Abby Barton, Head of Business Development at Wayra, took six months out to travel South America - and hasn't regretted a single moment...

“I had spent my entire career in commercial finance, having trained as a chartered accountant nearly 15 years ago. After two years as Head of Retail Finance at O2, a difficult internal interview for a promotion prompted me to start thinking about what else I might want to do.

When I struggled to decide, I realised I hadn’t been asking myself the much bigger question: ‘what do I want my career to be?’ In 15 years, amazingly I’d never stopped to ask myself that question. I decided it was time I gave it the thought it deserved and requested a six month sabbatical.

Luckily, the response I got from my company was fantastic. They were happy to give me the time I needed to re-focus and re-energise. I spent an incredible six months travelling around South America, with plenty of 10-hour bus journeys where I had nothing to do but think about what was important to me.

When I got back, I knew I didn’t see myself in finance any more. I had realised that I wanted to work with people more directly, and to find more purpose in my work. Soon after I had the opportunity to move into the Retail Leadership Team, which then led me to my current role as Head of Business Development at Wayra, O2’s start-up accelerator.

My day is now totally different to anything I’ve experienced; the energy, pace and excitement is completely infectious, and it’s given me the opportunity to work alongside some seriously impressive entrepreneurs.

Taking a career break can seem like a daunting prospect both in terms of taking time out of work and actually asking for it in the first place, but it was the best thing I’ve ever done.

Taking a break gave me a lot of time for introspection and I found that I came back with the confidence to ask for what I needed from both the business and my career, to help me achieve my personal goals.”

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