More women in the boardroom would be a good thing for Scottish football, says Dundee United director Justine Mitchell.
Mitchell is co-owner of Dundee United FC and has been a director for the past 18 months.
In addition to her involvement with football she also co-owns Chamomile Sanctuary spa in Edinburgh. Originally an employment lawyer, she became a partner aged 30 and retired from law in 2005.
She admits that working in two such different industries is unusual. "The football world is very different from the spa world and I think I am the only female director on a premiership Scottish football board at the moment and I think that speaks volumes.
"It is very much a male-dominated world, there is no question about that.
"At Dundee United I think the board are pleased that there is a woman on the board now because we do add a different dimension, we look at things differently from men, and it gives a different balance.
"I think a lot of other football clubs would benefit from having women on the board".
She admits that she does feel like a lonely female in the business, but is working hard to get other women more involved, at all levels.
"There is a group of Dundee United Supporters who are setting up a female supporters group and have asked me to help them which is very important because there are lots of female supporters.
She adds: "It's taken me a while to get to know directors of other football clubs but at the end of the day what I've learned is that you've got to make things happen.
"In life, things don't just come to you, so I very much make the effort to speak to directors of other football clubs and to try and create relationships with them".
Indeed, making things happen is something that Mitchell knows all about having had to rebuild her life again after tragedy struck.
In 2008, her husband Ken was killed in a motorbike accident. Justine, who had been driving her car ahead of him with their 13-month-old son Monty, had seen the accident in her rear view mirror. Three days later, her beloved father Eddie Thompson, chairman of Dundee United, died of prostrate cancer.
Having left her law career to work in property with her Ken, she found it very difficult to continue with the business they had established together and so decided to set up Chamomile Sanctuary in 2010, having identified a gap in the market for boutique spas in the city centre. It now employs a staff of 12 and has won various awards including Best Salon in Scotland.
"The spa business of the world of football are very much chalk and cheese. But what they have in common is that I have a passion for both and that is massively important. In order to be successful, you have to have a passion for what you are doing."
She now juggles her professional responsibilities with being a mum to her seven-year-old son Monty.
*Justine Mitchell is giving the Keynote Address at the Management Today Inspiring Women Conference at the Balmoral hotel, Edinburgh, on March 5, www.managementtoday.co.uk/go/iwibedinburgh
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