We Are PoWEr Podcast
The We Are PoWEr podcast spotlights voices and perspectives that need to be heard. Our weekly podcast, with listeners in over 60 countries, delivers PoWErful conversations that inspire, challenge, and empower... from personal life stories to business insights and leadership lessons.
We share diverse experiences, bold discussions, and real solutions. Whether you're looking for career advice, topical themes, or stories of resilience and success - this is where voices spark change.
We Are PoWEr Podcast
Why Your Accent Should Never Limit Your Dreams - Holly Ellis Explains
The brilliant Holly Ellis joins the We Are PoWEr Podcast – bringing honesty, resilience, and a fierce commitment to breaking barriers in science. Known to her growing online community as The Scouse Scientist, Holly is redefining what it means to belong in STEM while balancing the realities of motherhood, identity, and advocacy.
From Liverpool to Oxford University, Holly’s story is one of challenging perceptions and proving that background and accent should never be barriers to opportunity. She opens up about navigating motherhood after a traumatic birth, her experience with postnatal depression, and why caring for her daughter Ada tested her in ways academia never could.
With trademark candor, Holly tackles accent bias head-on, sharing how her Liverpool voice has become both her superpower and a source of prejudice. She reflects on once believing Oxford “wasn’t for people like me,” and how stepping into those spaces gave her the confidence to show others that they can belong too.
What began as a handful of social media videos has grown into a movement, as Holly uses her platforms to make science accessible and inclusive for everyone. Now signed with a talent agency, her ambition is to take STEM into mainstream media – showing the next generation that scientists can come from anywhere, sound like anyone, and look like everyone.
In this episode:
- From Liverpool to Oxford: proving she belonged in elite spaces
- Navigating motherhood and postnatal depression with honesty
- Breaking down accent bias and why it still matters
- Making STEM accessible through social media and beyond
- Turning trolls into proof of why her work matters
- The dream of hosting a science TV show that changes perceptions
Find out more about We Are PoWEr here. 💫
Hello, hello and welcome to the we Are Power podcast. If this is your first time here, the we Are Power podcast is the podcast for you, your career and your life. We release an episode every single Monday with listeners in over 60 countries worldwide, where you'll hear personal life stories, top-notch industry advice and key leadership insight from amazing role models. As we Are Power is the umbrella brand to Northern Power Women Awards, which celebrates hundreds of female role models and advocates every year. This is where you can hear stories from all of our awards alumni and stay up to date with everything. Mpw Awards and we Are Power, hello and welcome, welcome, welcome this week. I am delighted to be joined. Where are we two years on? Yeah, two and a half years on now. By Holly Alice, the Scouse Scientist. Now, when we last spoke, you were using the hashtag mini scouseitis yeah, just before our little Ada was born.
Speaker 1:How is?
Speaker 2:she, yeah, she's absolutely amazing. Um hard work. I think motherhood is the hardest job I've ever had in my life.
Speaker 1:Um, but yeah, all good and um just getting used to the juggle of working and being a mom and everything like that and how do you describe, because on your instagram you talk about, you know, scientists, you're, um, you talk about a dog, mom, yeah, mom to ada. Uh, how do you describe your day job? So your life?
Speaker 2:my well in terms. So yeah, so professionally, obviously, I'm a clinical scientist in the NHS in genetics, so that's like one part of it. Then I'm obviously the scout scientist on social media trying to encourage more girls into science. And then you go home and it's like you start your next shift now, don't you, of being a mum and all you know everything that comes with that basically. So it's hard work, but you know, I am lucky that I've got my husband. I've got my mum, my mother-in-law, good family friends who, can you know, support me and allow me to do things like that. So I am. I have to give credit to them as well.
Speaker 1:What was the what was the moment where Scout Scientist was invented?
Speaker 2:Well, it was. It was actually a while ago now. So I first started this. I always had the idea of I always wanted to be a science TV presenter. That's always what I wanted to do. So throughout you know, my time at uni and everything like that, it was always in the back of my mind, but it was never quite you know the right time. And then I did a three.
Speaker 2:After uni, I'd spent three years training to be a scientist in the NHS and then, once I qualified, I thought right now is now is the time I've sort of got my knowledge and my expertise and now it's time to share that. And I just was trying to think of names and, um, the scout scientist just stuck with. Just it came to my head and I thought it's gotta. It's gotta be that, because so many people comment on my accent and my accent's a big part of of who I am and my story and why people follow me and stuff like that um, so I just thought it's that's gotta be in there. So it was 2020 now, so nearly five years ago, when I um, when I first, you know, posted my first thing on on social media well, I uh listen back to a podcast that you did with Leanne Campbell.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, um, and, and I think it, I don't, it was only, it was a video clip. I think it started as, didn't it, and then, all of a sudden, because I remember she was interviewing you go, oh my gosh, it's just been. This has been picked up by the media. This is you. You know. It just went bonkers, didn't it? From step one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it did. So I put a few videos out and then, all of a sudden, schools were getting in touch because they were like please come into my school, please come and do a talk, our kids would be so inspired, and all of that. And then, yeah, I was getting asked to go on Radio Merseyside, the podcast with Leanne Campbell. I did podcasts with Tom Solomon at Liverpool University as well. So, yeah, it just sort of snowballed and I was made up really, because that's what I wanted, I wanted to get my message out there. And then, obviously, I had a little break Well, a bit of a longer break than I thought when I I had aid and I was on maternity leave. I had all these ideas of what I was going to do and I did none of.
Speaker 1:I survived, basically, I played back our pod from uh 2023, and it was like you know what? And I think what I'm going to be able to do is I'm going to be able to put more time into the Scout scientists, because I think you know, I know it's going to be hard, but you know, I think you know my mum will be able to look after it. You know as well. Yeah, so no, no.
Speaker 2:I was so naive. Looking back, I was so naive but I think most people are unless you've, you know, been in the situation yourself and I found it really, really hard. I had a traumatic birth. I had, you know, just a lot of. I had birth trauma and a really difficult, a really difficult time. I think. Looking back, I think I had postnatal depression and things like that and it really hit it really. I really struggled. You know, I've never I can honestly say I've never really had mental health problems. I'm lucky in that um, until I had the baby and then, all of a sudden, I was just felt so out of my depth you know, give me an Oxford entrance exam any day.
Speaker 2:I know how to deal with that. I can revise, it's logical, um, I know exactly the steps I need to do to to pass, but with the baby, there's no manual, and that's what I wanted really. You know someone to tell me what to do, but it's so illogical and you can't control what happens. You do all the right things but then the baby still doesn't sleep, or stuff like that, and I think that's what I personally struggled with. So how did you deal with that? It was hard.
Speaker 2:It just took time to, you know, get used to this new way of life really, because I'm so all through school. You know, I went to school, I went to uni, I did this, I did a master's, then I did a three-year graduate scheme and it was all very much. This is what I want to do and this is how I'm going to do it, and I'm'm a very controlled, organised, logical person. So this was just like well, the chaos of it was my worst nightmare really. You know, just like no routine, no sleep. I just really struggled.
Speaker 2:But, like I say, I am dead lucky. I had so much support. I had my husband, my mum, my mother-in-law, friends, family, and it gets easier. That's the only thing I can say. And actually now, you know, the worst thing was people saying, oh, enjoy every minute. And I was thinking how can I be enjoying this? I've had no sleep, I'm in agony, I've had an emergency C-section and all this. But I feel like I've just slowly learned, you know how to deal with it, and that I am a perfectionist as well. That's the other thing. And there's no such thing as being perfect in motherhood, because you've just constantly got things to learn. But I feel like I'm over the shock of it now. But that first six months I'd say was was really hard.
Speaker 1:What advice would you give to yourself two years back?
Speaker 2:I'd say just don't be so hard on yourself, because I wanted everything to be perfect and you know, at school I was used to being, you know, top of the class in, without sounding big-headed, you know, in most things, and I never really found things hard or difficult, and this probably was the first time I really felt like this is really hard.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I can do this, if I'm cut out for this. And I could see other people you know other mums, friends of mine just making it look so easy and I was thinking how can they do it? And I can't that sort of thing. But I was again. I was just being too hard on myself and wanting everything to be perfect all the time and I think if I'd have just been a bit more laid back it.
Speaker 1:If I'd have just been a bit more laid back, it probably would have been a bit better. But it's easier said than done really, especially for me. And there will be people watching or listening today going. Oh my God, that's me, that's me, she's.
Speaker 2:OK, yeah.
Speaker 1:She's survived, and being vulnerable is really important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and you know it. Just for me it did get easier and I find it so much easier now and enjoyable, but it was just a bit of a shock to the system, I think, at the start. Definitely.
Speaker 1:And you grew up in a very powerful power women house. Didn't you yeah With your mum and your nan? Yeah, and they were big role models for you, weren't they, yeah, and made you believe you could do everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I'm so grateful to them because I never felt like, oh, I can't achieve this or I can't achieve that, because I was always told from a young age, you can achieve anything you put your mind to and, um, you know, my mum really did give me that, that confidence that I made me believe that, um, but I know some young people don't necessarily have that today and that's why I'm trying to sort of be that, that role model of I always say, you know probably said it last time if you, if you can see it, you can be it.
Speaker 1:And it's just providing that role model that young people can relate to as well, and I saw one of your insta posts recently and it was talking about the accents and the it's the bias, isn't it? That comes with the accents? Yeah, so you the bias? I think you talk about the Liverpool accent. You're like be associated with criminology. Yeah, you know. You look at the Birmingham accent, you look at the London accent. It could all be associated with different things and it's crazy, isn't it? How it's 2025, how is this still a thing? There were more accents on the TV now. Ever has been when I was younger. It's proper proper BBC posh English, probably like Oxford. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:I think it's just um, you know it's like you say it's it's all the stereotypes that are associated with um, with accents and, um, you know it's, it's putting barriers in in front of young people. Though, because I think, you know, like you say, nowadays you, there's a lot of um things we can and can't say and obviously, but with accents it's like just a joke. It's seen as a joke, it's not seen as something that you should be offended by. And you know, sometimes I put videos online saying that the um, the stick I get for having a scouse accent, basically, and you just get told to like, stop moaning.
Speaker 2:And you know, and I understand, it's not as serious as things as you know, racism or anything like that, but class discrimination and accent bias is real and it does affect young people, because so many young people have messaged me saying they felt like they had to change their accent when they went to uni or when they applied for jobs, or they felt like they had to tone down the accent because of how they'd be perceived. And, like you say, there's loads of accents on the telly now, but the Scouse accent, like you say, is predominantly associated with criminality, and I love all the Scouse dramas and all that. I absolutely love them, but it's always you know the drug dealer, always he'll be a scouser or something like that. And if it's you know the scientist in a drama, it's not someone who looks or sounds like me, and I think that's where where the problem lies.
Speaker 1:When you, because you were the first in your family to go to uni, and not going to go to any uni, you may as well go to Oxford, right, yeah, what?
Speaker 2:was that like? So I never thought I would end up going to Oxford, even though you were acing everything. Yeah, because it was just something that it wasn't on my radar at all. It wasn't even something I would have considered on my radar at all. It wasn't even something I would have considered, um. But when I was at school, the teachers um.
Speaker 2:So for sixth form I switched schools and went to, went to Bluecoat and they took me on a school trip down to Oxford. They took like the top 10% or whatever of students down to Oxford on a trip. I was quite happy to go with my friends. Then when I came back, they encouraged me to apply and I was like, no, I had a great time, but it's not for me, it's not for people like me. You know, I'm not posh, I'm not rich, I'm not, I've got this strong Scouse accent and I thought no, it's just, it won't be for me. But thankfully they encouraged me to apply. In the end end my mum said, oh, just apply, you probably won't get in anyway. Then that's your decision made and I thought, oh well, yeah. So I applied.
Speaker 2:But then when I got in I panicked because of all those reasons I've just said, I absolutely thought I wouldn't fit in, I wouldn't have a good time, I wouldn't make friends, um. But I went, cried my eyes out, didn't want my mum, and my mum and nan came with me. Obviously um didn't want them to leave me and they told me to just stay for one week and just give it a try. And I did and I absolutely loved it. After that first week I had the best time. I made friends, I fitted in um, and all those stereotypes just didn't exist. They were all in my head more than anything else. Don't get me wrong. There were people there from all walks of life, you know, posh people from eating. Really, really wealthy families did completely different upbringing to me, but no one cared, no one was bothered where you were from and in my, my experience, we'd all done well enough to get in and get a place and everyone just made friends and got on with it. And I was the resident scouser for three years.
Speaker 1:I think Like a t-shirt for that or a tote bag.
Speaker 2:That one is, isn't it yeah?
Speaker 1:definitely yeah, have you got um thoughts as to where Ada might go?
Speaker 2:I'd always. I'd like to think I'd be like my mum was and just let her do whatever she wants. I'm a scientist, my husband's a psychologist, but I'd want to sort of show her as much as possible and then she can pick what she truly wants to do, because I think if you do that, then your kids will be happy and that's the most important thing.
Speaker 1:Now, if you had an unlimited budget, um, and a magic wand, what would you enable with the scalp scientist?
Speaker 2:um, so what I really once, like I said at the start, is I've always, always wanted my own science tv show because, like I said before, the scientists that young people are seeing in the media are often the white posh, middle-class male. Just take me back to one of your.
Speaker 1:Insta posts the videos you with the crazy hair on and the white lab coat. But that's the perception, isn't it?
Speaker 2:That's it Everyone. You know I've done a lot of things going around to schools, talking to kids and when I ask them what do you think of when you think of a scientist? That's what they think of. It's getting a bit better because there was a study recently that showed um more young people, when they're asked to draw a scientist, more of them are drawing women now that than what they used to. So it's moving in the right direction, but it's still not where I'd like it to be. Um, and that's ultimately what I'd like. I'd like to sort of change the face of science and say you don't need to look like this or sound like this, just Just be yourself and you can still be a scientist, basically. So that's the dream.
Speaker 1:That's the dream the unlimited budget, the unlimited time. It could happen. How would you describe yourself in three words?
Speaker 2:Oh, this is a difficult question. I'd say ambitious, like I've said already, you know I like to challenge myself and aim high, um kind. I think that's really important to me and something that I pride myself on. Um, probably like organized a bit of a control freak really, but I'll say organized instead, um, because that's sort of yeah, but I'm trying to rein that in a little bit and social media is a big part of your world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how do you kind of manage sort of the, the storytelling, the role modeling? Um, how do you balance that with being a wife, a daughter, a mum, dog, mum. Yeah, yeah, it's difficult. What dog is it?
Speaker 2:She's a mini Labradoodle, little cute Dixie. So it is hard the juggle. And you know, like all most people know, most people, or most mums especially, are always juggling things. So it's not unique to me juggling this. I think loads of women do this, um, even women who haven't got kids to juggle multiple things and they've got a lot of responsibilities and things like that.
Speaker 2:Um, but it's just about for me when I'm in work. That's it I'm. I'm clinical scientist, holly. I get my job done at work. You know I have Mondays off now, not off because I'm doing my other job of spending time with my daughter, and but it's just focusing, trying my best to focus on one thing at a time and then making sure you know when I am with my daughter that that's mine and her time and I'm not sort of on my phone and doing bits. I do try and make sure I get that quality time with her as well and then, once she's in bed, if I'm not completely exhausted, then that's when I'll start with me, with my social media stuff, as well, and social media can be seen in some environments as being toxic and it can be too much, and we're always on our phones.
Speaker 1:but what is the moment that from feedback from the Scouse Scientist and from your account, that made you really feel like you're making that difference?
Speaker 2:it's the, it's the messages from, from the young people that I get. Honestly, it's, you know, sometimes you just think, oh, what's what's the point? Just forget it all. Why don't I just, like we were saying before, have a simple life, go to work eight to four, come home, that's it. You don't have all this stress, but it's like a passion inside me that I enjoy it and I love doing it. And yeah, it's really the messages from young people. You know, I've had so many young girls in particular message me and say, oh, I've got a place at Oxford, but I'm from Liverpool and I don't know whether to take it, or what do you think I should do about it? And all of this. Or you know young people saying you've really inspired me and now I want to be a scientist. I never thought that that was achievable or I never knew how to do that, and it's that that keeps me going. And don't get me wrong, social media can be toxic.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I've had my fair share of trolls on there as well. But for me, the trolls get, you know, get a lot of stuff about my accent again. Me, the trolls, again you know, get a lot of stuff about my accent again saying can't understand a word she's saying and blah, blah, blah and all this and all the negative things about scousers. But I, I'm just like you're proving me pointy. Yeah, this is a lot of exactly what I'm saying to those trolls are just they're actually giving me more engagement in in some cases, because then you get other people arguing back with them and all stuff like that. But they are proving my point of this accent bias.
Speaker 1:Do you engage with them or do you just? I'm not going down that hole.
Speaker 2:It's hard because sometimes I have done and my husband says don't give them the ammunition just ignore them. I wouldn't get into an argument or anything like that. But sometimes if I've had someone say a name, I've forgotten what. The worst thing there were some really bad ones, just about. You know, spouses are all being thick or something like that, and I just put thanks, you're proving my point back to them. But maybe I shouldn't have engaged. I don't know, but I couldn't help myself that.
Speaker 1:So we talk a lot about stem, don't we? You know there's a lot of talk about stem, but sometimes people think that that's just not for me because it's a bit like science that I don't associate with the s. Yeah, I don't associate with the t. I don't associate, yeah, but it's in everything we do, isn't it? Yeah, it's everywhere. What? What advice would you give out there for young people who think that's not for me?
Speaker 2:I think. Just I'd say, like you say, it's in a lot more areas than you think and you know it's science, technology, engineering and maths. But there's a lot of jobs other than just being a scientist or being an engineer. You know, technology nowadays was surrounded by technology, the use of AI, all of that. So you could go, you could do something to do with that and go down a completely different route. There's so many options within STEM. It's not just one thing, even being a scientist you know, I'm a healthcare scientist, in genetics there's hundreds of different types of scientists. So I think, if you're locked into it, I'd just say don't, don't like rule it out until you've learned a bit more about it.
Speaker 1:And this is the visibility of what you do is so important, because if you can't see it like you say, you can't be it. What part has AI got to play in your world?
Speaker 2:So it's a bit difficult really at the minute because it's so new and I think for me, we in genetics or genomics, we don't know how to use it. Yes, for our the best of our, our ability, but I think it's going to become huge. So a lot of what we do is diagnose some patients with genetic conditions. It's looking at the whole genome, so looking at all 22,000 genes at once, to try and provide patients with a diagnosis that then they can use that diagnosis to then have successful treatments and so on. And a lot of what we do is trying to work out what the diagnosis is, because there'll be a lot of differences between, you know, for example, my dna and yours, because that's what makes you you and me me. But it's working out what changes in that dna could be contributing to this person's illness.
Speaker 1:And I think that's where ai would be able to, you know, speed up that process a bit that's where it's exciting, right, that's where the opportunity lies not to be fear of it, yeah, but it's like you say, it's the time, the time it takes. What is next for you and the and the Scouse scientists?
Speaker 2:so I've been putting a lot of stuff on social media. I've got Instagram, I've got TikTok now which?
Speaker 1:I feel like.
Speaker 2:I don't know how other people feel, but I feel like for people over 30 like me, it's hard to get to grip. I feel like I sound like my mum and my nan saying this now, but I finally know what they meant when you know they used to struggle. I remember showing my nan Facebook and stuff like that Texting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly Texting and abbreviations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I feel like a bit. You know I'm trying to.
Speaker 1:If I'm trying to reach young people, I need to be on their platform.
Speaker 2:So that's what I'm trying to build up at the minute. Same with YouTube um, I've got, I've signed a contract now with a with a talent agency as well. Yeah, so, um, that was after I did a um radio appearance with Radio Merseyside and the interview was filmed and put on social media and that just went absolutely viral and I was thinking I've been doing these videos for five years and then one 20 second clip gets literally millions of views and so from that um, it led to different opportunities and this talent agency um asked me to sign with them. So it's DML talent and they, um, basically, are going to try and find me. You know, work like this podcast tv, anything anywhere really where I can get my message out there and increase the visibility of, of relatable role models in stem 100 educate, inform, make change.
Speaker 1:It's amazing everything you're doing. Uh, I'm so glad to have you back. It's so good we're not doing it virtual this time.
Speaker 2:I know we're doing it on our couch. I love it.
Speaker 1:I am looking forward to seeing you on more sofas. I don't think you'll be on a sofa, I feel you'll be in a studio. You might get that wig out again.
Speaker 2:I don't know, but I think.
Speaker 1:I can see it. It's going to be looking going. My mummy's a TV star. That's what's going to happen. So, holly, thank you so much for coming in. You're amazing. Please keep doing what you keep doing.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:It's brilliant. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Amazon Music, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a review or follow us on socials. We are Power underscore net on Insta, TikTok and Twitter. We are Power on LinkedIn, Facebook and we are underscore Power on YouTube.
