Female Founders Rise

Female Founders Rise is a community of 10k female and non-binary founders.
Join here > https://swf5gwq3cbv.typeform.com/Join-FFR

Our purpose is financial freedom for women through entrepreneurship and we work across 4 pillars

1) Community
2) Business Fundamentals
3) Getting More Women Funded
4) Awareness of Female Entrepreneurship

Our mission is to provide advice, connection, networking, and support to help female founders succeed.

We have partnered with London Business School, Google, Lloyds Bank, British Business Bank and many other great communities and organisations supporting founders.

We'd love to have you join us - click on the link below or in my bio.

Founder + CEO

Female Founders Directory

+ Working on initiatives to promote diversity in supplier lists by encouraging SME’s and corporates to buy from women-led businesses in the UK.

+ Facilitating collaborations among women selling B2B to create meaningful opportunities for growth.

+ Building a supportive community within Female Founders Directory.

Founder

Faust House

An experienced exited entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den winner with over 20 years in digital marketing, I’ve personally scaled and sold three businesses.

I work with scaling service-based and tech businesses to help them get the most out of their marketing spend to enable growth, funding and successful exit.
Typical ROI x 10

Founder + Advisor

RunYourself

Angel Investor

Mamma Wellbeing

Advisor and Angel Investor

ONEWAYX

ONEWAYX is Shaping the Future of MetaCommerce, providing a plug-and-play Metaverse Operating System that empowers brands and retailers to integrate immersive experiences and Web3 capabilities.

Ventures Together

Ventures Together is a curated community of 130+ of Europe’s leading tech entrepreneurs and operators who angel invest and help companies together. We’re responsible for building some of the biggest startups like Wise, Klarna, Beamery, Onfido, Citymapper, Huma, Monzo and Deliveroo. 

“VT has provided us with unique access to influential and strategic business operators. I am amazed at the pace, efficiency and feedback provided to us by the VT community” - Anna Brailsford, founder and CEO of Code First Girls.

ZINC

Zinc backs exceptional talent to build new commercial solutions that solve the most pressing societal issues. As a Zinc Visiting Fellow, I support the cohort of 70 talented Founders to build commercial, scalable businesses that tackle one of the toughest problems society faces today - Financial Resilience.

Visiting Fellow

Country & Town House 

I worked with Country & Townhouse since Jan 2020 helping them with growth strategy and raising funds. I later joined as an advisor to the board. I stepped down from this role as I paused most of my consultancy work to focus on Female Founders Rise

Board Advisor

Freelance Marketing Club

Bringing together marketing freelancers for networking, collaboration + fun  
We handed this networking group on to a new leader because I need to focus my time and energy on Female Founders Rise full time.

Free networking + masterclasses for marketing freelancers.

Co-Founder

Female Founders Rise 💥| Advisor | Mum of 4 | Digital + Media + Marketing | Exited Founder

I'm on a mission to make entrepreneurship more accessible.
I set up my first business at 25, and since then, I have successfully set up, grown and sold multiple companies (and had a few failures on the journey too!)
Entrepreneurship is what I love.  

Most recently, I’ve been focused on Female Founders Rise [FFR] - a community of 10K female and non-binary founders 
>> https://femalefoundersrise.com/

I’m also a micro-investor in 30 women-led businesses, a speaker, and co-host of The Alternative Funding Show.


At FFR, our purpose is to enable financial freedom for women through entrepreneurship.  

We do that through 4 pillars:

➕ Community - we come together for connection, collaboration, and support.  Being a founder can be a lonely journey, and we want to be there for each other

➕ Funding - we've launched Cohort 4 of our fundraising accelerator - a free 8-week program to help 60+ female founders at a time on their fundraising journey

➕ Business Fundamentals - we run regular sessions and masterclasses on all things fundamental to growing a successful, sustainable business

➕ Awareness - we celebrate female founders and help them share their voices.  So far 700+ women have taken part in our personal branding challenge

We have partnered with brands like London Business School, Lloyds Bank, and Google and hosted events for 100's of women all over the UK.  We have been featured in The Times, Sifted, and Forbes.

Come and join us on our mission 👉 femalefoundersrise.com


Why do I care?

I want the same opportunities for women entrepreneurs as their male counterparts. 
When I heard about the difference in funding, I was shocked and decided I would try and do something about it.  
In the last few years, I have found my "Why" and a great deal of joy from being around so many incredible women doing amazing things.   

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👋 Follow me for daily posts on entrepreneurship, female founders, and my journey investing in women-led businesses.

👉 Join Female Founders Rise free and connect with 10k
female founders >>femalefoundersrise.com
Curated resources, fundraising support, business fundamentals + connection

👉 Find Female Founders Rise on LinkedIn >> https://www.linkedin.com/company/female-founders-rise/

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For paid consultancy or paid speaking engagements, please enquire at hello@femalefoundersrise.com

Emmie Faust

Last week I felt a bit low

I’m sure you know that feeling 

Working hard and not seeming to get the traction you hoped for

(this is the life of an entrepreneur I know!)

I embarked on this mega survey for The Rise Report

If I’m totally honest I thought getting 2k respondents would be super easy

And it wasn’t 
It’s been hard 

Every day whatsapping Debbie and getting the updated numbers

Was in the valley of despair for a few days
As the numbers grew 
But in my eyes too slowly!

And now we are at the point that we’re nearly done and that feels great  🙌🙌

Looking back I can feel that worry of the task being too big

The stress of the responsibilities 

I imagine it’s akin to a fundraise
Or any important campaign

Trying to gather everyone together to get  involved in your mission when it’s a new thing! 

To get the early adopters to believe in what you’re trying to do!

And my biggest learnings

1/ there is always a valley of despair 
That’s where most people give up

2/ Consistency is everything 
You have to show up time and time again

3/ relationships is what it’s all about
Always has been always will be 

The people that have been :

> checking in on how it’s going 
> promoting the survey
> sharing the survey
> partnering on the survey
> Getting people to do the survey

They’re the ones making it happen!!

So THANK YOU 
All you lovely people 
Like Sam Smith messaging me on a Saturday morning to make it happen

Vic Peppiatt tagging in everyone in her address book!

Debbie for giving me at least daily updates and telling me ‘we’ll do it!’

all our ambassadors (you know who you are)
And our community partners who have taken the time to share with their communities 

And our friends and members who have done the same

To everyone who send me a DM and told me they are on it and sharing!
Or emailed me
Or tagged me in a post
Or came to a meetup to hear about the reported 


We’re going to do it
To get 2000
Women to fill in a thorough, robust survey that we can slice and dice in so many ways to give us reliable annual data

Thanks to our partners who have all been brainstorming with me these last few weeks 

And my FFR Dinner crew
On the end of a WhatsApp 

Checking In daily

And to the team at Barclays UK for believing and wanting to be part of this study in the
First place!

It’s very clear the need for an independent report.
The government’s priorities change each time someone new comes into power

But our priorities are always the same - creating opportunities for everyone In entrepreneurship and having the data to back it up.

Get involved (link in bio and comments)
Tag a fellow female founder
spread the word
We’re about to close the survey so it’s urgent so take part
If you want your voice heard!

>> https://lnkd.in/eYVAA3S8
And follow Emmie for more updates and stories when we get there

2009/2000 responses ✅ | Mega Report incoming on female entrepreneurship | Sharing the Real Journey of Entrepreneurship + Growth |

No alternative text description for this image

A love letter to the woman I once was
.
If I could sit down with 25-year-old me, I’d tell her 3 things:

1/ Be kind to yourself
You can be ambitious and gentle - both are allowed.

2/ Sometimes you have to do hard things
Growth isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it.

3/ Wellbeing is everything
You can’t pour from an empty cup - take care of your energy first.


I wrote this as a love letter to my younger self 
But also to anyone still figuring it out 💜

You don’t need all the answers yet.
Just curiosity, courage, and a little self-compassion.

Save this for the days you forget how far you’ve come.
What would you say to your younger self?

Follow Emmie for more on building businesses in a sustainable way

3 pieces of advice to 25 year old Emmie

Women owned startups are a better bet

Startups Founded or Cofounded by Women Garner Less in Investments but Generate More Revenue, research shows.

This data is quite old (over 7 years) 
But it’s often quoted because less face it there is SO little up to date resesarch on women-led businesses

(This is why we’ve embarked on a mega survey of 2k female founders with The Rise Report of Female Entrepreneurship)

Anyway back to the findings 👇

According to their research, when women business owners pitch their ideas to investors for early-stage capital, they receive significantly less (a disparity that averages more than $1 million) than men. 

Yet businesses founded by women ultimately deliver higher revenue (more than twice as much per dollar invested)
than those founded by men, 

👉making women-owned companies better investments for financial backers. 

And yes I’m invested most of my disposable cash in women
Not just for this reason but also cos I want to see the funding levels become more equal

🎉 And I just had my first exit 🎉

What is missing in the UK right now is an up to date regular and robust report and that’s what we are trying to do.

Of course we can’t cover off everything on day 1 but slowly over time we will gather it all and get an independent yearly review on the state of female entrepreneurship


Save the to read later
Share with someone who might like to read it
And let me know if you’re part of the mega survey 

And check out 
Arāya Ventures 
Alma Angels 
Sie Ventures 
Two Magnolias Venture Capital 
Lifted Ventures 
The Gender Index 
All doing good work in this space 
(Along with many others!)

Follow Emmie for more on entrepreneurship

Why women owned startups are a better bet

Breaking news for B2B female founders

If you're a B2B founder looking to 
build deeper relationships, 
shared learning, 
collaboration, 
and referrals, 
then this is for you 🙌

(Not to mention our mega virtual Christmas meetup) 🎄

Co-created with 25 founding members:

You told us you wanted is a Community WhatsApp with groups for different things (referrals, promotions, knowledge sharing) 

and monthly virtual meetups to help connect with others for referrals and collabs

We officially launched this week with 125 B2B members, and we’re opening up to 300 max initially 

If you have a generous mindset and love giving this is for you 💜

Sign up here >> https://lnkd.in/eJN2yv8B

And if you have already joined let us know below 👇 

Ps should we even have a summer festival?
How cool would be!

If this sounds like fun come and find out more Female Founders Rise or follow Emmie for more 👋

Serial Founder building a community of 10K Female Founders | Sharing the Real Journey of Entrepreneurship + Growth | Join ⤵️

Are your favourite brands female-founded? 👀

These supermarket staples were all started by incredible women:

🍿 Cassandra created PROPERCORN in 2011
👶 Joanna founded Childs Farm Ltd in 2010
🐿️  Pip launched Pip & Nut | B Corp in 2013

Female founders aren’t just building brands 
They’re launching and redefining everyday products we love
And I'll be highlighting many more....

Who else deserves a spot on the shelf next to them?  👇

Follow Emmie Faust for more on entrepreneurship 

PS These photos are from my little trips to Sainsburys and Morrisons scooting around trying to find female-founded brands and doing little videos.

You need to know about these 3 female-founded brands

Everyone talks about starting a business

No one talks about staying sane once it works.

I learned that the hard way - after scaling my businesses, I realised burnout doesn’t come from doing "too much"…
It comes from doing the wrong things
Without systems that protect your brain.

Most founders don’t need more 'hacks'
They need ways to clear their brain and get perspective

I was talking with a founder friend yesterday about exactly this 
We both have so much on how do you keep a clear head
To prioritise and work on the mission-critical?

So sharing some thoughts in a carousel

These are systems used by me and other founders who’ve learned that: 
→ Recovery is a business strategy
→ Managing your energy for the win
→ Emotional control is leverage

These 7 habits really help me focus 
Do any of them resonate with you?

Your focus is your equity 🙌
Protect it like it’s the most valuable asset you own

Take 10 mins this weekend to rebuild your focus.
When you wake up on Monday you'll be glad you did

Follow Emmie Faust for more on entrepreneurship and growth

7 Habits to Keep Focus and Give you Clarity

We're led to believe we need to compete

But there is a different way

Coming together to create change

When I read this the other night in bed
It spoke to me
(absolutely love Rupi's poems)

And this is the reason I set up FFR
(https://lnkd.in/eqwmPK4F)

↳ to bring women together to collaborate and connect
↳  to refer each other business
↳  to share learnings and ideas
↳  to be part of something bigger than themselves
↳  to trade competition for collaboration
↳  the more the merrier

It's working....
we're seeing so many businesses benefit from the generous mindset of our members

Looks it's not easy
It's built inside of us to feel the fight 
to win the race
to be the best
And there is nothing wrong with ambition 
We all need that

But also connection + collaboration feels so good
We're made for it

Thank you to ALL my collaborators who have supported us on this project the last few weeks
And for being open to do things a different way
We're so nearly there now.

And let me know do you know the wonderful Rupi Kaur?

-------------------------
Follow Emmie for more on entrepreneurship and behind the scenes stories of building a community of 10K generous founders
If you haven't already done the survey find it here > https://lnkd.in/eYVAA3S8

You know one of the hardest things?

Getting buy-in to an idea or project before it’s a thing!

You have to 
✅Sell the dream 
✅ Sell the big vision
✅ Sell the mission

This has been my life for the last 2 weeks.

No one wants to fill in another survey…
We all have survey fatigue

And here I am asking women to fill in ‘another survey’
(This will be the last time for sure!)

And many have said no
And I understand why
(That’s another post)


Of Course next year will be so much easier
With momentum
And trust and 
The Rise Report of Female Entrepreneurship will be a thing.

Next time it will be easier to get people to share their time and data and insights
Because they will see the impact.

An important lesson I learnt from the wondeful Seth Godin 👇

In business the hardest work is getting the first users onboard.
The early adopters 

Getting people to buy into something new and unknown is hard but 
Once you get the early adopters on board 
It all becomes so much easier.


I’m happy to say we are very close to having our first 2k early adopters for this report survey and it feels 
GREAT to say that.


If you resonate with being an ‘early adopter’ you have a few days to get involved.
Otherwise you will have to wait til next year to share your insights, data and stories.

You’ll find the link in my featured section or in the comments below 👇

Two words changed how I think about success.

(I used to believe talent was fixed) 
That you were either born with it, or you weren’t.

Then someone told me about the Growth Mindset
And everything changed.

This mindset doesn’t just shape how we grow
It shapes who we become as a leader, as an entrepreneur, as a person

The difference between “I can’t do this”
and “I can’t do this yet”
is EVERYTHING

People with a fixed mindset:
→ Avoid challenges
→ Fear failure
→ Quit when it gets hard

People with a growth mindset:
→ See struggle as data, not defeat
→ Embrace feedback
→ Persist until they improve

The thing is every 'expert' started somewhere
Every success comes after a dozen failures

One of the top tips from Harvard Business Review is to surround yourself with growth-minded people
(you can find them in FFR > https://lnkd.in/eqwmPK4F)

On my journey to building Female Founders Rise I embrace this mindset daily.
And it's made a huge difference to my work and life 
When something doesn't go to plan
It's not failure it just data.

→ Save this for when progress feels slow - or when doubt creeps in.
And ask yourself the question 
How can I embrace the Growth Mindset this coming week?

🔔 Follow Emmie Faust for daily entrepreneurship support


>> More Resources
1/ Psychologist Carol Dweck coined the concept of growth and fixed mindsets in her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
2/ And check out the HBR article that inspired this image > https://lnkd.in/eN5g3yg5

Female founders: stop guessing about fundraising

Every Friday at 6 AM, we’ll drop a short, sharp newsletter for women who are fundraising from Female Founders Rise

We’ve been building our fundraising list quietly for months 
Now, it's at 2500 founders, we're going to launch.

With Dan Bowyer and Lea Rozencwajg Henry - Who have  sat on both sides of the table we'll  translate investor-speak into action

↳ Facts + stats that actually move a round
↳ Templates + resources to support you
↳ Term of the week (in plain English)
↳ Open Q&A: send your blockers

As well as access to our fundraising accelerator, meetups, and other bits and bobs.

If you're a female founder, fundraising or thinking of fundraising, comment RAISE and we'll share the link 🙌

Sometimes my mind can play games

Tell me I’m not enough

That I’m going to get cancelled 

That people don’t like me

That it’s not going to work out


And other days my mind is kind and compassionate

And says ‘I’m so Proud of you’

‘You’re smashing it’

‘You’re doing so well’

And on this crazy journey of being a mum to 4, an entrepreneur, running a community and learning on the job I sometimes forget to stop and prioritise my mind

And this made me smile
It was a little message that stopped me on my scroll

A reminder to rest
Work on my mental fitness
Come back to my breath 


We’re all in this together
Agree?

Ps spotted on insta candidly.carky

Nonie White Ltd

I'm a former start-up founder with a background in Social Entrepreneurship, ICF-ACC certified Coaching and L5 Diploma in Positive Psychology Practice & Coaching. 

✨WHAT I DO:

I support high performing female founders and change makers to scale their businesses with maximum wellbeing, performance and resilience – so that they can get results, make impact and enjoy the journey *without* burning out along the way. 

Using pure (executive) coaching interwoven with evidence-based Positive Psychology, I offer a 6-step framework that supports founders to:

*Discover their unique wellbeing and resilience levers – so they function optimally, enjoying life more and performing better as they step into their full potential. 

* Get clear on who they are and what it is they really want to achieve with their lives and their leadership, to cut through the noise around them and in their heads, to get to what’s truly meaningful and most impactful for them. 

* Build their courage, self-confidence and self-belief.  

* Create a hope-oriented and strengths-fuelled plan of action. 

We work together every other week for 4 months. The investment is £1530. DM me to chat. 

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

‘Nonie is an incredibly empathetic coach, quickly grasping skillsets and helping to amplify those to solve problems. Nonie is so knowledgeable that everything she says and suggests is backed up by proven theory. 

I'd recommend Nonie to any founder or startup leader - after 90 days the work we have done together has left me feeling calmer, more in control and more confident as a leader. I also feel I have a better handle on feeling my happiness / success is not 100% linked to my business success on a day-to-day view.  

Lucy Woolfenden, Founder at The Scale Up Collective

Positive Psychology Practitioner & ICF ACC Coach supporting female founders to scale 

Supporting a growing network of female founders through advice, connection, insight and intentional networking.

Female Founders Rise Founding Advisory Member

The AMotherBrand Podcast

I created the AMotherBrand Podcast to empower women to build businesses around their families doing work that they love. 

In the podcast I shared tips about how you can apply the science of wellbeing, Positive Psychology to help you flourish in life and work. I also interviewed inspirational successful female founders about how they’ve successfully built their business around their families.

Listen to wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Apple: https://lnkd.in/ec3NMQy2
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e5qbXyyf

Podcaster

AMotherBrand

After trying (and failing) to create my first business around having my first baby, I researched and realised the barriers facing female entrepreneurs and particularly those juggling small children and lack of networking opportunities. 

I created AMotherBrand as a female empowerment brand, to inspire, connect and support female founders to build businesses sustainably around their families and thrive.

It was a bootstrapped tech platform and membership community, that provided co-founder matching, a supportive community of female entrepreneurs, weekly co-working sessions, monthly masterclasses with experts and regular wellbeing support and accountability.

Freelance

My passion to make the world a better place through creativity began in film. I spent over a dozen years working as a Freelancer making prime-time documentary one-off films and series.  

From filming the art and architecture across the Abrahamic faiths for Sky Arts to filming 40 babies being born in Southampton, my work was varied but often concentrated on shining a light on peripheral or lesser known worlds.  

Directing highlights included C4’s BAFTA nominated second series of ‘One Born Every Minute’; C4’s sensitive documentary series exploring the impact of the arts on children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ‘Young, Autistic & Stagestruck’; a one-off film for BBC3 about a young man with Treacher Collins Syndrome, ‘Finding My Family on Facebook’ and the BAMPF and EMMY Award-winning C4 multi platform series ‘Battlefront’ about teenagers campaigning to change the world.

Documentary film Producer / Director; Edit Producer; Development Producer

Cafedirect Producers' Foundation (CPF)

Supporting CPF to scale up their WeFarm program. WeFarm.info is a worldwide peer-to-peer knowledge sharing network platform, which connects rural smallholder farmers to share advice and best practice and create a peer-to-peer ‘micro-consultancy’ for the price of a SMS. 

Advised on emerging impact measurement processes and best practice within international development.  Conducted an extensive review of the unique challenges WeFarm faces in measuring its impact given the ICT, agriculture and development field in which it operates and proposed an implementation strategy to help them measure and learn from their social impact as they expand their operations.

Supported development of the CPF website; advised on effective presentation of case studies and impact.

Volunteer

Success & Wellbeing Coaching for purpose-driven female entrepreneurs I 1:1 coaching to empower you into your next stage of growth with clarity, confidence & resilience I Social entrepreneurship I Positive psychology

I use Positive Psychology + coaching to support scaling founders to learn how to function optimally – to improve their wellbeing and resilience so that they can perform at their best, make massive impact and enjoy the journey, rather than burn out. 

You are…

✨ Inspiring
✨ Ambitious
✨ Hard-working
✨ Driven

Also probably…

❌ Exhausted 
❌ Overworked / overwhelmed
❌ Neglecting yourself / your loved ones
❌ Full of anxiety or negative thoughts
❌ Doubting yourself and your abilities

Here’s the truth: 
When we’re feeling under pressure, hustling harder and faster is often our go-to, but it’s not the answer. 

✨The solution is profoundly simple: put your psychological wellbeing first.✨

✨Wellbeing and the energy it creates, is the foundation to performance and sustainable business success.✨

Without enough wellbeing, we cannot take our message, our products, or our services to the world.

Thing is, psychological wellbeing isn’t just yoga and self-care, it’s much deeper than that and that’s where having an expert coach to guide you on this journey is invaluable. 

You want:

👉 To step into your potential and your next aligned level of success
👉 Purpose, clear direction and motivation
👉 Confidence and self-belief
👉 Energy and a positive mindset

And also

👉 Better life / work balance 
👉 To be more present with the people who matter most to you
👉 More enjoyment from the journey (less impatience, anxiety or negative moods)

** How do we achieve that? **

We follow my 6-step evidence-based signature framework, working together 1:1 every other week for four months. 

Focusing on the psychological concept of leading yourself from a place of authenticity, the programme offers:

✨ A strategic opportunity to zoom out from the daily hustle, to access a supportive, non-judgemental space in which to do your best thinking.

✨ An evidence-based Positive Psychology framework and ethos. We work from the science, building on your values and signature strengths to create a life and work that feels aligned and gives you maximum results, with maximum wellbeing.

By the end you get clarity on:

•	Your bespoke wellbeing and resilience levers 
•	Who you are today and what matters most to you, so that you make decisions with courage and confidence.
•	What ways of thinking, feeling and acting keep you stuck and how you can calmly prevent them from getting in your way. 
•	Your signature strength profile and how you can use them for greater energy, joy and flow
•	A hope-oriented and strengths-driven plan to reach your next level of success.

* Investment: £1530. DM me to chat.

Nonie M C White ACC FRSA

✨What does success mean to you?✨

** Being an entrepreneur is brilliant ***
Because we have autonomy, flexibility and purpose...
*BUT* we don't always give ourselves permission
To fully embrace those elements of our work.

One marker of success for me, 
Is the autonomy to make space for what matters most to me.

We can't control much of what happens in life,
But controlling what is most meaningful feels great. 

Giving my kids joy on their birthdays is one of those things. 

Every year they enjoy telling me what cake they want me to make for them.
We've had cakes themed on bubble tea, Harry Potter, Haribo, cats...
This year my daughter turned 11,
So she had her own Pinterest board of cake inspo...
And settled on a tortoise made of Oreos. Of course. 

Honestly, I love the excuse to prioritise creativity.
To give myself permission to stop everything else,
And just create something new, from nothing.

So for me, success, is being the boss of my calendar
And making space for baking and making her cake.
Seeing her face when she sees it for the first time,
And watching her savour her birthday.

Meet Nibbles, Oreo Tortoise. 
She loved him. 
And I loved making him for her. 

And here's the relevance to work:

👉 Meaning builds wellbeing
👉 Creativity builds wellbeing
👉 Happiness builds wellbeing
👉 Engagement builds wellbeing

👉👉 Wellbeing improves performance + productivity 👈👈

Science shows that feeling good 
Helps you think better and work better.

💥 I'll work better today and beyond,
💥 Because I took time off to do what mattered most to me. 

👉 If you look at your calendar
Is it obvious what's most important to you right now?

Nonie M C White FRSA

Female Founder Coach | Transform Overwhelm Into Unshakeable Leadership Confidence ✨Positive Psychology Practitioner, Researcher & ICF ACC Coach✨

The transformation in a year is stunning.
From lost and panicked, to ✨grounded and thriving.✨ 

Last week I realised I'd been working with a client for a year.

When we started, she told me:
Work had always felt terrifying for her.
She'd lived with a constant fear of being exposed.
Anxiety in her tingling hands. Pressure in her chest. Migraines. 
"It's absolutely exhausting feeling like a fake and 'playing a role'"

She'd left her career to found her own business.
To be around more for her children in this season of their lives.
But, she had no idea what her unique value was.
Her self-belief was super low. Her resilience, wobbly.

Last week she told me:
"I'm not that person anymore. In a very good way."

Now she feels happy, calm and grateful.
A feeling she realises she never experienced before.

The moment she realised how much had changed?
She went for dinner with high-flying friends from her uni days.
In the past, those dinners left her miserable. 
Self-criticising. Feeling 'less than'.
This time? She felt 100% content. Happy. Accomplished.

The real shift, now:
She's grounded in who she is, why she's brilliant and what matters most.
She's clear about her values and her signature character strengths.
She stepped off the depleting treadmill of performing,
To be well, authentic, present with herself, her family and her whole life. 
Right now, this is her version of success.

"I think I was exhausted for like two decades. Because now, when I am tired, I can see it. Whereas before, my base was just constant fatigue, panic and feeling out of my depth all the time."

Now she's paid well to do work she truly loves, 
With people who respect her and value her unique contribution. 
AND she's able to take days off, to ride her bike, or walk the dog,
She's achieving sporting personal bests, she's writing a novel, 
She has space, wellbeing and time for herself, as well as others. 

✨ She's no longer chasing external validation
✨ Because she's found the peace that comes, 
✨ With knowing who you are, what you're doing, and why.

From constant fear 👉  calm contentment.
From feeling like a fake 👉 leading authentically.
From decades of exhaustion 👉 finally knowing what energy feels like.

That's the work.
Not fixing what's broken.
Finding what's true.

Does any of this resonate with you?
DM me if you're interested in 1:1 coaching or a group programme to have the same outcomes ❤️

"I feel like I'm not an authentic leader.
Like I'm trying to be too serious.
Like I'm being what I think a founder *should* be."

Sarah was running her product business in constant panic.

👉 Her wellbeing? 6 out of 10.
👉 Daily reality? Worry. Beating herself up constantly.

Work was everything. Fun was nowhere. 😢 
Several months of coaching with me, everything changed.

We didn't teach her to be like other leaders.
We helped her function well and become more herself.

She started gratitude journaling. 
👉 "Mind-blowing how much it changes."

She learned the Circle of Control. 
👉 Stopped wasting energy on things she couldn't influence.

She discovered her signature strengths. 
👉 Honesty. Social intelligence. Kindness. Creativity.
✨"So cool to know I'm good at my job because of my strengths."✨

She stopped trying to be the serious founder 
That she thought she *should* be. 
The one who knows all the answers and wears a suit.
She started leading with honesty and kindness together.

👉 "Unless I have that honest conversation, 
I can't build real trust with my team."

✅ Her wellbeing now? 
👉 8-9 out of 10.

✅ Her leadership style? 
👉 "Me being myself is being a great leader."

This is ✨Authentic Leadership Mastery✨
Not pretending to be someone you're not.
But becoming more of who you actually are.
Showing up as you, at your best, every day.

What we covered:
🟢 Wellbeing foundations for sustainable performance. 
🟢 Psychological fitness to handle any challenge. 
🟢 Values and strengths that define her leadership. 
🟢 Aligned leadership from her authentic self. 
🟢 Unshakeable confidence for the long game.

👉 ✨Which area(s) do you need to work on?✨


In a few weeks, I'm running a webinar on my signature framework,
That took Sarah from constant panic to calm confidence.

Comment WEBINAR or DM me and I'll send you the details.

1387/2000 female entrepreneurs have taken the time to do it.
👉  Have you? 

I'm proud to have contributed to the #RiseReport - one of the largest surveys of female founders in the UK.

This work isn’t just about celebrating our stories, but about building a clear, data-driven picture of women’s entrepreneurship. 

This is a benchmark to track progress and drive change.

The Rise Report is a national initiative led by Female Founders Rise, with research conducted by Nottingham Business School and supported by Barclays .

If you’re a woman running a business, add your voice. 
It takes 8 minutes tops (I think I did it much quicker!)

👉 https://lnkd.in/g6G-BB4T

Too much to do, too little time. Every. Single. Week.
I used to beat myself up for never having done enough. 

Until I realised the difference between those who flourish and those who fail,
Isn't how hard they work, it's how they view the work they do. 

This theme comes up A LOT with my high-achieving founder clients.

There's a great theory to bear in mind.
Dr Kristin Neff's research on ✨ Self-Compassion✨

She discovered three components that change everything.

1. Self-Kindness vs Self-Judgment

When things go wrong, how do you talk to yourself?
Most founders I work with use language they'd never use with a friend.
"I'm so stupid. Why can't I get this right?"
Self-kindness means speaking to yourself the way you'd speak to someone you care about.
Not letting yourself off the hook.
Just being reasonable instead of brutal.

2. Common Humanity vs Isolation

When you mess up or feel overwhelmed, what's your first thought?
"I'm the only one struggling."
Research shows this couldn't be further from the truth.
🔴 66% of female founders report feeling highly or extremely lonely.
🔴 61% cite having too much to do and too little time as their top stress.
You're not alone in this.

3. Mindfulness vs Over-identification

This is about seeing the situation clearly.
"I have a lot on my plate right now" vs "I'm failing at everything."
"This is hard" vs "I'm not cut out for this."

The work got easier for me when I started asking three questions:

🟢 What would I say to a friend in this situation?
🟢 Am I the only person who's ever struggled with this?
🟢 What's actually true right now?

Self-compassion isn't about being soft.
It's about being effective. 
👉 Research shows that people with higher self-compassion are more motivated.
They bounce back faster from setbacks.


Try this this week.
Notice when you're being harsh with yourself.
Pause.
Ask yourself, what would I say to a friend right now? 
Then say that to yourself instead.

Does being overly critical about yourself resonate? ❤️

Three Steps to Build Self-Compassion

Hands up if you've lived your life
Accompanied by a low-level soundtrack
Of not feeling good enough? 😩 

👉 Do you often doubt yourself? 
👉 Fear you’ll be found out as lacking? 
👉 Either over-working to quieten the noise, 
👉 Or holding back and keeping small to stay safe?
 
Maybe you do both at different times. 
Maybe you lack self-confidence in a specific area of your life…
Maybe you lack self-confidence in all areas.
 
Maybe only you know how much you doubt yourself,
How much you compare yourself with others and feel like shrinking…
But the feeling is still there.
[It feels like it’s always been there.]

✨Would you like to know what life feels like without this? ✨
 
I have a signature coaching framework
That specifically helps with this,
That builds grounded self-confidence -
A deep inner belief that quietens the noise,
And builds a new personal theme tune
That enables you to grow and shine. 
 
It’s not all power poses and performance -
That’s what most leadership development gets wrong
They teach you how to be *like* other people,
How to wear a mask…
But that only fuels more self-doubt.
It’s deep work that builds self-awareness and self-knowledge.
 
It's not about what’s lacking or your weaknesses,
It’s evidence-based in Positive Psychology,
Powered by the science of flourishing and a proven system - 
It’s about building on what works well already.
 
I’m going to be sharing my 5-step signature system soon -
The simple ways in which you can build inside-out confidence,
So you can start to step into who you are and who you want to become,
With energy, joy, fulfilment and deep clarity.  
 
DM me READY or comment below and I’ll make sure you’ve got the details 👀

Photo of Nonie smiling - having just overcome her fear of public speaking earlier this year. 

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Emmie Faust

Nonie M C White ACC FRSA

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The Battle

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