Tales to Inspire

'Affect change with your actions' Rebecca Hartley is a Mother, a breast cancer survivor, the founder of Saving Grace Events and an incredible ambassador. Rebbeca shares with us her life story, the ups and downs of a demanding career and the experience she went through after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Join us as we dive into rebecca's captivating story and discover how her infectious fight...

Trigger Warning: Suicide 'I just want to go into schools, speak to young people and speak to them about Aleysha and keep her memory alive.' Amy Madden is the founder of All Ears a social enterprise set up on behalf of Aleysha Rothwell who died by suicide in 2014. Amy takes us through her life journey and how she had to deal with trauma from a young age and the path she has gone towards on behalf o...

Trigger Warning: Suicide 'Alcohol is optional' Harrison Ward AKA Fell Foodie is a mental health advocate with a passion for cooking, hiking and combining the two. After growing up in Carlisle to a loving and supporting family, he went from a happy go lucky, glass half full kind of character to almost overnight experiencing a wave of self-loathing, demotivation and insecurity. Harrison struggled wi...

"It is creative resilience that has allowed me to share, express and feel." Angelique provides a lens through her eyes of the complicated and often difficult dynamics that can present themselves in our family environments. From the outside she had a 'bliss' childhood with two loving parents who worked hard, but were they truly there for her? Life is full of different perspectives and Angelique sho...

Trigger Warning: Suicide "Life is about living and suffering" Andy Hall takes us on a journey of the ups and downs of working himself into the ground. Andy describes himself as a dad, a husband, a mentor a public speaker, but more importantly he is so much more than all of those! He found himself addicted to knowledge and status and trying to progress through the corporate ladder until one day he...

" If you're happy doing something you love, you're going to grow a successful business around that " Emma Hine is a Mother of three and trying to live her best life! After becoming a young mother at the age of 16 years old and with a lack of support with her aspirations with the education system she went on a journey of self development. In 2006, Emma launched her first ever business. She didn't h...

"Unashamedly Occupy Space" Ije McDougall is a mum, a sister, a friend, a human resources professional, a family court magistrate, a motivational speaker and charity worker. Most importantly however, she is unashamedly occupies space as a black woman living in the UK. Her story take us through her life growing up in Nigeria and how the persecution of the terrorist group Boko Haram caused her life t...

Trigger Warning: Suicide 'to move forward you have to go backwards' Sandeep Saib is creating waves though the lived experience of mental health after being diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and is a suicide survivor. Sandeep is a proud devotee to being a Mental Health Advocate, Philanthropist and Public Speaker fighting against...

"Learning expands my life" Stefania takes us on her journey of having to adapt whilst chasing her dreams. Originally born in Italy, Stefania has performed worldwide working with exceptional companies and artists as a dancer. She shows us how dance and following your passion can foster creativity, empower people and promote wellbeing. She is not living here in the UK and supporting people alongside...

Trigger Warning: Suicide 'There is life after suicide' Matthew Smith takes us on a journey through his childhood and losing his beloved older brother through suicide and the life changing impact it had on him. Matthew shows us that no matter how hard your situation can get, you can continue through to support yourself and others. Matthew, his brother Ben and his cousin Sarah (then aged 10, 5 and 1...

"What was once a void is now a value." Kerry is an entrepreneur who works with fellow female entrepreneurs on their sales strategies, a mother of three and a person who has overcome domestic violence, bullying and rape. Kerry takes us through her journey of what it was like being a young Mother, struggling with her mental health and then being an incredibly successful sales manager in the corporat...

"You have the ability to achieve anything in this world with the right mindset." Cody Adent struggled with school growing up and always felt that he was made differently than for what school was designed. Despite these struggles, Cody loved sports and was a child entrepreneur starting his own businesses such as selling 'cinema tickets' to the local children to come and watch a film in his basement...

Trigger Warning: Child Abuse 'Finding happiness in facing up to new challenges' Jeremy Indika is the founder of 'Something to Say'. His life's mission is to break the uncomfortable silence that surrounds child abuse. Jeremy was a normal child; he did well in school, played lots of sports and had a great set of friends. But when he was eight he was sexually abused by a twenty five year old man, who...

" If we can give away our power, we have the ability to take that power back." For over 20 years Rio has worked with thousands of people helping them reprogram their mindset and rebuild their Belief- Systems to create healthy relationships. This transformational work is available in his book The Joy of Lucid Love. Timberlane's passion for his work grew out of deep challenges in his own life and hi...

"I wish a lot of charities were not needed" Jaime Thurston is the founder and CEO of the brilliant charity 52 Lives. Jaime grew up in Australia and was surrounded by people within her family who showered her in kindness. Jaime grew up wanting to be an author and after school started working as a journalist. However, our dreams do not always go to plan and Jaime was not happy writing articles on pe...

'The education system should be an enabler of happiness' Laura' life mission is to put 'heart' into the 'heart' of the education system. As a child she was quite shy, Laura loved reading and even created her own imaginary world through this. Laura's mum was a teacher, so on occasion was able to go into her school and read stories to the children. This led to Laura's dream of being a teacher, altho...

Trigger warning: Sexual Abuse "A hairdresser is a position of trust" Hayley shows us just how beautiful life can be, despite having to have gone through some of the most difficult of times. Hayley suffered sexual abuse from a young age, Hayley courageously discusses the struggles she had to cope with, how this impacted her life and how she has learn to cope with her struggles whilst running a thri...

Trigger warning: Child Abuse and Bullying "Learning that my disability doesn't define me" Steph Marie takes us on a journey of living with cerebral palsy, but more importantly living with the trauma that others have brought to her during her journey. Cerebral palsy means that the part of the brain that sends signals is damaged. It affects walking, speech, spatial awareness and coordination. But St...

"Every time a door is closed in your face, you're closer to another door opening" Sam takes us on his journey of rejection in the family, to being homeless as a teenager and in and out of the prison system, to building a business with a bucket and sponge! His passion for supporting young people shines through in everything he does, however his life has not been easy... Resources: Sam Smith Anderto...

"You Can Do Anything You Set Your Mind To" Loong Ly is a young man striving to make a difference in the lives of young people through football and sports. Having always wanted to play professional football and striving across the world chasing his dream, Loong overcame hurdle after hurdle including the death of his best friend as a teenager. Loong goes into the depths of why he does what he does a...

"Disability has not stopped me from being the person that I am". Andy has had to reinvent himself throughout his life, however his core message of the importance of family has always been at the heart of everything he does. As an adult, Andy had to adapt his life to being able to identify himself as a disabled person and through a rollercoaster journey, Andy now impacts people locally, nationally...

'There is more to life than the corporate way'. David Morgan is a social entrepreneur who helps to support prisoners in their rehabilitation process by giving them the skills to start their own businesses. David is the founder of Entrepreneurs Unlocked, a small community interest company where individuals develop their skills to become their own boss and lead crime-free lives. He takes us on a jou...

This week we have a very different podcast episode. We are sharing one of our very own 'CPD to Inspire' Workshops focussed on accessibility 🤩 Azeem leads our CPD to Inspire Programme, and he has T2I Ambassadors Isaac Harvey and Sandie Roberts with him sharing their lived experiences and discussing what can be done to improve the situation for people who live with a disability. Sandie shares her d...

People might say: 'A Nurse! Starting a business? It's like wanting to be a pilot!' Heather Glover has lived most of her life helping others as a nurse. However, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her life transformed. She did not have a game plan and somehow used her experience to become a lingerie model and start her very first business at the age of 50. Heather takes us through her tale...

'Stories are the most wonderful way to take yourself to another world and learn whilst it's still fun.' Caroline England is someone whose life has dramatically changed to one she would not have expected. Having grown up as a self proclaimed 'very serious person who takes the fun out of things' she realised that she wanted to introduce fun to people in their everyday life. Her journey takes us thro...