From employee ownership to working with children. Here are more fabulous speakers!

I mentioned in my last blog about Scott Media Speakers, (at the beginning of November). We have been going since March this year, and things are really beginning to take off. I’ve had several bookings, and sadly, I’ve even had to say no to some requests because the particular speaker requested was already booked.

Moving into 2025, I am removing the tiers that I originally set up when I started to enrol speakers and instead each speaker’s profile will have guidance about what they expect to be paid.

Here are four of my fabulous speakers that I wanted to share with you this month:

Chris Maslin

Chris is a forward-thinking entrepreneur on a mission to make it easy and affordable for businesses to transition to employee ownership. After working for five years in corporate life, and always feeling at odds with everything, he left to set up his own accountancy firm in 2009. Unleashing his entrepreneurial spirit, he built the company from scratch to a business with a turnover of around £1million.  He eventually decided he wanted to go on to do other things, so caring about his business and wanting to ensure the company’s long-term success, he passed control and future prosperity to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) in 2021.

He wanted to help small businesses transition to employee ownership easily and affordably, which wasn’t always the case and was often very expensive for small businesses.  To this end, he launched Go EO in 2022, aiming to streamline EOT transfers for businesses.  

In his private life, Chris, along with his wife has helped set up a homeless day centre, and more recently a community interest café that helps reduce food waste whilst also asking customers to pay whatever they feel able to (enabling the poorest to get a free meal). He’s also a trustee and treasurer of a cancer charity in his community.

His Speaking Topics: 

• Personal journey 
• What is Employee Ownership 
• Why I chose Employee Ownership 
• How I help others Go EO 
• Creating a successful business  
• Selling a successful business  
• Changing direction in your 40s 
• Giving back in business 

Laura Dent

Laura and her husband, Neil, are the directors of So Fresh & So Clean UK Ltd, a commercial and specialist cleaning company. With over 13 years of experience in the industry, she is dedicated to fostering an inclusive working environment and creating job opportunities for all. The company is part of the Living Wage Foundation, and they ensure all of their team are valued, respected and treated fairly.

They have specialist teams working in commercial cleaning, food production hygiene, washroom services, industrial cleaning and peripheral services, and can offer a tailored service, specific for a variety of sectors and industries. They also provide Mental Health Crises Cleaning, Biohazard, Hoarding Services, and Probate Services. Both Laura and her team are particularly respectful when working with people who are dealing with mental health issues.

Laura’s aim is to use company funds to provide specialist cleaning services to people in her local community who are living in unsafe conditions. This could be due to mental health issues, or hoarding tendencies; she wants to create a safe place and a clean start for the healing journey to begin.

Laura and Neil are proud parents to two boys and a girl and have two dogs and when they’re not working, they enjoy spending time together.

Her Speaking Topics: 

• Inclusion in the workplace
• Mental health crisis
• Hoarding
• ME/CFS
• Commercial cleaning
• Bio-hazard cleaning
• Industry standards

John Lewis  

John of JL Mindset Performance is a passionate, accredited coach, working with individuals, businesses and sports teams, helping them to overcome the obstacles that can be stopping them from reaching their potential or performing at their highest level. As an NLP Master practitioner, he has a range of tools he uses to help people think, feel and behave in a way that allows them to move forward towards their goals.

He has worked with athletes of all levels, from local to international, including Team GB, performing arts and Olympic hopefuls within many sports disciplines.

Among the companies he’s worked with are Specsavers, and Utility Warehouse.

As a father himself, John particularly loves working with young people to help them reach their full potential and regularly gives talks in schools. He also works with local sports teams, including Royal Wootton Bassett Rugby club.

He works with clients in many different ways, either one to one, face to face or via an online platform – always in a private and confidential setting.

John is also passionate about supporting people with mental health issues. JL Mindset Performance also provides certified Mental Health First Aid training courses. These can also be delivered in person or fully online, either one to one or as a business or team.

John supports many different mental health charities too.

His Speaking Topics:

• Master your mindset
• The sporting minds
• The runner’s mindset 
• Stress doesn’t have to feel stressful
• Business head on
• Mental fitness in business
• Don’t get CONNEDfidence

Fi Da Silva Adams

Fiona (Fi) is the passionate Founder & CEO of Revolution Performing Arts (RPA) Ltd and RPA Rapport CIC.  

After gaining a BA (Hons) in performing arts over 35 years ago, Fi has gained a mass of experience working within the industry. She launched RPA in 2007, offering drama sessions for toddlers and preschoolers in Swindon. Starting with just four youngsters, the company now delivers classes to 400 young people each week.

Zavi, her son inspired her to start her business. She aimed to ignite imaginations after recalling their magical journeys to imaginary places.

Her ethos strives to change lives through performing arts, celebrating the uniqueness of and amplifying the voices of young people.

Fi also champions women’s empowerment, using her own journey to inspire others plus utilising performing arts for healing from trauma. An Ambassador for Swindon Domestic Abuse Support, she provides free sessions for families impacted by domestic abuse. 

This February, Fi’s contributions were recognised with the Outstanding Contribution to the Community Award at the South West Business & Community Awards.  More recently, she won the Silver Award at the Best Business Women Awards.

Fi resides in Wanborough with her very artistic family: husband Paul who also works for RPA, their children Zavier and Angel, their dog Joey, and three cats Milo, Charlie & Bear. 

Her Speaking Topics:

• The power of positivity 
• The power of language in business  
• ADHD/being an entrepreneur/being female  
• Families and the ripple effect Empowering young people through performing arts 
• Work life balance/Working through Covid/Self Care 
• The power of drama and language on others. 
• Womanhood/ Sisterhood/Being a woman in business 
• The importance of the arts in life 
• Working through menopause 
• Working through post-natal depression
• Empowering entrepreneurs: Starting your own business

To find out more about speakers themselves, and their fees, or other information, check out my website: https://scottmedia.uk/speakers/