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Forum Radio this week is a conversation between Jessica Fellowes, co-founder of Forum 500, and Velitchka Hristova. Multi-linguist Velitchka has over 20 years experience in wealth management, and has recently established Sineva Family Office, based in Vienna, with much travel in the Balkans. 

In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how to raise financially aware children and Velitchka's work as a 'money coach,' which means helping people to establish what their relationship with money is, and how it affects the way they spend and invest it. 

Velitchka also talks about how she enjoys the challenges of the family dynamics, and working with families to establish what they want their money for. 

"You've bought everything that you could possibly need, and you're getting to a stage in your life where, from a purely developmental perspective, it's not the objects that you could purchase that really matter and the aesthetics, but more questions of how you show up in this world. How are you perceived by those around you, your family? What is your impact? Do you want to have an impact?"

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers

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Jessica Fellowes talks to Dr Rhea Kotecha (Dubai) about health, longevity and the best porridge to start your day! Rhea studied pre-medicine and psychology at Boston University before completing her medical training as GP in the UK. Rhea's career began under high pressure, as a junior at Lewisham Hospital when COVID first struck. The healthcare system at that time informed the changes she subsequently made to her practice, and now, with a master's in nutrition and studying for a PhD in Functional Foods, Rhea's prescriptions for her patients include supplements, 'exercise snacks' and recipes. 

"If I look at myself in the last decade and what I am now, I feel like I'm much stronger, much more cognitively resilient and I'm about 20 times more productive than I was when I was a medical student going out drinking a lot and not eating as well, not prioritizing my health."

High Fibre Porridge:
Base
1 tablespoon hemp hearts/ seeds
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
30g oats
30g crushed walnuts
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
1 medjool date
1/2 a grated parsnip
1/2 a grated apple
1 tablespoon chia seeds

Extras
- vanilla powder
- cinnamon powder
- turmeric 
- saffron

Add it all to saucepan and add 1 cup of milk of your choice and cook for 20 mins on low heat

Fun toppings 
- stewed blueberries/ raspberries
- mix in cacao powder
- mix in matcha powder
- cook banana in butter and cinnamon (my favourite)

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney.

Music by Alex Vickers

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London Forum member Roy Moëd and his wife, Yvette Conn, are co-founders of LifeBook Memoirs, a private autobiography service that has produced over 20,000 books since its inception in 2011. They talk to Jessica Fellowes about the psychological benefits for their clients of writing out their legacies, often revealing things that no one in their family knew before!

Keen philanthropists and charity volunteers, Roy and Yvette have long and successful careers as entrepreneurs and in the City, respectively. But it's this second stage of their work, which they engage in together, that seems to bring them the most reward. 

'When you have someone with the emotional intellect and engagement actually interviewing, they're very adept at that. It's the hesitation, it's the sigh, it's the breath that someone takes before they answer a question that says a lot. AI can't do that.'

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers

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Elise Madrick (Chicago) talks to Jessica about the huge change she had to bring about in her personal and professional life, and how it led to her establishing Cerené, following her own career path at the Kellogg School of Management and training as a psychotherapist. Those who wish to have a transformation in their own lives are guided by Elise’s team over 108 days to manage the process. You’ll enjoy the story of the private jet salesman who became an actor in a Hollywood movie! Elise discusses how people sometimes hold themselves back from the success they deserve: 

"A lot of times it is past experiences and it's not just the experience itself. It really actually has nothing to do with that. It's the story that somebody makes up about the thing that happened and that story – they make it mean something about who they are and what they're of and what their life is for... Often what happens is people make up these stories that they are not good enough, that they're not worthy, that they don't deserve a life that is free and exciting and adventurous because of these things that have happened or the stories that they've made up about these things that have happened. And so our goal in working with them is, okay, how do we figure out how to let go of those stories?”

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney.

Music by Alex Vickers

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Daniel Bernard (Tel Aviv) has enjoyed over twenty years’ experience in the sports’ industry, having built operations, companies and platforms across multiple territories and jurisdictions. Born in London, he has lived in France, Spain and Italy, starting work in television for the Sports Channel. Now, he is looking to create a positive impact on people’s lives through sport, for children and adults alike, in parallel via commercial and philanthropic initiatives. At the heart of this, is Ride for Unity, bringing together business leaders, trailblazers and athletes around the world to cycle together, spreading values of diversity, tolerance, inclusion and sustainability. 

"What I keep telling a lot of people is that being involved in sports doesn't mean you have to be one of the starting eleven. There's a whole system that works around the field of play from broadcast to data to stats to food and beverage to hospitality. It's an enormous industry."

Music by Alex Vickers

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To begin 2026 and the third series of Forum Radio, we are delighted to be in conversation with our long-standing member and friend, Dr Efraim Chalamish. Condensing his CV is a challenge: Efi (as he is known) lives in New York with his family, but travels around the world frequently as an international economic law professor, advisor and commentator. He has been involved in legal practice in NY, Paris and Israel, teaches at NYU and is a Senior Advisor with Duff & Phelps/Kroll. 

During Forum in New York, Jessica caught up with Efi for a brief overview of the intersection between law and geopolitics, how best to bridge the gap between private sector and government regulation and his passion for taking complex systems and translating them into plain English. 

'I think instead of speaking about post-globalization or de-globalization, we actually speak about a new form of globalization. We speak about a world where governments focus on unilateral actions, bilateral agreements, regional partnerships... instead of working on mega agreements on a global scale where  politics and bad governance kills the chances of getting things done.'

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers

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In this episode, host Jessica Fellowes talks to Arnaud Saint Paul (New York/LA/Paris) during Forum 500 in New York. Arnaud's purpose is to help one billion people to open their hearts by pioneering his Heartful Method™. A philanthropist and award-winning serial software, finance, and social impact entrepreneur for more than 20 years, Arnaud has supported leaders around the world in building a heart-based economy — an ecosystem where inner alignment becomes the driver of outer success. This is a frank and insightful conversation,  full of warmth, too. 

'For me, it was essential to find a way to lead from my heart and not trust the mind that is very fickle. It's funny because this mind of ours is 5,000 times less powerful than the heart electromagnetic field, but we spend 99% of our time with it and on it, which is completely paradoxical, right? So that little thing that we call the brain or mind can only be used as a tool instead of being the whole landscape of my reality.'

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney.

Music by Alex Vickers

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Forum Radio talks to Simon Kaye, an Englishman in  New York. Simon is a third-generation transportation professional as CEO of Jaguar Freight, founded by him just over thirty years ago. In this episode, Simon talks about the challenges of international logistics and how these have changed in the last five years, as well as moving from a company that had several offices to managing an entirely remote team. 

'We do a number of things to ensure that we keep the company culture strong. We have regular all-company meetings but every Friday we all get together on a team call for a "rose and thorn" session, where everyone shares either a positive, a rose, or a negative, a thorn, about their week. It can be personal, it can be business, but it allows everyone to open up, to be vulnerable, and for others to hear what's going on in their colleagues' lives and people who they may not interact with during the rest of the week.'

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers

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Jessica Fellowes talks to David Kirshenbaum (Chicago), founder of MeadeCo, a Chicago-based merchant bank that works with companies on capital needs, business sales, restructuring and strategic connections. Given his extensive professional experience, we discussed the evolution of his career, what he's focused on now and how he believes larger economic and geopolitical trends are shaping the landscape. As well as the difficulty of describing what it is he does: 

"My family has a great deal of trouble understanding what I do, so it's down to 'Dad does deals.' I get approached a lot with, David, can you or do you know someone who can help me do fill in the blank? I've been able to do some very, very unusual deals in very short order because I generally always know a person to call."

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers

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Forum Radio this week talks to Patrick Aisher (Gstaad), an Anglo-Austrian entrepreneur who has been involved in early-stage ventures since 1990. Over the course of his career, he has created or invested in more than fifty companies and has seen exits through IPOs in London, New York, and Madrid, as well as multiple trade sales and licensing deals. Patrick is Chairman of Kinled Holding, a private investment company originally founded in Hong Kong, which now operates from offices in London, Shanghai, Vienna, and Zurich. Kinled holds a broad portfolio across life sciences, digital technology, and financial technology. 

Patrick is also a founder or partner in several independently managed funds in Europe and the U.S., and he’s involved in the Swiss Corporate Finance and Private Equity Association. We talked about his experience across global markets, how he evaluates early-stage opportunities, what trends he's paying attention to. 

"Entrepreneurs, whether they're scientists or engineers, clinicians or financial people, they're deeply committed to improving human life or financial systems. When you back people that have that level of purpose, good things usually tend to happen. They're very focused on what they want to achieve."

This episode was edited by Vanessa Heaney. 

Music by Alex Vickers