Episode 12 RUTH FRANCES.. TV presenter/host/voice - meeting 'CHER', what's it’s like?

Episode 12 -  We meet Ruth Francis - TV Host, interviewer and Voiceover artist!! 

Biog: I have been working in television for many years now, my first presenting job was in 2001 interviewing bands and pop artists at Party in the Park. Since then, I have loved my varied and exciting work, presenting everything from beauty to cars, red carpet interviews to corporate videos. I have gained thousands of hours of live TV, pre-recorded, voiceover, training and events experience.

I have been a regular on shopping TV network QVC since 2006 and I currently present a range of beauty brands here in the UK and also in Italy. In more recent years, this work has taken me to QVC US and Germany too which has been a lot of fun (and airmiles!). I no longer travel to the States but I just love being based in my home country and in Europe.

I have learned to adapt my presenting style over the years to the projects I’m working on and I’m just as comfortable in a suit doing a corporate video as I am in a glamourous dress live on air or on the red carpet!
You can see more details about who I’ve worked with and for here on my website and in my blog I will share some backstage and behind the scenes photos and stories as well as some ramblings about life.
In 2009 I trained as a life coach specialising in wellbeing and empowerment and I absolutely loved it. This prompted me to work with clients wanting to improve on confidence, presenting, personal branding for their businesses and public speaking. I have trained hundreds of candidates in big auditoriums for beauty brands and also groups in retail stores and individuals on a one-to-one basis and I like to think that I help people to find their passion and inner performer but ultimately to feel good about themselves.
Originally, I am from a small town in North Yorkshire and although I moved to London aged 20, I still feel my northern roots are strong. I love to visit my family regularly and to get out into the beautiful countryside as often as I can. My other passions are yoga and taking trips with my lovely hubby – and of course, catching up with girlfriends over a cuppa (or glass of wine) you can’t beat it!

Full copyright: Do not use this material as your own. Legal action will be taken.

Ruth's Website: https://www.ruthfrances.tv/
Facebook:   / ruthfrancestv 
IG:   / ruthfrancestv 
Twitter:   / ruthfrancestv 
Linkedin: 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello everyone. Today we have Ruth Francis on the podcast. It is absolutely fabulous to have you on. Ruth is a fantastic presenter, a voiceover artist, and a life coach as well. And we're going to talk all about this a little bit later on. But before I do that, I haven't seen you for a very long time, Ruth. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Thank you very much for having me. Do you know what? It's it's been quite a few years now, hasn't it? I'm doing fine. Um, I think, in spite of everything that's going on globally, it's been challenging at times. But uh, today, right now, I'm feeling good and happy to be here with you.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Very good, very good, wonderful. Um, I'm very happy to have you on as well. Um, let's let we're going to talk about everything that I mentioned previously uh very soon. Ruth has been presenting for so many years and doing voiceover, and she I've seen lots of your work, and you are a fantastic presenter and voiceover. So much energy, and you're vibrant, and you really look like you care about what you're talking about, which isn't always the case when I watch presenters on TV. You are a brilliant, brilliant presenter.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

I'm Ruth Francis, and this is Plant, Oxford. There's a lot of people out there who are getting very excited on social media as well to know that we're back tonight.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Welcome on into the show. It's wonderful to have you here, Ruby. How how is it how do you enjoy it? Do you enjoy presenting? Because it looks like you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah, do you know what? I think what you've just said there, I hadn't really thought about that before about caring about what I'm doing. Um, because I just do it and I think it's just there as you know, part of um who I am. I can't if if I choose to do something, then I'll do it, I'll do it with as much love and and a passion as I can. So that's really nice that you say that. That's really lovely. Thank you. Um, yeah, I think that there's the odd time that you do a job that you think, okay, I'm just doing this for the money right now.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Um, but I think when you get on set or you get in front of the camera, or you know, you get into a position where the job is happening, it's just about becoming really, really present in what you're doing. And um for me, that's how I I think I find I I try to be as authentic as possible. I probably wouldn't do something unless I actually really wanted to do it. Um, because I think it is obvious. Maybe if it's sort of in the eyes, perhaps, or just in the energy of the person and that you're watching on screen, if they're not, if they're not really feeling it or they don't feel like they believe in something um that they're presenting about, perhaps that is you know a bit of a giveaway that there's just not that genuine, you know, connection. So yeah, I do. I love what I do.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

I would agree with that, absolutely. No, I mean it's it's often in the eyes, and I think it's the same with with acting as well. And and and you know, if you if you see an actor on TV, I always look straight into the eyes and I can tell whether they're invested in what they're doing. It's it's it's so so important.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

My boutique bathroom is the classic, and I love it. It's luxurious with a touch of gold, it's confident and glamorous.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

And how long have you been actually presenting for, Ruth?

SPEAKER_01 3:23

It's quite a shock, actually, sometimes when I say this. Um, and I hope it's because people think I'm younger than I am. I hope that's the reason. Um, I felt my first presenting gig was in 2001.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

So oh my god, yeah, yeah, 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

20 years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

So I I didn't carry straight on from there because that was my first kind of foray into it, and I was sort of thrown in at the deep end a little bit, and it was really nerve-wracking. Um, I'd actually sort of started to look into doing TV presenting. I wasn't quite sure how to do it, I couldn't know where to start. And a friend of mine um had worked at a radio station and said, Oh, there's going to be a big um party in the park gig happening in Bristol, I think it was. Um, and the radio station that was you know part of the whole kind of production, um, needed somebody who could kind of be behind the scenes just catching quick interviews with you know music artists before going on stage, which for the first job ever, it was really, really intimidating because these were like big artists of the time. I mean, I think I think it was it was one of the early gigs that the boy band Blue did.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

And so you know they were quite cool back then.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

I mean, yeah, they were I shouldn't have admitted that.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

And I do like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Love them anyway. And then I sort of got thrust into this thing of right, here's a microphone. And then this this other um person called Bill, who was uh around with a camera in the background, he was just going around getting all this like footage. He said to me, I've got no money to pay you, but would you mind doing some interviews on camera at the same time as for the radio? And I was just kind of like, Oh my god, this is all a bit too much. It was just literally, you know, uh one of those moments that you just think, I really have been dreaming about this, but now it's here, I don't know if I want to do it. It was really scary. So you were sort of thrown into it then almost 20 20 years ago, and it's been I I can't claim that it was totally through chance because I actually was dating somebody at the time who was in a boy band, one of the rivals to blue, I suppose. Um, A1. I don't mind saying, because I'm actually really um, you know, really proud of where they are now and they're doing really, really well, and they've all got different projects and we're still really good mates 20 years later, which is really nice. Um, and I think it was kind of knowing that you know anything is possible. And before that, I don't think I'd really ever met people who had that belief. You know, I've come from a really small town in North Yorkshire, beautiful, beautiful place to grow up. Um, but you know, it wasn't really the place where you would think it was going to be, you know, possible to go onto a TV show or or a even a radio show. I didn't really ever see those kind of opportunities coming up where I, you know, grew up. So when I moved to London, I moved to London because I had a relationship that was, you know, forming in London. Um, and I thought, right, you know, off I go. And in fact, I had actually already tried living in London a couple of years prior, and I'd moved down from I was in retail management at that point, and I was really young. I mean, I was probably a little bit too young to have the responsibility that I had. Um, and I'd taken this job, and it was in London, and it was in a beautiful little clothing boutique in South Moulton Street, which, if you know London, it you know, that is a beautiful little street sort of connecting Bond Street to Oxford Street. And I mean, that was literally the most central part of London, and I just kind of started this job as a manager of this shop at the age of 20, going, Oh my god, what am I doing? Um, but I did make some really good mates and I gave up after about a year because I thought I just can't do it, it's just it's too hard. I don't know anyone, you know, it's London's a the one, you know, the best city, but it's also quite lonely when you don't know anybody. And you know, because I am without having already known anyone here, um, it was really intimidating. And I just sort of made some friends through the shop, which was really lovely, and stayed in touch with them. And a year later, I I met the person that I ended up moving down south again for. Um, and it was almost like fate in a way, because I think I'd sort of I'd tried it on my own, and it was like, yeah, London's really cool, but I'm really, you know, not happy. And then to come back with a different kind of purpose, and I did get another job in retail, which you know, I actually did really enjoy it at the time, but I knew there was something inside of me that was a performer in some way, but I didn't really know because I'd been a dancer just like my brother Will. I'd been a dancer all my life, and then given that up because it was just not for me. I just couldn't handle the stage fright of going, you know, and performing on stage. What type of dance? I just found it really overwhelming and I wasn't very confident. So ballet and everything really. Um yeah, I loved it. And then I also found it really, really terrifying. And I did forget my dance once on stage, and I think that was a trigger for me of I can't do this, I can't perform, I can't be in front of an audience. Those were a lot of limiting beliefs that kind of formed from that. Um, and I wasn't in a very, I don't think at that point when I did that performance, I was, I think I was 18, and so it was supposed to be this big, you know, moment for me. I was the main part in the in the you know the dance show that we were putting on. I was Pocahontas and I dyed my hair dark and it was all long, and I was just like, this isn't, you know, the star of the show, and I messed it up. But I wasn't really in a great emotional place outside of that. So I think that had a lot to do with it, and my confidence was literally, you know, down to the most microscopic amount of confidence. I wouldn't have had even courage to speak to somebody, you know, in the street. I was just like, you know, really not in a great place. So I haven't always been able to do the sort of public speaking and the performing element, and you know, it hasn't come naturally, so I have had to work really hard on it and also work really hard on myself and self-development came a bit later. But you know, moving to London was a big step and a really great starting point to then have this kind of um opportunity to do anything because I do think London is is like that. Whatever kind of work you want to do, whatever industry it is, it's a hub of everything. And I think for creatives, um, I think it's the best place in the world. And I'm probably a bit biased because obviously I've lived here for 21 years, but it it is, in my opinion, you know, there's so much opportunity. There's even if it's something that's a bit naff and a bit, you know, you're underpaid, you're not getting any exposure, there's still something that you can do in your in your chosen industry to get some experience, which can lead on to something else, and you can meet interesting people, and it can all sort of you know just branch out from there. So I think when I look back on everything that has happened to get me where I am now, it was almost like it was sort of orchestrated beautifully. But at the time it wasn't, it didn't feel like that. And and it was it was you know quite quite a struggle at times. And it's not until you look back on it and you think, oh yes, if I hadn't have opted into that person that day, and I hadn't have had the courage to speak to so and so, then they wouldn't have introduced me to that person who's got me to that job to and it then it and then and so it goes on.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Wow, there we go. Amazing. And so you you have presented for car shows, you've presented, um, you've interviewed people on the red carpets, and you have a lot of your presenting has been for QVC as well, which for those that don't know is is uh is a shopping channel essentially. So you go on and uh Ruth will be there and she'll be talking you through various products, their benefits, what they do. Um, and I've been these these shows before. Uh talking, you have to have to talk so much, keep people engaged.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

How are you, Chicky Bets? Chicky Bets are doing good bits, those little those little apples, that's what we're going to be focusing on.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

How long have you actually been working for QVC for now?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Oh, I think I started there um just doing the odd show here and there for a clothing company back in about 2006. Um and I then decided to go and travel to Australia and I looked at doing um makeup artistry at that point because I was really you know keen. And my husband's a photographer, who at the time was my boyfriend. So we actually did shoots together, and I really honed my skills in that department as well. Um, and we did loads and loads of really great shoots, and I got so excited and passionate about makeup that when I returned to the UK, I was a bit more of a fit for the beauty department, and so that's where I've been working for the last 11, well, going up, this will be my 11th year. Um and so I've got multiple brands that I work with, and that's how it, that's how it tends to work there. You know, you you really get invested in the brands that you work with, you get training. Um, and it's and I and again, I I have found that the people I'm working with, I'm so passionate about what they do and the brands that they're, you know, what they're all about, that I don't find it a challenge to, you know, present for them. So yeah, it's been quite a long time now, but it's a freelance role. So this is the thing, it's it's wonderful because it gives me the freedom and the flexibility to do lots of different presenting work. Um, I manage my diary um where I can, you know, slot different things in around my QBC shows.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Have there been challenges uh along the way as a presenter working on a show that mainly you you do your recording pretty late at night, or some of the time you could be recording at sort of 11 or or even 12 uh at night. How how do you get yourself prepared and get yourself motivated to be as animated as you are uh at that time of night? I would I would find that quite hard, I think. But maybe maybe you just I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I think your performer in you would just kick in. Maybe um and it's and it's actually live. So that's the thing. It's not even like we can record it and say, oh, let's do it again. It's live.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

So I actually prefer live, believe it or not, because somehow in my brain, if I know that I'm live on TV, you don't make a mistake. I don't make a mistake when I'm live. If I have to, if I'm doing a recorded piece, sometimes because you know that you can do it again, I find, I mean, maybe it's just coincidence, but I find that sometimes I'll kind of just get right to the end and then make a mistake on one word and be like, damn it, oh well, we'll just do it again. And there's just something really thrilling about live TV that it's just it's probably what people would describe as a form of meditation in a weird way, because you are so in that zone and only thinking about what you're doing in that moment. Whatever you've got going on in your life outside of that studio, whether it's you know personal stuff, work stuff, concerns about money, you know, family worries, anything, you can't think about that when you're on that TV show because you are totally and utterly dependent on whatever comes out of your mouth to make sense because it's live telly.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

So um so is it is it improved, is a lot of it improvised then, or is is there some sort of scripted structure in any way, or is completely improvised?

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, there's no script. So we get a lot of training um with our brands that we work for, so that's brilliant. Um, you get to feel that you understand the products. Another colleague with you who is actually, you know, working for the channel and they're the main presenters. And then I come on, I'm a freelance guest presenter, so I come on and I do my little bit. Um, and I'm having a chat with somebody about something that I really am passionate about. You know, I want to get people excited about it because I'm excited about it. I don't think I'm gonna ever sell something that I didn't really think was great. Yeah, or I didn't think yeah. Do you know what I think's really interesting, Warren? You mentioned it, you touched upon my life of coaching when I first interviewed me, which we can talk about a little bit later. Um I think one of the biggest discoveries I made in my 20s was that I need to be authentic. Designed to rival the likes of the BMW 5 series and Mercedes E-Class. Since then, there's been little to separate the trio, all offering high levels of build quality, state-of-the-art technology, and strong driving dynamics in who I am in every possible way. And it wasn't just about communication in relationships, it wasn't just about um, you know, expressing what you need from somebody or something. Being authentic for me was literally genuine um just that authenticity that comes across when you're having a conversation with somebody and you are really believing in what you're talking about. That became a really important thing for me in my 20s when I did a lot of self-development work and I was really, you know, focused on getting to the root of why I wasn't happy at that time. And I think a lot of people go through it, especially performers who maybe get a lot of rejection. Um, you know, there's that element of needing to understand, you know, I want to feel really good within my own self before I then go out there and expect to get the job I want, the partner I want, um, you know, the home that I would love, the family, blah, blah, blah, all of the stuff that we, you know, would be important to you as a person. So authenticity is a really big thing. So I would hand on heart say that I haven't actually taken on a job, whether it's been for QBC or for you know any other work that I've done as a presenter, since I discovered that authenticity was a really important value to me. I haven't actually taken anything on that hasn't felt right.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Um, I haven't just done it for the money. You know, there's been parts of a job where there's been things that haven't felt great, like a lot of travel, um, being exhausted all the time, really crazy, you know, start times, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

But it's not the actual job that feels uncomfortable with those things. It's just the circumstances around them. Yeah. So yeah, I can hand on heart say that the people who I work for and work with, I'm really invested in them and really um really interested and really passionate about their products. And I don't think it would it wouldn't sit well with me to just do something for the sake of it.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah. Um and you mentioned you mentioned travel then as well. So a lot of the work you do is in London, but you also have in the past, you've flown over to the US and worked for the um the American QVC as well. Uh whereabouts in in America were you flying to?

SPEAKER_01 18:06

So they're in a a gorgeous little place called Westchester, Pennsylvania, and it's um the closest airport is Philadelphia. Um, so it was a full eight hours to get there, and then just a little bit less than that coming home again with the Atlantic winds. So yeah, it was it was quite intense. I have to say, I loved it. I mean, oh, the people that I met there have become lifelong friends, some of them. Um, I really truly do love my job, and I was working for a beautiful brand of cosmetics at the time. So, you know, I was really invested and passionate about my products. The trickiest part of that experience was traveling on an eight-hour flight, going five hours behind your natural body clock, and then having to go on air over there at sort of 10, 11 o'clock at night when my body's thinking it's five in the morning or four in the morning or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

It must have been so hard.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Yeah, so so I did it, and you would never have known if you look at the footage. Um, obviously it was live, and then I've managed to, you know, watch back some of the videos and thought, gosh, you'd never know that I hadn't slept for you know however long. And um, I was kind of you know, all energy from chocolate bars and cans of coke and all that sort of thing. So it's not particularly good for your health uh on a prolonged period of time, but I did that for two years every single month. Wow. And sometimes it was more than once in a month. So it yeah, it was an amazing experience. And I think you know, I'll always treasure, like I say, the people that I've met there and and the incredible experience. But it was amazing timing because I I just felt like it was time for me to end um that particular contract, partly because of the travel, actually, it was a really big part of it. And um, I just wanted to be here, I want to be based in London. You know, I've obviously got QVC really close by for me, and I thought I want to be here, I want to be at home, I want to be spending time with my husband, I want to be, you know, not missing out on family time um back here in the UK. So I stopped um in December 2019, and then look what happened in 2020 anyway. I would have been forced to stop.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

So aside from QVC, you've also done a lot of presenting uh on red carpets. Have you and uh have you have you met uh what sort of people have you uh worked with and interviewed and things like that?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

And I'm here at the prestigious Royal Court of Justice in central London for one of the most glamorous nights of the year. Yeah, I can't, I mean, um yeah, the most exciting person I think I've ever met in terms of the sheer gigantic, overwhelming stardom that this person has was Cher. Okay, and the best part about it was I didn't know that I was going to be interviewing her. So I was on a red carpet and I was interviewing, it was for Attitude Magazine, their awards that they do. And it was really amazing. It was such a glamorous, fabulous night. And I was interviewing really cool people, really interesting people, really inspirational people. It was great. And then right at the end of the night, um, there was the final award for Lifetime Achievement Award, and the organizer had sort of been buzzing around. You know, if you've ever been to a live event, you'll see a lot of people with headsets and clipboards. Um, and they're the people who are probably the most stressed-out people behind any huge um you know event at all. And they didn't know if Cher was going to turn up, if she was gonna make it on time. I think there was a lot of kind of like, is she coming? Is she not coming? Is it are we gonna have a live link? Is she actually you know in the States right now? And then she did arrive, she came. And so I had about five minutes where they said, right, she's gonna go on stage and collect her award. Can you be ready to interview her as soon as she comes off? And you know, Bearing in mind that when I was a teenager, you know, I think she did that really cool film Mermaids and you know that whole sort of um in the 90s.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Still really, you know, quite a prominent figure in our kind of awareness. But my mom, of course, adored Cher from back in the day. And um, she even, you know, had done her hair, like all that, you know, beautiful long, dark hair. I think my mum has got a similar bone structure. If she had all that surgery, she probably would look a bit like Cher anyway.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

But yeah, she she um she did arrive and uh which do you prefer, presenting or doing voice work or voice over work? Do you have a preference? Do you like them both the same?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Cheap and easy. The cointre fizz. Pour 50 mils of contro over ice, squeeze the juice of half a lime, a pop with soda water, the perfect summer cocktail. Please drink responsibly. Um, but there's nothing more fun, especially in the lockdown time. I've noticed that I've really enjoyed getting ready to do a TV show. So putting makeup on, getting your hair done, dressing up nice, because where else would I be doing that? You know, there's nowhere else for us to go at the moment and hasn't been for quite a long time. So um that's been quite a nice thing in a way, and it's made me feel like, oh yeah, okay, that's what I look like with a bit of makeup on, a little bit of help here and there.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Yeah, it would be so easy just to do nothing right now and just sit there and just to not care about it. But I know what you mean. It it uh it is nice to dress up sometimes and get make yourself look nice and you feel better about yourself, and uh, I think that's very important. Um, good, good, good, good. Alongside voicing, um, Ruth is also a life coach, which we meant you mentioned at the beginning of the episode. When did that begin? Is that something that you've always wanted to do? Is that something that happened recently? And also, what sort of life coaching are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 24:00

So, my training was actually in 2009, and I was really drawn to everything that a life coach is, and I thought, oh, okay, but I think also because you know that whenever you go and train in something, you're actually learning quite a lot yourself that you can apply for yourself as well in your own life. And um, so I did my training in London, and um, it was obviously because it was around my work already, so it was a kind of part-time course, and then the people that were actually doing the course, I got um I really invested in one of the women who was really inspiring. She was working with a lot of people who suffered with ME because she herself had suffered with ME, and um, she was really out there sort of pioneering well-being and being able to work on emotional health as well as physical health and you know, putting the two together. Um, and so a couple of years after I done my initial life coach training, I was really like all set to kind of set up a business, but it is really challenging, you know, going into something new when you've got a career that's already established and it's there. And, you know, I think the hardest part for me was knowing that I would be, you know, offering this service to people who really needed it, but they maybe didn't know they needed it because they were perhaps in a really you know tricky place and they wouldn't necessarily invest in themselves. So it was quite at that point, I think I felt like I needed a marketing guru, I felt like I needed a PR expert and a social media expert, and I just didn't have all of those sort of tools to use at that time. So a couple of years later, I went to join this woman um doing well-being coaching. So it was kind of a slight shift, uh, same sort of principles, but looking at more of a sort of well-being approach with the coaching. And I was really, really into that, and and that for me felt really good. Um, and she was quite specifically working on women's empowerment as well, which I thought I thought was really resonant for me. Um, and so I sort of, you know, been quite involved in that um in the early sort of 2011-ish, something around that kind of time. Um, and I was assisting her on events and workshops and things. And then I thought, well, how can I combine my TV experience and what I've got to offer from that side of things? And I ended up coaching her on how to be a TV presenter or how to apply the skills to get her message out there because she wanted to go on camera so that she could affect and help many more people across the world rather than just people that could come to her seminars here in the UK. And so then that was where it really sparked off something in me that made me think, okay, I can combine everything here. You know, I'm really passionate about well-being, I'm really passionate about health. Um, I'm a passion, I'm passionate about empowering people and um again finding your authenticity. But I'm also really passionate about media and you know, how could I combine it all together? So that's where I sort of really have been kind of focusing as and when people come and they want coaching in some way. It could be that somebody wants to be coached on how to be a TV presenter specifically. It could be that somebody wants to be coached on how to actually stand up in front of an audience and you know, feel that they can they can present well, they can do public speaking well in their own work that might not be in front of a huge audience or a TV audience, but it's enough for them to feel that they need some coaching. Um, and and then from an empowerment and well-being perspective, there's been other clients that have sort of come along and said, Oh yeah, but I'd really love to be able to do things that would require more confidence, and I and I feel that I can offer a bit of guidance. So it's not just coaching, it's kind of more um sort of advice and consulting as well, sort of all rolled into one now. Um and I think you know, I thought there'd be a lot more people over lockdown. Oh, sorry, I just kicked the camera. Um, I thought there might be a lot more people over lockdown that would be, you know, keen to kind of be out there and look at ways that they can develop their skills well. But I think everyone's been so affected by you know by this financially, especially if they're self-employed people. Um, you know, I think a lot of people who've maybe had jobs that have been furloughed, it's perhaps given them a chance to realize that maybe that's not what they want to do because they've never had that time to actually sit there and say, okay, I'm getting paid something, I'm not doing the you know, the commute and all the stress, and I'm not having to do, and I never want to go back to that. I've got a lot of friends who've got what I call normal jobs. Um, and they are saying to me things like that, that you know, I've never had time and space to think about what it is that I truly want, what that makes my heart feel excited and you know, gives my soul purpose and that kind of thing. So I think it's a really interesting shift that's going to be happening where people are really going to be addressing their well-being a lot more, um, and you know, how their work life can really affect um their their health, their stress levels, their well-being, everything. Um, so who knows what might come a bit. I might end up having a few people that you know want to start doing a bit more work that you know I can help with. Um, tips and it's very cool.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

You've been you've been able to combine all of your skills and actually put it towards something which is so worthwhile and help helping other people getting through what has been a very challenging time for a lot of us. Um, how how has 2020 been for yourself as a as a creator in the industry? Has it has it had an impact on you? Have you managed to navigate yourself around that? Yeah, what what's been the story for you?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Sadly, it has had an impact um in the sense that I have really got hardly any other work except QVC shopping channel work, which is amazing, and I'm so, so, so grateful because not only has it been brilliant for me as a person working in this industry, but also for customers as well who maybe haven't been able to have access to what they've wanted to purchase. So that's been really great.

SPEAKER_03 29:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Everything else that I've done up until that point from a freelance perspective has completely come to a standstill. So although I'm you know super, super grateful to have had work, you know, it has completely, you know, um, all my other work's kind of dropped off. But what's been really interesting is having the voiceover side of things, I think people have really clients and you know companies have started to realize that actually there's other ways that they can then use artists like ourselves who've got you know voiceovers set up at home. Um, and I have got a little mini studio. So, well, it's not really a studio, it's an it's an area. We make do with what we can.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

I I know, I know, I know, I know. I'm sure yours is more impressive than mine, but anyway, let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Um, but that's been brilliant, that's been really, really amazing to have that as an off, you know, something to offer clients. Um, so in a weird way, although it's been challenging, it has in fact opened up, you know, different ways to diversify using your skills. Um, and I wouldn't have perhaps purchased the equipment to do a home studio if I hadn't have had lockdown happen because I it made me really address it and think, what can I do with my skills? I need to be able to transfer them, I need to be able to diversify what I can do as a as a performer. So so yeah, it's it's it's not been an easy year, and and I've got other friends of mine, my husband included, and I'm sure he won't mind me saying, who found it really hard, creatives who are self-employed, freelancers, um, who've maybe got companies, limited companies, they've not had the government support. They've kind of been a bank of people that have just been forgotten about, and that's really tough because our government I know have been amazing here in the UK at sort of supporting people like myself who are self-employed, but there's been a big chunk of people in the creative industry who've been forgotten about a little bit, and you know, I've got really talented friends of mine who've ended up having to go back to entry-level jobs, you know, working just doing a manual job when they're actually top theatre producers and they've worked for the last 20 years on that as a career. And although it, you know, I'm really impressed with how they've been able to go, right? You know what I've got to do, I've got to make some money, I'll just get out there and I'll do what I need to do. And it's amazing. Not everybody's got that get up and go for a start, and it can be really stressful and really overwhelming for you know mental uh the mental pressures. But at the same time, you've got to do what you've got to do. And I think, you know, hopefully now we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it it's it's I think this entertainment industry has been affected really, really badly.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Absolutely. Yeah. Yes, let's hope, let's hope that it is gonna get better. Uh, it seems like we are slowly moving in the right direction, but um, yeah, there's still still a little bit of a little bit of a way to go. Yeah. Uh okay, so Ruth, moving on from that, let's I would love to know two uh life achievements, two things that you have been super proud of. Uh it doesn't have to be work related. It could be that you've you know you went traveling somewhere or you experienced a particular type of food or what whatever it is, something super interesting that you will always look back on and say, I'm so glad that that that happened in my life. It would be lovely to hear.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Oh, okay, that's quite a good question, actually, to make me think. I think do you know what there is um going back to the kind of traveling element, um in 2009, I decided to put a pause button on all of my TV presenting at that time. I was quite overworked, um, doing lots of late nights. It was for a an entertainment show, it was um a roulette show, so that was really intense because a lot of the shows were till three in the morning live. And I just got burnt out, I think, after about five years of doing that. Um, and my boyfriend, who is now my husband, Alex, um, was quite sort of open to exploring a little bit. And we decided to go to Australia because we have some friends over there, and I'd always wanted to go, I think, from being really little watching neighbours and home and away. I always thought that's so cheesy, isn't it? I always thought, oh, didn't they look like they've got an amazing lifestyle over there?

SPEAKER_00 34:06

They're always sunny and the whole of Australia is like neighbours, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

I mean, you know, I discovered when I got there that it's not what you think, even if you've got the beautiful beaches and everything, if you haven't got work, it doesn't matter where you are, you can't pay to live. So, anyway, that's another part of the story. But I think the best sort of achievement for me was actually having the courage to leave what was considered to be that kind of safety net and my my uh my comfort zone, if you like. Um, and I challenged myself to be uncomfortable by upping sticks and selling everything. I mean, we didn't own a home, but I owned everything, like my car, my clothes, furniture, we sold everything up. And we went over to Australia. We did have some friends to stay with, so I can't deny that you know that really helped because I think if we'd have to go and stay in a hostel, um, maybe I would have struggled a little bit more with you know, uh being in a dormitory with people. But um yeah, it was good. And getting over there, it was just that feeling of total letting go. Um so that was a big achievement. That was huge for me because I've always been somebody who's been quite kind of, you know, oh, I must make sure that I've got enough money to pay my bills, and I must make sure that I've I've got this career path I'm looking at and I can see where I'm going. And it was just a need in my my heart and soul to say, I need to, I need to have a change, I need to do something different.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Yeah, I think it's so important as well, isn't it? It's so important to to experience something completely different, live, live a different life, see a different culture, and yeah, it opens opens your mind to to other ways of living. And I think it's it's very healthy for the soul and and also for the mind as uh as well. Where in Australia did you did you go to?

SPEAKER_01 35:50

So we moved to Sydney initially, and then we went to Melbourne. We had another set of friends in Melbourne who very kindly um put us up, and there was a really cool scene there for creatives in Melbourne. And my husband, who um then my boyfriend, he was a photographer, you know, really kind of starting to get his kind of um skills honed, should we say? And so for him, it was fantastic. He had the most amazing experience, he was getting loads of work, he was actually modelling as well, which was brilliant. Um, and for me, everything just stopped. And it was a real surprise because I even had a couple of contacts who I'd stayed in touch with, um, who'd worked here in the UK, and it was on a TV show called Nuts TV, which was based loosely on the lads magazine. And I was probably the most dressed female on set, wearing jeans, I might add, and a top. Um, it was never um, you know, the typical what you think of when you think of Nuts magazine. But it was a really fun show, and I was a car expert on there. So I'd sort of gone on and I'd had this great, you know, connection. And and the main sort of head guy there, um, I'd you know tracked him down and he was Australian and he'd gone back to live in Australia again um a couple of years later. So I'd sort of kept in touch with him, and he said, Yep, when you come over, let's get you in for a screen test, let's see where you are and we'll we'll look at how we can, you know, get you out there networking. And then the recession had just hit Australia when we'd arrived in 2010, and so everything, all the media budgets were kind of like, Whoa, it's just cut back. Uh so the financial crisis had happened, and um, yeah, it was such a shock because I'd sort of gone there thinking, yeah, I'm gonna have everything all set up. And that is not what was in store for me. But that was what, in a way, was the best learning, that was the best achievement sense because it forced me to, after about six, seven months, assess this and say, hang on a second, this is not what I thought it was gonna be. I thought I was gonna be earning loads of money living in a beach house overlooking Bondai, or we actually fell in love with a little beach called Tamarama, which was amazing. And that's in my head, and you know, that's what we thought. It is never what you think it's gonna be, though, is it in life? You kind of get to somewhere and then you realise, ah, that's not what the universe had in store for me. But the learnings from it and the experience from it was absolutely brilliant, and and it did really make me realize that although I'd love to live by the sea, and that is something that maybe I'll end up doing here in the UK at some point, that is not enough when you're far away from your family. Um, you know, it takes more than 24 hours realistically to get door to door to get again. And and it was like home from home in a weird way, but then lots of other things reminded you that it wasn't like home, like the size of the huntsman spiders and things like that. And you suddenly go, I don't know, you might not want to bite me and kill me, but you're definitely not.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

You just reminded me across we went to Australia but not so long ago, actually. And uh we we rented a place. Um, this was in Sydney also, and uh we were just chilling at home, the kids were down watching a bit of TV, and then this giant spider just crawled across the living room. And Frida, my wife, for those who don't know, had an absolute fit, and she was like, Oh, what's that? What's going on? Oh my god, we're gonna die, we're gonna die. Um, and then she was like googling, you know, all these different spiders and what what it could possibly be. And it was just and we turned turned out to be a huntsman, which as some people will know is is generally a pretty harmless spider, but it looks it looks quite scary.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

Oh, well, they have legs that are almost like hairy, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

It could be a tarantula or it could have been, yeah. I mean, uh we had no idea, but um um yeah, anyway. Yeah, you just reminded me of that experience when you mentioned that.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

It was uh very it makes me laugh when I see little spiders here in the UK, though, because I don't get freaked out by them at all now, and I just want to help them get out. So I get a little glass and I go bye-bye now, and I let them out at the back door, and I would never have done that before. I think when you've seen the size of them, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Right, they are enough, they're another breed always together. They are yeah, they're scary. Some of them are pretty scary. Anyway, right, we're gonna move on, uh Ruth, and we're gonna play a little game, which I am very excited about. Um uh, so it would you rather? I'm gonna ask you five questions. Uh, don't give it too much thought. The first thing that pops into your head, uh are you ready to go? You look slightly anxious, but it will be okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

I have no idea what you're gonna ask me, but I'll just yeah, I'll do what you say and go with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

All right, okay, here we go. Um, so would you rather be able to see 10 minutes into your own future or 10 minutes into the future of anyone but yourself?

SPEAKER_01 40:41

Anyone but myself, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Okay, very good, very good.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Because I know what I'm gonna be doing in 10 minutes when lockdown.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

Yeah, yeah, that question would have been better if you weren't in lockdown. Um, okay, good. Would you rather have an easy job working for someone else or work for yourself but work incredibly hard?

SPEAKER_01 41:01

The second option, because that's kind of what I've chosen to do, so I'm gonna stand by it.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

You're a hard worker, you're a hard worker. I like it. All right, so number three, would you rather be the first person to explore a planet or be the inventor of a drug that cures a deadly disease?

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Uh, the inventor of a drug that cures a deadly disease.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Good, good, good, good. Would you rather go back to age five with everything you know now? So you're young, you're five, but you know you know everything that you've learned over the years, or or know now what your future self will learn. So basically, look into the future and know everything that's gonna come, but you are the age you are now.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

I have to say the future.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Yeah, I'm gonna have to re-reword that whole question because that is that was a mouthful.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

A bit confusing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Yeah, a little bit confusing. All right, um, moving on. The last question, number five. Uh, would you rather have unlimited international first-class tickets or never have to pay for food at restaurants?

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Oh, oh, that's so good. I think the food.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah, because you know what I've realized, and I know you don't want me to go on about it, but it's because it's the last question. I'll elaborate, elaborate a bit. Having done quite a lot of traveling myself, I love it. Don't get me wrong. I love exploring new places. I loved it when we had the freedom to do that, and obviously, you know, it's it's made us all appreciate a lot more, hasn't it, this last year, where you haven't been able to go to the places that you'd like to go and all those dream destinations. And so I I hope that that will change. But the good I really love food, I really do, and I think there's some amazing places that if you didn't have to pay for it, you could go and have the best, best restaurant. I'll probably be slightly um not fitting in my trousers anymore because I would be eating out at these places that I didn't have to pay for all the time. But yeah, I do really love my food and I love kind of experiencing uh lovely, beautiful restaurants as well. And I hopefully I could take my hubby with me.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Yes, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

In this scenario that you've just conjured up.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Why not? Why not take him with you? Yeah. Um, good. All right, so we're gonna finish up very soon, Ruth. Um, and it's been lovely having you on, and you're a very interesting person to listen to. And we would love to know Ruth Francis's final thoughts for the podcast. Something nice and uplifting for our audience, uh, approaches on life dealing with negative and positive change, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Well, I think uh without sort of repeating myself, uh if you feel that you're not being true to who you really are and and what you really truly believe, that's when you need to make a change. And I think it's knowing when to do that, actually noticing your your noticing when something feels like it's just not quite right. You know, I think when I first started looking into trusting what feels good and your intuition on things, it was on silly things like, you know, I'd look back and say, Oh, if only I'd listened to my gut instinct. Because you know how we people talk about your gut, don't they? And they say, Oh, yeah, I felt it in my gut, I knew it wasn't right, and I should have listened to my gut. And I think that can, you know, the that expression can apply to anywhere that you feel it in your body if something isn't right and you just get that feeling, whether it's a job or a relationship or you know, um a choice to do something different or whatever it might be, when you feel that it's just not sitting right with me, have a little moment and stop and actually check in with yourself and really kind of look at how, you know, maybe this isn't right and there isn't an alternative to look at. I think just being true to yourself, that is my biggest thing that I've learned in my own experience for myself. But I think I would give that as advice to others rather than listening to other people and what everybody else's opinions are and what other people think you should be doing, and society and social media is a big one, you know. Um, yeah, be true to yourself and um that would be.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Be true to yourself. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for today, Ruth. It's been awesome, and uh I hope that you uh you have a love a lovely day.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

Thank you for having me. It's been really nice chatting.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

Thank you, Ruth.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

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