"Did you ever sit down and plan your #career?"

If I ever did, it didn’t go to plan. I did well at school and university because I didn’t realise not doing well was an option. After university there was a moment - when you’re meant to use your degree to get a serious #job ...

with a big company - and I just didn’t. I did a masters in political philosophy, went to New York, moved to Paris, got a taste for not living in England and then moved to Berlin. I was doing odd jobs along the way to pay rent. I worked in shops selling bacon

sandwiches. I worked for a Royal silversmith in London. As a student I studied politics but worked as a classical singer for the BBC. Arriving in Berlin, I did English interviews for German publications and was writing, translating and working for magazines. I left Berlin

because of a sense that I was meant to be doing grownup things like being a business person and wearing a suit. I went back to study law in the UK and started working for law firms. I used my new law degree to get a job working for financial consultants who were showing banks

how to understand the tonnes of new regulation they needed to implement. If that isn’t grownup, I don’t know what is. It was then that I had the #RiutBag idea. And it changed everything. As soon as I gave it a moment’s serious thought, the rest of my life made sense. I didn’t

have to try to be someone else. I didn’t have to pretend anymore. I could just be me trying to make an idea that I had using everything I already was.

So, I didn't plan to be a secure #backpack designer. It just happened one day and resulted in this > riutbag.com