October 27, 2025 • 29 mins
The brilliant Sophie Milliken MBE joins the We Are PoWEr Podcast – bringing a conversation about the power of visibility, storytelling, and taking bold action to create lasting impact.
As an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and founder of Mojo, Sophie helps leaders and professionals communicate their value and build authentic personal brands that drive opportunity. From running writing retreats in the Yorkshire Dales to chairing Smart Works Newcastle – a charity transforming unemployed women’s lives through interview clothing and coaching – Sophie’s journey proves that visibility isn’t about showing off, it’s about showing up.
She shares her insights on building a brand with purpose, why consistent communication can set you apart, and how life’s toughest decisions – including starting her first business and navigating divorce while raising her daughter – shaped her success. Sophie also reveals how she balances entrepreneurship, motherhood, and mentorship with intention and grace, always guided by her belief in taking action and connecting with purpose.
In this episode:
- Building confidence and visibility through storytelling
- Why personal branding is about communication, not ego
- How Smart Works Newcastle empowers women through confidence and coaching
- Making life-changing decisions with courage and intention
- The power of consistency – and why one LinkedIn post a week can change everything
- Balancing entrepreneurship, motherhood, and self-belief
- Superpower: connecting with purpose and authenticity
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.
Well, welcome to the podcastand I am thrilled to bits.
(00:42):
Never imitated, neverreplicated, singularly wonderful
, everybody's wonder girl.
Well, welcome to the podcastand I am thrilled to bits.
How long has it taken to getSophie Millican MBE in the
studio, All the way from?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
the tune.
I was just thinking that on theway here.
I was thinking why has it takenso long?
But here I am in lovelyLiverpool.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Because we haven't got a teleporter.
That's what we need.
We need a teleporter betweenour two fantastic cities of
Newcastle and Liverpool becausethey're both ace.
I totally agree.
That would be so helpful.
Now, Miss Millican podcaster,entrepreneur, multi-award winner
, what's your favourite job?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh, that's a tough one, isn't it?
I like them all, and if Ididn't, I wouldn't do them.
So a lot of the time I getasked about how do you manage to
do all these different things?
And I think it's because I doenjoy literally everything that
I do.
I really like.
You know, if I had to choose, Ireally enjoy writing, so that's
a big thing of mine, which ishelpful because I have to write
(01:48):
for lots of the different jobsthat I have.
I like being a mum.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I like doing podcasting oh.
Jess, yeah, absolutely Besttravelled daughter in the world.
She does all right.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
She does all right, doesn't she?
Yeah, yeah.
So I think it's there's lots ofthings, but I think all of the
things that I do all complementeach other, which again helps.
That helps me to use the timewell, and they all feed off each
other.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And that's really interesting because I love your
Beyond the Bio podcast becausethey're short, they're sharp,
you have fantastic guests, butthey're always got really
actionable stuff in there.
So I was catching up on yourone of your summer ones where
you went solo.
Oh right, yeah, cause you havebrilliant guests, cause you're
about 110 episodes or somethinglike that, aren't you?
But I loved, I must admit I was.
I was walking and listening andthere was this whole.
(02:38):
What surprised me.
The first thing was that you'renot techie.
I just assumed you were liketech queen, but you're like no,
I'm a write it down girl, but Ilike your practical tips because
you like that visual sort ofplanning, don't you?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And that visual calendar, I think for me, taking
action is a theme throughouteverything that I do and I kind
of think so what if you're notgoing to actually do something
with it?
So with the podcast, I'vealways had something around
action that you can take as aresult.
So you should be able to listento one of the episodes and then
go and do something if you wantto.
Same with the book.
You know the latest book that'sgot take action sections all
(03:12):
the way through it to encouragepeople to do something, because
we're all just overwhelmed bycontent and we can watch stuff
or listen to stuff all day long,but actually we need to take
the action to make some progress.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And all day long.
But actually we need to takethe action to make some progress
.
And that's the books.
And almost like it's aniteration, because I remember us
having a pretty soon.
It was like a 5 30 walk duringlockdown.
We were having a call, weren'twe?
And I think you would just.
Was that the ambitionaccelerator?
Yeah, that was the second book.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, three booksthree.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Now when's four?
I've been thinking about it.
You know of course you havebecause we run these writing
retreats to help um businessauthors get their books out
there.
And I'm loving doing thewriting retreats so much.
We hire this amazing cottage inthe middle of the Yorkshire
Dales and seeing everyone elsestarting to get excited about
their books, I feel like I'mgetting the bug again.
So I think there's another onein there.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And you talk about that action thing.
I know when you were hostingyour first writing retreat, you
were like, oh, you're right toshare it.
Yeah, of course.
And you're like I'm not sure ifpeople will come.
Is it about creating that safespace where you say it out loud,
so it's got to happen?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I think there's a bit of that, and I think I'm
someone that loves going onretreats.
I've been on quite a few nowand I always get loads from them
, but I always set myself reallyclear goals around what it is
that I want to go, because whenyou're investing in a retreat
there's the cost but alsothere's your time and we were
just talking about how precioustime is.
So you've got to think aboutwhat you want to get from it and
(04:33):
I think with the writingretreat, quite often business
owners or, you know, people ingeneral have got a book in them.
But maybe it's just an idea andactually, if you're committing
that time and cost to go in andsitting in this remote cottage
in the middle of the dales,you're going to make some
progress with that, and I'mreally keen that they leave with
a full book planned out, maybewith a few chapters written, but
a plan as to how they're goingto make it and that's just over
(04:55):
a weekend.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, wow, yeah, and are you seeing any kind of
progress on that?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
massive progress.
So we're about to do the thirdone at the end of September.
So from, uh, the first two, I'mtrying to think if we've
actually got any books out yetfrom that, bear in mind, we've
only been doing them this year.
I think we've got three or fourbooks about to come out or in
the in production at the momentas a result of of the retreat.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So, yeah, we're getting there, which is exciting
and what was the motivation foryou first to go?
I feel like I need to put thisonto I'd like to say paper, but
onto a keyboard For me, for myown books.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So the first one that I did was a bit of a well,
they're all passion projects,really, you don't have to write
a book.
But I think with the first oneit was when I had the first
business and it felt like areally natural fit.
No one in my industry had abook out, so I massively stood
out from doing that and then Iguess I've got the book since
(05:52):
then.
But I now really understandthat having a book is the best
business card ever and I thinkpeople that haven't got one are
missing out.
You know it adds so much toyour bio.
So if you, if you get booked tospeak at things, to be a
published author is amazing.
It's given you content torepurpose across so many
different things and it's goodfun and how easy was it to that
(06:15):
first one?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
because you didn't go on a writing retreat I get you
just had to.
How did you do it?
I did post-it notes.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, I did get support because I was working
with a hybrid publisher at thetime for the first two and then
the third one's produced by MojoPublishing.
So that was that's been greatand that's been a good
experience as well.
But with that first one Ialready had loads of content in
different places, so it was morepulling it together and getting
it into a book format.
So it only took me three weeksto write that first one, partly
(06:45):
because it was massively drivenby a deadline.
It had to be out in theSeptember for all sorts of
reasons.
So three weeks for that one.
The second one, the AmbitionAccelerator, which you wrote the
foreword for, Did you do?
That one took me about five orsix months and that was my
lockdown project and I think Ijust kept putting it off so I
wasn't as disciplined and makingsourdough bread or something,
something like that?
do you remember that?
(07:05):
Oh god, don't even want tothink back to those days, but I
was quite distracted, or it waseasy to get distracted, and of
course we're all trying to saveour businesses and you know we
keep saying during that time,and then with the third one, I
think that took me about twomonths again.
I had quite a bit of contentthere and I know what I'm doing
now.
So so it's all good.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, I remember just taking us back to that lockdown
period, which was it's hard toimagine how long it was and it
almost it was like in phases,wasn't it?
But I remember when weeventually we locked out as we
locked, just going into lockdown, just before we locked down, we
were due to have our awards onthe Monday.
What would have been the 5th?
Actually, we were due to haveour awards on the Monday.
(07:45):
What would have been the 5th?
Actually the 5th Northern PowerWomen Awards.
And on the Friday or Thursdaywe had to pull them and it was
out of government guidelines andet cetera.
And then we went on a wholemerry dance for almost a year
till we could host it, becausewe were like, oh, we'll be able
to do it in September, no, okay,well, let's try December, no,
and I had this crazy idea that Iwanted everybody to have the
(08:09):
trophy in their hands by the endof the evening.
What more could go wrong?
And of course, you don't knowuntil you've got all your
finalists and such like that ofwhich we did know because we
were just about to go into theawards.
Know, because we were justabout to go into the awards.
But then, how it was.
It was like a huge militaryoperation trying to find people
(08:29):
in nearby postcodes to go andhand deliver.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I loved hand delivering a few of your awards.
Oh, I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Jess, you and Jess and Sarah Davis came to the door
in her slippers, didn't she?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
she had her hair done , though it all hair looked
lovely.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
She looked amazing yeah that was hilarious and,
interestingly, now there'ssomething that you are so
passionate about, which isSmartworks Smartworks, and
particularly Smartworks NorthEast, isn't it Well?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
it's Smartworks Newcastle at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Oh okay, oh okay.
There's a wink there for thoseof you on the podcast that can't
see this.
There was a wink.
For those of you on the podcastthat can't see this.
There was a week, Can't sayanything.
Can't say anything.
Secret, Can't say anything.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
All good, we're in 60 countries.
No one will hear.
I've made no secret of the factthat you know we represent the
whole of the Northeast.
So yeah, a bit of a Ambition.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You're having a book called Ambition Accelerated for
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
But Sarah Davis is the chair, isn't she?
No, I'm the chair.
Sorry, she's the patron.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Trustee no close so.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I'm the chair.
I'm the chair.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Sarah is one of our ambassadors.
She was our first ambassadorfor Newcastle and all of the
other centres are massivelyjealous because our ambassador's
the best and she really is Imean, I was just messaging her
well yesterday because she wasrunning the Great North Run for
us and she wanted some headlinestats for a BBC interview.
And then I was messaging heragain this morning like, how are
you feeling?
(09:52):
And she's brilliant, she's verywell.
You know, sarah, what you seeis what you get with Sarah.
She's very, very supportive.
She does a lot behind thescenes that you don't see and
she's just very responsive andshe's massively helped raise the
profile of the charity acrossthe North.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
East, and it's the same kind of focus, isn't it?
She is determined, driven,action orientated, doing good
orientated.
Tell us about the headlineSmartworks.
Tell us some of those statsthat you've just passed on to us
.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So Smartworks Newcastle.
We are Smartworks Newcastle,but we do operate across the
whole of the northeast and weprovide interview, clothing and
coaching to unemployed womenacross our region.
So typically in the northeastwe have highest levels of
unemployment.
A lot of the women that we seehave been out of the workplace
for usually over five years,maybe more.
They might have had caringresponsibilities, they might
(10:42):
have had some very challengingrelationship situations and
they've been out of work for along time.
Now what happens?
If we can imagine how we mightfeel in that situation, our
confidence is probably prettylow.
We might not have the funds tobe able to buy clothing that
might be the bottom of our listand we've not prioritized
ourselves.
So when a woman accesses ourservice, they usually access the
(11:03):
service at the point wherethey've got a confirmed
interview and their confidenceis really low and we want to
welcome them into our center,give them a lovely cup of tea
and a biscuit and make them feelreally welcomed by our
volunteers.
And they get an hour with astylist volunteer who will pick
out the most incredible clothingand we have the best clothing.
We've got gorgeous pieces ofclothing from all sorts of
(11:26):
retailers.
Then they get an hour with aninterview coach which is
prepping them for that job thatthey've got, usually coming up a
day or two later they go outand you can just physically see
the difference in them.
It's increasing that confidenceand at Newcastle we have
incredible stats around thatwoman going on to secure a job
within the first month of seeingus.
(11:47):
It's usually around about the68, 69 percent of women and,
bearing in mind that quite oftenthey'll have applied for 33 or
more jobs before they even getto see us, it's life changing 33
jobs and then you go in with aor your team, go in with a magic
wand and build that self-belief.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I mean when I speak.
I've got goosebumps now justthinking about it, because when
I'm in the center and I'm seeingthose transformations and
seeing those clients and seeingthe stats each week as to how
many have gone on to get the job, and you know, speak to them
afterwards and they talk abouthow it's it's changed their
lives.
You know they've been able tohave more structure to their
life, have some income to beable to do wonderful things with
(12:27):
their families and it is, it'stransformational.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Now you not only are a trustee, patron, speaker,
entrepreneur.
Tell us about Moja.
That's your new business, isn'tit?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I say it's new, but no it's not actually.
Yeah, we're three years in now,so is three still new?
Maybe it is.
I mean it's still sort of startup phase and we've had it's
taken us that long to get you onthe couch.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Let's just put it out there.
I know.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, I really enjoy Mojo.
So when I had my first business, what I realised is that going
for amazing awards like theNorthern Power Women Awards,
which you can nominate- peoplefor right now and things like
(13:15):
that.
But awards, you know, getting inwith great communities, being
on podcasts, writing books, allthese things that would increase
your profile, but without therewas, like I said, there was no
plan around it.
I just used to say yes to stuffand then other cool stuff would
happen, and what that meant wasthat when I was going to have a
sales meeting with someone,they already felt like they knew
me and they already wanted towork with us, so it made sales
(13:38):
really easy, and then it alsocreated all the fun
opportunities as well.
So when I sold that businesshad a horrible experience after
selling it whilst I did my earnout and it was very unpleasant
At the point where I left, Icouldn't operate in that
industry for at least ninemonths because that was one of
my restrictions, and I startedthinking about what I could do
(13:58):
instead and I just had this ideain my head like there's
something in doing that forother founders and business
leaders.
So fast forward three monthsand that is what we do for
founders.
But we're also doing quite a bitin the corporate space at the
moment, because corporates areusually a bit rubbish about
making their people ambassadorswithin their businesses, so
they'll be on linkedin all thetime but they'll never post
(14:19):
anything, or they might repostsomething and think that that is
that that does.
Yeah, they're lurkers.
So we're doing a lot withcorporates at the moment where
we're supporting them withlinkedin, training and strategy,
and then that's kind of our wayin to say but here's all the
other stuff that you can bedoing as well, and of course
we've got the publishing as well, so there's all sorts to it,
but we're really enjoying it andno one's doing the same thing.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
It's like you've opened a kind of not worms, but
glorious kind of like pathways,isn't it?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I think so and I think the thing is is that
everyone's doing somethingamazing and the need to just be
a bit louder about it and bemore visible, and that's the
point around storytelling.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
You know we're year 10 of the awards.
You are as you called yourselfwhen we did the event up in
Newcastle last just beforeChristmas, and you were like,
yeah, we're part of the OG, andafterwards I was like I have no
idea what that even stands for.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Did you have to Google it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
I did, I was just thinking hip-hop, because that
was my, my genre of music waship-hop.
So I'm like, oh, I'm like allright, gangster, right, okay,
that's fine.
And then it wasn't untilafterwards.
I'm really such said that outloud.
I'm really not cool at all, amI but?
But there's the whole pointaround.
The awards were 10 years in 11years of kind of the
organization.
But it's not about an awardsand every award is different as
(15:32):
well and you talk about this onyour pod a lot and it's how and
what you do with them andthere's pay to play and all
those kind of different things.
But the awards that, when weset up, was fundamentally about
storytelling, was fundamentallyabout high fiving your own
achievements, you know, reallyimportant.
But the power of that,especially in a world right now
which is a little bit crazy outthere, I think we have to bang
(15:54):
the drum and we.
I think if you put it under astorytelling, it feels less
braggy.
But this is about your personalbrand and your personal profile
.
A bit like you highlight withthe, the LinkedIn, there's ways
to tell stories.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You can do you right 100%.
And I think, as women inparticular, we often get
imposter syndrome and I knowblokes get it as well, but we do
tend to get it worse or moreoften.
And I think we have this thingand maybe it's a bit of a
northern thing as well Like, oh,we can't brag, we can't show
off.
And you know, in the northeastI would say we're a very humble
region and we don't tell peoplehow great people are in our
(16:31):
region and all the amazing stuffwe do, how great people are in
our region and all the amazingstuff we do.
And I think there is a bit of aturn now with that where people
get the value of doing itbecause they see the benefits
and it's not bragging, it'scommunicating effectively what
you do, and then it's thenseeing the impact of that,
whether it might be a brilliantnew partnership or being able to
(16:51):
raise money for something thatyou care about.
All these things are soimportant.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So I'm a big fan of it and I saw recently we were.
You were speaking with SarahDavis and Rasheen from Rasheen
Curry, from Greggs, over abrilliant event with the
Northern Leaders, and I lovethat on the back of that,
because you're on the NorthernLeaders 100 list, as are you
indeed, but one of the things Ilove that you were like I'm
putting my hand up here becausethings can be very
(17:17):
Northwest-centric, right, youknow that, and you put your hand
up and Chris Maguire give him ashout out, he's mad as a box of
frogs but he's brilliant.
But you are now a Northeastambassador and representative
for that.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
So you can use your voice in different ways.
100%.
And at that dinner you rememberthe dinner that that we had
that list and he ended upturning it into an awards event,
which I wasn't expecting, andthen I won this business.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Champion for the northeaster was that just before
you knocked over glasses overAndy Burnham?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
oh, honestly like no one's.
Let me forget that I wouldn'tmind, but wasn't even drinking
it.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
We could cut that out if you want, not really, it was
an empty glass.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, it was really, was really embarrassing.
I'm never going to live thatdown.
And I wasn't like I say, I wasdrinking water.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Way to make.
Wait, you only get one chanceto make a first impression right
, I know I know, mortified.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So when I won that award, that was actually really
good because it meant that Imean one I was dead chuffed Like
how cool is that Business?
But it also meant I could sayto him right, chris, we need to
not just run these events inManchester and that's you know
something I'll say to you a lotabout.
We need more stuff in theNortheast and we've had some
fantastic Northern Power Womenevents in the Northeast.
So being able to do that eventand get Roisin and Zara along as
(18:24):
well was fantastic.
And he's now given me a columntalking about all things
Northeast.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I saw that and I think, if you talk about the
ethos of not just mojo buteverything that you're about
whether it be the book that youknow, the podcast, you
personally it is about raisingthat profile and it's okay.
It's okay.
What would you say for anyonelistening, irrespective of age
experience?
Sometimes it's easy to stay inthe shadows, sometimes it's easy
(18:50):
to stay over here because it'sa bit comfortable.
What would you say is a?
An easy way to make a start ifyou want to have your voice
heard or be a bit visible, butyou're not sure how.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I think for everyone, we've all got boundaries as to
how comfortable we feel withsharing stuff or putting
ourselves out there, and I thinkthe first thing has to be to
just start to just do something,and I think for most people
that are in our communityprobably start with something
like.
Linkedin is a good placebecause everyone's on it.
There are a billion peopleusing it, but less than 1% post
(19:23):
every week.
That's a tiny amount.
So even if you just posted oncea week, you're already in the
top 1% of people on LinkedIn.
Now, what you post is importantand and there's all sorts of
things about how you post andwhen you post and some of those
technical things.
But you've just got to juststart doing things and you might
not want to write somecontroversial posts where you
think you're going to get loadsof grief, but you could just
(19:45):
talk about being at an event.
You know, just something reallystraightforward or a cause that
you're really passionate about.
You know I smart works a lotand whenever we've needed help
for things like having to find anew office yet again, you know
that sort of rally cry has beenmassively helpful to help us to
be able to find new offices andthings like that.
So it is just putting somethingout there, but I think, mixing
(20:07):
it up.
So it's not just all about work, or you've got to show a bit of
personality there's nothingwrong with that, 100%, we're not
.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's not cookie cutters, are we, you know?
And we talked earlier aboutyour Jess.
So, um, your partner in crimewhen you go travels is that your
don't say downtime, because weyou can't talk about having.
No one has a balance right.
It's all about kind of usingthings.
It is a blend, isn't it?
You know?
We've just come out of summer,um belated happy birthday, by
(20:37):
the way.
Um, who picks the destinations.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
We do have conversations about it at home,
where we're like, right, wherewe're gonna go this year, or
sometimes it might be anopportunity to go somewhere, and
I'll just like do you want tocome?
And we can go and do this.
So we do have conversationsabout it.
And she's 13 now as Jess, whichis an interesting age, so she's
all about the city break.
So we've done yeah, she lovesthe city break, so that's been
(21:02):
what we've been doing this year.
Is that because of shops dining?
Speaker 1 (21:04):
She loves shopping.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, she loves shopping.
She's just gone nuts for it.
She's starting to, you know,show her fashion flair, which
wouldn't be what I would choose.
She's going through a gothphase at the moment, which is
interesting, but you've just gotto let her go.
And yeah, we just usually plansomething together and then what
we normally do is so.
We just came back from New York, we did Barcelona not too long
(21:26):
ago, and I'll say right, youchoose some activities you want
to do, I'll choose some I wantto do, I'll choose some I want
to do, and we'll both make themost of each of those, because
there won't be what we both wantto do.
So in New York, she wanted todo Squid Game.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I saw that.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It was great.
I actually loved it.
We had such a laugh.
It was so much fun.
So that's something I wouldnever have chosen to do when we
went to Barcelona.
She had me go to a balloonexhibition.
And again, why the heck wouldyou want to go to Barcelona go
to a balloon exhibition?
But, yet again, amazing, bestthing we did while we were there
.
So you know future career herefuture career.
It's all good so, fun so, and Ireally love our time doing our
trips because I feel like and alot of people get this mum guilt
(22:09):
around not being present andnot doing anything particularly
well, and I do get that.
And I feel like when we go away, especially with the city break
, where I can't be on my phoneor, you know, responding to
emails or whatever it's qualitytime.
So I feel like that helps meget some level of balance around
proper time with her where wecan talk about things.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And one of the things I know you did not so long ago
was do your year of no.
I need to resurrect that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I really do, because, I really do because.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I've always lived by the say yes and work out later,
and sometimes it's just too much, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I think you can do that earlier on in your career,
yeah, where you need to, andactually you should, I think
when you get a bit older and abit more experienced, you just
you have to work out how to sayno, and I do.
I do struggle with this and I'mtrying to be better at it and
I'd probably, out of everythingI get asked to do, I'd probably
say yes to about one in eightthings at the moment I would say
, but it's probably still toomuch, and I do wear a lot of
(23:05):
different hats.
I've just taken on a couple ofnew board roles which I probably
should have down time in ortravel time, cpd stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
What's the stuff that's going to develop me?
You know that's do.
How often do you do that cycle?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I usually have something formal with myself at
the end of each year, usuallyover the christmas break,
because I try and take a fulltwo weeks off over christmas the
full school holidays and I'llsit usually around that new year
time and I'll review stuff,because I do set myself goals.
I've got a vision board in myoffice at home, which I don't
work from home that much anymore, so I kind of forget what's on
(23:47):
it.
And then every so often I'll go, oh, look, and I'll look at
something and then do somethingto try and make it happen.
So I do review things and I'lltake things off my vision board
and I'll write a little note onit and it'll go in a box if it's
something that I've done.
So I am thoughtful around whatit is that I want to do and what
I want to achieve, and I thinkyou have to when you run a
business or a charity or youknow whatever responsibility I'm
thinking about, otherwise youdon't move things forward.
(24:09):
So, yeah, I am, yeah, I amquite thought out with all of
these things.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Now, are you ready to go into our power jar?
I'm excited for the jar.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I think you should be .
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It's my first one doing the jar no, no, you're not
, you're not, but so you will.
I will ask you to put aquestion in here which we'll
have for our next guest, and youwill pick a question out of
here that one of our previousguests that I've put in and will
I find out who asked me thequestion?
Oh, that's a good point, thoughI'd quite like that.
Hang on, have.
(24:41):
I got two, we can innovate aswe go.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Are you going for two ?
No, it can't be greedy, right,oh god.
This one is oh.
What's one decision you madethat completely changed the
course of your life that's notan easy question, is it?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
that's not an easy question is it?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
no, it could be personal, I know I think I've
probably got one of each okay.
So which one should I go for?
I'll go for both, all right.
So one course.
Um, I think, business wise, itwas leaving my corporate job
with John Lewis and and settingup that first business.
That was quite wacky when Ilook back, because when you work
for a big corporate, you feellike you're gonna be there
forever and, um, you know, Ilook back and I think that was
(25:30):
probably a bit reckless but itdid work out.
So that was, that was good andI don't think I'd ever gonna
would want to work for anybodyagain now I think I'm I'm just
in the zone of wanting to havebusinesses.
So that'd'd be my business one,the personal one, I think I
would say getting married andgetting divorced.
So I think when I got married,I think I knew I'd probably get
(25:53):
divorced.
I think I'd got this is quitebad hope, just as I'm watching.
She'd actually be totally finewith this because we talk very
openly about relationships andwhat she should look for and
aspire to having a relationship.
But I think when I met myex-husband I was at a stage
where I wanted to settle downand have a kid.
So it was kind of the righttime, the wrong person, which is
a shame in some ways, becauseyou know, if I'd waited maybe I
(26:16):
would have met someone better.
But at the same time I got Jess.
So you know I can't look backand regret that and I think the
fact that I got divorced only Ithink we'd been married about
three years that was a reallygood decision because Jess was
only two.
(26:37):
She doesn't remember.
I can talk very openly with herabout my relationship with her
dad.
Now I'm a bit sensitive as tohow much detail I would give her
, but she does see him fairlyconsistently at the moment,
although that's not always beenthe case, and I want to be very
open with her around the factthat that marriage did not work
for these reasons and actuallyhere are some other role models
(26:58):
that you should look at aroundwhat's aspirational in a
relationship, because I thinkthe decision that you make
around who your partner's goingto be is probably one of the
biggest business decisions thatyou can make as well.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I think I saw a poster of that recently about
that for that exact reason toenable, to enable and to empower
.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I think it makes a really big difference.
I've had, you know myrelationship.
History is not the best, andI've had relationships with
people that have really held meback work-wise People that
haven't supported what I'vewanted to do, business-wise and
I think, having lived in London,where there's a different vibe
versus the North East, that canbe quite challenging sometimes.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
So yeah, interesting.
And final question what is yoursuperpower?
What's my superpower?
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Oh, what did I tell you it was?
I can't remember.
Can you remember You've gotmore than one superpower.
What's my superpower?
I suppose it probably dependswhat kind of mood I'm in and
what's going on, but I wouldlike to say I'm a good connector
.
I think I'm a good connector.
I think I've gone from movingback to the northeast and not
knowing anyone in business apartfrom some people at the John
(28:05):
Lewis shop, to knowing prettymuch everyone across the
northeast, and if I don't knowthem, I'll know someone that
knows them.
So I can introduce people toanyone and I know who to go to
for different things.
And and I love that, I thinkit's it's that is powerful and
with purpose.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You don't just connect for the sake of it.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
No, it's with purpose Agreed.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Sophie Millican MBE.
We could have gone on.
This is episode one of a boxset.
I feel like for you and I yeah,I'll come back.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
I love watching what you'redoing, where you're going and
how you showcase and signpostother people as well.
You and signposts to otherpeople as well.
You were very generous in yourspirit, so thank you so much.
(28:44):
Thank you, thank you so muchfor joining us and we will see
you next week.
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
(29:05):
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.
Well, welcome to the podcastand I am thrilled to bits.
(00:42):
Never imitated, neverreplicated, singularly wonderful
, everybody's wonder girl.
Well, welcome to the podcastand I am thrilled to bits.
How long has it taken to getSophie Millican MBE in the
studio, All the way from?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
the tune.
I was just thinking that on theway here.
I was thinking why has it takenso long?
But here I am in lovelyLiverpool.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Because we haven't got a teleporter.
That's what we need.
We need a teleporter betweenour two fantastic cities of
Newcastle and Liverpool becausethey're both ace.
I totally agree.
That would be so helpful.
Now, Miss Millican podcaster,entrepreneur, multi-award winner
, what's your favourite job?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh, that's a tough one, isn't it?
I like them all, and if Ididn't, I wouldn't do them.
So a lot of the time I getasked about how do you manage to
do all these different things?
And I think it's because I doenjoy literally everything that
I do.
I really like.
You know, if I had to choose, Ireally enjoy writing, so that's
a big thing of mine, which ishelpful because I have to write
(01:48):
for lots of the different jobsthat I have.
I like being a mum.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I like doing podcasting oh.
Jess, yeah, absolutely Besttravelled daughter in the world.
She does all right.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
She does all right, doesn't she?
Yeah, yeah.
So I think it's there's lots ofthings, but I think all of the
things that I do all complementeach other, which again helps.
That helps me to use the timewell, and they all feed off each
other.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And that's really interesting because I love your
Beyond the Bio podcast becausethey're short, they're sharp,
you have fantastic guests, butthey're always got really
actionable stuff in there.
So I was catching up on yourone of your summer ones where
you went solo.
Oh right, yeah, cause you havebrilliant guests, cause you're
about 110 episodes or somethinglike that, aren't you?
But I loved, I must admit I was.
I was walking and listening andthere was this whole.
(02:38):
What surprised me.
The first thing was that you'renot techie.
I just assumed you were liketech queen, but you're like no,
I'm a write it down girl, but Ilike your practical tips because
you like that visual sort ofplanning, don't you?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And that visual calendar, I think for me, taking
action is a theme throughouteverything that I do and I kind
of think so what if you're notgoing to actually do something
with it?
So with the podcast, I'vealways had something around
action that you can take as aresult.
So you should be able to listento one of the episodes and then
go and do something if you wantto.
Same with the book.
You know the latest book that'sgot take action sections all
(03:12):
the way through it to encouragepeople to do something, because
we're all just overwhelmed bycontent and we can watch stuff
or listen to stuff all day long,but actually we need to take
the action to make some progress.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
And all day long.
But actually we need to takethe action to make some progress
.
And that's the books.
And almost like it's aniteration, because I remember us
having a pretty soon.
It was like a 5 30 walk duringlockdown.
We were having a call, weren'twe?
And I think you would just.
Was that the ambitionaccelerator?
Yeah, that was the second book.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, three booksthree.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Now when's four?
I've been thinking about it.
You know of course you havebecause we run these writing
retreats to help um businessauthors get their books out
there.
And I'm loving doing thewriting retreats so much.
We hire this amazing cottage inthe middle of the Yorkshire
Dales and seeing everyone elsestarting to get excited about
their books, I feel like I'mgetting the bug again.
So I think there's another onein there.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And you talk about that action thing.
I know when you were hostingyour first writing retreat, you
were like, oh, you're right toshare it.
Yeah, of course.
And you're like I'm not sure ifpeople will come.
Is it about creating that safespace where you say it out loud,
so it's got to happen?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I think there's a bit of that, and I think I'm
someone that loves going onretreats.
I've been on quite a few nowand I always get loads from them
, but I always set myself reallyclear goals around what it is
that I want to go, because whenyou're investing in a retreat
there's the cost but alsothere's your time and we were
just talking about how precioustime is.
So you've got to think aboutwhat you want to get from it and
(04:33):
I think with the writingretreat, quite often business
owners or, you know, people ingeneral have got a book in them.
But maybe it's just an idea andactually, if you're committing
that time and cost to go in andsitting in this remote cottage
in the middle of the dales,you're going to make some
progress with that, and I'mreally keen that they leave with
a full book planned out, maybewith a few chapters written, but
a plan as to how they're goingto make it and that's just over
(04:55):
a weekend.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, wow, yeah, and are you seeing any kind of
progress on that?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
massive progress.
So we're about to do the thirdone at the end of September.
So from, uh, the first two, I'mtrying to think if we've
actually got any books out yetfrom that, bear in mind, we've
only been doing them this year.
I think we've got three or fourbooks about to come out or in
the in production at the momentas a result of of the retreat.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So, yeah, we're getting there, which is exciting
and what was the motivation foryou first to go?
I feel like I need to put thisonto I'd like to say paper, but
onto a keyboard For me, for myown books.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So the first one that I did was a bit of a well,
they're all passion projects,really, you don't have to write
a book.
But I think with the first oneit was when I had the first
business and it felt like areally natural fit.
No one in my industry had abook out, so I massively stood
out from doing that and then Iguess I've got the book since
(05:52):
then.
But I now really understandthat having a book is the best
business card ever and I thinkpeople that haven't got one are
missing out.
You know it adds so much toyour bio.
So if you, if you get booked tospeak at things, to be a
published author is amazing.
It's given you content torepurpose across so many
different things and it's goodfun and how easy was it to that
(06:15):
first one?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
because you didn't go on a writing retreat I get you
just had to.
How did you do it?
I did post-it notes.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, I did get support because I was working
with a hybrid publisher at thetime for the first two and then
the third one's produced by MojoPublishing.
So that was that's been greatand that's been a good
experience as well.
But with that first one Ialready had loads of content in
different places, so it was morepulling it together and getting
it into a book format.
So it only took me three weeksto write that first one, partly
(06:45):
because it was massively drivenby a deadline.
It had to be out in theSeptember for all sorts of
reasons.
So three weeks for that one.
The second one, the AmbitionAccelerator, which you wrote the
foreword for, Did you do?
That one took me about five orsix months and that was my
lockdown project and I think Ijust kept putting it off so I
wasn't as disciplined and makingsourdough bread or something,
something like that?
do you remember that?
(07:05):
Oh god, don't even want tothink back to those days, but I
was quite distracted, or it waseasy to get distracted, and of
course we're all trying to saveour businesses and you know we
keep saying during that time,and then with the third one, I
think that took me about twomonths again.
I had quite a bit of contentthere and I know what I'm doing
now.
So so it's all good.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, I remember just taking us back to that lockdown
period, which was it's hard toimagine how long it was and it
almost it was like in phases,wasn't it?
But I remember when weeventually we locked out as we
locked, just going into lockdown, just before we locked down, we
were due to have our awards onthe Monday.
What would have been the 5th?
Actually, we were due to haveour awards on the Monday.
(07:45):
What would have been the 5th?
Actually the 5th Northern PowerWomen Awards.
And on the Friday or Thursdaywe had to pull them and it was
out of government guidelines andet cetera.
And then we went on a wholemerry dance for almost a year
till we could host it, becausewe were like, oh, we'll be able
to do it in September, no, okay,well, let's try December, no,
and I had this crazy idea that Iwanted everybody to have the
(08:09):
trophy in their hands by the endof the evening.
What more could go wrong?
And of course, you don't knowuntil you've got all your
finalists and such like that ofwhich we did know because we
were just about to go into theawards.
Know, because we were justabout to go into the awards.
But then, how it was.
It was like a huge militaryoperation trying to find people
(08:29):
in nearby postcodes to go andhand deliver.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I loved hand delivering a few of your awards.
Oh, I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Jess, you and Jess and Sarah Davis came to the door
in her slippers, didn't she?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
she had her hair done , though it all hair looked
lovely.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
She looked amazing yeah that was hilarious and,
interestingly, now there'ssomething that you are so
passionate about, which isSmartworks Smartworks, and
particularly Smartworks NorthEast, isn't it Well?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
it's Smartworks Newcastle at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Oh okay, oh okay.
There's a wink there for thoseof you on the podcast that can't
see this.
There was a wink.
For those of you on the podcastthat can't see this.
There was a week, Can't sayanything.
Can't say anything.
Secret, Can't say anything.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
All good, we're in 60 countries.
No one will hear.
I've made no secret of the factthat you know we represent the
whole of the Northeast.
So yeah, a bit of a Ambition.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You're having a book called Ambition Accelerated for
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
But Sarah Davis is the chair, isn't she?
No, I'm the chair.
Sorry, she's the patron.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Trustee no close so.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I'm the chair.
I'm the chair.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Sarah is one of our ambassadors.
She was our first ambassadorfor Newcastle and all of the
other centres are massivelyjealous because our ambassador's
the best and she really is Imean, I was just messaging her
well yesterday because she wasrunning the Great North Run for
us and she wanted some headlinestats for a BBC interview.
And then I was messaging heragain this morning like, how are
you feeling?
(09:52):
And she's brilliant, she's verywell.
You know, sarah, what you seeis what you get with Sarah.
She's very, very supportive.
She does a lot behind thescenes that you don't see and
she's just very responsive andshe's massively helped raise the
profile of the charity acrossthe North.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
East, and it's the same kind of focus, isn't it?
She is determined, driven,action orientated, doing good
orientated.
Tell us about the headlineSmartworks.
Tell us some of those statsthat you've just passed on to us
.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So Smartworks Newcastle.
We are Smartworks Newcastle,but we do operate across the
whole of the northeast and weprovide interview, clothing and
coaching to unemployed womenacross our region.
So typically in the northeastwe have highest levels of
unemployment.
A lot of the women that we seehave been out of the workplace
for usually over five years,maybe more.
They might have had caringresponsibilities, they might
(10:42):
have had some very challengingrelationship situations and
they've been out of work for along time.
Now what happens?
If we can imagine how we mightfeel in that situation, our
confidence is probably prettylow.
We might not have the funds tobe able to buy clothing that
might be the bottom of our listand we've not prioritized
ourselves.
So when a woman accesses ourservice, they usually access the
(11:03):
service at the point wherethey've got a confirmed
interview and their confidenceis really low and we want to
welcome them into our center,give them a lovely cup of tea
and a biscuit and make them feelreally welcomed by our
volunteers.
And they get an hour with astylist volunteer who will pick
out the most incredible clothingand we have the best clothing.
We've got gorgeous pieces ofclothing from all sorts of
(11:26):
retailers.
Then they get an hour with aninterview coach which is
prepping them for that job thatthey've got, usually coming up a
day or two later they go outand you can just physically see
the difference in them.
It's increasing that confidenceand at Newcastle we have
incredible stats around thatwoman going on to secure a job
within the first month of seeingus.
(11:47):
It's usually around about the68, 69 percent of women and,
bearing in mind that quite oftenthey'll have applied for 33 or
more jobs before they even getto see us, it's life changing 33
jobs and then you go in with aor your team, go in with a magic
wand and build that self-belief.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I mean when I speak.
I've got goosebumps now justthinking about it, because when
I'm in the center and I'm seeingthose transformations and
seeing those clients and seeingthe stats each week as to how
many have gone on to get the job, and you know, speak to them
afterwards and they talk abouthow it's it's changed their
lives.
You know they've been able tohave more structure to their
life, have some income to beable to do wonderful things with
(12:27):
their families and it is, it'stransformational.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Now you not only are a trustee, patron, speaker,
entrepreneur.
Tell us about Moja.
That's your new business, isn'tit?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I say it's new, but no it's not actually.
Yeah, we're three years in now,so is three still new?
Maybe it is.
I mean it's still sort of startup phase and we've had it's
taken us that long to get you onthe couch.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Let's just put it out there.
I know.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, I really enjoy Mojo.
So when I had my first business, what I realised is that going
for amazing awards like theNorthern Power Women Awards,
which you can nominate- peoplefor right now and things like
(13:15):
that.
But awards, you know, getting inwith great communities, being
on podcasts, writing books, allthese things that would increase
your profile, but without therewas, like I said, there was no
plan around it.
I just used to say yes to stuffand then other cool stuff would
happen, and what that meant wasthat when I was going to have a
sales meeting with someone,they already felt like they knew
me and they already wanted towork with us, so it made sales
(13:38):
really easy, and then it alsocreated all the fun
opportunities as well.
So when I sold that businesshad a horrible experience after
selling it whilst I did my earnout and it was very unpleasant
At the point where I left, Icouldn't operate in that
industry for at least ninemonths because that was one of
my restrictions, and I startedthinking about what I could do
(13:58):
instead and I just had this ideain my head like there's
something in doing that forother founders and business
leaders.
So fast forward three monthsand that is what we do for
founders.
But we're also doing quite a bitin the corporate space at the
moment, because corporates areusually a bit rubbish about
making their people ambassadorswithin their businesses, so
they'll be on linkedin all thetime but they'll never post
(14:19):
anything, or they might repostsomething and think that that is
that that does.
Yeah, they're lurkers.
So we're doing a lot withcorporates at the moment where
we're supporting them withlinkedin, training and strategy,
and then that's kind of our wayin to say but here's all the
other stuff that you can bedoing as well, and of course
we've got the publishing as well, so there's all sorts to it,
but we're really enjoying it andno one's doing the same thing.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
It's like you've opened a kind of not worms, but
glorious kind of like pathways,isn't it?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I think so and I think the thing is is that
everyone's doing somethingamazing and the need to just be
a bit louder about it and bemore visible, and that's the
point around storytelling.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
You know we're year 10 of the awards.
You are as you called yourselfwhen we did the event up in
Newcastle last just beforeChristmas, and you were like,
yeah, we're part of the OG, andafterwards I was like I have no
idea what that even stands for.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Did you have to Google it.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
I did, I was just thinking hip-hop, because that
was my, my genre of music waship-hop.
So I'm like, oh, I'm like allright, gangster, right, okay,
that's fine.
And then it wasn't untilafterwards.
I'm really such said that outloud.
I'm really not cool at all, amI but?
But there's the whole pointaround.
The awards were 10 years in 11years of kind of the
organization.
But it's not about an awardsand every award is different as
(15:32):
well and you talk about this onyour pod a lot and it's how and
what you do with them andthere's pay to play and all
those kind of different things.
But the awards that, when weset up, was fundamentally about
storytelling, was fundamentallyabout high fiving your own
achievements, you know, reallyimportant.
But the power of that,especially in a world right now
which is a little bit crazy outthere, I think we have to bang
(15:54):
the drum and we.
I think if you put it under astorytelling, it feels less
braggy.
But this is about your personalbrand and your personal profile
.
A bit like you highlight withthe, the LinkedIn, there's ways
to tell stories.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You can do you right 100%.
And I think, as women inparticular, we often get
imposter syndrome and I knowblokes get it as well, but we do
tend to get it worse or moreoften.
And I think we have this thingand maybe it's a bit of a
northern thing as well Like, oh,we can't brag, we can't show
off.
And you know, in the northeastI would say we're a very humble
region and we don't tell peoplehow great people are in our
(16:31):
region and all the amazing stuffwe do, how great people are in
our region and all the amazingstuff we do.
And I think there is a bit of aturn now with that where people
get the value of doing itbecause they see the benefits
and it's not bragging, it'scommunicating effectively what
you do, and then it's thenseeing the impact of that,
whether it might be a brilliantnew partnership or being able to
(16:51):
raise money for something thatyou care about.
All these things are soimportant.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So I'm a big fan of it and I saw recently we were.
You were speaking with SarahDavis and Rasheen from Rasheen
Curry, from Greggs, over abrilliant event with the
Northern Leaders, and I lovethat on the back of that,
because you're on the NorthernLeaders 100 list, as are you
indeed, but one of the things Ilove that you were like I'm
putting my hand up here becausethings can be very
(17:17):
Northwest-centric, right, youknow that, and you put your hand
up and Chris Maguire give him ashout out, he's mad as a box of
frogs but he's brilliant.
But you are now a Northeastambassador and representative
for that.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
So you can use your voice in different ways.
100%.
And at that dinner you rememberthe dinner that that we had
that list and he ended upturning it into an awards event,
which I wasn't expecting, andthen I won this business.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Champion for the northeaster was that just before
you knocked over glasses overAndy Burnham?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
oh, honestly like no one's.
Let me forget that I wouldn'tmind, but wasn't even drinking
it.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
We could cut that out if you want, not really, it was
an empty glass.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, it was really, was really embarrassing.
I'm never going to live thatdown.
And I wasn't like I say, I wasdrinking water.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Way to make.
Wait, you only get one chanceto make a first impression right
, I know I know, mortified.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So when I won that award, that was actually really
good because it meant that Imean one I was dead chuffed Like
how cool is that Business?
But it also meant I could sayto him right, chris, we need to
not just run these events inManchester and that's you know
something I'll say to you a lotabout.
We need more stuff in theNortheast and we've had some
fantastic Northern Power Womenevents in the Northeast.
So being able to do that eventand get Roisin and Zara along as
(18:24):
well was fantastic.
And he's now given me a columntalking about all things
Northeast.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I saw that and I think, if you talk about the
ethos of not just mojo buteverything that you're about
whether it be the book that youknow, the podcast, you
personally it is about raisingthat profile and it's okay.
It's okay.
What would you say for anyonelistening, irrespective of age
experience?
Sometimes it's easy to stay inthe shadows, sometimes it's easy
(18:50):
to stay over here because it'sa bit comfortable.
What would you say is a?
An easy way to make a start ifyou want to have your voice
heard or be a bit visible, butyou're not sure how.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I think for everyone, we've all got boundaries as to
how comfortable we feel withsharing stuff or putting
ourselves out there, and I thinkthe first thing has to be to
just start to just do something,and I think for most people
that are in our communityprobably start with something
like.
Linkedin is a good placebecause everyone's on it.
There are a billion peopleusing it, but less than 1% post
(19:23):
every week.
That's a tiny amount.
So even if you just posted oncea week, you're already in the
top 1% of people on LinkedIn.
Now, what you post is importantand and there's all sorts of
things about how you post andwhen you post and some of those
technical things.
But you've just got to juststart doing things and you might
not want to write somecontroversial posts where you
think you're going to get loadsof grief, but you could just
(19:45):
talk about being at an event.
You know, just something reallystraightforward or a cause that
you're really passionate about.
You know I smart works a lotand whenever we've needed help
for things like having to find anew office yet again, you know
that sort of rally cry has beenmassively helpful to help us to
be able to find new offices andthings like that.
So it is just putting somethingout there, but I think, mixing
(20:07):
it up.
So it's not just all about work, or you've got to show a bit of
personality there's nothingwrong with that, 100%, we're not
.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's not cookie cutters, are we, you know?
And we talked earlier aboutyour Jess.
So, um, your partner in crimewhen you go travels is that your
don't say downtime, because weyou can't talk about having.
No one has a balance right.
It's all about kind of usingthings.
It is a blend, isn't it?
You know?
We've just come out of summer,um belated happy birthday, by
(20:37):
the way.
Um, who picks the destinations.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
We do have conversations about it at home,
where we're like, right, wherewe're gonna go this year, or
sometimes it might be anopportunity to go somewhere, and
I'll just like do you want tocome?
And we can go and do this.
So we do have conversationsabout it.
And she's 13 now as Jess, whichis an interesting age, so she's
all about the city break.
So we've done yeah, she lovesthe city break, so that's been
(21:02):
what we've been doing this year.
Is that because of shops dining?
Speaker 1 (21:04):
She loves shopping.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, she loves shopping.
She's just gone nuts for it.
She's starting to, you know,show her fashion flair, which
wouldn't be what I would choose.
She's going through a gothphase at the moment, which is
interesting, but you've just gotto let her go.
And yeah, we just usually plansomething together and then what
we normally do is so.
We just came back from New York, we did Barcelona not too long
(21:26):
ago, and I'll say right, youchoose some activities you want
to do, I'll choose some I wantto do, I'll choose some I want
to do, and we'll both make themost of each of those, because
there won't be what we both wantto do.
So in New York, she wanted todo Squid Game.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I saw that.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It was great.
I actually loved it.
We had such a laugh.
It was so much fun.
So that's something I wouldnever have chosen to do when we
went to Barcelona.
She had me go to a balloonexhibition.
And again, why the heck wouldyou want to go to Barcelona go
to a balloon exhibition?
But, yet again, amazing, bestthing we did while we were there
.
So you know future career herefuture career.
It's all good so, fun so, and Ireally love our time doing our
trips because I feel like and alot of people get this mum guilt
(22:09):
around not being present andnot doing anything particularly
well, and I do get that.
And I feel like when we go away, especially with the city break
, where I can't be on my phoneor, you know, responding to
emails or whatever it's qualitytime.
So I feel like that helps meget some level of balance around
proper time with her where wecan talk about things.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And one of the things I know you did not so long ago
was do your year of no.
I need to resurrect that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I really do, because, I really do because.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I've always lived by the say yes and work out later,
and sometimes it's just too much, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I think you can do that earlier on in your career,
yeah, where you need to, andactually you should, I think
when you get a bit older and abit more experienced, you just
you have to work out how to sayno, and I do.
I do struggle with this and I'mtrying to be better at it and
I'd probably, out of everythingI get asked to do, I'd probably
say yes to about one in eightthings at the moment I would say
, but it's probably still toomuch, and I do wear a lot of
(23:05):
different hats.
I've just taken on a couple ofnew board roles which I probably
should have down time in ortravel time, cpd stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
What's the stuff that's going to develop me?
You know that's do.
How often do you do that cycle?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I usually have something formal with myself at
the end of each year, usuallyover the christmas break,
because I try and take a fulltwo weeks off over christmas the
full school holidays and I'llsit usually around that new year
time and I'll review stuff,because I do set myself goals.
I've got a vision board in myoffice at home, which I don't
work from home that much anymore, so I kind of forget what's on
(23:47):
it.
And then every so often I'll go, oh, look, and I'll look at
something and then do somethingto try and make it happen.
So I do review things and I'lltake things off my vision board
and I'll write a little note onit and it'll go in a box if it's
something that I've done.
So I am thoughtful around whatit is that I want to do and what
I want to achieve, and I thinkyou have to when you run a
business or a charity or youknow whatever responsibility I'm
thinking about, otherwise youdon't move things forward.
(24:09):
So, yeah, I am, yeah, I amquite thought out with all of
these things.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Now, are you ready to go into our power jar?
I'm excited for the jar.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I think you should be .
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It's my first one doing the jar no, no, you're not
, you're not, but so you will.
I will ask you to put aquestion in here which we'll
have for our next guest, and youwill pick a question out of
here that one of our previousguests that I've put in and will
I find out who asked me thequestion?
Oh, that's a good point, thoughI'd quite like that.
Hang on, have.
(24:41):
I got two, we can innovate aswe go.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Are you going for two ?
No, it can't be greedy, right,oh god.
This one is oh.
What's one decision you madethat completely changed the
course of your life that's notan easy question, is it?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
that's not an easy question is it?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
no, it could be personal, I know I think I've
probably got one of each okay.
So which one should I go for?
I'll go for both, all right.
So one course.
Um, I think, business wise, itwas leaving my corporate job
with John Lewis and and settingup that first business.
That was quite wacky when Ilook back, because when you work
for a big corporate, you feellike you're gonna be there
forever and, um, you know, Ilook back and I think that was
(25:30):
probably a bit reckless but itdid work out.
So that was, that was good andI don't think I'd ever gonna
would want to work for anybodyagain now I think I'm I'm just
in the zone of wanting to havebusinesses.
So that'd'd be my business one,the personal one, I think I
would say getting married andgetting divorced.
So I think when I got married,I think I knew I'd probably get
(25:53):
divorced.
I think I'd got this is quitebad hope, just as I'm watching.
She'd actually be totally finewith this because we talk very
openly about relationships andwhat she should look for and
aspire to having a relationship.
But I think when I met myex-husband I was at a stage
where I wanted to settle downand have a kid.
So it was kind of the righttime, the wrong person, which is
a shame in some ways, becauseyou know, if I'd waited maybe I
(26:16):
would have met someone better.
But at the same time I got Jess.
So you know I can't look backand regret that and I think the
fact that I got divorced only Ithink we'd been married about
three years that was a reallygood decision because Jess was
only two.
(26:37):
She doesn't remember.
I can talk very openly with herabout my relationship with her
dad.
Now I'm a bit sensitive as tohow much detail I would give her
, but she does see him fairlyconsistently at the moment,
although that's not always beenthe case, and I want to be very
open with her around the factthat that marriage did not work
for these reasons and actuallyhere are some other role models
(26:58):
that you should look at aroundwhat's aspirational in a
relationship, because I thinkthe decision that you make
around who your partner's goingto be is probably one of the
biggest business decisions thatyou can make as well.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I think I saw a poster of that recently about
that for that exact reason toenable, to enable and to empower
.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I think it makes a really big difference.
I've had, you know myrelationship.
History is not the best, andI've had relationships with
people that have really held meback work-wise People that
haven't supported what I'vewanted to do, business-wise and
I think, having lived in London,where there's a different vibe
versus the North East, that canbe quite challenging sometimes.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
So yeah, interesting.
And final question what is yoursuperpower?
What's my superpower?
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Oh, what did I tell you it was?
I can't remember.
Can you remember You've gotmore than one superpower.
What's my superpower?
I suppose it probably dependswhat kind of mood I'm in and
what's going on, but I wouldlike to say I'm a good connector
.
I think I'm a good connector.
I think I've gone from movingback to the northeast and not
knowing anyone in business apartfrom some people at the John
(28:05):
Lewis shop, to knowing prettymuch everyone across the
northeast, and if I don't knowthem, I'll know someone that
knows them.
So I can introduce people toanyone and I know who to go to
for different things.
And and I love that, I thinkit's it's that is powerful and
with purpose.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
You don't just connect for the sake of it.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
No, it's with purpose Agreed.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Sophie Millican MBE.
We could have gone on.
This is episode one of a boxset.
I feel like for you and I yeah,I'll come back.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
I love watching what you'redoing, where you're going and
how you showcase and signpostother people as well.
You and signposts to otherpeople as well.
You were very generous in yourspirit, so thank you so much.
(28:44):
Thank you, thank you so muchfor joining us and we will see
you next week.
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
(29:05):
Power on YouTube.
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