Five questions with Francesca Brady, founder and chief executive of AirRated

Every week, Ambition A.M. passes the pen (or keyboard) to a founder eager to share the unfiltered stories fuelling Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit.

This week, we spotlight Francesca Brady, founder and chief executive of indoor air quality certification firm AirRated. 

Have you ever wondered what is in the air in your own home? Well, Brady did, and this simple question led her to start her own business after graduating from university. 

The award-winning entrepreneur, who is now one of the next nominees for Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Future Award, shares some insight on how she made it happen. 

Why did you start your business? 

The ‘lightbulb moment’ for me happened when I was at university. I always had a keen interest in understanding how our environments (indoor and outdoor) impact our health. 

Then, whilst being tasked with narrowing my area of expertise for my master’s, I heard the topic of ‘indoor air’ described as a ‘dark art’. 

This appealed to me for a couple of reasons.

1) The mystery! 

2) It seemed bizarre to me that we knew so little about these places in which we spend upwards of 80% of our time. 

It was one of those rare occasions that you think – surely we were missing something here?! How has no one done more about this yet?!

What is your biggest accomplishment (to date) as a female founder?

Navigating the commercial property world was a big deal for me. The reality is that it’s a male-dominated, relationship-driven industry, and it is our target market. To begin with, I was so concerned there wouldn’t be enough common ground for me to forge important relationships and develop the network I needed to. 

I was a young woman with a largely academic background, immersed in a culture with people who looked and acted very differently to me!

However, I quickly found champions and advocates in the industry who have been pivotal in promoting my work and introducing me to their own networks – I owe a great deal of my success to them. Something that was once my biggest concern is now my biggest accomplishment; my network.

What do you hope to achieve next?

Something that I am incredibly passionate about, which is no surprise considering my background, is scientific communication. Indoor air quality is such a fundamental part of all of our lives, but rarely do we talk about it and we understand so little about it. 

As a business, we currently operate and educate organisations and now it’s time to shift the focus to an individual, personal level. 

I want to bring this abstract topic to life and engage people in a way that helps them understand their spaces better and subsequently creates meaningful change to their health and their lives.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

The biggest challenge I’ve faced is channelling my energy. Typically, I run around with lots of ideas and work across multiple things all at once. 

I quickly found that it just wasn’t a sustainable way to operate and that I needed to organise my time and thoughts to get the best output – I’m still learning!

How do you define success?

Success on a personal level, is working with purpose. I never have a day where I consider whether what I’m doing is worthwhile or not. It might be tough at times, but ultimately I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.