We Are PoWEr Podcast

“You don't have to have entrepreneurialism in your blood. You don't have to come from a long line of people that have done business. The support is out there and you can do it yourself. It doesn't matter your background or your influences.”     This week's podcast conversation with Simone Roche and Georgia Halston, also known as Serial Entrepreneur in the Digital Marketing and...

If Sarah McLean could give any advice to her 16 year old self it would be “Don't pigeonhole myself into one sector, one skillset. Everything is transferrable. And if you just open up your mind to the possibilities anything is possible and you can go anywhere”     This week's podcast conversation with Simone Roche and Project Manager, also known as Scrum Manager at Barclays, Sarah Mclean,...

This week Simone Roche MBE recorded live as the warm up to Eurovision onboard HMS Mersey. She is joined by Okszana Nepijvoda and Marianna Vaszilyiv, who were awarded the Special Honour Award at this year's Northern Power Women Awards for their work for United for Ukraine since the Russian conflict. Join us for this incredibly insightful conversation about their journey from Ukraine to Liverpo...

For Rebecca Ihiekwe, sharing stories are more than just recounting history. It's about giving people the platform to be their best and most authentic selves so they're able to shared their lived experiences.   Rebecca says: "It's about having that diversity of narrative and about celebrating that...it's about advocating for others when they can't advocate for themselv...

“Yes, it's important to teach children how to write a coherent sentence, but when you start pulling apart that sentence and explaining it and dissecting it then becomes boring. It was boring for me, and it was boring for them. So in the very last term, I thought, right, we're going to write adventure stories, and I took them on a virtual tour of Jamaica and we wrote virtual stories about...

Amy Kohl, founder of sustainable and ethical fashion house KOHR, and the founder of KOHR studio, a creative marketing agency is aware that being sustainable often comes from a place of privilege.  Amy says: "Everyone has a duty to look after their planet and community. But not everyone can be Greta Thunberg". Join Simone Roche MBE as she chats to Amy Kohl, about inclusive innovation, acc...

“My whole thing was around how do you get people like me to express themselves in different ways?”  Join Simone Roche as she chats to Queen Of Culture: Director Of Culture at Liverpool City Council, Claire McColgan CBE in this episode of the Path To Power season. They discuss all things culture, community, bit of glitter and of course...Eurovision!      Listen to learn:     ⚡️️Where Claire’s pass...

“I think there's been a lot of positive change from organizations who were only having graduate schemes now to school lever programs, more apprenticeships thinking about the big professional services firms. I think there has been a lot of evolution in that already.”  Join Simone Roche as she chats to Regional Director for Michael Page Professional Services, Gareth Davies in this special episo...

“There was talk of this concept of a social battery where you can enjoy other people's company, you're still introverted. You need time to energise and recharge by yourself. So, this is me. This is what I stand for I'm the millennial introvert.”    Join Simone Roche as she chats to CEO of TMI Lifestyle and self-confessed Millennial Introvert Yulanda Duff in this episode of the Path...

Dyslexia: How To Be Empowered By Your Differences    “I made it my mission to change the narrative from saying learning difficulty to learning difference because we all learn differently as humans.”   Join Simone Roche as she chats to influential Dyslexia speaker Keisha Adair Swaby in the first episode of the Path To Power season. They discuss all things about owning who you are and using your dif...

Northern Power Women Awards Debrief  “We are not just for one night”⚡️    Join Simone Roche In this NPW Awards special as she continues to spotlight our winners and commended of the 2023 Northern Power Women awards 🏆     We highlight their experience of the night, what this award means to them and how it could open doors for the future.  Listen to hear from:  Outstanding Entrepreneur Commended:...

How To Make Your Work Fit Into Your Life  Join Simone Roche as she chats to passionate northerner and Partner at EY Manchester, Nicola Bamford, about her unconventional route to working at one of the 'Big Four', and how flexibility is making it possible for her to be a successful working mum.    Listen to learn:   ⚡️How Nicola's role in a large accounting firm like EY actually has...

Georgia Fitzgerald networked her way to success. She says you can too. “So I want to say I'm 'lucky', but the opportunities have been presented to me and I've grabbed them. The reason I shouldn't say lucky is because if I look at my network and my profile that I've built, that's why these opportunities come along. I've always done networking.”  Join Simone S...

Leila Mckenzie-Delis  How To Shift The Dial Through Leadership “Diversity means different things to different people. And that's the beautiful thing about it. Diversity, inclusion, belonging, equity, culture, the whole intersection of everything means lots of different things to different people.”   Millennial,  first time mum through the wonders of IVF, Chinese and adopted by a white British...

The Unlikely Career Roots Into Physics  “Diane Reid and Royal Navy Commander Nicola Cripps, whose careers have both taken an unusual turn from what is considered the normal following their physics degrees.”  Did you know there are so many different roots into various physics related careers? Some you wouldn’t even think of.   For the second episode of our 3 part boxset series in partnership with I...

“Everyone is passionate about making a difference, and that's what we focus this episode on”   Join us for the last episode of our 3 part boxset series in partnership with Institute Of Physics where Simone Roche MBE chats to Nimrah Munir and Kal Grocott two incredible minds who took two different paths to get to where they are today.  Listen to learn:  ⚡How Nimrah and Kal use physics within...

How to Challenge Stereotypical Views Of What A Physicist Looks Like  “Limitless is the campaign to encourage and inspire young people from backgrounds underrepresented in. To continue with physics after the age of 16.”  This is the first episode of our 3 part boxset series in partnership with Institute Of Physics whose Limit Less campaign challenges all of those stereotypical views of what a Physi...

For Sarah Black-Smith it was natural to follow in her engineering dad's footsteps and she worked hard to forge herself a career in manufacturing (although the dream to be an F1 Mechanical Engineer will never die). Despite having a male role model at home, the representation of women throughout Sarah's education was woefully lacking - just five of the 150 cohort identified as women. It wa...

For the first episode of our Allyship boxset series sponsored by Morson Group, Simone Roche MBE chats to Morson Group COO, Adrian Adair. Morson Group has an outstanding reputation for delivering consultancy, design, technology, training, screening and people solutions around the world. Simone and Adrian chat about all things allyship in the workplace.  Listen to learn:  ⚡How allyship plays an imp...

For the final episode of our allyship miniseries sponsored by Morson Group, Simone Roche MBE chats to the multi award winning chartered structural engineer, Najwa Jawahar. Simone and Najwa talk all things allyship in the workplace.  Listen to learn:  ⚡How to celebrate your wins and highfive yourself  ⚡Why Najwa considers herself as a role model  ⚡How to create an environment in the workplace so...

For the second episode of our Allyship boxset series sponsored by Morson Group, Simone Roche MBE chats to the wonderful award winning serial entrepreneur, Marilyn Comrie OBE. Simone and Marilyn catch up and talk all things allyship in the workplace.   Listen to learn:  ⚡How Marilyn is working with organizations to level up   ⚡How to shift your organisations style  ⚡How to be an active ally  ⚡️...

Despite working hard at school, Laura Pitharas was rejected from Leeds College of Art being told that she was "not creative enough". She says it was the biggest test in life that she ever took. Nevertheless Laura's resilience and willingness to listen meant that she eventually got a place to study Menswear Tailoring at the London College of Fashion. Since then Laura has set out to c...

Miriam Walker-Khan is a literal game changer. After starting out as a gifted sprinter from a young age, it was the race track where Miriam saw her career taking her until a serious sports injury cut short her aspirations of track and field. Instead, Miriam paid attention to her studies and found a passion for writing, which when coupled with her natural competitive edge meant she found herself enr...

Stacey Williams celebrates the release of the 2023 Power List and Future List with Simone Roche MBE Stacey was on the 2022 NPW Awards Future List and is Global head of Treasury services and investigations in global payments and treasury services operations at BNY Mellon, who are the proud sponsors of the 2023 Future List.     Listen to learn:   ⚡️ Stacey’s experience of being on the 2022 Future L...

Holly O'Dea, a.k.a The Scouse Scientist has had to overcome assumptions about who she is since she started her studies at University of Oxford over ten years ago. Since then she's used her northern charm to challenge the traditional perception of scientists and promote diversity in the field. She does this in part by sharing a candid insight into her life as a Clinical Scientist in the N...