Women's Business

In this episode I speak to the life force that is Candice Mason, who runs a family business alongside her passion project: Mother Cuppa, a tea company making beautiful blends to help women navigate modern life.   Candice shares her transformative journey from overcoming personal educational setbacks and dealing with undiagnosed dyscalculia, to defying everything she'd been told and thriving in her...

Teresa Heath-Wareing knew - in spite of it being challenged from day one - that she was made for more and in this episode she tells me how she got through some serious adversity and self-sabotage along the way to build a successful life and business.    We delve into some of the myths that surround the idea of building an online business, the question of passive income, and how Teresa has created...

In this episode Amy Grilli shares the transformative journey that led her to create the Five Hour Club, a job board aimed at providing flexible work opportunities for parents. Amy recounts her early career in education and her struggles with identity when considering the traditional path of stay-at-home motherhood. Her viral LinkedIn post, which expressed a collective frustration with work-life in...

Anna Marthur a psychotherapist, author, podcaster and and mum of three, and in this episode Anna takes me on her journey from early entrepreneurial pursuits to her career in psychotherapy, and building her personal brand online, which started entirely by accident.  Anna shares real truths on the difficulty of monetising the work that she started on Instagram for free, as well as offering insights...

Genevieve Sweeney is a designer and founder of a self-titled knitwear brand, who shares her journey into the fashion world with me, from working with big brands - both high street and designer - to founding her own business, where she prides herself on her commitment to slow fashion, British manufacturing and sustainable design.  Genevieve was influenced early on by her grandfather's craftsmanship...

My guest today is Rosey Davidson, founder of Just Chill Baby Sleep . She's also known as Just Chill Mama on Instagram where she has grown an engaged audience talking all things parenting - to babies and beyond.   Rosey takes us on her journey from corporate sales to becoming a renowned baby sleep consultant, driven by her own experiences as a mother, and her unique approach that she couldn't find...

In this episode Lucy Wheeler, founder of Lucy Legal talks to me about her pre-destined journey into the legal profession, her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated field, and her transition from a conventional legal career to entrepreneurship when she realised she couldn't build the life she wanted in a conventional law firm.   Lucy shares insights on balancing her professional life with moth...

In this episode Lauren shares her journey from her early memories of seeing a strong work ethic in her parents, to founding UPFRONT, a business several years in the making. With her background in service design at the forefront of everything she does, Lauren has great insight on asking for feedback, and the power of using that feedback - both good and bad, to shape your business. Plus, we discuss...

Finishing the current run of episodes with an absolute bang, Kira Matthews brings her unique perspective to Women's Business to set you up for summer. Not asking for the opportunities you want because of your audience size? Kira will make you think again about simply asking for what you want, asking again, embracing the rejection that may come - and separating that from yourself. She is the perfec...

Sometimes a conversation flows, and this is one of those, where Michele's story unfolded in the most natural way, with loads of learnings along the way. From her early life growing up in and around the family business, to her stint in marketing, to accidentally setting up a stationery brand, but then very intentionally scaling that brand, Michele has a really interesting story and useful insight i...

In this episode marketing expert Hannah Isted talks to me about her journey to creating The Best 90 Days Ever - a membership based on daily ten-minute marketing wins - and writing a bestselling book of the same name, to help business owners nail their marketing with just ten minutes a day.  Hannah's journey takes in her early interest in becoming a forensic scientist, before she got started in mar...

Alice Loveday first fell in love with stop motion when her Dad borrowed a camera from the BBC and made her teddy bears dance. Her fascination with the creative, tactile magic of the medium endures to this day, and in this conversation we talk about her beginnings in the film industry, her entrepreneurial mother, her lucky breaks, and how she ultimately came back to stop motion as a fun, personalit...

Megan Rossiter left a top private school to pursue her love for the stage, before jobbing in that profession and realising there was no clear plan, plus taking some knocks to her self-confidence, before taking a left turn into midwifery. That experience led her to eventually set up Birth Ed. Through her courses & UK top 10 parenting podcast, Megan has supported 1000s of families worldwide to prepa...

Carla Saull went through a difficult childhood and started pot washing at 13 years old, dropped out of school with one O level, and got married young, all before finding her person in her late twenties and starting again - for the first time, but not the last. Taking in a career break to raise her sons, and a business degree in her forties, Carla's determination to make something of herself and br...

Excuse me while I take my hat off to this powerhouse of a woman who has been dealt so many of life's curveballs, and has handled them with grace and her own relentless optimism.  Ro Feilden-Cook found herself newly single and pregnant in her last year of uni, only to find out she was actually expecting twins. Fast forward a short while to when her boys were less than a year old, and she recognised...

You might know Emma Nicolet as your favourite self-confessed 'Joyfluencer' on Instagram where she shares snapshots of real family life, with palpable honesty, but I bet you don't know how she got there. From her experience of boarding at a performing arts school, and how that has impacted her confidence throughout the rest of her life, this story takes in how Emma's love of making people happy has...

Rebecca Seal started her career moving up the ranks in print journalism, in a clear break away from the heavy work she had seen her parents do, before accidentally having a TV career, alongside being a cook book writer and journalist. But, when facing burnout from working alone and seeking a resource to help her through it - and finding there wasn't one - she wrote one herself, and so began a new...

How do you know when it's time to let your business go? Faced with comparison-itis online, alongside running a family, Emmy shares really openly here about her journey to doing just that.  This episode takes in the full story, from the ego she was born with, to wanting to be famous, to channelling some of that into her clothing brand Sunday & Soul, to coming to the realisation that it was time to...

Ayesha Ofori started her career in investment banking, with a simple view to paying off her student debt, but after advancing quickly and managing a portfolio of $500m, she realised the work didn't align with her values, and turned her hand to helping others build their wealth through property investment as she had, founding Black Property Network, followed swiftly by  Propelle - a community, educ...

This episode comes with a trigger warning for baby loss, which enters the conversation at 13 minutes in.  Sarah Tobin started her career in advertising before a traumatic birth and the subsequent death of her daughter left her with PTSD, a physical pain in her chest every day, and a choice - to either give into the pain, or to move forward, choose happiness, and start healing. Sarah chose the latt...

In this episode, former Editor-In-Chief of Hello! Magazine Rosie Nixon, talks about her early love of magazines and how that laid the foundations for what she went onto do, tells me about her favourite scoops at the helm of Hello! but then offers total honesty on what happened as she approached burn out. The changes Rosie made as a result of that phase have set her up for this new chapter, enjoyin...

In this second birthday episode, host of Woman's Hour Emma Barnett turns the mic on ME - Nicky Elliott - to hear my own career story.  This conversation covers: My early memories of work How I stumbled into events How I founded my first business The mat leave project that became Wilder Ones How I feel about being a 'provider' My pivot into podcasting and empowering women My plans for the future Wi...

In this special episode to celebrate ONE YEAR of Women's Business I've invited back my first ever guest – the one and only Frankie Tortora – to do a review of the year with me, pulling out some themes that have come up, got us all thinking, and sparked brilliant discussions.   Frankie acts as both host and guest, picking the topics (out of her sparkly unicorn hat!) and discussing them all with me,...

From whirlwind romances and moving across the world to starting her own coaching business and networking group - Laura Cruise has had a fascinating journey and it has left her filled with wisdom and perspective that everyone will learn something from.  This episode covers so much, including:  Why supporting other women can only lead to good things Acknowledging when something isn't serving you any...

In this episode, founder, marketeer, mum, and content creator Lorna Hayward takes me on her career journey that takes in everything from starting out in TV, to moving into marketing, to starting her own series of sell-out 'Pizzup' events almost by accident, but we also go deeper, delving into the recent events that led her to realise that she attaches so much of her self-worth to work.  In the cou...