The Enthusiast & Co

Today's episode is with Nina Chang, founder of sewing pattern shop Nina Lee London and The Career Girl, where she features inspiring interviews with women to inspire out-of-the-box career thinking. I knew I was going to love chatting to Nina before our interview, but I don't think I realised quite just how much. I wanted to do a Dale and Brennan moment - "Did we just become best friends?!" We discussed not so obvious career paths (especially pertinent at the moment, perhaps), creativity, empowering women, and loving where you live. I defy you to listen to this episode and not want to pick up something creative with your fingers, pronto Tonto!

Find Nina Lee here and The Career Girl here. Follow them here and here!

This week I have a national treasure on the podcast - Vicky Graham, the founder of eponymous Vicky's Donuts, author of DONUTS, and general human ray of sunshine. As Sammy Davis Junior famously sang, she gets up at sunrise, sprinkles on some dough, covers it in chocolate and a miracle or two. I've been a huge fan of Vicky's for years - who else can make a donut look like a tennis ball? Or like a fried egg? WHO??? - so getting her on the podcast was a really lovely experience. We chatted donuts (obviously), creativity, the joys of old cookbooks and being around passionate people - which Vicky is in bucketloads!

Order here: https://www.vickysdonuts.com and check out her instagram @vickysdonuts @vickygrahamdonuts

Today, I have the guest of all guests gracing The Enthusiast & Co podcast! I am absolutely honoured to be chatting to Tamu Thomas, founder of Live Three Sixty - transformational somatic coach, inspirational speaker and writer. Tamu prioritises joy as a verb, not a noun, and encourages us to seek it in the everyday, working particularly with women around the age of 40 to reclaim their joy and start living. She's also incredibly real about how it sits with the other, gnarlier, parts of the human experience, and how it all fits together. Whether you're 40, 24, 84 or anywhere in between, I defy you not to feel inspired by her and her downright wisdom today - enjoy!!

Find Tamu on her website at livethreesixty.com, and on her instagram @livethreesixty

Today I had the absolute honour of speaking to Sacha Judd, the author of and person behind some of my very favourite pieces of thinking that I've ever seen on this here internet. Sacha writes and presents about fandoms, the passions people have, and how these intersect with the world of technology and its workspaces. After watching her talks (linked below) I was so thrilled to have the chance to chat to her about her enthusiasms, and hear what wisdom she has about them - ironically I was quite fangirly myself, as you may well hear. Enjoy!

Watch/read Sacha's talks here

Today we have the pastel princess, the lilac legend, the real-life Rapunzel that is Charlotte Sweet-Williams, founder of Sewn Right, the Fashion Sewing Professionals. I first met Charlotte when I worked at a bridal dress shop in 2017, and I've admired her ever since. As a young business owner , I loved chatting to her about her enthusiasms at work and those newly found outside of work, and sharing the joy of doing what you love as a career.

Find Sewn Right here and follow them at @sewnright

You can also check out Rowan's beautiful wedding dress on her instagram @rowan_blossom

*Please note, this episode was recorded before the death of George Floyd*

If I may say so myself, today's episode is brilliant: a soothing balm and fire up your backside all in one. And I can say that myself because actually, it's nothing to do with what I brought to the table, and instead everything to do with what my incredible guest Sasha brought to the table. Sasha is the founder of Frank + Feel, where she serves us RemindHers and uses her incredibly captivating words to - in her own said words - 'encourage women to live lives steered by self-trust over self-doubt, shrinking, settling or sacrifice'. It was an absolute honour to chat to Sasha about self-doubt, being enthusiastic about multiple different things and being enthusiastic about championing other people, too.

Follow Sasha on instagram @frankandfeel 

Today I am participating in the Podcast Blackout - instead of an episode, I'm reading out the names of the black people who've been murdered by the police in the US & UK.

Please consider donating to:

George Floyd's Memorial Fund

Reclaim The Block

Black Visions Collective

Campaign Zero

Black Lives Matter

You can learn more via:

Nova Reid

Anti-racism resources

75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice

Elle Osili Wood's thread on how we can actually help

Today's guest chez Enthusiast is the fabulous Francesca Kletz, the founder of The London Loom and author of the world's funniest craft book, Weave This. Francesca is colour, creativity and chutzpah wrapped up in one marvellous ball - we discussed her weaving achievements (achweavements? I'll work on it) and her passion for writing; her focus on picking up hobbies that aren't the same as the hobby she's turned into her job; her colourful flat and her love for cooking (including the nicest sounded pitta I've ever heard) and why being Jewish is one of her biggest enthusiasms. Oh, and we talked about Barbra Streisand too. 

The London Loom

@thelondonloom

Weave This

Pip Jolley is a woman who doesn't do things by halves. Whether it's vintage fashion, mid century interiors, the colour orange or supporting the female economy, Pip does things with such passion and enthusiasm that I knew I HAD to get her on the podcast! One of the things I love most about her is her authenticity and willingness to share what she's up to, so we had a really lovely chat - and an especially pertinent one for the current climate, where Pip discusses her evolving relationship with hobbies and how she spends her time.

Follow Pip:

@pipjolley

@thefeconomy

Surprise! Due to popular demand (you're all absolutely BRILLIANT) I'm coming at you weekly during lockdown. And today's episode is exceptional, with Kasey Robinson.

Kasey is a facilitator in equality and inclusion work and the founder of Proud Of My Period. We chatted all about how one can be seemingly enthusiastic about perceived 'negative' topics. She discussed her love of the OMG moments in pupils and workshop attendees, her burgeoning enthusiasm for period chat and self-care, and a quote that I can't get over - that she's enthusiastic about what we can produce from darkness. OOOFT!

@proudofmyperiod