The Next Chapter by Ellie Barker

Lauren has always been determined. She had posters of supermodels on her wall as a child and always wanted to work at Vogue when she was growing up. She did this and spent years there as its news editor – going to fashion shows, writing articles and interviewing some of the biggest names in the industry – and yes, she did meet those supermodels. But when Lauren had her own children she began to th...

Lindsay hasn’t just had one next chapter. She’s had several – from playing badminton for Scotland as a child, to working in sports journalism, singing in bars around Scotland and working in PR. She’s now using everything she’s learned in her work as a body confidence coach – which she decided to train as when she saw so many wonderful women in her life struggling. She has her own podcast and over...

Welcome to a first for The Next Chapter. Our first Next, Next Chapter Episode!!! I am delighted and thrilled to welcome back one of my first and very special guests: John Scott. All my Next Chapter guests are special but those who came on in the very first series are extra special as they had no idea what this podcast was – or if I could do what I hoped I’d do. John’s appearance was S1 Ep2. (I wou...

Kathy had a huge job in advertising which took her all over the world. But behind the glamour and fabulous hotels Kathy was suffering from burnout. One routine trip to the doctors changed everything – I’ll let Kathy tell you what happened but Kathy knew she had to make a change. This change she found was in vegetables .  Yes,  vegetables!  Gorgeous, colourful, wonderful veg. Her fascination of wat...

S11 Ep 2: From 60 Minute Makeover & A bottle of vodka a day to Sobriety Coach: Dave Wilson If you ever watched 60 Minute Makeover with Peter Andre – you may remember a lovely carpet fitter called Dave Wilson. But what we didn’t see was Dave was hiding a big drinking problem and at one stage he was drinking a litre of vodka a night. Then, one day when he was 54 years old, everything changed. I’...

Louise Ross loved reading and storytelling as a child but she had her heart set on being a lawyer. She became a barrister and while she loved helping people -she started to feel it was time to do something else.  (In fact speaking of skies, it was when she realised her head was always down and she never looked up and appreciated a blue sky, she knew something had to change).  Her husband James pla...

If you’re suffering from Christmas overwhelm, it’s time to put those headphones on, maybe even go for a little fresh air and let coach and author Joanne Mallon guide you through. In this week’s episode we talk about: How to cope with Christmas overwhelm Why we must embrace the imperfections of this time of year Why it’s sensory overload and all sorts of triggers are going off And how to cope with...

Joanne Mallon 'quite' enjoyed her job as a television producer working on shows like Vanessa, This Morning & GMTV. But she wanted to do something she loved which had a much deeper meaning so more than 20 years ago she trained to be coach.  She's spent the past 2 decades helping people not just discover what it is they want to do it, but to find a way to actually do it. She's al...

Annie Garthwaite loved history as a child.  She went to a comp in Hartlepool where in her words, if you got 3 CSE’s your name would go on the wall.  Annie then, would never have believed that one she’d day be an historical fiction author. But thanks to a love of reading shared from her mother and a wonderful history teacher, Annie decided this was what she really wanted to be in. Only in her twent...

A few years ago if you’d met Michal it would have been easy to think she was one of those women who ‘had it all.’ A huge job - Head of Global Culture at Tik Tok, ( I know! ),   the mother of 4 beautiful children, a wonderful husband plus, a wardrobe full of designer clothes. But inside she was struggling –  really  struggling with terrible anxiety. She’d been in therapy for 15 years and going over...

*SPECIAL EPISODE ALERT* Every week I think my Next Chapter guests are so brave telling us openly and honestly - about the ins and outs of their Next Chapters, I decided to hand over the microphone (for one episode only) – and tell the story behind my book.  Now, I want you to know I wouldn’t let just anyone into our Next Chapter world. My interviewer is Rob Murphy, who is not only of the most resp...

Fanny is a money coach – but she did not become this until in her fifties. She did all different jobs and shows how sometimes different twists and turns may not always be what we want the time but they take us to exactly where we are supposed to be.  Fanny speaks honestly about her past and about her when her family lost a lot of money – it drove her to take control of her own finances. But she be...

Part 2. Reverend Clive Jennings was brought up in a council house and he says he wears his roots like a badge. Although he loved drama and wanted to be an actor, he joined the police and worked in the Firearms Department, VIP Protection, The Special Branch and the Counter Terrorist Branch too. But then life changed for Clive and he became a Vicar in the wonderful town of Clevedon. Clive has experi...

Part 1. Reverend Clive Jennings was brought up in a council house and he says he wears his roots like a badge. Although he loved drama and wanted to be an actor, he joined the police and worked in the Firearms Department, VIP Protection, The Special Branch and the Counter Terrorist Branch too. But then life changed for Clive and he became a Vicar in the wonderful town of Clevedon. Clive has experi...

Cat, in her own words, questioned school and authority when she was a child, but navigated her own way through this, so who better to work with young people now and help them find their own? Cat trained as an Occupational Therapist and she worked in a psychiatric unit for several years. But after many years of supporting children and young people in statutory services she decided to ‘pack up her t...

Now, most of us know Maggie from the days of Swap Shop. Millions of children tuned in every Saturday – and she helped transform weekend mornings. Noel Edmonds, Keith Chegwin, John Craven and then Maggie bringing joy to our screens.  Hours of live television every week (top fact, they only ever rehearsed the first 30 seconds) and their audience was so big they attracted the biggest stars in the wor...

This is the last conversation in this series and what a way to finish! I loved this when I first recorded it but when I listened to it back, I learnt even more. Andrea is even more open and honest in this second half. She talks about how appearing on a reality show changed everything for her. How she made her decision to leave a huge, high profile job like the host of Loose Women and what happened...

Most of you will know Andrea as one of our favourite presenters on Daytime Television for more than 2 decades. She brightened our mornings on GMTV as the lovely weather girl and then she was Loose Women’s longest serving host for 13 years. She’s also been on so many other shows like Dancing on Ice and Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins. Plus, she’s interviewed some of the biggest names in showbusiness:...

The wonderful Suzi Grant has made it her mission to encourage as many women as possible to feel good no matter what our age. The ‘nutritionist with a passion for fashion’ began her career as a journalist. She was a roving reporter on Capital Radio, she worked on TV AM, she was one of the faces of Meridian plus she reported for Radio 4. But when her mum died suddenly at 62 from a heart attack, it m...

Nearly ten years ago colleagues Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst had a conversation in the pub which would change their lives forever. Alex was suffering from burnout and Lizzie knew the way they were working had to change. But they didn’t just want to change the way they worked - they wanted to help as many people as possible do the same.   They had no idea then this conversation would lead them to cr...

Susan Lewis has written - wait for it – 50 books. Not only that, but 50 bestselling books which have been sold all around the world. But Susan’s own story is worthy of its own novel.   I’ll let Susan tell you, but it involves getting expelled from boarding school, a disastrous affair with one of the FBIs most wanted and a near-miss with George Clooney’s pot-bellied pig.   Susan also tells us about...

Now are you ready to hold on tight, put on your comfies and get ready to be taken all around the world?   It was all due to a chance conversation with her French teacher at school that Anna Elshafei decided to study Chinese. Little did Anna know this decision wouldn’t just take her to China but all around over the glove, she’d marry an Egyptian and she would forever have a sense of adventure.    Y...

Gabriella Braun has more than twenty years of experience working as a therapist - not in a therapy room but in work places and staff rooms. She helps bosses and their teams understand how and why we are the way we are when we go into the office. She’s worked all over including at the British Library, RADA, the University of Cambridge and the NHS. In this conversation we talk about her first chapte...

Jake is the first professional sports person I’ve had on the podcast and I was fascinated to learn all the ins and outs of how you go from turning a passion like rugby into a career.   And what a career he has had. Jake grew up in New Zealand and admits he didn’t really have a plan B. He just wanted to play the game he loved. He was captain for New Zealand under-20s before he moved to Ireland to b...

AJ Pearce loved using her imagination as a child but didn’t ever think she could be an author. She worked in magazines before starting her writing career and then everything changed forever when she found something on eBay.     She then wrote the brilliant book Dear Mrs Bird. It was a Richard and Judy pick and was short-listed for the British Book Awards. It’s been translated into fifteen language...