<p>This conversation with Moira Carmenate is slightly unusual for the podcast, because Moira isn’t just the guest. She’s also my mum. </p><p>Recording this episode felt a little like opening a family archive that probably should have stayed closed. Behind the stories, though, is a mindset that shaped much of how I think about resilience and getting back up when things fall apart. </p><p>Moira grew up in Scotland under extremely difficult circumstances and lost the only stable figure in her life by the age of seventeen. From there she rebuilt repeatedly. She ran a hotel in her twenties, escaped an abusive marriage with two young children, started again from nothing, and eventually built a successful career in financial services where she became one of the few women in senior leadership roles at the time. </p><p>Later in life she reinvented herself again, launching businesses, consulting across Europe, and eventually relocating to Spain where she now runs a company focused on later-life planning and funeral services for expatriates. </p><p>This conversation isn’t really about the résumé. </p><p>It’s about mindset. </p><p>When things go wrong, you have two choices: roll over and play dead, or get up and fight. </p><p></p><p><strong>What comes up in the conversation </strong></p><p>In this episode, we talk about: </p><ul><li>Losing stability at a young age and learning self-reliance early </li><li>Escaping an abusive relationship and starting again with two young children </li><li>Building a career in financial services in a male-dominated industry </li><li>The mindset required to rebuild your life multiple times </li><li>Why failure is information rather than identity </li><li>Reinventing yourself later in life and moving countries </li><li>Working in the funeral and later-life planning industry with empathy and purpose </li></ul><p></p><p><strong>About Moira Carmenate </strong></p><p>Moira Carmenate is an entrepreneur, later-life planning specialist, and founder of Almoyra and White Doves Funeral Planning in Spain. </p><p>After building a career in financial services and consulting across Europe, she relocated to Spain where she created a service supporting expatriates with wills, funeral planning, and end-of-life preparation. </p><p>She is also the author of In a Mental Fog, a book designed to help people eliminate mental fog, ask themselves honest questions, and take greater control of their lives. </p><p></p><p><strong>Links &amp; Resources </strong></p><p>Moira’s website - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.almoyra.com">https://www.almoyra.com</a> </p><p>Expat Lifestyle Centre - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.expatlifestyle.es">https://www.expatlifestyle.es</a> </p><p>White Doves Funeral Planning - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.whitedovs.es">https://www.whitedovs.es</a> </p><p>Moira’s book (In A Mental Fog) - <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://amzn.to/4seRWMO">https://amzn.to/4seRWMO</a> </p><p></p><p><strong>About the podcast </strong></p><p>12 Steps to Success is a podcast about what happens when the path you were on stops making sense. </p><p>Hosted by Eric Mackay, the show centres on honest conversations with people navigating change, pressure, identity shifts, recovery, and reinvention. These are not success stories or instruction manuals, but real conversations about how people live inside uncertainty and keep moving forward without false certainty. </p><p></p><p><strong>Stay connected </strong></p><p>Website: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://twelvestepstosuccess.com">https://twelvestepstosuccess.com</a> </p><p>Instagram: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://instagram.com/twelvestepstosuccess">https://instagram.com/twelvestepstosuccess</a> </p>