Episode 12: She Couldn't Find a Role Model, So She Became One
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Episode 12: She Couldn't Find a Role Model, So She Became One
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Length: 1 hour 7 minutes | Released: September 8, 2026
Amelia Christie-Miller on taking maternity leave while scaling Bold Bean Co. and challenging the rules of successful leadership.
Amelia had built Bold Bean Co. into one of the UK’s fastest-growing private companies.
But when she wanted to start a family, she couldn't see how she could step away from a growing business and still lead it.
She couldn't find founders showing her that it was possible.
So she questioned the assumptions that had shaped how she led: that a good founder needs to be involved in everything, always available and always needed.
In this episode of Radical Recentring, Amelia and Nonie explore what happened when she started leading differently, built a team she could trust, went cold turkey on the business for several months and then gradually returned again. She now works four days a week.
The business kept growing.
They talk about founder guilt, asking for help, letting go, and what it really means to build a business that can thrive without you.
Because Amelia didn't want to choose between a flourishing business and the family she wanted.
She wanted both. And she found a way to build a life and a business that made both possible.
"I think I used to think that I had to be someone I wasn't initially… I was pretty young when I started the business. And so I had this vision of, you know, almost like movie-style leadership. And now I've realised that actually there is a space for me as a leader. It might not be what other conventional CEOs look like, but it’s unique to me and it’s working as well. So I’ve gotta back that.”IN THIS EPISODE01:32 - How Bold Bean Co began
10:38 - Building conviction before pitching investors
16:56 - Ego, blind faith and being shameless in the early years
26:44 - Wanting a family while scaling a business
30:37 - Why Amelia felt guilty resting despite being the boss
36:45 - Cancelling her 1:1s and changing how she led her team
39:19 - The assumption blocking her maternity leave plans
41:40 - Taking two months completely offline
44:48 - Testing whether she was actually needed as she returned
51:24 - The laundry, martyrdom and learning to ask for help
1:04:26 - Rethinking the traditional idea of success
1:05:17- Amelia's advice for ambitious founders
ABOUT AMELIA CHRISTIE-MILLERAmelia is the founder and CEO of Bold Bean Co, a certified B Corp on a mission to make people obsessed with beans. She is also the author of two Sunday Times bestselling cookbooks and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The Grocer in 2025.
CONNECT WITH AMELIAWebsite: www.boldbeanco.com
Instagram: @ameliachristiemiller
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ameliachristiemiller
Bold Bean Co: @boldbeanco
WORK WITH NONIEIf this episode resonated, The Unshakeable Method is Nonie's four-month framework for building grounded confidence, leadership and sustainable success.
- Learn about The Unshakeable Method HERE
- Apply to work with Nonie: HERE
- Take the Leadership Identity Quiz
Coming up Next, Episode 13: "What Happened When This Founder Said Yes to What She Needed, and No to Everything Else"
Nonie talks to Emmie Faust about twenty years of building, scaling and exiting businesses, burnout and long Covid - and how she went on to create Female Founders Rise, now a community of more than 11,000 women in business, from a Google form.