If you’ve ever sat on the edge of your bed thinking, is this it, or felt that weird itch under your skin that whispers you’re ready for something else, something more, then this episode will feel like someone finally turned the big light on.

Today I’m joined by the brilliant Jillian Reilly, author of Ten Permissions, social change expert, former good girl, lifelong explorer, and the woman who has basically written the handbook on what it takes for us, especially women with experience, to shift from waiting for approval to giving ourselves the green light.

Why we wait.
Why we shrink.
Why we chase gold stars.
Why we tie ourselves in knots trying to look good rather than feel good.

And more importantly, how we unpick all of it.

Jillian talks about the stories we’re imprinted with, the ones we never wrote, the rules we never agreed to, and the unconscious bias baked into every choice we think we’re making freely.

She explains why purpose is not a single North Star, why winging it might be the most grown woman thing you can do, and why micro-permissions may be the secret ingredient we’ve all missed.

We talk about the girls who get all the A’s and still walk into the world feeling unprepared. We talk about why “finding yourself” is about changing your environment, doing the tiny experiments, and noticing what sparks.

This episode is a permission slip disguised as a conversation.
A pocket of truth for every woman in her plot twist era.
A reminder that you and only you get to decide how you live, lead, love, explore, step forward, slow down, stretch, or start again.

And then, the Six-Word Memoir. The moment I always wait for.
Jillian lands it beautifully:

"She gave herself permission to explore."

Imagine if you did the same today. Imagine what would open. Imagine how you would feel.

In this episode you'll hear:
• The baked-in stories that keep women playing safe
• From seeking permission to self-permission
• The danger of chasing approval instead of authority
• Why purpose evolves with every chapter of your life
• How small acts of exploration rewire confidence
• Why feeling good should guide your goals
• The rituals women need to interrupt the old narratives
• Why we must move from consuming to creating
• How curiosity and courage unlock the next version of you

If you’re a woman with experience, running a business or leading a team while holding up everyone else’s sky, and you’re ready to back yourself, find your fire and crack on with your next chapter, come into the world of FoundHer Fire. The details are always in the show notes. The kettle is always on.

And you can buy Jillian's book from all major booksellers - it's called Ten Permissions.

Tuck this one in your pocket.
You’re not done yet.

Huge thank you to Birkdale Insurance Group for sponsoring this episode. Birkdale is a people first business with a powerhouse of talented

Sarah is the founder of FoundHer Fire—a membership space for experienced women in business who know real success isn’t just about strategy, it’s about self; a place, a space, a community where women find their fire, for women who aren't done yet and who are ready to write their own rules of success. Sarah also co-founded The Plot Twist (un)Awards, celebrating female founders and women smashing through glass ceilings with purpose, passion and joy.

Find out more about me and how I can work with you:

• On LinkedIn
• On Instagram
• On the Web
• Or drop me an email sarah@mindthegap.academy

Season 2. Let's crack on.

In this first episode of the new season of It’s Got Pockets, we are not talking about louder goals or bigger hustle. We are talking about the quiet revolution happening inside ambitious women with experience. The women in business, the founders, the leaders, the ones who have held the sky up for everyone else and are suddenly realising they crave peace just as much as they crave progress.

If you are a woman in business who is exhausted by performing, still ambitious but bone tired of proving yourself over and over, this is for you.

Inside this episode we get into:

• Why so many high performing, experienced women are craving quiet, not because they are shrinking, but because they are done with the noise of constant comparison and performance
• The difference between chaos adventure and peaceful adventure and why I am choosing jimmies by 9 and a walk up Snowdon over pretending roller coasters are fun
• The moment on my driveway, in the dark, in the rain after a full day of workshops that snapped something into place about what real peace feels like
• How stillness is not laziness or opting out. It is data. It is your nervous system finally closing a few tabs so you can hear what you really want next
• Why presence for women in leadership is not about being the loudest person in the room. It is about being anchored in your own worth and lived in wisdom

We talk about quiet power as something precise, not passive. Presence as something grounded, not shouty. The kind of Inner Edge that means people naturally lean in when you speak, without you needing to set yourself on fire for impact.

Your pocket question this week:

Where in your life do you need to turn the noise down, not to disappear, but to hear yourself again?

Take it into your journal, into your commute, into that stolen two minutes in the car on the drive when the rain is hammering on the windscreen and you finally breathe. Quiet is not the absence of fire. It is often the moment it burns the brightest.

If you listen and it lands, and you instantly think of another woman who is running a business, leading a team or holding up everyone’s sky but her own, send this episode to her. Let her know she is not the only one craving a different kind of success.

If you want more of this kind of conversation off the podcast and in your actual life, FoundHer Fire is my private scaffolding system for women with experience who are ready for a next chapter that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. You will find the link in the show notes.

My blinking brilliant sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by Birkdale Insurance Group, a brilliant people-first business that actually walks the talk on who gets a seat at the table. With a powerhouse of talented women on the board, they are bucking the male dominated financial services trend.

Find out more at birkdaleinsurancegroup.co.uk.

Sarah is the founder of FoundHer Fire—a membership space for experienced women in business who know real success isn’t just about strategy, it’s about self; a place, a space, a community where women find their fire, for women who aren't done yet and who are ready to write their own rules of success. Sarah also co-founded The Plot Twist (un)Awards, celebrating female founders and women smashing through glass ceilings with purpose, passion and joy.

Find out more about me and how I can work with you:

• On LinkedIn
• On Instagram
• On the Web
• Or drop me an email sarah@mindthegap.academy

For the finale, I’ve only gone and let a man on.

Very Important note: this isn’t me letting a man have the last word - it’s me calling all of us in. Because change needs everyone in the room if we’re going to do better.

I sit down with Andrew Bernard (aka Bernie) - speaker, educator, and disruptor of outdated masculinity — for a brilliant, bold, unfiltered conversation about what it means to be a man today, how the Manosphere is shaping boys, and why equality is a shared win, not a zero-sum game.

We cover:

• How dominance culture starts in the playground — and how to unlearn it
• Raising emotionally literate boys (and checking our own biases)
• Feminism, weaponised language, and allyship that actually helps
• Algorithms, Andrew Tate & co., and what kids are really seeing online
• Three simple ways to have better conversations: be present, walk & talk, listen properly

Bernie’s six-word memoir says it all: “I know men can be better.”

🧠 Season One Wrap-Up

And that’s a wrap on Season One of It’s Got Pockets - 33 episodes, countless truth bombs, conversations that have made me cry, made me think and reminded me what happens when you finally stop asking for permission and start reclaiming your fire on your own damn terms.

If you've loved listening, I would be very very very grateful if you could leave me a little review on your platform of choice. Not only is it brilliant for my ego but it also helps my little podcast get shared.

I'll be back soon with Season Two - more voices, more grit, more pocket-sized revolutions – packed with powerful conversations, lightbulb moments, and the kind of honesty usually reserved for bathroom chats and kitchen corners.

Big love,

Sarah x

Sarah is the founder of FoundHer Fire—a membership space for experienced women in business who know real success isn’t just about strategy, it’s about self; a place, a space, a community where women find their fire, for women who aren't done yet and who are ready to write their own rules of success. Sarah also co-founded The Plot Twist (un)Awards, celebrating female founders and women smashing through glass ceilings with purpose, passion and joy.

Find out more about me and how I can work with you:

• On LinkedIn
• On Instagram
• On the Web
• Or drop me an email sarah@mindthegap.academy