Which stories did you enjoy as a child?

I was drawn towards anything with an air of mystery or intrigue. I enjoyed all the Enid Blyton books and the stories of Nancy Drew's heroics. I loved how every day for them was an adventure and how they unrealistically survived every messy situation they got into. But my favourite book was this novel called 'One Minute Dream'. It focussed in on this girl’s pursuit of her dream to rollerskate - I wanted to be that girl!

How did you get involved in media?

I basically followed my passion for writing. I've always loved keeping journals and story-writing and so it seemed the most natural thing in the world to pursue that. That led me to study English, which helped further fan the flames of my passion to write. So after I left university I took a gap year and got involved with a couple of Christian magazine publications which gave me really useful experience. I then got accepted to do a postgraduate newspaper journalism course that paved the way for me getting a job in the world of radio. I feel like this whole experience has been a God ordained journey and that He really has guided me every step along the way.

Who has been the biggest influence in your work?

That's tough. I could say someone like Kate Adie - because as a little girl dreaming big I used to want to be her and to get to tell stories of events happening in exciting and far-flung places. But I'd say my biggest influence is actually a great-aunt of mine who died before she even got to see my love for writing really emerge. Auntie Vina was this legendary lady, possibly the most compassionate person I’ve ever met, and she was a writer. She wrote short stories, poems, inspirational thoughts and captured a sample of them in a book called 'Over the rainbow'. Looking back I think what inspired me most about her was that her writing wasn't just words on a page - she lived out many of the beautiful thoughts and became an expression of some of her stories.

What makes you angry?

When people - me included - wheel out words that wound, or sting, or hurt others. I feel that words are a powerful force - which we abuse way too easily. They have the power to give life or take some away - and I hate to see people's spirits crushed in that way. I get angered by negativity because I feel like people could do with a lot more hope in their lives. I hate judgemental attitudes and it angers me to see people feeling excluded from society or the church or their peer group because of who they are or what they’ve done. I just don’t think we realise, as humans, the potential we have to pass on Life to others.

Jesus was a story teller who knew the power of a good story, so I...

...want to see good stories deployed in our society as I believe they have the power to unlock our culture. They have the power to bring life and hope into people's lives and change the predominantly doom and gloom culture of our media. They can point to a God who is involved in the messiness of our lives and capture the fact that He is active amid the brokenness of our world.

M.L. King Jr had a dream for society. What is yours?

I have a dream that good news can sell, that the headline-writers will be left scratching their heads as our media culture sheds its dark layers. My dream is for Hope to be spoken over people's lives, over our towns, cities and nations. For people then in turn to feel inspired to raise their hopeful voices. I have a dream that these stories will unlock stereotypes about God and His Church and that they will bring fresh revelations about Our Creator and his beautiful Love for humanity.

What is the main hindrance to living the dream?

I think probably the misconception that 'good news doesn't sell' and the fact that being hopeful is a hard choice to make - sometimes it's easier to be negative...

What Christian story or biblical text motivates you in your work?

I love Jesus' teaching from Matthew 5: "You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house." That has been a key message in motivating me to get stories of hope and God stories out into the public domain, not to hide them, but to put them on display and let them shine.

What would 'shalom' in the media look like 10 years from now?

That media would be a space where people can find both truth and hope. That media would be an arena where people could find life and inspiration. I'd love for this more hopeful media to then feed into the public psyche and for people in turn to be encouraged to find their own voices, tell their own stories and that through all this - God's glory would be seen and heard and found.