Leia Smith
Psychoanalysis student with a holistic therapy side hustle.
“I never thought I’d be going back into education. After doing a year of college I realized it wasn’t for me at the time, so I went into full-time work and thought I’d closed the door on education. After a few years of working in retail through the pandemic everything was just chaos and I really wasn’t happy in my job. I wanted something fulfilling and that I genuinely enjoyed and could put my heart into. After leaving my job I went travelling for a couple of years. I visited Zante, mainland Greece, Rome, Milan, Switzerland – I basically went around Europe. I absolutely loved my time travelling and during that time I started doing a lot of inner development. I was curious about myself and what I liked to do, what I was passionate about. That’s when I came across the term ‘psychoanalysis’ so I did some research and everything the course entailed I was just fascinated by.
“Psychosocial and psychoanalysis is a way of understanding people based on behaviours or characteristics which often stem from past experience. It might be something they’ve experienced in childhood or adolescence, it’s had impact on them and they carry it through their adult life. When we think of trauma we often think of worst case scenarios but trauma can be more everyday than that. We subconsciously store this trauma and it influences how we respond or react to things and that becomes a driver in our behaviour. Psychoanalysis helps to untangle this so we can more consciously respond, rather than just react. My interest in this is very personal and it’s one of the reasons I started my business. Growing up I wasn’t taught how to emotionally regulate or what emotions were, so I had a very difficult relationship with understanding and processing my emotions. The more I learned about emotions the more I was drawn into how this affects us all and how we store emotion.
“Having left college after a year I didn’t have the qualifications to come to uni and start my degree straight away. I did a Foundation Year which I found absolutely essential. If I’d come to uni without doing the foundation year I’d be a headless chicken now. I wouldn’t know what’s going on! They really taught me the foundations of university study; how to structure essays, and generally how to prepare for uni life. It was so useful having been out of education for a few years. It really helped me settle before starting year 1 of my Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies course.
“Alongside my studies I run a business called The Lavender by Leia. We offer reiki healing sessions, which is a type of energy healing. I also offer tarot readings and I’ve recently started doing meditation classes, but they’re mainly at events. I freelance from a local clinic in Colchester, but I also do mobile work at events around Essex and Suffolk. I was already running The Lavender by Leia when I picked up a leaflet on campus for Essex Startups. In February 2024 I did an Empower Programme through Essex Startups. It was a 6-week workshop dedicated to female founders. At that time I’d already been running my business for a year and I was in this mindset where even though I was a business owner and I was doing this work I didn’t really believe in myself. But the Empower Programme really helped me shift my perspective. It really helped me see not only my business but also myself as someone who could achieve this. It was a massive confidence boost. I felt supported in what I was doing. It is a very niche area and you don’t always hear about those sort of businesses, but Startups really gave me the empowerment and the encouragement to know it was possible and I could do it. I’m so, so grateful for that.
“Startups offer so many different events and workshops. Whether it’s managing finances or building a brand, or learning about marketing – anything that revolves around building a business, they teach you the foundations to get you where you want to go. They help you set the groundwork so you can then build upon it. I’ve done 3 pitches to the Startups team this year and I won 2 rounds of funding through them. They’re terrifying, don’t get me wrong, but even having the opportunity to pitch your business and to speak and vocalise has been so pivotal to my own development.
“The Lavender by Leia is important to me because I feel like what I’m doing helps other people to have that space where they feel seen and heard. A space where people aren’t judged and they can be who they want to be. I see The Lavender by Leia developing with the course I’m studying. I would like to go into psychotherapy so I’d like to intertwine that with The Lavender by Leia, and potentially pick up other skills and other treatments. I feel like as a society we tell people it’s not realistic to do your hobby or your passion as a career. I’m so pleased I didn’t listen to that!”
Liv's story
“I realised there was a gap in content for aspiring PhD students. I started sharing my experiences on Instagram and TikTok, which grew into a following of 600k.”
Michael's story
"Now in my third year, I’m currently on placement as a Global HR Intern at Disney in London."
Ela's story
"My ultimate goal is to create impactful documentaries that highlight social issues and inspire change. I think documentary film is a very powerful tool and I want to be able to tell those stories."
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