Episode Summary

Carla Bentele, designer and founder of All About Me, shares her journey from navigating redundancy in the London fashion world to reclaiming her creativity in the North. We explore the reality of losing a professional identity you loved, the "deathbed" perspective that helped her take a leap, and how she built a brand rooted in mindfulness and community.

Show Notes: An honest conversation about ambition, creativity, and learning to build a life that actually fits who you are.

Themes Explored:

• Redundancy and Identity: What happens when the job you built your life around disappears.
• The "Deathbed" Perspective: Using a long-term view to make brave short-term decisions.
• Starting Again: The reality of launching a business while navigating motherhood and a new area.
• Manifestation: How vision boards and belief can guide your next chapter.

If this conversation resonates, share it with someone navigating their own messy middle.

Episode Description

Emma Husband is a Financial Planner, business owner and mum - but her story didn’t begin with a clear plan.

In this conversation, Emma shares what it looked like to spend years feeling quietly unfulfilled, to question everything during maternity leave, and to retrain as a financial adviser in her mid-30s while navigating grief, motherhood and self-doubt.

We also explore her relationship with money - how it shaped her confidence, why so many women feel “behind”, and what it means to finally feel in control of your finances.

It’s a conversation about identity, money, and slowly realising that nothing has gone wrong.

This episode is for anyone who feels like they should have figured things out by now… but hasn’t.

Show Notes

Emma Husband, Financial Planner and Founder, shares her journey from a stable corporate career in health insurance to retraining as a financial advisor in her mid-30s.

What began as a sense that something wasn’t quite right grew into a life-changing shift - shaped by motherhood, grief, and a desire to build a life (and career) that actually fit.

Themes explored:

• Feeling “behind” in your 30s (career + money)
• The dissatisfaction with a life that looks fine
• Motherhood as a catalyst for change
• Starting again as a financial adviser
• Grief, pressure and rebuilding identity
• Women, money and financial confidence
• Redefining success on your own terms

If this conversation resonates, share it with someone who might need the reminder that they’re not behind - just in the middle of things.

Key takeaways

• Feeling behind - in life or money - doesn’t mean you’ve failed
• You don’t need a perfect financial plan to start again
• Money confidence is learned, not something you’re born with
• Growth rarely happens in clean, controlled conditions
• You’re allowed to change direction, even if your life looks “fine”
• Nothing has gone wrong — you’re just still figuring things out

Find out more or share your story.

Not lost, not arrived, just not there yet.

Episode Description

Kimberley Ford has rebuilt her life more than once. From finance to acting, from acting to directing, and eventually founding her own filmmaking business - her path hasn’t followed a straight line.

But underneath all of it is a feeling many people quietly carry: being the wrong age. Too early. Too late. Too old to start again. Too young to be taken seriously.

In this conversation, we explore identity, reinvention, and what it means to move forward even when your timing doesn’t seem to make sense on paper.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt behind, out of place, or unsure if it’s too late to begin again.

Show notes

Kimberley Ford’s journey is one of starting again - not once, but multiple times. From leaving a stable career in finance, to navigating the uncertainty of acting, to returning to education in her late 30s and building a business that feels aligned. At the centre of it all is a feeling many people recognise: being the “wrong age.” This conversation explores how that feeling doesn’t mean you’re behind - it might mean you’re still in the middle of things.

• Feeling like the wrong age at different stages of life
• Leaving stability to follow something uncertain
• Starting again in your 30s and 40s
• Navigating self-doubt and not feeling like you belong
• Returning to education later in life
• Redefining success beyond external expectations
• Choosing alignment over societal timelines

If this conversation resonates, share it with someone who might need reminding that they’re not behind - they’re just in the middle of things.

Key takeaways

• Feeling like the wrong age doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path
• You don’t waste experience — you build from it
• Confidence is often something you grow into, not something you start with
• There is no single timeline for a life that feels right
• Starting again doesn’t mean going backwards
• Nothing has gone wrong — you’re still in it

Links referenced in this episode:

• Kollab Kreate
• Kollab Kreate YouTube channel
• Not There Yet Project
• ‘Unseen Strength’ - Won ‘Northern Excellence in Directing’ award at WomenX Film Festival
• Grey Area (First Ever Short Film Directed at University) won Best film award
• Escort - Rime Suspex Music Video

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Kollab Kreate
• Aldi
• L'Oreal
• Iceland
• Empower
• UCLan

Episode Summary

Jordan Stachini never planned to run a marketing agency.

In fact, as she puts it:

“Complete accidental business owner - it was never ever meant to be the plan.”

Today she runs Co&Co, a growing Manchester marketing agency. But the real story behind the business isn’t about strategy or scaling.

It’s about the moment many adults quietly experience - when the life you assumed you would live suddenly stops feeling right.

In this conversation we explore:

• Leaving a long-term relationship when your futures no longer match
• Burnout, therapy, confidence and rebuilding yourself
• Choosing to live child-free despite social expectations
• Financial independence and personal freedom
• Gender, masculinity and the way we talk about equality
• Why she refuses to build a huge agency
• What great marketing looks like today, AI and overhype

This episode is for anyone who has ever thought: “Wait… what if I actually want something different?”

Show notes

Jordan Stachini describes herself as an accidental business owner.

But the story behind her marketing agency Co&Co is really a story about something deeper - learning to listen to yourself when the life you thought you wanted starts to feel wrong.

In this conversation Jordan speaks candidly about the hardest decisions she’s made: leaving a relationship, recovering from burnout, setting boundaries as a business owner and choosing a life without children.

What emerges is a story about independence, honesty and the courage to design a life that genuinely fits you.

• The accidental path to building a marketing agency
• Why Jordan refuses to grow her business beyond 10 people
• Saying no to clients and opportunities that don’t align
• Leadership and the expectations founders create
• Burnout and therapy
• Leaving a long-term relationship when your futures diverge
• Living child-free by choice
• Financial independence and freedom of choice
• Gender, masculinity and the International Women’s Day debate
• Why women should never treat career as optional

If this conversation resonates - or challenges something you thought you believed - share it with someone navigating their own messy middle.

Key Takeaways

• Sometimes the most honest sentence in adulthood is: “I don’t want that life.”
• Independence gives you something many people underestimate: choice.
• Growth doesn’t always mean building something bigger. Sometimes it means building something that fits.
• The hardest decisions in life are often the ones that make you most honest with yourself.
• Success on paper doesn’t solve the deeper questions about how you want to live.
• Becoming who you are often means letting go of the version of life you once imagined.

Life is really hard. It’s noisy. It’s overwhelming. It looks fine on paper but feels misaligned underneath.

In this solo episode, I talk honestly about launching The Not There Yet Project from my own messy middle - not from clarity, not from having it figured out, but from burnout, heaviness, and a trip to Scotland that forced a reset.

And then I unpack something I’ve realised about myself: I think I’m both the hare and the tortoise.

The part of me that wants momentum, growth, quick wins and visible proof.

And the part of me that knows slow, steady, consistent effort is what actually builds something meaningful.

If you feel impatient…

If you feel like you should be further along…

If your mind is sprinting but your life feels steady…

Maybe nothing is going wrong.

Maybe you just need to stay in the race.

In this episode, I talk about:

1. Why life being “hard” is something we don’t say enough
2. Launching The Not There Yet Project from burnout, not clarity
3. Changing my job and intentionally choosing community
4. Building spaces where people can belong before they’ve arrived
5. The voice in my head I call “Aggie Ange”
6. Wanting faster growth, quicker wins, stronger proof
7. The real lesson behind The Hare and The Tortoise
8. Why speed isn’t the problem - disengaging is
9. Invisible progress and why it isn’t failure
10. Staying in the race when no one is clapping

1. Life is hard - and saying that out loud matters.

Honesty isn’t weakness. Sometimes it’s comfort.

2. Messy middles don’t look dramatic from the outside.

They often look “fine on paper.”

3. You can be ambitious and steady at the same time.

The hare’s energy isn’t wrong. It’s unsustainable alone.

4. Speed isn’t the issue. Assumption is.

The hare loses because he disengages, not because he’s fast.

5. Invisible progress is foundational, not failure.

Not everything meaningful is loud or measurable.

6. You don’t need to win the race. You just need to stay in it.

Not faster. Not louder. Just steadier.

Episode Summary

Jonny Quirk has spent over a decade building communities - from grassroots club nights to global brands like Yelp, Deliveroo and WeWork, to decentralised Web3 networks.

But beneath the platforms and strategies sits a deeper concern: loneliness.

In this conversation, we explore what belonging looks like in a world shaped by AI, remote work and digital overload - and how leadership feels when you’re still becoming yourself.

This episode is for anyone who has felt surrounded… but not always seen.

Community is everywhere as a word. Belonging feels rarer.

In this episode, Jonny Quirk reflects on loneliness, automation, fatherhood, sobriety and the tension between scale and depth. It’s a conversation about what remains human when technology accelerates — and why gathering still matters.

1. Why humans aren’t wired for isolation
2. Audience vs belonging
3. The pressure to scale versus the need for depth
4. The “first 50” principle
5. AI, automation and purpose
6. Third spaces and disappearing gathering spots
7. Fatherhood and recalibrating ambition
8. Sobriety and clarity

1. Loneliness isn’t weakness — it’s wiring.
2. Scale doesn’t create belonging. Proximity does.
3. Starting with fifty people isn’t small — it’s human.
4. Technology can accelerate connection, but it can’t replace presence.
5. Leadership in the messy middle looks like care, not certainty.
6. Nothing has gone wrong for craving real community.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. communityrocket.co
2. somethingelse.network
3. notthereyetproject.co.uk

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. City Socializing
2. Yelp
3. SubKit
4. WeWork
5. Deliveroo
6. Shares
7. Reddit

Episode description

Roxy Heapy lives between two worlds.

By day, she’s spent nearly two decades building stability in a corporate career at Fanatics. Alongside that, she’s grown a makeup business rooted in trust, care, and long-term relationships.

This conversation explores what it means to navigate two professional identities at once - the tension between security and creativity, the pressure of appearing “settled,” and the reality of still questioning your pace and choices along the way. We talk about growing up fast, using work as safety, redefining success without burning everything down, and learning to trust a life that doesn’t fit neatly into one box.

This episode is for anyone balancing more than one version of themselves - and learning to live in the middle without needing to resolve it all.

In this episode of Notes from the Not There Yet, Bethany sits down with Roxy Heapy to talk about life lived between roles. From holding a long-term corporate career alongside a creative business, to navigating expectations around stability, success, and timing, Roxy shares what it’s like to build a life that doesn’t follow a single-track narrative.

This is a conversation about identity, balance, and allowing different parts of yourself to coexist - without forcing clarity before it’s ready.

1. Living between two careers without choosing just one
2. Stability as safety — and the questions that come with it
3. Identity beyond job titles and linear paths
4. The pressure of looking “sorted” while still feeling uncertain
5. Balance as something you manage, not master
6. Trusting a life that doesn’t fit into one label

1. You don’t have to collapse your life into one path for it to be valid.
2. Stability and questioning can exist at the same time.
3. A career can be both grounding and limiting - neither cancels the other out.
4. Balance isn’t a destination; it’s an ongoing negotiation.
5. Living in the middle doesn’t mean you’re undecided - it means you’re intentional.

Find Roxy

1. Roxy Makeup
2. Fanatics

Episode Description

In this episode, I sit down with Dr Katie Ford - a veterinary surgeon, speaker, and founder whose work around imposter syndrome has quietly helped thousands feel less alone.

We talk about what it’s like to build a life that looks successful on paper, while privately carrying self-doubt, perfectionism, and the fear of being found out. About the masks we wear to cope, the cost of holding it all together, and the slow, often uncomfortable work of learning how to see your own worth.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever wondered whether they truly belong in the room — or felt like confidence was something other people were given, not something they’re allowed to grow into.

Show notes

A calm, honest conversation about imposter syndrome, burnout, identity, and the quiet shift from proving yourself to trusting yourself.

Themes explored

1. Feeling like an imposter - even when you’re capable
2. The pressure of being “the clever one”
3. Perfectionism as protection
4. Burnout and emotional armour
5. Being seen by the right person
6. Learning to belong to yourself

Key Takeaways

1. Feeling like you don’t belong doesn’t mean you don’t - it often means you care deeply.
2. You don’t become worthy by achieving more - worth was already there.
3. Coping mechanisms can harden us without making us broken.
4. Self-kindness can feel unfamiliar before it feels safe.
5. Belonging doesn’t come from certainty — it comes from staying with yourself.
6. Sometimes the work isn’t becoming someone new, but remembering who you already are.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. Katie Ford Vet
2. Vet Empowered
3. Katie Ford Vet Instagram
4. Books by Kristin Neff