Women On The Rise with Jen Blandos

In this episode, Claire Walker shares her 38-year journey building her London-based PR agency Firefly. She discusses adapting to changes in business, prioritising employee well-being, and building resilience through challenges like recession and personal loss. Business owners will learn strategies for PR, hiring freelancers, qualifying clients, and cultivating a supportive community. Episode Highl...

Jen interviews Tim Hayden, founder of Hagley West watches, about how he grew his watch brand globally through creative storytelling and viral video challenges like the Find Tim Challenge. Tim shares how he documented his journey from the start, connected with audiences through vulnerability, and used challenges to build word-of-mouth referrals all over the world. Episode Highlights: How documentin...

World-renowned therapist Marisa Peer shares insights on finding success through passion and developing a positive mindset. Episode highlights include: Identify your passion and become an expert in your field Replace negative self-talk with empowering language Let go of ego to share your success with others Quality of life is as important as financial success Age is no barrier to entrepreneurial su...

Jen shares the top 10 things she would do differently if starting Female Fusion from scratch based on her experience building multiple businesses over the years. She discusses the importance of thorough market research, automating systems and processes, outsourcing non-essential tasks, developing digital products and services for recurring revenue, focusing on marketing and brand building, collabo...

Jen shares the top 5 strategies that were the biggest game changers for Female Fusion in 2023. She discusses the importance of planning, investing in her personal brand, getting serious about social media, focusing on LinkedIn, and launching THIS successful podcast! Episode Highlights: Develop a detailed annual plan, track metrics monthly, and be willing to make quick changes. Spend time developin...

Jen interviews lawyer Bianca Gracias about the important legal considerations all businesses should address. Bianca shares insights into setting up compliant operations and gives a checklist of must-haves, including: Company registration documents Contract templates IP protection Compliance with local laws You will also learn: The standard legal documents every new company needs How to protect the...

Tina Harris from LahLah Productions shares her journey of transforming her live children's entertainment business into a successful YouTube channel during the pandemic. She discusses the importance of thumbnails, captions, video titles and more for optimising your YouTube presence. Tina also provides tips on monetising your channel and growing a global audience. Episode Highlights: Thumbnails are...

Jen discusses why personal branding is so important for female entrepreneurs at every stage of business. She shares strategies for developing a clear personal brand message and voice, being consistent across social media platforms, and networking to build trust and connections. Episode Highlights: Develop a clear personal brand strategy with a unique value proposition and target audiences in mind...

Jen sits down with Dr. Lucy Burns to discuss how she grew her health and wellness business Real Life Medicine from a side project to a seven-figure company. Dr. Lucy shares the strategies that helped her reach that first million, the challenges of scaling even faster, and how she's refining operations to impact more lives while preserving work-life balance. Episode Highlights: Standardise processe...

Jen Bowers is a branding expert who shares her wisdom on the importance of building strong brand foundations. She also shares valuable insights into discovering your brand personality, your "who", and your "why" through personal connection. Episode Highlights Build your brand foundations like personality, why, values and target audience before creating visuals Foundations dictate direction for mes...

Sally Porteous shares her expertise on using events to grow a business. As the founder of Red Lanyard and the Event Planners Workshop, she discusses common event planning challenges and mistakes to avoid. Sally also provides tips for making events memorable and engaging for attendees. Episode Highlights: Start with defining your audience and desired outcomes, not choosing a venue or date Cater you...

Jen discusses the top areas business owners should focus on to build a profitable business. She covers the importance of having a clear target customer, product/service offering, marketing strategy, systems and processes, and hiring the right people. Learn how optimising these areas can help turn your business into a money-making machine. Episode Highlights: Define your ideal customer and understa...

Jen shares her process for conducting an annual business review. She discusses the importance of tracking key metrics like revenue, costs, time allocation and more. An analysis of this data allows you to identify what's working well and opportunities for improvement to help you set goals for the coming year. Episode Highlights: Tracking revenue, costs, gross profit and net profit monthly to unders...

Jen sits down with serial entrepreneur Donna Benton to discuss her journey building The Entertainer into a regional powerhouse before exiting and starting The Benton Group. Donna shares her tips for evaluating new business ideas, building a top-notch team, and balancing multiple ventures while maintaining work-life harmony. Episode Highlights:   How Donna evaluates new opportunities Tips for...

This week on Women on the Rise, Jen is joined by Erim Kaur, founder of luxury haircare brand ByErim. Erim shares how she turned her grandmother's traditional hair oil recipe into a seven-figure business. She discusses the importance of authenticity on social media and representation for women of colour entrepreneurs. Episode Highlights: How sharing her raw entrepreneurial journey on social media h...

Jen discusses common challenges business owners face when it comes to finding customers. She shares tips for understanding your ideal customer, creating irresistible offers, and engaging customers through consistent communication and content marketing. Episode Highlights: Do customer research through surveys to understand what people are looking for from your product/service Make sure your offer i...

Jen interviews high-ticket coach Jackie Sharon Tamblyn about how she built a multi-seven figure coaching business in just 17 months. Jackie discusses the importance of focusing on client results over reach, outsourcing non-essential tasks, and investing in personal development to continuously grow as an entrepreneur. Episode Highlights: Focus on transforming a small number of clients through high-...

Jen sits down with Elaine Jones, founder of Asteco Property Management and now she's the Chairman of Direct Debit System FZ LLC , to discuss her journey bringing direct debit payments to the UAE. Elaine shares how she saw the need for a paperless payment system and worked to develop the infrastructure to support it. Tune in to hear Elaine's story of building her business over 37 years and her visi...

Jen interviews Ioanna Angelidaki, founder of InstaShop, the leading online grocery delivery service in the UAE. Ioanna shares how she co-founded InstaShop in 2015 and grew it to serve customers across the country. She discusses the challenges of international expansion and how the pandemic accelerated growth. Ioanna also reflects on InstaShop's $360 million acquisition by Delivery Hero in 2020. Ep...

Jen Blendos sits down with Viviane Paxinos, CEO of AllBright, a global network for women. They discuss AllBright's mission to remove barriers for women in the workplace through inspiring, connecting, and upskilling opportunities. Viviane shares insights from her career pivot to leading AllBright and the impactful programs they offer, including reducing gender pay gaps. Episode Highlights: Networki...

Jen interviews Fahed Bizzari, an expert in ChatGPT, about how entrepreneurs can use this AI tool to improve their business. You'll discover how ChatGPT can help with business planning, marketing, operations and SO much more! Episode Highlights: Learn how ChatGPT can help create thorough business plans, marketing plans and more in a fraction of the time Using ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas, have plann...

Jen Blandos sits down with Geeta Daswani, a London-based corporate lawyer from The Daswani Law Company Ltd. (The DLC). Geeta shares invaluable insights into the world of law and business, especially for small business owners and sole practitioners. Discover the importance of ethical values in business, managing urgent client requests, and the benefits of flexible work arrangements. AND learn about...

Join host Jen Blandos in this special episode of "Women on the Rise" as she sits down with Hazel Jackson, the founder of Biz Group. Hazel shares her incredible entrepreneurial journey, starting from scratch in Dubai with just $700 and growing her business into a thriving success with over 60 employees and expansion plans. In this candid conversation, you'll discover the key factors that contribute...

Join host Jen Blandos on Women on the Rise as she sits down with Aya Assaf, co-founder of Koala Picks, a thriving healthy snack brand. Aya shares her inspiring journey from humble beginnings to rapid growth and success in just three years. In this episode, they explore the challenges of entrepreneurship, the transformative impact of the pandemic, and the intricacies of funding a food tech startup....

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Anna Zickerman, the founder of UPANDRUNNING Medical Center LLC in Dubai. Anna's journey began with a vision to introduce sports rehabilitation to the UAE, a concept virtually unheard of at the time. Discover how she went from being a young student to becoming the region's first sports medicine specialist. Anna shares her experiences of opening the first s...