Joyful Ambition is for professionals reimagining career success in an era of AI disruption and endless "what's next" pressure.
Host Bryony Williams explores the Ladder vs. Landscape approach, challenging the idea that ambition means climbing higher - through conversations with business leaders, career transition experts, psychologists, and HR innovators. Learn how to release old narratives, design sustainable careers, and find contentment without sacrificing presence or influence. Permission to choose differently starts here.
#14 Rachel Harris – From £3-an-Hour Apprentice to £2.5m Firm: Accountant She Rewrites the Rules.
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW
📅 Recorded in 2024. Figures in the episode reflect Rachel’s business at the time.
In this joyful and refreshingly honest conversation, Bryony sits down with Rachel Harris, known online as Accountant She and co-founder of StriveX, one of the UK’s fastest-scaling accountancy practices.
A careers adviser once told Rachel she had “too much personality” to be an accountant. She was a charity-shop kid, a free-school-meals child and a young carer for her identical twin. She skipped university for a £3-an-hour apprenticeship. When we spoke, she had built a 20-person, million-pound firm from her dining room table in just three years, entirely self-funded, and had joined the AAT as a director and trustee. Strive X is now reported to be worth £2.5m.
This episode is about what happens when you stop shrinking to fit the stereotype and build the thing you needed but couldn’t find.
🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
Being told you have “too much personality” for your chosen career
Growing up as a young carer and how it shaped Rachel as an employer
Why a £3-an-hour wage taught her that underpaid people can’t give their best
The gender gap in accounting: roughly even at entry, but only around 30% of management roles held by women (2024 figures)
“You can be what you can see”: building for young Rachel on her pink tricycle
How an MBA felt like “untangling Christmas lights” and led her to quit her job
Leaving a workplace that shut the door on her ideas, and not glamourising the risk
Five years alcohol-free at the time of recording: sobriety as self-respect, not a label
Monk mode: 5am starts, face masks, slippers and inbox zero
Flexible working, hearing fatigue and designing work around how people actually function
How to get onto a board: ask existing members which skills they need next
Corporate bursaries and philanthropy as the reason to scale
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES:
“The people whose businesses are the most successful are the ones who wholly lean into who they are rather than trying to pretend to be someone else.”
“The point isn’t to not drink. The point is to fundamentally love and respect yourself so much that you don’t need to drink.”
“Productivity doesn’t have to be painful.”
“You don’t email the fire brigade. Close your bloody emails.”
“You don’t have to take yourself too seriously, and you don’t have to exchange that for who you are as a person.”
📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
StriveX – Rachel’s accountancy practice
Accountant She – Rachel’s free financial content, online courses and speaking
AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians), where Rachel served as a director and trustee
The StriveX corporate bursary scheme for aspiring accountants
Rachel’s TED talk on scaling a business as an introvert
Dry January
The Spice Girls, Rachel’s soundtrack pick (she wanted to be Baby Spice at seven)
🔗 CONNECT WITH RACHEL:
Instagram & TikTok: @accountant_she web: https://www.accountantshe.com/ (https://www.accountantshe.com/)
StriveX (https://strivex.co.uk/)
LinkedIn: Rachel Harris (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-harris-a3192372/?isSelfProfile=false)
23 Sept 2026
#13 Liz Gebhard: You Don't Have to Climb the Ladder to Move Forward | Target, Amazon & Beyond
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW
In this energising conversation, Bryony sits down with Liz Gebhard, transformation and data leader at World of Books, whose career has run from Target to Amazon, across the US to Seattle and on to the UK, and from tech and commercial leadership into global HR.
Liz has spent over two decades at the intersection of retail and technology, from the days of paper catalogues and faxed orders to next-day delivery and generative AI. Her story isn't a ladder climb. It's a landscape of bold sideways moves, a health crisis that forced a rethink, a year off that became "the best year ever", and a return to work built on relationships rather than job applications.
At the heart of it all are two ideas: courage and curiosity. And the reminder that you don't always have to move up to move forward.
🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
Why the opportunity that scares you most is usually the one to lean into
From a marketing and journalism degree to supply chain analytics to tech
The "two-way door" test: is this move reversible, or is it final?
Staying relevant through curiosity and hiring people smarter than you
Growing up with a breadwinner mum and entrepreneurial dad as role models
Small steps of courage: how small wins build the confidence for big leaps
Eight roles in nine years at Target, then a solo move to Amazon in Seattle
A life-changing health crisis and the question: am I still interested in this?
Making a lateral move into global HR to lead teams in twelve countries
Taking a year out: wine certification, investing, board roles and rest
Untangling self-worth from your job title
Networking that's relational, not performative, and nurturing old connections
Focusing on the problem you can solve, not the title or the checklist
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES:
"The more something scares you, the more likely you should probably lean in to try it."
"You don't always have to move up to move forward."
"Small steps of courage don't have to feel like a big step."
"Sometimes people see things in you that you don't yet."
"I had put a lot of value of my self-worth in my career."
📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
World of Books
The two-way door vs one-way door decision framework
Liz's must-have tech: her phone, a music app and Google Maps!
🔗 CONNECT WITH LIZ:
LinkedIn: Liz Gebhard (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizgebhard/)
16 Jul 2026
#12 Danielle Sissons: The Money Conversation Women Aren't Invited To - Ivey Financial Planning
🎙️ EPISODE OVERVIEW
In this episode, Bryony sits down with Danielle Sissons - Founder of Ivey Financial Planning and a financial adviser with 12 years in the industry, to unpack one of the most loaded topics in women's careers: money.
Danielle knew at 15 she wanted to be a financial adviser. But it was the birth of her daughter Grace, plus 90 minutes on the phone to HMRC and £2,000 lost at the end of her maternity leave, that exposed how badly the system serves women. So she stopped knocking on doors and built the firm she couldn't find: one that helps mothers and founders take real control of their wealth, not in a decade's time, but at the messy, transitional moments when it matters most.
This is a conversation about confidence, structural inequality, and why "I'm just not good with money" is a story worth rewriting.
🔑 KEY THEMES COVERED:
The confidence gap - women are statistically better with money, yet invest less and hold less wealth
Why financial advice is still built for high-net-worth men (only ~13% of advisers are women)
"If you get tired of knocking on doors, build your own house" - Danielle's founder moment
The money conversation women get left out of - even in their own households
Reframing "I'm not good with money": money is a tool, not a personality trait
The marketing divide - women are sold savings and cashback, men are sold investing
Budgeting without shame: the 50/30/20 split and why lifestyle spend is allowed
The one non-negotiable: a 3–6 month emergency buffer
Bringing career strategy into the money conversation - asking for what you're worth
Why financial control is really about freedom
💬 STANDOUT QUOTES:
"If you get tired of knocking on doors, build your own house."
"Would you say 'I'm just not good with a hammer'? Money is a tool - it's something you can learn."
"They don't know any more than us about investing. They're just spoken to about it more, so they have the confidence."
"Lifestyle spend is whatever makes you feel like the hard work is worth the life you're living."
"If you take nothing else away from this, have an emergency buffer."
📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Ivey Financial Planning - Danielle's Firm
The 50/30/20 budget (essentials / lifestyle / future)
Junior ISAs & junior pensions
The gender pension gap and the impact of maternity leave
"Firestarter" by The Prodigy - Danielle's fired-up track
🔗 CONNECT WITH DANIELLE:
Company: Ivey Financial Planning
LinkedIn: Danielle Sissons (https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-sissons-dippfs-0a94b9133/)
Instagram: @iveyfinancialplanning (https://www.instagram.com/iveyfinancialplanning/)
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