My guests this episode are Great Jones co-founders Sierra Tishgart and Maddy Moelis. 

Great Jones is a modern cookware company designed to make home cooking simple with beautiful high-performing cookware at an accessible price. 

Sierra and Maddy started Great Jones because they believe in the power and pleasure of making food with your own hands. Not only business partners, they’re also childhood friends of 20 years who first met at summer camp, where they bonded over a love of Chipwich ice-cream sandwiches and pizza pockets. 

Prior to starting Great Jones, Sierra worked as a Food Editor at New York Magazine and won a James Beard Award for her writing. She also hosted a show for CBS This Morning interviewing chefs. Maddy comes from the start-up world, where she managed consumer insights for Warby Parker and was a Product Manager at Zola. They embarked on the Great Jones adventure together as first-time entrepreneurs. 

I visited their beautiful New York office to hear all about:

How they met at camp over 20 years ago and how their lives have intertwined since

The evening when Great Jones began and how the business grew from a single idea

Leaving established careers to become entrepreneurs 

What life is like as a business owner and the challenges that come with it

It was so inspiring hearing how Sierra and Maddy got their business off the ground, and I really hope their story inspires anyone else who has an idea but doesn’t know what to do to take it to the next level. They’re also amazing examples of people taking leaps of faith into the unknown.

Find out more about Great Jones: https://greatjonesgoods.com (https://greatjonesgoods.com/) .

“I realised I had to change something quite seismically in life because what I was doing had no real congruence or value anymore for me... I quit that job and went into a phase of not having a job or business card or identity. It was really tough. I consider that year utterly formative in my life… I started to tune into what motivated me and what I wanted to do. I realised I wanted to see more of the world… I was starting to follow my instincts.”

My guest this episode is CEO and Founder of Orchid Project, Julia Lalla-Maharajh. 

After spending 18 years in the corporate sector, Julia decided to leave her job in search of something else. She first volunteered in Ethiopia where she came to understand the devastating scale and impact of female genital cutting. In 2010, she won a YouTube competition to take an urgent human rights cause to Davos and lead a panel discussing how to end FGC. After which, she spent time in Senegal and The Gambia, visiting communities and seeing the incredible change at the grassroots level. In 2011, Julia founded Orchid Project, a UK-based NGO that is catalysing the global movement to end female genital cutting. 

Julia has been recognised for her commitment to ending FGC in being named ‘Influencer of the Year’ by the Directory for Social Change in 2010, being honoured by the Queen as a ‘Woman Agent of Change’ on Commonwealth Day in 2011.  In 2017 Julia was awarded an OBE.

Julia’s story is exactly the kind I set out to tell on this podcast. Hearing how Julia made the brave leap from a successful career in the corporate sector to founding a charity for a cause she truly believes in was, well, nothing short of inspirational. We talked all about:

Realising that a corporate career was incongruent to her core self and value-systems 

Making the leap into the unknown and what it felt like

What FGC is and how Orchid Project, the charity she founded, is helping put an end to the practice 

And how the inner-journey is just as important as the outer journey 

It affects over 200 million women and girls around the world. It is a global issue. It’s estimated that around 68 million girls could be cut over the next decade. This is such an important issue. To find out more, you can visit orchidproject.org. And of course, listen to our conversation.

“To have the opportunity to play music for people and spread some joy… I’ve been going to shows my whole life and felt feelings of euphoria and all those emotions that music can convey. To be a little part of that on the other side of things is an absolute privilege.” 

My guest this episode is Charlie Hall, who is the drummer for the Grammy-Award winning band, The War on Drugs.

Growing up, music was always what Charlie loved most. He received his first drum kit aged four from his Grandma. Various instruments lay around his house and he taught himself how to play these without lessons. 

At university in Virginia, Charlie brought together two interests, studying both Music and Psychology. After college, he moved to San Francisco with his now-wife, taking up various jobs in the service industry, before becoming a teacher at a high school similar to the one he attended. In the evenings, he continued pursuing his passion for music, playing in an array of bands. In 2003, he moved to Philadelphia to be closer to his family and took up a role at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. He quickly became a part of the music scene in Philly where he met AdamGranduciel, who was putting together the band that would evolve into The War on Drugs. 

After playing on and off with The War on Drugs, he became the band’s resident drummer in 2013 and has since toured the world, released two critically acclaimed albums, the second of which, A Deeper Understanding, won a Grammy in 2018 for Best Rock Album.

Today, he considers his role in life to be rooted in his family, as a mentor and as a musician. 

I’ve loved the War on Drugs since I first heard Lost in the Dream. There is something so epic about their music. The soundscapes. It’s music designed for a stadium. I’ve never interviewed a musician on the podcast before, despite being an avid music fan. So this was an all-round dream in many ways. I travelled to Charlie’s lovely neighbourhood in Philadelphia and we talked about: growing up and how music first came into his life, the importance of mentors and teachers in his life, balancing full-time work alongside his passion for music, making the decision to make music full-time with The War on Drugs and the advice he wants his children to carry with him always. 

Follow me:

Twitter: @katiephilo (https://twitter.com/katiephilo)

Instagram: @katiephilo (https://www.instagram.com/katiephilo/)

www.katiephilo.com (https://katiephilo.com/) The War on Drugs:

https://www.thewarondrugs.net/

Listen to The War on Drugs on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU?si=UNxDZB2qSnekQzjFJcDVIw) (https://katiephilo.com/)

“The very last time that I drank was not because anything spectacularly different happened. It was simply because I was exhausted. I knew that if I didn’t stop, I would end up losing everyone in my life. I also knew that I am destined for something much bigger. I’ve always been an entrepreneur and had so many ideas of things I want to do, but alcohol was a barrier to all of those things. I knew that I had to choose.” 

My guest this episode is London-based Mindset Coach, Speaker and Writer, Africa Brooke. 

In late 2016, Africa decided to get sober after nearly a decade of destructive drinking and many failed attempts of moderation. At this point, she made a personal commitment to a conscious journey of healing and self-discovery. This prompted her to begin openly sharing her struggles and eventual success story – on & offline – and over the course of 3 years, she’s inspired and built an ever-growing global community of over 20,000+ people. 

 

In shifting her mindset, she’s transformed her own life, and is now on a mission to support other women to do the same through telling her story and Mindset Coaching. 

 

Africa is also the Founder and Owner of The Cherry Revolution -- an Award Nominated Non-profit organisation that aims to break societal norms surrounding women, identity and sexuality by making shameless pleasure a priority) & Discovery Dive (Holistic personal and professional development company - where mindset meets strategy for women entrepreneurs).

 

This conversation really was an absolute joy. I really admire how open Africa is about her own experiences and how she is using her story to help others. 

 

We talked all about:

 

What it was like moving from Zimbabwe aged 9 and how this impacted her self-identity

Why she decided to get sober and what this journey has looked like so far

How recovery has helped her reconnect with others, but also herself 

Her Mindset coaching and how she helps others 

Follow me:

Twitter: @katiephilo (https://twitter.com/katiephilo)

Instagram: @katiephilo (https://www.instagram.com/katiephilo/)

www.katiephilo.com (https://katiephilo.com/)

Follow Africa:

Instagram: @africabrooke (https://www.instagram.com/africabrooke/) https://africabrooke.com/ (https://www.instagram.com/africabrooke/) (https://www.emmagannon.co.uk/)

My guests (yes guests!) this episode are Speech Tank co-founders Marisa Polanksy and Kristine Keller. They’re both speech-writing experts, specializing in one-of-a-kind speeches for any occasion. 

Marisa Polansky also heads up Brand Marketing for co-working space called Union, having spent many years in publishing as a book editor at a major publisher. She's also a published author of a series of children’s books, including Today I'm a Racecar Driver and Today I'm a Dancer.

Kristine Keller is currently Director of Brand Partnerships at The Wing, a network of work & community spaces designed for women. Prior to this, she was a writer covering fashion and wellness. She holds an M.A. in Psychology from New York University, where she worked as a trained fieldworker, mastering a method of questioning that helps people share their stories. 

This is the first time I’ve interviewed two people on the podcast before and oh my god, it was so much fun. These two have such a wonderful friendship. They met in college and immediately hit off, then became roommates in New York ten years, as well as starting a business together. 

I dropped by their apartment in Brooklyn for a chat and we talked all about how they met, the importance of having hype women in those moments of self-doubt, how they started their speech writing company Speech Tank, and balancing multiple jobs alongside each other. They had so much sage advice to offer and I honestly left beaming from ear to ear. 

Word of warning: the sound is a little patchy in places. I’m still learning on the job, but at least I remembered to hit record. That’s a story for another time.

Find out more about Speech Tank:

www.speechtank.com (http://speechtank.com/)

Follow Me:

Twitter: @katiephilo (http://www.twitter.com/katiephilo)

Instagram: @katiephilo (https://www.instagram.com/katiephilo)

www.katiephilo.com (https://www.katiephilo.com/)

“There has to be a separation. Work has always been an extension of my identity. If a project failed, then I had failed… it’s only in the last year that I’ve been able to find that separation, where I’m not my work. I’m still passionate and excited about the work that I do. But if something fails or doesn’t go the way I expected, it no longer impacts my self-esteem in the way that it used to.” 

My guest this episode is Amandah Wood. She is extremely passionate and curious about the ways people find meaning in their work and lives. It was this curiosity that led her to found the website and podcast Ways We Work, an interview series that explores what people are putting work into and why. By day, she works in Diversity & Belonging Operations at Shopify, ensuring every employee feels included, valued and heard by guiding and informing Shopify toward designing and building better products and employee experiences. She is also a certified coach helping people get in touch with what is truly important to them and determining their own definition of success. 

As someone with very similar interests and curiosity around how people find fulfilment through work, I first encountered Amandah through the brilliant Ways We Work. I messaged her on Instagram to tell her how much I loved reading her interviews and was then delighted to discover she was launching Ways We Work as a podcast and was lucky enough to be interviewed by her. 

She’s so eloquent in the way she articulates ideas, and incredibly introspective. I loved talking to her about all the things that ruminate in my brain constantly, and she is the best thought partner on so many work-related and self-identity topics. 

We talked all about how what works means to her has changed over time, how she balances her personal passions and multiple work identities, what she’s learned about fulfillment from interviewing people for Ways We Work and much more.

Follow Amandah:

Twitter: @AmandahWood (https://twitter.com/amandahwood)

Instagram: @AmandahWood (https://www.instagram.com/amandahwood/)

Ways We Work on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ways-we-work/id1459817739)

Ways We Work website (http://wayswework.io/)

Follow Me:

Twitter: @katiephilo (http://www.twitter.com/katiephilo)

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www.katiephilo.com (https://www.katiephilo.com/)

"When I met the great Desmond Tutu, he said 'always remember the face'. I've never forgotten that lesson. So when I am going a speaking engagement or in my daily work, everyone has frustrations at work... but when I'm in that moment, I always remember the face. Whether it's Cuthbert, one of our Guards in Zimbabwe who sadly died, or the woman who first died under my care as a midwife, which is a very traumatic experience for anyone. I will never forget the name or face of this Cambodian lady. There are many others. I always have that front centre because otherwise, it can become very abstract when you're talking millions. I always have to see it on an individual level."  

My guest this episode is Global Health Professional, Dr Carole Presern. With a career in health and diplomacy spanning over three decades and three continents, Carole has dedicated her life to advocating for people who don’t have access to basic healthcare and support. 

Growing up, Carole was captivated by tales of far-flung places. Her career began in London hospitals after training to be a midwife, but it wasn’t long before she ventured overseas to work on the Cambodia/Thailand border after the genocide under Pol Pot. She has since worked in Nepal, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and beyond. 

Carole is currently the Head of Office of Board Affairs of the Global Fund - a 21st-century partnership organization designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics. Prior to this, she held roles in Gavi, a global health partnership committed to increasing access to immunisation in poor countries. She has also served as Counsellor at the UK Mission in Geneva and worked for many years for the UK’s Department for International Development. 

Carole has served on many boards, including the International HIV Alliance and the Orchid Project. She holds a doctorate in public health policy.

Carole is my good friend Julia’s mum. I used to ask her all the time about her Mum, what she did. I am full of admiration for what she’s done in her career, so I am really honoured to have finally had a chance to hear her story directly, and what a story it is. 

We talked all about her early days in London hospitals, the stories of patients that have stayed with her throughout her career, what she has learned about the human experience from being at those intimate moments at the start and end of people’s lives, and what it’s like to have lived a life and career across borders.

Find out more about Carole's work:

The Global Fund (https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/) Orchid Project (https://www.orchidproject.org/)

Follow me:

Twitter: @katiephilo (http://www.twitter.com/katiephilo)

Instagram: @katiephilo (https://www.instagram.com/katiephilo)

www.katiephilo.com (https://www.katiephilo.com/)

“I’m always on a mission. It doesn’t mean that the mission is necessarily entirely apparent to me... even now, I’m not quite clear what it is that creates that shape. Although I think there is something about storytelling and really understanding what’s happening in the world. A sense of investigation and trying to get to the bottom of what’s really going on is part of it.”

My guest this episode is New York Times CEO, Mark Thompson. Born in London, he grew up in Hertfordshire, UK. After graduating from Oxford University with a First Class Honors in English, he joined the BBC as a Trainee, quickly working his way up through the ranks, launching shows such as ‘Watchdog’ and ‘Breakfast Time’, before various stints as Editor on flagship news shows such as Newsnight, the Nine O’Clock News and Panorama. He became controller for BBC Two and was then appointed Director of Television, before leaving the BBC in 2002 to become CEO of Channel 4. 

In 2004, he returned to take up the role of Director General at the BBC, during which time he reshaped the organization to meet the challenge of the digital age, with the launch of services such as the BBC iPlayer. On November 12th, 2012, he became President and CEO of the New York Times, making him responsible for leading the company’s strategy, operations and business units. Mark has been instrumental in accelerating the pace of The Times’s digital transformation. Under his leadership, The Times became the first news organization in the world to pass the one million digital-only subscription mark. 

Having served at the helm of world-class media companies during the course of a career spanning over four decades, I was fascinated to hear more about what purpose and fulfilment mean to Mark. We talked all about: how he navigated the BBC in his early career, and how he eventually came to lead an organisation in which he started as a trainee. We also touched on moving to New York, the challenges he faces as the CEO of the New York Times, as well as his future ambitions. 

Follow me:

Twitter: @katiephilo (http://www.twitter.com/katiephilo)

Instagram: @katiephilo (https://www.instagram.com/katiephilo)

www.katiephilo.com (https://www.katiephilo.com/)

"Cancer has made my life richer. I've used the fear as a tailwind to live bigger. It's taken away the fear of doing what I want to do. It's made me just want to live my life the best I can. Rather than just sitting there and having an idea, I now have the idea and send the email or I send the text or I investigate. I don't sit on it, I work out how to make it happen. Since being diagnosed with cancer, I know there is no point waiting until tomorrow."

My guest this episode is Blogger, Podcaster and Breast Cancer Survivor, Lauren Mahon.

Born and bred in London, Lauren says she was the ”bossy one” growing up. After developing an interest in media at college, Lauren went on to study Fashion Marketing at London College of Fashion.

After graduating, she spent almost a decade forging a successful career in Fashion Digital Marketing, working for brands such as Radley, Warehouse and BHS – all the while flexing her creative muscles writing her blog Girl Stole London.

In August 2016, Lauren’s life changed forever when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 31\. The day after her diagnosis all the threads of her career came together as she created a range of t-shirts designed to not only raise awareness but also provide a source of income throughout her treatment.

Determined to give cancer the middle finger, Lauren started giving voice to her experience using the hashtag GirlVSCancer, creating a community for, in her words, “badass woman making cancer their bitch.” Lauren was given the all-clear two years later, during which time she started co-hosting the award-winning BBC 5 Live podcast ‘You, Me and the Big C’.

While cancer is something she wishes never has to experience, Lauren says she has found her ‘purpose’ and can’t wait to keep growing Girl Vs. Cancer.

Lauren's story is nothing short of inspirational.

We talked all about growing up, the indecision she felt around university and job-hopping in her twenties, what it was like being diagnosed with breast cancer aged 31 - and how this experience has changed the trajectory of her life.

Give this episode a listen and I can guarantee you will not only be offered a fresh perspective on life, but you'll also want to be best mates with this legend.

**Follow me:**

Twitter: [@katiephilo](http://www.twitter.com/katiephilo)

Instagram: [@katiephilo](https://www.instagram.com/katiephilo)

[www.katiephilo.com](https://www.katiephilo.com)

**Follow Lauren: **

Twitter: [@girlstolelondon](https://twitter.com/GIRLSTOLELONDON)

Instagram:

[@girlstolelondon](https://www.instagram.com/girlstolelondon/)

[@girlvscancer](https://www.instagram.com/girlvscancer/)

[www.girlvscancer.co.uk](https://girlvscancer.co.uk)

My guest this episode is Author, Broadcaster and Podcast Host, Emma Gannon.

Growing up in Devon, England, Emma always loved to write, so it was perhaps inevitable that she went to study English at the University of Southampton. Upon graduating, she embarked on a successful career in journalism, working at Publications such as The Debrief and Glamour.

Emma’s affinity with the Internet led her to create her blog Girl Lost in the City in 2009\. Over time, her side hustle gathered momentum and passion for writing prompted her departure from Conde Nast to build Ctrl Alt Delete – a book about growing up online, which she later parlayed into a podcast by the same name. The Ctrl Alt Delete podcast has now had over 2 million unique listeners since it launched in 2016 – and featured guests from Lena Dunham, Gillian Anderson, Matt Haig and more.

In 2018, Emma published her second book entitled The Multi-Hyphen Method, an essential new business book for the digital age, in which Emma dispels the stigma of being a jack-of-all-trades, and highlights how having more strings to your bow is vital to getting ahead in the modern working world.

A true Multi-Hyphenate, Emma is also a columnist for business magazine COURIER, lectures at the Condé Nast College and is an ambassador of The Princes Trust.

From the moment I started this podcast, I knew I wanted to interview Emma. I've been following her work since her Girl Lost In The City and Conde Nast days. I've watched her career explode in all directions - podcast, book, columns, lectures, another book, Woman's Hour appearances, travel, the list goes on and on…

As I figure out what I want to be when I grow up, one of the biggest clues has been looking closely at the people I admire. Emma is one of those people. So much so, that I put her on my '2018 mood board'. Yes, I'm one of those dickheads who makes mood boards and talks about manifesting, blah blah blah (seriously, though, try it). Anyway, the long and short of it is, Emma is doing some seriously great work. She's one of the biggest and best hustlers out there. We could all do with taking a page out of Emma's Book (or, as I like to call it, The Canon of the Gannon).

I feel incredibly honoured to have been able to turn the tables and interview HER all about her career so far, what motivates her, and what the future looks like. We talked all about her childhood in Devon, all the hustlin' during her twenties, diving into freelancing, publishing her books and how she continues to grow her career and brand.

**Follow me:**

Twitter: [@katiephilo](https://twitter.com/katiephilo)

Instagram: [@katiephilo](https://www.instagram.com/katiephilo/)

[www.katiephilo.com](https://katiephilo.com/)

**Follow Emma: **

Twitter: [@emmagannon](https://twitter.com/emmagannon)

Instagram: [@emmagannonuk](https://www.instagram.com/emmagannonuk/)

[https://www.emmagannon.co.uk/](https://www.emmagannon.co.uk/)

**Order Emma's Books:**

[The Multi-Hyphen Method](https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Hyphen-Method-create-design-career/dp/1473680115/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542843556&sr=8-1&keywords=emma+gannon)

[Ctrl Alt Delete: How I Grew Up Online](https://www.amazon.com/Ctrl-Alt-Delete-Stayed-Online/dp/1785032720/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1542843556&sr=8-2&keywords=emma+gannon)