Workthrive

Today in the guest chair we have Mo Seetubtim, founder of the Happiness Planner , an inspirational stationary brand designed o help people become happier by mastering the art of positive thinking, mindfulness, gratitude and personal development. Mo and I talk about her journey from blogger to entrepreneur and how she discovered her passion for personal development. We talk about how she funded the first phase of The Happiness Planner, the influence of her family on her journey and how we can define our own version of happiness and success, in a world committed to one size fits all. Mo and I talk about the importance of surrounding ourselves with the right community, being open to learning and failing, and choosing to honour life by giving it our best shot.Links mentioned in this episode:DropboxMind Valley PodcastSocial Media:IG: @brandmentalistIG: @happinessplannerWeb: www.thehappinessplanner.comWeb: Join the community:IG: @workthrive

Today in the guest chair we have Ruth Yimika-Afolabi, founder of Magnify, a global community, magazine and podcast at the intersection of faith and feminism. Ruth started Magnify in 2009 and now 11 years later, has grown an incredible community and magazine with women all over the world. In this episode, Ruth and I deep dive into the 11 year journey of Magnify. We talk about the journey of discovering purpose, how Ruth's faith played a role in helping her bridge the gaps in connecting with her community, how she managed a her full time roles whilst building Magnify and the sacrifices she's had to make in order to scale Magnify to its current status. Ruth and I talk about the importance of serving our communities, why you won't always need to be the founder to make the most impact, and how we can all define and refine our own definitions of success. Since recording this episode, Ruth has now founded Brand House, a consulting service where Ruth helps individuals and organisations with practical and effective tools to help them build brands with impact. Links mentioned in this episode:SlackDeep Work By Cal NewportThe Breakfast ClubSocial Media:IG: @ruthyafolabiIG: @MagnifyCollectiveWeb: wwwmagnifycollective.comWeb: mybrandhouse.comJoin the community:IG: @workthrive

Today in the guest chair I am speaking with Imelda Fossu, founder of Fossu Ltd- a group of high growth internet companies, Start Up Consultant and former CEO at LETUSFINDIT, a fashion search engine that compared and and collaborated on clothing from major companies including Nike, Puma, Topshop and ASOS. But, a few months later, things started to get interesting at LETUSFINDIT when the site started to experience a few issues. Imelda later found herself trying to keep the business afloat- from taking our business loans to pursuing personal loans. We talk all about Imelda's rise as a Tech Founder and how quickly things can change and fall apart. After shutting down LETUSFINDIT, Imelda found herself in over £100k in debt with her confidence completely knocked. In this episode, we talk about Imelda's journey from building a business, shutting it down and starting again having learned some of the very harsh lessons of entrepreneurship. Imelda has also worked as a Start Up Consultant and has been recently appointed as Capital Enterprises latest Entrepreneur in Residence.Links mentioned in this episode:FreeAgent Accounting SoftwareThe Nuclear Effect: The 6 Pillars of Building a 7+ Figure Online by Scott OldfordSocial Media:IG: @ImeldaFossuWeb: www.fossu.co.ukJoin the community:IG: @workthrive

Today in the guest chair we have Fiona Grayson, founder of She Can. She Did. UK's first and only benefits programme for all female business owners in the UK. Fiona left her full time job as a conference producer back in 2017 with just an idea- a leap that enabled her to build a community of female business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. From spotlighting their stories via blogging, to podcasting, Fiona was on a mission to share the real stories of what it takes to build a business from the ground up. The same issue kept cropping up though, as she went through these incredible stories- womxn business owners simply were not being rewarded enough and so, Fiona set out to launch the next stage of She Can. She Did. From pensions and healthcare to discounted bras and wine memberships, She Can. She Did rewards the resilience of womxn business owners. In this episode we dive into Fiona's journey and how she has navigates her own behind the scenes of building She Can. She Did. Links mentioned in this episode: Moody AppTo Obama: With Love, Joy, Hate and Despair by Jeanne Marie LaskasSocial Media:IG: @shecanshedidWeb: www.shecanshedid.comJoin the community:IG: @workthrive

Today in the guest chair we have Founder and CEO of Europe's first and largest product discovery box for natural hair, Jamelia Donaldson. Having founded Treasure Tress now 5 years ago, Jamelia and I talk about the journey of building a business for Black women, by Black women. A former Business Analyst turned full time Entrepreneur, Jamelia and I talk all about the journey of committing to a full time job then trading it for the uncertainty of entrepreneurship but the pursuit of purpose. We talk about the politics of Black Hair and what it's really like being a Black woman in the hair industry. As a solution to the beauty industry’s difficulty connecting to their Black, female consumer in the UK, Jamelia added a consultancy arm to TreasureTress as a way to guide brands in the US on the unique experience of the Black, UK natural hair consumer. Providing them with strategy, social, digital and influencer marketing.Jamelia has been featured in Forbes, Buzzfeed, Good Housekeeping and Pride Magazine. She has also received the Black British Business Awards Entrepreneur Rising Star Award in 2019 for her contribution to the Black British Community and beyond. Links mentioned in this episode:Receipt BankProfit First by by Mike MichalowiczSocial Media:IG: @JameliaisobsessedIG: @TreasureTressWeb: www.treasuretress.co.ukJoin the community:IG: @workthrive

Today in the guest chair we have Confidence Coach, Podcast Host and Speaker Tiwa Ogunlesi. A former Project Manager turned full time Entrepreneur, Tiwa has worked with incredibly disruptive brands such as Google, Depop, Tik Tok and more. Tiwa is the founder of Confident and Killing It, a social movement that inspires women to love and believe in their whole self. Tiwa made the jump to be a full time entrepreneur at the end of 2019, and as we know, COVID-19 hit and things started to change come March 2020. In this episode, we talk about Tiwa's own confidence journey, her inspiration for creating Confident and Killing It and how we can build personal confidence, redefine success for ourselves and pursue our own version of purpose. Social Media:IG: @tiwalolaIG: @confidentandkillingitWeb: https://www.confidentandkillingit.com/Join the community:IG: @workthrive

Today in the guest chair we have style influencer and content creator, Chrissie Milan. Chrissie began her content creation journey back in 2014 and since then, has created a highly engaged and community across her social platforms and has worked with brands like Glossier, Misguided, UGG, Converse and more. Having now released her first e-book, So You Want To Be An Influencer, a deep dive into defining and building a brand online, creating valuable content and monetising your efforts, Chrissie candidly shares her journey to content creation, why and how she decided to nice into style, how to build a brand that engages and pays as well as some of the challenges she faces as a digital creator and how she handles them. Chrissie is also the founder of The Ceo Table, a phygital platform and community that provides ambitious creatives with all things personal development.Links mentioned in this episode:So You Want To Be An Influencer by Chrissie MilanEgo Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday Social Media:IG: @chrissiemilanIG: @theceotableWeb: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz-lwwrbHF_iUxlWwNetyxwJoin the community:IG: @workthrive

Having spent her time at a Big Four company as a management consultant developing and delivering training and programme development strategies for multiple organisations, Izzy decided to take her corporate skills into diversifying the entrepreneurial space. Here she founded Foundervine, an inclusive community that helps start up founders start and scale their businesses.In this episode, we talk about Izzy's journey to Foundervine, what inspired her jump from corporate to building this community, the lessons she has learned working and developing start up programmes to empower diverse communities, the importance of marketing and gaining consumer feedback in the early stages of a start up as well as building our confidence and network to support our game changing ideas. We also talk about the biases within the current venture capitalist space, how we can navigate funding as women and why it's important for us to show up for ourselves and in turn- our communities.Links mentioned in this episode:Notion Project Management ToolThe Lean Start Up by Eric RiesSocial Media:IG: @izzy.obengIG: @foundervineWeb: https://www.foundervine.com/Join the community:IG: @workthrive