Ctrl Alt Delete

My guest today is the lovely Rachel Khoo - chef, food writer, broadcaster and founder of Khoollect which she describes as "a creative studio based in London and online community celebrating inspiration found in unlikely places". At 26, Rachel left her London job working in PR to move to Paris and learn to bake and follow her gut (and heart). According to The Times, she contacted Penguin with the idea for the Little Paris Kitchen cookbook in 2012, which has since gone on to be translated into 12 languages, which also led to a BBC Two series, pulling in almost 2million viewers.  She's just released her sixth cookbook, called The Little Swedish Kitchen and Rachel is currently filming her eighth television series. She co-hosts  Zumbo’s Just Desserts  which aired in during summer 2016 and is now screening around the world on Netflix. In this episode we talk about her interesting career path, why she loves living in Sweden, her newest cook book and why it's OK to be proud of your work and be different.

Caroline O’Donoghue is an Irish author, musician and podcaster living in South London. In this episode we chat about her brilliant novel Promising Young Women. She is a Contributing Editor for The-Pool.com where she has also worked previously as a writer and social media editor, and is now a columnist for The Times Ireland, and has written for Glamour, Grazia and Buzzfeed, among others. She also co-hosts the podcast School for Dumb Women and her new podcast called Sentimental Garbage which is a show dedicated to discussing romance fiction or commercial women’s fiction.  Caroline’s debut novel, Promising Young Women, was published by Virago in 2018 to rave reviews and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards 2018 for 'Newcomer of the year'. The paperback of Promising Young Women is coming out on March 7th this year so make sure you pre-order your copy now. In this episode we talk about novel writing, #MeToo, the importance of nuanced conversation, how she presented the internet within her novel and why thinks it's important that we all reclaim the term 'chick lit'. Her second novel will be published in 2020. Having followed her work online for years it was so nice to sit down and chat. Hope you enjoy this one!

The comedian Joanne McNally is one of my favourite new discoveries from the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She burst onto the Irish comedy scene in 2014 and in less than a year became the co-host on RTÉ 2’s flagship comedy show Republic of Telly, co-wrote and starred in the stage show Separated At Birth a comedy about her adoption and performed sold out solo stand up shows all over Dublin. She's been nominated for multiple Dublin Fringe Festival awards including Best Performer and Best Production and been a guest on many late night TV shows. Now, she's signed with famous comedy management Off The Kerb, and moved to London! We sat down in her offices to have a chat about everything, from how she got into comedy, how she finds inspiration for her shows, how to handle tough crowds, and her struggles from body image to break ups. I love this episode and hope you do to! Quotes: "i don't want to be very PC. I'm not a worthy comic. I'm not trying to make a massive point about anything. I just want to have a good time, and I want my audience to have a good time." "I have earnest fatigue."  "i don't want to be one of those tragedy tourists who are just constantly rolling out their sad stories to get likes."

Bruce Daisley is the European Vice-President at Twitter and host of the business podcast  Eat Sleep Work Repeat .  He has been one of the  Evening Standard ’s 1,000 Most Influential Londoners for four years and is one of Debrett’s 500 Most Influential People in Britain. according to  Campaign  magazine Bruce is ‘one of the most talented people in media’. He's just written a book 'The Joy Of Work: 30 Ways to Fix Your Work Culture and Fall in Love with Your Job Again' comes out in January on Blue Monday. He is obsessed with making work better. He's dedicated his last few years to chatting to the leading experts in workplace culture - and using evidence to find a way to improving it. It's a practical, uplifting, helpful book all about making the workplace a bit better, which is important considering we spend so much time there. We discuss: - The story behind 'Love Where You Work' signs inside Twitter HQ - The power of laughter at work - Why 'crisp Thursday' is genius - Why you should cut all meetings in half - We discuss this piece "Why ‘Do What You Love’ Is Pernicious Advice     - The importance of boredom when it comes to creativity  Quotes : 'I'm convinced people don't read books, so I made 30 things. If all that happens is that someone is rips out one chapter and gives it to their team then it's been successful. Arm people with facts." "In truth, most people in work are probably more exhausted than they'd like to admit." 'if you look at the science, if you are stressed, you can't be creative." "Unlike the iPhone, no one is going to unveil the new version of work" "50 hours a week is all that human brain can do."

The amazing Deborah James is a campaigner and co-presenter of the top-charting podcast  You, Me and the Big C , which takes listeners through every twist and turn, showing how you can still live your life and be yourself with cancer. Deborah was a deputy head teacher before at the age of 35, being diagnosed with bowel cancer and her life with her young children and husband was thrown upside down. She’s had 4 major operations including bowel and lung resections and multiple rounds of chemo – and is still undergoing treatment at the Royal Marsden. She started a blog called 'Bowel Babe’ to debunk the myth that young women don't get bowel cancer and writes a weekly column for the Sun online, "Things Cancer Made Me Say". She campaigns alongside major UK cancer charities, writes and presents the popular podcast ‘You, Me & the Big C’ for BBC’s Radio 5 Live, and has a built up a strong following on Instagram, please follow her: @bowelbabe. Debora's book 'F**k You Cancer' is out now, an inspiring cancer guide that encourages you to shout #F*CKYOUCANCER. I found this episode so inspiring and moving and informative and I hope you do too. You can find Deborah on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/bowelbabe/ Her book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Cancer-face-still-yourself/dp/178504205X Podcast 'You Me & The Big C": https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0608649