I left Banff Academy and headed off to the Broch (Fraserburgh) to do my HND in accounting at the college. I had planned to do the 2 + 2 route – 2 years at college, 2 years at RGU. After the end of year 1, Johnston Carmichael held a competition to win a summer placement with them in their Fraserburgh office and I was lucky enough to win this. So I spent 6 weeks experiencing the start of office life and got a taste for the real work.

I look back and see how valuable this placement was as really I was going into the industry against those leaving university with degrees, whereas I only had a HNC.

After year 1 at college, my school got in touch to say that Meston Reid (now MHA) were hiring for a School Leaver apprentice and I should think about applying. Thankfully I charmed my way in and landed the apprenticeship. This was the start of a big chapter for me, moving from Banff to Aberdeen, and learning to speak English instead of Doric.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time at MR&Co learning the foundations of the accounts, learning that audit wasn’t for me and got into the swing of accountant life. I met some of my best friends at MR&Co, and look back at my time there with such fond memories. I had a lot of fun with the team of 40ish staff and learned a lot about how accurate records were key (thanks William).

I did my AAT exams whilst at MR&Co along with lots of charity work as we celebrated 25 years of MR and had my first flavour of cloud based accounting systems like Sage Cloud (which was terrible) and learned to love Sage Line 50. This was the start of my love for processes and technology. After 3.5 years at 11 Carden Place I moved along to Number 23 where I joined the much smaller team at Campbell Dallas (now Azets) as an accounts senior.

There was a lot of adjusting for me in this chapter, going from a team of 40ish to a very small office of 9 was difficult but during my 4 years at Azets I progressed to managing a small team, being the go to “Xero Hero” and eventually having a 10 month stint down in the Glasgow office. I also ticked off my ACCA exams and finally qualified. Not bad for never having gone to Uni!

During my time in Glasgow, I moved into the cloud team briefly, focusing on the companies adoption of cloud technology for their clients. After I was back in Aberdeen, it was clear I was ready to leave life of being employed. The entrepreneur in me was desperate to do things differently and something that stuck with me is an old manager telling me that I “need to choose between being an accountant or being a businesswoman”. It couldn’t have been more wrong and it’s stuck with me ever since.

In March 2020, and at only 26, I co-founded the accountancy practice Sllick. This was terrible timing to quit your job and start a business but nothing ventured, nothing gained. We set out that Sllick would focus on process improvement and technology implementation in financial teams within businesses. This went really well but clients wanted to work with us on an ongoing basis so Sllick pivoted into an accountancy practice. We closed the business last summer after deciding to go our separate ways.

During that time, I co-founded the personal tax planning app, Tax Torch. I taught myself to code using ChatGPT after unsuccessfully using external developers to build the app. It turned out it was really difficult for a developer to understand tax (fair enough…). So I learned python, learned how to design apps on Figma, technology architecture and database design etc and this lead to be developing the engine behind the app.

During this time, I pitched at the V&A in Dundee with AccelerateHER, raised investment and won Scottish Edge Round 23 in May 2024. I then went on to be selected to go to Silicon Valley, US with Techscaler at the end of summer 24 and this trip changed everything. I realised it was time for me to move on and do my own thing. I had a deep feeling there was a bigger problem than I needed to solve and this lead me to launch Alvah, my new accountancy practice in October 2024. Alvah has a few strings to it’s bow – Accountancy, Solutions and Technology and I have super ambitious plans for all 3 businesses.

The accountancy practice is scaling well and I’m away to hire my first employee. Solutions has been great, improving financial processes and procedures for clients finance functions to save them time, money and give them further visibility. And Technology – my love – is super exciting. I’m building some pretty cool technology building AI agents for the accounting and finance sectors. I am having a lot of fun building technology that will help businesses scale and using Alvah as a sandbox. I’m really excited to start sharing what I’m building in the near future.

This is the first time in my entrepreneur life where I have had a real sense of direction, clarity and vision about where the business is going. A lot of this clarity came from my time in America, surrounded by other founders and seeing how America tackles tech start ups and a lot of this clarity comes from having to make tough decisions to quit things regardless of how much time you have dedicated to it. Sometimes things just aren’t right and it’s ok to pivot to something new.

I have never felt so empowered, clear or focused on what I’m building and I absolutely love it. I am loving the journey.

I absolutely love supporting clients with growth. I have quarterly calls with my clients as often I am the only finance person in their business, so hearing their progress, helping them see the gaps, help turn numbers into a story. It’s fab.

I genuinely care about all of my clients and want the very best for them so I take a lot of pride in supporting them. Ultimately, if they grow, I grow.

No, not at all. I wanted to be an architect but the thought of 7 years at uni followed by the uncertainty about a job, accountancy seemed like a good enough choice.

My parents both have financial backgrounds so it was probably inevitable I would follow in their footsteps.

I’ve thought a lot about this over the last 6/7 months and I see accountants having to step further into the advisory role and start to view themselves as partners with their clients. There is more and more pressure for accounts to be automated so leaning into that trend and starting to think about how your expert knowledge can have impact on the businesses you work with is key.

We can all rise and grow together.

COVID actually taught me a lot about resilience - I mean, I started Sllick right as the pandemic hit! What I learned is that remote work can work really well when you have the right systems in place. The need for flexibility in people's lives is vital for their wellbeing, and I've seen this benefit both teams and clients.

It's interesting - COVID forced many businesses to finally make that switch to fully cloud-based systems, something I'd been advocating for years. I'm a big advocator for digital data, so seeing this digital transformation across the industry has been exciting. What's really stuck with me is how this period showed that traditional office-based models aren't the only way to deliver great service to clients - it's definitely shaped how I'm building Alvah, focusing on flexibility.

Honestly, trust your gut. If you aren’t happy with where you are just now, try and identify why. Chat with your employer and see if there’s anything that can be done to make things better. Try and work out what your “ideal” job would be and really focus on the why and focus on moving to something that aligns with you.

I’m a big believer in life is too short, and sometimes you just have to take the leap and have faith in yourself that you will work it all out.

I wish that when I was finding things tough at my last place of work that I had felt comfortable enough to communicate why. It’s all a lesson.

You are going to meet some of your absolute favorite humans over the next few years as you embark on work life. These people will go on to stand by your side, speak at your wedding, guide you through life’s twists and turns and you are going to learn a lot from them, both personally and professionally. Lap up every second.

Also, you are going to learn really, really quickly that you are not meant to be “just” an accountant. You are meant to be an entrepreneur, just like you always thought but stick it out, you’ve got a lot to learn first. Lean into your internal nerd, it’s going to love what you get up to in 10 years time.

I want to solve a big problem in the finance world with technology. I’ve already started….

I have big plans for Alvah over the next 3 years and looking forward to seeing that through. I am so committed to my mission I almost feel like I’ve joined my own cult haha

I’m very lucky that I get to spend my free time with my lovely husband Rashid and our beautiful border collie, Coira. I’d be lost without them both. We spend a lot of time with our best friends here in Stonehaven and we all love a games night.

When I’m chilling out, my hobbies will rotate (the joys of ADHD…) from music things with singing, playing guitar and recording music poorly. Or you’ll find me making something, whether it’s coding a new bit of technology from a 3am idea or crafting something. I’m also a lover of gaming so sometimes I’ll get lost on the Xbox or the Switch and totally switch off.

I’m a massive nerd and I’ve learned to love it.

During the summer months, we try and get in the water whether it’s SUP boarding or swimming and I’m a total old lady so I’ll likely be in the garden growing way too many vegetables. I’m happiest in my boiler suit and in my wellies.

Bigger picture things, I love to travel and managed to get to 31 countries by the time I was 31. My next travel goal is visit all of Europe by the time I’m 40, it’s a fun way to plan trips and a good excuse to go to new places.

I have always had a flare for spotting opportunities to make a pound or 2 so it started with working at Deveronvale FC every weekend helping out at the football then onto singing in pubs, clubs and at weddings most weekends from when I was 15 (I loved this so much).

My first proper “side hustle” came along when I was 22ish – Not Another Lightbox – which was curating, designing and producing custom lightbox inserts when they were really popular. I loved making them and seeing them on celebrities lightboxes. Then I went on to converting old rotary phones into digital audio records and hired these out for weddings and events to capture peoples voice notes in a fun and unique way.

My brain never stops and over the years I’ve learned to lean into it.