The Diverse Minds Podcast

Welcome to the 232nd episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast.  It is Race Equality Week, running from February 5th to 11th.

Race Equality Week is an annual UK-wide movement uniting hundreds of thousands of organisations and individuals to address the barriers to race equality in the workplace. 

This week, I am speaking to Nzinga Orgill, Founder and CEO of Avi-I Solutions to talk about equity in the aviation industry.

Nzinga Orgill has redefined the aviation landscape with her pioneering leadership. With nearly two decades of experience, Nzinga has transitioned from frontline roles at Heathrow Airport to reshaping the industry's future through Avi-I Solutions. 

Her impactful work not only champions accessibility, equity, and inclusion but also delivers substantial financial and reputation benefits for the organisations fortunate enough to collaborate with her.

Nzinga's commitment to inclusivity and innovation positions Avi-I Solutions as a trailblazer, not just navigating the skies but creating a future where every passenger's journey is an inclusive, enriching experience. Through her dynamic leadership, Nzinga sparks critical conversations, cultivates financial success, and elevates organisational reputations.

• About Nzinga and what she’s working on at the moment. [03:33]
• What the term “equity” means to her. [09:30]
• The biggest challenges for passengers accessing support in airports. [14:50]
• What airports can do to shift the status quo and integrate culture, legal resilience, and inclusion. [19:44]
• Her top three mental health tips. [28:16]

• I love the term equity.
• We are born different and we should be able to embrace our differences.
• People deserve to be sent off how they want to be sent off.
• I know that for many people, travelling can be stressful.
• Flying can be one of the most nerve-racking things that we do, but it doesn’t have to be.

• Visit Nzinga's website
• Follow her on LinkedIn
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 231st episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast and the last in the series on the heart and mind connection.

So, on today’s episode, I’m going to be reviewing the book Enchantment by Katherine May.

In today’s show

• About my TedX Wolverhampton talk. [00:55]
• A brief overview of the book Enchantment by Catherine May [01:25]
• What I liked about this book. [03:53]
• One thing I found frustrating about the book. [06:21]
• My takeaways from the book. [08:29]

• Not many of us have had a great start to 2024.
• Spending at least 120 minutes in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing
• Things that once brought me joy, made me feel incredibly flat.
• What I liked about the book was the accessible chapters on the themes of earth, water, fire and air.
• I think it was great to have the helpful and interesting insight into what reconnection looked like for her.

• Episode #89: Connecting with Nature and Mental Health
• Episode #123: Book Review: Wintering by Katherine May
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 230th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. We welcome the New Year with a series on heart and mind connection. I am speaking with Dr Magdalena Bak-Maier this week about healthy functioning with a heart and mind connection.

Dr Magdalena Bak-Maier is a mental health and well-being expert, educator, neuroscientist and leading coach-therapist. Her unique heart, mind, body and spirit approach helps people navigate life, lead and heal by tapping into the full power of their nervous system.

Magdalena teaches minds to feel and hearts to think. She believes that talent is not in short supply, but healthy people are! She works to change this through 1:1 clinics, education and consultancy.

She is the creator of the Grid method for health, results and success. The crucial insight she made is that healthy people are good at balancing work, life, career and self-care, which we can all learn to do.

Grid supports mental health and well-being in students and adults and has been selected for sharing at the Columbia University Coaching Conference, Positive Psychology Congress as well as US National Public Radio and Guardian Masterclass series. Magdalena’s current work explores Grid's use of ineffective habit change and burnout recovery.

Her most recent project is a 12-month goal-setting adventure designed to support people in recovering their agency and confidence through tangible results and a training module for Oxford University Press on healthy workplace cultures.

To take the Grid method into the world, Magdalena trains other coaches and managers in this powerful approach and offers Grid workshops and keynotes.

You can learn more about her work at www.maketimecount.com or via LinkedIn, follow her YouTube channel, or explore her books. Whatever you do, make your health and well-being a key priority.  The world needs you.

• About and what she’s currently working on [02:41]
• How she became an author and a changemaker. [03:19]
• What the term “heart and mind connection” mean to her? [05:20]
• Frameworks that help people connect heart and mind together. [08:43]
• Her top 3 mental health tips. [11:38]

• My road to authorship was partly aspirational and accidental.
• Listening to your heart is important.
• So often, we talk ourselves out of things using purely rational.
• Connection is all about team work and linking yourself to other people.
• Self -care is not just about sleep and good nutrition. It’s also about attending to your mind, heart, body and spirit.

• Visit Dr Magdalena's website
• Follow her on LinkedIn, LinkedIn MTC, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Instagram MBM
• Listen to Episode #210: Writing and Mental Health
• Check out Episode #211: Creative Writing and Mental Health with Jim Hall
• Listen to Episode #212: The Power of Journaling with Greta Solomon
• Check out Episode #213: Ancestral Legacies and Writing with Jackee Holder
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 229th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. January is focused on heart and mind connection. To join me on this episode is Andréa Watts.

Andréa Watts is the first specialist in coaching with collage and founded UnglueYou®, her coaching business in 2012. Her passion for her subject stems from her belief that we are all creative and hold a wealth of untapped wisdom and intuition in our unconscious. Andréa’s vision is:

“To see the Collage Coaching Technique™ used globally as a creative coaching tool for releasing people’s potential”.

To enable this ambition, she delivers ICF and AC approved training for coaches on using her 3 stage framework, the Collage Coaching Technique™. She also guest lectures on Coach Psychology programmes at several London Universities, was honorary lecturer at City, University London and the Coaching in Context module lead at Birkbeck University.

To further share her knowledge and passion for creativity in coaching Andréa authored ‘Collage as a Creative Coaching Tool: A Comprehensive Resource for Coaches and Psychologists’, published by Routledge in 2022.

As an experienced coach, facilitator, trainer and speaker, in addition to her 1-1 coaching, her clients include Google, Imperial College London, Moët Hennessey, The United States Air Force and Jenny Garrett OBE.

• About Andrea and what she’s working on at the moment [02:20]
• What does the term “well-being” mean to her. [06:09]
• How Collage connects both heart and mind. [08:40]
• What workplaces can do to introduce collaging into team building practices. [12:33]
• Her top three mental health tips. [10:20]

• The process of collage is an art form.
• The heart and mind inform each other.
• Our emotions are really important.
• It’s important to practice mindfulness.
• Do something creative.

• Top-Tips for Introducing an Arts-Based Method when Working with Teams
• Visit Andrea's website
• Follow her on LinkedIn and Youtube
• Sign up to her mailing list
• Send her an email
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 227th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. We are kicking off the year with a series on the heart and mind connection. On today’s episode, I’m going to be talking about what a heart-mind connection is.

• About my TedX talk. [00:45]
• What is the heart and mind connection? [01:31]
• How the connection between heart and mind is a two-way street. [02:20]
• The link between head and heart. [03:17]
• How the heart communicates with the brain. [03:40]

• The connection between heart and mind is a two-way street.
• The heart is a very sophisticated information centre.
• Even when we make perceived rational decisions, there will be sensations in our bodies.
• We feel stressful situations physically.
• There is an emotional highway between our hearts and minds.

• Episode #18: Looking Beyond New Year’s Resolution
• Episode #125: Doing Less Being More Karen Liebenguth
• Brain and Heart: The dynamic connection
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 226th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. On today’s episode, I’m going to be giving you a round-up of 2023 and the reflections from this year.

• About today’s episode. [00:33]
• Why I chose “ease” as my word of the year. [02:16]
• A month-by-month recap of 2023. [03:15]
• My 2024 word of the year. [19:29]

• This has been my 6th full year of business and an unexpected one.
• You have to choose your word of the year carefully.
• Things do happen. They just happen differently.
• I’m honoured to have been listed on the 2024 Diversity Power list
• This year has been one of learning and giving myself space.

• Episode #174: 2022 The Year in Review
• Episode #91: Elevating Teen Self-Esteem
• Episode #180: Intersectionality for LGBTQ+ History Month
• Episode #183: LGBTQ+ Black Health Experiences
• Episode #181: How to support LGBTQ+ Mental Health at Work
• Episode #182: Transitioning in Families
• Episode #186: Celebrating the International Day of Happiness
• Episode #188: The Top 5 Inclusion Workplace Mistakes
• Episode #189: Ensuring People’s Rights at Work
• Episode #190: Improving Gender Diversity in Finance
• Episode #191: The Conscious Workplace
• Episode #201: Friendship and Mental Health
• Episode #193: Anxiety Linked to the Climate Crisis
• Episode #194: Parents for Future
• Episode #195: Colonial legacies and Climate Change
• Episode #196: How Divestment Links to Mental Health
• Episode #197: Building your Personal Brand
• Episode #198: Transactional vs Transformational Changes
• Episode #199: Failing Forward
• Episode #200: 200th Episode Celebration
• Episode #202: Intersectional Friendships
• Episode #203: What kind of South Asian are you?
• Episode #204: Flipping the Definition of Success
• Episode #205: Cultural Perspectives on Imposter Syndrome
• Episode #206: How to be a Mentally Healthy Professional
• Episode #207: Making Climate Justice Accessible
• Episode #24: People of colour, sex and mental health
• Episode #214: Saluting our Sisters 
• Episode #215: Reconnect Retreats 
• Episode #216: Telling the Stories of African Women 
• Episode #217: Facing Difficult Conversations 
• Episode #218: Workplace Behaviour Change Journeys 
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 225th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. On today’s episode, I am going to be talking about what I think workplace well-being trends for 2024 will be. 

• Why I decided to make this episode. [02:25]
• The current state of the workforce in 2023. [03:17]
• Some stats about workplace dynamics. [03:59]
• What I believe the trends for 2024 will be. [05:21]
• About the ageing population in the UK. [15:08]

• Work-life balance has gone out the window.
• 2023 seemed much harder than 2020 or 2022 in terms of workplace dynamics.
• Workplace dynamics is vital and is not going anywhere.
• The most common cause of stress is work-related stress
• There are more women than ever in the UK workforce right now.

• Champion Health
• Engaging and Managing a Multigenerational Workforce
• UK workplace diversity and inclusion progress has stalled.
• Race at Work Charter 2023 report
• The majority of UK workers are motivated by climate change
• Episode #193: Climate change and anxiety
• Episode #195: Colonial legacies and Climate Change
• Episode #206: Making Climate Justice Accessible
• Episode #68: Still too scared to talk about race?
• Episode #111: Black women in Menopause
• Bonus Episode: Why Resilience Isn’t A Sticking Plaster
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 224th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. It’s Disability History Month, so on today’s episode, I am going to be talking about disabled entrepreneurship and its complexities due to the barriers society presents.

• Why I decided to make an episode on this topic. [01:28]
• Some statistics about disabled entrepreneurship [02:06]
• What do the terms “entrepreneurship and disability” mean. [03:50]
• How disabled entrepreneurs are affected in society. [10:20]
• What workplaces can do to help disabled entrepreneurs [12:37]

• Disabled entrepreneurs have proven themselves to be innovators.
• 25% of small business owners are disabled or have a health condition.
• At its core, an entrepreneur can be defined as someone who starts their own business.
• Disabled entrepreneurs face severe funding difficulties.
• There’s a lack of focus on investment opportunities for disabled entrepreneurs.

• Business Without Barriers
• Disabled entrepreneurs face severe funding inequity resulting in £500 million in missed revenue in the UK.
• Check out Episode #16: Disability History Month: The Disability Movement
• Listen to Episode #21: How staff networks Shape the culture
• Check out Episode #88: Talking Sense for deaf Awareness
• Listen to Episode #119: Universal Design and why it’s so important
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Welcome to the 222nd episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. November is all about parenting with equity and well-being in mind. Today we are focussing on cross-cultural parenting and to join me is Carolina Albuerne Rodriguez.

Toby Mildon is a Diversity and inclusion Architect who is passionate about creating diverse workplaces and cultures that are inclusive. He has helped some of the UK's largest companies, including the BBC, Deloitte, Sony, and HarperCollins Publishing, improve staff retention, brand innovation, productivity, and performance.

Toby's lifelong passion for Diversity and Inclusion stems from his personal and professional experiences with inequality, and his belief that building a culture of inclusive growth is essential for organisational success.

Toby's Inclusive Growth Culture Programme helps businesses implement real change and avoid shallow and superficial diversity initiatives. If a company has more than 250 employees or intends to grow to this size, Toby is the right person to help drive the business forward and achieve new heights.

He speaks passionately about how moving beyond superficial diversity initiatives and building a culture of inclusive growth is essential. It addresses the underlying issues of inequality and creates a sustainable framework for continued growth and success.

Toby's book, Inclusive Growth: Future-proof your Business by creating a Diverse Workplace, provides a practical framework that enables you to deliver a sustainable, diverse and inclusive workplace that allows your organisation to grow.

The book helps you understand how to strategically align diversity and inclusion to organisational growth, change the culture and motivate senior leaders to ‘walk the talk’ for inclusivity, design and implement a sustainable inclusivity infrastructure, work as a whole organisation rather than in HR isolation, and celebrate your inclusivity to become an employer of choice in your industry.

• About Toby and what he’s working on at the moment. [02:23]
• How he became a diversity and inclusion architect. [03:40]
• What the term "disability inclusion" means to him. [06:09]
• The biggest challenge for people with disabilities when it comes to accessing support. [10:06]
• His top 3 mental health tips. [18:25]

• Disability inclusion is about including disabled people.
• It’s surprising how many organisations neglect to include disability when they talk about diversity.
• There’s been an increase in awareness and conversation about invisible disability.
• The current government don’t have a good track record when it comes to supporting disabled people.
• I believe that corporations can learn from entrepreneurs.

• Follow Toby on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Visit his website
• Join my Mailing List and receive my free e-book here
• Check out my TEDx talk: The Connection between Culture, Race and Mental Health

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC

Complete the form to discuss your training needs: https://forms.gle/hgnYtmTu33Zeem489

Check out my FAQs here: http://diverseminds.co.uk/solutions/coaching/

You can learn more about the coaching I do to support your wellbeing here.