Beyond the Good Girl

In this Episode of my audio memoir about when good stopped working, I find a breast lump a couple of weeks after starting a new job in Warsaw. I try to navigate this unknown medical system with very little Polish and the help of Doctor Google. I just want to go home, but there's a voice in my head that keeps telling me to stay, to not make a fuss. That I can do this. The same voice that makes...

In this episode, the good girl plans the best death ever without any actual evidence she is dying and totally ignoring any emotions she may feel about her impending doom in a frenzy, of lists, research and practices. BEYOND THE GOOD GIRL

Who is the good girl? She's an overachiever, she's a people pleaser and she hates being out of control. In 2020 I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer and my inner good girl tried to win at chemo! She tried to manage and control. She tried to not be a burden. She tried to avoid conflict and confrontation. Sometimes it worked but sometimes it didn't. She also tried to use he...

Gillian Wray welcomes Lea, who helps women "come back to themselves" — work born from her own journey through people-pleasing, self-abandonment, and the search for external validation. Lea shares her story of leaving home after a painful relationship, initially feeling profound relief from a suffocating environment, only to discover she'd recreated the same patterns abroad. It took h...

In this episode, I sit down with the wonderful Michaela Silsby and talk about who her parenting journey, led her to her own diagnosis of Autism and ADHD. She shares the struggles of being a parent to neurodivergent children in a system that often leaves them struggling. Michaela became an advocate for her daughter in the school system and now using her voice to campaign for changes in bills that a...

The Voice of Endurance I had a plan for this episode. Diana Nyad, cultural commentary, the mythology of the endurance hero. But something else happened instead. What came out was this: the performance of okayness. The way grief — real grief, the kind that lives in your body — gets quietly managed in private rooms while you hold it together for the world. I talk about stillbirth. I talk about cance...

The Woman Who Recorded Her First Audiobook Under a Duvet Alice Sockett spent 20 years in corporate life before anxiety and grief brought everything to a halt. What came next: beach walks, a RADA course, a dog clicker, and a cabin bed with duvets — and somehow, a full-time career as an audiobook narrator. This is a story about what joy sounds like when you stop performing the wrong life. Alice talk...

Your home is talking. The question is… are you listening? 🏠✨In this episode, we explore the voice of things and how our belongings quietly take up not just physical space, but mental square footage too. From guilt-inducing exercise bikes to wardrobes that whisper “you used to fit in me,” we dive into the surprising emotional weight of clutter and the internal voices it triggers. If you’ve ever f...

Gillian chats with Robyn Harris about reclaiming your body, mind, and joy. Robyn shares her journey from burnout and ineffective treatments to empowerment through understanding how thoughts, beliefs, and nervous system regulation shape wellbeing. She dives into creating internal safety, the role of the vagus nerve, breathwork, and the power of response-ability over pressure. Find out more on Robyn...

In this episode of Unmuted: Beyond the Good Girl , host Gillian Wray dives into this month’s SpeakEasy archetype theme: The Rebel . But this isn’t leather jackets and dramatic exits. This is the quiet, simmering inner protest that builds after years of being “good.” The over-functioning. The self-silencing. The staying when you already know something isn’t right. Using her signature “fire phrases”...

On Unmuted, we speak the truths we were trained to hide. In this episode, Felicia Thomas shares her journey of overcoming fear and judgment to speak her truth and share her art. We dive into how combining journaling and affirmations can shift old beliefs, build confidence, and support mindset changes that help anyone move past self-doubt. Whether you’re exploring creative expression or looking to...

In this episode, I talk with Gen Z British-Pakistani poet Aiman Sabir about poetry as a tool for expression and cultural authenticity. She shares why embracing your mother tongue in poetry—without translating everything—is powerful, how it helps break cultural silences, and why dual heritage is something to celebrate, not hide. The Unmuted Lounge is always open. Join the conversation. THE UNMUTED...

Body Sovereignty: Why Women’s Bodies Are Political, Personal, and Powerful In this episode of Unmuted, I’m joined by Kat Shaw, an activist artist whose work makes one thing very clear: women’s bodies are not decorative, neutral, or up for debate. Kat shares how her own struggles with body image led her to paint thousands of women as they actually are. Not idealised. Not apologetic. Not edited for...

Winter isn’t twinkly lights and resolutions. It’s grief. Stillness. Burnout. And women carrying too much for too long. In this solo episode, I talk about what winter really asks of us—and what we’ve been trained not to hear beneath all the glitter and noise. We move through: • The reckoning that comes after the holidays • Myths, archetypes, and the shadow season • Why “new year, new you” is a scam...

What if branding wasn’t about colours and fonts—but about telling the truth about who you really are? In this episode, I talk with ADHD brand strategist Katie Cope about unmasking, neurodivergence, and what it takes to build a business that reflects your actual energy—not the version the algorithm wants. We get into values, visibility, and why traditional branding advice often leaves the most hone...

What happens when the “good girl” finally dies? This solo episode kicks off Season 2 with a funeral—for Gigi, the obedient, over-functioning version of me who was built to survive but never to thrive. I talk about how “good girl” conditioning shapes our stories, our silence, and our self-worth—and why I’m done with it. We also touch on the season ahead: guests, themes, archetypes, and what it real...

In the season finale of Unmuted, I step into the mirror. This episode is a confession, a contemplation, a small reckoning with the parts of me that live in projection — and the ones that write poetry from it. I talk about the slippery line between longing and delusion, between the archetype and the actual person. I tell you about the Sovereign Poet. About how the imagination can be both a sanctuar...

In this episode, I find myself thinking about what Voice actually is and the link between shame and silence; desire and voice. I talk about fear and control and how the silencing voice gets formed. I share a personal experience from my youth where I began to experience the internal cost of silencing myself. I talk about my long path back to self-trust and the soul craft tools of poetry and journal...

What happens when your emotions go underground? This episode dives into emotional shutdown, shame, and the invisible scripts that shape our lives—until we finally stop and ask, “Who the hell am I?” Gabi Da Gama joins me to talk about growing up with repressed emotions, the midlife unraveling, and how childhood beliefs still run the show until we decide to rewrite them. We go deep on trauma (even t...

In this episode of  Unmuted , Gillian Wray gets into the raw, relentless reality of living in a woman’s body — the shame that gets handed down, the silence we’re trained to keep, and the rage that simmers underneath it all. Through her own poetry and lived experience, Gillian digs into how these forces shape us, limit us, and how damn exhausting it is to pretend otherwise. There’s a moment with Ka...

In this episode of Unmuted, I’m joined by educator, poet, and writer Saira Anwar to talk about her journey through silence, grief, and the long process of rising. Saira shares how journaling became her way out of despair and the practice that eventually revealed her voice as a poet. We talk about: What it feels like to live muted — and the moment she realised she had to speak. How grief and silenc...

How many times have you silenced yourself with the phrase, “There’s no point”? No point speaking up because they’ll just react the same way. No point trying because it never changes. No point asking because you already know the answer. In this episode, I dive into the quiet lie of “no point” and how it traps us in survival mode instead of true safety. I share how this showed up in my own marriage,...

What happens when we stop silencing ourselves and start singing anyway? In this conversation, choir leader and voice coach  Katie Rose  joins me to talk about the many ways we lose – and reclaim – our voices. We explore: How choirs create connection, healing, and courage What it means to “howl” when words aren’t enough The lineage of voice through mothers, daughters, and communities Why reclaiming...

Learning in the Margins My mum is whip-smart, creative, and relentless — and still says she’s “not clever like you or your brother.” The system told her that, and over time, she believed it. This episode is about the kind of deep, unrecognised learning that happens outside the classroom — the skills, wisdom, and grit you gain without a certificate, and why they matter. We’ll talk about emotional l...

What gets recorded, and what gets erased? Who holds the pen, and who gets buried beneath the edits? In this fiercely intelligent and deeply human conversation, poet and historian  Carol J. Forrester  joins me to talk about the silencing of women in official records—and the radical act of writing them back in. We talk about poetry, research, mythology, grief, running, and how history is not a fixed...