This week, I’m chatting to my friend Sarahbeth Larrimore, the wonder-woman behind Unabashed Apparel. The mantra for her work says it all: “Empowering women to design & sew. Our bodies are worthy of our finest frocks, just as they are.” Um, yes please!Sarahbeth and I had a juicy conversation about personal style and the benefits of sewing for self-expression, creativity and body acceptance. I know next to nothing about sewing, but by the end of this episode Sarahbeth had me completely...

This is a republished episode from LFAHC In today’s episode we dive into listener questions all about Instagram - from building engagement up, feeling hopeful and excited about the platform again, coming back after a long break, adapting to creating more video content, whether to use hashtags anymore and lots more. Join Sara for her Instagram Summer School Class starts on Monday, the 29th, so you need to be quick. Would you love some encouragement and support in your business? Submit your...

I first met Sarah D Rees through my class, The Insta Retreat, quite a few years ago, and we’ve worked together ever since. Sarah is a mental health nurse and CBT therapist with over 10 years of experience in private practice. Through her mentoring and coaching services, she supports other therapists in setting up and growing their private practices. Sarah struggled with the lack of a business plan and structure in her private practice, leading to dissatisfaction and confusion, and wanted to...

I first met deep-dive master coach Katie Pulsifer when she was my instructor for certification at The Life Coach School. I recall being pretty intimidated. I’ve never been sky-diving or tried a bungee jump, but I’m pretty sure the adrenaline rush is comparable to coaching in front of Katie for immediate feedback in front of a group. 🪂 Katie’s recently gone solo, after many years working for a large coaching school, and as we caught up over Zoom I was struck by how her open, beginner’s mindset...

I’m sharing something a little different today… the results of my ‘podcast affair’ with my Aussie bestie, the gorgeous Ms . Bonded over our love of storytelling and creativity, Keeley and I and came together to create - a gathering of resources, classes and a shiny new podcast, in the hope of passing some of that passion along.I chose this very first episode to share here with you on Hashtag Authentic because I really think the fundamentals we talk through - which we’re jokingly calling our...

This week I talk to Katie Leamon, who turned her love of paper and pattern into her eponymous family-run stationery studio. Her notebooks have been a daily companion to me for many years, so it was really fun to chat with her about her designs, her process and the realities behind running a product-lead business with the family on board! Things we talk about: * Building from a home studio to printing and selling at scale * Designing products based on creative instinct * The rise of...

Returning guest and interior stylist Hannah Bullivant has been BUSY! In the last couple of years she downsized her family of four and moved in with friends in order to renovate an old static caravan! Along the way, she and her husband started a YouTube channel, Patreon and took on the challenging balance of content creation alongside full-out DIY. Hannah shares the lessons she learned and the ways she cut back, as the adventure unfolded, to protect her own mental health. We talk about the...

Lisa Francesca Nand is a broadcast travel journalist and podcaster who juggles a multi-faceted career, unexpected professional twists and turns, motherhood, and personal heartbreak, with humour and creativity. Our chat felt like pulling back the velvet curtains, a rare insight into the “real” life of a glamorous travel journalist.

I learnt at a young age life is short. I’ve carried that with me and made it my mission to tell people what they mean to me. I even do that with my clients. - Susan Mar Susan Mar is a branding specialist: a creative for creatives. The way she understands aesthetics, the creative process, and even Instagram makes her really unique. She’s one of the loveliest humans, she overflows with love and appreciation and can really see the magic in others. She’s also a member of my newest group...

“The aim is not to be viral, but to be high-value” - Sophia Smith Galer Sophie Smith Galer is a senior news reporter at Vice World News, author of the new book Losing It: Sex Education for the 21st Century, and a TikTok content-creator extraordinaire. We all know that journalism pre-dates social media, and has been weakened by it in some places, but Sophia has found a way to bridge the two, and is blazing a new path. She recently received a British Journalism Award on “Innovation of the...

"Sometimes the best stories are the ones we don't set out to tell" Much has changed for Farrah Storr since the last time she joined me on the podcast. A former editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, and editor-in-chief of Elle, Farrah now writes "Things Worth Knowing" on Substack, a tech newsletter platform that she calls "A personal media channel for the individual." We had a wonderful conversation about storytelling, the return of long-form content, and the pleasures of writing in community,...

Full show notes to follow soon.

“Maybe being able to earn your goodness and your worth is the true delusion.” - Jamie Varon Jamie Varon is truly multi-hatted: she's a writer, designer, digital course creator, creative consultant, and author of the wonderfully-radical new book, Radically Content: being satisfied in an endlessly dissatisfied world. We had a fabulous, meaty conversation about the true things that drive us, where we find motivation, and the path to actual - rather than simply Instagrammable - contentment.

“When you’ve spent years valuing yourself, your brand and your value in the number of people who follow you or the size of your email list, making that shift to quality over quantity can be challenging. And yet when you do it, something magical gets unlocked.” - Gina Bianchini My guest today is Gina Bianchini, co-founder and CEO of Ning and more recently the founder of community-creation platform Mighty Networks. To let her contagious enthusiasm speak for itself, Gina is “passionate about...

"Minimalism and simplifying life comes down to learning how to use the word no" I'm so excited that we finally made this episode happen!! We recorded this episode just before Jess birthed her beautiful book Enough, which is out now. It's about learning to simplify life, let go and walk the path that is truly ours. It's a how-to/memoir, based on Jess' story about how she learnt to let go of mental and physical stuff Jess is a writer & lifestyle blogger based in the Peak District, in the...

"Your art is not saying anything about you as a person, you have to separate your art from your existence. " This week I welcome back Maria Wigge, an artist I met through my Insta Retreat class, who started sharing her work on Instagram and found it changed her life. Our last episode really resonated with so many of you, so I'm delighted to be able to share this episode with you. Maria lives in Sweden with her family and works full time as an artist, you can see her work over on her...

"Reaction is the point of writing. You’ve only failed as a writer if the reaction is silence." Natalie Morris dreamed of being a writer as a child, and is now firmly entrenched in her dream job. She’s the senior lifestyle writer at metro.co.uk, and author of the new book Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern Britain. Writing about race comes with its own suite of challenges and often elicits extreme reactions, but Natalie sees these as important, saying, “My job is to provoke...

“I STRUGGLE WITH A LOT OF THINGS BUT IF THERE’S SOMETHING I REALLY WANT TO DO, I’M GOING TO DO IT.” Rebecca Schiller is a wearer of many hats, all of them impressive. She’s a journalist and an author, as well as a doula, a smallholder, a campaigner for women’s rights, and a mother! We chat today about the process of writing her latest book Earthed, about living a life that is neurodiverse, about the joys and challenges of parenting small humans, and about the value of connecting with nature.

Full show notes coming soon

“Less of the specs… and more about ‘how can this fit into our lives?’” Becca Caddy is a science and technology journalist, and the author of the recently published book “Screen Time: How to Make peace with Your Devices and Find Your Techquilibrium.” In this conversation, we explore elements of the love-hate relationship that so many of us seem to have with technology, and with social media in particular, and Becca shares her thoughts on ways we can find balance.

“Trust your gut instinct, rather than the instincts of other people who don’t understand you.” - Katherine May Katherine May is a writer, the author of many books including the New York Times bestseller Wintering, and most recently Electricity of Every Living Thing; and a teacher and mentor. She lives with her husband, son, dog and two cats, and is one of those inspirational/crazy people who swims in the depths of winter. We had a heartwarming conversation about the many shades of life,...

“You are the CEO, the Head of Finance, the Head of Technology. You are also the worker, the employee. And you’re the Head of Marketing, the Head of Sales. You wear all of these hats.” Today I welcome Anna Codrea-Rado back to the podcast to introduce her brand-new book-baby, “You're the Business,” and we delve into the ins and outs (and ups and downs) of being a freelancer or micro-business owner in a time of high uncertainty and change.

Sally Hardie is a life coach for successful women, and a recovering people pleaser. In this episode, she shares the complex roots of this common behaviour, why we put other people’s well-being above our own, and the strategies she uses to get herself, and her clients, out of the habit.

In today's solo episode I get to the bottom of what's going on with Instagram hashtags.