Glasgow Girl

Joanne was born in Glasgow, Scotland, where she lived till the age of sixteen. She then moved with her family to the island of Jersey in the British Channel Isles. Joanne was a junk-food addict for twelve years, which left her obese, depressed, and frequently unwell. After years of believing she was “just meant to be fat” Joanne attended a series of lectures by the author of Pure, White and Deadly, Professor John Yudkin, in London in the early 1980s. Joanne was inspired to learn more about the harmful effects of sugar, and she was determined to overcome her addiction to it. Over time, she transformed her mindset, her body, and her life. She completely changed her eating habits and lost over 60 pounds.

Slimming Together

In October 1986, Joanne founded her Slimming Together programme. Since then, she has personally mentored tens of thousands of people in the UK and Southern California in transforming their lives, and has reached over a million more as a regular columnist for The Sunday Post Magazine (DC Thomson) for 5 years. Joanne's inspirational stories were also published in the American phenomenon Chicken Soup for The Body & Soul. Over the past thirty years, Joanne has worked and trained with some remarkable people including Dan Millman, Michael Beckwith (of Agape), and the Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, founder of Tae Kwon Do.

Authentic Confidence

In September 2008, Joanne established her Authentic Confidence programme as a path to self-empowerment. This spiritual development and life-management course includes natural ways to enhance mental wellness and strategies for managing stress, anxiety, depression, anger, grief, work-induced stress, family problems, shyness, and other life issues. Joanne discovered a passion for helping people to release emotional pain and have more peace and harmony in their relationships with others. Authentic Confidence has gone from strength to strength and forms the basis for Joanne's 1-2-1 Private Coaching. Her annual Authentic Confidence Training Courses sell out.

A Way of Life

Joanne has been a vegetarian for over thirty years. She enjoys yoga, swimming, and power-walking. She loves learning and she greatly enjoys musical theatre and she loves to sing and dance. Joanne has been married to Zak for over 40 years. Together they love nature, animals, and long walks on the beach and along nature trails. Zak is also a vegetarian and they love to cook simple, healthful meals together, enjoying mostly pure foods. For some years, Joanne has been a student of Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings in meditation and spiritual principles for inspired living.