Imogen White is one half of Hello Polly Copywriters, a dynamic copywriting duo setup during lockdown to help businesses communicate their messages clearly and concisely through their written content.

Mia Preston recently opened her latest business venture Pod Central, a Japanese style compact hotel in the heart of St Leonards. Pod central provides high quality overnight accommodation at a budget cost with energy saving technology making it a more sustainable hotel model.

We discuss the process of starting the business and I find out about creating a startup with no expectations or attachment to outcome.

Mia has had a fascinating career which has balanced her sharp intellect and keen thirst for understanding with a big heart and a desire to care for and help those who are less fortunate than her.

Her career began with an engineering degree, she followed her love of making and building things. She discovered that she was the only female on the course and when she finished she became a design and technology teacher. 

She explains that she likes engineering because it combines science and art, and found that there is creativity in building a bridge or a road as well as rules. We also dig into the dogma of infrastructure and how things may appear that they change but in fact the bigger picture often remains the same.

When she started to have a family she changed career direction to find something that could fit around the demands of a busy family life and so became a clinical aromatherapist which she enjoyed for many years, working with hospitals and also as a private therapist.

We talk about what it was like to literally step into somebody else’s shoes when Mia spent a day in a wheelchair, deprived of her senses in order to really understand the experiences of the people that she was caring for and how it helped to cultivate an increased sense of empathy.

More recently she completed a Masters degree in Attachment Studies before embarking on her latest project, Pod central. 

I was fascinated to find out that we all have behavioural adaptations in our life which were developed in childhood and that these play out in our adult life whether we are aware of it or not and Mia shares how she explored this while completing her Masters in Attachment Studies.

In this episode we talk about how she has an innate love of learning and enjoying new experiences but gets bored of sameness quickly and so has had a varied career. 

Finally exploring spirituality and how Mia coped with a 10-day vipassana (silent retreat) and confronting hidden parts of herself. It helped her to  understand how she fitted in the world.

Plus a lot more!! 

Damien Pestell met and interviewed Mary Barrett who is the owner of Little Fusion Kitchen, a fusion pop-up in The Jenny Lind pub, Old Town - Hastings. 

Mary bravely decided to start her own business in the middle of lockdown. As circumstances had it, she was working part-time in the pub and they realised they needed a kitchen to keep operating under the new government guidelines in Dec 2020.

Seemingly 5 mins later the kitchen, which was a disused staff room had been gutted and fitted out with a kitchen and Mary was operating a take-away and eat in service for customers.

I went along to try the food not long after I had interviewed Mary and to say it was exceptional would be an understatement. Mary is a talented chef and a brave business owner at a young age, definitely one to watch for the future.

Listen to this podcast if you are interested in how to start up your own food business and want to hear a genuinely lovely human story. 

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This week on the HIPCast, we have some great stories for you!

If you’d like to support all the brilliant work the HIP team is doing, you can join the Friend Scheme. For a price of a cup of coffee each month you can help keep us going. You can find out more about that on the website, which is hastingsindepdendentpress.co.uk

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Nicki Oloyede is the founder of Missy Mop Fabrics, a sustainable fabric company based in Hastings. The business is named after the nickname Nicki’s mum gave her when she was a girl after her wild & crazy hair.

Launched in 2019 the company sources and sells leftover fabric from the fashion industry, which would have otherwise been sent to landfill.

Nicki has Nigerian and German roots and had a colourful childhood surrounded by adults wearing clothes from these cultures with interesting colours and different styles.

In this episode I talk to Nicki about her varied career and finding her passion in the thrill of seeking unusual ‘dead-stock’ fabrics as well as the great satisfaction she gets when her customers select a fabric they might not usually wear.

We talk about how living in an entrepreneurial town has helped nurture her business and how Hastings is a place where people can and do re-invent themselves.

We find out that our paths actually crossed in 2009 when we both worked for a large telecoms company, although we never actually met.

We also talk about how she used a pop-up format to establish her business and why it was such a great way of testing the business concept. How pop-ups could be used to rejuvenate towns across the country to nurture startups and give towns a stronger identity & sense of community.

Finally we talk about how the fashion industry is changing and why doing work that we really, really love is so important, that when we do this it gives us the energy and drive to succeed.

The latest Hastings Independent Press is out! Go to Hastings Independent Press to find out where to pick up your free copy; how to sign up to the Newsletter and how to support our work as a volunteer-run community newspaper by becoming a Friend for no more than the cost of a cup of coffee! Get in touch with your news and ideas and suggestions! 

Alice Hull is the co-founder of 55 prints - Screen Printing based in St Leonards. We met in her studio amongst the printing equipment and smell of inks to speak about starting your own business & her journey so far.

In this episode we talk about how she stumbled into screen printing and that initially she didn’t really know what it was or why she was doing it. She has since found that she loves working with artists to bring their work to life and now has a creative outlet which she can really express herself through.

Alice later found out that she also had a family link to the trade. Her grandad was Tristram Hull, who set up a famous screen printing studio in 1960’s London which became a real hub for local and international artists.

Screen printing is part art, part science and the skill of the printer is in getting the right balance between ink and mesh to achieve a product which meets the expectations of the client, they collaborate with artists on their work and are very much a part of the creative process.

For more details see @55printson Facebook.

Go to www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk to find out where to pick up the latest copy of the community newspaper; to support our work as a Friend for the price of a coffee; to sign up to the newsletter; or to read any of the articles on the website. 

HIPcast 180 serves up delightful voices: Pasha Milburn, Food Editor; Kent Barker, Arts Editor; Lisa Golden, podcast volunteer; Hugh Sullivan, News and Sports Editor; Fiona McGarry, Arts Editor; and Pete Donohue, poet and Literature Editor. 

Go to www.HastingsIndependentPress.co.uk to volunteer, to sign up as a Friend of HIP or to sign up for the newsletter. All articles referred to relate to the print/website version of HIP 180.

Enjoy!  

In HIPbiz #2 podcast Damien speaks with local entrepreneur Lisa Driver from @booyah_vitality about starting her business in the middle of lockdown, the importance of food as medicine and creating a community business with the whole family involved!

Lisa Driver is the founder and Managing Director of Booyah Vitality, a wellness drinks company based in Hastings. Booyah was born out of the pandemic which gave Lisa the impetus she needed to take the plunge.

Lisa is a keen ambassador for “food as medicine” and has worked in the health industry since 1995 as a naturopathic nutritionalist and nutritional fitness consultant. She also runs a popular pilates class on Hastings pier and when Lisa started selling turmeric shots to her members, an idea was born.

Booyah is a family affair and they each have roles within the business. Lisa is the guiding force while Phillip and their son are in charge of production and their daughter Phoebe looks after social media & logistics.

In this episode Lisa talks about the story of her business being born from home initially and filling her sons room with boxes, finding the right branding for her packaging which has helped establish the brand and how Booyah is above all a community business.

HIPbiz podcast opens the lid on the stories behind our local businesses, finding out how they have created work that gives them meaning and energy, run by one of our business writers Damien Pestell from @beyourbusinessuk and edited by @colden_drystone.

Consider becoming a Friend of Hastings Independent Press to support our community of volunteers. www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/become-a-friend/

In this episode of the HIPcast, host Lisa Golden brings you five stories from the most recent edition of the Hastings Independent Press.

You will hear from:

Felicity Laurence from Hastings Community of Sanctuary on the government’s new plans for refugees (HCOS website)

HIP News Editor Hugh Sullivan on low vaccination rates in Hastings

Gail Borrow from Explore The Arch on their new show Spirited (Book tickets)

Kate Moran from Hastings Older Women's Co-Housing on the importance of community (HOWCH website)

... and HIP Digital Editor Ben Bruges on filming 108 sun salutations in celebration of the summer solstice

More links:

Find out where you can pick up a copy of the paper - now in print www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/where-can-i-get-a-copy/

Consider becoming a Friend and support your community newspaper www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/become-a-friend/

Get in touch if you want to advertise with us www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/advertise-with-us/

Or sign up for the regular Newsletter www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/newsletter/

Damien Pestell speaks to local entrepreneur Penny Williams who is the founder of Blush Beauty, she found meaning in her work using beauty to give people confidence! It was always  a dream of Penny's to work with makeup since she was 6. She is passionate about beauty not being frivolous or superficial but an amazing source of goodness and happiness. She works with brides to be at their weddings and other events.

Damien Pestell is owner and founder of Beyourbusiness.co.uk