Most of us picture food waste as the brown banana at the back of the fridge. Jess Latchford says the real problem starts in the field, where crops go unharvested because of cancelled contracts, or because the produce is the wrong size or shape.

Jess is the founder of WasteKnot, a surplus veg rescue that is now ten years old and is just as much about nourishing people and the planet. In this episode, Erica and Becks talk to her about:

• why so much food is wasted before it ever reaches a shop
• how flexible menu wording, like “soups, salads, sides and smoothies”, lets caterers use whatever surplus is available
• WasteKnot People, which shows where produce comes from and looks at farming methods and soil health
• what the triple bottom line means for a business that has to run well and work in healthy environmental and societal ways
• why she avoids the giant food waste statistics, and why any small movement counts

Find out more at wasteknot.org.uk

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com

Martin Knowles never planned a career in sales. Now he and his wife run Sales Untangled, a small, certified B Corp that helps small and medium-sized teams get comfortable with selling.

Martin joins Becks and Erica to talk about recertifying under the new B Corp standards, and whether selling and sustainability really are polar opposites. Then the pinwheel lands on a spoke, and he has to say what purpose means there for him. He also has a simple first step for any business that wants to start, and it doesn't involve a spreadsheet.

This episode also reference Seacourt https://www.seacourt.net/ and A Good Thing https://agoodthing.org.uk/

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com

⚠️ A note before you listen: this episode includes an open conversation about suicide, including our guest's own experience as a survivor. If any of this feels close to home, please look after yourself while listening.

• Samaritans: for suicide and emotional distress, free, 24/7. Call 116 123 (samaritans.org)

Six people turned up to Jacky Youldon's first running session, after one Facebook post. More than ten years on, hundreds of people have come through RunningSpace, the charity she founded, and 70% of them had never run before. Jacky joins Erica and Becks to talk about using running to build faith, resilience and relationship, all on a turnover of £60,000 a year. Then the pinwheel lands on policies, and Jacky predicts she'll have nothing to say. She's wrong.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com

A lot of small businesses want to do something about sustainability. They just don't know where to start, or they can't afford a consultant. Umesh Kathirvel is building a way in.

Umesh is head of product and delivery at Teckollab, where his team builds software for purpose-driven founders, and co-founder of StepZero, a free app and nonprofit CIC that gives small businesses a practical action plan across eight sustainability pillars.

Erica and Becks talk to him about how a checklist from the Cotswolds People Planet Pint meetup grew into an app. He shares what a conversation with the Royal Agricultural University taught him about local procurement, and why StepZero now has a community space for pool buying and swapping surplus. He also explains why they chose GreenPT, a lower-impact AI, and how designing for short attention spans shapes everything they build.

Then Becks spins the Pinwheel and lands on Policies. Umesh explains why a good intention only sticks once it's written into policy.

Try StepZero free at stepzero.eco.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com

This week, Becks and Erica turn the mic on themselves: what does it actually take to find your purpose, and keep it once your business has grown past the person who started it?

They trade stories about Bata shoes, a "poverty of perception," and why the fastest way to find your purpose is sometimes to figure out what you don't want. Plus: the moment Erica's past life as a bodyguard turns out to explain more about her business than she expected.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com

⚠️ A note before you listen: this episode includes an open conversation about drug and alcohol addiction, recovery, and the loss of a loved one to relapse. If any of this feels close to home, please look after yourself while listening.

- **FRANK** — confidential drugs advice, 24/7: call 0300 123 6600 or text 82111 (talktofrank.com)
- **Addiction Family Support** — for anyone affected or bereaved by a loved one's addiction: call 0300 888 3853 (addictionfamilysupport.org.uk)

Rick Mower spent his twenties building a career in advertising before addiction pulled him under — now he's MD of RAW, a social impact furniture company that trains and employs people the job market has written off, including many who've faced addiction, prison, or homelessness. We get into the car-park delivery that tested exactly how far his team will go for a client, the line from his colleague Hazel that reshaped how RAW works with at-risk children, and why Rick thinks "social value" should be a competitive weapon, not a nice-to-have. He also spins the purpose pinwheel and lands on Profit — his answer might surprise you.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com

Behind the gates of a Grade II listed country house hotel, one woman is quietly rewriting what luxury hospitality can look like. Magaly Etter, ESG Manager at Whatley Manor, walks us through the journey from stripping single-use plastic out of the spa to an ambitious plan that could take the whole property off fossil fuels by 2028 — no small feat in a building where solar panels keep getting turned down. She shares how one skeptical hotel director became one of her biggest unofficial champions, why the vast majority of a hotel's carbon footprint might not even come from the hotel itself, and what she's learned trying to live sustainably with two young kids and a house full of plastic party favours. Plus: her answer when the Pinwheel lands on Processes.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com

What does surplus bread, rainwater, and a car-park pop-up have to do with running a purpose-led business?

Nick Hunt, founder of Cotswold Lakes Brew Company (and self-styled "Chief Beer Officer"), built his brand on unconventional ingredients and deep local roots, then had to rebuild it again after a forced relocation tested everything. Nick shares what actually held it together, plus his answer when the Purpose Pinwheel lands on "processes," and the one habit he says underpins purpose in life and business.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at guests@thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com