Career guru, Sunday Times bestselling author and podcast host Helen Topper says that she was always so independent that she didn’t even tell her Mum she was leaving for Uni until the morning she went.

Convinced that learning is always the way forward, she'd done back-to-back graduate training schemes when she met her business parter, Sarah at a work placement at Boots. They started chatting about a side project involving helping other people with their careers. Their idea was simple: Wouldn’t it be amazing if more people enjoyed their jobs? Soon their business Amazing If was born. Now she’s evolved the business and having really studied the way in which careers are changing and are much less linear and more squiggly. Her work resonates with organisations and individuals alike, and her Squiggly Careers podcast dealing with all sorts of career conundrums has millions of downloads. Helen’s life is very busy, training over 10,000 people a week, but she works from home in her Squiggly studio the woods which keeps her grounded. Her favourite keepsakes included examples from her wall of framed menus and her iconic red lipstick. She says we’re all doing our own thing in our own way and it’s important to forget competition and comparison and to run your own race. Find out more about Helen’s work @HelenTupper on LinkedIn and The Squiggly Careers podcast and search for Squiggly or Lobsters to find her books.

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Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously - with Mia Drennan

Down-to-earth EY UK Winning Women Entrepreneur Of The Year Mia Drennan left school with two ‘O’ levels, but has gone on to found a business worth over a billion pounds.

She tells us her fascinating story of working her way up from a temp job, through the city, to New York where she got passed over for promotion. It gave her the impetus to set up a business in the UK, where she got a taste for being an entrepreneur.

After the crash in 2011, she spotted a gap in the market helping businesses get their money back. With only £6,000 of capital she knocked on a lot of doors and soon her business GLAS took off. She now has over 500 people working for her.

She says she’s a bit like Madonna and keeps re-inventing herself. She’s much more strategic these days, rather than being in the day to day running of the business. She says for her it’s about leadership and giving people the confidence to do the best they can. Her life sounds like a movie, buzzing between Davos and Monaco, but it's lonely at the top. She's found mixing with other entrepreneurs going through the same thing a great comfort. It’s led her to launch a podcast The Lonely Female Founder Podcast to share their stories. A petrol-head since being a child, F1 and motor racing remains her hobby outside of work and she shows us her prized signed orange McClaren baseball cap. She also has a beautiful letter from Sir Kir Starmer wishing her luck for the European Entrepreneur awards. She says that being near and on water as much as possible, calms her and she loves her dogs. She says it’s important to remember that every day above ground is a good day. Find out more about Mia https://www.linkedin.com/in/miadrennan/

And on Insta @mia_founder

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It's Season 11 and Alice and Josie are embracing that fresh start September back-to-school feeling they both love. They have a lovely catch up after their summer breaks. Josie describes her chilled-out summer in the heat of the Spanish countryside, whilst Alice has been flat on her back after a bad back injury on holiday. She's feeling grateful to be back on her feet after a stint in a wheelchair - although being parked in a garden centre was not her favourite moment of the summer. Apart from the pain, Alice says it was good to slow down and to take stock, although her Vinted habit got a bit out of hand! Josie says that for the first time she's learnt the power of being still and 'being' rather than 'doing'. However, they're both raring to go and happy to be back in the studio. They have a season full of exciting guests and new surprises, so tune in every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and follow us @showusyourbitspodcast on Instagram. There's also extra show notes and pictures on our Show Us Your Bits Substack.

To view our guests' special bits, please follow us on Instagram @showusyourbitspodcast

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