Meet Yorkshire Businesswoman Tina Boden
A self-made success, Tina is leading the way for other women in Yorkshire
Born into an entrepreneurial family in the hospitality industry, Tina Boden started out working at her mum and dad’s hotel. ‘I went into the family business and I had to do it all, the housekeeping and the waitressing,’ she says. ‘It was right back then that I started my interest in customer service and front-facing businesses.’
At just 21, she bought her first business in property letting, and later began working to help business owners with strategy and development on a consultancy basis. In 2012, she began campaigning for micro businesses with Tony Robinson OBE and did this for a decade before stepping down ‘before [they] went bankrupt’.
This, plus a cancer scare and the loss of a close friend to cancer, led Tina to feel as though she needed to make some life changes which ultimately resulted in her creating the Work Life Blend Programme aimed at business owners looking to increase the time they can spend doing things they enjoy. She also founded The Making Midlife Matter Collective, a community of women which aims to build confidence. ‘My interest has always been the wellbeing of the business owner, putting them first. I decided to write a coaching programme and put myself through it. Then, I put the first group of ladies (who all turned out to be mid-life women) through it in March 2024. I found that there are a lot of women at a certain life stage where they’ve suddenly got this empty nest and they’re still working full time, but thinking they could maybe not work as much.’
Tina also models after walking in a friend’s runway show at York Fashion Week led to her being spotted by the director and being asked to walk again. She then signed to Salt and Pepper Models, despite the fact that she’d initially been terrified at the idea of modelling when doing it for a fundraiser. ‘I’m quite happy to stand on a stage with 500 people in the audience and talk about stuff, but the idea of walking around the Hotel du Vin in Harrogate in my bra and knickers was all a bit much!’
She’s a huge advocate for natural ageing in her modelling. ’I’m naturally grey-haired and I’ve got no botox or filler – everything I have is mine. I get my nails painted and my eyebrows done but that’s it,’ Tina says. ‘For me, it’s about being represented – five foot three is too small for most mainstream modelling agencies but the average woman is five four. What’s that all about?’
Modelling soon led to pageants and last year, Tina entered Mrs Yorkshire Galaxy and was crowned Mrs North Yorkshire Galaxy 24/25. This March, she’ll enter the UK Final. ‘Originally, my understanding of pageants was that they were cringeworthy, with little girls wearing dresses looking like those things you put on toilet rolls. What I came to realise is that it’s all about community, confidence, working together, empowering and supporting each other – everything that I’m about.’
She uses her pageant platform to promote North Yorkshire businesses. ‘Everything that I wear apart from the things already hanging in my wardrobe is going to come from a North Yorkshire business. Everything I wear for the finals will have and when (I’m not saying if!) I go to the internationals in Florida then I shall do the same.
‘My eldest granddaughter is 11 and she now wants to model and enter a pageant because her nanny’s done it. I’ve inspired her to want to do that. She’s not looking at me thinking “Nanny’s got grey hair, Nanny’s not got false eyelashes”. I think it’ll be great for her confidence.’
Tina is also the host of the ‘Don’t Work With Tossers’ podcast, sharing business tips and life lessons, with a second season set to come out this year. The name was inspired by her notebook, which she admits ‘takes journalling to another level’.
‘I was sick of working with people who had no respect for my knowledge or expertise. If someone behaved badly towards me, they went in my little book. It had a name, a date and their behaviour. Then, if they came back to me again, I’d look at it and think “no, I’m definitely not working with you!”’
When she’s not doing all that, she takes work as a supporting artist in film and TV, with some exciting yet-to-be-announced projects coming up this year. It may seem impossible to imagine yourself doing as much as Tina does in mid-life, but she stresses that it’s all about work-life blend. ‘As mid-life women, we are being completely overlooked. We probably have the biggest spending budget and the most free time. Just remember that you’re never too old, and it’s never too late. Surround yourself with like-minded people because they will always have your back and support you.’
