Vicar鈥檚 daughter. Accidental entrepreneur. Published author. Founder. Award winner. Disruptor.
There are plenty of ways to describe myHappymind CEO Laura Earnshaw but聽 ‘in demand’ world be another.
She’s also the guest in the latest episode of the
Last year, 16 different investors wanted to back before she eventually opted for LDC.
She started the business after seeing friends and family struggle with their mental health and聽fail to get the support they needed.
Now she’s on a mission to equip every child with the mental health skills they need to thrive.
But it wasn鈥檛 meant to be this way. Before launching the business, the self-confessed 鈥榗orporate girl鈥� had enjoyed a stellar career at Accenture, AstraZeneca and PwC, including a spell in Sydney, Australia.
鈥淚 never planned to be an entrepreneur,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 an accidental entrepreneur.
鈥淚n our society mental health is known to be one of the biggest challenges we face yet all the funding, all of the resources and all of the conversation is around fixing the problem, not preventing it.鈥�
In 2016, she decided to do something about it by launching myHappymind, spending the first six years working from her kitchen table with only her dog Max for company.
Earnshaw initially piloted ‘s software in two schools. Today,聽it’s impacted聽 more than 1,000,000聽children, teachers and parents.
Key milestones have included securing NHS endorsement, receiving a King鈥檚 Award and publishing a myHappymind book, which became an Amazon bestseller.聽And just last month, publishing an independent evaluation by the Centre for Mental Health.
She moved into her first office in 2021 and her husband Tim joined the business as COO.
Last year, Earnshaw shot to prominence when she won the聽Judges鈥� Award at the Northern Tech Awards in Liverpool, and the Kings Award for Enterprise and the BETT award for Transformational Impact.
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 always an element of winging it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think, even today, there鈥檚 an element of winging it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably not being honest. I should say it was not only me. This one (Max the dog) has been by my side since day one at the kitchen table.
鈥淗aving a purpose-driven business has always been front and centre for us,鈥� she said.
鈥淣ever take advice from someone who has not done what you are trying to do.
鈥淚 had so many people around me who were saying 鈥榯his seems like really hard work, why don鈥檛 you go back to being head of global HR again?鈥�
鈥淏eing focussed on your mission and not losing sight of that, alongside resilience, are two really important things.鈥�
The episode was sponsored by Financielle and can be listened to