Raise The Bar

For this Christmas special there was no one better to join me than my brilliant friend, and returning guest, Upasna Bhadhal!Over the past two and a half years or so, Upi and I have shared offices, kept each other sane and generally picked each other up in the hardest of times, especially as covid rapidly affected our businesses and lives in such unexpected ways.I hope you enjoy listening, and more than that, I hope that you have a really restful and enjoyable Christmas and new year break - wh...

Hello! I’m really excited to introduce today’s guest to you, Jess Phillips MP.Jess almost needs no introduction. She is the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley and Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding. Jess has been an MP since 2015 and joined Keir Starmer's Opposition frontbench in 2020.I’ve hugely admired Jess’s tenacity from afar, but what I saw close up is the tenderness and generosity that makes her a great spokesperson and representative to so many. She was an absolute pl...

Welcome back to Raise The Bar! I'm so excited to be bringing you some new episodes with great guests!Today's episode is with behavioural neuroscientist Katherine Templar.As we near the end of 2021, burnout is at an all-time high and our resilience is at an all-time low. Two years since the first Covid case was reported in China, we are exhausted, and a large contributing factor is our low tolerance for uncertainty.In this episode, Katherine sheds light on how our brains evolved to prefer cert...

Hello! We're back... and we've decided not just to bring you a new series, but a whole new podcast!That's right; same host, same production team. But this time, focused on green innovation, uncovering the stories of those who are building our future.Introducing... What Does Green Really Mean? Climate change and environmental damage is our most pressing global challenge.Right now, greenwashing, eco-anxiety, global politics and misunderstanding are getting in the way of real progres...

This week meet Imogen Tazzyman, Executive Creative Director at McCann Manchester, a 370-strong marketing and communications agency.A few months ago, Imogen emailed me about the lack of diversity in the top roles in advertising. Despite the diversity and inclusion initiatives that many companies have rolled out over the past few years, the default leaders still tend to be white, male, straight and able-bodied.The truth is that that profile doesn’t represent the broad demographic of consumers i...

This week meet the founder of Radswan, Freddie Harrel. Freddie’s entrepreneurial journey began as a fashion and lifestyle influencer. A proud shapeshifter, hair is Freddie’s freest and earliest form of self-expression. But she struggled to find great afro hair products, and the market was both biased and constrained.Seeking to solve this problem for herself, Freddie sought out a supplier in China who could help her to develop a better quality hair product. Not long afterwards, demand was high...

This week meet the founder of Library Of Things, Emma Shaw. Library of Things is a women-led social enterprise on a mission to make borrowing better than buying. Alongside her co-founders Rebecca and Sophia, Emma is building a circular economy business model to provide an affordable alternative to buying occasional-use products, helping people save money and reduce waste. Members can borrow items like drills and sewing machines from self-serve kiosks installed in local libraries, high streets...

This week meet the founder and director of the Verve Group, Cathi Harrison.Over twelve years, Cathi has built four businesses under the group, repeatedly launching and scaling service-based businesses that now employ over 50 experts. The group offers a range of services from paraplanning and compliance to training and qualification, united under its mission to shout about the amazing roles in financial services and build career options for those who’d otherwise never consider it.Cathi’s appro...

This week meet Abbie Morris, the founder helping consumers make ethical and sustainable choices by verifying claims made by brands and retailers.Abbie founded Compare Ethics in 2018 and has since raised a pre-seed round of £441,000 through venture capital funds, led by Ascension Ventures. Abbie is a Woman in Innovation grant winner and was recently featured on BBC’s Dragon’s Den, where she won over both Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden.Before launching Compare Ethics, Abbie worked as a sustaina...

This week, meet the founder who is tackling the enormous problem of harmful content online, Sasha Haco.Along with a First Class Honours in Natural Sciences, Sasha was awarded the Institute of Astronomy Prize and the Queens’ College Natural Sciences Prize whilst at Cambridge University. She went on to complete a PhD in Theoretical Physics and spent a year as a visiting fellow at Harvard University. During his time, she worked with and co-authored several papers with Stephen Hawking on the blac...