The Graduate One

You can contact Women Talking About Learning through our website womentalkingaboutlearning.comYou can buy us a coffee to support Women Talking About Learning via Ko-Fi.Or you can email us via [email protected] episode resources at womentalkingaboutlearning.comGuests:Laura Paget is the founder of Novature Solutions, a people strategy consultancy for scaling businesses. She works with founders who are spending too much time solving people problems that should never reach their desk, building the structure and systems that free them to focus on growth. With a career spanning Aldi, Evri and Just Eat Takeaway.com, she has spent over a decade building people systems that allow businesses to scale without falling apart. A trained CQ practitioner, Laura helps businesses build onboarding, development and retention strategies that are both people and profit focused. linktr.ee/novaturesolutions linkedin.com/in/laura-macfarlane-novature-solutionsHannah Frame is a creative and tech-savvy L&D professional who enjoys making learning inclusive, collaborative and impactful. From launching innovative bespoke learning apps to designing award-winning VR training experiences, Hannah is passionate about using cutting-edge tools and technology to enable collaborative, peer-to-peer learning. She has her own podcast, Every Day's a School Day, and has led projects that have earned multiple awards and a spot on 2024 Learning Technologies' Thirty Under 30. With over 7 years of experience in L&D and a distinction in her CIPD L&D Consultant Business Partner qualification, Hannah combines experience, creativity and strategy to drive real change. linkedin.com/in/framehannahLeah-Sunshine Garrett is the co-host of AI for Equity, an intergenerational podcast she runs with her mum exploring how AI can make workplaces and communities fairer. She is also the founder of Dawn Intelligence, a safety-tech startup using real-time data and AI to help prevent gender-based violence. A survivor herself, Leah brings honesty, humour and a human lens to every discussion from ethics to equity to everyday life. She started coding at 11, DJs for fun, and believes the best ideas often start as chaotic voice notes. linkedin.com/in/leah-sunshine-g-91b643134 dawnintelligence.co.uk open.spotify.com/show/6ZSdDh62GB1BRe5H2uIbL6 open.spotify.com/show/5wYOGyXGVklrxmIl5jaRtCThank you for listening.

You can contact Women Talking About Learning through our website womentalkingaboutlearning.com You can buy us a coffee to support Women Talking About Learning via Ko-Fi. Or you can email us via [email protected] workplace keeps shifting, and the pressure to keep up is real. This conversation explores what it actually means to learn, adapt and stay useful in a world that won't slow down.Full episode resources at womentalkingaboutlearning.comGuests:Christine Janssen is an immersive learning expert and AI learning strategist. She is the founder and CEO of Edstutia, an immersive learning platform and consultancy, as well as a former business school professor in New York City. Her recently published book There Is No Box: Rewiring Your Mindset About Learning was written for learner leaders to understand why they need to adopt and adapt, and how to start reshaping their perspectives and actions as educators.linkedin.com/in/christine-janssen-phd-1641b45 thereisnoboxbook.com edstutia.comSarah Campbell is a marketing strategist and founder of Studio3 Creative, a Western Canada-based consultancy with 13 years of experience guiding small, women-led businesses toward scalable progress. After years of manually aligning brand, audience and voice for clients, Sarah recognised a market gap and developed a proprietary AI Content System built to think like a strategist, respect the brief and preserve brand integrity at scale.linkedin.com/in/sarahjfcampbell linkedin.com/company/studio3creativestudio3creative.ca

You can contact Women Talking About Learning through our website womentalkingaboutlearning.com You can buy us a coffee to support Women Talking About Learning via Ko-Fi. Or you can email us via [email protected] episode resources at womentalkingaboutlearning.comThis episode's guests:Lorraine Taylor has over 25 years' experience in L&D. She runs her own business advising organisations and individuals on how to align people capabilities with business goals so teams quickly adapt, lead effectively and deliver results. Alongside creating learning experiences that resonate and deliver ROI, she has spent much of her career coaching and mentoring others. She attributes her career success in part to the advice others have given her along the way. Paying it forward is a key part of her business ethos including volunteering to help young adults from a low socioeconomic background find the career of their dreams. lt-learning.com linkedin.com/in/lorrainetaylor1Georgie Smith is a midlife and menopause coach who helps women who feel like they've lost themselves after years of looking after everyone else. Supporting women through identity shifts, confidence dips and life transitions, Georgie focuses on helping them reconnect with who they are now. Her work is rooted in self-trust, emotional awareness, and creating a life that feels calm, clear and genuinely fulfilling. linkedin.com/in/georgie-smith-36438693 instagram.com/i_am_georgie_smith substack.com/@iamgeorgiesmithKatie O'Malley is an executive coach and leadership educator with twenty years of professional experience serving the nonprofit, education and corporate sectors and a Master's Degree in Counselling and Board Certification in Coaching. Since 2018, Katie has worked alongside hundreds of individual, team and organisational clients as founder and principal coach of (en)Courage Coaching. Established with the mission of providing exceptional, financially accessible coaching services to Chicago area professionals, (en)Courage Coaching has grown to support individuals and businesses from around the world. Katie is currently a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and in June 2025 took the TEDx Stage in Boston to talk about The Attention We Give: Lessons from Listening for a Living. linkedin.com/in/kateomalley

You can contact Women Talking About Learning through our website, womentalkingaboutlearning.com You can buy us a coffee to support Women Talking About Learning via Ko-Fi. Or you can email us via [email protected] Ainsworth has more than a decade of global L&D experience across sectors including FTSE 100 and Fortune 100 organisations, spanning early career to leadership development. She holds an MSc in Sustainable Development and works at the intersection of L&D and sustainability, translating sustainability into a core People agenda and connecting individual motivation with organisational action.https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieainsworth/ https://virescentlearning.com/Sara Hill is the founder of The Learning Green and a Sustainability Learning Strategist. She has a background in landscape architecture and L&D, is certified Carbon Literate, and is a Cornell Climate Steward. Her work supports professionals and organisations across sectors to develop sustainability literacy and take action on climate.https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahill/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-learning-green https://thelearninggreen.com/ @thelearninggreen.bsky.socialDr. Asegul Hulus is an Assistant Professor in Computing researching across interdisciplinary areas of Computer Science. She is the founder of MetaTech Feminism, a framework that unifies feminist approaches to technology, advancing inclusivity, ethical responsibility, and sustainability in digital systems.https://www.linkedin.com/in/asegulhulus/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266618882500735X

You can contact Women Talking About Learning through our website, womentalkingaboutlearning.com You can buy us a coffee to support Women Talking About Learning via Ko-Fi. Or you can email us via [email protected] Boncori is a Professor in Organisation Studies and Human Resources Management and an Academic Fellow of CIPD. Her research focuses on inequalities in the workplace, particularly around gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and foreignness. Her most recent work explores pregnancy and pregnancy endings at work.https://www.essex.ac.uk/research-projects/supporting-early-pregnancy-endings-in-the-workplace https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilaria-boncori-phd-pfhea-fcipd-518537/Anna Ogilby is a People Development Lead at the UK Health Security Agency and a lone parent to four daughters. She is passionate about supporting women's personal and professional development, social mobility, and equitable learning pathways. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-ogilby-9aab45136/Glynis Skitt is a leadership and development facilitator with over 15 years of experience helping people reflect on who they are, beyond what they know or are known for. She works with individuals and teams who want to share their expertise to make more of an impact. https://www.linkedin.com/in/glyniskitt/Hannah Clark is the founder of Talia Marketing, where she helps L&D organisations grow through clearer, more effective communication. With over ten years in the L&D industry, she brings commercial insight and a no-fuss approach to marketing that connects and delivers results. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanclark/Simrat Pahwa is an L&D leader with over 14 years of experience designing and scaling learning strategies across healthcare, retail, finance, IT, and education. She focuses on human-centred learning and the role of storytelling in building connection and meaningful behaviour change. Outside her professional work, she supports women through pregnancy and postpartum, helping to dispel myths and offering practical guidance through a significant and often underserved life transition. https://www.linkedin.com/in/simratpahwa/

Allyship gets talked about a lot. This episode asks whether it actually changes anything.Chloe Duncan, Fran Harrison, and Nzinga Orgill bring three distinct perspectives to a conversation about what allyship looks like in practice, where it falls short, and what organisations and individuals need to do differently.Full episode resources are listed on our website at womentalkingaboutlearning.comGuestsChloe Duncan is an in-house DEI strategist specialising in inclusion-led culture transformation, aligning people strategy with organisational performance and regulatory obligations. She has designed and delivered inclusion initiatives across charity, emergency services and regulatory sectors. Chloe also volunteers as Head of Communications and Engagement at the Optimise Foundation. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-duncan-b1926515a/Fran Harrison has more than 30 years in learning delivery, design and technologies. She has recently embarked on serious learning of her own, in transformative coaching and applied positive psychology, shifting towards a more developmental and transformational focus in her practice. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fran-harrison-uk/Nzinga Orgill is Founder and CEO of Avi2i, a consultancy transforming how organisations communicate, include, and serve diverse audiences across events, tourism, aviation, and customer experience. With nearly two decades of expertise in project delivery, cultural competence, and psychological safety, she helps teams move beyond performative gestures and redesign systems so every colleague and customer feels safe, seen, and satisfied. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nzinga-orgill/You can contact Women Talking About Learning through our website womentalkingaboutlearning.com You can buy us a coffee to support Women Talking About Learning via Ko-Fi. Or you can email us via [email protected]

You can contact Women Talking About Learning through our website womentalkingaboutlearning.comYou can buy us a coffee to support Women Talking About Learning via Ko-Fi.Or you can email us via [email protected] Episode: Grief is an inevitable part of life, yet it remains one of the most challenging topics to discuss, especially in the workplace. This episode considers many different forms of grief—just a heads-up, this is not a usual type of episode and is, you'll notice, a bit longer than the norm.Full episode resources at womentalkingaboutlearning.comKavita Brown is owner and learning director for LDG Training. She's a highly experienced independent trainer, facilitator and L&D consultant, having worked across various sectors. Kavita has significant experience in people roles across learning and development, HR, recruitment and organisational design. She's passionate about empowering change, transformation and growth in a fun, creative and inspiring way. linkedin.com/in/kavita-brown-9943a332Anita Guru is founder of The Mind Coach. She's an experienced mindset coach, psychotherapeutic counsellor and motivational speaker with a background in occupational psychology. She has nearly two decades of learning, leadership and organisational development experience at organisations such as Deloitte, Centrica and Coca-Cola. Anita supports organisations to raise awareness and support employees navigating grief. Committed to shattering stigma due to personal experiences, she actively raises awareness on issues linked to mental health and women's health. She has featured in Vogue, The Mail on Sunday, The Telegraph, The Times and on BBC Radio London. linkedin.com/feed anitagurumindcoach.comLisa Sharp is a senior learning consultant who designs practical, human-centred solutions that help organisations turn strategy into meaningful behavioural change. With more than 15 years of experience across industries, she has led onboarding, leadership development and change initiatives within complex, regulated environments. linkedin.com/in/lisa-sharp-a2088583 solvdtogether.comSarah-Jane Bellion is the leadership capability manager at Center Parcs UK & Ireland. Previously she spent over 12 years at Marks & Spencer, most recently partnering with their retail operations team. She designs learning experiences that spark curiosity, build confidence and make a lasting impact, helping people to see themselves and their world a little differently. Sarah-Jane's work sits at the intersection of people development, performance and creativity. Her own experience of grief has deepened her understanding of resilience and what it truly means to grow. She believes impactful learning happens through honest conversation, vulnerability and connection. linkedin.com/in/sarah-jane-bellion instagram.com/sjbellion

Contact & Support: Women Talking About Learning: womentalkingaboutlearning.com Podcast Learning Festival: www.podcastlearningfest.live Support us: Ko-Fi Email: [email protected] Episode: Returning to work is rarely just a logistics problem. It's a confidence problem, an identity problem, and for many women, a systemic problem that organisations still haven't taken seriously enough.Clair Madeley and Jo Edgar speak from experience: as practitioners and as women who've navigated the return themselves. This is a conversation about what actually makes coming back harder than it needs to be and what genuine support looks like.Full episode resources at womentalkingaboutlearning.comGuests: Clair Madeley is a Technology Trainer and Learning Specialist who has navigated her own career transitions. She knows firsthand what it's like to manage confidence dips, identity shifts, and the practical realities of stepping back into work. linkedin.com/in/clair-madeley-175b8522Jo Edgar is a Freelance Executive Coach and Leadership Trainer with over 20 years in learning and development. She specialises in coaching women returning to work after career breaks — whether through maternity leave, caring responsibilities, redundancy, or life taking a different turn. [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/jo-edgar-15b692151Resources: How to cope with mum guilt | Emma's Diary Back to the office: not what women need | NOON Caregiver Leave in the UK | Contend Legal Flexible Work Arrangements | Benepass Flexible Work Arrangements | Women in Research 10 ways flexible working attracts senior women | Timewise Investing in Women Return Ready Week Survey Results Challenges facing women in post-study jobs post-pandemic | HEPI Employers' return to office plans 2025 | CIPD Getting Back to Work | IES Office Return Varies Across Sectors | British Chambers of Commerce Gender Differences in Loneliness Returning to work after a break | South London Partnership Returner toolkit | GOV.UK Women, work and caring | IES Women in AI (#WAI) Women Are Avoiding AI. Will Their Careers Suffer? | HBS Working Knowledge WISE Campaign Top 3 barriers women face returning to work | IEP Social Innovation Analysis on Women Back to Work Women's health: a quarter shamed into returning early | FemTech World Half of mothers have negative experiences returning after maternity leave. AI and gender equality | UN WomenThank you for listening.

Contact & Support: Women Talking About Learning: womentalkingaboutlearning.com Podcast Learning Festival: www.podcastlearningfest.live Support us: Ko-Fi Email: [email protected] Episode: Identity is not fixed. It shifts with experience, loss, diagnosis, place, and time. Susan Fitzell, Meghan Waldron, Niki Hobson, and Aiko Sato reflect on what it means to understand that fluidity — and what becomes possible when we stop trying to hold a self that no longer fits.This is a conversation about who we are, who we've been, and who we're still becoming.Full episode resources at womentalkingaboutlearning.comGuests: Susan Fitzell is a speaker and educator whose work centres on learning and human potential. Diagnosed with neurodivergence alongside her child, her lived experience shapes her practice across dyslexia, ADHD, autism, and auditory processing. susanfitzell.com | linkedin.com/in/susanfitzellMeghan Waldron spent nearly two decades in K-12 education before moving into university advising. She works with women leaders through Women in Change USA, using writing and reflection to help people find and trust their own voice. linkedin.com/in/meghan-waldron-ed-d-11b213255 | facebook.com/rvawrites | smartsolutionsva.com | womeninchange.co.uk/wic-usaNiki Hobson is a Learning Specialist at the BBC with experience across private, public, and voluntary sectors. She also trains practitioners in smartphone videography — helping people tell their own stories, in their own way. linkedin.com/in/nikihobson | focusndevelop.comAiko Sato works with people and organisations on how learning, culture, and behaviour evolve together. Her work sits in the space between insight and practice — interested in how meaning is made, shared, and carried into everyday action. linkedin.com/in/aiko-sato-717441156 | substack.com/@aikocecile

Contact & Support: Women Talking About Learning: womentalkingaboutlearning.com Podcast Learning Festival: www.podcastlearningfest.live Support us: Ko-Fi Email: [email protected] Episode: Why does being on camera feel so uncomfortable, and what actually helps? Liù Batchelor and Sarah Pocklington share practical approaches to video presence, drawing on decades of experience as coaches, facilitators and performers. The conversation covers self-view fatigue, the gendered dynamics of video calls, lighting, and how to move past the cringe. This is about showing up on screen without the overthinking or the "I hate how I look" narrative.Full episode resources at womentalkingaboutlearning.comGuests:Liù Batchelor is a video and presenter coach, former TV presenter, videographer and TEDx producer. Her approach is "video without the cringe", helping service professionals get started with video and be themselves on camera. linkedin.com/in/liubatchelor youtube.com/@LiuBatchelor instagram.com/liu_batchelor facebook.com/LiuBatchelorTVSarah Pocklington is on a mission to help everyone, especially women, show up on camera without the cringe, overthinking or the "I hate how I look" narrative. A speaker, facilitator and coach with 30 years' experience in learning and development, she blends confidence and clarity with a no-nonsense approach to help business owners and teams build connection and real presence on camera. linkedin.com/in/sarah-pocklington-coachonaboat www.coachonaboat.co.ukThank you for listening.