New Milton woman Paige Bond transforms life after being dubbed 'chavvy' in job email blunder

A JOBSEEKER who made headlines after a local firm accidentally sent her an email describing her as “chavvy” has revealed how the incident helped to transform her life.

Paige Bond, from New Milton, was mistakenly sent the internal message from Forest Whole Foods from its offices on the Avro Business Park in Christchurch after she applied for a job.

It stated: “Okay, I know exactly the type of person she is in my mind.

“Small, bubbly, slightly irritating but probably really good for what you need her for: organised, quick, chavvy.”

It added: “She is probably worth interviewing if you think you can cope with having someone like her around.

“I bet her voice is really irritating.”

It concluded: “Delete this email in case you took her on and she found it.”

At the time, an angry Paige outed the company in the press – and the story made headlines in newspapers as far away as Australia, Japan and America.

Forest Whole Foods apologised to her, admitting: “We feel terrible we may have upset anyone.”

But Paige (52) now says she is “glad” it made the blunder.

She told the A&T: “I was humiliated worldwide but, despite my initial horror, my viral fame led to me turning my life around and becoming a better person.

“One of the reasons they branded me a chav was because there was a revealing photo of me in a bikini on my Facebook page.

“At the time it was just when selfies started coming in and I had become selfie-obsessed.

“All I cared about was myself and what I looked like. I realised my life was very shallow.”

Paige said although she was “devastated” by the “chavvy” comment, it prompted her to “reassess my life”.

She said: “I was in my late 40s and had no career. I moved from job to job. I was never happy.

“I wanted to have more meaning in life. Then one day a notification about a guy called Brett Moran, who was a meditation guru in Thailand, came up on my Instagram account.”

Paige researched Brett, who used to live in Boscombe, and signed up for his 10-week online meditation teacher qualification course.

She said: “It was everything I had been looking for – a chance to change my life for the good.

“After I qualified I set up my own meditation teaching business which has gone from strength to strength.

“My life now is all about spiritualism and I no longer care about material things or the way I look.

“I think that company would have a difficult time describing me as chavvy now!”

Paige now holds weekly meditation courses at The Retreat in Hinton. Her company is called Blissful Meditation With Paige.

She said: “I feel like I have found my calling in life and it was all thanks to that email being sent by mistake.”