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Laura McThomas: Building a Community One Connection at a Time

When Laura moved to the Isle of Man with her family in April 2025, she wasn't quite sure what the next chapter would look like.

After a long career at Sky, Laura was used to managing teams, delivering major projects and working on technology used by millions of people. Moving to the Isle of Man gave her the opportunity to slow things down, spend more time with her family and, eventually, ask herself the rather difficult question of “what next?”

The answer came in the form of ManxLife, a community discovery platform created to help people find out what's happening across the Island and discover the businesses, events and people that make it what it is.

Today, Laura is building something that has quickly become much more than a project, it’s a way to make her own mark in the Isle of Man’s community.

 

From visiting the Island to calling it home

Moving somewhere new can be a huge adjustment, but for Laura and her family, the transition was surprisingly natural. Having been visiting the Isle of Man for years, meant that the Island wasn't completely unfamiliar. Those visits gave her a feel for the beautiful beaches, greenery and sense of community, and it was the familiarities in everyday life that helped make the move feel “almost like we had come home.”

The biggest difference came once the family had actually settled into everyday Island life. Holidays are one thing, but living somewhere means discovering the local communities, finding your routines and working out what you do on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It was this part of the experience that would eventually inspire Laura's next chapter.

From “what's on?” to ManxLife

After leaving her career, Laura initially focused on getting her family settled. When her children started school, however, she suddenly found herself with a lot more time on her hands, and no idea what she was going to do with it.

At the same time, she was discovering something about Island life that she hadn't noticed as a visitor. There was a lot happening, but it was hard finding it.

Events were being shared across different Facebook groups, posters, social media pages and word of mouth, so Laura found herself hearing about things after they had already happened. That sparked an idea that would shape her entrepreneurial journey.

What if there was one place where people could see what was happening across the Isle of Man?

That question eventually led Laura to create ManxLife, bringing together events, businesses, activities and experiences from across the Isle of Man. And, what started as Laura trying to figure out what she could do at the weekend, quickly grew into a much bigger project.

The platform has now featured thousands of events and is helping people discover everything from local businesses and community activities to events and days out.

For Laura, “It’s more than a website. It’s a place for good. A place for connection.”

That sense of connection is at the heart of ManxLife. As Laura began meeting more businesses, organisations and community groups, conversations started opening doors, creating opportunities to bring people together and do something positive.

One of those moments came when Laura connected with a group walking 100 miles around the Island to raise awareness of neurodiversity. Through that connection, she was able to link them with a local charity supporting families with neurodiversity, helping to raise almost £2,000 and ultimately bringing the two together to create a community event.

Laura finds these unexpected connections to be one of the most rewarding parts of journey with ManxLife.

Finding a new kind of work-life balance

For someone who spent much of her career in a fast-paced professional environment, Laura has noticed a real difference in the way people seem to approach work and life on the Island.

While she doesn't have a traditional 9-5 job anymore, she has friends working in professional roles alongside raising families, volunteering, playing sport and getting involved in community projects.

She describes it as “a different balance” one where work doesn't necessarily have to be the only thing that fills your time.

When Laura’s not working on ManxLife, she enjoys swimming, cycling, and simply getting outside with her family. The Island's access to nature has become a big part of her life, there is always somewhere to walk, explore or simply take a moment, with the sea never feeling too far away.

What's next for ManxLife?

Laura's vision for ManxLife is much bigger than an events calendar.

The platform is continuing to develop, with the website now joined by dedicated apps and plans for more ways to discover the Isle of Man.

One of the ideas Laura is particularly excited about is launching Reach, a separate content creation and storytelling business, allowing her to work directly with organisations on photography, video and social content.

The two projects are closely connected, but Laura sees them as having different purposes, ManxLife bringing the Island's community together, and Reach helping individual businesses and organisations tell their own stories.

Ultimately, she wants ManxLife to become a recognised part of Island life, not just a website people visit, but a brand and community that people turn to when they want to know what's happening.

       

More than just a place to live

Ask Laura what makes the Isle of Man different, and she comes back to the same thing again and again: community.

“It's the friendliness of people, the willingness to help one another and the sense of pride everybody has in where they live. It's also the Island’s culture and heritage.”

Since moving, Laura and her family have enjoyed discovering the stories behind the places they visit and introducing their children to Manx folklore. A trip to Peel Castle isn't simply a visit to an old castle anymore. It's an opportunity to talk about the stories, legends and history connected to it.

And then there's the space. The ability to get outside, see the sea and have a little more space to breathe has become one of the things Laura values most. She noticed just how much of a difference that made when she visited London with her children after moving to the Island. Suddenly the crowds, buildings and busy streets felt very different.

The feeling of coming home is perhaps the simplest way to describe what the Isle of Man has become. A place where she has found a new pace of life, a new community and a new opportunity to build something of her own.

So, while ManxLife continues to grow, Laura is still doing what she loves most, getting out, meeting people, discovering what's happening and telling the stories that make the Isle of Man home, for her and so many others.

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