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Grace Williams grew up in Buckinghamshire, the eldest of three, watching her father build a career in banking through long hours - an early blueprint that welded success to hard work. She followed a version of that blueprint into law, training as an arbitration lawyer and measuring her days by billable hours and how late she stayed at her desk. At 21, on the eve of her first legal internship, she woke up numb down one side of her body and was diagnosed with MS. She kept working. In 2019 her mother, Amanda, was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour, and six months later her father was diagnosed with cancer too. For three years Grace worked full-time as a lawyer AND cared for her mother, refusing to let anything visibly slip - an armour, she says now, that let her avoid ever asking how she actually felt until in 2021, an MS attack coincided with full burnout. Her mother passed away in the summer of 2022 and a year later, still working the same hours, a blunt conversation with her aunt on a Friday night ended with Grace handing in her notice the following Monday. Now re-trained as a Health Coach and Nutritionist, Grace specialises in high-performance wellbeing, working with corporate women to help them reconnect with the bodies they've learned to override. In this episode we cover: Early definition of success built on hard work and long hours  Being diagnosed with MS at 21 Why answering "I'm exhausted" is armour Her mother's terminal brain tumour diagnosis, and caring for both parents through COVID Why work became the easiest place to hide from grief The Friday night conversation with her aunt that moved her into action  Building her new coaching business and relearning her own boundaries Redefining success as peace, and what legacy means to her Mentions: The Way (2010), dir. Emilio Estevez, starring Martin Sheen Links: https://www.instagram.com/g_documented/ This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, Greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com. Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Adot Gak is a Sudanese-American supermodel, writer and former contributing editor at The Standard, named BFA Model of the Year, who has walked for Rick Owens, Vetements, Richard Quinn and Tony Ward, and fronted campaigns for SKIMS and Alexander Wang. Born in Sudan, Adot's family fled to Egypt when she was four; at nine, she witnessed a violent police attack on a group of Sudanese refugees in a Cairo park that killed her older sister, then just 13, and changed the course of her family's life forever. At ten, she relocated to Iowa with her mother, growing up as the child of immigrants before being scouted in a shopping mall and moving to New York to build one of the industry's most recognisable careers. Since then, Adot has become known as much for her voice as her face — outspoken on the modelling industry's relationship with race, unafraid to set boundaries and say no, and using humour as a way of carrying what she's survived. In this episode, we talk about what "booked and busy" actually looks like behind the scenes, when she stopped waiting for permission to belong in fashion, and what she wants to build next. In this episode we cover: Early memories of Sudan and her family's move to Egypt The police attack in Cairo that killed her sister, and how she holds that now Getting scouted in a shopping mall in Iowa and moving to New York Deciding to stop waiting for permission to belong in the industry Race and diversity in fashion: what's real progress and what's performance Being told she "looks like AI" Modelling as an "extreme sport" — burnout, boundaries and saying no Mentions:  ‘Becoming’ - Michelle Obama Links: https://www.instagram.com/adotthegreatt/ This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, Greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com. Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Laurence Stoffel grew up in the Swiss mountains. A shy, dreamy child who liked to observe the actions of adults, she went on to study industrial design at ECAL, one of Switzerland's most competitive art schools, talking her way back in after being rejected on her first attempt. Her early career took her from a Munich furniture studio to Freitag, the Swiss bag brand and eventually to a design research grant that sent her and her partner to Ghana and Burkina Faso, where six weeks spent weaving baskets with local designers under a mango tree unravelled everything she thought she knew about "correct" design. Laurence then joined On, the Swiss running brand, when it was a handful of people selling shoes out of Zurich, and spent the next decade building its Creative Studio from scratch, scaling the team from 1 to over 100 people and helping steer the company to an IPO now valued at $11.8 billion. Along the way she became a mother of two, weathered a burnout serious enough to stop her mid-marathon, and rebuilt her relationship to work around one rule: choose it, don't owe it. Now, having recently left On and turned down several seven-figure job offers, Laurence is deciding what comes next.  In this episode we cover: Growing up in the Swiss mountains and the ideas of success inherited from her parents Studying industrial design and talking her way back in after rejection Early career: a Munich furniture studio and Freitag A design research grant that took her to Ghana and Burkina Faso  The unconventional path into On, and why she doesn't believe in job applications Scaling On's Creative Studio from 1 to 100+ people Becoming a mother of two, choosing not to marry, and letting go of milestones What burnout actually looked like for her Why she is turning down seven-figure job offers right now  Ultra-running as a mindset Mentions: On ECAL Stefan Diez - Munich furniture/industrial designer Sibylle Stoeckli - Lausanne-based female industrial designer Freitag (Swiss bag brand) and its co-founder Daniel Freitag Pierrot le Fou (1965), dir. Jean-Luc Godard Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurence-stoffel/ This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, Greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com. Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Gina Martin is a multi award-winning gender equality advocate, writer and facilitator. At 25, after a man took photos up her skirt at a music festival and police told her nothing could be done because she was wearing underwear, Gina launched the 18-month campaign that led to the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019, making upskirting a criminal offence in England and Wales — all while working full-time and facing hundreds of online threats. She's since written three books, writes for outlets including The Telegraph and the World Economic Forum, and was named on TIME's 100 Next list. We talk about the cost of activism, life as a public figure, escaping social media vitriol, and what happens when your thoughts change but the media wants you fixed in place. It's been seven years since her law passed, and Gina now believes prevention and education matter more than punishment. Her activism happens both on the ground - she worked in schools for three years unpacking gender stereotypes with teenagers and now is a practitioner and facilitator in primary prevention of gendered violence with adults who work in the sector, as well as training adults to support and engage young people - and at scale, through her writing, speaking and media work. In this episode we cover: Hyde Park, 2017: what happened, and the police response that started it all 18 months of campaigning, a full-time job, and hundreds of threats Why passing the Voyeurism Act felt like relief, not pride Moving from "carceral feminism" to believing in prevention & education Her 2023 PTSD diagnosis, stepping back from social media, and rebuilding around real capacity The importance of facilitation work  Redefining success as sustainable, lifelong work Mentions:  Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 Nyome Nicholas-Williams' #IWantToSeeNyome campaign, which changed Instagram's nudity policy for Black and plus-size bodies Angela Davis, Audre Lorde and bell hooks Richie Reseda and The Feminist on Cellblock Y (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYxTzsabkH8  Songs from the Hole (Netflix, 2025) A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot (2026) Aja Barber - Sustainability Activist, writer and consultant  Links:  https://www.instagram.com/ginamartin/ https://ginamartin.substack.com/ https://ginamartin.online/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ginamartinuk  This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, Greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com. Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Justine Palefsky grew up in San Francisco, raised by open-minded, community-oriented parents who treated their home as a shared asset and took her to Burning Man. That ethos of hospitality, gifting and non-transactional exchange became the foundation for everything that followed. After studying cognitive neuroscience at Brown, she moved into customer experience roles at OpenDoor and Homebound. When she decided to take the leap into building her own company, she made a deliberate and unusual choice: she wanted a co-founder first. Matchmade by OpenDoor's CEO Eric Wu, Justine and Tasneem Amina spent four days locked in a cabin in Calistoga doing what Justine calls "co-founder dating". What emerged was Kindred: a members-only home-swapping platform now with over 350,000 members across 150+ cities, 450,000 nights booked and $150 million raised. The radical bet at its core? Remove money from the guest-host relationship entirely. No buying credits. Every home is equal. A give-to-get economy where the most generous members hold the most power (not the wealthiest). It's a small pocket of the world built the way Justine wishes the rest of it worked. In this episode we cover: Growing up with community values in San Francisco  Studying cognitive neuroscience at Brown  Why she chose her co-founder before her product idea The "co-founder dating" cabin retreat - questions to ask before you commit  The history of home swapping, from Intervac in the 1950s to today Why Kindred removes payment between guests and hosts — and why Silicon Valley thought she was crazy Building a platform based on Radical Generosity How handwritten thank-you notes became a cultural pillar of the platform Raising $150 million while refusing to grow at all costs — the "no assholes rule" for investors What it means to lead as a woman who is "not Zuck" — and dropping the CEO mask Burnout, the cost of giving a damn, and how to pull yourself back Defining the meaning of life for yourself and sticking to it  Mentions: The Partnership Charter by David Gage The New York Times 36 Questions to Fall in Love Intervac: https://www.intervac-homeexchange.com Links: Kindred: https://www.instagram.com/livekindred/ Justine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinepalefsky/ This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, Greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com. Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

After being fostered, Andrew Missingham became a drummer and musical director on gold-certified UK records, then spent three years running British Council music programmes across 43 countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, then lead arts programming at the ICA. He later moved into data and strategy, becoming a Chief Data & Insights Officer and AI adoption pioneer for clients including Nike, Google, Unilever, Discord and the Southbank Centre, and a serial entrepreneur who founded 8 businesses and built and exited a 30-person consultancy.  In 2020, the pace caught up with him. A nervous collapse forced Andrew to rebuild his life from the ground up, and 1,300 consecutive days of vipassana meditation later, he's become one of the most thoughtful voices on what it looks like for a man to lead by listening instead of force. Andrew now lives by a mantra tattooed on his arm: Live to Listen. Listen to Learn. Learn to Share.  Andrew is one of the most genuinely curious people I've met, and someone who has spent decades doing the connective, uncredited work of bringing people, culture and data together without ever chasing recognition for it. In this episode we cover: Choosing to be fostered How drumming led to managing and producing  Blacktronica Club nights at the ICA and other memorable events What is an ‘insight’?  His 2020 nervous collapse and what it forced him to rebuild The 4 key steps of his recovery: his new tools   A 10-day Vipassana that led him back to his foster parents  What gentle masculinity looks like in practice, and leading by listening His fears of being a good father & his relationship with his daughter  Mentions: Emergency on Planet Earth by Jamiroquai (1993 album) The Messengers (1995) by Barungwa Blacktronika https://www.blacktronika.com/  The ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts)  Dhamma Sukhakāri https://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schsukhakari  The Eye's Mind by Bridget RileyAbout a Boy (film)Shakara by Fela Kuti, ft. Tony Allen on drums Links:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmissingham/ This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

June Angelides MBE believes that what is meant for you will find you — but only if you make the space to let it. Growing up in Lagos, she arrived in the UK and built a career in finance that, on paper, made sense. It wasn't until her second maternity leave — when she found herself the first woman at Silicon Valley Bank's UK office to take mat leave, confronting a company with no infrastructure for mothers — that she understood what she was actually meant to build. Mums in Tech, the community she created to teach mothers to code, earned her an MBE. What followed was a portfolio that was always, deliberately, many things at once: venture and angel investing, advisory work, a column in the Financial Times, board seats, and now a debut book — a biography-come-love-letter to the grandmother who shaped her. She is interested in not just how we build successful careers but how we build ones we can actually sustain.  June is an extraordinary friend, mother of 3  and one of very few senior black women in venture capital. She juggle A LOT with so much grace and intention - I wanted to know how she finds the balance and how she sees her journey so far.  In this episode we cover: Growing up in Lagos Being the first woman at Silicon Valley Bank UK to take maternity leave  The motherhood penalty Building Mums in Tech & getting an MBE for it  Starting The Portfolio Method to support people with portfolio careers  Leaving full-time corporate life and sitting with the uncomfortable silence Her grandmother's legacy and the book written in her honour Mentions:  Ejeka Jo by Ecstasy (her aunt and uncle's band)  Mindset by Carol Dweck  Links: https://www.instagram.com/juneangelides/ This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on www.kiohne.com Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Rollo Skinner is a British artist, author and botanical set designer (clients include: Gucci, Barbour, Mulberry, and renowned fashion photographer Tim Walker) whose work is rooted in a deep love of the natural world. Based between Dorset and London, Rollo feels most at home amongst the trees in the woods by his family farmhouse, dreaming up stories and new creations with Ben (the family sheepdog who’s terrified of sheep). Having taken a series of self-described wrong-turns throughout his twenties, reconnecting with the natural world of his childhood has become both his inspiration and his anchor.  Rollo has grown a practice that spans illustration, storytelling, painting, botanical installations and set design. He realised that by creating things, he was recreating the self that he had lost along the way, and is now committed to following his curiosity, repeatedly, over and over again – his mission is to inspire others to do the same. In this episode we cover:  Growing up queer in the countryside His acting career & saying no to a Netflix TV deal  Why the advertising years broke him  How lockdown led him to flowers  Reframing Return: Why going home isn't going backwards Working with Tim Walker & other dream jobs  Building a practice where you can explore our multitudes  Mentions: Lifeboat (Lovers Rock) by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIgrtSkUOEc)  Links: https://www.instagram.com/rolloskinner/  rolloskinner.com  This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Award-winning psychologist Dr. Lalitaa Suglani unpacks why the most capable people in the room are often the most anxious — and how to stop performing wellness and start feeling it. A conversation about burnout, workaholism,  inner child work, and what real success actually looks like. Dr. Lalitaa is a renowned speaker, somatic practitioner, and the author of High Functioning Anxiety — a book that has helped thousands of high achievers move from survival mode to intentional living. Her holistic approach combines science-backed strategies with practical tools for personal growth to help people rebuild self-trust from the inside out. In this episode we cover:  Her own childhood  as 1 of 5 kids and examples of successFollowing her intuition to psychology The Swan Analogy to help explain High Functioning Anxiety Shifting from anxiety-driven doing to grounded, intentional being. Her step-by-step clinic exercise: The Trigger Worksheet Every yes is a no to you - A reframe on people-pleasing.Why highly sensitive individuals unconsciously absorb other people's emotional statesWhy real-world interactions are the antidote to the highlight reelThe connection between menstrual cycles, mood, and anxiety Mentions:  Kirtan - singingOmnom restaurant   Links: https://www.instagram.com/dr.lalitaa/

Sex, Death, Comedy: Enter the nuanced world of Shannon Murphy Shannon Murphy is the director of 2019 debut hit Babyteeth (94% on rotten tomatoes at last check). I was moved to tears many times by the film and have since gone on to watch other things she has directed including Killing Eve, her episode of which was nominated for 3 EMMYs, Dave which is literally one of my favourite TV series and Dying for Sex, for which she won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement at the 2026 Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Awards. I know being a female director of the highest calibre is not easy - add onto that being a single mother, continents away from your family. I wanted to know how she finds her voice and stands her ground in her industry, how she practices patience between projects and creates such emotionally sensitive and nuanced work.  In this episode we cover:  From Nairobi to Hong Kong: how a globally nomadic childhood shaped her creative voice The reality of being a female director: bias, breakthroughs, and finding your own path in film & TV Why the “female gaze” isn’t just important—it’s where the most exciting stories are right now   What it really feels like to premiere at Venice—and survive an 8-minute standing ovation Why comedy is so hard: what works, what bombs, and how great directors fix it in real time Inside high-pressure film sets: chaos, creativity, and leading hundreds of people  Creative intensity & recovery: the ebbs and flows of a creative life and how to balance it  Mentons: Bertolt Brecht  Jim Henson’s Storyteller series by Anthony Mingela Winnie (documentary film) by Pascal Lampshe Santiana - old fishing folk song  Links:  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2221724/  https://www.instagram.com/shannnnnny/

I’ve been obsessed with Eugene’s insightful and razor sharp cultural analysis reels on Instagram and Tiktok - along with literally millions of others who watch them.  Eugene Healey is a strategist whose insights help brands, individuals and organisations make sense of the soup that is culture, consumerism, taste, aesthetics and social media. He is also a gifted keynote speaker and original thinker - sharing ideas in his substack Considered Chaos. He was a lecturer at the Melbourne Business School and continues to use his content as a way to educate.  He asks questions like: How can you have authenticity in environments that are about performance? Something I think about A LOT in terms of how I can show up in spaces driven by algorithms. What is status anxiety? Are we living to be perceived? Are we on social media to consume fiction or reality? What is Netflexification? We explore all of this and more in this episode.  In this episode we cover:  Growing up an Asian immigrant in New Zealand Is ‘hard work’ a virtue? Selling ideas: discovering brand strategy as a career Learning how to perform intelligence Putting ‘authenticity’ as a concept in the bin ‘Don’t lose yourself in self-analysis’How to make your career EXACTLY what you want it to be  Mentions: Filterworld: How Algorithms Make Everything the Same by Kyle Chayka  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Eugene Healey on vulnerability for The Guardian Tony Wang  Matt Klein on The Slow Down Links:  https://www.instagram.com/eugbrandstrat/  https://www.eugenehealey.com/

Only having big goals can set us up to fail.  In her new book, neuroscientist and ex- Google executive Anne-Laure Le Cunff explores the transformative nature of living a more experimental life; turning uncertainty into curiosity, and carving a path of self-discovery. The book is a current best-seller and her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Forbes, Financial Times, WIRED, and more. She is also  the founder of Ness Labs, where her weekly newsletter is read by more than 100,000 curious minds. Her research at King’s College London focuses on the psychology and neuroscience of lifelong learning, curiosity, and adaptability.  In this episode we cover:  Learning to be curious in a French-Algerian household The desire to work and succeed in Big California Tech Putting work above health, and the consequences Going back to school to study neuroscience Growing her newsletter from a Tiny Experiment to 100,000 subscribers The process of writing a best-selling book Knowing when to stop with followers, fame and recognition Mentons: Michael Pollen - How to change your mind  James Clear - Atomic Habits Links: https://nesslabs.com/  https://tinyexperiments.org/https://instagram.com/neuranne

Arizona Muse has graced more than 40 international Vogue covers and starred in campaigns for some of the world’s most iconic houses: Prada, Chanel, Estée Lauder, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, Chopard, Chloé… . She is one of the most recognisable faces in modern fashion. But the part of Arizona’s story that moves me most is her becoming a climate activist, educator and founder of DIRT — a charity dedicated to regenerating soil and restoring ecosystems.  Arizona now works as an impact consultant for brands trying to meaningfully reduce their environmental footprint and serves as an advisor and ambassador to the John Innes Centre for soil and crop research. She also co-founded Soilonic and co-curates Landed, a nature-based solutions investment conference in partnership with Founders Forum. Arizona is working on what I think is the most important resource we have: soil, and has beautiful routines and practices that help her and her family feel grounded.  In this episode we cover:  Growing up in Arizona and becoming a model Juggling motherhood with global fame and chronic insecurity The power of learning new things for your mental health The dark side of the fashion industry Discovering regenerative farming Lessons learnt from her partner Re-defining her relationship with time  Mentions:  DIRT - www.dirt.charity  Soilonic - soilonic.com Demeter - demeter.net Founders Forum Group - ff.co  Links:www.instagram.com/arizona_muse

Ben Branson is the founder of Seedlip, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirit that pioneered a movement of non-alcoholic drinks. In under 4 years Seedlip shot to success - being stocked in over 8000 bars and in homes across 35 countries before being sold in a multi-million pound deal. But what did this rapid success mean for Ben? Ben who is open about his autism and adhd diagnosis. Ben who is launching his new venture - Sylva, spirits that explore the untapped flavour potential of trees. I had so much I wanted to unpack with Ben - from going to rehab many times, to coming up against the entire alcohol industry, to his love of ‘lifestyle businesses’ and creating a product that is designed to be sipped slowly.  In this episode we cover:  Boarding school, autism and routine Pushing the limits to a near-death experience in India Starting a new, sober, life at 25  Following your hobbies and curiosities Seedlip’s astronomical rise & acquisition by Diageo Why businesses need to slow down Mentions:  The Art of Distillation by John French, 1651  Brutal Simplicity of Thought, M&C Saatchi, 2013  A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough, 2020  Podcast episode with Ben’s wife: https://www.hidden20.org/podcast/episode-17-sam-branson  Links: https://www.instagram.com/seedlip_ben/?hl=en

Katri Josling doesn’t have a job title, awards, or even an active social media account - she’s a housewife. But she’s also a constant learner - whether it’s completing a new boating license, a culinary chemistry course to create the most amazing meals, learning her fourth language, going skitouring in Svalbad or training her two giant Rhodesian Ridgebacks. She was a consultant with a UCL degree in Political Science and an MA in European Politics. She was working and traveling the hours you can imagine - so when her husband’s career took off - she had to make a choice between her own career and spending what time was possible, together. I want to know about her decision to leave work, how she found purpose, what architecting a world for a partnership looks like and her view on it all now. One of the things I’ve always held  judgement around is the idea of being a “housewife.” But after years of chasing goals, building things, and burning out, I’ve started to see that choice differently — with empathy, understanding, and even admiration. I’ve started to ask myself: if I could build enough of a passive income, would I stop working?  In a culture where you are pushed to overachieve, where the only goal touted by the media seems to be to have a multi-billion dollar business - I want to share a story that makes those who have chosen NOT to do that also feel worthy, valuable and acknowledged. In this episode we cover:  Growing up in the USSR and moving between Estonia, Russia and SwedenThe freedom of going to UCL for university Meeting her partner and how getting married was the most rebellious thing they could do Living in London, Nigeria, Geneva and (almost) Johannesburg The dinner party moment when they ask: what do you do? The battle with self and ego that she has overcome