Inside The Maverick Mind

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What does it take to build a standout hospitality business — and make it feel personal at every level?

In this episode of Inside the Maverick Mind, Emyr Afan sits down with Giovanni Malacrino — restaurateur, entrepreneur, and one of the driving forces behind Cardiff’s modern food and hospitality scene.

From his Italian roots to building a name in Wales, Giovanni shares the reality behind running hospitality businesses in a fast-moving, high-pressure environment. This isn’t just about food — it’s about people, standards, energy and creating places that others want to be part of.

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💬 Comment below — what makes a great hospitality experience for you?

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What does it take to build one of the UK's most celebrated sports production companies from scratch - with a new baby, a gut feeling, and no safety net?

Emyr Afan sits down with Sunil Patel, CEO and co-founder of Whisper, the award-winning team behind Channel 4's Formula One coverage, the Paralympics, International Cricket, and the BAFTA-winning A United Kingdom: Women's Euros 2022.

Sunil opens up about growing up the son of a corner-shop family, discovering his passion for sport and TV at Teddington School, and the defining moment he walked away from a BBC staff job - and nearly became a police officer - before co-founding Whisper with
Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard.

In this conversation, Sunil and Emyr explore:

• How ADHD became Sunil's superpower in high-pressure decision making
• Why diversity of lived experience - not just background - drives creative output
• The maverick philosophy behind remote production and Whisper's Cardiff Broadcast Centre
• What it felt like to step back into the VT coordinator's seat at the British Grand Prix
• The legacy of Eddie Jordan and lessons from two decades of taking the shot

From the Formula One paddock to the Paralympics, from London to Cardiff, this is a masterclass in backing yourself, building culture, and refusing to stay in your lane.

🎙️ "A maverick is someone who takes risks and lives with the consequences." - Sunil Patel

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What if you stopped chasing success — and started feeling alive instead?

In this episode of Inside the Maverick Mind, Emyr Afan OBE sits down with the extraordinary
Mykel Dixon — author, creative catalyst, and one of the most refreshingly honest voices on what it means to live and lead with aliveness.

Mykel challenges one of the biggest myths of modern life: that joy, vitality, and fulfilment are waiting for you on the other side of achievement. Instead, he flips the script entirely —
feel alive first, and everything shifts.

We explore:
Why aliveness is the source of success, not the reward
What it means to remember who you were before the world got to you
The real cost of being a maverick — and why it's worth every scar
How to stop giving your power away to other people's projections
The shift from getting ahead to coming alive

This conversation is for the creatives, the restless, the ones who've always felt like a little too much — and anyone ready to stop waiting for permission to be fully themselves.

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What does it take to build a high-growth tech business from Wales and compete on a global stage?

In this episode of Inside the Maverick Mind, I sit down with Mark Sweeny, Founder and CEO of de Novo Solutions — one of the UK’s fastest-growing cloud consultancies and winner of this years Welsh Government St Davids Awards for business.

Mark walked away from corporate security to build something of his own. Since then, he’s scaled de Novo into a serious player in the cloud and digital transformation space, working with major clients while building a culture rooted in values, performance, people and Wales.

In this conversation, we explore:
🚀 Why he chose risk over comfort
📈 Scaling a tech company without losing its soul
🧠 The mindset required to lead through uncertainty
🌍 Why building from Wales matters
🔥 The realities of growth, pressure and decision-making

This is a candid discussion about leadership, ambition, and what it really takes to build something meaningful in a competitive market.

If you’re a founder, scaling a business, or thinking about making the leap into entrepreneurship — this episode is packed with insight.

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https://youtube.com/@insidethemaverickmind?si=Eyh2Y4l6rVD9w0O7

#InsideTheMaverickMind #MarkSweeney #DeNovo #TechLeadership #Entrepreneurship #ScaleUp #CloudComputing #WelshBusiness #stdavidsawards

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In this episode of Inside the Maverick Mind, Emyr Afan sits down with Dr Julia “Rock” Jones - a neuroscience-led performance and habit specialist who’s spent years helping leaders rethink how they think.

Dr Julia’s work sits at the intersection of brain science, behaviour and high performance. But this isn’t about hacks or hustle. It’s about understanding how the brain actually works - and how small, consistent changes can shape resilience, energy and long-term success.

In this conversation, they explore:

• Why willpower is overrated
• How habits are really formed (and broken)
• The science behind stress, focus and performance
• Why high achievers burn out — and how to prevent it
• What it truly means to build sustainable success

This is a calm, intelligent and deeply practical discussion about performance in the real world - not perfection, but progress.

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💬 Comment below — what habit has made the biggest difference in your life?

#InsideTheMaverickMind #DrJuliaJones #Neuroscience #HighPerformance #Leadership #HabitChange

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In this episode of Inside the Maverick Mind, Emyr Afan sits down with Simon Powell, one of Wales’ most influential and quietly disruptive tech entrepreneurs.

With more than four decades at the forefront of travel technology, Simon’s story starts in a traditional family travel agency and evolves into building systems that powered thousands of UK travel businesses. Long before “digital transformation” became a buzzword, Simon was solving real-world inefficiencies with practical, scalable tech - and along the way, he’s bought and sold around 20 companies, giving him a rare, deal-tested view of what makes businesses grow, stall, or scale.

In this conversation, Simon opens up about:

            •           How spotting friction in everyday systems became his superpower

            •           Building and scaling travel tech businesses before it was fashionable

            •           Buying and selling companies - what he learned from the wins and the scars

            •           The mindset required to stay curious and relevant across decades

            •           Dyslexia, learning differently, and why thinking visually can be an advantage

            •           Investing in people, not just ideas

            •           What being a true maverick really means when the spotlight is off

This is not a hype-driven founder story. It’s a thoughtful, grounded exploration of leadership, resilience, and long-term thinking from someone who has genuinely shaped an industry from the inside out.

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💬 Comment below - what part of Simon’s journey struck a chord with you?

#InsideTheMaverickMind #SimonPowell #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #WelshBusiness #TravelTech #MaverickMindset

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Picture it: 2006. A twenty‑something at a kitchen table with a battered laptop, a pile of receipts, and an idea most accountants would’ve called ridiculous…

Instead of charging by the hour, she turned accountancy into a subscription — like Netflix, but for tax returns.

That founder is Lucy Cohen, creator of Mazuma. She’s rock‑chic disruptor, not grey‑suit stereotype — and she built a model that became a multi‑million‑pound business helping thousands of small businesses across the country.

Lucy’s also a former Team GB powerlifter, an award‑winning author, a women’s health + mental health campaigner, and (in her own words) someone with raging ADHD.

And yes — she’s been through a lot. She’s also almost lost her life, and what she’s had to fight through (physically and mentally) has shaped how she leads, how she lives, and what she’s building now. We don’t dwell on the details — but we do talk about what it takes to rebuild and keep moving forward when everything changes.

We get into business, ADHD, resilience, identity, and doing success on your terms.

📩 Want to suggest a true Maverick? Drop a comment 

Get in touch: [email protected]
Follow us on Instagram: @InsideTheMaverickMind 

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Inside the Maverick Mind: Aled Miles - From Bridgend to Boardrooms

Join us for an extraordinary conversation with Aled Miles, Welsh-born tech leader who's led Symantec's Norton Division, TeleSign, Source Labs, and now heads IntelliStack. As Welsh Government Envoy to the US, Aled bridges Wales and Silicon Valley.

In this episode: 

🔥 Surviving the LA Palisades wildfire - a harrowing account of losing everything and finding humanity 

🎯 Leadership lessons from crisis: calmness, consistency, and the power of energy management 

🌍 From Bridgend to Boston: How a 16-year-old exchange program shaped a global career 

💡 The "diagnosis before strategy" framework that transformed his approach to business 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Why Wales matters in global tech - semiconductors, cybersecurity, and creative industries 

🚀 Bold decisions: When to re-platform, when to pivot, and learning from failure 

🎤 The power of Welsh storytelling in business and why "follow your passion" is terrible advice

Key Takeaways:

• The CEO as "Chief Energy Officer" - managing energy in yourself, your team, and the market
• From unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence: the leadership journey
• Why differentiation matters more than perfection
• The importance of incremental change over grand gestures