🧙🏽‍♀️ Sabrina Chevannes (EMBA, MCIM)

N0BS

N0BS = No Bullsh*t

A members club exclusively for No Bullsh*t Entrepreneurs who want to grow both personally and professionally.

N0BS puts members first and fosters an environment where members genuinely support each other, have real talk and help each other grow.

Founder

Form1 Partners

Helping scale-ups grow faster and connect with the right people. Using my strategic skills from years of being a chess professional and international poker player to run strategy workshops and help scale-ups think differently.

Advisor

TedxShoreditch

I curate and organise the TEDxShoreditch events, which include TEDxShoreditch Women, Salon and Adventure events. 

All events are based in Shoreditch and aimed at helping boost the community. 

Each event brings prestigious speakers from all over the world and hand-picked local talent.

TEDxShoreditch is about creating an inclusive community that fosters a culture of lifelong learning and inspiration. 

We are continually looking for:
- Volunteers to help make the events the best they can be
- Sponsors who believe in supporting these initiatives
- Partners who wish to support in other ways
- Speakers with ideas worth spreading

TEDxShoreditch Organiser

N0BS Podcasts

TWO podcasts, N0 Bullsh*t. 

Sniffing Out the Bullsh*t: audio-only podcast where I take an entrepreneurial topic and call out the bullsh*t surrounding it. I use science and research to back up what's actually true and provide actionable insights onto how to handle things. 

No Bullsh*t Talks: video podcast with a high-performing entrepreneur on each week as a guest, telling stories about what it's really like as a business owner in their industry. 

Podcasts can be found on YouTube, Spotify and where all major podcasts are found. 

https://n0bspodcasts.com

Podcaster

Complex Creative

Complex Creative is known as the No Bullsh*t Agency, as we are fully honest and transparent with our work and we explain things how they are. No more getting ripped off by agencies because your job is "so complicated" and XYZ needs to be done because it's essential to your brand. 

We provide you with no BS answers and explain our processes throughout. 

If you know someone who may be being ripped off by their agency, feel free to get in touch for a second opinion!

Forbes Business Council

Forbes Business Council Is An Invitation-Only Organization For Successful Small And Mid-Sized Business Owners. Members are respected leaders who are selected for the council based on the depth and diversity of experience in leadership, management, customer engagement, technology & growth.

Official Member and Contributor

Mensa International

Became a member at the tender age of 5 and was invited onto the TV show "Child Genius" after discovering I had an IQ of 178.

Member

Freelance

Actress

Alliance of Independent Agencies

As Co-Chair for the Alliance, I will be concentrating on helping independent agencies recruit and retain the best talent from a diverse set of backgrounds. I believe that where independent agencies thrive is their unique company culture and the ability to offer a flexible career path to their employees. As an Alliance, we can provide support and training across DEI, wellbeing and talent to enable agencies to nurture and grow their teams and retain the best possible talent and culture.

Member agencies contribute to the success of the Alliance, engaging at all levels. Our three Co-Chairs head up three key pillars of activity: People, Purpose and Performance. Within each pillar we have Action Groups which are led by senior executives from our agency members. These groups endeavour to bring value to the membership by providing thought leadership, tools, insights, and knowledge that help agencies thrive. It is collaboration at its very best. The Co-Chairs and Group Leaders meet regularly to review progress and priorities, and this is the Members Board.

People Chair

CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing

Mentoring other digital marketers in the Chartered Institute of Marketing, guiding them through their marketing journey.

Digital Marketing Mentor

I won’t ever stop until I am the best I can be. 

And neither should you. 

It does NOT matter what others tell you you should be doing, or what industry you are supposedly more suited in. Follow your heart, bring along some serious passion and you will see your dreams manifest into reality. 

I started off on a path that wasn’t right for me. Despite knowing I’ve always wanted to run my own business, no-one in my family did that kind of thing, so I went down the “normal” path of going to medical school and training to become a doctor. My brothers are both doctors, my friends at school all wanted to become doctors, and I did too… for a short while. 

I’m so glad I took the leap into entrepreneurship! I’ve made tons of mistakes along the way, mainly because I didn’t have a mentor, or anyone around me with experience of running a business. But now I know I’m doing what I should be doing. 

I’m still learning, and probably always will be. But that’s fine, because it means I’m always improving and my goals are getting bigger and bigger. 

I now strive to inspire those I work with, help them achieve their goals and make them stand out with my branding and marketing expertise. 

With my unique skills as a Women’s International Chess Master, I bring business strategy to a whole new level. 

I do what I love and I love what I do. 
Do you?

I’m the only black female chess master in the UK. 

What comes to your mind when I say that?

❓Very impressive achievement!
❓It’s only chess!
❓Why does gender matter?
❓Why does race matter?

I’ve been the only black female chess master in the UK for over 20 years. 
But no one has ever mentioned it in this country. 

When I’m in the US, it’s the opposite - it’s celebrated. 👏🏽

It’s used to inspire kids in inner-city schools who didn’t know someone who looked like them could reach the top levels of an intellectual sport.

I go there to teach, to mentor, to show what’s possible - because representation matters.

And until very recently, I was the only Black female chess master playing there too.

So… why does it matter? 🤔

Because when you’re the 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 in any room for two decades, it raises a bigger question:

💡Is this a story about my achievement? Or is it a story about the system?
💡Why haven’t more Black women come through?
💡Why hasn’t the environment supported them?
💡What does it say about accessibility?
💡About belonging?
💡About the subtle ways people are pushed out before they start?

I’ve faced racism and sexism in chess for most of my life.
Not always loudly. Often silently - in the looks, the assumptions, the disbelief, the double standards.

And yes, even now… as an entrepreneur, as a creator, as a speaker, I face the same racism and sexism. And with social media, it’s even more vocal. 😢

So when people ask, “Why does race matter?” or “Why does gender matter?”

My answer is simple:
𝐈𝐟 𝐈’𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 20 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬… 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧.

This isn’t just about me. 

😞 It’s about the kids who never made it past their first tournament.
😞It’s about the girls who didn’t feel welcome.
😞It’s about the talent that was lost because the environment told them (quietly or loudly) - “You don’t belong here.”

And that’s why I’m finally talking about this.

Because silence is part of how the problem stays alive - and maybe it’s time we asked harder questions about who gets to excel in this country and who is expected to fade into the background.

𝐒𝐨 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧:
Why do you think it matters?

And what should we do with the fact that, in almost 2026, I’m still the only one?

🧙🏽‍♀️ Sabrina Chevannes-Denman

💔 I’ve been quiet for two weeks and I’m finally ready to tell you why.

2 weeks ago, my world split in half.

My brother collapsed out of nowhere and died. No warning. No explanation. No answers.
Just a phone call that changed everything. 😢

I’ve spent the past fortnight travelling, supporting my parents, trying to hold myself together, and learning what it feels like to grieve while still technically being “a founder,” “a strategist,” “a leader.”

I haven’t had the capacity to post, reply quickly, or keep up with the volume of work I usually do - and I’m incredibly grateful to the clients who’ve shown patience and compassion during the hardest time of my life.🙏🏽

But I don’t want this post to be about grief - I’ve had enough of focusing on that.
I want it to be about clarity.

When something like this happens, you stop caring about follower counts, funnels, arbitrary growth targets, or whether your Q4 is “scalable.”

You see, with painful clarity, what actually matters.

And that clarity has changed how I will run my business from this point forward.

👉 I’m done helping entrepreneurs chase growth that destroys their health, their peace, or their relationships.
👉 I’m done feeding the pressure to “go bigger” at all costs.
👉 I’m done with strategies that optimise revenue but sacrifice a life worth living.

Life is short. Brutally, unpredictably short.

From now on, everything I do - every strategy, every piece of content, every client engagement, will be focused on ONE thing:

Helping business owners make more money with less stress, so they can spend their time where it actually matters: with the people they love.

🚫 Not someday.
🚫 Not “after the next launch.”
🚫 Not once you hit £1M ARR.

Now. From day one.

This experience has changed me.
It’s changed my priorities.
And it’s changed the type of work I want to put into the world.

I will still show up, serve & build.

But I won’t sacrifice myself, or encourage anyone else to sacrifice themselves, on the altar of “hustle” ever again. 🙅🏽‍♀️

Thank you for your patience while I navigate this.

And if you’re a founder reading this, please… don’t wait for a tragedy to re-evaluate what you’re building.

Your business should give you a life - not take it away.

And that’s the only kind of business I’m helping people build from here on.

RIP my gorgeous brother. Thank you for being a great big bro and giving me these amazing memories I will never forget 🥰

It’s been 1 week since I posted about being the only black female chess master in the UK. 

And the response has completely shocked me. 😱 

I didn’t expect the post to go so viral but it was the reaction to the question itself.

Many people said the same thing:
😢 That can’t be right
😢 That’s not OK
😢 There must be something wrong with the system

But the other response I kept hearing:
😡 Why are you making this about race?
😡 Why bring gender into it?
😡 And the delightful… "Oh shut up - no one cares."

It really made me think, because nowhere in that post did I say I was disadvantaged.

Nowhere did I say I deserved sympathy or that chess owed me anything. 

I simply asked: Why am I still the only black female chess master? 🤷🏽‍♀️

But somehow, simply bringing up race and gender seemed to make some people deeply uncomfortable.

And I see it everywhere…

💡In business: Black women receive a teeny tiny fraction of venture capital funding - not because there’s a lack of ideas or talent, but because access, trust and pattern-matching work against us.

💡In leadership: women (especially women of colour) are told they’re “too much” or “not quite right” while watching less qualified people glide past them.

💡 In boardrooms, in media, in tech, in sport… it’s all very similar. 

The numbers are public and oh so very consistent. 

Yet, every time someone points to them, the response is the same:
🙄Why are you making it about race?
🙄Why are you dividing people?
🙄Why can’t we just focus on merit?

So I wanna just ask…

If it truly wasn’t about race or gender, would the outcomes consistently look like this - across so many industries, across so many countries, across so many decades??

Patterns don’t exist by accident. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Talking about race doesn’t create division… avoiding the conversation does.
When we refuse to acknowledge what’s happening, we force people to internalise it instead.

We tell them the problem must be them.

And that’s where resentment, silence & disengagement grow. 😢

It wasn’t that people disagreed with me - disagreement is healthy.

It was how quickly some felt entitled to criticise a stranger for asking a question, rather than questioning the environment that produced the outcome.

That defensiveness is revealing. 😫

Not because people are bad - but because many have never had to think about systems that weren’t designed with them in mind.

So when someone names a discrepancy, it feels personal. Threatening, even.
But this isn’t about blame - it’s about honesty.

Because if we can’t calmly ask why certain groups remain underrepresented - without shutting the conversation down - then we guarantee nothing changes.

✨In chess.
✨In business.
✨In society.

And pretending these issues don’t exist doesn’t make us more united - it just makes the gap wider and the frustration deeper.

So maybe the real question isn’t:
“Why are you making this about race?”

Maybe it’s:
Why is it still so hard for us to talk about it… even now?

How to waste your weekend...

Go viral on LinkedIn and try to reply to all the bloody comments! 🙈

💔 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 “𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝” 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞?

If you’re employed, you get compassionate leave - you get time & support, and your income doesn’t stop just because your world has.

But when you run your own business, especially as a solopreneur, none of that exists.

Time off means:
😢 No money
😢 Stalled work
😢 Slow pipeline
😢 Frustrated clients

And grief doesn’t care about deadlines.

The past couple of weeks have forced me to face a brutal reality:

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧… 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

You still have to show up for your livelihood.
You still have to protect the business you built.
And at the same time… you’re trying to survive the heaviest pain of your life.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
💡You don’t return once you’re “healed” - you return while you’re still hurting
💡You can’t run at full speed, but you also can’t disappear
💡You show up, but slower, softer and even more raw

And that has to be enough. 

Entrepreneurs don’t get clean boundaries between life and work. No matter how much content you see about work/life balance, it just doesn’t really exist in entrepreneurship. 

It’s all just life. 

Despite all the experts dropping into my DMs telling me how I should be handling all this (🙄🙄🙄), I don’t think there’s a right way. 

Right now, I’m just trying to carry things - grief in one hand, responsibility in the other… and trying not to drop either. 

I’m just choosing a version of showing up that doesn’t break me further. 

So that’s where I am right now - not fully back, but not fully away. 
Just finding my balance in the middle.

And I think that’s OK. 

How have YOU shown up when you feel like you should be taking a break?

🍁 This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for something super simple… just being alive.

The last few weeks have shaken my world in ways I never expected.
And it’s put everything… absolutely everything… into perspective.

We entrepreneurs love to stress and moan about the things that go wrong:
😫 Clients who screw you over.
😫 Staff who don’t appreciate you.
😫 People who use you for what you can give them.
😫 The never-ending pressure to keep performing.

And in those moments, it all feels heavy.

But I’ve been forced to face a new reality:
Even on our darkest days as founders… we have it pretty damn good.

🙌🏽 We set our own hours.
🙌🏽 We earn more than the average salary.
🙌🏽 We build things we genuinely care about.
🙌🏽 We often get to choose who we work with.
🙌🏽 We have autonomy most people only dream of.

We forget all that sometimes.
We forget how privileged we are to live this life - even when it’s messy, stressful, or disappointing.

And to be clear:
🫡 Your feelings are still valid.
🫡 Your stress is real.
🫡 Your low days matter.

Pain doesn’t disappear because someone else has it worse.

But today, I’m choosing gratitude.
Pure, unfiltered, wholehearted gratitude. 🙏🏽

Because despite everything I’m going through…
Despite the grief…
Despite the heartbreak…

I have a f*cking great life. 🥳
And I still get to live it.
And that is something I will never take for granted again. 🥰

I’ve been studying LinkedIn for the last 2 weeks and I’ve now determined the winning strategy and I’ve already successfully implemented it with many of my clients. 🙌🏽

The algorithm has changed drastically in the last couple of years and if you haven’t been keeping up with all the gurus’ posts about it, then you’re going to be left behind. 

Luckily, I’ve decided to put together a guide for you summarising everything I’ve learned. 

Which of these strategies have you tried? And am I missing any winners? 🤔

Linkedin Strategy 2026

Apparently voice notes are creepy. 

But text DMs are robotic and scream AI. 

And don't even get me started on video notes...

Reaching out on LinkedIn has never been more difficult! 🙈

I've been in a thread on here this week which was started because the OP said that voice notes on LinkedIn are an absolute no-no and are creepy. 

But for me, they're way more human than the AI-drivel I usually get. 🤮

I'm here to network with humans, not robots. 

And I also saw a thread where people are defending the immediate pitch slap in your DMs, because apparently we're all here to sell so that's acceptable. 

Now, I'm all for making your bucks on here, but can we do it in a more human way please?

For those who are genuinely making money on here (not the ones pretending they are), please tell me you've been doing it by building actual relationships first?!

Or is it just cold-hearted transactional business now?!

There’s nothing like a tragedy to reveal who’s human... and who’s opportunistic.

I’ve learned more about people in 2 weeks than in my entire career. 😱

I have the absolute privilege of being selective of who I work with - both as clients and on my team. 

The way I am and the way I write naturally auto-filters out the wrong people anyway. 🙊

But these last few weeks have been really eye-opening to what people are REALLY like. 

The highlights:

🥰 The Quietly Thoughtful: people I've not spoken to in a long time reached out to send a lovely condolence message. 
--> Will definitely reconnect with them when I'm ready. 

👩🏻🏫 The "You Should Do This" Experts: those who tell exactly how I'm supposed to deal with grief because that's what helped them when they went through it. 
--> If they're like this during a time like this, how do you think they will be working with them??

🤑 The "Using Pain As A Pitch" Nutters: I can only call them nutters, because I cannot even believe the approaches I've had...

- The therapists offering me “discounted sessions.”
- The coaches trying to sell me packages to “bounce back stronger.”
- The assistants offering paid support to “organise my workload while I’m grieving.”
- Marketing agencies wanting to “take over client work” - for a fee, of course.

Naturally positioned as doing me a favour, of course, but with a very pretty price tag attached to it. 

🤖 The Automated Idiots: supposed friends are in my DMs like "Oh heyyyy - LOVE your content lately. Seems like you're smashing it. Shall we have a catch up soon?"

Just ew. 

What I've realised is that we need to pay attention to how people behave when we’re not at our best.

It’s the clearest indicator of who you want around you when business is at its best.

No alternative text description for this image

Did you know that smoking was considered to be a healthy habit? 🚬

Doctors used to literally recommend smoking as a great way to aid digestion, reduce stress and lose weight. 

No, this post is not sponsored by Marlborough, but I'm just highlighting that people have got things very wrong in the past. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Just because "everyone" is doing something, doesn't mean it's the best way to do it. 

I've been really thinking about whether we're just doing business all wrong these days, because some prominent figures are shouting about what worked for THEM, and now it's considered the only way. 

These thoughts come from so many posts I've seen saying they don't have time to have meetings, or events, because they need to spend all their time "networking online". 

But surely the networking online should be a gateway to meetings and real connection? 🤔

Surely you want to do business with real humans and get to know that person, and have genuine conversations with them?

Or are we a dying breed?

Things feel too transactional now - like we're trying to hit quotas, follower counts, revenue markers. With no regards for the WHY.  😢

I decided to pour out my thoughts in today's Substack. 

Am I the only one who feels like this? Do I just need to suck it up and realise that robotic, online BS chat is the future? Or is there another way still?

taplio

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🧙🏽‍♀️ Sabrina Chevannes (EMBA, CMktr)

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