfinding adventures, helping you stop feeling like a side character in a story you’ve found yourself stuck in, and start being the author of the one you’d rather be living.

explore the ecosystem

The Path Less Travelled

I’ve always said that you can only teach what you know, and so, long before I was a guide, I was a student. My obsession with stories started when I was a kid, when I’d disappear into books at every opportunity – including making up stories before I even knew how to read.

By the time I was five, I was already pretty obsessed with other worlds, but when I went on the ferry across the sea for the first time and got my first glimpse into another way of being, it was the start of a full-blown love affair. One that would take me from going to school in Japan to teaching in Italy, working in France, and even onto studying Mandarin at university after an (accidental) solo trip to China aged 18 – although, I did end being kicked off that course and going onto a BA (Hons) in East Asian Studies, which is a whole other story in itself.

I also learned that learning is one of my main passions in life – especially outside of formal education systems. Being kicked off my degree led me to spiral for years about whether I’d made the wrong choices in my life. Now though, after having spent years apprenticed to life and depth (and death) work, learning to hold the vast spectrum of the human experience, including working in disaster relief and the grief of losing loved ones too soon – including my mother to young-onset Alzheimer’s, I see it all as part of the journey.

The Full-Circle Moment

As I travelled through life, I also found my way back to words and stories, eventually finding a way to turn my passion for word-weaving into a career. First, as a top-selling travel agent, where I specialised in e-sales and online conversions, and then later, after I left the UK with nothing more than a rucksack and laptop, as a freelance travel writer, working with clients like TripAdvisor, World Nomads, and Fodor’s Travel.

Even then, though, it was never just about selling destinations – it was all about helping people see themselves in new stories. Showing people what was possible – that there was a whole other world out there to see and explore.

And with it, whole other ways of being in the world, too. From doing disaster relief in Nepal and Guatemala to managing guesthouses in Cambodia, building an ecovillage in France, doing a Vipassana retreat in Thailand, working as a tourism consultant for local businesses in different places, and building multiple creative businesses, including as working as a graphic designer, artist, photographer, and even a human Google, my years on the road felt like a crash course in humanity and all our shared stories.

The Crashlanding Crossroads

As every traveller knows, though, sometimes you end up in situations you just can’t plan for, no matter how much you’ve tried to cover all bases.

In my case, this was the combination of COVID lockdowns, my mum being diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s while I was stuck on the other side of the world in Australia, and the entire identity I’d spent years creating falling apart in front of me, like a map caught in the rain.

Almost overnight, the path I had planned out disappeared, taking with it my career, my entire life savings, which went into a visa application to stay in a country I’d never actually intended to call home, and my family, who were now caught up in day-to-day caregiving responsibilities none of us had seen coming. And then my grandma died, too.

It was a rough season, full of impossible choices, like whether to stay or go.

In the end, I stayed, finding ways to support them from afar, including speaking to my mum for hours every day, helping her hold the fragments of her stories together for as long as I could.

Shaping My Own Story

Unable to find anyone or any words of wisdom to help me navigate the changing world in which I found myself, I decided it was time to write my own.

After years of writing stories for others, though, it wasn’t easy. I felt like I’d lost my voice, lost trust in myself, and lost track of my own story along the way. Like I hadn’t just flipped the coin upside-down, but had flipped my whole life upside-down, too. I didn’t know how to write my stories. To write without editors. To write to make sense of things.

I didn’t even know where to start. But I also knew it was something I had to do. So, I went right back to the beginning, put my pen on the page, pushed through the discomfort, and tried.

The more I wrote, though, the better I felt. I realised I’d tapped into something big. That writing our stories carries this strangely cathartic and transformational power, and can help us feel less alone, build self-trust, and ease the journey through life’s portals, like grief and loss – even if we’re only writing them for ourselves.

Wayfinding in the Wilderness

At the same time I was rediscovering myself, I was also discovering my new homeland, carving my own path through the literal and metaphorical wilderness I found myself in. I found myself drawn to the red-dirt landscapes, ancient salt lakes, and crumbling ghost towns, fascinated by all the stories of what we leave behind.

Eventually, I felt ready to share these stories with others and help others navigate their own unmapped places, too. I stepped into deep apprenticeship, working alongside mentors, coaches, and guides to integrate shadow work and narrative alchemy into my practice, launched my newsletter, Making Lemonade, and built a 1:1 creative mentoring practice.

I also trained in trauma-informed facilitation, started running writing and story and strength-based workshops, and created a community for writers and creatives building businesses and navigating their own messy middles.

Now, after working with more than a hundred creatives as a mentor and guide, I’m deepening into the journey even more. I’m now studying narrative therapy and branching out into narrative mentoring, weaving together my own experience with practical, tangible tools to help those caught in the polywilderness of life stop feeling like they have to follow a script that no longer fits, and instead find a way to carve a path that’s entirely their own.

explore my offerings

Credentials & Curiosities

Even inner explorers need a backpack stuffed full of tools they can call upon whenever they need them. In my case, this looks like a smorgasbord of formal study, deep apprenticeships, and experience gleaned from over three years of working with 100+ people through mentoring, workshops, and community facilitation.

I’m grateful to all my teachers – formal, informal, listed here and not – and everything they’ve taught me along the way, including everything I get to learn from books, too. They’re what started me on this journey all those years ago, and I still can’t get enough of them now.

The Paper Trail

Trainings & Apprenticeships

Published Writing, Media & Career History

  • Freelance Travel Writer | 15+ years writing for global publications & media outlets, inc. TripAdvisor, World Nomads, Fodor’s Travel, Viator, Business Insider, International Traveller, Frankie Magazine
  • Copywriter & Editor | Durex, Australia’s Golden Outback, HipCamp, Visit Ontario, Bobbi Lockyer
  • Sub-Editor: This Creative Life Mini-Zine | Sarah Robertson @ These Are The Days (2025)
  • Creative Mentoring | Nina Karnikowski (2023)
  • Journalism Mentorship | Fleur Bainger (2022-23)
  • Tourism & Business Consultant | Mentoring international SMEs in digital & business literacy (2014-19)
  • The Working Holiday Club | International Relocation Consultant (2019)
  • World Nomads Podcast Guest | Working in Disaster Relief (2018)
  • Hacienda Guesthouse & Operations Manager | Otres Beach, Cambodia (2014)
  • Travel Agent | STA Travel UK | Top E-commerce Seller (2011-2013)
  • BA (Hons) 2:1 – East Asian Studies | The University of Sheffield (2008-2011)
  • Bummit Student Hitchhike Organiser | The University of Sheffield (2008-2011)

Community, Business & Creative Development

Personal & Professional Achievements:

Trainings & Memberships:

Other Experiences

Sparks of Interest

  • Narrative Therapy, Depth Psychology & IFS: Embracing our complex multi-storied lives
  • Creativity & Neuroscience: Connections between imagination, neuroplasticity, and wellbeing
  • Cultural Wisdom: Integrating lessons from other countries, societies & ancestral stories
  • Myths & Archetypes: Portals, initiations, rites of passage, and how they show up in our lives
  • Travel & Movement vs Slowing Down: How it feels to experience the world in different ways
  • Grief & Legacy: The things we leave behind and the ways we want to be remembered

Other Fun Facts About Me

I’ve only ever broken one bone, I’m child-free by choice, I lived in a beach shack in Cambodia for four years, take my cat, Joe, on road trips, have aphantasia, love taking photos, and I’m trying to read 100 books this year.

For even more stories, check out my newsletter, Making Lemonade