Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast

Welcome back to the next episode of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, where we connect with professionals across the West Midlands to explore topics that matter to our careers and personal growth.

In this episode, our host Sophie Poduval-Morrell introduces Belinda Kaur, a dynamic professional renowned for her expertise in marketing, mentoring, and motivation.

Belinda shares her journey from studying computer science to thriving in various roles such as red carpet hosting and running her own business.

She candidly discusses her struggles with imposter syndrome, the importance of confidence, and how mentorship has played a crucial role in her personal and professional growth.

Belinda provides invaluable tips on building confidence, navigating career changes, and the power of networking. The episode emphasizes the significance of setting and achieving goals, as well as pushing through self-doubt to advance in one's career.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on the Future Faces podcast and follow us on social media for updates and new episodes.

This special episode of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast features a live recording of the IWD Conference & Expo, recorded by the IWD Conference & Expo team.

Our host Sophie Poduval-Morrell hosted a panel on young professional women, centred around empowering girls for career success, the importance of self-care, being authentic, and what is it like to be in a male-dominated industry.

The panel included the voices of four prominent young professional women:

Ebony Belle, a mental health nurse and practitioner, specialist mentor, founder of Belle-Being, and senior manager at Vision For All CIC; Freya Dearman, a trainee solicitor and vice president of Future Faces; Nadia Johnstone-Smith, a private client & COP advisor at Quilter Cheviot Financial Planning ; and Ibukun Oluleye (Ibby), brand executive at Tribera and events leader.

The panel addresses key issues such as the importance of networking, balancing career with personal well-being, finance management, authenticity in the workplace, and overcoming social mobility barriers. They share personal experiences and advice on maintaining mental health, handling gender challenges in male-dominated industries, managing LinkedIn presence, and the significance of International Women's Day in their lives.

Future Faces would like to thank the founders of the IWD Conference & Expo, Kasim Choudhry and Edwin Ladd, as well as the rest of the team, for kindly providing the live recording of the panel.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on the Future Faces podcast and follow us on social media for updates and new episodes.

Welcome back to the next episode of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, where we connect with professionals across the West Midlands to explore topics that matter to our careers and personal growth.

Today, we are shining a spotlight on a truly inspiring story featuring the gifted fashion designer and salon owner, Rosie Billington.

Hosted by Sophie Poduval-Morrell, this episode focuses on the power of personal branding and staying true to one's purpose in the competitive world of fashion.

Rosie Billington's journey into fashion didn't follow a conventional path. From an early age, Rosie's desire to do something creative set her apart from the typical nine-to-five routine. With a love for art and fashion, she embarked on a journey that would see her wearing multiple hats—fashion designer, salon owner, and an everlasting contributor to the personal style landscape.

By designing for herself and her circles, she quickly gathered a loyal clientele, becoming a favorite on red carpets and prestigious events like the GBYPY Awards and the Grammys.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on the Future Faces podcast and follow us on social media for updates and new episodes.

Welcome back to the next episode of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, where we connect with professionals across the West Midlands to explore topics that matter to our careers and personal growth.

DISCLAIMER: This episode touches on potentially distressing topics, such as cancer treatment.

Following on with this month's theme of being known for your purpose, our host Sophie interviews Morgan Paine, a consultant transport planner and Future Faces member.

Morgan shares his poignant journey of being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 20, his intense treatment process, and how his fitness background played a crucial role in his recovery.

During the pandemic, he faced additional challenges but remained determined to regain his health. Morgan talks about his evolving purpose of raising awareness about mental and physical health among young professionals and the importance of paying attention to one's body.

He discusses how Future Faces helped him amplify his message and the steps he took to transition back to normal life, focusing on his purpose and future goals.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on the Future Faces podcast and follow us on social media for updates and new episodes.

Welcome to a special edition of the Future Faces podcast series, where we celebrate exceptional talent from the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year Awards. Hosted by Sophie Poduval-Morrell, manager of Future Faces, this edition brings you stories of triumph, resilience, and inspiration from award winners across a spectrum of industries. Eleven young professionals were recently honored for their contributions to fields such as finance, legal, not-for-profit, and creative arts, among others. These accolades spotlight the diverse and unique backgrounds of our winners, emphasizing their impact within the Greater Birmingham community. The collective wisdom and advice shared by the winners serves as a reminder of the value of recognition and reflection.

Future applicants are encouraged to apply for the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year 2025 awards to seize a chance to shine and inspire.

Welcome to the latest episode of the Future Faces podcast, hosted by Sophie Poduval-Morrell.

This new episode celebrates the achievements of Santina Bunting, the youngest winner of the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (GBYPY) Awards.

A civil engineering apprentice at Arup, Santina reflects on her decision to pursue an apprenticeship over traditional education, influenced by her mother's sacrifices. She emphasizes the supportive environment at Arup and the opportunities provided through the Future Faces network.

The discussion highlights the importance of visibility, education, and diversity in the professional world, with anecdotes about organizing successful community and networking events.

Santina's experiences and positive outlook advocate for women in STEM and underscore the value of early career investment for future leadership development.

In a powerful and compelling new episode of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we were introduced to Gabriel Imevbore, an eloquent, determined, and inspiring sales director at Z Digital UK.

Hosted by Sophie Poduval-Morrell, this episode highlights Gabriel's journey, which resonates with the theme of Black History Month, touching upon the significance of social mobility and the unique challenges faced by young Black professionals.

Gabriel discusses his challenging upbringing, marked by his mother's battles with severe depression, financial hardships, and his own youthful rebellion.

His story traverses his time in emergency accommodation at St. Basil's, several years at the YMCA, and the transformative mentorship of DK James.

Despite early struggles, Gabriel rose to become a successful young professional. His story includes becoming the youngest trustee of YMCA Heart of England, and winning notable awards like the Third Sector Award and Young Leader of the Year.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on the Future Faces podcast and follow us on social media for updates and new episodes.

In episode 38 of the Future Faces podcast, host Sophie Poduval-Morrell of the Future Faces Chamber of Commerce interviews Ashley Kerr, an associate at Mills & Reeve and a former member of the Future Faces Committee.

Ashley shares his inspiring career journey, discussing his personal experiences with social mobility.

From his challenging school years where he had to fight for education while caring for his sick grandfather, to navigating university applications without family support, and eventually succeeding in the legal profession, Ashley's story is one of determination and resilience.

The conversation underscores the importance of social mobility and the impact of networking, mentorship, and perseverance in achieving career goals.

It's two months to go until we celebrate the successes and achievements of young professionals at the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year Awards 2024, taking place at the ICC on Friday, 18 October.

In episode 36 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from this years awards ceremony host, Amber Sandhu.

With a diverse and extensive background in the media, spanning across TV and radio broadcasting for BBC Midlands Today, BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio WM and Sky Sports News, including covering the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Amber will be bringing her dynamic personality to the ICC stage to present the awards ceremony.

In this episode, Amber talks to Sophie about personal brand, imposter syndrome and how important it is for social media to be a safe space to share content that is authentic to you.

Sophie also talks about the upcoming awards and their importance to the careers of young professionals, with the shortlist being announced very soon.

Participating in a mentor scheme programme can be hugely beneficial for anyone's career, whether they are a young professional or a senior leader.

In episode 35 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from Heart FM presenter and marketing communications expert Ed James, and his mentee Georgia Turvey, social media content executive at Liquid and the genius behind the Future Faces TikTok account.

Sophie talks to Ed and Georgia about their mentoring relationship, and how the scheme has helped Georgia to create a new-found confidence in areas such as public speaking and personal brand.

Ed also offers a special insight into the workings behind being a mentor, and how having a mentee is equally important for growth as a senior leader.

Young professionals can benefit hugely from either having a mentor or being a mentor themselves, and in episode 34 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast we hear just how much of an impact a mentor relationship can have on an individual.

Sophie talks to one of the successful matches from the Future Faces mentor scheme programme, general manager of Touchwood Solihull, Tony Elvin, and Money Chopra, cluster sales manager at Malmaison and Hotel Du Vin.

Tony and Money offer an insight into their mentor/mentee relationship, detailing how the mentor scheme has impacted both of them in their careers and personal lives.

Find out how Tony's advice and support has helped Money to achieve her goals and aspirations in the last six months.

As we approach the end of Pride Month, Future Faces continues to shine a light on the movement by welcoming Char Bailey, director of people and culture at Birmingham Pride UK.

Char joins Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell and co-host Nadia Johnstone-Smith from the Future Faces diversity and inclusion group to discuss the year-round support offered by Birmingham Pride, as well as the evolution of the 27-year-old organisation.

Char also speaks candidly about some of the barriers she has had to overcome as a mixed race, neurodiverse member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Find out why the work done by Birmingham Pride has "massive ripple effect for the rest of the world."

In episode 25 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from two of our fantastic Future Faces vice presidents - Amy Jacklin and Sarah Griffiths.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to the VPs about why they wanted to join the Future Faces committee, and what they are looking forward to getting stuck into most about the upcoming year.

We also hear a special insight from Sophie about her role as Future Faces manager, and what she is looking forward to about the upcoming year.

In episode 24 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from some new faces on our fantastic Future Faces committee - Adam Gadsby, Harry Paige and Jasmine Caine.

Our new faces are also joined by re-elected committee member, Will Crawford.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to the group about why they wanted to join the Future Faces committee, and what they are looking forward to getting stuck into most about the upcoming year.

In episode 23 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from five members of our brand new Future Faces executive committee, including our President Kasim Choudhry and new vice-president, Freya Dearman.

Joining Kasim and Freya are new committee members Faye Jacklin and Jamie Gibson, as well as longstanding committee member Tom Bower.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to the committee members about their own journeys with Future Faces, as well as what they are looking to bring to the network in the next year.

In episode 22 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from Zaylie-Dawn Wilson, head of Creative Partnerships at Birmingham Hippodrome and overall winner of the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year awards 2023.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to Zaylie about her career journey into the Creative Arts sector, through to winning the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year 2023. Zaylie talks about her awards journey, from the application process to her judges interview, as well as what it has been like for her since she won her award.

Zaylie also offers a personal insight into being a working mother, with how she has juggled having a young baby, spearheading the Creative Partnerships department at Birmingham Hippodrome, and applying for the awards.

In episode 21 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from Tara Attfield-Tomes, founder of PR agency EAST VILLAGE., and Georgie Butler, associate director at Blackberry Events.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to Tara and Georgie about the importance of being both a mentor and mentee in a young professionals' career, and how young professionals can access a mentor through the Future Faces network.

Tara and Georgie offer a personal insight into their own mentor relationship, and how the mentoring journey contributed to both their careers.

In episode 20 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from Faye Jacklin, assistant manager at Claritas Tax, and Leon Thomas, Media and Partnerships consultant at Pearl Comms.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to Faye and Leon about the importance of diversity and inclusion, and why businesses must invest in their work spaces and people in order to create a diverse and inclusive environment.

Faye and Leon offer a personal insight into their own career journeys, and how ensuring the businesses they work for are equipped to deal with people with diverse abilities has been a key part of choosing their career paths.

In episode 19 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from Alex Bishop, co-head of Shoosmiths in Birmingham.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to Alex about the importance of Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace following Shoosmiths' move to their new offices, and what businesses can do to ensure their employees feel like they are being included and listened to.

Alex offers an in-depth insight into the design process behind the new Shoosmiths offices at 103 Colmore Row, including everything herself and co-head Beth McArdle considered in their design decisions with input from their fellow employees, and why each design decision was so important.

In episode 18 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from one of the prime movers of the BYPY awards, John James.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to John about the history of the BYPY awards, his involvement in it, and why it is so important for young professionals to be involved in awards, such as the upcoming Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year awards 2023.

John offers an insight into his life and career in Birmingham, and a personal reflection on his and other prime movers' involvement in bringing the BYPY awards to the city.

In episode 17 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from previous BYPY awards winner Laura Thursfield on this month’s theme of Imposter Syndrome.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to Laura, director and chartered financial planner at Mazars, about winning the BYPY awards in 2018, and how Imposter Syndrome had an impact on building her career after winning the award.

They talk about how Imposter Syndrome feels, how to try and overcome it, and how important it is for young professionals to apply for the upcoming Greater BYPY awards (applications close on Monday 10th of July.)

Laura offers an in-depth insight into her career journey, and how winning the awards presented her with opportunities she wouldn't have thought to be possible.

In episode 16 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from social media and brand experts Clare Genner and Chloe Baker on this month’s theme of Personal Brand.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell talks to Clare, head of social media, and Chloe, senior account director, from Birmingham-based agency Liquid about personal branding.

They talk about best practices, how to manage it effectively, and how young professionals can maintain a positive and strong personal brand both for themselves and for their business.

Clare and Chloe also offer an in-depth insight into building a personal brand and how it has changed over the years, especially through the Covid pandemic.

In episode 15 of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, we hear from health and well-being expert Sheila Lord on this month’s theme of Stress Awareness.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morell talks to Sheila, founder of BMR Health and Wellbeing, about stress, including the main causes, how to manage it effectively, and where young professionals can go to access help with any stress-related problems in both the workplace and at home.

Sheila also offers an insight into her own workplace mental health journey, how she learnt from mistakes throughout her career, and advice she has collected along the way.

In our newest episode of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast, one of the region's leading women in business joins us to discuss this month’s theme of Leadership.

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morell talks to Rebekah Taitt, regional development director for the Midlands at Lloyds Bank, about being a leading woman in the business sector- including how she got to where she is in her career today, and what advice she would give young aspiring leaders in the business sector.

Rebekah also offers an insight on being a black female leader in the business sector, and how she hopes to see more representation in the future.

One of the region's leading training providers joins us to discuss this month's theme of Lifelong Learning. 

Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morell talks to Harry Paige, centre manager at Digital Innovators, about learning opportunities available to young people - including the ability to develop soft skills which they can then put into practice in the workplace. 

They also discuss the power of mentoring as a learning experience for both the mentor and mentee.

And Harry offers an insight into how Digital Innovators are working with young people to help develop solutions that will help businesses with their skills requirements.

Sidekick founding director Hannah Miller joins Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell to discuss the pursuit of purpose in work and daily life.

Future Faces – the young professionals’ arm of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce – has adopted the theme of ‘Purpose’ for the month of January.

Hannah started Sidekick with an aim to work with organisations, teams and individuals who are looking to discover their strengths and understand their purpose.

Here, she provides fascinating insights for young professionals into how to be more purposeful, know their strengths and, in turn, become a more effective leader.

In the latest episode, we introduce the new president of the Future Faces Chamber of Commerce. 

Kasim Choudhry has taken the reins as president of the young professionals' organisation - succeeding Jaccy Datta. 

He joins Future Faces manager Sophie Poduval-Morrell - herself new to the organisation - to discuss his plans for the next two years. 

We learn about Birmingham-born Kasim's background, his role with education and training provider the Pathway Group and, as a self-confessed cooking fan, his favourite culinary dish. 

Mohammed Kasujee is a career coach and business mentor who helps ambitious young professionals make “quantum leaps” and rewrite their career stories.

In this episode of the Future Faces podcast, the MK Career Solutions founder provides some top tips for young professionals on making career changes, how to ace interviews and taking the daunting step from full-time employment to becoming an entrepreneur.

He tells the Chamber’s Press & PR manager Dan Harrison about his own decision to leave a high-powered job in medical sales to pursue a more fulfilling career – and how he has used that experience to help other young professionals.

Find out more about Mohammed Kasujee:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammed-kasujee/
https://mkcareersolutions.com/

The Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year for 2022 is the guest on episode nine of Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast.

Ingrida Vengalyte received the prestigious award in front of 400 people at Future Faces' annual dinner and awards, where she was also crowned the Future Face of Sustainability. 

In this episode, Ingrida tells Future Faces vice president Kasim Choudhary about discovering her passion for sustainability and the environment in her native Lithuania - and how it set her on the path to a successful career with global solutions provider Jacobs. 

She also discusses the work she is conducting around STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) and her ambitious plans to make Birmingham the most active STEAM city in the UK. 

Bal Atwal is a true champion of Greater Birmingham’s legal sector.

As well as working as an in-house solicitor for West Midlands police, he is involved in a number of professional organisations including Birmingham Solicitors Group and Birmingham Law Society – as well as the Future Faces Chamber of Commerce.

In this episode, Bal – who was the Future Face of Legal in 2021 – talks to Future Faces committee member Davies Okeowo about his career path and why Birmingham provides so many opportunities for people entering the legal sector.

Having trained at an international law firm and qualified at a global law firm before moving to an in-house role, he has plenty of expertise and advice for aspiring lawyers on potential career pathways.

A learning expert from global fitness brand Gymshark joins us to discuss how language and communication impact on our behaviour.

Jaccy Datta, Future Faces president, is joined by Gymshark’s learning designer Gemma Dickens for a discussion about how communication towards other people and our own internal dialogues cause us to behave in a certain way.

Gemma also talks through the principle of cause and effect - the relationship between two things or processes when one causes something else to happen.

Gymshark, the Solihull-headquartered global fitness brand, is a patron of Future Faces.

The latest episode of ‘Future Faces: The Young Professionals Podcast’ explores the principle of behavioural economics.

Host Claudia Congrave is joined Jo Caley, senior insight manager at Paragon Banking Group to discuss this concept.

Listen to find out more about the idea behind behavioural economics and how Paragon have incorporated this into one of their projects.

Jo also discusses the EAST framework (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely) which is applied to influence day-to-day decision making.

The latest episode explores the work of the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity - the Future Faces Chamber of Commerce's charity of the year. 

Host Claudia Congrave is joined by the charity's partnerships executive Abbie Hawkins, critical care paramedic Fay Pollock and PR and communications executive Becky Read.

Listen to find out more about the work of the MAAC, the missions and critical work it undertakes, what it takes to become a crew member dealing with high-pressure situations and the aftercare work the charity carries out with trauma survivors.

There is also an opportunity to learn how businesses can collaborate with the charity.