Episode 16 - Stand Up to Stand Out: Funny Women Awards Founder, Lynne Parker

What happens when someone tells you “women aren’t funny”? If you’re Lynne Parker BCAa, you build a movement. In this episode, Lynne — Founder & CEO of Funny Women CIC and host of How to Have Fun at Work podcast— shares the origin story of Funny Women, the growth of the Funny Women Awards (from 70 entrants to 2,000+ across performance, writing, film and content creation), and why comedy is one of the most powerful confidence tools in leadership and life.

We talk about platforming new talent (not managing it), the loyalty and pay-it-forward culture among alumni, HERlarious workshops for business audiences, and the bold “Edinburgh Fringe challenge” that took nine first-timers from boardroom to five minutes on stage. Lynne also reflects on receiving the British Citizen Award for Services to the Arts (BCAa), why recognition matters for the arts, and what great leadership looks like when you’re building social impact.

Expect practical ideas, a few behind-the-scenes stories, and a lot of heart. If you’ve ever thought, “I’m not funny,” this one’s for you.

To connect with Lynne: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynneparker/

Instagram - funnywomanlynne       website: https://www.funnywomen.com

If you’re a woman leader who’s ever doubted your confidence, explore my programme “Exploding the Confidence Myth” → https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exploding-the-confidence-myth-tickets-1617750698889?aff=oddtdtcreator

🔗 Connect with me: marygregory.com

📣 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marygregory

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mary_gregory/

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✨ Produced by Mary Gregory Leadership Coaching

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Hello and welcome to She Leads Collective podcast. I'm Mary Gregory and I'm so glad you're here. This podcast is a space for honest conversations about what it really means to lead as a woman today and how we can all show up with more courage, care and clarity. You'll hear from inspiring women, powerful allies and bold truth tellers who are changing the game, not by playing tougher, but by leading smarter, softer and stronger. Hello and welcome to this week's podcast episode. Now, I'm someone who struggles with getting a joke. I seem to laugh about 20 minutes after everyone else. But what if someone told you that women aren't funny? Would you believe them? Or would you make it your life's work to prove them wrong? That's exactly what my guest today, Lynn Parker, founder and CEO of Funny Women CIC, decided to do. In 2002, after hearing those very words from a comedy promoter, Lynne set out to change the narrative. Just a year later, she launched the Funny Women Awards, which now attract over 2,000 female and non-binary entrants every year from around the globe. And this year's final is actually taking place tomorrow in the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. Over two decades on, Funny Women has become a thriving non-profit providing a safe, diverse and creative platform for women to perform, write, build confidence and use humour, not only in the arts, but also in business and everyday life. Lynne has also created Herlarious, a sister brand of workshops and events, and is the host of a podcast, How to Have Fun at Work. Through this work, she's helping people in business and public life to stand up to stand out and bring humour into the workplace. I've personally experienced Lynne's unique approach through her stand-up to stand-out workshops. It's been both transformative and enormous fun, showing how comedy techniques can boost confidence and presence. Her incredible contribution, and it really is incredible, has been recognised with the British Citizens Award Medal of Honour for Services to the Arts, BCAs. Along with the accolade, including Most Inspiring Businesswoman at the Best Businesswomen Awards last year, the Athena 40 Leader of Social Impact Award, and both being named one of the Wise... and being named one of the Wise 100 Top Women in Social Enterprise 2025. But beyond the awards, Lynne is one of the most humble leaders I've met, passionate about giving others the stage and using humour as a powerful tool for change. Lynne, I'm absolutely delighted to welcome you to the She Leads Collective podcast. Thank you so much for joining

SPEAKER_00: 3:12

me. Thanks, Mary. Well, I feel rather humbled by

SPEAKER_01: 3:14

that intro, but thank you. Well, you are a very humbled leader so you know there's something about owning the greatness that you are because you are phenomenal in what you've created over the last 20 odd years incredible and such a stand for women yes

SPEAKER_00: 3:28

as well it's really important i think women have a voice and and comedy is a fantastic platform for it you know we can communicate so much excellent okay

SPEAKER_01: 3:38

so let's get going let's start right at the beginning where did you find your love of comedy where did that come from

SPEAKER_00: 3:46

Well, I think it started quite early on. My late father, I think, felt he was a bit of a comedian. He was very keen on the comedians of the day. And I grew up listening to Round the Horn and the Navy Lark and such other things that a certain generation will never have heard of. The Goon Show, you know, literally brought up on that sort of crazy, largely male comedy. I would say discography, but that's the wrong word. The whole comedy scene at that point in time in the late 50s, early 60s, it was driven by posh men on the sort of academic side of things or working class men's working clubs. So by the time I was sort of old enough and watching things on television, it was men in frilly shirts telling telling mother-in-law jokes or then it was like the sort of posh lads and the start of the whole alternative comedy scene. But my dad definitely made, not made me listen to it. He didn't kind of crack a whip over me, but I think because it was in the background, I kind of took it on. And the other thing, which I never thought of as an influence, my grandfather, my dad's dad, worked for the BBC and he was not on the production side. He was actually a line technician. So he was an engineer and he lit the most amazing iconic TV programs like from Doctor Who to Ready Steady Go. I don't know if anyone would remember that precursor to Top of the Pops. And, you know, I had a childhood where he'd bring home autographs. I got the Beatles autographs and Cilla Black and other, you know, TV stars of the day. And I also got taken to see things. And believe it or not, I was taken to the BBC theatre, probably about the age of eight or nine, to hear a recording of The Navy Lock. So I actually remember sitting, watching all these famous people of the day recording a live episode, well, recording an episode, which didn't go out live, but it was then recorded and put on the radio, of iconic radio comedy. So I think it's really interesting how much that influenced me because then in my teens, I was always trying to make things. I remember having a reel to reel tape recorder and getting all my friends to do terrible radio play that I'd written. And I got my dad to help me record it. But ironically, always in this sort of producer role, not the performer. I'm very happy being on the sidelines. And yeah, which is interesting, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01: 6:47

It is interesting. Well, it's interesting when it looks at what you created in funny women because it very much is about promoting funny women and you are definitely the driving force behind that but you don't put yourself forward in the spotlight that much I would say

SPEAKER_00: 7:01

which is a kind of common issue with women as well I think we are often a little bit wary of leadership or we we go about it in a different way

SPEAKER_01: 7:11

definitely go about it in a different way I think and it's a lot to do with how we're brought up and conditioned I think not just by our parents but by society as a whole but let's not go down that track because we're here today to start to talk about funny women and it sounds like you had a really gifted childhood in terms of promoting your love of comedy and it becoming just part of your life and part of what you did I'm therefore really curious about what's behind how did you get to that point where there was that pivotal moment where that man said to you women just aren't funny

SPEAKER_00: 7:45

well it is a much told story and I had a whole career before I even got to this stage. I mean, I've been running Funny Women for 23, nearly 24 years. And I had a whole career in journalism to start with. And then I went into PR. I found myself at a point where I was freelancing. I had a number of clients that I worked for. And I got recommended to work on a brand that was being launched in the UK as a comedy club. And it was called the Improv. It had nothing to do with improvisation. It was a well-known American brand that wanted to launch a club in London. They had taken a residency at what was called the Embassy Club on Tottenham Court Road, which is quite interesting. But the Embassy Club was well known for hosting TV shows. I don't know if you remember the Jack D show at all. Yes. And it was like, it was that start when they started to televise a lot of comedy and the club so the improv thought oh this is a great place to do it you know a lot of tv people go down there we'll run a club there and i somehow through recommendation got hired as the publicist and it was fantastic i was mainly working with the american partner uh who i think had been connected with some other client that i had and uh it was a real eye-opener because it was night after night quite of their day quite well known and comedians I mentioned Jack D who were the other people there was the pub landlord was always on there it was that era when a lot of people who are now super famous and on TV all the time were sort of not just starting out but probably more on the circuit than they were on telly but never any women I couldn't understand it I kept saying well where are all the female comedians where are they you know at the time Job Brand and Jenny Eclair and Ruby Wax who I have seen live but they were all you know active and gigging but they weren't being booked for this club so a throwaway comment on my part was you know to the actually not to the American guy who was very supportive but to the English producer at the time I said well you know why don't you put a few women on the bill and he just turned around and said well because women aren't funny and there aren't any funny women and And that stuck. You know how you just get that light bulb moment. You think, well, hang on a minute. That is not true. Those women are out there. What is it about the world of comedy that has to just, you know, night after night promote male comedians and not female comedians? I've had many conversations about this in the, obviously over the years, but it was mainly because it was just kind of a hostile environment and the women didn't want to do it late night a lot of misogyny it wasn't just the men not them not being booked it was also the environment and it was the way they were treated anyway that led me to come up with the idea I said to the promoter I think I said I think that you're wrong I think there are lots of women out there let me put on an all-female comedy event and I'll prove that there are loads of women out there and we got into this discussion about what we were going to do and then the American American promoter and the English promoter fell out big time. They just basically, the American guy left and went back to the States, leaving me with a British team, all male, who brought in a couple of other people and fired me. So that was the end of that

SPEAKER_01: 11:35

story, but

SPEAKER_00: 11:36

it wasn't

SPEAKER_01: 11:36

the

SPEAKER_00: 11:37

end. That was the end of that story. However, it wasn't the end. No, this is the weirdest thing. Strangely, in conversation with, I can't remember who it was, someone had said to me, oh, funny women is a fantastic brand name. You should buy a URL. Now we're talking about 1998 here. I didn't even know what a URL was. Obviously they meant a web domain. So I bought funnywomen.com and all the derivatives thereof, which in effect sort of protected my copyright, my brand. And that was step one. And then I think, I can't remember, what the sequence was. Then we set up the actual company. So we launched the very first event in 2002 when we did a big, huge, never to be done again, comedy gala with all the famous names of the time, all women. It was hosted by Mel and Sue. We had amazing headliners. I think Jenny Eclair was on, Ronnie Ancona. I mean, it was just the great and the good of comedy. It was, on paper, it's the best thing I've ever done but on in real reality it was probably the hardest and the most difficult thing I've ever done and it's one of those things make all your mistakes in one go I did that and I think the fact that I bounced back at all is quite incredible really looking back on it

SPEAKER_01: 13:06

well I suppose what my next question because that might have been an amazing start but a hard hard earned lesson yeah yeah full of full of lessons yes yeah did you imagine when you were starting out did you imagine that funny woman would become the global phenomenon has become

SPEAKER_00: 13:25

no i mean what happened straight after that big charity night is that one of our sponsors was um the lovely gorgeous still love it not necessarily the drink by a baby sham came came up as a they got involved with it the gala charity night um which was for breast cancer charities by the way so we did it all linked in with women and everything but baby sham loved it so much the breast was owned by a company called Matthew Clark. And I worked with a lovely male team, actually. They were absolutely great. He said, we think this is great. And they'd heard me talking about the fact that I wanted to have a competition and a platform to encourage more women to do stand-up and comedy in general. In those days, it was just stand-up really and performance. And they said, look, if you want to run a competition, we'll help you. We'll sponsor it. Come up with a plan and we'll put some money behind it. And that's how the Funny Women Awards began. So that was I had that relationship for three years. The very first year of the competition was in 2003. I think we had 70 entries in total

SPEAKER_01: 14:31

compared to now.

SPEAKER_00: 14:32

Now we have nearly 2000 nominees and entrants. I mean, now it's just like a crazy, crazy stuff. But we only have one award and it was just one stage award. And we I worked with a promoter who I shall be eternally grateful to. called Christian Knowles, who's still in the business and often gets involved as a judge and what have you. But he really sort of taught me the ropes of how to put on a night. I mean, I knew nothing. I mean, even though I used to, I was back there taping radio shows when I was 14. I had no idea how to put on something like a comedy night, but he introduced me to all sorts of people. We had the very first final at the Comedy Store where I know them very well. We're doing another event with them at the end of October. This year, the Comedy Store gave us the space for the final. We stayed with them for a long time, but then we outgrew it and moved to bigger venues, different venues. But we, yeah, I can't believe it was only 70 people. And we really scraped around for those. And we saw everybody because that was seven shows, you know, I mean.

SPEAKER_01: 15:45

Who won in that

SPEAKER_00: 15:46

first year? jade the folk singer who was like a comedy parody character in real life um her name was sarah adams she's not in comedy anymore um so she won that year and that was 2003 and then in 2004 zoe lions won

SPEAKER_01: 16:07

zoe lions is often featured on tv

SPEAKER_00: 16:09

yeah well-known comedian yeah still work we never use the term comedian in funny women land

SPEAKER_01: 16:15

okay is that like actor and act so it's all everyone Everyone's actors now. So everyone's a comedian now.

SPEAKER_00: 16:21

Yeah. Okay. Comedian, female comedian, if you must. But yeah, I think there's a big trend to de-genderize things a little bit. But yeah, fantastic act. Zoe still work with her quite often. She's used her quite a lot for corporate work and really amazing supporter of Funny Women. She's gone on and hosted finals for us in subsequent years. Anyway, that was it. So we had Baby Shan for three years. Then Constellation took over sponsorship this has been the pattern you know when you run something that is so dependent on funding and sponsorship that that is your biggest challenge because that changes all the time so we've had a lot of ups and downs with the sponsorship

SPEAKER_01: 17:01

securing sponsorship is a big deal oh

SPEAKER_00: 17:04

it's really difficult and i i've now got into because we are now a a community interest company i now go for funding as well which i spend a lot of my time writing very boring applications which is um I mean, not for the faint-hearted, but there you go. You do it. It's part of the job. So, yeah, we've gone from that. And now we're currently, to bring us fast forward, we're this year kindled a relationship with BBC Studios. So it's sort of worked out quite well. It's very good for us to work with a broadcast brand. So this year we are peaking again on the entries. One of the awards that we brought in a few years ago ago as the content creator award where the public vote so that brings in a lot of traffic but it also brings in a lot of nominations so we have that really puts the numbers on but even without that we've had over 900 entries for the comedy stage award the main one that everyone knows about the comedy writing and the comedy short film award so it's a huge job with very limited resource You know, a lot of night set up reading scripts, watching films. I mean, they all submit now by even for the stage award, they submit a video and we don't see everybody because we have we had over 450 stage award submissions this year. So I think we saw about 150 of them on the. Well, I went on the road this year, which I haven't I haven't done that since 2019. So, you know, this was a big year.

SPEAKER_01: 18:46

I know every time I've seen you this

SPEAKER_00: 18:48

year, you've been dashing off. somewhere to go and watch a semi-final. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 18:52

But I think it's incredible. So you started off with 70 the first year, you're now with over 2000 and you're talking about, you know, hundreds for

SPEAKER_00: 19:00

each specific award category. And five awards. Yeah. Cause we didn't have, we only had one category when we started out and now we have, we have the content creator, which I mentioned, and then we have the others for writing and short film. The nice thing about that is that if you're not necessarily able to go and perform on a stage I mean you might be a young mum with kids and responsibilities and you just can't go out at night to do stand-up because it's tough you can be a content creator and do stuff for Instagram and TikTok or you can make a short film a short comedy film which I think is underrated because actually I think the short films this year are so amazing so brilliant and I know quite a few of the women who've made the short films also are on the circuit but they in several cases is they've got young kids and it's difficult for them to get out on the road and do that. So it's really great that they've taken their comic talents and put them into short film format. But it's brilliant. And I think that's equally valid. You know, I think it's, and also you've really got to think about it when you're making a film. It's a different kind of punch comedy wise. So that's been particularly rewarding this year.

SPEAKER_01: 20:13

That's great to see. And I know that there's still a few tickets left for tomorrow night's final. Yeah, please. If anyone is interested to go along, I know I was there in the last final that you had and it was a really

SPEAKER_00: 20:24

great evening celebration. It's going to be quite exciting to get back on that stage at the Bloomsbury and bring it, as they say, bring it.

SPEAKER_01: 20:31

So before we move on from the awards, you've mentioned Zoe. What other performers have you helped come to the fore through Funny Women and through

SPEAKER_00: 20:40

the awards? I think help is probably the wrong word because it's a difficult thing. I think to be a successful comedian, comedy writer, whatever, you're doing it for yourself. There's no question of it. And at the end of the day, anyone who runs a competition like I do, and there are obviously there are others, it is an opinion formulated by, in our case this year, public opinion and professional industry judges. So I think the word help is in the context of helping you to be recognised, helping you to get seen, helping to give you some guidelines for your ongoing career. But we don't take any ownership of the talent. We are a non-profit organisation that exists to give these people a platform and to get them in front of the industry. So a lot of the women that have performed in the Stage Award have gone on to be hugely successful. But it's their own talents and their own, it's a good Jewish word, chutzpah, that gets them there. It's not anything that we specifically do other than put them in front of people. I think that's an important point to make because ironically, the marriage that we make between industry and talent isn't always recognised perhaps as much as it should be. As I mentioned, we're working with BBC Studios this year and we have worked with Sky Studios. In broadcast terms, we've always had fantastic support. We've worked with Channel 4, we've worked with ITV. We've had a lot of support from the benefit hugely from developing new talent are the management companies and the agents. And my biggest beef really about the industry is that those people don't necessarily give us the support that we need, down to not even buying their tickets for the final. We are expected to give everything away. I think people see what we do and we make it look good and they think we don't need that support and that money, but everything every ticket purchased really helps us out because as a non-profit all the money we generate out of funny women goes back into doing all the other things that we do in terms of talent famous talent are real off the ones everybody kind of knows i would say the number one biggest talent that's ever come through the funny women awards is katherine ryan who won in 2008 that same year uh the person who came second was sarah pascoe so that was quite a year who else can i mention I mean Kerry Godleman's very big at the moment as mainly acting she's back on the road actually doing stand-up but she was in our very first I can't remember what year she was I think she was the Zoe Lyons year but we love we love Kerry and you in fact you saw her with us earlier this year when we had the launch

SPEAKER_01: 23:38

she was great

SPEAKER_00: 23:39

yeah I can reveal that the this year's final will be hosted by Amy Gledhill who is a fantastic stand-up she didn't win I think she was a mere finalist but even so that's they can't enter again once they've been in the final so the fact that you get to the final is amazing but she was I think 2012 finalist but if you look at you know anyone's interest in Amy she's been doing amazing stuff she pops up a lot on telly now and we've got a really amazing headline performance by Rachel Paris who was a runner-up as well in the awards and delighted that she's coming back to work with us

SPEAKER_01: 24:16

so what I also get is that you're not there a agent you're there as a platform no to showcase female comedy talent

SPEAKER_00: 24:23

we're not we're not there to make i mean this is where probably the leadership thing comes in we're not there to make money out of them in the sense of signing them and managing them

SPEAKER_01: 24:33

i'm noticing how loyal the women that you have given the platform to the fact they come back and they'll do their showcase and be compares or whatever the fact they'll give their time back to you says something they do

SPEAKER_00: 24:46

but in a lot of cases they are also being right because at the end of the day we are a we're a community interest company which means that we are also recognize the fact that these women all of us earn a living from doing this and everyone should be paid to do a job and again my ethos is that we always pay people as much and as fairly as we can then when occasionally someone will come and do a job and say look Lynn I'm not going to invoice you for that I love doing it I want to help you out donate that money to the glitter project or whatever I'm really grateful that is so lovely but I do think we should encourage in any business not just funny women that the spirit of paying it forward is really important to me if you've if I'm that's going back to what you said about helping people we're not those people are talented anyway but by being seen on on the stage of the final of the funny women awards and you you get signed to an a That is great because that's what you're doing it for. And all we ask is that when you are successful and you're earning your millions from TV ads and big corporate events, just remember us and maybe pay it back in the smallest of ways. It might be doing a gig for charity or it might be mentoring somebody who's coming up through the ranks. A lot of them do, actually. I mean, I think women generally, regardless of funny women, I think women are pretty good at paying it forward and bringing people up the ladder, aren't we? I think we have a natural intuition for doing that. I just sometimes question the motives, but I think you have to be quite Machiavellian in any business. And whereas I think when I started out, it was the women were much more closed about encouraging other female comedians. Now it seems to be normal.

SPEAKER_01: 26:53

There's a lot more generosity around.

SPEAKER_00: 26:55

Yeah, I do remember a conversation with, I'm not going to say who it is, but quite a famous comedian who actually came up to me and said right to my face, I don't like what you're doing. I was quite happy being the only female on the bill. Why are you doing this? Which was interesting. Interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:13

I think there is certainly a move towards women lifting each other up these days. That's part of the dialogue. We have to.

SPEAKER_00: 27:48

We're working with a digital channel called Funny Parts. And they're great fun to work with. We're working with a mixed team, male and female. Quite a lot of women in leadership at the BBC, which is great. And that is why we're working with them because one of their female leaders and I got chatting and she couldn't understand why they weren't working with us. And I said, well, you tell me. So that's how that happened. But that is the power of women. We were at a networking event and we were chatting. So there you go. You never know where the opportunities are going to arrive. You

SPEAKER_01: 28:19

never know. You never know indeed. Well, let's move on to talk a bit more about comedy, confidence and leadership, because I know that's another element of what you're involved with. So, you know, you've talked about how humour builds confidence and presence. And I have to say, I've had my own experience where I've stood up and I've stood out in one of your workshops. And it was really, really powerful, actually. And I'm not an unconfident presenter, but it was But it's a very different discipline. Very different. So it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best possible way, I might add. But it gave me a whole different lens to look at in terms of confidence and how to present myself. So why do you think comedy is such an effective tool for building self-belief and presence, even for people like me who don't see themselves as funny?

SPEAKER_00: 29:13

I think we all in business and in life, we have a filter and we filter out. so much stuff and we don't say it. And I think what comedians do is they say it. I think that's the simple thing. They say the unmentionable or the unthinkable or sometimes the inspirational and the most incredible things. And it's about giving yourself permission to stand up and stand, you know, stand up, stand out as my workshops called. It's not about being funny. It's about having that voice that you can say what you feel and what you want to say. All my life have been probably a bit too blunt for a lot of people. I do say what I think. I do happen to know now that is recognised now as more of a neurodiverse thing. Who knew? But I think a lot of us who are on that spectrum have dealt with that all through our lives and it comes very naturally to us to say things. But I remember when I was much more in mainstream business, in PR, I would sit in meetings and know instinctively that I couldn't say what was going around my head because it was inappropriate but what comedy does is it gives you permission to turn off your editor and just say it anyway and I personally think I'd like to see more of that in business I think we all I hate all the politicking and the sort of whispering behind corners and I like people to be open and honest and outspoken and probably because of my disposition and the way I am it seems perfectly normal to me but it to a lot of people it isn't

SPEAKER_01: 30:51

well i think organizations are you know all the elephants that there are in the room sometimes there's herds of them isn't there so um i'd love you know you're talking about how speaking straight humor and comedy can help you speak straight but how else does it translate in leadership and business settings

SPEAKER_00: 31:09

we always remember funny

SPEAKER_01: 31:10

people

SPEAKER_00: 31:11

any politician leader quite often male speakers at conferences the one thing you will hear more than anything else when people come away so i like them they were funny we love a funny person so by being able to access humor and use it it does make you more memorable and also the crack you get from having used it and got a laugh is amazing so what i try and do in those workshops to get everyone to have a sense of that and a fit know how that feels because that feeling is what gives you the confidence that's it there's nothing more complicated than that i should say mary as well that we've we've really put it to the test this year because in a moment of complete and utter madness having realized that we were going to run out of money we we were funded by the arts council to run our outreach program the glitter project and seeing the money that we got through funding disappearing through our fingers i i knew that i'm gonna have to go for another round of funding which i'm in the process of doing i thought there's got to be an easier way what can I do to raise some money to keep the Glitter Project going? So I had a Lynn Lightbulb moment and I thought, I know what I will do. We'll challenge 10 women who've never done comedy before to do stand-up comedy. And I know what we'll do. We'll give them five minutes at the Edinburgh Fringe. And that was the key to it because I mapped it all out. We got it all ready. And I put it out there and said, right, do you want to do Five minutes of comedy at the world famous Edinburgh Fringe. And we did end up with 10 women. Unfortunately, one had a health issue and couldn't come. So we had nine women. We had nine amazing women, all from the world of business, perform five minutes of comedy at the Edinburgh Festival. The fundraising aspect of it was that they all paid for that. And we gave them the most amazing comedy experience. We gave them a mentor. We ran boot camps. They had one-on-one coaching. They had different kinds of workshops. We started the program in May. And by the time they did their event in Edinburgh in one of the best venues at the assembly rooms. And I cannot tell you, Mary, they were so brilliant. But they had been absolutely so well trained and coached. I mean, I didn't do it all myself. I had a team I brought in. And the great thing about that was that everyone got paid so we were able to pay all the comedians so so the money that we got from all the challengers paid for the training the coaching the venues we looked after everybody and we still made some money which we are now plowing back into our outreach glitter project which is for people who don't have access to any of that who yeah who live in a different situation

SPEAKER_01: 34:11

so that so that is fantastic what a great story and what were some of the things that those women took away back into their business lives?

SPEAKER_00: 34:20

There is, if anyone wants to look at our website, we've got an amazing, there's a review article where I just got everyone's comments about their experience into one piece. But the main thing that came through, the outstanding was about the discipline and what comedy teaches you. I mean, some of these women are really experienced public speakers, but, and they're naturally quite funny, but them owning that in a comedy context rather than just throwing it in naturally for a public speaking engagement was a real breakthrough for them I think a couple of them were very very nervous and I think there were a couple of occasions where I thought they're not going to do it but once they'd done it they were on such a high it was really interesting to see how it how they developed I'm not going to say it was an easy experience some of it was quite tough at the beginning and it's the first time we've done it and we had a lot of different you imagine we had 10 women 10 comedians there was a lot going on you know a lot of egos

SPEAKER_01: 35:29

in the room I should

SPEAKER_00: 35:30

imagine I wasn't going to say that but yes

SPEAKER_01: 35:33

well we've all got an ego so I

SPEAKER_00: 35:35

know but I don't I don't want to be offensive to anyone because they all presented in very different ways and there was it went from somebody who really I did twist their arm to do it and in the end I think she agreed to do it because her mates were doing it. A bit of peer pressure. But actually, of all of them, she went on the biggest journey because she was so slightly reluctant. But actually, she was brilliant when she did it on stage in Edinburgh. She was great. And furthermore, having got this far with it and raised some money, they then said, oh, we'd really like to do it again because we need to launch it again for next year. So we're doing a showcase at the Comedy Store. So that's happening next month. So, you know, any who wants to see how we got these women from zero to here I mean they weren't zero because some of them were really brilliant public speakers anyway but for them to do comedy a couple of them said it was a bucket list thing for them a couple of them said it's always been on a bucket list but rather me retell it the article on the website is really great because I've just got it it's their actual it's their actual thoughts not what I think

SPEAKER_01: 36:43

okay so I'm mindful of time so we're moving on to thinking about you've had a lot of recognition over the years and won a lot of awards, quite justly so as well. So you've recently been honoured with the British Citizen Award. How does it feel to receive recognition for something that you call your life's work?

SPEAKER_00: 37:00

Well, the BCA, the British Citizen Award, was really... I still don't know how to talk about it, actually. I mean, it's the people's honours, so they're very different to the royal honours. You are nominated by some in your community and in my case it was a lovely man called Dr David Stokes who runs a foundation here in Medway where I'm based and I work with them quite a lot they have a fantastic arts organisation called Nucleus Arts so we have a lot of synergy but David and I were chatting and he said I don't understand why then you haven't got an honours or an OBE or he said I'm going to put you forward for a BCA I said what's a BCA so I didn't know what it was but it is they've been going for 10 years 10 years. So this is like an incredible platform for people who literally do good works in their community. I mean, I have to say, if you look at the year, my year, my citation is in July 25. Some of the people I got my honours with, honestly, it was such a moving and amazing occasion. I didn't feel like I should have even been there. It was so, you know, they were literally for everything from a lot of people who've done work for charity and all different things but I think what it's done for me is made me really put my work in context and and add some value you know I I think I'm very I'm very difficult at putting a value on what I've done because I just actually just get on and do it really but getting a any kind of award number one you you know David put me forward for it so I didn't have to go for it he he said I think you should have an award I'm going to put you forward for it so he did that and he and he got somebody else to second me and it that was very special because it was someone else doing it for me but a lot of awards you have to nominate yourself or ask someone to nominate you and I don't like doing that I mean I find it really excruciatingly difficult to write about myself but um I've got better at it I think I think now now I've had a little bit of recognition I'm feeling a little bit more comfortable with it and obviously the best business women awards will which we've both been involved with as well, which has also been quite life-changing in a way because I'm one of these, just get on with it people. But now I realize through doing that, a lot of people know more about me and Funny Women. So if you look at it in the, you know, given my background is journalism and PR, I've tried to shift it back and think about myself as what I would have said to one of my clients, which I'm very good at doing. I'm very good at advising everybody else how to get publicity and start a comedy career, whatever. But, but, you know, a lot of us, it's not because I'm selfless. It's more because I'm uncomfortable with doing it.

SPEAKER_01: 39:55

I am reminded as you're speaking, I'm reminded of that Chinese proverb, physician heal thyself. Yes.

UNKNOWN: 40:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 40:03

Yeah. I mean, I think I'm still healing myself. I think I, I'm much more comfortable since I got the BCA. I have honestly felt much stronger in myself. And actually I've just recently had a uh not an altercation but just kind of confrontation I think is the word with somebody over an industry event that I've always been involved with and suddenly I'm not I've just been not invited to do something I thought I did I did the classic uh hang on a minute um we have a very funny family phrase called don't you know who I am it's it's like don't you know who I am um which I adopted, actually, that came from my journalism career, because to get tickets or get into things, I do this kind of whole, I'm quite good at that, you know, acting a persona. I think, well, I do need to get in here. Don't you know who I am? So it's that sort of thing. So it's rekindled that a little bit. And I did that a bit with this event. So who knows whether I'll be involved with it. But, you know, whereas I would have just taken it and been miserable about it, I'm less likely to do that now. I think well, hang on a minute. I've been doing this for 23 years. I've got an award. Why don't you want me involved with your event?

SPEAKER_01: 41:24

But there was something about the BCA award, which seems to be different in terms of the affirmation of who you

SPEAKER_00: 41:31

are. Yeah. And also my award is for the arts. And that's really important because the arts are going through such a bashing at the moment. If you look at the world of academia, all the courses, you know, for anyone to do with art and creative industries are just being slashed back budget wise. And the arts is very beleaguered. And, you know, we lead as a country, the UK leads on so many fronts artistically. What the hell are we doing? You know, don't get me on comedy. Comedy is way down the pecking order. You know, no one, it's not even recognised as an art. So I've been part of a big lobby with something, the newly set up British Comedy Association. We've been lobbying government to recognise comedy as an art form and if you think about how much comedy we export just in terms of television okay there's been a change of government so that'll hold things up a little bit the cabinet reshuffle but you know hopefully that will go through and and arts will become much more recognized we have the world's largest arts festival in edinburgh every year i mean come on

SPEAKER_01: 42:38

okay so all go for the arts um so let's just move on then into our final reflections lynn what do you think your journey has taught you about leadership

SPEAKER_00: 42:50

I did have to think about this question because I think this is where I find it difficult because I don't think of myself as a leader and I I don't think that's unusual I think a lot of people's are leaders by accident they just find something that they're passionate about and they become very expert or very vocal about it and then they find themselves in a position of leadership I think that and I think if we look at the non-profits sector, which I inhabit, passion always and message are always way above profit and money. You know, it's about the cause. By non-profit, I include charities and any kind of social enterprise. So I don't think, and I'm sure someone out there will disagree with me, that men look at business in the same way. They're much more focused. They're much more direct. So business is business. Business is about making money even if I think of the conversations I have with my own husband he'll say things like it's all about the profit or whatever yeah it is but it's also about how people think and feel and supporting people so I think female leadership does inhabit a slightly different place but then there's lots there's lots in lots of in between you know there's it there's no one binary is there I mean it's just all very fluid these days so which is great um But I think what leadership says for me, for me, it's about empathy. It's about responding to a need. I think even if you're a reluctant leader, once you're in that position, you kind of have a duty to accept it and pay it forward. And that for me at the moment, that's really important because age wise, I'm starting to think about, probably should have thought about years ago, go but I don't want to retire but I want to refocus some of my activities on the things that I'm really passionate about and would like to spend more time writing getting my podcast back up again you know things that I'm not doing because at the moment this year has been totally brutal I've just had to get back on that horse and get around the country and see talent talent talent but that's been important and I think it's really helped me see where comedy is today so I feel like I'm in a really good place but being a good leader is recognising perhaps when it's time for you to start bringing on new people.

SPEAKER_01: 45:22

Passing the baton on.

SPEAKER_00: 45:24

Yeah, and I think I'm in my paying it forward and right of succession period of my life. I hope I can make it work because actually it would be such a shame for all this to just disappear.

SPEAKER_01: 45:38

And one final, final question. For women listening today who want to use more humour in their leadership or in their But don't actually see themselves as funny. I might be asking this for myself, actually. Where should they begin? Well, go

SPEAKER_00: 45:56

to the website for a start off. I mean, it's a look at this on social media. Well, a good start point, actually, is to if you like comedy, if most people like comedy. So find something you like. Watch. I mean, it can be anything. It can be old things from years ago. It could be new stuff. There's so much comedy on TV. So if you've got any, who doesn't like a laugh, you know, but maybe start with that, look at it. And then if you think, oh, do you know what? I want to be like Catherine Ryan. I want to be on that stage. I want to be on telly. Then that might be a reason for you to explore doing some kind of workshop or course or whatever. We are not the only kids on the block. There's lots of people doing it. You might prefer a mixed environment, but if you are happier in an audience, female environment then obviously we have great online courses which are a really good way of getting started we have my one day workshop which I'm still running all these years later I love it it's probably my most favourite thing that I do we have the summer school and the winter warm up which are longer days where it's me and a couple of other people which I think you've done and then if you're feeling really brave or you've got something to perform then you can enter the Funny Women Awards next year or you one of our next 2026 Glitter Challenges, which I'd be delighted to welcome you on board.

SPEAKER_01: 47:26

So lots of options there, Lynne. Thank you so much. And if people want to connect with you, how do they connect with

SPEAKER_00: 47:31

you? I'm on all the usual socials. I think email is always my favourite and easiest. I'm Lynne with an E, L-Y-N-N-E at funnywomen.com or just search funnywomenlynne with an E because that will find me on most things. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01: 47:47

your Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, you're on them all, aren't you? Great. Lynne, thank you so much for coming here today, sharing your story and your wisdom. Thank you very much. My pleasure. Before we wrap up, I want to share something with you. Do you ever feel like your confidence isn't really the issue, but wish you could strengthen your ability to deal with things that keep chipping away at it? The bias, the double standards, the pressure to prove yourself, to name just a few. That's exactly why I created Exploding the Confidence Myth, a three-month program for women leaders who are ready to change that story. It combines one-to-one coaching, group coaching and a powerful in-person workshop. The next program starts at the beginning of November with the workshop taking place on the 7th of November at the Connacht Rooms in Holborn, London. Past participants have described it as validating, supportive and stretching. They've become more visible, raised their value, increased their financial return and broken through patterns that have held them back. But perhaps most importantly, they've gained a deeper sense of okayness with who they are, recognising they already have something valuable to offer. If this resonates with you or you know someone who would benefit, you'll find all the details in the show notes. I'd love you to join us. Thank you so much for listening to the She Leads Collective podcast. If this episode resonated with you, follow the show or share it with a friend and leave a quick review below or leave us a comment. Change happens through conversation. so let's keep this one going listen out for the next episode and join me as we keep lifting the lid on the stories that matter take care and keep leading with heart