Ctrl Alt Delete

This is a special live recording of Ctrl Alt Delete focused on​ all things​ periods, from cramps to menstrual mishaps, bloody good anecdotes, mind-boggling facts and incredible stories as we delve into a raw discussion about all aspects periods around the world.This was recorded at Hoxton Square Bar & Grill in collaboration with Project Period, a campaign bringing together activists to maximise momentum on efforts to put period poverty onto the global agenda.On the panel were three brilliant women talking about periods: gynecologist and Instagram influencer Anita Mittra “The Gynae Geek”, period poverty activist Holly Bantleman, and social entrepreneur Tasha Bishop of “The Pants Project’.The aim of this conversation is to raise awareness (and money) for women affected by period stigmas and the lack of access to sanitary products and relevant information related to menstruation around the world. We want to change perspectives and attitudes on periods, and drive any one listening to take action to end period poverty and put stigmas to an end.Want to take action?We are uniting our voices under www.thisisourperiod.org. Please click the link and sign the period promise, where you can find out more about organisations and activists working on the issue. You can follow recent events and projects by signing the period promise and following the latest on Instagram @thisisourperiod.**100% of proceeds from the live recording will support Juliana's project in Kenya; a hub to create jobs for women and ensure a steady supply of sanitary pads in rural Kenya** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the incredible entrepreneur Amy Thomson​. She was the founder of SEEN, a global marketing agency working with brands such as Nike, Microsoft and RBS. She is also the co-founder of a business school for future female leaders called Future Girl Corp (alongside Sharmadean Reid, another Ctrl Alt DElete guest), which has a simple mission to inspire the new generation of female leaders. Now, she, alongside her team, has ​launched the Moody Month App. ​The mission ​of the app i​s to empower every woman to harness their moods through understanding their hormonal and emotional selves. The Moody Month App will allow you to track your monthly moods and cycle, along with plugging straight into your calendar and giving you mood forecasts for your month. ​The message behind the app is that being moody is your biggest asset, it's what makes you human not a robot. By having more awareness of your moods, means you can optimise your happiness. Let’s all re-connect and embrace the things that make us humans​.​​​​​Amy has shared her story and inspiration behind the app so honestly and openly in this episode. In 2015, when​ her periods stopped due to ​stress, she ​start​ed​ a diary, and began to see patterns linking her bad moods and her hormonal imbalance.​ ​​She then sold her agency, broke up with ​her boyfriend and set out on a mission to build this​ new​ technology​ which has turned into ​Moody. The​ site​ and app​ offers advice, from books recommendations, t​o articles ​to superfood tips. There’s an online shop, too​. I found this conversation SO inspiring and I hope you do too.​My favourite quote from the episode:"I'm getting Ubers, I'm ordering food, I'm using Nike Plus to track my running, but I'm a writing an analogue diary for my periods??" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Helena Morrissey who is one of the best-known women in the City.She handles billions of pounds worth of assets for many years and is now Head of Personal Investing at Legal and General Management, a new role aimed at engaging the nation to save and invest more.In 2010, Helena founded the 30% Club, a cross-business initiative to achieve better gender-balanced UK company boards. She wrote a book earlier this year called A Good Time to be a Girl: Don’t Lean In, Change the System. The Ft said about her book "At its heart is a conviction that diversity in any workplace will lead to a better, fairer and more prosperous society". She was named one of Fortune Magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. She has twice been voted one of the 50 Most Influential People in Finance globally by Bloomberg Markets. she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Cambridge University in 2016. She was appointed CBE in the 2012 New Year’s Honours list for her contribution to the role of women in business. In 2017, she was made a dame.Helena is married to a Buddhist meditation teacher and they have nine children, six girls and three boys whose ages range from 8 to 26.In this episode we talk about the importance of investing your future in this episode, how you don't have to be like a man to be successful and what it's like having 9 kids and making your career work.Quotes from the episode:"You don't have to be formidable to be a successful business woman.""I have a Dame-hood, but actually I'm no better or worse a person than before that. I want to use any influence I have for good." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chloe Milligan runs a florist company called MUD Urban Flowers. Unlike a traditional florist, MUD operates solely online and this innovative, contemporary take on the trade soon became a great success. MUD Urban Flowers has now expanded into Edinburgh and has plans to continue growing UK wide via franchises from early 2019.In a landmark year celebrating 100 years since women were granted the vote, I teamed up with Royal Bank of Scotland to bring together Scotland’s most inspiring, like-minded and motivated women at a series of four networking events across the country to encourage businesswomen to connect, support one another and thrive together. The events were held in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The events come on the back of a report commissioned by Royal Bank of Scotland that revealed the challenges facing women in business and what they do to overcome them.*This episode is part of a paid partnership with Royal Bank Of Scotland.* Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Farrah Storr is the award-winning editor-in-chief of the UK's Cosmopolitan magazine. She took over the brand in 2015 where she was tasked with reimagining it for the millennial woman. The October issue of Cosmo magazine has model and body-positivity advocate Tess Holliday on the cover. It was celebrated across the internet by many who lauded the magazine for championing body positivity and embracing larger bodies but it was also battled out on Good Morning Britain (by Piers Morgan) arguing that it glorifies obesity. Over her 17-year career as a journalist Farrah has done everything from undercover investigations in the world of cut-price cosmetic surgery to reporting from inside some of the world’s most luxurious fashion houses. She was also the founding editor-in-chief of Women’s Health magazine – the most successful women’s magazine launch of the decade.In 2017 Farrah was cited as one of only 36 BAME leaders in The Guardian UK’s 1000 Most Powerful list.Her first book is out now called The Discomfort Zone all about the power of discomfort, published by Piatkus, which we discuss a lot in this episode.Quotes from the episode:"Being vulnerable is what you have to do as a writer, that is your job.. sometimes that means putting yourself up for scrutiny from other people, but that's what makes the best writers.""You can have it all....ish. It's naive to think you can have everything.""True heroes are never that popular.""Most of success is the climb; the grind to actually get to success. The grind should be the enjoyable bit." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Ctrl Alt Delete is in collaboration with CityFibre, talking all about connectivity and the future of tech. I wanted to do an episode on the future of work, tech, modern cities and Internet connection. Chatting to me on these topics is Laura Osborne who works with CityFibre. Laura’s background is in public affairs, government communications and more recently consumer campaigning. She was Which?’s first Head of Corporate Affairs, working with businesses to improve the banking, energy and telecoms markets for consumers.Now she is helping to lead the campaign calling on the Advertising Standards Authority to change the rules on how “fibre” is used in broadband adverts, so that consumers are no longer misled. In this episode we talk about the impact of smart technology in our homes, online doctors, digital assistants who can pick up on your mood and health data, how the internet connection you have matters, how connectivity affects or can improve the way we work and lots more. We also discuss how in 2016, only 5% of engineering modern apprenticeships were taken up by women, and how only 24% of those in digital technology jobs in the UK are women and what can be done about that. We discuss the future of modern connected cities too, as in cities like Tallinn, people engage with their government effortlessly via digital platforms that enable them to sign contracts, file their taxes, and vote. Can the UK follow? In general, we discuss what’s in store of the future of our technology as we become more and more connected. For more info on the campaign to change the broadband advertising rules visit www.coppersaurus.com. #ad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fearne Cotton is a TV presenter, podcast host and author. Fearne has been presenting live TV since the age of 15 when she was spotted by ITV’s ‘Disney Club’ Her warmth, natural interview skills and ability to make presenting live TV seem effortless and has given her the opportunity to present a variety of shows over the years.In 2005 she joined Radio 1 where she spent 10 incredible years, initially co-hosting morning shows with Reggie Yates and then moving onto the UK Top 40 show before taking over the prestigious weekday morning slot in 2009; here she mixed big celebrity interviews with exclusive acoustic performances in the Live Lounge. The show attracted over 4 million listeners and in 2012 she won a Sony Gold Award for the show.An enthusiastic cook, Fearne released her first cookbook in June 2016. She is also the author of Calm, Happy, Yoga Babies and Hungry Babies.Fearne is a mother of two and continues to find time to support a range of charities with seemingly no challenge too big for her, whether it be climbing Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief, or trekking the Inca Trail for Breast Cancer Care. Fearne is an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust and also a patron for Post Pals, Tyler’s Trust and Coppafeel!, the latter of which she curates the charity’s music festival, FESTIFEEL.In this episode we talk about Fearne's multi-hyphenate career, being a mum, mental health, writing and how social media can help further positive conversations.Favourite quotes from the episode:"There are less taboo subjects these days and if there are taboos there's definitely someone out there trying to break them." "Sometimes I feel like I'm nailing it, and other times it's all falling apart." On juggling multiple projects and being a mum. "in my twenties [success] was purely work-based - that's all I cared about. It was about being on a big TV show and being seen. Whereas now, that really doesn't factor into what I'm doing." "When I left Radio 1, I'd had a second child and literally had no work lined up, I was quite scared at that point." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yasmin Khan is an award-winning author, campaigner and cook.In 2013, after suffering a debilitating burnout and having to step back from her human rights work, Yasmin switched careers and turned to food as a tool through which to share people’s stories. She ran a Kickstarter to write a book that would offer a window into Iran, the result of which is her best-selling debut book The Saffron Tales: Recipes From the Persian Kitchen (Bloomsbury, 2016). The book was chosen by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC Food Programme as one of the best cookbooks of 2016.Yasmin’s second book, Zaitoun: Recipes and Stories from the Palestinian Kitchen was published in July 2018 and immediately became a number 1 best-seller on Amazon. The book is a collection of recipes and stories gathered from her travels through Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and was heralded by the late, great, Anthony Bourdain as “A moving, hugely knowledgeable and utterly delicious book”.In this episode we talk burn-out, Kickstarter, career changes, micro-communities and how to manage multiple projects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justin Myers is a journalist who for a long time wrote under his pseudonym The Guyliner.​ I first started reading his hilarious writing back in 2012 when his blog posts started getting published on the Huffington Post.​ He has written for Gay Times, GQ and the Guardian. His first novel, The Last Romeo, was published by Little, Brown in Spring this year. We talk about writing non fiction and how his fiction has some similarities to his journalistic career.His book The Last Romeo tells a story of the character James -  his long relationship with Adam ends, decides to try out the dating scene for the first time, writing about his exploits for a small, loyal audience under a secret identity: the Last Romeo. An account of a date with a closeted celebrity boosts the blog’s popularity, not to mention its notoriety, and soon James finds himself reluctantly internet-famous, and dealing with the associated perks and pitfalls; the fans, trolls, and haters, who all want to know one thing: who the hell is Romeo?We talk about what it's like coming out as your real self from behind an anonymous blog and how to use your experiences for a novel. We also talk about age and I like this quote from Justin: "There is no new rule that once you hit 35 or 40, you are suddenly no longer interested in new things around you or new stuff." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sharmadean Reid founded WAH Nails as a side project in 2009 – now it is a huge global well-known business.In this episode I chat to Sharmadean about productivity and distraction. She has a brilliant Guardian column called Bossing It where she answers modern work questions.She wrote two WAH nails books, delivered global pop up nail salons for 100s of brands, created a product line with Walgreen Boots Alliance and was awarded an MBE for services to Beauty.So now she is building a new way to book beauty online with her new company Beauty Stack.We talk about what she’d learned from starting businesses. Sharmadean’s also working on a new campaign with NatWest which is all about helping small businesses be the best they can be. A big focus is on helping small businesses do more with less and improve their productivity through the NatWest Productivity Blueprint.The medium article I reference in the opening section of the interview is called “Growing Up Too Fast — Or Why I Closed WAH Nails Topshop”.Soundbites I love from this episode:“Why not write a completely new rule for how we determine success?”“Create your own pic ‘n’ mix from other people’s successful bios”“You can’t copy someone else’s path”“Being productive doesn’t mean being chained your desk the whole time.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.