Mel Bound: Helping inactive women get moving

Our guest today is Mel Bound the founder of This Woman Runs (formerly This Mum Runs), the world's largest digital and in-person running community for women. 

Mel is driven by her vision to inspire women everywhere to enjoy the life-changing benefits of being active and in this inspiring episode shares her journey from a chronically asthmatic child to a successful entrepreneur.

We explore how what started as a local women's running group in Bristol in 2014 has evolved into a powerful, global movement for over a quarter of a million women.

Mel talks about her experiences of running health clubs in the fitness industry and how she recognised it’s actually a space that fails many women. We discuss Mel’s transition to working sports events at Alan Pascoe’s Fast Track in the 90’s, a place that provided the foundation for many leaders in sport today.  

Mel shares the accidental creation of This Mum Runs, the challenges of building a community, and the impact of COVID on its growth. 

We discuss the challenges female founders face in securing funding, the innovative strategies TWR has employed to grow the community-focused business, and the importance of creating supportive environments for female entrepreneurs in sport.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Episode Transcript

Sue Anstiss (00:04):
Hello and welcome to The Game Changers.
I'm Sue Anstiss, and this isthe podcast where you'll hear
from trailblazing women in sportwho are knocking down barriers
and challenging the status quofor women and girls everywhere.
What can we learn from theirjourneys as we explore key
issues around equality in sportand beyond?
I'd like to start with a verybig thank you to our partners,

(00:24):
Sport England, who support TheGame Changers podcast through a
National Lottery award.
I'm excited to say that in this, the 18th series of The Game
Changers, I'm talking tofounders and entrepreneurs the
women who have set uporganisations that help change
the landscape for all women andgirls in sport.

(00:45):
My guest today is Mel Bound, thefounder of This Woman Runs
formerly This Mum Runs, theworld's largest digital and
in-person running community forwomen, with a vision to inspire
women everywhere to enjoy thelife-changing benefits of being
active.
What started as a local women'srunning group in Bristol in

(01:08):
2014 has evolved into a powerfulglobal movement for women
everywhere.
So, Mel, I know your businessand your home are now based in
Bristol, but is that where yougrew up?

Mel Bound (01:19):
I grew up in Reading actually Sue a Berkshire girl as
well.
Yes, I was there for virtuallyall of my childhood actually and
then left and went toUniversity in Birmingham, moved
to London for work for a fewyears and then landed in Bristol
for love actually, initially,but then fell in love with the
city and have been here eversince.

Sue Anstiss (01:39):
And how was you mentioned the Birmingham
University?
But how was sport a part ofyour younger life growing up?
Was you mentioned that?

Mel Bound (01:44):
Birmingham University .
But how was sport a part ofyour younger life growing up?
Um, so I I my earliest memoryof sport actually is and I talk
about this, this story, a lot,because I think everyone assumes
when you work in sport you grewup always being the sporty kid
and actually as a youngster Iwas.
I was chronically asthmatic,and, um, it was in the 70s when,
when being asthmatic was notsomething that was easily

(02:05):
managed with you with theinhalers and things that we have
these days.
So I was the weird wheezy kidat school with allergies and,
you know, off school a lot, withvarious things going on with my
lungs.

(02:27):
Thinking GP who said to my mumthe best thing you can do for
her is to get her outdoors andbeing active and running would
be brilliant for her.
And so my mum really took thatto heart and before I knew it I
was kind of whisked off to theathletics club and every club
that she could kind of find tosign me up for.
And I also had a PE teacher atmy primary school who also kind
of took up the challenge andthrough that I discovered I was

(02:48):
actually quite good at runningand I went from being the
slightly weird wheezy kid tobeing, oh Mel's, the girl that
we want to pick first on the onthe school relay team or put on
the last leg, you know, forsports day, and suddenly it was.
Running was something that gaveme an identity from like kind
of feeling slightly othered andslightly bullied, running and

(03:11):
being the kind of kid that wasgood at running and the kid,
eventually the kid that wassporty, became a really
important part of my identityand carried on through my kind
of teen years and intouniversity when I chose to study
sports, sports science as mydegree as well.

Sue Anstiss (03:27):
How interesting is it that a doctor, as you say, in
the 70s, was so forwardthinking to recommend activity?

Mel Bound (03:34):
Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean, it's the original social
prescribing, isn't it?
It's, it's and it completelychanged my life, because I kind
of uncovered this thing that youknow it's still all these years
later gives me so much joy,it's still such a big part of my
identity.
All through my school years Iwas the sporty kid you know.
I just absolutely loved it,lived and breathed it and it

(03:57):
really I'm not even sure itwould have happened had it not
been for him suggesting that inthe first place yeah, yeah, yeah
, that's brilliant.

Sue Anstiss (04:04):
And you mentioned you took a similar path to me,
studying sports science atuniversity and then you worked
in the fitness industry and insports marketing, and I know you
were a graduate at Holmes Placeat a time when the fitness
industry was really growing.
So what was your experience ofthat like?

Mel Bound (04:21):
God it was.
Do you know, sue, it was madbecause you know, we were the
first.
First I was with a cohort ofgraduates, mostly from
Birmingham actually, and thereason for that was that our
boss at the time had also beenat Birmingham before us and he'd
joined Holmes Place in Chelseaand had risen through the ranks
really quickly as a great guy,nick, and so he had come up with

(04:43):
this idea of recruitinggraduates from the sports
science degree and training themto be managers of clubs.
But you know, we're 21 year oldgraduates, suddenly find
ourselves on the King's Road,you know, in a glamorous health
club, and you know so.
It was a real kind of work hard, play hard environment.
But what was amazing was thatwe were given so much

(05:06):
responsibility, so, so quick,like it was real responsibility,
it was on the job, learning,and it was kind of a deep
learning experience in prettymuch every area of the health
club business.
So we, you know, we'd start onthe gym floor as a gym
instructor, and then we'd learnabout gym management, and then
we went on to exercise, to music, and learned to become a

(05:28):
fitness exercise musicinstructor which I hated, I did
it and then we were managing thestudio timetable and then we
kind of progressed through toclub management and so there was
and it was a very acceleratedprocess as well.
You know it was over 18 months,a couple of years, and we were
you know, all of us that werepart of that cohort were either

(05:48):
assistant club managers or clubmanagers of multi-million pound
businesses.
Looking back at it, it was suchan amazing opportunity,
completely thrown in at the deepend, but what an amazing way to
learn the business.
One of the things I did takefrom it, though that I think in
a weird way has sort of led meto the work that I do now, is

(06:08):
that I really I really disagreedwith some of the fundamentals
of the fitness industry at thetime, which was really about
selling as many memberships aspossible, getting people in and
out the door, actually not evenreally caring whether people
came and used the gym.
You know you'd sell themembership and if they didn't
come, brilliant, because therewas more space to sell more
memberships and often writingprograms for people that you

(06:31):
knew weren't really going tohelp them with their goals,
because it was really about notover-utilizing certain machines
or getting people in and out ofthe gym space as quickly as you
could.
And I also think for women,those gym environments were not
always that positive.
It was very much about you know, it was very much about kind of
body, beautiful, and what youlook like and image, and skimpy

(06:53):
clothes and all of that which Iknow now can have such an
influence on how women feelabout being active.
So lots and lots of learningsfrom that early experience at
Homespace that I still use inthe work I do today.

Sue Anstiss (07:05):
I say you almost had a bit of an unsettling
feeling around that fitnessindustry.
Took me much longer to getthere myself.
I worked in it for another 15or so years.
But, um, but is that the reasonthat you didn't stay in the
sector?
Because clearly you'd had anamazing kind of starting out and
in that role, yeah, and I and Iwas doing really well and I was
offered um.

Mel Bound (07:25):
I actually studied German with my degree, so I did
German and sport and, um, I gotoffered the opportunity to go
over to Switzerland to to starta new club in Switzerland, which
is amazing.
You know, I was 23 years old,but part of my kind of.
I guess this was a personalgoal, but.
But I always planned to workfor two or three years out of

(07:45):
university and then go traveling.
So you know, I had loads ofcommission because I was often
in a sales role and I saved allmy money and I booked a round
the world ticket just before Igot offered this job in
Switzerland.
And I remember my boss at thetime saying to me you're crazy,
you're crazy not to take thisjob, and whatever you paid for

(08:08):
your ticket will give you themoney back for your ticket
because we really want you totake this, this role.
But, um, that was my plan andit was a real kind of heart and
head decision.
That's, that's really what Iwanted to do and so so off I
went, um and when I came back, Istill wanted to work in sport
in some way, but I, but I didn'twant to be in the fitness

(08:29):
industry, as it was then anymore.

Sue Anstiss (08:32):
And you went on to work in sports events in the
early days of Fast Track.
So, alan Pascoe's agency, canyou paint a picture of the the
sports industry at that point?
It was 20 years ago, yeah, Imean it got.

Mel Bound (08:44):
It was so competitive getting jobs in sport back then
, wasn't it?
There were just, you know,there just weren't that many
jobs outside of you know, likebeing a PE teacher or working in
the fitness industry.
So I remember seeing the advertfor that job and it was an
event manager job and I had noevent management experience at
all, but I really, really wantedthe job because there were

(09:04):
hundreds of people who appliedfor that role.
Um, I found out subsequentlyand I kind of winged it a little
bit and I remembered, um, Ithink it was a second interview
and I I knew I was probably abit of a dark horse because I
didn't really have directexperience for the role and I
made this powerpointpresentation that kind of showed
, um, how the skills I had fromworking in the health and

(09:27):
fitness industry weretransferable and obviously
managed to convince Michelle andTrish, who were interviewing me
, that I'd do an okay job.
But I just remember it being,you know, from the outside you
imagine it being reallyglamorous, don't you?
But my god, it's hard, it washard work and, you know, for six
months of the year I was awayfrom home, we were staying in
hotels, we were traveling, allthe time working incredibly long

(09:50):
hours.
But then you know event daywould come around and you know
the events we were doing withtelevised athletics events and
the.
The buzz for me, the buzz ofbeing in a in a stadium where
you had had a role in everysingle little detail that went
into that.
You know those, those umspectators experience was just
incredible.

(10:11):
It was the kind of it wasproper pinch me moment stuff,
but also incredibly hard work atthe same time.
But I think also, I think the,the, the kind of relationships
and the friendships I don't knowif you found this about that,
but the relationships and thefriendships that you make in
that kind of environment justlast a lifetime, because you go
through those experiencestogether.
You're away from home andtraveling a lot together in your

(10:34):
formative years.
You know all in our mid-20s andyou know those friendships last
a lifetime, I think.

Sue Anstiss (10:40):
I was going to mention that actually, because I
think Fast Track was anorganization where many great
people that are in the sportsindustry today, sort of you know
, paid their dues and workedthere, and it was lovely to see
you recently at Leaders Weekcatching up with Michelle Dyte,
who's now at Wimbledon, andreminiscing about your time
working there together.
So what do you think?
Obviously, you said it's thattravelling abroad and being

(11:01):
together, but what else was it?
Do you think about the cultureof that organisation?
Because from all I hear, itdoes feel like it was such a
powerful organisation.

Mel Bound (11:10):
Yeah, it was, and I think at the time when I joined,
I think Michelle was employeenumber four or something like
that and I was employee number15 or something and we were a
tiny team doing massive things,even just in terms of capacity.
But also, I mean, alan Pascoeis someone.

(11:31):
I mean he was such a visionaryreally in terms of athletics and
his vision for what it could beas a as a spectator sport, as
an in-stadium spectator event,and I think what we tried to do
as a team was reallygroundbreaking at the time.
You know, it was reallychallenging the way that people
experience track and field.
You know which historically.

(11:52):
You know you'd go to an eventand you might miss a world
record because there's so muchgoing on that you just might not
be looking in the rightdirection.
So everything that we did wasabout thinking about every
single touch point andexperience of that experience
that you have as a participantin the stadium as well as you
know how that conveys throughthe television screen and making

(12:14):
that as amazing as it could beand really breaking the rules
and challenging the norms of asport that was quite, quite
traditional, norms of a sportthat was quite, quite
traditional.
And I think what Alan gave uswas a lot of freedom to do that
and a lot of encouragement topush the boundaries and do
things differently, and ittranslated into PAP stadiums and

(12:34):
, you know, I think, an era ofathletics, where people knew who
who athletes were and they'dturn up to events because they
were excited about theexperience they were going to
have.
So I think all of us wereincredibly proud of the work and
it's fed into when I look atwhat everyone's out there doing
now.
It's definitely fed into thestuff that we're all out in the
world doing now, even 20 yearslater.

Sue Anstiss (12:56):
Yeah, how fabulous for him to know the impact he's
had on those people in theircareers too.
So what was your career paththen, after those early years
and the kind of traveling andthe events with fast track
through to the creation of whatwas then, this mum runs so I had
a bit of a weird 10 years afterfast track and that's, that's

(13:17):
because I moved out of Londonand at the time I did it really
naively.

Mel Bound (13:22):
I just assumed, oh, I'm gonna find I'll still be
able to find work in sportoutside of London.
But at the time that wasabsolutely not the case and I
moved to Bristol and I rememberlooking for a job in sport and
the only job was with WorldSnooker.
No, I don't really, you know,no, no kind of disrespect to
sneak about that.

(13:43):
I just didn't want to do that,having been, you know, working
in athletics and the work wewere doing a fast track and um,
so I found myself taking a bit,a bit of a kind of move into
more general events.
I spent the next 10 yearsworking my way up through events
, brand experience, um, brandmarketing agency world, um, you

(14:03):
know, with with some reallyfantastic clients.
You know, we did work on theManchester Commonwealth Games.
We worked with Reebok, we didcar launches for major brands,
we worked at tech companies youknow incredibly interesting
stuff.
And then the kind of latterlythe more kind of my guess, my
most recent role to what I donow.
I was a strategy director for abrand experience agency, which

(14:26):
meant I worked at board levelwith clients that were trying to
work out how to spend theirevent budget.
And I think it kind of has ledinto what I do now, because at
my core, I'm deeply interestedin people and what makes them
tick tick and in creatingexperiences that have an impact
on them in some way.

(14:47):
And that's that comes fromthose fast track days definitely
fed into the work I was doingin events, where it's really
about kind of understandingwhere people were at and what a
brand or organization wanted toachieve in terms of how they
felt, how they behaved, whatthey did or what they achieved
as employees or as customers oftheir brand.

(15:09):
And so I would kind of workreally deeply with chief
marketing officers and CEOs andboards around really challenging
that and thinking about okay,you're a tech company and
everyone sees you as a techcompany, but you want to be seen
as an innovation brand.
What do we need to do from anevent and experiential
perspective that's going toenable you to make that shift?

(15:30):
And it comes down to people andexperiences and the kind of
experiences that you deliver,that you deliver, and I guess
that feeds into everything thatI do.
Now.
I'm still as curious about thatand you know, obviously now we
create experiences for women andthat's in digital spaces and um
, in real life, through the,through the runs that we deliver
.
For me, the curiosity is stillabout how do we create something

(15:54):
with those experiences, a shiftwith those experiences, and how
people feel and what they doand how they behave and how they
interact with each other.
So it all sort of makes sense,even though I've kind of went
off on a bit of a tangent for 10years, yeah and what, then, was
the inspiration for this?
mum runs uh, do you know what itwas?
Um, it was such an accidentbecause I think I've always had

(16:16):
it in me to to start my ownbusiness.
I think I've.
I was a, I was a kid.
I remember as a kid I um, I'dhave all these little kind of
hustles going on, like I'd setup little stores in my back
garden, charge people to comealong and play things.
I'd created and had a littlecleaning business when I was 13
or something.
So I think I've always wantedand hankered after doing my own

(16:39):
thing, but I I could never haveimagined it would be this and
actually when I kind of at thevery beginning it was, I didn't
start out to set up a business.
It was 10 years ago.
I was, I had a, my daughter wasfour, my son was 10 months old.
As anyone with young kids willwill, you know, will say you

(17:00):
know, your own time just goesout the window.
Anything you might have donebefore you had kids in terms of
being being active becomesmassively challenging.
Definitely was for me, andadded to that, I also I had an
accident out running actuallywith my daughter and I slipped a
disc in my back and it led tohaving surgery and a year of
rehab, relearning how to walkand you know, all of that stuff

(17:23):
that I just shared with youabout my identity being around,
moving and running and beingactive just disappeared.
I basically was reallydepressed and I found being a
new mum really challenging and Ifound it quite lonely, quite
isolating.
I was a bit of an older mum.
I'd kind of go to a lot of thegroups and I didn't feel like I
had anything in common with thepeople I was meeting.

(17:44):
So I was struggling, I guess,and that was the context for all
of this.
I had a trainer at the time whowas doing my rehab and she was
actively encouraging me to startrunning again and I was
actively resisting it.
And I resisted it for some timebecause I was terrified that I
would injure myself again.
But this one day I justremember she'd kind of nudged me

(18:06):
again and I'd kind of gone okay, I'll try and find.
Maybe I'll try and find someoneelse locally, another woman who
doesn't have any time, that'sgot young kids, that's juggling
a lot of stuff, that's feelingunfit and a bit nervous Maybe I
can just find a buddy to go outrunning with.
So I put a post onto.

(18:30):
It was just like a mum's buyingand selling group sharing a bit
of that.
And I just said you know, if,if anyone would like to come and
meet me for a run, then I'mgoing to go and stand outside
the park on Wednesday night.
So that's what I did.
I always didn't go.
It was raining, it was November,it was cold.
My husband was literallyshoving me out the door and
thank god he did, because 75women turned up to meet me total

(18:51):
strangers, women I had nevermet, women that did not know
each other, came out of theirhouses on a rainy November night
to meet a total stranger to gofor a run and, aside from being
terrifying, it was just thatmassive light bulb moment of wow
, oh my God.
And as someone that's reallyinterested in people, you can
imagine the light bulb moment.

(19:12):
For me that was just like wow,there are all these women that
feel exactly the same way andthey've turned up.
And it's not even really aboutthe run.
We went for kind of 10 minuterun down a busy main road and
came back again.
We stood outside the park andwe talked for a long time, just
kind of chatted.
It was that real sense ofconnection that I think that's

(19:34):
the thing I remember the mostand I think that's the thing
that we all wanted to replicate.
We wanted to do it again, wewanted to meet the next week,
and that's where it all started.

Sue Anstiss (19:49):
And where were these women from?
Were they similar to you?
They were mothers, they were.

Mel Bound (19:51):
You know what was their running experience across
that group.
So they were.
They were all mums, but theinteresting thing was the chat
that we had was not about kids,it was about everything, but it
was almost like we were allcrying out just to step outside
our lives for a minute, and allthe stuff that comes with having
young children, and just be usand talk about stuff that has

(20:15):
nothing to do with our children.
That was kind of the kind ofreally interesting thing for me.
Most of them had done a bit ofrunning before, but all of them
had stopped for, you know, forone reason or another, so they
weren't women that wereregularly running already.
They were women that were kindof related to what I'd shared.
What was interesting, though,see, was and that was the origin

(20:35):
story but I often talk aboutthere's another moment about.
It was probably about twomonths later that I talk about
as the real origin story.
I'd gone home, set up a Facebookgroup, called it this mum runs
never said I'd never run acommunity, for I didn't know
what I was doing, but I set itup and it's, and women started
joining it, and more and morewomen were turning up to runs,
and women from other parts ofBristol were saying, oh, will

(20:56):
you start some runs for us?
I was kind of feeling reallyproud, um, like we were doing
something.
You know something really goodwas.
But I remember this kind ofnight really clearly because I
was putting my son to bed and myphone was on the stairs.
I just suddenly heard all ofthese notifications on my phone
and I thought God, what'shappened?

(21:17):
And when I looked at my phone,a woman had posted to say that
she joined the community andshe'd been following and she
really was really enjoyingseeing everyone's photos and
story you know stuff of us,stories of us going out running.
But this was her words aboutherself.
She said I'm a porky, unfit mumof two and I haven't moved off

(21:40):
the sofa for the last 20 years.
I just sit here drinking wine.
And hundreds of women hadreplied saying me too, that's
exactly how I feel.
And so all of these women hadkind of been drawn to the
community but didn't feel likethey could join in because they

(22:01):
weren't currently active and hadnever really been active.
And that was the game changermoment for me, because I felt a
deep empathy for those women,because I'd been in the same
position as them for the lastkind of you know two or three
years with my injury and as ayou know kind of coping with new
motherhood, but I'd also hadthe experience of the absolute

(22:22):
joy.
I'd also had the experience ofthe absolute joy of being active
.
And so I guess that was thestart of my mission of how do we
support women that feel likethat and how do we give them the
gift of the joyfulness thatcomes of being active and the
joyfulness of the kind offriendships and the connections

(22:43):
you make through being active.
And that was the start ofeverything.
It's the root of everythingthat even now, 10 years down the
line, that we still do.
It's really about understandingthose women and how they feel
and how hard it is when you'venever done it, you've never had
it it, and taking that firststep and thinking about the
experiences that the experiencethey need to have, whether it's

(23:07):
online or whether it's turningup to an in-person run for them
to feel welcome and for them tokeep coming back.

Sue Anstiss (23:13):
And that's that's driven absolutely everything
that we do and at what point didyou then take the opportunity,
that decision, to stop eithergoing back to corporate life or
taking another job and thenfully immerse yourself in that
world of running?

Mel Bound (23:27):
this mum runs so I think I had a bit of a sliding
doors moment because I so I hadgone.
I was still on maternity leaveat that point when it when we
first started.
But I went back to work and Ihad been while I was on
maternity leave, I'd beenoffered a promotion, but when I
got back to work it was takenaway.

(23:48):
Oh wow, I think a lot of womenmight relate to that sort of
story.
And so I kind of got back towork and I just thought why am I
doing this?
Because I had a job that meanta lot of traveling, meant me
being away from my kids a lot ofthe time, and in that moment I
just felt intensely undervaluedand obviously, at the same time,

(24:11):
I'm doing this work, this kindof it's not even work at this
point, but I'm building thisthing that's giving me massive.
It's massively rewarding andpurposeful and making a
difference.
So I kind of started thinkingabout I don't know, I really
want to be doing this all thetime, but I don't know how to
make that transition.
But I was heading up a teamthat was working on one client

(24:35):
and the client pulled theaccount from our agency.
So our entire team was put atrisk of redundancy and inside I
was thinking, brilliant, this isperfect timing.
So I went through a redundancyprocess, and this is the sliding
doors bit.
As I was going through theredundancy process, I was up one

(24:55):
night feeding my son and I wasscrolling on my phone through
Facebook, as people do, and anad came onto my feed for a
program called EntrepreneurialSpark, which was a program
supported by Nat West, wherethey you had to apply.
It was very dragon's den.
You didn't necessarily have tohave to have a kind of like a

(25:16):
functioning business, but youjust had to have an idea for a
business and I just, kind of ona whim, applied, you know,
one-handed my son in one handand I applied on my phone.
Anyway, I got my redundant andI started.
I got a place onEntrepreneurial Spark in pretty
much the same week and so thedecision was sort of taken for
me and I was suddenly immersedin this world of learning how to

(25:39):
be an entrepreneur.
Anyone that's kind of thinkingabout joining one of those
programs?
It's, honestly one of the bestthings I ever did.
It was amazing because it wasall about investing in you as an
entrepreneurial leader to youknow, develop an idea into a
successful and sustainablebusiness and I went.
If I had not done that, I don'tthink I'd been here where I am

(25:59):
now because I had no idea what Iwas doing.
I'd not done that, I don'tthink I'd been here where I am
now because I had no idea what Iwas doing.
I'd worked in businesses.
I'd made businesses a lot ofmoney, you know, I'd had big
roles, but I had never started abusiness from a black sheet of
paper and done all the thingsthat you have to do to get a
business up and running and allthe stuff that you you know that
I might hate doing but you know, just have to get on with.

(26:20):
I'm not sure, without the thatkind of support of that program
and the network that I builtthrough that program, whether I
would have got through the firsttwo or three years.
It was completely game-changing.
How long did it run for it's?
The initial program was sixmonths and we were the first
cohort.
So it was quite interestingbecause the entrepreneurial
spark was sort of building theplane and flying the plane, yeah

(26:40):
, at the same time.
Um, and it was brilliantbecause we were kind of the
guinea pigs, but we benefited.
There was so much we gainedfrom it.
So, for example, one of thethings um that was in that first
cohort that I think didn'tcontinue, doesn't continue now,
is that there was a big focus onpitching and learning how to
pitch your business effectively,and there was lots of cash

(27:00):
prizes for pitching competitions.
I was rubbish at pitching and itwas massively out of my comfort
zone.
I made myself do it because Iwanted to win the cash, and so I
won loads of cash, and therewas a few of us that at the end
of the six months, we thenapplied and we were able to
extend for another six months.
So we ended up staying, some ofus for two years, and that

(27:21):
meant we had office space and wewere able to extend for another
six months.
So we ended up staying, some ofus for two years, and that
meant we had office space.
We had weekly coaching withwhat they were called enablers,
kind of like business coaches,but also, more importantly, we
were part of this network ofother entrepreneurs that were
going on the same journey at thesame time, which is amazing.
It was such an amazingexperience, god.
I was properly winging it,though I you know.
I admit it now, but at the timewe had to go to these

(27:45):
enablement sessions every week,I just didn't know what I was
doing.
Like I I just and I didn't havethe confidence to say I don't
know what I'm doing.
And so I'd go into thesemeetings with sort of all
cobbled together information andif I had my time again, that
time again I would go in and bemuch.
I would be much more honest andsay I don't know how to do this
, yeah, and I'd ask thequestions and I'd ask for more

(28:06):
help, instead of feeling like Ihad to pretend like I knew
everything about everything yeah, how am I?

Sue Anstiss (28:12):
what an amazing.
That's a fantastic backing,isn't it for a, for an
initiative like that, to see theimpact it had?
So, in terms of the community,how has the community grown and
evolving over that?

Mel Bound (28:21):
well, it's almost a decade, isn't it next month, or
this month is a decade, yeah,yeah, well, we obviously started
with that one run, but we'renow a quarter of a million women
in 83 towns and cities, mostlyin the UK.
We've got a couple ofcommunities um outside of the UK
and we've got plans to to um toexpand outside the UK as well.
You know, it's been interestingbecause I remember hearing um a

(28:44):
talk, uh, in my kind of myearly days of being an
entrepreneur, by the guy thatset up pret a manger and he
shared a kind of personalanecdote of when they he had one
shop, one cafe, and he openedthe second pret a Manger and it
almost his entire businessalmost collapsed with the
expansion from two.
And that was that was myexperience as well.

(29:06):
So when we went from onecommunity in Bristol, I knew I
wanted to create this kind ofcommunity model that we could
put in any town or city in theworld and have confidence that
it would be positive experienceand that it could grow and be
sustainable.
But it took a long time to getto the point where we had two

(29:27):
communities and then you know,three, four, five, and I'd say
that kind of one to two wasparticularly hard um, because
you're kind of taking what's.
You know something that I'mpersonally very close to and
people know who I am and it'svery wedded to me and my

(29:47):
presence and then putting itsomewhere where I'm not, and we
have to work out how we you knowhow we can recruit and train
those local teams and, you know,have the right systems and
processes to know that thosedigital communities, but also
the kind of physical weekly runs, are actually going to operate
well.
And in a weird way, covid helpedus with that.
We actually we went into covidwith five communities and we

(30:08):
came out with 50, wow, wow.
Yeah, I know which is nuts, andI think the reason for that is
because we had closed down allof our.
We had to close down all of our,our in-person communities for
obvious reasons, so it meantthat I could just focus on
expanding our digital footprintand so over that period we
really nailed our playbook fordigital communities and then we

(30:32):
expanded really quickly, youknow, when we came out of the
worst of Covid and we could getback to being together in person
, we then kind of had to workout how to do the in-person bit
and make sure that was reallypositive.
And now I can say with someconfidence that you know we're
at Community 83.
We know how to recruit theright people, we know how to

(30:55):
train those digital communityleaders, support them to launch
a digital community, supportthem to build a local team of
volunteers and launch local runs, and know that it will have the
best possible chance ofsucceeding.
Sometimes it doesn't, but weknow that we've got the right
conditions now for it to havethe best chance of succeeding

(31:17):
and the experience for women inthose areas to be really, really
positive.

Sue Anstiss (31:21):
And what's your split now, then, in terms of
digital and in person?
Does each of those um different?
83 entities have digital and inperson?
Yeah, that's the model.

Mel Bound (31:30):
That's the model basically.
So the digital exists tosupport and enable the in person
, because we're really aboutbringing women together in
person and using digital to dothat.
So we've been operating onFacebook and we're in the
process of moving our entirecommunity to a new home, which
is our own app, and that willmean that we can start to

(31:52):
connect women around more thanjust where they live.
And that's the kind of nextphase of what we want to do is
to be because meaningfulconnection is our.
That's kind of what we'reoffering, and we know that women
want to connect around morethan just where they live.
So that might be their lifestage.
It might be, you know, they'veentered an event and they want
to connect with other women thatare training for that event, or

(32:13):
they're interested in nutrition, or they've got an injury and
they want to be in a space withother women that are recovering
from injuries or illnesses orwhatever.
And so the purpose of the newapp is to bring all of our women
, the women that are kind ofpart of our 83 communities, into
one space.
They'll still be able toconnect with their local
communities and find their localruns, but they'll also now be

(32:34):
able to connect in a digital wayaround all those other things
as well.
So we're just learning aboutyou know how to do that.

Sue Anstiss (32:43):
And I guess all those things and you've
obviously rebranded from thisMum Runs to this Woman Runs this
year as well to All Tape Moneyand Investment.
So where have you found thatfunding?
What's that process been likefor you over the last decade?

Mel Bound (32:57):
Oh, wow, it's a loaded question.
Yeah, it's a loaded question.
Yeah, it's.
It's a loaded question because,as we know it's, you know it's,
it's that's it's incrediblyhard as a female founder to to
unlock money.
Less than two percent of equityfunding goes into female
founded businesses, about thesame from philanthropic funding

(33:18):
as well.
So you know, there's not a lotof cash going into female
founded businesses and there'ssome brilliant businesses, and
so you're, you know you're kindof in this competitive space,
which is which is challenging,you name it.
So I've done it so, and thefirst phase for us was that we,
so we crowdfunded, and and I didthat it was quite a deliberate

(33:39):
move because we're obviously abusiness that's all about
community and we're all aboutfree programs and we're all
about volunteers.
However, we need money to growand our mission is massive and
we want to grow a communitythat's global and can reach
women all around the world, andthat takes cash, and so I took
the decision deliberately tocreate a company around our

(34:01):
community, because I knew thatwe would need, probably
diversified, lots of differentways to bring money in, and so,
when I set up that company, Icrowdfunded to sell 10% of the
company to the community andthat felt really in terms of my
own personal values.
That felt really important.
I'm giving women in ourcommunity skin in the game.

(34:23):
I'm giving them the opportunityto financially invest in
something that means somethingto them and hopefully, at some
point we'll be able to.
You know, they'll get a returnon their investment.
That was the first thing we didso.
When was that?
When was that?
How long ago was that?
Oh my god, ish, 2016, somethinglike that.
At the time, we were the, wewere, we funded, we crowdfunded

(34:46):
on the crowd key platform and atthe time, we were the fastest
funded female business with thehighest percentage of female
investors.
Wow, wow, which is amazing.
Yeah, we, we were like we'd hitour target within about uh,
within less than 48 hours, whichis amazing.
Yeah, I mean, we, we were likewe'd hit our target within about
uh, within less than 48 hours,which is amazing.
Since then, we've done twoinvestment rounds with angel

(35:09):
investors, with a uh, localangel investment network called
bristol private equity, who werebrilliant and, um, kind of real
.
I'd say they were real kind ofearly early adopters and
believers in our mission,because it certainly with the
first round, it was still fairlyearly days and we were still
kind of navigating ourcommercial model and you know

(35:31):
and and we were still only inbristol at the time as well, so
the community was relativelysmall.
So they, what they saw was theambition and my drive to achieve
that ambition, I think wasprobably, was probably what they
invested in and we did a secondround with them as well, which
is brilliant.
We've had grant funding.
So actually the growth that weachieved over COVID was largely

(35:54):
due to funding we received fromSport England and that was all
invested in building out ourvolunteer workforce, growing our
volunteer workforce andexpanding our free programs.
And then the two other things todate have been retail.
So we have a merchandisebusiness that started because

(36:17):
women that were running with uswanted to be able to recognize
each other when they were out onruns, and so we started making
some t-shirts.
I was listening to Kelly'spodcast yesterday actually when
she said she she ordered 4,000pairs of pants.
It was a similar story.
I had like a garage full oft-shirts thinking god, I hate
someone buys these t-shirts.
I don't know what's going tohappen, but I couldn't produce
them fast enough like it.

(36:37):
It was a surprise how quicklyit grew and actually it was one
of the ways that we grew as abrand and we started to reach
women like we shipped ourt-shirts.
At one point we shipped, wewere shipping to 30 40 countries
around the world, so women werecoming into the brand and into
the community through our merch,which was amazing.
And then partnerships for ushave been really important as
well.

(36:57):
We've um just entered into asecond three-year partnership
with vitality, who've beenmassive champions yeah, they've
been amazing, you know.
Obviously they investincredible amounts of money into
women's sport and um have beenincredibly supportive to us.
As you know, the community armof of that and we kind of we fit

(37:17):
really neatly in with whatthey're doing with parkrun and
what they're doing with theVitality 10K and with what
they're doing with women morewidely.
So that overall, you know,we've got this kind of six year
partnership with them, which isamazing and that's a big focus
for us to grow actually.
So we're currently activelytalking to some really cool
partners that we're going tobring on board for the next

(37:38):
phase of our journey, which wehope will unlock the kind of big
commercial engine for us whichwe think is going to be around
coaching and coach education.
But that's where I kind ofwatch this space and news coming
soon on that.

Sue Anstiss (37:50):
Excellent and is that whole?
It's quite a disparate.
You know, some partnerships,some merch, some different areas
and parts.
Is that a choice, like lookingback, is that the right decision
to have that variety ofinvestment?
Or actually would you be muchhappier if you've had somebody
come along and said here you go,mel, million quid off you go.
I would be much happier.

Mel Bound (38:10):
See, I would be much happier.
It's, um, it's been reallychallenging because I think with
each you know revenue streamwhether it's been through retail
or grant funding or partnershipfunding usually what it's given
us is a cash runway of a yearmaybe two years if we're lucky

(38:30):
and so you get the money andthen you're sprinting as hard as
you can to grow before you haveto then start the whole process
again of reapplying or kind ofsecuring that ongoing funding or
thinking about marketing, ifit's you know your own revenue
streams, and that's incrediblychallenging, I think it's.
You know, like, like, like Bazwas saying, I think, when in in

(38:53):
her interview a few days ago,you know when you're doing
something that's reallypioneering.
You know, like, like the WellHQ are doing and like we're
doing where you're, you know,effectively creating a new
category in a different way ofdoing things, that kind of magic
wand of someone giving you amillion quid or three million
quid or whatever it is you needto do to really kind of light

(39:14):
the touch paper is verychallenging.
It certainly was 10 years ago.
Maybe things are starting tochange a little bit.
Fingers crossed, you know thelandscape is very different now,
but you have to hustle.
Um, so it does mean that thiskind of slightly diversified,
slightly inefficient model ofrevenue coming from lots of
different places and different,you know, lots of different
relationships that you have tomanage and that constant eye to

(39:36):
cash flow and you know, you knowwhat it's like of right.
Okay, where's our runway?
What can we invest in?
Can I add to the team?
Can I invest in marketing?
Okay, bring that partnership onboard.
Now I can do that.
It's a little bit like that andthat's incredibly challenging
and I think also it is thatwhole.

Sue Anstiss (39:54):
you've got to invest the time.

Mel Bound (40:06):
It's the time you've got to spend finding that money
that you could be focusing onthe business and growing and
doing good, but actually it's,you know, those meetings and
partnerships and then reportingetc, too, isn't it?
Yeah, exactly, I think so.
Where we're trying to get to,the absolute holy grail for me
is to not need money from anyone, that we're completely
self-sustainable and that we'regenerating enough of our own
revenue that we can, you know,grow and be self-sustaining.
But also we've got investorsthat we can start to, you know,
think about returning, you know,giving them their return on

(40:29):
investment as well.
We're not far off being at thatpoint the kind of the things
that we've done over the lastcouple of years with the new
brand, with the move to theplatform, the way that we're now
operating our retail business,with some bigger partnerships
that we're bringing on boardthat give us longer, you know,
longer.
We're nearly at the point wherewe can really invest the time

(40:50):
and energy and resource into thecommercial model that we think
is going to give us thatlong-term growth and
sustainability.
But God, look how long it'staken us.
You know there's no overnightsuccess, unfortunately.

Sue Anstiss (41:04):
I said, many of the women I've spoken to for the
series find great support inworking with co-founders, but
you've been a kind of soloentrepreneur and CEO from the
start, so was that a consciousdecision for you?

Mel Bound (41:17):
I don't think it was conscious and then it was just
too late to change it.
Um, I do so.
I think about that a lotbecause it is lonely, I'm not
having anyone to bounce ideasoff or null through problems,
but what I do have is an amazingboard, yeah, and so, um, in
Jenny, ruth and Nikki, who arekind of my core board members,

(41:40):
they act almost like co-founders.
Obviously they're responsiblefor governance and they do all
the board stuff, but therelationship I have with them is
very co-foundery in that wekind of we talk through problems
and you know, if there's a bigdecision I'm trying to make,
I'll discuss it with themoutside of board meetings.
And so I have got that supportaround me.
Me even though it's not in akind of day to day co-founder

(42:02):
sitting, sitting alongside me, Iguess.

Sue Anstiss (42:05):
And as you look back now, are there decisions
that you would have madedifferently either in that
structure and setup, or any gemsof advice that you'd share for
other female entrepreneurs thatare kind of starting out in this
space today?

Mel Bound (42:19):
I don't.
I don't think I could, canregret anything, because any
decision I've made along the way, I've made the best decision I
can with the information I'vegot available, with the right
level of balance of thinkingabout it and gut instinct, and I
don't think you can regret that.
One bit of advice I would giveactually is that on the very

(42:41):
rare occasions when I've actedagainst my gut instinct, I have
always regretted it, right, yeah.
So when I'm asked about advice,I will often say I trust your
instincts, listen to them andtrust them, because they are
usually right.
It's actually quite hard to dothat when you're starting out,
because you kind of think well,I don't really know what I'm
doing and therefore I'm going totake all of this advice and

(43:03):
listen to all these people'sopinions, and then we're going
to ignore what I actually thinkbecause I have less experience
than everyone else around me.
But actually you know reallywhat it is that you need to do,
I think.

Sue Anstiss (43:14):
How important has it been for you to see other
women having success in thisspace.
I mean, you said there's so fewwomen that are getting that
investment, but have you hadrole models and women that have
inspired you to feel you can doit too in this space?

Mel Bound (43:29):
My role models are God?
That's such a good question.
I think it has felt quite alonely space.
If I'm honest, and it'sinteresting, I hadn't really
thought about that until veryrecently and I was at the Google
event Raise, and I think it'sone of the first events I've

(43:50):
been to where there were womenfrom all around the sports
sector, whether that wasbroadcasting or brands or
governing bodies, and actually afew founders as well, and it
was the first time I'd reallythought, wow, there's just not
many of us.
And that would be one of thethings actually just thinking
about, if anyone's listening,thinking how can we help female
founders?

(44:10):
And that visibility thing is soimportant.
If you're someone that's puttingon an event and they're looking
for speakers, have a thinkabout female founders and
entrepreneurs and creating,creating some content around
women that are out there doingthe sort of thing that faz and I
and kelly and others are aretrying to do, because you can't
be what you can't see, and soand there might be, you know,

(44:31):
opportunities to connect andnetwork, for you know us working
in these kind of fairly lonelyspaces just don't realize.
Are there so, god, role models?
Sorry, I kind of danced aroundthat question, didn't I?
The reality is, I think insport it like true founders
there just aren't many.
Yeah, there just aren't many.

(44:52):
And those of us that are in thespace are trailblazing, like
we're pioneering, we're tryingand we're and we're kind of head
down building, like thinking,dealing with problems, pivoting,
you know, hustling, doing allthe, all the things, and so it's
.
It's sometimes hard to look upand look around and think, okay,
how can I connect with theother women who are also doing

(45:13):
this?
it's one of the goals I've setmyself this year, actually with
you know, just to get out andabout a bit more yeah you know I
want to connect with otherwomen doing this stuff and you
know I think we can take a lotof strength in in in doing that
and sharing the challenges andcelebrating each other and
lifting each other up.

Sue Anstiss (45:31):
You know the way that women always do so
brilliantly so, in terms of thework you're doing today, what do
you think are the key barriersfor women coming out and running
, whether either coming back torunning or even getting started
in running in the first place?
Well, do you know?

Mel Bound (45:47):
what I think the first thing to say is there are
millions of women that are inthat boat.
So England Athletics did thispiece of research last year and
they found that there this isjust in england that there are
around six and a half millionwomen that are either lapsed
runners or they're not.
They're kind of running veryinfrequently.

(46:08):
Six and a half million and 70of those women would like to run
but they just they don't feellike the kind of experience of
running is quite right for themwhere they're at.
I think when I try to unpickthat as someone that's
interested in how people behaveand how to change it, the

(46:30):
conclusion I came to is that theDNA if you think about the DNA
of running, it's all aboutperformance and how fast and
leaderboards and even you know,even parkrun is about a time
over a distance and all of thosethings are such a massive
barrier to women who are notcurrently running because they

(46:50):
feel like they're going to betoo slow, they feel like they're
not going to fit in, they don'tknow what to wear, they feel
like they're going to be laughedit's all of those kind of fear
of judgment things that tap intoit or they don't know what to
wear.
They feel like they're going tobe laughed.
It's all of those kind of fearof judgment things that tap into
it.
Or they don't know where tostart, or they don't know what
trainers to buy, or they don'tknow what sports bras to buy,
where.
It's all those kind of I don'tknows.
And so I guess, in reallysimple terms, what, what we try
to do with all of theexperiences we create whether

(47:12):
it's in digital spaces or at ourruns or in coaching programs is
design experiences from theperspective with a female lens.
So thinking about everythingfrom, if you turn up to a run,
people saying hello to you andactually welcoming you and
recognizing that you're new andconnecting you with someone that
you've maybe never met before,and explaining what's going to

(47:32):
happen.
None of our runs are, or ourcoaching programs are, based on
pace or distance.
They're all based on the numberof minutes moving, whether it's
30 minutes or 45 minutes or 60minutes, which sounds
ridiculously simple.
But just that small changecompletely democratizes running,
because we can say with someconfidence if you turn up and

(47:54):
you run with us, we're going torun for 30 minutes.
It doesn't matter how fastyou're going, because our
volunteers will manage.
You know very different kind ofabilities and paces.
We'll keep you all together,you'll all get what you want
from it and you'll all achieve30 minutes.
We can say that with absoluteconfidence Once you kind of
understand what the blocker is.

(48:15):
For me, anyway, it's really easyto then design experiences that
start peeling those away.
And sometimes it's reallysimple things like how women are
welcomed.
And that comes down to how wetrain our volunteers so that our
volunteers understand how womenmight feel when they turn up
and they do the right things tomake sure they feel welcome.
It's how we, you know,structure those run programs and

(48:35):
those are those coach programsso that they don't feel so
performancey, like they're goingto fail, and everyone's set up
to succeed at whatever levelthey're at.
And then the community bit isreally important because, as you
know in the work that you dosee, if you create this
community environment where themembers are supporting each

(48:57):
other and there's thoseincredible connections where
someone says, oh, I've, Ihaven't been out, I haven't done
any running before, I don'tknow where to start, and for me,
as a you know the owner of thecommunity, I don't even need to
say anything because I know thatother members of the community
will leap in and they'll say Ifelt like that, this is what I
did.
Have you tried this program, oryou could come along to this run

(49:17):
, or I'll come and meet you andwe'll go for coffee afterwards,
and all of that magic thathappens within a community space
.
When you combine those thingsyou suddenly help, women start
to you know the kind of barriersthat they feel start to fall
away.
They feel brave enough to giveit a go and then, once they step

(49:37):
in and give it a try, they'renurtured by the community to
keep going and before they knowit it's become something that's
just a regular part of theirlife.

Sue Anstiss (49:48):
I love the, that kind of lack of competitive
nature.
I do feel I feel this generallyacross a lot of sport that
we've almost moved away fromwhere sport was originally of
community and fun and the thingsyou said at the very beginning
giving women the joy, the gift,the community, that, that
element of it that we're so muchon, either with girls a pathway
to you know, the englandpathway and where you're going

(50:09):
to get to performance wise orfor women entering competitions
and times and distances, andactually where did the just the
fun of movement and moving yourbody and being with friends go?

Mel Bound (50:18):
well and it's interesting actually, because
this is one of the drivers forour rebrand was um.
So we moved from mums to women.
But one of the reasons wewanted to do that is because we
wanted to be able to godownstream and start working
with girls as well.
Yeah, because we'd find I feltkind of personally quite
frustrated that we'd you know,we'd work, be working with women
who were in theirs.
Maybe that would turn up to asession and say, oh, I've

(50:40):
literally done nothing since PE,and so I kind of look at it and
think, well, okay, so how do westop that happening, so that we
can work with teenage girls,which we know is a massive
drop-off point, and instill thissense of joy and friendship and
connection and community, sothat it just becomes part of
their life, all the way throughtheir life?
We don't have these kind ofdecades of inactivity.

(51:03):
And we did a piece of work withBedford University, went into
some school in Bedford and ransome workshops with year seven
and year eight girls so theywould have been 12, 13, 12 and
13.
And we talked to them abouttheir lives and we talked to
them about their lives and wetalked to them about, you know,
being physically active, aboutschool, pe, about the things

(51:23):
that they do, um, to be active,things that get in the way, and
also we talked to them a littlebit about walk run programs and
what they you know what to getfrom them, and the deeply
depressing thing that came outof it for me was that girls are
overwhelmed and stressed withall the things in their life,
with school, with caringresponsibilities, with cultural

(51:46):
responsibilities, social mediaand all of the stuff they have
going on.
They feel absolutely overwhelmed, in the same way we do, as
women juggling a million things.
They're 12 and 13.
And so what they desperatelywant is headspace.
So when they're being offered,come and play competitive
netball after school and you mayor may not be picked and you

(52:07):
have to come to training everyweek and it's going to be about
who performs best.
That is an absolute no.
What they want is permission totake some time for themselves
and, yes, me, but in a very low,non-competitive,
non-performance way, in exactlythe way that women in their 40s
want.

Sue Anstiss (52:26):
Yeah and it's almost like I've started doing
more of walking netball.
But the walking netball is justrock up once a week have a
laugh.
Some of them go to tournaments.
I don't do the tournament bit,I just want to enjoy it and play
and be with other people.
And it's almost like bringingthat to a younger age group to
have those same sensations ofovercoming loneliness, feeling a
part of something, having funand moving, isn't it?

(52:48):
Yeah?

Mel Bound (52:49):
watch this space on that, see, because we um I guess
it's not core to what we do,but it's a very personal mission
for me is yeah, how can we takethe programs and the things
that we've created for women?
How can we take those and makethem relevant to, and available
to, teenage girls?

Sue Anstiss (53:05):
that's something I kind of very much want us to do
in the future, and I know thatsafety for women out running on
the streets, especially the.
The times have changed now it'sgetting darker, isn't it so
that safety against sexualharassment when women are out
running is a huge issue?
You co -founded the we Willcampaign that aims to end the
sexual harassment of womenrunners, so tell us a little bit

(53:27):
more about that and, I guess,the impact that it is having.

Mel Bound (53:30):
Yeah, I guess the campaign came off the back of
some insight that Women'sRunning Magazine did, which
found that 68 percent of womenhad been harassed while out
running.
I mean, that is just absolutelyhorrendous, isn't it?
And I've certainly experiencedit myself, and I know many of
the women in our, our communityhave, you know, not just name
calling or cat calling, but havebeen physically, physically

(53:53):
assaulted as well out running,and it's another barrier in the
way of women actually gettingout the door.
You know, I know, you know thatwhen the, when the clocks go
back and it's dark in theevenings, all of a sudden, you
know, well, we see a lot morewomen turning up to our group
runs at this time of yearbecause women are not able, or
don't feel able, to go out anddo those sessions on their own

(54:14):
and they want the safety ofbeing in a group and it's
something that we, I feel quitestrongly about and it's kind of
one of those perennial topics,isn't it, that comes up and we
talk about women's safety orsomething.
You know, there'll be somethingmajor in the news and there'll
be some media interest.
But what we did, what we wantedto do with them with the we will
campaign was try to basicallyget some ownership at a very

(54:37):
individual level for men andwomen to change or pledge a
change in, even if it's at quitea micro level.
So the the campaign was aroundthis idea of asking individuals
to make a personal commitment todo one thing that might kind of
ladder up to creating somechange.
That pledge might be I'll callout, you know, if I see someone

(54:59):
catcalling, I'll, I'll um, I'llcall it out.
If I, one of my mates, sayssomething and it's and it's
sexist, I will call it out.
I'll have a conversation withmy son about the correct way to
interact around, you know,around women.
And there were a million thingsthat people pledged.
You know it was.
It was really quite a powerfulcampaign that you know.

(55:20):
Unfortunately we didn't have thebudget to turn into.
It's one of those.
It had the power to be a very,very powerful campaign for
change.
We just didn't have the budgetto do it.
But the intention behind it wasto kind of move beyond the
blaming men, the not all menbrigade and the not all men
brigade, responding to acollective responsibility and

(55:42):
saying these are the things thatwe will do individually to try
and change things, butunderstanding that this is such
a deep rooted issue.
You know, starting with youngboys in primary school, the
thing, the ways that they talkto girls in the playground, all
the way through to white bad mandriving down the street
thinking it's okay to shoutthings out the window when
they're running down the street.

(56:02):
There are layers and layers andlayers here that kind of make
change quite difficult.

Sue Anstiss (56:09):
And I guess just in closing, we obviously talked
about all that you do.
I haven't even mentioned you.
You're raising a family as well, too.
The work that you do.
You sit on a number of boardsas non-executive.
You work with sport, englandand others.
Anyway, you do so much so wheredo you find time for yourself?
And, you know, are you stillrunning?
Where is your happy place to,uh, refresh away from it?

Mel Bound (56:31):
all um, so I am still running.
God wouldn't it be weird if Isaid no, I'm not running is my,
is my kind of happy place still,interestingly.
So two things I've got.
I, yes, I've got two youngchildren.
So when I started the business,my kids were four and ten

(56:52):
months old, which actually, withhindsight, was absolutely
bonkers.
But also over these 10 yearsI've gone through the menopause
and so it's the kind of those,the double whammy of juggling
life as a mum and trying to runa business with you know that
major life change of everythingthat comes with you know losing,
you know, vital hormones inyour body.

(57:13):
So all of that has been goingon and that has definitely been
challenging at times, um and um,and that's why, for me, kind of
maintaining that space to goout for a run is it's more
important than ever and it's one, it's my one non-negotiable,
like it's three or four times aweek I will be out and I'll feel

(57:35):
a million times lighter when Ireturn.
I've also found, as I've gotolder, I've basically got slower
, which was quite hard to cometo terms with, and so I found
myself entering longer andlonger and longer events which I
always swore I would never doso.
I've just entered an event, a50 mile ultra wow, which, I will

(57:56):
confess, I thought was 50k whenI ended.
It's 50 miles.
But I think the thing is Idon't care about how long it
takes me, I genuinely do notcare.
I'm non-competitive.
For me, it's about just goingout, getting to the start line,
not being injured.
Getting to the start linefeeling strong, enjoying it,

(58:17):
hopefully doing it with a friend.
I'm a social runner like I likerunning with other people and
it's the thing that keeps mesane.

Sue Anstiss (58:30):
If you'd like to hear from more trailblazing
women in sport, like Mel.
There are over 200 episodes ofthe Game Changers that are all
free to listen to on all podcastplatforms or from our website
at fearlesswomencouk.
Along with incredibleentrepreneurs like Mel, my other
guests have included eliteathletes, coaches, broadcasters,

(58:53):
scientists, journalists andCEOs all women who are changing
the game in sport.
As well as listening to all thepodcasts on the website, you
can also find out more about thewomen's sport collective, a
free, inclusive community forall women working in sport.
We now have over eight and ahalf thousand members across the
world, so please do come andjoin us.

(59:14):
The whole of my book game on theunstoppable rise of Women's
Sport is also free to listen toon the podcast.
Every episode of Series 13 isme reading a chapter of the book
.
Thank you once again to SportEngland for backing the Game
Changers and the Women's SportCollective through the National
Lottery Award, and also thanksto Sam Walker, who does such a

(59:35):
fantastic job as our executiveproducer.
Thank you to my lovelycolleague at Fearless Women,
kate Hannan.
You can find the Game Changerson all podcast platforms, so
please do follow us now andensure you won't miss out on
future episodes.
Come and say hello on socialmedia, where you'll find me on

(59:57):
LinkedIn and Instagram at SueAnstis the Game Changers
fearless women in sport.