How To Become A...

How do you turn a side hustle watering pub plants into a business that lasts 30 years?
In this episode of How To Become A…, Grace speaks to Natalie, CEO of Acacia, about accidentally finding her career in commercial landscaping and building a business from the ground up.
While studying architecture and interior design, Natalie started looking after plants to earn extra money. One opportunity led to another, until she was asked whether she could take care of 55 restaurants nationwide. Her response? Say yes and work out how to do it.
We get into:
How a side hustle became a 30-year business
Why “fake it till you make it” worked for Natalie
Teaching herself floristry through YouTube
Surviving the pandemic when hospitality shut down
Why networking took years to pay off
Learning that making more money doesn’t always mean building a better life
Creating a swamp for a Shrek premiere at Somerset House
Why looking after your team matters as a founder
Natalie also shares the deeply personal story behind Acacia Green Spaces and how losing her best friend Sandy inspired her to use nature, workshops and her business to give back to the community.
An episode about taking opportunities, backing yourself and being willing to figure things out as you go.
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What does a financial advisor actually do and is being “good with numbers” really the most important part?
In this episode of How To Become A…, Grace speaks to Eliana about a career that she describes as being surprisingly close to counselling: understanding what people actually want from their lives, challenging their decisions and helping them use money to make those goals possible.
Eliana’s route into finance was anything but conventional. She originally wanted to be an actress, studied English, spent nearly 18 years in tech and initially walked away from financial services because she hated its sales-driven culture.
Years later, she retrained completing an incredible 18 exams in just 21 months only to discover that despite all those qualifications, nobody wanted to employ her. So she started her own business instead.
We get into:
What financial advisors actually do
Whether AI could replace financial advice
Why money is really about what you want from life
Starting a financial advice business with no clients
Why Eliana deliberately built her business around helping women
Risk, investing and why knowledge can change how risky something feels
Supporting people through divorce, illness, dementia and bereavement

Eliana also shares how her husband becoming seriously ill and unable to work changed her own relationship with money and ultimately shaped the type of financial advisor she wanted to become.
This episode is a brilliant reminder that financial planning isn't just about becoming richer. Sometimes, it's about giving someone the freedom to spend their remaining time on what actually matters.
Note from Eliana:
Client Stories: References to client cases are shared for illustrative purposes. Financial advisers don't provide legal representation or legal advice - in complex situations like divorce, Eliana works hand-in-hand with her clients' legal teams every step of the way.
Industry Stats: During our chat, Eliana mentions 2009–2010 estimates that only around 12% of UK financial advisers were women. According to FCA and Personal Finance Society (PFS) data, female advisers have made up just 12–18% of the profession since the mid-2000s, remaining underrepresented today at around 16–18%.
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What happens when an injury ends the career you’ve worked towards your entire life?
In this episode of How To Become A…, Grace speaks to Roxy, an immersive show director and founder of her own creative agency, about going from professional dancer to creating extraordinary live experiences.
After performing professionally for seven years, an injury forced Roxy to rethink everything. Two weeks after her final show, she stepped into the corporate events world, without even knowing how to put on an out-of-office.
Since then, she’s gone on to create experiences for major brands, including Rolex product launches, and build her own immersive creative studio.
We get into:
Reinventing yourself when your dream career ends
Going from performer to creative director
What an immersive show director actually does
Starting your own creative agency
The huge amount of work audiences never see
Creating experiences people genuinely want to be part of
Why resilience and hustle matter in the events industry

Plus, Roxy shares one of her favourite projects — taking guests into the woods for a night involving fairies, a protection spell, a sacrifice, a feast over fire and, eventually, a huge rave.
A brilliant episode about creativity, career pivots and turning the skills from one chapter of your life into something completely new.
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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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