Joanna Howes

The Change Creators 

At The Change Creators, we provide transformational services to help leaders grow and become the leader they know they can be. We focus on the mindset, skills and behaviours leaders need to step into their courageous zone, create a positive impact and deliver results.

Our services include:
 
✅Cultural shifts and transformations  

✅Leadership and team coaching and training

✅Operational excellence consultancy 

✅EDISC and Meta Dynamics profiling to increase self-awareness and self-leadership 

✅Executive 1-2-1 coaching 

If you would like to take your leadership to the next level and invest in your growth, get in contact with us today and watch your influence and performance sky rocket.

CEO and Founder of The Change Creators - Leadership Coach and Trainer 

Clemenger BBDO

- Re-invented the company ways of working to drive agility, efficiencies, and flexibility to meet all client requirements
- Built a new production offering to achieve fast effective content delivery, resulting in a new stream of revenue  
- Supported the win of large pitches by selling operations excellence

Operations Director - Executive team 

McCann London

Operations Director

-  Introduced project management into the agency which doubled the agencies productivity 
- Transformed the commercial effectiveness with systems, data, technology, and accurate tracking resulting in increased profit margin
- Lead the process with the leadership team to evolve the culture to be bold and brave to increase the quality of work

Head of Project Management

Arthur London

Operations and New Business Director

Creative Services Director / Operations Director

VCCP

Helping leaders step into their courageous zone and create positive impact, through transformative coaching & training | CEO of The Change Creators Ltd | Campaign 40 over 40 | International Coach of the Year 2020 🏆

We specialise in creating courageous leadership teams who win together.

Whether you're a newly formed team, a merged company establishing a new board, or feeling the need for a reset, we can help you create a strong aligned cohesive team. 

Courageous leaders are open, vulnerable, and committed to continuous learning, driving exceptional results for their teams and the organisation.

We help by:

• Moving from operating in silos to a collective mindset 

• Avoiding feedback to leaning into compassionate candor 

• From going around in circles to make decisions to a bias for action 

• From working as job titles to truly understanding each other as human beings 

• From all talk and no action to peer-to-peer accountability 


Our approach centers on increasing individual and team awareness, fostering a unified leadership team culture grounded in aligned principles, and promoting effective communication and accountability.

"When the business isn't performing, the first place to look is the leadership team."

👉 For coaching and training inquiries, please email: joanna.howes@thechangecreators.com

👉 For podcast and speaking engagements, please email: anna@thechangecreators.com

Let's connect and explore how we can elevate your leadership team to achieve extraordinary outcomes.


Trusted by: 
Monzo, Amazon, BBC, Troy Asset Management, Ada Ventures, Iris Worldwide, Uncommon Creative Studios, 6 Nations Rugby, ITB, PrettyGreen PR, Hue & Cry, McCann Worldwide.

What our clients have to say: 

“She's 'Life Changing'. Jo has an ability to enable a fearless focus on creating a personal and professional roadmap to success”. - Director Of Client Services at SYZYGY London

“As a coach Jo has been fantastic- full of insights, always there to listen and most of all provide practical solutions. As a team we have come out more confident and ready with practical tools to help us develop further in different areas.” - Head Of Project Management at BBC Creative


🌐  Visit: www.thechangecreators.com

I lost my dad 29 years ago
and last week I was given a photo of him I’d never seen before.

It took me a moment (and my breath away) to take it in.
He was only 50 when he died, an age I'm only 3 years away from. 

This photo captures him in his element, surrounded by food doing the work he loved.

Grief doesn’t vanish.
You don’t 'move on.'
You move with it.

Some days it sits quietly. 
Some days it taps you on the shoulder.
And then there are moments like this, when it brings someone straight back into your heart.

But this photo did something else too.
It reminded me exactly where my own fire comes from.

My dad was all graft, pride and heart.
He cared deeply about his craft.
And he cared about people.

I started working for him when I was 12.
By 15, I was running the restaurant at weekends
Leading people twice my age, learning fast, getting things wrong, figuring out how to hold a team together.

At the time it just felt like 'helping Dad.'
Now I see it for what it was: my first leadership training ground.
So much of who I am today started in that restaurant.

Courage.
Ownership.
Showing up even when you don’t feel ready.
Taking pride in your work.

Seeing this photo now, almost three decades later, has pushed me even further into my own path.

His passion was food.
Mine is helping leaders find their courage to do the work that matters.
Different passions, same spirit.
Although my second choice would have been a food critic 😀

For anyone who’s lost someone, you’ll know this:

The grief softens, but the love doesn’t.
And moments like this make you stop and ask:

👉 Are we using the time we have well?
👉  Are we doing the work that feels true to us?
👉  Are we leading with pride in our craft… or just getting through the week?

I feel incredibly grateful for the years I had with him, for what he taught me, and for the reminder this photo brought.

If you’ve had a moment like this recently, I’d love to hear what it brought up for you.

♻️Repost to remember how important the time we have left is
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Strengthening Leadership Teams to Connect, Perform & Grow Together | Courageous Leaders Podcast| Speaker | International Coach of the Year 2020 🏆 | Follow for posts about self-mastery, leadership & culture

For my birthday last week, I went to a restaurant with NO menu.
And it felt so good to let go of control.

7 courses and no idea what's coming next. 

Even when they put butter that had marmite in it!! (I'm a hater)
It was amazing and I would have never ordered it had I been given the choice.

But here's the genius bit:

Every table eating the same thing.
Only 2 sittings at 7.30pm and 8pm.
The kitchen wasn't chaos... it was calm precision.
No decisions to stress about.
Just pure focus on quality and experience.

And they were all having the BEST time, singing to the music and having the time to have banter with us and make us feel SO special. 

There is so much to learn from this in corporate business. 

What could be possible is leaders stopped trying to control every outcome.
Empowered their teams to be creative.

Stopped offering endless options.
Just do fewer things... really, really well.

What if you applied this to your next project?

Your team?

Your life?

I already have and it's amazing how you can strip things back and simplify to create a better experience.

The old saying 'less is more' is so true.

Where is one area you can apply this to?

♻️ Repost to inspire new thinking 
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The power of glitter.

A room full of women sharing.
Listening.
Supporting.
And encouraging each other to take those 'F*ck It' moments to live our potential. 

Nishma Patel Robb 🪩⚡️ created a night I’ll remember.
Not because it was shiny (even though it was), but because it felt safe.
Safe to be honest.
Safe to be seen.
Safe to let someone else hold a bit of your story.

I’m so grateful she followed her dream. 
It’s not the easy road, but it’s one that’s helping so many women back themselves.

If you’re not already following her, go step into her world of glitter. It’s genuinely uplifting.

Amazing to get to spend the evening with incredible women including Kerry Collinge Amanda Baker Catherine Peacock Anna Cairns Justine Hendry

This wasn’t just the most special morning.
It reminded me why I started the podcast in the first place.

I never imagined how much the guests would teach me, inspire me, and shape how I see leadership today.

Here’s just a small glimpse of the impact being created by the people around this table:

🔥 Mollie Kmita & Rosie Kmita – driving transformational change in women’s football, even when faced with misogyny and resistance.

🔥 Sedge Beswick – lifting founders to believe in themselves again and drive business success.

🔥 Lee Chambers - Driving research to raise the alarm on the impact AI is having on young boys and pushing for guardrails at government level.

🔥 Ali Hanan – showing brands how inclusive marketing isn’t just the right thing to do…it delivers stronger commercial performance when you truly listen.

What was truly wonderful is how different all their worlds are and yet the thread between them is the same:

Courage.
Curiosity.
A deep desire to make things better.
And genuinely lovely kind people. 

And it made me reflect on a simple leadership question:
What change are we each quietly trying to make…
and what would happen if we backed ourselves a little more?

I honestly feel incredibly lucky to learn from these remarkable humans.
And if you’re not following them yet, I’d really recommend it.

If you want more content like this then do give me a follow Joanna Howes

It didn't go to plan and I didn't fall apart. 

Halfway through day one of PrettyGreen | The Global Fame Makers’ overnight offsite to plan 2026, I realised my afternoon content wasn't going to work.

The morning had taken us to an unexpected outcome. 

Old Jo would have panicked.
She would have ploughed ahead with her planned agenda anyway, convinced that sticking to the script was safer than admitting she didn't think it was going to work.

Instead, I stopped the room and shared that I didn't think the direction for the afternoon was going to work.

I brought the leaders into the thinking and we scrapped the original plan. 

That moment showed me how far I've come.

The hardest part of becoming a facilitator is learning to let go of the outcome. 

To trust that the right thing will emerge when you follow where the group needs to go.

For someone who likes control (guilty), this is terrifying.

But the magic happens when you're willing to not know. 
When you bring people into the uncertainty with you. 
When you trust yourself enough to say, "let's figure this out together."

So many of you have become rigid in your leadership. 
Clinging to how things are always done and your plans.

The best breakthrough moments happen when we let go of what we thought should happen and lean into what wants to happen.

In 2026, you need to become okay with not knowing exactly where you're headed.

That's where the real leadership lives.

Has this happened to you? 

♻️ Repost to help leaders let go
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If 'doing the right thing' could cost you EVERYTHING...

Would you do it?!

Zelda Perkins did.

She spoke out and fought to break her NDA with Harvey Weinstein after being silenced for years.

Her courage exposed how NDAs were being used to hide abuse and protect power.

That single act sparked Can't Buy My Silence, a global movement to end NDAs that cover up wrongdoing.

Speaking to Zelda about her story is one of the most powerful conversations I have had to date and one not to miss.

Especially if you feel currently strongly about something but are unsure or afraid of acting on it.

We went deep on:

- What happens when you speak out against power
- Why we need to go to government for support
- Recognising self-bullying
- Why speaking up needs to stop being seen as 'brave'
- The ability to keep going despite setbacks

This episode will make you question so much and start to see things in a completely different way.

Zelda had the courage to change what she saw was wrong and to keep going despite the emotional toll this took. 

She is a true inspiration. And I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the episode.

Watch it on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/eHGVyFSE

Or Listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ezYgJpEY

Check out Zelda's work here: https://lnkd.in/eZgJQJGp

Support the campaign here: https://lnkd.in/e83YkGpq


♻️ Repost to stop systems protecting the wrong people 

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What a brilliant night.

It's not often you see a room full of Marketeers sing the Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 miles). 😂

The most special part is knowing the event is supporting 2 incredible causes.

⭐️ The amazing The Marketing Academy Foundation creating opportunities in our industry for people from challenging backgrounds

⭐️ Under One Sky, who are working to end homelessness 

The goal is to raise £250,000 and it's not too late to take part in the auction to contribute. Check it out on this link https://lnkd.in/eKJZW7AF

And all organised by the amazing Joel Barnett and his team at Fortune Hill. 

Thanks to my brilliant quiz team including Sophie Devonshire⚡️and The event queen herself Mays Elansari

This episode will stay with me for a long time.

The energy Mollie Kmita and Rosie Kmita walk into a room with is infectious, but the authentic leadership story behind that energy is where the real power sits.

At 14, they lost their home.

At 17, they lost their dad

At 19, they started their own women’s football club

At 23, they became professional footballers

And today, they are Forbes 30 Under 30 and founders of The Powerhouse Project 

Two incredible women who openly spoke about the chaos, the fear, the grief and the courage it took to build a life that looks nothing like where they started.

They’re proof that your beginning doesn’t get to decide your future.

And for leaders, their story is a reminder that resilience isn’t built in comfort.

It’s built in the moments you think might break you… but don’t.

If you want a dose of inspiration going into the weekend, I can’t recommend this episode enough.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ejGUyEhm 

Or listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp 

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eZwwYhS7

Check out their amazing work with The Powerhouse Project: https://lnkd.in/exAJ4v6K 

♻️ Repost to inspire leaders who want to be inspired and build their resilience

- Follow @joannahowes for more courageous leadership stories 

#Leadership #WomenInFootball #ThePowerhouseProject

Resilience isn’t built in comfort - Mollie & Rosie Kmita

I don’t often listen to The CEO Diaries anymore,

but this episode has helped me a lot. 

I’m in a stage of really questioning what matters
how I spend my time,
what genuinely lights me up,
and what I’ve been saying yes to out of habit.

Listening to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor brought me right back to what it means to be human.

She lost eight years of her life after a stroke.

Her story is extraordinary, not only because of what she overcame, but because of how she chose to live after.

She said something that I've found myself repeating all week:

 “Your life is worth 30 seconds.”

Thirty seconds to pause before reacting.
Before saying yes.
Before letting stress spill into the next moment.

Those 30 seconds hold the power to change how we live and lead.

Think about the impact of NOT taking them:
🔥 Being exhausted and not able to think straight
🔥 Losing the love for what you do 
🔥 Poor decisions and feeling stuck 
🔥 Your stressed energy costing your health and infecting those around you

We’ve all become so quick to react, especially under pressure.

So when everything feels urgent, take 30 seconds to remember what actually matters.

I can't explain enough how this has changed the way I'm approaching my week. I have such a clear head and lighter heart.

Your life and those you lead is worth 30 seconds.

How can you take this into your leadership?

Episode link in the comment. 

♻️ Repost to focus on what really matters
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12 leaders.
2 days
1 company with big ambitions.
1 beautiful venue.
And a table full of brilliant human beings. 

Year two of running PrettyGreen | The Global Fame Makers’s leadership two-day planning days reminded me why this work matters so much.

When a team is willing to pause the 'busy' button and look at themselves and the business, really look, opportunities open up.

We went deep into:

 • Innovation – what it really means
 • Curiosity – how to stay open, especially under pressure
 • Values – how they evolve as you grow
 • Culture – the behaviours that build trust (and the ones that quietly break it)
 • Emotional fitness – leading with steadiness even when things feel messy
 • Feedback – the conversations that change everything 

These are the muscles every leadership team needs right now.
Especially in a market where certainty is a luxury.

A special shout-out to Jessica Hargreaves Paczek, one of the most caring and courageous CEO's I’ve met (and I’ve interviewed over 150 on the podcast).

And to 🌳 Mark Stringer, for meeting change head-on, taking feedback with grace, and having an endless energy resource.

If you’re a leadership team reading this, here’s my question for you:

When was the last time you stopped long enough to look at the way you work together… not just the work you deliver?

A huge thanks to the full team for giving everything to the 2 days, even when the wine started to show up in plastic cups!! Sarah Henderson Lucy Mart Adam Shoemark Joe Stratton Hannah Macleod Emma Carson Lucy Porter Darren Greene Samantha Hooper Gill Sereena Abbassi FRSA

And Anna Maria Brezsa Timar  and Nicholas Barnard for the organisation and support. 

♻️ Repost to inspire great leadership
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The courage to be YOU!

That was the title of my talk at the Women in PR Christmas drinks

Because it was also the title of the event I walked into 7 years ago, that completely changed my life.

Back then, I was operating from proving, pleasing and not feeling good enough.
 
Today, I get to stand on the other side and pass on what I’ve learnt. 
That’s something I don’t take lightly.

Key things I shared:

🔥 Your 3 intelligence centres - head, heart and gut, and why alignment gives you more energy than any productivity hack ever will.

😀 Your future self - yes, it’s powerful to be present… but who are you becoming? And are your daily actions actually taking you there?

🦁 Courage before confidence - we have to stop waiting to feel “ready.” Courage and certainty come first. Confidence is just the receipt.

It was real honoured to be invited to speak, thank you Laura Perry and Jo Carr.

If you  want a dose of courage for your team to lift them up, then drop me a  DM. 

♻️ Repost to inspire more courage
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How often do you go to the other side?

Last week, the right side of my brain finally got a turn.

My whole career, I've been told I'm too left-brained.

Interesting considering I spent my whole time in the creative industry, but it was in operations : )

So I decided to give it some exercise and went to a painting class. 

I had to work quite hard at trying to let go of it being right or overthinking what to do. 

Right now, I'm seeing too many leaders rigid in their thinking, so this is my shout-out to go and do something you don't normally do.

Give your dominant brain a rest and explore the other side. 

Have fun. 

I'd love to hear from anyone who consciously exercises both sides of their brains and what they do in the comments. 

♻️ Repost for more quick bites of inspiration 
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What if your resilience is actually survival mode?

That was the question running through my mind as I spoke with Mollie Kmita and Rosie Kmita – former pro footballers, now founders of The Powerhouse Project.

They have achieved so much:

🔥 Forbes 30 Under 30

🔥 Nike and Google partnerships

🔥 Creating real pathways for women in football

But what we talked about wasn’t the glossy stuff.

They vulnerably shared:

• The impact of losing their dad at 17 to alcoholism
• How hyper-achievement helped to hide grief 
• The guilt you feel if your not ‘busy’
• How people pleasing impacted two businesses not working
• 16 years of pushing so hard, in case it all disappeared

It is so important to recognise the difference between resilience and survival mode. 

Resilience is steady.
It helps you adapt, recover, and lead with clarity.
You can pause. You can choose. You can breathe.

Survival mode is frantic.
It’s fuelled by fear, guilt, and the belief that if you stop, everything will fall apart.

One keeps you grounded.
The other keeps you running.

The Kmita twins are now operating from resilience and realising you calm down without losing ambition.

If you lead a team, here’s the real challenge from this episode:

Don’t just ask, “How do we build resilience?”
Ask, “What are we silently rewarding – survival mode or sustainable leadership?”

Because your people are watching what you live, not what you say.

Are you in survival mode? Let me know in the comments.

🔗 If you want to hear the full story – from loss, identity crisis and burnout to building The Powerhouse Project – the episode with Mollie and Rosie is live now on the Courageous Leaders Podcast.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ejGUyEhm 

Or listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp 

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eZwwYhS7 

Check out their amazing work with The Powerhouse Project: https://lnkd.in/exAJ4v6K 

♻️ Repost to inspire leaders who feel they are in survival mode

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Very excited for Nishma Patel Robb 🪩⚡️to be putting the Glittersphere spotlight on me at 5pm today. 

I'm going to share when I first rebelled, how I found courage and so much more.

Be great to see you there - link in the events page below. 

Jo x

Putting the brilliant Joanna Howes under the spotlight and discovering more about this brilliant leader, podcaster and leadership expert. 
Join me for this exclusive sparkly conversation.

Nishma Patel Robb 🪩⚡️, Nimmi Shah and 4 other attendees

Shhhh….

Have you ever stayed quiet when you knew you should speak up?

Maybe out of fear… or because you didn’t think your voice would make a difference?

When the Harvey Weinstein ‘story’ was about to break, Zelda Perkins broke her NDA to do the right thing. 

She told the journalist everything, hoping other women with NDAs would come forward too.

But no one did.

So, she went first.

Her story isn’t just about taking on one man… it’s about taking on a system that silenced victims.

It took passion, resilience, courage - and 7 long years of pushing for change.

If you’ve ever felt pressure to stay silent, or you’re trying to create a culture where people can speak freely, this episode will really resonate.

Zelda shares her journey, her mission to make workplaces safer and more transparent.

And why speaking up should be seen as normal - not ‘brave.’

It’s one of those conversations that will stay with me - and I hope it does with you too. 

I’d love to know what you thought of the episode.

Watch it on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/eHGVyFSE

Or Listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ezYgJpEY

Check out Zelda's work here: https://lnkd.in/eZgJQJGp

Support the campaign here: https://lnkd.in/e83YkGpq

 
♻️ Repost to stop systems protecting the wrong people 

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Most leaders say they care about allyship.
Very few actually practice it.

I’ve just recorded a conversation with Lee Chambers that I can’t stop thinking about, and I’m sharing this early because it’s one every leader needs on their radar.

We unpacked the everyday behaviours that decide whether people feel safe, valued, and able to be themselves at work, and the shocking data from his research with young boys and AI.

Lee has a way of holding up a mirror without making you defensive.
He names the hard truths, but he does it with compassion and clarity.

We dug into:
• What genuine allyship actually looks like
• The pressure men feel to fit outdated stereotypes
• Why culture change stalls (and how to unlock it)
• How leaders can create environments where everyone grows
• What boys are turning to when the world feels confusing or lonely — including AI companionship

Some of Lee’s research is hopeful.
Some of it is genuinely worrying.
But it’s important we don’t look away.

This episode lands on Thursday, and it’s one to make time for.

In the meantime…
What does real allyship mean to you?

Make sure you don’t miss the episode

Subscribe on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/eHGVyFSE

Or on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eJatPjke

♻️ Repost to get allyship on the map
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#CourageousLeadershipPodcast #CultureStereotypes #Allyship

Too many of us are self-bullying!

And we need to stop it.

In my latest episode on Courageous Leaders , Zelda, who for years has campaigned to stop bad behaviour, shared the moment when she realised how badly she’d been treating herself.

It made me stop and think.

As leaders, we talk about the importance of compassion.

But how often do we give it to ourselves?

It’s a tough role, and there’s not much thanks that comes with it.

So it’s easy to notice what we’re not doing instead of what we are.

So maybe today, just check in:  
How are you speaking to yourself?

And what would it sound like if that voice came from compassion instead?    

If this resonates, this conversation with Zelda is a powerful reminder that courage starts with how we treat ourselves.

Watch it on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/eHGVyFSE

Or Listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ezYgJpEY

Check out Zelda's work here: https://lnkd.in/eZgJQJGp

Support the campaign here: https://lnkd.in/e83YkGpq

♻️ Repost if to bring more compassion to leaders 

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Why am I making life harder for myself?

The question Mollie Kmita and Rosie Kmita are trying to answer.

And one I think we all are!

Rosie shared how the voices in her head kept saying:

“You’re not good enough.”

“You’re boring.”

“No one’s listening.”

It’s like having a toxic boss in our own heads that keeps us working hard.

We know that we perform better with encouragement, yet we are stuck in a cycle of criticism. 

My theory is that many leaders believe that if they talk nicely to themselves they won’t achieve as much?

What are your theories on this?

Let us know in the comments and hope you enjoy this great episode!

Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ejGUyEhm 

Or listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp 

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eZwwYhS7

♻️ Repost to a leader you think needs to talk more nicely to themselves 

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#leadership #selftalk #podcast

🔥 Courage in Bitesize 

How to let someone challenge you, without getting defensive 

Most of us say we want honesty.
Until someone offers it and we suddenly launch into our Greatest Hits of Justification. 

I tried this and it does make a difference. 

1. Pause - Just one beat.

2. Relax your face - Your eyebrows don’t need to panic.

3. Say - “Thanks — tell me more.”

4. Listen, don’t load your comeback.

5. Focus on the outcome you want to achieve to manage emotions 

That’s it.
Tiny moves.
Big courage. 

It’s amazing how quickly people stop tiptoeing when they realise you’re not gearing up for battle.

Any further tips please add to the comments. 

♻️ Repost to help busy leaders access tips
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Lauren Spearman

How much is guilt driving your leadership? 

That feeling of “I should be working… I should be doing more” — and before you know it, you’re saying yes to too many things and juggling work that doesn’t actually move you forward. 

On our latest Courageous Leaders episode, Mollie Kmita and Rosie Kmita share how ten years of saying 'yes' to everything finally caught up with them.

There’s a season early in your career where saying yes makes sense — you’re learning, building, getting curious.

But there’s also a moment of becoming a leader where you have to be strategic. 

Maybe the most courageous move isn’t adding more.
Maybe it’s stripping back so you can think clearly again.

What’s one thing you could say “no” to this week? 

I recommend watching the full episode. It's one of our most inspiring yet. 

Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ejGUyEhm 

Or listen on Apple: https://lnkd.in/edeq-Wvp 

Or on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eZwwYhS7

♻️ Repost to inspire leaders to focus 

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HERA MEDIA

The UK's first female-founded video podcast network. Closing the gender gap in podcasting.

80% of the UK's top 10 podcasts are hosted by men. 1 billion people watch podcasts on YouTube monthly. It's a $7.3bn industry. Women's voices are locked out.

Our Solution
HERA Network: Original premium video podcasts through a female lens. Major talent. Quality content.
HERA Club: The first community for female podcasters. Training, mentorship, AI tools, brand partnerships, and fair revenue sharing.
Proprietary AI Technology: Streamlining production, research, and discovery. Removing barriers so women create faster and smarter.

Why This Matters
Women will control 75% of discretionary spending by 2030, yet remain underserved in media. We're building the infrastructure female storytellers need to scale and get paid.

My Journey
After Google, I founded Glittesphere to help women build personal brands. But creation was only half the battle. 
With co-founders @Rosie Allimonos (ex-YouTube, Google) and @Kirsty Hunter (Emmy-winner, ex-BBC/Fremantle), we're building the platform women deserve.

The future of media is female.

Co-Founder

Glittersphere

Not fame. Influence.

I help senior executive women, founders, and leadership teams transform expertise into unmissable influence - and the opportunities, investment, and pay that come with it.

Glittersphere - Exclusive Glitterati membership and 1:1 packages for women ready to turn quiet excellence into financial freedom through strategic personal branding.

The Other AI: Authentic Intelligence - Proprietary framework for building visibility rooted in what makes you irreplaceably human in an AI-saturated world.

Speaking & Consultancy - Keynotes and leadership team programmes on personal branding, authentic influence, and visibility strategy.

Because invisible excellence helps no one. Your influence is your career insurance, your opportunity magnet, and the investment you deserve.

Work with me: glittersphere.com | nishma.co.uk

Founder and Chief Sparkle Officer

Spotify

Exclusive group of CMOs from premier brands engaging with Spotify to make the user experience better, and to explore advertising and creative opportunities.

CMO Advisory Council (Soundboard)

History of Advertising Trust

President

Google

Senior Director, Brand & Reputation Marketing

Responsible for the Google brand and ads and industry marketing for Google and YouTube.

Director Of Brand & Reputation Marketing - Google UK

Ads Marketing Director, UK

Head of Ads Marketing

WACL (Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership )

As President of WACL, the body working to accelerate gender equality in the advertising and communications industry, my role was to lead the influential club for the second half of the organisation’s centenary year and into it's 101st year!

101st President (2023 to 2024)

Vice President to Rania Robinson - July 2022 to June 2023

Vice President

The Marketing Society

I was honoured to have been appointed a Fellow of The Marketing Society in 2017

Being a Member of The Marketing Society can offer valuable networking opportunities with industry peers,allowing professionals to expand their professional connections and build relationships within the marketing field.
Furthermore, The Marketing Society may provide access to exclusive resources, events, and educational
opportunities that can enhance professional development and help individuals stay up-to-date with the latest trends and strategies in marketing.
By joining The Marketing Society, professionals may also have the chance to engage in thought leadership and knowledge-sharing within the marketing community, positioning themselves as experts in their field and potentially boosting their visibility and reputation.
Join Us >> https://www.marketingsociety.com/join

Fellow of The Marketing Society

iProspect

iProspect, the largest UK digital performance media agency, acquired I Spy Marketing in Aug 2012.

Chief Client & Marketing Officer

I Spy Marketing

Partner

Business Development and Marketing Director

VintageSeekers.com

Working with the team to raise further finance, launch the business and manage all online marketing.

Executive Consultant

I don’t do fame. I do influence.
Because influence = power.
And right now, the world needs more women with both.

Here’s the problem:
Everywhere you look, men’s stories dominate.
Politics, boardrooms, podcasts, investment panels - even AI is being trained mostly on male data and voices.
The result? A world designed by and for men, and it’s damaging women, society, and even young men who are left with toxic role models.

So what do we do?
We get more women visible.
Not loud. Not performative. Visible.
Because when women are seen, heard and believed, they don’t just change their own careers, they change the rules of the game.

That’s why I built Glittersphere™.
A glitterball throws light everywhere. Tiny shards, together, lighting up a whole room. That’s my vision: a global community where women’s stories bounce off one another, sparking reinvention, confidence and unstoppable influence.

✨ What I do:
I help ambitious women: leaders, founders, creatives - reinvent their personal brands so they become unmissable.
Not for vanity. For opportunity. For income. For impact.

🔥 How:
	•	Strategy, so you own your positioning
	•	Storytelling, so you’re unforgettable
	•	The Other AI™: Authentic Intelligence, so you show up human in a world of bots

💃🏽 My own reinvention:
From Google UK’s Brand & Reputation Chief → to sequins on global stages → to founding Glittersphere.
I did it for me and now I’m scaling it for as many women as possible.
Because there is no single path. No rules. Just your story, told your way.
And the more women’s stories the world sees, the more women step into power, leading, funding, founding, rewriting the script for all of us.

So:
🎤 Book me: keynotes, hosting, podcasts
👭 Work with me: 1:1 strategy or coaching
🌐 Join The Glittersphere: the community where women go from unseen to unmissable

PS: Beige doesn’t change the world. Sparkle does. ✨

Nishma Patel Robb 🪩⚡️

I disappeared from LinkedIn for 17 days.
After posting nearly every day this year, I stepped away completely. 
No posts. No comments. No performative engagement.

And you know what happened?


Absolutely nothing.

Not a single catastrophe. Not one door closed. The world kept turning.
All that guilt about "consistency"? All those fears about being invisible again? Complete bollocks.

Here's what I learned: 
There's a difference between showing up authentically and showing up performatively.

Being unmissable isn't about posting every day (unless you want to).
It's about showing up when you have something real to say. When you're in alignment with what matters.

The last few weeks, my family needed me. 
Life happened. 
And choosing that over LinkedIn likes? That's not going back to invisible. 
That's living in alignment with what actually matters.

The old rules say: post daily or perish.
But the thing about visibility - real visibility, the kind that builds power and freedom - it doesn't evaporate the second you take a breath.

So if you've been beating yourself up about consistency, STOP. 

You're not going backwards. You're not invisible. You're still you. Your value doesn't reset every time you prioritise real life.

And maybe it's time we all stopped following rules that don't serve us.

SXSW London is BACK. And you know what they say about sequels...

(Empire Strikes Back. Taylor's Version. That second pancake that's actually cooked. The pattern holds.)

SXSW London returns to Shoreditch 1–6 June 2026, and I'm shaking my sequins with excitement to continue my role on the Advisory Council to hepl shape what's next.

Why does an event like this matter more than ever? ...cos we need to come together and get messy and creative and make things happen / better.

Last year we had the late Jane Goodall on hope and humanity, Demis Hassabis on AI's future, Idris Elba reframing creativity as capital for change, Björn Ulvaeus on music rights, Katherine Ryan on culture and identity.

Where else do you get AI ethics, ABBA, and activism in the same postcode?

But here's the thing - the magic wasn't just on the main stages. It was in the Fringe too. 

One of my favourite fringe moments was FOOD ARTS & TECHNOLOGY's "Sloptimism" event Achingly cool, visually stunning - like falling down a Chemical Brothers rabbit hole while having the most interesting conversations about food, tech, and culture you'll have all year. That's the energy.

Because these aren't separate worlds anymore:
Tech founders meet film directors and create something neither could alone
Musicians debate AI with philosophers
Climate activists connect with game designers
Comedians dissect culture while coders build it
Technology × Culture = The stuff that actually shifts things.

When AI is rewriting how we create, culture's moving faster than we can track it, and we're all figuring out what future we're building, these conversations aren't optional.

So: who do you NEED to see speak or perform in 2026?
What voices? 
What topics are too important to skip? 
Tell me in the comments - the artist, technologist, activist, disruptor, or that person everyone's talking about but nobody's booked yet.

Let's make sure 2026 brings the provocations, the boundary-pushing, the brilliant minds that deserve a global platform. 

London's got the talent. Time to make the world pay attention.

Submit your work: https://lnkd.in/ertuagAk (talks, performances, curation, screenings)

Grab tickets: Early bird discount (25% off) → https://bit.ly/3JI6P9h

Huge thanks to Randel Bryan, Eva Omaghomi CVO PhD (h.c.), and the whole SXSW team, and my fellow advisors.

A week of music, film, tech, unexpected brilliance, and yes, the Fringe events that might just be the best bit.

Drop your dream speaker/performer/topic below. 

Let's build something worth showing up for.

Shut down quicker than the European Super League.

Sky Sports' "Halo" TikTok channel lasted three days. 

THREE DAYS.

Let that sink in.

A major broadcaster launched a women's sports channel - dubbed the "Lil Sis" of Sky Sports (already vom) - drowned it in pink, sprinkled it with matcha and "hot girl" references, then kicked off with videos featuring... men.

The backlash was swift. The deletion was swifter.

This isn't just a marketing fail. It's a masterclass in what happens when you make decisions about women without actually listening to women.

Running a couple of surveys and a Perplexity search doesn't count as audience research. 

Hiring women for your team but not empowering them, not giving them control, not trusting their expertise? That's just performative diversity with a pink bow on top.

"Through a female lens" doesn't mean pastel aesthetics and Labubu toys. It means understanding that women sports fans don't want to be patronised - they want the same quality coverage, analysis, and respect that's given to men's sports. On the MAIN channel. Not segregated in a corner like a cute little side project.

Sky Sports has brilliant people. I'm sure many of those women internally were screaming into the void as this train wreck unfolded. But when predominantly male leadership teams - at Sky, at TikTok - make the final calls without genuinely empowering the women in the room, this is what you get: expensive, embarrassing mistakes that could've been avoided.

Dana Strong is a phenomenal leader and fierce advocate for women in sport. I have no doubt she's as exasperated as the rest of us. But Dana - you need more women. Not just hired. EMPOWERED. Making decisions. Running strategy. Having control. Fast.

This disaster is exactly why we created HERA MEDIA - the UK's first female-led video podcast network. 

We're done with men creating "content for women" based on what they think we want. We're building the platform, making the decisions, and actually spending time in our communities understanding what women really want to watch, hear, and engage with.

So, Sky Sports: when you're ready to actually do this properly, the women who could've saved you from this mess are already out here building what you couldn't.

Move over, "Lil Sis."

Big Sis is here to sort shit out.

EPIC FAIL of Sky Sports' HALO TikTok Channel

This session is happening in the NEXT HOUR and if you've been feeling overwhelmed every time someone says "we need more video" - you need to be there.

(But first, can we talk about how VEED.IO made me look like I'm about to storm a creative director's office in this INCREDIBLE pink sequin jacket or the pink fur one with the loud haler? If anyone knows where I can buy these IRL, slide into my DMs immediately.)

If you recognise any of these moments... then join me 10 AM EST / 3 PM GMT. Today.
❌ Staring at a blank screen going "where do I even start?"
❌ Spending hours adapting one piece of content across ten different platforms
❌ Worried that using AI will make your brand feel generic or inauthentic
❌ Hearing "we need more video" and feeling your soul leave your body

For the first time ever, small businesses, solo founders, and scrappy teams have the SAME creative tools that big brands spent millions on. 

AI isn't just leveling the playing field, it's blowing it wide open.

That means YOUR brand story, YOUR voice, YOUR message can now compete with anyone.

Great brand films aren't just for the big companies anymore.

VEED's integrating Google's Gemini and other powerful new video tools that are genuinely changing how we create. I'm already a huge fan, and what they're building now takes it to another level.

Because in a world drowning in content, your personal brand IS your currency. It's what builds trust, creates real influence, and turns invisible businesses into unmissable ones.

But you can't build that brand if video feels too hard, too time-consuming, or too "not for people like me."

That's exactly what we're fixing today.

We're breaking down how to create on-brand videos that actually SOUND like you, scale without burning you out, and use AI as your creative amplifier, not your replacement.

Can't make it live? Register anyway and get the recording 👉 https://lnkd.in/e_Bj_JT2

See you inside (pink sequin jacket energy guaranteed) 💜✨

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find these jackets.

The government loves using creator platforms. Yet yesterday's budget proved they won't support them - or the women building them.

The UK Budget confirmed 40% business rates relief for traditional film studios until 2034 while completely ignoring digital creators and podcast networks - the people actually building audiences and driving cultural conversation right now.

YouTube creators alone contributed £2.2 billion to the UK economy in 2024 and supported 45,000 jobs. 

But digital-first creators got nothing: no targeted relief, no recognition, no path into the £380m creative industries funding.

This isn't just about money. 

We're watching LinkedIn's algorithm get exposed for gender bias in real-time. Women changing their profiles to male are seeing their reach explode by 400-800%. 

When government budgets prioritise established players and overlook emerging female-led platforms, we're literally funding the continuation of that bias.

The government could have:
• Recognised creators formally in DCMS policy
• Extended reliefs to digital production companies and podcast networks
• Set aside funding for female-led creator hubs
• Treated creators as entrepreneurs, not compliance risks

This is why, alongside Kirsty Hunter and Rosie Allimonos we co-founded HERA MEDIA, the UK's first female-led video podcast network, and I built Glittersphere to help women transition from invisible to unmissable. 

Female-led networks combat the bias baked into how stories get made, distributed, and amplified. We deliver the authenticity brands are desperately chasing.

But without financial recognition, building these alternatives becomes much harder. 

The government is saying: we'll back the old guard, but you're on your own. 

It's not just unfair, it's economically stupid. 

If the UK wants to stay relevant in the attention economy, creators need to be treated as vital to both cultural output and economic competitiveness. 

Not as an afterthought. Not as a hobby economy. 

As proper businesses driving proper growth.

Because if we don't enable more female creators to economically succeed, we shouldn't expect gender equality metrics to shift - not in algorithms, not in businesses, not in society.


Aydan Al-Saad 👊🏽 Gabriel Nussbaum Sabrina Stocker MBA ☀️ Daniel Priestley Timothy Armoo Alison Lomax Lauren Spearman Sophie Miller 




📸 - Gemini Nano 🍌

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Joanna Howes

Nishma Patel Robb 🪩⚡️

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The Battle

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Nishma Patel Robb 🪩⚡️

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