Beyond the Game: Francesca Brown on leadership, sport & social impact

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0:41We look forward to seeing you there. The gap is growing between the grassroots and the professional game, which means it's becoming a lot more harder for inner city girls to access the game they love. There was a setback with injury. Whilst I was on my two-week trial in the UK, I got seriously injured. I think it's the stats like 92 % or 91 % of C-suite women have come from a sports background. Hello and welcome to the Business Leader Podcast. I'm Josh Dornbrack. And I'm Lucy McPhee and today we're joined by Francesca Brown, an award-winning international speaker, Prince's Trust ambassador, activist and the chief executive and founder of the Goals for Girls development programme.

1:22Goals for Girls exists to support and raise the aspirations of young women and girls aged between 11 and 16 within the UK's most marginalised communities. Through her work, Francesca is a globally recognised executive on sport for development, women in sports insights and female leadership. Her story is one of overcoming adversity, mastering strategy, the importance of mentorship and much more. Please enjoy our conversation with Francesca Brown. Francesca Brown, thank you so much for joining us. I want to just read something very quickly. Francesca's remarkable story demonstrates the importance of my trust's work and the impact such support can have in changing young people's lives.

2:02Well done, Francesca. And if I may say so, many, many congratulations on this outstanding achievement. So that was from then Prince Charles, now King Charles. Yes. When you reflect on this almost a decade on, how do you feel? It's such an honour to have been now King, to have been given that award. And it's such a prestigious award as well. It was the Pride of Britain Award. So for me, it was a testament to all the hard work, the years that I'd gone into, you know, building out my charity, but also establishing a, how can I describe it? A catalyst of change for the younger generation and standing on that stage and being awarded that award alongside Dame Maggie Smith as well, which was just unreal.

2:51Incredible. incredible um for me it was a moment to make my voice heard but also be the representation for many young people young women and girls and um young people in marginalized communities who represent the background that I come from and who generally might look like me so you grew up in Manchester yeah what was life like growing up well that's fun as London no um for me manchester was it was it was look there was two sides of it growing up and you know everyone's got their stories to tell i'm sure you both have as well like from the things that shaped you and molded you into the individual you are today and for me manchester shaped me and it weren't just the you know the my upbringing it was also the the trials and tribulations that I went through and also the successes that I went through within Manchester which you know allowed me to become the woman I am today.

3:54Amazing and you were a part of the Manchester City youth team yes from what I know obviously there was a setback with injury how did you overcome that? A little bit of backstory I used to run 100 meters so I represented in England um doing the 100 meter sprint and I was really fortunate I've got my auntie is Diane Maddell and my dad was a real um talented athlete as well and he used to run alongside Dwayne Chambers Darren Campbell so for me it was kind of in the blood sport yeah and um I used to run for cell harriers in Manchester and we traveled the whole of the country and we went abroad as well representing that 100 metre sprint.

4:38And I was a testament to myself. I was able to, you know, uphold for a very, very long time being the 100 metre champion. And alongside that, I played football. But I didn't play at City at the time. I played at Manchester United community team because there wasn't an actual female team over at Manchester United at the time. So whilst I was there, I got picked up by City. and it was amazing like the whole journey the whole experience at the time you know the representation except for like Rachel Yankee um or you know um Hope Powell or other established footballers there wasn't a lot of optimistic optimism within the pipeline right um so for me it was like am I going to be able to make this into a career or am I not so there was all that doubt around being a footballer and and then I got picked up to go to America and whilst I was on my two-week trial in the UK I got seriously injured and that kind of stopped my whole um you know my whole journey into becoming an established footballer at the time.

5:49And I mean we are all a mosaic of our ups and downs in life and you because of that injury hit quite a serious low could you just tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, so I was brought up by my grandmother in Manchester. And for me personally, I suffered with underlying mental health issues and really bad chronic depression. But I didn't know that at the time. And one of the things that we use as an educational tool for the work that I do within Girls for Girls is I use it as a reminder to young people that sports is actually a fundamental part of your well-being. and if you do not have sport in your life then all the other issues and you know just balancing going into adolescence is going to be really really challenging so for me I didn't realize at the time that you know sport was that natural endorphin which was getting released into my body every time I ran or played or you know was with my the social circle I was with and learning all the life skills I was learning I didn't realize that was keeping me afloat so when it was taken away from me then it was very very apparent to me that something wasn't right and I didn't realize that my upbringing and all the the issues that I had faced through my upbringing actually came to the surface at that point and I couldn't handle it so I tried to take my own life at the age of 16 um and it wasn't a cry for help it was actually I didn't want to be here and I didn't understand I wasn't educated enough to understand the feelings that I was going through at the time to then turn around and say you know what I I can go and speak to somebody or um I understand this feeling so maybe I should navigate it this way and without that educational platform this is why you know bring it back like this has been a 65 percent rise in mental health issues um and hospitalizations for teenage girls in the last five years that is dramatic yeah and that is just as i'm just one of those statistics from years back um so for me you know it was it was me not wanting to face the issues not wanting to relive it i didn't understand what i was going through at the time and then for me it was like every time i was being triggered how do i navigate myself through that who do I talk to I didn't want to be a burden to my grandmother either so there was all these these issues and emotions and um and yeah I I really do advocate now for mental health and well-being and sport and how that naturally coincides together to um to improve your your well-being that's incredible journey really is um were there any early signs that you'd end up on the path you're on now?

8:44They always say that. I think it's the stats like 92 % or 91 % of C-suite women have come from a sports background. Interesting, I didn't know that. I think it was a bit inevitable, right? There was going to be me leading somewhere. But my nan used to laugh at me because I was always this person where I'd wake up every morning and I'd write a list. And I'd write a list for the week and I'd write a list for the day. And to the point where she used to laugh at me because I'd have on my list brush my teeth, get a test, shower. And my man's like, that is normal. Why have you got that on your list?

9:20And I'm like, because I've got to allocate the time to do it. So I've been time blocking since I was like 12 years old. That's fantastic. Without me realising though. And it's these skills that as you grow older, you realise you've got in your day-to-day life and you find that a lot of successful people in themselves, they've got a way of doing things right. They've got a way of navigating their diaries. They've got a way of time blocking or really putting themselves into hyper mode where they can really push themselves to be the best version of themselves. And you always find that they're always goal setting.

9:59I always had vision boards from a very, very young age. I always had like, I remember the mini I bought, the first mini I bought, and I had that on my vision board from years ago. And I remember my partnership with Adidas, I had it on my vision board. That was the brand I wanted to partner with and then that came to fruition like years later and it's just constantly kind of not taking your eyes off that price and chipping away. And I think a lot of people, to answer your question, a lot of people will give up when it gets hard. And I think for me, I've always been that person except for obviously the point where I couldn't because I didn't understand myself trying to take my own life.

10:40But I've always been a person who's chipped away and chipped away and to the point where finally I see the results. I'm like, okay, that makes sense. So yeah, I think I've seen those telltales from a young age. I love that. And we'll get to the start of the Goals for Girls journey. But I just want to focus a little bit more. You've mentioned your grandmother as a big part in your journey, obviously leading up to this point. but were there any other figures any other mentors any other coaches that you had in those kind of formative years that really really stood out as someone who inspired you to be where you are today yeah you know my grandmother played a fundamental part in my life like she is the backbone of a lot of things but also my grandfather as well he you know stabilized a lot and um made sure that I stayed grounded um and they were always my go-tos in regards to anything but you know I never like to turn around and say that I've idolized anyone because for me I'm a person where I will come across people in life and I'll always take some a teaching from them um and whether that's through a podcast or whether that's through reading a book there's always things which I'll take and add to my life and to make this mosaic um of who I am today and and how I apply myself to things so I wouldn't say there wasn't a there was a particular role model it was just basically people who I'd look at or encounter or you know I'd read um I remember very early on reading Rich Dad Poor Dad oh I love that one brilliant That them teachings there was really, you know, fundamental to my learning and to how then I would address myself within this world.

12:34So I never would say I idolise anyone because I think there's a lot of people who are, you know, C-suite executive women or people who are doing sports world or just general people who cross my path in my life. who I'm thinking, wow, you're really inspirational. To the point of obviously launching Goals for Girls and then I've got young women and girls who remind me constantly of my why and the reason to why I do this. So for me, you know, I would always say my backbone, my catapult was my grandparents for me and even individuals who have been negative in my life. Interesting. I've been very, very fundamental to my learnings and the way how I apply myself.

13:15there'll be something where I'm an energy person so I walk into a room I'll feel the energy straight away and then I'll be like this ain't for me and I'm a person where I'm always like um go into rooms where you're celebrated not where you're tolerated and I live that mantra because for me it's it's those moments where if somebody walks into a room and speaks your name without you being in that room. It's the most powerful, you know, way of communication or where your presence can be told. So for me, you know, I take learnings from absolutely anything. Even you two today, I take learnings from.

13:56So, yeah. I just want to touch on that because what I hear there is very much linked to a sporting mindset in very much in the same way that many, many coaches of many sports will tell you that it's about the process. it's not about the wins and the losses you've already given us a few little insights into kind of what you've kind of taken from your sporting career is there anything else that kind of comes to mind you've mentioned the vision of the goal setting and things like that is there any other transferable skills that you think you've taken from from your early days in sport yeah you know I used to always say and I say to my kids now it's not over it's not over until you win and I remember when you saw that at a young age he was like what do you mean it's not over till I win and I was like Like, you might not get an immediate success, and you may not see it right now, but trust me, if you keep chipping away, your success will come.

14:48Things don't happen overnight. Someone who you've seen come on TV or you're celebrating through your social media, it's not an overnight success. They would have chipped away at that for a very long time. I always use this scenario of Ed Sheeran. People think he just came on our TV screens or on our radios and he was just an overnight, he wasn't an overnight success. He chipped away and away and away for years until he got to that point of being that version of himself. And I always say to him and I say to myself, my son, anyone who I encounter is, it's not over until you win. Just keep making sure that you apply yourself.

15:28I remember losing my race one time. I'm a 100 metre champion and I'm like, what? I've lost a race? No. and I remember going back to the drawing board with my coach and saying right we've got we've got to change the technique of how we're training we've got to really you know think of a different way to break through because this person's come on the scene and they're now quicker than me and I remember I was working consistently day in day out day in day out to the point where when I went back on track again I then reclaimed my title yeah so for me but that wasn't overnight it wasn't oh hi i'm back again it was every day going to that track and running and consistently doing 20 sprints or 40 sprints or changing the technique and going to rehab and coming back in and it was constant and that blood sweat and tears on the side of the track and where you're like i can't do it i can't do it and your coach is like you can you can and having that person and it brings me back to what you just said it's always having someone in your corner as your champion is definitely one thing I've learned having a mentor that could be applied in any form of life but for me on the track it was my coach being that person I see you I hear you I'm going to help you in business you know having that mentor to guide you I would say that people who think they're the most successful in business they've always got a mentor who's better than them and they're striving to be get to that next step and for me it's like who can I surround myself with who's better than me And that's one thing I've always learned from sport is that who can I surround myself with who's better than me so that I can become my best version of myself.

17:08I mean, continuing on with that, actually, I was watching an interview with Alexia Pateas where she was talking about a victory they had. They'd won 2-0, but her takeaway was it should have been 4-0. I've lost. Do you kind of relate to something like that in life? those similar mindsets yeah yeah definitely and i understand where she's coming from she's not looking at the goals she's not looking at the win she's got the performance yeah and she's and that applies across the whole board business sport leadership you know parenthood the lot you think that you know sometimes i'm small wins are the best wins but when you start becoming a i don't like to say that you're the best because there's always someone out there better than you but you know a um a leader and somebody who is you know breaking barriers within your true form whatever field that is you then start looking at what could we have done better in this scenario and that doesn't mean i was one of them people where i'd come out of rooms all the time and be like i could have done that better you know yeah and then i always say to people though even though you're analyzing what you could have done better don't forget to celebrate small wins because if you keep you know constantly just saying to yourself i could have done better you're gonna be worn out you'll never be satisfied you're gonna be satisfied so i always say celebrate your small wins i remember winning the pride of britain award and i was like soon as i came out of there i was like right this is what i've got to do and i was on work mode straight away and i didn't celebrate the moment i was in i was thinking about what's next and so i always take a breather now once ever we have a major success I'm like let me take a couple of days to really take that in and appreciate the fact that this is down to years of hard work yeah and then we'll go back to the the true ground again I want to come back to your journey now so I love your story because you leave Manchester with 10 pounds in your pocket you come to London and then you know fast forward a little bit and goals for girls is born tell me a little bit about how that came about and you know what was the kind of moment where you were like this is something i want to pursue yeah so i um i decided on my 18th birthday to be like right manchester i can't do this now and it wasn't because i don't love the city it was more because it was a constant trigger my mental health so i was like i'm not going to be able to be better if i keep you know getting triggered all the time so i got up i remember my night it was my nan's birthday she went away and I used that as an opportunity to pack my bags because I knew I wouldn't be able to leave if she was there.

19:54And I was like, right, this is my opportunity. So I packed my bags. I only had a tenner. She left me a little bit of money on the side and from obviously that week where she was away, I only had£10 left and I was like, I'm going to have to do it. And luckily my friend was in Manchester at the time. So I jumped in the car with her and then travelled back to London and stayed on her couch for months. Oh my gosh. months um and i was like couch hopping from like two couches her house and my other friend's house and literally trying to find work so i was like once upon a time on those fundraisers on the street where i was like hi can you help me can you donate and then i went to being you know um within the um charity space in being on the on the telephone calls and and ringing around people so I was doing that and then I was chipping away I was doing event events and make sure that I was doing like event management and building out events and pushing them out as well and just you know trying to get my toe into everything to try and try and spark that creativity nothing was working I was like yeah this ain't for me and then um I remember I remember um sitting there and saying to myself I've always wanted to work with young people and I've always wanted to give back to the younger generation so what is the best way in doing that and I realized through that I've got to go on my youth work courses so went on my youth work courses started volunteering in East London and got my diplomas in youth work so I worked my way through and dragged my two-year-old at the time back and forth on trains I was doing it when I was pregnant as well as back and forth from like South London to East London because and I wasn't really i wasn't even being paid i was just literally obsessed with helping these young people then i became the head of that um girls intervention in that youth center and i remember a group of girls coming in and saying right the boys get everything we get nothing we know you get funding what are you gonna do about it so i was like right so i sat them down on a big table put loads of pieces of paper out pens felt tips and they got to the point where they were writing down i said listen put everything you nothing's off limits put everything that you want and you dream of and you aspire in your community put everything on that piece of paper so they're getting excited they're writing down everything and then it got to the point where when i looked down bar the disneyland and take me to america and new york and all these wild um dreams that they had i seen straight away a visit a business vision and i couldn't believe i was sat there and i was like this is actually a program and it's for the girls and it's by the girls we need to put this out there so i started off with seven girls went to like 21 girls then we went to 47 girls and before you know we had over 200 girls on this program and everything we put in place was for them it's what they asked for everything which was on this piece of paper except for the the new yorks we did a little taking them to france so brilliant but yeah everything that we had on there was for them and that's why we say the program is for the girls and by the girls and it starts with you it continues with her because everything we put into place is just the pathways that they need for that step up to aspire and dream bigger that's fantastic it really is um so how many people do you have involved in the program now including the girls and the coaches yeah so we have 4 300 girls have been through the program wow um today we launched in 2011 we piloted it for two years and then we did our full launch and then now we've got you know including the coaches as well probably about 400 girls on a weekly basis and we've got our mentors our coaches obviously our back office staff as well so you're looking about 420 that's amazing weekly basis wow that's fantastic so the impact is is major and um we've just relaunched a new strategy as well which will take us over the next five years and um we're really excited to put that in motion yeah no i can imagine and i guess for a little bit of color we'll get on to the very exciting partnership you've just announced but give us a little bit of an idea about the the business model and how it kind of works you know how many kind of full-time people do you have involved in the in goals for goals yeah so a lot of people are contracted in to the work that we work on and in regards to we have our pinnacle full-time members of staff which will roll out like program delivery and the the the program delivery as well the um football delivery and then obviously our administration hr and all the things which keep the back end of your businesses running um so for us in regards to the fundamentals of it there's two areas of the program we have our mental well-being area and then we have our um football development arena and within both of them the well-being is a merge of of both of those areas there so what we do is we create sustainable development pathways for young girls ages 11 to 16 and by doing so we do workshops trips and qualifications around four pillars of career development mental health mental well-being and sports participation and identity and we educate them on the importance of sport but also the importance of your well-being and how as a young woman you can you know um build them both alongside one another and then the other areas that we make sure that these girls succeed in their educational pathways as well and that they have very clear development pathways beyond secondary education so we'll partner with people like Sky or we'll partner with people and banks or you know law firms or you know Adidas or brands which allow these girls to experience the landscape of whatever that arena is that they want to go into and the reason why we do that is because representation is key and for them to understand that they they can be seen in this these spaces as well is really really important to us so that they can visualize their next steps in life it's all about visualization so yeah it's about raising the aspirations of young women and girls really through sports education um and mentorship and um we have trauma um girls as well on our programs um and that's because of the mental well-being side so we go into schools we have a trauma response so that girls can basically who are you know self-harming they might be you know carers they might be also um just in a community where they're up against too many barriers it could be financial barriers it could be cultural barriers it could be so on and off the football pitch we use that way to educate them and support them with with whatever barriers that they're they're going through at the moment and then we have our development centers which is our our football centers which are based in communities where girls can't initially travel to um centers which are outside of london so you'll find like all the major academies their centers are placed in and around london so these girls coming out of their inner city community is very challenging and it's so much of a barrier for them so what we do is we've built these development centers which allow girls to experience academy level training delivered by ua for licensed coaches and female coaches as well so most of our programs are female-led and to break down that barrier straight away for those girls in them communities and you find that a lot of these um girls are not given the opportunities to be seen because their parents might not be able to put them affordability-wise in a full-time football club.

27:55So through attending our development centre, we're able to really build on their fundamentals and put them on the platform for them to be seen so that they could go on and, you know, whether it's coaching, whether it's refereeing or whether it's actually a playing career, they can go on to those pathways. When you're doing something as inspiring as you're doing and you're hearing the stories on the ground, I'm sure it must be just so inspiring, but there is also you know something you need to sustainably grow you can't just help everyone as much as you want to it's a balance and in the same way in the business world there may be a product line that you're really in love with but it's just not working so you need to cut that back how difficult has it been for you as you've been scaling goals for girls to almost have a not to do list of like i'd love to do that i'd love to help this area but right now as difficult as it is almost a coaching analogy if you will i've got to make that difficult decision to be like we can't do that right now for the good of the program as a whole is that something you've experienced yeah we're always um i am always saying no because the young women and girls are at the forefront of everything we do and if you don't serve them then you don't serve us so i'm a constant like is that going to benefit us does it fit in with our strategy if not now and you find mainly it's the staff who want to constantly be like this great opportunity has come up can we please and i'm like no because it really doesn't serve what it is the the the moment we're at right now so it's not a a no it's just a no right now yeah yeah so but we do always turn around and say we offer our services to community organizations and other organizations similar to us through like a consultancy model because we understand that we can't do everything and that we need to lend our expertise to other you know providers so that they could go out and do the similar work that we're doing as well you know we're not here to take over the world we're here to make sure that we unite so that we can all through charity work anyway i know it's different when you're running a corporate organization but through charitable work that unity is really really important to get the best outcomes for the the problem you're trying to solve and our problem is that we've got too many young women and girls who've got heightened mental health issues because of the barriers they're facing with accessing sport that's the issue and that's what we're trying to solve so for us yeah it's it's sometimes difficult for maybe the team to say no because they're on the ground working with these girls all the time and they're like oh they'd love an opportunity like that i'm like it's not going to serve us right now So I always keep very focused to the strategy.

30:39But to answer your question, it is very, very difficult in this climate to capitalise on the vision that you have within the charitable sector. everyone's finding it difficult right now in the charitable sector and for us in particular you know a really shocking stat which was which was given by the the rosa foundation was there's over 200 000 charities registered in the uk but only two percent of them of the finances which is received into the charitable sector goes to women and girls charities and 1.8 percent goes to women and girls led charities wow so we're trying to solve an issue in our communities for young women the problems right there is the fact that how do you expect charities like myself to grow and do the impact work if the finances are not coming through for us to be able to sustain or grow or you know implement the fundamental life skills or just saving girls lives in general from the work that we do and you know we we ran a um an event not so long ago and one of the girls spoke at the event and she spoke about you know the issues that she's faced and how the program has saved her and for us it's if we can't give her the resources and tools that she needs when she's in our care then what support is she going to get outside of our establishment and for us it's about solving the issue to create a pipeline so that she can aspire to be more than what her her current environment is showing her she's now gone off to you know she's playing football at college now she's gone off to um she's with us done her coaching and refereeing badges she's out on the ground earning her own money like these are the things that we can implement for these girls and her mental health has dramatically through you know having to go through so much bullying at school she was out of school for the two years oh my god so for us keeping her afloat she was able now to she's come off the end of that now and she's she's really thriving and that's one story out of so many stories of the girls that we work with so you know that shocking statistic of you know only that amount of funding coming to women and girls organization shows you that even if we did want to expand in a certain way or support outside of our remit it's very challenging because we have to keep to our cash flow our cycle our you know our predictions and and make sure that we don't fall under that so that we can keep doing the work that we're doing for the girls who really need us absolutely obviously women's football has grown a lot over the last few years lionesses winning euros back to back arsenal women champions league winners it's obviously my team so i'm very happy about that um has this growth kind of boosted your mission what kind of impact has it had it's boosted my mission in a way which you probably wouldn't expect okay and what i mean by that is the gap is growing between the grassroots and the professional game okay which means it's becoming a lot more harder for inner city girls to access the game they love interesting because the funding or the the you know the commercial sponsorship or the the the branding or whatever you want to call it is literally being filtered into that professional you know um revenue source for so for us it's like it looks amazing at the top yeah but you're leaving behind a generation of girls who are not going to be able to access that because of you know the barriers now which are getting put in place and for me that has fueled my mission even more because i'm like okay we need to make sure that we have enough interventions so that this this issue that we've been speaking about for so many years of women and girls dropping off by the age of 14 to 16 that you're not going to have future lionesses if the gap is growing and then the rise of young women and girls are dropping off between the ages of 14 to 16 if you don't solve that issue there then we're not going to have a generation of athletes or c-suite women or people who are role models within the sporting industry to to to to be the representation for the next generation coming through so for me it's fueled my mission to support that pipeline there so that we do have you know um that that opportunity for the girls especially in inner city communities where there's more representation there's more um um not only representation on the football field but in the boardrooms in executive positions you know as role models as as speakers whatever that landscape looks like there needs to be more of it but it's not going to happen if this this arena here is not really nurtured and looked after yeah you talk so passionately about the mission that you're on and it's just so great to hear and how inspiring it is.

35:53But I want to just focus a little bit more on you as a leader because you've already shared some of the, you know, story of some of the people within the initiative. And, you know, you at the end of the day need to keep strong and resilient for people. But that's incredibly difficult, especially when you're having to say no to people about really exciting opportunities and things like that. So I guess, you know, for you as a leader, how do you kind of avoid burnout and kind of emotionally exhausting yourself because you need to be this pillar of strength to you know keep keep the vision alive shall we say but you know how do you kind of deal with those challenges you know it's difficult and I think you've probably spoke to a lot of leaders and and and you know there's sometimes questions of how do you find that work-life balance like it really doesn't exist at all that work-life balance um but But you have to find the time.

36:45And one thing which I have, I have a lot of non-negotiables. So one of my non-negotiables is literally I need to be in nature at least once a week. I have to be walking or even more than that if I can. Because for me, being outdoors, being in nature, being surrounded by that, hearing the birds, it really grounds me. And it really makes me feel alive. and it's probably my area where I let go, but I then become creative again. So it's kind of my therapy of fixing the problems that I might have in my life whilst, you know, taking a breather to just step back and be at one with myself. So that's one area there.

37:34You know, I'm truly aligned with God as well. For me, you know, without him, a lot of this wouldn't be possible for me and I probably wouldn't still be here. So for me, you know, making sure I get close with my scripture and making sure I get close with my family and friends and people who really do celebrate me in the moments where I'm at my lowest is always a constant reminder of keeping myself grounded, but also taking a step back to breathe. sometimes I sit in their moments and just look at the kids and I'm like wow like you guys must feel so stressed sometimes with me around because I'm just like always on the go um and then the other things as well is traveling whenever I can whether that's through the UK or abroad or having a one night trip away I think it's really really important so for me keeping grounded and um being in nature and being around people who love you and support you is an area where I do sit back and reflect and breathe but most importantly I do write a lot of my thoughts down on paper like I will sit there and as you know write my lists I write my thoughts down and And I'm very much of a, it's not a diary of, how can I describe it?

38:55It's not like a journal. It's more of a. Stream of consciousness. Yeah. It's more of a, this week I could have done this or this week I. And it's like, okay, so what's the next steps? And it's more of like a problem solving book and keeping myself grounded that way. So they're kind of the areas in which I try to look after myself the best way I can. I'm really lucky with the people I've got around me who really do look after me, really do check in on me. And I'm really lucky to live where I live, where I can just step out of my front door and be just in nature. And that's me feeling really blessed.

39:37but I feel blessed because of the fact that I go into an environment every single day and I see the struggles a lot of these young people or just people in general are facing and that could be the parents of these girls or beyond and I sit there and I'm like as hard as it gets I look at my and as hard as it gets sometimes for me as well I look at it and go nothing can get harder right now than possibly what that young person's about to go home to and that keeps me really grounded yeah so you've recently teamed up with sky and alessia russo for to launch the alessia cup um how did that all come about yeah it's really exciting um we have been launching so when you asked me the question before we we knew that we couldn't get everywhere in the country with the resources that we have even though we've got great ambitions so we decided to launch in partnership the first year with adidas and breaking barriers the um goals for girls football tournaments but it's more of a well-being tournament okay and what we did is as you can tell with well-being is at the heart of everything we do was we launched these tournaments um for girls at that pinnacle age of where they're dropping off between 14 and 16 but we've been focusing a lot on the 14-year roads and um we've been doing it for the last two years so this year it was well the other year it was with um adidas um last year we launched it in partnership with mg and then um no sorry earlier this year and then we got approached by alessia's team so then um launched the the alessia well the alessia um cup and it's such a privilege because it's one of those moments where you think, wow, from this small idea, it's now been recognised as something which can go nationwide.

41:34And, you know, we had... First cup we did was 140 girls. Second one we did was 160. And this one's on the pipeline of 180 to 200. And that's from one age group. It sold out, literally. Well, not sold out, but it basically got fully... All those places got filled within, like, 24 hours. That's incredible. It was like, it went out and then the next day it was done. Like there was no, and we already asked, we asked Alessia to do like a shout out for social media. Yeah. And by the time she got that to us, it was already sold out. And I was like, we can't even use that now. So for us, it's just a testament to the hard work that we've done over the years.

42:18But also something now that, you know, we can really collaborate with Russell who has a phenomenal vision for what it is that she wants to implement for young women and girls in these communities and beyond and how her vision really aligns with what we're about at Girls for Girls and helping that future pipeline. So this was just a brilliant fit to be able to come together, collaborate and then bring out the Alessia Cup so that we can continue the great work that we're doing through, you know, inspiring maybe one of our future lionesses. It's hoping, absolutely. That's amazing. But just to say that, though, the sky part of this, though, was really important because I don't know if you've read the report, but over 280 million hours a year is missed on young people, young women and girls participating in PE.

43:24It's alarming. And this is something which our kids are in a secondary education, six hours a day. And then their opportunity to be free and release that natural endorphin after such a stressful week maybe, it's taken from them because by the time they get changed and get out they've got 20 minutes and then by the time they get in and there's there's no point so for me it's like when I read through the stats and the the barriers that Dana Strong had come out with with her team and did some phenomenal research at Sky around it was even more apparent that through this triangle this force we were able to not only you know bring Alessia on in her vision but really use goals for girls impact on the work that we do and then marry that up with this this phenomenal report and through that you know i think that we're going to really shift the landscape of sport um grassroots sports and tournaments across the nationwide thank you so much for your time francesca really appreciate it for people who want to find out a little bit more about goals for girls where can where can they find you yeah so we're on linkedin goals for Girls.

44:34We're on www.girlsforgirls.co.uk. You can follow our Instagram at girlsforgirls as well. Or you can follow myself on Instagram at cesc.brown. The Business Leader Summit 2026 is set to be bigger, bolder and more ambitious than ever. Don't just watch Britain's growth story unfold, be part of it. Secure your ticket today by visiting the events section of the Business Leader website and using the code BLPODCAST, all uppercase. It's your chance to join the leaders who are shaping the future of business.