Online

2008: Humble Beginnings

I began writing online after spending hours playing an MMO game[1][2] that I was eager to improve and expand.

As I had no knowledge of software development at the time, I logically concluded that since the game was hosted online, I needed to learn how to build a website. I found Piczo[3], a free website-building tool, and started sharing my game development ideas, along with scans of pictures I’d drawn and coloured in Paint Shop Pro[4]

I’m on my laptop either blogging, vibe coding or replying to a stream of messages

2009-2013: Creating my space on the Internet

I wrote my first lines of front-end code alongside my first words on my blog.

My focus shifted away from game development when I discovered the ability to change the colour of the text and background of a web page to my liking. Game development seemed more complicated than I had originally thought. During my High School Musical[5] phase (which I’m still in if anyone was wondering), my website was red and white inspired by Wildcats[6] colours.

After trying out Piczo and Freewebs[7], I obtained my first subdomain. Later, I won a Christmas contest hosted by Namecheap, which gave birth to the different iterations of Pawlean.com.

At the Women in Tech Nottingham conference in 2018 where I talked briefly about my blog helping me get into tech

I carved out my special place on the internet, it became my online, very public diary.

I wrote every week. At one point, I even wrote and published a post every day.

On my blog, I shared my daily learnings, embarrassing stories, and experiences that everyone must have gone through at least once in their life. For example, who hasn’t watched their crush throw away their Valentine’s Day gift in the bin[8]?

Back then, social media didn’t exist. To get people to find my blog, I used to write my URL on scraps of paper and hand them out to people at school. Talk about old-school marketing?! 😂

2015-present: Converting Thoughts to Pixels

I took a two-year break from my blog to focus on my studies and get into university. I didn’t think I would get back here, but on the 19th of August 2015, I decided to open up my blog again after feeling a random spark of inspiration during a Biomedical Sciences[9] lecture where some fruit flies[10] were thrown at me.

I know, talk about a wake-up call. 🤭

When I returned to the blogging world, I adopted the name “Pawlean,” which is the pronunciation of my name, an alter ego[11], and was my infamous Xbox Live Gamertag[12]. This name is now a huge part of my identity, along with my blog.

Stickers and business card I used to give out with the old Pawlean brand

To this day, it is my space on the internet to share my thoughts, inspire and motivate others, connect with people, and pursue my passion for turning my thoughts into pixels. ✨

In 2018, I began experimenting with different platforms to bring my writing to life. Previously, I created a series called “Inspiring Figures” that featured inspiring conversations with people from all walks of life. In 2020, I also had an “everything” podcast.

The fine print