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How To Own The Room

How To Own The Room

By: Viv Groskop
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 Want to own the room? Comedian and radio and TV presenter Viv Groskop talks to inspirational women about the secrets of brilliant speaking. They share the tips and tricks that will get you the attention you deserve.Viv Groskop 2021 Economics Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 23.6 Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief of the Guardian

    23.6 Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief of the Guardian
    Apr 16 2026

    How do you manage the pressure of being in the hot seat, day in day out?

    Viv speaks to Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of The Guardian since 2015, when she became the first woman to hold the position in the newspaper's 194-year history. Under her leadership, the paper has created a successful strategy of reader funding and become an increasingly international business, with Viner overseeing a staff of over 1500 globally.

    Katharine tells Viv how she encourages people to speak up in meetings; how she handles being in the spotlight; and what it was like to collaborate with the late Alan Rickman.

    The Guardian

    The new edition of How To Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking is out now, featuring more in-depth analysis of everyone from Michelle Obama to Virginia Woolf — and extra-practical, actionable advice on honing your own speaker style

    @vivgroskop
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    32 mins
  • 23:5 Amy Poon, restaurant owner and food entrepreneur

    23:5 Amy Poon, restaurant owner and food entrepreneur
    Apr 9 2026
    How do you find the courage to keep changing the course of your career and try something new? Viv speaks to Amy Poon, who grew up in her family's famous Poon's restaurant business, and pursued various careers including art dealing and PR, before settling on her current career as a food entrepreneur. Her Chinese food heritage brand, Poon's London, produces award-winning sauces, while her beautiful central London restaurant, Poon's at Somerset House, has won accolades for its elevated Chinese home cooking. Amy's father Bill Poon was the first Chinese chef to be awarded a Michelin star in 1980 and Amy's first job was as the coat check girl in her parents' restaurant whose customers were people like Mick Jagger and Barbra Streisand. Amy tells Viv how growing up in the restaurant world gave her great communication skills; how she's never had a strategic career plan (and that's ok!); and why her 'magic soup' is always on the menu. Poon's London The new edition of How To Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking is out now, featuring more in-depth analysis of everyone from Michelle Obama to Virginia Woolf — and extra-practical, actionable advice on honing your own speaker style @vivgroskop
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    32 mins
  • 23.4 Maria Semple, novelist

    23.4 Maria Semple, novelist
    Apr 2 2026
    How can you use disappointment to fuel your future success? Viv talks to Maria Semple, who wrote the bestselling novel, Where D'You Go, Bernadette, after bouncing back from the disappointment of her first novel not making it big. Her new book, Go Gentle is the darkly funny story of Adora Hazzard, a woman who thinks she's got it all figured out in later life — she lives in a "coven" with other cool, older women — only to have the past come back to haunt her in the shape of an unresolved MeToo moment in her earlier career. In Maria Semple's own previous life before becoming a novelist, she held her own in TV writer rooms in the 1990s and early 2000s, on shows like Beverly Hills 90210, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Ellen and Mad About You. Maria tells Viv about discovering her true vocation as a novelist; how being raised in a creative Hollywood family made her effortlessly confident around show-business people; and she gives an insider's view of working - often as the only woman on the team - in TV writers rooms in the 1990s. Maria Semple's new novel is Go Gentle @MariaSemple The new edition of How To Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking is out now, featuring more in-depth analysis of everyone from Michelle Obama to Virginia Woolf — and extra-practical, actionable advice on honing your own speaker style. @vivgroskop
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    38 mins
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