#11 Charlotte Clark: From Graduate to Founder - A Purpose-Driven Career at Happy Human Project

In this heartfelt conversation, Bryony sits down with Charlotte Clark - founder of the Happy Human Project - to explore what happens when a career starts not from a five-year plan, but from healing your own inner child. Charlotte has spent nearly a decade teaching children emotional wellbeing and nervous system regulation in schools, holiday camps, and after-school clubs. She's just graduated with a degree in counselling, deepening her ability to work with trauma. But the real story is what she discovered along the way: that the work she built for children was really the work she needed for herself. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: - Starting a business fresh out of university with "no idea what she was taking on" and why that lack of fear was a gift - The privilege of timing: leaping into entrepreneurship when young, unattached, and low on outgoings - Becoming "a victim of her own success" recognising burnout before it recognised her - Why building a team was a survival strategy, not a growth strategy - The nervous system as the real starting point - for children and for the adults coaching them - Why dysregulation is contagious - in classrooms, in homes, and in the workplace - Practical regulation tools: naming the emotion, movement over "just breathe," and the power of play - Soul care vs self care, building systems that protect you - Redefining career advice for the next generation: you cannot overlook the importance of looking within - Why the landscape of Charlotte's career (founder → counsellor → programme director) grew from purpose first, strategy second 💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "I'm probably never going to get a time in my life where I'm this young and have no dependents, no mortgage... throw caution to the wind and just see if it works." "Emotions live in the body... if we're not processing those feelings, they become disease and we become unwell." "You cannot overlook the importance of self-care - I hate using that word, but it is so much more than a bath." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: - The Happy Human Project (Charlotte's company) - Charlotte's dissertation on embodiment and trauma in children - McKinsey & LeanIn.org-style workplace burnout parallels (referenced conceptually by Bryony) - EFT, breath work, and Lego as regulation tools (Bryony's practice) 🔗 CONNECT WITH CHARLOTTE: - Website The Happy Human Project - Instagram: @happyhumanprojectltd