Mati Gono is an award winning wedding planner and skills coach with a passion for self care and optimising mental health and wellbeing. She talks to Malisa about what it's like to be back in business as an events planner after 12 months of intermittent lockdowns and an events industry on pause. Questions answered in this conversation include: 

1 How do you help your customers through difficult times? 
2 How do you know when it's time to support your hustle with a 9-5? 
3 What's the best wind down routine for optimal wellbeing? 
4 Why all you need in life is a little bit of colour...

A must listen for the woman that finds herself trying to do it all.

Back in action with Speaker and confidence coach Tiwalola Ogunlesi who shares her top tips for improving confidence in your professional and personal life. Tiwa has spoken on stages at Facebook, Google and UN Women. She also hosts the Confident & Killing It podcast where she challenges her listeners to trust their inner strength and lead with conviction. We talk about what stops women all over the world from using their voices, and why confidence is the ultimate key to success. Listen to level up in 30 minutes!

Malisa talks to Marketer, Author and Warrior mum Annie Marie Gilbert about her traumatic birth experience and how this led her to write the book 'Expect The Unexpected, My Motherhood Journey' Her story is an inspiring reminder that every woman and every pregnancy is different. 

Stephanie Hess is a high performance business coach helping female entrepreneurs activate their leadership, refine their offering and attract their ideal clients. 

Combining a unique background in global cosmetics marketing, professional sports PR and health coaching, with a love for personal growth and spiritual concepts; Stephanie created a refreshingly simple, 4-step, needle-moving process for creating powerful clients online, without complexity, cold selling or overwhelm.

Stephanie teaches and is of the belief that you MUST design a business model that suits you; not marketing gurus, mentors or your social media feed. For her and her clients this means building a 6 and multi-6 figure practice working intimately and deeply with just a handful of high-value, high-impact clients.

In this edit she talks about connecting to your purpose, letting go of pressure and finding answers within

Meet Rachel Mason,  a multi award winning singer, songwriter, bestselling author, vocal coach, public speaker, tv music judge, mentor, and mental health ambassador. Hailed “an inspiration” by Prince Harry for her work with young creatives  and the only musician to have been crowned “freelancer of the year” Rachel is a wife, mother of two toddlers and a survivor of postnatal depression. 

In 'finding your voice and using it for good' she speaks optimistically about doing what you're passionate about, dealing with mean people and meeting royalty.  Her story is charming and down to earth and most of all-really good tea and biscuits banter material...

How do you recover from a global pandemic, stay inspired after a worldwide lockdown and use your voice for positive change? In the first episode of 2021 Malisa talks to Kiesse Lamour, Head of Industry at Pinterest about her experience as a black woman in her thirties what it takes to succeed in the world of advertising and how to find inspiration on Pinterest. She shares valuable wisdom and avoids  making any presumptuous statements about the year ahead; her insight will appeal to entrepreneurs, marketers and content creators with a growth mindset and people who are motivated by positive social change. 

Meet Sharam Diniz, Angolan Portuguese international model and entrepreneur. She has graced the covers of Vogue, GQ and modelled for both high end and high street brands since the start of her career in 2007. She discusses the difficulties of striving for perfection, leaving an impression and not losing sight of what really matters. Her journey is interesting from moving to the UK to study, learning a new language and running into the right people at the right time. She credits her strong family values and humility for helping her through this journey. There are lessons here we can all learn.

Meet Dr Jennifer Young, a research specialist, healthcare company owner and my sibling. She developed a programme with the University of Birmingham to tackle trauma in young people and holds a diploma from the University of Cambridge The world has seen black people more talked about in recent months than anytime in the last decade. From the impact of COVID19 on black communities to the death of a black man at the hands of racist police in the USA. My sister and I have a lot in common, we are millennials who grew up in Leeds UK born to first generation Nigerian parents; we experienced disadvantage and racism but still made amazing memories and achieved some great things. So what's all the fuss about Black Lives Matter? Well a protest against police brutality sparked a worldwide debate about systematic, institutionalised and generational racism and effects on the black race today. This episode titled my black life is a personal account of growing up black in the north of England, designed to answer some questions about the seriousness of racism, the impact on mental health and the solution to healing. 

What does it mean to a black and ethnic minority founder in tech?

Bayo Adelaja is the founder and CEO of Do it Now Now; which she founded in 2016 in response to gaps in the support available to Afro-Caribbean innovators building tech companies and social enterprises in the UK and across Africa. The initiatives Bayo developed for Do it Now Now have led to awards by both Harvard University and Oxford University's Business Schools for her work to create and foster opportunities for under-served communities through technology. 3 communities/initiatives she designed to support underrepresented people in tech, were named "Top in Europe" by FT-backed digital news platform, Sifted.

We talk about the challenges faced by BAME founders and solutions needed to help them thrive because black business matters.