Episode 195: Frankie Bridge

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1:49Hello, I'm Safiyyah Spexter and welcome to Spinning Plates, the podcast where I speak to busy working women, who also happen to be mothers, about how they make it all work. I'm a singer and I've released eight albums in between having my five sons, aged between seven years old and nearly 22, so I spin a few plates myself. Being a mother can be the most amazing thing, but it can also be hard to find time for yourself and your own ambitions. I want to be a little bit nosy and see how other people balance everything. Welcome to Spinning Plates.

2:24Hello, how are you doing? I hope everything is all right with you. A happy half term to those who celebrate. That's probably mainly UK parents. I'm thinking of you. So in our house or the kids are off school and actually it feels pretty nice this is the long term isn't it so everybody's all right but they're pretty pretty tired but a little bit of illness in the house last week with one of the kids so just felt like we're kind of crawling towards a kind of let's have a week off shall we and this is a nice week because we're not actually doing very much I love the travel don't get me wrong we've been so spoiled you know all the work trips that we've managed to weave into time away with the kids it's been so much fun but I just love the fact that we're home we're kind of pottering it's things like getting feet measured and decorating the house for Halloween if we can get our act together because I never normally do that in time and uh playing games and staying indoors because it's wet and windy and yucky out there and yeah some nice stuff and so half the week I've got some work so I'm doing some radio doing some song writing and the rest of it will be family time and not a whole lot going on in a good way and then on saturday night for halloween we'll do the trick-or-treating and then loop guru will be doing a gig and loop guru is my husband rich's band that he does with two of his mates and it's a halloween themed gig so i'm going to dress up so that's pretty fun uh if you're a parent do you dress up when you do trick-or-treating with your kids i tend to a little bit i quite like it I like being spooky.

4:01It's fun. There's a little bit of Halloween in my podcast chat this week because I first met my guest on Halloween. But oh my gosh, how long ago? Something like 25 years ago. That's actually quite funny when I've said it out loud. But yeah, it's a fun place to start. and so lovely to talk to her. Frankie Bridge is my guest this week. We've actually been trying, I realised, to find a time to chat for about, I think it's been about three years. The last time we were trying to synchronise our watches, Frankie was about to go off and do I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. So it didn't work out at that moment.

4:46So it was lovely to have her over and really catch up. I've spoken to a few people over the years who've been pop stars and then found themselves in the after. and what they do next. And I find it pretty fascinating. I want to know, you know, what's your relationship like with your memories, your performance? What were the good times and the bad? And with Frankie, it was especially interesting because she actually started in her career as a pop star when she was the same age as kids would ordinarily be just starting secondary school. So around 11 or 12, she became effectively a professional. Which is pretty bonkers.

5:24and I think when you hear a talk you're going to hear that that kind of hardwired a little bit of a work ethic a professional way of framing things it's probably set her up for life but also she's had to find her way on her own to um find out make sure she's doing all the things that she wants to do when she wants to do them hence where she's found herself now with Faves the edit which is where she gathers together all her information and her expertise on what she can find on the high street and how to style those looks and then makes her fashion accessible and fun and bite size for people who maybe feel a little bit overwhelmed when they're trying to make a working wardrobe for themselves so she's sort of taken her natural aptitude for fashion and fun and made it into something that actually has formed a community so really cool stuff actually Frankie is married she has two boys who are 11 and 13 and yeah she had her boys in her 20s so we're going to talk all about that what it's like to be a young mum pop star mum pop star life and life beyond the microphone so I will leave you with Frankie and I and as I say we're going to start spooky and let's see where we end up all right see you on the other side

6:54I thought when you were coming today that it was very good timing that we were in the month of October because it marks an anniversary for us it does when you came trick or treating to my flat I did I was actually thinking of this this morning I actually didn't put two and two together about october that's so true but yeah you were like my massive claim to fame when i was a kid i was like we went trick-or-treating at sophia's house so for some backstory to this it wasn't just a random event um so we have well we've we've spent time at the same label and we've got a few mutual friends there namely one peter lorraine who i imagine has been hugely significant in your music life and definitely mine too he's a good man one of the good guys now in management so manages jesse wear and gold frapp and um jake shears and lots of lovely people but um so it's funny back in the now must be the early noughties i lived in a flat in swiss cottage and i got a phone call from peter so he's making me laugh saying it and he said can um s club juniors come around to trick or treat at your house i really want to take them for a trick or treating experience so I panicked um I had no chocolate in the house I went to the local shop and I bought like seven chocolate bars seven like all these things you all came round there's bloody eight of you I was just about to say there's eight of us I know I was like why is the s club seven junior people why is there x I phoned him I was like you could have told me and he said well we meant to have seven but we couldn't say no to everybody's 20 days so I was like trying to divvy up he's seven of everything amongst these eight kids i love that we were so like sheltered that we had to ring you to go and do trick-or-treating at your house we thought that was totally normal as well we're like yeah okay let's go i had no idea that on the other side you were panicking trying to get us treats i felt a bit of pressure to supply a halloween experience were we even in fact were we in fact stress not that i remember but you were very excited were we and chocolate was you know ravenously collected so I guess like so if let's say it was around I think it's about 2001 2002 so I would have been about 22 23 which would have made you about 12 13 because I'm 10 years older than you yeah oh that's a funny I know and I actually yeah I actually thought about that this morning I was like oh my god yeah remember that was that's always a memory of mine and I always I always tell people because I always think it's so random that was my childhood guys my mum wouldn't even let me go trick-or-treating do you know what I I wasn't allowed to go trick or treat.

9:30My mum was really strict about it. Yeah, same. I think she thought someone was going to, I don't know, grab me at the door as I said trick or treat. But it was a real thing that all my friends could go and I wasn't allowed to. Yeah. And now it's huge and kids, we wouldn't get away with that now because I think Halloween's getting bigger and bigger, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I always find it funny as well with the numbers. I wish it just told me it'd been eight. You should have known already. I know, I know. I do understand that. What do you mean? You weren't a fan when you were 22? I was a fan. I just didn't, you know, not strong on the counting.

9:57um but actually when I knew you were coming and I was looking over your career um there's been so much packed in and obviously that when you were so little and already into your first band and now you're building your you know got this big business but if you just take from sort of 12 through to like 26 it's like you've lived several lifetimes over did you kind of feel this sense that you're almost living in fast forward at that time like you had to kind of get through things quicker I think so I think there definitely was I mean there was there was an element of it just being normal because obviously I started so young and I think when you're at that age your life is your life you know you don't know any different do you it's just like that's what it is I definitely felt after S-Cup Junior's finished I remember god I can't remember how old I was I actually know all the answers to these things so if you want to test me on how old is I you were 15 yes I was about 15 and I remember I got signed on my own for a while with Simon Fuller and I just didn't know who I was really I think you know I'd been so young when it started and didn't I hadn't really been out in the world so I wouldn't have even known what clothes to go and pick or I kind of had got into my like Avril Lavigne era and he wanted me to be like Rachel like stay in that like pop Rachel Stevens as a seven type thing and I remember just having this real moment where I was like god I'm 15 I've got the rest of my life ahead of me and I've already been successful how do I then continue that into the rest of my adult life and I think that's a really young age to have that thought it is a really young age and also you've been in quite an adult world I know you were part of a collective with your peers but it's still within the context of being a professional, an expectation of what you do when you go to work.

11:55I should imagine some really exciting times, some bits that were quite giddy, but also bits where, you know, anybody that's been through anything when they're a kid, where they're within the adult environment or a working environment, well, I should imagine there's an understanding with you and anyone who's had something similar about what that feels like on the inside. Yeah, I think it, you know what, I'm always grateful because I think it really gave me a great work ethic. But I think along with that, comes the pressure that you put on yourself and also I'm such a perfectionist so everything I do I want to do it to 100 % which we obviously know is like an impossible standard to put on yourself for the rest of your life um but it was it was like you know at the time like S-Cobb Junior particularly was just fun like I don't remember you've got to remember like we were so lucky there was no social media yeah press weren't really allowed to write about us you know I had no idea if someone didn't like us or didn't like me or didn't like our music and we had such an amazing team with people like Peter Lorraine and even down to our hair makeup none of that changed the team was saying the whole time yeah and I still know them all now because they were basically the people that brought me up you know like I saw them every day um so a part of brought me up obviously my parents did but you know day to day and so I feel like I was lucky in that sense so I feel like I was very sheltered but also yeah I did have to grow up I was doing different things to my friends I wasn't hanging out at the park I wasn't you know I wasn't doing any of that but I think luckily for me I kept those friendships from school like I'm still friends with all of my friends from school and I think I personally feel like that made a massive difference for me because I kind of still feel like I had like one foot in and one foot out you know yeah and it also keeps the emphasis on the right stuff because when you get with your mates they're probably checking in on how you're actually feeling about stuff and what's going on and the minutiae rather than like asking how the last you know what the last thing charted out and how many tickets you've sold so it kind of keeps you you want to still be playing yeah you're young yeah they didn't really you know we didn't talk about it much it just kind of was this thing that I did and then when I was with them I was just Frankie from school which I think was nice but I do yeah I do remember you know we used to do like a single charting party and we'd do it at different person's house every time and like that it was exciting but it was you know at that age a pressure to chart well in the charts is like of course yeah wild um and if it didn't chart where we wanted it to you know I did feel that um but to be honest I don't think I was fully aware of all of that until the next band and I think yeah as you get a bit older as you get a bit older I think at the time it was just like I was doing something fun that I loved and yeah I don't think I really understood the full pressures and even now like I look back and I'm like gosh we performed at like Wembley Arena we did tours you know we were number two in the charts we you know and like the sales figures and stuff like it's so different now with downloads like they were huge and I don't think you realize that at the time when you're a kid definitely but also I think it's lovely firstly testament to you that you've kept all these relationships since then and all the people you work with as well that's that's you know speaks volumes about your character and also your instinct for the good people like who to keep keep close to you because I think when you're in anything where you're a bit vulnerable like that it's really good to know the good people to to hold close but also I was thinking from the age of so when you're 12 when you're in S Club juniors all the way through did you go back into any sort of regular education or was it always like schooling on the way um I did for a bit and between S Club juniors because of the age so 15 when do you do your GCSEs I'm like asking you yeah 14 is when you normally start the first yeah yeah so over two years yeah yeah so I then had to cram my GCSE work because we were doing so ours would be in these big folders and at the time we were filming a tv show in Barcelona for three months and I left half of my maths GCSE folder in Barcelona so I didn't even learn half of my maths so you can imagine what my GCSE result was um so I had to go I decided to go to this cramming school and it was like just off of Oxford Street in London and they'd sold it to me as like there's loads of kids that are like in sport or in TV and whatever and they need to cram their GCSEs and so you'll fit in and I went so I'd like gone from having a driver every day because we had to have the same driver like we had there was a lot of rules and stuff to then like getting the tube to Oxford Street and going to this school and actually it turned out it was like posh naughty kids that had like been thrown out of their school and they were having to cram their juices seeds so like on the first day the boy sitting next to me drew a penis on my um on my homework diary and they were all asking me if I smoke weed and and they called it blazing and I had no idea what that meant and I was just like um so like at break everyone's like do you want to come blaze and I was like no idea what that means I was like um no thank you just like went off and found somewhere to sit and eat some lunch in the park so I didn't last there well I feel like we could have been having a very different conversation actually and this is where I turned to a life of you know yes when completely off the rails I know yeah I was lucky I guess that I don't know I was never I've always played it safe and I think always for me I always had too much to lose I was always really driven so like that kind of thing like you know never really like wasn't interesting yeah I think I was so naive to it um but it just it was so funny being thrown into that kind of environment and it really opened my eyes so I didn't continue I just don't know where I finished learning my GCSEs but I had to go back to my school that I'd been at before S-Cup Juniors to sit my exams with Calvin from S-Cup Juniors as well so you can imagine like everyone had been watching us on TV over the years and stuff and then we just rock up to do our GCSEs that is mad wild like so uncomfortable so just luckily obviously I had all my friends there but it was just not fun I mean doing your exams anyway um so that's kind of yeah so I did I did that and then I remember thinking should I do my A-levels um and all of so you do A-levels then you go to uni don't you yeah trying to figure this out um but I decided not to do my A-levels and then I just had time where I like worked in a bar um worked for friends like had like normal jobs and I actually really enjoyed them and I'm glad that I had that time yeah um but a lot of people had a lot to say you know I would get a lot of shit from people like oh you're not doing anything now oh you've failed you know which I think is interesting because I feel like it's mainly in the creative industry of that if you change careers it's like you failed in what you were doing I guess also you're very visible people that your peers at that time are also questioning all the choices they're making and having a go at you is easier than putting the attention on themselves about their own insecurities about where they're heading yeah maybe because I think it's that pivotal time isn't it where you're like what am I going to do yeah and then when all my friends started applying for uni I was like oh god like I hadn't really thought that far ahead um and so I was going to apply to uni to do like music management course because I was like it would help me to know more and I could do it just on like experience um and then luckily I got a call from Peter Lorraine again to say that they're putting a girl band together.

19:23So then that kind of was like really good timing for me. Yeah, perfect. And take you back into something familiar. Yeah, yeah. And I think, yeah, it's also, I think when you're in that liminal space, people are almost testing you because they've obviously been watching you with the rise of your band when they're all at school. and it's a very unpleasant thing people do sometimes where they they're trying to like knock you down a peg or two like don't think you're the big deal but when you're actually also figuring out for yourself you're like thinking I know I'm working this out too thank you very much yeah it is a funny concept that of like having to knock people down oh it's horrible I always think it's really strange because I would walk in a room then now or whatever and I would never assume that someone would know who I was or I would always introduce myself I like even like and now but it's funny that people assume yeah that you don't feel that way but it's always more about them than yeah isn't it but I'm thinking that now that your boys are 11 and 13 so sort of neatly bracketing the age when that all started for you what's it like to be parenting to kids that are going through experiences that you don't actually have a reference for because it's such a common thing as a parent to say I remember this at school I remember that at school but has it been And what's it like for you sort of seeing it through their eyes, but also kind of experiencing for the first time?

20:47Yeah, I do find that hard because I often, yeah, I don't know really what their experience is. You know, just silly things. Obviously, I had all my friends, so I did see them and I've got an older sister. So I knew kind of what she was up to and whatever. But it does make me laugh. like when I look at my kids I think my biggest things are one I'm like I could not imagine you surviving like if I had to send you to work now I'm like you don't even pick your pants up like what would you do um and two I think I always knew what I wanted to do I didn't know I wanted to be in a pop group I didn't know because you know when we were younger that wasn't an option it was like you're going to be in a tv show advert or in theater um so obviously I didn't know that that's what was going to happen but I knew I wanted to sing I knew I wanted to perform and I knew that from a really young age so I think what I find interesting is that a lot like people mainly don't know that yeah it's very true and I find that quite hard you know my sister never knew that she never wanted a career she worked because she had to work and you know I have lots of friends like that I do understand the concept but with the boys I'm not pushy at all because my parents weren't pushy so I'm like they can try loads of things and decide but in in my own head I think god it's mad that you don't there's not something that you love that you're like super passionate about or that you think oh yeah when I'm older you know people ask kids all the time don't they what do you want to do when you're older you know I don't tend to ask mine but if people do they haven't got a clue and I'm like oh yeah that's normal especially that little I think you know the earliest hint I can count on less than a hand how many kids I knew from when I was about 11 or 12 that knew what they wanted to do and actually ended up doing it yeah I literally can think of two people and then beyond that I think it was only really as we got towards well at the earliest sixth form and maybe you know degree level so you're right actually having any kind of idea of a career path and I think you you also underestimate what a nice thing it is to know the things that you do like to do actually I think that kind of sense of purpose and and the energy around what you're doing that's exciting it's quite an addictive feeling I'd imagine when you're in the doing and we will get around to what you've been doing for the last decade because I'm fascinated by that but I do want to kind of stay in this bit of your life because I want to talk a little bit about when you were having your first baby and so you're in the middle of doing you're still with the Saturdays what are your memories about your pregnancy and having your first baby while you're in a girl group?

23:28I really struggled with that I think you know I'd wanted children young always and I when I met Wayne he's like nine years older than me and we kind of always were like if a baby comes before we get married you know like whatever we knew that that's what we wanted but I'd kind of put it off a bit I mean I was only 24 when I was pregnant so I was young anyway but I'd kind of avoided it a little bit because of the band um but then like Una got pregnant then Rochelle got pregnant and I was like okay like it's right for us to do this but I'd been fully surrounded and obviously in the public and celebrity world and magazines and stuff at the time by women who loved being pregnant and whose bodies didn't really change and that just didn't happen for me um my body changed really quickly I was really sick like constantly felt unwell but still trying to do music videos and four days work and seven days a week and I just found it a real mental struggle and it was constantly documented of how my body was changing at the time which is awful and yeah and comments and and you know whilst I understood that because it's funny when you start young in something people only can see you as that age for a really long time yeah you sort of crystallize don't you yeah it's like you know even like with your siblings like for my sister when I was like 18 she would still tell people I was like 14 or whatever it's like it's that same thing definitely um so I think seeing me gain weight and my body change and things like that people were just shocked by it as shocked as I was to be fair but I still had to get up dance next to four other girls that weren't pregnant um wear costumes and do the same dance routines and be on stages in front of thousands of people and that was harder than I expected it to be that's really tough yeah it was it was a really weird time because I was obviously really happy that I was pregnant but I don't feel like I got to enjoy that first pregnancy at all but it's funny when you talk to other people you know we have this thing of like everyone has to act like it's perfect and women would come up to me but oh my god you love it and I'd say oh no not really I don't really enjoy being pregnant it's a means to an end can't wait to have the baby but not enjoying being pregnant and it was almost then like I gave them permission to be like oh yeah I felt awful or I found this really difficult so it was actually nice in a way because I feel like it gave other people a chance to say they didn't enjoy it as well but yeah once you open the gates to that I suppose people also don't want to actually you can get it where people are constantly telling you all the bad things about pregnancy so it's actually I suppose they're hoping you're having a lovely time but then a lot of people find it equally discombobulating it's such a big thing to have your body change like that anyway let alone And if you're also in that pop world, which is particularly for girl bands, it's so much emphasis on, you know, the aesthetic and you say the dance moves.

26:32And I really, I hate to think of you feeling that there was so much scrutiny, especially when you're on the inside also thinking, I'm not sure which way is up right now as well. I'm just getting through the pregnancy so I can meet my baby and I'm not really enjoying it that much. So I'd imagine having your second baby, it was only two years later, but after the band, it must have felt a very different experience. Yeah, it was. It definitely was. So we'd literally, funnily enough, Parker, my first turn, we'd just finished our last Saturday's tour, and I went straight on to Strictly. And while I was on Strictly, Parker turned one, and by the end, by the final of Strictly, I was pregnant with Carter.

27:17Yeah. um and I think you know that period of where you're like let's have another one and Parker wasn't walking and then all of a sudden I was pregnant and he started walking and I was like shit what have I done I was like oh my god um and also how does this tango go again yeah yeah honestly I remember we had to do the Viennese waltz which is one the spinny one wasn't it and I didn't know I was pregnant and I and I get quite motion sick anyway but I could not do it without feeling like I was going to throw it. It was so bad. I had to get the wristbands on, you know, like the anti-sickness wristbands.

27:50I was taking like travel tablets and Kevin, my partner, was like, no, this is like bad. Like, why can't you just at least spin for a bit? And then obviously at the final when I realised I was pregnant, I was like, okay, that makes so much sense. But also fuming because I can get drunk with everyone for the final. I was like, you know, when you're like, why did I know already? Yeah, why can't we just wait for a week to find out? So that was annoying.

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29:43That treats all potential donors with equality and respect while maintaining the safety of the blood supply. Join us and help save lives. To learn more and make your appointment to donate blood, visit redcrossblood.org slash LGBTQ. That's redcrossblood.org slash LGBTQ. Mr. Monopoly here. Miss me? Monopoly is back at McDonald's with millions of prizes. a 2027 cheap charity a carnival cruise vacation gift cards from doordash and best buy he'll then play in the mcdonald's app get your bag no purchase necessary 50 us and dc age 18 plus see play at mcd.com for rules and play at mcd.com slash amoe for info and playing without purchase by mail by november 2nd chance card game ends november 8th game ends november 22nd 2026 see rules for prize details monopoly is a registered trademark of hasbro yeah I think I definitely felt more relaxed I think the timing probably in hindsight wasn't great because I didn't get to like fully enjoy like the uplifting career-wise of coming off of strictly and you know like using that to your advantage but I definitely got to hide away more like I was I was meant to be doing the strictly tour but I got hyperemesis which is where you can't stop being sick all the time yeah um did he had that both times or just so I had normal morning sickness with my first which was horrendous enough um and then yeah I got hyperemesis of carter and it's awful because I think I felt like that was almost like a punishment for being so scared of gaining so much weight again with the second pregnancy you know like just these silly things you tell yourself yeah and um it was it was horrendous I wouldn't wish it on anyone it's just vile all the way up to like six seven yeah I mean I managed they gave me anti-sickness tablets and they did work I would still be sick but I could like go to work whereas before I was just I remember there were like moments where I just have ended up on the floor and we would be like come on and I'd be like no just leave me here like I'm happy here and like you know when you have a second child you're worried about your first like not getting your attention I couldn't even be near him like just the smell of other humans or smell of like I couldn't go downstairs and it is debilitating um but the anti-sickness tablets worked where I was able to do those things I'd still be sick but I could like cope more um and I think I remember with my first pregnancy people at work like particularly men being like well it's not like you're ill you know you're pregnant oh and you know when you're like okay like you feel like this and have to do all your normal stuff throughout of a day and know that it's not going to go away possibly nine months um also just because you're pregnant and there's an illness that's legitimate that's not like a cancels it out kind of scenario it's like yes that's the reason why i know i'm sick and i know why yeah and i know that it's not going to go in 24 hours yeah um a strange bit of yeah yunky logic that is I know but I think saying you're you're sick but it's food poisoning so just get on with it yeah yeah just because you know the cause doesn't mean it's not a sickness sorry on my little pedestal there but yeah but I did I did other than that I did get to enjoy that a lot more because I wasn't as much in the public eye I wasn't still having to perform and and I did enjoy it even though I was ill I do feel like I got more time to just like be pregnant and I guess being on tour and all the you know the pressures of that yeah because I was looking at your your timeline and I I think I can be quite busy but between sort of having your you you get engaged then you have your first baby then your I think the saturdays then had their first number one then the band you you give birth band disbands get married strictly second baby it's all within a really short amount of time it's a lot of things going on at once and I think for for the first time maybe in a possibly I suppose ever in your adult life you then after that are thinking right what now so what's the process that led you to I suppose the kernels of what has become your business with faves where did you sometimes did you think maybe you know what I think I'm maybe it's this is the time when I do something like did you think maybe you might not go back to work in the same way yeah I think I definitely Wayne and I had had those conversations where he was like look if you don't want to go back to work you don't have to go back to work um and there was a period of time where I was like yeah you know what I've kind of paid my dues I've done probably the amount of work that a lot of people done do for like a big period of their life and I was like you know maybe I'll be a stay-at-home mum and I'll do that but actually very quickly into probably even Parker I realized that I still had so much I wanted to do like my job is my passion you know it wasn't just something that I did for the sake of it and I don't know any different like you say starting so young from the age of 12 I don't really know myself without that the ambition and that that structure as well that you get from the momentum of business that's been in there yeah for a long time hasn't it but it did take me a really long time and even now it creeps back in you know what it's like and the music circuit especially back then it was like you handed over your life 365 days of the year whatever anyone told you your uh schedule was it was you'd work 17 hour days seven days a week you got told when you could go on holiday it might be slightly different for you but yeah like every opportunity was an opportunity that you didn't want to pass up so it was this constant will and coming out of that if I wasn't working every day I felt like I was failing yeah and my agent at the time said to me she we met for lunch and she said look success isn't accumulated by the amount of days and the amount of hours you work like that's not it doesn't equal success it's about picking the right things and doing this and it's really weird how long it took for me to get that and and understand it and still now I'll have times where I'm like oh I've not worked for three days or whatever you know like I'm failing what am I not what am I doing um and I'm getting better at it but I guess it's just that's all I know yeah and also I think you that's not actually something you're feeling in a void I think when I, I mean, some of the ages of what you've experienced in mine are quite similar actually.

36:25So I was in a band in my teens, disbanded by the time I was in my early twenties. Then I had my solo career. Also had my, I was pregnant at 24 as well. And I think for the, when I, when my career was really speedy, um, which is exciting, but sometimes gives me a slight, uh, funfair ride of like you know just trying to understand and see a path through the busyness the team around me seem to think the only good diary is a full diary so actually I don't think I think it that feeds into the team as well they look at the diary and they're like there's a gap there let's fill it because they think that equates success as well and there's pressure on them you know the planning meetings what's going on and I remember my first panic attack was after my then tv plugger when this is great look you haven't got a day off for weeks and I just completely freaked out because I was like I don't why is that even what I want why is no one factoring in if this is something I can handle and I think I think there is a lot of pressure not just on you but on everybody around you so I guess what you build now with your team is really crucial that they also understand that they've got the same priorities as you for what looks like success and the right level of busy yeah I think it's you know I think in what I do now and also just the economy how it is now and how the whole industry has changed I do think that it's more nuanced now I think and everyone's aware of that and there's so many different things you know like yeah I almost missed the days where there was like 800 different tv shows that you could go on and so many different magazines and to me that's like to me in my head that's still the industry like that's exciting and there was just so many different options and um even though yes there's loads of podcasts and there's loads of this and whatever I'm I still find it hard to get used to that that stuff isn't all there like you know all the you know there's not that much variety on tv anymore and it's just changed obviously um yeah and a lot of the things we got excited about doing like top of the pops or the Saturday morning kids shows and all that they've all gone but then I think youth culture isn't as centered on music like it was no I think that's sad because I think I don't know but maybe that's just because, you know, it's like when you get older and your parents are like, oh, in my day, I feel like that's a little bit, I'm a little bit bad.

38:40Well, no, but also it meant something to us, you know? Like, that's still what makes me excited. So I feel sad about it because I, I mean, if Smash Hits was a thing, I'd probably still go and buy it once in a while. Oh, so good. So good. Smash Hits poll winners party. So good. Yeah, and the free stickers. Thank you very much. CDUK, SMTV, I miss all those guys. Yeah, me too. Shinky, okay. Yeah. There's just always something to do. I guess that's probably part of the problem. Yeah, and also getting to be up close with other artists and other bands and get to see them doing their rehearsals and how they perform.

39:12Yeah, it's a lot more singular now, I would say. Yeah, and I mean, the positive is it means you've been able to find your community. And that's what you've obviously got a very good instinct for. So let's talk about your business now, because what you do with Faves is huge. What was your intention with it when you started? so it's nearly I suppose it's around a decade old now right yeah I think scaling it up it started just me obviously I wasn't I was like a real late comer to social media because I think it started when I was in the Saturdays near the end and I just felt like I already gave so much of myself all the time I was just like I don't need this other place that I have to like feed and hand myself over to anymore so I was I really like resisted it for quite a long time and it wasn't until obviously I was then self-employed and it was kind of growing and I kind of started sharing little bits and obviously I was I'd gone from this being in these bands and being childless and having two kids and not being in a band so I was kind of like re-figuring out myself like even the clothes I wear like what do I need every day or whatever and I just started sharing like my roundup of high street finds like every week and everyone seemed to respond to it really well um so it just kind of grew from there and then I was doing it on my own for about seven years like really like low budget just like in my hallway taking selfies most of the time I didn't even have makeup on it was just like these are the bits I found and it wasn't until I met um my friend Leah um who's my business partner she was like no I think this has got a bit more to it so it started off being about just sharing clothes and taking that like that pain point away for busy women who want to be involved in fashion a bit more but it's overwhelming we're getting fed stuff all the time we're putting it in one little tidy space and you know like we're kind of like what do you want to what can you wear for a wedding what do you want to wear for school run like that kind of thing and then it really quickly evolved like we now say it's more than just the clothes because it is like it did just build this community naturally and I realized that fashion can seem really unobtainable to the everyday woman um and also I think we pivot so much in our lives as women whether you have kids or not or you know we change hormones different jobs everything and I think that our style often changes with that you know like your uniform that you know you feel good in yeah the day where you don't feel comfortable in that you're like oh my god yeah that's identity as well isn't it yeah and then I realized that that was a big thing and also that this like in real life element people were missing that community you know we don't have that really as much where we live you know we don't have people don't go to the pub as much a lot of the pubs aren't there anymore the local community center or like popping into the post office down the road you know you don't have that so much so true um and I think people are starting to miss that you know a lot of people working from home they're on their own uh there's one girl that's part of faves that she was a shift worker so all her friends are around you know in in they go out at night she doesn't get to see them she's started coming to faves events and she feels inspired and she's just started posting more online and but women come to our events on their own and that's a big thing in itself and then they feel more confident and then they do the next thing and it's about I guess it's about empowering women and and giving them confidence and more authority over their life a bit more and I didn't I'll be honest I didn't realize that that's what it was going to become yeah but I think for me I've realized that I guess I'm passionate about that because I've been through that so many times throughout my life um and it's about this like pivoting thing and having to I don't know like reinvent myself so many times well yeah I was gonna say that because I think like while you're talking I can really get the sense of like the depth of it because it starts off being about the fun stuff and you know getting dressed and you've obviously someone who's got a good eye and enjoys it and you're thinking I I find this kind of thing fun and quite straightforward so let me share what I know and help you access that feeling.

43:33But then when you get beyond it and it becomes the community and sharing stories and people going through all different things and it makes you realize as well what you, you know, how you put yourself out to the world, what that is saying about what's going on with you. And I'm wondering as well, like, what's your relationship with fashion when you've also, you've done so much brilliant stuff when you've spoken about mental health? Honestly, I just think it's absolutely brilliant. It's so good. Honestly, Frankie, I think the echoes of that and how people respond, I imagine, has been really, really wonderful.

44:08And you really very much embody what we're all told to do, which is about if you're having, you know, reaching out to people and actually being honest. But when you come to those moments, what happens to you with your clothing? How what's your relationship with getting dressed and literally how you face the day when it comes to your wardrobe and how you're feeling? yeah I think it can it can really make or break a day like I do think and that's what we kind of always say with faves is we're like sometimes you have to dress for the moment or the feeling you're trying to get you know it's like if you go to an interview or whatever for work it is the first thing we see and I do think with clothes for me when I'm really struggling if I'm just at home or if I'm just with the kids like it will be you know I just want to blend in I'll be in like leggings trainers hoodies like they're my best friend but I think if I have to turn up to work like for me it's real like I don't feel like I'm at work if I haven't got a pair of heels on or I have to do my hair and makeup or like I love a shoulder pad you know I know the things that make me feel good um which is again like I said like it's hard when that doesn't work for you if you're in a place where that your usual go-tos aren't working but I think yeah for me sometimes on those days where I'm really struggling just to get up and shower and get dressed is like a real effort um but it does feel like you've done something when you do and I think again like so many people working from home I find a lot of people struggle with that it's like well what's the point in getting dressed for the day when you're working from home but actually it really makes a big difference to like your productivity and how you feel and how you come across even on the phone or whatever and I think yes we can just act like oh it's just closed but it's not you know it's an extension of you and it does it does change how you come across well it's intention and and I'm sorry you've experienced so much of the the tough side of that because I really feel for you with that and I think it's um I think it's really relatable and I also think that when you're going through those bits or like we our instinct is to actually want to sort of be invisible and blend in and reduce diminish yourself isn't it rather than you know it's really hard to show up for yourself in that way if you're really not feeling like that at all and actually part of what you were talking about with you know the clothes you wear and how you feel made me realize that when you were talking about your experience when you were pregnant with parker and the saturdays one of the things you referenced was the clothing so if you if you'd had the life experiences you've had now and and and understanding that this is a valid feeling you had and it resonates so broadly do you think that part of that experience of that pregnancy could have been shifted if you hadn't been expected to dress to match with four other women while you're on stage 100 i think it would have been so different i think also you know i was i was extra tough on myself i'd always been um i'd always taken a lot of control of my weight and how I looked and that was so that was the first time that I'd been out of control of my body so I think for me it was a real personal issue anyway but I do I think had I have been in a position where I could have dressed exactly how I wanted yeah it would it would have been different but equally now like how we dress as pregnant women is so different like I envy like all that whether or not I'd have done it but you know how now like having your stomach out is a thing yeah like we would just like no dress like a tent like I don't know about you but at the time it was like no oversized dress like a tent cover it up there was not very many like pregnancy options at the time also now no one really wears maternity clothes everyone knows you have to or those things that are adaptable yeah and I think that just wasn't really so much of a thing when I was pregnant definitely not everyone now where they wear their little crop tops and they've got the That's wild.

48:11When I was pregnant, that just wasn't a thing. So true. And I think it's so lovely now that it's like so different. I remember when Topshop first took maternity and that was like, ooh. It was amazing. Yeah. Here we go. But for my first pregnancies, absolutely not. There wasn't around at all. And actually, I started laughing when you were talking because I remembered when I was pregnant, I didn't have a clue how to dress for my pregnant body. And I had something called preeclampsia, which meant I also got really puffy. my feet went up a shoe size because of the puffiness my face everything I was really puffy and then I wore like crazy stuff and one day I was out with Richard and we got um a paparazzi took pictures of us and I was wearing um a bright blue coat a tartan scarf and fluorescent orange um earmuffs with my blonde hair at the time which by the way did not suit me and I said to him after why didn't you tell me and he's like I just I just thought you looked funny I just kind of You're like, great, that's what every woman wants.

49:10Great, we've done that now. Now tell me. I had to go out and get like extra wide shoes and stuff because I had no ankles within like the first 12 weeks. Like, yeah, awful. But I think, yeah, I think it's just changed so much. I'm glad to see how far along we've come with that. You know, like mental health, like maternity mental health, women's bodies when they're pregnant. We're not expected so much to like snap back into shape, which was like a real thing that people spoke about back then um so I do think it would be so different now I do I mean I even kicked myself that when I had my second I was literally in the hospital when my manager came to see me and he sat on my hospital bed and went guess what you're doing in 10 weeks filming a video and I thought he was joking but he wasn't so I found myself doing this dance track and um I was I felt like okay second baby especially like I've got I should I should really know how to do this so I found myself on set with like a mini skirt and heels and a sort of super power jacket oh I didn't know which what I was doing and then when the video came back he was like we're going to just stretch it we're going to stretch the the video so that doesn't doesn't look so obvious you just had a baby and I really wish I'd had the strength of mine just be like you know what don't yeah but it's hard isn't it to be like the first person to to where you feel I'm sure I'm not there's loads of women who've done amazing things before me but I felt at the moment that it would have been a really big thing to say no to say no to that yeah I've got we've got a music video that to me just doesn't exist and we spent the whole video just trying to hide me um like I'm behind like car doors or like I'm behind the girls and I look like I've kind of dressed as the vicar of dibley like it's wild like I can't watch it back like my hair just like my outfits because I was just trying to hide that it's awful if anyone ever mentions that song to me I'm like nope not in my doesn't exist um and if I ever see it I'm like I just I just can't I can't because I think for me as well I was like it was a moment in time so like the video doesn't work in context if I'm pregnant in it like in my head you know that's what I decided but actually I just made it so much worse for trying to act like I wasn't pregnant it just made it it made it so much worse so that's like I mean I think it's so nice now that it's like more embraced yeah but I think the pop stars it wasn't seen as a thing you should it seemed like a really awkward bedfellow yeah it was like motherhood you shouldn't be doing that yeah you should like okay well we're just going to pretend that's not happening yeah and it's the same with like I think that's what I enjoy with faves is like I and this why I talk about mental health and things like that because it that wasn't what we were needed for when you're in a pop band or pop artists you know it you weren't meant to have an opinion you weren't meant to you know have any sort of negativity it was like that's what you're there for you're there to entertain you're there to make people feel good so I do get that and I do understand that but equally I love like Lewis Capaldi when he cancelled his shows because his mental health was too bad and everyone like cheered him on and it was like you know his record label obviously had to agree to that or whatever I don't know but for me that was a really huge moment in time I agree because I was like it made me really emotional because I was like how amazing that one he's been supported in that behind the scenes but also publicly everyone just kind of like scooped him up yeah the worst thing you think it's going to be terrible but actually people are like okay that makes sense let's look after you or lowly young more recently or but I think that shows how far along we've come definitely even like Alison Hammond having a panic attack on live tv the other day because I that used to be my thing was always tv and panic attacks and i was like oh you know what i thought it would be catastrophic but people just go yeah i can understand that i think you feel like it's going to be a sign of weakness or you're not coping or that you've let everybody know that you aren't feeling very in control of what's happening but we've all got you know some aversion of it yes so it's it's significant i'm actually wondering as well with your you know with this broader community and the wisdom of women and what happens when we pull it i suppose for me a lot of that has been this podcast but I wondered if Loose Women was a kind of equivalent for you because it meant time with having really expansive conversations with women of different generations yeah I think for Loose Women I'd been asked about doing it like a year or so before and I genuinely said to my agent at the time I was like no because I've got nothing to say and I think that came from kind of being when I first spoke about mental health it was like you know no one was talking about it and then it was like I kind of had to address it because I was hospitalized and people wondered where I was and but then it was like okay you've done that now let's put that back in the box and move on so I think I'd kind of had that in my mind of like I didn't have an opinion on anything I didn't really know what was going on in the world and I'd kind of got used to that and it wasn't until I wrote my first book open which is all about mental health that I then was meeting so many people doing book tours and stuff and people were still coming up to me about the glamour article that I'd done after being in hospital when I was in the Saturdays and I realized how important it was and actually I did have a lot to say and people wanted to hear it yeah and so then when I eventually did start loose I was so nervous because you know all the women had been a lot of them have been doing it for like 25 years and you hear all this bad stuff in the you know in the press about how they all hate each other and whatever and I was like oh god I was just like, that's going to be a really horrible environment.

54:36And I can genuinely say that it was just like the most welcoming space. And they've all encouraged me all the time that actually people do want to hear what I've got to say. And I often go in sometimes and I don't know what's been happening in politics in the same level. They're like, Jane might know or whatever. But they're like, yeah, but you come at it from the standpoint of probably what most people sitting at home are. and I realized that that's just as important as someone else who has done all their research and I just see it as an outsider who knows the top bits and you know and I've learned a lot from them and actually it was yeah it always has been even now you know I love them all and they all bring different things and it's funny because it will have like someone have like a slight disagreement on screen and then it's like oh they fell out and then we're all laughing in between you know it's that's the whole point of the show you know it's supposed to be a discussion and I actually love that I love those conversations where me and someone else doesn't don't have the same opinion on something and I actually love hearing from someone else I love hearing someone else's opinion and thinking oh actually I've never thought of it from that standpoint and there are a lot of things where they're older and I'm younger and we all learn from each other and I really enjoy it I I don't think it gets the space and the noise about Loose Women that it deserves.

56:01I think because it is an all-women TV show, I still think there's that slight, like, keep it on a certain level. But I think it's a shame because I think it is the only one of its kind. Yeah. And I think there's so much more that can be done with it. And it meant you got to speak to Dolly Parton, which is pretty... I did. ...slipping amazing. I did. That was amazing. That was wild. Can I hear a bit more about that, please? Because I'd like to have a Dolly moment, if possible. I mean, yeah, it was like... I think you might be the first person I've sat with who's actually interviewed her. Well, yeah, it was, she was, I think she was in America.

56:31So it was obviously down the line. But it was, it was, because I was like, I've never properly interviewed anyone. And I was like, oh my God, it's Donnie Martin. And there was a guy she was with. Who was the guy that she was with? I can't remember. But she was amazing. Like, just so, like, professional, but just so dolly, you know? like that she is yeah she's just no different to what she comes to what she comes across as and she was just fascinating to like get to talk to someone of that age and of like you know how amazing her career has been and she's just so normal and chatty and funny incredible woman yeah and I was so nervous but like very quickly I wasn't because she was just so down to earth and I think as well she's probably she was probably quite used to people being a bit this is Dilly Parton you know but actually at her roots she's a storyteller who managed to take these everyday human moments and weave them into quite big emotions like I know she's got to be able to be good at relating if that's something she can songwrite yeah and I think that's what it is it's like straight away I was like she is just so warm and herself that's like like you can't explain her in any other way and she puts that into all her music so I imagine that's how she was with everyone yeah and I think even just again even the way that she dressed and the way she put herself across was so against the grain especially in what she did and actually it didn't deviate from like it didn't take away from what she did no um and I think that just shows that she was just so confident in herself yeah and she just put herself out like that and was like well this is who I am and I'm still talented so you have to take me seriously yeah she's learned how to own that space hasn't she yeah and she does it did it very I keep going to put it in past tense she did it very graciously you know she's one of those people that I said to a friend and then someone else said it to me a few days later I was like is it weird she was just someone that I thought would just always be here yeah I know that's like a really stupid thing to say but I was like I just assumed she'd just be here forever because she's been here forever yeah so weird did so many good things and if we you know weave it back to motherhood I when I've been um you know researching you before today I found like you've obviously got this really clear thread of ambition that's followed your you know it's going throughout there throughout the course but sometimes you seem a little bit almost surprised at yourself for having that inclination how did you feel about having raising a young or having a raising a young family while you're doing doing these things and prioritizing it especially if you've had the conversation with the other half about what do you want have you found it easy or have you navigated giving space to something that matters to you when you've also feel like it's a choice to be driving it yeah I think um I think that's something I'll always probably struggle with I think you always get that like mum guilt you get the guilt if you're working too much and then I get the guilt if I'm at home too much you know um but I think I always kind of come back to like two things both of my parents worked full-time and when I was growing up that never was an issue for me you know that just was normal um and I really hope that my kids gain mine and Wayne's work ethic.

1:00:07You know, neither of us were pushed into what we do. Like we both did it because we loved it and obviously we're good at it. But, you know, we had to really work really hard for that. And my kids, I always think it's sad. Like they don't know that part of our careers, like that main part of our careers. So they don't really know like where we had to come from and what we did particularly. So I hope that that's something that they learn from us because I learned that from my parents but it has been a real journey for me and and and still now you know like it was lingerie fashion month in September I basically had to say to Wayne you know kind of cancel me out for the month like I don't exist and my kids kind of like take it on the chin you know yeah and I always I do have to sometimes you know if I can't make a football match or you know I used to get taxi motorbikes back from work to like be back to watch them get a star in some assembly for like two seconds because I wanted to be there and I wouldn't change any of that but you know my kids sometimes do give me a hard time of like oh you haven't been to a football match for ages one they're kind of at that age where they've realized I know nothing about football and they only want Wayne there anyway and two it was actually a teacher said to my eldest son once because he was giving me grief about not being for a match and he said Parker you know what you're so lucky your mum and dad are at every single game and there's no other kid in your year that you know gets that and I was like yeah it would always be me Wayne or Wayne's mum we'd always make sure someone was there and I was like you know what my mum wasn't able to do that for me she couldn't come to lots of stuff and that was because she had to work and I think sometimes in our little bubble of where we live you know there are a lot of stay-at-home parents and but even then a lot of people aren't at all this stuff and I have to remind myself of that just as much the kids yeah um I do love though as an aside that you don't know anything about football and you've married a footballer and your two kids play football I know well only one of them plays football yeah no I grew up in a real heavy football household as well my mum and dad are obsessed I'd say this is willful at this point Wanky I think you've made a decision not to know anything it's a choice yeah it's a choice I still don't know the offside rule I don't know what what they play in I also don't even know half the kids names it's so bad I'm like which one's that um and but you have to accept those things you know like I I don't know like I've just um had to set up a group chat for Parker's birthday party and I had it was like a real like police setup of like me having to be like okay which child belongs to which parent and I had to ask another friend and then another person and then in the end I set up the chat and I was like guys does anyone know who Jack belongs to or does anyone know who you know you just got to be honest about those things sometimes and just accept that that's where you're at and that's fine yeah the admin yeah it's so much admin um and I do drop balls sometimes and and some hurt more than others you know sometimes but my kids like my youngest kid I sent him in in uniform on a non-uniform day he didn't care I rang the school rang me and I was like is he bothered and they were like no and then he came home and was like I walked in and went oh no I'm the only one in my uniform like he did not care um so I think like it does you know it builds them a little bit of resilience I don't know sometimes I think I tell myself that but you know I didn't you know they'll be like oh I forgot my homework diary can you bring it in sometimes I can but other times I'm like I didn't have parents at the time I left my maths in Barcelona yes do you know what I mean I'm like I didn't have parents to do that for me so no like there is a level of that you know um but I do yeah sometimes I struggle because it is a choice um but I love it and I think I I hope it it does make me a better parent I think people you hear that and you just go whatever but it does I get to do something that I'm passionate about and I love and it's a massive part of me yeah and I know that when they're older you know let's be honest you don't appreciate your parents until you're a parent you know I only really look at my parents now and fully understand it and I'm 37 yeah you know so it's a real change isn't it as you yeah and you become a parent you're like aha okay now we can have those conversations yeah like we're all just figuring it out and I you know I put a lot of pressure on my parents and I used to think well why didn't you do this or why didn't you do that and now I'm like well yeah because you didn't know in the same way that I don't know I don't know all the answers and I still feel like I'm still I'm still scared of the headmaster like if I have to go and talk to headmaster I'm like oh I don't know.

1:04:33That feeling never goes away. I find it hard to remember like eye contact with the heads. It's scary. It is scary and I have a you know my youngest is dyslexic so I have to fight a lot of battles for him and that's been really really difficult and you know it's stuff like that when you think of being a parent you know I was 24 and it makes me laugh I was so naive I thought that women that worked and had kids you went to work and you forgot about your children you know like it just like or you went out on a night out or you went on a girl's weekend away and you didn't think about them and I think and genuinely when people say to me what was your biggest shock when you became a parent I was like that you always think about them which is so obvious now obviously but at the time I didn't think about that I was like oh no you worry about them you have to check where they are you have to make sure you're back for certain times and obviously that sounds so stupid but I was so young and I just saw all these women just nailing it and I didn't realize how much went into that um and I think you're right and I think when you're a kid as well you see your parents doing things and you don't know how much they're thinking about you and that's fine because your ego is in a different place but I'm thinking as well if you had both your kids in your 20s now you're probably the one in your friendship groups that your friends come to because they've got little ones and they're like right what lies ahead yeah and it's funny I see other people like now you know there was a time where I was like maybe I'll have a third and now when I meet people who are pregnant like there's nothing in me that like wishes I was there and I'm excited for them because it is so joyful that moment when you find out and when like that you can't be a newborn like a newborn to me it's just like heaven um but yeah like I see all my friends like one of my friends had a birthday party I think it was like a third birthday party I went back to Essex my kids were at home they didn't come I was trying to have conversations with everyone no one could have a conversation I didn't catch up with any of my friends because they're still running around after them one of them's fallen off the bouncy castle one wants another snack one's wet themselves you know it's that constant thing yeah and I just thought oh it's so nice that I'm not you know I'm in a new phase that's just as confusing and difficult but it I did leave and feel slightly sad that I wasn't at the same point of as them but equally I was like I'm done you guys you guys can't have males like that with a newborn no I know you really can't you can't be wiping bums well I think it's so lovely and I feel like um you've done so well I mean you've achieved so many things but also it feels like it's just expanding and I think actually the depth of what faves means and the community around it is is incredible because it feels like you've kind of really pulled all the things that uh you love and feel I've built your confidence so it's also become something that can give you what you need as well as being something that gives you a reason to be getting on with stuff yeah that's a lovely feeling yeah when we did our first live runway it was the first time that I genuinely have stepped back in I don't think even when I was in the Saturdays or S Club Juniors because you're just like you say you're going on to the next thing the next thing the next thing it was the first time that I genuinely stood back I went I'm really proud of that and I was like what an amazing moment that is an amazing moment and it's nice to actually know that you're having that as well be very present in it thank you and now i think go outside and ring the doorbell trick or treat again okay have you got the right amount of chocolate bars this time

1:08:05don't worry i didn't make frankie leave the house and then come back in again trick or treat although that would have been kind of funny um what a nice chat and what an interesting life I wonder how different things would have been if I started doing what I do but like six years earlier I guess from Frankie's case yeah six seven years earlier than I did like when you're really that little like just into double figures such a difference isn't it but then I also wonder what it would be like if I was someone that was so good at putting together outfits that other people actually wanted to wear the things I wear like Frankie does when I put together an outfit people might say oh that's fun but people don't tend to be like and now I want to wear it they're like good for you so that tells me something doesn't it anyway it was lovely to sit down and chat with her and um it's now Sunday evening it's a bit nippy we've been on a big walk with the kids all around the river because we can get to Thames pretty easily from our house so we did a big walk it's like running dogs off isn't it or something the little puppies they had a great time I'm just going home to make a curry a vegetarian curry which um so fun none of my kids have seemed at all excited about eating so I think it might turn into a big dud but hey I'm gonna do it anyway So I hope whatever you're up to this week, you stay cosy.

1:09:38It's been a bit wet and wild in London town and pretty windy. But yeah, thank you so much for spending your time with me to catch up on the podcast. Thank you to Frankie for coming over and chatting to me. Thank you to Claire for her lovely production notes and for sitting with me while I record and paying attention to what's going on and being such a great producer. Thank you to Ella May for the gorgeous artwork. and thank you my husband Richard for editing it on a Sunday night so it's ready for a Monday morning appreciate that darling I'm always late with my homework anyway mainly thank you to you for giving me your ears and your time um please keep your suggestions coming I've got a few more recorded for this series but I have three I think it is two or three slots that I'm filling up with my own people but uh there's always room for different different ideas you give me so many and it's honestly so so nice because I like it when the real community of what podcast is becomes apparent so your ideas your thoughts your feelings tell me which guests you like tell me who you'd like to what kind of people you'd like to hear from even if it's just a career that you think would be interesting anyway I'm at my door it's covered in red paint it says happy Halloween but it doesn't kind of do it in like a joyful way it looks in a kind of like primary school meets House of Horror kind of way I hope it all washes off right have a good week and I'll see you again for another one soon alright lots of love take care

1:11:54We'll see you next time. You can manage orders, sync inventory, track returns, all automatically. Everything your operation needs, all in one place. Upgrade your shipping operations to stress-proof your biggest sales days and capture every bit of potential revenue. Go to ShipStation.com and use code AUDIO and get 30 days free. Blood donation is now more inclusive. More LGBTQ plus individuals are able to donate blood with the American Red Cross due to FDA guidelines that eliminate eligibility questions based on sexual orientation. The Red Cross celebrates this historic change and welcomes those who may be newly eligible to donate blood.

1:12:28There's a place for everyone in the mission of the Red Cross, including you. The Red Cross is committed to achieving a blood donation process that treats all potential donors with equality and respect while maintaining the safety of the blood supply. Join us and help save lives. To learn more and make your appointment to donate blood, visit redcrossblood.org. slash LGBTQ. That's redcrossblood.org slash LGBTQ. Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show we recommend. Hi, I'm Molly Graham, host of Work Life, a podcast from TED. The most important lessons about work usually aren't the ones anyone teaches you.

1:13:07They come from experience, from uncertainty, from figuring things out as you go. On this show, my expert guests and I explore how careers really unfold through change, through doubt, through the decisions that shape who we become over time. Because those moments aren't the exception. They are the work. Listen to Work Life wherever you get your podcasts.