Two Northern Lasses

In this episode we chat with the lovely Maryanne Scott AKA The Branding Photographer.

After meeting only a week ago when your very own 2 Northern Lasses attended a branding shoot of their own we thought that you might be interested in what Maryanne has to say so we set about persuading her to come on the podcast.  To be fair she didn't take too much persuading because she had met us and already had figured out what a down to earth pair we are!

Much like she does with all of her photography clients, we clicked (pun intended!!) straight away because she put us at ease and appreciated fully the fact that lock down lard was an issue (for Jayne, not Michelle who has admirably stuck to her Slimming World (other diets are available) plan throughout 'these unprecedented times').

So, Maryanne has dabbled in various jobs and careers over the years but always had a love of photography and was able to start taking this seriously when her lovely husband bought her a 'proper' camera for her 28th birthday.  She did it alongside her other job as a corporate insurance broker for a while then took the leap into making her dream her full time career!  Who wouldn't want to do that?

So, she has a great business model and is so much more than just a photographer, she writes blogs, provides her followers with engaging and useful content and she runs a membership model called Visibility School where members get access to a professional shoot every single month!  Visibility is everything whatever business you are running because people buy from people you know!  True story!!

Wait for the game at the end!  Loving the cucumber chat!!

Find out more about Maryanne and her business here

https://www.instagram.com/brandingphotographeruk/

https://www.facebook.com/brandingphotographerUK

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryannescott/

http://www.brandingphotographer.co.uk/

Regular listeners may recognise Juliet as she was our guest host a few months ago, during lockdown.  And it has taken this long to get ourselves sorted so she can be a guest.

Juliet is very much the creative type and has loads of 'pots on the boil' so to speak.  She has had a challenging year to say the least but has maintained her love of creativity throughout and continued to inspire others in all sorts of ways (you'll have to listen in to find out more).

And find out more/keep in touch with Juliet here

You may have noticed that we seem to have knack of getting genuine down to earth guests on our podcast and that couldn't be truer of self proclaimed 'brand activist' Danny Bulmer.  

Daniel Owen Bulmer (first time we have ever discussed a guests middle name so had to get that in there), or Date of Birth, as he is known in certain circles, started his career working for a creative brand agency although not on the creative side of things as you might expect, but on the account management side so was the one to go out and meet with clients, win business, take a brief and then pass that brief clearly and concisely to the designer or other creative within the business to execute.  He says himself he was every graphic designers worst nightmare because he had the ability to throw his own thoughts in there because he can do that too.

Danny has always been the creative type even right back in his school days and he believes that everyone has some form of creativity in them.  And he may be right because even our Michelle has been trying her hand at a small arty project recently inspired by previous guest Juliet who actually runs creativity groups and workshops.  Make sure you are following our social media channels as she has promised to post a picture of her creation.

Anyway, we digress, back to our guest.  So, after working for a boutique town centre agency Danny decided to go it alone and set up his own agency, Date of Birth - you get the link now?  He did this successfully for a number of years before he decided to give something different a try and decided to set up a rural co-working space (yes this sounds familiar because that is exactly what our Jayne has just done, in fact at this point in the podcast she is thinking 'OMG what have I done? What went wrong?') but Danny assures her that he will share all his learning from his time which was 5-6 years ago - see a genuine guy who just wants to help people!  We just love that!

After seeing out his three year lease Danny came out of the co-working space feeling somewhat battered and bruised, it had been a difficult time and he had lost a fair amount of money.  It seems he hasn't really looked on those times with affection but talking to us reminded him of those proud moments that did come out of that time.  He started his foodie brand The Cure Charcuterie which is all about Great British snacking - think the snack equivalent of craft beer, in fact eat the snacks whilst drinking craft beer!  He also held loads of great events that brought local brands together and Co-Up was also the birth place of a few more successful brands, so it wasn't all bad, he just needed the reminder.  Honestly, being a podcast guest can be like therapy (we are not suggesting that it is an alternative to good quality therapy mind, that would be ridiculous and totally irresponsible!)

So anyway, talking of therapy and different ways of dealing with things Danny has struggled with anxiety and depression in the last few years which led him to his latest bright idea (yes, he is full of them) which is Good Footing. On top of the current day job as a brand strategist and creative direction consultant he helps creators think, do and make good things. He basically runs workshops that take place in the great outdoors whilst walking with the aim to inspire people to think creatively in order to help solve big problems.  With the added bonus of instilling positive mental and physical wellbeing.  What's not to love about that concept?  In fact, during the last few months it has been pretty difficult but he is currently putting things in place to launch In Good Company - a netwalking event in September!  That's next month!  How blummin' exciting!

Say Hello to`Melissa Roberts, our youngest ever guest to date.  At the age of just 21 Melissa has a fire in her belly that betrays her youth, she is just so bloody sorted and is such an inspiration to us and other people that are more than twice her age (we know!!!), as well as anyone else who firmly believes they want to follow their own path because she has had the guts to do just that and it is seriously paying off for her!

At school Mel didn't really know what she wanted to do and didn't really enjoy any other subjects other than business but nevertheless for the last time in her life she bowed to outside pressures and went to college to study A Levels, and then she didn't.  She gave up part way through year one and decided to go to Kirklees College to study a BTEC in Business which some might be under the misconception that this is a bit of a cop out and that a BTEC doesn't have as much value as A levels!  Well they would be wrong then wouldn't they? We believe that people should take their own path in life, how many guests have we had on who are doing or have done, what they feel they should do and not what they actually want to do?  Plenty, so it is particularly refreshing to meet Mel who absolutely has set off on her own path and that path, so far, seems to be leading to great places.  While she studied her BTEC she also worked two and a half days a week at a local marketing agency and this stood her in good stead when it came to starting her full time career as she had a head start on her peers.

But she didn't just settle for employment, of course she didn't.  Growing up surrounded by entrepeneurs inspired her to start her own business with a friend at just 18 years old and she has not looked back.  Beanie Media offers web design and development as well as social media advertising to family owned manufacturing businesses and they do it well!  This is where Melissa's youth is firmly on her side, you may say she has an unfair advantage (read the book), because she is bang up to date with the latest technologies and because she has a genuine geek streak when it comes to all things tech and digital media she is constantly learning and guess what?  She then passes this knowledge on to her clients to ensure they get amazing results!

We know what you're thinking 'what's Sanctum Healthcare'?

Well, in short it is a registered provider of mental health and addiction services based in Cheshire.

And that is all we are telling you, you will have to listen if you want to know more won't you?

So anyway, Jonathan is one of the founders of Sanctum and his journey to this is long and varied.  "Aren't they all" we hear you shout!  Well, yes they are but this one is even more long and varied than usual.

After leaving school at 18 before he took his A Levels, Jonathan was lucky enough to get a job through his Dad selling some sort of techy thing  that we don't really know what he means, but it doesn't really matter now anyway.  He spent 13 years working in IT and loved the sales side of things but not particularly the tech.  

He also loved the 'jollies' that came with a sales career back in the day which don't tend to happen much these days.  However, the 'jollies' were not great for a guy like Jonathan who soon discovered that he was suffering from issues associated with poor mental health, namely alcoholism and anxiety. Having no off switch often left him partying way longer than his colleagues did and eventually as these issues, and age, caught up with him, he found himself on a downward spiral.  He lost his driving licence and therefore his career took a nose dive which then changed his lifestyle and his relationships.  

In December 2006 his dad staged an intervention and sent him to a rehab centre in South Africa where he spent 4 months and  managed to stop drinking and taking, what he describes as 'mind and mood altering substances'.  After this he went from strength to strength setting up a couple of very successful businesses but then disaster struck and he relapsed, he started drinking again and he carried on drinking for three and a half more years.

Listen in to find out more about how Jonathan went from helping himself out of alcoholism to helping his high earning clients recover from their struggles with things like alcohol & substance addiction,  depression, anxiety, eating disorders and many others.

Lisa is a really interesting woman and has had a varied career as have many of our guests but what stands out about Lisa is that whilst taking a career break to raise her children she realised that finding her way back to her once loved career had become much more difficult than she had first thought it would be.  Then she realised something else - she wasn't alone!  And instead of sitting back and letting this happen, she took action and then co-wrote a book to show the rest of us how to take action too.

We have both been reading this book and wished we had discovered it sooner, it has some many helpful tips and inspiring stories in it.  Give this episode a listen to find out how Lisa came to be doing this and what she is up to these days.

As ever, we would love to know what you think.

Oh, and buy the book here - you won't regret it.

PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING!!!

No not really, just wanted to get your attention!  The audio in this episode is a bit dodge in places, bear with it - we are recording in lockdown after all and silly Jayne thought she would risk it for a biscuit and record in her new office that doesn't actually have wifi yet.  Jayne says sorry!!

So in this episode we have not only, one of few non-northern guests (this isn't a strategy btw, we welcome inspiring people from anywhere) but Jennifer is our first overseas guest (to be fair though she does now live in the north of England after she met her hubby way back when at a Halloween party in the big smoke!!)

Jennifer is Director and co-owner of Sharp Ahead - a B2B (that means business to business in case you didn't know) digital marketing agency based in Reading and Leeds (like the festivals) and weirdly 3 employees in Blackpool - who knew Blackpool was the hub of digital expertise? Well turns out Jayne did!

So, have a listen to find out how Jennifer came from Stateside to London to up North and accidentally fell into her career and then her latest venture by being in the right place at the right time.  We are pretty sure that she is just being all modest on us and a fair bit of hard graft came into it too.

If you want to find out more about Jennifers business here is the link.

In this episode we chat with Janet Bebb from Social Progress all about her career and her business how it came about and what they do to help people either learn to manage their own social platforms or manage them on their behalf.

We also chat cake, specifically carrot cake (Costa has the best in case you were wondering - Janet has tested them all) and about her crazy cat Earl (named after the tea).

If you want to know more about Janet and her business then one of the many links below can put you in touch.

In this episode we discuss Natalies career journey from a background in graphic design and secretarial roles, meeting our Michelle at Apple, and the following years that led her, at the age of 43 to train to become a fitness coach and personal trainer.

If you want to find out more about Natalies business and even join us 2 northern lasses on our own fitness journey then have a look at the links below

When our Jayne first saw Deborah speak at a local business event she spent the hour nodding like the Churchill dog.  It is not often you hear a speaker who really connects with you and says the things that you are thinking, but with Deborah this is what you get.  She is a fantastic public speaker and just oozes confidence and authenticity and it is this down to earth yet authoritative manner that has her connecting with her entire audience from the get go.

Deborah has a varied business offer, all of it based around helping people to be the best and most authentic version of themselves, to communicate effectively and unleash a personal brand that has impact, memorability and style.  She does this through 121 mentoring, public speaking, workshops and of course her very own podcast that she launched last year - On brand with .......  Give it a listen, it is really very good.  In fact we were a little nervous before this interview, you know, interviewing a pro and all that.  It was fine though, it's just like having a chat with friends, it just happens to be recorded so you can join in too.

But Deborah's road to where she is today, as is usually the case with our guests, was not as you would imagine.  She actually studied Law for 6 years (we know!!!)  at university and became a lawyer but having then realised that she had a major passion and an untapped skill for communications she switched career and went to work in marketing at Lancashire County Cricket Club -- yes it was in the day when Freddie Flintoff was in his prime and no we are not jealous of Deborah at all - honest!!

A successful marketing career ensued and she ended up starting her own business Deborah Ogden Ltd almost 10 years ago and the rest, as they say, is history.

If you want to find out more about Deborah and her business listen obviously, and then take a look at the links below, in the meantime we will leave you with one of our favourite quotes that Deborah uses and one we should all remember - 

“You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” - Dita Von Teese

Which we translate to mean BE YOU!!

Victoria is the proud owner  and the main hydrotherapist at House of Hound Hydrotherapy in Scissett, Huddersfield.  They provide all sorts of services for dogs and their owners from rehab after an operation to fun swims and man trailing events.  Who knew such a thing existed eh?  Well we did obviously, but not until we had met Victoria ourselves.  

You regular listeners will know that Michelle has 'Max the Dog' and so she went along to Victorias opening event in 2017 and met her there, she then took the third co-host Max (although he doesn't speak much) to a scenting workshop, and then another - he loves it you know (secretly Jayne thinks it is Michelle that loves it not Max!!).

Victoria's career journey is what we often describe as 'not the straightest of paths', going from childcare to a probation officer to then setting up a business is not an easy route but so far has been really rewarding  and allows her to work with her favourite dogs.

If you're a dog owner, or even if your'e just a little bit intrigued - have a look at the links below to find out more....

Well what can we say about Lidia?  Well firstly, she is clearly a very busy and very driven lady which is undoubtedly something that has been passed down from her dad as she grew up seeing him really make something of himself, his tale is literally a classic rags to riches one and you cannot fail to be inspired by his story.  He came to the UK from Italy with nothing, worked in the mines and made some 'danger money' which he invested in an ice cream van he then sold imported Italian produce from to the growing Italian community each evening.  He continued to invest everything he made and the family now own two of the best Italian restaurants and hotels in Huddersfield - links to which are below.

Lidia grew up in a big traditional Italian family, surrounded by amazing chefs both from within and outside of the family.  Not many people can say they went to Uni and avoided the kebab shop, knocking up a quick pasta dish at 3am for their housemates - but Lidia can.  Clearly the passion for food was in her blood but she didn't really want to enter into the family business and studied Business, Marketing and French at university.

However, dad had other ideas, of course he did, and being a persuasive kind of guy and having a requirement for someone to really put Da Sandro's restaurant and The Briar Court Hotel on the map and Lidia having the newly acquired skills from her degree, into the business she went, and there she remains almost 30 years later.  The family also own and run Prego Restaurant and The Waterfront Hotel & Venue in Brighouse and have set up, owned or had a hand in various other successful venues such as Ciao which Lidia set up with her brother.

It doesn't stop there though, Lidia and the family do a lot, and we are talking A LOT to help the local community.  The Brighouse canal clear up was Lidias brainchild about 7 years ago and continues to be part of the wider community clear up to this day, she also volunteers with Food4Hope which is a Brighouse based charity that feeds the homeless (obviously in this case with restaurant quality Italian meals) and since lockdown happened in the UK 5 weeks ago and still going at the time of recording they have switched to feeding the housebound.

So it comes as no surprise to learn that during this enforced lockdown where restaurants and hotels are closed, Lidia has found herself with a bit of time of her hands and her love of cooking and sharing that love with others was having to take a back seat.

Egged on by her teenage daughters she has recently launched Lidias Italian Kitchen on facebook and instagram where she shares time served family recipes in a relaxed and friendly manner, often with a glass of wine in hand.  We are loving the recipes she is sharing and are definitely giving them a go, give her a follow and send in pics or videos of your own efforts for a bit of fun.

Hearing Lidia talk about food during this interview was so inspiring and we are definitely craving a night out in a great restaurant when this lockdown is over, and we want to go to Lidias for tea of course!!  Meanwhile, we will have to settle for watching the videos and doing our best to create the meals at home. All the links are below if you want to find out more

www.instagram.com/lidiashinwell

When the lockdown was even threatening to hit, Claire and her husband Brendan had a plan!  They always have a plan which is great right?

So as the crisis rapidly approached us here in the UK the owners of The Lifestyle Studios in Scissett, Huddersfield were busy making plans and considering 'what if?' which meant that when some social distancing rules came into play early in March they added more classes to their member timetable but cut the number of people able to attend down to just 8, changed the class plans so people were working solely in their own areas and with their own equipment.  Following each class, they would disinfect EVERYTHING and go again with the next 8.  It was a great plan.

Then, the inevitable happened and the government announced that all gyms were to be closed one Friday tea time and true to form, yes you guessed it, they had another plan.  They spent all that night getting together their equipment so that they could lend them to their PT clients and they could continue their sessions online, they were all given separate collection slots on the Saturday morning so were able to kick off with their online PT sessions really quickly.  They did the same for their class members and have been successfully running their usual classes via zoom for over a month now.  Unbelievably and to their credit, they have not lost a single member and they maintain the community that they have worked hard to achieve over the last 7 years.

We just know they are going to be in an even stronger position once the lockdown is lifted and no doubt they will have yet another plan!  A class for any non members that have developed bad habits and lost any fitness they did have might be one to consider Claire!! We know at least one person that would be up for that! 😀

If you want to know more about Claire and her businesses here are the helpful links for you

What a lovely fella Jeff is!  Anyone who knows him will agree we are sure, how could you not?

What do you do when someone you know wants to know more about your podcast, how and why you set it up and is considering starting her own?  Well, you get them on as a guest host of course!  We are here to lift others more than ever so why wouldn't we share our limited knowledge?

Few challenges though, the main one being we are in lockdown (well pretty much) so needed to figure out how to record remotely, we did this.  Secondly, as we are now skint due to Covid19 stealing all our income we needed to manage without our beloved producer Alex, we did this too (albeit nowhere near as professionally as he does obviously).

So, this is just a short episode, us reminding our listeners why we started in the first place and how things have evolved over the last 4-5 months.  But above all delivering our message - things change, and that's OK!

Enjoy!

To learn more about our guest host, Juliet see the below links

After our little opening chat where we talk about an event we went to recently put on by The Huddersfield Giants which was fab and really inspiring we talk with Lesley Ellis about her career and her aspirations with a surprising twist in the middle. We met Lesley through the podcasting world as we use the same producer (producer Alex) and having heard her story we thought you might like to 'meet' her too.  Lesley is about to launch a podcast in just a few weeks and we will share the links to it as soon as we can.

Lesley started her career in finance in sales type roles whilst she was also a singer in a band then realised she had written a song describing a life she didn't really like.  Bus as a lot of women do she felt stuck in the job because the benefits were good, the maternity leave was good etc etc.  And after having her first two children she went back to a different type of role which involved helping others which she loved.  Baby number 3 came along and after that maternity leave the role had changed again into a coaching role and then training which again Lesley loved.  Unfortunately it wasn't to last due to the financial crash in 2008.

Having gained all those people skills, she went to work as a mentor for children in care at the local high school which was really about being school mum and giving cuddles and hot chocolate.  Anybody doing a job like this will know how difficult it can be to leave work and work and so Lesley had to make the difficult decision to leave because it was affecting her relationship with her own kids.

So obviously the most logical thing to do after these two career paths is to set up a catering business isn't it?  Of course it is!!  She made loads of foods from scratch spending 18 hours a day catering for an event but no money!

Here is the surprising twist, Lesley and her family took part in a TV series back in 2017 called 'Back in time for tea' hosted by Sara Cox.  For anyone who hasn't heard of it or seen it, the family are basically living as they did in 'the olden days'.  Over the course of 8 weeks during the summer their house was transformed (not to mention cut in half) to initially a house from 1918 then over those weeks through the decades back up to 1999.  Imagine going back to a time when there were no mobile phones, no TVs, no internet etc etc.  Most of us can't live without our phones for a day never mind 8 weeks!  Since recording this episode we have started watching the series and it is so good.  We can't believe how the family handle everything that is thrown at them, especially the kids, though Lesley insists there were definitely some tantrums and the producers were kind in the edit.  We still think the kids handled it all amazingly!  Give it a watch - it is really good!

So leading on from the TV show Lesley has done some TV and lots of radio interviews so now is starting her own podcast called The Midlife Manifesto with Lesley & friends.  Having effectively been middle aged through each decade Lesley has a perspective that none of us can have and truly believes there has never been a better time to be middle aged than right now.  Her friends are middle aged too and are doing mad things like taking up Kayaking and cycling in bizarre places.  Having more time and less stress than ever before and getting to this stage is to be celebrated which our Michelle wholeheartedly agrees with - Jayne not so much but she is younger than they are so hasn't got there yet!  Although the f*ck it bucket is definitely a thing for all of us and many people we have met.  Give Lesleys podcast a listen but be warned, you may need tissues!

We are talking with Vicki Walker about her journey from her school days into her career in corporate finance, the ups and downs, the good times, the hard times and the giggles (lots of giggles) along the way.

Vicki helps businesses secure finance for all sorts of reasons, maybe a new premises, sometimes to pay the VAT or tax bill.  Lot's of people automatically think to go to a bank if they need finance but using a finance broker can often get you a better deal so it is worth investigating.

So, back in the day when you could leave school at 16 Vicki was, in her own words, not particularly academic and spurred on by the fact that all the fun people had left and it was a bit shit (her words again) she left school after a couple of months in sixth form to get an apprenticeship.  What follows is a somewhat rocky road to where she is today, she got there, she went back, she blagged a bit, she maybe leaped too soon and she failed (learned) at it but what she didn't do was give up!

She went back to employment but vowed that one day she was going to have another crack at it.  Then when she got made redundant from her 'secure' job and it seemed there wasn't a better time to have another crack at self employment and having learnt a lot from last time and the few years in between she was in a much better position to make a success of it.

Despite her partners insistence that she try to get a job she even managed to talk one recruiter, not only out of employing her but at filling the role completely.  It is clear that Vicki's natural and honest way with people has enabled her to build a network of contacts that has helped her to make a success of her business.

Vicki leaves us with this piece of advice for anyone considering "If you do it and fail, don't worry about it.  You can still have another go!"

Good advice Vic!  Thanks for chatting and for the giggles!

In this episode of the Two Northern Lasses podcast we are chatting to Ellie and Grace, two sports mad fellow lasses (one northern, one midlands! Posh!?) about their journey in the sporting world from when they were young children and how even at that age, disappointment can somehow define the paths we take as adults.

Both recall their work experience whilst at school done with professional football teams, the coaching qualifications they both have and Ellie's desire to coach a local girls football team, hopefully we can make that happen, connections are always good!

On the subject of university to real life we talk about the support they had from Loughborough University in finding a job in their chosen field which as it turns out was not that great.  We are not sure if this is typical but we intend to find out and if by discussing such things we can address these issues then that would be amazing.

Ellie is currently working as a Postie (post man, post woman - what's the PC term these days?  Who knows?) and has applied for a post graduate position with the Post Office, fingers crossed she has heard something about that by now, come on PO bosses, you need to snap this girl up before someone else does.  She is driven, fit and smart - what's not to love?  She doesn't feel at this point in life that she will end up in a career that uses her degree and do you know what?  That's OK! Most people don't!

Grace on the other hand has landed herself a role working with English Boxing (yes she has met Anthony Joshua and yes, us two old birds are jealous!).  In what seems is typical Grace style she didn't really like it when she started (she is not good at dealing with new stuff!) but is really pleased she stuck it out and is now totally loving it!  And obviously she is building a career from something that she is passionate about and most people don't manage to do that either.

What strikes us when we chat with Grace and Ellie who's early childhoods, teenage years and university days pretty much mirrored each other is that despite the fact that they are both on different career paths now, they are both happy doing what they are doing and yes, you guessed it, that is ultimately what is important in life!  

Today we are talking with Victoria Brennan who is a personal and professional development coach who we met at one of the many amazing networking events that take place all over Huddersfield and the local area regularly.  We mention often how we both have attended these events and every one is different so if you do go to a 'networking thing' and hate it then give a different format a go and find your own tribe.  We did, it is where we found each other and we haven't looked back.

We find from Vicky's ice breaker questions that there was a catalyst that made her decide to make a change in the form of a holiday and it seems this is not unusual and also happened to Michelle, we wonder how many other people have had their light bulb moment whilst having some down time?  

Having worked in the charity sector for years and years in various different roles, all enabling people to evolve it is a natural step for Vicky to become a coach and she recently made the leap from employed to self employed.  So, for all those wondering - what do you study at school/university if you want to be a coach?  Theatre Studies and Creative Arts!!  Say whaaaatt???  Yes, Vicky is yet another one of those people who didn't go on to make a career out of what she studied. It happens! A lot!  She tried a few things before she hit upon the idea of a career helping people with a little push from good old Mum!  So let's just take a moment here to say to anyone who might be reading this who is being pressured into deciding what you want to do with your life in 10 or even 30 years time - IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU CAN'T DECIDE, IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU GET IT WRONG, WHAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU ARE HAPPY AND IF YOU FIND YOURSELF DOING SOMETHING YOU DON'T ENJOY YOU CAN (AND SHOULD) CHANGE IT!

We talk about how being coached is becoming a lot more popular and people are being more open about using coaches and other such services which in turn helps make it more popular.  There are not many people on this earth who wouldn't benefit from being coached in some area of their lives at some point in their journey and as Vicky says, finding the right coach for you is massively important.

We all know how important it is becoming in the workplace for businesses to offer more than just a salary and the standard benefits to it's employees, and coaching would be an amazing benefit for employers to offer.  One area where Vicky is passionate is helping people returning to work after a long term absence such as maternity leave.  Everybody who has ever taken a break to have a child has a story about their return to work and many are not positive, many worry the last few weeks of their leave away rather than focusing on their time with their child, and many worry that when they get to work something will have changed and the job or the place may be different.  Add that to the logistical nightmare that you are about to experience and it is no wonder we get overwhelmed.  

In this episode we are talking to Jac from Positive Earth Furniture, her and her partners passion for recycling, and their business that has come out of this passion.  Jac lives her life close to nature (hence the title) so we felt it was important that we didn't confine ourselves to the studio for this one, the outdoors is Jac's natural environment so we went to the woods at Storthes Hall, Huddersfield and consequently there are some slight audio issues so apologies for that.

We discuss Jac's creative journey and how she got to where she is now which has most definitely not been a straight road as with a lot of people we have come across whilst doing these podcasts .  She studied interior architecture at university but her dad sadly passed away during her studies, she did manage to successfully complete her degree but felt the pull to go home and grieve when she graduated.  Consequently her creative side was put aside in favour of a career in hospitality followed by a career in sales & customer service but she always remained passionate about helping people.