NAKED by The Future Farm

Vladi and Nektarios are back together after a few weeks away. They reflect on their last NAKED conversation about grief, their current energy levels and recognising behaviours that have an impact on their mental health. Much of the conversation is centred around introverts and extroverts' energy, and how it shows up in entrepreneurs, in anticipation of some upcoming episodes that explore the topic...

Andra Sonea is an entrepreneur and currently a Research Fellow with the Oxford Future of Finance and Technology Initiative. She joins the NAKED podcast to talk about the obstacles she faced when she made the leap from a successful corporate career into the world of entrepreneurship. We also talk about imposter syndrome, the sense of belonging and the importance of identity. Andra talks about the i...

Jamie Clements is the founder of the successful podcast Man Down which explores the subject of masculinity and vulnerability. As an entrepreneur and a man who has experienced his own mental health struggles, Jamie Clements discusses with our host Nektarios Liolios how men’s mental health is a complex subject and cannot be seen in isolation but within the wider context of a patriarchal system. They...

Dr. Michael Freeman is the author of one of the only studies on the relationship between entrepreneurship and mental and emotional health. As a psychiatrist, psychologist, researcher and importantly, an entrepreneur himself, he brings authenticity and credibility to the conversation on entrepreneurial wellbeing. These are just some of the reasons why we invited him back to the NAKED podcast, this...

Bjorn Lee is a serial entrepreneur who successfully exited his previous business and founded MindFi, a mental wellbeing platform for modern workplaces. Bjorn joined the NAKED podcast as part of Audacity’s Permacolony week in Singapore, to share his entrepreneurial journey. He talks about how his friends had to stage an intervention to physically remove him from his toxic, unhealthy life, because h...

In this week’s episode Vladi and Nektarios talk about grief, health and conflicting emotions, amidst the current state of the world. They discuss how to deal with a situation and having a platform and a voice, as well as whether there is a line between business as usual, and an awareness of what is happening. Vladi shares more on radical acceptance, after listening to a podcast with Tara Brach (fi...

*TRIGGER WARNING: Please be aware that this episode covers the topic of grief and loss, which some listeners may find triggering. For more information and support, there are a number of services available via Healthline . This week Vladi and Nektarios dedicate the episode to the topic of grief and the experience of loss, whether that be a personal loss, a business loss or supporting a loved one th...

Anu Shultes is the CEO and Founder of Ahead Financials, a digital banking and financial health platform. She is an entrepreneur and Forbes 50 over 50 honoree. She started her career as an engineer in India, before moving to the United States. While she felt welcomed at college in the U.S., upon entering the ‘real world’, she started to face discrimination. This is just the beginning of Anu’s story...

Shahira Hemeda is the founder of NŪR, a platform dedicated to mindfulness for the Arab world. It’s mission is to allow you to discover, understand and benefit from the healing process of meditation. But Shahira hasn’t always been an entrepreneur. She had a successful media and advertising career, before experiencing a massive shift in her own wellness and mental health. She was compelled to share...

Vladi and Nektarios catch-up to discuss the episode with Lucy Cooper, how she expressed her emotions and experiences, and support systems available to those outside of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Nektarios shares more about his own corporate roles, his mental health and the lack of support systems available. Now that mental health is more openly discussed, is there more support in place? They a...

Lucy Cooper has been an entrepreneur, an investor, and is now an intrapreneur within a large corporation, in her role as Head of Innovation Europe at Accenture. Lucy represents a role that faces similar challenges to a ‘traditional founder’, particularly when it comes to mental health. Lucy’s mental health was triggered by a Covid-19 infection in December 2020, but in reality, her mental health st...

Vladi and Nektarios are back to reflect on their conversation with Fatima Mazhar, and dig deeper on their own cultural upbringing and impact their families have had on their lives. They share some of the feedback and reactions to the episode they have received, and talk about how expectation and pressure can also come from peers and social media, something that they’re learning to navigate. They c...

Fatima Mazhar is an entrepreneur, and in her current role as COO at COLABS, is working to redefine the future of work in Pakistan. Her story is not one of a typical entrepreneur, where we talk about building grand dreams. Fatima’s story is about dealing with the conflict of wanting to do something exciting and impactful, while fighting against her cultural context. Fatima grew up in a Pakistani fa...

Vladi and Nektarios are back with a special ExtraNAKED episode to kick-off the new year. They discuss the need to take a break and fully switch off; starting a new year in a good mental and emotional place; and spend some time exploring co-founder dynamics, including their own recent experiences. They also touch on boundaries and about learning how others need to be communicated with (through the...

As we come to the end of the year, in this week’s ExtraNAKED episode, Vladi and Nektarios reflect on 2021 and look ahead into the new year. They discuss resolutions and habits; self-exploration and reflection; and what they’ve learnt this year, including addressing the painful moments. They also celebrate their personal highlights and look ahead to 2022. Show notes Share your questions with Vladi...

In this week’s ExtraNAKED episode, Vladi and Nektarios reflect on their conversation with Owen Marcus about men’s emotional and mental health. They also discuss how they relate to masculinity and femininity, what these words represent, and how they deal with the constraints of this binary categorisation. Extra material “In Conversation” with Jamie Clements - rewatch our conversation with Jamie Cle...

Owen Marcus is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Evryman, an organisation that helps men live successful and fulfilling lives, through greater emotional awareness. After going through a difficult period in his life, where he experienced burnout, triggered by the betrayal of a business partner, Owen turned to other men to see how they experienced similar struggles. He felt safer, but didn’t have a...

In this week’s ExtraNAKED episode, Vladi and Nektarios reflect on what’s been going on in their lives (a lot can happen in a week!), and on their conversation with Joshua Haynes, where they talk about his vulnerability and openness. They dedicate the beginning of the discussion to eating disorders and body image, and explore their own childhood experiences related to this, including coping mechani...

Joshua Haynes is an investor and founding partner of the world’s first mental wellness impact fund, Masawa. After beginning his career in business, innovation and entrepreneurship, and following time working for the Obama administration, Joshua founded Masawa, based on his own mental health journey. We talk about how his childhood poverty led him to develop coping mechanisms that led to unhealthy...

Vladi and Nektarios are back with a new ExtraNAKED episode. They reflect on their conversation with Laura Shook Guzman and the impacts of trauma, both physically and mentally. Our hosts talk about better understanding trauma, what it means, and how trauma has had an affect on their lives. What are the root causes, how does our body signal that something is happening, how do we begin to heal? Show...

Laura Shook Guzman is a psychotherapist specialising in trauma. She is also a business founder, and is perfectly equipped to talk about the interplay between trauma and entrepreneurship. We talk about the importance of signals, and how our brain is good at rationalising things even when our body disagrees. We discuss the impact trauma can have on how we respond to situations, especially in the wor...

Vladi and Nektarios are back with a new ExtraNAKED episode. They reflect on their conversation with Yves Cornu and the high pressure environment that is the world of fashion. They talk about the parallels between the startup world and Yves’ world; identity and where validation comes from; and authentic relationships. Show notes Share your questions with Vladi and Nektarios at hello@thefuturefarm.c...

TRIGGER WARNING: Please be aware that this episode covers sensitive topics including suicide. If you are feeling suicidal, thinking about hurting yourself, or are concerned that someone you know may be in danger of hurting themselves, contact a hotline: Global Suicide Hotline Resources Yves Cornu started off following his passion studying Russian Literature, but ended up in the high stakes environ...

It’s time to pause and reflect on the stories we’ve shared in the last series of the podcast, before we introduce our upcoming series. In this special ‘Best of’ episode, Vladi and Nektarios introduce some of their series highlights, with a compilation of clips excerpted from a handful of our guests. Guests featured in this episode (all hyperlinked to their respective episodes where you can also re...

On this week’s episode, Vladi and Nektarios discuss the current state of their own mental health, personal challenges they’ve faced this week, and reflect on their conversation with Dan Murray-Serter. They talk about the variety of symptoms of poor mental health that entrepreneurs recognise but ignore; ego and where validation comes from; and the importance of good nutrition. Share your questions...