Melanie CairnsI started my professional career as a fashion designer and couturier, then moved to a film studio to get some secretarial experience. While working exclusively for their sole lawyer in London, I took a non-traditional part-time route to legal qualifiation. Finally qualifying as a solicitor ten years later, I now practise law in-house in the media and entertainment industry. I live in Buckinghamshire with my husband and two Norwegian Forest cats. During the 2020 pandemic lockdown, Axel (one of our Norwegian Forest cats) escaped our garden and was killed on the road by our house, leaving us with Saffy and Argyle. On top of the challenges of an excessively busy time selling hugely popular TV programmes to broadcasters and platforms for a US studio's London-based business, Axel's death really impacted my wellbeing. My personal mechanism to balance the stress of work is to create. I dusted down my sewing machine and shut down my laptop for two hours at lunchtime each day to decompress by sewing scrubs for a charity set up by a couture designer in London. That reignited my creative curiosity, so I decided to take some time out from my professional career to rest and recuperate from March to May 2021. To make sure I felt a sense of achievement, I took an old sketch pad and my trusted Caran d'Ache ink pen and doodled my cats every day and added motivational quotes. This turned out to be the perfect therapy, and after posting each day on Instagram, I have a loyal and growing number of followers on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok under the handle @i.am.melc. I have found a left-brain/right-brain balance through sketching animals with quotes when I'm not lawyering. Read More Read Less
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