My guest today is both client and friend, Janet Shreeve. We’ve both got exciting news to share about a new venture we’re working on together. Firstly though, Janet talks about Shreeve Care Services and how 2025 is ending for her.

Janet shares the highs and lows of her business, starting with an experience that makes everything feel worthwhile. She shares the story of a lady in her late 80s whom she is working with, who out of the blue had a conversation with her in Italian. As a fluent speaker herself, Janet loved being able to talk to this lady, who hadn’t spoken Italian for over 30 years!

Janet also talks about the advisory services that she offers, which has been a large part of her work this year, which she is looking forward to continuing in 2026. This service is something that has come about partly due to the fact that social care has been so badly funded for so long, and people just don’t know what choices they have with care – or what funding is out there. Sadly, many people seem to think that these options cost too much, but by collaborating with other organisations and advising clients about options, people can be supported in the way that they need, often remaining in their own homes. She is passionate about people understanding that they have choices!

She also talks about the new project that we – including my step-daughter Lauren have set up together. Completely unexpectedly by all of us, we have set up ‘Enlightening Escapes’ - to provide a variety of retreats. The retreats are all going to be, as the title suggests, escapes to do something different and have a bit of fun. They’re hard to organise on your own, so it will be great for us working together. She talks about some of the retreats we have coming up in the new year.

We also talk about the budget and the massive omission that was social care which unsurprisingly Janet finds very depressing. However, she shares how she is working in different ways to support people in the care industry – looking at different ways to make things more efficient and cost effective. One being where she works with Agora Staff, and the other a new part of the business, called Care Assist.

To contact Janet:

Website: https://shreevecareservices.co.uk/

Email: Janet.shreeve@shreevecareservices.co.uk

Phone: 07827324590

If you would like to contact me, you can visit www.Scottmedia.uk , https://enlighteningescapes.co.uk/ or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

One of my TV guilty pleasures to watch is Master Chef and today I’m thrilled to meet one of this years’ finalists – Sam Kaeokon.

Sam has lived in Swindon for just over 10 years, and coming from Thailand, unsurprisingly he loves to cook Thai food! He talks about how he learnt to cook after watching his grandma in the kitchen prepare Thai cuisine. After moving to the UK, he found that although there was some Thai food available, it wasn’t the particular type that he enjoyed, so he taught himself to cook, by watching YouTube, reading cook books, looking online – any and every way he could to spend time cooking.

As well as loving cooking, Sam also shares what it is that he loves about living in Swindon – which includes, as much as the town itself, the places that are around the area too.

Master Chef is a huge TV hit, and Sam explains what it was like to be involved in the competition – from the point where he decided to apply to the final weeks. He talks about how nerve-racking it is when you first arrive, as you don’t know anyone, and you meet the judges, the camera crews and everyone who works behind the scenes. Plus you also have to learn how to use the equipment too. He was so nervous and filled with so many different emotions, he didn’t even remember his interview. However, once he got cooking things were fun.

The hardest part for Sam was the time-lag between filming and the airing for the programme, and having to remain quiet about the outcome!

Sam also talks about how being on the show has made him reassess his life – although he still wants to work in care – probably alongside cooking too.

A very modest man, Sam is proud of what he has achieved, and underlines that it’s not about winning but the journey. He loves caring for people, and he also puts care into cooking!

To contact Sam:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samkaeokon/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573564905057

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@sammikaeokon

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

My guest today is business friend Debbie Gilbert, who runs a marketing agency, the networking company called Businesswomen UnLtd and also runs events including The Best Businesswomen Awards and the Best SME Awards. She is also about to launch a brand new app called Leanier.

Debbie tells how she began her own business at a time before the internet was so big, and when websites were just emerging and social media didn’t even exist. She fell into her business due to a number of difficult family events that coincided when she moved home to Hertfordshire, having left her job. She soon found herself taking on work to support herself and her family making use of her previous skills in marketing.

We talk about the challenges that women face, but men do not. Debbie first began to think about this when she entered for her first business award, and she realised that out of the 25 winners, there were only 3 women on stage! She shares her reasons why she thinks this is – one being because women are working for themselves, for flexibility to work around families. It was following this revelation that she created the Best Businesswomen Awards in 2015 – which are running 11 years later.

Debbie also talks about how she doesn’t feel women are taken seriously in business and it becomes more noticeable when it comes to venture capital and funding. You may be surprised when you hear the small amount that goes to female businesses – still in 2025.

Debbie’s three top tips for all business owners for 2026:

• You need to get AI fit.
• Connect with human beings.
• If you haven’t yet, enter some awards.

To contact Debbie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debgilbert/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbiejanegilbert/

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

My guest today is a returning guest, Liz Perkins. Liz is the night news editor on the Sunday Telegraph and the Telegraph, plus she also writes freelance stories across the national papers too. She is incredibly busy and always on the go!

She talks about a recent appearance on Crime, on CBS network talking about a crime story she followed years ago. The story was about a murderer in Swansea, who was suddenly placed on release warrant, and allowed to wander around where he pleased. Unsurprisingly his family wanted to know how he was there.

Liz is from South Wales and is known there for her story exposing sexism and misogyny in the Welsh Rugby Union and she has also written a lot of stories about domestic abuse too. She writes about a wide variety of subjects because many different people get in contact with her with stories they want to share. She also gets invited to interviews all over the world, from General Petraeus, who was in charge of the US Army to UK TV presenter Jeff Brazier.

She shares some of the favourite people she’s interviewed, from those who are nationally known, to people she met at my No BS Media Summit earlier this year. Liz is always on the lookout for potential stories. Taking part in my summit was the first time she had done something like that, and found it amazing that the attendees had the opportunities to meet national news editors and journalists - something that is incredibly rare. Following the summit, Liz has written the stories of several people who attended, and still has stories where she is waiting for a chance to submit them to the right place.

The types of stories Liz says she is interested in are the ones about the person – not their product or service. People are interested in how people have got where they are and their backstory - that’s her passion.

Always a busy person, Liz talks about the exciting places she’ll be visiting in the future, including Australia and Saudi Arabia. She is a very sought after journalist, who is always on the move, and always looking for the next story.

Liz will be joining me soon on a webinar on 19th November. To book on visit https://scottmedia.uk/product/want-to-be-in-the-national-news-in-2026/

To contact Liz:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-perkins-7b667b75/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journoliz/

X: https://x.com/lizperkinsmedia

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

I’ve known today's guest for many years, and the first thing I asked Gareth Davis to talk about was his memory of first meeting the Scott family.

Gareth first met my son David when he was at Westlea Primary School in Swindon. David was about five or six when he joined Gareth’s martial arts class and Gareth talks about how martial arts can help people/children to learn and move at their own pace. Plus the skills they learn can be transferred into other aspects of their lives, giving them confidence.

He shares his story of how he became a black belt at the age of eight after finding a passion for the discipline. He talks about how hard he trained and how he knew it was what he wanted to do from an early age – even when talking to the schools’ careers teacher when he was older. He left school with all A and B grades at GCSE level, but didn’t want to go on to do more schooling. Although his parents did persuade him – for all of six weeks. After working as a teacher, he set up his own business when he was 20, when he took over his old instructor’s business when the latter moved to the US.

We talk about how Gareth managed to build up good relationships with local Swindon schools, which grew particularly when opportunities for private providers to run afterschool clubs and activities came along and how he used PR in his business.

Gareth shares three fantastic top tips for starting a business which in brief are:

• having a passion for what you do;
• understanding what you need to make the business grow
• do right by people.

Then after 15 years of doing the thing that was his passion, Gareth made a huge change to his life and moved to the US. He shares the fascinating and brave story of how he moved to the US to be with his girlfriend/ now wife just as Covid was taking over the world. He had to make a quick decision, otherwise they wouldn’t have seen each other for two years! Since living in Las Vegas, he has re-trained to work in residential real estate.

If you want to know more about how that move went and how things are going, you need to listen to the podcast – where you’ll hear the 5 things about Las Vegas that are better than the UK, and the things that Gareth misses about the UK!

To contact Gareth:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_garethdavis_/

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

Today, Lauren is talking to Louise Muir Sage of ‘Something Kind of Woo’, a crystal shop in Royal Wootton Bassett.

Alongside crystals, she also sells incense, essential oils, tarot and oracle cards. Plus Lou is a Reiki practitioner and runs Reiki sessions and also Chakra realignment sessions. Explaining what Reiki is and how it works, she describes it as ‘cosmic glitter for the soul’. It’s a form of energy healing that helps to bring balance to people and clear blockages, and many people find it very relaxing.

Lou also explains what Chakras are, and talks about how our bodies are made up of 21, with each one being responsible for different energies.

Her interest in crystals began after she stopped drinking, and had problems sleeping. Rather than going from one addiction to another – sleeping tables, she decided to look at other things that would help, and that’s where crystals came in. Crystals are definitely her passion.

Lou’s decision to start her business came about after talking to her partner about at some point in the future, owning a shop that would be coffee and crystals. After that she connected with the owner of a local café where she now runs meditation events, and decided to run a coffee and crystal event – which has sold out every month since starting! That was the start of her creating her business which during this year has gone from strength to strength.

Having worked with Scott Media for a while now, Lou talks about how much she’s learned and gained from that experience. She has recently featured in several national magazines, talking about her story, and she’s passionate about wanting to share her story to help others.

Lou gives her advice about setting up your own business; the main tip being, if you have a dream – go for it – don’t park it!

To contact Lou:

Website: https://somethingkindofwoo.co.uk/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-muir-sage-somethingkindofwoo/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomethingKindofWoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somethingkindofwoo/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@somethingkindofwoo

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

My guest today, Sandra Stahl is from New York, who like me has worked in PR for many years. She has spent her career working in both New York and in various other places around the globe, including London.

Sandra talks about how she started her career as an intern while still at university, and at the end of the internship was offered a job. That job, working on research, was at an agency called Research and Forecast - part of a global agency called Ruder Finn. After leaving there, she moved around, working in many different places, eventually starting her own agency, which in 2020 was sold to Ruder Finn! The agency is called JacobStahl, a Ruder Finn company.

She talks about the types of work she has done, and about how the entrepreneurial skill sets within communications work whatever the situation -in both corporate or agency settings. We also talk about the importance of investing in good communications as messaging and presentation has always been critical in business. For many it’s what makes them stand out from their rivals. Particularly in the world today with uncertainties coming from all sides – both finance and politics.

Sandra talks with passion about AI - about how people in PR, comms, marketing and journalism are early adopters and this is true when it comes to AI. She thinks the best way to look at AI is to see it as a friend and a great efficiency tool. Embrace what it can do to help you in your work, but then use that information to add your own human spin. Add your humanity – your intuition, empathy using your distinctive voice.

Alongside her work, she writes for several publications, teaches and has written several books; 'The Art and Craft of PR’; ‘The Smart PR Book’, and ‘Shifting Sands’.

To contact Sandra:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-stahl-7b058a/

Website: www.JacobStahl.com

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

For today’s podcast, Lauren is talking to John Lewis, a mindset and performance coach at JL Mindset Performance.

After working as a holiday rep, on building sites and owning a courier company, John went into coaching because it was something that he realised he’d always done; helping other people and being interested in others’. He trained and qualified as a performance coach, and has training in first aid for mental health and NLP.

He works with businesses, sports teams and individuals to help them in their personal life, or helping them to achieve what they want to achieve, and to overcome any obstacles that are hindering them in reaching their goals.

John has a love of sport himself and regularly works with Swindon Town Football Club, delivering different training to their staff, alongside working with other international sports men and women. Presently he’s working with a lady who is ranked number two in Clay Pigeon shooting her in the UK. As with many sports people, it isn’t the technical or tactical things they need support with, but emotional barriers that sometimes get in their own way of success.

During and after Covid, John had to embrace his fear of technology and embrace online platforms to talk to people which was something he really didn’t want to do, but has embraced, although as you’ll hear, he far prefers face to face meetings. Flexibility is something that is important to John and so he offers clients a space to work where they feel comfortable.

Many people are uncomfortable about talking to people with problems, which is impacting on businesses, and John talks about how many days are lost due to people having poor mental health.

John’s passion for helping others’ shines through in his conversation, as he encourages people to ask for help to stay on top of things rather than seeing problems as a weakness.

To contact John:

Website: https://www.jlmindsetperformance.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lewis-691917173/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JLmindsetperformance

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_m1nd5et/

Phone: 07947808675

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe