What did you want to be when you were younger?
When I was younger, I was absolutely convinced I was going to be a professional cricketer. Not hoped. Knew. In my mind, it was only a matter of time before selectors discovered me, signed me, and handed me a jersey with my name on it. I was that kid who carried a cricket bat around like it was a passport to fame. Clearly, the universe had other plans – plans that involved fewer stadiums and way more spreadsheets.

What made you choose your current profession?
I like to say I didn’t choose accounting, accounting chose me… after wrestling me into submission.

My first year in audit was – let’s call it ‘character building’. I thought audit meant forensic audit (white gloves, magnifying glass, interrogations – the whole CSI: Finance experience). Imagine my heartbreak when I discovered materiality. I excitedly found a R5 million error and my manager told me to ignore it. Ignore? Five? Million?

That was the day forensic audit and I officially parted ways. So no, I didn’t choose my profession through a grand masterplan. I basically took the wrong exit off the highway and somehow ended up exactly where I was supposed to be.

Why did you choose to work for Grant Thornton?
The short answer is fate kept nudging me here like a persistent GPS.

Fast‑forward through a BCom at UCT, I had a role with PKF in Cape Town when they merged with Grant Thornton Cape Town and I was suddenly wearing purple. After completing my training contract there, the big shiny secondments to the USA and UK had already sailed past me. Then out of nowhere came a message: ‘Grant Thornton Channel Islands needs secondees.’

Where?

Channel Islands?

Is that near Narnia?

Nobody I knew had ever been sent here but something in me whispered “Say yes” – so I did. I arrived in February 2016 for what was meant to be six months. A few weeks later, a permanent role opened up so I put my hand up. I was fully expecting a polite rejection but Grant Thornton CI being Grant Thornton CI – they said yes.

Six months turned into ten years – accidental beginnings turned into a career-defining home.

How has Grant Thornton helped you grow professionally?
Grant Thornton Channel Islands didn’t just give me a job, the Company has invested in me like a long‑term stock with excellent potential.

I have been given development opportunities throughout my career here and enrolled on some great programmes; we have a Professional Development Programme, Management Development Programme, and our international Emerging Leadership Programme provided an opportunity to travel. Each programme has stretched me in ways I didn’t know I needed until I finished them; I was ‘levelling up’ like a character in a video game.

I got exposure to complex clients, diverse teams, and new perspectives that reshaped not just how I work, but how I lead. The growth has been steady, deliberate, and genuinely life‑changing.

What do you most like about working at Grant Thornton?
In one word – flexibility.

When I describe my work/life balance to friends and family, their reactions range from disbelief to envy. One of my closest friends regularly tells me, “Never leave that firm. People would sell a kidney for that kind of flexibility”.

This flexibility isn’t just convenient, it’s foundational. It allows me to show up fully at work, and fully for life. It’s the kind of balance most people search for, I just happened to find it – almost accidentally – thanks to a chain of events I could never have planned.

That’s ultimately the beauty of my journey; I followed the signs, embraced the surprises, trusted the odd detours and somehow ended up exactly where I’m meant to be.