The Millie Podcast

Meet Luisa Kahlfeldt, an award-winning product and industrial designer, creative consultant, and co-founder of Sumo, the Berlin-based creative lab behind the award-winning Sumo Baby reusable cloth diaper. This next-generation diaper uses pioneering skin-caring materials that are gentle on babies, and the environment. Luisa and her co-founder, Caspar Böhme, launched Sumo in 2019 because they wanted to design status-quo-challenging products that make daily rituals more beautiful. Prior to Sumo, Luisa worked for Barber Osgerby in London and Konstantin Grcic Design in Berlin. She’s also the recipient of the 2018 Foundation USM Design Grant and the 2019 Swiss James Dyson Award. In 2021, her work was awarded the German Sustainability Awardand the Red Dot Design Award.

EstElle’s career is the synthesis of incredible talent and courageous awakening – and then sharing this with others through the performing and healing arts. She leads workshops, performances, and readings and has published fiction, poetry, and memoirs, including ‘Naître fille, devenir femme,’ where she writes about reclaiming her feminine and the discovery that, to make peace with oneself is to make peace with the world. Millie founder, Chelsea Brown and EstElle discuss how an endometriosis diagnosis changed the course of her life, Estelle’s relationships before spiritual awakening, how our birth story influences our journey, meeting the 13 Mothers, and so much more. Get ready for a fascinating, illuminating, and heartfelt hour of discovery.

Stella Johnson is a passionate and open-hearted photographer and educator – and this shines through her work. Her approach to photography is thoughtful and deliberate: Stella takes the time to not only get to know her subjects, but to also cultivate lifelong relationships with them – whether they are people or places.

Stella is widely recognized for her skill and unique vision, receiving a Core Fulbright Scholar Grant to photograph in Mexico in 2003, and Fulbright Senior Specialist grants to teach in Mexico in 2006, and Colombia in 2018. The University of Maine Press published her monograph, Al Sol: Photographs from Mexico, Cameroon and Nicaragua, in 2008. Her work has received numerous honours, including a New England Foundation for the Arts Cultural Collaborative Artist-in-Residence Grant and the Julia Margaret Cameron Award.

In this episode we welcome Shona Gupta, the founder and CEO of Marharindee, a multidimensional skincare line that combines ancient Indian wisdom with CBD science. Like her skincare line, Shona is a force of nature. A passionate and digitally-savvy leader, when Shona couldn’t find products for her own unexpected skin issues, she created them herself.

Leaving behind a successful career in fashion for a new one in social impact, Ricarda’s passion is fuelled by her values and the risks she’s taken to blaze a new path for herself. Ricarda completed her Master’s Degree in Fashion Marketing in the UK, moving back to her native Germany, where she was briefly involved with Give Something Back to Berlin. She left Germany to spend a year in Nepal and India, primarily doing earthquake relief work and teaching English to Tibetan monks. This trip changed the direction of Ricarda’s life. She talks to Millie Podcast host Chelsea Brown about the events that prompted this life change, falling in love with a Tibetan Monk, why it’s important to have people from both sides creating dialogue and change, and so much more.

Happy International Women's Day! We hope you enjoy this passionate panel discussion between three dynamic, gracious, and smart Canadian women who will, at different points in the episode, reassure you, inspire you and encourage you.

This globally recognized day celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It also serves as a call to action to accelerate women's equality! In that spirit, internationalwomensday.com has raised the theme #BreakTheBias. They invite us to imagine a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. We are honoured and excited to change up our format and engage in a panel discussion with three incredible women who embody this day, and BOTH these themes, in their own unique, authentic way.

We are honoured to welcome Dame Elizabeth Anionwu DBE FRCN to The Millie Podcast. Recently named a ‘BBC 100 Women of the Year’, Elizabeth is Emeritus Professor of Nursing at University of West London, and the UK’s first sickle-cell and thalassemia nurse specialist. She has continued her work into retirement, recently bringing the nation’s attention to the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on Black and Asian communities.

Many people heard her name for the first time at the Brit Awards, when Dua Lipa honoured Dame Elizabeth in her acceptance speech. "She has spent her stellar nursing career fighting racial injustice, she has also spent so much time and is a strong, strong advocate for protecting frontline workers"

Karlyn Percil, who is a Certified Emotional Intelligence and Neuro-Life Coach, and has been featured on Oprah’s Lifeclass and on Cityline as a guest expert, talks to Chelsea about:

· How she started KDPM and why

· How being survivor of child sexual abuse, bullying, depression, and anxiety shaped her coaching practice and drives her to help women get out of their own dark place and choose life daily

· How she works to empower ALL women by challenging systems of racism, misogynoir, patriarchy and white supremacy – amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous, and self-identifying women of colour

We are thrilled to welcome award-winning children’s book author & illustrator, Nadine Kaadan who champions inclusive representation in kids’ books so that every child sees themselves in a story. She wrote her book 'Tomorrow', which captured the attention of news outlets like CNN & the BBC, helping children process the reality of civil war & work through post-conflict trauma.

As senior media manager, Pauline plays a pivotal role at Save the Children Germany and the Human Rights Film Festival, Berlin. A dedicated human rights activist and feminist, Pauline’s not just smart, she’s wise. We learned so much about the history of Germany’s East / West divide through her family’s all-too-common story of heartbreak and resilience.

Escaping East Germany with her mother when she was still in her belly, Pauline’s personal experiences fueled her passion to help refugees. At an age when most of us are trying to figure out what to do with our lives, Pauline co-founded Jugend Rettet, a network of young people who rescued refugees stranded in the Mediterranean. They purchased their own ship and saved more than 14,000 people in one year.

Pauline is a force to be reckoned with. She challenges expectations and rules, and has very little time for the status quo. But that energy and drive is tempered by the kindness and compassion, instilled in her from a young age through her family’s own complex past. You’re going to love this conversation. It is the perfect example of the connection and expanded perspective that happens when we get real and vulnerable.

Follow Pauline on Instagram at @__paulineschmidt__ and learn more about the work she’s passionate about at SavetheChildren.de.