Lyn Slater and I have met several times over the years, in New York - and she attended both my book launches with her partner Calvin. The former professor, writer, activist and 'reformed cultural influencer' is an impressive woman. A social worker for 45 years, she has a PhD in Social Welfare. While lecturing at university, 61-year-old Lyn started her fashion blog Accidental Icon and subsequently became a massive social media star. Now she's published her first book How To Be Old: Lessons in living boldly from the Accidental Icon. Part manifesto, part memoir. It's brilliant and - no longer accidental - Lyn has gone viral, again.
Each chapter covers a year in her sixties, and throughout Lyn discusses her experience as an influencer and offers sage advice on remaining visible and rethinking the ageing process. In How To Be Old, Lyn explains how she eventually loses herself in the maelstrom of social media and marketing, forgets her values and ends up burnt out. Eventually rejecting the online world in order to regain control.
The book ends with Lyn settled upstate in Peekskill with Calvin, close to her daughter and two grandchildren. After all the madness of the ' influencer years' and the drain of social media, she is enjoying a quieter life and writing from her garden shed (built by Calvin for her 70th birthday), everything feels calmer and more authentic. It definitely leaves you wanting more...
Lyn is very wise and I loved chatting about age, style and reinvention. Hope you enjoy the episode.
Producer and audio engineer: Nick at The Small Green Studio.
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: Lyn Slater
Music: David Schweitzer
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Coordinator: Helen Johnson
Concerned about social justice from an early age, Stella Creasy rallied friends to protest about animal cruelty in her teens. Before making her way to Westminster via Walthamstow Council, London (where she's lived since 1998), Stella was employed as a youth and a charity worker. 'Politics seemed like a productive place to make change happen,' the 46-year-old tells me, 'In my head I'm still that 15 year-old burnished with injustice at the world and excitement about what can be achieved.' Highlighting the importance of 'bloody hard work', being in the room, and not giving up even when you feel unheard, her energy and determination is impressive. After 13 years in opposition, Brexit, the Covid pandemic and a fair amount of political mayhem, she is still incredibly focused and driven.
In this special episode, Stella joins me to talk about the realities of getting things done as a woman in politics and imagines a future where things might be different. (Please make this happen, Stella!) She shares details of the issues she's currently tackling, both in her London constituency and Westminster, including: maternity discrimination and affordable childcare, regulating the Buy Now Pay Later industry, the safeguarding of child refugees and making misogyny part of the hate crime framework. She quite obviously loves living in Walthamstow, and is incredibly proud of her local community.
Talking to Stella Creasy made me realise that I need to get involved. She is passionate about equality and human rights, and her enthusiasm for fairness and change is contagious. As it says in her social media bio ' Sitting on the sidelines is for Statler and Waldorf.'
We hope you enjoy this special episode. Such an inspiring conversation with an incredible woman.
PODCAST CREDITS
Producer and audio engineer: Linda Ara-Tebaldi
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: MP Stella Creasy
Music: David Schweitzer
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Coordinator: Helen Johnson
If you’re a fan of BBC2’s Secrets of the Museum, the series filmed behind the scenes at the V&A, then you will recognise my latest podcast guest. Dr Christine Checinska is the Senior Curator of Africa and Diaspora: Textiles and Fashion, and Lead Curator of the Africa Fashion exhibition, currently showing at the museum. ‘ We had to do the show now because the contemporary fashion scene on the continent is so inspirational, so innovative – we couldn’t wait,’ she says, ‘African creatives and African diaspora creatives are pushing boundaries and changing the shape of fashion. Now is the time to engage.’
Having started her career as a fashion designer, working for high street and designer brands, including Margaret Howell, Christine returned to study a PhD at Goldsmith’s University, in 2009. Colonizin’ in Reverse! examined ‘the impact of the creolised aesthetic of the Windrush Generation on English male dress’, and was very much inspired by her nattily dressed father. On completion, she moved into the art world and academia (as an associate lecturer), while continuing to act as a design consultant – eventually taking the job at the V&A in 2020.
‘I’ve spent over three decades exploring the relationship between cloth, culture and race,’ Christine says of her work, PhD studies and on-going research, ‘ the cultural exchanges that occur as a result of movement and migration, expressed by the clothes we wear, the objects we collect, the art we make and the stories we tell… But when it comes down to it, I embrace creativity for the sheer joy of it!’
I really enjoyed chatting to Christine about her career, we’re a similar age and have both worked in the fashion industry for decades. She admitted that in her mid-50s and quite comfortable with her freelance portfolio, she initially dithered about the V&A position, until a good friend persuaded her to take the leap. The Africa Fashion exhibition is stunning, if you haven’t seen it already it’s on until 16 April 2023 (and if you’re unable to visit the V&A read more about Africa Fashion HERE).
PODCAST CREDITS
Producer and audio engineer: Linda Ara-Tebaldi
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: Dr Christine Checinska
Music: David Schweitzer
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Coordinator: Helen Johnson
*Trigger Warning - discussion around breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery*
My latest podcast guest is an extraordinary woman. A consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon, Liz O'Riordans world turned upside down in 2015 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer, the very illness that she'd spent years treating as a surgeon. She chronicled her treatment and experience as a doctor-turned-patient in a series of honest blog posts, detailing everything from the bewildering side effects she experienced during chemotherapy and how she coped with the physical and emotional burden. Her blog has since become an invaluable resource for others going through similar experiences. O'Riordan returned to work following surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy but in 2018 she had a locoregional recurrence on her chest wall. Side effects of treatment meant that she was forced to retire from her job as a surgeon. Having been robbed of the profession she had dedicated her life to, Liz was not only left recovering physically and mentally from her treatment, but also with the challenge of rebuilding her career. She is now on a mission to change the conversation around cancer care and educate health care professionals about what life is really like after a cancer diagnosis.
In 2018 O'Riordan co-wrote The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer with Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, which brings together all the knowledge they have gathered both as patients and as doctors, into a comprehensive guidebook of tips on how to cope with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and beyond. She has also launched a podcast called Don’t Ignore The Elephant where she talks about the things noone else really shares, including topics like sex, death and exercise. Her latest project is cancerfit.me - a website providing a range of resources regarding exercise for people living with cancer.
In this episode Liz joins me to talk about what it was like to be on the other side of the operating table, and how she overcame the challenges of a cancer diagnosis. She details how by talking, writing and sharing her experience she hopes to help others find the information and support they need. She shares some of the best places to get information and support for cancer care, talks about her book and tells me about her plans for the future.
Producer and audio engineer: Linda Ara-Tebaldi
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: Liz O'Riordan
Music: David Schweitzer
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Digital technician: Tom Hole at Stirtingale
Coordinator: Helen Johnson