In this week's Chik Chat episode I talk about what it means (for me) to be a Black Brit and how I’m navigating this as I plan to marry an Irish man.

In this week’s episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I open up about my personal journey and the best practices I've implemented to keep going. From not being able to leave the house due to anxiety to thriving in my career while navigating a depressive episode, I’ve learned that not all advice is helpful. So, I’m sharing practical, realistic solutions you can use when you're struggling mentally.

Tune in to discover ideas that have genuinely worked before, during, and after you realise you’re not okay.

In this episode, I’m opening up about the struggles we don’t often see online. From burnout to the pressure of always being 'on,' there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes. I talk about the mental health challenges that come with being an influencer, CEO, COO, 2025 bride, the firstborn daughter and what I’ve learned about taking care of myself in the process.

Some of this advice might seem straightforward and you may have been like me and listened to it before without actually hearing it so don’t say you weren’t warned 👀

Let me know if you have any tips for a girl simply trying to survive!

Orla McKeating, whose pronouns are she/her, is an EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Leader, Entrepreneur, and Speaker from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In 2019, Orla founded Still I Rise Diversity Storytelling, an initiative focused on providing learning through storytelling sessions and workshops for children and young people, as well as training for adults and educators. The platform addresses important issues often absent from traditional storybooks, including race, neurodiversity, male mental health, LGBTQ+ topics, inclusive language, disabilities, diverse families, immigration, and more.

As a writer and speaker, Orla specialises in race issues, stigma, and inclusion. She has delivered two TEDx talks: one on race issues and the stigma surrounding single parenting (Stormont, 2019) and another on "The 3 Pillars of Privilege" (Enniskillen, 2022).

Orla is also a fellow of the Acumen Academy, known as the world’s school for social change, where she honed the skills, values, and moral leadership necessary to address poverty and injustice.

Her mission is to create trusted spaces that celebrate all individuals, fostering inclusion, acceptance, and ensuring that all children and people feel seen, heard, valued, and celebrated.

Orla resides in Belfast and is a single mother to her mixed-race son, Elliot, aged 11.

Instagram: @therealorlaveronice

Facebook: Orla McKeating

X (formerly Twitter): @orlamckeating

If you listened to the Black & White Thinking episode where we talked about marriage you will know I always planned to celebrate this man so be prepared because I’m ecstatic to be sharing my forever best friend with you lot!

We get into talking about life, work-life, wins and of course our mental health.

Asson Kasonde is a Zambian-born father of 2 (a boy and a girl), currently working in the finance sector in Manchester which is an exciting industry to be a part of but more on that later! He also enjoys a round of the old man’s game GOLF whenever he can - also an escape to focus on my mental health.

You can usually find him on Instagram @bashi_mulenga or on Twitter @A4JonesK.

Dr. Wannie, originally from Zambia and raised in the UK, is a medical doctor working in infectious disease research. She pursued her medical studies at Newcastle University and has since made contributions to her field, presenting her findings at national conferences and working on several upcoming publications.

With a passion for health, well-being and education, Dr. Wannie has been creating content on social media for the past seven years. Her content ranges from medical education and inspiration to general lifestyle topic, reaching and influencing a broad audience.

Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@drwannie

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/doctorwannie/

I think you can and I’m going to show you by ignoring my own embarrassment and being cringey. 

Why? Because whatever I find cringey isn’t what someone else might find cringey and they might just be in the room I’ve been praying to be in…

I’ll update you each month with where I am but I’m also hoping you join in! Also shout out to Lynn for making the video that inspired me to do this!

Ellie moved halfway across the world after marrying a beautiful Irishman. This extroverted, perfectionist found the transition hit HARD! So she made a plan, she started Calibrated Concepts to have all. the. flexibility.

But what she quickly found was that if you let it, a business will suck up all of these things and more! It can feel like a hamster wheel of tasks that you can never stop spinning because everything will fall apart.

So she did what she does best. She created systems and a kickass website to protect my time, energy and yes my flexibility. And then she started doing it for my clients too!

Now she’s *this* close to fully realising my plan to be able to move back and forth between our home countries as and when we please.

I have talked a lot about my healing journey however, the guilt isn’t something I really talk about because my story isn’t like others. I am really close to my immediate family and that won’t change - that doesn’t however mean two truths can’t occur at the same time.

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I talk about letting go of that guilt and why I’m choosing to try.

I hope you enjoy it!

Going to therapy the first time around took a strength in me I didn’t know I had and this time around, I’ve decided to go back to therapy to keep fighting for a life I know I’m destined for even if it isn’t clear.

I’m so excited to look back at this moment and know it led to something special - I’m even more excited to take you lot on this journey of discovering a Chikumo that unapologetically thinks bigger.

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast, myself & Adesola talk about our experiences of both coming out of uni with a corporate job. Whilst I was made redundant, that has allowed Adesola the opportunity to have a job - funny how the world works…

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I am joined by Maureen who I met online before fate brought us together in a short film celebrating black hair and black female empowerment. In my journey of searching for my authentic self, I am so lucky to have met and been inspired by Maureen and I really hope you enjoy this episode!

Maureen was born in Kenya and has been on the island of Ireland for over two decades mostly in Dublin. She has a BSc in clinical physiology and a Master's of Divinity. She is currently doing a counselling course while home-educating her three boys. Maureen speaks up against racism, childhood trauma and church abuse on her TikTok, IG and FB. She is passionate about breaking generational trauma and raising confident and emotionally healthy kids. 

Let me know if you want to know more!

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast we talk about starting businesses against our dads guidance, moving to Northern Ireland and the power of loving our hair.

I really hope you enjoy this episode because we have so much more to share over the coming weeks and months!

You can support Jess’ cause via the link below.

@besundries_hairandbeauty

How are you doing with your goals 👀

In all seriousness, whilst I’ve taken my goal to get G to retire at 38 very seriously, I have been feeling a bit anxious about how much I’ve taken charge. Whilst clients hire me to sort them out, I’ve been called OTT so I have been worrying it’s been a bit much for G.

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast, we have a check-in and see how G feels about me organising our lives - it was not what I expected 👀

Being a content creator/influencer opens you up to a lot of scrutiny from people that think they know you AND THEN there’s the other side of it where people make up actual lies about you. 

I was recently targeted by a podcast bro (if you know, you know) and it reminded me of a few things:

1. The internet can be a dangerous place
2. It’s on us to be educated on topics and by that I mean read, use multiple sources, ask questions - don’t just believe what every Tom, Dick & Harry tells you (especially if they delete comments that don’t match their agenda)
3. Don’t chase the dream of being a content creator if you don’t know yourself/haven’t done the work on being comfortable with who you are because it can affect your mental health so much
4. Black women get hated on just for being happy so do you and ignore the haters 
5. My healing journey and soft life has bothered a man so much he felt the need to waste his life giving idiotic “relationship advice” 
6. I have the best community and have been reminded why I create the content I do 

Whilst the internet can be a dangerous place, it also allows for people to transform their lives and I will always be an advocate for that. Myself and G actually started the Black And White Thinking podcast to show you can have a healthy and respectful debate without making up a load of crap so check that out and let us know if you want us to cover any specific topics.

A little more about Sam:

My name is Sam but I go by the name Big Sam on social media. I was born and raised in Zambia but I’m currently living in the US. I am 25 years old and I’m currently pursuing a career in content creation.

My socials are:

Instagram: @big_sam._

TikTok: bigsam14..s

YouTube: BigSam14

A bit more about Daphine:

My name is Daphine, pronounced (daphne, the i in my name throws everybody off.), I'm in my mid-30s and currently working in the healthcare sector. I'm a mum of three who are all 5 years old and under, so life is a little hectic right now! 

I started posting content irregularly online since around 2019/2020 during the pandemic/post pandemic era and wasn't really in the game for likes or views. To me, it was just a place to use my creative brain to satisfy that creative itch but then people liked it so I kept on posting and here we are today. 

My socials are:

Youtube: @lifeofadaphodil

Tiktok: @lifeofadaphodil

Instagram: @lifeofadaphodil

Lemon8: @lifeofadaphodil

This often involves a person feeling as though they have a close, intimate connection with someone whom they have never met due to closely following that person (or character) in media, such as TV shows, videos, podcasts, etc.

What if I told you that as a person whose work exists mostly in the digital world, I have been inspired by, bonded with and made huge life decisions based off of people I have not and may never meet?

I met Lynn on Tiktok this year (2023) and it’s honestly wild how much inspiration I take from Lynn's openness and vulnerability in a space that isn’t always forgiving.

A little more about Lynn…

I am a 4th year PhD student who has spent the last nine years building a successful career in healthcare and academia. I have recently had a few massive life changes, including moving from the UK to Canada, pausing my PhD and leaving academia. I share how I am navigating my life and my opinions on TikTok. My handle is @researchwithlynn.

1. I work with them and see a life I want
2. My word of the year is freedom and what gives you more freedom than becoming financially free 

Whilst I knew this wouldn’t happen overnight and I in fact don’t have £1m in my bank, I have grown CFM to a 7-man team, I am currently recording for a show where I will be one of the main characters and I even took my first solo trip to Europe after guest lecturing at Huddersfield uni. Just scratches the surface, to be honest.

I knew I would build the habits millionaire me would be grateful for, I just didn’t realise how much I would achieve in a year.

Meet Adesola:

"I am a Marketing girlie and UGC creator and I am currently getting my master's degree in International marketing while working as a Content Assistant.

I recently moved to the UK on my own and it has been interesting being far from my family and learning to be more independent."

I found Adesola on Tiktok and we’ve worked together ever since. Adesola works on my personal brand which means she has an insight into what it’s like to work within the agency AND on influencer content.

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast we talk side hustles, the content creation process,  how I’ve built the team and what it’s like working as a remote freelancer.

Enjoy!

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I’m joined by Benjamin Chiuriri. Family man, pharmacist and property entrepreneur. We discuss getting into property, the lessons learned from running businesses then transferring those skills to property and finding the balance between it all.

A little more about Benjamin:

I'm Benjamin Chiuriri (46, British), a property investor based in Southampton. With a background in pharmacy, I founded my first pharmacy business in 2009. In 2017, I ventured into property investment as a side hustle and eventually sold my first pharmacy business in 2018. Today, I co-own another pharmacy and have taken up property investment professionally.

In 2022, I founded Citadel Properties (Company no. 14127327) after completing professional property training. Property investment allows me to create a lasting positive impact on others while providing for my family.

Over the next 5 years, my goal for Citadel Properties is to complete 4 projects per year.

Our story is an incredibly random one but one that shows the importance of mindset and manifestation. Whilst Snejana was looking to get into an agency, I was looking to hire someone who understood social media. One TikTok later and here we are growing the agency together, manifesting our future and even having tarot sessions!

A little more about Snejana:

I'm a passionate person who loves traveling, books, nature, and everything about human development. I'm also a Criminology student and working in Social Media Marketing (I know the contrast is huge). I've been on a spiritual journey for the past 3ish years and all the things I discover every day just makes me so passionate to learn more and more new things that'll help me grow as a person. 

Instagram: snejana.b_0 

TikTok: snejana_b02

Ironically I missed mental health awareness day this month because I was trying to unplug from socials over my birthday and I do believe it’s important to always keep in mind our mental health as we live with it day to day whether it’s good or bad so in todays episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I’m sharing a bit more of my story and how turning 30 has had me in a very weird place mentally.

I hope you enjoy!

In case you watch and wonder if G is still in my bad books after the end? Sort of - he’s lucky he’s so good at gift-giving and has already made my birthday one to remember!

As my business grows and I discuss the future with G, we keep coming up with ideas that end up leaving me feeling so guilty. I don’t have anyone to look up to who is a female breadwinner by choice with a house husband - I often have to remind myself I have a choice and in this life, I’m choosing not to suffer so welcome to the inner monologue of my brain as I figure out my next steps.

We missed out quite a lot so be ready for a part 2…

In this episode, l share five unpopular opinions on building brands that go against conventional wisdom, inspiring you to think differently about your brand's growth with a few examples of my own personal experience. I have done it the opposite way to most entrepreneurs where my personal brand opened unexpected doors however, it works both ways.

However… being booked and busy means that I have no choice but to pivot if I am going to avoid burnout. In this week's episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I talk about some of the feelings of guilt and failure that have come with where I currently am in business and how I’m tackling it.

In this podcast we talk about mindset, making money in business, and being kinder to yourself and others. It was a chat I definitely needed!

A little more about Josh:

Josh Keegan is a Chartered Accountant and Award Winning Entrepreneur. Having started, scaled, and sold multiple successful businesses Josh walks the talk and effectively combines the disciplined world of finance, with the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship.

This unique skill set and insight allow us to create world-class, industry-leading services to efficiently support you with all of your financially related business challenges. We know business, and we know finance. We are the perfect bridge between these two worlds. You are in safe hands.

https://www.ultimatefd.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.keegan

https://www.instagram.com/the_ultimate_fd/?h

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-keegan/?originalSubdomain=uk

It recently dawned on me that whether I like it or not, my strengths come from some terrible situations and that’s exactly how I’m building a brand and businesses that are so authentically me, they’re drawing in the right types of clients and brands.

In this week's episode of the Chik Chat podcast I talk about my mindset shift from victim to victor.

I hope you enjoy!

In this episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I talk about G and give my top three dating tips for anyone out there wanting to take the leap.

I hope you enjoy!

As I start to marry my love of food with the podcast and roots, I chat to G about what food has meant to us as we’ve been introduced to each other's family and the dream to one day have our own food and travel show.

In this week's episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I am joined by G and a very special guest who was recording us for a TV show we’ll be on next year!

I hope you enjoy.

I recently noticed I’m at the stage of healing where I’m both confused, dealing with business challenges quite well and, loving life so in this week's episode of the Chik Chat podcast, I share what the healing journey looks like from this end-of-life. 

A gentle reminder that healing is very much a process and if you’re watching/listening for the first time, you might want to catch up on previous episodes where I share the challenges I’ve faced in depth and whilst I’ve been going through it. 

I hope you enjoy! 

So in this week's episode of the Chik Chat Podcast, I talk about some of the tips and tricks that I’ve found have really helped me over the last couple of years to get to a position where I love what I do more than anything in the world!

In this classic podcast, we talk about dating when you struggle with your mental health, aliens, realistic romance, starting a business, and more in quick-fire round questions.

I decided to re-release this podcast because we have a few exciting announcements however, I think it’s really important to not forget that the last 10 months haven’t been plain sailing for myself & G both in and out of the relationship and that’s mostly because of our mental health and where we both are on our healing journeys. Of course, I would like to celebrate where we are now but I do think it’s important to not forget where we’ve come from.

I hope you enjoy!

We hope you enjoy watching/listening to this as much as we did making it!

I’ve made it a point to not have my business or content solely focus on my race or gender but I pride myself on being open about my work and business. I’d be lying if I didn’t address some of the issues I face regularly because I genuinely believe things can change if you have the right people willing to fight for people like me to at least have a chance. 

I’m lucky enough to be able to come at this from the point of view of a content creator, personal brand, and marketing agency owner so tune in for what is going to be an uncomfortable conversation, but one that needs to be had! 

As a content creator, I have been featured on the BBC, worked as a model, and had the pleasure of working with some absolutely amazing brands. That isn’t even half of it! 

I may have fallen into what I did by accident but I have followed my passions and they have led me to where I am today - I have to admit, being in a class that teaches what I do also inspired me and helped my imposter syndrome a lot!

I’m lucky enough to have a sibling that is my best friend and it has honestly saved me and my mental health in more ways than one. 

This man motivates, pushes, and isn’t afraid to tell me how it is. I can only hope if I have kids one day, they will support each other the way that we do so I hope you enjoy this very raw and vulnerable episode!

My therapy journey and how much I’ve grown sometimes makes me feel like I’ve done so much work I can face any situation but no matter how much work I’ve done personally, being in a healthy relationship has taught me how important having the right partner is when you have to inevitably face past trauma. 

We talk about my current life, my anxiety, and reaching out to mental health services. We keep it light-hearted as we explore the Love Island 2023 couples and a show he introduced me to called Dave which stars a rapper called Lil Dicky and a podcaster G got me into called Andrew Santino.

I hope you enjoy!

I talk very openly about my mental health journey but it’s still something I still really struggle with. It affects my life, business, and friendships - although I have found great ways through it, I do understand that there are still many sceptics out there and also people that don’t always know the warning signs. I also understand how hard it is to reach out for help when you spiral so with the cost of living crisis amongst coming out of the trauma of a global pandemic, I thought it would be good to highlight a blog I wrote during the pandemic where I had many amazing people on Twitter contribute.

I hope you enjoy! 

I can’t thank you all enough for your support. Your likes, saves, comments, etc. literally mean the world when you work online!

We’re back with an exciting one to start off 2023. In this episode, I am joined by Sylvie. We talk about mindset, culture, expectations, and learning to take a step back, to take a step forward in life and our careers. We also talk about job hunting and what made Sylvie start her business Career Minded Circles which helps people on that journey.

Can’t wait for more of this in 2023!

In this podcast we talk about mindset, making money in business and being kinder to yourself and others. It was a chat I definitely needed!

A little more about Josh:

Josh Keegan is a Chartered Accountant and Award Winning Entrepreneur. Having started, scaled, and sold multiple successful businesses Josh walks the talk and effectively combines the disciplined world of finance, with the fast paced world of entrepreneurship.

This unique skill set and insight allows us to create world-class, industry-leading services to efficiently support you with all of your financially related business challenges. We know business, and we know finance. We are the perfect bridge between these two worlds. You are in safe hands.

https://www.ultimatefd.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.keegan

https://www.instagram.com/the_ultimate_fd/?h

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-keegan/?originalSubdomain=uk

In this episode, I talk about grief and what it’s like to grieve someone still alive, I talk about the lessons I’ve learned from my one year old niece (she’s already a wise little owl) and how I plan on shaping 2023.

I hope you enjoy it!

Catherine is an actor and writer, based between Belfast and London. I met Catherine through Lean In and Sinead, who funnily enough was on last week's episode and we instantly hit it off. I’m quite the introvert and homebody so you can imagine how excited I was when I met Catherine for a coffee and ended up being late for a meeting all because we had so much to talk about (it’s not very often you meet someone that splits their time between two homes and is going through the same transitions in life as you).

In this episode alone, we talk about Catherine's many hats, what it’s been like as an actor and how the change in seasons is affecting our work/life balance.

A little more about Catherine:

She trained on the BA Acting course at East 15 Acting School and has since appeared in The Mousetrap in London's West End and on two India tours, as well as in television and film such as The Deceived, Nova Jones, Ted's Top Ten and Catholic Matchmaking Bureau.

As a writer, she was a member of the Soho Theatre Writer's Lab, Lyric Hammersmith Development Lab, and Northern Ireland Screen's Short's Focus Programme, where she developed her short Arena which appeared in the BFI NI Talent Showcase and Cork Film festival to name a few. She is currently developing her comedy pilot with Old Hall Films and her next short film with Farset Films which goes into production in January 2023. She is also a Hatch Artist at The Mac Belfast and is passionate about female-led work and comedy.

Catherine has business coaching in Public Speaking, combining her Theatre skills and years of corporate, sales, and business development experience gleaned from working in Financial Services in London ( in between acting jobs!).

https://www.instagram.com/speakupcoaching/

A little more about Sinead:

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson is The Career Elevator Coach at Generation Women where she helps women get the promotions and pay rises they deserve. Passionate about equality and seeing more women in leadership, Sinead blends practical strategies with simple mindset tools to achieve amazing results...with several getting over 100% pay rises and multiple promotions! To date she’s helped close to 10,000 women take a step up.

Sinead draws on over 20 years of corporate experience in HR, Leadership Development, Business Improvement, and Cultural Transformation to help her support women to achieve their ambitions. She has been recognised as one of 22 Leaders to Learn from in 2022 by Bunch Leadership App. She has developed and delivered career and leadership programmes for multiple global organisations including; Sensata, Citi, Deloitte, the IFA, and Lean In. Sinead has a lifelong love of learning and strives to bring the best academically and professionally to her work. She has a BA Hons in Psychology, MSc Computing, MSc Human Resource Management, is an NLP Master practitioner, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and an accredited ICF Coach and Positive Intelligence (PQ) Coach. She’s a mum of two girls who have made her even more passionate about equality. She also loves live comedy and music, sleep, and cold water swimming...in that order!

Website: https://genwomen.global/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinead-sharkey/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenerationWomen/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/GenWomenGlobal/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genwomen/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/genwomenglobal

A year on and my life looks drastically different to the way it did when I met Lucy however, Lucy’s work as my coach and as my client had been so invaluable in terms of fighting negative thoughts such as imposter syndrome and pushing myself to be even more authentically me!

A little bit more about Lucy:

For the last 19 years, Lucy has run several businesses and worked with clients internationally in a variety of sectors to help them reach their potential. She is particularly interested in working with ambitious businesses aligning their people who see the value of a clear vision and strategy.

Lucy is passionate about helping organisations find their purpose and through this, unlocking their people and encouraging a culture of openness and honesty, and finding ways to recognise and develop their personal strengths, to be resilient to change, and to challenge the status quo, in order to grow themselves and their organisation. She believes more agile outward-facing businesses are needed to operate well above the norm and thus meet the needs of our ever-changing environment.

Lucy cares deeply and prides herself on exceptional quality in what she does. Her warmth and presence help her to swiftly gain trust and strong empathy with people and work at a deeper level to challenge assumptions.

She is a great collaborator and is able to work particularly well with people who are very creative or technically minded as well as those who don’t typically fit the mould. Her patience, rigour, persistence, and reflective approach always helps ensure she gets the best results for her clients.

Lucy is an accredited coach and a graduate of the Shirlaws Business Coaching academy and prides herself on being results-focused. Prior to this, she had a number of leadership roles in blue-chip FMCG corporations including Director of Brand Strategy for Unilever (leading growth in Unilever’s market share by over 10%), Director of Marketing (Unilever), Head of Development for Marlow foods and director of communications at OCS.

http://neovitae.co.uk/who-we-are/

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/lucy-czakan

Asson Kasonde is a Zambian-born father of two (a boy and a girl), currently working in the finance sector in Manchester which is a very interesting industry to be a part of but more on that later! He also enjoys a round of the old man’s game GOLF whenever he can - also an escape to focus on his mental health.

Asson is someone that has been a part of my life since the day I was born simply because our families have such a long history together. Growing up in England, we didn’t really hang out and yet we have kept in touch for years. In this episode, we talk about life, culture, and mindset. I really enjoyed this conversation because although we grew up in similar cultures, the cultural expectations of men and women can vary so it was nice to see where some of the similarities lay.

If you want to know more about Asson, you can find him on the handles below:

Instagram bashi_mulenga

Twitter @A4JonesK

We fill you in on how dating is going, him meeting nearly all of my UK family, AND the fact that our first trip away together was with my parents. 

We also talk about our thoughts on Love Is Blind season three, toxic men, and Liverpool FC’s recent run - you can say there’s a little bit of something for everyone!

A little more about Ellie:

I’m Ellie McBride, an American expat living in Northern Ireland since 2017. After moving across the world to be with my Northern Irish husband, I struggled to find the flexibility to spend much time back at my other home in Oregon to see my friends and family. In this quest for flexibility, I realized building an online business from the ground up is the way to have everything I’ve ever wanted in life.                 

I started out as a freelancer back in 2018. As a tech Virtual Assistant, I worked online with business owners in areas like social media planning, creating slick systems and automation, and perfecting their email marketing systems. However, I soon realized many of my clients struggled with the same: Having a beautiful and highly functional website to communicate with their community and open up their time for the tasks that truly needed their attention.

Now I use the skills and tools I learned from my days as a VA in my work as a Squarespace website designer to help create a solid backbone for your business with systems that connect to your website and grant you the freedom to let go of repetitive tasks and focus on the work you’re truly excited about.

My goal? To give you a beautiful home on the web for your message and your work all while helping make your work more efficient.

I serve women who own small businesses and are building them from the ground up by creating beautiful, functional websites with built-in time-saving systems. Sounds like you? Book a free 20-minute consultation call.

Social Channels:

https://www.instagram.com/elliemaemcbride/

https://www.facebook.com/CalibratedConcepts/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOrqreNo5foqE86xA1efVw

I met Harvey over 10 years ago at an awards evening for The Big Challenge which is an entrepreneurship competition for people up to 18/19. After I was one of the winners, Harvey shot his shot via Twitter looking for some guidance on public speaking. That DM has turned into a long-lasting friendship where we have grown both in business and as individuals.

In this podcast, we talk about Harvey shooting his shot and how that felt, some of the shared experiences we’ve had going to concerts, sharing our love of food, and how he’s become one of the family. We also talk about Harvey coming out, what that looked like in the business world and the exciting ventures Harvey is currently working on.

Everyone in business needs a friend that understands that world and I was lucky enough to meet someone that didn’t end up just being a business friend - we have shared highs, lows, struggles, and ambitions - we have the funniest stories too... This one is definitely a special one for me and I really hope you enjoy hearing about our journey together.

Dr. Rumbi is a Junior Doctor, a qualified midwife, and an author.

Her passions include addressing inequalities in health care and promoting issues relating to the healthcare and rights of women.

We talk about the realities of women's sexual health and wellness, how we as women collectively and culturally have these awkward conversations, and how being multi-passionate has allowed us to meet AND carry on to do the work we do.

These themes can be seen via her social media presence as @RumbiTheMedic.

Although some of the stigmas are still there, I really believe things have changed for the better but we also have a long way to go so I let you into a little snippet of my life as I deal with a depressive episode and the pressures that come with being self-employed during this time.

We talk about how our mental health journey separately and together, how we’ve approached our mental health needs and how we deal with triggers.

Throughout the podcast, we also talk about the importance of hearing each other, our love for binging movies and series such as Bridgerton in quick-fire round questions.

In this week's episode, I am joined by Sarah-Lou – a Northern Ireland-based digital marketing specialist, make-up artist, blogger and content creator. As multiple business owners, we talk about how myself and Sarah-Lou manage our lives, prioritise our workloads and how we are also working to prioritise a work-life balance with our mental health.

We also talk about the benefits of owning multiple businesses and how as you grow your entrepreneurship network, it’s actually very common to come across entrepreneurs that run multiple businesses successfully and why it’s advised to NOT put all of your eggs in one basket.

I really hope you enjoy this episode as it’s a reminder that most of us in business or with multiple passions often feel guilty for wanting to do many things. There’s no right or wrong answer, each individual just needs to figure out what works best for them.

Sarah-Lou’s links:

Blog - https://sarahlou.life/

Personal Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahloulife/

Digital Marketing Instagram Business page - https://www.instagram.com/slj.digital/

Salon’s Instagram Business Page - https://www.instagram.com/no1.magherafelt/

Personal Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahloulife?_t=8VrsXnDJMgg&_r=1

This came about after I had my blog re-done and saw it was still one of my most popular so I thought I’d give you an update 4 years later especially as I’ve entered a new relationship.

Initial blog here: https://bit.ly/3xoi39P

All I can say is having mixed identities/cultures can make things very interesting (my first partner was Asian-American) and even after going from one Irish man to another, there are some clear similarities and differences.

We met just over two years ago when I became his content manager and in this podcast, we talk about life mantras, retiring young, and of course, a little bit of content creation.

A huge thank you to Garrett for taking the time to join me on this podcast and I would urge any of you who aren’t already following Garrett to do so - not only has he got a great property portfolio, he has a knack for finding great partnerships AND a wealth of knowledge/advice both in business and in life.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/garrett.peers.9

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/garrett_peers/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/garrett_peers?lang=en

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrett-peers-55808517a/

After being in business for nearly 15 years, I’ve realised that certain things slowed me down both in business and in my personal life. I’m a firm believer in trusting the process but if these tips can help anyone not have to go through some of the things I’ve seen myself and others constantly go through then I’ll be happy!

A huge shout out to my brother Mulenga for normalising therapy and suggesting I try it out – to merely call you my best friend would be an insult, I love you 3000.

I introduce Loredana.

I’m Loredana 27, Mental health advocate currently on a journey of healing. I have bipolar disorder and C-PTSD; I enjoy pole dancing and going to the gym in my spare time as it also helps with my mental health. I create content on my daily life, mental health, and fitness journey around my 9-5 job. 

G is a musician and producer who happens to be the person that created the intro music for this podcast and is dating Chik (aka me) the host.

In this podcast, we talk about dating when you struggle with your mental health, aliens, realistic romance, starting a business and more in quick fire round questions.

Throughout the podcast, we also talk about people that have been influential in my life and business as well as some amazing brands I’ve recently been working with so shout out to:

1.       Harvey Morton - https://www.harveymorton.digital/

2.       Callum Willis

3.       Nik Brijupaul – Belfast Met

4.       Lanretro - https://www.lanretro.co.uk/

5.       Glasses Direct - www.glassesdirect.co.uk

6.       Better Tights - https://www.bettertights.com/

If there are any topics you hear that you’d like us to expand on, let me know! Enjoy.

I am a mango-obsessed foodie that loves to document the highs and lows of life, mental health, running a business and navigating multiple cultures. In nearly 15 years of running a business, I have met some amazing and inspiring people I think you should all meet too!

Interesting Facts

- I was featured on the BBC & TG4

- I turned my blog into a marketing agency

- I worked from 6 countries (and multiple cities) across 5 months in 2021

- I’ve built my work life around my anxiety and depression

Connect with me:

Website - www.chikumofiseko.com

Blog - www.adiaryofachik.com

Instagram - www.instagram.com/chikumof

Twitter - www.twitter.com/adiaryofachik

Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@adiaryofachik?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1