What if you took a health day instead of a sick day? In this episode of The Festoon 500 Interviews, Dani Wallace sits down with Emmaline McAndrew — The Slow Business Woman — to talk about building a business when your energy isn't reliable, why chronic illness changes everything about how you work, and why “success doesn't love speed.”

Emmaline helps women with limited or fluctuating energy — including those managing chronic illness, disability, or neurodivergence — learn how to set up and run their own business, whether that's a freelance gig, self-employment, or a limited company. In this conversation, she and Dani unpack “the Great Unlearning” — the lifetime of social conditioning that teaches women to be quiet, be organised, and do it all — and why “work life balance” needs to become “work health balance” instead.

They also get into why professional boundaries work even when people hate them at first, why sharing the messy, unglossy parts of business builds a safer community than hiding them does, and Emmaline's challenge to every founder listening: take a health day, not a sick day.

Website: https://www.theslowbusinesswoman.com

Instagram: @theslowbusinesswoman

Join the Festoon 500 — The Big Festoon's founding community of founders supporting founders: https://highlevel.thebigfestoon.com/festoon500

0:00 The Big Idea: Work Health Balance Over Work Life Balance

0:58 Welcome To The Festoon 500 Interviews

3:10 Meet Emmaline McAndrew: The Slow Business Woman

4:14 The Great Unlearning: Hustle Culture, Hormones & Having It All

11:02 Why "Slow Business" Started: Building With Fluctuating Energy

14:56 Redefining Success: Wellness, Perimenopause & Burnout

17:22 Professional Boundaries: Why "That's The Point"

19:10 Sharing Your Story: Building A Safer Business Community

24:37 Neurodivergence & The Right To Be Cared For

25:57 Take A Health Day, Not A Sick Day

29:34 Where To Find Emmaline McAndrew

31:38 Join The Festoon 500: Founders Supporting Founders

Emmaline McAndrew — The Slow Business WomanCHAPTERS