We Are Power Podcast
The We Are Power podcast is the podcast for your career and your life. A weekly podcast with listeners in over 60 countries worldwide where you'll hear personal life stories, top-notch industry advice, and key leadership insight from amazing role models. The podcast not only aids your personal and professional development but also delves deep into conversations around Gender Equality and Social Mobility. Each week the We Are Power Podcast will bring you a new interview from a leader within the 100,000-strong We Are Power community, hosted by Simone Roche MBE.
We Are Power Podcast
How Simone Roche MBE Became the CEO Behind Europe’s Largest Gender Equality Celebration
In this special episode of the We Are PoWEr Podcast, Simone Roche MBE steps into the hot seat, being interviewed for the first time by Anna Davey. Known for her dedication to championing gender equality and leading the Northern PoWEr Women Awards movement, Simone shares insights into her path from receiving an MBE from the Queen to building a movement that now unites over 120,000 people.
Simone opens up about how her upbringing in Liverpool and experiences as an honorary captain in the Royal Navy shaped her advocacy. Her story is all about seizing opportunities and pushing forward, a mindset that continues to drive her passion for inclusivity and support for all.
In this episode, we discuss:
00:00 Welcome to the We Are PoWEr Podcast
10:53 Building the Northern PoWEr Women Awards
21:13 Celebrating Achievements and Balancing Life
29:57 Behind the Podcast: Simone's Shift from Interviewer to Interviewee
Simone’s story highlights the power of community and how her expertise in event management and networking has empowered women across the country. We Are PoWEr also encompasses the Northern PoWEr Women Awards and PoWEr Collective CIC, two key initiatives that continue to make a lasting impact.
Tune in for a candid conversation as Simone discusses balancing responsibilities, making connections, and the humour that has always been part of her leadership style. This episode celebrates the essence of the Northern PoWEr Women Awards and Simone’s ongoing commitment to shaping an inclusive future.
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Hello, hello and welcome to the we Are Power podcast. If this is your first time here, the we Are Power podcast is the podcast for you, your career and your life. We release an episode every single Monday with listeners in over 60 countries worldwide, where you'll hear personal life stories, top-notch industry advice and key leadership insight from amazing role models. As we Are Power is the umbrella brand to Northern Power Women Awards, which celebrates hundreds of female role models and advocates every year. This is where you can hear stories from all of our awards alumni and stay up to date with everything MPW Awards and we Are Power.
Speaker 2:Welcome to today's we Are Power podcast. Now I'm sure you're wondering who the hell I am and whose voice this is, if you're listening. Well, I'm the marketing manager at we Are Power, and today is a very special episode of the we Are Power podcast, as we will be interviewing Simone Roche, mba. I've been taken over, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm in your seat and I don't think she likes it. It's a little bit weird. So today I am joined by Simone Roche, mbe, ceo and founder of we Are Power, northern Power Women Awards, power Collective, cic and honorary captain in the Royal Navy, and my boss. So not a weird day at work at all, this one. So I'm going to start from the beginning, because when I first met you, I remember on like the first day, I just remember thinking you were like the most interesting person I've met, because I found out you'd got an MBE from the Queen, used to be in the Royal Navy, you're now an honorary captain alongside Daniel Craig and Bear Grylls, and you live on a boat. So it is a lot to take in.
Speaker 2:So I want to start at the beginning Now. I think it's also important that people hear certain stories from you today, because I've heard some, but I understand you and how you got to where you are now from these stories. But one question I might not have asked you before. I want to know it from the beginning. You're born in Southport, but what was Simone like at school?
Speaker 1:Well, do you know. Well, actually I was born in Billinge, which is out in the sticks a little bit. So I grew up in Liverpool till I was four years old and then didn't move out to Southport or Halsall, actually till quite a long time after. But for some reason I was born in Billinge Hospital and I'm not quite sure why I wasn't born in a Liverpool hospital. But anyway, maybe that's when we get my mum on the podcast another time We'll ask her what was I like at school?
Speaker 1:Well, I think I was. I grew up. I was an only child, absolutely in the gang of a big sort of, I suppose, big Liverpool family, lots of cousins. So, whilst no brothers and sisters growing up, I had loads of cousins and they were like my little tribe, if you like, and having a birthday. That was, as I call it, half Christmas, 25th of June, just reminding anyone out there, it was always that was. We were always together at Christmas and New Year and then always for the birthday partway through the year. And I grew up I think I was, I think I was shy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wanted to know if you always had like this work ethic and energy. Did you know what you wanted to go and do? Did you know you were going to go and do something big?
Speaker 1:no, absolutely not. No, I don't. I don't think I was always average, like at school, pretty average, um, if not below average. I was good at the practical stuff. I was good at the stuff that I could see a reason for. I could see the purpose of doing maths, because if you're out with your friends you need to just fit the bill right so I could see the purpose of that. I could see the purpose of doing languages, because when I was taking on the my package deal holidays with my family as a, I always pretended to be like the tour guide and I was always picking up like restaurant, restaurant, spanish or restaurant, you know, portuguese or everywhere, and I could see the benefit of that. But out of the other stuff essay writing, not so much. There was no chat.
Speaker 2:Gpt in those days so there was.
Speaker 1:It was not my friend but, yeah, I was definitely not an academic. I was kind of very middle of the road. So I don't. There was never that aspiration for me to go to uni, have a big job, that was definitely not in my plan, but it wasn't like I didn't think I could do something or I didn't have the support around me to make me believe I could do what I wanted to do. We did an event last year, if you remember, with Kim McGuinness, and she talked about you know we go on about about people raising, you know, raising our aspirations. We've all got those aspirations. Sometimes it's the opportunities and I think I was just waiting for that, the opportunity to come along.
Speaker 2:I think she said talent is classless, but opportunity isn't 100%, but I think also from knowing you that makes so much sense, because you like just cracking on like you, just like getting it done and having the dream.
Speaker 1:I wonder sometimes whether that's being an only child, that kind of thing. You can't wait for your brother or your sister to do something. You just you have to you and your imaginary friend and me dog. You know you go in, you just go and do stuff. Um, but yeah, I was definitely shy.
Speaker 2:I was definitely shy, it's hard to imagine a shy Simone.
Speaker 1:I was, I definitely was. But I think that, being that often going away on family holidays or family trips, I might have been the only kid there, but you learn to be grown up, you learn to kind of go and entertain yourself and talk to yourself and all those other kind of things. But yeah, I know, definitely at school, mediocre, definitely shy, I know who knew I know that shocking takeaway is there for me.
Speaker 2:So post-school you obviously I know you've said before you weren't sure what you wanted to do so you went and joined the Royal Navy Again not your average usual decision. So I mean, give a bit of background about that for people out there who don't know how you got into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think I really I was doing A-levels, I'd done the wrong A-levels again. You know sort of kind of made a decision I'd left school to then go to a college. So a different environment, a lot freer, if you like, a lot more sort of you know rule free, and I'm not going to lie, that sort of. Those A-level years were very much everyone's 18 in that period of time, aren't they? So there was a lot of socialising, Networking, maybe that's what it was, networking.
Speaker 1:And I think that's where it started. But careers guidance was still there, was nothing really that was jumping out at me and I remember filling in. You know people going, oh, you're going to fill the UCAS forms in for university and I'm like I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what I want to do. I don't think it's something I want to do. I don't know why I want to go and learn more stuff. I want to go and do. I want to crack on.
Speaker 2:You want to crack on.
Speaker 1:I want to crack on. There's a theme coming through here. I know it is impatience, but there was something around. I remember going into a careers fair in the gym and walking around and I remember equally filling in a questionnaire that was old school pen and paper kind of questionnaire. I know ridiculous, right, but I remember filling that in. I remember, for some reason, circling around the armed forces and I don't know why still not quite sure why and then in a similar timeframe, going to speak to the RAF. They were in the careers hall and I went and I applied. But then there was something I don't know, there's something not quite there for me and I took myself off to the Royal Navy and the minute I walked through that door I feel like I started smiling and I didn't stop. There was just something about the humor and the camaraderie and the good banter. We sometimes talk about banter not being good, but there was good banter and I felt like this was a place that I think I could thrive.
Speaker 2:That's also a good point, because there is that perhaps bad banter around it and the sexism in a male dominated industry. Now I know you said you never actually felt different or excluded for being a woman, but you did for being a northerner yeah, I absolutely.
Speaker 1:And if you think back in that day it was 1988, 80s, big hair you know again what was going on there with the hair. But it was in those days where you watch the TV, you watch the news, the national news nobody had an accent like you. You can't put a channel on now or a news channel on now with without being an accent for every part of the country and it's totally accepted. But it wasn't. It was very I'm not going to do my best BBC English voice, but it was. It was that very BBC news voice and I therefore, you know, felt that I didn't fall Like I have a, definitely I've got a Northern accent. It might be a mix of accents, but it's. You know, I never felt like. I felt like there was almost that was the thing that sometimes held me back while I was in the Navy, definitely not for being a woman. I never, I never felt that.
Speaker 1:And it seems daft because when I joined, women couldn't go to sea. It wasn't legal in those days. Uh, you know, in a couple of years change while you were there, yeah, a couple of years in, you got the opportunity then to to volunteer to go to sea and at the same time I got sort of tapped on the shoulder and my boss at the time he was I think you should go and be an officer. And I'm like, yeah, I don't talk BBC English, you know, I don't think this is. I didn't think I thought my postcode would prohibit it and he was like, absolutely not. And he was suppose what we would now call a not so much a mentor but a sponsor, someone who literally opened the door for me, helped me how to navigate big, massive newspapers that you had to understand and know, all about world affairs and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:And it was at that point when I went through Dartmouth, britannia Royal Naval College, dartmouth, and that's where I went off and had my my jollies and adventures at sea before we move on to this, this is a question that I want to know is if you were to summarize that time in three, because I know you love the power of three, so I'm throwing this at you what would be your three takeaways for from your time in the Royal Navy?
Speaker 1:um, opportunities, to saying yes to the opportunities was definitely one of those things for me. Um, building the community. So the people that I met along the way, sometimes you only meet for a flash, in a moment in time, but some people they're there forever. Um and um, oh gosh, what would? What would be the third one be so many takeaways for me. Say yes to opportunities. Um, absolutely the, the, the kind of staying connective, the connectivity um the different types of people you meet along the way. So you've got your network and your community that you meet. But then there's other people that you can meet. So, whether you're in a foreign port, whether it's stakeholders or different people at work or associated with the Navy, I just think that was I didn't know it at the time, but it was that networking because I was talking to people from all different walks of life.
Speaker 2:I loved it, I think you can see a lot of things that built what came, what you went on to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's interesting because it took me a long while even into starting Northern Power Women. It was a good. I think it was 2018, I got the opportunity. I was invited back to a passing out parade HMS Rally which is where I did my basic training, and it wasn't until that moment this is 2018, three years after starting Northern Power Women that it was almost like this penny drop moment. It was 30 years to the day or 30 years to the month that I joined. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is why I do what I do. So it's interesting. There was never a plan.
Speaker 2:I think it always went too fast to then sort of like you know, roadrunner, the cartoon character sort of circling back to go ah, runner, the cartoon character kept sort of circling back to go ah, that's where it is. So, moving on from the royal navy, of course, we got to see where the northern power women, where this, came from. Now, I know this story includes warm wine. That is one thing I do know.
Speaker 1:But for people who don't know this story and about the warm wine, tell them about how northern power women was founded absolutely left the navy and I always say it's the best thing, it was to join, best thing I did to move on and have another adventure before I was too old to have one, which seems crazy, uh, and I literally dove, dived dove at first told you it wasn't very academic into the world of events.
Speaker 1:Really a lot of event and bringing people together. So, whether HG Racecourse, southport Theatre, blackpool, pleasure Beach, the arena in Liverpool and the Olympics, and at some point in that whole adventure I ended up in, I was in London, so I was commuting back and forth, um, and I very much ended up um again building bits of this network, these blocks. And I remember going being invited to this event about women in hospitality and I went to this event and it was a room full of women drinking warm wine, kind of criticizing other women and men, and I was like but what is this going to do? How is this going to shift? How is this going to make a change for women at board level? Because that's what it was all about and I was just a bit this where's the men? Where's the men? And why is this quite negative? And let's revisit the warm wine scenario wasn't even good red right but there was, there was just something about that.
Speaker 1:I thought right, okay, what? How could we have done this differently? Because there's brilliant people in this room, but how could we have started talking about the positive stories and what? What is it we can do?
Speaker 2:you've always been really conscious of having that positive so we could drag each other down and make it feel miserable. But you've never, it's tiring right, isn't it?
Speaker 1:it's time. I've got way too much energy to kind of expend that energy on sort of negative stuff and going in a hole. So why don't we look at the good stuff? Why don't we look at what can be done, even if it's only a teeny tiny thing? Why don't we get the guys involved? Let's get the good guys involved, so right from day one.
Speaker 1:So we're talking, probably, god, as far back as three or four years before northern power women, yeah, um, but this was the starting of the collecting. It was start of me, someone who would never want to be on this side of the microphone, someone who would never want to be in front of the camera. What I really loved doing was gathering great people, platform stages, events, connecting, but with that force for good, with that force for doing really good stuff, and it was, you know, fast forward in that role. I was one day I was coming back on the train from London thinking why do we not do this up here? Why do we not? Everything I'm doing in London I'm really proud of and I was really, it was really good.
Speaker 1:I was really enjoying set up TEDx Whitehall Women with my lovely friend Ruth Shaw, obe, an amazing woman and I just thought what would happen if we changed, as opposed to everything happening in London, everything happening at Westminster, what would happen if we went? Why don't we look in and across the North, so not just Liverpool but across, because there's loads of stuff already happening, loads of great organisations doing great things across our cities and regions. And I thought what happened if we could try and take a helicopter view of all the good stuff and and sort of signpost? It doesn't sound very sexy, but like a hub kind of thing. That's what. That's what the intention was was to crack on and do good stuff, right.
Speaker 2:I think that's the importance of telling these stories and how you've grown up, how you were at school, because I think you can see the themes that are in every day of our brands, what we do like, from the lack of career guidance and you didn't know what to do. We've now got the power, collective mentoring events, the power-ups every month that you're really passionate about. We you the idea of connecting people. You know you're connecting people daily on our digital hub, wearepowernet. That wasn't a plug, of course.
Speaker 1:This is great. I'm loving this.
Speaker 2:Only the market manager, that was not a plug and like the idea of community that you've now built of over 120,000 through the awards, like you can see where it all stemmed from, before you even knew that it was coming from there, which I think is nice.
Speaker 1:I wish someone had told me along the way what.
Speaker 2:I was doing, it would have been quite. I'm telling you now. Better late than never.
Speaker 1:But it's weird when you do that and you don't quite realise, you just know, you just know you've just got to keep. And for someone who'd never run a business, I didn't, I suppose I didn't know any difference because I wasn't this serial entrepreneur. I'm entrepreneurial.
Speaker 2:But I didn't do it with a commercial mindset, I did it out of, suppose, frustration it's like when you said at school you could only do the things where you could see the purpose. And that's what you do now you follow the purpose and crack on, and it's worked well well, we maybe need a rebrand, don't we?
Speaker 1:we're not powering on anymore, we're just cracking on. To be honest, actually, after the very first awards, I got the opportunity to go on Women's Hour the very morning after the very first Northern Power Women Awards and I had to take one of the winners with me, which is really difficult because you can't tell them in advance. So you're trying to have a conversation with someone in a bar at 11 pm at night to say are you coming?
Speaker 2:with me in the morning. Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1:I remember talking to Dame Jenny Murray, who was the former presenter of Women's Hour. Talking to Dame Jenny Murray, who's the who was the former presenter of Woman's Hour, and we were talking about the concept of you know what this had been the night before this amazing celebration, northern and and she was like I get this, you're all about proper northern cracking on and I think it's always stuck in my mind yeah, well, taken from the awards and into gender equality, we all know you're Simone Roche MBE, but you were awarded the MBE for services to gender equality by the Queen.
Speaker 2:That's correct. Yes, and I want to know was this a real pinching moment? Because I know that you had it, but really reflecting on it, getting that honour, was it special?
Speaker 1:Awkward because it's about you, if you like, Not awkward. I remember sitting with this brown envelope in the car and you're told not to tell anyone. And I'm good, I'm behaved, I was in the military I can follow an order, but I didn't. And I can follow an order, um, but I didn't. And and I you know, and I think most people will tell their husband, their partner, and it took me three weeks to tell um, to tell Rob, because I just didn't know what to do. It felt like such a massive responsibility and then I'd feel nervous about it. What will people think? Will people think I'm not good enough to have received this? Why has this happened? Surely there's other people out there. And then you take a moment to kind of reflect on what you have done and then, more importantly, as you kind of get to learn to live with it, it then becomes that real sense of further opportunity, opportunity to do more. And that's what it served me for is to do more.
Speaker 2:it was never you know, this was never read my next question, as I was gonna say everything we say about, and I actually will say Simone has not seen these questions and does not know, so she must be wondering what I'm gonna ask. But, um, we always say about our awards that's why it was kind of in that it's the recognition that they get that then propels them on to do the next thing, which is why it's so important, which is what I wanted to know did the MB propel you on to do more things? Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:It felt like a real gift, like a gift to, to go right.
Speaker 1:Actually, if we've thought over these years about giving people a platform, a stage and a voice, then I've got an opportunity to do more, to reach more, to connect more to, to make more of a difference. And I didn't think you don't think it's going to make that difference and it it does, it really does, and I think the opportunity that you then have the things that you potentially. I got invited to be an award for the, as is the King's Awards now, but it was the Queen's Awards for innovation. So the things I've been able to get involved in that I don't think would have ever happened. And sometimes I'm not, sometimes I don't like the phrase imposter syndrome, but sometimes you feel like, oh, my life, this life, this is a bit lots of different pinch me moments that you think, gosh, this is amazing. But, interestingly enough, I've always felt that there's always been a responsibility for me to write other people's citations, because you know, because you have the opportunity to you see in firsthand what it can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think if you can write something for someone and not, like you know, this is an MBE is not something you go on, obe or CB is not something you go out and buy. It's something you get recognized for. But if you can write to somebody and go gosh, this is an amazing thing. You should get you know. I'd like to recommend then I feel like we have a responsibility to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I obviously want to talk about the Northern Bar Women Awards, because you are like a kid at Christmas, the week of the awards, and we can all see that passion. And next year, in 2026, it will be 10 years of the Northern Bar Women Awards. How does that make you feel?
Speaker 1:you know what I think sometimes? You know, I think because Covid happened and we seem to all sort of stop our world or put pause on things, and then all of a sudden, this is just galloped up. So to have our ninth awards in March this year and the 10th anniversary, if you like, of Northern Power Women, but next year being the 10th anniversary of Northern Power Women Awards, is phenomenal Because, if you think of why they were created was to encourage people to high five their own achievements, if you think of why they were created was to encourage people to high five their own achievements.
Speaker 1:You know, high five that celebrate, that put pen to paper about, or fingers to a keyboard about, somebody amazing and then encourage that person who you nominate to high five and recognize their own achievements. So for me, we always talk about this not being for one night. As you know, yes, I am giddy all week. The giddiness starts way early, though.
Speaker 2:The giddiness starts with 70 plus judges doing the judging process. I think as soon as christmas is out of the way, it just starts because you've got the announcements. It's just one thing after another in the build-up isn't it?
Speaker 1:you know we have the. If the category has got a video, then you've got the video bit. We then start. We put all our finalists in whatsapp groups. The judges are in whatsapp group. It's like so many tribes of people all rooting individuals, yeah, all rooting to celebrate. So the excitement. I can't believe it, can you that it will be 10 years?
Speaker 2:well, this year is my third year, and even I. You are a veteran, I'm a veteran but we do live and breathe the stories and we get to know a lot about them, and the team get obsessed and just as excited, which is.
Speaker 1:I remember we did a big reveal, uh, last year, didn't we, I think you know. So we, we get to a point where Emma and I, we keep the, we keep, we hold the power, don't we? We hold the knowledge of who's going to be in that shortlist and at some point, because obviously we're collating the brochure and we're collating the scripts and all this kind of stuff, we suddenly go oh crap, oh all right, and we're going to tell it and then people go.
Speaker 1:It's exciting but is those stories? But I say that's where it goes back to the November time with the judges and those whatsapp groups. That, you see, is the chat and people and in the room people are fighting in the nicest way, really going out, going. You know this person, I read it this way and this is why and people get really, really invested, including our, our fabulous Nina Hussain, our award host. But we get everyone in everyone is great.
Speaker 2:She does live and breathe it as well. But I've never asked you this question and I don't know if you're gonna actually need some time to think about it. But do you have a standout story? Has there been a nomination or a nominee or a winner or commended that you've read and it's stood stuck with you.
Speaker 1:I think every year, do you know what? When you you're doing the, the judging process, as it just sort of talked about, I think every time you fall in love, like every time. And I know, before you even get to that phase, I've already read through the nominations at least two or three times. My husband, rob already he only reads them once, slow reader, but he will read them all and he will absolutely have his hug list. You know, in a good but you know, because he's like, oh my god, I can't believe that person has achieved this or done this too.
Speaker 1:You know you could be talking about someone who's overcome the adversity of their own child being murdered by knife crime to then turning that horrific, unimaginable situation into now combating Saving lives for others. Yeah, I mean, it's things like that that you're just like, wow, you can't even you've not been in those shoes. You can't even imagine what that's like to. You know people like the likes of the wonderful Kira Byland, our special Olympian, and the stories that it's also inside, the stories that happen on around the awards. It's when I saw her a few weeks ago and she's suddenly told me that she's just off out to the White House for something, and you know it's what happens from it. It's the propelling that comes from those sort of nominations and stories.
Speaker 2:I know what Rob means as well about seeing people, because I realised at the awards I knew who everyone was and I kept knowing their names because I'd lived and breathed it and then I'd be like, oh hi, and they would have no idea who I was and why I knew their name.
Speaker 1:So if I do that to you at the awards, it's because I've read your nomination and I'm not a weirdo. You get really invested in the you know you've got all the pictures coming in for the brand you showed. You got the stories and you're like, ah, I can't talk. Yeah, you're like, oh, it's them.
Speaker 2:They don't know you. So last segment yes, I'm creating a segment on my first podcast, so you check that it's the team questions now, I'm tough, isn't it? Yeah, I've checked them, so I had to remove some of nick's. This is a family show, so, um, so I've got one from every member of the team. I am not going to tell you who's asked who, but some of them are obvious, that I know that you will know. So the first one how do you balance one million things and make it look effortless?
Speaker 1:unicycle. I have a really really good memory which probably annoys and definitely annoys Rob. Not annoys Rob.
Speaker 2:Simone's got an inbuilt CRM in her brain that she knows everyone's name and number off by heart, just somehow.
Speaker 1:I think, um, no one, there's no effortless is there? There's no effortless, it's, it's. I think there's no such thing, as I don't believe there is a such thing as work-life balance or something. Sometimes it's trying to find that harmony and I think I try and invest in other things. People will know, obviously, of my side hustle in the Royal Navy as of last year. I'm now a human castle climber, that's a whole other thing.
Speaker 1:But I like that sometimes if you can invest in other things cooking. Bizarrely enough, I love going home and preparing food because then that takes you away from your phone. You, I used to do a lot of sailing for the same reason to be able to detach from the technology, to be able to try and focus. But it's not easy. There's times where even now I'll kind of there was somewhere a few weeks ago and I got on a lift and I just sort of kind of had a little a mini, a mini, mini, tiny tears moment, where you just go, you know what this is a bit too much, and then you just sort of take a deep breath and kind of go right actually.
Speaker 2:And that's the side people don't see. So you make it look effortless.
Speaker 1:It's just good. It's good, it's makeup fixers.
Speaker 2:I like this next one. If you could have three people sat at your dinner table, dead or alive, who would it be?
Speaker 1:Oh wow, here we go. Oh, michelle Obama, I knew it. I told her earlier. I said Michelle has got a seat at this table. Oh 100, minan, uh, I'd love to know what Minan thinks. Now that would be great Northern Power. Nana, she's not with us anymore, but, yeah, minan was always one that made me believe, like you know, I could.
Speaker 2:Um, you know the queen, yeah yeah, because I reckon she's got me.
Speaker 1:It's good table, right table yeah, no man, that which goes against the whole vibe.
Speaker 2:I, like you, know the good guys, they're invited, but you've only got three to be honest, they've got other tables, they've got all their tables, yeah so we've asked this question to a lot of people, so I think it's being fired back at you now. What is your advice to people early in their career who don't know what they want to do?
Speaker 1:oh god, say hell yes. So just say yes and work it out later. I think that's something I lived and breathed. As long as it's, as long as it's safe. But yeah, say yes. Say yes to those opportunities. You never know what's behind that curtain, what's behind that door, who's in this couch. When you're gonna do a podcast with me, you never know. You never know where it's gonna take you and then sometimes you might not like some of it, but you'll, you'll always learn from it and there's no prizes for guessing who asked this question.
Speaker 2:Who's your favorite?
Speaker 1:palaton instructor oh, um, oh, robin arson, robin arson, yeah, hip-hop, hip-hop. Palaton 6am. Thanks very much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wolf pack now, I know that you've always said yes to every opportunity, so this one's going to be slightly different to what you would say to someone else. What advice would you give to your younger self?
Speaker 1:Do you know what I think there's elements of? It's never too early to build that community around you. So whether you start dancing, whether you start in scouts or sea cadets or volunteering or whatever it is, it's stay connected with the people that make a difference, because you never know where you'll kind of meet again at a later point. I feel like that's really important. It's never too early to start building. I think networking could be seen almost as just a flinging business cards here and there, and it's not. It's that it's building those networks and communities around you. You never know, never know.
Speaker 2:And I had this question twice who's your favorite employee?
Speaker 1:I remember who's interviewing you? Oh um, what about the ops director, rob Monks? I've got to say that my husband Northern Power man, otherwise I'm in trouble you'll have tea on the table when you get in there.
Speaker 2:Not a chance, not a chance.
Speaker 2:Um last question other than Anna, oh yeah, other than me, because I'm too late, right, yeah, yeah and my favorite question out of them all, and the last one can we borrow your mbe on weekends and with an addition of, for strictly work purposes and nothing to do with all the cool events you get invited to? What would you use it for? Where would you go? Well, it's just a range with you. Your invitations are just more than I would imagine of planning, to be honest. Well, that is my last question. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to interview my first interview, simone being the first interviewee on her own podcast. The first of your segments, my first of of my segments? Yeah, simone has been twisting my arm on this one for a while and I'm very glad I've done it.
Speaker 1:No, you wanted to do this.
Speaker 2:I did deep down, but I'm usually the other side of the camera, if you've ever seen me, but now you're especially in the hot seat. Yeah, it is a hot seat being on this side. Thank you for listening. This is the we Are Power podcast with Simone Roche MB.
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