Hello all!

Welcome to my very first blog entry for the Ifwecanyoucan Challenge! I must admit that I'm feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement. I'm not sure where to start.

Well my name is Emma Reilly, I'm 28 and from Newcastle. I would consider myself to be a quiet but friendly person. There is only one thing that is important to me above anything else in the world: my family. You've probably seen already that I suffer from social anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder. These conditions have proven to be a bit of a challenge over the years. I've had loads of set backs, days in hospital thanks to medication withdrawel and days where I felt like I just wanted to die. But they've been there throughout and have always kept me going. I'm doing this for them because they deserve it more than anyone on this planet.

They're the reason why I'm here today. I remember sitting looking at my computer screen one day. I had the idea for iYosh in my head. It had been there for about four years but I'd never had the confidence to go out and doing anything about it. I just sat down one night and just started doing a few designs in Photoshop. My mam came in the room and asked what I was doing. So I showed her my iYosh homepage and user profile design and talked her through how it would work. I think her exact words were 'go for it kid'. She seemed quite excited by it (and my mam doesn't normally get excited over anything technical!).

Since being featured in the paper last week (and yes, my mam has photocopied it several times and sent it to every member of our family!) things have just gone mad... but in a good way. I have two very important meetings lined up with some of the countries leading entrepreneurs, I'm off to the Thinking Digital conference tomorrow and the Entrepreneurs annual conference next week. Not bad for a girl who had a panic attack when she had to go out and buy a stamp.

So why should you vote for me?

Quite honestly this experience has been the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. Already the support of the ifwecanyoucan team has been incredible and the doors it has opened so far have been fantastic. I'd be happy to walk away with my head held high in four weeks as a runner up.

But I also want this more than anything. I have never seen my family and friends so proud of me. I don't want to sound all soppy, but I want to be able to create a business that everyone can be proud of. I was recently told that I was mad to build a web business in the North East. "You should be in London" I was told. I think thats rubbish. I think Newcastle could quite easily rival, if not better, any web 2.0 company. We have the services, the expertise and the ambition.

If you have any questions then please get in touch. Plus check back often... I'll keep you all updated on the progress of iYosh.

For now,

Emma.