How I Made It Happen

This episode is the last episode of season 2 and I want to say a big thank you to all our listeners and our first sponsor of the podcast, Papier. I’ll be back with season 3 next year, so if you haven’t caught up with seasons 1 and 2, here’s your chance.

This week, I am joined by Namrata Kamdar, founder of Plenaire, a British skincare brand that uses organic and sustainable approaches to beauty and lifestyle. During her late thirties, she experienced stress-related burnout and a bout of post-natal depression and took time off to work on herself. Her own subsequent journey with mental health and what she learned during recovery from burnout coupled with the desire to lead a more balanced life was the impetus for her to create Plenaire.

Her products were created out of a genuine need to develop safe, effective, and pleasurable alternatives for young women to care for their skin.

In this conversation, Namrata shares with me her journey of building her career in FMCG’s over the last 15 years, how her research gave Pleanaire a competitive edge and the importance of brand execution.

Plenaire is currently raising funds through crowdfunding, you can see more information about that here.

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My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I’m joined by Frankie Wells, Co-founder of Foundation FM, ​​a women-led station that’s rewriting the rules of radio. Launched in November 2018, foundation.fm was created by Frankie and her two friends: Ami Bennet, and Becky Richardson after noticing an increase of people in the broadcasting industry seeking safe spaces to create and share via the airwaves.

The station has two goals in place: firstly, they want to position foundation.fm as a platform for the capital’s underground music, art and thought. The second, to promote artist development, career mentoring and, above all, create a space that foregrounds the creative efforts of a diverse group of women and LGBTQ* persons. 

In this episode, Frankie shares with me how she built her career in radio, her challenges with becoming a founder and a team leader and why radio is still relevant despite the boom of podcasting. 

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My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, I am joined by Dija Ayodele, a fully qualified and insured aesthetician and the founder of West Room Aesthetics, a skincare clinic for women of colour. She is also the founder of the award-winning Black Skin Directory, which connects people of colour to skincare brands and experts. With over ten years of experience in the aesthetics industry, Dija is trained in everything from nails to advanced skincare.

Dija is also a Trustee for the Beauty Backed Trust and advises several boards including the British Beauty Council, the British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (BABTAC) and the Aesthetic Medicine Journal. 

On November 25th 2021, Dija will publish her debut book BLACK SKIN: The Definitive Skincare Guide. The book investigates and celebrates the journey of Black beauty through a historical and cultural lens but it is also your ultimate practical and myth-busting companion in learning how to care for Black skin - from what makes the skin unique, to setting up an effective skincare routine to common skin concerns, key ingredients and professional treatments. 

In this conversation, Dija shares the journey of transitioning her career from finance to beauty and how she was able to build her personal brand as a beauty expert. 

Pre-order BLACK SKIN here: https://www.dijaayodele.com/black-skin-the-book

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My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this weeks episode, I am joined by Jessica Warch, Co-founder and CEO of Kimaï, a startup creating lab-grown diamonds. Kimaï was founded in 2018 by Jessica and her long-term friend now co-founder Sidney Neuhaus when they were both 24. The co-founders grew up in Antwerp the centre of the diamond trade with their family who are also diamond and jewellery traders. They both met at a girls scout club in Belgium and went on to be great friends. Years later, Jessica studied Business & Finance at Cass Business School, Sidney studied gemmology and later reconnected after working a few years at startups and in the jewellery industry.

To get Kimaï off the ground they used their personal savings of £7,300 and kept the business lean by creating only a few pieces of jewellery they would use for samples and to help launch their website.

Historically, diamonds have been mined from the ground where they were created over centuries. But recent advances in technology mean the same effects can now be created in the lab which results in creating better conditions for the earth and giving consumers an affordable equivalent with the same quality.

At the heart of Kimaï is female empowerment. In less modern times, women would usually receive jewellery as a gift from men but today women are independent, working women and can afford their own pieces. But the industry is still promoting diamonds and luxury jewellery as something that’s gifted by a man to a woman. Kimaï infuses empowerment into their collections as they want women to feel good and confident when wearing their pieces, which is something they struggled to see on the market themselves.

In this episode, Jessica shared with me how Megan Markle became the first celebrity to wear their jewellery and how this impacted their business, the joys of having a co-founder and the importance of keeping the business lean in the early days.

You can find Kimaï on social here and visit their website Kimaï.com

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My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, I’m speaking to Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder of By Rotation, the worlds first social fashion rental app.

The idea for By Rotation came to her during her honeymoon to Rajasthan, India, where she found herself reconsidering her relationship with fashion. She was in her suburban home town and had not been back for over 30 years. Eshita felt guilty for buying new clothes for her honeymoon as this made her feel she was part of a system that was adding to the textile waste. She wondered how she could help an average consumer make a difference, which is how the idea of By Rotation was birthed. A platform that allows users to ‘rent’ their garments out to others, whether on a daily or weekly basis. The idea is to give everyday people something accessible and convenient that’s an alternative to the often-high price points of many sustainable fashion labels.

By Rotation first started out as Eshitas side hustle whilst she worked full-time at a hedge fund. She spent evenings and weekends creating the beta platform and attending sustainable fashion events in order to build up her network. When By Rotation hit certain targets She had set, She finally left her seven-year career in investment management.

Not only are they the largest fashion rental platform in the U.K., but they are also a completely circular and sustainable model thanks to their focus on peer-to-peer and technology.

You can follow Eshita on social @arentyoueshita and By Rotation @byrotation

My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this weeks episode, I am joined Abigail Bergstrom, writer and founder of Bergstrom Studio, a 360° publishing consultancy and literary agency which aims to help emerging writers find their voice, turn good ideas into published books and writers into published authors. The agency represents “thought-leading” authors such as Munroe Bergdorf, of gender manifesto Transitional (Bloomsbury), Florence Given of bestselling feminist manifesto Women Don’t Owe You Pretty (Octopus), and Laura Bates of "Everyday Sexism" who Bergstrom published during her time at Simon & Schuster UK, among others. 

Prior to founding Bergstrom Studio, Abigail spent over a decade in the publishing industry with her last role being at Gleam digital talent Agency, where she set up and launched the literary arm of the business. Here she managed over thirty titles by her clients and worked to get them onto bestseller lists whilst also building some of today’s biggest book brands.

She was nominated for the Literary Agent of the Year at the 2020 British Book Awards, she was also listed in The Bookseller 150 and her debut novel, What a Shame, will be published by Hodder next year.

In this episode, we talk about how she started her career, what it takes to publish a bestselling book and how to build a strong book brand.

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My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this weeks episode, I am joined by Mariam Jimoh the Founder and CEO of Oja which is a technology solution transforming access to cultural groceries and foods around the world. In simple words, she is making it easier for people to buy cultural foods by creating an app that allows you to order these goods and have them delivered directly to your door. She is building the UK's first venture-backed digital supermarket for cultural communities. She is 1 of the 16 black women in the UK who have raised venture capital, and currently, only 0.02% of the total VC funding has gone to black women founders.

Mariam is a serial entrepreneur and has started many ventures, some whilst in university, some whilst she was working.  Whilst studying for an undergraduate degree she founded WCAN, a marketplace & network for the professional development of black women in the UK. 

Since graduating from UCL, Mariam has gained experience as an M&A investment banker at Rothschild & Co. Combining her strategic insight with her business acumen, she founded Oja. During this time, she also co-founded Onwe an independent publishing house & lifestyle brand. 

In this episode, we dive into how she has managed to raise funding through various ways such as brand partnerships to Venture capital to support her entrepreneurial ventures. 

Mariam’s work has been recognised by the  2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 Technology list in which she shared that her mission is to unlock game-changing value in underrepresented groups through technology and community.

You can follow Mariam on social here: @theartofmariam

My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

How I Made it Happen is an independent podcast created and hosted by Elizabeth Ogabi and produced by Julie Banks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, I have a phenomenal individual, Tiwalola Ogunlesi, a globally recognised coach specialising in positive psychology, Master Neuro-linguistic Practitioner, international speaker and the founder of Confident and Killing It. Tiwa also recently launched the Confidence Academy, you can find out more information here.

Tiwa made the decision to go full time on her business in late 2019, three months before the pandemic took place. She had pitched to organisations, secured clients and also had three months worth of savings in case anything went wrong. Like many others, she had no clue the pandemic would come! and when it did, this wiped out her business — all her clients cancelled bookings and she had to start from scratch. 

What do you do when something negative happens? What do you tell yourself? Naturally, our mind starts to feed us negative reasons why things will never get better. According to research, when something negative happens our mind's default state is fear and we will need to rewire our mind's response by telling our minds positive messages. 

In this episode, Tiwa shares with me how she changed her story of being cancelled and out of business to being booked globally.

You can follow Tiwa on social: @Tiwalola @confidentandkillingit

My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find me on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

How I Made it Happen is an independent podcast created and hosted by Elizabeth Ogabi and produced by Julie Banks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I’m joined by Amy Thomson, an incredibly inspiring entrepreneur and author of the book Moody: A 21st Century Hormone Guide which was published earlier this year. Amy started her first business at age 23 in 2011, a communications company working with brands such as Nike, Microsoft and Diageo. In 2016 after experiencing severe burnout from working long hours and travelling for work, she experienced some changes in her body. As a result of the burnout, Amy’s periods stopped but she continued to work, until one day she made the decision to prioritise her health. Later that year, she decided to sell the business and take a break. Whilst on her break she began working on how she could solve the problem of stress impacting women’s hormones, health and happiness. 

This is how Moody Month was born. A tech company that uses data ethically to help women connect with the science of their bodies and personalise the experience for their daily health and wellness needs.

You can buy Amy's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moody-Womans-21st-Century-Hormone-Guide/dp/1529110335 You can follow Amy on social: @amytstory @moodymonth and download the app here: https://moodymonth.com/app

My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find us on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

How I Made it Happen is an independent podcast created and hosted by Elizabeth Ogabi and produced by Julie Banks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a lengthy pandemic and taking a few months to write and publish my first book, I am excited to share that How I Made it Happen is back for another season. Officially launching on October 6th, season two features a range of entrepreneurs who discuss in detail how they got started in making their business idea a reality. Here is a snippet of what to expect from season two and if you have not already, please do leave a review and rating so others can discover the podcast.

My new book, Side Hustle in Progress: A Practical Guide to Kickstarting Your Business is published by HarperCollins and available to buy online and in all book shops.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/0008455007

Audible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Hustle-Progress-Practical-Kickstarting/dp/B08NXTC5ZC

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/side-hustle-in-progress/elizabeth-ogabi/9780008455002

You can find us on social: IG: @Forworkingladies @ElizabethOgabi Twitter: @Fwladies @ElizabethOgabi_

You can sign up for my newsletter "The Snippet" here.

How I Made it Happen is an independent podcast created and hosted by Elizabeth Ogabi and produced by Julie Banks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.