The Couragemakers Podcast

Hello Couragemakers and welcome to another episode of The Couragemakers Podcast! This week I had the absolute delight of talking with Indrani Goradia! Indrani is a philanthropist and advocate for women’s health and empowerment. She is the founder of Indrani’s Light Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to improving the level of care for domestic violence survivors by training and supporting front-line domestic violence caregivers in reducing compassion fatigue and burnout. An author, speaker and certified life coach, Indrani has delivered keynote addresses at conferences and leads workshops around the world, including World Women’s Health and Development Forum at the United Nations, the Nexus Conference in Jamaica, the UBS’s “It’s a Girl” conference in Switzerland, Global India Fund’s Girl Rising Screening and panel in D.C, Women Moving Millions, at the 2016 Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen. She did a Tedx Talk titled “Love Expressed as Violence is a Lie” at TEDx Port of Spain 2015 . Indrani completed her formal education in New York City, attending Queens College and Kent State University. She is currently preparing to begin a certification in Social Impact Strategy at UPenn and an executive leadership program at THNK in Amsterdam for 2019.   She is also tri-athlete and marathoner in her spare time. During our conversation, Indrani shares how she realised her life mission, what inspired her mission and how she sustains herself along the way. We dive into SO many great things during this episode including a very practical way of saying no, dealing with toxic people, why recovery time is so important and how Indrani reparents herself. This episode is a great reminder of how what people say says more about them, that we need to put ourselves on the top of our list and why selfish is such a fantastic word! Indiani’s spirit is absolutely contagious. If you need some courage to deal with toxic people in your life, a permission slip to look after yourself as well as the people around you, and some extra sass in your life, this is the episode for you! Enjoy the show!

This week I’m speaking to Heather Adams. Heather the founder and CEO of Choice Media & Communications, a boutique media and communications business. A self-proclaimed pop-culture junkie, Heather leads Choice’s impressive team of women as they serve preeminent voices in publishing, government, lifestyle, entertainment, business, and faith-based arenas. Heather has played an instrumental role in helping more than 100 authors land spots on The New York Times Best Sellers list. A passionate mentor to women in the communications field and beyond, Heather is tearing down old barriers with the ever-present hope that in the future, women professionals and entrepreneurs will face far fewer obstacles. Heather is a big believer in nurturing the next generation of women. She walks that women-lifting-up-other-women-walk through developing the all-women Choice team she’s built, the college women she mentors, the clients and projects she selects, and so much more.Heather lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, Matthew, and their two young sons, Dixon and Thackston. In this episode we’re really diving into mentorship and women lifting other women up. Heather shares so much practical advice on how to find a mentor - even when it feels scary, how to get the most out of a mentor relationship as well as being a good mentee and mentor. Heather shares her love and passion for books from an early age and her journey from working in the book publishing industry to starting her own boutique communications organisation. And we also dive into keeping your work and life sustainable, from how Heather sees self-care as critical for being the best version of her she can be, prioritising for the season of life you’re in, and Heather shares what keeps the fire in her belly burning. I can’t tell you how excited to share this episode with you! Heather is the antithesis of the old saying that women should be seen and not heard. Heather’s passion for stories and the desire to make people feel heard, seen and known shines through everything she says and I love how she is working to create a culture that lifts women up.   About Heather   Heather Adams is the founder and CEO of Choice Media &Communications, a boutique media and communications business. A self-proclaimed pop-culture junkie, Heather leads Choice’s impressive team of women as they serve preeminent voices in publishing, government, lifestyle, entertainment, business, and faith-based arenas. Heather has played an instrumental role in helping more than 100 authors land spots on The New York Times Best Sellers list. A passionate mentor to women in the communications field and beyond, Heather is tearing down old barriers with the ever-present hope that in the future, women professionals and entrepreneurs will face far fewer obstacles. Heather is a big believer in nurturing the next generation of women. She walks that women-lifting-up-other-women-walk through developing the all-women Choice team she’s built, the college women she mentors, the clients and projects she selects, and so much more.Heather lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, Matthew, and their two young sons, Dixon and Thackston. , I'm usually covered in paint or walking my wonderfully weird cockapoo Merlin.

This week I’m talking to the fabulous and my now-friend Katie Vaz. Katie is an illustrator, author, and graphic designer living in Upstate New York with her husband, Joby, a puppy named Tater, and a cat named KittenFace. She is the author of the adult coloring book Don’t Worry, Eat Cake (which was featured on Canada's Biggest Bestseller List at Chapters Indigo), the book Make Yourself Cozy: A Guide for Practicing Self-Care, and more recently The Escape Manual For Introverts, which was just published on August 6, 2019 (all three by Andrews McMeel Publishing). She also designs her own line of greeting cards, prints and other stationery products, which are sold both online on Etsy and in brick and mortar shops across North America. She also works as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer with a variety of clients on branding, packaging design, and illustration projects. Katie’s work has been featured on sites like BuzzFeed, Woman’s Day, POPSUGAR, Real Simple, and HuffPost. When she’s not working, Katie likes to spend her time cooking and baking, tending to her plants, reading fiction - Harry Potter is her favourite), learning embroidery, and walking her puppy Tater. Today’s episode is just a really refreshingly honest conversation about the struggles that so often accompany being a creative woman, from self doubt and comparison to owning the things that make you different and dealing with expectations and disappointments. We have great discussions about making space for the unexpected, focusing on your own work and not comparing your work to others, external versus internal motivation and the power of recognising and exploring your fears. We also dive deep into owning your experience as an introvert and highly sensitive person and finding like minded people. If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall of a really intimate and vulnerable conversation between two creative women who are just laying it all out there, this is the perfect episode for you! And if you struggle with people pleasing, anxiety and imposter syndrome, let this episode serve as a reminder that you are never alone. I am sure that you will, as I have, fall in love with Katie and really enjoy this episode! So enjoy the show!   About Katie Katie is an illustrator, author, and graphic designer living in Upstate New York with her husband, Joby, a puppy named Tater, and a cat named KittenFace. She is the author of the adult coloring book Don’t Worry, Eat Cake (which was featured on Canada's Biggest Bestseller List at Chapters Indigo), the book Make Yourself Cozy: A Guide for Practicing Self-Care, and more recently The Escape Manual For Introverts, which was just published on August 6, 2019 (all three by Andrews McMeel Publishing). She also designs her own line of greeting cards, prints and other stationery products, which are sold both online on Etsy and in brick and mortar shops across North America. She also works as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer with a variety of clients on branding, packaging design, and illustration projects. Katie’s work has been featured on sites like BuzzFeed, Woman’s Day, POPSUGAR, Real Simple, and HuffPost.   Things We Talked About: making space for the unexpected putting your blinkers on and focusing on your own work comparison and social media external versus internal motivation expectations we put on ourselves reframing fear as fuel the power of recognising and exploring your fears keeping a list of scary things you’ve done imposter syndrome experiencing life as a highly sensitive person Katie’s advice on people wanting to create something but it feels too big and too scary find beauty in the mundane meeting like minded people   About Meg & That Hummingbird Life I’m Meg and I’m the host of Couragemakers and founder of That Hummingbird Life. I’m an INFJ creative and multipassionate who has a bit of a notebook and post-it note obsession, loves foot-stomping country music and likes her hot chocolate with way too much chocolate. I started Couragemakers because I wanted to create a platform for passionate and unconventional women to have honest conversations and to share their stories, struggles and dreams. The intention behind this podcast is to inspire and encourage creative and mission-driven women to live a wholehearted life and follow the beat of their drum.   When I’m not recording episodes, writing bullshit-free, very vulnerable and encouraging Sunday emails to fellow couragemakers (join the party here!) or making new friends with the wonderful guests, you can find me working on all manners of magic over at That Hummingbird Life. THL is the online home for unconventional creatives and multipassionates who want to show up unapologetically and intentionally as who they are, and really own, live and share their many stories. It’s made for couragemakers who have so much great shit to give the world and want to leave their mark but have too much self doubt standing in the way!  

Hello Couragemakers! This week I’m chatting to Lucy Elliott - THE most colourful and fun chocolate bars I have ever seen. Lucy is the creative director and founder of Creighton's Chocolaterie.   She is a product designer, chocolatier and lover of all things colourful   (especially if food is involved!). From a young age, Lucy's dream was to have a career doing something she loved. At school, she came up various fun and colourful ‘products’ that she'd sell to friends and family, including a self-published cake cookbook, a range of greetings cards, band merch, jewellery… the list was endless but had one thing in common: everything was created & designed by her. Lucy lives in Leighton Buzzard with her husband, daughter and dog In today’s episode, Lucy is diving into her story, from how she has been running creative endeavour of one kind of another since being a child to how she founded Creighton’s Chocolaterie. We have so many great discussions about creativity in this episode. We dive into the power of creating the things you want to see in the world and creating with blinkers on, the need to have other and completely separate creative outlets when you put a lot of your work out there, the surprising relationship between impatience and perfectionism and how Lucy keeps her creative fires burning. This is a perfect episode for you if yo’ve ever struggled with the idea of creativity and business coinciding together, if you struggle with self doubt and you need a massive shot of inspiration. There are so many wisdoms of nuggets in here and I know you’re going to take so much from this episode! Enjoy the show!   About Lucy Lucy is the creative director and founder of Creighton's Chocolaterie.   She is a product designer, chocolatier and lover of all things colourful   (especially if food is involved!). From a young age, Lucy's dream was to have a career doing something she loved. At school, she came up various fun and colourful ‘products’ that she'd sell to friends and family, including a self-published cake cookbook, a range of greetings cards, band merch, jewellery… the list was endless but had one thing in common: everything was created & designed by her. Lucy lives in Leighton Buzzard with her husband, daughter and dog , I'm usually covered in paint or walking my wonderfully weird cockapoo Merlin.

Hello Couragemakers! I couldn’t be happier to be sharing the conversation I had with today’s guest. This week I’m talking with wonderful human who is Eli Trier. Eli is a community builder for Quiet Revolutionaries. She helps introverts with big dreams to get connected and build thriving, engaged communities around their businesses, so that they can make a massive impact, find their dream clients, and make their corner of the world a better place. She specialises in creating powerful, strategic online community projects and loves every minute of her work (even the boring bits). Eli lives in the wonderful city of Copenhagen, Denmark and when she's not working you can find her curled up with a book, painting, or hanging out with her husband Lars. Eli’s runs the group program love>numbers group programme which is all about getting connected and building a network of your right people. Applications are currently open - you can find out more by visiting , I'm usually covered in paint or walking my wonderfully weird cockapoo Merlin.