Ctrl Alt Delete

Scarlett Curtis is a 23 year old English writer, journalist, and blogger. She is the curator of the Sunday Times Bestseller and National Book Award winning Feminists Don’t Wear Pink & other lies; a collection of essays by 52 women on what feminism means to them, published by Penguin in 2018. She is contributing editor at The Sunday Times Style and has had work published in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, Vogue and more. In 2017 Scarlett co-founded The Pink Protest; a feminist activist collective committed to helping young people take action online and IRL. To date they have been a part of campaigns that have changed two laws; a bill to help end period poverty and a bill to get FGM into the Children’s Act. Scarlett’s second book It’s Not Okay to Feel Blue & other lies will be published by Penguin in October 2019.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Leandra Medine Cohen is my guest today! The author and founder of Man Repeller, a fashion website with a unique voice and concept. Manrepeller's whole thing is about trends that women love and men hate, but it's also the way Leandra combines fashion with humour.I have been following Leandra and her work since 2013 (when she released her first book, Man Repeller: Seeking Love, Finding Overalls) so I am thrilled to have sat down with her all these years later. I went to the Man Repeller HQ in New York, and I also did an event with her the following day and got to meet some amazing Man Repeller readers. Thank you Leandra, for being so welcoming! Leandra attended College at The New School for Liberal Arts in New York, and then had a fact-checking job at New York Magazine. She then started Man Repeller in 2010. Today, Man Repeller clocks millions of page views a month and she has collaborated with a long list of fashion brands and retailers, including Mango (new collection out now) Saks Fifth Avenue, Ama

Helen Whitaker is a journalist and author living in London. She was formerly the Entertainment Director of British Glamour. Her day job now is currently Deputy Editor of High Life magazine and she writes books in her spare lunch hours, evenings and any free time she has around parenting. We discuss finding the time to write (or work on any side project) when you just feel like you have NO time. We also chat about her brilliantly observational and funny debut novel The School Run which came out this year, and her new novel that is on the way soon.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Marie Forleo is an entrepreneur, writer and online coach. She has been named by Oprah as 'a thought leader for the next generation'. I first discovered Marie's work via her award-winning online show, Marie TV and podcast where she interviews inspiring creatives such as Brene Brown. She is the founder of B-School, an online business school and she has mentored young business owners at the Richard Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship. MarieForleo.com is one of Forbes magazine's Top 100 Websites for Entrepreneurs, a fantastic free online resource. Today on the podcast, we are discussing her New York Times bestselling book 'Everything Is Figureoutable' - a phrase and attitudinal discipline that activates your spiritual and emotional strength. It's a rallying cry to tackle impossible tasks, heart-breaking challenges and daring dreams.Everything is Figureoutable will give you the courage to act in spite of your fears, the confidence to start and complete meaningful projects and the convi

Jess Phillips is a Labour Party politician and MP for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. An alumna of the University of Leeds and the University of Birmingham. Prior to becoming an MP, Jess worked within the charity and community sectors and was selected to be the Victims’ Champion for Birmingham, working with police and support groups. Her new book Truth To Power is out NOW. Her previous works include Everywoman: One Woman’s Truth About Speaking the Truth which was shortlisted for The Parliamentary Book Awards in 2017. In this episode we talk about standing up for yourself, the brave case studies in Jess's book, and why Jess believes silence will not save you.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's guest is the brilliant Susan Wokoma, an actor and writer. Best known for comedies such as Crazyhead on Netflix, Year of the Rabbit and Chewing Gum, Susan can be seen next year in both the feature film Enola Holmes (starring alongside Millie Bobbie Brown, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter and Fiona Shaw) and the new Amazon comedy Truth Seekers also starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. Susan is also a seasoned stage actress having work in theatres such as the Royal Court, Bush Theatre, Almeida, and The Royal National Theatre. This summer she played the iconic role of Bottom to rave reviews in the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Susan will next appear on stage in ‘Teenage Dick’ this December through to next feb at the Donmar Warehouse in London.As a writer Susan is currently developing 3 tv shows and is currently writing a feature film with BBC Films called ‘Three Weeks’ - a comedy drama about abortion. Susan’s short film Love The Sinner (which also stars her

PRE-ORDER SABOTAGE HERE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/poundproject/the-pound-project-part-six-emma-gannon/descriptionMy guest is JP Watson, a writer, editor and the founder of The Pound Project, an independent publisher based in Birmingham. I've been following The Pound Project since pledging for previous books launched on the platform: including Jordan Stephens, Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes. JP started the company from a simple premise: is a good story worth something? I am really excited to announce that I have a launched a special limited edition pocket-sized book, with the Pound Project called Sabotage. It's a book all about a topic close to my heart (self-sabotage!) and in the book I investigate my own relationship with it and ask some experts too. Why do so many of us succumb to its temptation. Procrastination, jealousy, negativity, guilt: how can we overcome the obstacles that keep getting in our way? It's the evil stepsister to imposter syndrome and I couldn't find much on t

Emma Barnett is an award-winning broadcaster and journalist. By day, she presents The Emma Barnett Show on BBC Radio 5 Live in which she interviews key figures shaping our times, from the Prime Minister to those who would very much like to be. By night, she presents the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight, on BBC Two and hosts Late Night Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4. Emma was named Radio Broadcaster of the Year by The Broadcasting Press Guild for her agenda-setting interviews. Previously, she was the Women’s Editor at The Telegraph. She now writes a weekly agony aunt column, ‘Tough Love’ in the Sunday Times Magazine and is a proud patron of Smart Works. 'Period' is her first book and we discuss all the ins and the outs. Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Lotte Jeffs - author, journalist and previous acting Editor of ELLE magazine. She writes for a wide variety of publications including The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian covering topics from fashion and style to sexuality and gender to social trends, memoir, and observational humour pieces. As well as writing award-winning columns, she writes colourful and newsworthy celebrity interviews and has in the past two years written cover profiles of Kristen Stewart, Karlie Kloss, Lana Del Rey and Victoria Beckham, to name a few.Her new book How To Be A Gentlewoman: The Art of Soft Power in Hard Times is out now and in this episode we discuss book writing, failure and career pivoting.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's guest is Alain de Botton, which is very exciting, I've been a huge fan of this work for years.He is a writer of essayistic books that have been described as a ‘philosophy of everyday life.’ He’s written on love, travel, architecture and literature. His books have been bestsellers in 30 countries. He started writing at a young age. His first book, Essays in Love  was published when he was twenty-three and went on to sell millions of copies.He is also the co-founder of the brilliant The School of Life, a platform and in real life space in London dedicated to a new vision of education, emotional intelligence and self-knowledge. It shows us a path to the better lives we all want and deserve. I really recommend checking out the youtube channel, it's an incredible resource of inspiration and I always come away having learned something new. The School of Life's latest book, published on September 2019 is a collection of essays, titled The School of Life: An Emotional Education.I hope

Today's guest is Rhik Samadder: a writer, actor and broadcaster. He has a regular column with The Guardian and created their cult ‘Inspect a Gadget ’ feature. He has written for The Observer, Men’s Health and Prospect magazine, as well as being a guest, presenter and host on various radio shows. Rhik studied acting at Drama Centre London and appeared on HBO, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 (credits including Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Doctors) as well as a lead role with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In this episode we discuss his bestselling debut memoir I Never Said I Loved You which is out now. Please rate and review if you enjoyed it.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Chelsea Kwakye is the author of the book Taking Up Space co-authored with author and friend Ore Ogunbiyi. She is also a history graduate from Cambridge University and Taking Up Space tackle issues of accessibility, unrepresentative curriculums, race and discrimination within university spaces. This is the second title from #Merky Books, a partnership between Penguin and Stormzy, who has also announced that he is funding two Cambridge scholarships for black students in the UK. Whilst at Cambridge, Chelsea was the only black girl in her year group of around 200 people studying History, making it a very difficult environment to navigate - this is what we discuss in this episode of the podcast. She is currently studying at the University of Law in preparation for her training contract with a city law firm in London starting in 2020. She is one busy woman. Hope you enjoy this one and as usual please leave a rating or review if you enjoyed it. <3  See acast.

Today's episode is with Sofie Hagen, a voice you many recognise from many of your fave podcasts, including The Guilty Feminist when it first launched. She also hosts her own brilliant podcasts Made of Human, Secret Dinosaur Cult and Comedians Telling Stuff. First and foremost though, she is an award-winning stand-up comedian, author of the book Happy Fat, a fat activist and a blogger. She has been named one of British comedy's most exciting talents, as well as the winner of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer, and her show this year The Bum Swing and has had rave reviews.If you missed her show in Edinburgh, then you can still catch it at The Soho Theatre 10th - 14th September, and the rest of the tour!Go see it and buy her book! Hope you enjoy this episode and if you did, please do rate and review on iTunes :)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's guest is Leah Hazard, bestselling author and a NHS midwife. We recorded this episode on a sunny day in Edinburgh, in a lovely brand new suite in the Market Street Hotel - so a huge thank you to them for kindly letting us use it to record!Leah studied at Harvard and then left a career in television to pursue her lifelong interest in women’s health after the birth of her first daughter. She soon began working as a doula, supporting women in pregnancy and attending numerous births in homes and hospitals across the country. The birth of Leah’s second daughter prompted Leah to make the leap into midwifery.Her book Hard Pushed is a Sunday Times bestseller published by Penguin. Her book paints a realistic picture of what happens behind the scenes in labour wards, and informs the reader on the many different roles midwives take on. Leah explains why the midwives we often see on TV or in pop culture sometimes create a simplistic and unhelpful impression of what actually goes

Lauren Mahon ​is a b​roadcaster, presenter, writer, influencer​,​ charity campaigner​ and founder of Girl vs Cancer. She is a co-host ​of the​ number one iTunes podcast You Me & The Big ​C, a podcast all about ​​'kicking cancer’s arse​'​ on BBC 5Live​ with Deborah James. Lauren won this year’s Inspirational Founder Of The Year award at the Stylist LIVE Retail Awards and the Triumph Award at the Inaugural Stylist Remarkable Women Awards 2019​.​In the last two years, ​s​he has masterminded the design and distribution of a range of boobie emblazoned slogan t-shirts aka TIT-TEES, raising over ​60​,000 for her chosen charities, culminating in a special collaboration with Miss Selfridge. She has featured on BBC Breakfast, Stand Up To Cancer and The One Show, talking to millions of television viewers about her life experiences; from cancer, to dating, to fashion and everything in between. Hope you enjoy listening to Lauren's inspiring story. Check out Girl Vs Can

Welcome back to Ctrl Alt Delete. This episode is a special live recording in partnership with Natwest (#ad). I recently featured in a video with NatWest and Refinery29 looking at the challenges the modern workforce faces, with a spotlight on finances. We discussed mental health, late payments and how to prepare to quit your job. So this time I wanted to ask two very knowledgeable people their thoughts on these topics. Recorded Live with Natwest at RocketSpace in London, Polly, Otegha and I discussed some of the insights from the early stages of a piece of research NatWest and Demos have been undertaking into the financial lives of the modern liquid workforce. The aim of the research is to identify what changes or solutions the financial services industry could make to improve the financial lives of people like myself and I’m sure many of you listening to this podcast. The 'liquid workforce' is an umbrella term for a variety of jobs that don’t fit the 9 – 5 (I hadn't actually heard of it before) consisting of

Liz Ward is a personal/business coach with over 12 years experience developing and mentoring high performing individuals, from entrepreneurs in the start up world to people in corporate management roles. With a background in brand, digital and business development, her career history includes the rebrand of the Millennium Dome to The O2, then London 2012 Opening Ceremony campaigns and global digital strategy for spirits giant, Bacardi-Martini. After a case of severe burnout, Liz pivoted her career in 2013 and left the 9-5 corporate world. She led marketing and product strategy for disruptive tech startups and then launched Slick Pivot in 2016, a new mission to help people to pivot their careers and businesses for more happiness and growth. Liz now helps new and seasoned entrepreneurs get good at change and supports their pivot journeys through one to one coaching, team workshops, and events. Whether that is quitting that 9-5, starting that business and develop

This week's guest is Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, who alongside her husband Karim Amer, directed the new Netflix documentary THE GREAT HACK which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It's out now, and the Guardian has already given it five stars.The documentary uncovers the dark world of data exploitation online. It follows the personal stories of some key players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal. Carole Cadwalladr from the Guardian who has spend years investigating, Brittany Kaiser who went from interning on the Barack Obama campaign to working on the Cambridge Analytica Trump campaign. It's informative, entertaining with some pretty scary revelations. Even if you know a bit about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it's fascinating to see the people behind it, and their individual motivations. Data has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable asset. People and companies everywhere are in a battle for control of our most intimate per

While I am on a very short podcast hiatus, I hope you don't mind that I will be re-posting some of my favourite episodes from over the three years. (I'm back with a bang in August!) This episode was a popular one, with Lucy Sheridan: the world’s first and only Comparison Coach.Lucy is an author and life coach who specialises in her helping her clients get over the ~compare and despair~ that can be heightened via social media (*cough* Instagram)She has a new book coming out called the Comparison Cure, and it is out in December 2019 so get pre-ordering. it's packed full of tips, examples and exercises to help you take back control of who you are and what you want, this empowering book is the necessary antidote we all need to the toxic comparison culture we're living in.The Times’ calls Lucy “one of the UK’s most successful coaches”, she was also recently listed in the Sunday Times Style in an article called “Meet The New Wellbeing Coaches”, and she’s been featured on Oprah’s ‘Life Class’ series multiple ti

While I am on a very short podcast hiatus, I hope you don't mind that I will be re-posting some of my favourite episodes from over the three years. Here is my episode with the brilliant Will Young. We all know Will from this Pop Idol success back in the noughties -- I was a fan then and I am now too -- but now for a different reason: his new podcast with his friend Chris Sweeney called HOMO SAPIENS. They describe it as “two gay guys talking to people we think are interesting” and were heavily inspired by BBC’s Woman’s Hour. Each weekly episode tackles a diverse mix of LGBTQ+ subjects He’s been nominated for an Olivier Award and was also nominated for the Guardian Pride Power List 2017.Subscribe to Homo Sapiens on iTunes or Acast. Hope you enjoy this episode!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.