January 20, 2025 • 30 mins
In this special episode of the We Are PoWEr Podcast, Simone Roche MBE steps into the hot seat, being interviewed for the first time by Anna Davey. Known for her dedication to championing gender equality and leading the Northern PoWEr Women Awards movement, Simone shares insights into her path from receiving an MBE from the Queen to building a movement that now unites over 120,000 people.
Simone opens up about how her upbringing in Liverpool and experiences as an honorary captain in the Royal Navy shaped her advocacy. Her story is all about seizing opportunities and pushing forward, a mindset that continues to drive her passion for inclusivity and support for all.
In this episode, we discuss:
00:00 Welcome to the We Are PoWEr Podcast
10:53 Building the Northern PoWEr Women Awards
21:13 Celebrating Achievements and Balancing Life
29:57 Behind the Podcast: Simone's Shift from Interviewer to Interviewee
Simone’s story highlights the power of community and how her expertise in event management and networking has empowered women across the country. We Are PoWEr also encompasses the Northern PoWEr Women Awards and PoWEr Collective CIC, two key initiatives that continue to make a lasting impact.
Tune in for a candid conversation as Simone discusses balancing responsibilities, making connections, and the humour that has always been part of her leadership style. This episode celebrates the essence of the Northern PoWEr Women Awards and Simone’s ongoing commitment to shaping an inclusive future.
Find out more about We Are PoWEr here. 💫
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, hello and welcome to the we Are Power
podcast.
If this is your first time here, the we Are Power podcast is
the podcast for you, your careerand your life.
We release an episode everysingle Monday with listeners in
over 60 countries worldwide,where you'll hear personal life
stories, top-notch industryadvice and key leadership
insight from amazing role models.
(00:21):
As we Are Power is the umbrellabrand to Northern Power Women
Awards, which celebrateshundreds of female role models
and advocates every year.
This is where you can hearstories from all of our awards
alumni and stay up to date witheverything MPW Awards and we Are
Power.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Welcome to today's we Are Power podcast.
Now I'm sure you're wonderingwho the hell I am and whose
voice this is, if you'relistening.
Well, I'm the marketing managerat we Are Power, and today is a
very special episode of the weAre Power podcast, as we will be
interviewing Simone Roche, mba.
I've been taken over, yeah.
I'm in your seat and I don'tthink she likes it.
(01:08):
It's a little bit weird.
So today I am joined by SimoneRoche, mbe, ceo and founder of
we Are Power, northern PowerWomen Awards, power Collective,
cic and honorary captain in theRoyal Navy, and my boss.
So not a weird day at work atall, this one.
So I'm going to start from thebeginning, because when I first
(01:32):
met you, I remember on like thefirst day, I just remember
thinking you were like the mostinteresting person I've met,
because I found out you'd got anMBE from the Queen, used to be
in the Royal Navy, you're now anhonorary captain alongside
Daniel Craig and Bear Grylls,and you live on a boat.
So it is a lot to take in.
(01:55):
So I want to start at thebeginning Now.
I think it's also importantthat people hear certain stories
from you today, because I'veheard some, but I understand you
and how you got to where youare now from these stories.
But one question I might nothave asked you before.
I want to know it from thebeginning.
You're born in Southport, butwhat was Simone like at school?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Well, do you know.
Well, actually I was born inBillinge, which is out in the
sticks a little bit.
So I grew up in Liverpool tillI was four years old and then
didn't move out to Southport orHalsall, actually till quite a
long time after.
But for some reason I was bornin Billinge Hospital and I'm not
quite sure why I wasn't born ina Liverpool hospital.
But anyway, maybe that's whenwe get my mum on the podcast
(02:37):
another time We'll ask her whatwas I like at school?
Well, I think I was.
I grew up.
I was an only child, absolutelyin the gang of a big sort of, I
suppose, big Liverpool family,lots of cousins.
So, whilst no brothers andsisters growing up, I had loads
of cousins and they were like mylittle tribe, if you like, and
(03:01):
having a birthday.
That was, as I call it, halfChristmas, 25th of June, just
reminding anyone out there, itwas always that was.
We were always together atChristmas and New Year and then
always for the birthday partwaythrough the year.
And I grew up I think I was, Ithink I was shy.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, I wanted to know if you always had like this
work ethic and energy.
Did you know what you wanted togo and do?
Did you know you were going togo and do something big?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
no, absolutely not.
No, I don't.
I don't think I was alwaysaverage, like at school, pretty
average, um, if not belowaverage.
I was good at the practicalstuff.
I was good at the stuff that Icould see a reason for.
I could see the purpose ofdoing maths, because if you're
out with your friends you needto just fit the bill right so I
could see the purpose of that.
I could see the purpose ofdoing languages, because when I
(03:48):
was taking on the my packagedeal holidays with my family as
a, I always pretended to be likethe tour guide and I was always
picking up like restaurant,restaurant, spanish or
restaurant, you know, portugueseor everywhere, and I could see
the benefit of that.
But out of the other stuffessay writing, not so much.
There was no chat.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Gpt in those days so there was.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
It was not my friend but, yeah, I was definitely not
an academic.
I was kind of very middle ofthe road.
So I don't.
There was never that aspirationfor me to go to uni, have a big
job, that was definitely not inmy plan, but it wasn't like I
didn't think I could dosomething or I didn't have the
support around me to make mebelieve I could do what I wanted
(04:31):
to do.
We did an event last year, ifyou remember, with Kim
McGuinness, and she talked aboutyou know we go on about about
people raising, you know,raising our aspirations.
We've all got those aspirations.
Sometimes it's theopportunities and I think I was
just waiting for that, theopportunity to come along.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I think she said talent is classless, but
opportunity isn't 100%, but Ithink also from knowing you that
makes so much sense, becauseyou like just cracking on like
you, just like getting it doneand having the dream.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I wonder sometimes whether that's being an only
child, that kind of thing.
You can't wait for your brotheror your sister to do something.
You just you have to you andyour imaginary friend and me dog
.
You know you go in, you just goand do stuff.
Um, but yeah, I was definitelyshy.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I was definitely shy, it's hard to imagine a shy
Simone.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I was, I definitely was.
But I think that, being thatoften going away on family
holidays or family trips, Imight have been the only kid
there, but you learn to be grownup, you learn to kind of go and
entertain yourself and talk toyourself and all those other
kind of things.
But yeah, I know, definitely atschool, mediocre, definitely
(05:39):
shy, I know who knew I know thatshocking takeaway is there for
me.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So post-school you obviously I know you've said
before you weren't sure what youwanted to do so you went and
joined the Royal Navy Again notyour average usual decision.
So I mean, give a bit ofbackground about that for people
out there who don't know howyou got into that.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, and I think I really I was doing A-levels, I'd
done the wrong A-levels again.
You know sort of kind of made adecision I'd left school to
then go to a college.
So a different environment, alot freer, if you like, a lot
more sort of you know rule free,and I'm not going to lie, that
sort of.
Those A-level years were verymuch everyone's 18 in that
(06:21):
period of time, aren't they?
So there was a lot ofsocialising, Networking, maybe
that's what it was, networking.
And I think that's where itstarted.
But careers guidance was stillthere, was nothing really that
was jumping out at me and Iremember filling in.
You know people going, oh,you're going to fill the UCAS
forms in for university and I'mlike I don't know what I want to
do.
I don't know what I want to do.
(06:41):
I don't think it's something Iwant to do.
I don't know why I want to goand learn more stuff.
I want to go and do.
I want to crack on.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You want to crack on.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I want to crack on.
There's a theme coming throughhere.
I know it is impatience, butthere was something around.
I remember going into a careersfair in the gym and walking
around and I remember equallyfilling in a questionnaire that
was old school pen and paperkind of questionnaire.
I know ridiculous, right, but Iremember filling that in.
I remember, for some reason,circling around the armed forces
(07:11):
and I don't know why still notquite sure why and then in a
similar timeframe, going tospeak to the RAF.
They were in the careers halland I went and I applied.
But then there was something Idon't know, there's something
not quite there for me and Itook myself off to the Royal
Navy and the minute I walkedthrough that door I feel like I
(07:33):
started smiling and I didn'tstop.
There was just something aboutthe humor and the camaraderie
and the good banter.
We sometimes talk about banternot being good, but there was
good banter and I felt like thiswas a place that I think I
could thrive.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
That's also a good point, because there is that
perhaps bad banter around it andthe sexism in a male dominated
industry.
Now I know you said you neveractually felt different or
excluded for being a woman, butyou did for being a northerner
yeah, I absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
And if you think back in that day it was 1988, 80s,
big hair you know again what wasgoing on there with the hair.
But it was in those days whereyou watch the TV, you watch the
news, the national news nobodyhad an accent like you.
You can't put a channel on nowor a news channel on now with
without being an accent forevery part of the country and
(08:24):
it's totally accepted.
But it wasn't.
It was very I'm not going to domy best BBC English voice, but
it was.
It was that very BBC news voiceand I therefore, you know, felt
that I didn't fall Like I havea, definitely I've got a
Northern accent.
It might be a mix of accents,but it's.
You know, I never felt like.
I felt like there was almostthat was the thing that
(08:46):
sometimes held me back while Iwas in the Navy, definitely not
for being a woman.
I never, I never felt that.
And it seems daft because when Ijoined, women couldn't go to
sea.
It wasn't legal in those days.
Uh, you know, in a couple ofyears change while you were
there, yeah, a couple of yearsin, you got the opportunity then
to to volunteer to go to seaand at the same time I got sort
of tapped on the shoulder and myboss at the time he was I think
(09:09):
you should go and be an officer.
And I'm like, yeah, I don'ttalk BBC English, you know, I
don't think this is.
I didn't think I thought mypostcode would prohibit it and
he was like, absolutely not.
And he was suppose what wewould now call a not so much a
mentor but a sponsor, someonewho literally opened the door
for me, helped me how tonavigate big, massive newspapers
(09:30):
that you had to understand andknow, all about world affairs
and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And it was at that point when I went through
Dartmouth, britannia Royal NavalCollege, dartmouth, and that's
where I went off and had my myjollies and adventures at sea
before we move on to this, thisis a question that I want to
know is if you were to summarizethat time in three, because I
know you love the power of three, so I'm throwing this at you
what would be your threetakeaways for from your time in
(09:55):
the Royal Navy?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
um, opportunities, to saying yes to the opportunities
was definitely one of thosethings for me.
Um, building the community.
So the people that I met alongthe way, sometimes you only meet
for a flash, in a moment intime, but some people they're
there forever.
Um and um, oh gosh, what would?
(10:20):
What would be the third one beso many takeaways for me.
Say yes to opportunities.
Um, absolutely the, the, thekind of staying connective, the
connectivity um the differenttypes of people you meet along
the way.
So you've got your network andyour community that you meet.
But then there's other peoplethat you can meet.
So, whether you're in a foreignport, whether it's stakeholders
(10:42):
or different people at work orassociated with the Navy, I just
think that was I didn't know itat the time, but it was that
networking because I was talkingto people from all different
walks of life.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I loved it, I think you can see a lot of things that
built what came, what you wenton to do.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, but it's interesting because it took me a
long while even into startingNorthern Power Women.
It was a good.
I think it was 2018, I got theopportunity.
I was invited back to a passingout parade HMS Rally which is
where I did my basic training,and it wasn't until that moment
this is 2018, three years afterstarting Northern Power Women
that it was almost like thispenny drop moment.
(11:20):
It was 30 years to the day or30 years to the month that I
joined.
I'm like, oh my gosh, this iswhy I do what I do.
So it's interesting.
There was never a plan.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I think it always went too fast to then sort of
like you know, roadrunner, thecartoon character sort of
circling back to go ah, runner,the cartoon character kept sort
of circling back to go ah,that's where it is.
So, moving on from the royalnavy, of course, we got to see
where the northern power women,where this, came from.
Now, I know this story includeswarm wine.
That is one thing I do know.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
But for people who don't know this story and about
the warm wine, tell them abouthow northern power women was
founded absolutely left the navyand I always say it's the best
thing, it was to join, bestthing I did to move on and have
another adventure before I wastoo old to have one, which seems
crazy, uh, and I literally dove, dived dove at first told you
(12:10):
it wasn't very academic into theworld of events.
Really a lot of event andbringing people together.
So, whether HG Racecourse,southport Theatre, blackpool,
pleasure Beach, the arena inLiverpool and the Olympics, and
at some point in that wholeadventure I ended up in, I was
in London, so I was commutingback and forth, um, and I very
much ended up um again buildingbits of this network, these
(12:33):
blocks.
And I remember going beinginvited to this event about
women in hospitality and I wentto this event and it was a room
full of women drinking warm wine, kind of criticizing other
women and men, and I was likebut what is this going to do?
How is this going to shift?
How is this going to make achange for women at board level?
(12:57):
Because that's what it was allabout and I was just a bit this
where's the men?
Where's the men?
And why is this quite negative?
And let's revisit the warm winescenario wasn't even good red
right but there was, there wasjust something about that.
I thought right, okay, what?
How could we have done thisdifferently?
Because there's brilliantpeople in this room, but how
could we have started talkingabout the positive stories and
(13:18):
what?
What is it we can do?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
you've always been really conscious of having that
positive so we could drag eachother down and make it feel
miserable.
But you've never, it's tiringright, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
it's time.
I've got way too much energy tokind of expend that energy on
sort of negative stuff and goingin a hole.
So why don't we look at thegood stuff?
Why don't we look at what canbe done, even if it's only a
teeny tiny thing?
Why don't we get the guysinvolved?
Let's get the good guysinvolved, so right from day one.
So we're talking, probably, god,as far back as three or four
(13:50):
years before northern powerwomen, yeah, um, but this was
the starting of the collecting.
It was start of me, someone whowould never want to be on this
side of the microphone, someonewho would never want to be in
front of the camera.
What I really loved doing wasgathering great people, platform
stages, events, connecting, butwith that force for good, with
that force for doing really goodstuff, and it was, you know,
(14:12):
fast forward in that role.
I was one day I was coming backon the train from London
thinking why do we not do thisup here?
Why do we not?
Everything I'm doing in LondonI'm really proud of and I was
really, it was really good.
I was really enjoying set upTEDx Whitehall Women with my
lovely friend Ruth Shaw, obe, anamazing woman and I just
(14:36):
thought what would happen if wechanged, as opposed to
everything happening in London,everything happening at
Westminster, what would happenif we went?
Why don't we look in and acrossthe North, so not just
Liverpool but across, becausethere's loads of stuff already
happening, loads of greatorganisations doing great things
across our cities and regions.
And I thought what happened ifwe could try and take a
helicopter view of all the goodstuff and and sort of signpost?
(15:00):
It doesn't sound very sexy, butlike a hub kind of thing.
That's what.
That's what the intention waswas to crack on and do good
stuff, right.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I think that's the importance of telling these
stories and how you've grown up,how you were at school, because
I think you can see the themesthat are in every day of our
brands, what we do like, fromthe lack of career guidance and
you didn't know what to do.
We've now got the power,collective mentoring events, the
power-ups every month thatyou're really passionate about.
We you the idea of connectingpeople.
(15:30):
You know you're connectingpeople daily on our digital hub,
wearepowernet.
That wasn't a plug, of course.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
This is great.
I'm loving this.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Only the market manager, that was not a plug and
like the idea of community thatyou've now built of over
120,000 through the awards, likeyou can see where it all
stemmed from, before you evenknew that it was coming from
there, which I think is nice.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I wish someone had told me along the way what.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I was doing, it would have been quite.
I'm telling you now.
Better late than never.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
But it's weird when you do that and you don't quite
realise, you just know, you justknow you've just got to keep.
And for someone who'd never runa business, I didn't, I suppose
I didn't know any differencebecause I wasn't this serial
entrepreneur.
I'm entrepreneurial.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
But I didn't do it with a commercial mindset, I did
it out of, suppose, frustrationit's like when you said at
school you could only do thethings where you could see the
purpose.
And that's what you do now youfollow the purpose and crack on,
and it's worked well well, wemaybe need a rebrand, don't we?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
we're not powering on anymore, we're just cracking on
.
To be honest, actually, afterthe very first awards, I got the
opportunity to go on Women'sHour the very morning after the
very first Northern Power WomenAwards and I had to take one of
the winners with me, which isreally difficult because you
can't tell them in advance.
So you're trying to have aconversation with someone in a
bar at 11 pm at night to say areyou coming?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
with me in the morning.
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I remember talking to Dame Jenny Murray, who was the
former presenter of Women's Hour.
Talking to Dame Jenny Murray,who's the who was the former
presenter of Woman's Hour, andwe were talking about the
concept of you know what thishad been the night before this
amazing celebration, northernand and she was like I get this,
you're all about propernorthern cracking on and I think
it's always stuck in my mindyeah, well, taken from the
(17:14):
awards and into gender equality,we all know you're Simone Roche
MBE, but you were awarded theMBE for services to gender
equality by the Queen.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's correct.
Yes, and I want to know wasthis a real pinching moment?
Because I know that you had it,but really reflecting on it,
getting that honour, was itspecial?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Awkward because it's about you, if you like, Not
awkward.
I remember sitting with thisbrown envelope in the car and
you're told not to tell anyone.
And I'm good, I'm behaved, Iwas in the military I can follow
an order, but I didn't.
And I can follow an order, um,but I didn't.
And and I you know, and I thinkmost people will tell their
(17:55):
husband, their partner, and ittook me three weeks to tell um,
to tell Rob, because I justdidn't know what to do.
It felt like such a massiveresponsibility and then I'd feel
nervous about it.
What will people think?
Will people think I'm not goodenough to have received this?
Why has this happened?
Surely there's other people outthere.
(18:16):
And then you take a moment tokind of reflect on what you have
done and then, more importantly, as you kind of get to learn to
live with it, it then becomesthat real sense of further
opportunity, opportunity to domore.
And that's what it served mefor is to do more.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
it was never you know , this was never read my next
question, as I was gonna sayeverything we say about, and I
actually will say Simone has notseen these questions and does
not know, so she must bewondering what I'm gonna ask.
But, um, we always say aboutour awards that's why it was
kind of in that it's therecognition that they get that
then propels them on to do thenext thing, which is why it's so
(18:57):
important, which is what Iwanted to know did the MB propel
you on to do more things?
Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
It felt like a real gift, like a gift to, to go
right.
Actually, if we've thought overthese years about giving people
a platform, a stage and a voice,then I've got an opportunity to
do more, to reach more, toconnect more to, to make more of
a difference.
And I didn't think you don'tthink it's going to make that
(19:23):
difference and it it does, itreally does, and I think the
opportunity that you then havethe things that you potentially.
I got invited to be an awardfor the, as is the King's Awards
now, but it was the Queen'sAwards for innovation.
So the things I've been able toget involved in that I don't
think would have ever happened.
And sometimes I'm not,sometimes I don't like the
(19:46):
phrase imposter syndrome, butsometimes you feel like, oh, my
life, this life, this is a bitlots of different pinch me
moments that you think, gosh,this is amazing.
But, interestingly enough, I'vealways felt that there's always
been a responsibility for me towrite other people's citations,
because you know, because youhave the opportunity to you see
in firsthand what it can do.
(20:07):
Yeah, I think if you can writesomething for someone and not,
like you know, this is an MBE isnot something you go on, obe or
CB is not something you go outand buy.
It's something you getrecognized for.
But if you can write tosomebody and go gosh, this is an
amazing thing.
You should get you know.
I'd like to recommend then Ifeel like we have a
responsibility to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, so I obviously want to talk about the Northern
Bar Women Awards, because youare like a kid at Christmas, the
week of the awards, and we canall see that passion.
And next year, in 2026, it willbe 10 years of the Northern Bar
Women Awards.
How does that make you feel?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
you know what I think sometimes?
You know, I think because Covidhappened and we seem to all
sort of stop our world or putpause on things, and then all of
a sudden, this is just gallopedup.
So to have our ninth awards inMarch this year and the 10th
anniversary, if you like, ofNorthern Power Women, but next
year being the 10th anniversaryof Northern Power Women Awards,
(21:05):
is phenomenal Because, if youthink of why they were created
was to encourage people to highfive their own achievements, if
you think of why they werecreated was to encourage people
to high five their ownachievements.
You know, high five thatcelebrate, that put pen to paper
about, or fingers to a keyboardabout, somebody amazing and
then encourage that person whoyou nominate to high five and
recognize their own achievements.
So for me, we always talk aboutthis not being for one night.
(21:26):
As you know, yes, I am giddyall week.
The giddiness starts way early,though.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
The giddiness starts with 70 plus judges doing the
judging process.
I think as soon as christmas isout of the way, it just starts
because you've got theannouncements.
It's just one thing afteranother in the build-up isn't it
?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
you know we have the.
If the category has got a video, then you've got the video bit.
We then start.
We put all our finalists inwhatsapp groups.
The judges are in whatsappgroup.
It's like so many tribes ofpeople all rooting individuals,
yeah, all rooting to celebrate.
So the excitement.
I can't believe it, can youthat it will be 10 years?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
well, this year is my third year, and even I.
You are a veteran, I'm aveteran but we do live and
breathe the stories and we getto know a lot about them, and
the team get obsessed and justas excited, which is.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I remember we did a big reveal, uh, last year,
didn't we, I think you know.
So we, we get to a point whereEmma and I, we keep the, we keep
, we hold the power, don't we?
We hold the knowledge of who'sgoing to be in that shortlist
and at some point, becauseobviously we're collating the
brochure and we're collating thescripts and all this kind of
stuff, we suddenly go oh crap,oh all right, and we're going to
tell it and then people go.
(22:36):
It's exciting but is thosestories?
But I say that's where it goesback to the November time with
the judges and those whatsappgroups.
That, you see, is the chat andpeople and in the room people
are fighting in the nicest way,really going out, going.
You know this person, I read itthis way and this is why and
people get really, reallyinvested, including our, our
fabulous Nina Hussain, our awardhost.
(22:58):
But we get everyone in everyoneis great.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
She does live and breathe it as well.
But I've never asked you thisquestion and I don't know if
you're gonna actually need sometime to think about it.
But do you have a standoutstory?
Has there been a nomination ora nominee or a winner or
commended that you've read andit's stood stuck with you.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I think every year, do you know what?
When you you're doing the, thejudging process, as it just sort
of talked about, I think everytime you fall in love, like
every time.
And I know, before you even getto that phase, I've already
read through the nominations atleast two or three times.
My husband, rob already he onlyreads them once, slow reader,
(23:39):
but he will read them all and hewill absolutely have his hug
list.
You know, in a good but youknow, because he's like, oh my
god, I can't believe that personhas achieved this or done this
too.
You know you could be talkingabout someone who's overcome the
adversity of their own childbeing murdered by knife crime to
then turning that horrific,unimaginable situation into now
(24:02):
combating Saving lives forothers.
Yeah, I mean, it's things likethat that you're just like, wow,
you can't even you've not beenin those shoes.
You can't even imagine whatthat's like to.
You know people like the likesof the wonderful Kira Byland,
our special Olympian, and thestories that it's also inside,
(24:23):
the stories that happen onaround the awards.
It's when I saw her a few weeksago and she's suddenly told me
that she's just off out to theWhite House for something, and
you know it's what happens fromit.
It's the propelling that comesfrom those sort of nominations
and stories.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I know what Rob means as well about seeing people,
because I realised at the awardsI knew who everyone was and I
kept knowing their names becauseI'd lived and breathed it and
then I'd be like, oh hi, andthey would have no idea who I
was and why I knew their name.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
So if I do that to you at the awards, it's because
I've read your nomination andI'm not a weirdo.
You get really invested in theyou know you've got all the
pictures coming in for the brandyou showed.
You got the stories and you'relike, ah, I can't talk.
Yeah, you're like, oh, it'sthem.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
They don't know you.
So last segment yes, I'mcreating a segment on my first
podcast, so you check that it'sthe team questions now, I'm
tough, isn't it?
Yeah, I've checked them, so Ihad to remove some of nick's.
This is a family show, so, um,so I've got one from every
member of the team.
(25:24):
I am not going to tell youwho's asked who, but some of
them are obvious, that I knowthat you will know.
So the first one how do youbalance one million things and
make it look effortless?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
unicycle.
I have a really really goodmemory which probably annoys and
definitely annoys Rob.
Not annoys Rob.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Simone's got an inbuilt CRM in her brain that
she knows everyone's name andnumber off by heart, just
somehow.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I think, um, no one, there's no effortless is there?
There's no effortless, it's,it's.
I think there's no such thing,as I don't believe there is a
such thing as work-life balanceor something.
Sometimes it's trying to findthat harmony and I think I try
and invest in other things.
People will know, obviously, ofmy side hustle in the Royal
(26:11):
Navy as of last year.
I'm now a human castle climber,that's a whole other thing.
But I like that sometimes if youcan invest in other things
cooking.
Bizarrely enough, I love goinghome and preparing food because
then that takes you away fromyour phone.
You, I used to do a lot ofsailing for the same reason to
(26:31):
be able to detach from thetechnology, to be able to try
and focus.
But it's not easy.
There's times where even nowI'll kind of there was somewhere
a few weeks ago and I got on alift and I just sort of kind of
had a little a mini, a mini,mini, tiny tears moment, where
you just go, you know what thisis a bit too much, and then you
just sort of take a deep breathand kind of go right actually.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And that's the side people don't see.
So you make it look effortless.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
It's just good.
It's good, it's makeup fixers.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I like this next one.
If you could have three peoplesat at your dinner table, dead
or alive, who would it be?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Oh wow, here we go.
Oh, michelle Obama, I knew it.
I told her earlier.
I said Michelle has got a seatat this table.
Oh 100, minan, uh, I'd love toknow what Minan thinks.
Now that would be greatNorthern Power.
Nana, she's not with us anymore, but, yeah, minan was always
one that made me believe, likeyou know, I could.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Um, you know the queen, yeah yeah, because I
reckon she's got me.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
It's good table, right table yeah, no man, that
which goes against the wholevibe.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I, like you, know the good guys, they're invited, but
you've only got three to behonest, they've got other tables
, they've got all their tables,yeah so we've asked this
question to a lot of people, soI think it's being fired back at
you now.
What is your advice to peopleearly in their career who don't
know what they want to do?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
oh god, say hell yes.
So just say yes and work it outlater.
I think that's something Ilived and breathed.
As long as it's, as long asit's safe.
But yeah, say yes.
Say yes to those opportunities.
You never know what's behindthat curtain, what's behind that
door, who's in this couch.
When you're gonna do a podcastwith me, you never know.
You never know where it's gonnatake you and then sometimes you
(28:09):
might not like some of it, butyou'll, you'll always learn from
it and there's no prizes forguessing who asked this question
.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Who's your favorite?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
palaton instructor oh , um, oh, robin arson, robin
arson, yeah, hip-hop, hip-hop.
Palaton 6am.
Thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, wolf pack now, I know that you've always said
yes to every opportunity, sothis one's going to be slightly
different to what you would sayto someone else.
What advice would you give toyour younger self?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Do you know what I think there's elements of?
It's never too early to buildthat community around you.
So whether you start dancing,whether you start in scouts or
sea cadets or volunteering orwhatever it is, it's stay
connected with the people thatmake a difference, because you
never know where you'll kind ofmeet again at a later point.
(28:56):
I feel like that's reallyimportant.
It's never too early to startbuilding.
I think networking could beseen almost as just a flinging
business cards here and there,and it's not.
It's that it's building thosenetworks and communities around
you.
You never know, never know.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
And I had this question twice who's your
favorite employee?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I remember who's interviewing you?
Oh um, what about the opsdirector, rob Monks?
I've got to say that my husbandNorthern Power man, otherwise
I'm in trouble you'll have teaon the table when you get in
there.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Not a chance, not a chance.
Um last question other than Anna, oh yeah, other than me,
because I'm too late, right,yeah, yeah and my favorite
question out of them all, andthe last one can we borrow your
mbe on weekends and with anaddition of, for strictly work
purposes and nothing to do withall the cool events you get
invited to?
What would you use it for?
(29:46):
Where would you go?
Well, it's just a range withyou.
Your invitations are just morethan I would imagine of planning
, to be honest.
Well, that is my last question.
I'm very thankful for theopportunity to interview my
first interview, simone beingthe first interviewee on her own
podcast.
The first of your segments, myfirst of of my segments?
(30:09):
Yeah, simone has been twistingmy arm on this one for a while
and I'm very glad I've done it.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
No, you wanted to do this.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I did deep down, but I'm usually the other side of
the camera, if you've ever seenme, but now you're especially in
the hot seat.
Yeah, it is a hot seat being onthis side.
Thank you for listening.
This is the we Are Powerpodcast with Simone Roche MB.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Subscribe on YouTube, apple, amazon Music, spotify or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Leave us a review or follow uson socials.
We are power underscore net onInsta, tiktok and Twitter.
We are power on LinkedIn,facebook and we are underscore
power on YouTube.
Hello, hello and welcome to the we Are Power
podcast.
If this is your first time here, the we Are Power podcast is
the podcast for you, your careerand your life.
We release an episode everysingle Monday with listeners in
over 60 countries worldwide,where you'll hear personal life
stories, top-notch industryadvice and key leadership
insight from amazing role models.
(00:21):
As we Are Power is the umbrellabrand to Northern Power Women
Awards, which celebrateshundreds of female role models
and advocates every year.
This is where you can hearstories from all of our awards
alumni and stay up to date witheverything MPW Awards and we Are
Power.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Welcome to today's we Are Power podcast.
Now I'm sure you're wonderingwho the hell I am and whose
voice this is, if you'relistening.
Well, I'm the marketing managerat we Are Power, and today is a
very special episode of the weAre Power podcast, as we will be
interviewing Simone Roche, mba.
I've been taken over, yeah.
I'm in your seat and I don'tthink she likes it.
(01:08):
It's a little bit weird.
So today I am joined by SimoneRoche, mbe, ceo and founder of
we Are Power, northern PowerWomen Awards, power Collective,
cic and honorary captain in theRoyal Navy, and my boss.
So not a weird day at work atall, this one.
So I'm going to start from thebeginning, because when I first
(01:32):
met you, I remember on like thefirst day, I just remember
thinking you were like the mostinteresting person I've met,
because I found out you'd got anMBE from the Queen, used to be
in the Royal Navy, you're now anhonorary captain alongside
Daniel Craig and Bear Grylls,and you live on a boat.
So it is a lot to take in.
(01:55):
So I want to start at thebeginning Now.
I think it's also importantthat people hear certain stories
from you today, because I'veheard some, but I understand you
and how you got to where youare now from these stories.
But one question I might nothave asked you before.
I want to know it from thebeginning.
You're born in Southport, butwhat was Simone like at school?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Well, do you know.
Well, actually I was born inBillinge, which is out in the
sticks a little bit.
So I grew up in Liverpool tillI was four years old and then
didn't move out to Southport orHalsall, actually till quite a
long time after.
But for some reason I was bornin Billinge Hospital and I'm not
quite sure why I wasn't born ina Liverpool hospital.
But anyway, maybe that's whenwe get my mum on the podcast
(02:37):
another time We'll ask her whatwas I like at school?
Well, I think I was.
I grew up.
I was an only child, absolutelyin the gang of a big sort of, I
suppose, big Liverpool family,lots of cousins.
So, whilst no brothers andsisters growing up, I had loads
of cousins and they were like mylittle tribe, if you like, and
(03:01):
having a birthday.
That was, as I call it, halfChristmas, 25th of June, just
reminding anyone out there, itwas always that was.
We were always together atChristmas and New Year and then
always for the birthday partwaythrough the year.
And I grew up I think I was, Ithink I was shy.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, I wanted to know if you always had like this
work ethic and energy.
Did you know what you wanted togo and do?
Did you know you were going togo and do something big?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
no, absolutely not.
No, I don't.
I don't think I was alwaysaverage, like at school, pretty
average, um, if not belowaverage.
I was good at the practicalstuff.
I was good at the stuff that Icould see a reason for.
I could see the purpose ofdoing maths, because if you're
out with your friends you needto just fit the bill right so I
could see the purpose of that.
I could see the purpose ofdoing languages, because when I
(03:48):
was taking on the my packagedeal holidays with my family as
a, I always pretended to be likethe tour guide and I was always
picking up like restaurant,restaurant, spanish or
restaurant, you know, portugueseor everywhere, and I could see
the benefit of that.
But out of the other stuffessay writing, not so much.
There was no chat.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Gpt in those days so there was.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
It was not my friend but, yeah, I was definitely not
an academic.
I was kind of very middle ofthe road.
So I don't.
There was never that aspirationfor me to go to uni, have a big
job, that was definitely not inmy plan, but it wasn't like I
didn't think I could dosomething or I didn't have the
support around me to make mebelieve I could do what I wanted
(04:31):
to do.
We did an event last year, ifyou remember, with Kim
McGuinness, and she talked aboutyou know we go on about about
people raising, you know,raising our aspirations.
We've all got those aspirations.
Sometimes it's theopportunities and I think I was
just waiting for that, theopportunity to come along.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I think she said talent is classless, but
opportunity isn't 100%, but Ithink also from knowing you that
makes so much sense, becauseyou like just cracking on like
you, just like getting it doneand having the dream.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I wonder sometimes whether that's being an only
child, that kind of thing.
You can't wait for your brotheror your sister to do something.
You just you have to you andyour imaginary friend and me dog
.
You know you go in, you just goand do stuff.
Um, but yeah, I was definitelyshy.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I was definitely shy, it's hard to imagine a shy
Simone.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I was, I definitely was.
But I think that, being thatoften going away on family
holidays or family trips, Imight have been the only kid
there, but you learn to be grownup, you learn to kind of go and
entertain yourself and talk toyourself and all those other
kind of things.
But yeah, I know, definitely atschool, mediocre, definitely
(05:39):
shy, I know who knew I know thatshocking takeaway is there for
me.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So post-school you obviously I know you've said
before you weren't sure what youwanted to do so you went and
joined the Royal Navy Again notyour average usual decision.
So I mean, give a bit ofbackground about that for people
out there who don't know howyou got into that.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, and I think I really I was doing A-levels, I'd
done the wrong A-levels again.
You know sort of kind of made adecision I'd left school to
then go to a college.
So a different environment, alot freer, if you like, a lot
more sort of you know rule free,and I'm not going to lie, that
sort of.
Those A-level years were verymuch everyone's 18 in that
(06:21):
period of time, aren't they?
So there was a lot ofsocialising, Networking, maybe
that's what it was, networking.
And I think that's where itstarted.
But careers guidance was stillthere, was nothing really that
was jumping out at me and Iremember filling in.
You know people going, oh,you're going to fill the UCAS
forms in for university and I'mlike I don't know what I want to
do.
I don't know what I want to do.
(06:41):
I don't think it's something Iwant to do.
I don't know why I want to goand learn more stuff.
I want to go and do.
I want to crack on.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You want to crack on.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I want to crack on.
There's a theme coming throughhere.
I know it is impatience, butthere was something around.
I remember going into a careersfair in the gym and walking
around and I remember equallyfilling in a questionnaire that
was old school pen and paperkind of questionnaire.
I know ridiculous, right, but Iremember filling that in.
I remember, for some reason,circling around the armed forces
(07:11):
and I don't know why still notquite sure why and then in a
similar timeframe, going tospeak to the RAF.
They were in the careers halland I went and I applied.
But then there was something Idon't know, there's something
not quite there for me and Itook myself off to the Royal
Navy and the minute I walkedthrough that door I feel like I
(07:33):
started smiling and I didn'tstop.
There was just something aboutthe humor and the camaraderie
and the good banter.
We sometimes talk about banternot being good, but there was
good banter and I felt like thiswas a place that I think I
could thrive.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
That's also a good point, because there is that
perhaps bad banter around it andthe sexism in a male dominated
industry.
Now I know you said you neveractually felt different or
excluded for being a woman, butyou did for being a northerner
yeah, I absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
And if you think back in that day it was 1988, 80s,
big hair you know again what wasgoing on there with the hair.
But it was in those days whereyou watch the TV, you watch the
news, the national news nobodyhad an accent like you.
You can't put a channel on nowor a news channel on now with
without being an accent forevery part of the country and
(08:24):
it's totally accepted.
But it wasn't.
It was very I'm not going to domy best BBC English voice, but
it was.
It was that very BBC news voiceand I therefore, you know, felt
that I didn't fall Like I havea, definitely I've got a
Northern accent.
It might be a mix of accents,but it's.
You know, I never felt like.
I felt like there was almostthat was the thing that
(08:46):
sometimes held me back while Iwas in the Navy, definitely not
for being a woman.
I never, I never felt that.
And it seems daft because when Ijoined, women couldn't go to
sea.
It wasn't legal in those days.
Uh, you know, in a couple ofyears change while you were
there, yeah, a couple of yearsin, you got the opportunity then
to to volunteer to go to seaand at the same time I got sort
of tapped on the shoulder and myboss at the time he was I think
(09:09):
you should go and be an officer.
And I'm like, yeah, I don'ttalk BBC English, you know, I
don't think this is.
I didn't think I thought mypostcode would prohibit it and
he was like, absolutely not.
And he was suppose what wewould now call a not so much a
mentor but a sponsor, someonewho literally opened the door
for me, helped me how tonavigate big, massive newspapers
(09:30):
that you had to understand andknow, all about world affairs
and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
And it was at that point when I went through
Dartmouth, britannia Royal NavalCollege, dartmouth, and that's
where I went off and had my myjollies and adventures at sea
before we move on to this, thisis a question that I want to
know is if you were to summarizethat time in three, because I
know you love the power of three, so I'm throwing this at you
what would be your threetakeaways for from your time in
(09:55):
the Royal Navy?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
um, opportunities, to saying yes to the opportunities
was definitely one of thosethings for me.
Um, building the community.
So the people that I met alongthe way, sometimes you only meet
for a flash, in a moment intime, but some people they're
there forever.
Um and um, oh gosh, what would?
(10:20):
What would be the third one beso many takeaways for me.
Say yes to opportunities.
Um, absolutely the, the, thekind of staying connective, the
connectivity um the differenttypes of people you meet along
the way.
So you've got your network andyour community that you meet.
But then there's other peoplethat you can meet.
So, whether you're in a foreignport, whether it's stakeholders
(10:42):
or different people at work orassociated with the Navy, I just
think that was I didn't know itat the time, but it was that
networking because I was talkingto people from all different
walks of life.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I loved it, I think you can see a lot of things that
built what came, what you wenton to do.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, but it's interesting because it took me a
long while even into startingNorthern Power Women.
It was a good.
I think it was 2018, I got theopportunity.
I was invited back to a passingout parade HMS Rally which is
where I did my basic training,and it wasn't until that moment
this is 2018, three years afterstarting Northern Power Women
that it was almost like thispenny drop moment.
(11:20):
It was 30 years to the day or30 years to the month that I
joined.
I'm like, oh my gosh, this iswhy I do what I do.
So it's interesting.
There was never a plan.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I think it always went too fast to then sort of
like you know, roadrunner, thecartoon character sort of
circling back to go ah, runner,the cartoon character kept sort
of circling back to go ah,that's where it is.
So, moving on from the royalnavy, of course, we got to see
where the northern power women,where this, came from.
Now, I know this story includeswarm wine.
That is one thing I do know.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
But for people who don't know this story and about
the warm wine, tell them abouthow northern power women was
founded absolutely left the navyand I always say it's the best
thing, it was to join, bestthing I did to move on and have
another adventure before I wastoo old to have one, which seems
crazy, uh, and I literally dove, dived dove at first told you
(12:10):
it wasn't very academic into theworld of events.
Really a lot of event andbringing people together.
So, whether HG Racecourse,southport Theatre, blackpool,
pleasure Beach, the arena inLiverpool and the Olympics, and
at some point in that wholeadventure I ended up in, I was
in London, so I was commutingback and forth, um, and I very
much ended up um again buildingbits of this network, these
(12:33):
blocks.
And I remember going beinginvited to this event about
women in hospitality and I wentto this event and it was a room
full of women drinking warm wine, kind of criticizing other
women and men, and I was likebut what is this going to do?
How is this going to shift?
How is this going to make achange for women at board level?
(12:57):
Because that's what it was allabout and I was just a bit this
where's the men?
Where's the men?
And why is this quite negative?
And let's revisit the warm winescenario wasn't even good red
right but there was, there wasjust something about that.
I thought right, okay, what?
How could we have done thisdifferently?
Because there's brilliantpeople in this room, but how
could we have started talkingabout the positive stories and
(13:18):
what?
What is it we can do?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
you've always been really conscious of having that
positive so we could drag eachother down and make it feel
miserable.
But you've never, it's tiringright, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
it's time.
I've got way too much energy tokind of expend that energy on
sort of negative stuff and goingin a hole.
So why don't we look at thegood stuff?
Why don't we look at what canbe done, even if it's only a
teeny tiny thing?
Why don't we get the guysinvolved?
Let's get the good guysinvolved, so right from day one.
So we're talking, probably, god,as far back as three or four
(13:50):
years before northern powerwomen, yeah, um, but this was
the starting of the collecting.
It was start of me, someone whowould never want to be on this
side of the microphone, someonewho would never want to be in
front of the camera.
What I really loved doing wasgathering great people, platform
stages, events, connecting, butwith that force for good, with
that force for doing really goodstuff, and it was, you know,
(14:12):
fast forward in that role.
I was one day I was coming backon the train from London
thinking why do we not do thisup here?
Why do we not?
Everything I'm doing in LondonI'm really proud of and I was
really, it was really good.
I was really enjoying set upTEDx Whitehall Women with my
lovely friend Ruth Shaw, obe, anamazing woman and I just
(14:36):
thought what would happen if wechanged, as opposed to
everything happening in London,everything happening at
Westminster, what would happenif we went?
Why don't we look in and acrossthe North, so not just
Liverpool but across, becausethere's loads of stuff already
happening, loads of greatorganisations doing great things
across our cities and regions.
And I thought what happened ifwe could try and take a
helicopter view of all the goodstuff and and sort of signpost?
(15:00):
It doesn't sound very sexy, butlike a hub kind of thing.
That's what.
That's what the intention waswas to crack on and do good
stuff, right.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I think that's the importance of telling these
stories and how you've grown up,how you were at school, because
I think you can see the themesthat are in every day of our
brands, what we do like, fromthe lack of career guidance and
you didn't know what to do.
We've now got the power,collective mentoring events, the
power-ups every month thatyou're really passionate about.
We you the idea of connectingpeople.
(15:30):
You know you're connectingpeople daily on our digital hub,
wearepowernet.
That wasn't a plug, of course.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
This is great.
I'm loving this.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Only the market manager, that was not a plug and
like the idea of community thatyou've now built of over
120,000 through the awards, likeyou can see where it all
stemmed from, before you evenknew that it was coming from
there, which I think is nice.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I wish someone had told me along the way what.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
I was doing, it would have been quite.
I'm telling you now.
Better late than never.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
But it's weird when you do that and you don't quite
realise, you just know, you justknow you've just got to keep.
And for someone who'd never runa business, I didn't, I suppose
I didn't know any differencebecause I wasn't this serial
entrepreneur.
I'm entrepreneurial.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
But I didn't do it with a commercial mindset, I did
it out of, suppose, frustrationit's like when you said at
school you could only do thethings where you could see the
purpose.
And that's what you do now youfollow the purpose and crack on,
and it's worked well well, wemaybe need a rebrand, don't we?
Speaker 1 (16:29):
we're not powering on anymore, we're just cracking on
.
To be honest, actually, afterthe very first awards, I got the
opportunity to go on Women'sHour the very morning after the
very first Northern Power WomenAwards and I had to take one of
the winners with me, which isreally difficult because you
can't tell them in advance.
So you're trying to have aconversation with someone in a
bar at 11 pm at night to say areyou coming?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
with me in the morning.
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I remember talking to Dame Jenny Murray, who was the
former presenter of Women's Hour.
Talking to Dame Jenny Murray,who's the who was the former
presenter of Woman's Hour, andwe were talking about the
concept of you know what thishad been the night before this
amazing celebration, northernand and she was like I get this,
you're all about propernorthern cracking on and I think
it's always stuck in my mindyeah, well, taken from the
(17:14):
awards and into gender equality,we all know you're Simone Roche
MBE, but you were awarded theMBE for services to gender
equality by the Queen.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's correct.
Yes, and I want to know wasthis a real pinching moment?
Because I know that you had it,but really reflecting on it,
getting that honour, was itspecial?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Awkward because it's about you, if you like, Not
awkward.
I remember sitting with thisbrown envelope in the car and
you're told not to tell anyone.
And I'm good, I'm behaved, Iwas in the military I can follow
an order, but I didn't.
And I can follow an order, um,but I didn't.
And and I you know, and I thinkmost people will tell their
(17:55):
husband, their partner, and ittook me three weeks to tell um,
to tell Rob, because I justdidn't know what to do.
It felt like such a massiveresponsibility and then I'd feel
nervous about it.
What will people think?
Will people think I'm not goodenough to have received this?
Why has this happened?
Surely there's other people outthere.
(18:16):
And then you take a moment tokind of reflect on what you have
done and then, more importantly, as you kind of get to learn to
live with it, it then becomesthat real sense of further
opportunity, opportunity to domore.
And that's what it served mefor is to do more.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
it was never you know , this was never read my next
question, as I was gonna sayeverything we say about, and I
actually will say Simone has notseen these questions and does
not know, so she must bewondering what I'm gonna ask.
But, um, we always say aboutour awards that's why it was
kind of in that it's therecognition that they get that
then propels them on to do thenext thing, which is why it's so
(18:57):
important, which is what Iwanted to know did the MB propel
you on to do more things?
Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
It felt like a real gift, like a gift to, to go
right.
Actually, if we've thought overthese years about giving people
a platform, a stage and a voice,then I've got an opportunity to
do more, to reach more, toconnect more to, to make more of
a difference.
And I didn't think you don'tthink it's going to make that
(19:23):
difference and it it does, itreally does, and I think the
opportunity that you then havethe things that you potentially.
I got invited to be an awardfor the, as is the King's Awards
now, but it was the Queen'sAwards for innovation.
So the things I've been able toget involved in that I don't
think would have ever happened.
And sometimes I'm not,sometimes I don't like the
(19:46):
phrase imposter syndrome, butsometimes you feel like, oh, my
life, this life, this is a bitlots of different pinch me
moments that you think, gosh,this is amazing.
But, interestingly enough, I'vealways felt that there's always
been a responsibility for me towrite other people's citations,
because you know, because youhave the opportunity to you see
in firsthand what it can do.
(20:07):
Yeah, I think if you can writesomething for someone and not,
like you know, this is an MBE isnot something you go on, obe or
CB is not something you go outand buy.
It's something you getrecognized for.
But if you can write tosomebody and go gosh, this is an
amazing thing.
You should get you know.
I'd like to recommend then Ifeel like we have a
responsibility to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, so I obviously want to talk about the Northern
Bar Women Awards, because youare like a kid at Christmas, the
week of the awards, and we canall see that passion.
And next year, in 2026, it willbe 10 years of the Northern Bar
Women Awards.
How does that make you feel?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
you know what I think sometimes?
You know, I think because Covidhappened and we seem to all
sort of stop our world or putpause on things, and then all of
a sudden, this is just gallopedup.
So to have our ninth awards inMarch this year and the 10th
anniversary, if you like, ofNorthern Power Women, but next
year being the 10th anniversaryof Northern Power Women Awards,
(21:05):
is phenomenal Because, if youthink of why they were created
was to encourage people to highfive their own achievements, if
you think of why they werecreated was to encourage people
to high five their ownachievements.
You know, high five thatcelebrate, that put pen to paper
about, or fingers to a keyboardabout, somebody amazing and
then encourage that person whoyou nominate to high five and
recognize their own achievements.
So for me, we always talk aboutthis not being for one night.
(21:26):
As you know, yes, I am giddyall week.
The giddiness starts way early,though.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
The giddiness starts with 70 plus judges doing the
judging process.
I think as soon as christmas isout of the way, it just starts
because you've got theannouncements.
It's just one thing afteranother in the build-up isn't it
?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
you know we have the.
If the category has got a video, then you've got the video bit.
We then start.
We put all our finalists inwhatsapp groups.
The judges are in whatsappgroup.
It's like so many tribes ofpeople all rooting individuals,
yeah, all rooting to celebrate.
So the excitement.
I can't believe it, can youthat it will be 10 years?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
well, this year is my third year, and even I.
You are a veteran, I'm aveteran but we do live and
breathe the stories and we getto know a lot about them, and
the team get obsessed and justas excited, which is.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I remember we did a big reveal, uh, last year,
didn't we, I think you know.
So we, we get to a point whereEmma and I, we keep the, we keep
, we hold the power, don't we?
We hold the knowledge of who'sgoing to be in that shortlist
and at some point, becauseobviously we're collating the
brochure and we're collating thescripts and all this kind of
stuff, we suddenly go oh crap,oh all right, and we're going to
tell it and then people go.
(22:36):
It's exciting but is thosestories?
But I say that's where it goesback to the November time with
the judges and those whatsappgroups.
That, you see, is the chat andpeople and in the room people
are fighting in the nicest way,really going out, going.
You know this person, I read itthis way and this is why and
people get really, reallyinvested, including our, our
fabulous Nina Hussain, our awardhost.
(22:58):
But we get everyone in everyoneis great.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
She does live and breathe it as well.
But I've never asked you thisquestion and I don't know if
you're gonna actually need sometime to think about it.
But do you have a standoutstory?
Has there been a nomination ora nominee or a winner or
commended that you've read andit's stood stuck with you.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I think every year, do you know what?
When you you're doing the, thejudging process, as it just sort
of talked about, I think everytime you fall in love, like
every time.
And I know, before you even getto that phase, I've already
read through the nominations atleast two or three times.
My husband, rob already he onlyreads them once, slow reader,
(23:39):
but he will read them all and hewill absolutely have his hug
list.
You know, in a good but youknow, because he's like, oh my
god, I can't believe that personhas achieved this or done this
too.
You know you could be talkingabout someone who's overcome the
adversity of their own childbeing murdered by knife crime to
then turning that horrific,unimaginable situation into now
(24:02):
combating Saving lives forothers.
Yeah, I mean, it's things likethat that you're just like, wow,
you can't even you've not beenin those shoes.
You can't even imagine whatthat's like to.
You know people like the likesof the wonderful Kira Byland,
our special Olympian, and thestories that it's also inside,
(24:23):
the stories that happen onaround the awards.
It's when I saw her a few weeksago and she's suddenly told me
that she's just off out to theWhite House for something, and
you know it's what happens fromit.
It's the propelling that comesfrom those sort of nominations
and stories.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I know what Rob means as well about seeing people,
because I realised at the awardsI knew who everyone was and I
kept knowing their names becauseI'd lived and breathed it and
then I'd be like, oh hi, andthey would have no idea who I
was and why I knew their name.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
So if I do that to you at the awards, it's because
I've read your nomination andI'm not a weirdo.
You get really invested in theyou know you've got all the
pictures coming in for the brandyou showed.
You got the stories and you'relike, ah, I can't talk.
Yeah, you're like, oh, it'sthem.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
They don't know you.
So last segment yes, I'mcreating a segment on my first
podcast, so you check that it'sthe team questions now, I'm
tough, isn't it?
Yeah, I've checked them, so Ihad to remove some of nick's.
This is a family show, so, um,so I've got one from every
member of the team.
(25:24):
I am not going to tell youwho's asked who, but some of
them are obvious, that I knowthat you will know.
So the first one how do youbalance one million things and
make it look effortless?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
unicycle.
I have a really really goodmemory which probably annoys and
definitely annoys Rob.
Not annoys Rob.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Simone's got an inbuilt CRM in her brain that
she knows everyone's name andnumber off by heart, just
somehow.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I think, um, no one, there's no effortless is there?
There's no effortless, it's,it's.
I think there's no such thing,as I don't believe there is a
such thing as work-life balanceor something.
Sometimes it's trying to findthat harmony and I think I try
and invest in other things.
People will know, obviously, ofmy side hustle in the Royal
(26:11):
Navy as of last year.
I'm now a human castle climber,that's a whole other thing.
But I like that sometimes if youcan invest in other things
cooking.
Bizarrely enough, I love goinghome and preparing food because
then that takes you away fromyour phone.
You, I used to do a lot ofsailing for the same reason to
(26:31):
be able to detach from thetechnology, to be able to try
and focus.
But it's not easy.
There's times where even nowI'll kind of there was somewhere
a few weeks ago and I got on alift and I just sort of kind of
had a little a mini, a mini,mini, tiny tears moment, where
you just go, you know what thisis a bit too much, and then you
just sort of take a deep breathand kind of go right actually.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And that's the side people don't see.
So you make it look effortless.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
It's just good.
It's good, it's makeup fixers.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I like this next one.
If you could have three peoplesat at your dinner table, dead
or alive, who would it be?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Oh wow, here we go.
Oh, michelle Obama, I knew it.
I told her earlier.
I said Michelle has got a seatat this table.
Oh 100, minan, uh, I'd love toknow what Minan thinks.
Now that would be greatNorthern Power.
Nana, she's not with us anymore, but, yeah, minan was always
one that made me believe, likeyou know, I could.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Um, you know the queen, yeah yeah, because I
reckon she's got me.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
It's good table, right table yeah, no man, that
which goes against the wholevibe.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I, like you, know the good guys, they're invited, but
you've only got three to behonest, they've got other tables
, they've got all their tables,yeah so we've asked this
question to a lot of people, soI think it's being fired back at
you now.
What is your advice to peopleearly in their career who don't
know what they want to do?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
oh god, say hell yes.
So just say yes and work it outlater.
I think that's something Ilived and breathed.
As long as it's, as long asit's safe.
But yeah, say yes.
Say yes to those opportunities.
You never know what's behindthat curtain, what's behind that
door, who's in this couch.
When you're gonna do a podcastwith me, you never know.
You never know where it's gonnatake you and then sometimes you
(28:09):
might not like some of it, butyou'll, you'll always learn from
it and there's no prizes forguessing who asked this question
.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Who's your favorite?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
palaton instructor oh , um, oh, robin arson, robin
arson, yeah, hip-hop, hip-hop.
Palaton 6am.
Thanks very much.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, wolf pack now, I know that you've always said
yes to every opportunity, sothis one's going to be slightly
different to what you would sayto someone else.
What advice would you give toyour younger self?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Do you know what I think there's elements of?
It's never too early to buildthat community around you.
So whether you start dancing,whether you start in scouts or
sea cadets or volunteering orwhatever it is, it's stay
connected with the people thatmake a difference, because you
never know where you'll kind ofmeet again at a later point.
(28:56):
I feel like that's reallyimportant.
It's never too early to startbuilding.
I think networking could beseen almost as just a flinging
business cards here and there,and it's not.
It's that it's building thosenetworks and communities around
you.
You never know, never know.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
And I had this question twice who's your
favorite employee?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I remember who's interviewing you?
Oh um, what about the opsdirector, rob Monks?
I've got to say that my husbandNorthern Power man, otherwise
I'm in trouble you'll have teaon the table when you get in
there.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Not a chance, not a chance.
Um last question other than Anna, oh yeah, other than me,
because I'm too late, right,yeah, yeah and my favorite
question out of them all, andthe last one can we borrow your
mbe on weekends and with anaddition of, for strictly work
purposes and nothing to do withall the cool events you get
invited to?
What would you use it for?
(29:46):
Where would you go?
Well, it's just a range withyou.
Your invitations are just morethan I would imagine of planning
, to be honest.
Well, that is my last question.
I'm very thankful for theopportunity to interview my
first interview, simone beingthe first interviewee on her own
podcast.
The first of your segments, myfirst of of my segments?
(30:09):
Yeah, simone has been twistingmy arm on this one for a while
and I'm very glad I've done it.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
No, you wanted to do this.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I did deep down, but I'm usually the other side of
the camera, if you've ever seenme, but now you're especially in
the hot seat.
Yeah, it is a hot seat being onthis side.
Thank you for listening.
This is the we Are Powerpodcast with Simone Roche MB.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Subscribe on YouTube, apple, amazon Music, spotify or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Leave us a review or follow uson socials.
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