Cat's Pajamas Conversations

In this episode of Communicate Well, Carrie-Ann Wade talks with Sofia Cann about her experiences of Long CoVid and how this has impacted her life and her work.

Sofia is a head of marketing and communications for three arts venues and a freelance publicist. She specialises in marketing and communications aw well as programming and producing events. She works with both businesses and individuals. Sofia is also a publicist for a number of familiar music, screen and stage personalities.

As well as highlighted the physical and mental health impacts of CoVid-19 and Long CoVid, Sofia also touches on the perimenopause and generally how we can benefit from talking more about our health and wellbeing in order to seek support and to help others. 

In this episode of Cat's PJs Convos Communicate Well mini-series, Carrie-Ann Wade talks candidly with Phil Woodford about his experience as a stroke survivor. This is a real emotional rollercoaster, you will laugh and you will cry. Phil is so honest about the impacts on his life, both physically and mentally. (Trigger warning - there is mention of suicide).

Phil is the Director of Corporate Affairs at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and has over 20 years experience in marketing and communications. He is also about to publish his first book, 'From Prostitutes to Prime Ministers, My Words, My Life, My Experiences; A Memoir.'

In this episode of Cat's Pajamas Conversations mini-series, Communicate Well, Carrie-Ann Wade talks with Kate Jarman about Flex NHS. Kate is the Director of Corporate Affairs at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and co-founder of Flex NHS.

Flex NHS is a support and resource network that promotes and enables flexible working in the NHS. Carrie-Ann and Kate talk about the advantages of flexible working, both for individuals and organisations, how to make this work and what some of the perceived barriers are.

For communications professionals, flexible working, in whatever shape or form that may take, supports work-life balance, wellbeing and productivity. Have you thought about how flexible working might help you? Hopefully this episode will support you to reflect on this and maybe start a conversation that enables you and your team to work differently.

Welcome to the first episode of our Cat's Pajamas Conversations mini series, Communicate Well. In this series we talk to communications professionals about all sorts of issues relating to health and wellbeing.

In this episode, our founder Carrie-Ann Wade talks with Rachel Royall, founder of Blue Lozenge, about what it is like to be a living organ donor.

Rachel is a leader in healthcare communications and engagement. She’s founder and MD of Blue Lozenge, a strategic consultancy in healthcare focusing on support for Integrated Care Systems and complex projects. She has led Board level communications for complex organisations including IBM, NHS, HMRC, Cabinet Office, Department of Health and Social Care and local government. She is also a visiting lecturer at Quadriga University of Science and Technology in Berlin.

Rachel is a Fellow of the Institute of Internal Communications and a Chartered Institute of Public Relations Fellow and Chartered Practitioner.

Thank you so much to Rachel for sharing her story of living organ donation so candidly, not only sharing her own experiences but also offering advice to others who may want to find out more.

In episode five of our Businesses Built on Passion series, Carrie-Ann Wade talks to Claire Thomas about her business Life Skills With Mrs T. Claire shares her purpose and passion, as well as some of her own journey, that has led her to set up her own business.

Life Skills with Mrs T is a place where skills can be learnt that can help you flourish where you’re at. A place where you can find the ability to dream again and learn how to meet these dreams through life coaching and learning self-leadership.

In this special episode of Cat's Pajamas Conversations, Carrie-Ann Wade talks with Lee Griffith, coach and founder of Sunday Skies, about coaching and mentoring.

This episode was recorded for release on our Cat's Pajamas #SmallBiz100 day on 24 November 2020. We are taking this opportunity not only to promote small business owners but to share our news about the changes we are making at Cat's Pajamas to move towards the provision of mentoring programmes for communications professionals.

Carrie-Ann and Lee talk about the difference between coaching and mentoring, how they have made use of both during their own careers and the importance of investing in your own development.

In the third episode of our Businesses Built on Passion series, Carrie-Ann Wade talks to David Martos and Itseoritseno Onuwaje, co-founders of House of Cinn. House of Cinn launched in July 2020 not only to deliver scrumptious cinnamon buns to people at home, but more importantly to support rough sleepers in London and help break the cycle of homelessness.

House of Cinn has partnered with Street Cafe with the aim to build supportive communities around those who are rough sleeping.  They have a buddy and back-to-work system in place to help the beneficiaries back into a supportive work environment, with jobs at House of Cinn when they’re ready for employment.

This is one serious business built on passion and David and Itse have a real sense of purpose about what they are aiming to achieve, we dare you not to feel inspired to spread a little kindness.

In the second episode of our Businesses Built on Passion podcast series, Carrie-Ann Wade talks with Darren Caveney about his business Comms2point0.

As well as finding out more about what inspired Darren to set up Comms2point0, the pair talk about pubic sector communications, supporting the communications profession and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the industry.

Welcome to episode one of the second series of Cat's Pajamas Conversations. This series is focused on business built on passion and in the first episode our founder Carrie-Ann Wade talks to Bev Logan of Bad Ass Mother Runners.

Bev talks candidly about her business journey, her mental health and what keeps her going.

This episode was recorded on 5 September in Wales as part of a planning weekend for the AWEsome Women's Retreat.

Jane Galloway from Quiet the Hive, Lorna Reeves from MyOhMy Events and Carrie-Ann Wade from Cat's Pajamas are collaborating to bring you the AWEsome Women's Retreat. The first of these Retreats is already fully booked and this conversation provides a taster of what delegates can expect. 

In this episode of Cat's PJs Convos our founder, Carrie-Ann Wade and Jane Galloway, founder of Quiet the Hive, celebrate their recognition as part of the #SmallBiz100 2020.

In the run up to Small Business Saturday on 5 December 2020, 100 small businesses around the UK are being recognised as part the campaign and both Carrie-Ann and Jane have been named as two of the small businesses in the #SmallBiz100.

Listen up to hear more about their journeys as small business owners, their most recent collaboration and why small businesses are so important.

In this episode of Cat's Pajamas Conversations Carrie-Ann Wade speaks with fellow F:entrepreneur #ialso100 female entrepreneur Minoti Parikh.

Minoti is founder of TPL Experiences and in this podcast she talks about how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted her business model and what she has learned about her approach to business. As well as the changes she has made to deliver her services to clients, Minoti has also found ways to collaborate with others throughout the pandemic. 

In episode 10 of Cat's Pajamas Conversations, Carrie-Ann talks to Katya Willems all about flourishing in your forties.

Join Carrie-Ann Wade in episode nine of Cat's Pajamas Conversations, this time with Asif Choudry. 

Welcome to episode eight of our Cat's Pajamas Conversations podcast. In this episode Carrie-Ann Wade, founder of Cat's Pajamas, talks to Jane Galloway, who was our first ever podcast guest! Jane is founder of Quiet the Hive and is back to talk about all things Imposter Syndrome.

Jane explains what Imposter Syndrome is, you may hear it referred to as your inner critic or your Lizard Voice. The conversation explores who it makes you feel, how to recognise it and what might trigger it.

In episode 7 of our podcast series, Carrie-Ann talks to Ceri-Jane Hackling, founder of Cerub PR. The podcast is all about PR in a pandemic, and they explore why PR and marketing is usually the first thing people cut and why you really shouldn't. Ceri-Jane also shares some of her tips and insider knowledge to support you to do your own PR through this pandemic.

In episode six of Cat's Pajamas Conversations, Carrie-Ann talks with Christine MacKay, founder of Salamandra UK. 

Christine first founded Salamandra (Design & PR) in Johannesburg in 2006 and has since resurrected it in the UK as Salamandra.uk (Animation & Design) after falling in love with animation (whilst working in Auckland) as an impressive medium for B2B communications. Being a very visual person, Christine gets a real kick out of helping clients tell their story through delightful visual content, on any platform. Earlier this year, Christine was named in the UK's top 100 female entrepreneurs, celebrated alongside International Women’s Day at the House of Lords.

In this episode Carrie-Ann and Christine talk about how the lockdown situation in the UK has impacted Christine's business, how she has worked with her clients through this period and how her team has pulled together. 

Listen to this podcast to find out more about the AWEsome Women's Retreat. The Retreat is a collaboration between Jane Galloway, founder and director of Quiet the Hive, Carrie-Ann Wade, founder and chief collaborator at Cat's Pajamas Communications, and Lorna Reeves, founder and director of MyOhMy Events and MyOhMy Weddings.

The podcast gives you the chance to find out more about the collaboration, what we hope you will gain from the weekend and how you might benefit from being part of the AWEsome Women's Retreat. It really is all about helping you find your awareness, will and energy.

In episode five of Cat's Pajamas Convos, Carrie-Ann discusses pivoting your business with Lorna Reeves. Lorna is the founder of both MyOhMy Weddings and MyOhMy Events and has recently made the move to pivot her business due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Lorna discusses how she has made the move to provide a new service to her clients, why she did this and whether you should too. Pivoting is not for everyone and Lorna provides some practical advice and tips to support small businesses when thinking about pivoting.

Welcome to episode four of our Cat's Pajamas Convos podcast series. In this episode Carrie-Ann talks to Lisa Anderton, founder and coach at eight Leadership Coaching about experiencing the menopause in the workplace. Lisa also works in healthcare and shares her advice, tips and wisdom to support working women with the menopause.

In episode three of Cat's Pajamas Convos Carrie-Ann talks all things crisis communications with Martin Evans. Martin is the founder of Tandem Comms and is also a founding member of the Cat's Pajamas Collaborative. 

Planning is key to managing a crisis, as is the ability to keep calm. Martin talks about crisis communications and shares some of his own experiences from the military and healthcare.

Welcome to episode two of Cat's Pajamas Convos. Our founder Carrie-Ann Wade talks to performance coach Mikaela Jackson about overcoming overwhelm. Mikaela explores what overwhelm is and when it can strike, as well as talking through tips to support you. 

This episode of our podcast focuses on clarity, boundaries, expectation setting and balance. Being self aware can help you manage feeling overwhelmed.

Welcome to the first episode of Cat's Pajamas Convos. We are talking to Jane Galloway, founder of Quiet the Hive, about the art of networking. Our founder Carrie-Ann Wade talks with Jane about how challenging many of us find the idea of networking and why. Jane offers insight, tips and practical advice on how we can overcome our fear of networking. 

Carrie-Ann mentions dealing with tricky questions but didn't come back to this later on - we are so sorry! Jane has shared the following advice on this conundrum.