From clinical nursing to founder of her own copywriting business…

At just 25, her flourishing clinical nursing career was cut short due to a severe back injury. Later, she faced another difficult turning point when her thriving childminding business abruptly ended.

More recently, when Tania’s teenage daughters were diagnosed with autism and ADHD, she began to recognise similar traits in herself. This revelation set her on a path toward her own diagnosis, opening doors to invaluable government support and new understandings of her own life.

Now, Tania wears multiple hats: she’s a mentor to childminders, an Autism Peer Educator, and the founder of her own copywriting business, TaniaRossCopy. In this interview, Tania shares her inspiring journey of overcoming adversity and reinventing herself—twice—while balancing the demands of family life and her evolving career.

Read on to discover her story in her own words.

While I was there, I had a massive, unexpected, unchosen career change because I sustained a serious back injury. I was only 25 and it put paid to my clinical nursing career, which was devastating.

Can you tell us about your current role?

I’m actually doing three different things at the moment.

I’m working with the Department for Education to mentor childminders who are often working in isolation. It’s part of the Government’s Covid Recovery Programme and is delivered online. I do a couple of hours a week to pass on my experience and knowledge.

Last year, I became an autism peer educator for Autism Central in partnership with Ambitious About Autism and Contact. I deliver online webinars and in-person workshops in schools on topics to do with autism such as dealing with anxiety, meltdowns and shutdowns, toileting, and sibling relationships. My two teenage daughters have both recently been diagnosed autistic and it means I can help other people but also support them.

I’m also launching my new business as a freelance copywriter, TaniaRossCopy. I really enjoy writing so, for example, rewriting people’s ‘About Me’ pages and helping them to find their voice and their brand voice is inspiring. Everything else follows from that.

You’ve had a couple of previous major career changes. Can you tell us about them?

Yes, I’ve had quite a few career changes – some of them planned, most of them not. I’m a great believer in taking opportunities when they arise, taking a risk and being brave.

I trained as a nurse at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and qualified as a registered general nurse in 1991.

After qualifying I went to Los Angeles and began working at LA County Hospital, in the
intensive care unit and an AIDS ward.

Then I went travelling in India for three months, doing voluntary work. I did some work for Mother Theresa’s charity and actually met her; she blessed me!

When I came back, I worked at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. While I was there, I had a massive, unexpected, unchosen career change because I sustained a serious back injury. I was only 25 and it put paid to my clinical nursing career which was devastating.

I went on to work in London as a Research Nurse at the Institute of Hepatology before heading up the new National Hepatitis C Resource Centre.

While I loved the work, I was a bit concerned that it wasn’t really a nursing role, so after two years I made a sideways move to become the Lead Nurse at the Prostate Cancer Charity.

All the cards were thrown up in the air when my marriage ended in 2021. It was a huge shock to me, and I wasn’t expecting it. Under the circumstances, I couldn’t continue to do childminding.

What made you decide to change careers first time round?

When I had my first child, I decided I didn’t want to be one of those mums that was trying to do it all. I felt that I couldn’t cope with having the responsibility of such a big job as well as being a mum and I didn’t want to leave my daughter.

My mother had done childminding when I was growing up so I looked into it. People loved the fact that I was a nurse as well.

I was a childminder for 15 years and I looked after about 40 kids over that time. I also became qualified as a Forest School Practitioner. It really worked when my daughters were little. I had school holidays and weekends off. My husband was a teacher, so it worked well.

What led you to leave that career as a childminder?

All the cards were thrown up in the air when my marriage ended in 2021. It was a huge shock to me, and I wasn’t expecting it. Under the circumstances, I couldn’t continue childminding. But I had already been getting itchy feet and hitting the menopause made me question if I could continue to look after young children while dealing with sore joints.

How did you choose your new career path for the second time?

Like many women of my age, I probably lost confidence and thought no one will employ me now, which is kind of ridiculous when you look at all my skillsets and experience.

The copywriting business idea came from a side hustle I had while I was Childminding – writing erotica under a pseudonym. A friend who’s a travel writer said, ‘You’re a writer. You should do copywriting’.

The role as autism peer educator came about because I was on the mailing list for Contact, the charity for families with disabled children.
I got an email for them about paid opportunities to support other families. It matched well with my skillset as a Nurse and my previous roles in charities, running support and information services.

I realised I missed that. I’m passionate about supporting people with diseases and conditions. In this role I help empower families and carers to make the right decisions and help them to navigate the minefield of coping with diagnoses.

I was delighted to get that job in November. It allows me to support other parents but also to learn how to help my own children.

Like many women of my age, I probably lost confidence and thought no one will employ me now, which is kind of ridiculous when you look at all my skillsets and experience.

What support have you had when making your career change?

I’m on the pathway to getting my diagnosis of ADHD but it’s 100% certain that I have it.

Citing my ADHD symptoms and struggles, I successfully applied to the Access to Work programme. I’m now getting government support in terms of Business and ADHD coaching, mental health support, Grammarly (an AI writing tool), equipment and business support. It’s very helpful.

I’ve also been doing some courses with a company called TechPixies who are all about helping women of my age start a business, go back to work or change careers. They teach tech skills and couple that with mindset coaching. It’s been great for building a community of like-minded women who support each other. I’m also doing a business development course with them.

It’s been slow progress building my new business partly because of impostor syndrome and partly with juggling other things like the children’s needs.

The copywriting business came from a side hustle I had while I was doing the childminding – writing erotica under a pseudonym.

What transferable skills did you find that you had?

Certainly, resilience and adaptability. Being able to pick up something new and get on with it. I’ve also learned to ask for help. I think that’s really important. I realised when I was doing my business plans for the Autism peer educator role and copywriter business that the two business are very aligned. They’re both about taking complex information, decoding it and presenting it with an understanding what is going to have the most impact on the target audience.