19/07/2025
What’s the one thing you won’t leave the house without in summer?
For me, it’s a fan. Not one of those little handheld electric ones - although I do have a neck fan (top tip: tie your hair up first to avoid it getting tangled - I never seem to learn 🙈). But no, I mean an old-school folding fan. The kind elegant ladies might’ve used in the “olden days.”
I don’t always need it, but if I 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 have one with me, I get really anxious about getting hot and flustered. Maybe it’s a sensory thing, or maybe just a comfort thing. Either way, it helps me feel grounded.
I picked this one up from the Hever Castle gift shop - Anne Boleyn’s childhood home. (I actually lost it the first time I took it out and was gutted - but just received a surprise replacement. More on that another time!)
I don’t know for sure if I’m related to 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 Boleyn family, but my family name is Bullen (an older spelling), and we’re from Norfolk too. One day I’ll trace the family tree properly - but for now, I love the connection.
When I was choosing a name for my jewellery business, I went with 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘆𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝘁 - a quiet nod to my roots and my original name. I started calling myself Rachel Boleyn to see how it felt… and it just felt 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. So I made it official.
Looking back, I was doing more than choosing a name - I was redefining who I was becoming.
Since then, I’ve come to understand more about myself - including the realisation in my mid to late 40s, that I’m neurodivergent. It’s helped me make sense of so many things: how I work, how I connect with people, how I move through the world.
In a way, everything I’ve built since then - my businesses, my systems, even how I show up online - has been about creating space to be fully myself, and helping others do the same.
I launched my first business 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘆𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝘁 in 2019. In 2021, I left full-time employment to start 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹, supporting small business owners with websites, funnels, and systems.
And this year, I launched 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼 - an all-in-one platform curated for artists and makers who want to sell their work and grow their audience online.
Four years in, I feel another shift happening. I don’t know exactly what the next chapter looks like, but I know it will involve more creativity, more connection, and a deeper alignment with how I want to live and work.
So here I am - a Tech VA, an artist, a small business owner, a platform curator, a neurodivergent creative, a mum, an introvert, an entrepreneur building a business on my own terms.
I’m not just one thing. And I don’t think I was ever meant to be.
Here’s to evolving, unmasking, and creating a life that fits - instead of squeezing into one that doesn’t.
💬 Have you been through your own evolution - or feel like you’re in one right now? I’d love to hear more.
(Also: not at all where I thought this post was going. I was just going to show off my lovely new fan… 🪭)
