modelme

We are back with our modelme podcast!

Modelme: the most authentic version of you.

A heads up: this podcast discusses body dysmorphia and the beginning journey of modelme.

An introduction to modelme, our values and affirmations, why you need to check your circle and check the content you consume, and some questions around a mid-year check in: are you where you thought you would be?

In Summer, Evelina Eco + I sat down (over zoom!) with Esther Knight, co-founder of CEO of sustainable fashion brand Fanfare. 

We covered so many different topics... from being a woman in business, her choice to partner with the charity A21 (on a mission to abolish modern day slavery), what it's really like to run a sustainable business, educating her employees + partners on sustainability, and we cover the question; Is collaboration possible in an industry known for its competitiveness? - breaking down how sustainability fights against the competitive nature that the fashion industry has inhabited for so many years.

While in the London lockdown we interviewed the founders of the brand Little Places - "a platform to discover the best independent places and brands in London."

We filmed this over zoom, while quarantining! 

We spoke to founders, Kyra + Jason, about how Little Places came about + why it exists today.

Be sure to check out their beautiful site and instagram - they create some gorgeous content!

STEP NOW is ran by 5 absolutely wonderful humans who I’ve just loved knowing in this short period of time that we have been introduced. Ray, Solomon, Princess, Godwin + Tony are the guys (and girl!) behind STEP NOW, an organisation that supports young people with finance, careers, family + friends, their physical + mental health.

I sat down with 4 of the team and really got to understand why STEP NOW was created, how the business supports young people on a day to day basis, how Princess finds working with 4 men(!), + how the current situation with coronavirus has affected a business that runs so heavily with face to face interaction.

Massively inspired by how this business is adapting, I spent my time on Zoom with them making notes and having ideas from all the intricate details + stories they gave me. I can’t wait to see how STEP NOW go from strength to strength through this season, + when we are in to the new normal and can leave our homes again.

follow STEP NOW: 

I first the met the Common Purpose guys (Sam, Tiago and Dan) during working at my part time job! We were friendly and spoke about all things in life - apart from our careers - for a while - until one day I asked what their logo was on their sweaters (this is why I think branded clothing is such a good idea! We still need to do that at modelme...) 

When we spoke more about what Common Purpose was - which is a boutique personal training service - we quickly realised how aligned we were as brands. Mindset being something both Common Purpose + modelme value highly, the idea of doing a collab fitness event made total sense. And then... lockdown happened! So we decided to take it online, and are currently running a series of IG lives over on @model_me + @commonpurposeclub. Next week we will be doing smoothie making, and on the 18th May to launch our mental health awareness week of events at modelme, we will be starting on the 18th at 8:30am with Sam from Common Purpose, with a "core" workout and a "mindset" q+a. 

Loved this podcast with the boys, we could of spoke for hours! 

You can find more about Common Purpose here:

Sabinna Rachimova is the founder + CEO of ethical fashion brand, SABINNA. I recently was introduced to Sabinna through our friends at Own-Kind, and in the weeks before lockdown in the UK we worked together in many different ways - Fran Quendler (Head of PR + Communications at SABINNA) spoke on our Clothes Swap + Sustainability Talks panel, I featured on their podcast "Connecting People", and I also dipped my toe back into modelling to shoot their lookbook. 

Sabinna is a brand that I've really been inspired by lately, mainly because of the fact they are so much more than an "ethical fashion brand". They hold community close, as we do at modelme, and regularly were running workshops so that their community can understand the time it takes to, for example, crochet - recently they held a "how to create your own crochet" workshop. 

I loved this podcast with Sabinna, we cover feminism to readjusting to the work-from-home-every-day life, what it was like to move to the UK from Austria + what to look out for with greenwashing! 

Eshita Kabra Davies is the incredibly inspirational Founder of By Rotation, UK's first and only fashion rental app where you can rent and lend your wardrobe. I sat with Eshita over zoom (embracing the isolation period!) and discussed the idea behind By Rotation, what it’s like to work with your husband, how she makes sure all areas of culture and diversity are covered through her talented team, and what COVID-19 means for businesses like hers. I left the podcast feeling super encouraged and truly inspired by Eshita’s thoughts and actions. The way brands and people are responding to supporting people and finding light in this crisis - brands like By Rotation, who are giving away a free rental to every NHS staff member, so they can have something extra cute to wear when this is over! - is really empowering to be part of and watch.

Eshita also shared some people she is really inspired by right now, which we would love to share with you:

This weeks edition of the podcast brings the very humble, inspiring and innovative Sanjay Soni, CEO + founder of PURSU. PURSU is an energy bar that Sanjay created himself in his kitchen at home (full story on the podcast!). Sanjay has been so supportive of Model Me ever since we were introduced in Summer, PURSU is quite different to other snack bars for me - and at Model Me I'm passionate about using brands that are different; that stand out from other things on the market.

What I love most about Sanjay is not just the innovation behind the ingredients in the bar but also the packaging itself - which is compostable - a decision he didn't make lightly but thought was absolutely necessary. Our friends at Pulsitos are on this right track too - creating snack packaging that is sustainable and not made from plastic. 

I loved recording this podcast with Sanjay - an authentic, honest conversation about the reality of building a brand alone, from scratch, what it really means to fully believe in yourself for your project to work, and building a brand from your moments of despair. Entrepreneurs are a different breed - it takes an element of people that not everyone is built with, and as CEO of Model Me, I certainly can say myself, how encouraging it was to meet Sanjay and have such a wonderfully frank, but massively encouraging conversation.

Tony Longe is someone I met at the beginning of the year, through one of my actor friends, and Tony is someone we should all be watching. I knew that since the day I met him. There aren’t many people who operate like this man - which make him even more exciting to be around and witness his moves. Tony acts with a level of discipline and ambition that I personally believe is rare in today’s world - he works harder than most but also is one of the most humble men I’ve met. An incredibly talented Creative Producer who has his imagination playing in many creative projects - you’ll find yourself uttering his name next to the likes of Beats Headphones, Film 4, and Aitch... all of who he’s already worked with.

Major excited to share this podcast with you + you can rest assure we’ll be doing this again. Currently in the process of maybe persuading him to be a regular guest hehe.

DISCOVER TONY HERE:

Get Ready!!! 

Recently Model Me held 10 events over 5 days - our Be Prepared by Model Me event. We did 4 workshops (wellness, confidence, nutrition and practical modelling skills), a sustainability panel talk with Shaunie Brett, and 5 fitness events at various boutique gyms around London (Core Collective, BLOK, Victus Soul and ROWBOTS). The aim of this 5 day event was to prepare creatives for a particularly busy period in their lives - in this instance we wanted to focus on preparing models for the upcoming London Fashion Week. 

This podcast here is a live recording from our Wellness Workshop with the insanely talented Kara Nothnagel - wife, mother, writer, entrepreneur, and brand specialist. 

Find more info on Kara:

Well!!! What an exciting podcast to deliver to you! 

Huel have been so massively supportive of Model Me since April - when we began our goodie bags - one of the brands I called a "Day One-er". James McMaster is CEO of Huel, who I met personally in Soho, which is how our relationship with Huel began.

Huel's growth has been nothing short of amazing and scary to witness! They have SKY-ROCKETED in the last couple years, and yet are still such a young brand at truth, having just celebrated their 4th birthday. My personal fave Huel product has got to be their RTD (ready to drink) Vanilla bottle - that features at most Model Me events. It's just too easy. I have Huel's powder at home but I always find myself reaching for a RTD than making the powder! 

Loved doing this podcast with Huel - so insightful for anyone in business and of course - mega interesting hearing about what's next for this unstoppable brand...

Hope you enjoy!

Natasha x

Find more info on Huel:

How can we more sustainable in our day to day life?

Something I ask myself regularly - especially since we did our "Creating A Sustainable Lifestyle" Event on the 16th July at Red Bull. I really wanted to do a podcast with the incredibly innovative founders of Ocean Bottle as soon as I was introduced to them - we had Nick (co-founder and head of marketing) on the panel at our sustainability event too. 

What I love about Ocean Bottle and why I feel aligned with them is because - like Model Me - they are doing stuff that other's don't dare to do (like making a bottle dishwasher proof), they are innovative and they explore their options - to see what is best for the community. 

Super excited for you to hear this! You can connect with them here:

Live recording from our Model Me event that we did on Monday 20th May, at The Curtain in Shoreditch, London.

TOPIC: 

How to grow your business as a creative

How to know and value your worth

Why using social media for engagement not followers should be the key driver

What is the definition of luxury?

What is the definition of success?

SPEAKERS:

This week's guest is one of those people that you meet and think... what can't you do?! And if he can't do it, let me tell you, he sure will know someone well, that does. 

Chiko Shire is part of the collective that I mentioned a few weeks ago, that has massively inspired the Model Me journey. Cousins with Chen, who's podcast you can listen to here, Chiko is also a creative entrepreneur, who is influential entrepreneur in many areas of many industries - mainly fashion, marketing, music and art. He is the founder and director of Applying Excellence (APEX), a creative sales and digital marketing company. 

Chiko's attitude and drive is something we can all learn from. I loved diving into his journey through his many paths that he excels in, as he shares how discipline is important, and making sure that while you fall in love with the journey - you also share it too, and become part of the culture that is encouraging people to see that this is not an overnight process.

I'm sure you can tell already while we feel aligned with Chiko's thinking! 

You can find more about Chiko here:

Today's podcast is with someone who has truly inspired the Model Me journey.

I think I'm gonna share the back story!! 

When I first met Chen Shire, who also goes by the name Chennessy (particularly in the music world), it was alongside meeting some other wonderful humans too - Swarzy Macaly, Chiko Shire, David Ajukobe, Ben Hurst, Ola Christian... - who I actually first found out about through Julian Knxx, a poet and creative director. I met Julian with two other very talented humans - one who I've been blessed enough to work with - Dumas Haddad, and Olan Collardy, in Joe and the Juice in Central London last August.

Julian spoke about Swarzy on his instagram... I started following her... massively inspired by this woman. She is certainly one to be inspired by. Through her I met our guest this week, Chen, and together all of these creatives, have really inspired me with the way they encourage and support each other, in their careers, on and offline! 

Chen and I went IN on the creative industry - Chen is a very talented man; a producer, a DJ, Founder and Director of the events: *BIRDNOISE*, Surf, RILLA, Buy U A Drink...

Of course - you can see why I wanted to dive in to the way Chen see's the "appetite" in London, and in other various cities - Chen works abroad regularly too, but is based in London.

A hugely intriguing and intelligent character - I know you will be as fascinated as I was, listening to this podcast!

The audio for this episode is taken from the Model Me event we did at Kalifornia Kitchen, on the 28th April 2019!

We had so much fun at this event - it was awesome hosting at Kalifornia Kitchen with some delicious plant based brunch after our insightful, inspiring panel. 

We covered how our panelists juggle their multi-careers, what they are most inspired by and how they feel they differ from others, or perhaps who the world likes to pin them up against...

Our panelists were:

Max Oppenheim - photographer, creative director and co-founder of BLOK

Cyrus Nderitu - multi media visual artist 

Kirby Anne - model and fitness instructor at Core Collective

FIrst let me tell you the story of how I met the fascinating Ngoni. 

This week's guest is a HUGE part of Model Me!

We have co-founder + director of BLOK, who is also an incredibly talented photographer - Max Oppenheim. 

⚡ T H E  P O D C A S T  I S  B A C K ! ⚡

This episode in itself shares exactly why it's important to stay consistent in today's world with our projects - I've had so much people ask me when the podcast will return and for my own reasons, I have waited patiently for the right time to relaunch this Model Me Podcast!