She ran bars from Glasgow to Abu Dhabi, modeled language patterns from NLP masters, and turned her husband's final champagne night into a leadership framework — all by trusting the process.

In this episode, we sit down with Fiona Campbell-Arrands — author, coach, and founder of The Professional Growth Company — for a conversation that spans grief, adventure, language, and legacy. Fiona opens up about losing her husband Duncan to terminal illness and how that loss became a catalyst for finishing her book, Working with Trust. She describes the strange chemical armor that grief provides in its early months, and the deeper, quieter wave that arrived in the second summer without him — a wave she chose to trust rather than fight.

Fiona's path to coaching was anything but linear. She left school at sixteen, became the youngest air traffic control assistant in the UK, hitchhiked to Greece with thirty pounds in her pocket, ran the bar at London's original Comedy Store, managed a hotel bar in Abu Dhabi, helped launch Xerox across the Middle East, and spent twenty-five years in sales — all before training as a clinical hypnotherapist and NLP master practitioner. She breaks down three language models that shaped her coaching philosophy: the NLP Meta Model for information gathering, the Milton Model for ambiguous, trance-like language, and Meta Programs for understanding what truly motivates people. Along the way she shares a brilliant story about a manager at Yellow Pages who instinctively used "away from" motivation to keep her on target.

The heart of the episode is the Trust Framework — born from a six-hour champagne-fueled session with Duncan during his final days, where he challenged her, laughed with her, and helped her outline what would become the foundation of her book. Truthfulness, transparency, respect, understanding others, support, and timeliness — the pillars they identified together — are now part of a leadership programme Fiona delivers worldwide. She reflects on whether anyone can be a leader (only those who genuinely want to be), why companies are bringing back experienced "gray beards" as AI falls short on human connection, and how it felt to pour fourteen-hour days into finishing the manuscript after Duncan passed.

Pour a cup of something, settle in, and meet a woman who turned her last champagne night into a gift for every leader who'll come after her.

Working with Trust is available worldwide on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Working-Trust-compassionate-empathic-leadership/dp/1918123101?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

You can find Fiona on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionacampbellarrand/

or visit theprofessionalgrowthcompany.com.

Join the revolution of Scotland's Women, a podcast celebrating the voices and experiences of women from all across Scotland. Each episode features inspiring, honest and unfiltered conversations with women from all walks of life - sharing their journeys, challenges, triumphs and perspectives.

These are real stories of women shaping modern Scotland - leaders, creators, dreamers and change makers - offering insight, advice and inspiration to listeners everywhere. Whether you're looking for empowerment, wisdom, or simply a connection to authentic stories, this podcast reminds us that every woman has a voice!

Visit our website and get in touch: https://scotlandswomen.com/

Follow us and join the revolution : https://www.instagram.com/scotlandswomen/

Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

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"Some women survive their story. This one turned hers into a legacy."

What happens when you lose the person who believed in you most, and the only way to honor them is to finish the work you started together? In this episode, we meet a woman who left school at sixteen with no plan, no qualifications she thought mattered, and no idea she was smart — and then somehow became the youngest air traffic control assistant in the UK, ran bars on three continents, helped launch a global tech brand across the Middle East, and spent twenty-five years in sales before reinventing herself entirely.

She opens up about the night that changed everything — a final champagne-fueled conversation with her husband during his last days, where together they sketched out a framework built on trust. She talks about what grief really feels like when the chemical armor wears off, why she questioned whether knowing a death is coming is harder than losing someone suddenly, and how she found the energy to work fourteen-hour days to finish what they started.

She also breaks down the hidden patterns in the language we all use every day — patterns that reveal what people truly want, what they're avoiding, and what motivates them to act — and shares why the companies that let go of their most experienced people are now scrambling to bring them back.

It is a conversation about trust, loss, reinvention, and the legacy one woman built from the hardest chapter of her life. If you have ever had to start over — this one is not to be missed.

Working with Trust is available worldwide on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Working-Trust-compassionate-empathic-leadership/dp/1918123101?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

You can find Fiona on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionacampbellarrand/

or visit theprofessionalgrowthcompany.com.

Join the revolution of Scotland's Women, a podcast celebrating the voices and experiences of women from all across Scotland. Each episode features inspiring, honest and unfiltered conversations with women from all walks of life - sharing their journeys, challenges, triumphs and perspectives.

These are real stories of women shaping modern Scotland - leaders, creators, dreamers and change makers - offering insight, advice and inspiration to listeners everywhere. Whether you're looking for empowerment, wisdom, or simply a connection to authentic stories, this podcast reminds us that every woman has a voice!

Visit our website and get in touch: https://scotlandswomen.com/

Follow us and join the revolution : https://www.instagram.com/scotlandswomen/

Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Final Show: When the Last Curtain Falls, the Real Story Begins

Imagine stepping on stage night after night -- sequins, feathers, a packed crowd -- while your father is seriously ill. Nobody in the audience knows. That's the reality Kim Chapman lived for a year, and in this episode of Scotland's Women, she tells it in her own words.

For 20 years, Kim was Missy Malone -- a name she created at 18, inspired by old Hollywood glamour and her Irish heritage. She rode the wave of the burlesque boom from 2005 and produced her own touring show for a decade. But behind the stage makeup and costumes, life was hitting hard.

When her dad was diagnosed with cancer, Kim moved in with her parents and became a carer. She kept performing because it was the purest escapism she could find. She'd paint her face, become someone else for an hour, and breathe. She describes the makeup as armor -- when she didn't see her own vulnerable face staring back, she felt stronger. She was also filming a Scottish TV series during his final year, commuting between Edinburgh and home, terrified of being away at the wrong time. Parts of that period are still blurry.

When her dad passed, everything changed. She came out the other side a different person, with a new urgency about life. She decided to pursue acting properly -- at nearly 40, with no drama school training, when most people would say the boat had sailed. She also gave burlesque the goodbye it deserved: a year-long farewell tour, 45 dates across Europe, the UK, and America, timed with her 40th birthday. She says it was one of the most joyful years of her life -- fully present for the first time, knowing it was the last time.

Then something unexpected happened. While filming the second series of Crime, she met actor David Elliot. Her story came pouring out, and after seeing her final show, he said: "I think you should tell your own story." The result is Goodbye Honey Henderson, a short film inspired by Kim's life -- the glamour of the stage set against the raw reality of grief. Filming to begin in October 2026 - follow the film insta to find our more.

As a Cabaret vs Cancer ambassador for over 15 years, Kim speaks movingly about how the charity's work took on new meaning after she lived through loss herself. She'll fly their flag forevermore. And at the end, Kim shares the Scottish quote her mum used to say, now framed on her wall: "What's for you it'll no go by you." How true and fitting that is to Kim's story and our's.

Connect with Kim:

• Instagram: @kimchapmanactor
• Film Instagram: @goodbyehoneyhenderson

Join the revolution of Scotland's Women, a podcast celebrating the voices and experiences of women from all across Scotland. Each episode features inspiring, honest and unfiltered conversations with women from all walks of life - sharing their journeys, challenges, triumphs and perspectives.

These are real stories of women shaping modern Scotland - leaders, creators, dreamers and change makers - offering insight, advice and inspiration to listeners everywhere. Whether you're looking for empowerment, wisdom, or simply a connection to authentic stories, this podcast reminds us that every woman has a voice!

Visit our website and get in touch: https://scotlandswomen.com/

Follow us and join the revolution : https://www.instagram.com/scotlandswomen/

Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.