TGT MEETS...Lindsay Furness from Bradford On Avon Massage - IWD

Wednesday 8th March is International Women’s Day - and the theme this year is #embracequity. Lindsay Furness, owner of Bradford on Avon Massage answers some interesting IWD questions...

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Lindsay and I’m a mother of two young children I also run Bradford on Avon Massage. A beautiful cosy independent therapy space in the heart of Bradford On Avon. I specialise in women’s health including pregnancy, postnatal and womb massage. I retrained as a massage therapist 10 years ago when my first son was born and opened my own space last March. 

If you are a woman in business – has your gender worked positively or negatively for you? 

I feel like my gender works positively in my current role. I specialise in woman’s health so it’s important to be able to empathise and build a level of trust with my clients. I also treat men but I don’t feel that my gender affects my ability to do this. 

Can you share details of three women – famous, alive or not – who inspire you?

• Greta Thumberg I love her fearlessness and authenticity. She really inspired my son when he learnt about her in school. For someone so young to have such a positive effect on us and our children is mind blowing. When I’m not massaging you can find me at home with my family on our boat. Sustainability is something that’s really important to us and we try our best to tread lightly on this earth.
• Malala Yousafzai - She is an obvious no brainer for me. Her courage in the face of injustice is breathtaking in every way. 
• Jacinda Ardern - The ultimate boss lady in my humble opinion. Worth moving to the other side of the world for. She made being a mother and running a country look effortless. 

Can you share details of three women in business in your circles who inspire you?

• Lisa Lister, author - This lady is all shouting from the rooftops all about woman’s empowerment. I urge every woman to read her books. They are powerful and accessible and are totally inspiring. 
• Helen Taylor, activist - She is one of my clients and she is an incredible activist. I love hearing all about her work when she comes in for her self care. She really is making the world a better place for us all. Her work with sea shepherd and other business is so inspirational. 
• Tanya James, woman’s health guru - There is nothing this lady doesn’t know about woman’s health. She is my go to for any advice and knowledge. Her generosity and wisdom shines through her work and her business. 

Can you share details of three women close to you who inspire you?

Krissy has the biggest heart of anyone I know and I’m privileged to call her my friend. She is always helping people and has been overseas helping refugees several times.

She is a single mum to her beautiful son and she has taken brave and powerful decision to take a pause from her career as a social worker to focus on caring for her son. 

My sister Sally had 3 gorgeous children young and stayed home to raise them, once they were older she retrained as a tattoo artist. She is incredibly talented and now super successful and ridiculously cool. 

My sister Liz is my NHS hero. She is now a nurse manager running two community hospitals where she is overworked and undervalued but she keeps going and is so loved and respected by her team. She also juggles this with being a wonderful mum.

What do you think can be done to really #breakthebias?

Affordable childcare for mothers returning to work. More flexibility in the work place to allow women to prioritise their families when needed. And an equal wage, why I really need to write this, in this day and age, is infuriating and astounding.

Are you doing anything at all to mark IWD 2022? 

I’m so lucky that my job is to empower, celebrate and nourish women every day. It’s a huge honour to hold space for these women who need my support. Womb massage especially is all about guiding and connecting women into their inner wisdom and their divine feminine energy. Its raw, powerful, deeply beautiful work and I absolutely love doing it. For me every day is IWD.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

One of the reasons I started my business, is that I needed my work to fit in with my young family. Parents especially new mums have to make so many tough compromises when returning back into the work place and are often left without financial sovereignty. So I changed the goal posts. I opened my own business because I wanted to be able to support my family without having to comprise on being a mother, whilst doing something I’m passionate about. Like all of us I’m striving for the elusive perfect work life balance. Having my own business gives me the space and flexibility to adjust my schedule when I need to, and I feel so blessed to be able to do this when so many other working mothers can’t. 

To find out more please visit their website here.