“We really focus on providing access, supporting predominantly black women, into the events industry where predominantly we are on the stage being the entertainers and the performers, but we're not seen behind the scenes. It’s really important for me to support many who look like me to come through into the industry and so they see there's actually people who look like us doing all the hard work behind the scenes.”

Having been in the events industry for almost 20 years, I still find the lack of representation shocking, particularly at leadership level. So it was brilliant to welcome Nadu Placca Rodriguez (she/her), a fellow events professional and all-round badass businesswoman, to ‘Pause. And Rewind…’ and a fantastic guest as Lesbian Visibility Week comes to an end. Nadu is the Founder of The Zoo XYZ - a global creative & purpose-driven events agency which centres operational excellence, expertise & collaboration - and Co-Founder of The Association of Black Event Professionals.

A highly accomplished International Event Architect, Nadu has set up offices for The Zoo XYZ in London, New York & Ghana and we explore how the current landscape differs between them (there’s a fair bit of events focused chat in here for all you event profs!).

Little Nadu grew up in SouthEast London and had a fun & adventurous childhood. She recalls how she would build relationships with older kids so they’d have her back and understood hierarchy from a young age. A year of schooling in Africa gave her a real appreciation for the richness of culture which has shaped her today.

At 19 years old, Nadu had a baby and was ‘thrown into the reality of being a young mum’ and decided that as she was responsible for a small being, she should probably do something with her life. She was soon working three jobs and threw herself into exploring opportunities to figure out what she wanted to do.

She soon found herself in the world of events and she recalls the moment she realised it has shifted from simply a job to a lifelong career. And listen, it’s certainly not one without stress! When I ask Nadu what keeps her going when things gets tough, she hilarious responds “Babe I ain’t got no choice!! I've tried to quit many times. I've just resided to the fact that you try to quit enough times. The universe has not let you. So just continue.” I know this feeling well.

Right now is an exciting time for Nadu as she was recently appointed to the EVCOM board and has just joined the Community Advice Group (CAG) for Black on the Square - PLUS there's other stuff in the pipeline too so STAY TUNED for that!

We chat about Nadu’s pride in her daughter, the joy of yoga & driving around listening to loud music in her pink Mini Cooper and career failures.

If you’re interested in working with The Zoo XYZ, Nadu says ‘come to the experts!’ and she’s all about picking up the phone & having a conversation so get in touch!

“It took me until 41 to be like, ‘I actually like you’. It's a recent revelation because before then, I didn't like me. I liked what I did. It took a while to get there because you have to be demure, humble or whatever. And it's like, bitch, no. I can like myself. I can love myself. People can see that this is a journey and they could be like, maybe I wanna take a similar journey.”

Ooooosh hard f*ckin’ relate!

My guest for this episode of ‘Pause. And Rewind…” is author & journalist Sharan Dhaliwal (she/they). She’s the Founder of the UK’s leading South Asian culture magazine ‘Burnt Roti’ and the Founder & Co-Director of Middlesex Pride. I’m a regular reader & big fan of Sharan’s work (which appears regularly in The Metro amongst other publications) and I recently read her brilliant debut book ‘Burning My Roti: Breaking Barriers as a Queer Indian Woman' which came out in 2022. The book explores ‘how her Asian identity and queerness came up against capitalism and white supremacy’.

With Lesbian Visibility Week 2026 underway, Sharan’s voice as a queer woman of colour is one that is so needed right now when it comes to the importance of speaking up. Real, sharp & unique and shaped by her own lived experience, passion for community - which she describes as ‘my belief system’ - and her deep understanding of society, culture & history. She shares why being loud is so crucial right now & her origin story highlights this…

Little Sharan always had something to say. She grew up in Southall, West London and, in her words, she was a ‘walking bingo card for bullying’ and often seen as ‘weird’ or ‘not girly enough’. Support was scarce and Sharan focused on pop culture as a way to disconnect & simply get through. Her earliest feelings of belonging came in the form of discovering subcultures, namely metal music, emos & goths.

Sharan reflects on how a pressure to conform resulted in many dangerous situations and her work today covers many topics around this area including beauty expectations, dating, relationships, assumptions around gender, racial inequality, politics and more.

We discuss Sharan’s pride in ‘Burnt Roti’ and she shares “I still get so many messages from people who say that they came out because of Burnt Roti. They found their community because of Burnt Roti. They left abusive marriages because of Burnt Roti.”

Sharan & her wonderful partner Sabah (former podcast guest & friend of mine) got engaged last year. Their love story is beautiful and you can hear why during this conversation! We chat all about Sharan’s early career, including a random stint in payroll, her desire to become a queer historian, the issues with Pride events today and our mutual love of ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’. I loved this chat - have a listen.

FYI. Go check out ‘The Last Princesses of Punjab’ exhibition which Sharan was a part of… and SAVE THE DATE for Middlesex Pride: Sunday 2 August. I’ll see ya there!

“I had an awakening if you like. I've been out for many years but not really in the lesbian scene. And all of a sudden I was in a room full of queer women all having really nice chats and I felt like a kid in a candy shop. That was only four years ago. I was really proudly a lesbian at that point. And I then really wanted to own it. I wanted to say the word more.”

Embracing the term ‘lesbian’ has been an evolution with this week’s guest on ‘Pause. And Rewind…’ and it’s a timely conversation with Lesbian Visibility Week just around the corner. And to be clear, she’s one of my best friends AND my favourite lesbian in the world!

Jayney Flatman (she/her) is a Global Operations Manager in the corporate travel industry - which she’s been in since the start of her career. She’s also one of the Co-Founders of The House of Happiness, London’s Ultimate Queer Sober Clubbing Extravaganza (alongside me) and up until last year, she headed up a community group for queer women & non-binary people. An understanding of inclusion is something Jayney feels is fairly new to how she shows up in the world but how she puts it into action has been shaped by so many of her experiences…

Little Jayney & her family moved around a lot. It’s a recurring theme in her life - and something we touch on in comparison to today. On the one hand, Little Jayney was a quiet & shy child whilst on the other, she was often the one leading a group & taking centre stage. “I’m very much a sea of contradictions” says Jayney, back then and again, now. She was convinced she’d either be famous… or be murdered. Which very much speaks to her dramatic flare!

School wasn’t pleasant for the most part and Jayney experienced a lot of bullying for being different. She would often run away & not fight back and very much felt like she didn’t belong. We explore the impact of this and why finding her voice & therapy have been game changers. As well as how discovering her love of a party & dancing have shaped her.

What makes this episode even more timely is that Jayney has just celebrated her 60th birthday so it provided the perfect opportunity for reflection AND celebration. She shares why she chose to throw a whole festival - brilliantly named JayneyFest - to mark the occasion, diving into self help books from her teens, how sobriety has changed her life, meeting her amazing girlfriend Jess and all things JOY!

Jayney chose the following three words to describe herself & her origin story: No Ordinary Girl. She really isn’t. And I can’t wait for you to hear this…

PLEASE NOTE: This episode contains mentions of bullying, domestic abuse & violence. Take care of yourself whilst listening.