Apprentice finalist Claire Young to give talk in York (From York Press)

Apprentice finalist Claire Young to give talk in York

8:00am Monday 11th January 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(3)

A FINALIST from BBC’s The Apprentice is coming to York to give a talk aimed at inspiring women to achieve their potential in life.

Claire Young – who Sir Alan Sugar nicknamed the Rottweiler – hopes to pass on her motto of “Just Do It!” when she addresses York women on January 20.

She has been invited to the city by Confident Ladies – a group set up by York mum Jayne Twiddle to help women get back on their feet after suffering knock-backs in life.

Claire said she had not experienced the same setbacks in life as people like Jayne, who has survived a marriage break-up, redundancy and losing her father to cancer.

But she said losing to Lee McQueen in the final of The Apprentice 2008 was a massive knock-back for her to deal with.

“Nobody likes to lose,” said Claire, 30, who lives in Wakefield. “I lost in the final of The Apprentice in front of 11 million people and the morning after the final I literally cried into my breakfast for two hours.

“I thought the bubble had burst and I didn’t know what I was going to do. But then I told myself, ‘Claire, get a grip and get on with it’ – and that’s what I did. That is the making of a successful person in life.”

Since finishing runner-up in The Apprentice 18 months ago, Claire has turned down 500 job offers and set up her own business, Elegant Venues, which transforms privately owned properties into wedding venues.

She said: “My degree is in equine science, so I left university with no business experience and really no idea of what I wanted to do.

“I will be talking about how I maximised every opportunity and took risks to get to where I am today.

“People are always asking me: ‘If I had one piece of advice what would it be?’ and I would say to spend £50 on getting some business cards printed and going to some networking events because business is all about contacts.”

Claire, who will be giving the talk at HSBC bank in Parliament Street, from 6pm to 7pm, said: “I absolutely love York and if I go shopping I always like to go to York. I love going to Bettys as well – although since The Apprentice I have been on a huge diet and I’ve lost three-and-a-half stone, so unfortunately Bettys hasn’t been on my agenda.”

To book your place at the talk, which costs £5 for members of Confident Ladies and £10 for non-members, email info@confidentladies.co.uk.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(3)