iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

& so much more! Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this leg of my freelancing journey! I’ll be hitting the ground running when I’m back in September, so if you’re interested in working together, let’s chat then. See you on the other side. 😎

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

🗞️ I also got my second Times byline in their small business section, writing about lessons from startup failures: www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

lnkd.in

👟 I edited Issue 1 of Run Don’t Walk, a new magazine celebrating people, ideas and community. Get your copy of that here: www.rundontwalk.co

rundontwalk.co

Run Don't Walk

⚛️ I worked with the team at top European VC Atomico as copywriter for the iconic State of European Tech report.

👩‍💻 I reconnected with my colleagues at @sifted.eu to write articles and meaty reports for them on behalf of sponsors like Microsoft, BCG X and Amazon.

LostReelsUK @lostreelsuk.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

It's been 18 months since I finished hiking the Appalachian Trail. Now I’m off on another adventure, to hike the Pacific Crest Trail! 🥾🏕️ A career break is nerve-racking. Last time I worried I was short-circuiting momentum; in fact it was reenergising & made room for new opportunities. Such as…

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Reposted by Sarah Drumm

A very nice article on @lostreelsuk in the new and very cool RUN DON'T WALK magazine... many thanks to @sarahdrumm.bsky.social for the support and exposure!

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Good times! They tried to stop me going into their empty cafe the other week - members only!

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

DAY 18 - Many exciting milestones today. We climbed to the top of Kuwohi mountain (aka Clingmans Dome) which is the highest point of the AT. We also crossed the 200 mile marker! We took a shuttle to Gatlinburg which is... an interesting place. Like a MAGA Margate in the mountains.

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Fascinating, although I'm not sure it's only a 'sense of shame' holding women who want to do this back... there are a myriad of practical considerations - finances, career, etc - to make if you plan to be a truly solo parent. www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

theguardian.com

‘Doing it with no partner is easier’: the single women using fertility treatments

A growing number feel single parenthood is liberating and only a sense of ‘shame’ around it is holding women back

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

"These personals offer a new-old way of approaching dating — farmer’s market rather than meat market." ❤️ www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/s...

nytimes.com

Dating App Fatigue? In Vermont, Personal Ads Still Thrive.

Small weekly seeks readers looking for love.

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

If you are interested in what's going on in European tech and startups, then give the team at Sifted a follow! Occasionally featuring: me :)

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

My favourite Appalachian flower!

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

DAY 17 - 18 miles of up and down today, phew! The woods are getting more beautiful by the day — shoots of grass are appearing and wildflowers are starting to carpet the forest floor.

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Sierra curve still looking good for hikers...!

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

One exciting thing about this day is that it's when entered the Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited in the US (for good reason - it is beautiful). Normally visitors must book their spots to sleep in the park's shelters, but as thru-hikers we were permitted to pitch our tents. (2/2)

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

DAY 16 - My toughest day on trail so far. I was exhausted, extremely hungry from days of hiking + not eating enough, and unenthused by the 4,500ft climb we had ahead of us today. We’re not the only ones hitting a rough spot; a guy at the Marina called his hike yesterday. (1/2)

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

DAY 15 - We’re now more than two weeks in and I am ACHEY despite holing up in hostels at any opportunity. Today we hikes 14 miles and climbed 3,000 ft to arrive at Fontana Dam. We grabbed a free beer at the Marina, then hitched a ride in a golf cart to the lodge, where we met up with another hiker.

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

DAY 14 - The rain kept on coming! Last night a hiker told me the point of waterproof clothing isn’t to keep you dry, it’s to keep you alive. Alive? Check. Not dry? Check. We slogged through 14 more miles of misty ridge walk then bailed to a local cabin in the woods to dry out and eat pizza.

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

DAY 13 - The rain. My god. People talk about rain on the AT, but you have to experience it to know it. We managed to snag a bunk at the Nantahala Outdoor Center that night, where I also saw my first ever GROUNDHOG. I had no idea what this giant rat was so I showed this pic to a waitress who told me.

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

...this was a fun and jam packed day of hiking, so it gets two posts. We hiked up two 'balds' and got great views, and I was also handed my first trail beer at the top of the second. Cheers! (2/2)

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

DAY 12 - A church in Franklin runs an all-you-can eat pancake breakfast for hikers in exchange for some light proselytisation, which sounded like it would set us up for the 17m of hiking we had planned. Worth the sermon. They also took photos of us and got us to write letters to our parents (1/2)

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

If you are interested in the outdoors and adventuring, then this is a starter pack for you... 🥾🐻🏕️

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This was my first American breakfast from a small-town diner. Icing-sugar-dusted french toast with a side of bacon and eggs is not my usual fare but it was delicious!

DAY 11 - Another day off. Looking back, it's interesting how easy we took it at the start compared to what it was like by the end. Hiking all day every day is an adjustment! Today we sent 2KG of kit home to the UK — including my tent! I thought I'd want alone time but so far I'd only set it up once.

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I took a break from posting these updates because I figured people were looking for other content about America following the election! Now resuming usual service....

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Starling Bank staff resign after new chief executive calls for more time in-office

As a freelancer, I often jump at the opportunity to work from a client's office a few days a week. I'm more productive and getting to know your colleagues/the ways of working is way quicker in person (imo). I'm surprised these policies still get so much backlash: www.theguardian.com/business/202...

theguardian.com

Exclusive: Staff complain Raman Bhatia is creating ‘grey corporate hellscape’ and offices already lack desk space

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 04/11/2024

DAY 10 - Today we hiked into Franklin, TN, passing the 100 mile marker on the way! After we showered, we hit the local brewery where we met a councillor who treated us to some welcome beers. He said the trail does a lot for the town - hikers arrive hungry and thirsty, which is great for business.

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 04/11/2024

The last person I blocked on X did not follow me, interact with my posts or message me - he is someone who is known to me in real life and was monitoring my social media activity across multiple platforms. i.e. an obsessive and a stalker. Now it seems the only option is to make my account private?

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

DAY 9 - My hangover was gone & my trail legs were back! We hiked 16.2 miles, another longest-ever day. It was worth it; tonight's campsite was a beautiful spot by a creek and nestled among rhododendrons. This was also the first time we’d had to hang our food — behold, our very not-to-code bear hang.

(to be clear, I wouldn't have minded paying for a ride but this man had been pestering us all morning, knocking on the room to our motel (!) and trying to convince us the free shuttle the town runs was not operating that day, and then became very aggressive when we said we had our own plans sorted)

DAY 8 - Some people offering “trail magic” are actually trying to make money off hikers, like the guy we met today who lost his mind when we didn’t want to pay him for a ride to the trail. Anyway, today was SLOW because of the beers the night before. But we crossed into a new state!

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This was our first "zero" - a day where zero AT miles are hiked. They aren't as relaxing as they sound, because you are running around doing chores like laundry and resupplying food, ready for the next stretch of hiking.

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 31/10/2024

DAY 7 - Today we moved from the Around The Bend hiker hostel — a very fun place run by a guy who is like John Lennon reincarnated — to the Budget Inn Motel in Hiawassee, GA. It lived up to its name! We picked up some food for the next stretch, then hit the local brewery. 😎

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DAY 6 - It's funny going back over these early days and seeing just how good we were at sniffing out a real bed for the night. The AT has MANY amenities in the early stages & they are cheap too (about $30pp/pn, often less). This evening we were at the must-stay AT hostel Around The Bend.

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

Trail magic is an interesting concept & I have lots of thoughts on it! In the South it’s often religious groups doing it, as in this case. I never understood why people who can afford a six month break from daily life became targets for this charity… but I was grateful for the free food nonetheless!

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

DAY 5 - Our longest yet at 15.6 miles! We’d been keeping milage low to avoid injury, but we're getting in the swing of it now. We also experienced our first “trail magic” — people setting up food and drink stations for hikers. They must've heard the Brits were coming because they had shepherd’s pie.

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 29/10/2024

DAY 4 - I heard somewhere that 25% of AT hikers quit just 30 miles in, which would be here. The shoes in this tree are the ones that never made it to Maine. But this wasn't where our journey was ending, so we grabbed a coffee from the outfitter, said good morning to their cat and kept walking.

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Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 28/10/2024

DAY 3 - Today's task was to climb Blood Mountain, the AT's highest peak in Georgia (4.4k ft). There was lots of fear mongering about this - we'd learn this is a common feature of the AT - but for those who brave the treacherous rocks, there's hot pizza & bunk beds at an outfitter on the other side!

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 27/10/2024

DAY 2 - I woke up at 5.20 to discover I had started my period. As I wrote in my journal: "Hello, you bastard". At that time in the morning the woods are dark but people's tents are glowing - the morning phone scroll routine is hard to kick.

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 26/10/2024

Tell me about it! I think there were a few zeros where I didn't take any - will have to see what I can source...

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 26/10/2024

This was my first time hiking in the US and it was interesting comparing the outdoor culture with that of the UK. The wilderness is a lot more vast in the US, but the path we were hiking also had a lot of infrastructure. We'd often camp near backcountry shelters - here's one we stopped by that day.

Sarah Drumm @sarahdrumm.bsky.social · 26/10/2024

DAY 1 - Our first proper day on the Appalachian Trail. It's 26 March and at this time of year the mornings are cold, the afternoons are sunny, and the AT hikers PLENTIFUL. We set up camp that night with people we'd be hiking alongside for the next 2,200 miles.