#68: Period Underwear with a Purpose with Ruby Raut

Ruby is the CEO and Co-Founder of WUKA Wear. She is a passionate environmental scientist who combines her scientific knowledge and passion for lean startup methodology to solve the problems that surround disposable menstrual products. She was born and brought up in Nepal and with WUKA , she wants to break taboos around period worldwide.

This week on Change Making Women we talk to Ruby, who is originally from Nepal about how she developed the idea for Wuka Wear Period Pants and went about testing, developing and launching the product.

Listen to the show to hear more about the process of envisioning an innovative product, the environmental imperative for us to get into the habit of using reusable menstrual products, breaking down the stigma and taboos about our bleeding and the importance of addressing period poverty worldwide.

Find out more about Wuka Wear (& get yourself a pair of period pants!)

Twitter: @WukaWear
Facebook: @WukaWear
Instagram: @WukaWear

#67: Awakening Eros with Julie Daley

This week Mary Ann talks to Julie Daley about her life and work. They talk about Julie’s exploration of Awakening Eros and how we might flourish in our essential nature at this time, overcoming our conditioning to do otherwise. They explore what it means to feel deeply connected and to experience joy and wonder. And they talk about how the work Julie does support people with a whole range of backgrounds to embrace more of who they truly are.

Julie Daley is a Co-Active Coach and Certified Creativity in Business Instructor. She says that the most important capacity she offers in her work is my ability to walk between two worlds: one, the world of the intellect and reason, what some refer to as the left brain world, the other, the world of the heart and compassion, intuition and creativity, often referred to as the right brain. Julie moves between these two worlds with ease, knows them well and so is able to facilitate others in developing the capacity to navigate between them.

Find out more about Julie and her work

Website: www.juliedaley.com (she was also previously blogging at www.unabashedlyfemale.com)
Facebook: @juliemdaley
Instagram: @juliedaley
Medium: @juliedaley
YouTube: JulieDaley
Facebook Pages:
Julie Daley

#66: Supporting women around food and nourishment with Marcie Goldman

In this week’s show Ziada and Mary Ann speak to Marcie Goldman about her approach to coaching and supporting women around food and nourishment. We hear about why she does the work she does, why she believes that flourishing is feminist and how she helps women unpick restrictive dieting and eat what they want.

There’s nothing that lights up Marcie Goldman more than teaching women to nourish to flourish.  She does this by eliminating toxic dietary beliefs, not food groups. She teaches women how to work “with” their bodies, not “on” their body’s, like a a project. 

Once you’ve unlearned all the so called “nutrition facts,” she fills you up with a combination of real food, Nutrient Therapy and a mind-set for rapid recovery. 

Her work combines functional medicine strategies, herbalism and nourishing wise woman traditions; a stellar combination she’s honed over the last 20 years in her professional one-on-one practice as well as group programs. 

Marcie graduated from the Institute for Integrated Nutrition in 1999, has had extensive training in herbalism and plant healing, and most recently she’s become a certified Addiction Recovery Nutrition Coach through the Alliance for Addiction Solutions. Currently, she offers feminist health coaching with individuals and groups. 

Find out more about Marcie and her work

Instagram: marciegoldman

Facebook: marciegoldman

 

 

#65: Exploring The Heart of the Labyrinth with Nicole Schwab

In this show, we talk with Nicole about her book ‘The Heart of the Labyrinth’ about a woman who takes a journey to rediscover her lost connection with Mother Earth and the sacred feminine. We find it what motivated her to write the book, how she created the conditions in which it could be written and the impact she hopes the book will have on those who read it.

Nicole is author of The Heart of the Labyrinth, an evocative spiritual parable, which gives voice to her engagement on behalf of a world that values and honors the sacred feminine and is rooted in our connection to the Earth as a living being. Facilitator and social entrepreneur, Nicole co-founded a number of non-profit organizations active in the environmental and gender fields, including EDGE Certified Foundation, a global label certifying organizations for closing the gender gap in the workplace. Nicole blogs on the nature of reality and is on the Advisory Boards of Treesisters and The WellBeing Project.

Find out more about Nicole and her work

Website: www.nicoleschwab.com

Get the book on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Heart-Labyrinth-Nicole-Schwab/dp/1910559008

Facebook: NicoleSchwabAuthor

#64: Building a Business that makes a difference by following your gut with Wambui JL

This week Ziada and Mary Ann talk with Wambui JL the creator of Hairpolitian Lifestyle, an online magazine that focuses on African women who have or want to return to their natural hair.

We talk following your gut as a way to do business, almost giving up (but not quite), sharing your struggles to inspire others (and also get support) and the way that creative ideas emerge at 3 in the morning (we don’t know why!).

 

Wambui JL is a natural lifestyle and creative entrepreneur based in Nairobi, Kenya. Wambui also has a passion for women in business and she moderates panels for events that seek to uplift women in that space. She’s a Graphic Designer by profession and over the years has used her expertise to give brand consultations to individuals and companies alike.

Photo of Wambui by Photos by Jeri 

Get in touch with Wambui JL and Read Hairpolitan

Wambui JL
Facebook: WambuiJL
Instagram: WambuiJL
Hairpolitan
Facebook:Hairpolitan
Instagram:Hairpolitan
Twitter: Hairpolitan

#63: Alternative approaches to working internationally with Sara Lim Bertrand

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This week on the Podcast Mary Ann Clements talks to Sara Lim Bertrand from Proteknôn, a consultancy group and foundation she co-founded which is focused on the protection, care, and wellbeing of children internationally.

They discuss how the group came together, the strategies they use to enable flexible working across many geographies and how they blend consultancy work with activism about the issues they care about.

Sara also shares the three pillars that guide their work: Freedom, Collaboration and Principle and how the pillars impact the approach that Proteknôn take to carrying out projects for their clients.

Sara Lim Bertrand is a humanitarian and development professional with more than 17 years of programming experience in child protection, gender-based violence, education in emergencies and learning and development. For the last 13 years, she has developed strong technical and programmatic competencies in humanitarian action, systems building, protection in situations of migration and displacement, prevention and response to exploitation and abuse, case management, alternative care, community-based protection, child participation, psychosocial support, advocacy and supporting social change. Sara is also passionate about early childhood development, parenting education, mental health and disability inclusion. Notably, Sara combined her interest in design and technology by developing a handful of e-courses on the CPMS, CPRA, Child Protection Situation and Response Monitoring, Child Protection Case Management and Supervision, amongst others. Since 1996, she has worked directly in 18 countries. In addition, she provided high-quality, remote support to field-based child protection coordination groups in more than 40+ countries. Sara has a Master of Arts (MA) in Intercultural Studies with an emphasis in Community Development from Wheaton College’s Graduate School. She has also taken more than 50 supplemental courses in case management, child development, child protection, GBV, protection, research and social change. For her LinkedIn profile, click here.

Get in touch with Sara and Proteknôn

Website: www.proteknon.org
Facebook page: @proteknon
Twitter: @proteknon
Instagram: @proteknon

#62: The Wisdom of Grandmothers with Ilana Landsburg-Lewis

This week Ziada and Mary Ann speak with Ilana Landsberg-Lewis about how she become so interested in talking with Grandmothers, building global solidarity between them and sharing their voices. Ilana also shares with us why she is passionate about a feminist, egalitarian and anti-colonial models of the solidarity work and the significant – and often undervalued – contribution that older women have made to the world of humanitarian assistance and development.

Ilana Landsberg-Lewis has spent her entire adult life engaged in the struggle for the rights of women and girls. From her early days as a human rights lawyer to her years at UNIFEM, Ilana has worked with women’s groups around the world and has learned that no amount of so-called expertise can replace that of women at the frontlines of their own struggle for justice. Ilana has been the executive director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation since she founded it with her father in 2003. She has been deeply honored and grateful to learn from the indomitable grandmothers of this remarkable movement, the world over.

Connect with Ilana and her work:

Website: www.ilanalandsberglewis.com (you can also find out about the projects we discuss during the episode at www.stephenlewisfoundation.org and www.grandmotherscampaign.org)

Instagram: @ilana.lewis
Facebook: @grandmothersonthemove

#61: Building a Meaningful Business with Jo Casey

In this episode, Mary Ann talks to Jo Casey about how she supports people to run meaningful businesses that reflect their values and make a difference in the world. We talk radical approaches, challenging accepted wisdom and re-making our work in a way that feels true for us.

Jo Casey is a certified coach, speaker, trainer and podcaster. In addition to being British, slightly nerdy and allergic to the marketing bullsh*t in the personal development industry, she’s certain that succeeding as female entrepreneurs means violating every single message that’s been poured into us about what it means to be a ‘good’ woman (Don’t take up space….be compliant….defer to others….don’t be pushy/bossy/too confident etc.etc.)

In other words, we have to violate our feminine conditioning – which is tricksy, sometimes hard but transformational.

Jo specialises in helping service based business owners do that self-development and unlearning work, get more clients and build sustainable, meaningful businesses without resorting to the dark arts or sleazy marketing tactics.

Founder of jocasey.com and The Meaningful Business Academy, creator and presenter of The Meaningful Business Podcast, speaker, and writer for Coaching Blueprint, Mind Body Green and Tiny Buddha (among others).

Jo integrates business strategy, marketing, and aligned sales with self-development, growth, and personal actualisation. So building a business will feel deep and transformational – as well as be profitable.

Connect with Jo and her work:

Website: www.jocasey.com

The Meaningful Business Academy: www.meaningfulbizacademy.com

Instagram: @jocaseyb
Facebook: @jocaseyb

#60: Seasonal living and self-care with Madeleine Forbes

https://soundcloud.com/change-making-women/60-seasonal-living-and-self-care-with-madeleine-forbes

This week Ziada and Mary Ann talk with Madeleine Forbes one of Mary Ann’s collaborators in www.jijaze.com about her life in Portugal, her own project www.theseasonedyear.com and why she believes that leaving seasonally is a choice that can sustain and nourish us all.

Madeleine Forbes is a writer and content creator who loves finding the right words and conveying powerful messages clearly and effectively. Four years ago she moved from the UK to Portugal four years ago to try to live a lower impact, more sustainable life on a little off-grid smallholding. It’s a work in progress, but she loves the challenge this brings. She now balances farm life with her business as a freelance copywriter helping small online businesses grow their impact through their writing. As you’ll hear in the show she also runs a website called The Seasoned Year all about slowing down and connecting to the seasons to help us live saner, more sustainable lives.

Connect with Madeleine and her work:

The Seasoned Year: www.theseasonedyear.com

Work with Madeleine: www.madeleineforbes.com

#59: Choosing Your Voice – A musical journey with Chelima

This week we spend some time talking with Chelima who is in the middle of the European Tour which marks the release of her first EP, The Beholder.

She tells us about her love of singing and how she discovered, after many years working in the music business with other artists, that she wanted to become an artist and create and perform music of her own.

We talk the evolution of our work in the world, the things that sustain us and taking the difficult path of following our dreams.

Since she can remember Chélima’s first true love has been singing. But it wasn’t until one March morning in 2011, that she woke up and wanted to sing again. The Beholder and
also name of the title track on this five track EP is the result of a soul-affirming journey through Senegal and is an ode to Chélima’s artistic rebirth.

Chélima describes her style as “free soul” fusing blues, jazz and folk with an exotic twist borne from her French x Malian roots. She is not alone on this musical adventure and engages the talents of Bordeaux’s finest musicians in the shape of guitarist Jeannot Mendy, bassist Jasmin Ljutic, drummer Haze Francisco and pianist Valérie
Chane Tef – all consummate players on the French music scene with a collective wealth of musical experience spanning two decades. These outstanding musicians imbue The Beholder with soul and grace whilst elevating Chélima’s poetry to intoxicating new heights.

 

Connect with Chelima and her music:
You can find her online at www.chelima.net
Live: https://youtu.be/MwiNayt_1cA

The beholder video: https://youtu.be/6Vsgp2V9p7k

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