The Impact Files

In an inspirational story of personal and business development, Ned and Ruth speak with Kim Wilson, Founder and Managing Director of North South Wines. From a simple idea and a handful of suppliers to importing 20 million bottles annually and achieving £40 million turnover, Kim shares the remarkable background behind one of the UK’s fastest-growing wine distributors.

Kim reflects on ‘falling in’ to the wine industry, the lessons she learned from FMCG sales training, and how North South Wines was built through strong partnerships, entrepreneurial drive, and a commitment to doing business differently.

A major focus of the conversation is North South Wines’ sustainability journey. Kim is honest about knowing little of the B Corp movement initially, but having recognised its transformative power and worked hard to become the UK’s first B Corp-certified wine distribution business, she transformed the company’s approach to people, profit, and environmental impact.

She discusses practical initiatives including lightweight wine bottles, supplier sustainability assessments, carbon literacy training, electric vehicle adoption, and employee volunteering programmes. North South Wines’ position as sustainability leaders in wine distribution means they have a powerful voice to influence others, and to lobby for needed change.  

North South Wines have a strong commercial tale to tell, and the discussion also explores the commercial case for sustainability, revealing how long-term investment in people, culture, and responsible business practices has strengthened profitability, customer loyalty, and brand differentiation in a highly competitive market.

Kim speaks candidly about her own challenges during COVID-19, including burnout and mental health struggles, and how that period ultimately helped reshape both her leadership style and the future direction of the business.  Strong employee engagement and an agile, positive company culture are interwoven with commitment to environmental sustainability, and together they drive an impressive story of commercial growth.

Visit North South Wines at: https://northsouthwines.co.uk/

Connect with Kim at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-wilson/

In this episode of The Impact Files, Rachel Foster, Founder and Director of certified B Corp The Agile Communications Agency, shares her journey from trainee print journalist to a leading exponent of agile methodology for communications and PR.

Rachel discusses how she built a purpose-led business helping organisations tackle ‘gnarly’ communications challenges around climate action, sustainability and community engagement. Her clients include the University of Oxford, the International Transition Plan Network, and major brands navigating sensitive stakeholder issues.

We hear how Rachel:

• Has developed a nationally recognised training programme with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), becoming a specialist in applying agile principles to PR and marketing;
• Has built a model that works for her and her clients, using a flexible network of specialist collaborators rather than a traditional agency structure which creates value for local creative businesses while delivering work for global organisations;
• Models her commitment to employee wellbeing and community contribution, operating a four-day week and delivering 100 hours a year of local volunteering;
• Believes storytelling will continue to matter, and sees how emerging technologies, AI and changing digital platforms are reshaping - but not replacing - the power of human communication.

Connect with Rachel at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-foster-agile/ 

Visit the Agile Communications Agency at: https://agilecomms.agency/

In this episode, Phil Korbel, co-founder of the Carbon Literacy Project, talks to Ned Wells and Ruth Davis about his remarkable journey from BBC radio producer to climate action pioneer, and how a simple idea in Manchester grew into a global movement.

Phil shares how a life-changing tandem cycle ride from Sydney to the UK sparked a lifelong commitment to sustainable development and community engagement.

After founding a charity focused on community radio and social inclusion, Phil became increasingly focused on climate change, driven in part by parenthood and a desire to answer an anticipated question from his daughters: ‘What did you do to stop this blooming mess?’

With that question as a spur, Phil was led to create the Carbon Literacy Project. Working on Manchester’s first Climate Action Plan, he recognised a critical gap: while organisations were discussing technologies and policies, few were thinking about how to engage people.

The result was Carbon Literacy, a practical, action-focused framework that equips people with the knowledge and confidence to take meaningful climate action in their workplace and beyond.

Since launching 13 years ago, the Carbon Literacy Project has certified more than 164,000 people across over 50 countries, spanning every continent, including Antarctica. Phil explains how the organisation’s adaptable model enables businesses, public sector organisations, educational institutions and communities to develop training tailored to their own context and challenges.

The conversation in this episode explores the business case for carbon literacy, the importance of workplace engagement, how climate action can reduce costs and attract talent, and why effective communication must focus on relevance rather than guilt. Phil also discusses the organisation’s ambitious goal of reaching one million carbon literate citizens by 2030 and the exciting opportunities ahead for international growth.

Visit Carbon Literacy Project at: https://carbonliteracy.com/

Connect with Phil at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-korbel/

In this episode, Phil Korbel, co-founder of the Carbon Literacy Project, talks to Ned Wells and Ruth Davis about his remarkable journey from BBC radio producer to climate action pioneer, and how a simple idea in Manchester grew into a global movement.

Phil shares how a life-changing tandem cycle ride from Sydney to the UK sparked a lifelong commitment to sustainable development and community engagement.

After founding a charity focused on community radio and social inclusion, Phil became increasingly focused on climate change, driven in part by parenthood and a desire to answer an anticipated question from his daughters: ‘What did you do to stop this blooming mess?’

With that question as a spur, Phil was led to create the Carbon Literacy Project. Working on Manchester’s first Climate Action Plan, he recognised a critical gap: while organisations were discussing technologies and policies, few were thinking about how to engage people.

The result was Carbon Literacy, a practical, action-focused framework that equips people with the knowledge and confidence to take meaningful climate action in their workplace and beyond.

Since launching 13 years ago, the Carbon Literacy Project has certified more than 164,000 people across over 50 countries, spanning every continent, including Antarctica. Phil explains how the organisation’s adaptable model enables businesses, public sector organisations, educational institutions and communities to develop training tailored to their own context and challenges.

The conversation in this episode explores the business case for carbon literacy, the importance of workplace engagement, how climate action can reduce costs and attract talent, and why effective communication must focus on relevance rather than guilt. Phil also discusses the organisation’s ambitious goal of reaching one million carbon literate citizens by 2030 and the exciting opportunities ahead for international growth.

Visit Carbon Literacy Project at: https://carbonliteracy.com/

Connect with Phil at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-korbel/

In this episode, Ned and Ruth are joined by Michelle Miles, founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance (SWA), to explore her entrepreneurial journey and how she is putting sustainability at the heart of the wedding industry.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Michelle left school at 16 and began her career in events and public relations, gaining early experience which included working for the House of Commons. In organising influential events, Michelle discovered the power of bringing people together. After years working across the events sector, she became increasingly aware of the environmental impact of large-scale events and began exploring how sustainability could be integrated into her work.

Following redundancy from a production agency role in 2009, Michelle launched her own event agency, Fusion, which remains successful today. Her growing passion for sustainability led her to create the Sustainable Wedding Alliance in 2020, initially as a community to connect like-minded wedding professionals who were until then working in silos.

From that starting point, Michelle’s identification of what the wedding industry was really crying out for led to SWA’s evolution into something more. It is now a membership organisation that provides sustainability training, accreditation, independent verification and ongoing support for wedding businesses. Michelle explains how the organisation works with more than 150 businesses, creating a ripple effect across thousands of weddings and industry professionals.

Michelle also discusses the balance between purpose and profitability, the importance of transparency and community, and why she believes collaboration is replacing competition within the wedding industry. Looking ahead, she shares her vision for a future where sustainable practices are the norm, and the Alliance can focus primarily on connecting and inspiring businesses rather than teaching sustainability fundamentals.

Visit Sustainable Wedding Alliance at: https://sustainableweddingalliance.com/

Connect with Michelle at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellemilesevents/

James Rutter has spent much of his career exploring how ideas can create meaningful change. Now Chief Strategy Officer at Cook, James began his career in business and finance journalism. While he enjoyed uncovering and shaping ideas, he increasingly questioned whether they truly mattered. A personal purpose exercise later helped him define his guiding principle: ‘to find, shape and share ideas that matter’.

The belief at Cook that business can and should be a force for good, has shaped both James’s career and the company’s growth. Over more than 15 years, he has helped guide the business’s strategy, culture and brand, and now seeks to share those lessons with other purpose-driven organisations.

Today, Cook employs around 2,000 people, generates approximately £150m in annual sales, operates four production kitchens and runs around 120 shops nationwide. James believes its success comes from aligning strategy, culture and brand: strategy provides clarity of direction, culture creates the energy to deliver it, and brand becomes the external expression of that culture.

Influenced by Simon Sinek’s work on purpose, Peter Drucker’s thinking on culture, and strategist Alex Smith’s distinction between ‘company story’ and ‘customer story’, James argues that memorable brands are built from authentic culture rather than marketing alone.

While Cook has long championed purpose and played a role in the growth of the B Corp movement in the UK, James is clear that customers ultimately buy great products, not missions. Purpose matters most when it strengthens the organisation behind an outstanding product or service.

Two themes run through James’s story: the importance of clarity in connecting impact and commercial goals, and the belief that long-term purpose requires the courage to stay focused through inevitable short-term setbacks.

Visit Cook at: https://www.cookfood.net/ 

Connect with James at: https://www.james-rutter.com/contact or https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-rutter-8972079/

Martin Knowles, Co-Founder of Sales Untangled®, tells us about a career in which he’s  moved from ‘avoiding sales roles’ to building a successful consultancy focused on ethical, relationship-led selling.

In this episode, Martin provides a thoughtful definition of ‘sustainable sales’.

He shares his experience of the way many business owners struggle with sales because traditional approaches often feel pushy and transactional. Through Sales Untangled®, Martin helps organisations develop more effective sales cultures by focusing on listening, understanding customer needs, and creating mutual value rather than simply pitching products or services.

Martin’s definition of sustainable sales includes the building of long-term relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, and communities. He argues that lasting business success comes from trust, curiosity, and genuine human connection.

The conversation also explores:

• Building sales functions that support sustainable growth
• The role of B Corp principles in responsible business practices
• How repeat business and referrals are driven by strong relationships
• The opportunities and challenges AI presents for sales and customer engagement
• Why human connection will remain essential despite advances in technology

Visit Sales Untangled® at: https://salesuntangled.co.uk/ 

Connect with Martin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinknowles/

Our guest Jon Berry’s personal story shines through everything he does as Managing Director of environmental consultancy Tyler Grange, which he co-founded 15 years ago. 

The phrase ‘origin story’ is overused, but Jon’s reflection on his experience of being born prematurely with low survival odds, has instilled in him a deep sense of purpose and giving back.

Inspired by a passionate geography teacher, Jon determined to pursue landscape architecture, kickstarting his career with a creative, self-made CV road trip that landed multiple job offers. A later period of burnout and isolation, after working for a large PLC where culture and purpose had eroded, became a turning point, motivating him to build a workplace centred on wellbeing, trust and community.

What began as a desire to ‘enjoy work again’ has grown into a 130-person business focused on ecology, arboriculture, landscape planning and green infrastructure,  helping clients navigate planning while restoring nature.

Tyler Grange operates a triple balance sheet for people, planet and profit. A certified B Corp, it uses the framework to improve accountability and reshape its supply chain towards ethical providers (e.g., Honest Mobile; refugee-led soap makers in Orkney), while introduction of a four-day work week has increased productivity and reduced sick leave significantly, demonstrating how purpose-led initiatives can drive commercial performance.

Culture is key: a ‘loud leadership’ model encourages all voices, while recruitment focuses on storytelling (‘ditch the CV, recruit a human’). The business invests heavily in wellbeing support and transparent communication, including open financial discussions and visible strategy.

Jon also leads The Kindness Forecast, a social experiment linking small acts of kindness to wider behavioural change. Jon cites among his influences The Second Mountain by David Brooks, and the work done by ‘nature on the board’ pioneers Faith in Nature.

Visit Tyler Grange  at: https://tylergrange.co.uk/

Connect with Jon at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-berry-65816510/

Our guest this episode is Jo Colman, Chief Mint Officer at Summerdown, and fourth-generation member of the family to steward their farm near Basingstoke, Hampshire. Jo’s career is rooted in heritage and reinvention: his grandfather, the last family member involved in Colman’s Mustard, revived the long‑lost Black Mitcham peppermint variety in the UK after sourcing cuttings from US growers.

What began as a half‑tennis‑court‑sized experiment has grown into around 100 acres of single‑estate peppermint, the foundation of Summerdown’s award‑winning chocolates, teas, bodycare and home fragrance.

Jo describes Summerdown as ‘the peppermint people’, but the business is far more than a brand. It is a vertically integrated farm‑to‑product operation: the team grows, harvests and distils peppermint on site, alongside chamomile, lavender and cereals.

Their oats are produced through a nature‑positive partnership with Jordans, requiring wildflower margins and land set aside for biodiversity. Manufacturing is carried out by long‑term UK partners before products return to the farm for fulfilment and distribution.

A defining theme of Jo’s leadership is the idea of ‘right‑sized growth’. He likens it to an oak tree: expansive in its early years, then regenerative rather than extractive once mature.

Summerdown’s strategy focuses on cutting carbon, connecting people with place, and cultivating natural stewardship - an approach reflected in its 75 km of hedgerows, rare wildflowers, and the return of species such as stone curlew.

When a long‑standing manufacturing partner collapsed, Summerdown faced a choice between cheaper commodity chocolate and a higher‑quality single‑origin chocolate from a fellow B Corp. The latter reduced margins but strengthened ethics, flavour and carbon performance—an easy decision once viewed through their value lens.

Two themes stand out: Jo’s belief that place is the heart of the brand, and his conviction that regenerative business requires taking the harder, longer‑term path to create shared value for land, people and partners.

Visit Summerdown at: https://summerdown.com/

Connect with Jo at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-c0/

Sarah Jordan, our guest this week, is the founder and CEO of Y.O.U Underwear, an ethical underwear brand created in 2016. Her mission? ‘Changing the world, one pair of pants at a time’!

While volunteering with the Uganda International Marathon, Sarah discovered that girls were missing up to 25% of their education because they didn’t own a pair of underwear. The realisation that something many of us take for granted  ‘has such an impact if you don’t have it’ became the catalyst for her work.

Sarah’s background is in the charity sector, including at Oxfam and the MS Society. Once she began researching how underwear is made, she was confronted with fashion’s toxic supply chains — pesticides, pollution, and widespread exploitation. She refused to ‘solve one problem and create another’, and built Y.O.U Underwear on a different foundation: Fairtrade‑certified organic cotton, SEDEX‑audited factories, and a commitment to paying everyone in the supply chain properly.

Y.O.U. operates a clear buy‑one‑give‑one model, donating each purchased pair through Smalls for All, to vulnerable women and girls in the UK and across Africa. Some collections also support communities in Kenya and Tanzania, and a pink range raises funds for breast cancer charities.

A defining theme in Sarah’s story is her personal and financial commitment. She has bootstrapped the business entirely, working freelance for years and returning to paid work recently. Stock purchase requires up-front spend, with Fairtrade cotton minimums and long lead times. Growth has been slow by design, but steady: Y.O.U Underwear now has a shop in Oxford, a second opening in Brighton in summer 2026, and annual turnover of around £350–370k, with over 10,000 pairs of underwear sold last year.

Sarah’s experience shows that slow fashion is structurally hard — but for her, doing things fairly is ‘the only way she can sleep at night’, and the only way business should be done.

Visit Y.O.U. at: https://www.youunderwear.com/

Connect with Sarah at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbjordan/