Today's guest is the exceptional Hadeel Hassan, paediatric oncologist, ASICS Frontrunner, and, if I get my way, motivational speaker. Hadeel is a doctor (squared), an accomplished athlete, and an all round incredible human, and I loved hearing her chat about her enthusiasms as they were so wildly different from any of my own. Her view on life and how she treats her every day living were so inspiring, and I came away from it feeling so galvanised and ready to make the world a better place - I hope you love it too!
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Olive Pometsey is currently the Junior Digital Editor at British GQ, and her writing is some of my very, very favourite. Whether she's bringing us takes on culture, technology, fashion, or Mariah Carey - all important cornerstones of modern life, don't @ me - her brilliance seeps through every line. I loved chatting to her about her journey into writing, her love of dancefloors and festivals, and the importance of friends and family keeping us grounded and connected.
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TODAAAAY I am joined by one of my favourite people in the entire world: Zena Birch, Humanist Celebrant.
Zena is a bottle of champagne in human form: effervescent, bubbly, luxurious, and one of the greatest things in life. It's quite daunting writing this description, because her way with words is so marvellous: and I loved listening to them as she gave a super honest and beautifully, generously raw insight into her enthusiasm for tradition, communing, creating a sense of occasion, and being alive and getting older.
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Today I've got my first double whammy of guests on the podcast - the lovely Daisy and Liv Tinker, founders of A South London Makers' Market and A South London Style. Double the guests, of course, means double the love and lols, and I had such a wonderful time chatting to Daisy & Liv all about their mission to Shop Small & Spread Joy.
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TODAY IS SUCH A TREAT - I have the wonderful Jackie Adedeji, podcaster, columnist and presenter, on the podcast today. But what I can't adequately put into words here is Jackie's ENERGY that she brings to everyday, and certainly brought to this episode. We discussed her enthusiasm for people, and how amazing we are in our similarities and our differences; her penchant for making the most of everything in life; and how much she loves chatting to new people and learning about them (including in Uber Pools.) I defy you to listen to this and not feel MEGA energised and inspired by Jackie's incredible chat!
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I basically had to hyperventilate into a brown paper bag just before this recording, that's how excited I was about interviewing the lovely Jamie Spafford, co-founder of SORTEDFood. What started out as a humble Youtube channel and 4 guys wanting to learn more about cooking has now amassed 2.4m subscribers (no biggy) and over 600 million views (similarly, no biggy...), and grown to include apps, cookbooks, and an online club for foodies everywhere. And, if I may say so myself, it's crystal clear and such a delight that cooking, community and (dare I say) enthusiasm are still at the heart of every single thing they do.
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Today's episode is with Nina Chang, founder of sewing pattern shop Nina Lee London and The Career Girl, where she features inspiring interviews with women to inspire out-of-the-box career thinking. I knew I was going to love chatting to Nina before our interview, but I don't think I realised quite just how much. I wanted to do a Dale and Brennan moment - "Did we just become best friends?!" We discussed not so obvious career paths (especially pertinent at the moment, perhaps), creativity, empowering women, and loving where you live. I defy you to listen to this episode and not want to pick up something creative with your fingers, pronto Tonto!
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This week I have a national treasure on the podcast - Vicky Graham, the founder of eponymous Vicky's Donuts, author of DONUTS, and general human ray of sunshine. As Sammy Davis Junior famously sang, she gets up at sunrise, sprinkles on some dough, covers it in chocolate and a miracle or two. I've been a huge fan of Vicky's for years - who else can make a donut look like a tennis ball? Or like a fried egg? WHO??? - so getting her on the podcast was a really lovely experience. We chatted donuts (obviously), creativity, the joys of old cookbooks and being around passionate people - which Vicky is in bucketloads!
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Today we have the pastel princess, the lilac legend, the real-life Rapunzel that is Charlotte Sweet-Williams, founder of Sewn Right, the Fashion Sewing Professionals. I first met Charlotte when I worked at a bridal dress shop in 2017, and I’ve admired her ever since. As a young female entrepreneur with heart and soul bursting from every move, I loved chatting to her about her enthusiasms both at work and those newly found outside of work, and sharing the love as a career.
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If I may say so myself, today's episode is brilliant: a soothing balm and fire up your backside all in one. And I can say that myself because actually, it's nothing to do with what I brought to the table, and instead everything to do with what my incredible guest Sasha brought to the table. Sasha is the founder of Frank + Feel, where she serves us RemindHers and uses her incredibly captivating words to - in her own said words - 'encourage women to live lives steered by self-trust over self-doubt, shrinking, settling or sacrifice'. It was an absolute honour to chat to Sasha about self-doubt, being enthusiastic about multiple different things and being enthusiastic about championing other people, too.
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Today's guest chez Enthusiast is the fabulous Francesca Kletz, the founder of The London Loom and author of the world's funniest craft book, Weave This. Francesca is colour, creativity and chutzpah wrapped up in one marvellous ball - we discussed her weaving achievements (achweavements? I'll work on it) and her passion for writing; her focus on picking up hobbies that aren't the same as the hobby she's turned into her job; her colourful flat and her love for cooking (including the nicest sounded pitta I've ever heard) and why being Jewish is one of her biggest enthusiasms. Oh, and we talked about Barbra Streisand too.
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Alice Gabb is a handlettering artist and banner maker based in Hackney. With a signature wonky and wonderful, perfectly imperfect calligraphy style, Alice is absolutely 100% the right side of whimsical. We discussed so many of her passions and projects in this episode, including handlettering that isn't cookie-cutter, solo exploring, where to get cake in East London, kombucha, social justice, and protest banners.
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Well well WELL! I am absolutely thriiiiilled to announce that my brand new podcast, The Enthusiast & Co, is launching on Tuesday 21st April. There’s nothing lovelier than hearing people talk about what they’re passionate about, which is exactly why I’ll be doing it fortnightly.
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