Insight with HReSource

Sophie Green – Artivist, Business Owner 

In this episode of Insight, we meet the inspirational artist Sophie Green.  

From an early age, Sophie expressed a love for animals of all kinds, at one time thoughts of becoming a vet seemed entirely possible.  Instead of following that love of animals, Sophie started her career as a primary school teacher but soon realised that as much as she loved the children and colleagues it was far from the path she felt destined to follow.  

With guidance from her brother, himself a talented artist Sophie grew in confidence in developing her own photorealist portraits of the World's most precious and endangered species. 

Social media posts of time-lapse excerpts of her work have helped grow Sophie's following and this is enhanced by her passionate motivation to raise awareness of the plight of creatures once considered common-place now dwindling in number due to human intervention, poachers, global warming and the land grabbing of their homes. 

Sophie also reveals another side of her career where she auditioned and stood in as body double on some of the biggest films of the past decade. 

This a fascinating conversation we're sure you'll enjoy. 

NB: There is a slight echo to Sophie's recording as she is literally in an art gallery amongst her own work during the recording. 

Links Website: https://www.sophiegreenfineart.com/works Impermanence 

Project: https://go.rallyup.com/impermanence-project-fund/Campaign/Details 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiegreenart 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiegreenfineart/ 

Linktree: https://t.co/YYHvDsCxWI 

Bio: Sophie Green  Sophie Green is a fine artist from the UK who lives in East Sussex. She specialises in capturing the photorealistic details of animals and their surroundings using acrylic paint and pencil. She has dedicated her time and artistic work to raising awareness for issues surrounding animal welfare and the environment. Sophie is primarily known for her incredibly photo-realistic portraits of many of the planet's endangered species. She combines the production of her fine art with animal welfare and animal rights activism not least by donating 10% of sales to charities supporting these causes. After receiving a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Brighton, Sophie initially began her career by teaching in a primary school in the south of England.  The life of a teacher was soon overtaken by Sophie’s art becoming more widely recognised alongside her concerns and need to safeguard an ever-growing list of endangered animals. Despite the workload, Sophie did find time to create an online art gallery and art store, Art Basket.  She initially started the company with the intention of opening a more 'curated' platform for independent Artists to both showcase and sell their work. Content: · Early years and Influences · Teaching · Building a Following · Creativity and Wellbeing · Importance of Artivism, Conservation and Making a Difference

In the 3rd episode of our "Professionals" series we meet entrepreneur Joe Mullings, Chairman and CEO of the The Mullings Group.  We explore the challenges of building not one but several successful businesses in a highly competitive market. 

Discover how Joe has built and maintained class leading companies over the past 30 years using the foundation of his four core pillars.

Bio – Joe Mullings – Chairman & CEO - The Mullings Group

Joe is the Chairman & CEO of The Mullings Group Companies, including TMG Search, Dragonfly Stories and TMG360 Media.

TMG Search is responsible for more than 8,000 successful searches in the medtech / healthtech / life sciences industry with clients ranging from multi-billion-dollar companies to emerging tech start-ups worldwide.

Dragonfly Stories, which produces attention and awareness campaigns for companies globally, is the media production company behind the Award-Winning video docu-series, “TrueFuture,” of which Joe is the host.

TMG360 Media utilizes the power of media and outreach in medtech / healthtech to move businesses and health forward. In 2020, Joe was appointed Chief Vision Officer for MRINetwork Inc.

MRINetwork includes over 300 search firms around the world, where Joe guides the digital transformation of the organization bringing video storytelling strategies and techniques for talent access, which he innovated at The Mullings Group.

https://mullingsgroup.com/  https://twitter.com/mullingsgroup LinkedIn

In this episode we meet one of the UK's leading Public Law and Human Rights lawyers.  Jamie Potter is a man with an outstanding track record, noted for dealing with matters of injustice and driven to set records straight.  The simple fact is Jamie finds all forms of injustice as being hugely inefficient ways to operate and that disconnect drives him to find the solutions his clients need. 

As an Australian with an aptitude for orienteering it's no surprise that this man has navigated his way to success in cases involving the UK Government, political parties, large retailers and a variety of domestic and international public bodies.

Bio – Jamie Potter

Managing Partner

Good Law Practice

Education and Career

Professional Memberships

Outline

Series 5 of the Insight podcast is simply titled “The Professionals” and will feature individuals with specific or a range of skills and experience in a chosen field or fields.

Here's your chance to hear a few of the many highlights featuring in this fascinating podcast.

Just 90 seconds provides a flavour of the conversation with one of the most influential business leaders in the north of England.

Our guest's early dreams of being a high flyer were more focused on a career in the RAF than the world of finance.  Karl Pemberton's career took off when he joined Yorkshire Bank's management training scheme. After a series of promotions and switch to RBS he responded to his father's call for support, after a serious illness, stepping in to help run the business.

15 years on and having successfully managed the business through a global recession, pandemic and his own health scare he's also found time to join the Goldman Sachs 10,000, support numerous charitable bodies and Chair the regional network of the Institute of Directors.  Meanwhile alongside long term business partner Paul Gibson, the company has continued to evolve and grow.

This is a fascinating insight into a career enhanced by an ability to reflect, take stock and be self aware enough to accept where skills were required and be open to the ideas and experience offered by others. 

Karl is one of the most influential business leaders in the North of England. Widely acknowledged and respected for his passionate belief in "doing the right thing" not the easiest or offer of short term gain. He's built a strong team of dedicated professionals who follow his ethos and have themselves learnt from working in such a positive environment.

Proof indeed that "Good Guys" can be winners.

Bio – Karl Pemberton CDir, FIoD, Dip PFS

Managing Director - Active

Karl’s career began at Yorkshire Bank in 1995 where he quickly progressed to Private Banking Manager for high-net-worth clients.

From Yorkshire Bank, Karl moved to RBS as an Investment Banking Manager where he spent two years before joining Active as MD in May 2007.

Karl says, “The banking profession provides excellent grounding for a company director, as you gain a unique insight into company structure, processes and management.”

In 2013, Karl was part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Programme at Leeds University Business School which is aimed to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity.

In 2017 Karl became a Fellow of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and 2 years later he was appointed Chair for the IoD North East (South region).

In this role Karl works with other local businesses to drive the IoD forward and ensure that the voice of local businesses is heard. In addition to this, Karl is a Trustee of local charity, Middlesbrough & Teesside Philanthropic Foundation (MTPF) and has taken on several fund-raising challenges over the years, including reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro in 2018 in aid of mental health charity MIND.

Podcast Outline

Series 5 of the Insight podcast is simply titled “The Professionals” and will feature individuals with skills and experience in a chosen field or fields.

Our guest's early dreams of being a high flyer were more focused on a career in the RAF than the world of finance.  Karl Pemberton's career took off when he joined Yorkshire Bank's management training scheme. After a series of promotions and switch to RBS he responded to his father's call for support, after a serious illness, stepping in to help run the business.

15 years on and having successfully managed the business through a global recession, pandemic and his own health scare he's also found time to join the Goldman Sachs 10,000, support numerous charitable bodies and Chair the regional network of the Institute of Directors.  Meanwhile alongside long term business partner Paul Gibson, the company has continued to evolve and grow.

This is a fascinating insight into a career enhanced by an ability to reflect, take stock and be self aware enough to accept where skills were required and be open to the ideas and experience offered by others. 

Karl is one of the most influential business leaders in the North of England. Widely acknowledged and respected for his passionate belief in "doing the right thing" not the easiest or offer of short term gain. He's built a strong team of dedicated professionals who follow his ethos and have themselves learnt from working in such a positive environment.

Proof indeed that "Good Guys" can be winners.

Bio – Karl Pemberton CDir, FIoD, Dip PFS

Managing Director - Active

Karl’s career began at Yorkshire Bank in 1995 where he quickly progressed to Private Banking Manager for high-net-worth clients.

From Yorkshire Bank, Karl moved to RBS as an Investment Banking Manager where he spent two years before joining Active as MD in May 2007.

Karl says, “The banking profession provides excellent grounding for a company director, as you gain a unique insight into company structure, processes and management.”

In 2013, Karl was part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Programme at Leeds University Business School which is aimed to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity.

In 2017 Karl became a Fellow of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and 2 years later he was appointed Chair for the IoD North East (South region).

In this role Karl works with other local businesses to drive the IoD forward and ensure that the voice of local businesses is heard. In addition to this, Karl is a Trustee of local charity, Middlesbrough & Teesside Philanthropic Foundation (MTPF) and has taken on several fund-raising challenges over the years, including reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro in 2018 in aid of mental health charity MIND.

Podcast Outline

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarlPActiveLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpemberton

Series 5 of the Insight podcast is simply titled “The Professionals” and will feature individuals with skills and experience in a chosen field or fields.

Here's a short trailer for our podcast with the amazing Vanessa Smith.

Check out the full episode by searching for "Insight HReSource Higher love"

Bio – Vanessa Smith – Founder and CEO of Mountain Weddings

Vanessa founded Mountain Weddings after she tried to organise her own destination wedding, and then realised the difficulties of getting married abroad, notably a lack of essential local knowledge.

She spent the last eight years living in the Alps, hiking mountains, snowboarding the terrain, and exploring all the mountains best hidden secrets to be sure the business knows the best locations for ceremonies and celebrations.

Vanessa’s philosophy is that every wedding should be treated with the same care and attention that she would give her own. Each supplier is one she would use herself thus providing a truly unique and high-quality service. She’s confident that Mountain Weddings offer some of the most breath-taking, undiscovered venues within the Alps.

Vanessa Smith founded Mountain Weddings after she tried to organise her own destination wedding, and then realised the difficulties of getting married abroad, notably a lack of essential local knowledge. That problem provided an entrepreneurial spark to create not one but three successful businesses.

She spent the last eight years living in the Alps, hiking mountains, snowboarding the terrain, and exploring all the mountains best hidden secrets to be sure the business knows the best locations for ceremonies and celebrations.

Vanessa’s philosophy is that every wedding should be treated with the same care and attention that she would give her own. Each supplier is one she would use herself thus providing a truly unique and high-quality service. She’s confident that Mountain Weddings offer some of the most breath-taking, undiscovered venues within the Alps.

If you're in any doubt over the ability of Vanessa and her team delivering on their promise of fulfilling dreams just check out the hugely impressive Google reviews.  The detail in the comments tells you all you need to know.

Now with 50% of her customers sourced from the US, being featured in UK Vogue and a regular on radio it's clear that Vanessa has not only found her niche she's owning it.

Mountain Wedding - The Elopement Company - Vanessa Beth Weddings

Outline

In this episode we take a dive into the life of an executive who navigated a successful tenure with the Royal Navy to ship goods and onboard new talent for one of the World's largest and most successful corporations.

Graham Allison is a down to earth, straight talking Glaswegian who, following a tour of duty within various Amazon fulfilment centres, saw him take charge of one of Europe's largest. The Dunfermline site's 3,000 staff handle the task of managing pretty much all product returns for the UK and its fair share of order fulfillments from a facility that can probably be seen from one of Mr Bezo's rockets as it orbits the earth.

We explore the lessons that can be learnt in the commercial world from forces training and the increasing customer and employee demands faced by this phenomenon of 20th century retailing.

Graham certainly delivered plenty for us to unpack in this neatly wrapped episode.  You could say its a "Prime" podcast in this series or perhaps its best just to say put it in your pod basket and check it out.

Bio – Graham Allison

Regional Director UK Operations, Director level leader of large-scale operations, Amazon

Graham heads up one of Amazon’s largest fulfilment centres in Europe which understandably presents a ready supply of interesting challenges. It’s just as well he enjoys tackling big problems and working at the intersection of people and technology. The Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Dunfermline has thousands of employees and unsurprisingly a high level of complexity requiring high performing teams who enjoy growth at scale.

Prior to joining Amazon, Graham served for five years with the Royal Navy managing multiple active operational deployments and winning an award for his performance as a Warfare Officer. He has a BA Hons in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science and an MBA from Edinburgh University, He also graduated from Amazon’s 3-year executive fast-track scheme in just 14 months.  Now leading a team of more than 2000, fulfilling millions of orders a week, Graham has developed a reputation for nailing big projects and also managing to have some fun in the process. 

Website: Amazon Dunfermline 

Eric Knows 

In the first of our series on customer service we follow the early life, influences and career of an entrepreneur and campaigner Ella Bains.

From her early years in a rural setting just outside Leeds, Yorkshire, Ella discovered that school would provide some tough experiences which she endured until she arrived in the 6th form and life took a positive turn.  A school trip to Paris and specifically the Louvre, ignited a deep seated passion for art, although that was put to one side, as parental influence led to a degree choice and career in occupational therapy.

A 20 year career helping patients with a variety of injuries and conditions, primarily spinal in nature, highlighted the challenges faced when your life is turned upside down. The quality of life you once enjoyed and took for granted is lost and a period of significant adjustment begins.  Those who suffer life changing events become suddenly aware of how life may be viewed by others born with a disability or diagnosed as neurodiverse.

Ella had hit a plateau and despite the beautiful distractions of twins and an amazing son, diagnosed with autism, something was missing.  The knowledge and experience Ella had gained in those 20 years should count toward something more, make a real difference (not that she'd been idle in those 20 years).  That itch to develop a business took shape as the idea of Eric Knows formed and the opportunity to improve that life quality for those all too often overlooked in society, who prefer to stay home than be a burden on a day out, or cause difficulties for friends and family.

Eric Knows depicted by an inquisitive Koala, as its logo, is a community interest company that has the ambition to improve lives and open the world up to those previously unable or lacking the confidence and capability to enjoy it.  Google may be a go to for pretty much every question you may have but its findings all too often miss the mark especially with the needs of many communities.

As Eric is prompted to lift his telescope he can find the right venue and approach to comfortably watch a sporting occasion, visit the theatre, go to the park or see a famous landmark.  Supported by her team of researchers and bloggers Ella and Eric are building a valuable knowledge bank tailored to those whose lives are in need of a lift.

Bio – Ella Bains – Founder of Eric Knows

In Ella’s own words, “Probably autistic, amazing autistic son, passionate about neurodiversity. Founder of Eric Knows; finding things to do, being INCLUSIVE. Experienced Occupational Therapist, working with those with life changing injuries.”

Ella has worked as a Therapist and a Rehabilitation Coordinator for nearly 20 years, and during this time she has encountered incredible people working to provide essential services.  In her role Ella worked hard to assist people to find resources to support their needs but sometimes, in fact more often than not there wasn’t a simple answer or one place to go to, this was the seed for Eric. Eric is about the quality-of-life events and excursions that we can take for granted but are often hard to access for many with underlying conditions or special needs. Eric is about the fun stuff but also provides essential information on health resources, charities, and community support.  As the knowledge bank grows Eric is in turn growing and putting local services and expertise on the map. The aim of Eric is that he is inclusive, so the gap between mainstream and specialist resources gets closed.

Website: https://ericknows.co.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericknowsnorth Instagram: https://instagram.com/ericknowsnorth