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Behind the scenes

LET’S CONNECT ON INSTAGRAM

Women can do anything they put their mind to. Incl Women can do anything they put their mind to. Including getting paid for work they’ve done.

Whilst I’m still manifesting actually getting paid for the work I completed for LA REINE hosting their MojĆ”car retreat, I thought I’d share some of the content I captured for them on their Gstaad sportive last year, unpaid.

I’ve learnt a lot from this hurtful experience - the biggest lesson being the value of my time. If I’m working, my time needs to be compensated fairly, abundantly even. And when I’m not working, I’ll be soaking up every moment like it’s my last 🄹

Whatever you’re going through, remember nothing is permanent āœØšŸ¤
If you’re going to LA REINE Gstaad this year, I ne If you’re going to LA REINE Gstaad this year, I need you to know something.

The woman you saw building community, answering messages, creating content, hosting retreats, supporting riders, hyping women up and helping shape the experience behind the scenes?

That was me.

And after giving everything to this brand for the last year, including working a retreat while my mum was terminally ill and days from dying, I’m now sat here still waiting to be paid for work I already completed.

No compassion.
No accountability.
No urgency.
Just silence, excuses and behaviour that feels wildly unethical from a company positioning itself as an advocate for women in cycling.

That part matters to me.

Because this is marketed as a women’s movement.
A safe space.
An empowering community.
ā€œFor women.ā€

Yet when an actual woman within the organisation needed humanity, support and basic professional respect… none appeared.

And yes, before anyone asks:
LA REINE is run by a man.

A reminder to pay attention to where your money goes.
Who profits from ā€œwomen’s empowerment.ā€
Who is actually building these spaces.
And whether the values being sold publicly match the behaviour happening privately.

Support women-owned businesses.
Support brands built by women, for women.
Support people who treat women like humans instead of disposable labour once the work is done.

The ironic part?
I’m actually proud of the work I did.
The riders know what I brought to that retreat.
The community knows too.

And deep down, I think over time it’ll become very obvious that replacing me won’t be as easy as they seem to think.

If this reaches the LA REINE community, I’d appreciate:
šŸ¤ shares
šŸ¤ saves
šŸ¤ comments

Because women deserve transparency too.

#lareine #lareinecc #womenwhocycle #cyclingcommunity #cyclinglife womeninbusiness womenempowerment girlswhoride roadcycling cyclingretreat gstaad womenwhoride femalecyclist cyclingculture endurancesports cyclingspain womeninsport supportwomen womenscycling cyclistlife
You should meet my husband. AKA Modestas 🄹 Not be You should meet my husband. AKA Modestas 🄹

Not because he’s perfect.
But because loving someone properly is actually a skill… and that man has carried me through some of the hardest, heaviest, most beautiful seasons of my life.

He’s seen ambition, grief, stress, joy, chaos, exhaustion, excitement, anxiety and every version in between. The polished version. The messy version. The version that shuts down and the version that talks too much. šŸ˜‚

And through all of it, he’s never made me feel like I was ā€œtoo muchā€ to love.

I think people massively underestimate how much who you choose to build a life with shapes your entire life.

Your nervous system notices.
Your confidence notices.
Your healing notices.
Your joy notices.

Anyway… highly recommend marrying your best friend. šŸ¤
Not really sure how to ā€œreturn to normal contentā€ Not really sure how to ā€œreturn to normal contentā€ when life has basically body-slammed me into another dimension šŸ™ƒ

A few weeks ago I was hosting a cycling retreat in Spain while my mum was terminally ill back home.
I worked 15-hour days.
Came home.
My mum died 5 days before my wedding.

Then somehow I got married while carrying the weirdest mix of love, shock, gratitude and heartbreak imaginable.

Now I’m on honeymoon, standing on a windy beach trying to process the fact that when I get home, real life is waiting:
Funeral plans.
Paperwork.
Empty spaces.
Grief.
And still chasing payment for work I already did while my world was falling apart.

The old version of me still exists somewhere.
The fitness instructor.
The motivational one.
The organised one.
The ā€œyou’ve got thisā€ one.

But I’d be lying if I said I’m the same person right now.

So this reel is partly an experiment.
Does the algorithm prefer polished content…
or honesty?

Either way, if you see this:
šŸ¤ like it
šŸ¤ comment anything so it reaches more people
šŸ¤ save it so you can come back for the inevitable ā€œdid she ever get paid?ā€ update
šŸ¤ share it with someone who’s quietly going through it
šŸ¤ follow if you want the real, unfiltered version of this next chapter

Because apparently this is my life now šŸŒ§ļø
Every day since losing my mum, I have to make the Every day since losing my mum, I have to make the hardest choice. 

I can be angry about everything I’ve lost, everything she’ll miss, and everything we didn’t get to have… or I can choose to be grateful for what we did have, and what I still have. šŸ¤

And one of the things I will forever be grateful for is that somehow, despite everything, my mum still got to be part of my wedding.

Just days before the wedding — and only three days before she passed away — we had a blessing at The Margaret Centre (Whipps Cross Hospital) so she could share that moment with us. I truly believe she hung on for that day.

I cannot thank the team there enough 🄹. Not only did they suggest the idea in the first place, but they organised everything in less than 24 hours, including arranging for Father Bernard to conduct the blessing and then taking time out of their day to join us. 

After I got dressed, they realised we hadn’t even thought about flowers. Without hesitation, they ran to M&S, bought flowers for us and arranged them themselves. Just pure kindness during one of the hardest days.

When I arrived at my mum’s room that day, the first thing she said was: ā€œYou look pretty.ā€

I told her she did too.

The nurses had helped dress her in the outfit she’d originally chosen for my wedding before she became ill. They tied her headwrap, and put on the gratitude bracelet we’d chosen for the actual wedding day — a bracelet I’d already been wearing constantly whilst she was sick, and one I will rarely take off now. I added some earrings for her before getting dressed myself.

The sun shone for us that afternoon, so we were able to have the blessing outside in the garden, surrounded by so much love.

Another huge thank you goes to Kaye @fordtography. I’ve worked with Kaye for years and had already booked her for our wedding, and somehow the universe aligned for her to be available for the blessing too. Because of that, we now have the most precious photographs to treasure forever.

Losing my mum will never feel fair. But I will forever be grateful that she got this moment. That we got this moment. šŸ¤

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