After 64 incredible episodes, 10.6k listeners, and conversations that spanned adventure on the high seas and at high altitude, doing business with housing offices and hiphop icons, technology innovation to address social mobility, and finding new routes to roles centred on creativity, it’s time to bring the Challenging University podcast to a close.

This podcast started as a way to truly challenge the notion that you ‘have’ to go to university to enjoy an interesting, rewarding, successful career. As you’ll know as a guest or listener, not everyone has the opportunity, or appetite, to go to uni – so why make people feel like a failure for showing the courage to carve their own path? The stories shared offered examples of all kinds of different routes that people take in life—the winding paths, unexpected about-turns, and hard-won triumphs. Along the way, it planted a seed that’s about to grow into something very big indeed….

To the brilliant guests— including veterinary nurses, professional adventurers, business founders, technologists, charity leaders, authors, anthropologists, management consultants, and champions of social mobility—you made this podcast better than I ever thought it could have been. Your insights, honesty, and generosity shaped every episode and gave listeners a window into possibility. And didn’t we have a good laugh?! To the listeners, your engagement with the episodes proved that these conversations really did matter.

For me, Challenging University was deeply personal. Having navigated what turned out to be considered an ‘unconventional’ path—growing up on a council estate in a resolutely working-class family to becoming a parent in an area of affluence and often mistaken for a “yummy mummy” (ARGH!);  forging a tech career without a university degree; and becoming a keynote speaker on social mobility—I wanted to create a space where others could share their journeys. The podcast became a testament to the idea that success can take all kinds of shapes and forms, and that we have a collective obligation to call out where we see that inequality exists and make an effort to more widely, and fairly, share opportunities.

So as this chapter closes, another begins – building upon (and inspired by) the journey I took with Challenging University and the ideas and people it introduced me to. It’s time for you to meet…..

The Common Good Network!

The Common Good Network is a platform designed to bring together people, providers, corporate partners, and supporters to foster social equity and mobility through an intuitive, interactive, map and directory. It will serve to amplify the passion I know many of you connected to the podcast have for breaking down barriers to help others through, making opportunities more accessible to those who are most likely to be excluded, and sharing knowledge for the benefit of the common good!

I invite you to register to continue the conversation at thecommongood.network – we’re in the midst of UAT but you can expect to see the first version of the tool at the end of May 2025. The ideas explored on Challenging University won’t disappear; they’ll be taking root in a beautiful new space, where they can grow into meaningful action.

You can also stay connected and follow my work on LinkedIn, and keep up with The Common Good Network’s progress here.

Thanks again for your help and support, looking forward to the next episode 🙂

Toni xx