Josie comes from a family of educators, writers and entrepreneurs. Her mother is Danish and came to England as an au pair, where she met Josie’s father, a student at Cambridge University. As her father was a teacher and later principal of colleges of further education, the family was always on the move. During her teenage years, Josie’s parents set up a successful business running residential language and activity courses for children: Kent Language and Activity Courses (KLAC) which ran successfully for 25 years. During her childhood, Josie went to thirteen schools, lived in Cambridge, Tanzania, Tunbridge Wells, Shrewsbury and Canterbury. Despite all this moving around, Canterbury was where she was born and went to secondary schools, so East Kent is her “home”. Josie met her future husband, Dave, at The King’s School, when they were both in the 6th Form.
After leaving school, Josie studied at the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London, worked for Camp America as a swimming & general counsellor, worked a ski season in the Swiss Alps, and travelled around Europe, China, India, and South East Asia. After achieving her BA (Hons) degree in Development Studies at the University of East Anglia, Josie travelled to Myanmar (Burma) to work as Social Secretary to the wife of the British Ambassador. This was followed by getting qualified as an EFL teacher, then teaching, teacher training and running courses for KLAC and other language schools. After setting up Offa’s Dyke walking holiday there followed a spell of travels to South America where Josie ran her own business importing and selling handcrafts from Peru and Ecuador. She also worked as PA to the Expedition Leader in the Bahamas with Raleigh International. This charity inspires communities and young people around the world to create lasting change.
After being together for a long time, Dave finally proposed and it was time to settle down. They were overjoyed to have twins, Sophie and Ella and a few years later, Zoe. When the children were small the family spent a winter in Trinidad where the girls went to a local school and participated in the famous Carnival procession. A freelance lifestyle fitted in well while raising a family. Josie decided then to develop her passion for drawing and watercolouring. Award-winning greeting card company Phoenix Trading published many of her card designs over the next ten years and Josie undertook many watercolour commissions. She not only sold her own range of greeting cards but also sold cards from Phoenix and grew a team of distributors. At this time, Dave was busy working as a cartoonist for The Sunday Times. Josie took the girls to a felt workshop when they were small and they were all completely smitten with felt making. Josie began to make felt bags, tea cosies, purses, glasses cases, felt pictures which sold well. People kept asking about the techniques involved so that’s when Josie started to use her teaching skills and run felt workshops…initially at home running 'how to make a felt bag' day courses and then branching out to schools, other groups, etc.
As a freelancer, it’s always a good idea to develop several income streams. In 2015 Josie became a Distributor for Utility Warehouse and is helping people save money on their utility bills. As a Senior Team Leader, she is nurturing her team and has over six hundred customers.
Dave continues to produce cartoons for web and print content, mainly for the heritage sector.
Her children loved their Steiner schooling and have now flown the nest. She enjoys travelling, reading, hiking, walking, running, cycling, yoga, birdwatching and drawing.
Josie is committed to various charitable causes. Her mum was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease so Josie decided to help by raising money through sponsorship. She cycled London to Paris, cycled Coast to Coast in the UK, cycled London to Amsterdam, run several half marathons and walked the West Highland Way - all raising funds for Parkinson’s UK.
