Allison Sadler is a creative entrepreneur, lifestyle blogger, designer, maker, stylist and mentor. With Her partner in all-things Mr C, she co-owns the award-winning People Shop in Birmingham. And she might just be the most fun person on the internet.

Allison recently started a hashtag project called #freeupyourinsta all about embracing imperfection and how to have fun and be yourself online. We dive deeply into this and have a fascinating conversation about what it means to be online. Enjoy!

If you work in a traditionally male-dominated industry, and you've ever felt undermined or overlooked at work, this episode is for you. There is a worldwide shortage of graduates in the STEM sector (this includes Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Women, black and ethnic minorities are under-represented, under-recruited and under-promoted in STEM roles. The reasons for this are both obvious and complex. Organisations like Equate Scotland, have a mandate to redress this balance and they are doing incredible work.

Allison Johnstone leads Equate Scotland's learning and development programme. She talks candidly and openly about women's experience in STEM, whats changing and why the issues are so much bigger than our self-doubt.

Sara Tasker is a gifted photographer and writer and she mentors other creatives through her ecourses and podcast: Hashtag Authentic. She now has 'The Official Blue Ticks of Validation' on both Instagram and Twitter!

In our conversation, Sara shares generously and openly about the realities of 'success' and what she is learning about both her self-doubt and her self-belief.

If you’ve ever walked into a meeting, or a networking event, or even a neighbour’s BBQ and felt the belly churning dread that at some point everyone here is going to find out who you really are, this episode is just for you. We are talking about the secrets and lies of feeling like an imposter. This is one of the more insidious aspects of self-doubt - this sense that underneath everything you are a fraud and you are just waiting to be found out.

In this episode, we talk about where this concept first arose, the misconceptions of it, and I share a process you can apply straight away to begin to shift your approach to feeling like an imposter.

Liz Keifer has been a professional actor for over 30 years as well as working as a Director and Acting Coach.

Liz played 'the girlfriend' on Happy Days, Family Ties, Cheers and 21 Jumpstreet and countless movies before securing the part of Blake Thorpe in soap opera Guiding Light where she stayed for 17 years.

Liz talks about her experience of the brutal audition process, trusting your own voice (while playing a role) and being fired from jobs. She shares what this has taught her about how to become rejection proof.

In this interview with Professor Tom Schuller about his latest book The Paula Principle, Tom talks about how and why women tend to work below their level of competence.

Back in the 1960s. The Peter Principle (four-million-copy bestseller), argued that male workers will inevitably be promoted to one level BEYOND their competence. 

After decades of research in adult education, Tom found the consistent opposite pattern for women. Regardless of the attainment levels achieved, the organisations values espoused – women work BELOW their level of competence. 

This is where unconscious bias and workplace culture, meets our own experience of self-doubt. A must-listen for every employee!

Resources:

• Tom’s website
• Tom on Twitter
• The Paula Principle

In this first episode, I introduce myself, the intention of Courage & Spice and what the research tells us about the important purpose of self-doubt (yes, it has a use!). We talk about the relationship between our personal experience of self-doubt and what our culture stands to gain from our worries and fears. We also look at The Five P's, so you can uncover and name how you tend to respond to self-doubt.