High Profile Magazine: The Love Edition

3

CONTENTS 3 5

EDITOR’S LETTER MEET THE TEAM

COVER STORIES

6 24 36

RUPAUL: LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF PÉROLAS DE RIKARDO: INFLUENCER OF THE YEAR PAULA TEBETT: THE BRAZILIAN QUEEN OF SOCIAL MEDIA

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

14 46 56

SELF-LOVE VS. CRISIS MANAGEMENT: DISCOVERING A NEW LEVEL OF SELF-LOVE PEOPLE ARE THE HEART OF EY: AN INTERVIEW WITH ROHAN MALIK

WHY RELATIONSHIPS SUCCEED AMONG PROFESSIONALS

HEALTH & WELLNESS

16 21 33 67

ARE YOU READY FOR LOVE? BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH MEDITATION IS THE IMPOSTER SYNDROME KILLING YOUR LOVE LIFE? "IS IT EVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE?" - AN INTERVIEW WITH SARISHA NAIDOO

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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SHOW YOUR CUSTOMERS HOW MUCH YOU LOVE THEM

54 63 74

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE - AND WORK HOW TO SELL LIKE YOU LOVE MAKING MATHS FUN WITH DR. GRACE OLUGBODI

FOOD

22 59

4 DATE NIGHT RECIPES FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD AND NATURE

MARKETING & BRANDING

31 42 62 70

FALLING IN LOVE WITH ART HOW TO MAKE YOUR CLIENTS LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

FOR THE LOVE OF PR 2021, THE YEAR OF THE DIGITAL

PRODUCT

50

A LIST OF GIFTS FOR LOVED ONES

FASHION & BEAUTY

32 44 76

HOW SELF-IMAGE INFLUENCES OUR BEHAVIOURS AND SELF-ESTEEM

LOOKING AFTER YOUR HAIR IS A FORM OF SELF-LOVE! 5 DATE NIGHT BEAUTY MUST HAVES

TRAVEL

48 60

"BRAZIL HAS GIVEN ME THE FREEDOM I ALWAYS DREAMED OF": AN INTERVIEW WITH ALBERTO MAS

PIPA, A LITTLE PIECE OF TROPICAL PARADISE

CULTURE & SOCIETY

64

BECOMING A MEDIA DARLING: AN INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN HARROW

BOOKS

72

10 BOOKS ABOUT LOVE THAT YOU NEED TO READ

EVENTS

34

5 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2021

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RuPaul: Learning To Love Yourself RuPaul is an American drag queen, singer and TV personality. Over the years, he has become a globally recognised cultural icon, and he is considered to be the most commercially successful drag queen in the USA. His popularity has grown to superstar levels in recent years, in particular since the launch of his popular TV show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, which launched in 2009. He has become a much-loved figure of popular culture, and has promoted self-love and self-acceptance through his work, particularly through RuPaul’s Drag Race, often speaking with contestants about how they should love themselves for who they are.

RuPaul Andre Charles was born on the 17th of November 1960 in San Diego, California.

When RuPaul’s parents divorced in 1967, he and his three sisters lived with his mother.

As the only boy amongst his siblings, RuPaul was essentially raised by women, and in his youth, he sometimes dressed in his sisters’ clothes, inspired by stars such as Diana Ross and Jane Fonda.

Aged 15, RuPaul moved to Atlanta, Georgia to live with his sister Renetta and her husband. In Atlanta, RuPaul attended the Northside School of Performing Arts. Despite not graduating from the school, it was his introduction to the world of performance and show business, providing him with the knowledge of performing arts that he needed to make his move into the industry.

During the 1980s, RuPaul worked as a musician and filmmaker at Atlanta’s Plaza Theatre. Though he struggled to make a career for himself during these early years, he never gave up. 1982 was the moment he finally had his first breakthrough into the world of show business, debuting on The American Music Show, where he started to appear regularly from then

Image by Albert San chez via The Times

6

Cover story

7

If you can’t love yourself, “how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?”

onwards, sometimes with his band, RuPaul and the U-Hauls.

In these early stages of his career, RuPaul worked incredibly hard to make a name for himself. After RuPaul and the U-Hauls broke up, Wee Wee Pole was put together to replace it. The band often performed at the Celebrity Club and at other bars and clubs across Atlanta, and RuPaul would also perform solo as a bar dancer all over the city.

At the same time as he was trying to carve out space for himself in the music industry, RuPaul was also trying to break into acting.

He would appear in low-budget movies in uncredited roles, taking any work that he could to enhance his career prospects and

8

help him to keep climbing the showbiz ladder. His first film was Star Booty, and never one to miss a chance for further exposure, he also made an album by the same name.

His first real exposure to a national audience came when he was featured in The B-52’s Love Shack music video as an extra.

By 1987, RuPaul had moved to New York City to start working the New York club scene.

Here he became part of the Wigstock drag festival, a huge moment for his career. The festival grew in popularity as the years went on, and in 1989, RuPaul was crowned the Queen of Manhattan, having made a name for himself as a hit club dancer and icon of the drag scene.

In 1991, RuPaul signed a recording contract with rap label Tommy Boy Records. 1993 saw the release of his debut album, a dance album called Supermodel of the World. At this point, his career really started to gain traction, and his hit song Supermodel (You Better Work) made him an internationally recognised star. The song peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number 39 in the UK Top 40, achieving unexpected success during an era in which rap and grunge were the most popular genres.

From this point onwards, RuPaul’s career was constantly on the up. As well as the three films he featured in in 1995, he also released his autobiography, Lettin’ It All Hang Out, that year. He also made an appearance in the documentary Wigstock: The Movie.

As his career continued to go from strength to strength, in 1996, he premiered his very own talk show on VH1, titled The RuPaul Show. On the show, he interviewed a host of celebrity guests, including icons such as Diana Ross, Nirvana, Pete Burns and Mary J. Blige, among others. Michelle Visage, now his fellow judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, was his co-host on the show, and they also presented a radio show on WKTU together.

More albums came over the years, with Foxy Lady in 1996 being closely followed by Ho Ho Ho in 1997. Though they didn’t achieve huge levels of recognition despite his celebrity status, some songs did enjoy success on the dance charts in the US. After these two albums, he did not release another until Red Hot in 2004, choosing to focus on his film and television career instead.

Source: Instagram

Over the years that followed, RuPaul’s music became a staple in the dance clubs of the time. 1993 also saw him release a duet with Elton John of John’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, which charted in the UK top 10, an impressive accolade.

1994 was a big year for RuPaul’s career. He made his feature film debut in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, which established him as an actor as well as a singer and drag performer. This role opened up the door to many other film roles, and in 1995 he featured in a further 3 films. In 1994 he also became the first face of M.A.C. Cosmetics for their Viva Glam campaign, becoming the first drag queen to ever be the face of a major cosmetics company.

Now a cultural icon, RuPaul’s career continued to climb to new heights with every year that passed. However, in 2004, after the release of his fourth album, Red Hot, RuPaul was left disappointed by the lack of press attention the record received. He wrote on his blog about how he felt betrayed by the industry, particularly by the gay press, for the lack of support. Despite the lack of press attention, though, the album did enjoy chart success, with the lead single reaching number 2 on the dance charts, and the following singles peaking at number 5 and number 10, respectively.

Since then, he has released a further ten solo albums, several of which have enjoyed great success. Many of his songs are featured on his hit show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, helping to grow their popularity among members of the show’s adoring fanbase.

Despite the extensive success he had enjoyed prior to the launch of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2009, it was this show that really helped him to make his biggest mark on the cultural landscape. The show is now in its 13th season, and has spin-offs around the world, including in the UK, Canada, and most recently, in Australia, which was announced

9

in January 2021. The show brought drag to the mainstream like never before, and really promoted the self-love rhetoric that RuPaul has become known for through his shows. In fact, the episodes of recent seasons always end with his signature quote, “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an amen up in here?”.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is largely credited with injecting a fresh burst of life into RuPaul’s career, which had been considered by some to be flagging before the launch of the show.

The show has been nominated for an impressive 39 Emmys, according to the Emmys’ website, and has won 19 of those nominations between 2016 and 2018, clear evidence of its impact on the entertainment world.

The season 9 premiere of the show saw one million viewers tuning in, a record-breaking moment for the now culturally iconic drag queen show. The premiere featured Lady Gaga and came after the show had won its very first Emmy back in 2016. Off the back of the success of RuPaul’s Drag Race, a spinoff show called Untucked! was launched as a behind-the-scenes look at what was going on in the show. Untucked! has delighted viewers with extra doses of drama, further cementing the popularity of the show.

The next series to join the franchise was RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, which premiered its first season in 2012 after demand from fans. The show featured popular queens from previous seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, who battled it out to become the ultimate queen of queens. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is now in its fifth season and has enjoyed widespread success across the globe.

RuPaul’s Drag Race has also served as the stage for some of RuPaul’s activism. One in five LGBTQ adults in the US are not registered to vote, and so in several recent episodes, the queens would end the stage holding prompts to register to vote. Furthermore, several of the stars from the show have acted as Ambassadors for the Drag Out The Vote initiative.

Adding to RuPaul’s collection of TV shows was RuPaul’s Drag U, which launched in 2010 and ran until August 2012. The reality TV show saw women get drag makeovers from

10

Source: Instagram

RuPaul himself alongside a team of “drag professors”, teaching each of them to access their inner divas. They were then judged on their Drag Point Average, with the woman with the highest score winning. RuPaul did not appear in drag on the show, which was a contrast from how he appears in RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Following in the footsteps of many celebrities before him, in 2013 RuPaul teamed up with cosmetic manufacturers Colorevolution to create his debut make-up collection. He also launched the perfume Glamazon alongside the make-up line and talking to World of Wonder in an interview he said, “Glamazon is for women and men of all ages and preferences who share one thing in common: They are not afraid to be fierce. For me, glamour should be accessible to all, and I am committed to helping the world look and smell more beautiful.”

2014 was another incredibly exciting year for RuPaul, as it saw him launch his podcast, What’s The Tee? with Michelle Visage, a podcast which ran until 2020. In August of 2014, he joined Skin Wars, a bodypainting show, as a judge. In 2015 he continued his TV career with a new venture as host of Good Work, a plastic surgery themed show which was aired on E! His next project in television was as the presenter of game show Gay For Play, which premiered in 2016 on Logo TV. In 2017, RuPaul enjoyed a particularly happy moment in his personal life, when he mar-

ried his long-term, Georges LeBar. His husband is an Australian painter, and the couple have an open relationship, with RuPaul saying he would not want to put restraints on the person he loves. The couple have been together since 1994, an impressive personal achievement to add to those RuPaul has had many of in his professional life.

“

es in the industry to set him back. Shortly after the premiere of AJ and the Queen, it was announced that he would host Saturday Night Live for the first time. His episode aired in February 2020, with Justin Bieber featuring as a musical guest, allowing RuPaul to add yet another accolade to his collection.

I am committed to helping the world look and smell more beautiful Not all of his professional ventures have been successful, with an attempt to return to the world of daytime talk shows with RuPaul in 2019 being especially short lived. In 2020, his comedy show with Netflix, called AJ and the Queen, also experienced very limited success, with Netflix announcing the show had been cancelled just two months after its original release.

As ever, he did not allow negative experienc-

�

His work over the years has cemented him as a cultural icon, both in the LGBTQ+ community and out of it. His shows have opened up the drag community to the world on an unprecedented level, giving a platform to drag queens to practice their art. RuPaul has become an icon of self-love and self-acceptance as the years have gone on, and it is clear to see that his career has no intention of slowing down any time soon!

11 Source: rupaul.com

1982, started appearing Studied theatre at the North Atlanta School of Performing Arts

on The American Music Show, often with his band

Mid-1980s,

moves to New York City

Aged 15,

moved to Atlanta, GA

1989, crowned The

Queen of Manhattan

1993, achieves inter-

national fame with hit single Supermodel (You Better Work)

November 17th, 1960

RuPaul

– Born in San Diego, CA

2009, launches

RuPaul’s Drag Race, which is currently in its 13th season

2014, starts RuPaul: What’s The Tee? Podcast

1996, The

RuPaul Show premieres on VH1

2017, marries long-term partner Georges Le Bar

2018, gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

2020, launches Netflix

12

show, AJ and the Queen

1994, becomes first face of M.A.C. Cosmetics in the first ever Viva Glam lipstick campaign

Mary Senkowska is the youngest PCC Certified Coach in the world. She has been shortlisted for “The 20 Most Successful Businesswomen to Watch in 2021”. With 10 years of experience in training & development, she is passionate about inspiring leaders to create sustainable positive change in their businesses.

Self-Love vs. Crisis Management:

Discovering a New Level of

Self-Love The year 2021 did not start as I had planned.

I discovered I was pregnant. Not an ideal time in my career, may I add, between running a company, organising a 3-day conference and upskilling myself, there was not much time left in a 24-hour day. After wrapping my head around the news, having stared for countless hours at the ultrasound picture, getting goosebumps hearing the heartbeat of a living organism in my own body for the very first time ever, I lost the baby.

Unsplash @anthonytran

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A depth of sadness I did not know I had in me unfolded. I went through a period of blaming myself, hating the world, hating the father, silence, anger, all sorts of emotions, and sometimes all of them within one day. Often, I would experience these emotions on the same day as I had 4 or 5 Zoom meetings, client deadlines, workshop facilitation and conference prep. In the midst of a relationship crisis, personal trauma and a heavy workload, I was advised to practice self-love.

It is hard enough to do this in “normal” circumstances, so how on earth are we supposed to practice self-love in extreme situations? I think it’s fair to say that trying to practice self-love in a pandemic, a situation where the lines between our personal and work loves is harder than ever before. And February, the month of love, adds another dimension of challenge to this task for many people. Yes, your personal longing for being loved does impact your focus and performance and that is completely normal.

Training & Development

Nonetheless, the realities of entrepreneurship make you think twice before taking a mental health day or month. And of course, no-one should hold it against you, but balancing resources carefully, your absence may mean risking, so-to-speak, rent money.

So, you’re standing there, thinking, “My life is falling apart, but if I let myself rest, process and heal full-time, I may get into even bigger trouble.”. And, in a corporate career, let’s not beat around the bush, it’s almost like risking your entire professional brand, especially as a female.

What is self-love, or, in other words, self-compassion? By definition, it means a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. The first research published in 2003 linked higher self-compassion with less psychopathology, so mental disorders.

Only in 2007 did we realise that self-compassion facilitates resilience by moderating people’s reactions to negative events. This means that by developing self-compassion, you’re also building a number of other skills as a by-product.

So far, we have a scientific link to upgrading your negative emotion management, bettering framing capability, increasing your ability to put things into perspective, which in the coaching world is called seeing the bigger picture, and even deepening your curiosity and increasing confidence; all pretty standard leadership skills.

Side note (it is the month of Valentine’s, af-

ter all): since self-compassion improves interpersonal functioning, it also allows you to be more emotionally connected with and supportive of your partner.

Back to crisis times. Often, when we are under sustained high levels of stress, going through trauma, or struggling with mental health, we tend to focus on putting out the fires with quick fixes. We are prompted to treat ourselves to this one chocolate bar or a cigarette, giving up on our resolutions.

We start doubting where the balance is between self-compassion and we begin to come up with excuses.

The key is to understand that self-compassion does not replace the negative feelings with positive ones. When exercising selflove, your positive emotions are generated by embracing the negative ones. This made me realise that step one of self-compassion is a practice of recognising my own emotions before I jump to the habits advised more commonly.

I did a morning reflection for just 10 minutes every day, asking myself what I am feeling today, what does it mean for me, how it may impact my day given my schedule, and a crucial question, what would l like to turn it into to serve me today. It was not easy. Some days, it resulted in tears, others, in a brief smile reminding myself, I do have some hope left.

Accurate emotion recognition is a foundation for both mindfulness and self-compassion, which is a combination suggested by professors Neff and Germer from Harvard Medical School to combat mental suffering. They, going a step forward and asking participants to practice meditation and affectionate breathing, found that doing this practice for 40 minutes a day for a duration 8 weeks raised their levels of self-compassion by 43%. What can I say? It’s not something we’re taught at any school. You need to take ownership of your growth and do it holistically. Only then will you be able to truly progress, regardless of the reality you find yourself in.

15 Unsplash @maxvdo

Are You Ready For Love?

Martina Coogan is better known as the Metaphysical Monarch. With over 20 years experience of teaching ancient lineage healings and tools of power which balance the human energy fields, mental and emotional bodies, she specialises in empowering people to achieve inner peace and opening and developing spiritually. Reach her at her website.

There is nothing better than having love in your life.

When you see that very special person in your life, you may sense a loving feeling in all of your being. When you are held in the arms of your loved one, your physical and mental state operates at a higher frequency and vibration. This is because you are in love – this has been scientifically proven! Love is such an intriguing concept. It is one that we all seek, as there is nothing better than the sensation of being loved.

Having worked for 20 years as a Spiritual Healer, Trainer, and Coach, thousands of people have shared with me their deep desire to be loved. I always suggest that if they want to find a special someone, the first step is to love themselves. Self-love is a key that helps us to develop ourselves on all levels. We need to truly understand ourselves as both a physical and spiritual being. The practice of selflove is crucial. I recommend you connect to yourself daily in a simple way. When we start a self-love practice, it enhances us on all levels. It connects you to you and develops the most important relationship there is: the relationship with yourself. When we truly go deep and love ourselves, love automatically flows to all other areas of our lives.

you to the level that you can reach yourself?

The more that you practice daily self-love and truly love yourself, the more you allow him/ her to truly love you on all levels. When you establish a deep loving connection within yourself and sustain it, then will you release the need to be loved. You will stop looking for love outside of yourself or from material things. We all wish to reach and sustain this frequency of love for ourselves so we can truly be loved by others.

So where do we start and how do we reach self-love?

I suggest to my clients to start the day off with some quiet meditative time. In doing so

Did you know that your partner can only love

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Unsplash @mischievous_penguins

Unsplash @evertonvilla

Health & Wellness

we can begin the practice of listening to what our inner self, our child shelf, and our higher self want to share with us. Each of us has these levels within us and we want to access them and build a connection so we can receive guidance from within. If the Inner Child is heard and is given compassion, we will begin to have more strength to listen, and to be brave, strong, confident, and attractive as individuals. Our higher self is the God/Goddess within us. The stronger we connect, the more we learn to release, to truly trust ourselves and to follow our gut reactions. Be silent first thing in the morning. Rise up to life by setting your intention for the day ahead. This will have a very beautiful influence on your personal energetic frequency and will set you in a positive flow.

The second practice I recommend is to exercise the body. It helps us to connect with our physical body. When connected we can start to relate to our sensations, feel the body

stop the critical voice inside our own heads and not engage with it. This is where I recommend positive affirmations so we can replace the negative programmes with positive ones. If you are someone who has a hard time doing this at first, I suggest you purchase a Rose Quartz crystal as it will help to cleanse you and enhance love in your aura. I will happily assist you with what is best to release and repair from deep within should you wish to learn what works best for you. Salt baths are also very beneficial as they cleanse the body and the energetic structure around it. This in turn relaxes the mind and eliminates emotions.

Self-love is healthy and it's our responsibility to do it for ourselves. It's not the easiest however it's very valuable and the more you do for yourself over time, the more you will see the benefits in all areas of your life. Self-love is not taught to us in school, it's only when we take the time to do it that we realize how much it's needed. I invite you today to start your practice. If you feel too overwhelmed, then reach out and I will assist you. If your heart feels heavy and it's too scary to start, then a clearing of your energies will greatly assist and give you space to be one with yourself.

Unsplash @sushimi

in time, and honour our physical bodies. The better our body operates, the better the overall feeling we will have within ourselves. You can do formal exercise or simply walk in nature for 20 minutes. Keep in mind, doing it consistently is the best so choose something you know you can do each day.

Each of us has positives and negatives. We have had things happen or done things that we regret so it's important we have self-acceptance and accept ourselves daily. We must

When we practice self-love, we are investing in ourselves at the deepest level. We are honouring ourselves and putting ourselves first.

We are saying "I want to be the best version of myself" for myself and those I love, and for me to live my best life every day. Self-love is willing to fix the parts not yet perfect within and release and heal. Let go so more goodness can flow and as a result you will have good values, good boundaries, and will only accept the best for yourself at all times.

If you're interested in finding out more you’re welcome to reach out: martinacoogan@outlook.com

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Naeem is a Director of United Carpets and founder of NA Consulting Ltd, a Retail Business Consultancy in Birmingham. He is Chair of the Midlands Retail & Hospitality Forum, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce, and member of the Forbes Business Council. Naeem is also the author of several best-selling books. To find out more, visit his website.

Show Your Customers How Much You Love Them With Valentine's Day coming up, now more than ever is the time to show your customers that you love them more than you love their money.

Customer Loyalty is something that many brands want, but it can be difficult to earn. Not only do you need to satisfy your customers' expectations, you also need to provide a service that sets you apart from your competitors.

With that in mind, here are 5 things you can do to show your customers that you do love them and you are not just after their money:

1

Communicate with them, and keep them updated of what you are doing at the moment with the business. Start that message off by wishing them well and showing interest in your customers' wellbeing. Ask them what they have been up to and how they are coping during these trying times. If possible, do this as a video so that you can be more personal with it.

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3

2

Offer an 'End of Lockdown' voucher as something for them to look forward to when things ease up.

But don't stop there - go the extra mile and let them know how they can use it now as a Valentine's Day special during the lockdown as well, if this is possible.

Find out what your customers have been up to recently and ask them for good news stories.

Share some of these stories on your social media channels to share their stories alongside your own stories, as this will help your customers to feel like they are valued by your business.

5

Support a local community project or initiative that will show your customers that your brand is supporting deserving community projects. A number of brands are offering up their closed venues to support COVID initiatives.

This will reflect your brand in a warm and positive manner and will make your customers feel good about doing business with you.

Add in a little something extra with every order. It does not need to be of huge monetary value, but it should surprise and delight the customer who was not expecting it. This could be anything from a handwritten thankyou note, a small sample bottle or anything else you can think of.

If you have tried all of these then here is a bonus 6th idea - Run a Customer Appreciation event. This could be online, so that you can reach more of your customers and not just those who can physically attend. It should be a fun event, with music and laughs. Involve as many of your team as possible and use the time to say 'Thank you for supporting us, we appreciate you'.

The current climate is difficult for many reasons, but now is your time to shine as your customers will remember what you do during this time and as we come out of lockdown, you be well placed to get ahead of your competition if you make sure your customers feel loved in the coming months.

Remember, your customer may forget how much they paid for your service, but they will always remember how you made them feel. Show them Love and in return you will get their Loyalty.

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Health & Wellness

Adam is a certified independent teacher of Transcendental Meditation, Mindfulness facilitator, and Reiki Master. Teaching his processes internationally, both faceto-face and online, he is now based in Sydney, with a large client base in London.

His goal is to improve your life with simple and powerful meditation techniques.

Building Resilience Through Meditation When certainty runs out on us and all that we thought was stable disappears, our sense of being is thrown into question.

Think of the job that deemed you to be surplus to requirements, or the relationship with the lover that you thought was forever, only for it to end. In these moments of rejection our sense of self suffers a crisis.

Am I not lovable? Am I past it?

It is usually in these times of trouble that the serious questions in life are addressed. Some fall into a mid-life crisis, become depressed, give up or resort to drinking their lives away. Others, however, like to go on a spiritual trip, and they discover Yoga, crystals and Chakras.

Whilst the latter group may appear to look desperate in their search for meaning through the spiritual, they are only doing what people have done for thousands of years.

The quest to ‘know thyself’ is a theme that runs through many of the great stories through history: from the ancient Indian texts, through Greek myths to modern films. The premise is one where the hero’s life is disrupted by some great external force that they must overcome. In the process of facing the enemy, they are changed for the better.

The hero gains a new power (think Luke Skywalker) or even an entire Kingdom (King Arthur).

or not?

With huge uncertainty comes the challenge of building greater resilience. If ever there was a time to work on our resilience it is now. As our movements are restricted, this presents the perfect opportunity to start your own ‘inner journey’.

There is no practice better suited to this than Meditation.

There are approximately 4,000 peer assessed scientific papers on the positive effects of Meditation and Mindfulness.

The brilliance of the ancient Yogis has been acknowledged

by Science (Scientists were only 3,000 years late).

Taking up this practice, no matter how you try can only be of benefit to you. Merely 10 minutes of practice a day can lower your stress levels, quieten your overthinking mind, reduce blood pressure and give you a feeling of inner calm.

Take a break from worry, social media and the ever-depressing news to look after yourself.

The outward struggles we face is ultimately a calling to redefine our lives. To step into our calling. The safety of our previous existence has been removed and we have to become the person we are supposed to be or perish!

The spiritual route of going inwards was once a common feature in the lives of many ancient cultures. Great civilisations from Australia to North America respected the importance of the inward journey. With our incredible technological advancements and ever-growing distractions, it is easy for us to forget that we in the West are not immune to this.

We have become great at seeking comfort through many outer means but become distraught at the possibility of losing it.

Over the past 10 months many of our lives have had to change. Whilst some have enjoyed working from home, others have lost their jobs and had to redefine themselves.

Mental health issues have grown as people are locked down in the dark winter months.

This presents a choice: do I actively look after my wellbeing,

Unsplash @sagefriedman

Make a commitment to you.

This year has started with last year's problems. Perhaps you were not prepared for it then, but you can be now.

Start the inner journey. Build on your resilience and Meditate.

Be Well, Adam

Unsplash @yjohnphiker

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Date Night Recipes

By Lola Sherwin

Given that this is the Love edition of the magazine, it feels fitting to give our readers some date night recipes! Whether those recipes are for Valentine’s day or for a date with your best friend, there is no better way to show someone you love them than through cooking for them.

Melty mascarpone chicken Ingredients (serves 2)

Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas mark 6.

2. In a bowl, mix your mascarpone, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.

3. Place the chicken breasts on a clean surface. Slightly lift the skin, without detaching it. Put one spoonful of your mascarpone mix under the skin of each chicken breast.

4. Wrap 2 slices of your bacon or prosciutto around each breast, making sure it is wrapped tightly enough to keep the filling enclosed.

5. In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and brown the chicken on each side.

6. Put the chicken on a deep baking tray, and pop it in the oven for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

7. Cover the chicken in lemon juice and spoon any juices from the baking tray over the chicken. Serve with crispy potatoes and a side of buttered asparagus and enjoy!

- 2 chicken breasts, with skin on - 4 slices of prosciutto or bacon - 3 tablespoons of mascarpone - 1 clove of garlic, minced - Handful of chopped rosemary - Juice of half a lemon - Olive oil - Salt - Pepper

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Seared scallop tagliatelle Ingredients (serves 2) - 6 scallops, with corals - 6 slices of prosciutto, halved lengthways - 175g fresh tagliatelle - 3 tablespoons of olive oil - 4 cloves of garlic, minced - 1 teaspoon of thyme - Zest and juice of 1 lemon - 3 tablespoons of dry white wine - Handful of chopped parsley - Salt - pepper

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Method:

1. Chop the corals from the scallops and dice the 2. Cut the scallops in half and roll them up in the 3. Boil the pasta according to pack instructions.

4. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, searing the s prosciutto is browned. Remove from the pan an 5. Fry the garlic in the juices remaining in the p thyme and fry for 5 minutes.

6. Add the zest and juice of the lemon along with to about half its original volume before adding th 7. Drain your tagliatelle and add it to the pan wi pasta is well-coated in the mixture.

8. Add the scallops to the frying pan, spreading e Serve and enjoy!

Unsplash @yv

Food

Salmon with soy and ginger noodles Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas mark 4.

2. In a bowl, whisk the soy sauce, rice wine, chopped ginger and garlic.

3. Line a deep baking tray with baking paper and put the salmon on it. Pour over half the sauce mixture.

4. Bake the salmon for about 15 minutes until it is cooked all the way through.

5. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the noodles and cook according to pack instructions.

6. Drain the noodles well. In a frying pan, fry the sesame seeds for 1 minute before adding the cooked noodles.

7. Pour the other half of the sauce over the noodles, ensuring they are well-coated.

8. Place the noodles in a bowl, putting the salmon fillets on top. Scatter with spring onions, serve and enjoy.

Ingredients (serves 2) - 2 salmon fillets - 4 tablespoons of dark soy sauce - 4 tablespoons of rice wine - 1 stem of ginger, diced - 1 clove of garlic, minced - 140g egg noodles - 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds - 2 spring onions, chopped

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Butternut squash risotto

Ingredients (serves 2) - 1 small butternut squash - 2 shallots, diced - 4 cloves of garlic, minced - 5 leaves of sage - 200g arborio rice - 50ml white wine - 500ml veg stock - 50g grated Parmesan (or dairy-free alternative) - 2 teaspoons of butter (or dairy-free alternative) - Olive oil - Salt - Pepper

on 16 m le @ sh Un sp la

scallops for about 2 minutes until the nd place on a plate to rest. pan. Add the chopped corals and the

8

em. e prosciutto strips.

Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas mark 5.

2. Cut the butternut squash in half. Place on a baking tray and bake for 40-45 minutes.

3. When the squash is cooked, remove the seeds and peel. Put about ž of the squash into a bowl and blend until smooth.

4. In a pan, heat some olive oil on a medium heat.

Fry your chopped shallots for 4 minutes.

5. Add the garlic and sage and cook for a further two minutes.

6. Add your arborio rice and butter and let the rice toast for 1 minute.

7. Add the wine to the pan and cook until it has evaporated.

8. Add the veg stock ladle by ladle, waiting for each ladle to be absorbed by the rice before adding the next.

9. Cook for about 30 minutes until the rice is al dente, adding stock as needed.

10. Mix in your butternut squash puree, salt pepper and Parmesan. Make sure all the rice is coated.

11. Add the remaining chunks of butternut squash and mix through. Serve in bowls with extra Parmesan.

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23

Pérolas

de Influencer Rikardo of Interview by Lola Sherwin

Year

the

I know how much you love RuPaul. How does it feel to be on the cover of the same magazine as him?

I’m so excited! RuPaul is such an inspiration to me, and he has helped me so much. His work is so amazing, and I think it’s so fantastic that he has provided people with so many resources that they can access for free. When we launch this edition, I’m going to tag him and say please talk to me, I love you!

He is such a great example of how we should present ourselves in the world. He once said that if a man wearing a wig and high heels can get people’s respect, then anyone can. It is through him that I’ve learned to go out and believe in myself.

What’s your favourite thing about being an influencer?

So I have this amazing painting that an artist called Gil Kozicka made, and I’m going to tell you a story about Gil. A few months ago, she saw a video of me talking about the importance of believing in yourself, and she got in touch. We’d never spoken before, but we had a phone call, 24

r

Cover story

and we spoke for 2 hours. She was telling me about how she loved to paint but that she was afraid of what people were going to think of her art. I said look Gil, you need to stop minding what other people think about you. It’s not your problem what they think of you, the only opinion that matters is your own.

That’s something I learned from RuPaul. Now, months later, she is a successful artist and people love what she is doing.

So for me, the best part of being an influencer is having the ability to inspire people to believe in themselves.

It’s incredible to know that I can make a difference. I feel honoured to have a platform which allows me to help people change their lives. I love to remind people that they shouldn’t care what others think of them, because at the end of the day, it is only your own opinion that really matters. I want to create a legacy that will inspire people.

Last time we spoke, I said I wanted to be on the cover of the magazine and look where I am now – on the cover, in the same magazine as RuPaul!

How does your mentoring help influencers to grow their following?

I think with a lot of influencers, the problem they have is that they see Instagram as nothing more than a content platform, but to be successful in this industry you need to do so much more than just create content. It’s important for influencers to show a sense of humanity. Your followers want to see personality, or they will get bored. For people to be interested in whatever it is you are selling, you need to make sure they are interested in your personality first.

My mentoring is all about teaching people how to get their personality across on their platforms. In Brazil we always say, “ponha a cara no sol”, which means turn your face toward the sun.

You need to be willing to talk to people, to show them what you are all about. You don’t need to 25

lose who you are in order to sell a product. Whenever I’m working with someone new, I take the flower that’s inside of them and I let it see the light so we can discover what colour that flower is. I help them to find their personality. I love the way that in RuPaul’s Drag Race, the girls are fighting to show their own personality, and on their journey, they find who they truly are. Personality and a sense of self are important in this industry!

People need to understand that they are not perfect, and they never will be, because perfection doesn’t exist. For an influencer to be able to influence others, they need to influence themselves first. If they don’t believe in what they are selling, how can other people believe in them? If you’re a vegetarian, there is no point you trying to sell meat, because you don’t believe in what you are selling, that’s not you. You need to understand yourself and then sell yourself, because when you are able to sell your true self, you will be able to sell anything.

Find what you are good at and apply it to everything you do. That’s another thing RuPaul taught me! Do you know who you are? Go beneath the surface and dig deep. When you know who you truly are, you will know whether you are on the right path.

What is your favourite Instagram feature, and why?

I love doing IG Lives! Instagram can be time-consuming, so it’s important to find out which features work best for you, and to use them to your advantage. I’m good at IG Lives because I love to talk. They are my strength, and it’s good to stick to our strengths. I do IG Lives with influential people and small business owners on both of my Instagram accounts, and I love it. I used to be awful at IG Lives, my first one was absolutely terrible! But I learned from it, and that’s what counts.

It’s important to put the work in too though, because you can’t be successful 26

on Instagram if you don’t commit to spending time on it. If I was only working 2 hours a day, do you think I would have made it to the cover of this magazine?

Of course not. I wake up early every day and I go to sleep late. I hate sleep, I am against sleep! If there was ever an anti-sleep demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament, I would be the first one there! I think it helps that I love my job, because when you find something that you love, it never feels like work. To work in this industry you need to be consistent.

There’s no point if you’re just going to post once or twice a week. Put in the time and effort, and you will be off to a good start.

“

WHEN YOU FIN THAT YOU NEVER FEELS

Can yo

Becau have c my ha ferent person

Becau hats, I and on I use. I they w that fo check

How d mote t

Pérolas de Rikardo is my digital marketing and events company. I run parties in Bristol, and I also do publicity for other businesses. I started by using my parties as a way to market my clients’ businesses, and from there the company has gone from strength to strength. In the last 6 months, I have grown so much, sometimes I have to pinch myself and ask myself if this is really happening! I’ve worked hard to get here, and I’m very proud of my company.

ND SOMETHING U LOVE, IT S LIKE WORK

”

ou tell me a bit about your website?

use of all the partnerships that I’ve been doing, I come to realise that my brand is centred around at. My hats help me to show my personality. Dift hats help me represent different parts of my nality! So the hats become a logo for me.

use of all the work I’ve been doing around my I started a website, www.perolasderikardo.com, n that website people can buy any of the hats that I want people to realise they can do everything want to do, and my hats are representative of or me. So if you love my hats as much as I do, out my website!

does Pérolas de Rikardo help businesses to protheir product?

There’s a number of things I do when working with my partners: digital marketing, digital traffic monitoring, video content, and much more. I have over 60,000 followers across my whole social media now, so I publish videos on my platforms which promote my clients, and then I follow up with further posts about them and their businesses. I also do my mentoring, which helps my clients understand why Instagram is an important tool.

The important thing for me is to create solid partnerships with the companies I work with. If you have a solid partnership with your clients, then you will be able to survive any storm that comes your way, because you will support each other through it. My partnership with this magazine is a great example of a successful business relationship for me, as it has grown so much in such a short space of time!

The key is to believe in what your partners are doing with their businesses, and to support them in what they do. Make sure you interact with them on social media and become a part of their journey. Mutual trust and respect is so important in this process.

To all the businesspeople reading this right now: get in touch with me if you want helping growing your business online! We can help each other and create a mututally beneficial partnership. 2021 is going to be the year of success, so get in touch and let me help you rule the world!

27

things that will help my business grow every day. If you want to achieve world domination too, then get in touch with me! I have so much to share with people. I can’t grow by myself! Nobody should be a one-man island, it’s not sustainable. Look for people who share your vision, and if that person is me, then get in touch. This year is going to be my year, so watch out everyone!

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

What’s your career plan for this year?

My evil plan is world domination! (At this point in the interview, Rikardo strokes his Bambi teddy on his lap in the same way an evil TV villain would stroke their cat).

Haha! I want to have the opportunity to showcase my art, and I want to show people that they can do anything they want to do.

We have been through so much in the last year, and in many senses, we are still struggling massively. We’ve lost people we love, and we are experiencing hardship in many areas of our lives. But now we have an opportunity to grow from this experience. We need to believe in ourselves.

Humans always think they’re amazing until they get confronted with a problem that they think they can’t solve, and then they give up, they lose all of their energy.

I’m not saying it’s bad to feel pushed back by obstacles, au contraire, it’s completely normal. The key is to wake up and start again. Don’t give up. We all break down, we all cry, believe me, I cry at butter commercials! But every day I make sure I am working on myself and helping myself move closer to domination. Pérolas de Rikardo will be a household name, so make sure you remember my name!

I’m going to make sure that I’m doing 28

I think it has to be when I realised that I could do this for a career. It’s not easy to work in the media. People don’t take you seriously, they just see you as the guy with the camera who talks a lot. So the best moment for me was realising that I just needed myself and my phone to be successful. I advise everyone reading this to just be themselves. The only person you need in your life is you. Ignore all the voices telling you that you’re not good enough and remember that the only opinion that matters is your own opinion.

The voices may not fully go away, they still come to me sometimes, but you learn to ignore them over time. It was when I realised all of this that Pérolas de Rikardo was born, so I would definitely say that was the highlight of my career.

Is there anything else you want to say to our readers?

If there is one thing that we can learn from the pandemic, it’s that we need to be able to reinvent ourselves. Learn how to be a chameleon. This is the best survival tactic there is. When business is bad, what are you going to do, cry? No, you are going to adapt and reinvent yourself.

Another thing is that we need to help each other through hard times and be human. This pandemic is not a joke, and it should remind us to be kind every day.

Those numbers on the TV, they’re not just statistics, they’re people. Be kind and respect people. You never know what somebody is going through.

THE KEY IS TO WAKE UP AND START AGAIN. DON’T GIVE UP.

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Marketing & Branding

Nicole is a senior graphic designer and the “boss lady” of Green House Media.

She is based in South Africa, but has worked with businesses across the world.

Nicole is passionate about animal welfare, and her dream job is using graphic design to help animal charities to promote the work they are doing.

Falling In Love With Art February, the month of love. That feeling of absolute bliss you get when you are with someone special or are starting something new. That feeling when you view a breath-taking work of art or design.

Art has the power to evoke feelings of love, anger, or sadness in its audience. Art may leave you feeling happy but may leave another person feeling annoyed. If you think about it, it is a bit like falling in love. Art has the power to create a sense of what the artist may have been feeling, connecting the audience with the artist.

The right painting, sculpture, or other piece of visual art or design can allow us to feel alive and will awaken those wonderful endorphins of ours.

In turn, that makes it much easier to engage with the art in a way that activates many other wonderful things for the human brain and psyche. Falling in love with art does have advantages over the art of falling in love with a person – it probably feels a lot easier. But just like in any relationship, a bit of effort is required to understand, appreciate, and fall in love with art.

This article is here to guide you on how to observe, understand, and fall in love with art. Visit the nearest gallery or art museum to you. Wander, slowly, around the gallery, spending at least a few minutes taking in each artwork or design. It takes some effort to really look. As you do, don’t think about what you’re having

for dinner, or the long list of emails waiting for you, or even what you are “supposed to notice” if you know art. Silence your thoughts. Just observe.

Become aware of how it makes you feel. If you feel a flicker of something like excitement, stay a little longer. Let it grow.

Sometimes it can be a good idea to move around and to go and look at another artwork. Do you feel drawn back to the previous one? Is it still speaking to you? If you feel the tug becoming irresistible, return to observe it further.

Place yourself in front of the piece of art and work out why you feel connected to it. What is it about this painting, sculpture, or design that speaks to you? What does it remind you of? What about it is creating a sense of excitement for you?

At this point, it may be helpful to do some research about the artwork and the artist. What did they intend to communicate? This may help you to understand why you are responding to it. Or it might not. Sometimes, even the artist themself is unaware of what is unconsciously expressed through an artwork. Trying to discover the message in an artwork is one of the things that makes it so exciting.

Each artwork or design is unique, and one cannot be compared to another. So, when you find an artwork that speaks to you, that is when you stop and let the “conversation” happen naturally.

It might well lead to the romance you have been seeking! And if it does, why not take it with you?

If you can’t afford an original (let’s face it, a Van Gogh original is a little pricey for most), then try to find a good print or photograph of it. This may be your first experience of falling in love with art, but it definitely won’t be your last.

“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.” - Chuck Klosterman.

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Fashion & Beauty

Renata Aron is 2020’s winner of the Fashion category at the Best of Brazil European Awards. She is the founder of Nothing To Wear Image Consultancy and the NTW app, as well as being on the board of AICI Portugal and having created the Impulse Method.

How Self-Image Influences Our Behaviours and Self-Esteem In order for us to be able to understand the influence that our self-image has on our behaviour, first we need to know that self-image is directly linked to self-esteem.

Do you know what self-esteem is?

In the dictionary we can find this definition: a quality found in those who value themselves, who are happy with who they are and who as a result demonstrate confidence in their actions and judgements.

Allow me to take that even further. Self-esteem is health, it is looking after yourself and your personal image. That means that the vision we have of ourselves directly impacts how much we value ourselves. This perception of ourselves is what moulds our choices, feelings, and behaviours.

Self-esteem can’t be magicked out of nowhere; it has to be developed throughout the course of our lives.

When a person has low self-esteem, when they see themselves in a negative light, this results in them feeling inadequate, embarrassed, anxious, guilty, and sad. We don’t feel happy in ourselves when we have low self-esteem, and that is evident through our image and through the way in which we behave in all of our relationships in life.

When a person has high self-esteem, they feel good about how they look in the mirror. This is then reflected in their feelings and behaviours, and they act in a much more positive manner. High self-esteem gives us self-confidence in all areas of our lives.

Can you see why we say that self-image and self-esteem work together and are the nucleus of our behaviours?

Poor self-esteem can leave us trapped in a vicious cycle. Our brains become accustomed to reacting in a certain way to our self-image, and that leaves us trapped in a constant cycle of negative reactions.

world? What’s your lifestyle like? What are your professional goals? How do you like to dress?

As well as this, I always suggest to my clients that they do the following exercise: ask yourself, when was the last time you looked in the mirror and felt good about what you saw? The last time that your reflection made you smile and feel confident, as though you could take over the world?

Once they’ve worked out when that was, I ask them to remember how they were dressed. What colours were they wearing, what clothing style, what accessories? How did they have their hair done, were they wearing make-up? The more details they can remember, the better.

Then I ask them to do the exercise the other way around.

They should try to remember a day they felt insecure, sad, or frustrated. The idea of these exercises is to make it clear what makes you feel good and what makes you feel insecure, and then you can work with that knowledge to create a self-image that boosts your self-esteem.

2. Create new habits: Using the new self-knowledge you have developed, make it a habit to dress the way you want to feel, the way that makes you feel good in yourself.

For example: Maybe you feel confident every time you go to work in a blazer, with make-up on and with your hair done.

When you see yourself dressed like that, your brain links that look with confidence and positive self-image. This automatically increases our self-esteem, which in turn makes us feel even more confident. This allows us to enter into a cycle of positive reinforcement.

In the beginning it is difficult, but you will get there. Every day when you’re getting ready, decide how you want to feel that day, and dress in a way that will allow you to feel like that. Eventually, this process will become second nature!

So how can we change that cycle, and move towards a more positive self-image which will enhance our self-esteem and in turn, increase our confidence in ourselves? Through getting to know ourselves and creating new habits!

1. Getting to know ourselves: In order for us to curate an image which brings us confidence and makes us feel comfortable in ourselves, we first need to know who we are.

What do you like? What are your assets and what are your flaws? Which of your assets do you want to show off to the

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Unsplash @higdonc

Health & Wellness

Shawna Byrd (M.A., L.M.H.C.) is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in private practice in Florida. Her focus is helping working professionals overcome psychological barriers that hinder success. To learn more, see her Psychology Today profile at Shawna Byrd, Counselor, Clearwater, FL, 33763 | Psychology Today.

Is the Imposter Syndrome Killing Your Love Life?

In last month’s edition of High Profile Magazine, I discussed the Imposter Syndrome. It’s that niggly internal monologue that says “you are a fake and a fraud and you don’t deserve to be influencing people, or commanding a high salary, or enjoying your professional position” despite ample evidence that you are the real deal. Clinical psychologists Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes first coined this term in 1978 and defined the imposter phenomenon as the internal experience of believing your success is due to some mysterious fluke.

My January article looked at the Imposter Syndrome from the perspective of how it limits the success of entrepreneurs with big dreams. But did you know that the Imposter Syndrome can sneak into your psyche in such a way that it affects your love life, too?

Left unchecked, the negative effects of Imposter Syndrome can slowly become your lens for looking at yourself and your place in the world. If any of the following patterns seem familiar to you, you may have internalized the Imposter Syndrome in such a way that your relationships suffer.

1

You are in a wonderful relationship, but you worry that your partner will end When your partner compliments you, it suddenly. Perhaps you have you feel sceptical. Whether it’s about a history of unsuccessful relationships and you notice that this time, you your looks or your achievements, you are with someone who is kind, loving and can’t seem to accept the compliment trustworthy, but in the back of your mind you as being sincere. Your partner feels are waiting for something terrible to hapthis scepticism from you and it drives You pen. You think Mr. Wonderful will wake a wedge between you. choose a mate up and realise that you aren’t amazthat is the “easy” ing, so you instigate little disagreeEverything is going choice. Rather than listenments to sabotage the relawell in your relationing to and honouring your tionship before your partner ship, but you start looking true feelings about a potential finds out you are a “fake”. for conflict. Somewhere deep mate, you settle down because down you feel that your partyou don’t want to be alone. You You are in a committed relationship ner needs to prove the love they don’t believe you deserve betbut feel overwhelmed by any conhave for you by fighting to keep you. ter. Your unhappiness keeps flict. Your mind interprets any conYou If it doesn’t seem like they are willing to reinforcing a message flict as doom and failure, rather than are engage in this unhealthy behaviour, that you aren’t worthy as an opportunity for cooperation caught you start thinking that your partof better. and growth. Your internal monoin a trap ner doesn’t love you. Your mind logue says “I feel uncomfortable, and of comparirationalises that this is beI can’t cope with this… this is probably sons. You start cause you are an unworthe end” rather than “the problem is looking up your thy fake. the problem… our problem does not partner’s exes on mean we don’t care for one another social media and comor want to be together.” paring looks or lifestyle to your own. The ex is attractive, and it makes you feel bad about yourself because you are viewing that person’s carefully curated life on the web and wonder why your partner would “settle” for you.

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3

2

5

4

As with any behaviour change, self-awareness is the first step. Being mindful of your thought patterns and challenging your negative thoughts can go a long way toward improving the Imposter Syndrome. Seeking help from a qualified therapist who specialises in relationships can help your relationship return to a healthy dynamic so you can enjoy the love you so richly deserve.

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5 Things to Look Forward to in 2021

By Lola Sherwin After a tough year for everyone in 2020, many of us are hopeful that 2021 will bring better times for all. Here we bring you a list of 5 of the things we’re most looking forward to this year, to give us all some positivity as we continue to endure the pandemic over the next few months!

1

The vaccine

No list of things to look forward to in 2021 would be complete without the vaccine that is giving us all some light at the end of this seemingly never-ending tunnel. Over the last few weeks, a number of different vaccines have begun to be distributed and administered to people across the world. The vaccine is what is driving the hopefully feeling felt by many at the moment, so let’s hope for a smooth rollout so that we can return to some sense of normality in the not-too-distant future.

2

The an

There is som Games will g hopeful in ligh an Olympic ment, as not Games! Let’s that we will b ag

4

In a huge win for the climate, the E will come into effect in July. Despite it plans to implement a similar ban welcome news for the planet, and w tackling the climate cris

34

Events

3

e Tokyo Olympics nd Paralympics

We all miss live music, but luckily for us, Eurovision are committed to holding their popular event this year to bring some joy to our lives.

The organisers say they have safety measures in place, and provided Europe is in a suitable position for the event to take place when May comes around, then we can look forward to the fun and happiness that Eurovision always brings with it. Hopefully this year will bring with it the return of live music on a wider scale, too!

me uncertainty around whether the go ahead, but everyone still remains ht of the vaccine’s arrival. If we do get c Games, then it will be a great mothing lifts spirits like a good Olympic s keep our fingers crossed and hope be able to watch sporting excellence gain come summer 2021.

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EU’s ban on single-use plastic items e the fact the UK has now left the EU, n in October of this year. This will be will hopefully have a huge impact on sis we are currently facing.

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Eurovision

ther Is exc Feb iting a e anyth sas ruar ing rov p y a be b er will 18th, N ace mi s s l and roadca and on ASA’s P sion? O st e M will n be a on the ars! Th rsevera nce n ex e lan NAS citin AY din fans g mom ouTube g will amo c e ng u nt for a hannel , ny s s. pac e

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Paula Tebett: The Brazilian Queen of Social Media Paula Tebett is a Brazilian digital marketing professional, journalist, public speaker, and content creator. She also runs a course “Instagram for Women” which helps women to understand how to use Instagram to promote their businesses. Follow her on Instagram and subscribe to her YouTube.

What made you decide to start a YouTube channel?

Two things! The first was that I just loved to record videos. For me, it’s always been very easy to speak to a camera and post a video of it online. I love to write, I’m a journalist, but the ease of creating video content is something that I’ve always loved. So I decided to create a channel, and I love creating content for it.

The second thing is that I was aware that YouTube is one of the

biggest search engines, in fact it’s probably the biggest after Google. I knew if I wanted to be found when someone searches “digital marketing” or “social media marketing”, I needed to have a YouTube channel. So, from that point onwards I began regularly creating content and now, in less than two years, YouTube have started paying me because of the number of views that my videos get. And it’s a platform that just keeps growing!

What are the most important things a person should do if they want to be successful on Instagram?

The first thing is that you have to post regularly and consistently.

If you’re just going to post once a week and then disappear before coming back a week later to post again, it’s not going to work.

After all, he who isn’t seen can-

37

“Accepting who you are and using it to your advantage is key” not be remembered, so you need to make sure you’re always there, posting content, so that people think of you when they think of whatever your niche is. Also, Instagram rewards consistency; the more you post, the better reach your posts will get, and the more your audience will grow. There isn’t a way of becoming an authority in your field if you don’t post regularly and consistently.

So that’s the first step.

The second step is that you have to find your niche. If you work with technology, that’s great, but it’s hard to reach your target audience because the following for that area is so enormous that it’s a struggle to target content. If you find a niche within your wider area, for example, if you work with Apple products and nothing else, then you’ll be able to target your content much more easily, and it becomes easier to become an authority in your field because there are less people doing the same thing.

The next thing is the question of authenticity. You have to accept who you are, and rather than copying someone else, rather than saying to yourself, “oh, but they’re doing it like that, and they’re the leader in my field, so surely I should do it like that to”, you should be thinking, “right, are they successful because of how they do this, or because they’ve made a name for themselves by being their authentic selves?”. Accepting who you are and using it to your advantage is key, because people love authenticity.

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My fourth tip would be to use Instagram Stories as much as possible. Stories are viewed more than feed posts! So you need to use them well. Show people your dayto-day life, give them a behind-the-scenes of you and your business. People want to know who is behind the account, they love it when you give them insights into your life.

You can even show parts of your personal life, but of course use your common sense here with what you should and shouldn’t show! Using Stories also allows you to direct people to your new post on your feed so that you can gain more traction there, too. The best thing about Stories is that they allow your audience to relate to you, which drives them to put their trust in you, in turn making it easier for you to sell your products or services to them.

Finally, make sure to use Instagram adverts.

With over a billion active users on Instagram worldwide, it’s pretty much impossible to reach your target audience and get a quick return on your work without investing money in advertising. See it as an investment!

You can refine your ads so they reach exactly the kind of people you want them to, and that way you can start to bring in your target audience. So set aside a budget for ads – this is a business platform, after all!

What is your favourite social media platform, and why?

My favourite has to be Instagram, because there are so many things you can do on there to connect with your audience. You’ve got Stories, feed posts, Reels, IGTVs, Lives...

Lives are absolutely great to be able to communicate more with your followers, and you can invite people to join them too to boost visibility! I love Instagram.

I also love YouTube! It’s the only platform that pays me purely to create content. On Instagram, I do a lot of branded content, but on YouTube I get paid just for creating a video and posting it there, which is great.

I really like YouTube, I like TikTok too, that’s one that’s really growing at the moment.

LinkedIn as well! They’re my four favourites I think, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn. How does your course, Instagram For Women, help female entrepreneurs to become successful on Instagram?

My course is perfect for all women, whether they’re entrepreneurs, businesswomen, or they just want to use Instagram to promote their work. It’s a step-by-step course to help them gain visibility, or win clients, or promote their products, whatever it is they want to do.

“I started doing things in my own way, that’s when I started to get more attention” I started the course two years ago, and in January I totally refreshed it, and it’s being relaunched in March on International Women’s Day. When you sign up to the course you get one year of access to all of the content, and every time Instagram launches a new feature, I add information about how to use it to the course. Participants can chat to me about any doubts they have, too.

The course is pre-recorded, but it’s all completely up to date with the current trends. It’s as much a course for people who know nothing about Instagram as it is for people who already know bits about the platform. If you’re starting from scratch there’s information on every step right from creating an account, and if you already know how to set up an account, then you can skip the early modules and go straight to the strategy section. I’ve got a lot of great testimonials of people who have gained a following from my course, won clients, and so much more. It’s a great course, and there’s information on everything on there, even on how to create ads on Stories.

You do a lot of public speaking, what topics do you cover in your talks?

So my niche is social media for businesses. I’ve done a lot of talks on how

39

“What’s really important is finding your true purpose” to sell on LinkedIn, on Instagram marketing, and on how you can get results on social media platforms. I also talk about female entrepreneurship and digital entrepreneurship. Sometimes the company or event that’s hosting me will ask me to discuss a specific social media, or they’ll want me to talk about common mistakes that people make on a particular platform. I’ve also done a lot of talks on the importance of authenticity in content creation, and on how you can make yourself stand out in the world of social media.

As well as your presence on social media, you’re also a digital marketing professional. What is it that makes you different from other digital marketing professionals?

I’ve worked in digital marketing for over 13

years now. After I graduate in journalism in 2002, I did an MBA in marketing and fell in love, and eventually I ended up in digital marketing. Now I use my many years of training to help businesses and professionals with their digital marketing, as well as giving talks and creating content.

Initially, I couldn’t see what differentiated me from other marketing professionals. But then I realised that I work in a different way to other professionals.

My way of teaching is a lot easier for people to understand. I try and make sure I give practical advice to people, and that I do so in a fun and playful manner.

When I started doing things in my own way, that’s when I started to get more attention, and I even had Brazilian celebrities getting in touch with me. I want to make sure that my work is accessible for everyone, even if they know nothing about marketing. So that’s what makes me different from other professionals - I make sure to present information in a simple and well-explained manner.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?

There have been a few great moments!

One of those was that a year and a half ago, mLabs, which is a social media management platform here in South

40

America, commented on one of my posts saying it was sensational. After that they got in touch with me to arrange a meeting, and now I am contracted by them to create content for their social media channels. Working with them opened up a lot of doors for me, so I’m very grateful for that opportunity.

Another proud moment was when I reported on Latin America’s biggest sales and marketing event which takes place in Florianopolis here in Brazil. There were speakers from all across the world, from companies like Google and Facebook, and I had the chance to interview speakers and be jokey with them, which was absolutely great.

I also worked on a project called Ameizing, which combines “amei” from the Brazilian word “amar” with the English word “amazing”. It’s a Disney experience, and I got to take entrepreneurs from here in Brazil to Disney World Florida for a week for this event. We did a week’s worth of training there and had loads of amazing speakers, so that way pretty cool.

What’s the greatest challenge you have faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?

My greatest challenge was finding my purpose. I spent 8 years working for the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro in the marketing and events department. I was earning well, I got to travel a lot, but when I got pregnant, I realised that it wasn’t a sustainable career for me, I couldn’t travel so much when I had a kid at home. After that, I managed a hostel in Rio, and it went well for a while, but I wasn’t happy there because tourism just wasn’t something I wanted to do. It was something that helped me bring in money, but that experience made me realise that money is a consequence, what’s really important is finding your true purpose.

It was in that moment that I decided I was going to make a career out of social media.

I’d always worked with social media, but I never thought it could be my real job, because there weren’t even adverts on social media at that time! But I committed myself to making a career out of it, and from then onwards things really changed for the better, and I realised I had a real business in it!

Now I’m doing what I love, and it doesn’t matter that in the beginning I had to start from scratch to do it.

How has the pandemic affected your work, if it has at all?

The pandemic has been awful for everyone in different ways. There has been a lot of sadness and loss. However, in terms of business, I’ll be honest, it brought me the best year I’ve had for earning money. Everyone was searching for digital marketing – it was actually the most searched term on Google in Brazil last year! So business-wise, it was a good year for me.

There were a lot of things I had to turn down though, because of the logistics of having my daughter at home and having to home school her. I had less than half the day free all of a sudden, so there were a lot of opportunities I had to say no to. Of course a lot of events I was scheduled to do were also postponed, but all in all I can’t complain, because I gained a lot of visibility online.

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Marketing & Branding

Sahar is a video editor who studied in Lebanon, and now has over 4 years’ experience.

Her clients include SME businesses, influencers, fitness gurus, and many more. With over 1 million views across YouTube and social media, Sahar helps clients grow their social presence and stand out in a competitive market.

How to Make Your Clients Love Your Videos With Valentine’s Day approaching and consumers’ attention turning to romance, now is the perfect time to add a bit of love to your videos.

Usually, this time of year is associated with couples - special gifts, flowers, cards, and a romantic meal out, however increasingly the focus is on self-love and self-care. The importance of self-love was evident way before the pandemic, but it has really come to the fore over the past year.

Whether you are looking to share your own love with your followers, help others express their love, or encourage people to love themselves, setting the tone with the right type of video will really help you attract your viewers to you and your business.

Sound

Mood

In addition to the visuals, sounds will also contribute to the overall effect of your video. Within this there are a number of interesting routes that can be taken.

The first is to link the sound to the theme. Waves crashing against the beach fits perfectly with the calming self-love approach for instance, whereas an upbeat, in-your-face, song would go well with the passionate approach. This maintains the viewer’s expectations and really compliments the overall tone of the video.

The second approach is perhaps counterintuitive - pairing contrary sounds. By this, I mean adding a soothing tone to the passionate video, or a more up-beat sound to the self-love video. This may instinctively feel wrong, but it is a popular technique in film and TV, and used correctly it can be really effective in capturing the mood of the video.

Ultimately, a video focused on love is really all about tone and texture.

Some will favour a soothing approach, with sympathetic notes, light shades of colours, and gentle transitions. Think of a calming scene with a soft overlay - the viewer feels relaxed and comforted, and in turn they associate that feeling with the brand.

On the other hand, others may take a more passionate route. Think of vivid reds with a bright overlay, with crisp, sharp transitions, really catching the viewers’ attention, making it truly memorable.

Branding As with all types of promotional video, how and when your brand comes in is going to be key. Think about whether the brand is to be the focus, or if the product itself is going to be the centre of attention.

It may be that the brand, product, or service is the content of the video, showing a lovely necklace being presented as a gift, or someone relaxing after having downloaded your app. Perhaps the video is more about the mood itself, with the branding shown at the end to tie it all together. Whatever your preferred approach, a skilled video editor can make it a reality.

The above are just some of the ways to create a loving feel throughout your promotional videos, but there is no doubt they are effective in creating strong associations between your brand, product, or service, and love in your potential clients’ minds.

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Cristina is a Brazilian hairdresser from Rio de Janeiro. She graduated 8 years ago from Adam & Eva Skolen in Oslo, Norway, and is now the salon owner of C² Cris Christensen, specialising in keratine treatments. Cristina won the Best Brazilian Hairdressing Salon in Europe award in 2020.

Looking After Your Hair Is A Form Of Self-Love!

Many countries around the world celebrate the 14th of February as Valentine’s Day, a day to recognise the love we share with our partners. Legend has it that this tradition was created by Saint Valentine himself to celebrate the marriages of couples in a clandestine manner when marriage was banned in ancient Rome in the third century. On the day of his death, he sent a love letter to his love, signed “from your Valentine”. Since then, we have celebrated this day as the day of love.

On the other side of the world, in the USA they celebrate Valentine’s Day as being a commemoration of love, no matter what kind of love. It is a celebration of love as a whole. I myself have spent various Valentine’s Days in the company of friends at peaceful and harmonious dinners.

So, shall we talk about self-love?

We give love to and receive love from a lot of people. From family, from children, from friends, from our partners, our work colleagues, even the smiles we get from our neighbours are a form of love. But only you can manifest self-love in your life.

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How marvellous is it to receive a compliment!

For example, in the lift when your work colleague asks where you got your hair done because they think it looks nice. You will leave the lift feeling powerful and as though nobody can ruin your day.

But so many of us think we don’t have time to indulge in self-love, and believe me, you are not alone if you think that! In the madness

Fashion & Beauty

that is our daily lives, it is easy to convince ourselves that we don’t have time to dedicate to ourselves. But there’s such simple ways of doing so!

For example, looking after your hair is one of the best forms of self-love out there. There are several ways in which you can protect your hair from looking dull, snapping off or dry. The details are what make the difference.

A healthy strand of hair will grow, on average, one centimetre per month. A great way of stimulating growth is by massaging your scalp gently, as this activates your bloodstream and helps to dissolve any fats which may be blocking your pores.

If you tend to blow-dry your hair, buy a heat-protective product and apply it before drying your hair with the hair dryer or the curling iron. This will help keep your hair pro-

may end up a different colour to your desired shade.

Hydration is also incredibly important as it maintains the necessary vitamins in your hair. Remember to cut the ends of your hair at least once every three months, it’s just a quick trip to the salon! When the ends of your hair are healthy, your body doesn’t need to focus energy on repairing them, and so can focus on using that energy to help your hair to grow healthily.

When it comes to combing your hair, it can be hard to know where to start. If you have long hair, always start by combing from the tips and then start to move upwards, this way you will be able to untangle your hair gently without damaging the strands. Be patient!

tected from heat damage and will maintain it in better condition.

And before I forget, never rub your hair with a towel to dry it! This only aggravates the cuticles of your hair and creates frizz. Dry it softly, and don’t forget to protect your hair from the sun – there are several leave-in solar protection products that can help with this. Use them and you will start to feel the difference!

Buy a good quality shampoo and conditioner. If you dye your hair, find a sulphate-free shampoo to avoid leaving your hair looking dull.

People with blonde or grey hair, whether it’s natural or not, require special care. If this is you, buy a toning shampoo to help keep your hair looking fresh. These shampoos remove the impurities which get caught in our hair, such as dust and other particles. Try to only use the shampoo twice a month, otherwise it

45

People Are the Heart of EY:

An Interview with Rohan Malik Lydiah is the Director of Enterprise Support at Oxford Brookes University. With over 17 years of C-level experience, Igweh specialises in innovation, entrepreneurship, organisational change, leadership and digital transformation. She’s committed to championing women in business and advancing race equality. Lydiah enjoys writing, mentoring and presenting.

Rohan Malik, UK & Ireland Government and Infrastructure Managing Partner at EY, recently shared his insights with me on ‘inclusive leadership’, his values and passion for advancing Diversity and Inclusion at EY, and their commitment to embedding core principles of inclusiveness placing people at the heart of the organisation.

ness. We’ve got a range of activities that demonstrate our commitment to inclusive leadership from targeted sponsorships to being vocal around the Black Lives Matter agenda.

We’ve got to put our money where our mouth is, especially around our values related to diversity and inclusion. Concerning targeted sponsorship, we were one Why are diversity and inclusion crucial in today’s of the first professional services firms to sign up to the workplace?

Black British Network; making sure our commitment is high profile, high Twelve years ago, I was the first impact, ensuring we hear the voices non-Caucasian partner at EY in the UK of our senior managers and direcin consulting services. From the race tors who have a black ethnicity. We D&I is not just the equality context, I’ve been someone also have multiple internal networks who effectively wanted to feel includaround race, ethnicity, and religion, right thing to do. ed. Since the growth which EY’s had and effectively they’re all champions It’s the smart thing over the last several years, things are as well. changing. to do.

EY Leadership gets involved in these “D&I is not just the right thing to do. endeavours, creating the right sort It’s the smart thing to do”. Ultimately of permission and encouragement Rohan Malik D&I at EY is a big priority because it’s for our staff to continue dialogue and EY UK & Ireland Managing the right thing to do ethically and from action on these critical issues. We all Partner - Government and a business standpoint. We endeavour have a role to play, but I am under no to recruit, retain, and reward our talillusion that it can’t happen bottom infrastrcture ent effectively with that inclusiveness up only. We need the right sort of mindset, in its broadest context, race, models and frameworks. I’m just one gender, sexual orientation and other protected characof those many partners who believe in the importance teristics. of inclusiveness and who does their best to contribute.

“

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What’s the role of leadership in creating inclusive cultures?

How does EY support clients to develop inclusive cultures?

Like any of the big four, EY has a fascinating culture: it’s a partnership culture, it’s an owner-manager model, so it’s a very different dynamic structure. We have over 550 partners. All of us as fellow partners display inclusive behaviours that set the tone for the rest of the busi-

We are one organisation, but our strategy allows us to build an ecosystem and be in an ecosystem to gain value and benefit in the market and internally collectively. Hence, our partnerships are with similar-minded organisations.

Training & Development

“Our biggest asset at EY is not manufacturing tools, and it’s not R and D. It’s people”.

If we’re not effectively putting people first in our culture and our dialogue with other organisations, we’re missing a trick. We’ve contributed and championed several reports. For example, one of my fellow partners did the Parker review, and we do this regularly, with FTSE boards.

We have a particular service called the D&I service that goes and does a baseline for organisations as to where they stand. There’s a whole range of metrics, including race and gender, to name a few. We help them by showing them the EY example and benchmarking them against other organisations in their sectors internationally, nationally, and creating recommendations for them to consider with the data to support them to build progress. I see this as a considerable boardroom dialogue, and it helps to have credibility when we talk to clients when we’re doing it ourselves.

Do you hold your clients accountable?

on the EY Foundation’s Smart Futures/Our Futures programmes will be offered to Black young people for the next five years from September 2021.

Additionally, we’ve set a target of offering at least 30% of places on our school leaver pathways to Black alumni from the Smart Futures and Our Futures programmes from next year.

I think it’s a combination. Like in EY, things only work when there’s ownership and championing from the top. We’re not in the role of a regulator where we would hold clients to account. It’s much more about sharing insights and sharing views and perspectives, including using our examples.

These targets create the right provocation, motivation and give us clear goals. It’s great to have a statement of intent, but if you don’t measure it, and act on it, it’s tough to see whether you’re improving as an organisation.

Then individually, each organisation has to make up their mind about how they will drive change. It’s not a piece of cake as you can appreciate, and we included haven’t cracked the code on this one.

What happened last summer with the death of George Floyd is something we take seriously. Hence putting down targets and going through several dialogues with our workforce and our clients gave us a direction to aim for, a North star.

What is the EY Global Diversity and Inclusion Statement, and what does it mean in terms of commitment?

What does short- and long-term success look like for EY, with regards to diversity and inclusion?

Previously I was the EY partner responsible for the World Bank, and I was looking to find a way to connect with the World Bank CEO, Kristilina, now CEO of the International Money Fund. The connection I found was a common interest in D&I. I built up a D&I charter, ten commitments, which EY would make for our work with the World Bank. We work with the World Bank in over a hundred countries worldwide on a whole range of programs around poverty alleviation and the role of gender, and ethnicity is pretty pertinent when it comes to how you unlock growth in any economy globally. Those ten commandments were commitments that EY made signed by our global CEO, Carmine and signed by the World Bank CEO—creating real value in the quality of the relationship with the World Bank and EY culture.

From a UK standpoint, EY announced a series of new actions on anti-racism this summer.

We won’t be satisfied until our staff and clients feel that EY is diverse and inclusive. We conduct a global people survey annually for all EY People, approx. 300,000 globally, and just over 17,000 in the UK. We do a client satisfaction questionnaire after every project as well. It’s vital that our staff and our clients feel that we are making progress, and we’re not just jumping on trends.

Targets are a means to an end, to help understand the progress we are making and areas for improvement.

“D&I is not just a buzzword. It has to be part and parcel of our culture, the fabric of our business”. I think it’s one of those things which will always be a journey, not a destination from my perspective. We’ll continually strive to do better.

See more on Inclusiveness at EY.

These include a target for 15% of our ethnic minority Partners to be Black. 30% of our work experience places

47

“Brazil has given me the freedom I always dreamed of”

h t i w w e i v r e t n i n A berto Mas l A Interview by Rafael dos Santos

Alberto Mas is the owner of Terra dos Goitis, which are private chalets in the Praia do Amor region of Pipa, a village located in Rio Grande do Norte in the North-East of Brazil. Alberto is originally from Barcelona, but he moved to Brazil 15 years ago when he felt he needed to change up his life.

Why did you move to Pipa?

I moved to Pipa in 2005, so I’ve been living here for 15 years now. It was a decision that really came about due to my love of travelling abroad and visiting new countries. Each country I visited seemed to have its own little version of paradise – in Italy it was the pizzerias; in Argentina they have their amazing meat and little restaurants -all these places had little bits of paradise.

Over time, I realised I wanted to find the right little bit of paradise for me.

One day, I came to Pipa on holiday, and I instantly realised that this was the place for me, and it was in that moment that I decided to take the leap and change my life. I completely fell in love with Pipa. People here say that it is Pipa that chooses you, you do not choose Pipa, and I feel like that is what happened to me – Pipa chose me!

Do you consider yourself to be a foreigner here, or a local?

I feel like a local. I actually have a funny anecdote about this! When I first moved to Pipa, there was only one bar that sold café espresso, and I would go there every day and pay 3 reais. One day, when I’d been living here for about a year and a half, I went there as normal, and when I went to pay, the waitress said, “No, no, it’s just 2 reais!”. Of course, I asked her why, because it has always been 3 reais before! And she said, “Well now it is 2, because you are a local, you belong here”. All this time I’d been paying more than I needed to for my coffee! But it’s little things like that that make me feel like I belong.

When you moved here with your partner, did you feel

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welcomed by the locals?

We never had any problems at all. Maybe people were talking about us behind our backs, but we never felt anything less than accepted. My partner is also called Alberto, and we became known as the Albertos! I don’t know if people knew we were partners or not, but I don’t think it would have made any difference to how welcoming they were, really.

Did you experience a big cultural shock when you first moved here, due to the difference in lifestyle that exists between Spain and Brazil?

This is what I was saying earlier, about Pipa choosing you. If there had been a big cultural shock, I don’t think Pipa would have chosen me. There’s a lot of things that are different here, of course. For example, when you’re driving behind someone and they suddenly stop to have a chat with their friend, that can be surprising to people who aren’t used to it. But there’s no point saying “Hey, what are you doing?!”, because this isn’t London, Barcelona, or New York, you don’t have to be in a rush here, the lifestyle is just different.

So yes, there were some things which I had to adapt to, but it wasn’t a cultural shock for me, because this is the lifestyle I was looking for. I wanted a lifestyle that would let me stop and talk to a friend without them having to schedule a coffee date into my diary, and that’s the lifestyle that Pipa has given me.

What are the top things that you think someone should know before moving to Brazil?

I’ll tell you some things that I love about this place. The people are a lot more relaxed here. For example, say your relationship ends, people here will say “não era para ser”, which translates to “it was not meant to be”.

Normally, when relationships end you want to die! But here people just take it in their stride. The songs here explain the Brazilian way of life very well. A lot of them say to just “let it happen”, which reflects perfectly how

travel much more relaxed the Brazilian way of life is. In Europe, we’re so caught up in what went wrong, whereas here it’s just something to accept and move on from.

I’d say you need to know why you want to go to a certain place. If you want to come to Pipa to become a millionaire, then that’s not a good reason. But if you want to become a millionaire in terms of quality of life, then maybe Brazil is the right place for you. If you need to get away from your stressful life and you feel you want to change your way of life, then yes, Brazil can give you that. But you need to know what you want from this experience, or you won’t get the most out of it.

I’ll tell you a little story. One day, when I was building the chalets, the builder came to me and said, “Alberto, there is a problem with the truck, so the construction materials I ordered aren’t going to get here today.”, and of course, I became stressed and hysterical about it.

He took me to one side and he said, “Look. Every day, you’re here, driving yourself crazy supervising what’s happening. You need to take your music, put on some swimming trunks, and go to the beach. You’re lucky the truck has broken down! It means you have a day off. Go and relax.”. And he was so right! I had gotten so used to my old way of life, that I had forgotten to take time to enjoy this new lifestyle. That’s something you need to understand – this is a place where you can leave your stresses behind. You will learn a lot from Brazilians.

We always think we know everything, but actually, we know nothing. We have so much to learn!

As a European, what do you think of the “jeitinho brasileiro”, i.e., the Brazilian way of doing things which isn’t necessarily the proper way, but is the way to get things done?

I think the jeitinho brasileiro works! In Europe, say we’re going to the registry because we’ve bought some property, we’ll wear a suit and make sure everything is perfect. Here, you can just turn up in shorts and flip flops.

It’s a lot less formal, and I really like that.

The jeitinho brasileiro lets you get stuff done by helping you jump over hurdles more quickly. In Barcelona, if I needed something fixed, I might have to wait a week for the parts and everything to be ready. Here, they’ll say, well it won’t be easy, but we’ll get it done, and it’s done in two hours. It may not follow formal procedures, but it definitely works.

Was it difficult for you to start a business here as a foreigner?

I think it’s never easy, no matter what country you’re in,

but here the bureaucracy is awful. In a lot of countries, you can get stuff processed very quickly, but in Brazil there’s a lot of paperwork, and you’re constantly filling out the same papers. It takes ages, but it’s not worth getting really stressed about it – it will happen when it happens.

Once when I was just starting up, I went to some office or other with some paperwork, and the woman said to come back the next day and they’d have everything ready for me. So the next day I went back, and there was some paperwork that was missing. I was like “Why didn’t you call me? It’s a 27km drive to get here, who is going to pay for my petrol?!”. And the woman said, “Look, sir, mistakes happen.”. On the drive back, I was taking in all of the beauty around me, and I thought to myself hey, it wasn’t a total waste of a day. Mistakes do happen, and there’s nothing you can do about it. What could I do, kill her for not having my paperwork ready?

No. I’ll just go back the next day and hope that it’s ready, it’s not a big deal. When you’re starting a business in another country, it’s important to adapt to the local way of doing things, and that was what I had to do.

And what is it like to run a business, now that you’re a few years down the line?

I love it. Like I said though, you have to adapt to the Brazilian way of doing things. Here, people love to ask for a discount. They’ll be like, “What’s the discount if I stay for 5 days?”, and then it’s, “OK so what about if I stay for 7 days, what’s the discount then?”. I always say well if I keep giving you discounts, by the time you’ve stayed here for a month it will be free! But you have to understand that that’s normal here, and just be firm with what your final offer is. In Europe, you would never go into a bar and ask for a discount on your glass of wine or whatever, it just wouldn’t happen! But here it’s the norm, and you have to learn to work with it.

Would you recommend moving to Brazil to other Europeans?

Of course! Without a doubt. Brazil is a welcoming country, and they value whatever it is you have to offer – not in terms of money, but in terms of happiness. Brazilian people are so open, and I love being here, I’d recommend it to anyone. I came here to feel more free than I was in my home country, and Pipa has given me that freedom.

Unsplash @jaimedantas

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If you want to help your married friends have the perfect night in together, why not buy them this cute movie night hamper? It has popcorn, sweets and popcorn holders, so now all they need to do is pick a movie and relax!

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Scented Candle Gift Set, £18.99 (Buy here) Generally, you can’t go wrong with a candle for a gift. So why not buy your partner 12 candles? The perfect present!

5 gifts for your partner ( for her):

OGX Argan Oil of Morocco Gift Set, £20 (Buy here) If your lady loves haircare, then this might just be the gift for her! It has all the products she could need to keep her hair beautiful and glossy, and we’re sure she will love it.

Preserved Real Rose Necklace, £34.99 (Buy here) This beautiful necklace has a preserved real rose enclosed in it. What better symbol could there be of your eternal love for your partner? It will look beautiful on her, too.

Wireless Neck and Shoulder Massager, £59.99 (Buy here) There's nothing more relaxing than a massage, so why not treat the woman in your life to her very own portable massager? This machine has several features which make it the most soothing present you’ll find – who wouldn’t want massages on tap?

5 gifts for your partner ( for him):

Beard Growth Kit, £19.91 (Buy here)

Is your partner constantly trying to grow his beard? Then help him out with this nifty little beard growth kit!

This is the perfect gift for the bearded man in your life.

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Boxclever Press 2021 D £9.99 (Buy here)

If your partner loves to b ganised, then a diary is perfect gift for her. Help h keep her life in order with pretty 2021 diary!

Hobsons Mixed English Rea Case, £37.65 (Buy here)

If your partner is an ale and then this is the present for hamper contains 12 beers a them to enjoy.

Niimo Hands Casting Kit, £36.90

Thetford Design Family Tree Photo Frame, £32.99

(Buy here)

(Buy here)

If you have friends who have just had a baby, then you won’t find a better gift for them than this. This kit provides everything they need to make moulds of their baby’s feet, leaving them with a gift that they will be able to keep forever.

5 gifts for your friends with babies:

Diary,

be ors the her to h this

Mum’s “Me Time” Pamper Box, £34.99 (Buy here) Being a new parent can be super stressful. Sleepless nights become the norm, and you seem to have no time for yourself! Buy this to help the new mum in your life remember to take a moment to pamper herself.

al Ale & Beer

d beer lover, r him. The and ales for

Cordless Electric Razor, £38.99

Help your friends display their precious family photos with this stunning family tree photo frame.

There is space for 6 pictures, meaning there’s plenty of room for your friends to celebrate their family through pictures.

Double-Sided Octopus Plushy, £10.99 (Buy here) Every kid needs a teddy, and this one is super cute! It's got a sad face on one side and a happy face on the other and is the perfect fluffy companion for the new baby to grow up with.

New Mama Silver Necklace, £15.99 (Buy here) This beautiful necklace features a mother and baby fox and is the perfect gift for any new mothers in your life. It comes in gorgeous packaging, too!

(Buy here) This razor will help the man in your life to groom his facial hair to perfection. It's a high-performance razor, and you can be certain that your partner will thank you for it!

Hugo Boss Bottled Night Eau de Toilette, £69 (Buy here) We all want our partners to smell delicious, right? Aftershave is the perfect gift, and this one has a woody smell which does not overpower the senses.

Travando Wallet, £19.95 (Buy here) Everyone needs a wallet, so wallets are a pretty reliable gift! This is a compact, stylish and functional option, and it is made out of materials which will allow it to be long-lasting.

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All You Need Is Love And Work Jeannette Pearce MBE is trailblazing, award-winning female social entrepreneur & campaigner. Founder of multiple businesses, she has over 30 years creative industry experience in theatre, branding, and experiential design. Now an author, non-executive director and consultant, JP advises businesses on social and environmental matters that drive good business, positive enterprise culture and strong communities.

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel once famously said, “There is no time for cut and dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.”.

Coco was lucky she didn’t live in 2021 is all I can say, where there has become a forced monotony to both work and love in the current climate, where more than ever our work life and our personal life have become intertwined in a way unimaginable pre-Covid.

But despite the current lockdown, such a binary separation of work and love has always intrigued me. Might the time have eventually come for a rethink?

As an entrepreneur I was simply never able to make such a clean-cut distinction. I loved what I did and did what I loved, with all my heart, and if you’re a passionate entrepreneur reading this, maybe you too will recognise that you are often guilty of ‘loving your work’ more than anything (even yourself?) For me this took time, that bit, that, you know, self-care bit - I’m still working it out if I’m honest and let's face it, I learnt some powerful lessons early and hard, and I realise now that when I was mid-labour (yes literally in contractions) I probably shouldn’t have taken that client call! (That client’s long retired but the child is now 16!). But in those birthing stages of enterprise building, it wasn’t so much that it was a struggle to differentiate work from love, rather that I just didn’t think about it.

Now in my 50s (I think Bob Buford in his book

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“Half time”, would safely call this the second half), a proud working mother with teenage kids, I lead a more stoic approach to my work. I have graduated from a 4-day week to a more intuitive life that begets me the opportunity to be laser sharp with the businesses and brands I advise, whilst also enabling me to pick up creative projects, family time, till my allotment, and my great passion of pioneering more ways of Wild Working for myself, colleagues and others.

(Working wild is a simple liveable philosophy for living and working in a gentler, kinder way for yourself, your team and the environment and for those striving to be more connected and engaged in a human way to their work).

So, if Coco and I were taking high tea in the Ritz in Paris today (wouldn’t you just love a bit of that glamour in these grey old days), how would I explain to her that love and work can no longer be so binary and independent?

I could start by pointing her to 2 core principles I have learnt and found some degree of success with: GIVE AS YOU GROW (don’t wait until you retire to give back, or put another way doesn’t giving back just suggest you took too much in the first place?).

The truest form of connection to one another, to our environment and wider society is to live your legacy while alive - a phrase I have often used is to build social credit. So, how’s your social credit

Entrepreneurship

rating looking?

By giving while you grow, as opposed to giving back post-success (in that binary way), we don’t end up with that slightly empty feeling of being materially rich and with excess funds to philanthropically invest back into society or a cause later. Making GIVING a constant central value within your business, organisation, life from day one, means reaping the rewards of a life well-lived and yes for the cynics amongst us, you’ll be amazed at what such giving does when you love your people as well as your clients, and your customers - yes, I suspect you’ll have a high chance of loving your bottom line too.

Give percentages of your profit to charities or causes close to your heart.

Give your time to mentoring and training the next generation.

Give space to those that don’t have it.

Give encouragement to those who need it.

Give free advice to clients who can’t afford it.

through the heart, and as a leader that is undoubtedly through the ability to demonstrate kindness.

Consideration, respect of others’ opinions, empathy with others’ situations, respect of different viewpoints and approaches, learning from others, listening and then truly hearing, nudging not demanding.

A kind leader will draw out the best in others and lead them to greatness. It takes love for humanity to put people over profit... and when it’s actioned, in a truly authentic and genuine way, the outcome is progress, innovation, achievement.

And most importantly a sense of shared success where every individual, as well as the bottom line, blossoms as a bonus.

Post-Covid these values of kind leadership will be more essential than ever. Sensitive handling of a remote workforce will perhaps be the catalyst for long overdue more empathetic management techniques. Maybe at last the world is ready for the rise of kind leadership, because workers are no longer going to settle for anything less, and as Bartleby refers to in his ‘Creatures of Habit’ article (The Economist, January 16th, 2021):

Then after work, take the giving home. Turn off your devices and GIVE your loved ones your FULL attention.

“Contacting workers should not be a matter of rigid schedule, but rather akin to the sentiment that prompts children to check in with elderly parents every so often”. This more instinctive, warm and empathetic approach is a world away from the formulaic, top down corporate performance review of the past.

So, go on – build your social credit and give it away as you grow. (The last time I looked there were still no pockets in a shroud).

Like great parents that you see pose the question to their child, not simply provide the answer, a kind leader will help you find your way and in the words of Confucius will demand that “wherever you go – go with all your heart”.

Pass that knowledge and that love, down, along or up the line - just be generous.

PRACTICE KIND LEADERSHIP (more parent less boss).

To weave love through one’s work is to operate

Unsplash @goian

So, Coco, we currently live with a degree of lockdown monotony, but we also live in an exciting time of immense shift where, if we get this right from here, we will perhaps eventually LOVE 24/7.

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Why Relationships Succeed Among Professionals Professor Chris Imafidon, a multi-Guinness World record holder; Internationally renowned adviser to monarchs, governments, presidents and corporate leaders; Mentor to New York Times Bestellers and a Sunday Times Op-ed author. [Twitter @ChrisImafidon; Instagram @CoImafidon; Facebook/Linkedln –Professor Chris Imafidon].

There are essential ingredients that guarantee successful relationships among leaders and successful individuals.

According to the American legend, Maya Angelou, “Love recognises no barriers, it jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination, full of hope.” Ms. Angelou’s definition has to be understood by all because love, or passion, is the foundation of every relationship.

However, the intensity of such love can be difficult to sustain particularly with changing times and evolving priorities. There is a direct conflict of interest generated by limited time. The first consideration in any relationship has to be commonality of interest or generating intersectionality if relationships are to be sustained.

Sadly, most successful people are time-poor, particularly if they do not understand delegation.

The average leader is unschooled in teamwork.

So, most successful individuals are focused entrepreneurs and professionals. Focus consumes time. Since time is money, our personal lives become the easy prey.

Figures Received wisdom states that around 50% of marriages end in divorce and many people believe divorce rates have increased in recent years. In fact, divorce rates are at their lowest levels in over 40 years and the divorce rate seems to be continuing to fall. But successful professionals, managers and entrepreneurs divorce or separate at least twice as much as the rest of the population.

This over-representation has its roots in well observed patterns of behaviour.

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Pressure of time, travel and other activities have been indicted as culprits in breakdowns. Societal expectations and family history do influence divorces and separation statistics.

An extremely successful protégé once asked the business mentor if there was any line between her professional life and personal life. The answer came back, "Of course not. Where do you draw the line?" The working hours used to be predetermined prior to computerisation and modern working patterns. But this truth is no longer universal. It takes different strokes to rule the world.

The integration of working hours with more personal demands can work well for some individuals and spell failure for others depending on the perceptions.

Facts Today’s demands and the need to be successful mean that we live in a 24x7 world. It therefore follows that YOU have to respond to every message or do x, y, z NOW, without waiting for the next “working day” There are no working hours. We now live in a work-on-demand society. The talk is more on work-life balance, which when translated really means de-prioritisation of personal relationships.

The keys to any successful relationship include: Mentality, Priority, Perspective, Delegation, and Teamwork.

Mentality includes understanding and behaviour-altering beliefs. This is particularly true if each partner understands that we are all humans. So, to "err is human, but to forgive is divine". This is perhaps the most basic level of all relationships.

Training & Development

We know that sooner or later, the other person's actions or words may upset the other. This may well be accidental, or totally unintentional but it is bound to happen, and the consequences can be deep. This is the leading cause of separation among many honest but ill-informed professionals. So, we need to recognise that this may happen, and learn to be understanding of our partner as a human being who will make mistakes, just as we do.

Priorities evolve over time. The challenges vary depending on the four seasons of relationships.

In terms of climatic seasons, this is very obvious.

For example, during the freezing cold, dark and short winter days, our needs are radically different compared with the hot sunny and long days.

Spring and Autumn are totally different. When asked recently about a royal wedding by the media, I tried in vain to differentiate between the challenges of being husband and wife and the future realities of being a mother and father.

Once a baby arrives, and you are given the mantle of motherhood, then you have a new "boss" called baby. The baby decides when you wake up or go to bed. The baby decides what clothes you wear. The baby decides whether you can go to work and may even employ a stranger called a nanny. Most people are ill-prepared for this major life-changing event.

Ask any first-time mother Unsplash @holliver for the reality of transition from wife to mother. In order to avoid this affecting our relationships, we need to be prepared for ever-changing priorities.

Perspective - Unlike with the seasons, perspective is everything. Do you see the cup as half full, or half empty? The same condition can be seen as an opportunity or a real threat depending on our individual angle. Understanding this principle has saved many relationships. Even with identical twins, their views can be very different.

So, getting a trusted independent view on any contentious issues clears the air rapidly.

Delegation - This is a very old concept that is applicable to current or future challenges. However, every busy person is almost always deluded into thinking that they are the best person for a task.

As a person who was raised by parents with opposing views on this issue, I marvel at individuals that believe in doing all things. We must all know that this is a skill needed by all. Every relationship

must acknowledge that their roles and responsibilities will increase with time. This happens at a personal and professional level. This is best addressed by emergencies. When things are out of your normal control, you suddenly discover that somebody else can assist or sometimes do better. Formal education is responsible for some of this struggle with delegation, or division of labour. Your company can be a 24x7 organisation, but nobody says that you have to be on duty 24x7x365. Entrepreneurship is different from slavery. The ability to let go and let others try is the real difference between a leader and others, and is essential to a successful relationship.

Teamwork - If you have never played football or a similar sport as a teenager, this subject can be very academic. At every opportunity, I have campaigned for the need for this single most important skill in relationship success. I do not understand why humans think that there is any difference between team sport and partnerships or relationships.

The commonality of interest and the communal success is best captured in inter-house competitions. The substitute is playing in an orchestral or musical group. This subtle skill has been demonstrated in every major study on long term success in relationship. "How can two work together except if they agree?" My Religious Studies teacher asked this question every time he wanted us to form groups. But this is beyond religion. It is the pillar of all dynamic relationships. A practical exercise that I have given quarrelling couples is playing a mixed doubles tennis match. At the end, fifty percent of all major differences are resolved without any discussion. Each player covers the weaknesses of their partner. This is a human instinct in competition.

Life is a competition. Life is war against defeat.

Life is a team sport. It’s not about fault-finding or a show of individual perfection in a particular area of life.

Our ability to understand that 'LOVE covers a multitude of SINS' pulls every relationship through the dark days until dawn. There will always be sins, the question is, who is strong enough to cover them with love? We are all imperfect. We are fallible – that is what defines us.

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Food

Marcela has worked with multinationals leading the way in sustainability (Unilever, Quorn, Divine Chocolate, the UK’s highest-ranking BCorp), and as a food entrepreneur seeking to transform how we produce and consume food. Marcela is studying a Masters in Sustainability Leadership at Cambridge University, specialising in circular, regenerative agricultural models.

For the Love of

Food and Nature

Food lovers’ steps to protect the planet

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I love food, it’s one of life’s most immediate and deepest pleasures.

It’s also becoming clearer how the food we put in our bodies has such a powerful effect, both on our health and that of the planet. So, let’s take steps to ensure we make that effect a positive one!

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CUT THE WASTE Food waste is a big problem. It is said that we need to double the production of food to feed 9 billion people, but the truth is that we already produce enough food for everyone on the planet… the trouble is, 30% of all the food produced is wasted! This has serious repercussions for the environment -and for households’ budgets. In fact, if food waste were a country, it would be the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the USA. With the average household throwing £700 into the bin by throwing out edible food, there are many opportunities to make some savings…

You can reduce food waste at home by freezing leftovers, or make sure to use what my grandma called “the smell test”: just cover things and use your nose. Here’s a new government-backed campaign in the UK:

Among the most-wasted foods is bread, and Friends of the Earth has 40 ideas on what to do with bread! Worth a look!

EAT MORE PLANTS

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Farming animals for meat and dairy requires space and huge amounts of water and feed. This is the biggest driver for deforestation, and then, the vast majority of the food produced is not even for humans, but for animals. With global meat consumption soaring 500% between 1992 and 2016, it is clear we need to rebalance our diets by choosing plant power and reducing our intake of animal proteins.

There are lots of choices available on the market now!

EAT MORE VARIETY 75% of the world’s food supply comes from just 12 plants and 5 animal species. Greater diversity in our diets is essential as the lack of variety in agriculture is both bad for nature and a threat to food security. Knorr and WWF have identified the Future 50 Foods that can help reduce the environmental impact of our food system, whilst also improving your health!

GROW YOUR OWN FOOD What’s better than fresh, home-grown produce straight from the garden? As well as being healthy and delicious, home-grown has virtually no carbon “foodprint” compared to shop-bought food that had to travel for many miles to reach your plate. This year, I will grow tomatillos again to make an awesome delicious and zingy Salsa Verde. I will also grow various beans and peas, chard and beetroot. In fact, it will be time to sow the seeds very soon – why don’t you give it a go too?

TRY NEW APPS I love Pawprint. It is an app and online tool that helps you measure, understand and reduce your carbon footprint from the palm of your hand. Giki is pretty cool too, it is a free mobile app that provides ethical and sustainability information about more than 250,000 products.

It can tell you anything from whether the packaging is recyclable to whether ingredients, including palm oil, were sourced responsibly. Find out more here.

What other tools do you use to reduce your carbon footprint and to help you make better, more sustainable food choices? I’d love to know!

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Travel

PIPA,

By William Bartlett

a Little Piece of Tropical Paradise After months of lockdown in the UK with seemingly no end in sight (restrictions are forecast to continue well into 2021!), Rafael and I decided that we would extend our biennial Christmas family visit to Brazil by leaving earlier in December than we normally would – and coming back later in January too. Both of us are able to work remotely and so – with a time difference of only three hours – it seemed a bit of a no brainer to work from Brazil, where the sun was shining and where restrictions had been (almost) entirely lifted.

But, before the family Christmas and remote working, what we really wanted was a holiday! So, after a weekend in São Paulo catching up with friends and family, we headed up to the north east of Brazil, for a trip that I wasn’t sure was going to be easy in the time allocated: we had a lot of ground to cover in a little under two weeks – a 1,500km drive on roads that sounded less than promising from reports in guidebooks and on online blogs. But I’d had a look at Google Earth and roads that a year ago were being reported as dust tracks had clearly been paved – being able to see the roads in advance was quite reassuring (though possibly falsely so: Google Earth definitely doesn’t show the number and size of potholes we were later to experience (worst of all, at night – with animals of all shapes and sizes wandering onto the road too!)).

We flew from São Paulo to Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (a flight of about 3 and a half hours) and picked up our hire car at the airport (I’d managed to get a pretty good deal on a rental which allowed us to pick up in Natal and drop off in São Luis, rather than having to make a round trip, which would have been completely impractical in the time we had available). From the airport we drove southeast, straight to our first destination, Praia de Pipa (or ‘Kite Beach’). The little town is just referred to as

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‘Pipa’ – and it actually has a number of beaches, the main one being ‘Praia de Pipa’ and others being ‘Praia dos Golfinhos’ (‘Dolphin Beach’) and ‘Praia do Amor’ (no translation needed), which was where we were staying.

One advantage of travelling during the COVID pandemic was that booking accommodation and restaurants was easy – in fact, in retrospect, there was probably no need to have booked anything at all – and we had been able to book into one of the most sought-after places in Pipa: Pousada Terras dos Goitis. We arrived late at night but immediately knew we had landed somewhere special: after being warmly received in the beautiful reception, we were made to feel com-

t pletely at home from the outset.

The ‘pousada’ is actually a collection of 10 or so extremely comfortable chalets – each beautifully furnished (dark hard wood floors, four poster beds with mosquito nets (not that we experienced any mosquitos), spacious bathrooms, fully equipped kitchens etc., and set in their own grounds (with private outdoor seating, sun deck etc.). So you have a little bit of your own private luxury in the jungle, where you are surrounded by rich tropical foliage, illuminated by enormous azure butterflies and colourful birds – we were even visited by a little monkey one morning!

At night (invariably after one cachaça too many…) we would fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing on Praia do Amor, just a few metres away. And wintry lockdown in London quickly seemed a very, very long way away….

The owners of the pousada are a gay couple who sold their house in Barcelona in order to embark upon this project about ten years ago. The process had taught them that things usually take longer in Brazil…. and that there is absolutely nothing you can do to make things happen more quickly: you just have to accept the situation and go to the beach or drink a beer while you wait! As well as being wonderfully relaxed and welcoming, they were incredibly attentive to their guests: not only had they made sure that each chalet was beautifully furnished and incredibly well equipped – as they said, they wanted people to be happier and more relaxed even than they would be at home, and that meant providing them with everything they would expect to have at home (and more – if they asked for it, which Rafael invariably did!) - they also went out of their way to understand the particular needs of individual guests and to respond to them. They are truly passionate about what they do, and that makes for a wonderful stay for their guests.

We actually only had three nights in Pipa, but it seemed much longer, so restful was our time there: as well as the comfort of our chalet, we enjoyed long

walks on deserted beaches, simple lunches at roadside ‘churrascos’ (our favourite was a wonderfully simple place, where you could eat all you wanted, choosing from delicious fresh food including grilled meat and fish, salads, rice, black beans and farofa, for a little over £2 a head!).

We’d often then spend the afternoon by the pool before heading to the beach again in the evening to make the most of the beautiful evening sun and to take endless photographs of the beautiful scenery (or rather, of Rafael!) and to drink 50p caipirinhas from the barracas on the beach!

In the evening, we would stroll into the centre of ‘town’ (about 10 minutes’ walk along dust tracks) to eat in one of the many excellent restaurants that Pipa has to offer (for what is little more than a village, it’s a pretty fashionable place, but has not been over-developed and has retained a simple (but undoubtedly chic) charm). Lots of seafood – especially moqueca – and delicious tropical fruits, some of which I knew, but many of which I’d never seen before – which started a guessing game we played with my family in the UK, sending them photos and asking them to guess what they were. Though I was careful not to bombard them with too many photos of beaches and paradise – that might have been insensitive!

Then back to our chalet to enjoy the noise of the waves and the cicadas in the trees from the hammocks on our terrace – and just one last cachaça….

Our next destination was ‘Canoa Quebrada’ – or ‘Broken Canoe’ – a drive of nearly 450km, so an early start required!

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Marketing & Branding

For the Love of

PR

Wanja is an avid reader and writer who lives in Nairobi. She’s a PR Assistant and Blogger at GuidedPR. She holds a Bachelors in Mass Communication from JKUAT and has worked in print media and in academia. When she’s not researching current affairs, you’ll find her on social media, keeping up with what’s hot!

It is the month of love. A time when love is re-examined and re-emphasized in people’s lives. While a lot of attention goes into self-love and romantic love, it should also be a time to evaluate our relationship with what occupies most of our day as PR professionals. English dramatist W.S Gilbert said, “It is love that makes the world go round.” Not least in the world of public relations. The chemistry might have been over the roof when starting out your career, but like with every love affair, it is the choice kind of love, not the fuzzy feelings, that will keep you going even when things aren’t as lovely anymore.

There are times when that client isn’t wowed by your ideas; when that communication strategy flops; when journalists reject your pitches left, right and center or do not even get back at all. When you hit a dead end, the temptation is real to throw in the towel, and seek an alternative career path, a new love.

However, it is only true love for the profession, for our clients and for ourselves that can help us move past going through the motions to working with zest, as is explained in this article.

Love your profession There are inarguably as many definitions of PR as there are PR practitioners. However, at the very heart of public relations methods and techniques is the publics. These are the people you start your day thinking about and who may at times keep you up at night, planning and plotting. Strategic and tactful communication are needful in adapting the organisation and its publics to each other.

Occasionally, the publics may be a hard nut to crack, presenting needs or demands that are outside the ability of your organisation or client. However, whether it’s in government relations, media relations, employee relations, community relations, stakeholder relations or client relations, the practitioner must develop a unique appreciation for the publics in question and focus on their positive side. This is the only way to determinedly walk past misunderstanding and reach an agreeable end; by making the publics feel considered and well understood in the goings on of the organisation. A truce must be met, sometimes painstakingly in order to foster a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship. This is the crux of PR. Love your clients We may not love them all the time; their unrealistic expectations and timelines, do get to us. But we have to keep it cordial in the least and still impress them, unleashing bigger and better ideas, fresher and more impactful strategies. So how do you unify a strategy with a client who’s thinking north while

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you’re thinking south? Undoubtedly, just like with building unanimity in a romantic relationship, listen carefully and actively, and then respond graciously and patiently to the client’s apprehensions. Let them know that you understand their goals and objectives, their misgivings and reassure that doing things in the manner you propose still guarantees a Return on Investment. It’s all about being empathetic with your clients, and understanding that at the end of the day, they too have fears just like each and every one of us. Also, do not be afraid to show your appreciation for their support throughout the project.

Love yourself Esteem yourself, value your skills and continuously improve yourself. Do not second-guess yourself. Walk away from toxic work environments and bosses. If they don’t appreciate your value, someone else will. Be confident and proactive in your creative process, taking constructive criticism but rejecting people’s attempts to talk down your ideas or trample your reasoning. Also, since your work is primarily about other people.

Watch out! Don’t lose yourself in the process. Create a selfcare routine. Eat healthy, exercise, feed your mind with the right content, avoid stress, find your true north, and maintain healthy relationships. Take care of yourself, then you can effectively take on other people’s business.

Cheers to love! And to a flamed-up love-affair with our work!

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur Pierre Coombes is considered a leading authority in Sales & Marketing.

He recently featured in BBC One’s show ‘Call That Hard Work?’, where he showed what it’s like to spend a day as a Telesales person in his award-winning B2B lead generation agency Big Wolf Marketing.

How to Sell Like You Love With this month’s edition being themed around ‘Love’, I thought I’d look at what love can teach us and use my salesmanship to somehow relate it to sales.

- a household chore you know you don’t want to do, but you do it because you know it makes your partner happy. That is unselfish love. (I love you Paige).

Love is a funny thing. It is passion, it is adventure into the unknown, it is fear finding acceptance, in fact it is so many things, but what it is in its truest sense is unselfish. Love without reason, love without cost, love for nothing but its own meaning.

This relates to sales and customer retention as well. Whether you’re providing a product or service, you need to make sure you give the customer the very best you can: ‘Do it with love’.

Business, much like love, comes back around you get back only as much as you put in.

Before my search for understanding sadly brought me to atheism, my younger self, hungry for knowledge, read a chapter in the Bible that to me, regardless of religion, rings true.

What else can we take from love? There’s passion, of course you need to have that in sales in your drive and expression. What I think love gives us best however is the ‘Why’. The why we do what we do. It's so easy to get lost in the whirlwind of existentialism, to question everything, but really once you reach a certain stage in life you realise it’s staring you right in the face... Love. Love is the reason, it’s in your parent’s advice, your partner’s smile and your little boys’ eyes. It's easy to get up, put on your tailored suit, and work your fingers to the bone to play a character, but what really matters, what will really become our legacy, is having lived our lives with purpose and with love.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

To me this says it all in its poetic wording. What it says to me is, I can excel and push myself to new boundaries, but if I do not do so with meaning, purpose, and love, then it is for nothing. While I might not believe directly in God, I know in myself with unquestioning certainty that love is the very energy that keeps us connected to one another.

This all extends to business and to sales. Love in its unselfish manner should give us a sense of moral direction and purpose. When we look to acquire a customer or to pitch a product or service, we should do so on the basis of adding value. I’ve not gone soppy or lost my drive, I genuinely believe if you’re going to do something you need to do it well, because shortcuts and cheap shots only ever boomerang back. Correlating it to love, it’s like taking out the rubbish

Perhaps I’m leaning on the principles of stoicism here, so forgive me, but it’s powerful.

When we die, we are no longer a baker a butcher, a candle stick maker, a salesman or whatever else, the grieving won't say ‘he sold well’, but they may say... ‘he had a passion for life’, and hopefully, ‘he loved’.

So, where I’m going with the morbid reference, is this. We only get one life, so whatever you do, do it with love and let love ultimately be the reason why you do anything. Having love at the forefront of what you do is essential to success, even in sales!

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Becoming A Media Darling: An Interview With Susan Harrow Susan Harrow is a renowned media coach, marketing strategist, and author of “Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul” (Harper Collins). On top of all this, she’s also a black belt in aikido! She’s a truly inspiring woman, and my conversation with her left me feeling incredibly motivated. Find out more at her website.

What drove you to pursue a career in the media?

I’m an English major, so I really wanted to use my writing background along with my sales background in high tech sales and start-ups. Combining these two backgrounds led me to become a publicist, so I was booking people in the media and writing lots of press releases and articles.

What I found was that I could get my clients into prestigious publications like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the New York Times, and onto national radio and TV shows like Oprah, and CNN, NPR, Good Morning America, etc. however this didn’t always translate directly into business.

I wanted to get to the root of the problem so I started listening to and watching my clients’ media interviews and realised that the problem was them! Because they weren’t showing up as authentic and captivating to attract the business that they wanted to, and they weren’t speaking in soundbites to succinctly express their offerings.

That’s what led me into media coaching. I started training my clients to make sure everything that they do, say, are and think was in alignment with their offer before they did interviews. Once I trained them, we started to see dramatic results. They got an immediate rush of clients, customers, and sales.

At the time, I became known as the go-to girl for getting on Oprah, because the first thing out of almost everyone’s mouth who contacted me was that they wanted to be on her show. I started teaching classes on how to get on Oprah. Today, I run the only course on how to get featured in O Magazine. It’s the most powerful placement on the planet for things of interest to women. Being featured in the magazine can double or triple your business overnight. Most businesses who have had that success sustain it and often grow exponentially after that.

What are your 3 top tips for becoming a “media darling”?

Number one is, as Oscar Wilde said, to “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. In today’s world, we have so much pressure to be bigger than ourselves and to follow what other people are doing, rather than reaching deep within ourselves to discover what we bring to the table that nobody else can. Developing that self-acceptance and self-awareness is a huge part of having success in the media.

Number two is to learn to master yourself. Mastering yourself means you can maintain your equanimity and are capable of getting your point across regardless of any circumstance or personality type.

When you get a surprise question in an interview, the journalist or producer isn’t trying to make you look bad, they just want a fresh, spontaneous response, so you need to be prepared to give an answer that you want your audience to know in the moment.

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Culture & Society Number three is to let go of attachment to the outcome and stay focused on how you are going to serve. Ask yourself these two questions: 1.What does my audience need to know now.

2.How can I help?

Most people’s biggest fears are making a “mistake,” or doing or saying something that they’ll regret. To prepare for that I work with my clients on breathing, calming, and centring techniques behind the scenes. We always role-play worst-case scenarios as well as their personality hot-buttons or triggers.

The most important thing is to be relaxed and enjoy yourself.

Then if you do make a “mistake” you can either go with it and laugh about it, name it, or change it on the spot, and move on and remember your purpose — what you came to impart to your audience.

In aikido, we talk about moving the other person off their centre whilst staying centred ourselves, which is what a reporter is doing is trying to do when they spring a surprise question on you.

What my clients and course participants learn is that even if you’re pushed off centre, you bring yourself back to the centre with something as simple as a pause and a breath. Then you direct the conversation where you want it to go.

Do you think it’s been more difficult for you to get to where you

are in your career because you’re a woman?

I never really think about it. I grew up with two brothers, and my dad taught me that I could do anything if I set my mind to it. I think it’s about knowing how to move within the hierarchy, and understanding what’s needed now to move forward with that.

As women we often sell ourselves short, myself included. For example, I discovered that a male media trainer in my area was charging more than me. Way more. So I immediately raised my rates. I silently thanked him for bringing to my attention that I was undervaluing my skills and services.

When my partner worked at Pixar he noticed that the people in the meetings who spoke in the loudest, in the most confident voice, and who repeated their points in different ways got their ideas heard. For women, it’s often hard to speak up and be noticed. I don’t think that we have to say our piece loudly, we just have to consistently insist on being heard. That takes practice. Just like prepping for media appearances.

I see that you do work teaching verbal self-defence practices to women. How do you think verbal self-defence can help women in dangerous situations?

Using your voice and body language before anyone even gets close enough to touch you can help to create a pattern interrupt and shift a potentially dangerous situation. For example, if someone is following you, something as simple as asking them for the time can really throw them off. Another technique is to turn around and shout “I see you! Stop following me!” There’s no one right way. It’s about training yourself to react and respond until it sinks into your mental and muscle memory. It’s important that your face, voice and body language are all in synch so that you deliver a clear, unified message — no matter if you’re in a meeting or preventing sexual harassment or assault. My motto is: Speak your mind. Stand your ground. Sing your song.™ Using your voice is often a first step to stopping an unwanted or uninvited physical encounter. That said, I do recommend that people train in physical self-defence as well, because not every situation can be presented verbally. No matter how careful we are, there can always be surprises that happen in an instant.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?

Getting my black belt in Aikido. I started at age 52 and I was awkward, clumsy, and slow. But I kept training, 2 hours a day 4 days a week. The essence of my philosophy is to just keep moving forward and do the next thing vs. setting some ginormous goal that hovers over you like a black cloud daring you to burst it.

I just heard the question, “What is your growth edge?” One of my favourite sayings is, “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” I’m always exploring that edge and asking, “what is my next step.” Whatever my next big challenge is, I set up micromovements to keep moving forward incrementally. When working with clients we do the same thing. We apply this by reviewing their media appearances and asking: What did I do well? What do I want to keep? What do I want to shift for next time?

What do you want your lasting legacy to be?

The poet Mary Oliver wrote, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Now, my next challenge is to work with billionaires and start-ups doing amazing things to help them hone their messages so they can be even more effective in the world. These are the people who have the capacity solve the world’s big problems like hunger, climate change, and sexual slavery without having to wait on laws, government or policy changes to move forward with their projects.

The legacy I want to be known for is really twofold. I want everyone to be able to speak up, stand up for what they believe in, and move forward with what it is they came here to do. And I want to be known for helping the people who are doing important things in the world in their own wild way. I want to be part of that bigger picture, to be remembered for having helped them with joy and spirit to shape their words, thoughts, and deeds.

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Health & Wellness

“Is it ever too late to

AN INTERVIEW with Sarisha Naidoo

Sarisha Naidoo is a mindset coach and is co-founder of Transformational Coaching. The big question Sarisha wants people to ask themselves is, “Is it ever too late to change your life?”.

Sarisha would tell you it’s never too late. When Sarisha hit a low point in her personal life, she received professional life coaching, which helped her to get her life back on track, and from here she made the decision to retrain as a mindset coach so she could help people get out of negative mindsets. I spoke to her about how her approach is different to that of other mindset coaches, and why she thinks it’s important for people to receive life coaching. Connect with her via her Facebook page.

What drove you to pursue a career in mindset coaching?

I believe that everything revolves around the mind. Mindset coaches are devoted to helping individuals to rewire their mindset in order to allow them to unlock their full potential and be the best version of themselves that they can be. Changing your mindset is not an easy thing to do, but it can truly transform your life.

Learning to recognise a negative mindset is the first step in the process of changing your mindset, and once you’ve done that you’re

Change your life?”

on the path to self-empowerment. Mindset coaching helps you to make necessary changes and seek out positive things in your life, and by doing so you can turn your entire life around.

What distinguishes you from other mindset coaches?

I think there’s a few things that make me different to other mindset coaches. The first is that for me, it’s not about my coaching, it’s about my clients’ results. Secondly, it’s not about my service, it’s about the experience that I give my clients. Thirdly, it’s not about the fees that I charge for my coaching, it’s about making sure my clients are getting a worthwhile investment.

Another major thing that sets me apart from other mindset coaches is that I think I’m one of the most empathetic and compassionate people you will ever meet. This is so important in coaching, as it helps you to relate to your clients, which helps you to understand what it is that they need from you in order to

Unsplash @joelmott

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turn their lives around.

Why do you think it’s important for people to face their fears and have mindset coaching?

By adjusting your mindset and your perspective, you can turn fear from an obstacle into something that can motivate you. Fear is an important emotion, it helps us to protect ourselves from harm. It’s totally normal to feel fear, but the way you deal with your fears can determine whether you are able to reach your full potential.

It’s important to face your fears, otherwise they will hold you back from achieving your dreams. If you’re ready to learn how to stop living in fear, and you want to decide that your dreams are more important than your fear of failure, then mindset coaching can help you to change your mindset and learn how to deal with your fear.

Have you found it more difficult to get to where you are in your career because you’re a woman?

In terms of my coaching career, I can honestly say that I haven’t. I think that in coaching women often can be more successful because they are seen to be more approachable, and they show their vulnerability and

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their authenticity. I find that both male and female clients approach me for coaching, because they find that I’m more compassionate and empathetic and so can better understand where they’re coming from. So no, in this career I haven’t experienced that difficulty, however, if you were asking about previous careers I’ve had, then I would have to say yes.

Have you ever had moments of imposter syndrome?

Definitely! I think in a way, everybody has moments of imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome describes feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt which can leave you feeling like a fraud, and I do think it can affect everyone.

When you first start out in a new career, you often feel that feeling of inadequacy, that’s quite normal, I’ve definitely felt it. I’ve had moments where I’ve wondered whether I’m good enough to help somebody move their life from A to B, but the key is to persevere and to focus on what really matters. By doing that you will create a mindset and habits which support your success, like I have, and I now understand that I am not an imposter and I can move on from that feeling.

Interview by Lola Sherwin.

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2021, the Year of the Digital Ricardo is a Brazilian Instagram influencer and publicist who specialises in helping small businesses grow their following. He also has an events company which runs the Favela Chic and The Wonder events in Bristol, England.

20 21

How much do you know about paid digital traffic?

2020 was a year full of difficulties and it marked a significant moment in history across the planet.

For the entrepreneur, 2020 was the year to learn more about the digital world, and great strides were made in terms of how we present our products to potential clients. It was a year in which we had to learn to reinvent ourselves within the business market, quickly learning to use new tools and techniques to find potential customers.

stand that is a common error made by entrepreneurs.

What I mean is that if today, with your current strategy, you invoice X amount and you want to double your revenue, then you need to understand the behaviours of your Sales Funnel so that you can increase the number of people who are entering into that funnel.

What often happens is that businesspeople go around performing actions in a disorderly manner, and they don’t have the slightest clue about how their sales funnel behaves within their business, and so their business starts to become complicated.

But what is a Sales Funnel?

I'm going to explain the phases of the funnel and how it works in the digital world, which is where you need to be operating more than ever before:

One of the tools which became prominent last year, and which will be one of the most important tools for entrepreneurs in 2021 is the use of Paid Digital Traffic. This tool is helping entrepreneurs to promote their products in a fast and efficient way, and, of course, to promote their product or service to their potential client base.

For this reason, I decided to share some information with you about exactly what I mean by Paid Digital Traffic, and how this tool works. This article will help you to understand what you need to do this year to achieve the success you’ve been dreaming of.

Magic doesn’t exist!

Everything is a numbers game and to not under-

70 Unsplash @brookecagle

Marketing & Branding

1. General public – people who don’t know you or your business.

2. Audience – your followers.

3. Engaged users – people who interact with your content.

4. Considered users – people who are interested in your products or services 5. Clients.

That funnel is your sales machine, and what happens is that the number of people who come out of the funnel (clients) tends to be proportional to the number of people who enter the top of that funnel.

So, without you having to do any optimisation on the stages of conversion in your funnel, the easiest way to double your revenue is to double the number of people who know you and your business, which is something you can do by using Paid Digital Traffic. The maths is simple, but it requires some work.

So, what actually is Paid Digital Traffic?

Traffic is nothing more than people and, essentially, you have two ways of delivering your offers to people. You can do this via organic traffic, which is free, and means that the social media platform will show your content to whomever it wants to, and only as much as it wants to.

Option two is paid traffic, which is where you invest in adverts and can then choose who your content is shown to, and how many people it will reach, which you decide based on how much you are willing to invest.

The majority of businesses have a hard time growing online because they are dependent on their organic reach, so they eventually end up behind their competitors who invest in paid traffic. This happens because Instagram limits the reach of organic posts and doesn’t show your posts to your followers as frequently, because it prefers to show the content of businesses who are paying for the reach.

But how do I invest in paid traffic?

Unsplash @goumbik

This is where your traffic manager comes in. A traffic manager is a professional who invests the entrepreneur’s money into adverts. Facebook gives user information to your traffic manager and the traffic manager then targets your adverts to the desired audience. This way your content will reach people who are interested in your products or services, making your content have a greater return for your business.

On that topic, my company, Pérolas de Rikardo is now in its second year of business. In partnership with Eagles Media, we are helping entrepreneurs across the world to make their first steps into the digital world, as well as boosting your business through paid traffic. If in the real world you sell during business hours, in the digital world you can sell 24/7 without having to worry about your light bills or whether the government will implement another lockdown.

Now that you know a little more about paid traffic, what it is and how it works, you can now invest in your digital marketing strategy in a far more effective way. If you want to find out how to win more clients, the best way to do so is to get in touch with me today.

You can find me on Instagram, @perolasderikardo, if you want more information. We offer paid traffic services as well as all other kinds of digital marketing services. Remember that in 2021, irrespective of you already having am established business, Digital Traffic will be the fastest way for you to attract potential clients, and we at Pérolas de Rikardo are here to help you.

I dedicate this article to all of my partners who are working hard to give their clients quality work at all times. I hope this year brings you even more success, and that with more success comes more clients for you!

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Alexa, what is there to know about love?, Brian Bilston £12.99, Amazon

Love in Colour, Bolu Babalola

A Book About Love, Jonah Lehrer £13.17, Amazon

(Buy here) In this book about love you will find a beautiful collection of poems which covers every form of love, from romantic to familial and everything in between.

It's a wonderful book, and it even has poems which touch on subjects that cause heartbreak, such as politics. This is a perfect gift for a loved one.

(Buy here) This book combines science, literature, history and so much more to provide readers with an insight into love, and how it is able to compel and inspire us.

Lehrer argues that love is built on a set of skills which one cultivates over a lifetime in this fascinating book. A must-read for anyone interested in understanding love.

£16.99, Amazon (Buy here)

Candice Carty-Williams said of t book, 'So rarely is love expressed t richly, this vividly, or this artfully. that isn’t reason enough to read then just know that this is one of t most beautiful tales about love o there. Babalola uses amazing lo stories from history and mytholo and rewrites them exquisitely in h debut c lection. T book is tr a celebrati of roman in all of many form

10 Books Ab You Need

By Lola S

Everything I Know About Love, Dolly Alderton £8.99, Amazon (Buy here) Everything I Know About Love is Alderton’s account of the bad dates, heartaches and friendships of her twenties. Often hilarious, sometimes heart-breaking, Alderton uses her experiences to tell the readers everything she has learned about love during her lifetime.

Ultimately, she notes that it is her friends who are her greatest love, and it is an incredibly written book that people of all ages can enjoy.

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All About Love, bell hooks

Love in the Tim

£10.99, Amazon (Buy here) bell hooks is a renowned feminist and scholar. In her book, All About Love, she discusses what it is that causes a polarised society and how we can heal from the divisions that cause suffering. Through this examination of love in modern society, hooks lays out a path to love which will help individuals and a nation to heal from their suffering.

the years with Fermina’s husb tino goes to more, many d love. One of

this this .'. If d it, the out ove ogy her colThis ruly ion nce its ms.

Finance

Finance

Books

Self Love & Spiritual Alchemy, Dani Watson Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850s-1950s, Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell

£11.11, Amazon

£52, Amazon

(Buy here)

(Buy here)

Self-love is the most important form of love, as it is only once we love ourselves that we can truly be capable of giving love to others. This book aims to help the reader transform their mindset and master the Law of Attraction to help them create a life that they love. The mix of personal experience and practical guidance helps you to learn to love yourself so that you can live your life to the fullest.

This captivating photography book illustrates the history of romantic love between men from the 1850s through to the 1950s. This book beautifully portrays love through its visual narrative, including photos which have been found in places such as flea markets and in old suitcases and using them to tell the story of a love which endured despite that love often having been illegal. It is a stunning book, and one which will really captivate its audiences.

bout Love That To Read

Sherwin

me of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez

£10.99, Amazon (Buy here)

£18.51, Amazon (Buy here)

This book is a classic. It follows a couple who fall deeply in love in their youth, only for Fermina to end up marrying another man. Undeterred, Florentino whiles away h countless affairs, and when band eventually dies, Floreno declare his love for her once decades after they first fell in f the most beautifully written love stories of our time.

We Need to Talk About Love, Laura Mucha

Self Love Poetry: For Thinkers and Feelers, Melody Godfred £11.54, Amazon (Buy here) Godfred is the founder of the Self Love Movement, Fred & Far. In Self Love Poetry, her second book, you will find a gorgeous collection of 200 self-love poems. The poems are meant to inspire readers to love themselves and to seek out the beauty in themselves and in the world around them.

Finance

For this book, Mucha interviewed hundreds of strangers from all around the world. Interviewing everyone from children to elderly people, she asked them to share their personal insights and feelings about love. The book combines the findings from these interviews with psychology, philosophy, anthropology and statistics to offer up an informed book about how people feel about love.

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H

Making Maths Fun with Dr. Grace Olugbodi

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A m in ju m

Dr. Grace Olugbodi is the founder of BeGenio, a company which creates maths board games for children with the aim of making maths fun to learn and overcoming mathematical anxiety. I spoke to her about how she does this, and what the future looks like for BeGenio.

Find out more at her website.

Why is it important to you to help children love maths?

How does BeGenio help children overcome negative feelings when they are learning maths?

We help children fall in love with mathematics by creating board games that help them reduce their mathematical anxiety and enjoy maths more. I’ve been in the Education Industry since 1997, and I’ve found that there are 3 key problems for children when it comes to maths. Firstly, too many children hate maths and don’t believe they can get good at it. Secondly, they see it as a boring chore, and don’t want to spend time working on it. Finally, they don’t know how to relate it to real life, so they can’t see the point in doing it and do not have enough, fun, creative ways to practise maths.

BeGenio aims to solve all these key problems by providing children with fun and creative ways to practise maths. Our products help children learn without them realising that they’re learning, which helps teachers and parents support their kids in their maths learning, as children actually want to engage with these games.

A lot of teachers and parents are afraid of maths and don’t know how to help their children get better at it, so our games are the perfect tool to combat that problem.

Our games support teachers to teach, parents to play with their kids in a meaningful way and children to learn effectively through play without realising they are learning.

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I was always one of those kids who were just OK at maths but didn’t really excel in it, which is the worst position to be in because then you don’t get any extra support. In the summer between primary and secondary school, I was really bored and so I asked my dad for some ideas of things to do to pass the time. T may, he suggested that we spend some time doing math and creative way. I didn’t want to spend my summer holid maths! He persuaded me to give it a try though, and by t the summer I really loved maths, because he’d changed boring chore to something fun and engaging. At the end year of secondary school, I won the maths prize out of a 300+ students and that gave me a lot of confidence! Thin ally turned around for me with maths, all because my dad the effort to support me with it in a more creative way.

Fast forward to university and I saw an advert in the stud which was asking for students to volunteer in schools to dren improve their maths confidence. It made me feel real these children were suffering from mathematical anxiety, a wanted to help them, so I started volunteering in a couple We used fun maths games to help them learn to love m within 6 weeks their confidence had turned around. We on once a week, but by making maths fun and creative, we h children go up by a whole level in their maths scores by t the year, and that was really rewarding.

A few years down the line, in 2003, I made it my mission to t ematics into a game that every child would love to play e Later on, I decided to put all of this experience into my o game. My aim was to create maths games that have re such that every child would love to play over and over aga want to help children overcome their mathematical anxiet I think it’s an absolute travesty that so many children stru maths and can’t find the support to help them improve in

Entrepreneurship

How exactly does Race To Infinity turn maths into a fun thing for children?

Race To Infinity isn’t just a normal maths game. What’s different about it is that it can be replayed as many imes as you like without getting boring, that was an element we worked really hard to incorporate into it. d noticed that a lot of maths games were good games to play, but after playing them once or twice, children were no longer interested, because there was nothing new to it, and that’s what I wanted to change with creating Race To Infinity.

Another key aspect of this game is that it improves children’s life skills as well as their maths skills. We have made sure that it helps kids to work on their critical thinking skills, creative thinking skills, deductive reasonng, logic, decision making, analytical skills, emotional intelligence, and so much more, so that they’re not ust learning maths, they’re also growing their social and other skills. The game is helping them to become more well-rounded people, whilst also allowing them to have fun at the same time.

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dent union o help chillly sad that and I really of schools. maths, and nly went in helped the the end of

turn mathevery time. own board eplayability, ain. I really ty, because uggle with n it!

How was your business affected by the pandemic?

Initially, when all the kids were first sent home from school, our sales went through the roof. As a parent myself, I know that we were all in a bit of a frenzy trying to work out how this home schooling thing was going to work! I think that a lot of parents turned to educational board games as a way of mixing up the school day, and using the Race To Infinity game meant that parents and teachers who struggle with maths themselves could help their child without having to worry about knowing the answer.

Eventually, the sales settled down a little bit as people started to realise this home schooling thing was going to go on for quite a while. They just sort of made do with what they had I guess. Summer was a pretty normal summer for us, because sales usually settle down around then anyway as people are away and so aren’t buying much. Then when September came around, everything picked back up again because many schools were going back. A lot of schools realised that our board games were a good way of helping kids who had fallen behind in maths get back on track without having to do extra maths lessons, so our sales went up again, which has been great! We’re organising tournaments in schools for children to get involved in, which should be a lot of fun.

What’s the next step for BeGenio?

Firstly, we want to find more distributors and educational publishers so that we can expand our markets. We are already in 12 countries, but we want to expand even more than that. Our interview on BBC NEWS and BBC World, and our partnership with Amazon wherein they buy wholesale and sell retail has helped us, so we’re on the hunt for licensees and distributors to enable us to do that further. We’re also in the process of creating an app, which is really exciting, it’s going to be an augmented reality app and will allow us to reach a wider market. Then next month we’re launching 4 additional games, so it’s a pretty busy time for us!

Interview by Lola Sherwin.

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Fashion & Beauty

essie Gel Couture Scarlet Starlet Shimmer £9.99, Amazon (Buy here) Red nails add a touch of classy colour to any outfit, if done right. Red is also the colour of love and romance, so this nail polish is perfect for date night! This polish provides you with a beautiful colour and even coverage, and is chip resistant, so you don’t have to worry about ruining your manicure!

Unsplash @nojannamdar

Dermaflage Full Coverage Concealer Cream £24.99, Amazon (Buy here) This concealer will help you cover up dark circles and blemishes in no time. It won’t smudge or crack, and it doesn’t look cakey – it really doesn’t get much better than this!

5 Date

By Lola Sherwin

Night Beauty Must Haves

Eyeko Black Magic Mascara £18, Amazon (Buy here) A good mascara is essential to completing any make-up look. This one isn’t just good, it’s great. It thickens, lengthens and curls your lashes, making you feel glam and ready for date night.

NYX Matte Setting Spray £7.99, Amazon (Buy here) Once you’ve got your perfect make-up look ready, you need something to keep it in place! This budget-friendly setting spray will keep your make-up looking fresh all night, and the matte look will ensure you don’t break out in shine halfway through dinner.

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Rimmel London Lasting Finish Primer £6.99, Amazon (Buy here) The key to every good make-up look is an excellent primer. If you’ve been searching for one that actually works, then look no further!

Rimmel London’s Lasting Finish primer helps your make-up go on smoothly, for a flawless date night look.