Woman Self Made - SoundSage

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Baroness Young of Old Scone has held many posts including Vice Chairman of the BBC, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency and Care Quality Commission, Chair of English Nature and is currently Chair of the Woodland Trust.

As a Scottish Labour member of the House of Lords for over 25 years she discusses being at the heart of politics and the ways in which the detailed work on legislation brings change. She also shares a fascinating insight into the routines and organisation of the House of Lords and discusses the different pathways that women can take to move into a career in politics.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

Childhood and early ambitions
Growing up in a small-scale rural community in Scotland
Working in the health service and moving into health politics
Being active in the Institute for health service management and becoming president
Moving into work for the environment and the transference of skills
Twenty-five years in the heart of politics
Working on detailed legislation and the changes it brings
The House of Lords being a window into politics as a whole
The changes to legislation that have meant the most
Specialising in areas that you are an expert in and have knowledge about
The routines of the House of Lords
Being part of select committees and the in-depth work that is undertaken
How a self-regulating house works and the Theatre of the House
Being a woman in the House of Lords and the strong women who are part of the cohort
The differences between the House of Lords and the House of Commons
Having varied and mixed representation in the House
The friendships and social events of the House of Lords
Appreciating others as different individuals
There are many groups that span all parties and come together because of the area of interest
The balance of tradition and keeping up-to-date and modern
The challenges of working in an old building
Ways for women to get into politics and the qualities they need from persistence to having a meticulous approach
Environmental climate change and the changes that can make a difference
The importance of smarter land use moving forward
Finding your purpose in life and taking the opportunities in life

BEST BITS

‘Nobody was clear about what you could do with a classics degree at that time it was supposed to be good for helping you to think, so I could have done anything’

‘I transferred what I knew about advocacy, lobbying, campaigning and policy analysis and the rest as they say is history’

‘It’s a bit like war 95% hanging about and 5% exhilaration

‘My environmental and political work all fitted together really well’

‘You can direct findings and be the voice of common sense’

‘There is nothing that gets your blood going more than a really good amendment that has public support and harnessed round the house support’

‘The people you met were stunning and formidable’

‘The House of Lords is much more forensic and civilised but it’s tough we don’t pull any punches

‘The combination of relying on secondary legislation and it not being very effective is not good and something that needs to be fixed’

‘A lot of people in the Commons don’t value the Lords’

‘There are a lot of people who don’t understand what we do and when there are new leaders you have to train them up in understanding how to use us effectively’

‘We are part of the glue that holds the whole thing together’

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world-renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world-class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations, we dive into their unique stories with the aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take the entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Jessica Hepburn, adventure activist, award-winning author and arts producer is a leading voice in the UK on fertility and family and in this episode, discusses her inspirational adventures and personal motivation.

Having been unable to conceive following 11 unsuccessful rounds of IVF, she felt (by her own admission) failed by Nature. So, she decided to challenge Nature back and became the first and, so far, the only woman in the world to achieve ‘The Sea, Street, Summit Challenge’: she has swum the English Channel, run a road marathon and climbed Mount Everest. She has become a pioneer in inspiring people to live big and bravely when life doesn’t go to plan, and championing the benefits of going on adventures to improve your physical and mental health.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

Early experiences and working in theatre
Running the Lyric theatre and having a secret life
The journey of trying to become a mother and a decade of project baby
Writing about fertility in The Pursuit of Motherhood and discovering a passion for writing
Deciding to swim the English Channel and writing about it as a healing process
Becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel, run a road marathon
and climb Mount Everest
Writing the book 21 Miles - Swimming in Search of Motherhood, the journey of coming out from 11 rounds of IVF and meeting and eating with 21 inspirational women prior to swimming the channel
Asking inspirational women if motherhood makes them happy
The parallels between swimming the sea, climbing mountains and conceiving and carrying a baby
The profound relationship with nature and its power
Climbing Mount Everest as a very different experience from swimming the channel
Seeing the challenges with nature initially as battles to be won
The intimate and different relationships with the sea and the mountain
The different relationships and fertility journeys that are now possible
Working to support early education of the choices available for reproduction
The importance of family and coming from a feminist family
Being a parent to your own parents because they have not had the right influences early on
Future adventures and doing smaller adventures and challenges that bring learning
Advice on how to set goals and make them happen
The importance of being brave early on in your life and not waiting to do things
Taking the first step and how this will lead to the next

BEST BITS

‘I’m best at playing me and to be a good actress you have to be good at playing other people so I decided if I wasn’t going to be an actress I’d run a theatre instead’

‘My secret life was that I was trying to become a mother’

‘I became the first woman to have swum the English Channel, run a road marathon and climbed Mount Everest’

‘I’ve used the adventures I’ve been on for activism in the field of fertility and family and I’ve also become an activist for the power of adventure to change your life’

‘It’s part of the human existence that we have sad things’

‘Now I feel in an amazing place in my life and living the best life I’ve ever lived and the sea and the mountains have played a massive part in this, they are my religion’

‘I changed my mind set and then it became about a different relationship’

‘I hope to use my experiences to help other people find their way through the sadness of life with the power of adventure’

‘I can’t imagine that anything else in my life will come in and replace the sea and the mountain as a spiritual presence

‘Our families are fundamental to who we are’

‘If there are things you want to do in life, listen to what your soul and your heart is saying, your heart and soul know the answer and all you have to do is take one step to start’

CONTACT DETAILShttps://www.jessicahepburn.com

ABOUT THE PODCASTWoman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world-renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world-class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations, we dive into their unique stories with the aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOSTMarina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take the entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Kate Strong is an elite athlete and business coach, she is an Iron Lady, a world triathlon champion, a sustainability and environment champion, the founder of a seven-figure hospitality business, an engineer, a public speaker and a performance and leadership coach and in June 2023 she is embarking on a 3 month 3 thousand mile tour of the UK on a bamboo bike

TOPICS DISCUSSED

Being yourself and living for you and what you want
Training to be a world champion alongside running a business
Setting scary goals and achieving them
Deconstruction and the creation of micro targets to achieve your goals
The 5 key elements (focus, love, journey, passion and inspiration) as drivers for the achievement of goals
Creating a team that you trust and allowing others to see your vulnerability
Working towards your North Star every day to get to where you want to be
Owning your actions and the joy of the journey to your goal
The evolution of desire from the competition with others to competition with self
The impact of family and relationships and the importance of connection
The upcoming cycle journey, championing the planet and connecting with people who are making a difference
Cycling on a bamboo bike and why it’s a visible example of deconstruction and building back up ethically
The online platform ‘Climate Games’ engages employees in long-term carbon reduction
The next challenge and being drawn to inward journeys of healing
Generational trauma and being able to overcome and let go of trauma
Climbing Mont Blanc one step at a time and understanding it’s never too late

BEST BITS

‘To me, sport was joy, sport was pleasure, sport was exploration’

‘You can’t go through an iron man without hurting but it was my reward for all the sacrifice’

‘The goal has to scare you if it doesn’t scare you then it’s not going to stretch you

‘When you are at the point where you feel you are going to fall or break that’s when the magic happens, where the growth is

‘Deconstruct every aspect of the goal and understand each component and who or what can help you to learn and excel’

‘Create a plan and work backwards into micro targets

‘Keep the goal in stone but understand the journey is in sand it will not go to plan’

‘Review every week what went well and what didn’t go well and what you can do differently’

‘There is gold in learning what you can do to support yourself to succeed’

‘Today we are the youngest we will be and it’s never too late to start ‘

‘It’s taken ten long years of work but I love my life there isn’t one element of what I do that doesn’t excite me’

CONTACT DETAILS

https://katestrong.global/

https://www.instagram.com/katestrong01/

ABOUT THE PODCASTWoman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world-renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world-class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations, we dive into their unique stories with the aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOSTMarina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take the entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Sharon Lechter is a 5x New York Times best selling author and a co-founder of the Rich Dad Poor Dad company, talks about her amazing journey, gives her top 3 money tips and reveals the mathematical formula of one’s personal success!

TOPICS DISCUSSED

What makes an entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs serving a need and solving a problem

Becoming an entrepreneur

Being a Founder and CEO of Rich Dad Poor Dad

Working with Napoleon Hill Foundation

The connection between success and power of association

Power of association and who you have in your team and bring in to an organisation

Taking action every day to make a difference

Building assets to grow wealth

Men and women approaching the steps to success differently

The formula of passion, talent, power of association, and team combined with action and faith

Personal Success Equation

The mindset of the truly successful entrepreneur

Being an employee and becoming rich

Top 3 money tips

Secrets of a happy 40-year long marriage

BEST BITS

‘Entrepreneurship was really where I wanted to be and its where I still am

‘People still come up to me and talk about the impact Rich Dad had on their lives, it

impacted on people at a very strong level’

‘You can be an employee and still become rich, your personal balance sheet is your business and you can build a basis of financial strength that can become generational wealth’ ‘Women look more at success, not as money in the bank, but as impact significance’

‘True success comes from passion plus talent along with power of association, the right people on your team and taking action and all of this also needs faith’

‘The rich don’t work for money they build assets but it’s a message that most of the population don’t understand, they’ve been taught to be employees to get a job’

‘The steps to success are the same for men and women we just approach them very differently’

ABOUT THE GUEST

As an entrepreneur, international speaker, best-selling author, mentor, philanthropist, licensed CPA for 35 years and a Chartered Global Management Accountant, Sharon Lechter is the premier expert for financial literacy and entrepreneurial success.

A lifelong education advocate, in 1989, Sharon joined forces with the inventor of the first electronic ‘talking book’ and helped him expand the electronic book industry to a multi-million dollar international market.

In 1997 Sharon co-authored the international bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad, and has released 14 other books in the Rich Dad series. Over 10 years as the co-founder and CEO, she built the empire into the world’s leading personal finance brand.

In 2008, she was asked by the Napoleon Hill Foundation to help re-energize the powerful teachings of Napoleon Hill just as the international economy was faltering. Sharon has released three bestselling books in cooperation with the Foundation, including Think and Grow Rich-Three Feet from Gold, Outwitting the Devil and Think and Grow Rich for Women.

Sharon is a highly sought-after mentor and has worked with major brands like Disney and Time Warner and served two U.S. Presidents as an advisor on the topic of financial literacy. Everything about Sharon’s career centers around impacting others to improve their financial IQ, access untapped potential personally and in business, and create their own legacy.

https://sharonlechter.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sharonlechter/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonlechter/

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world-renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world-class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations, we dive into their unique stories with the aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take the entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Venetia Archer Founder and CEO of Ruby, an on demand beauty service marketplace is in conversation with Marina and discusses starting her business, being an entrepreneur and how her goal is to change the beauty services space and for Ruby to become a household name

TOPICS DISCUSSED

Whether entrepreneurs are born or you can grow into it
Formative experiences that shape you
Starting and growing a business and constantly learning
Finding the right people for your business
The role of the CEO in solving problems
How family influences the work life balance
Making the first step into a start up
Market saturation and doing things differently
Where Venetia’s ideas come from
Being outside of your comfort zone and learning
Personal growth and having mentors for different aspects of your business
Supporting and mentoring others on their entrepreneurial journey
Understanding what you really want and going out and getting it

BEST BITS

‘I don’t think people are necessarily born entrepreneurs there are lots of examples when someone sees an opportunity and are well positioned to be involved in it but it’s also a personality trait that the person sees the opportunity and wants to be the one to solve the problem’

‘There was nothing like it for beauty, it was the business I wanted to start and the life I wanted to live through it’

‘We’ve achieved product market fit, we know what we are doing and we are changing people’s lives, the way they consume the service and how professionals deliver them’

‘My goal is I want to make Ruby a household name and change the way people consume beauty services’

‘If you initially pursue a side hustle as an entrepreneur you can keep the economic security of your job’

‘Talk about what you are doing with people and call on your contacts to teach you, people are so much more open than you think they are going to be’

‘There is a lot of data that proves how amazing female entrepreneurs are so building success stories makes a difference’

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambit

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Transformation coach Bolutiwi talks to Marina about helping high achieving women to transform their lives and make a difference and leading lives that they celebrate rather than ones they tolerate.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

Mind, body, spirit and space
How to create results
Awareness as a superpower
Getting rid or limiting beliefs and certain actions your take that don’t serve you
The importance of resting and the different types of rest
The effects of burnout and how to spot it before it’s too late
Nutritional and exercising tips and tricks
Being unapologetic about who you are and being confident
What success means to her
Leaving bad jobs for better ones
The power of criticism, negative and constructive
Dealing and coping with failures
How you can be successful without being rich
Her relationship with money

BEST BITS‘The path to living a life that you celebrate rather than tolerate is; clarity about who you are and what it is you desire, the confidence to actually go out there to be it and do it, and then of course vitality which is so important.’
‘Release what’s no longer serving, change your behaviour and this will produce the results you’re after.’
‘People get stressed about resting, and the important thing about that is that when we do not actively take the time to rest it becomes counterproductive because we become less productive. When we’re less productive we do less with the limited time that we have.’
‘I was operating under the belief that I was my results and I would do anything for those results to be conditioned, perfectionist, perfect. Because of that I invested far too much time, far too much energy working too many hours. Basically, my identity was wrapped up in my job. Because of that I was ignoring everything else. Deep down it was coming from a place of “I’m not enough”.’

ABOUT THE GUESTBolutiwi is a philanthropreneur, transformational coach for high achiever women, International speaker, and founder of Magniessence a global movement inspiring women on a mission to make a difference. Her unique path during her 14-year international career at L'Oréal and her experience of burnout gave her a unique perspective of the challenges that women on a mission to make a difference face. Bolutiwi's transformational programs have been attended by thousands of people.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bolutiwi-aiyesimoju-executive-coach-women/
Instagram: @magniessence

ABOUT THE PODCASTWoman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOSTMarina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Marina talks to Healthtech Entrepreneur, Author, Professor at Imperial College Business School and fellow at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, Pam Garside. Pam is also a board member of and advisor to a number of companies and private entities in the public sector and an active angel investor herself as well as the first female chair of Cambridge Angels, a leading UK business angel network.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

The importance of a good education.
Getting into technology in health.
The differences between the public and private sectors.
What it takes to become a successful business founder.
What makes a good entrepreneur, for good or bad.
What sets HealthTech founders apart from an investor.
Women in the investment and founder spaces.
The importance of having mentors.
Her best piece of advice to women applying for jobs.
What success means to Pam.
Failures, how to deal with them, and what they taught her.
Tips and routines to help with success and productivity.
Managing work/life balance.
How she would save the NHS and the healthcare sector.

BEST BITS‘I nearly did a PhD and I’m so glad I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been very good at research as an extrovert, I wouldn’t have been good at it. But I really like teaching young people in the business school in Cambridge because I bring the real world in.’
‘Doctors think they can do everything, they’re very smart people, but some people can’t bear the risk of entrepreneurship, they prefer the comfort of the corporate or public sector environment, which is much more stable..’
‘Apparently, 7% of entrepreneurs are slightly crazy. I would say Elon Musk – hugely talented – Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson are hugely successful but on the edge of doing crazy stuff. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I think entrepreneurs have to deal with their egos quite a lot, but they have to passionately believe in what they do to get them where they want to be.’
‘The “not another one of those” areas at the moment are mental health apps, wellness apps, menopause, fertility, etc. It’s difficult to say those spaces are overcrowded because they are so important. Underserved areas include male infertility and SpermTech (although it’s being better served), and helping to reform public sector services (software).’

ABOUT THE GUESTPam Garside has had a career in health care systems and digital health in the UK and internationally and is an angel investor in early-stage health tech companies. She is a Fellow of the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge and a member of the Investment Committee of Cambridge Enterprise, the technology transfer company of the University. Pam founded and co-chairs The Cambridge Health Network, is Chairman of Cambridge Angels investment group and sits on the board of Crown Place Venture Capital Trust.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pam-garside-9018b55/

ABOUT THE PODCAST
Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life, world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

ABOUT THE HOSTMarina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today's guest is a Tik Tok sensation Clara Batten. We talk about Clara's exciting and sometimes bumpy journey, about reinventing yourself in your forties, what it takes to be a Social Media star, and how you can become one!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

During the pandemic in 2020 TikTok became much less of a ‘children’s app’, which is what it was seen as back then. I joined it just to make a dance video that was famous at the time, it ended up taking me about two hours to learn a 14 second dance, which is sad but true. Then I started doing comedy sketches and getting into the trends and it took me six weeks to get to 1,000 followers – I wasn’t on any other social media at that stage except Facebook. By the end of the year I’d reached 100,000 followers, it really exploded… though not as much as some people.
As with anything in such a competitive industry like the arts, you have to stand out. This is why I don’t go purely on the amount of followers I’ve got, I’d rather have less and have those that say “we’d like to interview you for this magazine because we really like your stuff. For example, my husband and I got invited by Carrie Johnson to the Prime Minister’s house (Chequers) for dinner in September, just before Boris left office because they like my stuff – I’d rather that than a lot of followers who aren’t that exceptional to hang out with.
One of my brothers is a film director and the other is an estate agent who runs his own property business, so we haven’t gone down the ‘normal’ route. My Mother has always been supportive and has never told me to get a real job or to study to become a doctor or something, from a very young age she asked me what I wanted to do and I told her I wanted to be an actress and she said fine, it’s quite competitive but I believe in you so go for it and do what makes you happy.
In the acting industry you have to do the audition and move on as if it never happened. If you hear back and it’s a yes then it’s a bonus, but if you don’t hear back and it’s a no then you haven’t lost anything, you’re still in the same position as you were before. That’s the psyche that you’ve got to adopt, you’ve got to be thick-skinned and know that you didn’t do a bad audition and you’re not a bad actor, you’re just not right for the part and move on.

BEST MOMENTS

‘TikTok isn’t my full-time job but a lot has come out of it which has given me the income to have a job in the arts.’
‘My friends might say I was funny when we were younger, but I’ve never really given too much of a y’know about what people think, I’m fine with making a bit of a fool of myself and always have been.’
‘I didn’t want to be anyone specific, I just knew I always wanted to act. That was my passion.’
‘I’m really excited about the future, the next decade for me is going to be one of my most exciting ones.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Clara Batten is an actress, writer and social media star whose hilariously witty, self-deprecating comedy sketches have gone viral on TikTok and other social media. She gained a massive following with lots of celebrities joining her in her comic acts. She’s been featured in You Magazine, The Daily Mail, The Sun, BBC Breakfast, and Loose Women, and is now co-writing a TV comedy series and has been invited to act in a Sky Original film.

TikTok: @clara_batten_

Instagram: @clara_batten_

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Donna Kennedy, CEO of Donna Kennedy International, explains how every single mental illness or disorder can be overcome, that success is a skill that can be learned, and she gives three actionable steps on how anyone can become confident.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

Mindset for success
Success is a skill to be learned
Simplifying tasks
Overcoming struggles in life
Brain training for success
Surrounding yourself with positive material
Getting the basic human needs in balance
Meditation and visualisation
Get outdoors and active
Practising gratification
Helping people to help herself
Setting up and growing a business
Dispelling mental health labelling and misinformation
Simple, actionable steps to confidence

BEST BITS

‘Success is something a lot of people see as a thing that they have to have or wait for, whereas people who are successful don’t have that attitude, success is an outcome of decisions.’
‘You’re always successful, it just depends on how you look at it and what you do and what your outcome is and whether you're working towards or away from it. Success is about making consistent choices.’
‘The past doesn’t exist, the future is only a projection, so all we have is now.’
‘The key to success is blowing out the notions of beliefs and limits and that conditioning you’ve been brought up with and being more adaptable and flexible in your approach.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Donna Kennedy is a seven times bestselling author, psychologist, mentor and professional speaker who regularly features in national and international media as an expert in the area of personal development.

Despite challenges endured in her youth, Donna has become a confident successful woman who says yes to life, embraces opportunity and enhances the lives of all who come in contact with her.

Website: https://www.donnakennedy.com/

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Rosie Shephard, the founder of Shephard Communications and The Luxury Communications Council, talks to Marina about her rise to success in the world of luxury PR, about working with King Charles; and she gives her advice on how to build your personal brand.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

I’d mark success as being more about progress than anything. If you’re doing bigger, better, more exciting things, things that fulfil you more than the year before (and there are the financial implications as well) I think you’re always moving towards success and progress. 2022 for Luxury Communications and Shepard Communications has been a successful year, but next year we hope to be even more successful.
It’s really smart to have a personal brand. Firstly, people buy into people. So, starting with that as one of your fundamental pillars of communication is really important. However, it’s very difficult to have a product or a brand without being a little bit disruptive these days and having a unique point of view. That doesn’t mean what you’re creating has to be unique, but the conversation and your opinions around it has to be.
The classic misconception of PR is Absolutely Fabulous where they just drank champagne all day, and there are days like that, but in essence it’s essentially about reputation management via the media and how the public, or whoever the target market is, is seeing a person or brand. It’s changed a lot since I’ve been in it, for example social media changed everything.
Since Covid people are behaving very differently and we’ve had to really watch and adapt to that. I genuinely think the most useful tool in watching public sentiment is the TV show ‘Gogglebox’. It is brilliant – it’s highly entertaining as well and my absolute guilty pleasure – in terms of seeing what’s landing, what they’re reacting to, what people are seeing, it’s the most wonderful spread of different demographics from all over the different parts of the UK. It’s incredibly informative.

BEST MOMENTS

"We did the PR for the Platinum Jubilee for the Royal Family, working with Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. We worked on it for 16 months and it was just so unique, wonderful and exciting.’
‘Hospitality is the thread that runs through my career.’
‘It depends on the objective, but being talked about negatively still shines a light on you, the individual or brand, but obviously there are challenges with that: there’s only so much negativity a brand can take, especially with cancelling culture and trolling.’
‘It’s really, really important to me that we bring other women up and at LCC we do a big part of bringing other women in luxury up.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Rosie Shephard is a highly influential figure in the luxury world with 16 years of award-winning communications experience.

Frequently cited as one of the most connected influencers in luxury, Rosie is Founder of the Luxury Communications Council, the exclusive network for luxury brand communication and marketing directors.

Website: https://shephardcommunications.com/

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Marina talks to Libby Brodie, an award-winning theatre and film producer turned wine consultant, about her path to success from producing theatre productions to the world of wine consultancy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

There’s something British in me where we don’t like to talk about our own successes and achievements in any big-headed way. But, I’m also wary of qualifying success and other people’s interpretation of it. It’s very key that you decide your own version of success and live true to that. I think that I’ve been very fortunate and I’ve worked very hard, and in general everything I’ve put my mind to has succeeded. So, I would say yes, to a certain degree, I am. But, if you’re qualifying it by being incredibly wealthy or never having to work that hard because you’ve already achieved the pinnacle of where you are, then definitely not. I haven’t quite nailed the work/life balance yet either, I’m on a journey.
As I get older, my version of success leads further away from my work. A successful life, for me, includes friends, family, human connection, I do love external validation, which is why my work is so important to me, and travel is very important, good food and drink, a nice place to live, contentment. Misery lies in perfectionism; I say yes and throw myself into things a lot and then work out afterward how to do it and make it work for me.
Networking has a negative reputation, but I think it’s the polar opposite. I genuinely love other people, I think they ‘re fascinating, I really want to get to know them, I enjoy their company, I enjoy talking to and listening to people. I’ve always been someone who would take someone for coffee to ask them for advice, I’ve never had a fear of asking for advice or failure. What’s the worst that can happen? They say no? Just carry on!
When I launched Bacchus and Brodie in January 2021, I had the idea I’d back a backstage person, because that’s what a producer is, distributing wine to events. But things changed and you’ve got to roll with change. My website guy said I needed to start writing blogs to keep the site at the top of Google or something, I’d never written anything before or filmed myself. Then it was picked up by a couple of people like England rugby player Joe Marler to teach him about wine on his podcast, I picked up a few Instagram followers from that and soon, after just posting pictures of bottles, I started posting more pictures of me because I was encouraged by a lot of wonderful women in wine online. Within four months of launching I became the wine columnist for City A.M. which has a large readership in London and I now have a whole page.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Life has a funny way of throwing curveballs, so adaptability is a very important strength for people to have flexibility. I thought I’d be in the theatre and living in New York was always my plan, so wine is quite a strange transition.’
‘I like connecting people, I don’t think gatekeeping is how the business and the economy survives. When it works it’s great and they’ll remember you next time. A sharing and collegiate atmosphere has been very valuable, I don’t think you can get ahead by yourself.’
‘During lockdown, with no theatre, I did the WSET (Win & Spirit Education Trust) course, first as a hobby, but then I got bitten by the bug.’
‘Without lockdown I never would have been able to pivot into wine and to be successful doing it on my own.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Libby Brodie is an award-winning theatre and film producer turned wine consultant, during her time at the Old Vic Theatre, Libby worked on countless events for high-profile philanthropists, celebrities, supporters and creatives. Her career progressed to the West End, which in turn led to her launching her own theatre and film production company.

Throughout Libby’s career as an events planner turned Theatre Producer, the God of theatre, parties and wine smiled down on her, inspiring her to train with the WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust). She passed each exam and blind tasting with distinction and launched Bacchus & Brodie – an independent, London-based wine consultancy. Informal but informed, at Bacchus & Brodie we personally curate wines with your preferences in mind.

Libby is City A.M.’s dedicated wine columnist, a freelance writer, presenter and creator. Alongside her curation and consultancy work, Libby created and presented “Boozy & The Beast: How To Drink Better”, an irreverent mini-series of tips and tricks to remove the snobbery surrounding wine, founded No.9 Supper Club, hosts private tastings and wine events and launched The Wine Collective UK, working with companies and wine regions on their social media strategy to engage new and more diverse audiences. A passionate communicator or as she sees it, ‘translator’ of the world of wine Libby works across a variety of media platforms.

Website: https://www.bacchusandbrodie.com/

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Marina talks to Olympic Bronze Medal winning javelin thrower, Goldie Sayers, about her Olympic ‘sliding doors’, life after the “big sport” and how Olympians keep in their physical condition.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

What you learn through doing competitive sport, and especially through competing at the top level, is completely transferrable to any other walk of life. For me, certainly the mindset side of sport, it’s all the intangible things you learn, like putting days of consistent hard work together to reap rewards, having goals to work towards, and the ability to work hard and be disciplined and self-motivated. I didn’t realise that my level of focus is relatively extreme!
I always wanted to be a sportsperson, but I didn’t know that could be a career or that that was even possible. I lived and loved sport as well as music from a young age, it was the thing that brought me alive and that I was most focussed on in school.
You have to be a bit strange, odd or mad to become an Olympian. A lot of people who are exceptionally good at something often don’t get to an Olympics because it only happens every four years and anything can happen. Hard work is paramount, but smart work is more important. We’d train six days a week, 5-6 hours a day which, over the course of a year, is about 1700 hours of training. Each throw lasts about 4.5 seconds and, if you have a bad day at the Olympics qualifying, you can get knocked out after three throws – in four years you can have done around 7000 hours of training for a little over 13.5 seconds. If you were looking at that as a business case, it’s completely unsustainable!
I bought a house very, very young and rented rooms to other athletes and that started my buy-to-let portfolio. I did a lot of speaking in schools alongside my sporting career as well. I hadn’t prepared for retirement from sport fully but, when I did retire, the sense of freedom was quite profound because my brain and mind had always been fully focussed on sport and, all of a sudden, I could focus on multiple things and thought a lot about what I didn’t want to do more than what I wanted to do, because I already had the property portfolio and speaking and coaching inplace.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I was lucky to have two parents both of whom did what they loved. The mantra at home for me was “do what you love or whatever makes you happy”, which is a lovely way to be brought up but could go two ways if you’re not particularly disciplined.’
‘If you enjoy doing something you’re going to work harder at it and get better results as a result of loving what you do.’
‘You don’t know what the Olympics is like because you’re so focussed on what you’re doing. You have to treat it like any other competition. The Olympics is so special because it brings so much joy to so many people and it’s so much bigger than just yourself.’
‘When I look back it wasn’t about medals, it was about mastery. I am competitive but winning wasn’t my main goal. The javelin is such a challenging event; you’re competing against the event.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Goldie Sayers is a former British javelin thrower, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. On 20 May 2007, Sayers set a British record in the javelin at 65.05 m (213 ft 5 in), becoming the first British woman to throw over 65 metres since javelins were redesigned in 1999, she improved on this by throwing 66.17m at the London Grand Prix Diamond League meeting in London in 2012.

On 7 August 2012, Sayers competed in the women's javelin at the 2012 Summer Olympics, but had sustained an injury to her right arm and was unable to feel her throwing hand. She threw three attempts but failed to throw the qualification distance and so stepped over the line and was knocked out of the competition without recording a mark.

Sayers subsequently had elbow surgery which involved a ligament being removed from her right wrist and inserted in her left arm. She lost her funding from UK Athletics at the end of 2014, but philanthropist Barrie Wells agreed to fund Sayers' training in exchange for helping heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson improve her javelin throwing.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/goldiesayers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldiesayers

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Marina talks to Karen Newton about zero-to-millionaire investing, a billion-dollar vision and, how after a car crash and being told that won’t be able to walk, she went on to do mountain skiing in 2 years!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

One of the proudest moments, where I consider myself successful is, I had a car crash and I was left in a wheelchair, unable to walk. I learned to walk again two years after the accident. To me, that was a huge success because it meant that I could set my mind to anything that I wanted to do, and I was going to be able to do it. People kept telling me I’d never be able to walk and wrote me off, but I kept hounding until my GP sent me to a psychiatrist because he said I wasn’t learning that I can’t do what I used to do. When I saw the psychiatrist I told him “I want to you tell my GP there’s nothing wrong with my brain, it’s my legs and back that don’t work!” I could have given up and accepted that that was my future, but I wanted something different.
Our adopted daughter was playing the game ‘Cashflow’ from the age of 8 years old, and we put her straight in at the hard level. We wanted her to understand money right from the start, and for it to be hard, so it became the norm for her. She would ask if there was an easier version of the game and we’d tell her this was the easiest one. Within months, she was getting out of the game really wealthy and she asked to move onto the harder game, which is when we told her she’d been playing the hardest game all along, the next thing is to start doing it in reality. By the time she was 12 she was trading in the share market.
When I had the car crash, I struggled to cope with everything. I had to give up my banking job and had to pay for two years of rehabilitation because the government only pays for the first 90 days, so I needed to find a job. I started working in my husband’s business and we grew that to a multi-million-dollar business.
There are five things that make a person successful. 1) Choice, everybody has to make decisions about things. 2) Focus, making sure you put that focus into whatever it is you actually want to do. 3) Create a plan, there is a pathway, when you break down what wealthy people have done to get wealthy there is a pathway that you can also follow. 4) Take action steps. 5) If you don’t know something, get educated on it. All wealthy people talk about these five things.

BEST MOMENTS

‘My Dad used to say: “There’s no such word as ‘can’t’”, he had a dictionary and would tell me to look up the word ‘can’t’ whenever I said I couldn’t do something, and the word wasn’t in there.’
‘I absolutely love banking, though I’m not a maths person, I study data and I see trends.’
‘I was always reading biographies of actors, musicians, athletes and I wondered how and why did they did what they did to get wealthy. I started to see patterns in their stories.’
‘When you’re dealing with creating wealth, for me, 80% of it is to do with your mindset. I teach the skills, but I can’t teach one without the other.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Karen is a multiple times decamillionaire, investor, business owner, award-winning speaker, international #1 best selling author and a wealth coach. She famously turned £300 on a credit card into £10mn in a few years, and now teaches people to do the same at Karen Newton International.

Web: https://www.karennewton.co.uk

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/newydd105

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karennewtoninternational

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/newydd105

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Marina talks to Manisha, an entrepreneur and interior and design consultant, about her journey to becoming a multi-million-pound entrepreneur, and how to build a 50k following on Instagram without showing your face!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

It’s taken me a long time to be able to say that I consider myself successful and I’m proud of my successes, but it’s come with a lot of hardship as well, it hasn’t been easy. But, as I walk through my house in the small of the night, I think to myself I can’t believe I’m here at 42 years old with my kids, happy, healthy, and I consider myself successful because of that.
Looking back, I was really naïve and stupid and not academic at all, I went to one of the top girl’s schools in the country but always came at the bottom. It wasn’t until I fell out into the big, wide world and onto a graduate scheme at Barclays that I started to become more savvy in business and corporate land. Meeting my husband who was a teacher and so never going to be the bread-winner really egged me on to be ‘successful’.
My Dad decided that, because I had loads of disposable income – he never asked for rent (I’m very privileged) – instead of asking for money, he made me buy a property, renovate it and had my sister and her friends move in and pay me rent at market rate. I spent £50,000 doing it up, after a couple of years the building society told me I should re-mortgage the property. I had no idea what that meant, but I said yes and the property had gone up in price so much they gave me a cheque for £100,000! With that I bought three more dilapidated ex-council properties, did them up and rented them out to graduates or students and property has been really fruitful for me.
The only way to get out of the City was to get pregnant, I became indispensable and kept getting money thrown at me, so that’s what I did. But after a while I started to feel bored and needed to get back to work, but there were no nurseries to look after my children, so I set up my own nursery. That’s how the next chapter of my life unfolded and I never went back to the City.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Sometimes, when the reins are taken off children, they begin to flourish in their environment. I became much more studious at university.’
‘I did a lot of falling over.’
‘You need a side-hustle, something where you’re ticking along in a 9-5 job but you’re hustling on the side.’
‘Whenever I’m faced with adversity I have a flipping good cry and within 3 seconds I’m like: “No, this is not happening”.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Manisha is an Entrepreneur, Interior & Design Consultant, Self-Builder and highly addicted to being organised.

From Banking, Management Consultancy, Property Development, Self Building her dream home and owning businesses in Day Nurseries and Consultancy, Manisha’s favourite job is organising her Tupperware drawer and belly-laughing at her own inappropriate PG posts on Instagram.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/write_to_manisha/

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living the lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Marina talks to Siân Gill, UK and European patent attorney, , heading the Chemical and Life Science division of Venner Shipley LLP. Don’t worry, we don’t talk about molecular biology in an interview! We talk about inclusion, being a boss, Sian’s early years, and what it is like to be the only female partner in a top law firm.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

It was well into my career that I felt like maybe I’ve done well for myself. A lot of it has to do with my own perception of what I’ve achieved rather than other people’s. That sense of pride of achieving goals, making a difference – that’s a big driver for me – making an impact on people I work with/for, having the satisfaction that I’ve done what I set out to do.
There was a lot of hard work and inner drive to keep acquiring new skills, moving from one stage to the next, the constant learning and development. It’s always going to be that way, I’m never going to sit back and think I’ve got it all sorted, that I know everything and there’s nothing left to learn. Every day there’s something new to learn, ways to improve, new skills.
I really enjoy dealing with all the aspects of how the firm works from within the management committee. I love to focus on improving things, fixing problems, being in a position where I’m making a difference and helping people to feel better about their jobs, to enjoy their jobs more, be more effective, more efficient, get more enjoyment and job satisfaction out of their work. That also feeds into the client service that we provide to our many and very varied clients. When people aren’t happy I feel personally responsible because I have that ability to make things happen and change things, and I think I can have done more or better to make their work experience – their job – better.
Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to take on lots of new graduates and help train them and I’ve seen that people are very, very different. They learn in different ways, they work in different ways, they react emotionally in different ways to certain circumstances. I’d like to think that I’m considerate and am not a really hard taskmaster, I try to find how to get the best out of people.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I like to have something to aim for, I like to be able to focus on something. I’m very goal driven and like things to be finite.’
‘Apparently, I’m quite scary! But I try to be supportive, to lead by example, and to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.’
‘I was the first female partner, which meant that our partnership agreement had to be re-written. As a result, they had to put in maternity provisions which they hadn’t had to worry about before. But, I never felt like it was a big issue. I’ve never personally felt discriminated against.’
‘There are sometimes hundreds of applications for one role in this industry and it’s inevitable that people will err towards picking those with top degrees from top universities, but that comes at a price: Diversity. Over the last 5-10 years there’s been a real awakening to the value of diversity within this profession.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Sian is one of the leading UK and European patent attorneys, heading the Chemical and Life Science division of Venner Shipley LLP. She specialises in the drafting, filing and prosecution of patent applications in a broad spectrum of technical fields that includes pharmaceuticals, formulation technology, drug delivery, molecular biology, biological assays, gene sequences, DNA sequencing technologies, array technologies, genomics proteomics, stem cells, diagnostics, cancer therapeutics, immuno-therapeutics, cell culturing technology and equipment, medical devices, food products and processing, filter technology and packaging technology.

Website: https://www.vennershipley.co.uk/people/sian-gill/

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Tracey Smolinski, serial entrepreneur, property investor, and founder of award-winning global business network Introbiz, author of Master Networking and creator of networking tool Fortune in the Follow Up, to talk about her journey through her career, from working in her family’s pub to becoming a networking queen.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

I absolutely love what I do, I don’t think success is always about money. A lot of people, when they talk about success, think it’s about money. But that’s not always the case. I don’t class what I do as a job, it’s a lifestyle. That’s how I define success, it’s not about how much you’ve got in the bank, it’s about who you’re surrounded by, who/what do you love? Do you love working in your job? That’s what I love doing so, my lifestyle is what I love to do.
I was absolutely useless at networking when I first started, I was rubbish! My boss at the newspaper publisher sent me out networking to get new clients and business. However, because I was very driven to hit my targets and very competitive, I went to the networking events and did the hard sell. After three months of no business, I asked a couple of people who I’d become friends with if I was doing something wrong and they said: “Yes, can we be honest? You’re giving it the hard sell. Networking isn’t about that. People want to get to know you, like you and trust you first.” I fell in love with networking after that.
Over the years I’ve connected so many people, I’ve seen the magic happen with so many people; joint ventures, referral partnerships, people just doing business with each other, through my introduction, that really melts my heart. I love it. My legacy in my life is to teach and inspire as many people as possible to learn how to network effectively for their exponential growth in their business or life.
Obviously, in-person events are the best, that’s when you can really connect with people. But, because of the pandemic, Zoom enables a lot of business to be done, because it’s the next best thing. You’ve always got to have a plan-B in place. Covid has taught us that a lot of people didn’t do online, I didn’t. Now, I do more online events than offline because you can reach more people and you can save a lot of time and cost because you’re not travelling or buying teas, coffees, breakfasts, evening meals. It’s only a screen in between you, it’s about changing your mindset from thinking it’s not as good as face-to-face, but it’s a great second alternative.

BEST MOMENTS

‘My father had a really good work ethic which he gave me and inspired me to go out and work and build a living for myself, and I started off very young working for him.’
‘When you’re doing something, you need honest feedback to ways of improving, as part of your self-development, and if something’s not working you need to know why.’
‘You’re not going to resonate or do business with with everyone that you meet at a networking event. But, like attracts like, and the people that you gel with and see a synergy between, you then follow up with them. The fortune is in the follow up.’
‘Business networking is about building relationships, being consistent, being reliable, showing up and being visible If people don’t know about you they’re not going to buy from you.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Tracey Smolinski is a serial entrepreneur, property investor, and founder of award-winning global business network Introbiz, author of Master Networking and creator of networking tool Fortune in the Follow Up. She is also a motivational speaker, mentor & networking coach and she absolutely loves people and genuinely loves helping and developing others. Tracey has also raised over £200k for charity and loves to make a massive difference for the good.

TEDx and public speaker, she has shared the stage with Lord Alan Sugar, Grant Cardone, Hilary Devey CBE, Baroness Michelle Mone, Marie Diamond from The Secret, The Apprentice winner Mark Wright, and Sharon Lechter.

Tracey is passionate about helping people to network effectively and she wants to teach and develop entrepreneurs and business owners to become successful networkers and to create a winning referral economy for their exponential growth.

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/introbiz

Web: https://introbiz.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www,facebook.com/TraceySmo

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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On this episode of the Woman Self Made Podcast, Marina Bennett talks to Rebecca George CBE FBCS, the President of the British Computer Society, about encouraging girls and women to get into careers in the technology and IT sectors and how learning a musical instrument could give them the edge.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

I didn’t think I was successful for most of my career, I thought I was lucky and I had a really good team. Then, after I’d been working for about 35 years I sat down and looked at how many years I’d been on a sales quota, it turned out that I’d been on it for 28 of those years and I’d always beaten the sales quota by a big margin every time. That can’t just be luck and a good team, I must actually also be good at what I do.
You can be hugely successful in the IT industry without being technical because there are so many different jobs and roles for people to do, especially for women – women who are interested in the digital world, interested in transformation, interested in change and how change happens. Technology is a wonderful, wonderful place to work.
I try not to gender-ise too much, but there are some ‘typical’ behaviours of girls and boys: Not always, but typically, boys tend to be more confident in the classroom around the STEM subjects. If computers are still shared, boys tend to be more confident about taking over the computer and taking the lead of those activities. That happens less these days because most people have their own. But the other thing is that generically, boys tend to be happier in an abstract world. I can do numbers, but I’d rather have a real number than an x, y, z or c. I think girls are quite often like that too, so the more practical the computer exercises are, and the more relevant to girls, the more likely they are to have an interest in it.
I think confidence in women is a challenge, I don’t know why it’s the case, but I know many women suffer from imposter syndrome and feel like they can’t do much, or downplay their skills and capabilities, and don’t sell themselves in the way that men tend to. There are always exceptions to the rule, but typically I’ve found through my whole career that women don’t apply for jobs unless they really feel they can do the whole job, whereas men are more likely to apply if they think they can do it, even if they don’t have all of the experience.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’m not particularly competitive with other people, but I am competitive with myself. I’ve always wanted to know how far I could go, what could I do/achieve.’
‘I see a lot of people you would think are successful, and I don’t think they’re particularly happy. Being optimistic is more important.’
‘There’s an awful lot of skills that both boys and girls need in order to be successful in IT, they’re not about technology, they’re about communications, teamwork and understanding the importance of bringing together diverse views and different ways of working. This is almost as important as being able to code the software.’
‘Learning to play an instrument and reading music is a great grounding for any child. It’s like learning another language and learning about logic, without realising it, you also learn to work with other people.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

“You can have it all but you need to negotiate the deal” – Rebecca George

Rebecca George CBE is a former senior executive at IBM and then Deloitte where she became one of the first female Managing Partners. She is also a immediate past President of British Computer Society and The Chartered Institute for IT, and until recently she was on the Board of the City Mental Health Alliance. She holds a number of non-executive roles, including a Non-Executive Chair of the T-level Reform Board at the Department of Education.

She is passionate about education and inclusion in the technology and IT sector, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to diversity in the technology profession.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccageorgeobe/

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living lives of their dreams.

ABOUT THE HOST

Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

View Details

Woman Self Made podcast brings you interviews with hugely successful women from all walks of life – world renowned business leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, world class athletes, self-made multi-millionaires, entertainment and TV personalities. In these conversations we dive into their unique stories with an aim to deconstruct their secrets for success. We talk about their journeys, ups and down, while distilling along the way the habits, tools, tactics and tips, which you can learn and use.

So, grab your favourite drink and join us every Thursday for open conversations with the most inspiring women talking about building successful businesses, careers and living lives of their dreams.

The podcast host, Marina Bennett had a high-flying international career in strategy and finance, and in 2019 she decided to leave her £300k/year City job to take entrepreneurial plunge from scratch. She is now a multiple business owner on the way to her first 7 figures. Marina is also a founder of Woman. Self-made. (@womanselfmade.inc) - an online community of confident, ambitious women who want to achieve success and live the lives of their dreams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Marina Bennett