My name is Gayle Thompson, and I've been delivering training since the 1990s.
I started as a Microsoft trainer, helping scientists and engineers to navigate the new-fangled contraptions on their desks called PCs.
I've delivered leadership training to prisoners, citizenship training on farms, personal development in community centres, presentation skills in a castle, and a wide range of other related activities in interesting locations.
In the past several years, I've delivered virtual training to people in 37 countries across the world.
I have 10 years' experience as a First Line Manager and 15 years' experience in Operations and Project Management.
A teacher in primary school told me that I would never be good at art, and shunted me over to the science class.
I didn't draw for nearly half a century.
A few years ago I realised that there's a process for everything - including art. So I dabble in my spare time. This is a friend of mine on a beach in Ireland with her two Boxer dogs.
Yes, the cartoons on this website are mine. A little whimsy in a highly analytical mind.
Lesson: don't ever let anyone tell you what you can't do. Even those in positions of authority.
The 15 or so years I spent working in Scotland's Criminal Justice sector paid off when I was challenged to write a short story for a competition run by the Glencairn Glass.
Not to my surprise, I didn't win. But I was contacted a year later and asked if they could use my story in their anthology The Last Dram. An extremely proud moment being in a short list of "the best up and coming crime authors around the world".
If crime is your dram of choice, you can get it on Amazon. I would love to know what you think of my story Reader's Choice so feel free to email me and let me know!
"What's next?" you may ask.
Well, the past year or two have been my very own real life stretch assignment. We in Learning and Development rarely have any time in our lives where we're not learning and developing ourselves in some way - a blessing (or curse!) of the profession.
Future plans include getting to grips with some new tools which will help my business; and trying to rank up on Valorant.
