Scale Her Up: Female business stories and expert tips for business growth and success

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Angela Mathis, co-founder and Managing Director of Think Tank Maths, a specialist mathematical-modelling company working at the sharp end of energy transition and sustainable space.

Angela explains, in wonderfully human terms, what her team actually does: building advanced models that help maximise every gust of wind in places like Shetland for hydrogen production, and creating space situational awareness tools that track thousands of satellites zooming around Earth at eight kilometres per second so they don’t smash into each other.

We talk about why she cares so deeply about sovereign capability – developing critical technology here rather than simply importing it – and how that led her from a global corporate career commercialising the internet to founding Think Tank Maths in Edinburgh, with a subsidiary in Norway and strong Franco-German partnerships.

Angela shares stories from across her career: working on CFC-free insulation materials long before “sustainability” was a buzzword, commercialising early data-storage tech, helping roll out the commercial internet in Europe, and now sitting on the Norwegian Space Cluster board while serving as President of the Scottish Energy Forum. Through it all runs a consistent thread: curiosity, courage and a refusal to accept “that’s just how it’s done”.

We also dive into Angela’s personal journey as a woman in high-tech industries. She talks about being nicknamed “Little Miss Trouble”, why that’s become a compliment in hindsight, how she deals with people who don’t trust or value women in leadership, and why she believes this is the moment for all of us to “act with agency” and create the world we want rather than waiting for others to fix it.

This is a fascinating, big-picture conversation about science, space, energy, diplomacy and entrepreneurship – grounded in very practical lessons about resilience, relationships and purpose-led leadership.

1. What Think Tank Maths does in practice:
2. Advanced modelling for energy transition projects, including using intermittent wind optimally for hydrogen production
3. Space situational awareness algorithms for tracking satellites in low Earth orbit and supporting sustainable, safe use of space
4. Why accurate modelling matters for both climate goals and national security
5. Angela’s international career journey:
6. Studying French and German and deliberately building a cross-border career
7. Early work at ICI on polyurethane foams and the transition away from CFCs
8. Commercialising the zip drive and data-storage tech across Europe
9. Helping roll out commercial internet services with PSI Net
10. The origin story of Think Tank Maths: a “Dragons’ Den”-style university spin-out panel that led her to co-found the company
11. Sovereign capability and why she chose to stop building value solely for US corporations and instead develop technology in the UK and Europe
12. Working across borders today: Norwegian subsidiary, Norwegian Space Cluster, Franco-German collaborations and space/energy diplomacy
13. Being a woman in high-tech sectors over several decades – what has changed and what still hasn’t
14. The nickname “Little Miss Trouble”, thinking beyond convention and why that mindset is a superpower in innovation and entrepreneurship
15. Choosing your battles, knowing when to walk away from cultures that don’t trust you, and preserving your energy for places where you can have impact
16. The importance of languages, curiosity and staying close to science even if you’re not the mathematician yourself
17. Angela’s call to other women: surround yourself with energising peers, move on from roles that drain you and act with purpose and agency in 2026 and beyond

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Lynne Reeves, Managing Director of Motion Software, an Aberdeen-based company that provides inspection and compliance software to clients in oil and gas, renewables, construction, insurance and even live events and entertainment. If a piece of kit needs a safety certificate – from lifting gear on an offshore platform to rigging and lighting at a major event – there’s a good chance an inspector is using Motion’s software to do it. Lynne Reeves

Lynne shares her career journey from trainer at leisure software company Gladstone, to project manager, head of operations and ultimately MD of Motion Software after both businesses were acquired by Canadian group Jonas Software. She talks honestly about what Jonas got right in their acquisition approach – especially investing in peoplethrough leadership programmes, coaching and a strong “people are our greatest asset” culture – and how that opened doors she never imagined.

We dig into what it’s like to lead a hybrid, geographically spread team of 17 people across Aberdeen, Wales, Birmingham and offshore in Pakistan, and how she keeps connection and culture alive when not everyone is in the office. Lynne explains how she approaches hiring for culture fit, why she tests candidates in mixed in-person/online scenarios, and how important it is to trust your gut and wait for “the right bum on the right seat” instead of rushing to fill a vacancy.

Lynne also reflects on her own growth as a leader – from being very focused on her own department to taking the 10,000-foot view across sales, R&D, operations and finance. She shares how external coaching helped her unpick imposter syndrome, build confidence and become an advocate for neurodiversity in the workplace, including bringing in training for the whole Motion team.

Throughout the conversation, there are powerful messages about self-belief, taking opportunities even when they feel uncomfortable, and building support networks so leadership doesn’t feel so lonely at the top. Lynne’s mantra is simple: get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and don’t try to do it all alone.

1. What Motion Software does and how its inspection and compliance tools are used across heavy industry, insurance and entertainment
2. Lynne’s journey from software trainer to project manager, head of operations and finally Managing Director
3. How acquisition by Jonas Software created new opportunities through leadership programmes, mentoring and investment in people
4. What “people are our greatest asset” looks like in practice, not just as a slogan
5. Leading a hybrid team spread across Aberdeen, the rest of the UK and offshore, and why face-to-face time still matters
6. Hiring for culture fit: staged interviews, mixing in-person and online panels and trusting your gut
7. The importance of saying no to the wrong hire and waiting for the right person
8. How Lynne shifted from focusing on her own function to seeing the whole business system and trade-offs between departments
9. Spinning plates, deciding which “plates” can be allowed to drop and which really can’t
10. Working with an external coach to tackle imposter syndrome and shift perspective on her own capabilities
11. Why neurodiversity in the workplace matters to Lynne and how she’s raising awareness in Motion Software
12. Empowering people to make decisions, delegating without abdicating and backing her team even when head office pushes back
13. The value of peer support: learning from other MDs across the group, sharing experiences and avoiding “lonely at the top” leadership
14. Lynne’s advice to her younger self and to other women in business: take the opportunities, even when they scare you, and believe you can grow into them

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Gael Simpson, personal trainer, menopause movement coach and former senior education leader. After more than 20 years as a teacher, head teacher and local authority leader for health and wellbeing, Gael has completely redesigned her career around movement, resilience and workplace wellbeing.

Gael shares her journey from primary teaching to headship, then into a strategic quality improvement role where she led health and wellbeing, physical activity and mental health initiatives across Aberdeen schools – including introducing the Daily Mile and helping create the city’s Mental Health Collaborative. She talks honestly about a later move into the NHS as lead specialist for wellbeing and development, why the culture wasn’t right for her, and the big decision to resign without another job lined up.

Alongside her education career, Gael and her partner were quietly running Tunnel Training Fitness, offering free outdoor fitness sessions to build community and remove cost barriers. After formalising her qualifications as a personal trainer and gym instructor, she decided to “take the bull by the horns” and launch her own business focused on personal training, outdoor classes and corporate wellbeing – with the mantra “healthy body, healthy mind, healthy business.”

Gael now works with individuals and organisations on fitness, lifestyle, resilience and menopause. She runs one-to-one and small group training, outdoor classes and two corporate programmes: one focused on individual wellbeing, and “Vibe with Your Tribe”, which helps teams build collective resilience, shared values and healthier everyday habits at work.

We also dive into menopause at work and for business owners. Gael explains the difference between perimenopause and menopause, the impact of symptoms like brain fog, poor sleep and low motivation, and why strength training, nutrition, rest and digital detoxes can make such a difference. She shares how leaders can support menopausal staff and talks about her six-session menopause movement programme and her free Resilience Alphabet resource for adults and young people.

This is an uplifting, practical conversation about listening to your values, backing yourself through big career change and finding your strength – whether that’s getting out of bed on a tough day, leading a team or running a marathon.

1. Gael’s 20+ year career in education: teacher, head teacher and local authority quality improvement manager
2. Leading health and wellbeing in schools: Daily Mile, physical activity initiatives and the Aberdeen City Mental Health Collaborative
3. A move into the NHS as lead specialist for wellbeing and development – and why the culture didn’t fit
4. The decision to resign without another job and the mindset and support network that made it possible
5. Running Tunnel Training Fitness: free outdoor fitness sessions that build community and remove cost barriers
6. Gaining personal training and gym instructor qualifications and launching her own business
7. The reality of early self-employment: financial uncertainty, being your own boss and the importance of networking
8. Corporate wellbeing offers:
9. Individual wellbeing sessions – reflection, priorities, lifestyle and showing up well at work
10. Vibe with Your Tribe – resilience, guiding principles, values, behaviours and collective non-negotiables
11. Why leadership role-modelling matters more than wellbeing posters or policies
12. Remote and hybrid working: the pros and cons, and how to make in-person days genuinely valuable
13. Gael’s work as a menopause movement coach: perimenopause symptoms, brain fog, sleep, motivation and weight gain
14. Practical menopause support for women: strength training, planned nutrition, rest, digital detox and self-compassion
15. How leaders can better support menopausal staff through conversations, one-to-ones and structured programmes
16. The Resilience Alphabet as a tool to help adults and young people build and understand resilience
17. Gael’s core values: person-centred, authentic, high integrity – and her mantra, “Find your strength within.”

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Catriona Smith, founder of Arden Property Management, an Edinburgh-based residential letting and property management agency celebrating its 20th year in business.

Catriona shares how she “accidentally” became a letting agent after careers in primary teaching and a family business, starting out with her own small portfolio and learning the industry on the job. What began as a practical next step has grown into a long-standing, values-led agency that focuses on service, relationships and doing the right thing for both landlords and tenants.

We dive into growth by acquisition – the steep learning curve of her first purchase, how later acquisitions became smoother, and why relationships with sellers, lenders, staff, landlords and contractors are at the heart of making them work. She talks candidly about funding deals without bricks-and-mortar assets, using cash flow, loans, personal guarantees and property security, and why honesty and no-retention deals have helped her retain more business.

Catriona also shares her perspective on property as an investment. She explains why investors need to treat buy-to-let as a business rather than an emotional purchase, the importance of speaking to a letting agent before buying, and how to think clearly about yield versus capital growth, risk, compliance and tenant realities.

Throughout the conversation, a strong theme emerges: people and relationships matter more than profit alone. From supporting long-term contractors and landlords to managing staff departures and acquisitions with care, Catriona has built a business where trust, service and mutual respect come first.

We finish with reflections on confidence, learning to forgive yourself and others for mistakes, and advice for women in business to believe in themselves, recognise the value of their life skills and not assume their gender is a barrier to starting or scaling a company.

1. How Catriona moved from teaching and a family business into starting Arden Property Management
2. Building a residential lettings agency in Edinburgh and why it is really a people and service business, not just about property
3. The emotional side of lettings for both landlords and tenants, and the role of a good agent as the “middle person”
4. Catriona’s journey into growth by acquisition and what she learned from buying several other agencies
5. Why relationships with sellers and lenders are crucial and how openness and trust improve retention after a deal
6. Funding acquisitions in a service business with few tangible assets: cash flow, bank loans, personal guarantees and using property as security
7. Choosing continuity: bringing staff across, respecting existing relationships and avoiding the “big bang” merger approach that can lose landlords and teams
8. Why Arden focuses on service and long-term relationships rather than treating landlords purely as an income stream
9. Practical advice for business owners thinking about investing in property: talk to a letting agent, treat it as a business and avoid buying with your heart
10. Understanding yield versus capital growth, and why high-spec refurbishments do not always give a good return in rentals
11. The challenges and rewards of building and leading a team, and why Catriona relies on conversation and gut instinct in recruitment
12. Flexing roles around people’s strengths instead of forcing everyone into rigid job descriptions
13. What Catriona has learned about herself over 20 years in business: being more forgiving of mistakes, staying realistic and valuing relationships
14. Her advice to her 18-year-old self and to other women thinking about starting or growing a business: believe in yourself more, do not go looking for disadvantages, and recognise the leadership skills gained from life and family

In this powerful episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Becca Pearce, executive coach, former healthcare CEO and author of You Don’t Have To Achieve To Be Loved: Escape the Lies You’ve Been Sold to Design the Life You Want. Becca shares her remarkable journey from leading the implementation of Obamacare in Maryland, to a very public job loss, to a life-threatening brain tumour and major surgery that left her having to learn to walk again – and how all of that ultimately led her to completely redefine success and redesign her life. Becca Pearce

She talks about landing back in a senior hospital role to “prove” she could still do it, only to realise that titles, money and corporate achievement no longer mattered in the same way. What she really wanted was time – like one more morning to put her daughter on the school bus. That realisation led her to quit, retrain as an executive coach and focus her work on high-achieving women who have done everything they were “supposed to do” and are quietly wondering, “Is this it?”

Becca introduces the core belief that shaped her life – “I must achieve in order to be loved” – and explains how many women carry similar unconscious rules such as “I must have a title to be respected” or “I must earn a certain amount to be valued.” She shares her change framework, starting with “unfortunate awareness” (that nagging sense something isn’t right), moving through mourning old identities, and into the “one foot in, one foot out” phase where social and emotional ties make change feel scary and sticky.

We also talk about boundaries, identity and perfectionism as a business owner: giving yourself grace, not “should-ing” all over yourself, and setting up a business that honours your values and needs – like Becca’s own non-negotiables of daily dog walks, daylight, no weekends and clear finish times. She offers practical advice on hiring support early, investing in yourself, and remembering that if you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant.

This is an honest, compassionate conversation for any woman who looks successful from the outside but feels restless, exhausted or disconnected on the inside – and is ready to start designing a life and business that truly fit who she is now.

1. Becca’s story: leading a major healthcare reform project, losing her job publicly and later discovering a golf-ball-sized brain tumour
2. Brain surgery, rehabilitation and coming back with partial deafness, vision and balance challenges – and what that taught her about what really matters
3. Returning to a big corporate role to prove she could still do it, then realising titles and money weren’t enough anymore
4. How she retrained as an executive coach and why she now focuses on successful women who feel like they’ve done everything “right” but are still unhappy
5. The core belief “I must achieve to be loved” and other common hidden rules women carry about worth, money and success
6. Her change model: unfortunate awareness, mourning old identities, one foot in/one foot out, and the reality that deep change takes years, not weeks
7. The power of identifying your true core values and needs today (not 10 or 20 years ago)
8. “Shoulding” on yourself and noticing phrases like “I should be happy” or “I should be further on than this”
9. Boundaries that protect your energy: non-negotiable daily habits, working hours and designing work around life
10. Perfectionism and analysis paralysis when you run your own business, and how to set time limits so decisions actually get made
11. Why hiring an assistant early is a strategic move, not a luxury – and how women often underinvest in themselves and their own support
12. The importance of self-compassion, giving yourself grace and accepting that your relationship with yourself changes when you become a business owner

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Saj Sharif, CEO and founder of Zen Consultants Limited, a multi-award-winning accountancy practice supporting around 700 clients with everything from self-assessment and VAT to payroll, CIS and management accounts.

Saj shares a powerful, very human business story. Once a stockbroker, she was signed off with ME/chronic fatigue and told she would never work in finance again. While recovering, she helped with her partner’s stonemasonry business, doing the accounts from home. After he passed away she closed the business – but the subcontractors kept coming back for their tax returns, and word of mouth quietly grew into a real firm.

While raising three children, fostering, and managing a growing client base, Saj went back to college and then university to qualify as an accountant, graduating in 2013. She took on her first part-time employee in 2014 and has been scaling ever since, now leading a team of 11 (soon to be 12). She talks honestly about the loneliness and responsibility of being a solo founder, and the reality of having to keep going when “life happens”.

We also explore what makes Zen Consultants truly “zen”: incense, plants, colour, hoodies instead of suits, plain-English communication and morning meditations in busy season. Saj shares how she has deliberately created a calm, compassionate culture where people can be themselves, talk about what is really going on in their lives and grow in confidence.

As a woman of colour in a male-dominated profession, Saj has heard “I thought you’d be a man” more times than she can count – but she no longer feels the need to prove anything to anyone. Instead she focuses on service, values and building a business that creates jobs, supports apprentices, works with schools on financial education and gives her children a powerful example of what’s possible.

This is a rich, honest conversation about resilience, culture, scaling a service business and staying grounded through it all.

1. What Zen Consultants actually does and how it grew from a handful of subcontractors to around 700 clients
2. Saj’s journey from stockbroker to ME diagnosis, interior design student and eventually qualified accountant and founder
3. Growing a business while raising three children, fostering and studying at college and university
4. Taking on the first employee, then building and leading a team of 11 and counting
5. The reality of being a solo CEO: responsibility, burnout scares, grief and carrying the weight of salaries, leases and client obligations
6. The perks of business ownership: flexibility, financial rewards, travel and the pride of creating jobs
7. The five foundations she relies on: structure, transparency, team bonding, reward and budgeting
8. How she builds a “zen” culture in an accountancy practice: meditation, music, colour, plants, hoodies and no jargon
9. Recruitment lessons: skills and personality tests, culture fit, banter, inclusivity and trusting your intuition
10. Being a woman and an ethnic minority in a male-dominated industry, and how her response to bias has changed over time
11. Handling mistakes and client loss as learning opportunities while always backing her team
12. Saj’s parallel passion project, Zen Community: coaching, hypnotherapy, sound healing and shamanic work to help people release trauma
13. The role of networking and support networks: chambers of commerce, HR and legal helplines, boards and advisory groups
14. Her advice to women considering starting or scaling a business: do not hesitate, find your people and remember it will work out

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Cecilia Righini, founder of Studio Lutalica, a queer, feminist, neurodivergent-led design agency and community interest company. Lutalica creates branding, websites and editorial design for feminist and LGBTQ+ organisations and founders, with a strong focus on lived experience, values and community impact.

Cecilia shares how years of discrimination and microaggressions in traditional workplaces pushed them to create a studio where queer and trans people, and other marginalised identities, can feel safe, respected and fully themselves. They talk about the power of niching deeply – working specifically with feminist and LGBTQ+ communities – and why that has been one of the best decisions for both impact and business growth.

We explore what “professionalism” really means when you strip away suits and dress codes and instead prioritise respect, reliability and good work. Cecilia explains how Lutalica matches projects to designers with relevant lived experience, why being comfortable can unlock creativity, and how honesty about neurodivergence in the team (including ADHD and autism) helps everyone work better.

Cecilia also breaks down the decision to move from a limited company to a community interest company (CIC) so Lutalica could operate as a nonprofit, reinvesting surplus into pro bono and low-cost design support for grassroots organisations. They explain the difference between a CIC and a charity, why political voice matters, and how the studio is building a more structured community impact programme.

We talk about feminism, systems that were never designed with people like us in mind, and the reality of founding while neurodivergent – from masking and burnout to finally getting an ADHD diagnosis. Cecilia shares the importance of trusting your gut, choosing support that aligns with your values and building an internal support system through your team, board and community.

This is a thoughtful, energising conversation about designing businesses around who you really are, centring marginalised communities and letting your values drive both your work and your growth.

1. What Studio Lutalica does and why it focuses on feminist and LGBTQ+ communities
2. How niching deeply actually helped the studio grow faster and become more visible
3. Creating a workplace where queer, trans and neurodivergent people can show up without masks or constant explanation
4. Redefining “professionalism” around respect, reliability and good work rather than suits and stereotypes
5. Matching clients and projects with designers who share relevant lived experience
6. Cecilia’s experience of discrimination in previous jobs and why they needed to create their own space
7. Discovering ADHD and autism as a founder and how that changed their understanding of work, burnout and boundaries
8. Why so many neurodivergent people start businesses and what structures can make that sustainable
9. Moving from a limited company to a CIC and what being a nonprofit actually means in practice
10. The difference between a CIC and a charity, and why retaining a political voice mattered
11. Using surplus to fund pro bono and low-cost design and building a structured community impact programme
12. Feminism, intersectionality and questioning systems that were never designed for women, queer people or neurodivergent people
13. Building a support network: team, freelancers, mentors, accelerators, business advisers and a values-aligned managing director
14. The advice Cecilia would give their 18-year-old self: you will find your place, keep trying and trust that it will come together

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined again by Margaret Brown, executive leadership coach, organisational development specialist and now author of Culture Pays – a book that has been 20 years in the making.

With over 35 years’ experience working across engineering, energy, IT, construction, professional services and global corporates, Margaret has seen first-hand how much leadership and culture impact performance, profit and people’s lives at work. She shares why she believes we’re facing a global leadership crisis, and how the way leaders show up – in businesses as well as in politics and institutions – shapes everything from wellbeing to the bottom line.

Margaret introduces her 5 Ls leadership model from Culture Pays – Listen, Learn, Lead, Leverage and Live (your values) – plus a powerful final L: Legacy. She explains how listening deeply to employees, learning from what they actually say, leading with a compelling vision, leveraging people’s strengths and truly living your stated values can transform culture from “nice words on a wall” into a genuine competitive advantage.

We dig into the hard numbers behind culture, including Gallup research on quiet quitting and why disengagement is costing the global economy trillions. Margaret shares what she hears in confidential focus groups – staff who feel unheard, undervalued and disconnected from their organisation’s values – and how leaders can start turning that around with better feedback, recognition and everyday conversations.

This is a practical, optimistic conversation for founders and leaders who suspect their culture could be stronger, want to keep great people, and are ready to become the kind of leaders others would happily take a pay cut to follow. Margaret Brown

1. Why Margaret finally wrote Culture Pays after 20 years of thinking about it
2. The business case for culture: engagement, retention, productivity and profit, not “fluffy stuff”
3. The global leadership crisis and why she focuses on leader, not party in any context
4. Gallup research on quiet quitting, the cost of disengagement and why over half of employees consider leaving
5. What Margaret hears when she goes “undercover boss” – running focus groups and one-to-ones with employees
6. The 5 Ls leadership model:
7. Listen – to the business, to your people, to what is and isn’t being said
8. Learn – from feedback, data and mistakes instead of defending or explaining them away
9. Lead – with a clear, exciting vision and everyday conversations that connect people to it
10. Leverage – people’s strengths, potential and diversity of thought so more than 9% of their talent is used
11. Live – your values in real decisions, not just in posters and elevator graphics
12. The final L: Legacy – how you want to be remembered as a leader and the impact you leave on people’s lives
13. Why most leaders are well-intentioned but unaware – and how awareness shifts everything
14. Promotion mistakes: elevating brilliant technical experts into people management with no support or training
15. The true cost of attrition and why people usually leave leaders, not jobs
16. Practical ways to make culture work “on Monday morning”: reflection questions, action tips and small everyday habits from the book

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Katrina Walker, co-founder of A Flat In Town, a central Edinburgh letting agency that has been “letting with heart” for 20 years. Starting as a temp in a small letting business, Katrina fell in love with the variety, the people and the privilege of being trusted with someone’s home – and eventually decided to build her own agency.

Katrina shares how A Flat In Town grew from a simple idea in her mid-twenties into a long-standing business that truly cares for both landlords and tenants. She talks about the joy of seeing tenants turn an empty flat into a home, and why she has always approached letting from the perspective of being both a landlord and a former tenant herself. “Letting with heart” is not just a tagline – it’s how she and her team work every day.

We dive into what it really looks like to build a business around the life you want. Katrina and her business partner factored potential children into their very first five-year plan, and she is honest about the juggle of nursery runs, school hours, sick days and being the last parent at pick-up while trying to run a professional service. She shares how business ownership has given her flexibility, and how that has shaped the way she now supports her own team as an employer and mum of two teenagers.

Katrina also talks about navigating regulation, doing things to best practice not bare minimum, and the reality of managing people – from brilliant team members to the occasional hire who reveals outdated views about women working. She explains why outsourcing HR and legal support was a turning point, and how a strong business partner, supportive husband and trusted friends have been crucial parts of her support network.

After years of relying on word-of-mouth, Katrina has recently stepped into more networking and visibility. She shares how getting out of the office has brought fresh ideas, confidence and a reminder that 20 years in business is an achievement to be proud of. Her message to other women is clear: let your business serve your life, listen to your gut, use your support network and give yourself permission to plan a future you’ll actually enjoy.

1. How Katrina fell into letting after university and why small-business experience was the best possible training
2. The story of A Flat In Town and what “letting with heart” means in practice for landlords and tenants
3. Why home and community matter so much to her, and the satisfaction of seeing tenants turn empty flats into real homes
4. Building a business in your mid-twenties and consciously planning around future family life
5. The honest reality of the juggle: nursery pick-ups, school hours, sick kids and late-night work
6. How being a business owner created flexibility – and how that now shapes the policies she offers her staff
7. The impact of an all-female team, hiring for attitude and fit, and learning to trust your instinct in recruitment
8. Dealing with sexism and unhelpful attitudes, and why bringing in external HR and legal support was so important
9. Working in a regulated sector and choosing best practice over bare minimum from day one
10. The value of five-year plans, setting clear targets and writing them on the wall for the whole team
11. Discovering networking later in the journey and finding it energising rather than intimidating
12. The importance of rest, listening to your body’s warning signs and letting your business support a life you actually want

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Gayle Thomson, Employer Engagement Advisor in the Careers and Employability Service at the University of Aberdeen. Gayle works at the heart of the university’s strategy to expand work-based learning, connecting employers with students through internships, part-time roles, volunteering, mentoring and short-term shadowing opportunities.

Gayle explains why real-world experience is so important for students’ employability and confidence – and why it’s a genuine win–win for businesses too. She breaks down the university’s part-time, term-time internship programme: 70 hours over seven weeks, fully funded for SMEs and charities, with all the recruitment admin handled by the university. We talk about the impact on small businesses, using Brenda’s own podcast intern as a live example.

We also dive into Gayle’s 25-year career journey in careers and employability – from community careers work and 22 years as a careers adviser at RGU, to a full pivot into employer engagement at the University of Aberdeen. She shares how she went from walking round Granite Expo without speaking to anyone, to becoming a confident networker who now happily works a room and sees value in every conversation.

Another big theme in this episode is volunteering. Gayle talks about her long-standing commitment to charities including Befriend a Child, Team Jak, Marie Curie, Maggie’s, Clan, Charlie House and the transformational experience of helping deliver the Tall Ships event in Aberdeen. She shares how volunteering supported her through personal change, why it’s so rewarding, and how business owners and busy professionals can still find realistic ways to get involved. Gayle Thomson

If you’re a business owner curious about hosting an intern, looking to deepen your talent pipeline, or wondering how to build volunteering into your life and business, this conversation is full of uplifting, practical insight.

1. What an Employer Engagement Advisor actually does and how Gayle works with employers to create opportunities for students
2. The university’s push for more work-based learning: internships, volunteering, part-time jobs, mentoring and shadowing
3. How the part-time, term-time internship scheme works: 70 hours, 10 hours a week, fully funded and admin-light for employers
4. Why these internships are especially valuable for SMEs, charities and creative or cultural organisations
5. The “win–win” stories: students gaining experience and confidence while employers get real projects delivered and often retain interns afterwards
6. Gayle’s 25-year careers journey across Step Ahead/Skills Development Scotland, the University of Aberdeen, RGU and back to Aberdeen in a new role
7. How she transformed her relationship with networking – from wanting to leave an event to confidently talking to every stand in the room
8. The power of LinkedIn and long-term relationships between universities, students and employers
9. Gayle’s volunteering story: from Sunday school and Brownies to Befriend a Child, cancer charities, Team Jak, Tall Ships and more
10. Why charities are so vital to communities and how events rely on volunteers to run
11. Practical encouragement for people who think they “don’t have time” to volunteer – and how to involve friends, family, partners and even dogs
12. Her message about pushing out of your comfort zone, trying new things and letting that shape your confidence and career