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Selling Out!
Selling Out! - Ep 11: From Sweet Shops to Starting Lines | Donna Holland & Scott Oakley / Selling Out!
Season 1, Ep. 11
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Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈
Donna Holland (she/her, Q) grew up skating around a village near East Grinstead, went to university as the first year that had to pay for it, worked three jobs in a single day just to keep up, and built a career entirely inside the charity sector — starting with a Dummies Guide and a job she wasn't entirely qualified for. Today she runs Rocking Horse, the children's hospital charity for Brighton, fundraising for everything from incubators to drive-on cars that carry kids calmly into surgery. She also plays roller derby under the name Skate Bush, has been knocking people off tracks for nearly fifteen years, and uses sport as a platform to demand gender-neutral changing spaces at every venue they visit.
Scott Oakley (he/him, G) came out flamboyantly at college in Birmingham, moved to Brighton to study international business and never left, and spent years working his way through the travel and aviation industry — from Love Holidays to Virgin, where he watched the sector slowly dismantle its own outdated uniform codes. He co-founded the Rainbow Run five years ago with a conference stand for a finishing arch and five hundred pounds in the bank. This year it had 27 sponsors, 80-plus volunteers, a fifty-fifty gender split, and raised money for MindOut. He also swims with Out to Swim, runs with Brighton and Hove Front Runners, and recently organised a collaborative run with Trans Pride Brighton to break down the barriers keeping trans people out of sport.
Two people who found their communities through sport and have spent years making sure those communities have room for everyone — including the people the wider world keeps trying to shut out.
This episode gets into the joy of queer sport, the found-family magic of clubs like Front Runners and Brighton Rockers, the real-world impact of recent trans sports legislation on everyday community spaces, and why LGBTQIA+ kids come to sport later — and what we lose when they do. It also features a heartfelt case for the Rocking Horse drive-on car race track project, and one of our most quietly devastating observations about inclusion yet.
"I think that's where it starts to invade the privacy of everyone. Everyone should be worried about it."
🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.com
Video & Audio by Always Cinematic — AlwaysCinematic.com
Powered by GoSucceed®
Keywords / Tags:
LGBTQIA+, queer sport, roller derby, running, community, Brighton, children's charity, Rocking Horse, Front Runners, Rainbow Run, trans rights, inclusion, DEI, Out to Swim, mental health, MindOut, podcast, Selling Out!, GoSucceed®
Season: 1 | Episode: 11
Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe.
New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.
Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe.
New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.
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10. Selling Out! – Ep 10: Queer Bodies in Motion | Andrea Walker & Mike Ashurst / Selling Out!
01:00:21||Season 1, Ep. 10Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈From Tesco tills to theatre stages — two queer creatives on dance, identity, and the radical act of moving like yourself.Episode 10 is joyful, generous, and genuinely moving — in every sense of the word.Andrea Walker (he/him, Q) grew up in Italy, where school ran six days a week, gay wasn't a conversation anyone was having, and the closest thing to a queer role model was MTV and Britney Spears. He moved to Brighton for university and — as one does — never left. A film and TV graduate who caught the dance bug at 15, he went on to tour Europe as a performer, train at Broadway Dance Center in New York, then invest every penny of his savings into a queer dance show about a terrible breakup. That show went to Edinburgh Fringe and got four stars from the Guardian and the Times. His company, 201 Dance Company, has been going for over a decade — making politically charged short films, nationally touring productions, and for the past eight years, the annual Brighton Pride video that the whole city waits for.Mike Ashurst (he/him, Q) grew up in Portslade — close enough to Brighton to know the world existed, far enough out to feel the edges of it. He started dancing at 17, which in dance years is practically retirement age, powered through on natural rhythm and sheer self-belief, and has spent the last four years as part of the 201 Dance Company family — assistant choreographer, stylist, creative team member, and all-round force of nature. He's also the person who turned a Tesco checkout into a mini-game and made every shift better for everyone around him.Two people who came to their art late, found their people, and never looked back — and who between them have thought harder about bodies, belonging, and the politics of movement than most people do in a lifetime.This episode covers the business of dance, the return of the music video, the queer coding baked into everything from K-pop to choreography, and why being visibly queer right now isn't just personal — it's political. It also features one of the warmest, most honest conversations we've had about what it actually means to find your voice and trust it."It's being confident enough to recognise that that is you."🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.comVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic — AlwaysCinematic.comPowered by GoSucceed®Keywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, dance, choreography, Brighton Pride, music videos, identity, mental health, creativity, visibility, trans rights, queer arts, Brighton, 201 Dance Company, Selling Out, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 10 Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.9. Selling Out! – Ep 9: Scrums, Serpents & Showing Up | Byron Todd & Sam Johnson / Selling Out!
01:02:44||Season 1, Ep. 9Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈Episode 9 is a warm one — and a bit of a love letter to the power of just showing up.Byron Todd (he/him,) spent years believing, as many of us were quietly told, that gay men don't do sport. He proved that wrong via a paper round, a school dining hall, a dating agency, the Millennium Dome, and eventually the King's Cross Steelers — the world's first gay rugby club — where he went from nervous newcomer to team captain to co-founder of something entirely his own. In 2014 he moved to Brighton and did what any sensible person would do: started a rugby club. The Brighton and Hove Sea Serpents just celebrated their 10th anniversary and are now one of the most loved teams in the city.Sam Johnson (he/him,) grew up in a Midlands village so remote the bus only came if you rang ahead. He survived Burger King, The Simple Life on a Subway manager's laptop, and a chance conversation with a stranger on a bridge that launched a seven-year PR career. A stint in beauty and hairdressing PR followed — during which he was regularly mistaken for a woman, largely because nobody expects a six-foot-five man named Sam to be on the other end of the phone. He joined the Sea Serpents less than a year ago and has already won forward of the match, dick of the day (twice), and a seat on the board.Two men who found in rugby what a lot of us spend years looking for: a room where nobody judges you for who you are, only for which position you might play.This episode gets into the real cost of being told sport isn't for you, the quiet heroism of building something from nothing, and why a team that welcomes trans women to touch rugby and fundraises to get lower-income players to Lisbon is doing something that goes well beyond the game."I was in the car park texting my friend: I don't think I can do it. I can't get out of the car. Then the messages just stop. Two hours later: oh my God, I loved it."🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.comVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic — alwayscinematic.comPowered by GoSucceed®Keywords / Tags:LGBTQIA+, queer sport, inclusive rugby, rugby, Brighton, Brighton and Hove Sea Serpents, King's Cross Steelers, trans inclusion, community, coming out, PR, sport and identity, Selling Out, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 9Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe.New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.8. Selling Out! – Ep 8: People, Power and Panna Cotta | Adam McHale & Ric Hayden / Selling Out!
01:17:58||Season 1, Ep. 8Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈Adam McHale (he/him, G) grew up in a McHale clan that upped sticks from Manchester to Blackpool to run a B&B. He carried toast racks, studied performing arts, gave up acting for people development and never looked back. From Butlins to Classic Collection Holidays, he's built L&D functions from scratch, mentored teams across the country and found his sweet spot at MPB — one of Brighton's most progressive businesses — where roughly one in three colleagues identifies as something other than straight. He once turned down Butlins before Adam got there. (Ric can confirm.)Ric Hayden (he/him, G/Q) wanted to be a fashion designer, changed his mind at Central Saint Martins, did a master's in psychology, ended up in Sydney launching Vodafone's customer training operation and has been running LearningCog, his independent L&D consultancy, for the past fifteen years. He's delivered leadership programmes across Southeast Asia, stood his ground against homophobic regional directors and once got his entire board to fund a programme they'd just rejected — by walking back in and telling them why he hadn't explained it well enough.Two people who've spent their careers building the conditions in which other people can be themselves — and who both know first-hand what it costs when those conditions don't exist.This episode covers the long road from knowing you're different to knowing what to do with it, internalized homophobia in corporate life, why DEI isn't optional (it's on your bottom line), and what happened when a penis-shaped panna cotta arrived at a company offsite. It also features a serious conversation about trans rights, solidarity, and why the letters in LGBTQIA+ exist together for a reason."It was the trans people fighting for us at Stonewall. So let's get back and support them."🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.comVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic — alwayscinematic.comPowered by GoSucceed®Keywords / Tags:LGBTQIA+, queer business, learning and development, people development, DEI, diversity and inclusion, trans rights, corporate culture, representation, Brighton, MPB, LearningCog, leadership, Stonewall, Selling Out, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 8Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe.New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.7. Selling Out! - Ep 7: Mincing, Manifesting & The Brighton Box | Dan Taffs & Melanie Blackwell / Selling Out!
01:07:11||Season 1, Ep. 7Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈Episode 7 is an artist special, and it's an absolute joy from start to finish — paint, prosecco-adjacent chaos, and two creatives who've turned their queerness into the engine of their work rather than something to edit out.Dan Taffs (he/him, G) started out mincing meat at a Blackpool butcher's, trained in travel and tourism, and discovered his creative streak sketching buildings on key camp holidays in France. After years in hospitality, cocktail bars, and dental nursing, he's now an established artist with the Brighton Box gallery, known for bold queer typography pieces — including a best-seller that simply says "I fucking love you." His art exists for the people who, like him once, had no one else to tell them they were loved.Melanie Blackwell (she/her, L/G) trained at Byam Shaw and Central Saint Martins, lived in her studio to make it through art school, and put painting on hold for fifteen years to build a life with her wife — working everything from running a pub to qualifying as an LGBT domestic violence advisor along the way. After losing her grandmother, she returned to the easel, found her place in Brighton's open studios scene, and is now showing large-scale seascapes and skyscapes at the Brighton Box, with a solo exhibition already under her belt and a wild-swimming habit (Channel relay included) fuelling the work.Two artists who found their way back to the canvas through grief, graft, and a community that, in true Brighton fashion, simply would not let them stay hidden.This episode covers imposter syndrome, the business of art versus the romance of it, finding your tribe through open houses and creative meet-ups, and why queerness so often shows up as a refusal to accept the rules you were handed. It also features a genuinely lovely riff on art as therapy, and one of the show's better closing mantras yet."If you can set your mind to it, your heart will follow."🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.comVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic — AlwaysCinematic.comPowered by GoSucceed®Keywords / Tags:LGBTQIA+, queer business, art, painting, Brighton, Brighton Box, creative industries, imposter syndrome, wild swimming, grief, community, DEI, identity, podcast, Selling Out, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 7Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe.New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.6. Selling Out! — Ep 6: Blueprints & Being Seen | Richard Zinzan & Rachael Pigg / Selling Out!
01:02:35||Season 1, Ep. 6Episode 6 is an architecture special — and a quietly brilliant one.Richard Zinzan (he/him, G) didn't take the straight route into architecture. A failed fine art application led him to the National Art Library at the V&A, where three years in the stacks gave him something a degree couldn't: time to find himself. He came to architecture school at 22, settled in Brighton in 1996, never left, and founded Archangel Architects after the 2008 crash turned redundancy into a practice. He also co-founded Outwardly Creative — the queer networking event that actually lets people talk.Rachael Pigg (she/her, B/Q) arrived via a civil engineer father, a boyfriend's architect dad, and a lifelong certainty that design is about people, not ego. Her first big project landed in Time Out. Her most lasting legacy might be a bar near Leicester Square where every urinal had a framed portrait watching over you.Two architects who've quietly queered one of the most stubbornly straight industries going — and built a practice where same-sex couples come not because they're marketed to, but because they feel safe.This episode goes deep on the construction site as a straight-jacket, being told most of the women will drop out, and why wearing your identity openly on site took decades of confidence to arrive at. There's also a beautiful thread on representation — and a delivery driver who learned a lesson from a female electrician without anyone saying a word."Being queer is a superpower. It makes you think in a different way — because the world isn't laid out for you."🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.comVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic — alwayscinematic.comPowered by GoSucceed®Keywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, architecture, design, built environment, Brighton, Outwardly Creative, gender, women in construction, identity, representation, networking, Selling Out, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 6Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe. New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.5. Selling Out! — Ep 5: Shutter Speed and Chosen Family | Nick Ford & Michael Cheatham / Selling Out!
01:03:26||Season 1, Ep. 5Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈Episode 5 is warm, funny, and quietly profound — and features one of the most unexpectedly moving answers we've had to our closing question yet.Nick Ford (he/him, G) was born in Brighton — one of the rare ones who didn't just wash up here. He cold-called his way through his teens as Sharon from Sales (a persona so convincing, men flirted their way into double glazing appointments), photographed passengers on cruise ships around the world, and eventually got his name on a studio door on Oxford Street in Brighton — the one everyone knows but no one can name. He's been shooting professionally for nearly 20 years, has a photography A-level he somehow got through without writing a single essay, and will tell you, with great patience, why your forehead is not as big as you think it is.Michael Cheatham (he/him, G) studied architecture, started moonlighting as a photographer after Argos, and landed a client early in his career who kept him busy for over 150 events across Mayfair and Victoria. He went solo in 2017, opened Embassy Studios near Brighton station 15 months ago, and runs a creative hub that's home to marketers, social media managers, and a genuine community of like-minded people. His wedding brand, Amity — from the word for friendship — says everything about how he works.Two people who've built their businesses on patience, craft, and the radical idea that you're not just there to take the picture — you're there to hold the flowers, sew the button back on the dress, and make the whole day feel looked after.This episode goes deep on the death of film, the rise of AI in creative work, the politics of perceived value, racism in the industry, and why getting a studio with bricks and mortar is sometimes the only way people will take you seriously. It also features a genuinely beautiful answer about chosen family, and what it actually means to find your people."My queer friends have had a lot of painful journeys. But as a result of having them around, my life is so much richer."Powered by GoSucceed®🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.comVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic — AlwaysCinematic.comKeywords / Tags: LGBTQIA+, queer business, photography, creative industries, Brighton, wedding photography, AI, film photography, chosen family, DEI, racism, identity, podcast, Selling Out!, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 5Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a business your way, hosted by Gary Salters and Jonny Monroe.New episodes drop on the first and third Friday of every month. Follow us and never miss a story.4. Selling Out! — Ep 4: Keys, Mortgages & the Gay in the Village | Sam Murphy & Pip Newton-John
01:08:14||Season 1, Ep. 4Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms — straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈Episode 4 is our Property Special — and it turns out bricks, mortar and mortgages have a lot more to say about queerness than you might think.Sam Murphy (he/him, G) started out in the world of work by fibbing about his age to get a job in the local fish and chip shop in Horsham, got the sack then was re-hired when he was old enough to batter a sausage. A stint at the Woolwich Building Society led to a career in financial services, and when he spotted a bad boss and a brewing credit crunch in 2007, he and two colleagues jumped ship and built something better. Today he runs *Mortgage Medics*, now eleven strong, alongside *Wilbury Wealth* — a financial planning brand covering mortgages, pensions, investments and holistic wealth planning for clients at every stage of life, including the growing number of same-sex couples and non-traditional families who want someone who actually gets their world.Pip Newton-John (she/her, L) — yes, that Newton-John, Olivia was her dad's first cousin — came out of a performing arts degree at Winchester, scanned the newspaper for jobs like everyone did in 2005, and ended up falling in love with property. After stints in Winchester and Brighton, she joined her best friend Lucy at *Lawton & Dawe*, the Brighton-based estate agency and lettings firm Lucy founded 16 years ago. Nine women strong, trading standards regulated, and the only agency in East Sussex with that accreditation. Their block management arm, *Property Fusion*, manages blocks from Birmingham to the Isle of Wight to Devon.Two people who built careers in industries that weren't built for them — and quietly changed the culture from the inside anyway.This episode covers coming out in the workplace, blue and pink mortgage application forms (yes, really, in 2002), the case for kindness as a genuine business strategy, why small business is a speedboat and a corporation is a tanker, and what it really means to be part of someone's story when they buy or sell a home."Be brave. Be kind. And don't worry what other people think — they really don't care as much as you think they do."🎙️ Sponsored by *Legends Brighton* — legendsresortbrighton.com — and *Mortgage Medics* — mortgage-medics.comPowered by GoSucceed.co.ukVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic -AlwaysCinematic.comKeywords / Tags:LGBTQIA+, queer business, property, mortgages, estate agency, financial planning, Brighton, coming out, workplace, small business, Selling Out, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 43. Selling Out! — Ep 3: Labels, Laughs & Loud Marketing | Sarah Archer & Alex Ryan
01:11:00||Season 1, Ep. 3Selling Out! is the podcast for LGBTQIA+ founders, leaders and creatives. Real conversations about building a life and a career on your own terms straight jackets not included. 🏳️🌈Episode 3 is a riot and also one of our most honest conversations yet.Sarah Archer (she/her, G) spent years thinking she was straight, got married, had a daughter, moved to Germany three days before her 21st birthday, climbed to HR Director and then, during pregnancy, everything shifted. She came out into a workplace that gave her a pay rise. She’s since retrained as a stand-up comedian, written two books, toured her own theatre show celebrating forgotten Victorian drag king superstars, and built a speaking business that coaches experts to create talks that sell without anyone feeling pitched to. Her podcast The Speaking Club is in the top 1% globally.Alex Ryan (he/him, Q) sold torn-out pages from a porn magazine at primary school for 20p a pop. He’s come a long way — via DJing, bar work, a head of marketing role at a £60 million business, and a pandemic side hustle that became Marketing 101, his Brighton-based agency now six years strong. He’s also chair of Gaydio Brighton, spent a decade as voluntary production director of National Student Pride, and recently launched Vermouth, Actually a handcrafted vermouth made at Devil’s Dyke Distillery that sold 50 bottles off a single LinkedIn post.Two people who’ve had a smoother ride than most but who’ve both channelled that privilege into fighting for the people who haven’t.This episode goes deep on identity, labels, DEI under fire, and the trans community under attack. It also features a genuinely beautiful argument for why queerness is a superpower and one of the best closing lines we’ve had on the show.“Queerness is not unique to the human species. But homophobia is.”🎙️ Sponsored by Legends Brighton — legendsresortbrighton.com — and Mortgage Medics — mortgage-medics.comVideo & Audio by Always Cinematic -AlwaysCinematic.comKeywords / Tags:LGBTQIA+, queer business, marketing, public speaking, comedy, DEI, diversity and inclusion, trans rights, labels, identity, Brighton, vermouth, podcast, Selling Out, GoSucceedSeason: 1 | Episode: 3