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August 12, 2026
“Why can’t I just?” was the question Clare Edwin kept coming back to.
Why can’t I just answer that email? Why can’t I just leave the house on time? Why can’t I just do the ordinary things everyone else seems to manage?
Clare grew up in Nigeria, studied aeronautical engineering, earned a master’s in mathematical modelling, worked as a quality engineer, and became a secondary school maths teacher. She was rated a good teacher, but behind the scenes, she was struggling. The same pile of books came home to be marked night after night and went back untouched. Eventually, the demands of teaching contributed to repeated episodes of depression, and she left the profession.
While off work, Clare started making beaded bracelets on her coffee table, mostly to get herself off the sofa. That small beginning became Lollamac, the jewellery business she still runs fifteen years later.
Her ADHD diagnosis did not come until 2021, after a woman in her business group described her own experience and Clare found herself mentally ticking off the same traits.
If you have ever worked hard, looked capable from the outside, and still felt like you were falling short, you will recognise yourself in this one.
“Other people seemed to keep up consistently. I would do nothing and then cram at the last minute. Last-minute cramming made everything feel harder, and it did not pay off the way consistent work would have.”
-Clare Edwin
“The hardest part of teaching was not the students. It was the planning, marking, organization, and keeping on top of everything.”
-Clare Edwin
“Making jewelry gave me something that got me out of bed and off the sofa.”
-Clare Edwin
"Working for yourself gives you freedom, which is wonderful for ADHD, but it also means you have to build your own structure."
-Clare Edwin
"I was not afraid to take a risk. I thought, what have I got to lose, and what could I gain?"
-Clare Edwin
"Getting diagnosed [with ADHD] gave me the reason behind the ‘why can’t I just’ moments."
-Clare Edwin
To my younger self, I would say: ‘You are trying hard enough. There is a reason this feels hard.’
-Clare Edwin
- Claire shares how a business group conversation led her to recognize ADHD patterns in herself.
- She describes lifelong struggles with lateness, forgetting tasks, time blindness, and wondering, “why can’t I just?”
- Strong school structure helped her perform well, but university exposed procrastination, cramming, and lost interest.
[20:55 – 37:49] Teaching, Depression, and Finding Jewelry
- Claire moves from quality engineering into maths teaching after craving a new challenge.
- Teaching brings joy with students but becomes unsustainable because of workload, admin, marking, and rigid systems.
- During depression leave, she starts making jewelry and discovers metalwork gives her focus, purpose, and positive emotion.
[37:49 – 01:08:02] Building Lollamac and Reclaiming Confidence
- Claire grows her jewelry business through markets, free business training, rented shelves, and eventually her own studio.
- Opening a shop gives her structure, validation, confidence, and space to build a business around her creative strengths.
- Diagnosis helps her stop blaming herself, use body doubling, find an ADHD business community, and accept support.
ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem.
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- Website: www.lollamac.co.uk
- Instagram: @lollamac_
- Facebook: @lollamac
