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Hello and welcome to the Women with Balls podcast where I Katie Balls speak today's trailblazers.

Happy New Year. We have some great guests lined up for 2022, but before we go ahead with that, we're going

to start with an episode we recorded shortly before the Christmas break.

My guest today debated post-devolution Britain at Conservative Party Conference age 15.

She was born and raised in Cheshire before moving to York, where she graduated with a BA in

history and politics.

Prior to her political career, she had worked in marketing and media and was once an international

marketing communications manager for WWE.

Yes, that is wrestling.

Leaving the world of physical entertainment behind her, she was elected in 2015 as the MP

for Chipponim, and since then she has been

re-elected twice and is now viewed as a rising star, starting us member of the Education Select

Committee, becoming a whip to then being appointed a minister and becoming Minister of State for

Higher and Further Education in the latest reshuffle. My guest today is Michelle Donovan.

Now on this podcast to start, I always ask, was yours a happy childhood?

I certainly would.

I think, yeah, my childhood was amazing.

I grew up in Cheshire in a small little village with my mum, dad and a little sister.

So apart from my fights, it was really good.

Now, the new statesman pointed out that you decided

politics would be your choice of career age six. We've had various ministers on this podcast,

...