INTERVIEW:
PHOTO CREDIT: Ioana Marinca
Ellie Newton (CEO and Owner of The Trouble Club)
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I am going to start this interview…
IN THIS PHOTO: Ellie Newton spoke with the brilliant Irish-Nigerian academic, broadcaster, activist and author Emma Dabiri on 24th September, in an event titled Who Got Burned by the Enlightenment/PHOTO CREDIT: Alice Lub
by making it all about me. Not in a selfish or self-indulgent way! However, there is a specific reason as to why I am spotlighting the magnificent Ellie Newton. She is the Owner & CEO of The Trouble Club, a community of 100k+ that gathers to listen and learn from brilliant women. She has interviewed some of the world's greatest individuals, including Margaret Atwood, Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Leymah Gbowee. I have written about the club numerous times, and I have been a member for a little over two years. One of the big reasons why I keep writing about them is Newton and what she has achieved – and continues to do so! In her twenties, she has built this incredible business that is more like a community. The Troublemakers (not sure if this is our official collective name, though I will go with it!) that attend the events across London and Manchester are always a wonder to be around. So many different and fascinating people! Not only are there discussions and interviews. There are social events and book clubs. Check them out. This year has been one of the most successful and important for The Trouble Club. I was going to write another general feature about The Trouble Club, though there was an Instagram post that Ellie Newton shared recently that changed those plans. She was talking about the realities of being a young woman and running a business solo. How there are these pressures and loneliness. How it does not pay much and there are so many drawbacks and challenges. At the end of it, there is that pride and joy knowing that she has built something amazing. That is the most abiding and loudest realisation, though there are those harsh lessons and daily limitations/drawbacks that made me stop and think. I did not consider how tough it can be! From the outside, one can look at The Trouble Club and see it as this great thing with amazing events, where we get to hear these incredible women speak - and it is all fun and hugely profitable. Ellie Newton has an amazing team around her. Even though she has some support, she carries so much of the weight and responsibility as CEO and Owner.
IN THIS PHOTO: Author, journalist, podcaster, speaker and presenter Candice Brathwaite was a guest at The Trouble Club on 2nd October at St Marylebone Parish Church, London
Taking it back to me, I am endlessly impressed about everything that Ellie Newton does. She not only interviews and works with The Trouble Club. I saw another post where she was in Sweden for a day or so for non-Trouble Club business. Newton has interviewed women outside of The Trouble Club, though her main passion is for this wonderfully inspiring business that has made such an impact on so many people. It has changed me hugely! This Instagram post from her was about the Candice Brathwaite event on 2nd October. I said to her how this was perhaps the best Trouble Club event ever. A packed St Marylebone Parish Church with so many amazing women (and me) showing their love for Brathwaite! It was down to Newton getting everything in line and leading this incredibly powerful and memorable interview for this amazing crowd! Given what she posted a matter of days before about the realities of being a woman running a business solo, I wonder if this event changed her thoughts. However, it is clear that there are some truths that will never go away. It is quite a lonely existence, and one that does not bring in masses of money. How it can be hard to make friends and have a social life when so much of your being goes into not only making The Trouble Club successful but merely exist! To me, a lot of what Ellie Newton wrote rang true. Our experiences are different, though I run my own website and have done so for almost fourteen years. I have published something on it every day for a decade or so now. I am planning on writing a book, and I also am juggling a demanding full-time job. I make nothing from my writing, and there are so many posts that are published and get no reaction or interaction at all. It can be hugely disheartening writing something, sharing it and then nothing! A major music artist can post anything and they get thousands of likes and shares for complete s*it. For journalists, it can be a frustrating and depressing life. I also find it hard to find time away and find too many positives though, like Ellie Newton, there is that positive at the end of it. That is the main thing and the reason we keep going: it is what we love doing and accept that it is not rose-tinted or exactly as we dreamt it.
Someone who inspires me so much and I have huge admiration for, I guess we occasionally share a similar dispiriting experience and degree of disillusionment. Whereas I run a website and I can earn money from my day job, The Trouble Club is the vast majority of Ellie Newton’s income. It is her baby and, with it, obviously there is that intense emotion and feeling of responsibility and expectation. She has turned it into this simply wonderful space that has welcomed in incredible speakers like Candice Brathwaite, Marina Hyde, and Margaret Atwood (who is a return guest, alongside Elif Shafak, next month). I was eager to interview her off of the back of that Instagram post. One where she laid out the facts of being a business owner, and what that meant in terms of a social life, making money, and how it can be tiring. The fatigue she gets and having to make decisions. An entrepreneur in her twenties, it is a time when many of her similar-aged peers and friends are living a verry different life. Maybe one more based around family or experiencing the world in an itinerant way. For Newton, she does not have the same luxuries, flexibilities and responsibilities (or lack of, for better or worse) as many other people. And it is harder for women. Female entrepreneurs are still in the minority and do not get the same respect and opportunities as men. There is extreme sexism that pervades and infects. I do also think that Newton has a book (I Came Here to Make Trouble as a potential title?!) or TED talk in her! In terms of her story and life, it would be wonderful to hear her on the mic (there are some big podcasts that need to get her on as a guest as soon as!), or read her personal, insightful and wise words, that highlights the ups, downs and realities – a word I have used a few times, but seems like the most relevant an d precise – of being an entrepreneur in her twenties.
It is time to get to my interview with The Trouble Club’s Owner and CEO, Ellie Newton. Someone who has done something to be hugely proud of, there is still that discussion not highlighted enough. Not only the discrimination and sexism female entrepreneurs face to this day. The way business ownership and its demands are different to what men face, definitely in terms of social mobility and family life. And earning potential too. However, that sense of accomplishment and pride at what The Trouble Club does and who it welcomes through its multiple doors should be the main takeaway. And that is mainly down to the passion and commitment of its awesome leader:
“Hi Ellie. 2025 has been one of the biggest and most successful in terms of The Trouble Club’s membership growth and how it has built its stellar reputation and name. You are very much at the centre of it. How does it feel seeing how far it has come?
It feels incredible! It has been a long road though. People see our successes, but often not the years of hard work and rejection. It has always been worth it though, as our community is one-of-a-kind!
In terms of your personal highlights from this year or favourite moments with The Trouble Club, what comes to mind?
Oh, that is so tough! Our event with Grace Beverley was amazing; our audience was slightly different than normal, and I feel like we introduced a whole new group of women to The Trouble Club.
With over two-thousand members and so much to balance and constantly build as Owner and CEO of The Trouble Club, what are the greatest challenges that you face?
So many. Every day has a different challenge, which is probably the greatest challenge overall. As the CEO, you have to spend time doing so many things and you have to make millions of decisions every day, some of which determine the fate of your business. I absolutely get executive fatigue, but in those trickier moments I remember how lucky I am to do what I do.
“It’s hard to not take everything personally when your passion-level is so high”
You recently posted to Instagram how, as a woman in your twenties, working so many hours and earning so little is life-affecting and not ideal. Though The Trouble Club has many positives, is the impact on your personal life and social mobility a drawback for you - and so many other business owners?
Absolutely. Although I would never want to deter a twenty-something woman from becoming a business owner; the pros outweigh the negatives. But yes, it is all-consuming. You can’t really take a break from it, and it takes time to build your identity outside of your business. It’s hard to not take everything personally when your passion-level is so high. But when things are going well, it makes up for everything!
The Trouble Club seems like something very personal to you. Many people, such as me, have this passion and purpose that dominates our lives and yet pays very little…and has its disadvantages. What keeps you resilient and ambitious with all of this on your mind and shoulders?
Our members and remembering the good that the club does. We get the best messages from members who have loved our events and met life-long friends. That is always what keeps me going. I also have crazy dreams for the club, and keeping them front of mind helps overcome any little setbacks.
You also said in your post how it is tough to make big decisions and be 100% sure when you do not have the experience “to know if any of the decisions are correct”. How do you deal with that? Have there been moments when some decisions have backfired or created some backlash? How do you react to that?
Of course! I’ve invested in events that haven’t sold tickets; created marketing campaigns that didn’t bring us any new members. I make mistakes every day. It is the constant above all else. My reaction is always to breathe and remember that this experience is an incredible education and every setback is a learning opportunity. I know so much more now than I did five years ago, but I had to go through five years of mistakes to get here.
“So to any woman wanting to start her own business, just do it and find your tribe”
Loneliness and running a growing business, in a time in your life when many of your contemporaries have a very different and, perhaps, ‘conventional’ life experience, must make you reflect and ask questions. How does this shape your view of the future, and do you find time away from Trouble Club duties to connect more? Or is it quite all-consuming?
It is all-consuming, but building my life outside of Trouble has become more of a focus lately. I love nature, and I’m lucky enough to live near incredible greenery, and that’s where I escape to at the weekends. This keeps me happy, grounded and reminded that the world is so much bigger than me.
Female business owners face limited access to funding, gender bias and stereotypes, difficulties in achieving work-life balance due to societal expectations, a lack of supportive professional networks and mentors, and personal barriers like self-doubt. Do you feel this is an issue that is not being addressed, and what advice would you give to women starting their own business?
I think there are incredible women talking about this (I’ve interviewed a lot of them), but sadly not enough men - you Sam being a wonderful exception. While the barriers are out there, I am in an incredibly fortunate position. I’m surrounded by women every day, and I don’t need to convince men of what Trouble is; the ones that get it just come. So to any woman wanting to start her own business, just do it and find your tribe. If you need a mentor, have the courage to ask. Most women really respond to that.
Before moving back to The Trouble Club, on your Instagram and at Trouble events, music plays an important role. As you must listen to so many audiobooks and be busy with meetings, calls and research, do you get enough time to listen to music and, if so, how important is it?
It’s funny you should say that, because it can be an issue. When I go out for a walk, I often really want to relax and listen to music, but I will also know I have three hours of an audiobook to finish for an event happening the next day, so that has to take priority. After a big event, I’ll take some really long walks and just listen to music. It is really key!
There are some great Trouble events coming up, including the return of Margaret Atwood! When you started with The Trouble Club, could you have imagined you would welcome to the stage and interview so many brilliant and iconic women?!
Never. I’m still so thrilled by the people who say ‘yes’, and it allows me to dream bigger about who might join us in the future.
Reflecting on what you said about the demands of business ownership and how it impacts you, what are plans for The Trouble Club in 2026 regarding your role, the team’s, and any possible expansion and changes?
Our team has changed a lot recently, and the biggest change I anticipate for 2026 is bringing in more people to help us build our community. There is so much potential there, but I often don’t have the time to interact with as many members as I would like. This will absolutely be a priority when we expand the team.
You did end that recent Instagram post by saying how, in spite of all the hard truths, the “freedom” and “joy” you get from running The Trouble Club makes it all worth it. Could you ever see yourself being anywhere or doing anything else?!
It is absolutely my dream job, so it is hard to imagine myself doing anything else. However, I do have other business ideas that I’d like to pursue, but not for a very long time.
It is hard to get journalists and the media to discuss members clubs and wonderful things like The Trouble Club. Do you think that this needs to shift, and what would you say to anyone who has not yet joined and is interested - or only attends occasional events?
Yes, I would love to see more coverage! For anyone who is yet to join, just know our events are getting better every week. Our guests are exceptional but, most of all, our community of members is really really special, and not something you can easily find in a big city.
“Our members and community really make this the best job ever!”
Penultimate question: Having attended so many events myself, and seen the energy and connection in these venues; these wonderful interviews with powerful women, it seems The Trouble Club plays such an important role in so many people’s lives. That must give you heart and strength?
It absolutely does. The comments always leave me on a high. Our members and community really make this the best job ever!
Actually, this is the penultimate question. Before and after events, there are moments when the mic is off (either backstage before the interview or afterwards) where you must have heard these candid, intimate, secret or unguarded moments. Is there one that stands in your mind – or one that will remain a secret?!
Yes, I often get served some amazing tea….but those will always be a secret, sorry!
Finally, as I run a music website, I can drop a song in here. Either a new jam, the song that wakes you up. Maybe one that has personal meaning, or one that motivates you. What shall we go with?
Oooo, great question. I’m really enjoying Taylor Swift’s new album, so let’s go for The Life of a Showgirl!”