She started with £5, two puppies, and a husband who'd just left. That's not a crisis - that's a maverick opening line.

Nicola Venetia Steele is the founder of Venetia Steel Boutique in Bridgend, South Wales - a woman who turned dyslexia, redundancy, hand-me-downs, heartbreak, and a garden shed into one of the most distinctive boutique brands in Wales.

But this isn't really a story about clothes. It's a story about identity. About what happens when a little girl grows up feeling overlooked, underdressed, and underestimated - and turns all of that into style, grit, commercial instinct, and fierce self-belief.

In this episode, Nicola talks about:

• Growing up as the youngest of four, excluded and in hand-me-downs that didn't fit

• Turning up to school in her uniform on wear-your-own-clothes day - because she had nothing else

• How dyslexia became her greatest business superpower

• The mentor who gave her wings - and the lesson that changed how she handles people forever

• Building from a kitchen table to a garden shed to a standalone store

• The dream that told her to sign the lease

• Why she built a boutique specifically for women over 40 who feel invisible

• Losing her dog Zosia - and what that taught her about love and priorities

• Why independence has been both her greatest strength and her greatest cost

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction - "£5, two puppies, and a dream"

01:10 Were you born a maverick or did life force you to be one?

05:30 The Fiat Panda - what freedom really looks like

10:30 Wear your own clothes day

14:00 Fashion as control, confidence, and belonging

17:00 How dyslexia became a superpower

22:30 The mentor who changed everything -Linda

28:00 Dreams, instinct, and signing the lease

33:00 From kitchen table to garden shed to boutique

38:00 The redundancy - and protecting her team

43:00 Building Venetia Steel Boutique

50:00 Women over 40 - visibility, style, and confidence

56:00 Zosia

1:02:00 Maverick Maxims - quick fire

1:08:00 "A maverick is someone who..."

ABOUT INSIDE THE MAVERICK MIND

A podcast hosted by Emyr Afan exploring the minds of unconventional thinkers, builders, and creators. Each episode goes beyond the business story to ask what really drives the people who refuse to play it safe.

What does it take to survive a dictatorship, build a career across five continents, beat leukaemia - and then run 270 kilometres across the Sahara?

In this episode of Inside the Maverick Mind, host Emyr Afan sits down with Lucia Rowe - linguist, travel industry leader, cancer survivor, and ultramarathon runner -to explore one of the most extraordinary life stories you'll ever hear.

Lucia grew up in Ceaușescu's Romania, where the knock on the door in the night was a constant terror. Two of her school friends were killed in the street during the revolution. And yet, from those dark beginnings, she built a 25-year career in the travel industry, helped launch and scale A-Rosa River Cruises in the UK and beyond, and became a powerful voice for breaking down barriers in business.

Then came the diagnosis nobody wants - leukemia, during COVID. With no immunity and a global pandemic raging, Lucia chose to fight. She made a plan. She drew on something bigger than herself. And five years later, she is in full remission.

Not content with that, she took on the Marathon des Sables - one of the world's toughest ultramarathons - was medically withdrawn the first time, and went straight back to finish it in 2026.

This is a conversation about fear, endurance, sunshine moments, solidarity in the sand, and what it really means to keep moving towards the light.

Topics covered:

Growing up under Ceaușescu and the lasting trauma of the Securitate

Building A-Rosa River Cruises from scratch in the UK market

Facing a leukemia diagnosis during COVID and choosing to fight

Running 60+ marathons and 15 ultramarathons post-illness

The camaraderie and raw humanity of the Marathon des Sables

Raising £50,000+ for Ruben's Retreat and the Family Holiday Charity

What success, freedom, and resilience really mean

Ruben's Retreat:

Family Holiday Charity:

Inside the Maverick Mind - conversations with people who do things differently.

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Nick Hounsfield didn't set out to build a tourist attraction. He set out to build the kind of medicine you can't prescribe.
A former osteopath, Nick spent 18 years treating the symptoms of stress, burnout, and disconnection — until he realised the real problem wasn't in the treatment room. It was in the environment people were returning to.
So he left his practice, made a promise to his dying father, pitched to over 230 investors, fought for planning permission on greenbelt land, and built The Wave — the UK's first inland surf destination, just north of Bristol. A place designed to make people healthier, happier, and more connected, without them even knowing.
Then, just months after opening, Nick had a major stroke.
In this episode, we explore what it means to build a place of recovery and then become the person who needs it most — and how that experience reshaped everything Nick thought he knew about ambition, resilience, and what actually matters.
We cover:
* Why Nick walked away from a thriving osteopathy practice to build something "impossible"
* The 10-year journey from £500 and a sketch to a £30 million destination
* What 230 investor rejections taught him about vision, timing, and personality fit
* The stroke that stopped everything — and the clarity that came with it
* Blue health: the science of why water makes us happier and healthier
* His new mission, One Blue World, and why it goes far beyond surfing
* The difference between stubbornness and vision
* Why pause is as important as push
Nick's story is a masterclass in maverick thinking — and a timely reminder that sometimes the boldest thing you can do is build the world you think people need.