PowerUp!

“The more space and freedom people have to be themselves without worrying about someone else's narrative the better things will be.” 

 

Talking with Mara was like drinking a tall glass of refreshing agua fresca whilst receiving the wisdom of your ancestors. Mara Livermore is the creator of House of SweetWaters, a coaching, healing, and consultancy space dedicated to bringing transformational healing energy to individuals and businesses. She is a priestess of the water deities delivered to her through her Hoodoo ancestors and she specialises in elevating the sacred energy of Black and Afro/Diasporic people. Mara is here for anyone who is ready to disrupt the status quo by returning to their pre-colonial lineage practices. In her academic work she is writing on African traditional religions in anti-slavery resistance and you’ll often find her dancing and looking beyond the veil to receive high frequency insight for herself and her clients.

 

Share with us over on Instagram what your superpower is and how it impacts the way you move through the world. Tag us @powerup.podcast with #mysuperpower #poweruppodcast

 

Mentions:

https://houseofsweetwaters.co.uk/

Email: [email protected]

IG: @houseofsweetwaters @_maraelizabeth

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/maralivermore

The Heroines: https://theheroines.co/

Ritual Excel 

The Kongo Cosmogram

Black Joy by award-winning journalist Charlie Brinkhust-Cuff and Timi Sotire

https://wordery.com/black-joy-charlie-brinkhurst-cuff-9780241519660/GB?currency=GBP>rck=true&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-eeMBhCpARIsAAZfxZBJdMa4mDvU_1nIIxqKoUdGT0MYA95-kAbpyH_Vv2FDPdpon8ebz_4aAnFLEALw_wcB

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: www.wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma 

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

18 years of friendship (and counting) makes for a bloody good episode full of jokes, honesty, big-ups and vulnerability. We open the first episode in the Superpower series reflecting playfully and honestly about our superpowers, introduce you to #JOJ and of course talk about how unlearning helps feed your superpower(s) and can minimise you playing small or arriving at burnout. Ultimately how unlearning can support you to show up as your true superpower self. 

 

Let us know on Instagram what your superpower is and how it impacts the way you move through the world. Tag us @powerup.podcast with the following so we can read it #JOJ #mysuperpower #poweruppodcast

 

Mentions:

Coach with Ella www.mayagandaia.com

Create your Destiny - William Whitecloud https://naturalsuccessacademy.com/

Join the community www.wearewildwithin.com @wearewildwithin 

@readwithrougebookclub 

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: www.wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

Four friends of varying skin tones sit down to talk candidly about colourism and identity through our experiences growing up as teenagers in the UK, in the 90s to the present day. We talk about the importance of language and our collective responsibility toward learning and unlearning. Looking ahead to the next generation, we ask how we can pass on as much of our learning as possible for them to build upon?

 

If you are affected by anything discussed in this episode, we have provided links to organisations you may find helpful at the bottom of these show notes.

 

Mentions:

Kristel’s writing/appearances:

https://mediadiversified.org/2018/04/26/we-need-to-talk-about-light-skinned-privilege/

https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/02/mixed-up-yes-you-can-still-be-racist-even-if-you-have-mixed-race-kids-10840351/

https://mediadiversified.org/2018/02/27/stormzy-should-be-grateful-tell-the-daily-mail-shut-up/

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/cat-person-short-story-new-yorker-viral-what-men-should-take-learn-sexism-sex-consent-a8105421.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8rqQUaz3Hk&t=1857s

 

Why the term ‘white passing’ can be problematic for mixed-race people: https://metro.co.uk/2021/05/06/what-is-white-passing-and-is-it-problematic-for-mixed-race-people-14522039/

Halu Halo: https://www.haluhalo.org/

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet: https://amzn.to/3lN8njE 

The Mixed Bloom Room: https://mixedbloomroom.com/

The Space Between Black and White by Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith: https://amzn.to/3voXAiY

The film Passing directed by Rebecca Hall, based on the 1920s novel Passing by Nella Larsen https://www.amazon.co.uk/Passing-Nella-Larsen/dp/0593437845/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=0593437845&psc=1

Book Layers of Blackness by Dr Deborah Gabriel FREE here https://layersofblackness.deborahgabriel.com/

 

Connect with Karla:

Website: www.artolution.org 

Email: [email protected]

IG: @artolution @kj3t (private profile so DM first)

 

Connect with Kristel:

IG: @kristel_etc

Twitter: @the_vajabond 

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge, @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma 

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

 

If you are or have been affected by any of the topics we've discussed in this episode here are some organisations you may find helpful:

 

www.oursocialtherapy.com

https://www.blackmindsmatteruk.com/

www.mind.org.uk 

www.ptsduk.org

https://www.haluhalo.org/

https://mixedbloomroom.com/

TW: In this episode we briefly mention George Floyd. If you are affected by anything discussed in this episode, we have provided links to organisations you may find helpful at the bottom of these show notes.

 

“To know better is to do better...You can’t go back.”  

 

We discuss Dance Artist, Creative director & changemaker Iris De Brito’s new and important work, Skin (working title) looking at how and why colourism is the motivation behind her piece. We also talk about our own experiences of colourism growing up in London, Kent, Bristol and Portugal.

 

Mentions:

Iris’ website: https://www.irisdebrito.net/

IG: @irisdebritouk

FB: Iris De Brito Full

Salsa UK

Andrea Stewart http://www.andreagstewart.com/

Negra by Victoria Santa Cruz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZBHvMaTiuU

Natives by Akala https://wordery.com/natives-akala-9781473661233?cTrk=MTg5ODM3MzY2fDYxN2RjNDFhMGMyNTU6MToxOjYxN2RjNDEzOTFlMTA2LjQ2Nzk1OTk5OjI3MmZjMmU2

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge, @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

 

If you are or have been affected by any of the topics we've discussed in this episode here are some organisations you may find helpful:

 

www.oursocialtherapy.com

https://www.blackmindsmatteruk.com/

www.mind.org.uk 

www.ptsduk.org

https://www.haluhalo.org/

https://mixedbloomroom.com/

Welcome to Season 3! We know - when did Season 3 happen?! We open this season talking with Dr Emily Zobel Marshall, Author, Poet, Activist and Reader in Postcolonial Literature at the School of Cultural Studies at Leeds Beckett University. We discuss colourism through the lens of her grandfather - the author Joseph Zobel who was considered 'too black' in the Martinique, her Caribbean grandmother's attitude to race and the pigmentocracy in the Caribbean, and her experiences as a light skinned mixed race woman in the UK today. 

 

Her research specialisms are the cultures and literatures of the African Diaspora and she is widely published in these fields. She develops her creative work alongside her academic writing and has had poems published in the Peepal Tree Press anthology Weighted Words (2021), Magma (‘The Loss’, Issue 75, 2019), Smoke Magazine (Issue 67, 2020) and The Caribbean Writer (Vol 34, 2020, Vol 35, 2021 & Vol 36, 2021). 

 

She is Vice Chair of the David Oluwale Memorial Association, a charity committed to fighting racism and homelessness, and a Creative Associate of the art-based youth charity The Geraldine Connor Foundation.

 

If you are affected by anything discussed in this episode, we have provided links to organisations you may find helpful at the bottom of these show notes.

 

Mentions:

Black Shack Alley by Joseph Zobel https://tinyurl.com/d6v9pkwy

Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri https://tinyurl.com/ys5u88yn

La Rue Cases Nègres (film) by Joseph Zobel https://tinyurl.com/3k9nk64r

Halu Halo IG (An honest exploration and celebration of being mixed race, in all its forms) https://instagram.com/halu_halo

Franz Fannon; Black Skin, White Masks; https://tinyurl.com/532vc4w

Anansi's Journey: A Story of Jamaican Cultural Resistance by Emily Zobel Marshall; https://tinyurl.com/e992hxy9

American Trickster: Trauma, Tradition and Brer Rabbit by Emily Zobel Marshall; https://tinyurl.com/45pftzrh

 

Connect with Emily:

Professional Profile: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/staff/dr-emily-zobel-marshall/

Twitter: @EmilyZMarshall and @CarnivalCultr17

IG: @dremilyzmarshall

Caribbean Carnival Cultures website: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/research/centre-for-culture-and-the-arts/caribbean-carnival-cultures/

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge, @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma 

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

 

If you are or have been affected by any of the topics we've discussed in this episode here are some organisations you may find helpful:

www.oursocialtherapy.com

https://www.blackmindsmatteruk.com/

www.mind.org.uk 

www.ptsduk.org

In our final episode within the Play series we’re joined by Artist/Confluencer Bryan Aldea and Designer Maker and 3D Workshop Instructor Sami Lovett as we chat about their journeys into living more collaboratively playful lives via virtual and hands-on play. 

 

AND it’s a SUMMER OF PLAY! Which means COMPETITION TIME!

**Enter our very first PowerUp! competition to WIN a free signed copy of Playworker, Community Organiser and Author Adele Cleaver's new book Children don’t dissolve in the rain (UK postage only) - visit @powerup.podcast @adeleplayworker, @ama.rouge or @ellamesma on instagram and look for our SUMMER OF PLAY posts. All entry details are in the caption, best of luck!**

 

Mentions:

Sami’s website: www.makersatthemill.co.uk, www.justlovettdesign.co.uk 

IG & FB: @justlovettdesign @makers.at.the.mill 

LinkedIn: Sami Lovett

Sami’s email: [email protected]

Bryan’s email: [email protected] 

IG: @whoabry

A Jellyfish Lovesong http://ellamesma.co.uk/a-jellyfish-love-song

Burning Man https://burningman.org/

Topia https://topia.io/

Pervasive Media Studio https://www.watershed.co.uk/studio/

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge, @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma 

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

“Maybe the reason why people think there’s a crucial difference between play and being a child and adulthood is this idea of stakes...the stakes are so high [etc]...but once the stakes are gone you really see people flourish...once we take away the weightiness of things.” 

 

In this episode we’re joined by dad, teacher, human Ben Asiedu and mum, intuitive therapist & spiritual life coach Danielle Byars as we talk play and parenting. Are they mutually exclusive? How do you find harmony? Can we let go of gender when it comes to play?

 

AND it’s a SUMMER OF PLAY! Which means COMPETITION TIME!

**Enter our very first PowerUp! competition to WIN a free signed copy of Adele’s new book Children don’t dissolve in the rain (UK postage only) - visit @powerup.podcast @adeleplayworker, @ama.rouge or @ellamesma on instagram and look for our SUMMER OF PLAY posts. All entry details are in the caption, best of luck!**

 

Mentions:

Dani’s email: [email protected] 

IG & FB: @lionesswellness 

FB Group: 'Mums Seeking Magic', Website coming soon

Carol Dweck Growth Mindset https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/

Carol Dweck Growth Mindset book https://amzn.to/3BC73WD

Growth Mindset and Resilience resource pack https://amzn.to/3y1CQOI

Ido Portal http://www.idoportal.com/

The Matrix (1999)

William whitecloud https://naturalsuccessacademy.com/

The secrets of natural success https://amzn.to/3kONUuL

Adele Cleaver www.bigblueplay.org/shop

Butoh explained  https://thetheatretimes.com/butoh-japanese-dance-darkness-helps-us-experience-compassion-suffering-world/

Butoh & Gender https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/arts/dance/queer-butoh-virus.html

https://www.critical-stages.org/3/femininitymasculinity-beyond-the-border/

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge, @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

Safe. Unrestricted time. Unburdened - conditions we recognise we need to be able to play. What conditions do you need? How do you play? And how can you have more play in your life? In this episode we talk intimately about our individual relationships with play, and how play connects to intuition and pleasure.

 

REMEMBERING it’s a SUMMER OF PLAY! Which means COMPETITION TIME!

**Enter our very first PowerUp! competition to WIN a free signed copy of Adele’s new book Children don’t dissolve in the rain (UK postage only) - follow @powerup.podcast @adeleplayworker, @ama.rouge or @ellamesma on instagram and look for our SUMMER OF PLAY posts. All entry details are in the caption, best of luck!**

 

Mentions:

The Neuroscience of Play by Dr Stuart Brown, Founder of National Institute of Play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrw68eID4Zk

Gendowlyn Smith, An insiders view of Play Well, Wellcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/XfpagxEAACEAG0W0

Ella Canta - Mexican fine dining https://www.ellacanta.com/

Danielle Lioness Wellness Email [email protected], IG & FB @lionesswellness

Kid In You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh77cUr0pk4, IG @kidinyou

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge, @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

“When you recognise that there’s all these different ways to play, you can see how play comes into your daily life but maybe you don’t recognise it as play…play builds so much resilience in us”

 

In the playwork world play is a set of behaviours that are: freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated. Join us as we chat to the brilliant and incredibly knowledgeable playworker, author and community organiser Adele Cleaver about the different types of play, trusting ourselves to play, our barriers to play, how we can play more (which we feel we all need living through a pandemic and multiple lockdowns) and how artists can get past themselves and truly play to arrive at a desirable end result - without the focus being on the end result!

 

**Enter our very first PowerUp! competition to WIN a free signed copy of Adele’s new book Children don’t dissolve in the rain (UK postage only) - visit @adeleplayworker, @ama.rouge or @ellamesma on instagram and look for our SUMMER OF PLAY posts. All entry details are in the caption, best of luck!**

 

Mentions:

IG: @adeleplayworker 

Website: www.bigblueplay.org

Buy Adele's book Children don’t dissolve in the rain from www.bigblueplay.org/shop

Bob Hughes' 16 play types: http://theinternationale.com/papers/PlayworkPrimer_2010.pdf (this is part of the Playwork Primer by Penny Wilson)

Playing Out: https://playingout.net/

If you want to hear more from Adele listen to The Parent Journey Podcast. This episode is all about play: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2BMnZbEsOL3VSDxOGU4tGC

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron: https://amzn.to/3q6V3XS

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @powerup.podcast @ama.rouge, @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @powerup.podcast @Ellamesma

FB:@EllaMesma 

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team

We dare you to reach the end of this episode uninspired! We chat with incredible human and artistic director Nadia Iftkhar about creating what you want to see when there’s no blueprint, leading intuitively, co-creation; and how intrinsically it’s linked to the identity of Company of Others. 

 

Nadia is the founding Artistic Director & CEO of Company of Others, a North East based dance theatre organisation which collaborates with people who have experience of being ‘othered’ by the society we live in, to co-create dance theatre experiences which highlight and share stories of the human experience through their lens. As a choreographer she is interested in how we physically unlearn, learn and share our stories. 

 

She is proud to be Co-Vice Chair of Newcastle East mixed multi Academy Trust.

 

Mentions:

Company of Others: https://www.companyofothers.org.uk

IG: @company_of_others

Twitter: @company_others

What is Being Positively Productive? - Scroll back and listen to episodes 14 - 17

Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_your_elusive_creative_genius

 

Connect with us:

Ama Rouge Website: wearewildwithin.com

IG: @ama.rouge @wearewildwithin @readwithrougebookclub @rougedoesfood

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ama-rouge-870b60138

FB: AmaRougemoves

 

Ella Mesma Website: www.ellamesma.co.uk, www.mayagandaia.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mesma-b6071320/

IG: @Ellamesma 

FB:@EllaMesma

 

Music by Tomo Carter IG: @tomocarter

 

Everything else brought to you by us, the PowerUp! power team