Rose Gibson: Welcome to today's episode of I'm Fine But. Now I am joined by Lucy Harvey. Lucy, welcome to the show. Now, Lucy, please can you tell our listeners what you do, who you are and who you serve?

Lucy Harvey: Thanks for having me. So I am primarily a wedding musician, but I also play for other sorts of events. I create musical magic on a day for wedding couples. So that can be anything from live music for a ceremony, a drinks reception, cocktail hour, evening with a DJ. So there's all sorts of music. I sing and play saxophone primarily. And yeah, that's what I do.

Rose Gibson: What an exciting job and what is the name of your business?

Lucy Harvey: I'm Lucy Harvey, a vocalist and saxophonist.

Rose Gibson: so take me back to the beginning because you've got two children yourself. So take me back to your initial ⁓ career. did you do to begin with?

Lucy Harvey: So I always loved performing. I've been performing from school, started learning saxophone at the age of 11. And it wasn't ever a, I'm going to be a wedding musician. I don't think anyone who ends up in the wedding industry necessarily plans that. I, the age of 18, went straight to work on holiday parks. I'd always loved that. We did like haven holidays as kids. So went and cut my teeth in the entertainment industry, doing that for a few years around doing a university degree. Cause my dad was very much, you need an education. You can't fall back on entertainment.

Rose: You've just listened to I'm Fine But. If you're unsure about business or what really matters to you right now, why not take our free Core Values course? It's linked in the show notes and it's a brilliant place to begin. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and you can follow us online at all your favourite social media platforms at BabyBeat UK. Until next time, I'm Rose and I'm fine but honestly...

Lucy Harvey: And so I did that for a few years. And then when I finished university, which I did a writing degree, so totally not music, but I was always in the music department. I didn't really know what I was going to do. So I went back to holiday parks for a little while, then spread my wings and worked abroad for a bit as lead vocalist in show teams abroad. And then when I did eventually come back to the UK, I went back to holiday parks and management for a little while and then decided that...

Rose: We're all just figuring it out.

Lucy Harvey: as much as I was also depping with bands at that point and doing lots in the entertainment industry, it was actually easier to manage myself. This was all before children. So then I started going out doing solo work as a musician. And then I had a little bit of a midlife crisis at 24 and was like, do you know what? I really want to make it to the West End. I'm going to go back to study musical theatre. So I went back to study musical theatre. And then I had a little bit of a midlife crisis at 24 and was like, do you know what? I really want to make it to the West End. And that weirdly led me into weddings because the musical director who worked there ran a very successful gospel choir and asked me to join that and they did a lot of weddings. So then through that I was like, actually I could be doing this with my own music that I do and then took steps to do that. So that's sort of how I ended up in weddings.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and I do think when we look back at what our degrees are, so many people's degrees are nothing to do with what they actually do now, because you're at such a crossroads in your life and you're like, I'm just gonna pick something that I think will benefit me. Maybe it is a little bit different now,

Lucy Harvey: would have loved to do music, but I kind of, was stacked against me in that I wasn't allowed to do music GCSE because at my school there wasn't enough children taking it. So without music GCSE, you can't do music A level. Without music A level, you can't do music at university. So I just like, well, what else do I enjoy? I really enjoy writing. So I'm to do a writing degree. By the end of that degree, I hated writing. Just three years of intensity and just, it was a specialist arts college. So I was in the music department and then... ⁓

Rose Gibson: Yeah.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah, it's sort of worn out. I don't know if maybe if I'd managed to do music that way, it would have been the same.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and I do think with a lot of degrees, it does that the passion out of anything that you did love before it changes, not for everybody, but you see things in a different light when it becomes almost a day-to-day chore. ⁓ So you built your business, you decided to go solo. At what point did you then have your children?

Lucy Harvey: Hmm Yeah. So I had my daughter in 2015 and by that point I'd been solo for, since the beginning of 2010, so about five years, but not massively in weddings at this point. I still singing with the gospel choir. And this definitely having children was a turning point of, know, can I keep doing this where it's late nights, it's on the road a lot. Can I keep doing this whilst I have children? And I kept at it and then I sort of was like, I'm gonna have to do something sensible. decided I'd get into teaching, which I still do, but I thought I was gonna have to do that route. I was gonna have to get a job that worked with around school times and things. Yeah, so I had my daughter in 2015 and my little boy in 2018 and was sort of between the two. So still doing performing, but also trying to teach more and juggling everything at that point.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and isn't that a crazy thing that we go through that, that actually I'm now having children, so I'm gonna have to change effectively what you've built up, who you are, to do something that's more, what we see as more reasonable or more, that's gonna fit in better, that we have to change our identity because we're bringing this extra person in. And did you make that decision before you'd had your daughter or did you make that after you'd had her?

Lucy Harvey: Yeah. So before I had her, because it's such a, you can't really plan ahead with my job. You can to a certain extent. Some things are booked far in advance, but at that time I was also doing a lot of promotional work. So, and TV extra work. And that's all really last minute. like, can you be here at this time tomorrow? And I was like, I can't do that when I've got children because I can't find childcare that short notice. So I do need to do something that can be a little bit more organized. I do that when I've children because I can't childcare that short notice. And people had spoken to me about teaching at that point and I was like, well, I don't know if it's really for me. And I don't know, I didn't feel confident in myself to do it actually. But yeah, that was a turning point of maybe I should start concentrating on something that would fit more around family life.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and I totally get that, that it is that the pressure of going, can't just drop everything now and leave how you would do before because now you've got another person to consider. And it is a huge transition. What a huge transition going from being able to drop everything and going to work on a set for the day and then going, actually, I haven't got childcare. And do you have quite a close knit family around you that does help with childcare?

Lucy Harvey: Yeah. On a whim, yeah. Well, so at that point, my husband, we both worked basically in evenings because that suited us. We didn't have anyone to look after. So he changed his job and he was working now. So we've kind of shifted the past and the night. He was working more of the day shift and I was working the evening shift in a way. So it was a kind of, know, we both had to make amendments. My mom lives about 40 minutes away, but she doesn't drive and she also still works. we're sort of limited. She can help in school holidays. And my father-in-law lives up in Yorkshire, so he's not close. He's retired though. So if he can help, he comes and stays with us for a couple of weeks in the summer. So it's really tricky. And I think the hardest part was when the children were small, before they went to school, nurseries do not like people who work. odd shifts. You have to set them like, you know, they're going to come at this day every week and there's certain amount of hours and childcare on a nighttime is nigh on impossible if we hadn't organized ourselves that I'm the one primarily working late and my husband's the one primarily working in the day. So there's definitely a gap in the market for childcare out of hours, out of sociable hours, but also reliable childcare. DBS checks and know, of said things. Otherwise you are sort of playing it a bit fast and loose with babysitting and finding somebody who's reliable. So it is a challenge.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, I can totally imagine the panic of that, especially if you were having to head out to a gig and you're waiting on your husband and you're like, I need to leave in 20 minutes and you are late. Yeah.

Lucy Harvey: ⁓ that happens a lot. Sometimes it's been a case of, you know, I'm going to go out the most way and the way he comes from work, he's going down the most way. I'm like, right, I'm going to leave and I'm going to meet you at this junction with the children and we'll swap over. I mean, luckily it's, it doesn't happen too often, but it is stressful for both of us.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and before I built this business up, I was predominantly working in fitness. So I was working as freelance fitness and that is the majority of the time, evenings after people have been to work, early mornings, weekends. And when my children were little, I actually found that easier because my husband would go to work. He was a manager at a gym as well. So he would work the sort of normal hour shifts. And then I would work the hours when they were in bed. And I actually found, I didn't feel as bad about doing that because I felt like I wasn't missing out on as much because they were asleep by the time I was going out. However, I did find that once they were reaching school age, I was then out a lot of the time when they were at home, when I, you they were getting old enough that they were gonna, they were up till sort of eight, nine o'clock and... I was then missing that time. I mean, I still work two evenings a week now and we are unraggard with clubs. But for me, that was point of going, do I want to be out five nights a week and on a weekend to work or do I want to try and work when they're at home?

Lucy Harvey: Yeah, it's definitely a juggle. think for me, because there are, especially in peak summer when it's top wedding season, I can be out five nights a week, but then I get that other side of the coin where November, December, January, February, March, I'm not working as much. So I'm in predominantly five or six nights a week. So it's taken a little while to kind of come to terms with that, that in the summer holidays, I mean, I do get to see them a lot in the day and there's days off and things. But yeah, they have to do after school club a lot more from April to September than they will the rest of the year. And they've kind of, they've come to understand that as well. So being in school is definitely the biggest help because you you can get your admin done in the day. You're not having to juggle that as well at night. But with the after school club, doesn't have to, well with our school, we don't have to have set days. I can book it as and when we want. And that is just, that's been very helpful.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, any flexibility that you can have, exactly like you said with the nurseries when they're small, if you've got a pick set days, it just doesn't work. And then you're in that thing of, don't really want to send them because I don't really need them to go. And it'd be nice to spend some time with us, but I've paid for this time.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah. Yeah, I know. And then it's like, think with my little boy when he was in nursery, I was teaching more. And there was set days, but then you're also like, okay, all of the tasks that I need to do without children around, I'm going to cram into those days. But yeah, it's definitely a juggle, big juggle.

Rose Gibson: someone's thinking of getting into this sort of industry And it's a lot of evenings and weekends. Not many people get married, I'm assuming

Lucy Harvey: It's getting more popular actually. Definitely sort of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, it leads into the weekend. Sundays when it leads into a bank holiday. It's changed over the last 10 years I'd say. Predominantly Saturdays, I know I'm gonna be working a Saturday, my husband knows I'm gonna be working every Saturday pretty much throughout wedding season. yeah, the weekday weddings, often the venues are slightly cheaper and some supplies are slightly cheaper. So people make the most of it, can't blame them.

Rose Gibson: No, and I actually really like the fact of you saying that you could have a Wednesday on and it goes into the weekend because then you can have like a four day wedded.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah, this is what people do. It's like, well, know, if you're asking, especially with Thursday, if you're going to have a Thursday wedding, people think, I'll just take Friday off work and then into the weekend. So it does appeal to people.

Rose Gibson: And how does this lifestyle impact you as a mother? How does being, for example, you just said that you know you're gonna be working Saturdays. How does not being there on a Saturday impact you personally?

Lucy Harvey: I think because I've always worked weekends, it's just the norm to me and the kids know it's the norm. Sometimes on Saturday, I'm not leaving some sort of five, six o'clock in the evening. Sometimes I'm out for the entirety of the day. And that's just, know, they know that daddy works Monday to Friday. You know, he's gone by the time they get up and he's back about four o'clock and mommy works wherever it fits in around that. I think the hardest part is missing out on social things because... know, lot of things, weddings get booked up way in advance, but say it's my niece's ⁓ birthday in a couple of weeks and they're obviously having a party on a Saturday. Well, I can't go. ⁓ My husband and my children will go. And you can't just cancel somebody's wedding because there's your own social event happening, unless you know way in advance and you can just block that day off so you don't take work. So I think that's the hardest part is the kids are used to it. And they like having time at home with daddy on a Saturday. And I try and keep Sundays free so that we at least have one day together. I think that is what helps all of us. And special things like I won't work over Christmas ever. So it's having those boundaries for yourself, but knowing what you need to do for your business. I couldn't be in this business if I said I don't want to work Saturdays. It just wouldn't work.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and you are completely right that your children get used to it. And one of the big shifts that we find when people start businesses with us is that it's almost getting the children used to that shift as well. ⁓ My children have always known me to be like, okay, I'm on a meeting, I'm in the office. If you need me, just give me a knock. We're quite open and honest that we are mothers. We've got children here. We can't hide them. you know, if they need to come in.

Lucy Harvey: Mm.

Rose Gibson: they can come in, but they are used to that environment or they're use to the fact that it gets to an evening and you know, I still got to do my classes and that that's their time that dad's there. But I do think that is for some children who are used to having both parents on an evening, it is quite a shift in their daily routine, I suppose.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah, because I've never, well, other than COVID, I've never not worked evenings and weekends. So they're just, they're used to it now. Sometimes it's actually harder if I'm in for the majority of the day because they'll ask me, what time are you going? I'm going, oh, I'm going just after tea time. They're like, oh, I don't want you to go. Whereas if I'm just up and out, it's easier because they're just in their routine. But yeah, it's just getting them used to it.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and almost as well, I'm that thing of if I have to go out later on, and I know in the summertime when I've got like evening classes or I have to be out in the afternoon and you're outside and you've maybe got the paddling pool out or you're all chilling and then you're like, ⁓ I've got four hours till I need to go. Do you ever get that sinking feeling of being like, I just really would love to stay and put the barbecue on and the cracking a few beers?

Lucy Harvey: Yeah. I think is that headspace of knowing you have to go to work, you are clock watching and you're not relaxed enough because you're like, well, we've got an hour and we can do this, but then I have to leave at this point. And then you're also checking the traffic for me because I travel quite a lot. So I'm like, actually, I'm going to have to leave half an hour earlier because the M5 is blocked up or something like that. yeah, that's why I quite like keeping Sundays free because then I have that headspace of, you can enjoy the day. You're not clock Yeah.

Rose Gibson: And I think it's the same with teaching classes, it's almost performance that you step into this new role. So it doesn't matter how much of a shitty day maybe I've had, maybe, you know, some of the kids might have been playing up or I, you know, I feel like... we've had a conflict or one of them's done something or I've done something. And then you don't necessarily feel like you want to step out into work. But when you get there, you almost put your performance head on and you sort of, I feel like I'm like, evening everybody, hi, how you doing? Do you ever have that where you are going, ⁓ God, I don't wanna leave or ⁓ I've this ⁓ gig do, but then actually you get that performance head once you're there.

Lucy Harvey: Well yeah, all the time. think the drive is always the decompress where you sort of switch gears and you're like, okay, so this is what, and sometimes I'll be driving, I'll be thinking about like, you know, what meals I need to plan for the week or, you know, just kind of doing all the house admin in my head. But then once you get there, you're like, okay, I'm Lucy Harvey now, I'm, you know, in wedding mode. And you step out and dance when you forget all those things because you're in performance mode. And it's nice to escape to that. I think the first gig I did back, But then once you get there, you're like, okay, I'm Lucy Harvey now, after having my daughter, I cried all day because I didn't want to leave her, which is kind of crazy. She was only three months old and not having her babies, you think, yeah, that'll be plenty of time, but I cried all day. But then when I actually got out and did the gig, it was such a nice feeling of, this is like the old me, working me. that's kind of, and music is such a huge part of my identity that it's lovely to have those two roles and they don't really ever merge for me at the moment, it's one or the other.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and that's so true because you do, especially with your first as well, and I really resonate with what you've just said. And I think I was so scared of leaving her and I almost buried the person that I was before a little bit because I was too scared. I was almost becoming this new person, but then I grieved with the old person. I was like, well, where's she gone? Where's the girl that used to dance on the bar gone? Like, where's that part of me? And you have to-

Lucy Harvey: Yeah.

Rose Gibson: almost morph into this new version that can have both and that feels powerful in both as well.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah, definitely. it's ⁓ so hard that can really explain that until you become a mum because until you live it, it's, ⁓ people say, you know, it's hard and this, and the other, and it's really difficult until you're in it. And I remember thinking like, she must've been four, five, six weeks old. Well, it'll go back to normal soon. It'll go back to normal soon. You know, once she's sleeping through or, you know, once, once we got past this stage, it'll go back to normal. And it took me probably two, two, three months ago. there is no going back to normal. I have to actually find this new normal within this situation now and that was a really difficult block to overcome.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and just, and that courage as well to go back after three months. Did you physically have to go back or did you sort of make yourself?

Lucy Harvey: I think I was quite naive in knowing when I would be ready and three months feels like a long time before you have a baby. But I booked this in and I probably could have turned around and said I'm not ready but I thought, know what, if I say no, I'm just never gonna do it and I may as well just, as much as I cried all day because I was sad about leaving her and I wasn't even gone for that long and she was asleep for most of that but it was just that. getting sort of kind of getting back yourself back on the horse and be like, do you know what? No, I need this. I need it for me. And I love performing. And once I've done it once, it got easier. Definitely got

Rose Gibson: And when I started to kind of do more things, it was almost having faith that my husband was all right with them. ⁓ it was no thing of the, didn't trust him, I 100 % trusted him, but you have that instinct that's so much inside you that's, but they might not do it the same way. They might not feed the same way. What if they need burping? What if they're crying and he can't settle them and I'm not there and they want me? And ⁓ actually they to do that to learn how to do that.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah. Yeah.

Rose Gibson: And I think I blocked that quite a lot to start with.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah, I mean, I definitely, there was definitely nights when I'd get back from a gig and my husband would be up with her and be like, she just won't settle. And I mean, there's, he goes, he wasn't going to call me about it because there's nothing I can do. And it's just going to make me feel bad if I'm, you know, still an hour away, but it'd just be like, I've tried everything, you know, you just go to breastfeed her now and it'd be fine. think the hardest points, my, my little boy was a worse sleeper. So sometimes I'll come back from a gig at sort of one o'clock in the morning and he'd be awake and then he wouldn't settle for hours. And then by the time I got him to sleep, I'd maybe get three, four hours sleep and then I'd be up for the day. And then you got two children, toddler wasn't nothing, with a baby. And those were really, really hard days, like really hard days. But once I got through that, once they started sleeping and my career trajectory started taking off with winning wedding awards and things, that really changed everything. I think it was just, you are really in the trenches when they're tiny.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and the sleep as well. And even if people tell you, you're gonna be tired and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be tired. You could think, ⁓ well, I used to go out, I used to go out, I used to get in at 4 a.m. and then I'd get up for uni at 7 a.m. and I can manage, if I can do that, I can do this. Nobody prepares you and there is no way to prepare anybody ever for that amount of sleep deprivation and how it messes with your head.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah. Nope. Yeah, 100%. And because I was used to late night, so it wasn't like, well, you know, I'm used to going to bed really late, but it's when it's constant. And my little girl started sleeping through when she was about a year old. So when we decided to have another, I was like, do you know what, it's just a year. It's just a year of like really bad sleep. But he had other ideas. So it was like more like two, two and a half years of really bad sleep. And I think you've got to be, especially even now, I think you've got to just allow yourself to rest when you need to rest. If I've had a really late night and I don't get in till say one or two o'clock and I have to get up and do the school run the next day, because my husband starts work at five o'clock in the morning. And then I know I have another gig that night. If I need to go back to bed in the afternoon before I do the school pickup, then I have to go back to bed in the afternoon. And that's a really, definitely some sort of guilty conscience of like, oh, you know. everyone's at work and I'm just going back to bed for a few hours, but allowing yourself that, you know, I will burn out if I don't take rest in these points where I need rest.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, and as a mom, we will find anything to feel guilty about, whether that's justified or not. you you've worked until 1 a.m. and then you've got up and done the school run and you probably need more sleep, but in your head, is that thing of, everyone else is working or I've got to put the washing on or I could really do a sweep in the floors or getting tea ready for the kids. And again, as women and as mothers,

Lucy Harvey: Yep.

Rose Gibson: the more I speak to more women, the more I see how selfless we are as a, a gender, thank you. how much we are selfless. And I'm not saying that men are not selfless, but we will always put.

Lucy Harvey: Gender?

Rose Gibson: everybody else's needs before our own. So in order to acknowledge that, that yes, you are working and you are still working probably more hours maybe, if you're doing 5pm until 1am, then some people do in a full day shift, that you do need rest and your body needs rest in order to function correctly for your children when you see them later on.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah, and it's definitely a strange thing to try and get your mind around because of that idea of like nine till five and you work that time. And quite often, you know, I will do admin things in the day towards my business and then do the school run and do the things with the kids and then go out to work. And then you think, I put in a right shift today. And I haven't given myself rest. So it's just sort of being kind to yourself as well and knowing that you've got to look after your needs. The idea of putting, you know, put your own oxygen mask on on pain before you put. kids but it's hard to justify that sometimes I think.

Rose Gibson: Yes. And we've been talking a lot recently about like flexible working because for our model, we do predominantly do between 9.30 and 2.30 for the classes that we're running because that's the school time because we want to fill that time. then there's, you know, the amount of videos that I've taken sat in my car, typing away, editing things, releases out into the world. And I can be there doing that up until, you know, 12 a.m. ⁓ And ⁓ all hours that you don't always facilitate as working. You are still putting that same energy through your brain.

Lucy Harvey: ⁓ yeah. I find that I will reply to emails and DMs and things at crazy hours. Sometimes when I get back from a gig, because for me, especially with DMs, if I don't acknowledge it when I see it, I might forget. Inbox is a bit easier with emails because I can go through that logically. And then, you're like, ⁓ I haven't... some social media posts this week. So I'm going to sit down and do that on an evening, even though it's technically my evening off because I'm not going out to work and ⁓ to ⁓ all that. ⁓ get a bride ⁓ quickly, like send a text message about something. And I might be in the middle of something with the kids, but I'll just quickly reply to that. And ⁓ those boundaries are really hard to establish. I've got a little bit better but it's still, for me, it weighs on my mind if I've had something come through and I haven't replied because I'm worried I'll forget about it. Because our minds are so busy.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, yeah, I am 100 % the same as you. I'm like, I, to the point where last year my husband bought me a second phone, which I didn't even realize that you could get a dual SIM. I was like, that would have been so much simpler than me carrying two phones around. But so that meant that if we went out as a family or we went out for the day or it's a Sunday, I leave that other phone in the office and it's got no social media on it. It's got. nothing on it. So no, but the only people that can contact me are the select like 12 people in my contacts. And that's a boundary in place because I can't physically be accessible to anybody. And it's a really hard thing to, I had to work really hard at that to go, I'm gonna put this phone in the office and I'm not even gonna look at it. And then, because you do, you get that fear of forgetting to reply to somebody and then somebody thinking that you are rude or...

Lucy Harvey: It's a really good idea. Mm.

Rose Gibson: ⁓ you know, somebody putting in inquiry and you haven't got back to them quick enough and then you've lost that sale and it's gone to somebody else. So it's a real balance.

Lucy Harvey: It's really hard. Yeah, I don't know if I could actually bring myself to that. It would be a great idea. think that the best thing that happened for me is we built my office in the back garden. Previously, it was in a room in the house so that we could free up the room in the house and actually just having to cross the garden to go and, you know, do something. work-wise, now I am much better at being like, I don't want to walk across the garden in the rain at night, I will do that tomorrow. Whereas before, when it was in the house, it was so easy to just nip in and do x, y, z, whereas now I'm like, no, no, this person's not going to change their mind on booking me just because I'm going to maybe wait till the next day to send a booking form instead of doing it immediately. And that's been a real game changer, I think.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, you've got to have that designated space that's away from your living and your life space. So if we've got people listening, Lucy, who are thinking, I would love to go down this route, not necessarily it might not be within music, but in sort of entertainment or weddings or working evenings and weekends and building something for themselves, but they've got children, is there a one bit of advice that you could pass on from somebody who is doing it and you are smashing it?

Lucy Harvey: this is so hard because ⁓ biggest issue is definitely having childcare. So it's just getting that in place and then absolutely go out and do it. ⁓ I love that my kids get to see that, mainly through videos, they don't really get to come to many of the gigs I do, ⁓ they see that I've got this really fun job and that I really love it and that I'm doing really well at it and I think that's such a great influence to them. ⁓ But yeah, it's just getting your ducks in a row and being organized. mean, one great thing about the wedding industry, like I said, is people book really far ahead. So I've already got a list of dates I've given my mum over the school holidays and been like, so can you do this, this, this, this date? ⁓ And it's just organization. But I think moms are so good at organizing anyway. We have to be just to get through all the clubs, all the things that school wants. So yeah, absolutely go for it and ⁓ be, be that sort of great role model for your children.

Rose Gibson: Yeah, love the fact that our children get to see us as women just building something that we're so passionate about that can start from just an idea. And then it brings into a whole, business model that they can be like, ⁓ look what mum does. ⁓ Isn't she Especially with like a saxophone. That's much cooler than anything that I do.

Lucy Harvey: Mm. Yeah. Oh, it's so funny because a few months ago I was doing a wedding and this sort of young 20 year old came up to me and she was like, oh my god, you're so cool. And I'm like, I'm really not. In my other life, I'm just mummy, know, mum bun in the hair, doing the school run, looking a bit of a mess. But it is great. It's that great feeling that you get to step into, you know, your other role, my other life. And I apparently appear cool to 20 odd year olds, which is great. That's great, ego boost. was doing a wedding and this sort of young 20 year old came up to me and she was like, oh my god, you're so cool. And I'm like, I'm really not.

Rose Gibson: Haha! And do you get all glammed up for them as well?

Lucy Harvey: make an effort, like I'm really rubbish day to day that I won't put any makeup on and I'm in like, you know, my sweats and my comfies. But yeah, I'm 100 % wearing sequins if it's an evening, you know, making myself look presentable because you've got to be, you've got to make an effort to shine on their wedding day. ⁓ yeah, always sequins for the evening, daytime just, you know, looking like I'm attending a wedding because for the best part of it, I am.

Rose Gibson: I live in my is the majority of the time. And sometimes just the effort of having to get change is like, ⁓ but then once you've stepped into that and you've done it, you're like, okay, I feel better now. I've had a shower. I've sort my hair out. ⁓ I'm into this next now.

Lucy Harvey: Yeah Definitely, if it's a Saturday and I'm only working in the evening, then I can just be in my comfy all day and hang around the house and then, as as I sit down in front of a dressing table and you kind of, it's almost like putting on your wall paint and you're like, okay, right, I'm stepping into that other idea of me now. And then you go there and you got your sequins on and you're looking the part and then say, you are cool.

Rose Gibson: Well, thank you Lucy so much for taking the time to speak to me today. Please can you let our listeners know how they can get hold of you.

Lucy Harvey: I am on Instagram at Lucy Harvey, which is L-U-C-Y-H-A-R-V-E-Y-S-A-X.

Rose Gibson: Well, thank you so much for speaking to us today.

Lucy Harvey: thank you so much for having me.