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She skipped six weeks of school, rang in pretending to be her own mother — and that same school later celebrated her as one of its most successful former pupils.

Hayley Parsons OBE didn't follow the system. She built it her way.

In this Season 1 finale of Inside the Maverick Mind, Emyr Afan sits down with the founder of GoCompare — one of the most recognisable brands in British business history. Hayley shares the real story behind walking away from a 13-year career at Admiral, launching a comparison site from scratch, taking on Tesco Compare with 6 staff against their 200, and creating one of the most iconic advertising campaigns the UK has ever seen.

This conversation is about more than business. It's about instinct, visualisation, reinvention, and the courage to back yourself before anyone else does.

In this episode:

• How she got away with six weeks off school — and what it taught her
• Building Confused.com from a windowless room
• Why she ignored her board and ran the GoCompare opera ad anyway
• The phone call from Norwich Union that made them profitable overnight
• Taking on Tesco — and why they never recovered
• Selling GoCompare for £190M and what came next
• Her one regret from the exit process

"Game on. Challenge accepted."

🎙️ Inside the Maverick Mind is back for Season 2 in September.

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He Died at 21. This Is What He Did Next.

At 21 years old, Andrew Jenkins was dragged from a car wreck, lost six pints of blood, and was pronounced clinically dead at the scene. He spent four weeks in a coma. Doctors told his family he would never walk, talk, or recognise them again.

He proved every one of them wrong.

But surviving was only the beginning. For the next 24 years, Andrew carried the weight of that moment in silence - battling depression, a loss of identity, and the invisible aftermath of a traumatic brain injury - all while wearing a smile and holding down a career in banking.

Then came The Traitors. And a walk of 750 miles across four nations. And the conversations he'd been putting off for two and a half decades.

In this episode, Andrew sits down with Emyr Afan on Inside the Maverick Mind to talk about:

• 💥 The night of the accident - and what his parents were told at the door
• 🧠 Waking from a coma to be told he'd never walk again - and arguing with the doctor
• 😶 Why he never told his son "I love you" until he was 22 years old
• 🎭 What it was really like being a Traitor - and why he says he was "too honest to win"
• 🚶 Walking 750 miles for Headway brain injury charity - and who was waiting at the finish line
• 💬 The conversations he avoided for 24 years - and what happened when he finally had them
• 📱 Why he's known as "the antidote to Andrew Tate" in schools across the UK
• 🪞 How holding a mirror up to yourself changes everything

This is one of the most honest, moving, and quietly powerful conversations you'll hear this year. Andrew is a normal guy from a council estate in the Welsh Valleys. And that's exactly what makes this so important.

"85% of what we worry about never comes true. Be brave. Have the conversation."

🔔 Subscribe — new episodes every Monday at 6pm

👇 Who in your life needs to hear this? Share it with them.

📌 Chapters:

00:00 — Introduction: Clinically dead at 21

02:30 — Growing up in a Welsh valley — rugby, masculinity & silence

08:00 — The night of the accident

15:00 — Waking from the coma & proving the doctors wrong

21:00 — 24 years of hidden depression

27:00 — The maverick moment: finding the surgeon who saved his life

33:00 — Telling his son "I love you" for the first time

38:00 — The Traitors: being too honest to win

45:00 — Walking 750 miles for Headway

52:00 — Being the antidote to Andrew Tate

57:00 — What strength really means

🔗 Find Andrew Jenkins: [Add his social links here]

🔗 Headway Brain Injury Association: headway.org.uk

#AndrewJenkins #TheTraitors #MentalHealth #MensHealth #BrainInjury #Coma #Resilience #InsideTheMaverickMind #Podcast #Wales #Headway #Courage #StrengthInYou

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What does it take to lead a national institution through budget cuts, crumbling buildings, and a crisis of relevance - and come out the other side with a bolder vision than ever?

Jane Richardson, Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru / National Museum Wales, joins Emyr Afan on Inside the Maverick Mind for a conversation that's as surprising as it is inspiring. From a 400-year-old clam that witnessed the Sistine Chapel being painted, to tiny marine worms tracking climate change in real time, to a Welsh hip-hop exhibition sitting next to Turner - Jane is rewriting the rules of what a national museum can be.

In this episode:
🐚 Why Wales's national museum isn't "distinctively Welsh enough" - yet
🔬 The marine worm researchers whose skills could disappear forever
🦣 Tom Bones the mammoth - and why he's actually 3D printed
🎤 Hip-hop next door to Turner, and why that matters
🌍 New international partnerships with Japan and why Wales needs to be round the table
🏛️ The vision for a cultural quarter in Cardiff
💛 Be curious, be brave, be kind - and what those mean when everything's falling apart
🏓 Pickleball, biscuits, and the China trip she'll always regret
Jane is a leader who steers by her own North Star. This one will stay with you.
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