GillHB & Friends

When wandering around a garden centre have you ever thought about all those plastic pots we buy our plants in and what happens to them? What do you do with yours? Bin them? hide them in the shed never to use again? Give them to a friend who grows things from seed or divides plants? Well apart from hiding in someone's shed or being re-used by growers over 500million of them get sent to landfill! They don't degrade and take on average between 400 - 450 years to break down into micro and nano plastics and we all know where they end up! On the other side farmers with smaller herds of sheep are simply burning their fleeces as there is no viable market for them and it costs more to shear them than the wool is worth. Crazy world we live in. Graham Hull had an idea and together with his business partner Tom came up with, what not only turned out to be a sustainable idea, but a win win for everyone. I was given some wool pots as a gift last year and absolutely loved them so bought more for growing my seeds this year. I find out where the idea came from, the challenges in not only setting up a new business but within the horticultuaral industry as well. www.wool-pots.co.uk

In this episode it's all about 'sustainable fashion' Gill chats to Sarah Franken a young entrepreneur about how she came to set up the online magazine 'Lumera'. The focus of the magazine is to highlight sustainable brands and Gill finds out what is sustainable fashion and how complicated it can get! Sarah explains that at university she wasn't particularly passionate about sustainability but how, a few years later, she accidentally walked into a panel talk all about sustainable fashion and it gave her a whole new perspective and passion to pursue. Lumera was born. They discuss what constitutes as 'sustainable fashion' and what are the bigger challenges involved? Sarah explains what the 3 main sustainability categories are. Gill mentions about how when she was younger it was normal for families to have a 'button and zip box'. Sarah uses a great quote as an example as to why we now simply discard clothes: "Clothes have gone from being a valuable item to becoming a disposable item". The discussion widens out to look at: how do you get people to change their mindset / perception around their fashionable clothing buying habits when large cheaper brands target them in their marketing? How does the industry overcome the dilemma of what would be seen as sustainable fashion for one group of people is viewed differently by another. What is 'greenwashing' and how does the consumer know if a brand is doing this? They both agree that with anything in life it has to be easy for the consumer to navigate. Links to the articles mentioned in the podcast: Resale on the Rise - Brands Selling their Pre-Loved Garments https://lumeramag.com/articles/resale-on-the-rise-brands-selling-their-pre-loved-garments 5 Tips to Spot Greenwashing https://lumeramag.com/articles/five-tips-to-spot-greenwashing To subscribe to the magazine: https://lumeramag.com/ or follow them on social media @lumeramag. Or if you are a sustainable brand or know of one please contact Sarah by email info@lumeramag.com so she can add it to her list or Gill to do a podcast!

Clare and Catherine met at the school gates when their children were young and started running an after school club together for many years before deciding it was time to do something new. Gill finds out what made them decide to star a new environmentally friendly business. What were the driving forces behind it? How do they decide what to stock and how much to stock when starting a new business? She dsicovers that they test all the products themselves to ensure they work and really are environmentally friendly. As Clare tells Gill they realised that one downside is that because a lot of things they sell are long lasting customers don't need to keep returning to buy them! This is just one of the challenges because inevitably the products are more expensive than the equivalent suppermarket item as they last longer - like their bamboo kitchen roll - so it's getting customers to make the mindset switch that in the longer run they do actually work out much cheaper. We chat about everything from green bleach to ragbags (remember them? and yes I still have one) to terry nappies. @planetfriendlyliving.co.uk

Have you heard of breast implant illness? Serena hadn't and put her symptoms of not feeling 'quite right' then 'very ill' down to the peri-menopause / menopause. She went for tests and was told all was well but she certainly didn't feel it was. One day she came across another woman's story and realised that the symptoms she was experiencing were those of breast implant illness. Serena shares the hurdles she faced to be able to have 'explant' surgery, what that actually means and involves and why it's important to have the capsules removed as well. Post surgery she discovered she had actually had the PIP implants. It is still early days for Serena and she is finding out more about what the lasting implications are for her going forward. She reflects back on why she had implants originally and what she has learnt about herself as a result. She is one of thousands of woman suffering from BII but luckily could afford to go privately to have them removed. She advises anyone thinking of having implants to ensure they also have the funds in place to have them removed. We discuss the role of the NHS when things go wrong and should it 'pick up the tab' for those that have chosen to have implants.

Jenny is now an award-winning mentor, high impact coach and business owning CEO, She has regularly appeared on the BBC throughout the UK and speaks on the topic of professional visibility nationally and internationally. Jenny chats to Gill about leaving corporate life to a start a new business and a family. In the first half of the podcast she shares how her mindset helped her navigate her way through assisted conception and then the tragedy of loosing her twins at 18 weeks. She recognises how getting the right support at the right time was crucial and how that experience taught her resilience. She has evolved her business over the years into becoming knows as: 'The Queen of Being Seen' a visibility expert that helps others, as well as being the Creator of the Visibility Activator System™, Jenny's five key pillars show you ways to be visible, and how to raise your professional profile. www.jennykovacs.com https://www.youtube.com/c/JennyKovacs

If you're a coffee lover then this episode is for you! Having experienced his own health issues Alex, previously an accountant, had a passion for good coffee, had heard about the health benefits and wanted to find out more about what makes coffee healthy. Not only did he find out but then he and his wife started their own company, Exhale coffee just as lockdown began! Gill wants to know more about: when his passion for coffee started, what EXACTLY is meant by a healthy coffee, how he and his wife not only launched but have grown their company with the help of Instagram, their commitment to sustainability and what have the companies Patagonia and RedBull got to do with their vision for the future! Alex's story is an inspiring one for anyone who is suffering with their health and struggling to find any answers for their symptoms or has a dream they'd long to follow. Part 1 of 2 episodes - in part 2 Alex Manos talks in depth about the research and science behind 'healthy coffee'. This is part 1 of 2 episodes. In the next episode I talk to Alex Manos all about the science of 'healthy' coffee.

Continuing on the French theme Gill chats to former Yorkshire language teacher Kylee Milner who now designs and makes jewellery. As Kylee says, if someone had told her back in her teaching days that she would be living in France working with 'energy' to design and make jewellery she would have laughed! Kylee tells Gill her 'back story' as to how she and her husband came to change their whole lives.