Real Women's Stories with Lisa Quait

At just 25,  Talia Lazarus  faced the unthinkable - a life-altering accident that nearly took her life and left her having to learn to walk again. What followed wasn’t just recovery - it was a complete reinvention of who she thought she was and what she wanted out of life. In this deeply personal episode of  Real Women’s Stories , Talia shares the raw, unfiltered truth about pain, i...

In the last episode, I shared what was happening to me physically - the pain, the fear, and why I felt unable to stop, even when my body was forcing me to. In this coaching episode, I reflect on what that mindset of “just keep going” really cost me - not just in health, but in how I viewed strength, resilience, and success. This is a conversation for anyone who feels trapped between listening to t...

Chronic pain doesn’t always come with visible symptoms - and for many women, it’s hidden behind silence and shame. In this episode, I share my personal experience of living with debilitating pain caused by a widely misunderstood and rarely discussed health condition. What followed were months of fear, isolation and being told it was “all in my head”. Joined by specialist clinician Ellie Bradshaw f...

You might say you’ve “done the work” - but how do you really know? In this episode, we explore the one question that reveals whether healing has actually happened… or whether you’re still sitting in the story. After recording the last conversation, something stood out immediately: it wasn’t what was shared, but how it was shared. No charge. No reactivity. No need to convince. Just calm, grounded s...

Nobody tells you that being bullied as a child doesn’t just hurt in the moment - it can quietly shape who you become as an adult. In this episode, Jess Levy shares her raw and deeply honest experience of growing up with bullying, and how the emotional impact followed her long after school ended - affecting her confidence, relationships, self-belief and sense of belonging well into adulthood. She o...

“Just be strong” is the phrase we hear when we’re struggling, grieving, or facing change. But i share why that message can feel hollow - and sometimes even damaging. Through personal reflection and real stories from my work with women, I explore why pushing through isn’t always the answer, and how flexibility, reflection and emotional awareness often carry us further than brute resilience ever cou...

In this episode, I sit down with Karla Osborne , founder of KO Hair , to explore her journey through burnout, body dysmorphia and single parenthood - and how those experiences ultimately led her to build a business on her own terms. Karla shares what it was really like to lose her sense of identity, struggle with body image, and juggle ambition with parenting, while trying to stay afloat emotional...

I’ve always been known as “Lisa miles an hour”. The chatterbox. The over-thinker. The one who’s told to quieten down, slow down, be less. But what if none of that is actually a problem? In this episode, I question everything I thought I knew about myself - from neurodiversity and ADHD to why I left the corporate world and stopped caring what people think. This isn’t about getting a diagnosis. It’s...

Wendy “wo0” Gannon is an award-winning personal photographer, speaker and founder of the Female Five Million movement - and she’s proudly a chaotic ADHD head . In this deeply honest conversation, Wendy opens up about being diagnosed with ADHD at 45 and what it truly felt like to go decades without a name for her experience. She talks about the exhaustion of masking - constantly performing, softeni...

In this bonus episode, Toni Eastwood shares her full story: from being bullied at school and leaving without confidence, to building an impressive career in government, corporate leadership, and business - all while quietly struggling with self-doubt and a sense that something wasn’t right. We talk about the pressure to “do the right things”, why external success doesn’t automatically bring confid...

In this unedited interview for Real Women’s Stories, Lisa Quait is joined by Deirdre O’Neil l, co-founder of Hertility , to expose how women’s health conversations are being restricted, suppressed, and silenced online. From banned terminology and platforms deciding that words like endometriosis, menopause, and hormones are “too explicit” or “too political”, this conversation unpacks how Big Tech i...

You don’t need a crisis, loss, or life-changing moment to start living differently - awareness is enough. In this episode, Lisa explains why waiting for “the moment” keeps you stuck, and how real change begins with small, intentional steps you can take right now. So many of us sit with ideas, dreams, and quiet nudges - waiting for something big to happen before we act. In this coaching episode, Li...

This episode launches a new series of Real Women's Stories about the moments that quietly redefine how we live - and the unexpected choices that follow. Jenny shares the turning point that caused her to pause, reassess, and ultimately start living with far more intention than before. What came next wasn’t a single bold decision, but a sequence of surprising shifts that changed how she approached w...

In this bonus episode, Lisa Hopper reflects on how being labelled - and later labelling herself - as “shy” slowly became an identity, shaping her confidence, choices, and sense of self without her even realising it. What began as a single childhood experience quietly influenced how she showed up in relationships, work, money, and life. This honest conversation explores how easily confidence can be...

As we step out of 2025 and into a brand-new year, we asked you one simple question: what are you really taking with you into 2026? In this New Year special of Real Women’s Stories , you share your hopes, intentions and truths for the year ahead - speaking honestly about growth, courage, boundaries, family, ambition, gratitude and learning to trust yourself again. There’s no pressure to reinvent yo...

This Christmas, we’re asking a simple but powerful question: what does Christmas really mean to you? In this special festive episode of Real Women’s Stories , voices from our global community come together to share their most personal Christmas memories - from laughter-filled moments and family traditions, to loss, nostalgia, kindness, and the quiet reflections that surface at this time of year. R...

Christmas has a way of magnifying awkward moments - saying the wrong thing, feeling clumsy, or replaying something small in your head long after it’s happened. In this episode of Real Women’s Stories , Lisa explores why women are so quick to overthink embarrassment, how we’ve been conditioned to feel shame around very normal human moments, and what actually helps us handle them with confidence rat...

Christmas is a time for connection, celebration - and for many women, quiet anxiety about food, alcohol and “undoing all their hard work”. In this episode of Real Women’s Stories , Lisa is joined by Ellie Bradshaw , Nurse Consultant in Gut Function and founder of The Functional Gut Clinic , for a refreshingly honest conversation about gut health at Christmas - and the one thing you won’t hear on m...

When was the last time you heard an honest conversation about women’s sexual health - one without shame, whispering, or outdated myths? In this powerful and unexpectedly funny episode, Lisa sits down with Dr Betsy Greenleaf , the first board-certified female urogynecologist in the United States, triple board-certified and now specialising in sexual wellness and hormone health for women over 40. To...

“I smiled at the time… but later, the words stayed with me.” In this deeply honest and unplanned coaching episode, Lisa reflects on how a handful of unexpected online comments affected her far more than she anticipated - even at 51, even with experience, and even knowing the comments weren’t true. What lingered wasn’t criticism - it was the feeling of being misunderstood . Strangers created storie...

When our DNA episode went live, we expected emotion. What we didn’t expect was backlash, national media attention, and one of the most divided audiences we’ve ever seen . In this behind-the-scenes episode, Lisa is joined by producer Aaron to reveal what was really happening off camera while the viral DNA story was unfolding - including the unexpected personal journey Aaron himself was on at the ve...

Take this 3 min quiz and receive your FREE tailored workbook from Lisa. --- What if you’re not lost at all - you’ve simply forgotten the evidence of who you really are? In this intimate coaching episode, Lisa takes you on a guided journey through the moments, memories and emotions that have quietly shaped your life. With Dr Carol’s powerful teaching - that every breath leaves an imprint - Lisa rev...

What really happens when you spend ten full days alone in complete darkness? In this extraordinary episode, Dr Carol Talbot joins Lisa to share one of the most intense and transformative experiences of her life - a 10-day dark room retreat designed to strip away external stimuli, awaken the body’s natural chemistry, and reveal who we truly are beneath our learned patterns and conditioning. Carol e...

This week’s episode is a personal message for Children’s Grief Awareness Week . I’m honouring my stepchildren, their mum, and the charity that supported our family through some of our hardest moments. Grief Encounter provide life-changing help for children and young people navigating loss. If you’d like to learn more or support their work, you can visit their website here . Hosted on Acast. See ac...

To mark Children’s Grief Awareness Week , Dr Shelley Gilbert MBE joins Real Women’s Stories for one of the most important and thought-provoking conversations we’ve had on the show. Shelley lost both her parents before her 10th birthday - an experience that shaped every part of her life and ultimately led her to build one of the UK’s leading childhood bereavement charities. In this episode, Shelley...