Today we’re joined by the brilliant Michelle Pughe-Parry de Klerk, founder of The Women’s Chapter, the UK’s first network for women in business to achieve B Corp certification.
Michelle’s journey is an extraordinary example of how a passion project, started on a shoestring as a side hustle, can evolve into a thriving, impact-led portfolio career.
Since launching in 2014, The Women’s Chapter has reached more than 30,000 women through events, thought leadership, membership and pro bono initiatives. Michelle also champions women and girls beyond the community through her work as an ambassador for The King’s Trust Women Supporting Women, a UN Women UK delegate and a council member for Founders4Schools and Maths4Girls.
In this episode you’ll learn:
• Why a portfolio career is an asset, not a failing, and how to recognise the skills you’ve built across different areas of work
• How to decide whether your passion project should stay a passion or become a commercial venture
• Why community isn’t a “nice to have” but a biological, emotional and strategic necessity
• How small businesses can use sustainability frameworks to drive meaningful impact, even without formal certification
• What Michelle learned from becoming unexpectedly financially exposed and how founders can protect themselves
• Practical ways to combat imposter syndrome using evidence-based techniques
• Why connection lowers cortisol, boosts leadership ability and helps founders make better decisions
• How niching down and staying in your lane creates focus, momentum and clarity
• The role of conversation as a catalyst for collaboration and change
• Networking is a form of self care
FF&M enables you to own your own PR & produces podcasts.
Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2024 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason. Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason.
FF&M recommends:
- LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
- Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
- Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
- Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.
MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link & Licence
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