Raise The Bar

My guest today is Eleanor O’Leary, founder of The Better Brand Consultant.Eleanor works with brands and business leaders to develop and execute conscious PR and communication strategies with purpose and integrity at their core.In this episode, Eleanor tells us the difference between sustainability, ethics and purpose, and what that means for those of us who are driving positive change and want to engage in meaningful and progressive conversations. We discuss the prevalence of eco-anxiety and ...

Today’s guest is Nancy Evbuomwan, business strategist and founder of Unikable.Nancy began her journey into entrepreneurship back in 2012, when she launched media startup Whisper London, a venture which subsequently had to close a few years later. In this episode, Nancy tells us about that experience, how they hadn’t developed a commercialisation strategy and ultimately had no end goal. There was a loyal readership and clear demand, but it was unsustainable financially.Nancy tells us how this ...

Today’s guest is Jasmine Douglas, the founder of entrepreneurs club Babes on Waves.Jasmine grew up in an entrepreneurial family that travelled the world, an experience that led her to constantly adapt and change who she was to fast fit in with those around her. This instability and cycle of toxic relationships caused Jazz to suffer from low confidence and self-esteem, which led to a radical self-development and healing practice which she now shares through the Babes on Waves platform.In this ...

Today’s guest is investment headhunter and diversity and inclusion strategist, Upasna Bhadhal. Upasna has worked with the biggest names in financial services including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Aviva and Coutts. In this episode, Upi tells us that, reassuringly, she has seen an uptick in demand for Diversity and Inclusion Training since the international Black Lives Matter protests in May of this year. She tells us what diverse recruitment really looks like and how to nurt...

Today’s guests are the incredibly talented duo and co-founders of The Hood, Amone Gbedemah and Maria Purcell. Amone and Maria met as colleagues at Facebook, before founding The Hood earlier this year, and are on a mission to ‘redesign the world with women in mind’. The first of their ventures has been to create a new pathway for girls to navigate and celebrate their periods.Part journal, part guide, Girlhood invites girls to capture their unique story of growing up while providing information...

Today’s guest is the wonderful and incredibly busy Mary Agbesanwa.How do I describe Mary? Well, she’s a management consultant currently leading the Fintech Scale Programme at PWC. Mary co-leads PwC’s Multicultural Business Network and was recently named EMpower’s Future Leader 2020 and awarded the title of McKinsey Inspire Next Generation Women Leader 2020.Mary also writes ‘A Millennial’s Diary’ blog on Medium and founded Now You’re Talking Network, a female millennial community which connect...

Today’s guest is Egbe Manton, lawyer and founder of Manton Legal Consultancy.In this episode Egbe tells us how she has built a successful law career, securing promotions by eliminating unconscious bias variables wherever possible, like the time she took off her wedding ring for a job interview.Egbe tells us how contracts are fundamental to protect your business and create healthy boundaries with clients, ensuring everyone is on the same page and helping avoid scope creep.And despite the fact ...

Today’s guest is Kelly Mackenzie, founder of award-winning creative agency White Bear. In this episode we talk about what it takes to start and build an agency, and how to cultivate a culture of creativity remotely. Kelly tells us how her and the team have devised ways to find new ideas and get inspired when creativity has been lacking during lockdown. We discuss how to manage client expectations, the importance of upfront payment schedules and how to listen with curiosity to decipher your cl...

Today’s guest is Teach First ambassador and founder of education charity Seed Malawi, Rebecca Warner. Before I share more about our conversation, I must tell you that this episode comes with a trigger warning - we tackle the topic of child sexual abuse and rape, so please do listen with caution. In this episode, Rebecca tells us about how she founded international charity SEED Malawi and how they are challenging neocolonialist development.Neocolonialism is an extension and progression of cont...

Today’s guest is Bami Kuteyi, award Winning Entrepreneur, Princes Trust Young Ambassador and founder of fitness brand Bam Bam Boogie. Bami founded Bam Bam Boogie when she was just 22 years old and since then, has launched her own app and partnered with top global brands such as Facebook, Google, and Stripe. In this episode, Bami tells us about how and why she founded Bam Bam Boogie after experiencing imposter syndrome and anxiety at work. Bami was working for Google and wanted to introduce a ...