From Nanny to Finalist: Inspirational Woman in Business 2026

I’m not quite sure I’ll ever get used to writing things like this…

I have been selected as a finalist for Inspirational Woman in Business at The UK Women’s Business Awards 2026.

Even writing that sentence feels a little surreal.

Awards are wonderful. Being recognised for something you have created is an incredible feeling. But this one feels particularly personal because it isn’t simply recognising my businesses - it is recognising the woman behind them.

And that has made me stop and reflect on just how far I’ve come.

From Nanny to Finalist: Inspirational Woman in Business 2026

I Always Knew I Wanted to Be a Nanny

I didn't grow up dreaming of becoming a businesswoman.

I wanted to be a Nanny.

Childcare has always been where I felt I belonged, but getting to where I am today hasn't followed what you might call a conventional path.

I struggled academically at school and was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age. For a long time, traditional education made me feel as though perhaps I wasn't particularly good at very much.

But I knew what I was good at.

Caring for children.

I knew I wanted a career that allowed me to work closely with families, build meaningful relationships and make a genuine difference to their lives.

So that's exactly what I did.

What I could never have imagined back then was that the career I loved would eventually lead me to become the founder of not one, but two businesses.

From Private Nanny to The Wedding Nanny

Private Nanny was where my journey into business began.

It allowed me to take everything I believed professional nannying should be - personal, reliable, knowledgeable and completely centred around each individual family and I wanted to create a service built around those values.

Through my work as a private nanny, I was asked to care for one families children at their wedding and thats where I saw a gap.

Couples were spending months, sometimes years, carefully planning every element of their wedding, yet specialist childcare for their own children was rarely part of that conversation.

I knew professional nanny care could offer something very different.

And from that, The Wedding Nanny was born.

What began as an idea has grown into a specialist service supporting families on one of the most important days of their lives.

Two very different businesses, but both built around one belief:

Exceptional childcare can make an extraordinary difference to a family.

The Parts You Don't Always See

Running a business from the outside can sometimes look very different from what is happening behind the scenes.

There have been challenges.

There have been mistakes.

There have been moments of self-doubt and plenty of learning as I've gone along.

Building businesses whilst being dyslexic has meant finding my own ways of doing things. Things that might take somebody else ten minutes can take me considerably longer.

But I've also learnt that success doesn't have to look the same for everybody.

I've built these businesses around something I genuinely love and believe in.

I've learnt the business side.

I've learnt the marketing.

I've learnt the websites, contracts, admin, social media, finances and everything else that comes with being a business owner.

And I'm still learning.

I wasn't able to follow a conventional path to success so I created my own.

From Nanny to Finalist: Inspirational Woman in Business 2026

The Families Behind Everything I Do

As proud as I am of how both businesses have grown, the part that means the most will always be the families.

Being trusted with somebody's child is an enormous privilege.

Whether I'm supporting a family through Private Nanny or caring for a baby on their parents' wedding day through The Wedding Nanny, that trust is something I never take lightly.

Some of the words families have written about me over the years are still difficult to read without becoming emotional.

They've spoken about feeling completely at ease, being able to be present on their wedding day, trusting me with their babies and knowing their children are safe, happy and cared for.

That, more than anything, is how I measure success.

What Being a Finalist Means to Me

Being named a finalist for Inspirational Woman in Business feels different.

Because this isn't solely about Private Nanny.

It isn't solely about The Wedding Nanny.

It's about the journey behind both.

It's about the young girl who struggled at school but always knew she wanted to become a nanny.

It's about taking a career I loved and turning it into something of my own.

It's about building two businesses, navigating the challenges that have come with them and continuing to push myself even when I've questioned whether I could do it.

And perhaps most importantly, it's a reminder that there isn't one route to becoming successful.

If My Journey Inspires One Other Woman...

I think this is the part of the award that means the most to me.

There may be another woman who doesn't have the perfect qualifications on paper.

Someone who struggled academically.

Someone who has an idea but doesn't consider herself a "businesswoman".

Someone who is incredibly good at what she does but hasn't yet realised what she could build from it.

I was that person.

I didn't start with a grand business plan or imagine that one day I'd be writing a blog announcing that I was a finalist for Inspirational Woman in Business.

I simply started with something I was passionate about and kept going.

One decision led to another.

One family recommended me to another.

One business eventually inspired another.

And somehow, here we are.

So whatever happens at the awards, being selected as a finalist is already something I'm incredibly proud of.

Not only for me, but for both businesses I've built, every family who has trusted me along the way and the one family that started it all.

From wanting nothing more than to become a nanny…

to becoming a nanny, a founder, a business owner and now an Inspirational Woman in Business finalist.

I think my younger self would be pretty proud of that.

Natalie x