Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast

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Welcome to Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast.

This is a podcast about people, place and the stories we carry with us.

Hosted by Sukanya, each episode takes you outdoors on a walk that means something to the guest. There is no studio, formal interview setup and no need to have all the answers. We enjoy fresh air, conversation that flows as we walk, the occasional weather moment and space to properly hear someone’s story.

You’ll meet founders, creatives, community builders, leaders and everyday people doing meaningful things in their own corners of the world. Together, we talk about work, wellbeing, identity, belonging, courage, challenge and the things that shape us.

Rooted in Cumbria, but made for anyone who loves honest conversation and a good walk, this podcast is a reminder that your story matters more than you might think.

Pop your headphones in, come for a wander, and meet the people behind the stories.

About the Music:

Each season is supported by an independent artist, who shares their tunes, carefully selected to uphold the ethos of the pod, whilst sharing new sounds and supporting our community of creatives.

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

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 About This Episode 

What happens when you spend years being the person everyone brings their problems to, and you finally decide to solve them for yourself? That's exactly the journey Penny Millar takes us on in this warm, and quietly inspiring episode of Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast.

Penny is the franchisee of Pink Spaghetti Kendal, a virtual assistant business supporting small and medium-sized businesses across Kendal and South Lakes. But her path to where she is now wound through North London, a Scottish university, the post office, a busy M6 service station, seven years behind the bar at Bootleggers in Kendal, and nearly a decade at Mardix, a Cumbrian manufacturer whose workforce grew from 119 to nearly 800 during her time there.

She talks about missing her step-daughter's school Christmas play, and the quiet moment that changed everything. About the decision to take on a franchise rather than go it alone. About the joy she finds working with small business owners every day. And about why, when Pink Spaghetti encouraged her to put herself forward for an award, she paused to ask herself: do I actually need that? Or is the validation I need already there, in the clients who've stayed with her for six years?

Warm, funny, and full of hard-won perspective, this episode is for anyone who has ever wondered whether the winding path might actually be the right one.

In this episode:

🩷 Why Penny walked away from a fast-growing corporate career, and those moments with her step-daughter that made the decision for her 

🩷 The truth about going it alone vs. joining a franchise, and why the right support network changes everything 

🩷 What a virtual assistant actually does, and how to know if your business is ready to hand something over 

🩷 Why client loyalty beats a trophy on the shelf, and what real validation looks like when you're building something you love

About the Walk 

We walked from Skelwith Bridge to Elterwater along the River Brathay in the Lake District, a flat, accessible, gorgeous riverside stroll that starts (and ends) near Chesters, beloved by walkers and pastry enthusiasts alike. With waterfalls, lake views, and autumn colour all around us, it was a gorgeous setting for a beautiful conversation.

About the Guest 

Penny Millar is the franchisee of Pink Spaghetti Kendal, offering virtual assistant and back-office business support services to businesses of all sizes across Kendal and the South Lake District. With a background spanning administration, project management, service management, and team leadership, Penny brings warmth, professionalism, and deep practical experience to everything she does.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

📲 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it 

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...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

 About This Episode 

 What does rebuilding a life look like when you're doing it with two babies under one, no income, and a marriage that has ended? For Nadia Enver, it looked like getting off the floor, one choice at a time. 

In this episode, Sukanya walks with Nadia around Sizergh Castle, in the cold of October rain that really pushed them to keep going. Nadia is a fully qualified Financial Planner at St. James's Place, a single mum to two boys, a finalist in two major awards, and someone who has been through enough to know that rock bottom has a floor, and that the floor is a beginning, not an end. 

She talks openly about her divorce, her experience of depression, the diagnosis that reshaped how she talks about financial protection, and her mission to help women take control of their money and their futures. This episode covers financial planning in an accessible manner, emotional resilience, and a friendship between two women walking in the rain that feels completely real, because it is. 

  In this episode:

  •      How Nadia rebuilt her life from the ground up, from cabin crew and beauty salon owner to single mum of two, and finally to award-nominated Financial Planner, and why she says 2021 was the year everything changed 

 •      Why women and money is not a niche conversation, it's an urgent one, and the one cultural shift Nadia believes would change everything for the next generation of women 

 •      The personal health diagnosis Nadia received that reframed how she talks about financial protection, and the message she wants every listener to hear before it's too late 

 •      Why financial planning starts long before the numbers, and the one question Nadia asks every client that has nothing to do with money at all 

About the Walk 

 Sizergh Castle sits in the heart of the Cumbrian countryside, surrounded by sweeping grounds, ancient woodland. The walking routes around the estate offer a mix of open parkland and sheltered paths, beautiful in any season, and quietly breathtaking in autumn when the colours are doing their thing. 

About the Guest 

 Nadia Enver is a Financial Planner based in Carlisle, working with individuals and families on protection, retirement planning, and investment. With a background that includes cabin crew, entrepreneurship, and single parenthood, she brings a uniquely human approach to financial advice, particularly for women. She was a finalist (2025) in the She Inspires Awards (Women in Networking, Events and Hospitality) and the Women in Financial Advice Awards (Rising Star and Financial Adviser of the Year, North West). She also delivers financial literacy sessions in primary schools and runs workshops focused on women and financial empowerment. 

 About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

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Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

About This Episode

makes you happy? For 10-year-old Frankie Mac Miller from West Cumbria, it looks like climbing approximately 1,000 mountains before your tenth birthday, and then planning the rest of Europe.

In this episode of Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast, Sukanya walks with Frankie at Wastwater in the West Lakes, voted Britain’s favourite view, in a conversation that is joyful, surprising, and wonderfully energising. They talk about robotics competitions, releasing baby turtles in Costa Rica, ice axe technique on snowy mountains, the logistics of climbing Cerro Chirripó when you’re ten and not that keen on melted cheese or beans, and the reason Frankie is fundraising for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young): his best friend Zander, who nearly died from an undetected heart condition.

Frankie is funny, sharp, and warm. He gives excellent safety advice. He also climbs trees mid-episode, cos why not!

 In this episode:

•       From his first fell walk at three, and why the top still makes him feel astonished

•       The best friend whose near-death experience inspired his European Peaks Challenge for CRY

•       Baby turtles, a 3,800m peak, and very strong feelings about melted cheese

•       Why his FIRST Lego League robotics team might be heading to (possibly) Hawaii

•       The best advice you'll ever get about mountains, from a 10-year-old

About the Walk

Wastwater, West Lakes, Cumbria. England’s deepest lake, and the starting point for some of the most dramatic fell walking in the country, including routes up to Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain, which Frankie first climbed at the age of four. The walk follows the lakeshore, with views across the still water toward the Wastwater Screes and the fells beyond. Accessible, beautiful, and, as Frankie rightly notes, different every season. 

 About the Guest

Frankie McMillen is 10 years old and lives just 20 minutes from Scafell Pike. He has been climbing since the age of three, with his mum, Basia, who runs Hills and Skills, a guided walking company in the area. He has climbed Scafell Pike three times, reached Everest Base Camp, climbed Cerro Chirripó in Costa Rica, and is now working on the highest peak in every European country, including a trip to Finland’s Mount Halti. He is also a coder on his school’s FIRST Lego League robotics team, a goalkeeper-in-training, and a Manchester City supporter. He is raising money for CRY — Cardiac Risk in the Young, for his best friend Zander.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

📲 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it 

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Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

About This Episode

What does it really mean to fuel a human life, not just a training plan? In this episode, Sukanya walks Scout Scar above Kendal with Renee McGregor: sports dietitian, six-time author, and one of the UK's leading voices on athlete health, REDs, and the psychology of food. Over one of the most breathtaking viewpoints in the north of England, Renee shares her journey from a difficult childhood marked by racism, sexual abuse, and an eating disorder, to a 26-year career built on helping others find their way back to their bodies. Warm, honest, and full of practical insight, this is a walk and talk about belonging, healing, and what it actually takes to take care of yourself.

 In this episode:

•        What REDs (Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome) is and why it can affect anyone who is active

•        The psychology of food, and why you cannot separate mind from body when it comes to nutrition

•        Renee's own experience of an eating disorder, and what it was really about

•        Why therapy isn't about being fixed, it's about being understood

•        Renee's latest book, Fuel for Thought, the book she always wanted to write

•        The hill above Kendal that made her feel like she finally belonged

About the Walk
Scout Scar is a limestone escarpment above Kendal in Cumbria, offering a remarkable 360-degree panorama across the Lake District fells, Morecambe Bay, and the Yorkshire Dales. For Renee, it is her weekly sanctuary, the place she returns to after every London trip to reset, to breathe, and to find her feet again. It is also the walk that made her decide to move to Kendal. Gentle enough for a conversation, beautiful enough to take your breath away.

 About the Guest
Renee McGregor is a leading sports and clinical dietitian with over 25 years' experience working in performance and clinical nutrition. She is Nutrition Lead for the English and Scottish National Ballet, a member of the international task force for orthorexia, and one of the UK's most trusted voices on REDs, hormonal health, and the female athlete. She is the author of six books, including More Fuel You (2022) and Fuel for Thought (2024). She lives and runs in Kendal.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

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...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

 About This Episode

This International Women's Day, Sukanya gathered with 14 extraordinary women, non-binary and trans women from across Cumbria to explore what it really means to give, and what we truly gain when we do. In a conversation that was honest, courageous and at times emotive, the group explored three themes: giving voice to gain power, giving up silence to gain belonging, and giving support to gain community.

From women who rebuilt their voices after arriving in a new country with nothing, to a trans woman facing the real possibility of leaving the UK for safety, this is a conversation for anyone who has ever been told to stay small. And refused.

About the Event

This episode was recorded at a special International Women's Day gathering hosted by Carlisle International Women's Group and Woman Up, in Carlisle, Cumbria. Flipping the narrative of the PR company’s IWD theme for 2026's of Give to Gain, the session challenged this through the lens of the UN theme Rights.Justice. Action. Giving with intent. We brought together women from a range of backgrounds to share their stories, their struggles, and their hard-won wisdom. 

About the Panelists

Mina, Originally from a country where women's voices were silenced by both law and society, Mina has rebuilt her sense of self and community since moving to Cumbria. She is a powerful advocate for women's voices and uses her own lived experience to support others navigating the same journey.

Cynthia, Community connector, centre founder, and fierce advocate for belonging. Cynthia's story of building community in Carlisle from the ground up, and of reclaiming her own self-worth after hitting rock bottom, is one of the most compelling in this episode.

Fatima, A mother of four with a lifelong dream of opening a charity school for women in her home country, Fatima speaks about giving voice, choosing silence, and what it means to finally arrive somewhere where she can say: I have my own voice.

Emma, A trans woman and former ship's officer who transitioned 24 years ago. Emma's contribution to this episode is quiet, precise, and essential. She speaks about the impact of recent legal changes on her sense of safety in the UK, and what it has meant to find community through Woman Up.

You will also hear from Sam - founder of Woman Up, Tina and Adrienne, the forces behind Carlisle International Women's Group and other audience members.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

📲 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it 

 🔔 Turn on notifications for new episode alerts

Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

About This Episode

What do you do when a teacher tells you at 16 that you'll never make it, and you spend the next four decades proving them magnificently wrong?

In this episode, Sukanya walks the shores of Windermere with Alison Magee-Barker FIH, a hospitality powerhouse with 40 years of experience, a General Manager at 21, and now the founder and CEO of AJ Lakes Consultancy, AJ Lakes Training Academy and AJ Lakes Foundation. They explore what it really means to lead with heart, rebuild yourself from scratch, and back yourself when no one's watching.

Expect raw honesty, plenty of laughter, a story about skydiving with the American Olympic team, and a mission that refuses to think small.

In This Episode

•        The catering teacher who said she'd never make it, and the fire it lit

•        Running hotels like she owned them: Christmas magic, flooded cars, and the 5-second rule for turning guests around

•        The 'perfect exit strategy', why she made herself redundant after 34 years

•        Breaking down in a car park and the personal development journey that changed everything (Tony Robbins features)

•        ImmersiV XP: the VR hospitality training programme born from a game of Roblox

•        Running the Great North Run having never run a day in her life, twice

•        The AJ Lakes Foundation: Homeless into Hospitality

•        A mission to help a million people live their best lives

About the Walk

Wray Castle to the Windermere Ferry, a gentle, breath-taking stretch of the western shore of Windermere in the Lake District. Accessible, beautiful, and the perfect backdrop for a conversation about water, roots, and what it means to find the place where you belong. Alison, a self-described water baby, chose this walk for its restorative calm, and it delivered.

About the Alison

Alison Magee-Barker FIH is a multi-award-winning hospitality consultant, coach, trainer, and entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience in the industry. As the founder and CEO of AJ Lakes Consultancy, AJ Lakes Training Academy Ltd and AJ Lakes Foundation, she specialises in transforming hospitality and tourism businesses across the UK. Her mission: to help at least a million busy business owners, managers and teams live their best lives, emotionally, mentally, physically and financially free. She is also the developer of ImmersiV XP, a pioneering virtual reality training programme for the hospitality sector.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

📲 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it 

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Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

About This Episode

What happens when a lady who has spent 30 years caring for others finally turns that same care towards herself? That's the thread running through this deeply honest, beautifully rich conversation with Lara Roocroft, counsellor, trainee psychosynthesis psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and gong bath facilitator.

Walking the serene paths along High Dam Tarn in the Furness Fells, Lara and Sukanya explore the journey from survival mode to self-knowledge, the difference between fitting in and truly belonging, and why most of us, in therapy, in marriage, in life, seek help far too late. Lara also unpacks psychosynthesis (the psychology of hope), the power of self-compassion, epigenetics, sub-personalities, and the profound healing available when we are truly witnessed by another person.

Raw, warm, and highly relatable.

In This Episode

•        Growing up in Brazil to arriving in England at 32 with two young sons

•        What psychosynthesis is, and why it's called the psychology of hope

•        The connection between our inner dialogue and our physical and emotional health

•        Sub-personalities, the inner child, and self-compassion as a practice

•        Why community and belonging are biological necessities, not luxuries

•        Gong baths, chair yoga, and the healing power of being witnessed

•        Epigenetics, and why your DNA doesn't have the final word

 About the Walk – High Dam Tarn, Finsthwaite, Cumbria

High Dam Tarn is a tranquil reservoir-turned-nature-reserve tucked into the Furness Fells above the village of Finsthwaite, near Newby Bridge. The circular route winds through broadleaf woodland and up onto open moorland, with the tarn shimmering at its heart. On a clear day, you can see across the valley. In summer, you can swim. Lara calls it one of the first walks she discovered when she moved to the area three years ago, accessible, welcoming, and quietly extraordinary. 

 About Lara Roocroft

Lara Roocroft has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare, formerly as a nurse, now a counsellor, trainee psychosynthesis psychotherapist, a qualified yoga teacher of 10 years, and a gong bath facilitator. Originally from Brazil, she has lived in the UK for over 18 years and is now based in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria. She works with private clients from her consultancy room in Ulverston and offers yoga and gong bath sessions to elderly residents in local care homes.

About Sukany4 - The Podcast:

Sukany4 - The Podcast is a walking and talking podcast hosted by Sukanya, exploring business, wellness, creativity, and authentic living through conversations recorded while walking in the stunning landscapes of the Lake District and Cumbria. Each episode combines meaningful dialogue with the meditative rhythm of walking, creating a unique listening experience that invites you to slow down, reflect, and connect.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

📲 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it 

 🔔 Turn on notifications for new episode alerts

Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

What does it mean to truly take the first step? In this episode, we head out onto the hills above Ambleside bwith Ursula Brendling — fitness instructor, personal trainer, climate literacy trainer, and someone who has been moving through the world with extraordinary purpose for three decades.

 Ursula opens up about Long COVID and losing her energy and identity. About swimming across Windermere at sunrise and making a promise that changed everything. About pulling a car up Kirkstone Pass with 30 women, getting people with MS and stroke back on their feet, and why doing things for others gives her more satisfaction than any personal challenge ever could.

 We also get into mindset, social media, the comparison trap, and why finding what you love, and doing it for yourself, is the only real fitness plan that works.

 This is a conversation that will move you. In every sense.

 Walking Route

📍Kirkstone Pass

Starting Point: The post office in Ambleside

Route Highlights:  That 11 min bench(!), the tricep dip/push ups bench, the deceptively steep hill and the waterfall, leading you nicely to Force Café.

About Ursula

Ursula Brendling is a fitness instructor, personal trainer, teacher trainer and carbon literacy trainer based in the Lake District. Born in Nottingham, she has lived in the Virgin Islands, toured Australia, and spent time at Kakadu National Park before settling in Cumbria 25 years ago, where she and her then-husband ran the UK's biggest YHA hostel.

With 30 years of teaching experience, Ursula specialises in inclusive fitness, working with clients managing MS, stroke, and Parkinson's. She also organises charity car pulls up Kirkstone Pass for St Mary's Hospice, and works as a freelance trainer for Future Proof Cumbria, delivering carbon literacy workshops to communities, businesses, and young people across the county.

 Google 'Ursula Brendling' and you'll find exactly one person. That's Ursula.

About Sukany4 - The Podcast:

Sukany4 - The Podcast is a walking and talking podcast hosted by Sukanya, exploring business, wellness, creativity, and authentic living through conversations recorded while walking in the stunning landscapes of the Lake District and Cumbria. Each episode combines meaningful dialogue with the meditative rhythm of walking, creating a unique listening experience that invites you to slow down, reflect, and connect.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

📲 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it 

 🔔 Turn on notifications for new episode alerts

Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!

Send us Fan Mail

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Sometimes the universe speaks to us through the smallest messengers. For Judith Cook, that messenger was a snowdrop.

In this profoundly moving episode, recorded at the beautiful Hammond's Pond, Judith shares her journey from believing she had no right to exist to discovering her life's purpose in the most unexpected way. This is a masterclass in finding hope when everything feels hopeless.

You'll hear about:

• The moment the that pushed Judith toward a life-changing encounter with snowdrops
• How kindness became her medicine and her mission
• Why she then went onto sing in dementia care homes, bringing light to others' darkness
• Her book "The Gift of Human Kindness" and the philosophy born from her darkest days
• An impromptu, spine-tingling performance of "Climb Every Mountain" that captures her entire journey

Warning: This episode contains frank discussion of mental health struggles and suicidal ideation, but it's told with such grace and hope that it becomes a beacon for anyone struggling. Keep tissues handy, it's possible you'll need them.

Walking Route

📍 Hammond's Pond, Carlisle, Cumbria, England

Starting Point: Any of the entrances to the park will work

Route Highlights:  Hidden local gem. Along the route around the park you will find friendly ducks, peaceful waters, gentle walking paths.

About Judith

Judith Cook is the "Lass from Lancashire" who transformed her health journey into a mission of kindness.

A former Bluecoat entertainer who sang across the UK, she helps others with their mental health by spreading kindness, and lives by the philosophy she discovered in her darkest days: no one should be left alone to cope.

Author of "The Gift of Human Kindness," Judith believes in climbing every mountain and never giving up on your dreams.

About Sukany4 - The Podcast:

Sukany4 - The Podcast is a walking and talking podcast hosted by Sukanya, exploring business, wellness, creativity, and authentic living through conversations recorded while walking in the stunning landscapes of the Lake District and Cumbria. Each episode combines meaningful dialogue with the meditative rhythm of walking, creating a unique listening experience that invites you to slow down, reflect, and connect.

About the Music:

S3 Music partner is A Band Called Persimmon: https://www.youtube.com/@bandcalledPersimmon

Links:

For more on this chat and to connect, visit: www.sukany4.com

How to Support the Podcast:

💜 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

⭐ Leave a review - it helps others find these conversations 

📲 Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it 

 🔔 Turn on notifications for new episode alerts

Support the show

...Keep moving with Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast!