Episode 6. Designing Success: Building Businesses, Brands & Balance

THIS EPISODE WILL BE LAUNCHING IN MARCH 2026

In this episode of The Balancing Act, Sarah Brennand is joined by entrepreneur and investor Sarah Willingham, for an open and grounded conversation about what success really looks like when it is designed across work, wealth and life.

Sarah Willingham shares her personal and professional journey, from early ambitions around motherhood and partnership to building, scaling, and exiting businesses. She reflects on why the concept of starting, growing, and exiting became central to her definition of success, not only as an industry benchmark, but as a route to freedom, choice, and long-term security for her family.

The conversation explores how financial outcomes, personal values, and life goals intersect, and how success evolves over time. Rather than pursuing business growth in isolation, Sarah describes how clarity around family, relationships, and future freedom shaped her decisions as an entrepreneur and investor.

This episode offers a candid perspective on designing a life where ambition and personal priorities are aligned, highlighting that success is not accidental, but built through intentional choices, recalibration, and a clear sense of what matters most.

Key Topics Covered

• Defining success beyond status or scale
• The role of motherhood and family in shaping career ambition
• Why “start, grow, and exit” became a personal success framework
• Financial freedom as a tool for choice and autonomy
• Building businesses using intellect, strategy, and timing
• The emotional and practical importance of a successful exit
• Balancing entrepreneurship with relationships and home life
• How definitions of success evolve at different life stages
• Designing work and wealth to support long-term wellbeing
• Making intentional decisions that support life, not just business

Sarah Willingham is a serial entrepreneur, investor and consumer-business expert whose career spans high-street brands, hospitality, media and strategic investment. She built her early leadership experience at global restaurant chains including Pizza Express and Planet Hollywood before acquiring and scaling The Bombay Bicycle Club into the UK’s largest Indian-restaurant chain.