A Hackney-based entrepreneur, angel investor and TEDx speaker has written a book about her journey from stripper to business leader, sharing all the lessons she learnt along the way.

Paulina Tenner's new book, Laid Bare: What the Business Leader Learnt from the Stripper, discusses how feminine and masculine principles in leadership can be integrated to improve the culture of workplaces.

It aims to challenge the status quo of how companies are set up and expanded, advising prospective entrepreneurs with approaches Paulina has utilised in her own company, GrantTree, over the last decade.

Paulina has built a team of 50 and raised over £200m for more than 600 technology start-ups and bigger companies.

Ham & High: Business leader and former stripper Paulina Tenner has written a book on how to improve workplace cultureBusiness leader and former stripper Paulina Tenner has written a book on how to improve workplace culture (Image: Paolo Ricca)

She said: “Being a stripper taught me more lessons than I could possibly imagine, a lot of which I’ve been able to apply to my business life.

"It also fed into my development as a leader. It helped me reclaim a different way of relating with my feminine part and therefore a different way of being and acting in the world.

"I became more open-minded and, at the same time, more whole as an individual."

Paulina says her approach to business has resulted in a workplace focused on the wellbeing of staff as well as profitability.

She added: "Workplaces are changing forever as the Gen Z workforce demands more benefits to do with a wholesome company culture, so don’t be left behind."

Paulina founded GrantTree with the aim of helping tech start-ups navigate the complex world of government funding.

Since 2010, the company has grown from supporting two to over 50 start-ups.

Ham & High: Paulina once worked as a stripper and she says her former job has taught her lessons which she now applies to her life in businessPaulina once worked as a stripper and she says her former job has taught her lessons which she now applies to her life in business (Image: 2012 Chris Hutcheson)

It has also raised over £200m for more than 600 technology start-ups and scaleups using solely government funding schemes.

GrantTree is also an open culture company which pioneered a self-set salary scheme.

Paulina is also a seed investor and a start-up mentor, who features as a keynote speaker at technology conferences internationally.

She has been interviewed by the BBC, the Financial Times, the Guardian and other publications.

Find out more about the book and Paulina at www.paulinatenner.com/laid-bare-what-the-business-leader-learnt-from-the-stripper