We all need to do our bit to create a better future than the **** show we’ve got right now. Let’s make a commitment to be that bit more conscious, think about how we live, buy, who we bank with, work and vote for. Even the smallest changes knit together to create a greater whole. In this episode of Beautiful Misfits, I’m talking to the wonderful Thomasina Miers. After winning Masterchef, Tommi co-founded Wahaca – the chain of Mexican restaurants that had sustainability baked in from the beginnin...
Dec 15, 2022•47 min
As a fifth-generation baker from the esteemed Hobbs House Bakery family, Tom Herbert grew up with yeast in his in his genes and a ready-made career to fall into. But after a series of events including a visit to refugee camps in Calais, Tom realised he couldn't just take the easy path, and felt an urgent need to contribute to something more purposeful. He founded The Long Table in Stroud – a project which I love and have eaten at many times myself – that looks at tackling all aspects of food ine...
Dec 08, 2022•43 min
Success isn’t always a straight line. Trinny Woodall burst onto our TV screens on What Not To Wear alongside Susannah Constantine in the noughties. Twenty years on she’s got a million Instagram followers and a beauty business – Trinny London – that turns over something like £50 million a year. Those are the headlines. But there is so much more than that. Because while Trinny has gone through the highs of public success, she’s also experienced the lows of addiction in her twenties, complex bereav...
Dec 01, 2022•49 min
Imagine your daughter being so scared for your safety that she fainted when you took too long popping out for a pint of milk? This is what happened to Gina Miller, the woman who took the government to court in the midst of the Brexit furore. She wasn’t trying to stop Brexit. She was fighting for our democracy. But she was so abused and threatened for standing up to the system that she feared for her – and her children’s – safety. In this episode of Beautiful Misfits I talk to Gina about her extr...
Nov 24, 2022•56 min
I’m in my 60s. Florence Given is in her 20s. But we came together to chat everything from body image to the new kind of protest movements unfolding on social media. And what I realised is that so many of the issues that older women have faced are still being negotiated by younger women today. The good news though is that they’re getting vocal about them. Florence is an illustrator, artist and author, who’s also got a huge following on social media. And she’s loved by Gen Z women - and older ones...
Nov 17, 2022•44 min
Fear is a big one isn’t it? The fear of failure. The fear of stepping out of our lane and getting flattened. But in today’s episode of Beautiful Misfits, I talk to Dr Sharon Blackie about why confronting our fears is one of the vital keys to unlocking change in ourselves and the world around us. She did this. She was so afraid of flying - and failing in a big corporate life - that she took the radical step of training a pilot. Today Sharon is an author and teacher whose work centres on how to br...
Nov 10, 2022•44 min
On this week's Beautiful Misfits, I'm joined by the general manager UK at Ankorstore. Tarun Gidoomal and I share a belief in the vitality of the relationships at the heart of retail - shops are about emotion, not just buying and selling. I learned about the value of local shops after my mother died. As a teenager, feeling completely lost without her, I’d get off the school bus each day wondering what I was going to cook my dad and brother that night. But it was the local butcher and grocer who h...
Nov 03, 2022•43 min
This week's Beautiful Misfits guest is Ione Gamble. I absolutely loved talking to this intelligent, questioning, energetic and – crucially – hopeful young woman. Ione is a writer, editor, art director and founder of Polyester Zine. She is also, in her own words, a ‘gross girl’. Diagnosed weeks after her birthday with Chrohn’s disease – a debilitating inflammatory bowel disease – Ione’s young adult life has been shaped by illness, and hospital wards.S he channels all this into her work as she que...
Oct 27, 2022•55 min
From fashion to interiors and retail, Jasper Conran has tapped into his creativity across a range of disciplines to build a glittering career. But his journey to get there has taken many stages of transformation and resistance. We talk about the legacy of coming from a family that ‘has it all’, the loneliness of his childhood, the eating disorder and self-esteem problems Jasper suffered as a teenager – and how he had to carve out his own path by defying expectations of his father (Sir Terence Co...
Oct 13, 2022•55 min
Imagine a world in which we had true gender equality, a world in which women and girls could unleash all their power and come together with boys and men to create something new. Jude Kelly founded the Women of the World festival in 2010 to focus on just that – to celebrate the achievements of women and confront global gender injustice. She is also a storyteller, and prior to WoW built a decorated career as a theatre director and producer. Today she mentors, campaigns, and her work has left a hug...
Oct 06, 2022•46 min
Candice Brathwaite shares my belief in consciousness, soul, spirituality – the innate power that exists inside us all. She's used it to overcome personal struggles, and to manifest her ideas into reality. All despite the world trying to silence her. Now a best-selling author of titles such as Sista Sister and Cuts Both Ways, and an influential voice sharing her story of black motherhood – Candice has battled through racism, beauty standards, and colourism. She's also received public backlash whe...
Sep 29, 2022•1 hr 3 min
How do you feel about failure? For many of us, it’s one of the scariest places we can go. But the legendary founder of Pret A Manger and Itsu embraces it. We’re too scared of failure, says Julian Metcalfe. We must use it as an opportunity to learn. In a new episode of Beautiful Misfits, I talk to Julian about everything from the power of empathy to the pursuit of excellence. He talks movingly about the impact of the death of his mother and how striving for excellence inspires him. We need more l...
Sep 22, 2022•49 min
Lemn Sissay is a poet, a thinker, a rebel. His mother thought she was putting him into temporary foster care as a baby. But he was swallowed up by the system. Then aged 12, he was sent back into it when his adoptive parents kicked him out. Lemn grew up alone in so many ways. But alongside this pain there was beauty and light in the form of creativity. Lemn has built an impressive career, but more importantly, he’s a truly soulful man. This conversation hit me powerfully – and Lemn is a true Beau...
Sep 15, 2022•52 min
My guest this week has been called “the most influential woman in fashion”. We both met starting out at Topshop in our 20s, before Jane Shepherdson went on to put Topshop at the beating heart of cultural relevance in a way no other high street brand had been before. But then – to the surprise of the outside world – she walked away from it all. To me, Jane is a beautiful misfit because we share something very important – she was not driven by money, or growth, but instead by creative instinct. As...
Sep 08, 2022•54 min
Beautiful Misfits don’t accept the status quo. They know instinctively the way we’re living today is broken. But they believe the world can be a better place. And they fearlessly take the imaginative leap to change it. Join Mary as she talks to the authors and businesspeople, designers and poets, who are using their unique perspective to create a better, more beautiful, future. Their life lessons are sometimes funny, at others moving, but always insightful. And one thing is clear: we’ve never ne...
Sep 07, 2022•2 min
Emma Jones CBE knows the journey of entrepreneurship first hand – she founded, scaled and successfully sold a home-grown tech company, all before she hit thirty. Ever since she's been on a mission to help other SME's reach their own visions of success. Now running Enterprise Nation – and as a partner of Mastercard's Strive UK platform – she sits at the helm of a vibrant community of small businesses and business advisers that exists to shortcut the route to trusted business support. Speaking wit...
Aug 31, 2022•38 min
Kelly Devine believes that micro and small businesses are the lifeblood of the UK economy. As part of the team behind Strive UK – an initiative set up by Mastercard as a free resource for small business owners across the country – Kelly is working to help these businesses to navigate the digital economy, build relationships and communities, and ultimately realise their growth ambitions. Alongside Mary, she discusses the huge potential of the sector, and why these entrepreneurs are the changemake...
Aug 24, 2022•32 min
Patrick Grant knows that fashion has the potential to be about far more than the clothes we wear: from supporting disadvantaged communities to the ultimate anti-dote to throwaway consumerism. And he’s working at many levels of the industry to put these ideas into practice: from the Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons to the social enterprise Community Clothing - which works with factories in some of the UK’s most deprived areas. He’s also helped inspire thousands to reconnect with the increasing...
Dec 23, 2021•36 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Dale Vince isn’t your average entrepreneur. After leaving school at 15, he spent ten years living off grid in buses, trucks and underneath tarpaulin. In 1996 he founded Ecotricity with one windmill in Gloucestershire. The company now employs over 600 people and supplies green energy to 117,000 homes. He’s also chairman of Forest Green Rovers - the world’s first vegan and UN-certified carbon neutral football club. And his most recent launch is Sky Diamond – sustainable gems created by taking carb...
Dec 16, 2021•43 min•Season 5Ep. 7
When Yvon Chouinard became a member of the Southern California Falconry Club in 1953, he was taught how to abseil down cliffs to view the birds’ nests and it sparked a lifelong love of climbing and the outdoors. Twenty years later he founded the clothing company Patagonia. Today it’s a billion-dollar business whose mission statement reads: “We’re in business to save our home planet.” Patagonia is at the forefront of a host of initiatives from recycling to renewable energy. It gives money to gras...
Dec 09, 2021•40 min•Season 5Ep. 6
FOR a long time, the world of beauty was stuck in the old ways of perfume counter selling, excess packaging – and those giveaway foundation samples in magazines that only ever came in some shade of peach. As a teenager of Nigerian heritage, Simi Lindgren felt invisible when she opened up those samples. But last year she founded online beauty marketplace Yuty that has radical inclusivity at its heart. It uses AI to take into account everything from a shopper’s skin type to facial formation to mak...
Dec 02, 2021•34 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Ella’s Kitchen is a lot more than a baby and toddler food company. Its core mission is to improve children’s lives by developing healthy relationships with food. But it’s also a B Corps - which means it takes its responsibilities to people and the planet very seriously. It lobbies on company tax rules. It donated over 900,000 food pouches during the pandemic. Ella’s Kitchen faces challenges, however – not least the fact that their products are packaged in single-use plastic. There’s also, as we ...
Nov 25, 2021•34 min•Season 5Ep. 4
More than three billion people watched the last World Cup final. The reach–and potential impact–of sport is almost limitless. But while social issues are increasingly creating a stir in sport, the environment isn’t yet making quite such an impact. Michael Doughty wants to change all that. A former professional footballer, he’s co-founder of Hylo athletics–renewable, carbon-negative and recyclable trainers–and is on a mission to put considerations for the planet at the heart of the conversation a...
Nov 18, 2021•35 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Food is under increasing scrutiny and meat is high on the agenda. Everyone - from the authors of the UK’s national food strategy to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – are telling us to eat less of it. But Glen Burrows, co-founder of the Ethical Butcher, argues that meat isn’t the problem. It’s industrial farming methods that are at fault. So how does that work? And, given that our love affair with meat may be slowing down but doesn’t look as if it’s going to end any ...
Nov 11, 2021•30 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Frieda Gormley and her husband Javvy M Royle dreamed up the idea for their interior brand at the kitchen table. Ten years on, House of Hackney is one of the most influential – and aspirational - British interiors brands. Best known for its use of colour, pattern and craftsmanship, House of Hackney also takes its wider responsibilities very seriously. It’s a B Corps, which means it meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance – in everything from its materials to supply cha...
Nov 04, 2021•35 min•Season 5Ep. 1
In the UK last year, if you were a woman, just 2.9 per cent of venture capital went to you. If you were a black business founder you saw just 0.2 per cent of all investment capital. And if you were a black woman, it was a mere 0.02 per cent. "Those numbers mean there are a lot of individuals who are not being funded who have great ideas, and that some who don’t have such great ideas are getting funded, so that’s the issue,” says Eric Collins, CEO of Impact X, a venture capital fund that’s puttin...
Aug 26, 2021•44 min•Season 4Ep. 8
John Schoolcraft’s LinkedIn profile lists everything from dishwashing to shop assistant, DJ to Alice Cooper’s security guard among his previous jobs. But there’s one that he will forever be synonymous with: global chief creative officer at Oatly. Along with CEO Toni Petersson, John has transformed the unknown Swedish alt-milk brand into a global superstar with sales of $421 million in 2020. At the core of this challenger brand however are three values Oatly remains razor-focused on: nutritional ...
Aug 19, 2021•38 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Richard Walker has taken his father’s business in a new direction since taking the helm. A passionate believer in the good that all businesses can do, and the critical importance of their role in combatting environmental damage, he’s committed to initiatives including banning palm oil in own-brand products to waging war on plastic. It’s created a lot of kickback and Richard has been on the end of some pretty stringent attacks. But he’s got broad shoulders. Join him and Mary as they talk business...
Aug 12, 2021•37 min•Season 4Ep. 6
We’re doing our bit, we’re buying green energy right? Not always. In fact, a third of the energy that’s marketed as renewable is in fact greenwashed by companies using loopholes in legislation. Juliet Davenport set up Good Energy in 1999, the UK’s first 100% renewable electricity supplier. Today the company produces its own electricity, generated in Britain from sun, wind, water and bioenergy, on their own solar and wind farms – as well as a network of 1600 renewable generators. In this episode,...
Aug 05, 2021•41 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Anna Blackburn is the first non-family member to run the jeweller Beaverbrooks. She’s also its first female managing director. And she’s more than doubled profits since she took the helm of the business. Anna has done this by building on a foundation already in place at Beaverbrooks which has always invested in its people. But taking this ethos a step further has allowed her to prove that The Kindness Economy betters the bottom line. As one of the few non-owner interviewees that Mary has had on ...
Jul 29, 2021•36 min•Season 4Ep. 4
