Daria Khrystenko fled her home in Kyiv on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine 3 years ago. 

She, her then 10 year old son, her mum and her 3 cats travelled to Poland where Daria now works with CARE Poland, as a translator and advocate, helping other refugee women rebuild their lives.

Daria told me about the day the war broke out, and how she packed and left home in 20 minutes. She explained how she tries to create a new stability for her family in Poland and how she longs for fair peace in Ukraine.

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Susie Crow runs a small business called Let Us Pretend, in which she ‘makes sparkly things’. I have bought wonderful brightly coloured, fringed capes from her which say ‘Happy New Year!’ and ‘Happy Christmas!’ She also makes personalised banners. 

Originally from Newcastle, Susie now lives in Sussex and has three children and a creative job that she loves. And she is the only person I can think of who has more sequins in her life than I do!

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Actress Tuppence Middleton is perhaps best known for playing Lucy Branson in Downton Abbey.

She has a little girl with her Swedish husband and divides her time between England and Sweden.

I spoke to Tuppence the week before her memoir Scorpions was published. It’s a highly personal book about living with OCD and it really helped me understand the day to day complexities of dealing with OCD and with emetophobia - the fear of being sick.

We also talked about how OCD has given her a greater empathy for other people, and how it means she is always prepared for the worst case scenario.

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arlene Phillips is a choregrapher who has been at the top of her game for most of her 81 years.  

She has worked on the choreography for numerous adverts, musicals, film and videos.

She has two daughters: Alana who she had early in her career when she was just about to go to Hollywood to make a film with the Village People called 'Can't stop the Music', and then she had her second daughter Abi when she was 47, when she actually thought her symptoms meant she was entering the menopause.

We spoke at Arlene's house, and she told me how she lost her mum at the age of 15, and that her career path feels like a series of Alice in Wonderland moments that were magically presented to her.

She also described how back in the 1979, the Hollywood film producer Allan Carr (iconic producer of Grease) greeted the news of her - his choreographer - becoming unexpectedly pregnant, with the offer of a nanny, a PA, a Winnebago on the film set, and a birthing guru called JIm! To say I'm envious is an understatement!

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Princess Superstar is an American rapper and DJ. She and I are ‘Saltburn sisters’ as we both had our songs featured in the film, which gave them their exciting resurgence of popularity last year.

Princess Superstar has a 13 year old daughter, who she homeschooled till the age of 11, believing that mainstream school doesn't nurture a child's unique creativity.  

She also shared with me how, after 10 successful years, she suffered with crippling writer's block in 2010. But she started writing again after she had her daughter and is just about to bring out a new mix tape called The Serve, with the first single Goddess coming out at the end of February. We agreed it should be included in my fantasy project Perimenopop!

She talked to me about how she embarasses her daughter with her stage outfits sometimes. That's definitely another thing we Saltburn sisters have in common!

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abbie Ward is a professional rugby union player who plays at international level for England and at club level for Bristol Bears.

Abbie grew up in Cumbria in a very active family and tried out many sports before discovering rugby which she describes as a love affair she didn't see coming!

She is married to former Harlequins hooker Dave Ward, who is also her head coach, and together they have a daughter Hallie who was born in the summer of 2023.

Abbie trained up till 3 days before she had Hallie by C-section and was back at Bristol Bears 2 weeks after the birth. She remains in regular talks with England about how to make her career work alongside bringing up Hallie, who is no stranger to the dressing room or to being carried onto the pitch by her mum before a match. Hallie shows no fear of a huge, loud rugby crowd - and is living up to her name, which Abbie and Dave have found out means 'Ruler of the House'! 

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Megginson (@sarahmegginsonmoney) is an editor and personal finance expert from Australia, who has co-written a book called The Power of Two. 

She has three children (Lila 14, Noa 11 and Jesse 9) and she was a surrogate mother for her friend Lisa’s baby in 2023.

Baby Hugo is now 18 months old and Sarah explained to me how he feels like a nephew to her, although she carried and gave birth to him for her friend.

We talked about her surrogacy journey and how it has been a positive and ‘expansive’ journey for herself and her family.

On top of all of that she shared some very wise tips with me, about how to talk to your children about money!

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh mezzo-soprano classical singer from Neath. She won Welsh Choirgirl of the Year aged 10, and became more widely known when she sang at Westminster Cathedral in 2003 to mark the Pope’s silver jubilee. Since then she has released numerous classical and classical crossover albums.

When we met last week Katherine was heading to the studio to work on a new album. She continues to write, record and perform concerts all over the world.

She has two children: Aaliyah aged 9 and Xander aged 6. She told me how she tries to keep them grounded, and enjoys Friday night dance parties with them. Now that sounds familiar!

Katherine spoke movingly about losing her Dad aged 15 and how she still has a word with him to this day, just before any performance.

We also spoke, singer to singer, about how we look after our voices. Katherine has 24 hour voice rest before any performance. I definitely need to up my game. Although, I’m not actually sure I could stop talking for 24 minutes, let alone 24 hours! 

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cat Sims @notsosmugnow is a content creator, author and influencer, and mum to two daughters aged 8 and 11. On Instagram she takes an honest look (often with a big dose of humour) at motherhood, the mental load, relationships and more recently, sobriety, as Cat has just celebrated 3 years of being sober.

We talked about how doing reels and tiktok is like doing therapy for Cat. She shared how she suffered with post natal depression and has more recently had a late diagnosis of ADHD at the age of 40. We also touched on rhe difficulty of saying sorry, having a home birth, and Chris Jenner, amongst many other things, in this very open, wide-ranging and honest conversation.

Cat and I also have something big and personal in common: we both fell in love with redheaded bass players! 

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Singer Pixie Lott has had a ’crazy, happy time’ this past year: having a baby, bringing out a new album ‘Encino’, and moving into a family home near her mum, dad and siblings. 

We talked about how we both started in the music industry when we were teenagers and realised we share the same work ethic of ‘just keep turning up’. We also discussed the joy and the worry that comes when we say no to a gig, and how we look after our singing voices. Let’s just say, Pixie does it a lot better than me! 

Pixie's new album, the first for 10 years, touches on the themes of love, family, mental health, nostalgia and also meditation. Meditation is something Pixie discovered when going through a tough time, and found very helpful. To this day she still practises it whenever she can.

When Pixie came to my house to record this chat, her mum Beverley came too, to look after her gorgeous little one year old Bertie. And while we talked, two of my (rather bigger) sons demonstrated their wrestling techniques for him… ha ha! …sorry about that Pixie! 

Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.