Self Sabotage in the Great Hall

​As you know, I am spotlighting the wonderful women who have stepped forward to support The emPOWER Breakfast and become sponsors. All of them are trailblazers in their own right, and none more so than the brilliant Kayt Hall, MD and co-founder of Cabin Editing Company, which incidentally was recently named Most Creative Editing House of 2025 at Creative Circle! WOW. Well done team Cabin!  For those who don’t know, before being MD and co-founder of Cabin, Kayt was a prolific agency TV producer whose values included a fierce commitment to the next generation. If I had a quid for every heart-warming mentoring story I’ve heard about her, I could pack a bag for the Bahamas and say goodbye to Blighty.

She is that loved.

And she is busy. Mum to a beautiful boy and girl, she has walked — and continues to walk - the uniquely demanding path of parenting neurodivergent children. If you know, you know: it’s a journey that stretches your nervous system to the brink, where advocacy, intuition, guilt and ferocious love live side by side. It asks everything of you. Especially when you’re also holding up a business, a team, a vision. 

When Kayt and I tried to align diaries to talk through the angle of this piece, it quickly became clear that time wasn’t on our side. So we took it to email, and I asked the question I always ask:

“What’s your challenge?”

She replied with just two words.

“Self sabotage”

It landed with a thud in my inbox. I stared at the words for a while. They were so simple, so matter of fact — and yet so loaded with vulnerability. Like many women I’ve spoken to, Kayt had distilled a universal truth down to a whisper.

Self sabotage. A worldwide, eight-billion strong, silent epidemic. Unspoken. Undefended.

We all know it. The creeping resistance to your own success. The inexplicable delays on projects you actually care about. The voice that tells you you’re not quite ready. The voice that starts every sentence with “Who do you think you are?”

What makes self sabotage so slippery is that it wears so many faces: perfectionism, procrastination, avoidance, chronic guilt, imposter syndrome. The stats back it up — some research suggests up to 70% of people experience imposter feelings at some point, and that’s just what we admit to. And for women, for mothers, for neurodivergent humans, for anyone holding more than one identity at once — it runs deeper. It’s structural. It’s systemic. It’s exhausting.

For Kayt, the stakes were high. A career shift into the unknown waters of business ownership. Children to protect, support, and understand in a world that doesn’t always make space.

And in all of that - the work, the motherhood, the trying to sometimes be your own person - can come that quiet voice.

“You’re not doing enough.”

“You’re doing it wrong.”

“You should be better.”

That’s the sting of self sabotage. It rarely shouts. It’s not a meltdown or a grand refusal. It’s a slow erosion of faith in your own power.

I think we’re in a moment - culturally and emotionally - where these conversations are finally emerging. Women like Kayt, who once carried the invisible weight of self-doubt alone, are now speaking plainly. Naming it. Saying: this is what it’s like. Saying: you are not mad, or lazy, or weak.

It’s liberating. It’s also terrifying. Because once you’ve seen your own saboteur, you can’t unsee it. You have to change the relationship. Not to punish yourself for the ways you’ve tripped - but to be more tender, more attuned to ‘do the work’...

BUT….What if the part of us that sabotages isn’t trying to ruin things at all - but is scared? Uncertain? Tired of being judged? What if self sabotage is a protest? A request for slowness, for acknowledgement, for rest?

What Kayt is showing us - in her honesty, in her ongoing growth - is that success is not a straight line. Sometimes it looks different. Sometimes it means letting go of the need to prove yourself, and instead focusing on living more gently in your own skin.

The legacy Kayt is building is not just about the award winning commercials she produced, or the company she co-founded. It’s about the people she’s lifted along the way. It’s the mentees she’s supported, the honesty she brings to the table, the reality of life she’s never shied away from.

Self sabotage didn’t stop her. But naming it - bringing it into the light - might just be the most powerful thing she’s done yet.

Because when someone like Kayt stands up and openly says ‘I self sabotage and I name it and take away its power’ it changes the room. It gives us all permission to speak more honestly. To lead with vulnerability. To stop waiting until we’re “ready.” Here is the conversation we had over email where team emPOWER got to ask her what this all really meant to her and how she beat the voices that we dread.

Q> When you named self-sabotage as your biggest challenge, what does that look like for you? (Is it something that shows up in business, creativity, motherhood — or all of the above?)

Kayt> It’s showed up from when I was very young and remained my unfaithful companion for many many many years. I remember once getting a lead part in a dance production which was huge and I just didn’t turn up for the performance as I believed I wasn’t good enough. I mean!!!! So in essence my belief is I’m not good enough and everyone else around me is  wrong about my potential. How insulting for all the people who believe/d in me. It shows up everywhere - work / friends / partner / etc and I have spent a lot of time learning how to manage it.

Q> What does your internal saboteur sound like? (Do you recognise it now, or does it still catch you off guard?)

Kayt> My internal saboteur has a name…. Penelope. I’ve learnt to tell her off, to tell her she’s wrong, she’s not helpful. I did however learn in therapy that she most likely was trying to protect me as a coping mechanism but I do think she can be a right old bitch sometimes.

I recognise her almost immediately when she pops in to f*ck things up - the first thing I ask her now is what evidence do you have to prove this? Then I run through that and that slowly has helped me work out what is real and what is not.

Q> Have there been moments where you’ve actively interrupted your own sabotage? (What helped you in those moments?)

Kayt> I think I sort of touched on this in other questions but, yes there are many times I’ve actively interrupted it - this took time and training.

1.  Self Sabotage happens

2.  Penelope steps in and starts her negative talk

3.  I say hold up there Penny, what you on about, what evidence is there that this is going to happen?

4. I spend time figuring out if the evidence stacks up, I can often convince myself it does but that’s when I’m really deep in, most of the time it doesn’t.

5.  I stop, I pause and I breathe.

What did you have to let go of — mentally, emotionally — when you left the structure of TV production to build Cabin?

Kayt> I had to let go of self doubt and believe I could frigging well do it. Penelope had to take a seat very far away from the table, she wasn’t best pleased about being put on the kids table but it is really where she belongs. I’d been out of the industry for a while when conversations started about Cabin so it was the perfect moment as I had spent time working on me. I’m not going to say it wasn’t scary, it still is but there is a very clear vision of who and what Cabin is, so mentally and emotionally if I get blurry or start to doubt what we’re doing I remember the vision. I have it written on a piece of paper in my wallet, on a note on my computer and as a text message to myself on my phone so it’s always there to remind me.

Q> How did your relationship to risk change when you became a founder? (Did you feel more exposed, or more in control?)

Kayt> There’s always been a part of me that is open to risk. I think it’s the ADHD part of my brain - fuck it, let’s do it. Good old Penelope has played a strong role in trying to stop any risk-taking, sometimes for good but mainly to let me know it’s dangerous, you must not do it. So yeah I felt exposed BUT I have had, and continue to have, unwavering support from my business partners, a load of therapy and plethora of coping techniques so I said f*ck you Penny and allowed and pushed myself to go for it. That felt immense. It wasn’t as easy as I make that sound and it’s an ongoing work in progress. But that’s exactly what we should all be…a work in progress.

Q> Was there ever a moment in that transition where you thought, “I can’t do this”? (And if so, what pulled you through?)

Kayt> Every single week this creeps in, every single week I remind myself of our vision, and every single week I say to myself “you are bloody doing it, and you ain’t stopping now”. The transition is ongoing; it never stops.

Q> You have a reputation for being a generous, wise mentor — did you have that force in your life? Who was that person for you? (And how did they change your path?)

Kayt> What a lovely thing to say. I am so so SO passionate about passing the baton on. Employing people better than me so that the business can be its best.  I love watching talent flourish. Empowering them.

My mum was an incredible force in my life.  A truly remarkable individual with an outlook on life that was just a little different and a whole lot of brilliant. She raised me with the idea that I could do anything I set my mind to, and despite Penelope’s attempts to overthrow that, I try to keep that positive force she instilled in me.  My mama was brave, she was funny, she was kind and an incredible human.

I’ve also been very fortunate to have had some SUPERB mentors myself - those who championed me when I struggled to champion myself.  Their influences on me throughout my career and life is what drives me to do the same for others.  We all need someone to believe in us, especially when we don’t believe in ourselves. If you surround yourself with energy that is positive and life changing it rubs off.

Q> What’s one piece of advice you often give to mentees that you find hard to follow yourself?

Kayt> If only you could see the potential I see in you, you could take on the world. 

Q> What does a “good mentor” mean to you today — especially in the landscape of mental health and neurodiversity awareness?

Kayt> A good mentor to me is simply someone with genuine interest in their mentee’s growth, someone who has experience and credibility they can lend to their mentee, they guide, they influence and they support.  In the case of mental health and ND, and myself as a mentor I ensure and have learnt to listen, really listen, I don’t try to fix but create space for the individual to be open and support finding their balance.  I run the business this way too.

Q> What has parenting neurodivergent children taught you about yourself? (Especially your own wiring, thresholds, or ways of coping?)

Kayt> Oh Lord what hasn’t it taught me? I remember saying to my partner in the US that all people who run a creative business should have ND children / friends, it sets you right up.  

To begin with it’s given me patience - not my natural default.  It’s helped me to always question how it might look or feel for the other person, and to consider a situation entirely differently.

My wiring was pretty set up for perfectionism and I’ve let that go - I still aim for the best but that doesn’t have to look like a movie.  Does that make any sense?  I’ve also learnt the real and absolute value in taking a step back, a deep breath and stopping. There is real strength in pausing.

Q> Do you find the expectations on ND parents — especially mothers — are quietly brutal? (How do you resist the pressure to be “superhuman”?)

Kayt> I think the expectations I had on myself were the most brutal.  I had to give up that perfectionism.  It was NOT serving.  I was going to burn out if I didn't.  Now I celebrate the smallest stuff, I don’t want to be superhuman, I want to be a present human with all my flaws.

Q> What’s one thing you wish people understood about being an ND parent that often gets missed?

Kayt> Please don’t tell me we are all a little on the spectrum.  We are not - it diminishes those who are. I really wish people understood that a bit more when talking to ND parents and people.

Q> What is your greatest life lesson?

Kayt> This too will pass. 

Something my mum always said to me.  

Losing her changed me immeasurably for the better, but my goodness I wish she was here to see all the fun I’m having. 

Q> You were recently awarded at Creative Circle as Best Editing Company of 2025 - What did Penelope think of THAT?!

Kayt> This is an excellent question.  Guess what?   Penelope must be on holiday as I’ve not heard from her!  

Q> Lastly tell us why you felt that it was important to support The emPOWER Breakfast as a Silver Sponsor?

Kayt> It was an absolute no brainer.   The quote below is something I’ve had written down for years.  Then along comes emPOWER.  What’s a girl to do but to sponsor something she truly believes in and lives by. 

"If you are free, you need to free somebody else.  If you have some power then your job is to empower somebody else” - Toni Morrison.

Here’s to Kayt Hall for talking to us. For building something new with emPOWER. For staying in the room with the hard stuff. For showing up, not perfectly, but fully.

And for reminding us that sometimes, the biggest step forward begins with a moment of truth. 

You are a legend.