Did you find what you love, by chance? Do you struggle to leave your comfort zone? Can you bring creativity into any industry that you are in?

For the second episode of season seven, we were joined by illustrator Irene Koh to speak about how she stumbled into what she loves.

Irene used to have a passion for dance, and it was only an unfortunate injury that stopped her from pursuing this path. Irene said that she lost what she loved and that it took a while for her to bounce back from such a situation. However, a friend recommended Irene to take up drawing; this was when she found a path that she would fall in love with. From there, she left the financial services industry and turned her moment of boredom into a moment of excitement. Since making the jump, Irene has started her business creating clothing and accessories using her designs and achieved milestones that even surprised her.

In this conversation with Irene, we spoke about leaving comfortability, what she finds most rewarding with illustration and if being an artist is a non-essential job.

Topics covered

Why do you do what you do?

Starting in the financial services

The moment of boredom

Going into illustration

Leaving comfortability

What you find most rewarding about illustration

When you don't feel like drawing

Milestones taking us by surprise

Is being an artist a non-essential job

The golden rule for pursuing a passion

What does passion mean to you

This podcast is hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media.

Are you avoiding a creative scratch that you need to itch?

Do you struggle to accept yourself?

Have you found ways to release your inner child?

In the first episode of a brand new season of this great podcast, we were joined by fashion designer Caro Gomez.

Born in El Salvador and coming to the United Kingdom a few years ago, Caro craved to be a creative artist. Yet, she was holding herself back as she didn't believe she was the creative soul that she really was. It was until one event and failing like her job wasn't fulfilling her that she decided to scratch that creative itch that needed scratching. From then on, Caro has gone on leaps and bounds pursuing her passion, where she has been awarded the "Ones to Watch" title by the Sustainable Lifestyle Awards and won Fashion Designer of the Year for the LUKAS 2019 awards. Her fashion pieces allow you to feel like a Goddess and embrace your inner self.

In this conversation, we touched on how we enable joy in our lives, internal and external validation and pursue our passions during tough times.

Topics Covered

Why did you crave to be a creative artist?

What held you back from pursuing your creative pursuits?

Noticing internal and external validation

Rejection spurs us on to pursue our passions

When did creativity knock on your door

Enabling Joy

Pursuing our passions during tough times

What does passion mean to you

More from Caro

https://carogomez.com/

https://www.instagram.com/carogomez_joywitch/?hl=en

https://linktr.ee/carogomez_london

This podcast is hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media

Have you struggled to have perspective during dark times? Do you find it hard to process what you are going through? Do you have a golden rule when pursuing a passion?

For the last episode of season six, we were joined by content creator Rian Harvey to speak not only about his love for creating media but his love for helping people.

Like many of our guests, Rian has gone through a lot. He has had cancer twice and was given a second chance at helping people. Throughout his life, he has always wanted to be that helpful person who could use his platform for good and serve the community. He has seen the power of the community, and his perspective on the world change for the good through his own traumatic experiences. Rian has learnt all about having perspective in dark times, acknowledging how he feels whilst remaining optimistic and processing his feelings before speaking. His page, the 'L Card', has helped thousands of people understand what life is really like having cancer, and he is growing stronger and stronger while pursuing his passion.

In this episode, we covered Rian’s early roots of helping people, his cancer diagnosis and his golden rule of pursuing a passion.

Topics covered

The pursuit of your passion so far

Wanting to help people

Rian’s cancer diagnosis

Toxic positivity

The power of the community

Life post-cancer

Almost losing your life

The outlet you love to express your passion from

The golden rule to pursuing a passion

What does passion mean to you?

This episode was hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media.

Are you someone who struggles to know their tolerance? Do you know the importance of sucking less each day that passes? Have you struggled to niche down to what you really love?

In the fifth episode of season six, we were joined by entrepreneur, content creator and founder of Capsho, Deirdre Tshien.

As an overachiever and born with this inner curiosity, it seemed that it was destined for Deirdre to be her own boss. She had this untapped potential that needed to be unleashed, and it was clear that her original path in banking was not for her. Four businesses, five podcasts and a quarter-life crisis later, Deirdre has found what she loves through the power of niching. She has used her curiosity to unweave what she loves into a beautiful passion, where she helps podcasts fulfil what they love to do. It has been a rollercoaster of a journey for this entrepreneur, with many lessons you will learn in this episode.

In this conversation, we covered Deirdre’s curiosity, what being in debt can teach you and sucking a bit less daily.

Topics covered

Why do you do it

Curiosity: a blessing or a curse

The power of niching

An overachiever

What being in debt can teach us

Knowing when to move on

Sucking a bit less day by day

What does passion mean to you

More from Deirdre

https://deirdretshien.com/

https://www.instagram.com/deirdretshien/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/deirdretshien/

This podcast is hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media

Do you struggle to know what matters and what doesn't?

Are you trying to be someone else where it is clearly not working?

Have you found it hard to find gifts in hardships?

For the fourth episode of this season, we were joined by therapist, poet and podcaster, Jacky Power, to learn more about her passions.

One of the many things you will learn about Jacky through this conversation is her desire to unlock the human experience through what she does. Whether that be through her work as a therapist, poet or podcast host, it’s clear that she is on this mission to help others not feel alone. However, what stood out from this episode was understanding what matters and what doesn't. That is a clear cost to our passions that we don't want to express, but it was demonstrated when chatting to Jacky and how this is a constant feeling with what she does. Yet, with her podcast 'The Therapeutic Poet' being nominated for the Moment of Touching Honesty category at the International Women’s Podcast Awards and also performing at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, clearly, a lot of what Jacky does, matters.

In this conversation, we touched on Jacky’s poetry, the values we should explore when pursuing our passion and the cost to her passion that nobody sees.

Topics Covered

The one thing people should know about you and your passion

Was poetry always your passion

Vulnerability

Times of challenge

Conversations on the therapeutic podcast

Values during the pursuit of your passion

The cost to your passion that nobody sees

What does passion mean to you

This episode was hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media.

Do you struggle to find stillness during your busy life pursuing your passion? Are you unsure when things come to their completion point? Have you struggled to detach from things that no longer serve you?

In the third episode of this season, we were joined by mindfulness expert Neil Seligman to discuss his many passions, including mindfulness, unfolding human potential and the pursuit of excellence.

Neil had a fascinating upbringing with a variety of different experiences. If that was due to his dad being a pilot, his mum being a stewardess or going to summer camp as a general counsellor in the United States; he is an individual with a diverse amount of experience. He was at some stage destined to remain within the barrister profession, yet it came to him that it was not what he was supposed to be doing. As he said in the conversation, it was as if his potential or what he was supposed to be doing was in another field. That field was mindfulness and ultimately helping individuals and business unfold their potential and pursue excellence. Even though he did not feel it was a decision to change from lawyer to mindfulness expert, it seems that whatever change it was, it has benefited tremendously for Neil. Since then, he has set up 'The Conscious Professional' and become a well-known international speaker with many keynote speeches worldwide.

In this conversation, we spoke about what is mindfulness, switching paths and the debate around the feeling of an imposter.

Topics covered

What is mindfulness?

Upbringing

Switching paths

How to detach from things in our lives?

Unfolding human potential and the pursuit of excellence

A mindfulness expert

Why shouldn't we view the feeling of an imposter as neither a good nor bad thing?

What does passion mean to you?

More from Neil

https://neilseligman.com/

https://www.instagram.com/neil.seligman/

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeilSeligman/featured

This episode was hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media

Have you struggled to put yourself out there, despite the opportunities and growth it provides you?

Do you struggle to accept your perfectionist mindset?

How would you describe a life well lived for your passion?

In the second episode of season six of In Pursuit of Passion, we invited Dan Clines to speak about his passion for craftsmanship. What was fascinating about Dan was that his passion came from the fact that he needed to buy furniture for a new house that he and his wife were moving into. From that point of Dan buying furniture to now, the craftsman has been pursuing a passion he sees doing for the rest of his life. Dan is someone with a perfectionist mindset and has found a way to balance that in a way that has benefited him and his craftsmanship business. Despite being scared of putting himself out there, if that is through social media and competitions, he has benefited tremendously from doing such a thing.

In a unique episode for this podcast where we have never spoken to an individual from such a background, this conversation will help you understand the desire for woodworking, why you shouldn't cut corners with your passion, and so much more.

Topics covered

A life well lived for your passion

The desire for woodworking

How would those close to you describe you?

Can being a perfectionist be too much for us?

Why do you want to do your passion for the rest of your life?

Scared of putting yourself out there

Achievements

What does passion mean to you?

More from Dan

https://www.instagram.com/clines_crafted_woodworking/

https://taplink.cc/clines_crafted_woodworking

https://www.clinescraftedwoodworking.com/

This episode was hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media

Have you struggled to take on your trauma?  Are you the type of person who has judged yourself through adversity? Have there been times when you struggled to get unstuck from a situation?

Back with another season of this great podcast, we had the chance to interview Brooklin Bowdler about her passion for content creation.

When you explore where Brooklin comes from and her upbringing, you would assume she had it all. A dad who started the Rockwall and living in the United States creates a picturesque lifestyle in your head. Yet, it was the total opposite of that. Brooklin has gone through a traumatic experience of sexual trauma and told her story so openly in this episode. Her motivation behind telling her story is so that no one else will feel alone as she did when going through such a traumatic experience. She is now on a mission through content creation to share her experience and inspire others to walk through their trauma and walk to the other side of these experiences. With her book All in Your Head coming out soon, Brooklin is a person worth keeping an eye on as she pursues her passion.

In this episode, Brooklin talks about her motivation to tell her story, how trauma is everywhere and how to process adverse experiences.

Topics covered

Why did it take so long for content creation to be a passion

The motivation behind telling your story

All in Your head

Trauma is everywhere

Getting unstuck

Walking through your trauma

Processing adverse experiences

What does passion mean to you

More from Brooklin

https://www.instagram.com/being_brooklin/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@being_brookin?lang=en

This podcast was hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media

Are you somebody that has empathy but you don't know how to express it? Have you felt unseen and unheard with whatever you do? How do you describe the pursuit of your passion so far?

In the last episode of season five of this great podcast, we were joined by the founder of Socolo, Chantal Gagnon.

Chantal was always a creative person, whether it be because of her upbringing with creative parents, her neurodiversity or other experiences. Yet, she did not know how to express her creative mind and showcase her talent. Chantal has felt misunderstood not only because of her dyslexia and Irlen syndrome, but also regarding what she truly cared about. Then came along Socolo, a coloured notebook business helping those who love coloured paper, that she founded in February 2021. Chantal is now helping so many people feel seen with her business, has helped understand what she truly loves and has found alignment that does not feel like an uphill battle.

In this episode, we covered with Chantal how people would describe her, the ups and downs of starting a business and Chantal’s favourite part of her passion.

Topics Covered

How would people describe Chantal?

Living with dyslexia and Irlen syndrome

Feeling misunderstood

Socolo

What is Chantal’s favourite aspect of her passion?

How would you describe the pursuit of your passion?

What does passion mean to Chantal?

More from Chantal

https://socolo.co.uk/pages/about-us

https://www.instagram.com/so.co.lo/

https://www.tiktok.com/@so.co.lo

This episode was hosted by Hamish Hallett and produced by Empart Media

Have you interrupted your purpose, and you do not know how to gain it back? Do you struggle to reframe the stories that you have told yourself? Are you someone who feels like they need to overcome everything?

In the fifth episode of this great season of In Pursuit of Passion, we were joined by comedian, disability advocate and writer Nina G.

Her dream of becoming a comedian almost didn't happen. During her early years, she often saw her stutter as a barrier to getting into what she truly loved and how she often felt shame about this and her other learning disabilities. She faced adversity, and the signs of her learning disabilities were just the tip of the iceberg. Under this iceberg, thoughts of self-doubt, imposter syndrome and all sorts of negative and set beliefs existed. Yet, when Nina attended a conference for people who stutter, she realised that she could become the person she wanted to be, which was a stand-up comic. Since that conference, she has sold-out shows, written many books and learnt so many things on her pursuit of her passion. From this conversation, it was clear that we learnt so much from Nina, such as reframing the stories we tell ourselves, not interrupting our purpose and not having to overcome everything.

In this episode with Nina, we spoke about how she grew up with multiple learning disabilities, how Nina's stutter led her into comedy and what passion means to her.

Topics covered

Why did Nina’s passion for comedy almost not happen?

Growing up with multiple learning disabilities

Nina’s stutter leading her into comedy

Open conversations about disability through comedy

Neurodivergent masking

Lessons

What does passion mean?

More from Nina

https://www.ninagcomedian.com/home

https://www.instagram.com/NinaGcomedian/

https://www.tiktok.com/@ninagcomedian?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

This podcast is hosted by Hamish Hallett and is produced by Empart Media