Joyful Ambition

Bryony Williams
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Joyful Ambition is for professionals reimagining career success in an era of AI disruption and endless "what's next" pressure. Host Bryony Williams explores the Ladder vs. Landscape approach, challenging the idea that ambition means climbing higher - through conversations with business leaders, career transition experts, psychologists, and HR innovators. Learn how to release old narratives, design sustainable careers, and find contentment without sacrificing presence or influence. Permission to choose differently starts here.

  1. Oct 13

    #14 Rachel Harris – From £3-an-Hour Apprentice to £2.5m Firm: Accountant She Rewrites the Rules.

    🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW 📅 Recorded in 2024. Figures in the episode reflect Rachel’s business at the time. In this joyful and refreshingly honest conversation, Bryony sits down with Rachel Harris, known online as Accountant She and co-founder of StriveX, one of the UK’s fastest-scaling accountancy practices. A careers adviser once told Rachel she had “too much personality” to be an accountant. She was a charity-shop kid, a free-school-meals child and a young carer for her identical twin. She skipped university for a £3-an-hour apprenticeship. When we spoke, she had built a 20-person, million-pound firm from her dining room table in just three years, entirely self-funded, and had joined the AAT as a director and trustee. Strive X is now reported to be worth £2.5m. This episode is about what happens when you stop shrinking to fit the stereotype and build the thing you needed but couldn’t find. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: Being told you have “too much personality” for your chosen careerGrowing up as a young carer and how it shaped Rachel as an employerWhy a £3-an-hour wage taught her that underpaid people can’t give their bestThe gender gap in accounting: roughly even at entry, but only around 30% of management roles held by women (2024 figures)“You can be what you can see”: building for young Rachel on her pink tricycleHow an MBA felt like “untangling Christmas lights” and led her to quit her jobLeaving a workplace that shut the door on her ideas, and not glamourising the riskFive years alcohol-free at the time of recording: sobriety as self-respect, not a labelMonk mode: 5am starts, face masks, slippers and inbox zeroFlexible working, hearing fatigue and designing work around how people actually functionHow to get onto a board: ask existing members which skills they need nextCorporate bursaries and philanthropy as the reason to scale💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: “The people whose businesses are the most successful are the ones who wholly lean into who they are rather than trying to pretend to be someone else.” “The point isn’t to not drink. The point is to fundamentally love and respect yourself so much that you don’t need to drink.” “Productivity doesn’t have to be painful.” “You don’t email the fire brigade. Close your bloody emails.” “You don’t have to take yourself too seriously, and you don’t have to exchange that for who you are as a person.” 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: StriveX – Rachel’s accountancy practiceAccountant She – Rachel’s free financial content, online courses and speakingAAT (Association of Accounting Technicians), where Rachel served as a director and trusteeThe StriveX corporate bursary scheme for aspiring accountantsRachel’s TED talk on scaling a business as an introvertDry JanuaryThe Spice Girls, Rachel’s soundtrack pick (she wanted to be Baby Spice at seven)🔗 CONNECT WITH RACHEL: Instagram & TikTok: @accountant_she web: https://www.accountantshe.com/StriveXLinkedIn: Rachel Harris

  2. Sep 23

    #13 Liz Gebhard: You Don't Have to Climb the Ladder to Move Forward | Target, Amazon & Beyond

    🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this energising conversation, Bryony sits down with Liz Gebhard, transformation and data leader at World of Books, whose career has run from Target to Amazon, across the US to Seattle and on to the UK, and from tech and commercial leadership into global HR. Liz has spent over two decades at the intersection of retail and technology, from the days of paper catalogues and faxed orders to next-day delivery and generative AI. Her story isn't a ladder climb. It's a landscape of bold sideways moves, a health crisis that forced a rethink, a year off that became "the best year ever", and a return to work built on relationships rather than job applications. At the heart of it all are two ideas: courage and curiosity. And the reminder that you don't always have to move up to move forward. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: Why the opportunity that scares you most is usually the one to lean intoFrom a marketing and journalism degree to supply chain analytics to techThe "two-way door" test: is this move reversible, or is it final?Staying relevant through curiosity and hiring people smarter than youGrowing up with a breadwinner mum and entrepreneurial dad as role modelsSmall steps of courage: how small wins build the confidence for big leapsEight roles in nine years at Target, then a solo move to Amazon in SeattleA life-changing health crisis and the question: am I still interested in this?Making a lateral move into global HR to lead teams in twelve countriesTaking a year out: wine certification, investing, board roles and restUntangling self-worth from your job titleNetworking that's relational, not performative, and nurturing old connectionsFocusing on the problem you can solve, not the title or the checklist💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "The more something scares you, the more likely you should probably lean in to try it." "You don't always have to move up to move forward." "Small steps of courage don't have to feel like a big step." "Sometimes people see things in you that you don't yet." "I had put a lot of value of my self-worth in my career." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: The Culture Map by Erin MeyerWorld of BooksThe two-way door vs one-way door decision frameworkLiz's must-have tech: her phone, a music app and Google Maps!🔗 CONNECT WITH LIZ: LinkedIn: Liz Gebhard

  3. Jul 16

    #12 Danielle Sissons: The Money Conversation Women Aren't Invited To - Ivey Financial Planning

    🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this episode, Bryony sits down with Danielle Sissons - Founder of Ivey Financial Planning and a financial adviser with 12 years in the industry, to unpack one of the most loaded topics in women's careers: money. Danielle knew at 15 she wanted to be a financial adviser. But it was the birth of her daughter Grace, plus 90 minutes on the phone to HMRC and £2,000 lost at the end of her maternity leave, that exposed how badly the system serves women. So she stopped knocking on doors and built the firm she couldn't find: one that helps mothers and founders take real control of their wealth, not in a decade's time, but at the messy, transitional moments when it matters most. This is a conversation about confidence, structural inequality, and why "I'm just not good with money" is a story worth rewriting. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: The confidence gap - women are statistically better with money, yet invest less and hold less wealthWhy financial advice is still built for high-net-worth men (only ~13% of advisers are women)"If you get tired of knocking on doors, build your own house" - Danielle's founder momentThe money conversation women get left out of - even in their own householdsReframing "I'm not good with money": money is a tool, not a personality traitThe marketing divide - women are sold savings and cashback, men are sold investingBudgeting without shame: the 50/30/20 split and why lifestyle spend is allowedThe one non-negotiable: a 3–6 month emergency bufferBringing career strategy into the money conversation - asking for what you're worthWhy financial control is really about freedom 💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "If you get tired of knocking on doors, build your own house." "Would you say 'I'm just not good with a hammer'? Money is a tool - it's something you can learn." "They don't know any more than us about investing. They're just spoken to about it more, so they have the confidence." "Lifestyle spend is whatever makes you feel like the hard work is worth the life you're living." "If you take nothing else away from this, have an emergency buffer." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Ivey Financial Planning - Danielle's FirmThe 50/30/20 budget (essentials / lifestyle / future)Junior ISAs & junior pensionsThe gender pension gap and the impact of maternity leave"Firestarter" by The Prodigy - Danielle's fired-up track 🔗 CONNECT WITH DANIELLE: Company: Ivey Financial PlanningLinkedIn: Danielle SissonsInstagram: @iveyfinancialplanning

  4. Jul 8

    #11 Charlotte Clark: From Graduate to Founder - A Purpose-Driven Career at Happy Human Project

    In this heartfelt conversation, Bryony sits down with Charlotte Clark - founder of the Happy Human Project - to explore what happens when a career starts not from a five-year plan, but from healing your own inner child. Charlotte has spent nearly a decade teaching children emotional wellbeing and nervous system regulation in schools, holiday camps, and after-school clubs. She's just graduated with a degree in counselling, deepening her ability to work with trauma. But the real story is what she discovered along the way: that the work she built for children was really the work she needed for herself. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: Starting a business fresh out of university with "no idea what she was taking on" and why that lack of fear was a giftThe privilege of timing: leaping into entrepreneurship when young, unattached, and low on outgoingsBecoming "a victim of her own success" recognising burnout before it recognised herWhy building a team was a survival strategy, not a growth strategyThe nervous system as the real starting point - for children and for the adults coaching themWhy dysregulation is contagious - in classrooms, in homes, and in the workplacePractical regulation tools: naming the emotion, movement over "just breathe," and the power of playSoul care vs self care, building systems that protect youRedefining career advice for the next generation: you cannot overlook the importance of looking withinWhy the landscape of Charlotte's career (founder → counsellor → programme director) grew from purpose first, strategy second 💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "I'm probably never going to get a time in my life where I'm this young and have no dependents, no mortgage... throw caution to the wind and just see if it works." "Emotions live in the body... if we're not processing those feelings, they become disease and we become unwell." "You cannot overlook the importance of self-care - I hate using that word, but it is so much more than a bath." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: The Happy Human Project (Charlotte's company)Charlotte's dissertation on embodiment and trauma in childrenMcKinsey & LeanIn.org-style workplace burnout parallels (referenced conceptually by Bryony)EFT, breath work, and Lego as regulation tools (Bryony's practice) 🔗 CONNECT WITH CHARLOTTE: Website The Happy Human ProjectInstagram: @happyhumanprojectltd

  5. Jul 2

    #10 Ep. 10: Sophia Hermens — Follow the Fizz: Rewriting the Rules for Boys, Dads & Careers

    🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this episode, Bryony sits down with Sophia Hermens - employment lawyer turned fundraiser turned psychotherapist-in-training, and founder of Rising Sons UK - to talk about what happens when you stop climbing the ladder and start following your fizz instead. Sophia's career reads like a landscape, not a ladder: law, charity fundraising with Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Foundation, international school work in Geneva, psychotherapy training, and facilitating for Rights for Girls. All of it led her to found Rising Sons, a program connecting 8–10 year old boys and their dads before the teenage years hit, so families don't have to repair what's broken later. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: Rising Sons - a preventative, pro-active, father-son bonding programme for boys aged 8–10Breaking generational parenting patterns: "I knew what I didn't want to do, but not what to put in its place"Sophia's squiggly career - law, Jamie Oliver, Geneva, psychotherapy, Rights for GirlsWhy empowering girls isn't enough if the system boys grow up in doesn't change tooBoys and emotional suppression, the playground pressure to stop crying starts as early as Year 2"Follow the fizz, not the ladder" - landscape careers over linear onesThe crowdfunding journey, and the long-term vision to make Rising Sons as normal as Saturday footballWhy people doing meaningful work deserve to be paid properly for itThe corporate opportunity: supporting fathers as an untapped DEI and wellbeing gapSoul care vs. the Instagram spiral, Sophia's honest take on running a startup while trying to protect her own headspaceThe Netherlands' "papadag" model and what a four-day week could mean for families 💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "We need to change the system." "Follow the fizz, not the ladder." "It's that whole bringing myself to the table, as opposed to going out to look for the job description." "A happy father is a happy employee." "I want to work for someone who is changing the world." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Rights for Girls Journeyman and A Band of Brothers (programmes for older boys/young men)Joyful Men Coaching (Hake, Rising Suns facilitator)Mother Pukka - Anna Whitehouse (paternity leave advocacy)Elliot Rae - "Parenting Out Loud"UK four-day working week trial resultsRising Sons UK crowdfunder and prize draw 🔗 CONNECT WITH SOPHIA: Instagram: @risingsonsukLinkedIn: Sophia Hermens

  6. Jun 16

    #9 Your Wardrobe, Your Landscape: Abbey Booth on Owning the Room Before You're Ready

    🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this warm and energising conversation, Bryony sits down with Abbey Booth - personal stylist and author of Don't Save It For Best - to explore something most career conversations completely overlook: what you wear and how it shapes the way you show up. Abbey's journey is anything but linear. From receptionist to advertising sales at the Mirror Group's Racing Post, from window dresser to boutique owner to full-time personal stylist to author - she's navigated more pivots than most. And threading through all of it is one consistent theme: style as a tool for confidence, access, and identity. This is not a conversation about fashion. It's a conversation about women taking up space. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED Style as a career tool - how Abbey used vintage fashion to get into rooms that felt firmly closedThe psychology of dressing for the job you want, not the one you haveWhy women are conditioned to shrink and how clothes can start to shift thatAbbey's pivot from corporate sales to visual merchandising to personal styling to published authorThe disconnect between where your business is and how you're showing up and how to close it"Style can take you somewhere before you feel ready" why we always think we need to be 100%The 40/100 rule: men back themselves with 40%, women wait until they hit 100%Three top styling tips you can implement today without a shopping tripWhy less wardrobe often means more clarityDipping your toe into colour - the power of a bold shoe, a bright lip, an earring that starts a conversationWellness after anxiety: plant watch, slow mornings, and the power of ritual💬 STANDOUT QUOTES "Style can take you somewhere before you feel ready. And we're always ready, by the way. We just don't think we are." "I'm fascinated about the story of the woman behind the clothes and how I can evoke her story so she can get to where she wants to get to." "Your style is an invitation to people. It draws people in." "Women experience a lot of guilt and shame around their bodies, around spending money, around enjoying time with themselves. I really wanted to change all that." "Less clothes does not mean less outfits. Don't be afraid to get rid of things that are no longer serving you." "Yellow makes people smile. If we can walk around making other people smile, I think that's gorgeous. Let's bring the human sunshine." 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Don't Save It For Best by Abbey Booth - available on Amazon and to order at your local independent bookshopStories with Clothes - Abbey's personal styling businessGardner's & Ingram Spark wholesale book stockistsThe Racing Post / Mirror Group - Abbey's corporate background 🔗 CONNECT WITH ABBEY Website: storieswithclothes.com Book: Don't Save It For Best - order via Amazon or your local bookshopInstagram: @Storieswithclothes LinkedIn: Abbey Booth

  7. Jun 4

    #8 As Authoritative as a Woman with Claire Shaw: Owning Your Voice in Rooms Full of Men

    🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this episode, Bryony sits down with Claire Shaw - vocal and communication coach, former opera singer, and the woman helping professional women reconnect with the voice that's already theirs. With more than 20 years behind her and a background that spans Wigmore Hall, The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Claire now works with lawyers, founders, executives and engineers - mostly women navigating rooms where they've been conditioned to take up less space. Her message is refreshingly counter-cultural: you don't need to become louder, harder, or more "male" to lead. You need to feel safe in your voice. This is a conversation about presence, breath, and the overlooked truth that how you sound shapes how you're heard - long before anyone weighs what you actually said. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: Presence as a skill, not a personality trait, and why your body is your instrumentThe 0.2-second judgment: people decide who you are from your voice before they see your faceWhy women are conditioned to take up less space and how to breathe low and reclaim it"As authoritative as a woman" leading from feminine power instead of the patriarchal mouldGet into your body and out of your head: Claire's three tips before a high-stakes roomFOFBOC - feet on floor, bum on chair - grounding in 30 seconds anywhereWhy voice is dismissed as a "soft skill" and left out of leadership programmesThe apology habit: how the language that got you here won't take you higherBody → breath → sound: the holistic vocal warm-up that fits a busy lifeSoul care vs self care: restorative Sundays, nature, Feldenkrais, and showing up rechargedComparison as the thief of not just joy, but confidence 💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "Your voice is as unique as your fingerprint." "Somebody makes a decision about who you are in 0.2 seconds of hearing you - they don't even have to see your face." "What would it mean if you were as authoritative as a woman in the courtroom?" "Get into your body and out of your head." "Comparison is not only the thief of joy, it's the thief of confidence." - Bryony 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Reshma Saujani's TED Talk on teaching girls bravery, not perfectionStephen Fry - the opening line of his memoir on resolving to stop apologisingFrances Frei's communication "triangle" - lead with the point, then the detailThe Feldenkrais MethodWild Women - Claire's women's group in Dorset 🔗 CONNECT WITH CLAIRE: Website: clairequinnshaw.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/claire-shaw-voiceBook a consultation: calendly.com/claireqd/connect-with-claireFree programme: The Communication Lab for Lawyers

  8. May 6

    #7 Beyond the Ladder: Angie Vaux on Creating a Personal Career Board

    🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW In this inspiring conversation, Bryony sits down with Angie Vaux - British entrepreneur, executive coach, angel investor and founder of Women in Tech Forum and Women Leaders Forum - to explore what it really takes to build a career, a community and a movement in one of the most male-dominated industries in the world. With over 25 years in senior leadership at global tech companies including SAP, TripAdvisor and Mimecast, Angie didn't set out to become an entrepreneur. But when she started noticing how differently women showed up in interviews - downplaying their experience, underselling their worth - she felt a calling she couldn't ignore. What began as a passion project in 2018 has grown into a global community of over 20,000 members, a powerful platform for career acceleration, and now, a pioneering Career Returners Initiative. This episode is rich with practical wisdom, honest reflection and the kind of strategic thinking that Angie has become known for. 🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED: How a pattern Angie spotted in senior hiring interviews sparked the entire Women in Tech ForumWhy the Boys' Club in tech is still very much alive - and what women can do about itThe power of your Personal Career Board and how to build one intentionallyRules of engagement: how to structure board relationships so they're effective and reciprocalHow Angie balances running two global communities with four children, yoga, and yes, paper-based to-do listsThe geopolitical shift around DEI language and how Women in Tech Forum is evolvingThe Career Returners Initiative - partnering with Workday to bring economically inactive talent back into the workforce globally 💬 STANDOUT QUOTES: "Setting up my businesses was almost a happy accident - but I felt the calling to create a platform to support other women and help them overcome the visible and invisible barriers in the tech industry." "Your personal career board is almost a group of independent career advisors who each bring different skills and different perspectives to help you move forward." "All of us need to take collective action to drive change. It's not the responsibility of a CEO or HR department or government. Each of us can take action - and it's the small steps we take every day that really drive change over the long term." "If it takes me longer to write the task down than to actually do the task, I'll just do it in the moment." "Make sure you build a diverse board. You don't want lots of people who look and think like you - because you won't get the diversity of perspective you need." 🔗 CONNECT WITH ANGIE: Website: womenintechforum.co.ukWomen Leaders Forum: womenleadersforum.comLinkedIn: Angie Vaux

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About

Joyful Ambition is for professionals reimagining career success in an era of AI disruption and endless "what's next" pressure. Host Bryony Williams explores the Ladder vs. Landscape approach, challenging the idea that ambition means climbing higher - through conversations with business leaders, career transition experts, psychologists, and HR innovators. Learn how to release old narratives, design sustainable careers, and find contentment without sacrificing presence or influence. Permission to choose differently starts here.

Information

  • Creator
    Bryony Williams
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Bryony Williams
  • Show Website
    Joyful Ambition