The Freedom to Choose What Matters Most

How has your perspective on wealth changed over the years – particularly in terms of purpose and impact?

I never saw wealth per se as the end goal. I've always seen it as something that creates freedom, options and opportunity.

Early in my career, wealth represented security, independence and the ability to create choices for me and my family. The biggest mindset shift came when I realised I already had enough. I then found myself asking a different question: what now becomes possible?

Selling my businesses was about buying back time, protecting my health and allowing me to focus on the things that mattered most to me.

Today, I think about wealth less in terms of accumulation and more in terms of what it enables. The greatest luxury wealth creates isn't more. It's the freedom to live more intentionally and use your time, energy and resources in ways that matter most to you.

Many high-net-worth women ask: "What do I want my wealth to do – beyond my lifetime?" How do you think about legacy?

My thinking about legacy has changed quite significantly over the years. Earlier in my career, I probably thought about it in fairly traditional terms. Building something successful, creating financial security for my family and leaving something behind for my kids when I'm gone.

Today though, I think about legacy much more broadly. I don't believe legacy is only about what happens after we're gone. I think it's also about the impact we're having while we're here. It's about the individuals you've helped grow, the doors you've opened, the confidence you've built and the positive ripple effects that continue long after a particular conversation, project or role has ended.

That's one of the reasons philanthropy has become such an important part of my life. When I sold my business, I always knew that part of the proceeds would help secure my family's future, but I also wanted part of it to be used to create opportunities for others.

Through Another Way Women's Foundation, we've been able to support thousands of women and girls. People sometimes ask why we focus specifically on women and girls. The answer is that there remains a significant imbalance in both opportunity and funding. In the UK, only around 1.8% of charitable funding goes to organisations run by and for women and girls, despite the enormous impact those organisations have.

I don't see supporting women as being about excluding men. Quite the opposite. I believe that when women thrive, families thrive, communities thrive and society benefits.

To me, that's what meaningful legacy looks like.

If you could design the ideal community for ambitious, influential women, what would it give them that they don't always get elsewhere?

The challenge isn't a lack of brilliant women. It's that too many of them are still operating in separate rooms.

Over the years, I've met countless brilliant women and organisations doing incredible work. There's a huge amount of activity happening, but often in pockets, and that limits impact. Increasingly, I've become interested in the idea of joining the dots. How do we connect people, organisations, networks and opportunities in ways that amplify impact rather than duplicating effort?

If I could design the ideal community, it wouldn't just provide information. It would create connection, trust, support and access. It would help women learn from one another and achieve things together that would be harder to achieve alone.

Success is rarely a solo endeavour. I've always tried to surround myself with people who were better than me at certain things – my leadership teams, my colleagues, my advisors and the wider networks around me. Many of the opportunities I've had throughout my career came through relationships, trust and people opening doors for one another.

That's one of the reasons communities like Beyond Value are so powerful. They create spaces where those connections can happen more intentionally.

Because success becomes much more powerful when it stops being something we pursue individually and starts becoming something we multiply collectively.

Finally, what would you most want every woman in our Beyond Value community to remember?

One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that most choices involve trade-offs. Women are often balancing careers, families, relationships, caring responsibilities and their own ambitions, sometimes all at the same time. I don't believe that success means having it all. I think it's about being intentional about what matters most to you at a particular point in your life.

I'd encourage women not to underestimate their own value. Be ambitious, back yourself and don't be afraid to define success on your own terms rather than inheriting somebody else's version of it. And don't be afraid to change your mind. The life you want at 30 may not be the life you want at 50 or 60, and that's not inconsistency – it's growth.

Because over time, I've realised that success and wealth aren't the destination. They're tools. And they become more meaningful when they create freedom and possibility – not just for yourself, but for other people too.

To me, success isn't about having more. It's about having the freedom to choose what matters most. And once you reach that point, perhaps the most meaningful question becomes: what are you going to do with that freedom?

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Inspired by Wendy's perspective? Beyond Value is our community for women who want to connect, share experiences and explore new possibilities together. It's a space for open conversation and mutual encouragement, here to help you shape the legacy you're building. Find out more about Beyond Value and join us.

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