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Laura Dockrill is a performance poet, author, illustrator and short story writer. She is the author of the Darcy Burdock series and a YA novel, Lorali with a follow up book coming out this year. She has also written a number of adult poetry collections. "My Mum is a Grown Down" is her first poetry collection for children about a wild, hysterical and hilarious Mum, which is coming in July this year. The Independent calls her “A poet for the iPod generation” and Red magazine's “literary girl crush”. We met up at the Hoxton Hotel, lay on a bed chatting about creativity, comparison, finding new ideas, writing and being in love with your work.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alice Tams is a full-time illustrator, running her own business from a studio in London. She is the creator of a popular series of illustrations of birds wearing a variety of hats (#BirdsInHats)- which I have hanging on my bedroom wall, given to me as a present from my boyfriend. You can find her products online at her stop alicetams.com - or in the Etsy shop - and physically at one of her stockists. In December 2013, Alice drew a penguin in a christmas hat and jumper and had used it on a Christmas card. In December 2014, Alice was contacted by several friends that a jumper on sale in supermarket featuring a penguin in a hat and Christmas jumper. They all thought that Alice had licensed her penguin design because it looked identical to Alice’s design. So we talk about this and Alice’s learnings along the way. Hope you enjoy listening to our conversation and follow Alice online @alicetams across most of the social medias.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Estée is a blogger, author and founder of a very successful YouTube channel with over a million subscribers. I enjoy watching her channel for her series FemTalk where she discusses stuff from periods, to sex, to how to stand up for yourself but I also follow her for her beauty expertise. (I’m obsessed with face masks.) Estée has worked with a huge range of brands from Burberry to the Body Shop to Adidas. She recently won InStyle UK's Best Beauty Reviewer Award and was nominated last year for a Glamour Woman Of The Year Award. Earlier this year I interviewed Estée at Waterstones as part of the launch around her book called "Bloom — Navigating Life and Style," which was cool because we had so much to discuss and our books both share the same publisher which is Ebury. Bloom covers everything from moving to a new country, dealing with stress, #girlboss inspirations and learning how to be yourself on and offline.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Zanna is a blogger, fitness model and author with over 130,000 followers on Instagram. She has walked in London Fashion Week and has starred as the face of the Tommy Hilfiger sports capsule collection and the face of the most recent Adidas series of workout videos. She also has her own line of activewear which is available in places like Sports Philosophy and Active in Style. She is the co-founder of the Girl Gains movement a community which brings together hundreds of women at huge events and educates, empowers and inspires them. Her first book STRONG is out in December this year and gives practical advice and solutions on how to live a balanced life. Earlier this year she was on the cover of the Sunday Times Style magazine with an accompanying spread, she’s also been featured as one of Women's Health magazine’s top fitness bloggers and one of Women's Fitness magazines "Ones to watch in 2016".  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nimko is the co-founder of Daughters of Eve - alongside Leyla Hussein - a non profit organisation, that works to advance and protect the physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health rights of young people from female genital mutilation practising communities. They recognise that (FGM) is a form of gender-based violence. Daughters of Eve believe that young people need to be supported holistically and work with women and girls and give them specialist support. In 2014, Daughters Of Eve received an award at the Red Magazine Woman of the Year awards for their work. They were also placed sixth in the Woman's Hour Power List. We recorded this is quite a busy coffee shop in Notting Hill and Nimko shares a lot about her life and work. We chatted for well over an hour so I’ve split this episode into 2 parts so this is the first part.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lucy Sheridan is the world's first and only 'Comparison Coach' focused on helping millennials go comparison free. She’s appeared on Oprah’s lifeclass to discuss comparison and her work has been featured in Grazia, the Daily Mail, Stella magazine and the Evening Standard and more. Jo Westwood goes by the name The Spirit DJ and she coaches 30-something creatives and change makers who have successful 6 figure+ careers on how to invest in financial, energetic and emotional happiness. Her work has been featured in Psychologies, Look, ES Magazine, The Best You and Women's Health. Together they founded a movement called Higher Selfie which aims to bring spiritually to the digital age. Their book called Higher Selfie came out earlier this year and is a modern guide to love, healing and connection for Gen Y spiritual seekers who have their hearts set on creating a life they love, but are unsure how to do so.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today’s guests are Catherine Allen, the CEO of Lyristic and executive producer of No Small Talk and Cherry Healey, TV presenter and documentary maker. No Small Talk is a new kind of virtual reality talk show commissioned by the BBC for millennial women, co-produced by two leading independent VR companies Lyristic and VR City and produced by Dorothea Gibbs and directed by Darren Emerson. This 10 minute episode is designed for viewing on Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR. The first episode has launched now and I’m in it alongside Cherry Healey. It’s a space to explore and discuss the big ideas that underpin our daily lives, and the changing world around us. No Small Talk has been produced with the clear goal of creating a VR experience that is accessible to women. U.S research shows that male VR usage is almost double that of female VR usage (YouView, 2016). It’s live now and it can be found at bbc.co.uk/taster. We talk about technology, virtual reality, being the CEO of your company and art of a good conver

I interviewed Lliana Bird at Cheltenham Literature Festival in October about her new book alongside Ella Mills (Deliciously Ella) so it was nice to catch up again and chat more about what she's up to. Lliana Bird is a radio presenter, writer, actress and co-founder of Help Refugees, currently presenting the Friday and Saturday evening shows on Radio X. She has also previously contributed to Capital Radio, Virgin Radio, and the BBC Local Radio service. Lliana also presents a weekly podcast entitled Geek Chic's Weird Science which was selected as iTunes Best of 2014. This year she released a book, The Mice Who Sing for Sex with podcast co-host Dr Jack. Lliana co-founded Help Refugees, a charity providing aid to refugees across Europe and beyond which is the most incredible organisation and we chat lots more about it on the podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anna Whitehouse is a journalist, editor and founder of the brilliant Mother Pukka empire. MotherPukka.co.uk is a blog for ‘people who happen to be parents’. Her Instagram feed has grown to 50,000 followers in a year. She’s previously worked at Stylist magazine, and at Time Out Amsterdam before writing for fashion labels such as Tommy Hilfiger. We talk about starting your own business, flexible working, sponsored content, the parenting Instagram community and the importance of looking after yourself and taking a break.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alice Olins and Phanella Mayall Fine are the driving force behind Step Up Club; the platform championing the success of career women and have now published a book with Ebury called Step Up, full of practical advice for stepping it up in your career. Alice Olins spent a decade at The Times as its Senior Fashion Writer, then Marie Claire’s Fashion Features Director. Today, Alice is the Fashion Features Director-at-Large at Red magazine, and continues to write on a freelance basis for publications including, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail on fashion, lifestyle and careers. Phanella began her career as an international finance lawyer working on multi-billion dollar transactions in London and New York. Now she is an executive coach and development consultant. She coaches and trains professionals on topics including women’s leadership and advancement, self-presentation, maternity and return to work. We talk the differences between being an "integrator" vs a "separator" at work and achieving work life balanc

Miranda is a writer and broadcaster. She writes regularly for The Observer and The Mirror. Her first writing job was at Smash Hits, in 1988. Then Select magazine, where she won a PPA award for Writer of the Year. During the 90s, she had a column in Time Out and she wrote for The Face. She makes documentaries for Radio 4 and interview musicians and artists for The Culture Show. She wrote a book called Park and Ride, about Britain’s relationships with its suburbs and her most recent book is called Out Of Time which is a very modern look at the midlife crisis – delving into the truth, and lies, of the experience and how to survive it - and how a midlife crisis doesn’t necessarily mean running off with a Pilates teacher, or spending thousands on a trip to Bali to find yourself. I have had the pleasure of attending a Bug event in London hosted by Miranda and she is brilliant and funny and I loved recording this episode so much. We talk life, family, careers, money and what a quiet subtle midlife crisis looks like.

Lisa Owens is a writer who quit her job as an editor at independent publisher Profile Books to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Her debut novel Not Working was published last year by Picador about a girl called Claire who quits her job to “find herself”. We talk about her writing process, the importance of writing down your observations, how to self-edit and how to go about getting your first book published. We also talk about the potential narcissism of only reading non-fiction and why it’s sometimes awkward introducing yourself as a writer at dinner parties. AND *that* annoying question: “so what do you do?”  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I interviewed the amazing author and The Everyday Sexism Project founder Laura Bates at Cheltenham Literature Festival on 9th October 2016 for a very special live episode of this podcast. Laura's new book GIRL UP tackles body image, relationships and social media pressures. It's a no-nonsense survival guide to growing up as a 21st century, empowered girl. We talk about sex education, body image, social media, feminist societies, educating boys and the power of speaking up. For this episode we are on stage at Cheltenham Ladies' College, Parabola Arts Centre and engaged with a lovely and warm audience of 300 people. It was such a special evening and I hope you enjoy this extra special 40th episode which is an hour long.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Meg is my friend and the founder of the Wonderful You blog and YouTube channel where she aims to change the traditional blogging industry with her unique art direction. She covers topics such as fashion, lifestyle, beauty, and travel, not afraid of speaking out on issues such as body and self confidence. She’s worked with loads of brands including Levi's, ASOS, Clinique, Wonderbra and Selfridges and she was one of The Media Eye’s - Rising Stars in June this year and is represented by Milk Management. We talk about the future of blogging, body image, sponsored content, collaborating, and how sometimes it feels overwhelming keeping up with all the technology thrown in our faces daily.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cindy Gallop is an advertising consultant, founder and former chair of the US branch of advertising firm BBH . She is the founder of the IfWeRanTheWorld and MakeLoveNotPorn. Cindy’s TEDTalk "Make Love Not Porn" was one of the "most talked about presentations" at the 2009 TED conference and has been watched over one and a half million times. We talk about the future of sex, what “social sex” means, her company Make Love Not Porn, why people (women especially) should work for themselves and why we shouldn’t believe a lot of the random sex surveys out there. Cindy is the fountain of knowledge for each things porn related and I found talking to her very very inspiring indeed. Hope you enjoy this epiosde, feel free to tweet us afterwards your thoughts @emma gannon and @cindygallop or @makelovenotporn. “I really urge women to aspire to much more than flexible working. To aspire to starting and designing your own business to be the business you want it to be.” - Cindy Gallop  See acast.com/privacy for priv

I’ve been a fan of Mara Wilson since I was 7 years old. She is the star of my favourite film from when I was little, the 1996 film "Matilda" based on the book by Roald Dahl. She’s also known for her roles in Mrs. Doubtfire and the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street. Nowadays, she’s an author, a playwright and occasional actress. I caught up her with her to talk about her new book, out TODAY (13th SEPTEMBER) called “Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame.” I loved this conversation - Mara is one of my favourite people to follow online and on Twitter and I’ve loved reading her writing on her blog and her musings on life. \ \\\\\\\\\  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

She is the sweary big sister of the Internet who gives brilliant and thought-provoking weekly advice via her column “Ask Polly” for New York Magazines “The Cut”. She answers all sorts of questions from “How do I dump my crappy best friend?” to “I’m broke and I hate my job” to “My sister has cancer and I can’t go on.” It’s my favourite weekly column and every week I’m excited to read it. I always learn something important. She has a book that’s just come out called “How To Be a Person In The World” which has a whole load of #AskPolly columns in there, both new and old ones and has had amazing reviews including the New Yorker. She is also the author of the memoir DISASTER PREPAREDNESS (published by Riverhead, 2011) and she was Salon.com's TV critic for 7 years. We talk about writing, standing out from the crowd, writing a column, what advice we take and why being "guru" doesn't appeal.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hannah Witton has popular YouTube channel with over 200,000 subscribers and likes to spread positive messages about sex, relationships, body image, gender & sexuality and doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s worked with the likes of MTV & Durex – In 2013 she was shortlisted for Young Person of the Year at the Sexual Health Awards and Her short film on the History of Homosexuality was a finalist in the Guardian and Oxford University Press’ Very Short Film Competition in 2013. in 2014 she was shortlisted for Best Vlog at the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards. Hannah was also the first ever YouTuber to present Radio 1’s hour long show ‘The Internet Takeover’. We talk feminism, hormones, contraception, periods and MORE!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cariad Lloyd is an award-winning actor, improviser, comedian and writer. She has appeared in Peep Show, Have I Got News For You and Qi. She has been improvising for ten years and is one of the creators of Austentatious: The Improvised Jane Austen Novel, who have had four sell-out Edinburgh Festivals. Visit austentatiousimpro.com for all the upcoming tour dates.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lucy Lendrem started off as an account manager at Gleam Digital in 2013 which created social strategies for brands like Chanel and Unilever - it later turned into Gleam Futures (a social talent agency that manages the most influential social talent in the world.) She now heads up the UK talent as a group talent manager. She was recently on The Drum’s 50 under 30 which highlighted 50 of the most impressive digital pioneers shaking up the industry. We discuss what it's like behind the scenes working at Gleam managing the top tier social talent like the lovely Zoella, how we need to lift each other up to make the industry do better as a whole, and what goes into being an "agent" in a new-ish industry.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.