Show Me The Way

Leaf Arbuthnot, journalist and author of Looking for Eliza

Leaf Arbuthnot is a journalist, editor and author based in south London. She has written primarily for the Sunday Times for the past 5 years and has interviewed the likes of Prince Charles, Jilly Cooper and Hilary Mantel. Her work spans everything from divorce parties to wild swimming and her first novel Looking for Eliza came out in May 2020. The book tells the story of a widow and a student who form a friendship amidst the cathedral spires of Oxford. It's about connection in solitude - topical in the light of the lockdown era in which it has been released.

Debut novel from Leaf Arbuthnot

On this episode we talk about how she came to write the book and get it published; how writers have to be unapologetic about "selling their wears" on social and how challenging that can be for some; how the lockdown could produce quite a "large pile of introspective male fiction about tortured men" and her recommendation for Emmeline's bookshelf.

Leaf's book Looking for Eliza (out now) Leaf's recommendation for Emmeline's bookshelf: The Glass Essay by Anne Carson

Kat Mason is the Wine Communications Manager for Cloudy Bay - probably the best job title ever. She promises it's not all glamorous but when she describes sipping something chilled and sparkling whilst in helicopter passing over glaciers you can't help but feel she might be lying a bit.

She's an old friend of mine from university and her passion for grapes was borne there when she saw an opportunity to get a free ticket to the best party of the year (and the most expensive) St John's College May Ball by being the drinks' officer for the event.

From that first tasting she was hooked and the business has taken her from the leafy subarbs of Essex to the dramatic landscapes of New Zealand where she now lives with her daughter and boyfriend.

In this episode we talk about the rise of women in the wine business, a notoriously closed gentlemen's club in the past; the debate around natural wine and her recommendations for delicious tipples for Summer.

More about Kat:

After university she decided she wanted to work in wine. She went to London to work and put myself through my initial wine exams but was made redundant and ended up living back at home in Essex and working for a local company there. That ended up being the best decision she had ever made because her time at Lay & Wheeler Wines was a grounding in all aspects of the business. She won a scholarship to travel to Marlborough in New Zealand and over the course of three weeks fell in love with the region and the industry. A year later she moved her husband, daughter and life to New Zealand to work for the Seresin Estate founded by Michael Seresin, a Director of Photography who's work includes Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Harry Potter - The Prisoner of Azkaban and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes who is a passionate advocate of organic, natural, biodynamic wines. In September 2017 she joined Cloudy Bay.

Jessica Chivers is a psychologist, author and CEO of The Talent Keeper Specialists which supports employees and employers alike to get the most out of people returning to work after a break.

Jesssica talks from personal experience about having a child with special educational needs and explains that by having a trusting boss who enables flexibility you can to continue to work and achieve great things professionally.

In her own words "I really and truly would have had to resign over a year ago if I didn't work for someone like me" and she is on a mission to help other bosses wake up to the magic that can happen when you give your team flexibility.

We hope this episode will inspire managers to listen to those working for them who might have similar struggles in their families.

Her book "Mothers Work!" has been described as seminal reading for all people managers.

Book: Mothers Work! How To Get A Grip On Guilt And Make A Smooth Return To Work In this episode we discuss: - lowering expectations in order to cope with an SEN-child during lockdown and the importance of maintaining harmony and calm - the support network she has built to help her keep the family on track - the government suspending gender pay gap reporting and the importance of corporate memory so diversity and inclusion initiatives aren't forgotten - the opportunity to deepen and strengthen relationships through this time - when you disclose things abut yourself, they disclose to you and when you disclose to people you automatically like them more

We all want the best for our children and we all want to protect them from the worst but we could all be inadvertently handing them a bomb when we share too much, or anything, about them online. This is the message of the anthropologist Dr Veronica Barassi who spoke to me for Show Me The Way. She explains that the "more data we are producing about children, the more that we are creating them as datafied citizens and if we create them as datafied citizens, most probably we are stripping them of the right to self-define in the future". This could in turn impact whether they get health insurance, a loan..or even a job. Dr Barassi explores social media data, education data (like google classroom), health data and home data - so all the data gathered from digital assistants and AI within the home. It's important she believes, to emphasise it's about the amount of data that is being collected, not about the amount of data that is being shared. This is definitely worth a listen if you're in lockdown with your children, home schooling, distance learning, using Alexa to help with homework or even posting pictures on social media platforms. Child Data Citizen

Michelle Kennedy is the CEO and Co-Founder of Peanut - an app to help mothers connect. She is also a finalist for a Veuve Clicquot Bold Future Award 2020. The idea For Peanut was born when Michelle struggled to meet like-minded women when she had her first baby. This episode was recorded mid-March 2020 just before the UK (after much of the rest of the world) went into lockdown to help slow the spread of coronavirus. As families around the world found themselves adjusting to a new life of home schooling, childcare and co-working it felt timely to be discussing an app that was created to support women at times of great change. In this episode of Show Me The Way Michelle talks about: - how Peanut can connect women struggling right now with having their little ones at home due to coronavirus lockdown - how Peanut monitors its content so it's sensitive to users - if you're trying to conceive and login and see someone's successful pregnancy test you're unlikely to feel great so that app has markers in place to help you to avoid triggering posts - how she expanded in the US (and notoriously tough market to crack) - the difficulties female founders find in getting venture capital funding and how without women founders getting noticed we won't plug the gap - you've got to see it to be it. Where to find out more:

Peanut online Veuve Clicquot Bold Future award

TV money expert Gemma Godfrey shares her tips on how to afford the life you want.

Gemma has extensive experience managing funds for some of the world's biggest companies, and has a deep understanding of the way money works.

She has been named one of the most Powerful Women in London by City AM and one of the world's top 100 women striving to make the world a better place by the BBC.

In this episode of Show Me The Way she talks about the importance of recognising your personality and habits when mapping out your relationship with money; how to start investing and how it's important to know the differences and similarities between you and your partner's relationship with money before you make a lifelong commitment.

Gemma is a mum of two , her hair has its own twitter account….and she started out life as a quantum physicist! Gemma is Executive Editor of Times Money Mentor.

In honour of International Women's Day, creative network The Dots has launched its annual creative trailblazers list, shining a light on 100 women and non-binary people redefining the creative landscape. To mark the day and the list Show Me The Way speaks to founder and CEO of The Dots Pip Jamieson about who she thinks are those to watch in 2020. Pip founded The Dots in 2010. It's an online network that has been dubbed "the LinkedIn for creatives" or for "no-collar workers". She is unusual in the tech sector being someone without a computer science degree who trained as an economist and mathematician. In this episode she talks about the challenges faced by women seeking funding in the tech sector, the importance of partnership and support to help your business succeed and her houseboat Horace. For more about the list and a showcase of the dazzling work of women and non-binary on The Dots network, click here. Twitter: @Pip_Jamieson Website: The Dots Instagram: @Pip_Jamieson_

Lucy Kerbel is the founder and director of Tonic, an organisation that works across theatre, dance and opera and the broader creative industries with a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion. She's written two books relating to her particular specialism of gender equality. In this episode we talk about: - how an incident in the playground incited her activism - the arts world post #metoo - identifying intrinsic rather than extrinsic value - spreading contagious change

Lucy's books: 100 Great Plays For WomenAll Change Please Twitter: @LucyKerbel

Hattie Morahan is one of Britain's greatest actors. She left Cambridge with a degree in English and won a part in the RSC company. She has gone on to win the best actress gong at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her portrayal of Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House and has starred alongside Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in Golden Compass, Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast and Keira Knightley and Matt Smith in Official Secrets. In this episode she talks about navigating an industry that's not a meritocracy - "fundamentally we're used to seeing more male bodies on stage than female bodies" - conversations that are happening about safe space in the wake of #metoo - "I did a read-through the other day and there was a 20-minute powerpoint presentation on harassment" - and how her attitude to work has shifted since becoming a parent. Bio: Hattie Morahan