Frances Brown - Blagging, being a good translator and dealing with grief

Frances is the ex-director of the Queens Young Leaders programme and describes herself as a ‘positive troublemaker’ which I think is very much the case. We start on her journey where she sort of blagged her way through university, playing the system to get through. Her ability to do this did make her lose interest in art and I think ultimately university. Frances talks very openly about her own struggles with mental health and discovering that her depression manifests itself as not being able to read. This led to her not finishing her PhD but ultimately, a deeper understanding of herself. To be honest I’d not heard of Queens Young Leaders until I found out Frances got the position. It was a brilliant programme helping amazing people across the commonwealth who are running projects or business that are socially focused. Really interesting to hear how Frances will be building on this network of 500+ people across the world in her new role at the Queen’s Commonwealth trust. Asking guests where their expertise lies is always a tricky question but I eventually got Frances to answer it. She describes herself as a good communicator with a large shallow base and specialises in translating information to a specific audience. We also touch on her Mum’s battle with cancer and how the Grief Cast Podcast has really helped her through tough times. Death is often a subject that we shy away from and embracing it through discussion and comedy is always good in my opinion. Frances' Twitter - https://twitter.com/fbrownwork Katie Allan - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-45977823 Queen’s Young Leaders - https://www.queensyoungleaders.com/ Queen's Commonwealth Trust - https://www.queenscommonwealthtrust.org The Grief Cast - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/griefcast-with-cariad-lloyd/id1178572854?mt=2 Frances Website - http://www.fbrownwork.com