PODCAST · business
Progress
by Host Sandra F
Progress's guests talk about their pathway to a career in a values-led job. We've talked to sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture. They might be campaigners, city planners, comedians (yes really!), philosophers, psychologists, scientists, serious games creators and technologists. What unites them is their desire to improve the planet and offer a hand up to people seeking values-led work and green home lives. Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights. About Podcast host, interviewer and journalist Sandra Fraser set up ProGRESS to provide an inspiring and entertaining listen to make the world a greener, kinder place. Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/progress_green_careers_podcast?igsh=MXJ6cWdrZXg2cGpkNA==" rel="noopener n
Episodes
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Em Burnip, founder of Eco Wedding Festivals
Em Burnip is passionate about nature and the environment and when her daughter Grace was born she matched her business skills with her values to create Eco Wedding Festivals. But taking control of her own career path was less straightforward than simply setting up an eco-business while she was on...
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Holly Westgarth-Graham, Masters student at Edinburgh Futures Institute
Holly Westgarth-Graham has returned to her studies after a spell working as an intern for sustainable travel company Byway, the flight-free holiday platform. She explains how her course is helping her carve out her own future, bringing ethical and eco-storytelling together with ethical innovation...
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Elspeth Yates, career coach at Happier Humans and head of people at Change Agents
This episode drops in January, traditionally the month when people quit their jobs or evaluate whether what they are doing is the right thing for them. As an independent career coach alongside working as head of Change Agents UK's People and Placements team, Elspeth Yates helps people find their...
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Whitni Thomas, Head of Corporate Finance, Triodos Bank UK
How do you land a job at a bank that creates positive social, environmental and cultural change? And how do you get to hear about banks like Triodos in the first place? Whitni Thomas, the daughter of missionaries (her father is a vicar), says that she never meant to go into banking. Yet she…
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Carlos Terol, changemaker, responsible entrepreneur
Carlos Terol is a founder at Good Ripple, a community of change-makers who want to make a difference in the world. He describes his fascinating journey to find meaning and purpose in his work life over the last 10 years, and how he is enabling others to make positive, ethical social impact…
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Dr Jessica Tipton Head of the National Education Nature Park at the Natural History Museum
Dr Jessica Tipton, or Jess as she is known, is head of the National Education Nature Park at the Natural History Museum, a project commissioned by the Department for Education as part of its Sustainability and Climate Strategy. In 2020 Jess founded the UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN) as...
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The big five-zero. Season five finale and round-up
Here's the Series 5 grand finale, featuring the best bits of the latest guests on ProGRESS, the podcast promoting green, ethical, sustainable and socially responsible careers. The podcast was set up with the notion that listeners might like tips and ideas for how to follow in guests’ footsteps if...
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Reena Mahajan, Urban planner, designer and advocate for sustainable development
Drawn to both science and the arts when she was at school, Reena Mahajan’s studies and work took her to three continents. She studied architecture in New Delhi before moving to Paris to study urban planning and sustainable development. When she moved to Uruguay, she broadened her horizons and...
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Sarah Flynn, Psychologist, author and human sustainability coach
Sarah Flynn is a career coach who works with purpose-led, empathic leaders making a difference to the world. In addition, Sarah teaches resilience for sustainability leaders on the Cambridge sustainability leaders masters. Discussing her own squiggly career journey, Sarah explains how she felt…
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Matteo Menapace, Serious, ethical, cooperative games designer
When he was young Matteo Menapace spent many afternoons playing video games and learnt to code so he could hack his first game. So how does a kid playing video games (with a Saturday job making pizzas) turn his hobby into a professional career that challenges people to think about the most…
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Johnathon Miller-McCall, Science communicator, conservationist and nature nerd
Johnathon Miller-McCall grew up in South London, seemingly an unpromising location for wildlife observation and a career as a conservationist, science communicator and storyteller. Yet, Johnathon reveals, there are more than 14,000 species in the city, and it’s one of the world’s largest urban...
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Connor Cashell, Campaigns officer, Cycling UK
Connor Cashell combines his socially responsible and ethical values with a push for sustainability and a job campaigning for Cycling UK. After university Connor worked in Belgium where he facilitated meetings between European leaders and the people who really understood what was going on in...
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Dr Fernanda da Silva Tatley, Scientist, entrepreneur and Reiki Master
There's no doubt that Dr Fernanda da Silva Tatley's scientific career has been one of purpose. A medical molecular microbiologist, she’s researched tuberculosis (TB), listeria and cancer, working with Glaxo Wellcome, then enabled other researchers as an account manager for Roche Diagnostics.…
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Matthew Payne, Catalyst at Healthtech-1, NHS Youth Board member
Still in his early twenties Matthew Payne parked his career plans and degree course to work for a tech start-up to try, as he puts it, to fix the National Health Service. Matthew was due to finish his final undergraduate year and had ticked all the boxes to make himself a good candidate for a...
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Stuart Goldsmith, Climate comedian and podcaster
What’s funny about climate change, you might think if you spot comedian Stuart Goldsmith’s job title. The answer is, of course, nothing, but after a long and successful career as a performer and stand-up comedian Stuart found himself wanting to talk about just one thing - climate change. So how...
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Katie Goldsbrough, Woodland officer, ecologist, conservationist and bat carer
Katie Goldsbrough is a woodland officer, ecologist, conservationist and bat carer. She’s passionate about the outdoors, something that started in childhood and guided her through university, where she studied for a degree in zoology. Aware of the masses of plastic tree guards used when planting...
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Duncan Goose, CEO and founder of One Water. One year on...
Duncan Goose, the founder of Global Ethics and the brand One Water, returned to ProGRESS to talk about what has happened in the 12 months since we last spoke, including why he undertook a round Britain road trip to echo the world tour he was on more than 20 years ago that changed his career...
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Rae Wilkinson, Award-winning garden designer. One year on...
In this wide-reaching discussion, ProGRESS's first-ever guest Rae Wilkinson rejoins the podcast to tell Sandra more about her career as an award-winning sustainable landscape and garden designer. Recording from her studio at the Knepp Estate in Sussex, Rae talks about introducing her clients to...
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Maddie Booth, Sustainability consultant, educator and speaker
Sustainability consultant and environmental educator Maddie Booth started her first enterprise while at the University of Warwick, where she was studying for a Bachelor of Arts and Science (BASc) in global sustainable development and politics. In the spirit of no experience is wasted, Maddie says...
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James Adeleke, Generation Success founder, equality champion, social entrepreneur
James Adeleke thought his future lay in football, but a serious injury meant he had to rethink his plans (much to his mum's relief) and study law instead. In this episode James talks about how meeting a homeless man after the London Riots affected his thinking, what turned his society at law…
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Divya Kumar, Community engagement manager at Earthwatch Europe
An absolute livewire, Divya Kumar is a community engagement manager for Earthwatch Europe, responsible for overseeing Tiny Forests around the UK. She aims to hit the 300 mark by the end of 2025 and now describes herself as a socio-environmentalist. But when Divya was younger, though she had…
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David Kohnstamm, Chief sustainability officer
David Kohnstamm is a thermal engineer and the chief sustainability officer and co–founder of Leafcloud, which offers its clients a truly green alternative to energy-hungry traditional data centres. David is scathing about the misleading use of the word ‘cloud’ to describe most data centres, since...
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Dr Bushra Schuitemaker, Zoologist, microbiologist and award winning communicator
Zoologist, microbiologist and science champion Dr Bushra Schuitemaker has carved out a career in research and is determined to ensure young people from disadvantaged backgrounds know that science is for them too. Bushra’s stella science career is all the more remarkable because her local…
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Dr Mark Sumner, textiles programme lead at WRAP
Dr Mark Sumner was one of ProGRESS's earliest guests, so his 2025 return to the podcast to talk about the latest developments in his career feels like a seal of approval. Mark talks about leaving Leeds University's School of Design at the end of the 2024 academic year in favour of a new role at...
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Justin Kelly CEO of Glass Futures, Chair of Sustainable Ventures
Business leader Justin Kelly stepped away from his C-suite role at the international engineering and technology company Siemens in 2022 and is now chief executive at Glass Futures, a not-for-profit tech membership organisation. Glass Futures researches more sustainable glass manufacture across…
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Season 3 round-up: The lightbulb moment
Season 3 round-up: The lightbulb moment Featuring all 11 guests, this end-of-season episode highlights guests' explanations of how, when and why they got into their career. For some, it was a natural progression from a childhood interest or obsession, while others had a lightbulb or lightning…
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Beccy Dickson, co-founder of Branded Bio and eco entrepreneur,
In spite of business liquidation and a divorce, award-winning f:Entrepreneur Beccy Dickson and now ex-husband Macey Mitchell decided to remain business partners, founding Branded Bio, which supplies sustainable walls and backdrops full of living green plants and flowers for events, to interior...
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Helen Walsh, Designer, writer and conservation sector communications expert
A creative child who was also interested in science, Helen Walsh was encouraged by her teacher parents to explore all her interests, something that stood her in good stead for her future career. Helen was fascinated by sharks as a child – though growing up in Stoke she was about as far away from...
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Matthew Halteman, philosophy professor, animal and food ethicist, Arsenal football fan
Dr Matthew C Halteman is a professor of philosophy at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a fellow at the Oxford Centre of Animal Ethics. Beside his academic work, Matthew is on the board of directors for The Better Food Foundation and Creature Kind, and he's the author of Hungry...
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Jonathan Mearns OBE, careers coach, sustainability entrepreneur and adventurer
Jonathan Mearns OBE, has a job role topical to the festive season. Jonathan is a founder of London Christmas Tree Rental. The company rents out living Norway Spruce trees in England's capital city over the Christmas period. Trees are picked up by their temporary owners, then returned to their...
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Rachel Johnson, student mental health social worker
Rachel Johnson's career was going swimmingly. In the two decades since graduating from University of Leeds, she had worked her way up through various early careers and student research organisations, such as Milkround, Not Going to Uni, UCAS and Cibyl at Group GTI, an independent market research...
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Don Weatherbee, CPA, CMA, CITP and CEO of RegenX
A decade ago Canadian Don Weatherbee moved from his long career crunching the numbers in mining to join a gold recovery company. From there, it wasn't such a big leap to start working with the pioneering technology business RegenX, innovating the way precious metals are recycled, particularly…
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Danielle Neal
Danielle Neal is a procurement officer for Norwich City Council. They gained a first class honours degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia, (UEA), studying a course that included a year in industry. Initially, and because of their strong background in business studies,...
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Jo Faulkner-Harvey, head of charity fundraising
Jo Faulkner-Harvey studied theatre design but left her degree early when she was offered an amazing internship. It meant working on productions and prop-making behind the scenes on such classic films as Alien. But a twist of fate a few years later found her back in Northamptonshire, working at...
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Stuart Mabbutt aka The Wildman Part 2
Part 2 If you've heard of Stuart Mabbutt, it's likely to be through his podcast or his business Wildman Environmental Learning. His sensory nature workshops enable people to connect with the natural world, and sometimes an unlikely beginning leads to a life revelation. When he’s not doing that,...
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Stuart Mabbutt aka The Wildman Part 1
Part 1 Stuart Mabbutt can recall the first time he engaged with the natural world and wanted to know more. He was in primary school, came across a dead magpie, and wondered why someone had ringed it. His teacher, meanwhile, was trying to persuade Stuart to leave it alone. And so began a lifelong...
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Shaheer Hafeez ACA
Shaheer Hafeez left university and started studying for his accountancy exams with a view to going into a career in audit. But volunteering with the social enterprise Generation Success, and meeting its founder James Adeleke showed Shaheer just how far a can-do attitude can take you. He shifted…
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Sarah Daly, sustainability consultant and climate champion
Sarah Daly is a climate champion and independent sustainability consultant who advises organisations, businesses and agencies. A TEDx speaker, Sarah is a leading LinkedIn sustainability influencer, and is named in the 2023 Unlock Net Zero Climate Champions' Power List. Sarah's varied workload...
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Imogen Overy, classics graduate, personal trainer, vegan, pro-wrestler
Imogen Overy is a personal trainer (PT) at the UK’s first carbon neutral gym chain. As a vegan, she chooses a plant-based diet, but she encourages clients to eat to be healthy, meat included if they want it. Imogen was studying classical civilisations at the University of Warwick, with a view to...
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Glen Burrows, photographer, disrupter, regenerative food entrepreneur
He shelved his ambition to be a chef, went to university and for 25 years ate no meat. Then Glen Burrows became an omnivore. Glen discusses his high-octane, interesting and hugely successful career as a globally sought-after professional photographer and videographer, and his very intriguing...
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Kurt Henderson, senior product designer at Byway Travel
Kurt Henderson is a polymath. Before Kurt landed at the B-Corps certified company Byway Travel he was an entrepreneur, starting his first venture while at school. He began studying architectural technology at Brighton University but switched to digital media and design, a move he describes as…
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Nicki Black, fashion and creative director
After leaving school and studying fashion design Nicki Black joined a PR firm. She hated it. But a friendly stylist took Nicki under her wing and helped her navigate into the world of fashion shoots. Over the last 20-plus years she has carved out a stellar career as a fashion and creative…
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Mark Harvey, managing director of Fielden Whisky of England
Mark Harvey is the managing director of Fielden Whisky of England. Fielden puts emphasis on the heart of its whisky, ancient grains grown on chemical-free land, planted with an under-storey of white clover. Everything starts from this point of regenerative farming and the grain is grown across...
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Lydia Carrington, sustainability manager, Edgbaston Stadium
Lydia Carrington works as the sustainability manager for the iconic cricket stadium Edgbaston, which is something of a beacon when it comes to promoting green sporting events. Edgbaston Stadium's commitment to changing its carbon emissions for the better is particularly noticable on match days,...
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Green tips, ethical stories and some of the best bits from Season 1
Host Sandra recaps on some of the best bits since the show was launched at the beginning of 2024 and picks out a highlight from each of the 12 guests featured in series 1. She reflects on the amazing insights they've shared, the actions they took along their career pathway and there are some…
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Sarah Ashworth, researcher developer at University of Manchester
Sarah Ashworth was the first in her family to go to university after receiving a contextualised offer in recognition of her achievement. She studied pathology and microbiology at Bristol University and remembers the benefits she gained from a Nuffield Foundation placement. She also talks about...
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Duncan Goose, founder of Global Ethics and One Water
Duncan's career change from advertising and marketing executive to social entrepreneur and charity head was instigated after a life changing six-month world motorbiking trip. He returned to the UK with a vision: selling bottled water for good causes and using the profits to bring clean water...
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Sanjukta Jitendhar, architect, Mikhail Riches
Sanjukta Jitendhar is an architect working at Mikhail Riches. In this episode she discusses her professional philosophy and aspirations, and her views on rent affordability and home ownership, particularly for her generation. She also talks about refurbishing and repurposing existing homes…
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Jake Fiennes, director of Holkham National Nature Reserve and general manager, conservation, Holkham Estate
Jake Fiennes is director of the Holkham Nature Reserve and general manager, conservation, at Holkham Estate in Norfolk. But he left school aged 16 to move to London and work at a nightclub and from there, his career path involved a few twists and turns before he became a hugely respected and...
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Rachel Warren professor of global change and environmental biology
Global climate change scientist Professor Rachel Warren is internationally respected for her research but she could probably walk down any street in any country without people realising the scale and reach of her work. In this episode Rachel explains how an early interest in bird conservation...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Progress's guests talk about their pathway to a career in a values-led job.
We've talked to sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture. They might be campaigners, city planners, comedians (yes really!), philosophers, psychologists, scientists, serious games creators and technologists. What unites them is their desire to improve the planet and offer a hand up to people seeking values-led work and green home lives.
Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights.
About
Podcast host, interviewer and journalist Sandra Fraser set up ProGRESS to provide an inspiring and entertaining listen to make the world a greener, kinder place.
Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/progress_green_careers_podcast?igsh=MXJ6cWdrZXg2cGpkNA==" rel="noopener n
HOSTED BY
Host Sandra F
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Progress have?
Progress currently has 56 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Progress about?
Progress's guests talk about their pathway to a career in a values-led job. We've talked to sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture. They might be...
How often does Progress release new episodes?
Progress has 56 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to Progress on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Progress?
Progress is created and hosted by Host Sandra F.
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