I met Lisa Simmons at a networking event on the Wirral and we hit it off straight away, she mentioned she would love for me to come and be a guest on her new show, the 52% show which had just started to be aired on Bay TV, a local TV channel for Liverpool. I thought it was one of those throw away comments, and didn’t expect anything to come from it.
However, a few weeks later I got an e-mail from Beth the producer of the show, asking me to come on and talk about some of my challenges, what motivates me and to explain how I was getting my message about inspiration and motivation out to other women and girls.
This was a fantastic opportunity, and I’m all about saying YES to opportu ities and this was a different experiences and one I definitely wanted to do.
I’d never been on TV before and was excited to learn more about it and what goes on behind the scenes. I e-mailed back pretty much straight away saying I would be delighted to be on the show!
On the day of filming, I was actually feeling very calm. I’d considered my outfit the night before and did the ‘sit test’. I decided to keep it simple and stuck with smart, tailored black trousers and an elegant cream top.
I headed over to the studio in Teeside for ten in the morning this was were I got to meet the people behind the show, the ones who come up with the themes and guests each week. They were all really friendly and put me at ease. I was then given a tour of the studio, and got to the see the set in real life!
Jennifer, me, Lisa & Julie
I was being interviewed by Lisa and her co-presenter Jennifer Jewell, both really lovely ladies and very easy to talk to. As well as me, they also had Julie on from the Like A Girl campaign. Julie had a great story to share about her weight loss and fitness journey. While we were being miked up, there was lots of laughter and I had a good feeling about the show.
As well as discussing how I came to be doing Tough Girl Challenges, and some of the different adventures and challenges I’d done, we also covered off, being positive, wearing heels verses flats, running marathons in heels! getting news from Twitter instead of the normal newspapers, the fantastic result from Ireland which celebrated love and two people in love being able to marry.
The show aired on Thursday 28th May at 2 pm on Virgin Media 159 and Freeview Channel 8.
It's also available to watch on YouTube and I’ve included the link below.
For me this was another great learning experience, a chance to try something different and to get out of my comfort zone. The longer it went on the more relaxed and comfortable I started to feel.
Like everything, practice makes perfect!