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Welcome to Chatting to a Friend. In this podcast I am chatting to incredible women from all walks of life about friendship, community, self care, adventure, sex, grief, boundaries and asking them how they look after themselves, how they manage their mental health and what drives them. It’s an enormous privilege to have the time and opportunity to learn from some truly remarkable women. I hope you enjoy it.
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Welcome to Smashing The Ceiling, the show where we showcase the lives of women with interesting, unusual and inspiring careers, those who have achieved amazing things, some who've got a really cool or unusual job, and some who've just had a fascinating life. Each week I sit down with one amazing human to dig a little deeper into the HOW of it all - how did they get where they are, how they picked themselves up when things didn’t go right, and how their mentors, motivations and mistakes have ...
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Jenny is a joy to chat to. Funny, self aware and full of Scottish banter. We recorded this epsiode about a million years ago but her book as just come out so it’s finally time to release the chat about teenage motherhood, growing up alongside her little boy and re-discovering her own passions. Heavily featured is the world record breaking round the…
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My guest today is a woman I met a couple of years ago whilst wearing a delicious pair of sequinned dungarees and accepting an award at the International Women’s Podcast Awards. Her name is Annabelle Buckland, and she’s an radio host, podcast producer and general audio whizzo. She also has ADHD. We’ve discussed a lot of things on this podcast over t…
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My guest today has gone from shy wallflower to recipient of international film awards and a column in Forbes. Jia Wertz is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, podcaster, activist and writer, who, like many of our guests, has had a working life with some unexpected twists and turns. Jia had a super successful career in the fashion industry when she first hea…
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This is Part Two of my chat with Sam Baines, my first guest for Season 6 of the podcast, and a woman that I’ve know for a few years after she was shortlisted at the inaugural International Women’s Podcast Awards back in 2021. It’s fitting that she’s first this season, because she’s been the first woman to do a few other things too. Sam is an award-…
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We're back for Season 6! My first guest is a woman that I’ve know for a few years after she was shortlisted at the inaugural International Women’s Podcast Awards back in 2021. Her name is Samantha Baines, and it’s fitting that she’s first this season, because she’s been the first woman to do a few other things too. Sam is an award-winning comedian,…
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We’ve been away for a little while, but we are back! I’m Naomi Mellor, and I’m delighted to let you know that there’s a new season of Smashing The Ceiling just around the corner, with all sorts of delights awaiting you. In this podcast we chat to women with unusual, interesting and inspiring careers, and we’re kicking off Season 6 with comedian, au…
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Preet Chandi was a tennis prodigy from a traditional British Punjabi family, living away from home from a very early age. She left school with very few qualifications, joined the army reserves without telling her family, got into university, became an officer in the regular army, got a masters and decided to go to the South Pole on her own. This is…
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Ursula Martin is also known as “One Woman Walks” after she walked thousands of miles across Wales and then across Europe. Her Welsh walk started when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and our conversation takes us all over the place (literally) although actually we talk less about the logistical achievement of crossing Europe on foot during cov…
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South African mountaineer Cathy O’Dowd was the first woman in the world to climb Mount Everest from both sides. Her most challenging Himalayan epic was as part of team forging a new route on an 8000 metre peak. Her many expeditions provided extensive experience with individuals and teams facing stress, risk and overwhelming challenge. She developed…
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If you’re into meditation and healing, you may know what a Tibetan sound bowl is. If not, you’ve got a treat in store, as we’ll be digging deep into the world of holistic health in this episode. My guest today is Justine Nagaur, a spiritual healer, teacher, mentor, and creator of bespoke crystal malas. I met Justine a couple of years ago, and she’s…
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How often do you think about your own breathing? I bet you are right now. How fast do you breathe? How deeply? Most of the time it’s completely unconscious. We just do it, and we rarely consider how we breathe unless we’re exercising and out of breath, or ill and out of breath, as many of us have been during the pandemic.It’s only when our capacity…
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This week, we’re talking, amongst other things, about sleep. My guest today is Dot Zacharias, COO and co-founder of Nourish, a wellbeing app designed for busy mums to find a little calm in their lives, which aims to protect maternal mental health and provide support. But that description doesn’tquite cover Dot’s career. After starting her working l…
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Running began for Lucy when she was 15 years old as a way to spend time with her Dad. When he decided to run a 100km race through the blue mountains 5 years ago she trained alongside him for every step of the way. On race day, she ran from place to place to see him and accidentally ran her first ultra. Then she decided that she wanted to complete a…
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My guest this week is endometriosis advocate, golf influencer and brilliant lawyer Sinéad McGrath - as you might imagine, the subjects we covered in this conversation are many and varied. Sinéad sits on the Executive Committee of the Junior Lawyers' Division at The Law Society, and after saying ‘no’ for many years, she started playing golf a couple…
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My first guest of 2022 is Catie Friend, who says of her adventures that she “will always be a completer rather than a competer”. Given the challenges she’s completed, which include the world’s toughest ski mountaineering race and the half Marathon des Sables, and the things she’s done in her career, completing any of them would be considered a stro…
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At the time of the episode release (January 2022) Victoria Evans is about to depart in February to become the 8th British woman to solo row the Atlantic Ocean. Setting off from Tenerife, she will row 3000 miles over the course of nearly two months to reach Port St Charles in Barbados. It’s a challenge that’s been 3 years in the making, with Victori…
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Originally from Germany, Monika moved after high school to the US to play volleyball for a university team. After an uncomfortable start at one college, she graduated from another with a summa cum laude and was accepted with a full scholarship to the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. After graduation, she worked for the Internatio…
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Born and raised in NY, Tracie May grew up being influenced by artist’s work she had the opportunity to encounter as a child. From Picasso’s Guernica to Basquiat, and the Egyptian exhibits of King Tutankhamun at the Met to Salvador Dali, and contemporary artists of the Whitney Biennial, she was exposed to a wide variety of creative geniuses starting…
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Caroline George is a passionate alpinist and internationally certified mountain guide who has worked and played all over the world with a penchant for ice climbing, in which she competed on the world cup circuit for three years. She is a mother to a little girl, which has empowered her to use the mountains as a vector for more equality and inclusiv…
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Belinda Kirk is an explorer and the leading campaigner promoting the benefits of adventure on wellbeing. She is the author of the first book to explain why adventure is essential for our wellbeing: 'Adventure Revolution'. The life-changing power of choosing challenge. It’s the first book to explain why adventure is essential to wellbeing. Drawing o…
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Sunny Jo Lawrence is a Utah native and has a college degree from Utah Valley University in the field of Psychology. She married James Lawrence (the Iron Cowboy) in December of 2000. They have five children: four daughters and one son. She has always loved being a mum, as well as James’ #1 supporter through all his accomplishments. Sunny has been an…
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Siobhan Daniels grew up in a care home as one of eight children amongst the elderly people her family looked after. She's subsequently had an incredibly varied and colourful life, first working as a nurse in the NHS before joining the BBC as a trainee in broadcast journalism. Siobhan spent 30 years as a presenter, reporter and producer at the BBC, …
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Jane Harries is a “soft” adventurer, a magazine editor, a former lawyer and a survivor of a prophylactic double mastectomy that went horribly awry. She has travelled the world doing adventures including the Camino de Santiago, the Marathon des Sables, crossing the Karakorum Highway and white water rafting in the Zambeze river, settling in Australia…
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Originally from Canada, Ingrid Mackinnon is a dancer, movement director, choreographer and teacher. Her movement direction credits include Regents Park, Royal Shakespeare Company, Arcola Theatre and Lyric. She teaches at dance and actor movement at schools such as Guildhall, Mountview and Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. As a performer her c…
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When you think about human rights, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe it's the treatment of prisoners overseas, or working conditions and pay in a place of employment, or freedom of speech, or the right of an individual to live freely and safely in whatever manner they choose? Maybe it's a multitude of other things, because the subjec…
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To open Season 4, I’ve got two guests with me with this week, and if you’re looking for inspiring women in your life, then these two are it. Kirsten and Aiyven Mbawa are sisters from Northampton, England and they’re 13 and 12 years old respectively. Nothing unusual there. What is unusual is that both Kirsten and Aiyven are published authors and bus…
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To many people, the world of burlesque may seem distant, mysterious and unknown. You might have heard of Dita von Teese, but how much do you know about the art of it, the glamour, and the people, who are, by all accounts, a brilliant bunch of welcoming human beings? My guest today is Tigz Rice, who combines her career as a burlesque and boudoir pho…
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Hannah Roper is an incredible woman with a varied career forged out of a combination of inspiration and necessity. Not many people can say that they've worked as a teacher, a policeman, a country music singer and an entrepreneur. Hannah has worked in both primary and secondary education, founded a country music festival, been on the beat and with s…
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We hear so much about side hustles and entrepreneurship and it seems that every second person on social media is starting a successful new business and scaling it to 7 figures from their kitchen table. But if you've had an idea, how do you get started? How do you balance your day job and the need to earn a living with launching a new venture? What'…
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Have you ever had a moment when you met someone for the first time, but you felt like you'd known them your entire life? It's a weird and rare but wonderful thing. I had that feeling when I chatted to Nikki Trott prior to this interview, and I knew I had to have her on the show. Nikki is an entrepreneur, podcaster and coach on a mission with her co…
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Jenny Davis is a lawyer turned professional athlete. She spends her time travelling the globe to compete in some of the world’s toughest races, events and expeditions. Most recently she completed a solo and unassisted trek to the South Pole. For the last 100km, she was suffering from polar thigh, a condition that caused her flesh to start to rot an…
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Theme song by- Song: Chris Lehman - Flash [Copyright FREE Music] Available on YouTube promoted by "Copyright FREE Music": https://youtu.be/SDSTYpxRAn0 Theme song for Unwanted Things by- https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=channel_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbF9jaGNGX0ZxOXk2SFdTbjBZMnA2YlNHYnVmQXxBQ3Jtc0tsRC1IUUhOcVBfU195aXgtY0NZd2dzV0Q0eDJ3O…
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My guest this week is an incredible woman, whose life and career were turned upside down by circumstances. We talk often on this podcast about how circumstances shape the careers of women, but in the case of Victoria Jenkins, the circumstances were becoming disabled in her mid twenties. Before becoming ill, Victoria was forging a successful career …
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We've often talked on this podcast about how our upbringing shapes our attitudes to work, ambition and success. Mira Patel's parents ran a newsagent, and she started working in the shop at an early age, before forging a successful career in HR. She understands the value of hard work and determination in building a business. She stepped away the HR …
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When you're in a box career-wise, it can be hard to get out of it. Sometimes it's pressure from others, or from society that keeps you in that box, or sometimes it's your own internal monologue telling you that you can't do anything else. Sometimes, life events send you on a different path. Imogen Tinkler is a total inspiration in this area. After …
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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but I love meeting women who’ve done something unexpected, who bucked the career trend and taken a path that others might not expect. Today's guest, Caroline Knight, very much falls into that category. After a biochemistry degree and multiple different careers including being a naked yoga instructor, and …
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Rea Kolbl is a professional athlete, competing in obstacle course racing, adventure racing, trail running, mountain biking, and ski mountaineering. She is the current Spartan Ultra World Champion, 2x World’s Toughest Mudder champion, and undefeated at endurance OCR for race distances 30 miles or longer. She loves outdoor adventure, multisport proje…
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