Camilla J Collins

Right… I’ve finally come back down to earth after RSVP 😅
…and now I must tell you about the next thing I’m SUPER excited about! 👏

I’ll be speaking at the Speak & Shine Summit on 7th May at - and as I was in the audience last year… I can tell you it’s going to be another blinder of a day! 🎉

It’s a space like no other hosted by and - full of ALLLL the good energy (you know I’m big on that!) featuring a series of inspiring, insightful, and super polished and impactful 8-minute talks that really land (coached by the wonderful Gill TedX speaker and coach)

Sitting in the audience last year, I was so blown away by the talks and thought to myself… come hell or high water, I’m getting on that stage next year! … and, well, here we are! 😃

My talk is all about that constant feeling of not being able to switch off - why so many of us feel like we always need to be constantly doing and striving regardless of how well things are going… and what’s actually sitting underneath that.

If you consider yourself to be ambitious then this one will land… as will many of the other talks and panel you’ll be hearing from on the day! 🎤

The SAS Summit isn’t just a “nice day out” - although it absolutely is that too! 😊 - it’ll leave you fired up like it did me last year 🚀 with new ideas and new connections.

Today is the FINAL day for early bird tickets 🎟️

Scroll through to see the speaker lineup and panel…
and grab your ticket here - https://www.brand.kieradair.com/speak-and-shine-summit-0705-tickets

I’d genuinely loveeee to spend the day with you there 🫶✨

Keynote: Andrea Rainsford

Panel Experts: .paidspeakercoach

Speakers: .co Donna Page Laura Barber Orla Bance Sarah White

Hosts:

The final night… and what a finale ✨

The Annual Awards at … and another total feast for the senses.

A full Salvador Dalí-inspired experience - dripping in detail, creativity, and surrealism.
From the production to the performances, the tablescapes to the cocktails… everything felt considered, immersive, and elevated to another level.

And the outfits… everyone really went for it.
The theme was Dripping in Dalíism, so I leaned into a wet-look, silver, almost-melting effect - a bit of fun, a bit experimental… fully in the spirit of the night.

Huge congratulations to all the award winners 👏🏼
And to on the launch of The Art of Design: The Floral Poet - done in true RSVP style.

A reminder not only of how creative, bold, and inspiring this industry is…
but also the people in it ✨

⸻

Co-Producer & Designer:
Floral Designer:
Production & AV:
Venue & Catering:
Artistic Experience Design & Invitation:
Photography:
Videography:
Tableware, Linens & Crockery:
Entertainment:
Immersive Band:
Drapery, Bespoke Decor, Stage Set & Cloud Florals:
English Sparkling Wine:
Cocktails & Bar:
Spirits (Gin & Vodka):
Printing:
Photo Theatre:
Tequila: .tequila
Staffing: .international

It wasn’t all partying with …day three it went a bit deeper 🎤✨

We spent the day at - it was a room full of people at the top of their game in luxury weddings and events all coming together to share ideas, challenge perspectives, and push things forward.

The dress code was Pantone - bold, block colour - setting a confident, expressive, and unapologetic tone… much like the conversations we were having.

I throughly enjoyed the conversation with on reverse benchmarking and how luxury service businesses really stand out when you can’t rely on tangible differences.

And fabulous talks from:

on storytelling and how powerful it is when it’s done well.

reframing celebrations as something that should be relevant, timeless and original - not just beautiful for the sake of it.

reminding us that knowing your “main character” changes everything when it comes to instinct and decision-making.

showing how a single piece of art can spark an entire event concept.

who brought us all Mickey Mouse ears 😄and talked about obsession and the creative process.

And bringing it back to something so simple but so often missed… we focus so much on how things look, but the focus should be on how people feel… and whether they deeply feel something.

Grateful to have been in the room, having these really important conversations relevant to life, business, and all the bits in between! ✨

Night two… and a completely different kind of magic 🎭✨

The Table Design Exhibition London 2026 at The Savoy London… and honestly, it was just beautiful.

The theme was Come As Your Favourite Work of Art.. and people really went for it! I went for a little nod to Roy Lichtenstein with my makeup… felt only right after the night before!

But the tables, of course, were the real showstopper! 😲

I was working at the Table Design Exhibition in Istanbul back in December, and I was completely blown away by it then, so to have it here in London was a real treat! 👏🏻

The level of creativity, detail, and imagination from the designers was incredible, with each one telling its own unique and magical story and sending my inspiration levels soaring!

A huge congratulations to the brilliant designers: | | | | |
And for putting on such a wonderful evening and event!

Table Design Exhibition is running again later this year in Istanbul, and if you’re in the events industry, then I highly recommend attending - it’s an absolute feast for the senses!

More from the weekend still to come... ✨

Co-Producer:
Production & AV:
Venue & Catering:
Artistic Experience Design & Invitation:
Photography:
Videography:
Tableware, Linens & Crockery:
Entertainment:
HMU:
Printing:
English Sparkling Wine:
Truffle Experience:
Cocktails & Bar:
Spirits: Gin & Vodka:

Night one… and what a way to start! 🎨💥

Walking into the Park Hyatt London River Thames on Friday night, it felt bright and alive - colour everywhere, energy everywhere, and a buzzing room full of people who genuinely love what they do.

The theme was A Load of Po***cks - which, could’ve gone many ways… but landed exactly where it should!

It was bold, playful, expressive… with splashes of colour, unexpected details, a bit of chaos in the best possible sense.

A nod to Jackson Po***ck, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol - but interpreted in a way that felt completely our own.

It was so good to see people - hug, catch up, and pick up conversations exactly where we left off a couple of months ago in Rome.

This industry is all about relationships and for me, many of these people feel like family now.

A super fun, playful, and very colourful opening to a brilliant few days here in London with

More to come from the weekend… watch this space… ✨

Co-Producer & Designer - .murrayjones
Artistic Experience Design & Invitation -
Photography -
Videography -
Tableware, Linens & Crockery -
Entertainment -
Drapery & Backdrop -
HMU -
Printing -
Florals -
Venue & Catering -
Stage and Audio -
Pancakes -
Live Event Artist -
Dessert Gifting -
Lighting -
Photo Theatre -

So I went to support my friend who was speaking at the Speak & Shine Summit last year - put on by and - and was honestly blown away by the whole day! 🤩

The day features a series of short talks and the speakers were super SHARP - I was so inspired by their delivery, the content of their talks… and the vibe in that room throughout the day was something else! 🎉

The Speak & Shine Summit is a genuinely uplifting day - full of brilliant, high-vibe women, showing up and sharing their amazing stories.

I came away from that event thinking, I’ve got to get involved with this community somehow… and promptly after, I did.

And now I’m REALLY delighted to share that I’ll be speaking on that very stage next month!

My talk is all about why so many high achievers struggle to switch off - and what’s really driving that constant need to keep going, keep building, keep achieving… even when it’s no longer actually making us feel any better.

It’s something I’ve lived, something I still catch myself in, and something I now see all the time in the people I work with.

If you want a day out that leaves you feeling inspired, energised, and deeply connected then this is where you need to be!

📍
🗓 7th May 2026
💬 DM for link to book

Would LOVE to see some of you there 🤍

Happy Easter from me and the doggos ♥️

Sun’s out, spirits are up.. and hope you’re all having a lovely long weekend wherever you are ✨

High performers rarely struggle with motivation.

They don’t lack discipline, nor are they short on ambition - they’re exceptionally good at setting goals, solving complex problems, and pushing through resistance.

Their problem is different.

The difficulty isn’t achieving... it's what their achieving has become responsible for.

Because for them doing isn’t just about progress.
It's how they regulate themselves.

It’s how they feel in control
How they feel useful.
And how they avoid sitting with uncertainty or discomfort.

So when they try to slow down… it often doesn’t feel like rest.
It can feel slightly unsettling.

This is the central idea behind the book I’m writing.

It’s not about becoming less ambitious…
It’s about learning how to achieve without needing achievement to feel okay.

And it starts with noticing the moments you reach for “doing” not because you need to, but because it helps you feel steady.

That awareness alone can start to change your relationship with it.

We talk endlessly about how to perform better… but rarely about the need driving it.

And I’m sat here wondering why we feel the need to perform so much in the first place… and why it’s so hard to stop.

We’re seeing record levels of burnout, many are riddled with anxiety, and people are literally crumbling under the pressure to keep going.

Technology has blurred the lines between work and personal life… and we’re all fuelling the fire of productivity and performance talking about doing more, doing it better, or getting places faster.

But why do we really feel the need to perform so much?

Is it to prove we’re valuable?
Is it to stay relevant?
Is it to make sure we don’t fall behind?

I’m 38, and I’ve just moved back home.

Nothing fell apart… but the life I’d built was becoming unsustainable.

It wasn’t about the money, it was about the facade.

The outward show of:
“look at me doing life so brilliantly”

It wasn’t brilliant.

It was stressful.
I was lonely.
And it was far harder than it needed to be.

Returning to my childhood home - and taking that break from social media - has stripped away the performance I didn’t even realise I was putting on.

Achievement had become the thing regulating my sense of security.
Even though things were going well - and I could afford to stop - I didn’t feel able to.

I thought I was optimising my life; the countryside move for my health, new projects to keep me creative, riding momentum in business…

But really I was maintaining:

An image.
A sense of control.
A version of myself that looked like she had it all together.

And inside I felt the opposite.

I felt lost.

What was this for? Who was this for?

Why does it still not feel enough?

And now that some of that has fallen away, I can see clearly that it was never about ambition… it was about feeling safe.

Which makes me question how much of what we call “drive” is actually a coping mechanism… a survival strategy we don’t yet feel safe enough to put down.

And I’m not saying ambition is the problem.
But if we never question the need behind it then we stay stuck performing, even when it’s costing us.

And that’s the conversation I want to start.

Staying busy isn’t always about ambition.
Sometimes it’s about protection.

I noticed this pattern in myself a while back... and once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it 🫣

And I see it repeatedly with many of the driven high-achievers I work with.

We can change the arena in which we achieve… but it’s still the same restless energy that drives the performance.

The same restless energy that once drove me to drink was the same energy I later poured into fitness.
Then same energy I poured into business building I then poured into a body transformation.
I transferred that same energy into writing my first book, then relocating my life, then creating and hosting events and then building a community…

Every time I put something down, I picked something else up.

And it always looked productive so I never questioned it.

But what I came to realise is that constant forward motion isn’t always about chasing the next thing...
it’s more often about running away from something behind us.

Because when we’re still… the things we’ve been avoiding start to surface.

The feelings that we buried...
The habits we thought we’d beaten...
The version of ourselves we didn’t accept or make peace with.

So if you’re running with something right now, I invite you to ask yourself:

“Am I moving towards something? Or am I running away from something?”

That answer will give you more than the next achievement ever will.

For the high achiever, the most courageous thing you can do... is just stop.
And let whatever you’ve been outrunning…finally catch up with you.

I noticed something different around International Women’s Day this year - Organisations reached out wanting to mark the day in a meaningful way, but the conversations felt different.

Many of them mentioned “a tough year” - restructures, redundancies, and teams navigating uncertainty.

One organisation I was due to work with reached out just days before the event to explain that several people internally had just lost their jobs and asked whether the talk could be reshaped to also support those who would now be leaving the business.

It really hit home how much support people need right now navigating these challenging times.

When workplaces become unstable, people’s sense of security in themselves is rocked - even the most talented and capable professionals can start questioning their value, their direction, and their identity.

And it’s not just happening inside organisations, with so much uncertainty in the world right now, many people are carrying more than we might realise... which makes the way we show up for each other more important than ever.

That starts in our workplaces, our teams, our communities...
So a little reminder to look out for the people around you ♥️