Hashtag Authentic - for creatives, dreamers & business owners online

Find your why, with Kayte Ferris. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit meandorla.substack.com

Syreeta Challinger started her lifestyle brand and online studio, Moments of Sense and Style, following a total upheaval of her and her partner Rob's life. Life changed in a heartbeat when Rob suffered a severe stroke and brain haemorrhage whilst on holiday in Sydney, Australia, miles from home, friends and family. Since then both Syreeta and Rob have had to find a new home, new ways of living and...

Instagram gets a lot of criticism for having too much styled content and not enough reality - but sometimes staged, planned imagery can still be heartbreakingly honest. Artist and photographer Carolyn Mara uses her camera and Instagram as  away of working through the difficult parts of her life, and expressing emotions or experiences that are harder to put into words. This week we talk about how s...

Photographer and videographer Flore has had an eclectic journey through marketing and running an online textile store to the work she does now, and along the way one thing has been essential to her growth: workshops, with other creatives. This has left her with a burning passion to create these types of events herself, to help fellow floundering creatives connect, skill up and develop their ideas...

How many of us dream of someday writing a book? For this week's episode I sat down with Abigail Bergstrom, head of publishing at Gleam Titles, the forward-thinking literary division of digital-first talent agency Gleam Futures, to grill her all about the inside world of publishing, the future of books, and how online creatives can find a route in to making those book dreams a reality. This is a pu...

This week I talk to Venice-based food writer and blogger Skye McAlpine. Skye's first cookbook,  'A Table In Venice' came out last month, and represents years of work developing her skills as a cook, writer and photographer through her blog and Instagram account. We unpack the process of writing a book, teaching yourself photography and creating the perfect Sunday lunch. This is a public episode. I...

My guest this week is Carolyn Stritch, aka The Slow Traveler. She’s a freelance photographer based in the North of England, although her account often depicts dreamy locations from idyllic destinations around the world. She might seem to be living the Instagram dream life, an impression she’s aware of, and wanted to question a little in a recent 'self sabotage' project she staged on her 200k+  Ins...

Kate Swoboda, aka Kate Courageous, started out as a life coach but found herself consumed by the question of courage. Kate's work and our conversation in this episode looks at courage as it relates to personal development, releasing overwhelm, business and marketing, money mindset, wellness, increasing emotional resilience, and healthy goal-setting using habit-formation techniques. This is a publi...

Do you ever feel like you've missed the boat on Instagram? 21-year-old Bronte Huskinson has grown her account from 0 to over 30k since early 2017, leading to a book photography business, influencer work, a blog and a strategically planned future writing career.  We first met when she took my Instagram course in late 2016, and so I called her up to talk about how it's never too late and why there's...

My guest’s voice might be familiar to some of you. Andrew Johnson has built an empire of apps, combining his background as a clinical hypnotherapist with his love of tech and self proclaimed “Apple fanboy” interests. His soft Scottish accent has been a staple on my iPhone for a number of years now, guiding me through meditations on topics such as anxiety, relaxation, sleep problems and negative th...

"You can't underestimate the power of human connection and how you make people feel." Samantha Kelly is an Irish entrepreneur, TED X speaker and Twitter expert. Her first business was creating a pack for girls beginning their period - a brave step in Ireland, where conservative religious values around women's sexual health often still prevail. From there she went on to craft an expertise...

Charlotte Jacklin took the decision in 2017 to take Betty Magazine from a print publication to an online brand. We talk about jumping before being pushed, being totally unglam on Instagram Stories and the surprising pleasure of Facebook groups. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit meandorla.substack.com

If you've ever spent any time on Pinterest, Instagram or reading recipe blogs, you're probably familiar with Beth Kirby's work. What you might not realise is that she built her incredible, unstoppable, heartbreakingly aspirational brand off the back of a diagnosis of Bipolar disorder and a failed marriage with zero photography experience - and she's more than happy to tell you about it! Beth's wor...

My guest this week is author and broadcaster Emma Gannon, who has used the internet as a springboard to multi-hyphenated success. Emma’s written for every major publication going. Her first book, Ctrl Alt Delete came out in 2016 to much critical acclaim, and her podcast of the same name has taken the charts by storm ever since. Now finishing work on her second book, we talk today about success, mo...

This week I chat with metalsmith and fellow digital marketing nerd Megan Auman. Pinterest is far and away the number one traffic referrer for Megan's jewellery business - so much so that she's gone on to teach classes in her strategies. We talk about all our favourite platforms, the differences between them, and the rare and magical marketing strategies out there that can also be tools for self lo...

"We think our worth is from how hard we burn ourselves into the ground." This week I caught up with my friend and creative coach Jen Carrington for one of the whirlwind conversations we always have when we're together. We both talk fast and dive into tangents, so this is a much more informal natter than the usual 'interview' you might be used to here, but it's jam-packed with insight, ex...

It's a solo episode this week, and a pretty technical one too, looking at some of the big changes we've seen on Instagram over the past year. In this episode I'll cover a bit of an algorithm update, shoppable photos, what's going on with the 'top 9' hashtag grid, the new features for Stories and Live, and how you can use some of these things to help your account grow. This is a public episode. If...

My guest this week is author, journalist and storyteller Laura Jane Williams. I first met Laura when we were both presenting at the Blogtacular conference a couple of years back, shortly after the publication of her first book. Since then she's written a second, follow-up memoir and taught the secrets of her storytelling magic at workshops, classes and courses online. She writes with spellbinding...

One of my favourite things about this podcast is that it gives me the excuse to have really interesting conversations with people whose work I adore. This week is the perfect example, and something of a fangirl moment for me, as my guest this week is writer and journalist Jon Ronson.  If you're lucky, you'll all have come across his work already - his books include The Men Who Stare At Goats, The...

Nik and I met when we were both presenting on a panel in London a few months back, and I loved what he had to say.   So much of what Nik and I had to say dovetailed together perfectly,  and I immediately knew I needed to bag him for the podcast so you could all soak in some of his wisdom on all things internet, social media and influencer marketing too. In this episode we talk about how Instagram...

Dolly Alderton is a writer, author, director and journalist, with a weekly podcast to boot. I met her earlier this year when we were panelists at an event in London alongside Emma Gannon, and I found so much of what she said in her answers really resonated and stayed with me. As you'll hear in the following conversation, she's a witty, self possessed and savvy woman, living the dream as a freelanc...

Tara Swiger is a coach for people who make or create products they're passionate about, helping them to build profitable businesses. Her episode on finding your right people is one of my all time favourites I've recorded so far, so I invited her back on to tackle some of the issues I hear about again and again from people in our community here - specifically, how to sell ourselves without feeling...

One subject we've touched upon in previous episodes, and that I see coming up again and again with the people who take my courses or the women I mentor is this issue: 'what do I call myself?' In this week's mini episode, I'm sharing why I encourage everyone to take themselves and their work seriously, and not shy away from the big job titles of our dreams. This is a public episode. If you would li...

Fiona Humberstone empowers entrepreneurs to create powerful brands. A bestselling author and fearless entrepreneur, we met, somewhat randomly, on a ship in the Thames earlier this summer, where I was struck by her insight,  enthusiasm and warmth. I called her up to give us all a crash course in branding, colour psychology and what it can offer our creative work and businesses. This is a public epi...

This week's episode is a bit of a fangirl moment for me -  Hadley Freeman, author, journalist and Guardian columnist is somebody whose writing and wisdom has inspired me for a number of years. She kindly gave me some of her time to talk about her career path, sharing your opinions for a living, and dealing with feedback from commenters and twitter trolls alike.  Also, just a heads up that there's...