Places She Shapes
Places She Shapes is a podcast hosted by Zoe Smeeth, recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The show highlights people who are driving and thriving in property, construction, real estate, and fit-out industries. Guests share the key moments and ambitions that have shaped their careers.
Episodes
Christina Hsieh: A Company Without a Ceiling
Season 3 | Episode 12 – Places She Shapes with Zoe Smeeth This week, Zoe sits down with Christina Hsieh, structural engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, and founder of Matter, a consultancy she built around social value long before the term existed. Christina's story begins with a documentary, a dream, and a decision that put almost everyone she loved against her. She appli
Lily Dent: Why Being You Is the Advantage
Season 3 | Episode 11 – Places She Shapes with Zoe SmeethThis week on New Tracks, Zoe is joined by someone she knows very well indeed: Lily Dent, Project Manager at JAC Project Management. New Tracks flips the usual format, asking the questions we might have posed to our season one and two guests if we could have caught them right at the start of their careers. Lily didn't grow up knowing fit out
Brogan MacDonald: The Path She Carved Herself
Season 3 | Episode 10 – Places She Shapes with Zoe SmeethBrogan MacDonald was going to be an artist. A Blue Peter badge at five, a love of drawing and fashion, and a plan that had nothing to do with maths or science. Today she is Head of Sustainability for Building Structures at Ramboll UK, a role that, until three years ago, did not exist. She built it.This week Brogan joins Zoe to trace a journe
Lottie Outen: The Wrong Side of the Table
Season 3 | Episode 9 – Places She Shapes with Zoe Smeeth Lottie Outen never planned a career in real estate. As a child she wanted to be a vet or a doctor. As a student she fell for languages, chased a year abroad, and ended up in a flat in the middle of Madrid learning corporate banking in Spanish. Ask her how she got from there to Managing Director at Kennedy Wilson, overseeing seven billion eur
Kara Carter: The Art of Committing
Season 3 | Episode 8 – Places She Shapes with Zoe SmeethSome people map out exactly where they will end up. Kara Carter, owner and director of Spacelab, is not one of them. She was the kid who loved to draw, the teenager juggling three jobs, the graduate who had no idea how you actually turn a talent for art into a living. What she did have was a quiet, stubborn work ethic and a knack for saying y
Lisa Ames-Hall: Project Manager to the Palaces
New Tracks | Episode 7 – Places She Shapes with Zoe Smeeth Lisa Ames-Hall is a project manager at Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court and more. She is also an architect by training, a farm kid by upbringing, and someone who has quietly pivoted her career twice and landed somewhere that genuinely feels like a fit. He
Emma Foster: From Lego to London's Biggest Developments
Season 3 | Episode 6 – Places She Shapes with Zoe Smeeth Emma Foster knew she wanted to be involved in buildings from the moment a careers advisor wrote the word "architect" on a piece of paper. She went to Liverpool, realised within days that architecture wasn't quite right, and spent the rest of her degree quietly working out what was. Emma is now Principal at BGO, overseeing the design and cons
Rochelle Wright: The Electrician Fighting for Change
New Tracks | Episode 5 – Places She Shapes with Zoe SmeethRochelle Wright is an electrician at PPS Electrical, working on the Sellafield nuclear site in the Lake District. She is also a bodybuilder, a mum, and the founder of Herbasix, a platform she is building to give workers in construction a way to report harassment, access support, and actually be heard.She wanted to be an electrician at schoo
Emily Smith: Are You Sitting At The Right Table?
Emily Smith has a way of making the bold look straightforward. She moved countries at 12, survived being buried eight feet under snow in an avalanche at 21, handed in her notice when she felt undervalued, and walked into a room and won Woman of the Year to make a point. None of it was reckless. All of it was deliberate.Emily is now CEO of Argyll, a property business with 23 buildings across prime
Grace Allen: How To Be Successful Before You’re 25
Most people spend their twenties figuring out what they want to do. Grace Allen spent hers building a company.Grace is the founder of Sable & Sage, a project management and quantity surveying consultancy she set up while completing her chartership, and now, while expecting her first baby. She is, as Zoe puts it, the youngest business owner to appear on Places She Shapes, and she is absolutely
Tamsin Bennett: Construction, Grief, and Resilience
Season 3 | Episode 2 – Places She Shapes with Zoe Smeeth Some careers make sense on paper. Tamsin Bennett's makes sense when you hear her tell it. Tamsin is Senior Technical Manager at Wates Development, one of the UK's largest construction and development companies. She's spent her career in one of the most male-dominated industries going, and the route she took to get where she is today was anyt
Kelly Cates: The Road To Match Of The Day
What does it take to step into one of the biggest jobs in British broadcasting, with the whole country watching?Kelly Cates spent nine years honing her craft at Sky Sports News, made a leap into the unknown at 30 with no job to go to, and built a career defined by preparation, self-belief, and knowing when to just say yes. Then came Match of the Day.In this episode, Kelly talks about the screen te
Michelle “Mitch” Lloyd Jones: Against All Odds, Into the Sky
Michelle “Mitch” Lloyd Jones knew from the moment her father took her to air shows that she wanted to be a pilot. But when she first applied to the RAF, women had only just been accepted as aircrew - and she was offered a commission as an air traffic controller instead.She didn’t stop there. Mitch reapplied, was selected to be a fighter pilot, and went on to fly the Tornado F3, deployed to exercis
Una Barac: Trusting Your Gut When the Path Isn’t Obvious
What does it take to leave everything behind, start over in a new country, and still chase your dream? Una Barac grew up in the former Yugoslavia before moving to the UK in the 1990s. She began her career at Foster and Partners, working on landmark projects across London, New York, and Sydney. But despite her training as an architect, Una realised her real passion was interior design - creating sp
Claire Gott: Saying Yes, Shaping Everything
Sometimes one decision changes everything.For Claire, it was saying yes to a school trip to Tanzania. Growing up shy but competitive, she found her spark on the netball court, and that trip opened her eyes to a career where she could make a real difference. That single “yes” set her on a path from co-founding a charity in Cameroon, which, 15 years later, continues to deliver schools, medical centr
Trish Watson: Building Something Out of Nothing
How do you keep rising when every step forward comes with another challenge?Trish Watson built a business, lost it in the crash, and built again. Today, she’s Managing Director of Thirdway Interiors, leading teams that design some of London’s most dynamic workplaces - but the road here has been anything but straightforward.In this episode, we talk about the sliding door moments, the battles she’s
Rosie Holt: Comedy, Controversy and Going Viral
What happens when your comedy is so sharp that politicians start to wonder if you might actually be one of them?Rosie Holt trained as an actor, waited tables between auditions, and hustled her way through fringe theatre before finding her voice on the stand-up stage. She’s been heckled, ignored, and underestimated - but she refused to give up.In this episode, we talk about the journey that shaped
Zoe Moss: Building Bold, Risking Everything
What happens when you walk into business with no plan, no safety net, and everything to lose? Zoe Moss grew up with a work ethic forged through paper rounds and café shifts, and stumbled into construction almost by accident. She built a 20-year career defined by grit, big opinions, and a refusal to play small. The biggest leap came when she co-founded Cast Interiors, the first majority female-owne
Faye Allen: Building Women, Building Change
What happens when one woman refuses to stay silent in a predominantly male industry? Faye Allen BSc (Hons), PgDL, FRICS, MAE - author of Building Women: How Everyone in Construction Can Win and Regional Director at Rimkus APAC and EMEA, has spent over three decades in construction, breaking barriers, challenging bias, and reshaping the rules as she went. From apprentice surveyor to industry leader
Julie Rees: From Farm to Skyscraper - Building a Career, a Company, and a Life on Her Terms
How does a poetry-loving girl from rural Wales become a trailblazing force in London’s commercial property scene? In this episode, Zoe Smeeth talks with Julie Rees about career detours, founding her own firm, navigating male-dominated boardrooms, and the power of facing failure head-on. It's a story of resilience, reinvention, and retaining your sense of humour... preferably in a marble-clad lobby
Gurvinder Khurana: Building Boldly, Living Bravely
Interior architect Gurvinder Khurana joins Zoe Smeeth at Abbey Road Studios to reflect on a life shaped by grit, grace, and gorgeous design. From smuggling friends out of arranged marriages as a teen to launching a boutique design firm with zero clients (and two bottles of wine), Gurvinder’s journey defies convention. They discuss integrating heritage, parenting feminist sons, redefining workplace
Diana Pego: From Brazilian Beach Kid to UK Build Boss
Diana Pego shares her bold journey from a music-loving teen in Brazil to becoming a project director in the UK’s male-dominated design and build industry. In this inspiring and candid conversation with host Zoe Smeeth, Diana opens up about resilience, career pivots, and redefining success—on her own terms. A must-listen for anyone navigating ambition, identity, and imposter syndrome in the workpla
Sarah Atherton: From Rebel to Parliament
Sarah Atherton has been many things—soldier, nurse, social worker, single mother, and MP. In this candid conversation, she opens up about growing up surrounded by boys, fighting to be heard, entering politics by accident, and sticking to her principles even when it cost her everything. From Berlin bars to the House of Commons, this is a story of resilience, rebellion, and quiet revolution.
Marian Ferguson: No Entry? Watch Me Build the Door
From dreaming of dance floors to dominating boardrooms, Marian Ferguson’s path to becoming a powerhouse in building services engineering is anything but conventional. In this episode, Marian shares how she went from being told "no" at the door of the R&A Golf Club to opening doors for others through her own engineering design business. We talk early rejections, mid-career reinvention, and what
Welcome to Places She Shapes
Places She Shapes, hosted by Zoe Smeeth and recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, is a show that puts the spotlight on those driving and thriving in the property, construction, real estate, and more. It’s a chance to hear the sliding door moments - the good, the bad, and the unapologetically ambitious - that have shaped each guest's journey.Find the show on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and T
Places She Shapes LIVE at Moore Kingston Smith
Our second live podcast episode is here.Recorded at Moore Kingston Smith in collaboration with Oyster’s Leading from the Front, and with the support of JAC Project Management, this special episode brings together an inspiring group of women shaping places, projects, businesses, and communities.Featuring guest speakers Michelle Lloyd Jones from Ascent Flight Training, Zoe Moss from Cast Group, Ali
The Places She Shapes Podcast LIVE at WSP
On 25 February 2026, for the first time, Places She Shapes stepped out from behind the microphone at Abbey Road Studios.Recorded in front of a live audience of 150, the evening brought together a group of brilliant, lively, curious people who all believe in the power of amplifying inspiring women’s voices.Today, we are delighted to be able to share that live episode with you.What made this episode
Amanda Salt: From Tomboy to Trailblazer—Rewriting the Rules of Leadership
Amanda Salt never set out to be a leader—she just kept refusing to follow outdated rules. In this episode of Places She Shapes, Amanda sits down with host Zoe Smeeth at Abbey Road Studios to share her journey from outspoken tomboy to furniture industry disruptor to accidental mentor. Along the way, she opens up about burnout, bouncing back, ADHD, financial fear, the pain of letting go, and the thr
