Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Joyful Ambition
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| #8 As Authoritative as a Woman with Claire Shaw: Owning Your Voice in Rooms Full of Men | 04 Jun 2026 | 00:25:23 | |
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this episode, Bryony sits down with Claire Shaw - vocal and communication coach, former opera singer, and the woman helping professional women reconnect with the voice that's already theirs. With more than 20 years behind her and a background that spans Wigmore Hall, The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Claire now works with lawyers, founders, executives and engineers - mostly women navigating rooms where they've been conditioned to take up less space. Her message is refreshingly counter-cultural: you don't need to become louder, harder, or more "male" to lead. You need to feel safe in your voice. This is a conversation about presence, breath, and the overlooked truth that how you sound shapes how you're heard - long before anyone weighs what you actually said. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "Your voice is as unique as your fingerprint." "Somebody makes a decision about who you are in 0.2 seconds of hearing you - they don't even have to see your face." "What would it mean if you were as authoritative as a woman in the courtroom?" "Get into your body and out of your head." "Comparison is not only the thief of joy, it's the thief of confidence." - Bryony 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
🔗 CONNECT WITH CLAIRE:
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| #7 Beyond the Ladder: Angie Vaux on Creating a Personal Career Board | 06 May 2026 | 00:24:50 | |
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this inspiring conversation, Bryony sits down with Angie Vaux - British entrepreneur, executive coach, angel investor and founder of Women in Tech Forum and Women Leaders Forum - to explore what it really takes to build a career, a community and a movement in one of the most male-dominated industries in the world. With over 25 years in senior leadership at global tech companies including SAP, TripAdvisor and Mimecast, Angie didn't set out to become an entrepreneur. But when she started noticing how differently women showed up in interviews - downplaying their experience, underselling their worth - she felt a calling she couldn't ignore. What began as a passion project in 2018 has grown into a global community of over 20,000 members, a powerful platform for career acceleration, and now, a pioneering Career Returners Initiative. This episode is rich with practical wisdom, honest reflection and the kind of strategic thinking that Angie has become known for. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "Setting up my businesses was almost a happy accident - but I felt the calling to create a platform to support other women and help them overcome the visible and invisible barriers in the tech industry." "Your personal career board is almost a group of independent career advisors who each bring different skills and different perspectives to help you move forward." "All of us need to take collective action to drive change. It's not the responsibility of a CEO or HR department or government. Each of us can take action - and it's the small steps we take every day that really drive change over the long term." "If it takes me longer to write the task down than to actually do the task, I'll just do it in the moment." "Make sure you build a diverse board. You don't want lots of people who look and think like you - because you won't get the diversity of perspective you need." 🔗 CONNECT WITH ANGIE:
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| #6 Fitness Evangelist: Pieta McCrum on Building a Body To Back Your Ambition | 28 Apr 2026 | 00:29:38 | |
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this energising conversation, Bryony sits down with Pieta McCrum - Founder of Body by Pieta, former MTV Senior Director, and women's wellness evangelist, to explore one of the most overlooked pillars of career success: your physical foundation. Pieta's journey is anything but linear. From New Zealand's first reality TV show, Treasure Island, to a decade at MTV Viacom, to building a thriving online fitness community for women 40+ from a playground during school drop-off - her story is a masterclass in following what truly serves the soul. Now she helps busy professional women feel leaner, stronger, and more confident without crazy cardio or crash diets and her message has never been more relevant. This episode bridges the gap between physical strength and professional performance in a way that will make you look at your wellbeing strategy (and your workplace's) completely differently. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "It's the foundation to everything. If we want to perform really well at work, we've got to have that strong foundation and stamina to be able to juggle everything else." "The more muscle you have, the better you think. You're going to be sharper, more alert, clearer in your thinking - and that's hugely helpful." "Stop with the silly calorie counting. It's got to be hormonally mindful - and mindset, treating your mind like a muscle too." "We're not a straight line - particularly women are not. You just need your toolbox. Go back to your fundamentals." "A lot of the reasons why women are leaving work is because they are suffering massively from health and fitness struggles connected to their hormone changes." 🔗 CONNECT WITH PIETA:
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| #5 When Is Enough, Enough? The Question High Achievers Forget with Katherine Wintsch | 22 Apr 2026 | 00:25:37 | |
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| #4 The post-HR generation - building without the rulebook with Luke O'Mahoney | 17 Apr 2026 | 00:32:34 | |
What happens when the traditional HR playbook stops working - and a new generation decides to build something better? Luke O'Mahoney, Founder of Sapien X, joins the show to explore why so many founders, leaders, and solopreneurs are walking away from conventional people practices and writing their own rules. From the very different realities of corporate HR versus startup life, to using technology as a force multiplier for lean teams, this is a conversation about building smarter, not just harder. Luke also unpacks why community and intentional networking are the hidden edge for independent operators - and why your mindset might be the most underrated business tool you own. Takeaways
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| #3 Seen, Heard & Connected: Andrea Balboni on the Relationship Skills That Transform Work and Life | 18 Mar 2026 | 00:27:59 | |
What if the secret to becoming a better leader, colleague, or co-founder had nothing to do with strategy and everything to do with how you show up in relationships? In this episode of Joyful Ambition, Bry sits down with Andrea Balboni, relationship and intimacy coach, to explore the profound connection between our personal and professional lives. Andrea unpacks why the same skills that deepen intimacy at home: communication, vulnerability, trust, and emotional safety, are the exact skills that make leaders more effective, teams more cohesive, and workplaces more human. From navigating power dynamics to creating psychological safety in the boardroom, and from co-founder tensions to the small acts of kindness that quietly transform culture, this conversation is packed with practical wisdom and honest insight. If you've ever wondered why great talent leaves toxic environments, or why some leaders inspire loyalty while others breed distance, this episode is your answer. You'll discover:
Guest: Andrea Balboni | Relationship & Intimacy Coach | |||
| #2 Kayleigh Graham: Building Power When the System Doubts You Belong | 10 Mar 2026 | 00:21:20 | |
Kayleigh Graham built a career that turned heads - promotions, influence, the kind of trajectory people notice. She also faced the question every ambitious woman dreads: "Did you sleep your way here?" In this conversation, Kayleigh doesn't shy away from the reality of climbing in spaces that weren't built for you. She shares the strategies that accelerated her rise - relentless curiosity, asking the questions no one else would, driving DEI work even when it made her unpopular, and why those same skills eventually led her to build something entirely her own. This isn't a story about leaving corporate life because it broke her. It's about choosing a different kind of power: one where the rules, the environment, and the definition of success are finally hers to set. This is what Ladder vs. Landscape actually looks like - recognising when you've mastered the climb, and deciding the view is better elsewhere. In this episode:
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| #1 From Rebuild to Rebrand: Petra Gatto on Networking for Your Career | 03 Mar 2026 | 00:22:03 | |
Petra Gatto knows what it's like to start over. After years as an entrepreneur, she rebuilt her career around personal brand mentorship and in doing so, discovered that the most powerful networking tool isn't LinkedIn. It's confidence. In this conversation, Petra shares how she moved from rebuild to rebrand, and why personal branding isn't about curating a perfect online presence - it's about doing the internal work so that when you show up, it's actually you. We talk about the role of photography in shifting self-perception, why authenticity without self-care becomes exhausting performance, and how music and ritual can anchor your confidence before you walk into any room (virtual or real). This is networking and personal branding for people who are tired of performing. It's about building a brand and a career that doesn't require you to be someone else. In this episode:
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| #9 Your Wardrobe, Your Landscape: Abbey Booth on Owning the Room Before You're Ready | 16 Jun 2026 | 00:28:20 | |
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this warm and energising conversation, Bryony sits down with Abbey Booth - personal stylist and author of Don't Save It For Best - to explore something most career conversations completely overlook: what you wear and how it shapes the way you show up. Abbey's journey is anything but linear. From receptionist to advertising sales at the Mirror Group's Racing Post, from window dresser to boutique owner to full-time personal stylist to author - she's navigated more pivots than most. And threading through all of it is one consistent theme: style as a tool for confidence, access, and identity. This is not a conversation about fashion. It's a conversation about women taking up space. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES "Style can take you somewhere before you feel ready. And we're always ready, by the way. We just don't think we are." "I'm fascinated about the story of the woman behind the clothes and how I can evoke her story so she can get to where she wants to get to." "Your style is an invitation to people. It draws people in." "Women experience a lot of guilt and shame around their bodies, around spending money, around enjoying time with themselves. I really wanted to change all that." "Less clothes does not mean less outfits. Don't be afraid to get rid of things that are no longer serving you." "Yellow makes people smile. If we can walk around making other people smile, I think that's gorgeous. Let's bring the human sunshine." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
🔗 CONNECT WITH ABBEY
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| #12 Danielle Sissons: The Money Conversation Women Aren't Invited To - Ivey Financial Planning | 16 Jul 2026 | 00:28:29 | |
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this episode, Bryony sits down with Danielle Sissons - Founder of Ivey Financial Planning and a financial adviser with 12 years in the industry, to unpack one of the most loaded topics in women's careers: money. Danielle knew at 15 she wanted to be a financial adviser. But it was the birth of her daughter Grace, plus 90 minutes on the phone to HMRC and £2,000 lost at the end of her maternity leave, that exposed how badly the system serves women. So she stopped knocking on doors and built the firm she couldn't find: one that helps mothers and founders take real control of their wealth, not in a decade's time, but at the messy, transitional moments when it matters most. This is a conversation about confidence, structural inequality, and why "I'm just not good with money" is a story worth rewriting. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "If you get tired of knocking on doors, build your own house." "Would you say 'I'm just not good with a hammer'? Money is a tool - it's something you can learn." "They don't know any more than us about investing. They're just spoken to about it more, so they have the confidence." "Lifestyle spend is whatever makes you feel like the hard work is worth the life you're living." "If you take nothing else away from this, have an emergency buffer." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
🔗 CONNECT WITH DANIELLE:
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| #11 Charlotte Clark: From Graduate to Founder - A Purpose-Driven Career at Happy Human Project | 08 Jul 2026 | 00:24:37 | |
In this heartfelt conversation, Bryony sits down with Charlotte Clark - founder of the Happy Human Project - to explore what happens when a career starts not from a five-year plan, but from healing your own inner child. Charlotte has spent nearly a decade teaching children emotional wellbeing and nervous system regulation in schools, holiday camps, and after-school clubs. She's just graduated with a degree in counselling, deepening her ability to work with trauma. But the real story is what she discovered along the way: that the work she built for children was really the work she needed for herself. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "I'm probably never going to get a time in my life where I'm this young and have no dependents, no mortgage... throw caution to the wind and just see if it works." "Emotions live in the body... if we're not processing those feelings, they become disease and we become unwell." "You cannot overlook the importance of self-care - I hate using that word, but it is so much more than a bath." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
🔗 CONNECT WITH CHARLOTTE:
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| #10 Ep. 10: Sophia Hermens — Follow the Fizz: Rewriting the Rules for Boys, Dads & Careers | 02 Jul 2026 | 00:27:41 | |
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this episode, Bryony sits down with Sophia Hermens - employment lawyer turned fundraiser turned psychotherapist-in-training, and founder of Rising Sons UK - to talk about what happens when you stop climbing the ladder and start following your fizz instead. Sophia's career reads like a landscape, not a ladder: law, charity fundraising with Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Foundation, international school work in Geneva, psychotherapy training, and facilitating for Rights for Girls. All of it led her to found Rising Sons, a program connecting 8–10 year old boys and their dads before the teenage years hit, so families don't have to repair what's broken later. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "We need to change the system." "Follow the fizz, not the ladder." "It's that whole bringing myself to the table, as opposed to going out to look for the job description." "A happy father is a happy employee." "I want to work for someone who is changing the world." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
🔗 CONNECT WITH SOPHIA:
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