Scale Her Up: Female business stories and expert tips for business growth and success

Brenda Hector
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

If you are a female business owner, self-employed freelancer, or girl boss who wants to build a successful business i.e. work less hours, make more money, and get better results from your staff, then this is the podcast for you. Hosted by Dr Brenda Hector MBA from ActionCOACH UK, this podcast provides relatable and accessible business advice and inspiration from successful businesswomen who have been there and done it before you. This podcast is where you can • hear female business stories • share business success • learn how to overcome business challenges • get advice for businesswomen aspiring to success • find out what needs to change • discover how we can bring about that business revolution Only 1 in 3 UK entrepreneurs are female. UK men are 5 times more likely than women to build a business of over £1million turnover If UK women matched UK men in starting and scaling businesses, it would add £250 billion to the UK economy (Alison Rose, The Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship 2018) As a woman in business, a business coach, and a business growth expert, Brenda’s mission is to help business owners grow their companies, achieve their goals and live the lifestyle of their dreams. She's the help you need to grow your business.

  1. 1d ago

    Her Mum Spotted a Job Ad in the Newspaper — Now She's MD of an Employee-Owned Company That Works for the UN and the EU: Lucy Harrier of Prepress Projects

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Lucy Harrier — managing director of Prepress Projects Limited, a copy editing, proofreading, and publishing services company based in Perth, Scotland. Prepress Projects has been going since the early 1990s, started by a husband and wife team. In 2022, it transitioned to employee ownership — a succession model that kept the business and the jobs in Perth. Fourteen of the 16 staff are women. Their clients include UNICEF, UN Women, the UN Population Fund, and the Publications Office of the European Union. Most of their work is with overseas clients — they've worked with over 53 UNICEF country offices across the world, from Vietnam to Afghanistan to Uzbekistan. Lucy came to Prepress from a completely different direction. She had a PhD in plant molecular biology and spent nearly a decade as a lecturer. Her mum spotted a small ad in the Courier and suggested she apply. She joined as a publishing assistant, enrolled in an MSc in publishing at the same time, and 20-plus years later is the MD. We cover: What employee ownership actually means for a business — and why it was the right succession option for PrepressBrexit: how it wiped out ~15 EU agency contracts overnight, and the creative solution (a Luxembourg partnership with Lexilux) that got them back inTrump-era UN funding cuts: what geopolitics does to a small company in Perth with a global client baseAI and copy editing: not a threat, but potentially a bigger opportunity — because AI-generated text still needs a human to check itThe Institute of Directors: why becoming a Chartered Director transformed how Lucy approaches her role, and why she recommends it to anyone stepping into a directorshipResilience: navigating Brexit, a lost major UK contract, and personal bereavement at the same timeThe Monday Motivation: what Lucy publishes to the team every weekA meeting in 2026 where a business contact spoke to her male colleague and ignored her entirely — and what happened next Quote of the episode: "Treat people how you want to be treated yourself." — Lucy Harrier Playlist song: Human — Rag'n'Bone Man ("It doesn't rev me up, but it gives me peace.")

    Her Mum Spotted a Job Ad in the Newspaper — Now She's MD of an Employee-Owned Company That Works for the UN and the EU: Lucy Harrier of Prepress Projects

  2. 4d ago

    She Was Told She Was Their Best Performing MD — But She Didn't Fit In. So She Built Her Own Agency: Rowan Morrison of We Are Rationale

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Rowan Morrison — co-MD and co-founder of We Are Rationale (or Rationale, day-to-day), a brand agency based in Edinburgh specialising in regulated markets — financial services, healthcare, health tech, med tech. They're also a B Corp, which means values-driven impact isn't an afterthought. It's built in. Rowan set up Rationale with her co-founder Sven Clouston six months before the pandemic. She is a Women's Enterprise Scotland ambassador and a member of the 93% Club — and this conversation goes into both. She dropped out of school. She was the first in her family to go to university. Entrepreneurship wasn't something she saw people like her do. She came up through marketing, landed in a senior role she didn't ask for, was dragged into it by a mentor who saw something she didn't, and eventually broke out to set up something of her own. She was also told by a previous CEO, in what was apparently intended as a pep talk, that she was probably his best performing MD — but that she didn't fit in. She was delighted. We cover: What Rationale does: brand and creative strategy in regulated markets, emotional connection even in B2B and insuranceSetting up six months before the pandemic and growing steadily through itHow a female mentor saw something in Rowan before she saw it in herself — and dragged her into leadership kicking and screamingDr. Martens at board meetings, challenging authority, and not being anyone else's version of a managing directorThe 93% Club: 93% of the UK went to state school, but a very small percentage own the wealth or run the businesses — and what that means in Edinburgh specificallyHiring for diversity of thought: why she wants people in her team who take things in directions she wouldn't haveAI: where it's useful, where it's not, and why using AI to do your creative work is "feeding the lion that will eat you"Being proud of yourself as a mum and a business owner — and her sons telling her they're proud of herThe David Bowie quote that sums up her philosophy Quote of the episode: "You don't ever have to be someone else's version of who you are." — Rowan Morrison

    She Was Told She Was Their Best Performing MD — But She Didn't Fit In. So She Built Her Own Agency: Rowan Morrison of We Are Rationale

  3. Oct 2

    She Started Cleaning Houses to Work Around Her Kids — 12 Years Later She Has 30 Staff: Kerryann Martin of K&M Cleaning Services

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Kerryann Martin — owner and managing director of K&M Cleaning Services Limited. Kerryann started in 2014. Her son was only months old. Her daughter was in nursery. The plan was simple: go out and clean some houses, work around the school hours, answer to nobody. "Oh, how that changed very quickly." Twelve years on, K&M Cleaning Services has 30 staff and a service list that now includes domestic cleaning, deep cleans, tenancy cleaning, commercial contracts, carpet and upholstery cleaning, laundry, and biohazard cleaning. None of that was the original plan. Most of it was opportunistic at first, then strategic, then (as she puts it) all at once because she couldn't help herself. We cover: How K&M grew from domestic cleaning to biohazard — which bits were planned and which weren'tWhat she wishes she'd known about running a business at the start — and why she's glad she didn't know itThe growing risk appetite that took over the last couple of years ("I never done it in small doses either")The goalpost problem: getting the commercial client, the office, the van, the staff — and then needing moreWhat she's learned about herself: patience, not taking it personally when staff leave, surprising herselfThe husband who picks her up when she wants to throw in the towelLearning from networks: Growth Nation, BNI, coaches Faye Mack and Strategy OneAdvice for her 18-year-old self: set goals, make a plan, go for it Quote of the episode: "As long as you're doing better than what you were doing yesterday, that's all that matters." — Kerryann Martin

    She Started Cleaning Houses to Work Around Her Kids — 12 Years Later She Has 30 Staff: Kerryann Martin of K&M Cleaning Services

  4. Sep 28

    She Started in the Care Sector, a Funding Cut Changed Everything — and Now She Runs One of Scotland's Award-Winning Letting Agencies: Lyndsay Yuill of Rent Locally

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Lyndsay Yuill — director of Rent Locally, a letting and property management company with an estate agency wing, based in the Central Belt of Scotland. Lyndsay didn't plan to be in property. She worked in the care sector, running a project for young people in Edinburgh. When the funding was cut — as part of an equal pay anomaly that redirected council money — she landed in a letting agency while waiting for disclosure checks to clear. Within a year, she'd been headhunted to open a branch. Within the year after that, she set up on her own. That was 2008. She founded Live and Let. Her now-business partners founded Rent Locally the same year. In 2012, they merged — same size, same stage, different geographies — and Rent Locally has been growing by acquisition, by systemisation, and by a relentless focus on communication ever since. They have 29 employees, a large network of subcontractors, and have won the gold award for Scotland's best letting agency at the ESTAS — voted for by customers. We cover: What Rent Locally does, and why communication is their number one differentiatorBalancing two sets of customers — landlords and tenants — and why 99% of the time it isn't actually that hardThe 2008 financial crash as a fast learning curve: watching entrepreneurial landlords navigate the cycleWhy Lyndsay merged rather than competed — and the smart logic of putting two companies together to unlock growthGrowth by acquisition: why buying an existing book of properties is faster than growing one-to-oneMatching personality types to roles — why the wrong person in the wrong job is a management failure, not a people failureWork-life balance: what it actually looks like in practice, and why booking downtime is an active, intentional choiceThe networking events Lyndsay runs — and why collective collaboration makes you bulletproofBeing in cycle two of property after two decades: how you start seeing the same patterns and can help clients navigate before things go wrong Quote of the episode: "Collective collaboration makes you bulletproof." — Lyndsay Yuill

    She Started in the Care Sector, a Funding Cut Changed Everything — and Now She Runs One of Scotland's Award-Winning Letting Agencies: Lyndsay Yuill of Rent Locally

  5. Sep 25

    She Used Her Life Savings to Go to San Francisco and Figure It Out — Now She Runs Accelerator Programs for Founders Across Scotland: Alison Gray of Skillfluence

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Alison Gray — founder of Skillfluence, a company that helps entrepreneurs, business leaders, and academic researchers get their ideas out into the world and make a difference with them. Alison started Skillfluence after a project she led at work was so successful it got absorbed into a large organisation. She found herself getting worse at her job, not better. She took a sabbatical to San Francisco with her partner — six months, life savings, studied at Berkeley and Stanford, went to Toastmasters — and came back knowing she had to build something. She left her job on a Friday and started at Entrepreneurial Spark on the Monday. Skillfluence now has 12 core team members, 30-plus associates, a portfolio of mentors and speakers, and programmes running across the UK and further afield. Right now, there's a cohort of 30 female business leaders in the Highlands and Islands with a WhatsApp group that's, as Alison puts it, absolutely buzzing. We cover: What Skillfluence does — for founders, entrepreneurs, and researchers trying to commercialise cutting-edge workThe sabbatical that changed everything: six months in San Francisco, Berkeley, Stanford, and ToastmastersBuilding a team: why she started with associates, and what the first real hire taught her about what a business needsRecruitment: a process Alison has designed specifically to reveal who someone actually is before offering them the job (the surprise training delivery task at in-person interviews is particularly good)AI: where it helps, where it takes away, and why some things genuinely need to be your own wordsCOVID: all the programmes fell off a cliff, and how being one month ahead of their clients felt like flying by the seat of their pants — but made all the differenceThe challenge of productizing something that's deeply tailored"It's not the knowledge that's the challenge. It's actually doing something."Why continuous improvement is more useful than regret Quote of the episode: "It's not actually the knowledge and knowing how to do something that's the challenge for people. It's actually doing something." — Alison Gray Playlist song: Titanium — David Guetta ft. Sia

    She Used Her Life Savings to Go to San Francisco and Figure It Out — Now She Runs Accelerator Programs for Founders Across Scotland: Alison Gray of Skillfluence

  6. Sep 22

    She Started a Care Business to Stay Flexible for Her Daughter's Heart Surgery — Now She Delivers 6,000 Hours of Care Every Week: Nyasha Mangaba on Building Across Five Countries

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Nyasha Mangaba — managing director of Potters Healthcare Limited and co-founder, with her husband, of the Mani Group: a portfolio of businesses operating across Scotland, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, and Mauritius. I invited Nyasha to talk about Potters Healthcare. What I got was rather more than that. In Scotland, Potters Healthcare and sister company Mighty Care provide social support and home care to nearly 500 elderly service users across the central belt — Stirling, Falkirk, Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, Glasgow and West Lothian. The Mani Group also operates in logistics, farming, beef supply, genetic cattle breeding, retail, and fast food across four African countries. All of it started because Nyasha's daughter was born with a hole in the heart, and she needed something flexible enough to work around her baby's medical care. We cover: What Potters Healthcare and Mighty Care do — and how they've grown from zero to 6,000 hours of care per weekNyasha's background as an occupational therapist and why that gave her a critical advantage with local authoritiesBeing hands-on in the business for seven years — and why that was a deliberate choiceInternational recruitment after COVID: going to Zimbabwe for staff, getting a sponsorship licence, and the unexpected responsibility of helping people integrate into Scottish life (tatties, messages, and driving on the left)Managing across HR, immigration law, care legislation, and five separate software systemsSix consecutive years of Grade 5 from the Care InspectorateThe highs: being recognised in Tesco by families she once cared for, Christmas cards still arriving from families she worked with years agoHer book: Shattered Yet Standing — ten stories of women who made it despite everythingHer PhD in women's entrepreneurship and public healthThe church teaching that planted the entrepreneurial seed: always have something else coming in Quote of the episode: "Don't look at seven-figure businesses and think you can't build up to that. Start small and scale yourself up. That's what a good entrepreneur should do." — Nyasha Mangaba If you want to hear what real scale looks like — built from a care visit at a time, with empathy at the centre — this is the episode.

    She Started a Care Business to Stay Flexible for Her Daughter's Heart Surgery — Now She Delivers 6,000 Hours of Care Every Week: Nyasha Mangaba on Building Across Five Countries

  7. Sep 18

    Supporting Boobs All Over the World: Ros Marshall on Building an Ethical Bra Brand in Rural Perthshire, the Brexit Hurdles Nobody Warned Her About, and Backing Herself

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Ros Marshall — managing director and co-founder of Molke Limited, an ethical underwear brand manufactured in Scone, rural Perthshire, now shipping to 72 countries worldwide. You might not have heard of Molke. You should have. They make comfortable, supportive, non-wired bras in a size range that runs from a 26 band to a 54 band, and up to a P cup. They've been going since 2016. They have a Facebook community of 12 to 13,000 members. And everything is made in Scotland. And it all started because Kirsty — Ros's co-director and the original founder — designed a bra for herself, put a picture on Facebook, and within days was completely overwhelmed by people who wanted one. We cover: What Molke is, who it's for, and why size inclusivity is at the heart of everythingThe origin story: cloth nappies, a council losing its funding, and a friendship that became a businessDirect to customer: why Molke has kept 99.9% of its business that way — and what that means for customer serviceWhat Brexit has actually meant for a small Scottish manufacturer exporting to 72 countriesCOVID: how Molke was one of the businesses that found itself exactly where the moment neededWhat Ros has learned about herself over 10 years of business: adaptability, unflappability, and "there is always a road"Stepping back from her ex-husband's priorities in her 30s, and what 2016 meant for her sense of selfHer mum: one of the first women to qualify as a stockbroker, working in a male-dominated industry in the 1980sBeing a real living wage employer, endometriosis-friendly, menopause-aware, and a Neurodiversity in Business founding member"You spend most of your life working. It shouldn't be a place you hate." Quote of the episode: "There is always a road. It's just taking the time." — Ros Marshall Whether you make something physical, ship something across the world, or just want to hear from someone who has built something genuinely special in Scotland — this is a great one.

    Supporting Boobs All Over the World: Ros Marshall on Building an Ethical Bra Brand in Rural Perthshire, the Brexit Hurdles Nobody Warned Her About, and Backing Herself

  8. Sep 15

    She Just Needed to Be at the School Gates at 4pm: Cecilia Grigor on Building a 10-Person Remote Marketing Agency, Navigating AI, and Why She's Not Sinking

    In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Cecilia Grigor, director of Planitt Scotland Limited — a marketing partner (she doesn't like the word agency) based in Inverness, now in its 13th year, with 10 staff working fully remotely from across the UK. Cecilia started the business by herself, in a single room at home, because she needed to be at the school gates at 4 o'clock. What started as a single mum doing "whatever needed done" for clients who didn't know what to do with their marketing has grown into a team spanning Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. She's also just turned 40. And she's starting to think about what the next 13 years look like. We cover: What Planit Scotland actually does and why Cecilia refuses to call it an agencyMarketing then vs now: jack of all trades, specialism, and now the AI eraSetting guardrails for AI in a marketing business — and why she tells clients everythingBuilding a remote team culture: Monday goal-setting calls, buddy calls, Friday wins, and the team member who's been to five Taylor Swift concertsWhy COVID reduced her staff from five to one — and how she rebuilt, fully remoteThe Business Gateway graduate who changed everythingTaking staff turnover personally — and why she stoppedCoaching and accountability: the Entrepreneurial Spark programme, one-to-one coaching, and why accountability is the only bit that actually worksTurning 40, stepping back, and why good leaders build teams that go further than they did"Are you gonna sink or are you gonna swim? I'm not sinking. I've worked too hard." Quote of the episode: "Life's complicated enough. Let's just not make it harder." — Cecilia Grigor

    She Just Needed to Be at the School Gates at 4pm: Cecilia Grigor on Building a 10-Person Remote Marketing Agency, Navigating AI, and Why She's Not Sinking
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About

If you are a female business owner, self-employed freelancer, or girl boss who wants to build a successful business i.e. work less hours, make more money, and get better results from your staff, then this is the podcast for you. Hosted by Dr Brenda Hector MBA from ActionCOACH UK, this podcast provides relatable and accessible business advice and inspiration from successful businesswomen who have been there and done it before you. This podcast is where you can • hear female business stories • share business success • learn how to overcome business challenges • get advice for businesswomen aspiring to success • find out what needs to change • discover how we can bring about that business revolution Only 1 in 3 UK entrepreneurs are female. UK men are 5 times more likely than women to build a business of over £1million turnover If UK women matched UK men in starting and scaling businesses, it would add £250 billion to the UK economy (Alison Rose, The Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship 2018) As a woman in business, a business coach, and a business growth expert, Brenda’s mission is to help business owners grow their companies, achieve their goals and live the lifestyle of their dreams. She's the help you need to grow your business.

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