Girls Know Nothing - S2 Ep37: Leanne Holder | Female Entrepreneur, Forbes 30 Under 30 & Gender Discrimination

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

Girls Know Nothing: UK Top Female Empowerment Podcast Hosted By Sharon Gaffka GKN Social Channels: Https://linktr.ee/girlsknownothing  Instagram: @girlsknownothingpod  Tiktok: @girlsknownothingpod TikTok: @girlsknownothing

Hi, I'm Richard Karn, and you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number one expandable garden hose. Well, the brand new Pocket Hose Copperhead with Pocket Pivot is here, and it's a total game changer. Old-fashioned hoses get kinks and creases at the spigot, but the Copperhead's Pocket Pivot swivels 360 degrees for full water flow and freedom to water with ease all around your home. When you're all done, this rust-proof anti-burst hose shrinks back down to pocket size for effortless handling and tidy storage. Plus, your super light and ultra-durable pocket hose Copperhead is backed with a 10-year warranty. What could be better than that? I'll tell you what, an exciting exclusive offer just for you. For a limited time, you can get a free pocket pivot and their 10-patter pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copperhead hose.

Just text water to 64,000. That's water to 64,000 for your two free gifts with purchase. W-A-T-E-R to 64,000. By texting 64,000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethose.com slash terms. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites.

With Indeed Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45% more applications than non-sponsored jobs. Don't wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get-K-A-T-Z 13. Just go to Indeed.com slash P-O-D-K-A-T-Z 13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Like shake my business partner's hand, but don't shake my hand. Sorry, what now? Yeah. yeah or like just or I say have you got any questions in person they say no and then they go to a colleague and ask questions

and I'm standing there like I'm a business owner here that's but they don't know that that's really cheeky I don't think they cared either they think that I'm really stupid and I know nothing about cars or they are just being that, like, just being stupid. I don't know. I really don't know. But there's been so much where I've just been like, you know, you just want to facepalm, just want to... Facepalm is a polite way of putting it.

Yeah. Welcome back to another episode of Girls Know Nothing. Today's guest is a leading female voice in fintech and business. In 2020, Leanne Holder joined Giving2Services, a crypto charity platform designed to give back to public service professionals such as the military, fire personnel, the police and the NHS. And within two years of becoming head of relations she was appointed as CEO. Today the platform has 1.5 billion tokens from UK users and aims to scale globally in the near future. Alongside this she is the owner of Race Car Box, Pink Detailing Collection and Vit Coffee. So welcome to the studio Leanne. So this is a really random fact that I found when I was researching you for this episode. And it actually did make me laugh.

So massive shout out to my publicist, Lois, who helps you find all of the guests for the podcast. And when she sent me your name to be like, oh, what do you think about Leanne? I was like, I know you. I was like, I definitely recognize this name. I've 100% met her before. And this is the bit that's really funny for me is that people that have been following my journey into the public eye from like way over two years ago, you'll remember some charming tabloids sharing some very young photos of me at a beauty pageant where they labeled them as my before surgery photos um just want to clarify i

was 17 so if i didn't look different then it would be a little bit of a concern considering it's been 11 years but the twist is that you were actually the first runner up at the pageant i was in and And I did find some really cute photos of us, actually. I understand why people thought the pictures of me were questionable. You look so cute in yours, though. I don't know, the hair was a bit... It's outdated, isn't it? 11 years ago, both our hair was very on trend, though. Yeah, probably, yeah.

That's what I'm telling myself to make myself feel better but we can yeah we can hope I just find it so funny like looking at the photos and like it's amazing to see how much our paths have like changed in the 11 years yeah I totally agree I feel like it's been so long and we've done so much but I think it's kind of cool that we've come back at this moment yeah it's really nice nostalgia yeah but we were talking about whether you would do another pageant yeah I would do another one definitely would do another one I feel very much that I'd need to kind of get myself into training again like are you joking you're in incredible shape oh I mean like I didn't pageant oh okay I was gonna say you're crazy no no I didn't like walking standing

posing and stuff like that because you know you just feel like if you're gonna do it you're gonna do it properly aren't you yeah 100 point like you want to have fun go there and be confident doing it i would totally do one yeah i think you should i'd love to see you at another pageant because i didn't realize you competed again after that one yeah but yeah i would even just for vibes it's good for your self-confidence like it's fine isn't it and you meet loads of cool people exactly so yeah but you know before you go and win your next paddock title you did get forbes 30 under 30 this year i did yeah which like i'm just amazed by everyone that i meet that has been given that award what was it like when you realized that you were going to be on that list really weird feeling because i've had that on my vision board for years pan wnaethoch chi ddysgu eich bod yn mynd i fod ar y list hwnnw? Rhywbeth anodd iawn oherwydd rwyf wedi cael hynny ar fy ngwylio ar gyfer flynyddoedd,

flynyddoedd a flynyddoedd. Felly roedd hynny ar y ddechrau fy ngwylio, roedd gen i lawer o wahanol bethau ar yna, yna ar fy sgrin llaptop a yna ar fy sgrin ffôn. Felly rwyf wedi bod yn ymddangos, yn gweld, fel, rwyf wir yn hoffi hyn, ac yna roeddwn i'n 30 ym mis hwn, felly roeddwn i'n meddwl, dyma fy llawr, fel, y llawr yma, fy llawr cychwyn. Ac yna, roedd gen i'r e-bost ac roeddwn i'n meddwl, o, mydda, fe wnaethon i. Ac yna, y peth anodd yw, ar ôl hynny, mae gennych chi ddod o amser gwych oherwydd rydych chi'n rhywbeth fel eich teulu a'ch ffrindiau, fel, ie, on for my last chance and then I got the email and I was just like oh my god I did it and then the weird thing is after that you have like an amazing couple of days because you're kind of like your family and your friends like yeah you're well done you feel really good about yourself and then after that you're like oh I did it I need to you know you've done it it's amazing but you're

like I've done it now what what's my next goal so it's like this amazing elation and you feel so proud of yourself and still I'm like this is great like this is really cool but now I'm like what's now what's next you always want that next thing don't you i never thought about it like that because you can't really you can't get it again can you you can't get it again so like i've done it but that was my like main goal that was my like dream goal like i want to do this i want to get on the pops and i didn't even know what category because i didn't even know like where my life was going to take me yeah so i got into the finance category which as a woman I'm so pleased about because I bet years ago it was all guys yeah I can always guarantee it so like for women you know I feel amazing about that I'm so happy but now I'm like that was my main goal like

I need to think bigger so it's like yeah amazing feeling I'm so happy but now I'm really like what now it's always one of those really annoying tasks isn't it not annoying tasks um it's like if you didn't get it but you'd already passed 30 and you just know like you kind of feel like is my worth now determined by my achievements pre-30 as opposed to the rest of my life yeah it's these achievements are amazing they're great when you get them but actually when you think about it like it's happened now it's done yeah people won't really remember like I'll do something else and so it's one of those ones where like there's a lot of pressure to think like I really want to do this but having done it now I'm like if I hadn't have got it my life wouldn't have

changed I might be a bit disappointed I didn't make this and I'd have found something else to do the same way I am now like oh I found something else to kind of work towards yeah so I think I think they're amazing and great achievements but I think like people who pressurize themselves like I did I was like I'm gonna get on the list like I am doing this like it when I look back I think it didn't even matter whether I had enough because regardless the things that people do who were like want to get on that list they're all amazing achievements as well like so I think yay i got it but there's other people who didn't that have done incredible things as well and they should be just proud of themselves just for their journey anyway even if they didn't get on it i always the last person i spoke to that on this podcast that

had been put on the list i was shocked to find out that you don't get a trophy or an award you literally i took it really personally you just get on the honor that's it you're just on the list and that's it you get i think you get taken seriously okay so from my point of view the biggest thing to come out of it is that people take you seriously and when they see that against your name they go oh she you must be big you know but you know you know you know what you're doing so then you're more likely to get things like speaking roles at conferences or because you've got like um someone has essentially said yes she is good at what she does okay you've got that recognition validation validated it right so i guess that's the biggest thing that you get doors open to you that potentially you wouldn't have okay but at the

end of the day work hard enough the doors like knock the door down yourself yeah do you know what i mean if you want something get it go for it so yeah you put so much nice with me i just wanted the nice shiny awards that's what it is yeah i did want one to be fair just make your own one i could make my own yeah but how did you like i want to know about your career journey up to this point so you know i don't even know did you go to university what did you study like how did you go to university what did you study like how did you get to the decision that you wanted to be in fintech it has been the weirdest journey like so strange so I started off doing a dance degree oh wow yeah so like nothing business related nothing tech related nothing finance related I did dance then while I was doing my

degree I joined the army okay yeah yeah no literally this is random so I joined the army I was in the army for two years as an army reservist then I decided I wanted to go into the fitness side of things so kind of lose the dance but kind of go into fitness so I did my personal training qualifications in my third year whilst in the army I'm doing uni so like okay yeah made it really easy for yourself and then I graduated had my personal training stuff and I decided to do a master's in strength and conditioning so that is training athletes so athlete performance nutrition um and essentially being a coach in fitness and nutrition so I did the master's degree I got headhunted for a job at Loughborough um coaching their athletes which was fab I was like this is the perfect job straight out of it you know I'm doing what I want to do then I got made

redundant so they basically kind of shut the department down and used the university's like facilities and essentially the job role was made redundant so I was like oh I now have no job so I've like I can't really go back to dance because I'm kind of like done that now yeah I'm out of the army now I've got my master's degree but I've now just been made redundant like what do I do because the roles are so few and far between I was like I need to get money for like rent do you know I mean I need to rent I need food yeah and my partner who is now my husband was in was doing strength and conditioning as well so we both had the same role we were both heads of department and obviously we then were both made unemployed so it wasn't just me that was made

redundant it was him so we were like we're both unemployed now what do we do yeah so we were like let's start a business because we need money now so while we're looking for other jobs let's start a business and we're both completely like lovers of cars um anything motorsport related anything car related and i was like it has to be in something to do with cars like that's just where it naturally fell to do that and so we basically just went for a long walk and we're just discussing like business models and I was like what about subscriptions because you know you've got regular income because obviously if someone's subscribing into a contract yeah income every month brilliant if you can make enough to pay the rent we're in you know

we're in there so i was saying about how beauty um subscriptions were like massive like glossy box oh yeah i was a big user of them i was like what about cars what about like guy stuff yeah and girls who are into that instead of into beauty or into both like there isn't really anything for us yeah you know myself as someone who likes beauty who likes cars like what have i got i've got beauty but i haven't got the other side yeah so we thought about it we looked at market research and there was no one really doing it and i was like let's do it like let's let's make a subscription box for cars and then we're like hang on so how can we do this and i said car cleaning because it's consumable every month you're going to use up the shampoo the snow foam the quick detail the tire dressing and you're going to need more so therefore it kind of warrants

a subscription model because if you've used it up you're going to want to do it so that's what we did we started that and basically made a website kind of didn't really know what we're doing but made a website made an instagram account literally didn't really know the detailing industry that well at all because i know motorsport well and cars well but cleaning them I was sort of like you know I mean someone else to do it but anyway made a business in it and it just took off like massively and we're like whoa okay this is like you know better than I thought but it wasn't enough to kind of cover fully what we wanted to do so we both got jobs I went and worked as a personal trainer in a gym oedd gennym ddim llawer i ofyn yn ffynhau'r hyn rydyn ni eisiau ei wneud. Felly, fe wnaethom gyd-drabod. Fe wnes i weithio fel hyfforddwr personol mewn gym, oherwydd, yn amlwg, roedd gen i'r cymorthau. Yn ystod gwneud y busnes ar y sôr,

hyd at y pwynt lle roedd y busnes yn gwneud digon o arian, gallwn i, yn y penodol, gadael y swydd a mynd i'r ysgol. Ac felly, dyna'r hyn sy'n digwydd, fynd i'r busnes. Ac roedd hynny'n fy mhrofiad cywir i'r busnes. A dyna'r unrhyw un oedd fy ngwaith cywir i'r busnes a chymdeithas e-commercio. Ac yna, fe wnes i bwyta busnes arall, ac wedi bod yn bwyta busnes arall ar ôl hynny hefyd, ac fe wnes i rhai busnesau yn gweithio, yn rhannu amser yn ddynol, heb gwybod beth oedd yn ei wneud, yn cyflawni'r byd busnes yn gyffredinol, gan nad oedd gen i gwerthoedd neu brofiad yn ymwneud â hynny, ond roeddwn i'n gwneud yn dda. Ie. A chael fy ffyrdd a gweithio arni. A bod yn dyn yn y diwydiant lle nad oedd unrhyw dynion,

ac yn gwneud y gwaith. Ac yna o'r llaw, fe wnes i ddod i'r ffordd, rwyf bob amser wedi cael y math o ffylantrapi. Roeddwn i bob amser am helpu pobl, mae'n dda. Ac fe wnes i weld bod yna gwmni sy'n ceisio helpu pobl. I've always wanted to help people like it's just it's just there and I saw that you know there was there was a company that were trying to essentially help people um and I approached them I said look how can I help is there anything I can do to help whether that is like hosting events for veterans because I knew it was to do with the services and obviously having been an army reservist I was like

I you know I'd like to help and essentially it kind of just led to a big conversation of would you like to take on a role part-time and I was like actually I don't really have any free time but I'm gonna do it anyway like I'll make the time I'll just find it somewhere so that's so that I became um became head of relations then I moved into head of partnerships and then I was appointed the role of CEO and then from there Forbes basically oh wow okay so from dance to finance and everything in between the really logical journey i think i've been sat here like racking it in my brain like really no logic a lot of it's been guesswork and a lot of it's been winging it genuinely i'm not even having a plan but falling into things and going yeah right i do think a lot

of people that have made big names themselves just hi i'm, I'm Richard Karn, and you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number one expandable garden hose. Well, the brand new Pocket Hose Copperhead with Pocket Pivot is here, and it's a total game changer. Old-fashioned hoses get kinks and creases at the spigot, but the Copperhead's Pocket P pivot swivels 360 degrees for full water flow and freedom to water with ease all around your home. When you're all done, this rust-proof anti-burst hose shrinks back down to pocket size for effortless handling and tidy storage. Plus, your super light and ultra-durable pocket hose Copperhead is backed with a 10-year warranty. What could be better than that? I'll tell you what, an exciting exclusive offer just for you.

For a limited time, you can get a free pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copperhead hose. Just text WATER to 64000. That's WATER to 64000 for your two free gifts with purchase. W-A-T-E-R to 64000. By texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethost.com slash terms. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other

job sites. With Indeed Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45% more applications than non-sponsored jobs. Don't wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash P-O-D-K-A-T-Z 13. Just go to Indeed.com slash P-O-D-K-A-T-Z 13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.

Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Just win it. Just win it it and figure out where to go if an opportunity comes up and you're like i might not be qualified but like the sound of it i'm just gonna give it i'll learn on the job i'll put my all into it then go for it i did see on like um platforms like linkedin that tends to be why um women maybe don't do as well because they have to they feel like they need to be 100 qualified for something before they go for it yeah as opposed to just going for it anyway yeah and i have found like even my own experiences if i've just gone for something and hoped for the best it actually just works out well yeah um but the platform we're talking about is called giving

to services yeah so um you said it is to help like people in in what obviously in services but what actually is the platform so it's it's essentially cryptocurrency so it's blockchain technology so it's using cryptocurrency um for people to obviously invest their their money in they choose to there's a rewards platform that enables you to essentially gain uh more tokens so more cryptocurrency the longer you lock in your token so a bit like a bank you lock in your money for interest yeah so similar similar sort of thing in the crypto industry and the idea is that rewards from that four percent of those kind of get put into a big pot and then get distributed to the services okay um so that is

like healthcare so like nhs military fire police security services still very much a startup still very much working a lot of things out working out a lot of like solutions and stuff but it's essentially is people who invest in the crypto token know that some of the rewards that they're going to have go to those people in the services okay um it's something new it's something innovative um which i think is why it's difficult because i'm working still we're still kind of working out yeah which is kind of the same as everything else i've ever done so you know i'm not i'm not scared of that challenge um but it's exciting and and the thing with blockchain and technology is that it's always constantly changing so they're

like who knows what's going to happen next year because technology people can create things and everything moves so it's going to shift and it's going to pivot um which is exciting but yeah it's basically just is doing good through crypto it's it's like a i trying to rack my brain around crypto is really intense so like having to actually do that as a job without actually having any qualifications 100% yeah is just wild yeah was it mostly the philanthropy side of it that driven that drove you to that platform particularly or is there other aspects of it yeah I would say yes immediately because I kind of I basically saw it and went oh helping out people in the services I'd love to do that that sounds great so but it was never for me a career thing. I was never like, oh, I'm gonna work here.

Like I was quite literally like, do you want me to help run an event or something to help raise some money for some veterans? Like I really wasn't looking for a career change. I was happy doing business. Like it was never about that. I was never even like, oh, I want to work in crypto. I want to work in finance.

I invested in crypto as myself, so I understood it. I was always, I've kind of invested in stocks and crypto before that. So at least I understood and understand the kind of the world. But at the end of the day, I'm a business woman. That's kind of where I am. I'm not a crypto, I'm not tech. I'm not fine.

I am now because I'm learning very, very quickly. You have to be. I have to be. So yeah, so essentially it was a flunky side of things. But also I really enjoy taking something from conception or kind of two three years into a company and like building it because that's kind of what I've done naturally and organically I really love that it doesn't even matter what industry it is I didn't clean my own car really like I'm really not bothered but I built

a business on it so you know I don't even really like coffee that much but I've run a coffee company so when you think about it it's about it's just about building something through business but this had that little edge of like helping others and I thought I might be able to help here but it just evolved into a like a career path and it evolved into it really wasn't about that it was literally like a volunteering like hey I'll help and then you end up being the CEO and now I'm the CEO are you still the CEO I'm the CEO um so what inspired you to actually take on that CEO position is it just another one where you're like yeah I'll take on the new challenge 100% it was never it would not didn't come from me neither did I mean the head of relations then into head of partnerships was offered to me and I was kind of like yeah actually I'm good at forming like I'm good I'm

good at writing emails I'm good at writing things like you know I'm kind of good at academically like that and I was like I can I can wing emails to people I can create partnerships because I've had to do it anyway through business so I was kind of like yeah I'll take that on like that sounds good again the CEO thing was I was asked by you know board members and I was like yeah I'll take that on like that sounds good again the CEO thing was I was asked by you know board members and I was like yeah right let's go for it really well highly of you though if board members are like we want you yeah and I think very much like it's one of those ones where you know you get asked to do something you think I don't even know if I'm capable of this yeah the imposter syndrome really 100% I don't know if i'm capable of this this is i can run

businesses so therefore there's something there but this is kind of out there in terms of the industry but then i thought to myself but so was the detailing industry that i you know worked in so was the coffee industry like so was so was fitness when i first joined it you know like so when you think about it like I've done it already like you kind of thrown myself into the deep end already what's the worst that's going to happen I'm going to take the role and everyone's going to look to me for approvals and I'm going to go I don't know what I'm doing but I'm going to learn really really fast that's what the heads over for right and and at the end of the day if it really isn't for me and I actually think do you know what I'm not

giving the just like the company the justice it deserves then I'll step down yeah I'll step back and and well I'll hire someone to replace me and I've got no problem with that and I'll move on and I'll do something else no issues I wasn't looking for for that job I was running businesses so it wasn't like I was losing anything yeah I was kind of like I I can fall back if I need to like there's no risk here if i if i don't make an impact i don't think it's for me so how it's okay how has the platform evolved under you as the ceo um just growth in terms of new development so the idea of instant aid is coming in which is essentially to help cross-border payments so think of so cryptocurrency is instant right so as in you know when you go to

the bank and you want to send money to like a different country that's you know really far away it takes like days yeah or let's say charities okay you want to donate to someone in kenya it can take 30 days through a charity and they take loads of fees out of it so actually the money that you've donated doesn't always like not all of it gets to the end end user with cryptocurrency you send it from one wallet to another wallet 100% of it gets there it gets set instantly on the xpl which is the the ledger that ripple use it's instant well it's near instant but it's it's basically instant it gets there instantly 100% of it lands and you can see it on on what's kind of it's a

transaction hash you can see it on the blockchain so there's proof of funds right so when companies are wanting to send large amounts of money for kind of their like corporate you know social responsibility and their esg you've automatically kind of said to your maybe your customers or something look what we did if there's proof of it 100 of it has landed you know and and it's instant so cryptocurrency is changing the way that charities run and that's really where i'm wanting to take the direction so yes very much keeping the service service people personnel you know in mind but thinking bigger about actually how we can really use it to like globally change am sut y gallwn ni weithio iddo i newid bywydau ar gyfer cymdeithasol, i gael arian i bobl mewn gwledydd eraill yn gyflymach, yn fachach hefyd, mae ffyrdd ymdrin yn llai ac mae'n newid a'i gyfweliadu

y ffordd mae rhoi cymorth yn ei gilydd hefyd. Felly dyna'r hyn rwy'n gobeithio y gallaf ei gynnal o dan y llinell. Yn amlwg, mae'r pethau hyn yn cymryd llawer o amser i'w adeiladu. Nid yw'n hawdd, ond doeddwn i ddim yn gwybod pan ddechreuais. Nid yw'n unig fod ymdrin yn ymdrin. can kind of execute down the line obviously these things take a lot of time to build it's not it's not easy which i didn't know when i started as a transaction and it's not cheap transaction you know it's not as cheap as you think building these things it's a lot of investment into a company as well um we won the social impact of the year award um it was at the woman of it awards and that was really really cool because it was kind of like oh i've done something like you know i've done something in the small amount of time i've been you know ceo of the company like we won an award amazing great you know it's all it it's a nice boost to go actually i might be making a difference here you know other people think i'm doing something right

yay she also just wanted to tell us that she'd won another award it was just i'm just adding the list i just wanted to just drop that one in yeah i mean that's it's amazing and like you know you were saying that there isn't that many women well i don't know actually know any women in that industry yeah um what are the challenges you've faced kind of coming into that industry especially as it's so male dominated so i've had lots of experience in male dominated industries already so automotive being the biggest one and i've kind of faced a lot of adversity in that and a lot of idiots if i'm honest with you coming into the crypto industry i'd already and then the kind

of finance side of things i'd already had that knowledge of men might just go away girl you know so i would have kind of had that thing but actually I found it okay so when I've gone to conferences men in dark suits me in a pink blazer you know like loving my life and and kind of being different standing out I think that the men in the finance industry are a lot happier to see you or at least they pretend they are whether they are or they're not they're a lot more kind of welcoming yeah than i expected okay i thought i would be put down yeah yeah i really did i don't feel like that actually which is really really nice and that really shocked me i've never actually had a real problem at all in the finance fintech industry the motorsport industry the you know the kind of automotive side of things.

Hi, I'm Richard Karn, and you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number one expandable garden hose. Well, the brand new Pocket Hose Copperhead with Pocket Pivot is here, and it's a total game changer. Old-fashioned hoses get kinks and creases at the spigot, but the Copperhead's Pocket Pivot swivels 360 degrees for full water flow and freedom to water with ease all around your home. When you're all done, this rust-proof anti-burst hose shrinks back down to pocket size for effortless handling and tidy storage. Plus, your super light and ultra-durable pocket hose Copperhead is backed with a 10-year warranty. What could be better than that? I'll tell you what, an exciting exclusive offer just for you for a limited time you can get a free pocket pivot and their 10 pattern sprayer with the purchase of any size copperhead hose

just text water to 64 000 that's water to 64 000 for your two free gifts with purchase w-a-t-e-r to 64 000 by texting 64 000 you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from pocket hose message and data rates may apply no purchase purchase required. Terms apply. Available at pockethost.com slash terms. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites.

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you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Very much so. So I think the expectation of of people going oh you're a woman in finance though that must be hard what do the men do actually they've been really good oh wow it's really behind my back might be different wouldn't know but I haven't felt that real I also think I'm quite like whatever like I don't have that real like oh are they gonna think that I'm rubbish like I don't care like I know, oh, are they going to think that I'm rubbish? Like, I don't care.

Like, I know I'm good at what I do. I don't care what you think. So maybe I'm not looking for it. Yeah. I'm not noticing it because I'm not looking for it potentially. How do you get yourself to the mindset where you're like, I don't care?

I've never cared. Okay, fair enough. I've never cared. I'm that person who's just like, I'm just going to do what I want to do. If you don't like it, lump it. As long as I'm ethical, I'm good, I'm happy. Like, I know what I'm doing. I'm want to do if you don't like it lump it as long as i'm ethical i'm good i'm happy like i know what i'm doing i'm gonna do me that's how you ended up in the army reserves and i didn't

not that i would ever do anyway but i think that's how you ended up doing something like that but that's that's really nice because i think i you always hear like the negative stuff but i think that people are trying to be more inclusive i think so i think there's industries that aren't i do know for a fact that a lot of the automotive industry still is just not welcoming like shake my business partner's hand but don't shake my hand sorry what now yeah or like just or i say have you got any questions in person they say no and then they go to a colleague and ask questions and I'm standing there like I'm a business owner here that's but they don't know that that's really cheeky I don't

think they cared either they think that I'm really stupid and I know nothing about cars or they are just being that like just being stupid I don't I don't know I really don't know but there's been so much where I've just been like you know you just want to facepalm just want to just facepalm is a polite way of putting it yeah yeah it is yeah it really is but did you know there's not there's a correlation between wearing pink and not knowing anything 100% yeah yeah how would I know anything about cars you know oh yeah I mean but then like people would would you people would argue that if you're like the first woman in anything or like one of people would argue that if you're like the first woman in anything or like one of very few women anything that you're a role model and i mean what

advice would you give to young women that kind of want to break into the fintech industry but maybe don't have the same mindset you do about not caring yeah because it is nerve-wracking like you know you know you're going to like a crypto conference and you know full well there's going to be loads of men there it is not like it is I totally get it and not everyone's going to be so gung-ho of me walking in like hi you know goodbye like not everyone's going to be like that totally I think the biggest thing is to have that confidence even if you don't actually feel that confident you are a bit nervous like go in with a smile on your face and people will smile back you know it's human nature go and shake someone's hand and say hi ddim yn teimlo'n hyderus ac yn rhywbeth yn nerfus, mynd i mewn gyda sbail ar eich wyneb a bydd pobl yn sbail yn ôl. Mae'n ddynion dynol.

Gwneud sbail ar rywun a dweud, Helo, beth ydych chi'n ei wneud? Byddant yn siarad â chi. Yna, gallwch chi ddweud, Iawn, gallwch chi ddweud, gallwch chi ddweud, gallwch chi ddweud, gallwch chi ddweud,

gallwch chi ddweud, ac mae'n agor drws ac yna, na fyddwch chi'n teimlo'n unig. Ac rwy'n credu bod rhwng y diwydiant sy'n dynol, gwneud ymddygiad am eich hun. Ie. Gwneud ymddygiad am eich hun. who you're going to cling to and it opens up doors and then you don't feel so alone and i think breaking into an industry that's male dominated stand up for yourself yeah hundred percent stand up for yourself and it is scary but sometimes men don't realize that they're actually being idiots they don't realize that they may be patronizing you maybe they think they're helping you like you know when people are like oh do you want me to carry that and you're like i have arms like i can do it yeah you know maybe they just think they're

helping maybe we'll turn around and go oh i can do that you know just because i'm a woman it doesn't mean i can't i actually think sometimes some men do want to help they don't know how to approach a situation maybe they're never interacting with anyone in that space totally totally and and a lot of people in high-tech environments are slightly can slightly be socially awkward or they you know they don't really know how to communicate as well sorry carry on i'm just thinking of people i know that work in that and i'm like yeah and it's a generalization and i would never i can't general i wouldn't stereotype but i i know that a lot of people who do sit behind a computer desk and do work on high tech things quite often are very comfortable there yeah and socializing and easy so what you've got to remember is just because you're a woman

walking into an environment that might be full of men and you might be a bit nervous they might be just as nervous being there yeah not just because you're a guy doesn't mean you're confident right so i guess just remembering that everyone's in the same boat you know and i think just yeah stand up for yourself i was just thinking about a big bang theory moment where like a woman walks into the comic book store and they're like oh my god like what do we do everyone's just panicking the same amount as each other yeah um what would you what would you say your future goals and aspirations are in the world of fintech hard one because I don't really know yet you just wing it you're like the queen of wing i feel like

i've only just started in the fintech world so i kind of i'm thinking i am actually thinking small now which isn't isn't like that for me normally i'm thinking like bigger than big how the hell am i going to get there for things but i'm actually thinking small i'm kind of thinking like do this company justice really think small and think actually realistic because it's got the power to help people. And essentially I have the power to help people. So like, let's not be risky here. Let's think small. So I think my main goal is to help as many people as possible

using the blockchain and cryptocurrency and kind of seeing what happens in between. I'd like to be the sort of person who can kind of speak about um things you know be it be like an expert in my field and and actually be able to go on stage and speak about it and not be sat on a panel just about women with women yeah like i want to be that i want to be that person who is is actually kind of respected for their knowledge like the ted talk yeah yeah basically um i've got a speaking thing in november in saudi arabia and they're flying me out saudi arabia to speak and i'm like oh my goodness that's massive it's not to speak about what it's like to be a woman in yeah it's

actually about knowledge and to me that's a huge turning point because you just especially in saudi arabia right it's a big thing out there yeah like it's it's nerve-wracking but like i want to be that person who is able to actually be respected in the industry for knowledge not just because i'm a woman and there's a few of us you don't you get what i mean i get no i understand so i think that's the goal for the company is to help as many people along the way and actually be the kind of uh paving the way to kind of what we can do with charity and crypto because crypto has a really bad rep like a lot of people just see the negative side of things but it has the power to do so much good and that's never talked about so i think being like the company and and and the ceo that puts crypto

up there as good i think would be my main goal yeah yeah i don't want to go too massive with this one i mean i didn't i didn't even realize that you could use crypto as a way of like donation and ensuring that 100 of your donation reaches to wherever it's supposed to go yeah i never even thought about it that way i just thought about people investing and losing all their money totally right and that is and that is that's my knowledge of cryptocurrency and that's all like that's all i seem to kind of get people thinking is like oh you run this thing you must take millions and it's like i don't i don't see the the money like when people invest in and it's gone through an exchange and stuff like it doesn't work like that and i think there's a lot of people don't really understand crypto enough but they have an opinion that's always quite negative and

I think if if people if maybe as a company if we educated people better then people would understand you know if I as a CEO go right marketing start educating people on crypto then you you're not just going to kind of increase increase your kind of token holders potentially but you're actually going to have people who are completely new to this industry understand it and maybe change their opinions when they're down the pub talking about crypto everyone's all negative one person might go yeah but did you know you can give to charity and it can do yeah it can be good for people i'd be that person if i heard somebody at the pub talking about cryptocurrency i'd roll my eyes so hard you hear them on the floor like yeah but if we can be

that company that changes the view on even a tiny proportion of people then i've done my job i think because it means that more people know about it more people might be helped more institutions more you know big corporations might want to kind of use the technology to do good for their donations we're on to a winner more people are getting helped i mean yeah you've you've educated me on it you've already like changed my opinion on it being sat here for like what 20 minutes so you know you at least you're doing your job right because now i'm now i see like there is maybe a positive aspect of it rather than what i consider loads of boring hi i'm rich Karn, and you may have seen me on TV talking about the world's number

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kind of stuff um but earlier you were talking about how you know you've had your fingers in many pies and you've dipped your way through so many businesses and you were talking about how you probably didn't utilize your time or you spread yourself too thin how how did you even manage to do one let alone three honestly there's no blueprint for this at all it's very much take every day as it comes i'm not i'm good at like time keeping yourself but i'm not the best organizer and i'm not the best at focusing which is vital it's vital for my role and it's been vital throughout my whole kind of business journey to do that but actually I have to understand myself and go okay I know I'm not the best at focusing in and I get distracted very very easily and I think that's why I've done so much okay because I go

oh shiny new thing I'm gonna try that with a toy yeah I'm gonna try that that's why I've done so much because shiny new things come along and I will this is exciting yay let's do it so i think it's it's reining yourself in i'm going like don't take on too much yeah you know when you're exhausted you know well you know when you're exhausted but you need to know when to stop because i've had problems where i just keep going keep going keep going workaholic you need to like stop and then when you start to say no to small things like can you do this and you're like I could but I shouldn't yeah when you say no to something you should feel good about that because you've then got time to focus because what happens is one business starts to suffer or your personal life starts to suffer or your health starts to suffer when you're doing too much yeah so I think there's no there's no blueprint for it

because everyone's lives are different and everyone will want to prioritize work personal relationship however they want to do it but I think for myself work-wise I've just gone with the flow and I know that's not even very helpful for people at all but I guess it's useful to know that like people who get on these Forbes lists, right? People who do well in business, they don't have like a set plan. No, they just see an opportunity and go for it. Yeah. And they don't necessarily have all their ducks in a row. Like I'm not always focused. I do have bad days.

Like sometimes I take on too much and I get really tired and I get really exhausted and it's really hard. And I think the reality of that is probably important for people to know that I don't have this amazing journal that I stick to every single day and I take down how much water I do because the problem is I buy those fun planners I do two weeks I get bored of them and then I'll buy another one and then I get bored of that one right and I have the intention to drink this much water and do this much exercise and do all this and I'm too busy to even write it down so there's no for me there's no plan I just wake up in the day and hope that I fit it all in so you're not that CEO on LinkedIn that's like I get up at 4 30 every morning and do an ice bath absolutely not I live a what I would call a normal normal life I just have a lot to do in that time

and if I've slept in a bit too late it's my own fault it's one of those things I have to do it in the evening or I'll push it to the next day like I'm not perfect and I do not think that there is a perfect way of planning and organizing your day I think productivity is very much what you make it is personal like I could write a blueprint for what I think everyone should do in their day because I've managed to get to here or whatever in my career and if you do the same as me you're going to get there it's unrealistic why would I do it because it's everyone's different I think it's a really good thing that you were saying about saying no to little things because when I think when I first started my career I'd get really frustrated if I'd ask somebody to help me do something but it wasn't

technically in their remit yeah they could help me and they'd say no and I'd be like oh it's so frustrating you would just make my life slightly easier but now I'm older I get it because like you're actually no that's not that's not in my remit I'm trying to manage what I think is a priority for me and now I get it now I'm older when I was younger it used to be like oh it's so annoying yeah totally and I mean I'm I would be the first person to also be annoyed even though I'm the person who would drop like so i totally get it it's completely normal isn't it yeah but i just think sometimes like if something's gonna give don't make it your health yeah don't make it your relationship like work isn't everything we've got all of us you know we've got such big goals we want to achieve something but like if it's at the detriment in your you know day week month year of the other things we've got to prioritize

I have only just learned this I am still learning to get it right you know get the work-life balance I don't know if I'll ever get it right because I am that workaholic kind of mentality yeah but like something's going to give eventually and I'm not letting it be my health so how do you like how do you know or how have you decided when to let things go like which what what do you let go if it's not going to enhance my life massively or enhance my career on a big scale then I probably don't need it so I was that person who would just like do anything like oh that's a cool opportunity I'll apply anything like oh that's a cool opportunity I'll apply for that oh that's a cool opportunity I'll apply for that just because it seemed fun yeah

again shiny new toy right oh yeah that looks fun I'll do that is it adding to my career yes or no yeah like like truly adding as in it's really going to add something like like speaking on a stage somewhere like yes that probably will so fine but like just attending an event but if it means i've got to take a day off work or do this is it going to enhance my life or enhance my career to a point where i can notably say yes if it doesn't in the bin because it's not worth it unless you can carry on but if you really have to be cutthroat yeah think about enhancement no i think that's a really good way to think about it i think i think that's something that's relevant in every industry because when i first started doing like the public facing stuff you get thrown shiny new toys left right and center and when i first came into it i was like i need to be at everything all of the time and then i'd get to i want to say sunday

before the next week and you don't get the weekend off because you've got that workaholic mentality and then you gotta do all over again and then you don't get that break and i did make myself ill yeah i was very unwell and like you know you're you weren't eating right so my weight wasn't what what is what i consider healthy i didn't look healthy i didn't feel good about myself so i think it's in every industry you know, not necessarily just the fintech ones or like business or even being self-employed, any industry, doing anything. You need to be able to like decide what you think is important to you. 100% like pick and choose. You really have to.

And that is really hard work because let's say you've got 10 really cool things coming up in the month and, you know, you've got your breaks in between and then a few more things get dangled in front of you. It's really hard to not go oh please but you've also got to pick what what like sets your soul on fire like what do you really love right so you know if i'm getting invited to an event that's going to be really like could be really changing i could have some real value to it then like yeah of course i'm going to go but if it's just like a PR event that isn't like it's nice to be invited obviously like lovely cool if it's not gonna actually like really have an impact on anything then I can drop it and I think it's okay to say no this is when I talk to people like people that don't necessarily have ever done a beauty pageant don't really get it when they're like oh but it takes so much effort and time and I was like but I don't have to change my life to fit into it like it's just an addition and it's like a confidence booster

for me so for me i don't see it as a waste of time or as loads of additional hard work because i do the hard work already it's just the nice shiny dress at the end your appearances you can put into your like life yeah you know you can kind of like do them as you're good planning events and things to do like you can kind of do that in like say're planning events and things to do. Like you can kind of do that. And like you say, you don't need to spend, it's not a full-time job doing a pageant. Like it doesn't need to be. Those that make it that way, fab.

But I didn't think it needs to be a full-time job. But then it's like attending PR events doesn't need to be a full-time job either. Correct, yeah. But then for some people, that's what they want to do. Crack on. But I think if you really want to have like a bit of everything for me i think it's best dabble of this dabble of this dabble of this and then that way you're kind of getting a bit of fun

but you're not burning out you're having a bit of rest time you're getting a bit of a shiny new toy over there not to make this about me but the fact you've made time to come to my podcast means that this is you see this as value to your career value from definite value to my career so i'm just like gonna massage my own ego for like five seconds well this is my first podcast oh yeah yeah it's my first podcast yeah that's why you had to drop all the like awards but no but the thing is i've said no to podcasts before because i've just been like it's either not been the right industry type podcast or I've not felt that it would be I felt like I'd be grilled yeah you know I really like grilled I'm like well and actually I thought I already knew who you were anyway it's a very nice reunion after 11 years and also the kind of the

ethos of of the podcast suits me well like a very much stand up for women in business and a very much kind of stand up that's what I thought it fitted well for me like it so it made the yes oh so that's just what I needed this has made my day like that little ego boost drop of dopamine for me um don't need to go to the gym later now so I always ask all of my guests the same final question. So I'd like to know if you could give yourself a piece of advice or give your younger self a piece of advice based on your life and career journey so far, what would it be and why? Stand up for yourself.

Because I do now. And like we've spoken about before, like when you're in a male-dominated environment and someone is treating you very badly, I wouldn't speak up for myself. I was very much like, oh, you're in a male-dominated environment and someone is treating you very badly I wouldn't speak up for myself I was very much like oh dear now I'd be like excuse me you know don't just because I'm a woman doesn't mean you can't shake my hand like I would I would stand up for myself yeah and I think that I used to feel that I couldn't do that maybe because I don't know maybe I wasn't confident enough maybe I was too shy or maybe I think that they would retaliate in a really bad way or something but I actually think like stand up for

yourself if there's something you believe in stand up for yourself like to me gender equality is is huge and the fact that I've been subject to adversity because of my gender like shout about it stand up about it and if you've got something that really like irks you like annoys you to the point of you like inside it gets you fired up speak about it share it stand up for yourself i actually find as well it's very human nature that if you tell someone they're in the wrong they don't necessarily want to retaliate like yeah they don't want to upset you so they kind of like go back on it yeah but then also if you're willing to stand up for yourself they're going to respect you a lot more straight away but also it really annoys me when people talk about a

problem oh i hate it when people do blah blah i do this or i hate it when when men treat women like this one all right so what have you done about it then what are you going to do about it like don't come at me with a problem come up with a solution and like that's the way i think that my younger self now i'm like solution solution solution if there's a problem and i don't like it tell someone about it because then they can tell someone else about it and tell someone else about it we're never going to change things if we just just tell just complain about it take action but yeah standing up for yourself i'm gonna sound like that just send it to all my trolls and they come at me with a problem do you know what i mean

like solution just gonna send them like good problem you're not gonna change anything by complaining about it do something about it oh well that's a really good way to end the podcast and and i actually agree with that and i love to see everything you've done since the last time we saw each other you too how cool um and i can't wait to see you put on your sparkly new dress yeah and go for the next shiny new thing yeah because um no i think you should always just go for those challenges so i can't wait to see you do that and um now i'm actually gonna look into cryptocurrency rather than roll my eyes at people who talk about it. I've done my job today. Brilliant.

Both very happy women, Satya. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.