PR Not BS

My guest today is someone who belongs to the same coaching group as me. Rachel Haith is the owner of Inspired Life Group and she’s a coach, speaker and health and, in her own words, a well-being nut. As part of her resettlement training when leaving the RAF, Rachel chose to do a professional coaching diploma, initially as a personal development tool, but quickly realised it was something that she...

I’m particularly pleased to introduce my guest today – PR Maven, Helen Neal of HN Communications, a communications agency specialising in climate and sustainability.  Helen is passionate about this subject; an area she has been working in for around 7 years. She shares very useful tips and ideas for small businesses about how you can become more sustainable and care for the planet. And she explain...

Today my visitor isn’t even in the same country as me! I’m talking to Jaz Goven who is based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Jaz is a therapist who has created a programme to support people to make change- ‘Fast Track Technique, and she tells me all about how it works, and how it came about.  Pre-Covid she regularly used to travel the world to give workshops, but now does most of her work online, or loca...

Today’s guest is a someone I know really well, and loved interviewing and I found out lots of things I didn’t know – a 17-year-old teenager.  We talk about what it’s like living with a parent who runs their own business and how it impacted on them.   They share how at primary school, they did their own junior Dragon’s Den – along with other schools to compete to create a product and with a busines...

I’ve known today’s guest for about eight years – and she’s a very special person in my business as you’ll soon hear!  Today I’m talking to Hannah Edwards of Empowered VA Services, my right-hand woman and someone without whom I couldn’t imagine running my business!  Hannah shares how we met for a morning breakfast at McDonald’s, and how we got on straight away – she remembers far more details than...

My guest today is a rugby union professional, known for playing Lock at Bath Premiership Rugby.  He recently retired from the game at the age of 37 and shares with me his journey. Dave has played rugby since the age of 8, and has played professional rugby for Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, and France, for 20 years, and for well over 10 years with the international team. Unlike many professional rugby...

I met my guest today while in Las Vegas, last year, for a tech conference and from the off, we just got on.  John who is also a journalist, is based in San Francisco, California where he is best known for writing for Entrepreneur.com, a huge site.  Mainly his column is made up of stories about trends and tips and tricks to help people get their company growing faster and doing better.  Advice for...

Today’s guest is the lovely Dani Seatter, who I met whilst networking in the Cotswolds. Dani runs a sustainable lifestyle brand called Eco-able, and, at the time of recording, she’s also a published children’s author of two books. Both were sustainably printed and have a sustainable message.  As well as an online shop, Dani also has a physical retail shop in Cirencester. After working as an early...

My guest today has recently spent time with me for work experience, and he’s lived to tell the tale!  Ben Redondo Beck is in his 3rd year at university, studying journalism.  At school, he enjoyed English and media studies and like many of us, maths not so much. However, he kept going back to English. Initially he considered doing a law degree, but then started his journalism course, and loves it....

My guest today is someone who has recently joined my circle of amazing women in business. Vanessa White is an accredited breakup and divorce coach based in Cirencester. She shares what being a breakup and divorce coach actually means, and how she supports people emotionally and practically on their journey through that difficult time. Vanessa started her business only a year ago after juggling two...

My guest today is a man of many careers, but in all, and most importantly – he is a communicator.  All of the professions Alastair Greener has worked in have focused on being able to talk to people: - hospitality, sales, acting, presenting and performing, and teaching other people how to present well.  I’ve known Alastair for some years, and as you’ll hear in our conversation, we have collaborated...

Today’s guest is a fellow journalist, Sue Kinnear who is the voice of afternoon bulletins for BBC Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and also an experienced radio producer and presenter.  In her current role, she has to produce three minutes of news for her bulletins. This means she has to find, write and present bulletins every hour, between 2pm and 6pm  – and it has to fit three minutes precisely.  S...

In today’s episode Fiona speaks to Mike Rees, who is standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming election of a new Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner.   Mike stood as a candidate back in 2021 and came second to the person who secured that post representing the Conservative Party. With no political party support or apparatus, backed by volunteers and a small budget from supporters, Mi...

Today’s guest is Rob Curtis who is a client and someone I’ve known for several years in Wiltshire’s small business community.  He’s a digital marketing whizz now running his own company The Pursuit Agency however I knew him before that and supported him when he was about to ‘go it alone’.  He’s also a bit like Tigger, from Winnie the Pooh, darting around with boundless energy or so it seems, movin...

My guest today, Zoe Hewitt, swapped her role as a set designer in film and tv to be an interior designer – because the skills are pretty much the same. There are obviously other reasons, which you’ll hear about.  Zoe has known what she wanted to do since being a young child, and got useful careers advice from school – unlike many of us and especially me who was told that I could choose between bei...

I was imagining my guest today talking to me from sunnier climes, only to be told that he was actually in a very cold LA!  Nathan is the CEO of Miller Ink, a strategic communications agency with headquarters in LA, and offices in New York and San Francisco. He has spent the last 20 years in communications, working with a variety of large corporate clients, high profile individuals, entertainment l...

Today’s guest has been described as a serial entrepreneur – a title she hates!  However, Rachel has been running different businesses over the last 20 odd years.  Prior to Lockdown, she and her husband ran a software business, but thanks to the huge changes that took place, 50% of their clients left. Like many small businesses, they were left wondering where they were going to make the money to pa...

I want to introduce you to Trish Lynch, a very experienced broadcaster, interviewer, presenter and moderator, who shares the amazing story of how she almost fell into this business.   She went to a casting with a friend who was actually going for the job, and because no one turned up, they invited Trish to interview.  She ended up with a video of her on a news desk with Eamon Holmes and David Fros...

Today’s guest, is Dave Nelson of Truffle and Thyme, a catering business based in North Wiltshire. For many years Dave had worked in the catering and events industry in London, and latterly in the West Country, in a variety of operations and management roles. Then COVID hit, and had a drastic effect on the entire hospitality industry and Dave’s job evaporated.  His new business grew out of necessit...

My main aim in my professional life as a PR specialist and expert, is to help people and their business or organisation to become more visible. Looking ahead to 2024, in this episode, I predict the things that the media will be engaged with, and share how you can get your voice heard, talking about those themes. I look at more general ‘trends’ to be considered in how PR will continue to be shaped...

Today’s guest is Natalie Brown, the author of ‘Confessions of a Crummy Mummy – The Baby Years’. She is also a freelance journalist and parenting blogger. Natalie talks about how starting out her career working on local newspapers has set her up for the journey her career has taken her on. She shares with me how she ended up writing her book, after having a baby in lockdown, and how being a journal...

My guest today is client and friend, Laura Dent who talks with passion about her business, So Fresh & So Clean, based in Swindon.  Along with her husband, Laura has run the cleaning company for the last twelve years.  They offer commercial cleaning, and also specialist cleaning, biohazard, hoarding services, mental health cleans and after death cleans.  For Laura, the most important part of he...

Faith Roswell, my guest for this podcast, wears many hats.  She is a writer, former model, self-defence educator and journalist.  We talk about how after studying English literature, sociology, art and critical thinking at university, she went on to become a full-time model, which she gave up to become a cage fighter, but COVID put a stop to that.   Faith talks about how she overcame the stereotyp...

David Gillespie is an actor who has appeared on TV, radio and on stage, and he is also a corporate coach – he is all about communication. You may well know David as the curate, Duncan Boyd in EastEnders, a role he came back to after a gap of nearly 34 years.  He also played Selby, one of the original crew members in Red Dwarf. A co-author of 5 books on communication, David knows his subject, as yo...

Todays guest is Stefan Thomas, the author of ‘Business Networking for Dummies’. Not surprisingly, we talked a lot about networking, something we both do and find incredibly good for our businesses. Stefan sees networking as part of PR for your brand, and the most efficient way to increase and maintain your visibility­. He has used networking so well that now people talk about him and what he does...