From Office Junior at 17 to MD and Co-Owner: Michelle Quinn on Engineering, Grit and the Management Buyout She Completed Two Weeks After Giving Birth

In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Michelle Quinn — Managing Director and co-owner of Almond Engineering, a precision engineering company based in Livingston, West Lothian.

Michelle started at Almond as a 17-year-old on a three-week temporary contract. She had no qualifications, no idea what engineering was, and no particular plan. Twenty-one years later, she owns the company.

This is one of the most extraordinary journeys I've heard on this podcast — and Michelle tells it with complete honesty, including the parts that were hard.

We cover:

- What Almond Engineering does and the range of industries it serves

- How Michelle went from office junior to MD without a degree or formal training

- The moment at 17 she told the founder she'd be the first female MD — and why they both laughed

- What it's like being a young woman in a heavily male-dominated industry — and how she built respect from the ground up

- The management buyout she completed less than two weeks after having her first child

- How she funded the MBO — and what the process actually looked like

- Being a self-described workaholic and what having a family changed

- Introducing flexible working into an engineering company — and why it's the best thing they've ever done

- Why she'll hoover the office, do deliveries and do whatever it takes — and why that matters

- What needs to change to get more women into engineering

**Quote of the episode:** *"I'll be the first female MD in this company."* — Michelle Quinn, age 17 (she was right)

If you're someone who has been told there's only one path to success — or you're building something in an industry that wasn't built with you in mind — this episode is for you.