A little bit about Me...

I’m Madi, a Belfast girl, i'm 35 and I work full time in Marketing for a watch company Pride & Pinion; I love my job and the team I get to work with. We’ve just moved to a much bigger and better office and we’re getting a pool table and dart board - I’ve missed playing both in lockdown!

I have always had a creative and artistic mind and studied for my BA in Fine & Applied arts specialising in Ceramics at the Ulster University. I was obsessed with porcelain paper clay and its transparent amazingness. This led to me running a small ceramic design business for three years; Madeleine Beattie Designs.

However, I soon realised I actually really loved the marketing side of my business, so I decided to do a MA in Marketing at Ulster Business School and graduated the month before I turned thirty.

I am the baby of the family – I have an older brother and sister – and we all inherited our curly hair from our mummy. She rocked her curls most of her life until she started to straighten her hair in her sixties, which is a bit ironic now I’ve started embracing mine! (Curls that is, not straighteners!)

Growing up in Belfast was challenging; it’s only in the last few years that I’ve researched it a bit more and have learned to appreciate how scary things actually were in Northern Ireland. The Troubles lasted for over thirty years and had a huge impact on the lives of everyone in Northern Ireland. I’ll maybe reflect a bit more about this in another post.

However, I had a very happy childhood, my two best friends in the whole wide world have been in my life since we were 3 years old. We don’t remember meeting each other; they were just always there. That’s thirty-two years of friendship! These girls are my family, and we talk every day.

So, what else can I tell you about me? Well, another string to my bow is that I am a qualified yoga teacher; I completed a 200 hr yoga teacher training course in Thailand on the magical island of Koh Pha Ngan. I’ve been doing Yoga since I was fifteen and really this was a chance to further my own practise rather than actually become a teacher. And, of course, I got to spend time in beautiful Thailand.

That brings me on to another love of mine - backpacking! I’ve travelled around much of Europe, Thailand and Vietnam. South America is next on my list! My dream is to set up this business so I can manage it from anywhere in the world. I would love to explore designs and inspirations for new collections inspired by travel and different cultures.

Now, I have another little passion that everyone finds either weird or adorable: I am a complete bird nerd - I am a little bit obsessed! My friends even call me the crazy bird lady! haha. 

There you are, now you know a bit more about me, the creator of Curly Girl Silks!

If you’d like to share any comments or ask me any questions, please feel free.