When the Taliban returned to power, Soomaya Javadi’s future as a dentistry student and a woman in Afghanistan was in peril. Her Hazara ethnicity further jeopardized her fate, belonging to one of the most targeted ethnic groups in the country and one historically persecuted by the Taliban during their initial rule in 1996. Facing looming oppression, Javadi made the difficult decision to depart her homeland, one that carried immense danger and uncertainty. Listen about her nail-biting race to Pakistan, which forced her to pass through various Taliban checkpoints.

Soomaya Javadi

Well-behaved women rarely make history – as someone once said – difficult women do.
In this new LBC new podcast, Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women, Rachel will be talking to women who had to be a pain in the backside to get where they are today. 
Women who take the word difficult as a compliment not an insult. And women who had to fight, resist, insist, or otherwise be badly behaved in order to get things done.

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"Go forth and be fabulous!" Strap in dear listener for our most raucous episode yet! The inimitable Kathy Lette is this weeks difficult woman, done with her flirty fifties and well into her sexties, Kathy's new book explores the discrimination women face as the age, and how to have fun regardless!

Kathy Lette's advice on aging with style!

I don't have a single bad word to say about this weeks difficult women... not least because she may well be listening! Gillian Reynolds, the Doyenne of Radio, has been a radio critic for over 57 years and what she doesn't know about this industry ISNT WORTH KNOWING. A woman who is nearly older than radio itself has quite the insights into everything from podcasts to the age old rivalry of Nick Ferrari vs James O'Brien...

What the Godmother of Radio REALLY thinks about podcasting...

"We are frozen in a trauma that has now become our reality" This week's difficult woman may well be one of the strongest I have ever met. The terror attack of October 7th changed thousands of lives; Rachel Goldberg is one such life. Her son, Hersh, was kidnapped and remains a hostage inside Gaza to this day. Our conversation was a fascinating insight into the daily turmoil that she has to reckon with, holding on hope that she will maybe, one day, see her son again.

Rachel Goldberg's 208 days without her son

When something goes wrong, you don't take it lying down" This week's difficult women is Patsy Stevenson. She is a writer and campaigner who was catapulted into the public eye after being arrested at the vigil for Sarah Everard back in March 2021. The stark image of her arrest was splashed across every paper in the country and for many, it laid bare the oppression they had been facing in silence for years. She has now pivoted her life to champion women in STEM as the AI revolution comes upon us. 

Patsy Stevenson on the arrest that catapulted her into the public eye

"He brought in a Psychiatrist to sedate me and handcuff me" From a Bareback Cossack to an abusive Russian Oligarch, Alexandra Tolstoy has lived one hell of a difficult life... Related to the great Russian author Leo Tolstoy, Alexandra has written of her many horseback adventures. She was also in a relationship with the Russian Oligarch known as 'Putin's Banker', with whom she has three children, though escaping his control proved to be her most difficult time yet... 

Soomaya Javadi

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