I Built Something Called The Quiet Expert.

Here's What I Should Have Told You From the Start.

I came into 2025 somewhat confused about my identity. I knew I needed to show up more, but I wasn’t sure how.

So I started writing. On LinkedIn at first. Then I found Substack.

Initially, I borrowed other people’s voices. I followed their examples of how to show up online. I saw what worked for them and tried it for myself. But a lot of it felt hugely performative, and totally inauthentic to who I was. And much as I could convince myself that if I stuck to it, it might start feeling like me, I didn’t really want that.

So I started to talk about what I wanted to. About how I felt differently. About what it meant to show up in a way that wasn’t the loud, shouty, look at me versions I saw online.

And somewhere in amongst there, the idea of The Quiet Expert was born.

What a Quiet Expert actually is

A Quiet Expert isn’t someone who lacks confidence. It’s not about imposter syndrome, introversion, or playing small.

It’s about refusing to shout to be heard. About valuing competence over noise. About showing expertise instead of performing it. About building meaningfully rather than loudly.

It’s a practice of showing up authentically — but authoritatively. Competently. With clarity about what you’re good at.

My mistake:

My mistake was creating this concept and then not really doing much with it. And being surprised when sporadically introducing the concept in articles was met with —

er, what is a Quiet Expert?

Elsewhere I had similar situations. I wrote about many different topics. About being a parent. About being a working mother. About being a woman whose business required her to show up online. I wrote about confidence, and showing up with clarity, and authentic leadership.

What I didn’t write about was how all of those things join together. And why I am the person qualified to tell others about how to do it well.

I got good at showing up. Now I need to get better at telling people why I am here.

My story: where people and process meet

My proudest moments in my career have been the people I’ve helped transform. In whatever capacity, giving people the tools to transform and grow into where they want to go — that is what really motivates me.

But at the same time, my bread and butter — what I know most — is how to make a company grow. I understand how to build a process and scale it. The people were what helped me do it.

I used to think those were two separate skills.

But this year has taught me otherwise.

What I’ve learnt is that scaling businesses and developing people aren’t separate — they’re the same work.

You can’t scale a business without the right people. And you can’t develop people without understanding the systems and structures that enable them to grow.

It isn’t just about knowing people. It’s about being able to translate ideas into action. Activation. That’s what matters.

What I’m building:

That’s what Secret Sauce is about. That’s what I do in my consultancy work as well.

Secret Sauce is the community I’m building to help leaders articulate what they want and give them the structure to go and get it. It’s where the scaling businesses and people development go together. It’s about clarity, articulation, and activation.

It’s not just about finding your voice. It’s about using it effectively. It’s about building the scaffolding around your ideas so they can become real.

And that’s what I want to be known for.

All the facets of me — integrated, not separate

All the other facets of me that make me the person I am — the mother, the working woman, the person who wants to show up online but in her own voice and on her own terms — and the Quiet Expert as the way in which I choose to show up — these aren’t competing identities.

They’re integrated. They inform each other.

Because at the end of the day, authenticity isn’t about separating your work from your life. It’s about letting them speak to each other honestly.

So what does 2026 look like?

In 2026, I’m bringing it all together.

I’m continuing The Quiet Expert’s Guide series — short, practical frameworks for people who want to build businesses and careers on their own terms. The most recent post is about setting New Year’s resolutions - consider this is my public new year’s resolution.

I’m building Secret Sauce into a space where leaders can articulate what they actually want, and get the structure and clarity to make it happen.

I’m working with clients who want to scale sustainably — not through loud growth hacks, but through operational rigour, strategic clarity, and people who know why they’re there.

And I’m continuing to write here — because this is where I think out loud, where I challenge assumptions, where I figure out what I believe by writing it down.

The invitation

If you’re still here, thank you. For reading, for engaging, for sticking around while I figured out what I was building.

If what I’m building sounds like something you need — whether that’s clarity on your own voice, operational frameworks that actually work, or a community of people building meaningfully instead of loudly — stick around.

And if you want to be part of Secret Sauce when it launches properly, let me know. Reply, message, comment. Tell me what you’re trying to build — and what’s getting in your way.

Because that’s what 2026 is about: building together. Quietly, competently, and with intention.

Let’s go.