Corinne Lewis-Ward is an artist, designer and all-round creative genius who hasn’t let her health conditions slow her down at all. She is the founder of Powder Butterfly (www.powderbutterfly.com), a design studio that creates a stunning range of British contemporary homeware gifts, allowing her to mix her creative skills with her love of different locations in the British Isles. More recently she has added creating indoor murals to her repertoire and also offers bespoke work for corporate clients.
Having suffered from dyslexia for many years and having recently been diagnosed with diabetes, Corinne’s health has created a myriad of issues when trying to work. She struggles with focusing her attention properly, becoming quite easily distracted especially on bad days that she refers to as ‘Dyslexia Days’. She finds it difficult to manage her time properly and the organisation doesn’t always go as planned! Once a system is in place she finds it easy to follow, but it’s getting it all set up that takes the time.
Corinne has also struggled with her mental health, describing living with a disability as being lonely and trying to run a business with one as very isolating. Fortunately, This is Me is helping to turn all of that around by getting her the help she needs and while she may have only been a client of This is Me since November 2020, she’s certainly been using her time well, exploring every opportunity available.
Not only does she have two support workers, each who help her with different aspects of her business but she’s also utilising the Coping Strategies therapy that is on offer and is taking advantage of the mental health support programmes from the Health Assured app all of which make her feel so much more positive.
This is Me takes time ensuring that the support workers they pair with clients have the necessary skills and Corinne’s are no exception. One of her support workers focuses on helping with Facebook advertisements, keeping track of mailing lists and sending out newsletters while the other focuses more on administration and organisation, helping Corinne keep track of emails and paperwork. Both are essential and have been absolutely instrumental in helping her take the business forward.
Having the extra help has allowed Corinne to think a lot more clearly about her business strategy and what she wants to achieve. By bringing in people who are better at certain aspects of the work, it frees Corinne’s time up to focus on the core of the business. She is so much more optimistic for the future now that a lot of the pressure has been relieved and is already planning to develop an operations manual and further develop her wholesale catalogue. Working with the support workers is also helping Corinne expand her people management and communication skills and teaching her how to delegate, all of which will be essential when she is eventually able to recruit her own team of staff, something that she didn’t think was possible before working with This is Me.
Corinne’s advice to anyone considering using This is Me to help them through the Access to Work process is simply;
‘Don’t hesitate. Get in touch, talk to Michelle or one of the team. They support you through the entire process and help you get sorted with support workers. I feel really looked after and supported by everyone.’
Helping people like Corinne is what This is Me is all about. She is a huge talent who works extremely hard and we can’t wait to see Powder Butterfly go from strength to strength!
