Island Influencers

Carol Glover in her own words is a Manx born, ginger, punk-inspired, Disruptive Leader, Speaker, Coach, Mentor, Podcaster and Edutainer.

Carol is passionate about helping leaders and founders live their best lives, she co-creates with them, to build confidence to set free the talents, superpowers, and potential they were born with.

Via her Maverick Maker business she Coaches and Mentors, Founders, Leaders, Boards, Teams and Businesses to lead in turbulent times, thinking differently, increasing personal and business productivity and creating opportunity out of challenge, change and connections.

Ultimately Carol is unlocking their "Leadership Mindset for Success".

As a CEO, Board Member and generalist leader in a range of dynamic, forward-looking organisations, sectors and roles, Carol's past corporate career means she already "wears the shoes" of so many of her clients.

Recently, she co-created "Encoded Potential" working with some of the world's biggest businesses helping emerging leaders and entrepreneurs unleash world-class latent skills and potential for themselves and their teams.

She has also produced the Entrepreneur Development Strategy for IOM Chamber of Commerce. Generating over 150 small business members and more importantly, a strong and growing mutually supportive community on the Isle of Man.

Here's this week's conversation with Carol Glover in episode 41 of Island Influencers.

Laura McCoy is a Curator of Natural History at Manx National Heritage, Isle of Man.

After acquiring a Bachelors and Masters in biological and ecological sciences at university and working in field ecology, Laura McCoy retrained in museum conservation, specialising in natural science collections.

Laura shares her fascinating life story with Sharon. She started her career at The Natural History Museum in London. She has worked in several institutes in the UK and abroad, including South Africa and Israel.

Laura moved to the Isle of Man in 2017 to take up the post of Natural History Curator. She feels fortunate to work in a field that sees her learning something interesting every day and thoroughly enjoys sharing her passion with others hoping that they will be encouraged to save and repair this small blue dot we call home.

Here's this week's conversation with Laura McCoy in episode 40 of Island Influencers.

My guest this week is Ealish Greggor, an independent specialist speech and language therapist working with both children and adults on the Isle of Man.

Having grown up taking a caring role within the family for her brother, Ealish has always been driven to provide a service that brings best practice and provides a compassionate and listening ear to families and carers without judgment.

Whilst shadowing an inspiring mentor at college Ealish knew then that she wanted to be a speech and language therapist, but initially, she faced several barriers getting into university.

Since the age of 18, Ealish has been working in care settings building up such a wealth of knowledge and experience. She has always been enthusiastic about supporting each individual to reach their potential and be treated with dignity and respect.

Do listen to Ealish's inspirational story of how she found her pathway to providing such an essential and valued service in the Isle of Man.

Here's this week's conversation with Ealish Greggor in episode 39 of Island Influencers.

This week's Island Influencer is Debbie Scrimshaw, a Director/Owner of Paragon Recruitment and Workology.im - Employment, Careers & Outplacement Specialists.

Debbie and her family moved to join her grandparents on the Isle of Man when she was five years old. Having left school at the age of 15 and told that you have to work in a bank to succeed in life, so kitted out in her two Etam suits, that is what she did! Her substantial career in financial services, hospitality, and recruitment has taken her off the island and back again!

Debbie was able to buy her first house at 21. She had her own 'side hustle' businesses at 27. Then at 34, she grabbed the opportunity to buy Paragon Recruitment with a clear concept of how she and her business partner wanted a company to run—dictating their mission and purpose today.

In Lockdown one, Debbie saw a requirement for a different approach on the island. She has created 'Workology.im' an outplacement business specifically designed for the Isle of Man marketplace, providing career change and transition support for individuals and businesses, delivering much needed practical, emotional and financial support.

Most recently, Debbie began work with the coordination and delivery of services under the Manx Restart Scheme. The Manx Restart Scheme has been developed as part of the Government's Economic Recovery Programme to help individuals on the Isle of Man who have been unemployed for three months or more and support businesses who wish to grow to take on new staff.

What is evident in Debbie's story is that both a personal and professional pleasure for her is to have the opportunity to make a difference to individuals from school leavers to senior executives.

Here's this week's conversation with Debbie Scrimshaw in episode 38 of Island Influencers.

Simon Collister is entrepreneurially spirited, an accomplished marketing and communications strategy consultant for high-profile global businesses and organisations.

He is a trusted advisor, commercially minded, with expertise informed through long-term client engagements delivering high impact work – from energy to logistics; aviation to HNWI; counter-extremism to humanitarian aid.

Simon has published papers and edited collections on a range of topics, from brand, marketing and communications strategy – mainly focusing on digital transformation – and lectured at universities in the UK, Europe and US.

He also devotes his time to be an advisory board member at DigVentures, the world's first crowd-funded, archaeology organisation. Simon is also a valued member of The Future Foundation, a think-tank providing fresh ideas and a new impetus for public policy in the Isle of Man.

Here's this week's conversation with Simon Collister in episode 37 of Island Influencers.

This week's guest is Neil Taggart, the co-owner and director of one of the Isle of Man's most iconic and long-established estate agents, Chrystals.

Manx man Neil grew up on a dairy farm moving off the island for a few years to study Rural Estate Management at University and then gaining a wealth of experience including his Chartered Surveyor qualifications working for an industry-leading national property firm.

In 2004 Neil was lured back to the island and returned to Chrystals where he undertook his work experience/Saturday job at 14 years old! Neil is always keen to help clients achieve the best from their property and has a great passion for the Isle of Man's success.

We recorded this episode in December 2020, just a few days before his uncle Geoff Taggart's untimely death. Our condolences to the family.

Here's this week's conversation with Neil Taggart in episode 36 of Island Influencers.

Kevin Furlong, co-owner of Elite Fitness' passion has always been athletics. Since joining a local athletics team as a teenager, he represented the Isle of Man in the Commonwealth Games, UK Nationals and Island Games.

Kevin's story starts growing up on a farm in Ireland and then in 1989 he visited the Isle of Man for a holiday and decided to stay! His engineering and gym machine maintenance background coupled with his athletics gave him a great understanding of the mechanics of the human body and how to train for optimal performance, injury prevention, and injury rehabilitation.

Kevin and his business partner Stefan set up Elite Fitness seven years ago. They know every one of their members by name and along with their team provide advice and guidance to help them reach and maintain their goals and realise their health and fitness ambitions.

Here's this week's conversation with Kevin Furlong in episode 35 of Island Influencers.

Another lockdown, another new season of Island Influencers! This week's guest is Neil Morris, Managing Director of Manx Birdlife. In his spare time, Neil also continues to act as Secretary of the Qatar and Manx Bird Records Committees.

Neil graduated from Bristol University with BSc (Joint Hons) Botany and Zoology, after which he pursued a marketing career with the National Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

A job opportunity for his wife coupled with a desire for a change of life came at just the right time and Neil and his young family moved from London to Qatar, where he indulged his passion for nature conservation, photography and ornithology in the desert.

Luckily for us, he then moved to the Isle of Man in 2014, and we truly benefit from his knowledge, expertise and passion.

Listening to Neil's life and business lessons should set us all on the right path for 2021!

Here's this week's conversation with Neil Morris in episode 34 of Island Influencers.

I wanted to take this opportunity – eight months on from launch, the end of a monumental year – to share some insightful moments from my Island Influencers stories.

I wasn't too sure what to expect when I set out on this podcast journey. I knew I would be aiming to talk to lots of people about all aspects of their life and how great it is living on the IOM!

It's certainly true that I have chatted to a diverse group of people, successful business owners, experienced professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders all with so much knowledge, many memories, all passionate about what they do and the life they live.

2020 highlights - Episode 1 focused on Covid 19 and the significant impact it has had on the Isle Of Man; and included some of my guest's fantastic snippets of their personal stories/life-changing moments that have got them to where they are today.

This week's episode highlights some of my guests business and life tips and their earliest memories of money. The more conversations I had, the more it became apparent, we spend a lot of our time on this planet working so we should try and enjoy it!

All of my guests had their own unique story to tell so do listen to the Island Influencers podcast series in full if you can at https://www.thorntonfs.com/podcasts/ or search for Island Influencers in your favourite podcast player.

Here's this week's episode of Island Influencers - 2020 highlights (part 2)

What a year 2020 has been! On top of the day job, I've had 33 conversations in 8 months for my podcast Island Influencers.

As December is here and we wave goodbye to 2020. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to look at all the conversations I've had and share with you some highlights.

Several themes pop up that are central to many of my conversations. In this week's episode, we talk about Covid 19 and the significant impact it has had on the Isle Of Man; it's businesses and its people (not forgetting our mental health). Charities started collaborating where they never had before, and the community came together to help each other. We all have a personal story that has got us to where we are today. Other than Covid 19 have you had a life-changing moment? My guests share some of theirs.

All of my guests had their own unique story to tell so do listen to the Island Influencers podcast series in full if you can at https://www.thorntonfs.com/podcasts/ or search for Island Influencers in your favourite podcast player.

Here's this week's episode of Island Influencers - 2020 highlights (part 1)