An inspiring Barrhead mum, who completely turned her life around, hopes her increasingly popular podcast will help inspire others to overcome adversity.
Megan Mowles is the host of Scheme Dreams, which launched in December and is filmed in Let's Have It productions studios in Glasgow City Centre.
The podcast focuses on individuals who have been through a hard time in their lives, whether as a child or recently, and discusses how they have turned things around to become an inspiration for their local community.
In the first episode, Megan interviewed her auntie, River City actor Therese Bradley, who grew up in Barrhead and has featured in films with the likes of Demi Moore and Ewan MacGregor, as well as starring in Peaky Blinders.
Megan said: “(The people I interview) come from the schemes and have come through their own mental health and their own troubles and fought their way out to make a better life for themselves.
“Scheme Dreams is a platform of inspiration for anybody that doesn't have it in their real life, to come on and to listen to all the stories from all the interesting, amazing characters."
Seeing the podcast gain a loyal following is a dream come true for Megan, who grew up in Renfrew before ending up in the care system and living in a residential unit in Johnstone.
“My full life I have faced adversity, police arrests, youth residential units," she explained.
By 14, Megan says she was “fully on drink and drugs”, was eventually expelled from St Benedict’s High School in Linwood and “just a lost wee soul."
Megan with music producer and podcast guest Marc Andrew (Image: letshaveitproductions)
Her life continued on a downward spiral which only began to halt as she faced a personal tragedy with the sudden passing of her best friend, Hannah Milligan.
“For the younger portion of my life, it was just madness and a lot of people used to think I was never going to amount to anything and that I was going to be a druggie, abducted or end up in jail," said the mum-of-two.
“It never happened like that and I managed to get a grip of my life and of myself after the passing of my best friend.
“She’s the reason I got clean and better. It just breaks my heart that it took for her to go. I live my life now for her.”
Key for Megan was getting out and enjoying nature, embracing every opportunity to come her way and crucially becoming mum to Aurora Hannah, three, and Ariella Michelle, two.
“When I became a mum that was a whole other ball game,” she added.
“I've changed so much since becoming a mum as well.
“I definitely feel that there is purpose in my pain and now all I want to do is help other young people.”
Megan, who is also a talented singer, is now 28 and nearly seven years free from all substance abuse.
Having lived a very varied life, ranging from cleaning chippy van floors to singing in front of the full Hibs football team, last November 2023 her life changed forever when she signed a two-year contract with Let’s Have It productions.
Following her interview with Therese, subsequent shows have seen her speak to a host of others such as BBC presenter Zarah Hill and four-time bestselling author Jamie Kerr, as well as Allan Muggins who turned his life around to create successful business Professor Klean.
"Allan did not have a penny to rub together," Megan explained. "He went around back doors on his feet and removed people's rubbish and did bin removals.
"He saved up every penny he got. He got himself a car then he got himself a van and three years later, he's got six employees under his belt and he's got his own company."
Megan, who has nearly 27,000 followers on social media platform TikTok, has also been invited into a primary school, where she spoke with those moving into first year about her experiences and their anxieties.
“The way I was and how I lived my life is just night and day to how I'm living my life now,” she explained.
“I now work in a recording studio. I have my own very successful podcast.
"All the wee dreams and imaginations I had when I was a child. They are all real now.
"I just want to let other people know that they can do that and it literally is just changing your mind and attitude from 'I'm not going to get anywhere and nobody loves me' and swapping it to the positive.
"We were looking at a studio the other day for me to take on my own premises and it's going to be called the Scheme Dreams HQ.
"It's going to have a recording studio for music and it'll have a base for the podcast as well for the interviews to be conducted.
"It's going to be a safe space and environment where female content creators and singers can come in and bring their children and and explore their creative talents."
To find out more click HERE.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here