Local Heroes Podcast6 Des 2025

EP44 | Steffi Smith | Craft, Chaos and Comebacks | Local Heroes Podcast

On this week's Local Heroes Podcast, your average hosts Chris and Dan talk to the electric and entrepreneurial Steffi Smith - a true North East legend and one of the region’s most inspiring business role models.

As the founder of The Chocolate Smiths, she has built not just an iconic brand, but a blueprint for creativity, resilience, and modern entrepreneurship. Steffi opens up about discovering her ADHD later in life, how it shaped her path, and how embracing it became one of her greatest strengths.

She takes us from the early days of making chocolate bars in her kitchen with a microwave, to becoming a social media favourite, earning a viral shoutout from Joe Wicks, and navigating the overwhelming pressures that came with rapid growth.

Steffi speaks with rare honesty about burnout, self-doubt, and the moment she nearly walked away — before rebuilding her business with more clarity, courage, and conviction than ever.

From designing bespoke moulds, elevating her brand, and switching to ethically sourced Colombian chocolate, to investing deeply in her team and leading with creativity, Steffi demonstrates exactly why she’s become such an incredible entrepreneurial example for emerging founders everywhere.

Packed with laughter, spills, wild ideas, breakfast-and-brainstorm sessions, and even a call for a Greggs × Chocolate Smiths collab, this episode showcases the brilliance, passion, and heart that make Steffi a local hero in every sense.

If you love powerful founder stories, creativity, neurodiversity, or just really good chocolate — this conversation will stay with you.

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Episoder(80)

EP79 | Helen Stewart | Pigs, Poultry & Produce | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on the Local Heroes Podcast, Chris and Dan are joined by farmer and trained shepherdess Helen Stewart for a conversation about farming, food, family heritage and what it really takes to get ...

22 Aug 1h 57min

EP78 | Ian Wright | Risk, Relationships & Reinvention | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on the Local Heroes Podcast, Chris and Dan are joined by Sunderland-born designer, photographer and entrepreneur Ian Wright for a conversation about creativity, confidence and what can happe...

15 Aug 2h 20min

EP77 | The Colmans | Cake, Colmans and Community | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on the Local Heroes Podcast, Chris and Dan welcome Richard and Dominic Colman back to the studio to talk about an extraordinary year for one of South Shields’ best-known hospitality families...

8 Aug 1h 55min

EP76 | John Nejjy | Boilies, Banter and Belonging | Local Heroes Podcast

This week, Chris and Dan are joined by South Shields-born producer, filmmaker and content creator John Nejjy for a conversation about creativity, curiosity and using social media to tell better storie...

1 Aug 1h 54min

EP75 | Luke Smith | Stills, Slugs and Sausage Rolls | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on the Local Heroes podcast, Chris and Dan met Luke Smith - a distiller who survived an explosion that blew his hat off, built his first still at fifteen, and once sent Chris home from a rum...

25 Jul 1h 26min

EP74 | Jo Milne & Steve White | Empathy, Awareness and Understanding | Local Heroes Podcast

Jo Milne and Steve White join us for a conversation about empathy, connection and what it means to truly understand the world from someone else’s perspective. Jo lives with Usher syndrome, a condition...

18 Jul 1h 29min

EP73 Paul Mort | Moments, Motivation and Mentors | Local Heroes Podcast

Paul Mort is known for his energy, honesty and no-nonsense approach to business and life, but behind the success is a story very few people know. In this episode, Paul opens up about building a busine...

11 Jul 1h 34min

EP72 Claire Liddle | Cake, Courage and Comeback | Local Heroes Podcast

What happens when you lose everything, and have to rebuild your life from the ground up? In one of our most powerful conversations yet, Claire Liddle shares her extraordinary journey from childhood tr...

4 Jul 1h 17min