Cheryl Stewart, 39, from Blackridge in West Lothian, left school at 15 with poor grades and worked in a sausage factory. She is now a project manager on a £60,000 salary and has published books in her spare time.
From factory floor to project management
Cheryl received low to average results at school and assumed she would work in a factory for the rest of her life. After encouragement from her sister, she took a temp role at a medical research company at age 18 and worked her way up to a project manager position.
She said: "I wasn't the strongest student in school, and I was put in support classes in Primary Three. I left high school at 15, with low to average results."
"I didn't think I was going to be successful, I thought I'd work in a factory for the rest of my life. English and science were my two worst subjects and those are the two areas I've actually excelled in in life. I don't work well in an educational setting because my brain works differently, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. There's a lot of pressure for kids to do well in school, but it's not the end of the world if you're not good at those things."
A new direction after redundancy
Cheryl enjoyed art and design at school but said she was "terrible" at English and science and "average" at maths. After leaving school, she went to college to study photography and worked in a sausage factory at weekends, assuming she would do factory work for the rest of her life.
"I didn't feel like I had the education or the ability to do anything else", she told Talk to the Press. "When I left school, I could barely write an email. I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me I was going to become a published author. I've picked up so many skills through years of hard work and dedication."
After six months in the factory, Cheryl's sister encouraged her to move into an admin role. She started a sales administrative job part time while at college. "My sister is my biggest cheerleader; she really built me up and gave me the confidence that I was capable of doing other things", she said.
After finishing college, she worked in the admin job full time before being made redundant at age 18. She then took a temp position in data entry at a medical research company, earning £14,000 a year.
Career success and a new writing career
Cheryl worked her way up and landed a project management job at age 26, a position she has held for 13 years. She manages clinical trials for experimental drugs, a role with a typical salary of £60,000.
"As I've worked there since age 18, I've just been able to do on-the-job training and learn all I needed to know that way", she said.
Cheryl had always been interested in writing but never thought she could write a book. One night in July 2026, she decided to "give it a go". She said: "Before I knew it, I'd written 20,000 words and it was five in the morning. The ideas just kept coming."
She self-published her debut novel, a medical thriller called Elderidge: Committed in August 2026, about a woman working in clinical trials who is sectioned by her husband. She has also published two children's books, Teeny Tommy and the Demon Dog of Tucker Road and Teeny Tommy and the Fringe Festival, and has plans for two more Elderidge books.
"I'm blown away so far, I've got five-star ratings on Amazon and Goodreads", she said.
"School isn't the end of the story; it's just the beginning. I had so many pitfalls early in my story, and here I am at nearly 40 years old, and I'm a completely different person to who I was at high school."
