Happy anniversary!

When I jumped on the Zing train 12 years ago and we symbolically launched on American Independence day, I had no idea I’d still be driving it 12 years later, but I’m so happy that I am. Let’s face it, about 65% of small businesses fail in the first 10 years so we’re definitely doing something right.

In the 12 years since we launched, not only am I 12 years older, maybe wiser too, but the world has changed in so many ways, here’s a rundown of just a few memorable events….:

2011 – Zing launched and Game of Thrones Premiered

2012 – The UK hosted the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

2013 – The same sex marriage law passed, and Ding dong the Witch is Dead (from the Wizard of Oz) trended – it’s on my funeral songs list too!

2014 – Gangnam Style reached 2bn views on YouTube but while some of the world danced, other parts suffered the Ebola pandemic.

2015 – NASA discovers water on Mars and Chris Hughes accepted his AEO award with the support of Chris Evans.

2016 – The other worldly and amazing David Bowie was taken from us too soon, as was our right to live, work and retire 27 countries – what a god-awful year!

2017 – Donald Trump was inaugurated, and the UK was devastated by the Manchester Arena attacks.

2018 – Harry married Meghan, the world came together to rescue some boys and their coach from a Thai cave, we lost one of the greatest brains of our time, Stephen Hawking and I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary.

2019 – saw the destructive impact of fire at Notre Dame and the destructive impact of Boris Johnson on UK government. The big news though, my baby boy turned 18!

2020 – The first cases of COVID-19 were announced, and the Black Lives Matter movement launched as a result of the death of George Floyd. I turned 50 and celebrated in Kent, as all my travel plans for my big year went out of the window thanks to the pandemic 😉

2021 – The US Capital building was stormed by Trump supporters.

2022 – Was a big year in the news. We lost our Queen, saw the end of COVID restrictions, heard the first stirrings of Partygate and saw the country lose confidence in Boris Johnson. There was the Oscars Slap, the release of Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the start of war in Ukraine, the beginning of the cost of greed crisis, the revolving door of leadership at Number 10, The Wagatha Christie case and our Lionesses won the Euro’s. At home, Josh turned 21!

2023 – The beginning (finally) of the COVID enquiry and a bloody marvellous Glastonbury, Rick Astley, Lizzo, the Foo Fighters and Gabriels were my personal favourites (let’s not talk about the Arctic Monkeys and Blondie!).

By the way, 2023 is also the year that I’m looking forward to celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary; Phil has been my rock through the highs and lows of 12 years as a small business owner. He’s my advisor and confidant, my sounding board, and my soulmate. I’m not sure I’d even be where I am today without him and he deserves every accolade for listening, being there and putting up with me. Love you Phil xx

I still feel hugely blessed that I’m able to go to work every day, in my own company, where variety really is the spice of life and where we really can add value, provide direction, and help our clients do and be better versions of themselves.

I’m also incredibly thankful to the fantastic Zing team and our partners; past, present and future. To all those clever, creative, funny, conscientious and supportive people, without whom, Zing would not have thrived, let alone still be alive – Thank you all for everything.

Watch out 2023/24, we’ll continue to be Ama-Zing, Surpri-Zing, and Fiz-Zing into our 13th year!