UPFRONT Moment with Lauren Currie

Stacey Grant-Canham, is the founder of Black & Beech, a small business putting feminism at the heart of fashion.

Stacey talks a lot about her upbringing, her journey of starting Black & Beech and how it has evolved into the brilliant brand that it is today. She talked about motherhood and how it has radicalised her. She talked about her Irishness and how she often feels misunderstood as an Irish immigrant in Britain. Stacey tells us the story of designing her very first t-shirt and how it has gone from that to a brand that has now donated over £13,000 to charities supporting women's rights. She talks about her journey as an accidental entrepreneur and someone who grew up believing you needed to have a safe, steady job with a pension.

Stacey's story is inspiring and one we can all learn so much from.

Links:

• Follow Stacey on Instagram - @blackandbeech
• Check out Black & Beech - https://blackandbeech.com
• Read Disobedient Bodies by Emma Dabiri - https://thefeministbookshop.com/products/disobedient-bodies
• Get your own A Mothers Place Is In The Resistance Tee - https://blackandbeech.com/products/a-mothers-place-is-in-the-resistance-black-scoop-tee?pr_prod_strat=use_description&pr_rec_id=183bc073c&pr_rec_pid=4590376353910&pr_ref_pid=8091089502451&pr_seq=uniform
• Support the Abortion Support Network - https://www.asn.org.uk/support-us/

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Will you choose between a swift, straightforward journey or a more challenging, time-consuming one that you can shape according to your terms?

Joyeeta Das is the co founder and the CEO of Samudra Oceans. She’s a serial deep tech leader, an organisation builder, engineer, climate tech specialist, advisor, and investor. Joy has many hidden talents - including flying a plane! Something which gives her an inspiring perspective and approach to life and business.

This conversation is packed with insight; we talked about confidence and how it’s a bit like flying a plane. We talked about the reality of selling a business and how important it is to think long term about the work you do, your job, and the impact your work is having on people and the planet. We talked about redefining our idea of what success is, and Joy also shares three of her top leadership lessons from 2023.

Links:

• Follow Joy on Instagram - @joyeeta.das
• Check out Samudra Oceans - https://www.samudraoceans.com
• Read Half The Sky - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Sky-Oppression-Opportunity-Worldwide/dp/0307387097
• Learn more about Project Drawdown - https://drawdown.org

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5.5million people are living in clothing poverty in the UK and yet we throw away 140million worth of clothes every year.

Sol Escobar is a social entrepreneur and founder of an award-winning, tech-for-good social enterprise, Give Your Best, offering the first circular platform where people and brands can donate clothes so that refugees and other communities living in clothing poverty can shop online for free, with the choice and dignity they deserve.

Sol shares with us the moment that changed the course of her life when she volunteered at a refugee camp in northern France. She talks about the importance of connecting and deeply listening to the people with lived experience of the problem that you want to solve.

So if you’re feeling frustrated, hopeless, or angry, this episode will help you think about how you can channel that energy for good. If you’re also somebody with one or two things in your wardrobe that don't fit you anymore, that you keep thinking you'll take to a charity shop and keep forgetting, keep listening.

Links:

• Follow Sol on Instagram - @giveyourbest.uk
• Check out and donate to Give Your Best - www.giveyourbest.uk
• Join Charity Bond https://www.weareupfront.com/charity-bond2

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you ever perceive others’ traits and skills as being better than your own?

Do you ever think that no one cares what you think or wants to know about what you have to offer?

Do you ever notice yourself being pulled you into the comparison trap?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions this episode is for you: confidence, competition and comparison.

This week we’re revisiting a LinkedIn Live session with Katy Murray @katycatalyst; Author of Change Makers: A Woman’s Guide to Stepping Up Without Burning Out at Work.

We discuss powerful habits that will reshape your brain and shift your behaviour. We talk about power practices, inner and outer work, understanding privilege, being led by anger and joy, finding your people, and articulating what’s inside you.

Links:

• Get your copy of Katy’s book Change Makers - a Woman’s Guide to Stepping Up without Burning Out at Work 
• Check out Change Makers Collective here Change Makers Collective
• Sign up for Katy’s regular leadership and resilience tips here and your Inclusion Essentials here 
• Connect with Katy on LinkedIn and Instagram - @katycatalyst

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Confidence is one of the biggest hurdles to women building financial wealth.

Ayesha Ofori is the founder and the CEO of Propelle. A known expert in the financial investment and property sectors, Ayesha's career has always been centered on helping people to build wealth.

This conversation is for you if you want to start to look at your money mindset and the inherited beliefs about money that you hold. If you want to learn how money grows. No matter your level of financial sophistication, you will get value out of this. Ayesha gives us really concrete advice on how we can start investing for as little as one pound.

Ayesha is bold, she is fierce and she is building something brilliant.

Links:

• Follow Ayesha and Propelle on Instagram - @ayesha.ofori @propelle
• Check out Propelle - https://propelle.io
• Try out Propelle’s Wealth Mapper - https://auth.propelle.io/account/register (once in, you’ll find the Goal Mapper in the Invest > Tools section)

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Are you being self-centred enough? There’s something so poignant and freeing about asking ourselves direct questions like that and who cares? Yet we very rarely ever do it.

Calypso Barnum-Bobb is a self discovery coach, speaker and host of the podcast Self-centred with Calypso. As a queer black thought leader, Calypso is on a mission to empower people to be unapologetically themselves.

We talked a lot about self discovery. We talked about this idea of being self centred. What does that mean? What does it look like? We talked about journalling, being more intentional, how to find silence and quiet in our busy days, and the power of asking good questions.

Links:

• Follow Calypso on Instagram - @calypsobarnumbobb
• Check out Calypso’s Website - calypsobarnumbobb.com
• Take a look at Calypso’s Retreats - @peoplelikeusretreats
• Listen to Calypso’s Podcast - Self Centred With Calypso
• Read - The Artists Way by Julia Cameron to learn more about Stream of Conscious Journalling/ Morning Pages
• Listen to our UPFRONT Moment with Suzy Reading - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2j58t25h5zPthmT2sXnXfV?si=5bqmzf46T7aevGj6EnwxgA
• Listen to Atlas and I talk about The Trick - https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ziY89O771mBM8ZuHlXmIG?si=0ReMDFqZTP-xC-ncnqMKbA

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What did you try this year that didn’t work?

⁠We're all trying things that don't work all the time but these platforms don't encourage us to share that side so much. ⁠

I reckon it would be a better place if we did.⁠

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Raise your hand if you’ve ever cried in the bathrooms at work!

Cate Sevilla is the Editor in Chief of HuffPost UK and the author of How to Work Without Losing Your Mind, an invaluable guide to surviving professional life and fixing your relationship with your work.

We talked about work, identity, the power of therapy, the cultural differences between the UK and the USA, and the power of explicitly asking for what you want and need.

Links:

• Follow Cate on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/catesevilla/?hl=en-gb
• Read How to Work Without Losing Your Mind - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/316822/how-to-work-without-losing-your-mind-by-sevilla-cate/9780241988992#

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Public service announcement 🔔 TIS’ THE SEASON OF THE MENTAL LOAD.

Women can get very stressed and manic over Christmas believing the fun is in their hands. Christmas is not your responsibility.⁠

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In the spirit of having a fair play Christmas, I recommend pouring a glass of wine, sitting down with your partner/ family and making intentional choices about how you want to spend the holiday together as a couple, or as a family.⁠

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The past few years have been absolutely brutal for so many. I’m exhausted absorbing the bullshit put on all the women to do all the things to make the end of this hard year “magical”⁠ and be solely responsible for “making memories”

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Let’s revolt! (whilst in pyjamas)⁠

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We’re here to tell you that Christmas is NOT your responsibility.

Listen to this UPFRONT Mini-moment (it's only 3 minutes long 😉) and tell us what's on your December to don't list this year...⁠

📣 CHRISTMAS IS NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY 📣

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