A Beginners Guide To Being A Grown Up – Details, episodes & analysis

Emmie Faust is an exited founder, investor, and passionate advocate for women-led startups in the UK. She is the creator of Female Founders Rise, a thriving community of over 8,000 female entrepreneurs dedicated to closing the funding gap and amplifying women’s visibility in the startup ecosystem. Through this platform, Emmie provides access to resources, investor networks, and peer support, while actively investing in women-led businesses herself.

Her voice carries weight in the venture space, with a verified LinkedIn influence score of 91.4/100. Emmie’s daily posts spark meaningful dialogue around the realities female founders face—burnout, lack of access to capital, and gender bias in investment. Blending personal insights with community-driven advice, her content is both relatable and actionable, earning trust from founders and investors alike.

Before launching Female Founders Rise, Emmie successfully exited multiple ventures, bringing firsthand experience of scaling businesses through high-growth phases. This journey informs her mentoring style, particularly around leadership, mental health, and navigating toxic workplace cultures. She has also built partnerships with early-stage funding platforms and impact-driven brands, further expanding opportunities for women in business.

Based in the UK, Emmie speaks openly about work-life balance, resilience, and the importance of building supportive ecosystems. Her mission is clear: to empower female founders with the tools, networks, and confidence to thrive.

Listen to find out how  Emmie has found success in different aspects of hier life, and what she would put in the guide...

Leigh Smyth is the Founder of Impact Match and she is an award-winning pioneer in inclusive and impact-led talent search, digital skills and social impact strategy. Leigh was the first leader to introduce young peoples access to Technology via retail to the UK and then went onto to work for UK Government to design access to Technology for Low Income families. As the UK’s first-ever Responsible Transformation Director, she led the creation of the Lloyds Banking Group Digital Skills Academy, designing its strategy and pilot which has go on to train more than one million people for free. 

Through partnership consultation, Leigh also built what became one of the country’s largest digital skills-based volunteering networks. Her team also developed the UK’s first benchmark for Basic Digital Skills, now embedded into the national agenda and referenced globally. The Consumer Digital Index, now in its 10th year, is still the UK’s largest measure of digital and financial capability, used by policymakers, educators and employers to track progress and shape inclusive services. 

A lifelong talent matchmaker, Leigh has placed some of the UK’s most influential social impact leaders into senior roles across FTSE firms, NGOs, and purpose-led scaleups. Through her work at ImpactMatch, she continues to connect values-driven talent with organisations serious about doing good, helping them embed inclusion and impact into their culture, leadership, and workforce strategies. She also helped establish the Digital Poverty Alliance, helped to establish 11 national advisory taskforces for financial inclusion, and played a key role in embedding inclusive design and accessibility into Lloyds Banking Group’s transformation programme, enabling the bank to become the first FTSE to achieve Accessibility accreditation. 

Leigh is also the Co-Founder of ActionAble on a mission with Sara Weller CBE to drive workplace disability inclusion. From designing inclusive strategies to building the teams that deliver them, Leigh’s work sits at the intersection of impact, innovation, and inclusion, making her a vital voice in shaping the future of recruitment and training.

Listen to find out how  Leigh has found success in different aspects of hier life, and what she would put in the guide...

Michelle Pughe-Parry de Klerk is the founder of The Women’s Chapter®, an impact-led community supporting the economic and personal growth of women in business. At its heart is a belief in the exponential power of women as economic drivers and forces for social and environmental change. Since 2014, The Women’s Chapter has reached more than 30,000 women through curated events, thought leadership and pro bono initiatives, becoming the UK’s first women’s network to earn B Corp certification in 2023.

Under Michelle’s leadership, the community supports impact beyond its membership, pledging 5% of all membership fees to charities supporting women and girls, offering a pro bono membership and mentoring programme with The King’s Trust, and hosting W.Walk & Talk events across the UK to raise funds for charity.

Michelle is an ambassador for The King’s Trust Women Supporting Women, a UN Women UK delegate, and an elected council member for Founders4Schools and Maths4Girls. A sought-after speaker, moderator and host, she has led hundreds of hours of live conversations with female changemakers on topics ranging from resilience and wellbeing to funding and failure. Her insights have been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, The Telegraph, Country & Townhouse and Forbes.

Listen to find out how Michelle has found success in different aspects of her life, and what she would put in the guide...

Barbara Gottardi is a globally seasoned Chief Information Officer turned entrepreneur and non-executive leader with over two decades of experience driving digital and operational transformation at major financial institutions, including HSBC, Vanguard, Admiral Money. 

Over 20 years of experience in Finance technology leading high performing team globally across Investment Banking, Asset Management, Retail Banking and Wealth management. 

A trusted leader and strategic thinker with a record of successful deliveries across the globe. 

A real advocate for women in tech and true diversity in business. Outside work she is a mother of 2 teenager boys and a keen runner. 

Listen to find out how Barbara has found success in different aspects of her life, and what she would put in the guide...

With a passion for people, entrepreneurship and storytelling, Lucy is a two-time Founder and Presenter looking to bring as much energy to any event she has the pleasure of hosting as she does to her agency, The Leaf Group, and community network, Ecomm Girls Club.

Having led a multifaceted and international career across London, Sydney, Singapore and Hong Kong, a former Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff, Lucy decided to launch her own agency, The Leaf Group, to support purpose driven startups with community engagement, content marketing and digital profile building for founders.

Alongside a Co-Founder, Lucy also launched Ecomm Girls Club, a community for women in the ecommerce industry to build networks, forge relationships and create opportunities for one another.

Lucy currently presents conferences and events across Asia as well as regularly appearing behind the microphone for Hyrox fitness racing in markets such as Latvia, Hong Kong and Japan.

With a true passion for bringing people together and creating opportunities, Lucy has previously launched and hosted programmes for female entrepreneurs, young executives and those looking to use sport to forge connection for HSBC, The British Chamber of Commerce and Exeter University.

Lucy holds a degree from the University of Exeter in History and International Relations, alongside a Diploma in Intelligent Marketing. In her spare time, Lucy enjoys completing fitness-related challenges, travelling and learning Mandarin. 

Listen to find out how Lucy has found success in different aspects of her life, and what she would put in the guide...

🎧 Reflecting on Lessons Learned: Highlights from our first two series- dive into key takeaways, powerful advice and behind-the-scenes insights from our journey so far.

 📲 Catch up on every episode here

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Louise Hill is founder and CEO of GoHenry - the money app helping kids learn to earn, save, spend and invest. Louise has built the business from the ground up, from launching GoHenry in the UK in 2012, expanding to the US in 2018, then acquiring French Fintech Pixpay in 2022, followed by the merger with US Fintech Acorns in 2023. 

Louise is a passionate advocate for financial education, campaigning tirelessly to make the subject compulsory in all schools starting from primary age. Her expertise in kids' banking was recognised when she appeared as an expert judge on The Apprentice (Series 19). 

Dedicated to promoting financial inclusion, Louise is a Non-Executive Director at Sibstar, the UK’s leading debit card provider for people with dementia.

Keen to nurture UK businesses, Louise works to support several UK-based start-ups and is part of Innovate Finance's Unicorn Council for UK FinTech (UCFT), driving growth in the UK FinTech sector. She is also a huge supporter of women in business, regularly mentoring female founders to drive cultural change around female leadership.

Listen to find out how Louise has found success in different aspects of her life, and what she would put in the guide...

Trigger warning- This episode contains discussions of suicide and domestic violence. If you’re affected by these topics or need someone to talk to, please reach out for support. You can contact Samaritans at 116 123 or Refuge UK at 0808 2000 247. You're not alone.

Hetti became Chair of Refuge’s Board of Trustees on 1st June 2020. Hetti has a career spanning British Airways, Centrica, BT and Vodafone, leading financial, commercial and transformational change, often enabled by leading edge technology. She became the CEO of Ploughshare Innovations in April 2020 and is renowned for leading cultural and commercial transformation, and her highly creative, collaborative and engaging approach with teams and partners. She is also a recognised champion for diversity, equality, and inclusion. 

Hetti was recognised in the New Year's Honours 2024 list, receiving a CBE for her services to people affected by domestic abuse and domestic homicide. Hetti has been an active campaigner raising awareness about domestic abuse and the criminal justice system since her best friend, Joanna Simpson, was killed by her estranged husband. Hetti is the founder and former Chair of the Joanna Simpson Foundation and was previously a Pioneer at Safe Lives. In October 2024, she was awarded a Pride of Britain Special Recognition Award, alongside her co-founder of the Joanna Simpson Foundation, Diana Parkes CBE for their service in transforming the care, support and protection of children affected by domestic abuse and homicide. 

As CEO of an organisation which is on a high growth trajectory, and Chair of Refuge which is going through transformational change whilst seeing ever increasing demand for services, Hetti focuses her spare time enjoying long walks in the countryside with her family and the dogs. 

Listen to find out how Hetti has found success in different aspects of her life, and what she would put in the guide...

Christine Locke is the Founder and CEO of Diversity House; a charitable organisation she established over 18 years ago to tackle social inequalities. The charity provides services in prisons, schools, and communities, promoting individual and family well-being. She is also the Senior Partner at COGOL Concerns, a consultancy specializing in training, EDI audits, research, and development.

Christine recently completed her PhD at Canterbury Christ Church University. She holds multiple qualifications, including degrees in Modern European Languages, Community Cohesion, Health Promotion, and Public Health. A social scientist, educator, administrator, chartered banker, and intersectional feminist, she is a passionate advocate for equality, inclusion, and social justice.

Her commitment to global change led her to become a signatory of the UN Global Compact, supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Christine has presented at prestigious venues, including:

• United Nations Assembly, New York
• United Nations Conference Centre, Bonn
• AidEx, PALEXPO, Geneva
• Her Majesty’s Prisons, Isle of Sheppey
• Greenwich University, London
• Royal Overseas League, London

Christine is married with two daughters and remains dedicated to driving social transformation and empowerment.

Listen to find out how Helen has found success in different aspects of her life, and what she would put in the guide...

Helen and Sam first met around 10 years ago working at a global bank. 

Helen has since moved into professional services and alongside her day job is a charity founder and trustee. Mum to Alf aged 7, and human to 2 cats and a sausage dog. 

She is founder and trustee of Brightest Stars charity- supporting bereaved families. 

She's also a long suffering Southampton FC fan but the less said about that the better!

Listen to find out how Helen has found success in different aspects of her life, and what she would put in the guide...