This week I chat with the fantastic Gaylene Gould, cultural ambassador for London, creative director, presenter, cultural critic, interview host and writer. We chat about many things, including how hope and despair can and do exist alongside each other, how important it is for us all to accept "we are flawed... we will always be doing stupid stuff and we will always be doing amazing stuff"  and how we must "have love for the fact that we are idiots, truly embracing the dark AND the light in us" ... which can then unlock "a deep well of hope"

We chat about Gaylene's journey as an artist  "a black girl from a council estate who didn't leave school with much"-  her time at the BFI as head of programming, her love of curiosity "the only thing we should guided by" and her passion for London.

In response to Black Lives Matter, Gaylene with friends and collaborators, began a project called Labours of Love- highlighting and championing black racial justice organisations in the UK, because, as she says "I wanted to give and I wanted to know who to give to."

We conclude by discussing utopia, and Gaylene's hopes for a future whose "chief rate of exchange would be love"

To find out more about Gaylene's work go here

More soon!

Love Bernadette

My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is  out 10th September 2020. This podcast series is a chance for me to chat again to some of the people who I interviewed for the book, as well as some people who I didn't have the chance to. I hope you enjoy it. 

You can find me here www.bernadetterussell.com

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