Spinning Plates with Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Lisa Oxenham is a mum to Eliza who’s 10 and to Wolfgang who’s nine and a half months old. She started out as beauty editor at More magazine and then worked for Marie Claire magazine for 20 years concentrating on beauty and, later, on wellness too.Lisa became a mum for the second time at the age of 50 and she now has her own YouTube channel concentrating on wellness and motherhood.She told me how she hit fertility problems in her 40s but her determination to have a sibling for Eliza meant she continued with her IVF journey through her 40s, and eventually had her much-longed for son Wolfgang as she entered her 50s. She told me how she’s experienced trolls telling her she’s too old to be a new mum, and will be too tired to bring up her baby, but she says she’s never had so much energy - or confidence - in her life before.Lisa certainly radiates joy in her new motherhood - and fittingly baby Wolfgang refused to be parted from her for this interview. So please excuse the background noises in this chat, as he explores the nooks and crannies of my living room during the recording! Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dame Jacinda Ardern is the former prime minister of New Zealand, who was elected in 2017 and in post for 6 years.In 2018 she became the second elected World leader to ever give birth. Her partner Clarke (often referred to as 'first bloke'!) frequently took on the role of stay-at-home dad. Together they took baby Neve with them to many important meetings, including the UN summit in New York in 2018, while she was still breastfeeding. Jacinda told me she felt she needed to prove she could lead the country despite being a mother... and also show the world she was a mother, in order to be a positive role model. Jacinda and I talked about the fascinating and intimate documentary ‘Prime Minister’ which will have its UK release on December 5th, in which we get to see behind the scenes both in government, and at home through videos shot by Clarke. It really brings a humanity to the role of leadership and this insight makes Jacinda’s style of leadership all the more impressive, modern and inspirational. Jacinda really wanted to reiterate that she was lucky enough to have support, that she never did anything alone, and that we should not expect women to do everything on their own: ‘Yes, we can be wonder woman… but even wonder woman deserves a sidekick.’ She now still remains dedicated to helping encourage leaders to highlight their humantity by teaching empathetic leadership. Special shoutout to her gorgeous children’s book, Mum’s Busy Work. It’s so sweet to see a lovely picture book for young kids where the mum works hard, yes, but it doesn’t mean she’s any less dedicated to motherhood. Cheers to that! XSpinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lavina Mehta MBE is a health campaigner, a personal trainer, and an author. She came to my notice during Covid when she started doing weekly exercises on YouTube with her mother-in-law.She’s just published her book The Feel Good Fix which is designed to improve your health during menopause, and presents her idea of exercise snacking - incorporating short bursts of activity into your normal day rather than maybe going to the gym for an hour.We talked about her religion of Jainism which is about non-harm, karma and non-violence and how she still presents an exercise class online with her mum-in-law every Friday now.When we finished our sit-down interview, Lavina encouraged me to do some wall press-ups, and left me with her slogan ringing in my ears: ‘Sanity, not vanity!’Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julia Samuel is a psychotherapist and an author, who is best known as a grief counsellor. She was one of the founders of Child Bereavement UK which has just had its 30th anniversary. She has an agony aunt column for Times Luxury, she has a podcast, and she sees about 15 clients a week, describing that as ‘the heart of me’. She has 4 grown up children and 10 grandchildren aged 18 months to 18 years. When I met with Julia, we talked about the guilt she felt as a mum to young children, when she felt her work sometimes became her priority.Julia also talk to me about an area she feels needs more conversation and exploration, which is the parenting of adult children (aged 18-25) during a phase called ‘emerging adulthood’. I was all ears about that! Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anya Lautenbach is a gardener who I discovered on Instagram as anya_thegarden_fairy. From Poland originally, Anya moved to to the UK 17 years ago and has two boys aged 12 and 14. We talked about the grief which Anya has experienced because of her sister having two sons with a rare genetic condition which turned out to be terminal. Anya explained how every time she had bad news from home, she turned that into another garden border and has ended up creating a beautiful garden out of her ocean of grief. We also talked about her ADHD diagnosis which came soon after her son’s diagnosis, and how gardening helps her to escape the overwhelming busyness of her mind. Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.