Following a 20-year career as a journalist with The Times and The Sunday Times in London and Scotland, latterly as deputy editor of the Sunday Times in Scotland, I founded Wow (Scotland) Ltd which trades under two brands, Tartan Twist, a Scottish jewellery and gift brand focusing on clan tartans and Lily Blanche, a fine jewellery brand, specialising in lockets. Our bestselling item is the Memory Keeper Locket which opens to reveal six secret photographs and has been worn by Judy Murray and Hermione Norris.

Wow Scotland Ltd is based in Stirling and the brands sells through stockists throughout the UK such as Edinburgh Castle, Tower of London, Gleneagles Hotel, The Scottish Parliament Shop and Kensington Palace. Our main focus is on ecommerce, however.

In December 2017 I became an ambassador for Women’s Enterprise Scotland and vice-chair of BAWE. I also write a weekly current affairs column for The Sunday Times. I live in Stirling, am married to a consultant psychiatrist and we have three children.

Website: https://www.lilyblanche.com/

Nadin Thomson has been running her own business since 2004, combining photography and web design. This year, she’s studying for a post grad diploma in digital marketing, further adding to her skills. Nadin, originally from Germany, has built a client base in both Scotland and Germany looking after her clients’ websites and content marketing needs. Nadin has been a member of BAWE since 2016.

• Wedding Photographer Edinburgh
• Nadin’s web design business

Ann-Maree Morrison is Chairwoman of BAWE, Regional Vice President for the UK, and Founder of the award winning e-commerce business, Labels4Kids, which supplies name labels and personalised books and gifts internationally to parents of 0-12 year olds. Labels4Brands, a division of Labels4Kids, also provides labelling for fashionistas, superyachts, sports clubs, care homes, and just about anyone who would like labelling with their logo or a design.

Also a member of the IoD and FSB, Ann-Maree seeks paid non-executive work in areas she feels passionate about, education, e-commerce and business growth. An Honorary Professor of the Management School of Stirling University, she is also a Board member of the Management School and the Stirling City Commission. Ann-Maree took part in Women20 for the G20 in Berlin in 2017 and a UK Government Task Force for E-Commerce.

Find Ann-Maree online:

• Ann-Maree.biz
• https://www.labels4kids.com
• Ann-Maree on LinkedIn

Karen Somerville is co founder and director of Angels’ Share Glass. Karen was awarded Entrepreneur of The Year 2015 and the Business has won many accolades for their products and design. Karen has grown the business from a small home business to a growing enterprise with state of the art glassblowing studio, 6 full time staff and 12 seasonal & freelance staff.

All staff are female apart from Karen’s dad, Tom Young MBE & Master glassblower, who is now semi-retired and all staff are fully committed to the family business and its vision for growth. The company has grown it’s handmade glassware range to create a premium range of whisky and spirit glassware for the Whisky Connoisseur. Exporting all over the world with distribution networks in 4 major continents. The company supplies both wholesalers, retailers, visitor centres and has their own ecommerce site.

Karen is also co-director for The Fife Whisky Festival Ltd a destination event and annual celebration of Scotch Whisky in Fife. Karen and here teams passion for glass and whisky shines through in their designs and her everyday working ethic.

Website: http://www.angelsshareglass.com

Former Head Teacher and teacher, Fiona has over 30 years experience in education. In 2002 she left mainstream education and set up her own tuition business, the successful Kip McGrath Education Centre in Stirling. Fiona and her excellent team of tutors teach around 300 students, aged between 6 -18 years, in  English and maths each week.

In addition to this Fiona established Cellfield Reading Matters UK Ltd in 2009 after travelling to New Zealand for training .Cellfield is a unique computer based programme which was born out of the latest research in brain plasticity and neuro-science. It is designed to enable people with Dyslexia and related processing issues function more efficiently. As well as growing her own centre she has responsibilty for developing Cellfield in the UK and Ireland and there are now 7 centres in the UK offering Cellfield. Fiona is passionate about helping people unlock their potential and is keen to develop her own knowledge and expertise to do so. She says,” I used to do the impossible, now I do the possible and anything is possible”.

In her spare time Fiona is a keen curler and in 2013 she was part of the successful Scottish tour to Sweden. She also enjoys travel , walking and unwinding in spas!!

• Website: http://kipmcgrath.co.uk/stirling
• Website: http://www.cellfield.co.uk

SV24-7 Vending

Fiona set up a Vending machine business in 2012 with her husband Ian. The multi-award winning company is based in Alloa and now has a team of 13 full time staff. Fiona has a passion for sales and marketing and is driven to achieve success on every level. Away from the business we enjoy spending time with our little dog “Coco”

Website: Scotland Vending Machines

Amanda Stewart has over 30 years experience working with SME’s to maximise their technology potential in a clear jargon free manner.  Illuminate has grown organically over the last 12 years and has a fiercely loyal customer base and a friendly team of engineers.

Amanda is passionate in educating on the dangers of Cyber Threats and how to avoid them.  She also runs hands on workshops for school children to excite the next generation of engineers and seeks to encourage more women into the technology sector.

Website: http://www.illuminate-it.co.uk

Having suffered a health challenge and, as a result, becoming acutely aware that a lifestyle change was required, I sought answers regarding the types of food that we should eat.  Advice was conflicting and, on discussing this with my partner, who is a medical doctor whose background encompasses 22 years of research, learned that modern diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart health, dementia and mental health are all increasing dramatically.

As a result of that conversation, she then researched the correct nutritious foods that we should eat to provide the foundation for a healthy lifestyle and the result is our WellnessEQ Programme which we started to use. The results were great: lost weight, reduced blood pressure, lower blood sugar, clarity of thought, enhanced mood, more energy and much more.

I was hooked and we started to talk to others who joined our WellnessEQ Programme, all of whom have experienced their own goals.  One comment that they all make is ‘I love the choice of food that we can eat, how it makes me feel and the fact that this is a sustainable programme – in fact a total way of life’.
Website: www.wellnesseq.net

Previously a project manager in a large organisation, I retrained as a coach  in 2011 and joined Martin Robertson Associates ltd full-time in 2016 to develop advisory and business coaching services for the Accountancy practice.
The practice, est in 1996,  focuses on taking the strain out of compliance and supporting business owners to have more time, make more money and build a better quality of life.

Website: http://www.growyournumbers.info