With no job, no money, and three suitcases. I was 22, fed up with the weather in the UK, and convinced that chasing sunshine felt like a good enough plan at the time. I didn’t really know what I was doing — I just knew I wanted something different.

I arrived without a clear plan. No idea how long I’d stay, and absolutely no sense of what life here could become. Dubai felt exciting, unfamiliar and slightly overwhelming — but it also felt full of possibility in a way I really needed back then.

I moved to Dubai 12 years ago.

This city has shaped almost every part of my adult life.

I met my husband here, had three children here, and have lived in more areas of Dubai than I can count (eight, and still going). I’ve rented, bought, sold and moved house more times than I ever expected.

Professionally, it’s been just as formative.

I’ve worked in three very different jobs, started two companies, and had the privilege of collaborating with so many brands, founders and teams along the way. Dubai has been the backdrop to so much growth — personally and professionally.

12 years later...

I’ve interviewed over 100 people and had hundreds of honest conversations around motherhood, identity, ambition and mental load. Alongside that, through my PR agency The Comms Club, I’ve worked with more than 80 brands across the region. And woven through all of it has been one recurring theme: people moving here, and trying to find their feet.

Looking back now, I can see just how much relocation has shaped me. Not just practically, but emotionally too. The excitement, the loneliness, the reinvention, the moments of doubt — and eventually the grounding that comes when somewhere unfamiliar slowly becomes home.

Through Mother Tongue...

Over the years, I’ve found myself helping friends, friends of friends, podcast listeners and complete strangers think through moves to Dubai — answering the questions people are often too nervous to ask, helping them slow down before everything becomes logistical, and offering the kind of honest support I wish I’d had myself.

What I realised was that there’s plenty of support once you’re ready to do — visas, property, schools, logistics — but very little space to think. To pause. To make decisions in the right order, rather than simply the fastest one.

It’s rooted in lived experience, shaped by twelve years of life here, and designed to help families land well — not just arrive.

That’s why I built The Landing Desk.

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