In this episode I’m joined by my brilliant friend Nici Burns, female founder of Nibu Naturals, wellness advocate, biohacker, and someone who’s been doing the work for decades.

But this conversation isn’t about branding or business. It’s about survival.

We go all the way back to the beginning. Childhood trauma, domestic violence, eating disorders, toxic relationships, the search for love in all the wrong places, and how those early experiences shape everything that follows.

Nici speaks honestly about the darker chapters of her life. Not from a place of drama, but from a place of ownership. From bulimia and body dysmorphia to being manipulated in her teens by much older men, there’s nothing performative here. Just the reality of what it takes to rebuild when life has knocked you down more times than you can count.

None of this was scripted. We sat down to catch up and ended up hitting record. What followed was one of the most open and unfiltered conversations we’ve had. No structure, no interview questions, just two friends talking honestly about life, pain, growth, and everything in between.

We talk about the deep healing work too. From ayahuasca to spiritual practice, from meditation to letting go of shame, and why forgiving yourself can be the hardest part.

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Key moments include:

✔ Growing up in fear and trying to find safety in chaos.

✔ How childhood trauma shaped her relationship with food, men and control.

✔ The eating disorders that became her coping mechanism.

✔ Why ayahuasca was a turning point in her healing.

✔ The guilt that comes with motherhood when you’re still trying to fix yourself.

✔ Reclaiming her feminine energy after years of living in survival mode.

✔ Letting people help and why that’s harder than it sounds.

We don’t dress this up. We don’t gloss over it. This is real life. And for anyone going through their own season of struggle, this one’s going to land.

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Connect & Follow

Follow Ellie McKay:

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellie_mckay_official/?hl=en-gb

🔗 On a Mission Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onamissionpodcast2.0/?hl=en-gb

Follow Nici Burns:

🔗 Website: https://nibunaturals.com

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i.am.nici.nibu/

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nibu_naturals/?hl=en

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nici-burns/

Rachell Smith is a force behind the lens, but her journey to becoming one of the UK’s most in-demand photographers hasn’t been straightforward.

In this episode, we talk about how she broke into the industry, the reality of building a career from the ground up, and the creative identity she had to fight to reclaim. From sending thousands of cold emails to walking away from portfolio work that no longer felt aligned, Rachell shares what it’s really taken to get to where she is today.

She reflects on her time assisting Rankin, and how she’s gone on to shoot front covers for Vogue, photograph at the BAFTAs, and work with some of the most recognisable names in the industry. Rachell also opens up about launching her own magazine, Defined, navigating the emotional toll of working solo, and why having her portrait of Twiggy accepted into the National Portrait Gallery has been one of the proudest moments of her career.

This one’s for anyone who’s ever questioned whether they can make a living doing what they love. It’s about backing yourself before the world does, staying true to your style, and building a creative life on your own terms.

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Key moments include:

✔ Assisting Rankin and learning on the job.

✔ Breaking into the industry with no connections.

✔ Getting front covers and shooting for Vogue.

✔ What it’s really like behind the scenes at the BAFTAs.

✔ The creative reset that changed everything.

✔ Letting go of people pleasing and finding her voice.

✔ Launching her own magazine Defined.

✔ Her portrait of Twiggy being accepted into the National Portrait Gallery.

✔ Balancing motherhood with a demanding creative career.

✔ Navigating AI as a working photographer.

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Connect & Follow

Follow Ellie McKay:

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellie_mckay_official/?hl=en-gb

🔗 On a Mission Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onamissionpodcast2.0/?hl=en-gb

Follow Rachell Smith:

🔗 Website: https://www.rachellsmith.com

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachell_photo?igsh=a21uM2pjaWk3cWJw

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachell-smith-b6191430/

🔗 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@definedmagazine

🔗 Defined Website: https://www.definedmagazine.com

🔗 Defined Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/definedmag?igsh=dnAyYXM3Mjh0NWxu

Mushrooms. Manifestation. A brand changing the game.

Meet Zain Peer, cofounder of London Nootropics, one of the breakout names in functional health right now. Their adaptogenic coffee blends have taken the wellness space by storm, helping people ditch the jitters, clear brain fog, and tap into something better than burnout.

They have gone from kitchen counter experiments to a seven figure brand, featured on BBC Dragons’ Den, backed by major health voices, and supported by a growing wave of customers who are tired of being sold nonsense in shiny packaging.

But this conversation is not just about what they built, it is about everything they uncovered along the way.

We go there.

Behind the scenes of the supplement industry. The dangerous loopholes in regulation. The brands selling junk science under the label of wellness. And the question nobody wants to answer, if these ingredients are so effective, why are so many people trying to shut them down?

We also talk about the magic in the mess. The chaos of Covid. The timing they could not have planned. The moment Chris Evans shouted about them live on air. And the Dragons’ Den offer they walked away from without blinking.

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Key moments include:

✔ What adaptogens really do to the body and why the quality matters more than people think

✔ How suppressed emotion might be linked to illness and what happens when you finally face it

✔ The science, the woo, and where it all overlaps

✔ Synchronicity, instinct, and the surreal moments that kept pointing them forward

✔ Why so much of what we are told about health is still built on broken systems

This one is bold. It is unfiltered. And it goes far beyond coffee.

If you care about your body, your energy, your focus, your health, and if you have ever had the sense that there is more going on than we are being told, this episode is for you.

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Connect & Follow

Follow Ellie McKay:

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellie_mckay_official/?hl=en-gb

🔗 On a Mission Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onamissionpodcast2.0/?hl=en-gb

Follow Zain Peer:

🔗 Website: https://londonnootropics.com

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inzainagram/?hl=en

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/london.nootropics/?hl=en

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zainpeer/?originalSubdomain=uk