Women Who Lead

I read a great quote recently by a human called Glennon Doyle; “I will not stay, not ever again – in a room, or conversation, or relationship, or institution, that requires me to abandon myself.” This caused me to reflect again on this notion of abandonment, because that’s exactly the right word for what so many of us do to ourselves. We live a life of separateness, living from the mental energy i...

June Angelides is one of the most quietly powerful people I know. She has this incredible aura of connectedness, so you fall in love with her instantly, but complements that with positive momentum of the highest order when it comes to creating opportunity for others with projects like Mums In Tech. Right now she works in VC, but her career path and expertise is vast and expansive. We met over the...

Raphan Kebe is a wonderful teacher of movement, with his own distinctive style called Space and Flow. We connected via movement but formed a friendship though honesty and humility. His honesty and creativity are just some of the things that inspire me the most about him.  We met over the airwaves, and dived into an incredibly honest and brave conversation about who we are and why we are. We s...

Mira Magecha is an alternative People leader, who has been leading the charge at Just Eat for the past chunk of time, having started out in consulting. A fellow advocate of lifelong learning, her energy and her pragmatism are just two of the things that inspire me about her.  We met over the airwaves, from our respective home working spaces. We spoke of things like: 🥞 How to step into leader...

Anouk Agussol is an incredibly talented People leader who built a phenomenal People consulting firm called Unleashed. They operate across the tech space, and set the bar for doing People stuff in many businesses. Her passion and tenacity are just some of the things that inspire me about her.  We hung out online together from our respective London outposts. We spoke of things like: 🥞 Finding...

Chris Abbass is a wonder of a human being. Smart, driven but with this wonderful core of deep thinking to spice things up. He was my co pilot at Shazam but has since gone on to build his own business, Talentful. They help find talent for some of the biggest and best tech businesses in the world.  We met over the airwaves with Chris now based in San Francisco and me of course in London. We spo...

To have a sense of purpose is one of the things we crave most in our lives as humans. We want to feel like we are working towards something we believe in and that the things that we are doing create some form of impact. In this episode I chart my own path towards finding purpose.  Purpose is the thing that drives humans to do the unimaginable and innovate beyond any of our wildest dreams. We...

Renn Vara is a legend within the startup space, and has worked with some of the biggest tech companies as they’ve been growing into the phenomenal companies we see today. He works as trusted advisor to multiple founders and business leaders and I try to find a way to work with him as often as possible.  We met over the airwaves, with him in the middle of his rainy San Francisco morning and me...

Ravneet Gill is a force to be reckoned with. She started out training as a pastry chef and has gone on to create Counter Talk, a brilliant community for folks within the startup space. Rather fabulously, she has also just published her first book, The Pastry Chefs Guide. We met over the airwaves, with her to the East and me to the West of London. We spoke of things like:  🥞 Finding joy at wo...

Lars Schmidt is a globally renowned people person who can be found at the heart of a number of value adding communities in the People space. He currently runs Amplified Talent and can be found lighting up the airwaves on his own podcast 21st Century HR.  We met over the airwaves, with Lars based at home in Virginia and me of course in London. We spoke of things like: 🥞 Creating community and...

Ross Seychell is someone who brings a calmness and pragmatism to any conversation you are lucky enough to have with him. His reputation as a future focused People leader is pretty much set. He currently heads up People for TransferWise but has worked for some phenomenal companies.  Whilst often we meet up and spin (on bicycles, not just on the spot haha), this time we met on the internet. We...

Andy Ayim is simply magic. Anyone that has met him on their journey would agree he’s just the most interesting human. His deep wisdom and his bravery are two of the things that inspire me the most about him. We met on the airwaves, from our home based lives, and enjoyed the same fever of the normal catchups we have IRL. We spoke of things like: 🥞 How to learn what makes your heart sing and be bra...

Team dynamics have often been a challenge. How do we find the right way to come together to make sure that the whole team gets to experience a joyful work dynamic. This episode explores some of that, and looks to that of surgical teams and their need to come together effectively and quickly.  Of course the challenge is that, even if we get to the magical place of team synergy, nothing is fixe...

Ashley Bathe is an LA based People person who has worked in recruiting over the past few years. Her wisdom and desire for growth has always been something that resonated with me deeply. She’s recently started sound healing and we also talk about some of that here.  She has a wonderful energy about her, and I think that translates brilliantly across the airwaves from our cyberspace conversatio...

Alastair Gill is a brilliantly alternative People person. Someone who sees a path for things in an uncomplicated way and someone who isn’t afraid to experiment. I find that hugely inspiring and I admire his view on things tremendously, largely as I share it haha.  We met in cyberspace, so the sound is what it is I’m afraid. That said, I think we made it work. We also had a magical cameo from...

We find ourselves in the middle of a moment that none of us thought would ever land in. There’s something so incredible and awe inspiring in the way that the whole world has suddenly become joined together, joined together in the fight against something very real indeed. I am blessed to be able to work from home, to have loved ones checking in on me and to have ways of living that keep me grounded...

Tia Raskin is one of the smartest humans I know, her ability to process data fast and ask the right questions is second to none. She is one of a number of women in my life who inspires bravery and boldness. She currently divides her time between the law and acting, having taken the leap to attend acting school some years back. She worked around the clock to do both and has done a phenomenal job. A...

We live in a world of distraction and disconnection. Before we can move forward in any kind of positive direction, we need to give ourselves the chance to truly listen to what is at play in any given situation. My emotions used to jump up and down and all over the place, with all kinds of different situations triggering my fight or flight defences. The thing that’s allowed me the space to really s...

Andy Meikle is a much loved and highly regarded fixture of the London tech scene. Andy inspired me to relax into my work in the People space, and to not take things so seriously. By simply being just who he is, he inspired me to do the same. I'm pleased to say it worked! Making his mark with the phenomenal work he did at Just Giving, he’s now building a business called Hello Self, a business focus...

Pancakes and Peacocks is a podcast that explores joyful living in all its forms. Joy isn’t a new thing for us, we are born full of love and joy. What happens is that we step away from that factory setting into something other than that which we truly are. When we are living in a way that feels truly in alignment with ourselves, that is where the magic happens. That is where we get to experience jo...