The Podcast

My guest in this episode is Rirhandzu Marivate, a regenerative food systems practitioner and socioecologist currently based in the Western Cape of South Africa. Rirhandzu leads the Living Soils Community Learning Farm initiative, which aims to empower young black women through jobs in regenerative farming to grow nutrient-rich produce, strengthen local community food security and create sustainable livelihoods. In this episode we talk to Rirhandzu about how she collaborates with the team and the community to really embody regenerative leadership while they do regenerative agriculture.

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This week we are tackling a big topic together – your personal resilience and what it means for planetary resilience! I dive into lessons I have learned working with this topic personally and professionally over the last decade and dig out key insights and practical tools that will help you on your journey to create a more just, generative and joyful life for yourself and others. Together we explore: What personal resilience meanss; The myths surrounding vs what is actually backed up by science; What changemakers, or aspiring changemakers, need to know about how resilience impacts them; Six key science-based insights to help you build your resilience; The relationship between personal and planetary resilience; Some tools and practices you can use help build your resilience. Download the free workbook to apply the tools in your life and work!

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My guest today is Kylie Flanagan, author of a brand new book called “Climate Resilience - How we can keep each other safe, care for our communities and fight back against climate change”. Kylie and I sat down together to chat about: the climate leadership we need; why she felt it was important to centre voices other than her own in this book; and how learning from people who do things differently and prioritise values like interconnectedness, humility can deepen the dominant climate conversations. Kylie also shares the deep lessons she learned from the 39 climate leaders who contributed to her book and how this helps her to navigate the overwhelm that is inevitable in climate justice work.

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This week I am delighted to chat with Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and social entrepreneur passionate about reimagining leadership, restoring balance to the feminine and masculine, and helping to heal relations with ourselves, each other and the Earth. In this episode we talk about how Nina experienced her call to purpose, how healing imbalances in the world and within systems starts with healing imbalances in ourselves, and Nina’s evolving understanding of leadership that is increasingly relational and from the heart.

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My guest this episode is Mona Mijthab, social entrepreneur, international speaker and designer with a focus on circular design and social innovation. Mona founded Mosan, a social enterprise improving living conditions in low-income communities with circular sanitation systems, offering safe sanitation to people while also transforming human excreta into nutrient-rich biochar for soil health in agriculture. Mosan currently offers its services in indigenous communities in the Lake Atitlàn region of Guatemala, where they work together to improve hygiene standards, protect water and environment, and create opportunities for local communities. In this episode, Mona and I talk about how Mosan came to life, why 2023 is the most exciting year for their team so far and the life and leadership lessons her social entrepreneurship journey has offered her!

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On today’s episode I am joined by Sarela Herrada, co-founder of SIMPLi foods. Born and raised in Lima, Peru, and with a background in industrial engineering and food supply chain management, she and her husband Matt have now founded SIMPLi - a food business that wants to do things differently. In this episode we chat about her journey to bring SIMPLi to life and how they are trying to simultaneously tackle big complex topics like climate change, biodiversity loss and farmer livelihoods through the work that they do. Sarela shares how the story of quinoa in her home country Peru inspired her to look for more regenerative ways to produce food and lead change in the food system.

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The Great Full community is a professional network of women working to create a positive impact in food and sustainability around the world. This episode, a small circle of community members gathered to discuss the role of community in creating change. We explore what community means to each of us and how that has evolved, how community supports us in both responding to and driving change, what actively supports community building and how we all have a role to play. We wrap up with some reflection questions for you to dive into this topic and explore what community means to you and where you need community!

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My guest this episode is Dr. Ana Pantelic, Executive Director of the MIT D-Lab. We chat about: what designing for a more equitable world means and what it looks like in practice; what she has learned working across high and low resourced contexts about how scarcity fuels creativity; the overlaps and differences between international and sustainable development, and what decolonizing both might mean; the leadership learnings from inclusive and participatory design; and how to find joy and energy when depleted.

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This episode is a space to reflect on the relationship between your own wellbeing and your well-doing in the world. Join me for a chat about: What led me to start caring so deeply about this topic; The wellbeing and contribution feedback loop; Why it’s not your fault - how burnout and wellbeing are about self care AND systems of care; The irony that social and environmental impact oriented organizations are seeing high levels of employee burnout. We wrap up with some reflection and journalling questions for you to explore this topic for yourself!

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My guest this episode is Liz Ogutu, Policy, Advocacy and Regional Coordinator for Africa at HarvestPlus. Liz has dedicated her career to tackling malnutrition in Africa and currently focuses on using biofortification to improve nutrition while also giving agency back to smallholder farmers. Liz and I talk about what biofortification is and how it can help tackle food system challenges, and explore how she has navigated tradeoffs and power structures to find a career that nourishes herself and others. 

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In this episode, we explore how meditation can be a leadership practice. Michelle integrates meditation into her leadership trainings and uses this episode to answer common questions participants have around what meditation is and what makes it a leadership practice. The aim is to help you explore how mediation might be a tool that supports you on your journey to lead change, and to help you get started with, or deepen, your own practice. At the end of the episode (1:02:01) you will find a 10 minute guided meditation that you can come back to whenever you need!

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My guests this week are Corinna Hawkes, Shu Wen Ng and Rebecca Namara from the Next Gen(D)eration Leadership Collective. Food presents a huge opportunity to improve the health of people and the planet while also supporting the livelihoods of millions. What is missing is the bold and courageous leadership needed to put solutions to work. The Next Gen(D)eration Leadership Collective believes that making transformative change to our food systems means transforming both how we lead and who leads. In this episode with the collective's co-founders and task force members, we chat about the 8 courageous leadership practices needed to create lasting change, how these practices can support you in your work and their vision for the future of this movement.

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Welcome back to Season 3 of the podcast! This episode I am chatting with participants of Lead the Change to dig deeper into their experience in the program. We discuss: How Lead the Change is designed to help you feel calm, confident and connected as you make a positive impact through your work; What we cover in the 3 modules: Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading Change; What participants have to had to say at the end of the program about how their perspective on leadership changed, their biggest take aways and shifts, the structure and flow of the program; and learning in a community of inspiring women from around the world. Applications are now open for the next round of the program, learn more here!

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This week I am chatting with Nabeeha and Yumna, two incredibly inspiring high school students who are on a mission to make healthy food accessible to all children in the UK through their engagement with Bite Back 2030.
Founded by Jamie Oliver but fully youth-led, Bite Back 2030’s mission is to enable better access to healthy food for everyone and to create more sustainable food systems. Yumna and Nabeeha are on the youth board and in this episode we hear their inspiring stories of youth leading change.

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My guest this episode is Jerusha Klemperer, the Director of FoodPrint.org, a media platform dedicated to helping people understand the impact of what they eat on animals, planet and people. We chat about the lessons Jerusha has learned in her various food roles (at Slow Food USA and as co-founder of FoodCorps), how everyone can contribute towards a more sustainable food system, and how she sees the role of anger, storytelling and inspiration in communicating important issues.

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My guest this week is Dr. Jessica Hernandez (Maya Ch’orti’ & Binnizá), the author of the new book “Fresh Banana Leaves - Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science”. In this episode, Jessica helps us understand how indigenous and western science can be complementary, and what we need to know about colonialism, eco-colonialism and ecological grief if we want to tackle climate change. Jessica shares the wisdom she has gathered on her leadership journey, particularly around framing and tackling imposter syndrome.

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This episode is a special / unusual one. Instead of sharing the inspiring story of a human being leading sustainable change, I am sharing some wisdom for a little puppy named Polly! This last year we were foster parents or “puppy raisers” for a guide dog puppy. This adorable little ball of fluff turned our lives upside down and to my surprise taught me an awful lot about life and leadership along the way. So, I decided to summarise my top 10 lessons from Polly the puppy to share with you here. This episode also includes some reflections and food for thought that I hope offer you some new insights into how you live and lead!

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My guest in this episode is the inspiring Jacquie McGlade, a professor of sustainability and resilience at University College London and Strathmore University in Kenya. She was formerly the Chief Scientist at the United Nations Environment Program and the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency for 10 years. Though originally from the UK, Jacquie now lives in the Masai Mara with her husband and their community. Jacquie shares meaningful insights into her life and career, as well as her views on how effective leadership, courage and community will shape the transition towards a more sustainable world.

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This episode I chat with Beccie D’Cunha, founder of the Courage Lab. Beccie has extensive experience in leadership roles in the not for profit sector and as a professional facilitator and conflict mediator. At Courage Lab, Beccie offers coaching to enable courageous conversations, strengthen relationships and create the leadership we need for a positive change in our organizations and in the world around us. In this conversation we explore the role of courage in leading change, how it connects to confidence and some practical tips on how to build your own courage.

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My guest this week is Louise Mabulo - chef, farmer, and founder of the Cacao project, a social venture and agroforestry project working with farmers in the Philippines. Louise shares her story on how she entered the world of food at a very young age, how she transitioned from the kitchen to the field and why she founded the Cacao project after a typhoon devastated the region where she grew up. We explore the intersections of traditional and modern knowledge, and the need for resilience and diversity in both food systems and how we lead change.

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