Today I am joined by international speaker, confidence coach and founder of Confident and Killing It, Tiwalola Ogunlesi.

Tiwa moved to the UK from Nigeria aged 15 and began to struggle with low self-esteem issues throughout her teenage years. After graduating from university she felt immense pressure to live up to the expectations she’d set for herself, get a job and become a quote on quote ‘Adult’. She finally accepted a job at an engineering firm in Oxford, despite having no real interest in the company, or the job, and so as a year or more went by Tiwa found herself slowly suffocating in the boredom and monotony of living a life she felt incredibly uninspired by.

It was around this time that Tiwa decided to start volunteering at a local church and become a youth leader; there she met various girls aged 15-17 and realised from speaking to them on a regular basis that there was a major confidence crisis in yet another generation of girls growing up in the world thinking they weren’t good enough. Tiwa started making videos on instagram about the subject matter and 2 years later she was working full-time on her own business, Confident and Killing It, the self-love revolution to wake women up to their worth and dare to live the life they truly desire...

Since then, Tiwa has equipped over 3000 women in London, Lagos, New York and Johannesburg at The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy For Girls with the tools and knowledge they need to be confident. She has been interviewed by the likes of Jameela Jamil, spoken at UN women's conference, recently signed a book deal with Harper Collins and worked her ass off to ensure that the next generation of women we raise are ready to look themselves in the eye and say those three words which we all seemingly struggle with so much; I love myself.

You can pre-order Tiwa's book 'Confident & Killing It' HERE

Our favourite Millennial Minesweeper quote this week was:

"Perhaps imagination is not where we go to escape reality, but where we go to remember it" - Glennon Doyle

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Today's guest is someone I have wanted to come on the podcast for a long time... I'm so excited to tell you that this episode I am joined by the UK’s Leading life coach and No.1 international best selling author Jacqueline Hurst.

Growing up in North London, Jacqueline was bullied from an early age, which lead to her feeling incredibly lonely and isolated. Throughout her teenage years she turned to drugs and alcohol, and entered her twenties decade with cripplingly low self-esteem as well as suffering from anorexia, bulimia and severe anxiety. Her early twenties saw Jacqueline through various jobs as a PA and a secretary, but she continued to struggle internally and was fighting a battle which was showing no signs of easing.

It was an incredibly tough period of her life and by the time Jacqueline hit 25 she was squatting in an empty flat, suffering from drug addiction, out of touch with friends and family and had hit what she refers to as rock bottom. It was only after finally admitting she needed help, that Jacqueline was able to turn a corner, get clean and take ownership over her life again. She discovered self-development and travelled to the US to get training in neuro-linguistic programming where she found a passion for coaching and understanding the importance of mindset. When Jacqueline turned 30, she became a full-time life coach, qualified hypnotherapist and an NLP master practitioner.

This is of course an incredibly condensed overview of what was a decade of tremendous highs and unthinkable lows. Jacqueline has since gone from strength to strength in the coaching world, as well as being a columnist for GQ, she has also written the best-selling book ‘How To Do You’, and has helped thousands of people across the world to step into their power and realise their full potential.

Jacqueline’s tremendous empathy, vulnerability and brutal honesty has impacted so many lives, myself included, and her desire to grab life by both hands every day is infectious.

In her powerful words “Every day now I feel grateful I’m still alive. There are so many times I should have died from the number of drugs I’d taken. Now I’d just put my arms around the 15-year-old girl I was and tell her how much I love her”.

You can find out more about Jacqueline's coaching courses and classes here
Order her book 'How To Do You' (which will absolutely change your life) here
You can also follow her on Instagram here

We sadly didn't have time to play Millennial Minesweeper this week but one thing Jacqueline said which will stick with me for a long time is:

"We are so busy trying to control the situation that we lose ourselves. We think it's the situation that creates how we feel but it’s not. It’s our minds.’ - Jacqueline Hurst

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I am joined by Television Presenter Chris Bavin.

You might know him from presenting on a host of BBC food shows, but Chris actually spent the majority of his twenties working in wholesale food exports. Turning 20 on the turn of the century, Chris was headhunted to work for a large company selling flowers before moving on to fresh produce. His decade was spent prioritising his career above most other things, and 2 years after meeting his wife Millie, the two of them opened their own high street store called 'The Naked Grocer', when Chris was 29.

They ran the business for seven years and in that time the store won the title of 'National Independent Retailer of the Year' twice thanks to its loyal customers, their passion for fresh ingredients and being ahead of its time with no plastic packaging. Chris’s career then took an unfor-seen turn in his thirties when in 2013 he was cast to co-present Eat Well For Less on BBC One, which lead him on to present other shows including Food: Truth or Scare and judging on Britain’s Best Home Cook with co-star national treasure Mary Berry.

Chris is a food fanatic, a proper people person and can banter his way out of trouble in any given situation. His twenties are evidence that working towards something you’re deeply passionate about, can often lead you somewhere better than you could have predicted.

Our favourite (and perhaps most contested) Millennial Minesweeper Quote this week was:

'The problem isn't the problem. The problem is the way you think about the problem’ - Stephen Bartlett

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This series in addition to our usual episodes we're going to be flip-flopping with the 'Let's Talk About 'X' bonus episodes.

A few of you mentioned that you wanted to hear more themes relating to the decade in terms of dating, sex, feminism, ableism, friendships etc. and so I’ve decided to throw together this mini series to explore those ideas in a bit more detail.

In this Let’s Talk About: Women and Power episode , you'll be hearing from two previous guests on the podcast who are both good friends of mine, Emma Fleming and Laurence White.

First you’ll be hearing from Emma; this was such an interesting chat as we debated whether women posting sexualised content on social media platforms is a form of 'empowerment' or whether it contributes to the objectification of our bodies. This conversation really made me realise that when it comes to talking about women online it boils down to our internalised misogyny and our JUDGEMENT of each other. Emma and I discuss everything from comparing nudes and the dangers of choice feminism, to discussing the power that comes with expressing your sexual desires as a woman.

You can read the article Emma refers to about nude collections online here.

You'll also hear from social media artist Laurence. Laurence has actually got an exhibition coming up at the South Place Hotel in London where he’s featuring 9 paintings of famous women throughout history. So I thought what better time to sit down and have a chat with him about where he got his inspiration from to paint purely women for this exhibitio, whether he considers himself a feminist, and how dedicating time to draw these female icons has taught him more about female empowerment and the struggles women face.

Laurence's exhibition starts TOMORROW (Thursday 18th February) and he'll be in residence for 3 months so do go and check it out!

You can check out more of his art work here.

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Seeing us into a brand new Season is author, journalist, Limbless Association trustee and public speaker Ella Dove.

Ella’s early twenties saw her constantly chasing highs; she was a social butterfly with dreams of spreading her wings in the journalist world. The first few years of the decade were spent pursuing her career while juggling a hectic social life; attending multiple press events, eating and drinking out frequently and trying to find her flow in the fast paced environment. It was a whirlwind few years and the concept of ‘slowing down’ was totally alien to her.

However, aged 25, Ella experienced a traumatic freak accident which would change her life forever. While out on a run with her sister, she tripped and fell, landing awkwardly on her right leg. What she thought was just a broken leg then transpired to be something far more severe. After three days in intensive care Ella’s right leg had to be amputated below the knee. In one moment everything seemed to change; and Ella felt the life she had so carefully planned out for herself suddenly collapse around her. The following years of recovery were mentally and physically draining; accepting the new challenges of being an amputee paired with rigorous rehabilitation practices and therapy forced Ella to listen to her body and not berate herself for lacking productivity.

It was a long road but Ella was determined to walk it; and she did just that. Ella is now a public speaker, a trustee for the Limbless Association and published her debut novel ‘5 Steps To Happy’ while still working as a journalist. She is a true inspiration and provides help, comfort and reassurance to those suffering, while using her journalistic talents to change the narrative around disability in the media.

In her own reassuring and moving words ‘there is hope after trauma. There is light through the dark. It will get better.’

Our favourite Millennial Minesweeper quote this week was:

'To succeed in life you need 3 things; a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone' - Reba Mcentire

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.