How To Become A...

What does an ecologist actually do and can we really balance building more homes with protecting nature?
In this episode of How To Become A…, Grace speaks to Evie about her career in ecology and the surprising relationship between conservation, farming and development.
Evie explains how ecologists work with developers and landowners to protect and restore habitats, including the new world of Biodiversity Net Gain, which requires developments to leave biodiversity in a better state than before.
We get into:
How to start a career in ecology
Why finding your niche is so important
Working with farmers, developers and protected species
The reality behind the £100m HS2 “bat tunnel”
How AI is changing ecology and the skills it can’t replace
Why communication can be just as important as science

Plus, Evie shares the environmental realities that should make all of us pay attention, including warnings around the future of our soil and the impact climate change is already having around the world.
A fascinating look at a career working at the intersection of nature, people and the future of our planet.
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What exactly is a live seller and how do you turn selling clothes from your wardrobe into a business generating over £500,000 in sales?
In this episode of How To Become A…, Grace speaks to Connor about his journey from logistics and the British Army to becoming a full-time live seller on Whatnot.
What started with his own wardrobe, charity shop finds and car boot bargains has grown into 70,000 items sold, around 50,000 followers and a business run almost entirely by himself.
We get into:
How live selling and Whatnot work
Going from side hustle to full-time business
Why he starts every item at £1
Building an audience that comes back for him
The reality of sourcing, selling, packing and shipping thousands of items
Why leaving the Army gave him the family life he wanted

From serving in the Army to running livestreams watched by over 1,000 people at once, it’s an unexpected career journey and proof that sometimes you don’t need a five-year plan. You just need to start.
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What does a property stager actually do and can styling a home really help it sell faster?
In this episode of How To Become A…, Grace speaks to Sallie about her unconventional journey from law to entrepreneurship, furniture design and eventually property staging.
After training as a lawyer and spending six years in the profession, Sallie realised the career she'd worked so hard for wasn't making her happy. She wanted something more creative and that decision eventually led her to build her own furniture company from scratch.
She explains:
What a property stager actually does
How staging differs from interior design
Why empty properties can actually look smaller
How she designs spaces specifically to attract buyers
Why creating an emotional connection can help sell a home
She also shares:
Her journey from law → advertising → entrepreneurship
Starting a furniture business with no design training
Going from selling one product a month to around 500
Building the business while working another job—and while pregnant
Why professional photography completely changed her business

If you’re interested in:
Property and interiors
Starting your own business
Changing careers
Home staging
Interior design
Building a creative career
Starting again in your 40

This episode is a brilliant reminder that changing direction doesn’t mean everything you’ve done before was wasted and sometimes your previous careers give you exactly the skills you need for the next one.
👇 Would you stage your home before putting it on the market?
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What does it actually take to build a successful podcast and what happens when your first media business burns through millions?
In this episode of How To Become A…, Grace speaks to Jack, founder and host of The Upshot, the sports podcast and newsletter dedicated to the funniest, wildest and most ridiculous stories from the world of sport.
Jack’s journey started long before podcasting. After being rejected from the role he wanted on his university newspaper, he decided to launch his own publication, The Tab, which quickly grew beyond one university and eventually attracted millions in investment.
But rapid growth came with some expensive lessons. Jack talks candidly about raising millions, expanding to America, building a 50-person team and ultimately spending around $10 million before selling the business for far less than he once imagined.
We get into:
Going from aspiring sports journalist to media founder
Building The Tab from a university side project
Raising millions without really knowing how to run a business
Why relying on Facebook traffic nearly destroyed the company
The painful 18-month process of trying to sell it
Starting again with a completely different approach
Growing The Upshot newsletter from 10,000 to 100,000 subscribers in six months
Turning a newsletter into a successful podcast
Why consistency matters more than instant growth
How to grow on YouTube, social media and other platforms without spreading yourself too thin
Why imperfect, personality-led media might be exactly what audiences want

It’s a refreshingly candid conversation about success, failure, algorithms, entrepreneurship and why sometimes the biggest mistakes give you the blueprint for what to do next.
If you want to start a podcast, build an audience, work in media or turn an idea into a business, this episode is packed with lessons from someone who has done it twice—with very different results.
👇 Would you rather raise millions to grow quickly, or build slowly and keep control?
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What if you don't want to choose just one career?
In this episode of How To Become A..., Grace speaks to Lize about building a career as a multi-hyphenate creative, working across photography, writing, creative direction and more.
Growing up in Lagos, Lize originally thought she'd become a doctor, scientist or psychologist. Creativity was always part of her life, but for years she saw it as a hobby rather than a realistic career.
That changed when she took a chance on a writing job at university and realised people were willing to pay her for something she genuinely loved doing.
She shares:
How she discovered her creative career almost by accident
Why you should follow your curiosities
Becoming a self-taught professional photographer
Finding her niche in boudoir photography
Using photography to help women build confidence and self-worth
The realities of marketing an intimate photography business
Building workshops and mentoring other photographers

We also get into Liz's journey as an author, including how the idea for her novel The Returnees came to her and how she navigated the publishing world without an established writing career.
Plus, Liz shares her advice for anyone with multiple passions: you don't have to put yourself in one box—but you do have to learn how you work best.
If you're interested in:
Creative careers
Photography
Becoming an author
Boudoir photography
Creative entrepreneurship
Finding your purpose
Turning hobbies into a career
Building multiple income streams

This episode is a brilliant reminder that your career doesn't have to follow one straight line—and sometimes the things you've treated as hobbies are exactly where your future is hiding.
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