The Making of...

Welcome to the 6th episode of The Making Of... from The Female Lead. Our guest this week is the legendary make-up artist, entrepreneur and founder of the iconic Bobbi Brown cosmetics. It’s the one and only Bobbi Brown herself!
Bobbi started out as a make-up artist and then, through a chance conversation with a chemist, created a few simple lipsticks that evolved into a global beauty empire. Since leaving her billion-dollar company in 2016, she has launched Beauty Evolution and finished her 9th book, ‘Beauty from The Inside Out’. 
But despite her incredible story of glamour and success, Bobbi could not be more down to earth, easy-going and funny. We talked about not feeling beautiful, how to start a business, and the stressful moments working mothers deal with every day (even big-time beauty moguls) like racing home to deal with your child’s fever - Bobbi has been there.
We recorded the interview over zoom, during lockdown, so please bear with us as some bits may sound a little wobbly. 
*Bobbi Brown grew up in Chicago and graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a self-created degree in theatrical makeup and photography. After that, she moved to New York to work as a professional make-up artist. During this time she became known for a totally new style which was all about natural tones, which was very different to the popular look at that time in the late 1980s.
In 1991 she launched the brand Bobbi Brown Essentials, which was a phenomenal success resulting in Estée Lauder buying the company in 1995, and keeping Bobbi on until she stepped down in 2016. Since leaving Bobbi has started a new lifestyle brand, Beauty Evolution, and continued to write books, making her a New York Times bestselling author as well as all of her other accolades. 
Bobbi’s style of make up has been hugely influential in the beauty industry - she genuinely revolutionised the world of make-up and her impact lives on forever.
*The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby and is edited by Lauren Lind. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead and the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Welcome to the fifth episode of The Making Of... from The Female Lead. Our guest this week is the FGM campaigner and author, Nimco Ali. As a survivor of FGM herself, for over 10 years Nimco has been fighting to end this practice throughout the world. She is CEO of the Five Foundation and she has just been appointed as an independent government adviser tackling violence against women and girls. In 2019 she also published her first book What We’re Told Not To Talk About (But We’re Going To Anyway). 
Our conversation covered many tough topics like FGM and violence against women, as well as race, privilege and coming to terms with the past. It was an emotional conversation at times and we were honoured to experience Nimco’s total honesty and willingness to share. 
We recorded the interview over zoom, at the height of lockdown, so please bear with us as some bits may sound a little wobbly. 
*Nimco Ali OBE is a Somali British social activist and writer. She co-founded Daughters of Eve, a non-profit organisation which works to protect girls and young women who are at risk from female genital mutilation (FGM), in 2010 and The Five Foundation, which leverages resources for front line activists, in 2019. Nimco has helped to position FGM as a central issue in ending violence against women and girls.
Her professional experience has included working for counter-terrorism within the civil service, supporting the rights of girls in the UK as part of Girlguiding UK and as network lead on The Girl Generation, the DfID-funded anti-FGM social change communications initiative. She is also a leading commentator in international media on the rights of girls and women – particularly surrounding FGM and related issues.
In 2014, she was awarded Red Magazine’s Woman of the Year award, and placed at No 6 on the Woman’s Hour Power List. Most recently she was named by the Sunday Times as one of Debrett’s 500 most influential people in Britain, as well one of the Evening Standard‘s 1000 most powerful and BBC’s 100 Women 2018.

*The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby and is edited by Lauren Lind. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead and the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Welcome to the fourth episode of The Making Of... from The Female Lead. Our guest this week is the Chief International Anchor of CNN, Christiane Amanpour. To say that Christiane is a powerhouse is an understatement - she has covered every major war zone, interviewed the world’s most powerful leaders and asked hundreds of difficult questions in the toughest situations. We asked Christiane to choose six key life moments that have made her who she is today and her list is as formidable as you might imagine with some great revelations including her work as a pub cleaner and the time a political leader slammed the phone down on her, live on TV. 
Our conversation didn’t just cover Christiane’s incredible life. This episode was recorded in June 2020,  just after George Floyd’s death, and so we spent the first part talking about the BLM protests happening around the world and Christiane gave her candid view on how journalists should deal with the question of impartiality during these important times.
We recorded the interview over zoom, at the height of lockdown, so please bear with us as some bits may sound a little wobbly. 
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Christiane Amanpour is CNN's chief international anchor of the network's award-winning, flagship global affairs program "Amanpour," which also airs on PBS in the United States. Beginning in 1983 as an entry-level assistant on the international assignment desk at CNN's headquarters in Atlanta, Amanpour rose through the organisation becoming a reporter at the New York bureau, and later, the network's leading international correspondent.
Amanpour's fearless and uncompromising approach made her popular with audiences, and a force to be reckoned with by global influencers -- in 1996, Newsweek said that her reporting from conflict hotspots in the Gulf and the Balkans had helped make CNN 'must-see TV for world leaders'
Amanpour has earned every major television journalism award including eleven News and Documentary Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, nine honorary degrees, has been named a CBE,  is an honorary citizen of Sarajevo and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of the Press and the Safety of Journalists.
*The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby and is edited by Lauren Lind. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead and the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Welcome to the third episode of The Making Of from The Female Lead. Our guest this week is the journalist and author Yomi Adegoke. We love Yomi’s work and were so excited to interview her and capture her infectious energy, honesty and humour. 

As always, she chose six key life moments that have made her who she is today. The list she came up with is a great story which starts with her deciding not to care about looks at the age of 15 and comes full circle to giving up on hair - listen and you’ll see what we mean! We also touched on the big subjects of race, class, and mental health, but somehow there’s a lot of laughs too.
The episode was recorded during lockdown, over zoom, so please bear with us as some bits may sound a little wobbly.
Yomi Adegoke is a multi-award-winning journalist, who writes for The Independent, The Guardian and Vogue among others.
In 2018 she was listed as one of most influential people in London by the Evening Standard after the publication of her first book, written with co-author Elizabeth Uviebinene, Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible. This phenomenal book was based on interviews with 39 successful black British women spanning different industries and gives advice and inspiration to young black women.The Slay in Your Lane brand has become a huge phenomenon with a podcast, journal, events and this year, another branded book.
In October 2020 Yomi and Elizabeth launched another Slay in Your Lane title: Loud Black Girls - an important and timely anthology of black British writing, featuring essays from the diverse voices of 20 established and emerging black British writers.
The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby and is edited by Lauren Lind. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead and the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Welcome to the second episode of The Making Of from The Female Lead. Our guest this week is the broadcaster, journalist and author Emma Barnett. We asked her to choose six key life moments that have made her who she is today. The list she came up with is full of surprises, and all delivered in her wonderful straight-talking style.
Our conversation covered a lot of ground - Emma’s naughty school days, her burning ambition, struggles with fertility, dealing with IVF and the agony of endometriosis. It sounds heavy, but Emma always delivers even the most painful stories with a big helping of irreverent humour. 
The episode was recorded during lockdown, over zoom, so please bear with us as some bits may sound a little wobbly. That’s the new normal!
Emma Barnett is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster.  She presents The Emma Barnett Show on BBC Radio 5 Live, where she has gained a reputation as a fearless political interviewer. She’s also one of the regular Newsnight hosts and has just announced that in January 2021 she will be taking over the national treasure that is BBC Woman’s Hour.
Emma and her radio show have won a string of industry awards, with Emma named Radio Broadcaster of the Year 2018 by the Broadcasting Press Guild and Broadcaster of the Year 2017 by the Political Studies Association.
Prior to joining the BBC, Emma worked in newspapers, while cutting her broadcasting teeth at LBC.
In 2019 Emma launched her first book, Period: About Bloody Time, which examines the taboos around menstruation. The book was inspired by the major reaction she received after announcing she was on her period while debating on Sky News, and her own recent diagnosis with endometriosis. The book looks at the history of myths and misconceptions about periods,  tells women’s untold stories and aims to instil a sense of period pride in both women and men.
*If you think you might be suffering from Endometriosis here is a good place to find out more. As Emma says on this podcast: if you’re suffering from period pain do try to find answers. https://www.endometriosis-uk.org/

*The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby and is edited by Lauren Lind. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma 

The episode was recorded during lockdown, over zoom, so please bear with us as some bits might sound a little wobbly (especially when Caitlin’s husband called in the middle of the recording to ask what she wanted from the shops and on another occasion her dog was pulling up the carpet).
Caitlin is the eldest of eight children, home-educated on a council estate in Wolverhampton in a three-bedroom house. She published a children’s novel, The Chronicles of Narmo, at the age of 16, and became a columnist at The Times at 18 and she still has a column there. She has been named Columnist of the Year six times and at one point, was also Interviewer and Critic of the Year. Her multi-award-winning bestseller How to Be a Woman has been published in 28 countries and won the British Book Awards’ Book of the Year 2011. Her two volumes of collected journalism, Moranthology and Moranifesto, were Sunday Times bestsellers, and her novel, How to Build a Girl, debuted at Number One, and is now a movie starring Beanie Feldstein - it’s great you can watch it on Amazon now! 
Her book How to Be A Woman, was a game-changing take on feminism and the patriarchy. Now in her 40s, with teenage daughters, Caitlin is back with More Than A Woman: a guide to growing older and a manifesto for change.
In this interview we spoke about body image, marriage, sharing the domestic load, eating disorders, botox and loads more.
*If you are struggling with eating disorders, or someone close to you is, Caitlin recommended these great places to find help:Beat https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/Eva Musby https://anorexiafamily.com/
*The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby and is edited by Lauren Lind. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

The Making Of is a new podcast from The Female Lead, launching next Wednesday 23rd September 2020 (with a new episode dropping weekly). In this 8-part series, The Female Lead's, Bea Appleby interviews brilliant women about the moments that have made them. Each woman has chosen 6 key moments - some are fateful, some decisive, some just accidental, but all show just how rambling our routes to success and happiness can be.

We laughed, we cried and we generally got to the bottom of these brave, funny and fascinating women to find out how they got where they are. Our first episode is with the legend Caitlin Moran  - you don't want to miss it, so make sure to subscribe. This series was created in lockdown and is kindly sponsored by Missoma. And again, don't forget to subscribe!

Series one includes The Making Of: Caitlin Moran, Bobbi Brown, Yomi Adegoke, Christiane Amanpour, Steph Yeboah, Emma Barnett, Mary Beard, Nimco Ali