For many neurodivergent people, the question is never just how to succeed, it is how to exist in systems that were never designed with them in mind.

In this episode, I’m joined by Kenneth Pennington, who shares his journey from corporate HR to building his own brand, “It’s Just a Fish.” We explore what it actually means to be neurodivergent in professional environments, from being labelled disruptive or aggressive to navigating the exhausting reality of masking. Kenneth explains how neurodivergent people often develop a heightened ability to sense patterns, behaviours, and underlying dynamics in a room, even before anything is said. We also talk about the tension between self-expression and social expectations, including the idea of the “corporate sieve” and why not every environment allows for full unmasking. This conversation also challenges the idea that neurodivergence should excuse harmful behaviour, while still advocating for self-awareness, communication, and support systems that actually help people thrive.

If you’ve ever felt like you had to shrink, mask, or constantly adjust yourself just to fit in, this episode offers a more honest and nuanced perspective on what it takes to navigate the world as a neurodivergent person without losing yourself in the process.

Connect with Kenneth Pennington: 

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

https://www.instagram.com/its_just_a_fish/

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast. Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self!

She was told she was not good with words, yet today’s guest was able to build a life around language and poetry. 

In this episode, I sit down with artist, poet, and former healthcare think tank leader Leslie Reed. She shares what it was like growing up unable to read out loud in class, being told she was not smart despite a high IQ, and struggling with spelling across multiple languages. We talk about how dyslexia shaped her relationship with language, not by taking it away, but by deepening it in unexpected ways. Leslie also reflects on her career in philanthropy, where she thrived in big-picture, visionary work but felt the pressure of performing and fitting into expectations, and how stepping away from that world led her back to creativity, poetry, and a more authentic way of expressing herself.

If you have ever felt like your struggles with words meant something was missing, this conversation offers a different perspective, one where dyslexia and creativity are not in conflict, but deeply connected.

Connect with Leslie Reed

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslie_reed_art/Berkeley Wall + Piece: Graffiti Poetry  https://tinyurl.com/fm4wxnc5

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast. Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self!

What if we stopped calling it neurodiversity and started calling it what it actually is — human diversity? 

In this episode, I sit down with Joyce CoomberSewell, a 71-year-old late-diagnosed neurodivergent powerhouse. We Talk about her mission to shift the conversation from “neurodiversity” to human diversity, and her belief that visibility and representation are what move the needle, just like they have in other rights movements. Joyce also shares the real barriers to supporting neurodiverse people, not just logistics and resources, but fear, stigma, and the way society still tries to hide what it does not understand.

This conversation goes deep and wide, from disability access and simple accommodations that change lives, to identity, grief, resilience, and what it means to be “out and proud” at any age. And at the heart of it all is Joyce’s mantra, one that feels like both a call-in and a rebellion: Be kind.

If you are navigating late diagnosis or wondering whether you should pursue one, this episode is a reminder that it is never too late to reclaim who you are, and that we all deserve to be met with dignity.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why autism diagnosis is harder for older women (and what’s broken in the system)

08:00 PhD motivation: credibility, visibility, and getting into bigger rooms

13:10 “Neurotypical doesn’t exist”: the case for human diversity

14:10 Supporting high needs disability and why society still fails people

17:15 Fear, prejudice, and the myths people believe about autism

22:00 Representation, visibility, and what rights movements teach us

Connect with Joyce Coomber Sewell

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

https://training.coombersewell.co.uk

https://coombersewell.co.uk

[email protected]

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast. Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self!

The traits that made you feel like you didn't fit in when you were young, the ones you tried to hide or shrink, are the same ones that become your superpower as an adult.

In this episode, I sit down with Pete Daly-Dickson, an actor, director, producer, and former software entrepreneur who was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 55. Pete shares what it felt like to always be told to sit still and stop being so much, to internalize the message "don't be you," and what it has taken to unlearn that decades later. We explore his decision not to take medication, choosing instead to manage his ADHD through awareness and self compassion. Pete opens up about the daily practices that ground him now, creative visualization with his wife, and finally doing the things he had known about for forty years. He reveals his big bold wish to become a happy, healthy, connected, international wealthy artist, and walks us through the specific visualization of his short film being selected at HollyShorts, hearing the words "and the winner is."

If you have ever wondered what might have happened if you had taken a different path decades ago, if you are still unlearning the message that who you are is not good enough, or if you have ever needed permission to slow down when everything in you wants to speed up, this conversation is a reminder that it is never too late to become all of who you are.

Episode Highlights: 

00:00 Curiosity as a Superpower

23:14 ADHD Triggers and Rumination

26:12 Childhood Messages and Late Diagnosis

31:24 Strengths, Business, and ADHD Myths

54:45 Space Creates The Artist

Connect with Peter Daly-Dickinson

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

https://thewealthyartist.com/

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

 If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast.  Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self! 

Sometimes the skills that scare you most, the ones that could make you seem ruthless or cruel, are exactly the ones that need the strongest guardrails and the clearest purpose.

In this episode, I sit down with Ravinol Chambers, a monk turned filmmaker who spent seven years in spiritual practice across East Africa, India, Ireland, and England before building Be Inspired Films, a company helping purpose-driven organizations tell their stories. Ravinol shares how he discovered his capacity for ruthless focus in school debates, the moment he realized he could bring people to tears without even trying, and why that scared him enough to choose a path with guardrails. We explore compartmentalization and why danger feels life-affirming instead of terrifying, how his son's autism and ADHD diagnosis led to his own recognition, the difference between being consumed by work and being grounded in your body whilst staying spiritually connected, and why learning to hold two contradictory truths at once might be the most important skill we can develop.

If you've ever felt pulled between two completely different paths, if you've recognized skills in yourself that could be used for harm and had to learn how to channel them towards good, or if you're learning that being grounded in your body is just as important as any spiritual practice, this conversation is a reminder that the wildest journey often makes the most sense in hindsight.

Episode Highlights: 

00:00 How He Went From Being a Monk to Filmmaker 

12:55 Risk Taking and Dopamine

22:26 Hyperfocus and Task Switching

39:25 Getting Equipped with Tools for Emotional Regulation

50:52 Compartmentalizing Trauma

58:42 Unmasking Work and Burnout

Connect with Ravinol Chambers

www.linkedin.com/in/ravchambers

www.instagram.com/beinspiredrav

Resources Mentioned: 

Be Inspired Films 

www.linkedin.com/company/be-inspired-films

www.instagram.com/beinspiredfilms

www.beinspiredfilms.co.uk

Neurodiversity animation 'Jack's story'

vimeo.com/1084303873/c7f6bf2d52

Widgit Brand film 'Bertie's day out'

www.widgit.com

vimeo.com/1134188093/ccddbd14b0

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

 If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast.  Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self!

Sometimes it takes burning out at 43, sitting on a couch for two weeks unable to unpack boxes, to finally realize you're not failing. You're just living in the wrong system.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ghiselle Panneflek, a GP, hormonal expert, and nature-based therapist who grew up in Curaçao and now works in the Netherlands. We talk about how she had to see everything in 3D images in her mind to understand medicine whilst her classmates just memorized from textbooks, why she believes sensitivities aren't flaws in the organism but signals that the environment needs changing, and what happened when she burned out at 43 after years of masking and winning "Oscars in life" for being someone she wasn't. 

If you've wondered whether your sensitivities are trying to tell you something about your environment rather than something wrong with you, or if you're navigating the intersection of hormones and neurodivergence, this conversation is a reminder that success without exhaustion is possible. You just have to stop living in a system that wasn't designed for you.

Episode Highlights: 

(00:00) The moment she realized she could see what others couldn't

(20:06) Designing sustainable work when you can't turn off pattern recognition

(23:40) Burnout at 43: Two weeks on the couch unable to unpack boxes

(27:45) Nature as medicine: Forest bathing and phytoncides

(33:46) Alignment over discipline: The mind trick that changes everything

(43:56) Redefining success: Good things without the exhaustion

(45:39) Perimenopause as the moment neurodivergence gets unmasked

Connect with Ghiselle Panneflek

https://drghiselle.com/

https://instagram.com/dr.ghiselle

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com
 If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast.  Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self!

When you see the world in blueprints and everyone else sees chaos, being different isn't wrong. It's just a different operating system.

In this episode, I sit down with Consuela Esseboom, a psychologist, corporate EQ specialist, and founder of The Village. We talk about being diagnosed with autism at three and having a mother who decided she'd "grow out of it," why not having labels hurt in some ways but helped in others, and what she calls "outsider privilege." Consuela shares how she sees the world in blueprints, scanning every environment like a machine creating a 3D model, why deep processing means she can breathe underwater but drowns at the surface, and how she's learned to live her life in seasons. We explore the loneliness of high intelligence, why she's attracted to people who are puzzles to solve, her mission to create a library of knowledge on how to human better, and why friendship and communication should be taught in schools.

If you've ever felt like everyone else had a manual to life that you didn't receive, if you process everything more deeply than those around you, or if you've had to find your own creative ways to fit into systems that weren't designed for your brain, this conversation is a reminder that different isn't wrong. It's just different.

Episode Highlights: 

(00:00) From psychology to corporate EQ and teaching people to human better

(07:19) Why having labels hurt but also created "outsider privilege"

(10:50) Seeing the world in blueprints through pattern recognition

(26:28) Purpose over IQ and why giftings serve a mission

(35:53) Feeling like an outsider who didn't get the manual to life

(42:26) The Village mission: mental health resources for African and Caribbean communities

(48:58) Living life in seasons and organizing procedurally not taxonomically

Connect with Consuela Essebom

https://www.instagram.com/consuelaesseboom/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/consuela-esseboom/

Say Yes to The Therapist: https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/tickets-say-yes-to-the-therapist-1981498184410?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

 If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast.  Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self!

In a world obsessed with categorization, refusing to fit neatly into any single box becomes the truest form of resistance.

In this episode, I sit down with Bashair Ahmed, a researcher, practitioner, and academic working at the intersection of humanitarianism, policy, diaspora, and migration. Bashair shares why she connects dots across data points from ten years ago, how her brain works like nodes linking fragmented information, and why she believes neurodiversity is essential because "we would still be in the caves without fire" if everyone thought the same way. We also talk about her mission to drop the word "disorder" from neurodivergent diagnoses, what complementarity means in a society obsessed with individualistic competition, and how she's learning to set boundaries so she can be present for her family whilst doing work she deeply cares about.

If you've ever felt pressured to choose just one identity, to mask in professional spaces, or to explain why you can't just "fit in," this conversation is a reminder that the boxes were never designed for people like us. And refusing to squeeze yourself into them isn't defiance. It's survival.

Episode Highlights: 

00:00 Cultural Perspectives on Neurodiversity

32:20 Global Perspectives on ADHD and Neurodiversity

37:54 Work Culture and Inclusivity

46:07 Challenges of Neurodiverse Parenting

55:19 The Importance of Neurodiversity Advocacy

Connect with Bashair Ahmed

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bashair-ahmed/

https://shabaka.org/

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

 If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast.  Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self! 

The rules of success didn't change. You just finally found a room where your natural way of being was the winning strategy.

In this episode, I sit down with Laurie Mabelis, a speaking coach, entrepreneur, and founder of the Public Speaking Academy. We talk about the moment someone told her without invitation that she had ADHD, and why her first reaction was defensiveness rather than relief. Laurie shares how she went from being the quiet, introverted kid who felt invisible to becoming the most recognisable person in her class when the environment finally matched her energy. We explore burnout, what rest actually looks like when you're ridiculously passionate about what you do, why she integrates everything in her life rather than separating work from play, and how she sees magic shows as the perfect metaphor for public speaking.

If you've ever been told you're too loud, too excitable, or too intense, or if you've struggled to understand why some rooms celebrate you whilst others shut you down, this conversation is a reminder that the problem was never you. It was just the wrong set of rules.

Episode Highlights: 

(00:00) Why the ADHD label felt like judgment

(17:00) Growing up misunderstood in a radically different family

(20:00) Finding rooms where you are celebrated 

(43:00) Redefining success from sprinting to running marathons

(54:00) Magic shows as public speaking lessons

Connect with Laurie Mabelis 

https://lauriemabelis.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-mabelis-53a45b117/

https://www.instagram.com/lauriemabelis/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv9KhgV9orRc1J2spJncc5Q

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

 If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast.  Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self! 

What if the confidence you're trying to project isn't about faking it, but about finally learning to listen to what your body has been telling you all along?

In this episode, I sit down with Claudia Kratzheller, a former professional dancer, leadership facilitator, and now coach specialising in somatic intelligence and voice work. We talk about how being labelled "the complicated one" as the youngest of three sisters led her to find expression through dance, a space where she could be unfiltered, joyful, and deeply connected without needing words. Claudia shares how her decades-long journey with the body has informed everything she does now: helping people bridge the disconnect between mind and body, teaching them to read rooms not just intellectually but somatically, and showing up with the kind of grounded confidence that comes from truly inhabiting yourself.

If you've ever been told you're too much, struggled to know which version of yourself to bring into a room, or wondered how some people manage to show up so fully present whilst you're still trying to crack the code, this conversation offers a different map. One where your body isn't a problem to manage, but a guide you've been overlooking.

Episode Highlights: 

(00:00) From dancer to leadership facilitator: Claudia's body work journey

(08:00) The jumpy mind: Knowing when to share the "whole load"

(09:00) "The complicated one": Finding expression through dance

(17:00) Boxing, dance, and high-pressure performance

(35:00) Natural strengths: Connecting people and unexpected ideas

(44:00) The self-consciousness trap: When body awareness changes everything

(48:00) What parts of yourself feel impossible to hide at work

(52:00) Why we suppress the quirky, wilder parts of ourselves

Connect with Claudia Kratzheller

https://body-linguistics.com/

Connect with Me

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

https://www.aniahulsman.com

 If this episode spoke to you, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. It would mean the world to me personally, and it really helps others who need to hear these kinds of stories to find the podcast.  Until next time, stay messy. Stay magnificent and stay true to your weird, wonderful self!