Hi, I’m Saffron.
Saffron & Cyrus is my independent publication about women, midlife, fitness, family, culture and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are supposed to be.
It is for women who wonder about getting older, stronger and less interested in doing life the way they were told they should.
On a personal note, I have always been an oversharer. I write much as I speak, sometimes with my soul on the table, guts and all. Most of the time, I’m just telling you what happened. I think the embarrassing and painful things that happen to us are worth writing about because there is often a universal truth hiding in the story we nearly didn’t tell.
Somewhere, somebody might read them and think, “Oh, thank God. Me too.” For me, that is the point. That means writing without trying to predict how somebody else might interpret it. But if that kind of personal writing isn’t for you, that’s perfectly fine.
There’s the door, pet. Ciao!
I started writing because midlife had questions.
Saffron & Cyrus started with a baby, a new mum over 40 and the growing feeling that the world had decided I was a little too old to be starting again.
When I had Cyrus at 40, I was overjoyed, but I was also surprised by how often my age became part of the conversation. There were assumptions about my energy, my body, my fertility and my life choices.
I didn’t feel old. But there were moments when the world seemed determined to remind me that, apparently, I was.
So I started writing, and what began as a blog about life with a baby grew into an independent publication about the difficult, funny and occasionally absurd business of being a woman in midlife.
Why Saffron & Cyrus?
Cyrus is my son.
Saffron is my alter ego,
inspired by a spice I love
,
my husband’s Persian heritage and the little lift it gives me when life feels heavy. There is something about its colour, fragrance and flavour that can lift an ordinary day.
So the name felt right. Saffron & Cyrus, family and happiness.
I’ve spent my career asking questions.
I began my career as a newspaper journalist more than 25 years ago and now work in PR and editorial communications. Both have taught me to look twice, question the obvious version of a story and notice what gets left out.
Not because I have life figured out. I don’t. I’ve just learned that the first version of a story is rarely the whole story.
Strength · weakness · reality · utopia
Strength
Weakness
Reality
Utopia
These four words sit underneath the Saffron & Cyrus name because real life contains all four.
I’m interested in strength without pretending vulnerability doesn’t exist. In women’s health without turning every woman into a problem to solve. In fitness without making thinness the finish line. And in reality, while leaving a little room for utopia. We’re allowed to imagine something better, change our minds and want more from the next chapter.
What you’ll find here
Think of Saffron & Cyrus as a conversation, not a rulebook. I’m interested in real life, particularly the bits women are often expected to get on with quietly.
Midlife reinvention
Identity, confidence, work, relationships and what happens when the life you built starts changing shape.
Women’s health & wellbeing
Hormones, energy, sleep, mood and looking after yourself without turning wellbeing into another job.
Fitness & strength
The gym, Zumba, combat workouts and becoming stronger without making your body a permanent renovation project.
Family & parenting
Cyrus, family life and the particular experience of becoming a mum at 40.
Our Persian life
Food, family, traditions, music and everyday Persian-British life. And yes, there will be Persian food.
Tried & tested
Things I’ve bought, used, eaten, worn or experienced, with an honest view of whether they’re worth your money.
A few good places to begin
THE SAFFRON EXPERIMENT →
MIDLIFE & WOMEN’S HEALTH →
FITNESS & STRENGTH →
FAMILY & CULTURE →
Midlife is not another problem women need to solve.
I’m interested in what happens when women stop treating getting older as a personal failure and start asking better questions about how they want to live.
That means questioning some of the nonsense we’re sold about ageing, bodies, motherhood and wellbeing, while being perfectly willing to admit when I’ve fallen for some of it myself.
For women figuring out what comes next
If you’ve spent years looking after everyone else and are beginning to wonder what you want now, you’re in the right place.
If you’re ambitious, tired, hopeful, uncertain, funny or all of them before breakfast, you’re in the right place.
If you want to feel stronger without spending your life trying to make yourself smaller, you’re definitely in the right place.
And if you’re quietly asking:
I don’t have a five-step answer. I just have perspective, stories, questions and plenty still to learn.
That’s enough for me.
Partnerships & collaborations
I work selectively with brands whose products, places or ideas make sense for the readers already here. That may mean sponsored editorial, reviews, travel and family experiences, or strategic content, but the same rule applies: I have to be able to write about it honestly.
If something is paid, gifted or commissioned, I say so. Readers get the same thing whether a piece is commercial or not: context, experience, questions and a clear opinion.
Work with me, pitch me or say hello
For partnerships, editorial commissions or PR and copywriting enquiries:
Want to know more about the audience and ways we can work together?