Laura Clinton Founder and Director at Equicantis Ltd

Was a role like this always what you aspired to?

No! I’m not at all techy so being the founder of a tech business is not a place I thought I would be!

Tell us about your previous roles/ business journey.

I started my working life as a journalist with the Midlands News Association after completing my degree in Journalism, Film and Broadcasting from Cardiff University. I worked as a local newspaper reporter in Shropshire for a while before moving into public relations. I realised that working with horses was my passion and retrained in Equine Sports Massage Therapy and then Equine Musculoskeletal Manipulation Therapy. So, although these skills seem quite disconnected, they’ve both played a huge part in helping me to create Equicantis.

Tell us a bit about what you do outside of work to relax.

Family time is the most precious thing to me outside of work. Myself and my husband have two boys who are five and three, and a wonderful Sproodle dog, so taking them on little adventures is my favourite thing to do. Watching the kids have fun at The Ice Cream Farm, or going on a walk around Alyn Waters. Getting together with friends and dancing to some live music with a drink in my hand makes me happy, a bonus if it’s outside in the sunshine. I no longer have my own horses and barely ride now, but one day I will have a horse again and you’ll find me galloping across a field! But more often than not, relaxing is crashing on the sofa to watch something on Netflix with a glass of wine. In an ideal world, what else would you like to be?

Probably an author. To have the vision and literary flare to come up with brilliant novels that people were eager to read and to spend my days writing. I totally envision it to be like Colin Firth’s character in Love Actually, typing away in some idyllic French villa – but on a laptop rather than a typewriter with his pages flying into the lake! I doubt it’s like that at all but I’ll hold onto the dream!

What advice would you give to anyone else in business?

Take advice but also trust your gut. Just because something has worked for someone else, doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. If it doesn’t sit right with you, don’t do it, find a different way. And just keep turning up and doing the work. If you’ve done the research and truly believe in what you’re doing, the only way to fail is to quit.