With A Story w/ Nicole Meliora
By Nicole Meliora
With A Story w/ Nicole MelioraApr 06, 2021
Chapter 29 | Creating Freedom + Spaciousness with Melissa Moffet, Empowerment Coach
Chapter 28 | Clean Beauty LOVEEEERS with Alex Nicolaou of Nini Organics
This week we welcome Alex Nicolaou, founder of Nini Organics. I was so excited for this chat as I've followed Alex on Instagram for quite a long time and I love his brand. On this week's episode, we have so much fun chatting about Alex's all-natural beauty line, Nini Organics, that stands for "Natural Ingredients, Nature's Intention." It's apparent how knowledgeable and passionate Alex is about skin care and skin health and he provides a lot of insight in this episode about the proper way to prep, wash, and ritualistically care for your skin.
Join us as we talk about how he found a love for skincare and how his early struggles with acne became a product obsession and ultimately the beautiful, fun-loving brand now known as Nini Organics. In this episode, we get to hear from Alex directly all about Nini Organics, as well as product information, product inspiration, and product sourcing. We go on to discuss the future of the green beauty industry and his wildest dreams for Nini Organics - it's all about manifesting!
Find Nini Organics online at www.niniorganics.com, on Instagram @niniorganics, and on Youtube at Nini Organics. Available in Germany, France, the USA, the Czech Republic, Berlin, and the UK, Nini Organics is taking the world and clean beauty by storm.
In the words of Alex himself, "Stay festive, stay hydrated, and stay protected." Until next week - bye for now!
---- Theme music written, recorded and produced by Alex Hill & Kate Lister.
Chapter 27 | Mother Your Own Way with Heather Dawn of The Mama Circle
Chapter 26 | Switching from 'Inner Critic FM' to 'I Rock! FM' with Ellen Million
Chapter 25 | Madeleine Lyman: traveler, artist and yogi
Madeleine is a world traveler and artist that has found a passion for environmental art. From conscious painting materials to balance and perspective, Madeleine talks about how her life experiences have shaped her as an artist and an individual. Before the pandemic hit, Madeleine was living in Oaxaca, Mexico where she developed a great appreciation for their way of life. Dive in as we discuss books we love, artists we should check out, and Madeleine's goal of incorporating creativity into her health coach and wellness journey.
Connect with Madeleine on IG @madlime_ and on her website.
Mentioned in this episode:
Embrace Yoga's Roots book
Light on Life book
@happypeople_make
Alex Grey
Ecological art
Mushroom burial suit TED talk
Chapter 24 | 3 Ways to Change Careers (Solo Episode)
**EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT** Join me on March 13th for a virtual wellbeing retreat - there will be yoga practices, talks and workshops focused on providing you with the tools to navigate changes with grace. More details and tickets here.
Today I'm sharing my tips for career transitions - 3 ways for changing careers that I've experienced successfully that I'm sharing with you today:
- via education/training
- the 'side hustle' transition
- the 'start over' transition
I hope you find these useful and let me know what resonated on Instagram @withastorypodcast.
Chapter 23 | Living an Epic Life with Sukun Chopra
**EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT** Join me on March 13th for a virtual wellbeing retreat - there will be yoga practices, talks and workshops focused on providing you with the tools to navigate changes with grace. More details and tickets here.
Here with me this week is Sukun Chopra, creator of Epic Beings - a community built to empower you to live life consciously and with intentionality. Sukun is an eternal seeker, a conscious living facilitator, passionate about helping young people in their awakening and creating their dream lives.
Sit with us this week as we talk about the effect of the digital age on the younger generations, how conscious connection and authentic networking affect business, and all things metaphysical. Sukun shares with us the beauty of breaking from our current life cycle set on auto-pilot, to living an epic life using empowering beliefs. We chat about understanding your path with shadow work, as well as our predictions for the future for this collective global awakening. I loved chatting with Sukun this week and hope you're just as inspired by her words as I was.
Connect with Sukun on IG @epic.beings to learn more about what she's doing and her future plans for a judgement-free Epic Being community for like-minded individuals. Check her out online at theepicbeings.com & follow her on Twitter @sukunc.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Epic Beings blog
Chapter 22 | Rock your Social(s) with Jessica Audsley
Sit with us as we discuss how resilience, reframing, and acceptance are the keys to a positive mindset and to creating a life you enjoy. We get to hear how Jess left her 20 year corporate career to be a rockstar in her industry and help others rock their socials. As we chat about the future of small business, authenticity, and abundance, you can hear the passion and drive Jess has to be a successful entrepreneur, while balancing motherhood and marriage.
I loved getting to chat with this driven and inspiring woman and hope you enjoy listening!
Check Jess out on Instagram @rocksocial_ or online at Rock-social.com.
xxx
Chapter 21 | Motherhood by Design with Emily Billick
I'm so excited to bring you this week's episode, chatting everything Human Design and motherhood. This week I got to chat with Emily Billick, creator of Motherhood by Design, whose mission is to balance parents and children through understanding their human design.
Listen in as we discuss how the pandemic drove Emily to find herself in human design and turn that knowledge into an asset for mothers. We dive into the 5 human design types and what that means for the relationships with each other, as well as the energy balances within families. Emily explains how understanding your child and then understanding yourself can not only allow for a cohesive relationship within your home, but can allow your child to become their most authentic selves.
A fan of human design myself, I loved having these conversations and I hope you will enjoy listening half as much.
Check Emily out on Instagram @emme.kate and maybe learn what human design type your child is?
Chapter 20 | SOLO Episode: Investing in Yourself
In this solo episode I'm sharing the why, what and how of investing in yourself - a topic I shared about on my Instagram a couple weeks ago that I wanted to expand on further. This is an idea that I didn't really understand until last year, when I really GOT IT.
In this episode I share what I mean by 'investing in yourself,' why I think it's so important to be doing it now, and some ways I've invested in myself over the past couple years to provide you with some ideas and inspiration. If something from this episode resonates with you or you want ask me a follow up question, message me on Instagram @nicolemeliora - I'm always happy to chat!
Chapter 19 | Mindful Sex with Anna Hushlak
What is mindful sex? This is what I discuss with my guest this week, Anna Hushlak, the co-founder of the sexual wellness Ferly app, an audio guide to mindful sex.
We dive into the content on the Ferly app, from an initial 8-week program for users to get familiar with their sexual beliefs and practice journalling exercises to reflect on their previous sexual experiences.
We discussed the difference between masturbation and self-pleasure, between arousal and desire, how to create a positive sensual environment for ourselves.
This is an amazing episode for women and folx with vulvas who want to have a more mindful and pleasurable experience and relationship with sex.
Check out Ferly on Instagram @weareferly and definitely check out their app to dive in deeper.
Chapter 18 | Girl Talk with Mia Nissen of The Inner Blooming blog
We talk about everything from her blog where she writes on topics like self-love, travel, girl power and her love of music festivals, her love of knocking down barriers in wellness and how to show up for yourself in small ways.
We talked about her newest side hustle, Earring Habit, where she shares her beautiful earring creations, her perspective on BLM and the shifts happening in the US, as well as her relationship and how she overcame a difficult moment in her partnership.
I hope you enjoy this episode with Mia and check her out @mia.latoy or on her blog.
Chapter 17 | Aging Audaciously on the Road of Life w/ Lisa Levine
'If you don't feel old, you're not old!' This episode with Lisa Levine is so inspiring for many reason - I love her approach to aging and getting older, but also just to life in general. We talked about her early career in the music and film industry, how she met her husband and meeting famous people.
We talked about how she got into health and wellness, her journey through IVF, how she hit a transition point in her life and career and moving into life and health coaching. She shares how food and health are deeply connected, the concept of primary food and secondary food and to pay attention to what feeds your life and soul.
She shares so much wisdom and debunks myths around ageing, ageing as a woman, and what feeling audacious means to her.
This is an amazing episode to listen to for all kinds of inspiration from navigating changing careers, motherhood, and how to live a life that lights you up. I hope you enjoy listening to my conversation with Lisa as much as I enjoyed it.
You can check her out on Instagram at @thelisalevine.
Chapter 16 | Authentic Connection with Delphine Supanya Berger
I'm excited to share this week's episode which is my conversation with my friend, Delphine Supanya Berger. Delphine is a wellbeing educator based in Singapore and Paris, and she's currently exploring a bold vision for the future of corporate culture and employee engagement, that thrives on Human Connection through the deployment of department-wide mentorship development programmes.
Leveraging her own experiences as a corporate lawyer, interior designer, and founder of a digital marketing agency, Delphine is on a mission to design human-centred work environments where growth & creativity flourish.
In this episode, Delphine shares her experience of 2020, both personally and professionally, the challenges and difficulties that she experienced this year, but also how it brought her to reassess her priorities and what's important to her. We talked about her career trajectory, from corporate lawyer and the challenges she encountered in that industry, to burnout and becoming ill and experiencing several health scares in 2016, the steps she took to heal and retrain her body which led her to training in yoga, meditation and creating long-term wellbeing programs for corporates.
Finally, Delphine explains authentic relating and how we can create deeper connections with others even while working from home and being remote.
You can learn more about and connect with Delphine on LinkedIn and learn more about Authentic Relating here.
Chapter 15 - We Resonate with Lizzie Clark
In this week's episode I'm chatting with Lizzie Clark, the founder of We Resonate, creating unique pieces out of rare, vintage silks and creator of The Centered Self vision board workshops.
We talked about Lizzie's background in fashion + prints, how she became aware of the environmental impact of the fashion industry and how she made the transition to starting We Resonate.
Lizzie also shares her most recent creation, The Centered Self Vision Board workshops, the next one of which is coming up January 5th. She shares the structure of the workshops and what you can expect to get from them.
This is a great episode for exploring your creativity and personal development.
You can find We Resonate here.
Check out her next vision board workshop here.
Chapter 14 | Creating Space + Bringing Comfort with yogi Sarah Malcolm
Sarah Malcolm is a London-based yoga teacher with many strings to her bow including blogging, YouTube and podcasting. Her mission through her work is to create the space to bring you comfort. In this conversation, we talked about what she's taken from the ups and downs of 2020, how yoga has kept her going and how helping others has helped her. We discussed how she transitioned to teaching yoga online this year, and the value of still being able to connect and come together thanks to the technology we have available.
Sarah shared her yoga journey from discovering yoga, to embarking on her teacher training in 2017 and where she's at now in her yoga teaching and practice, as well as tips for yoga teachers just starting off.
We chatted about social media and her relationship with it and how she shares authentically online. Finally we discussed her wonderful podcast, Kitchen Club, which she created with her co-host Serena Louth, and her own health journey & healthy habits.
You can check her out and find more information about her yoga classes at sarahmalcolm.co.uk or on Instagram @sarahmalcs, and check out her podcast @kitchenclubpodcast.
Chapter 13 | Welcome to (ayur)Veda with Sophie + Rheanna
This episode is a great starting point if you're interested in learning more about ayurveda. In this episode I'm chatting with Sophie & Rheanna of Welcome to Veda. We talked about how they met (very recently!), what services they provide individually, whether as Ayurvedic practitioners or working for Urban Veda.
We then dive into what ayurveda is, what is a dosha and how to figure out what yours is, and how we can balance the doshas through ayurvedic practices. We discuss their approach to ayurveda, being mindful of appropriation, and finally sharing ayurvedic practices both for the winter season but also for #2020.
Stayed tuned to the end for their upcoming workshops, full moon sessions and their Christmas giveaway, and follow them @welcometoveda for much more resources and tips.
Chapter 12 | Permaculture & Permacrafters with Christelle Siohan
In this episode with Christelle Siohan, co-founders of Permacrafters, we talked about her childhood, her career path and how she got into permaculture. She explains what permaculture is, starting Permacrafters with her cofounder Christina and their online course offerings, from herbal remedies to body care products and how to get started with their courses and seeing these as part of a new lifestyle as opposed to as tasks. She also shares her tips for how to have a more conscious holiday season.
Check out their course offerings at permacrafters.com and follow them on Instagram @permacrafters for lots more tips and resources!
Enjoy this conversation, xx.
Chapter 11 | Dance like Nobody's Watching with Claudia Colvin
Claudia Colvin is the founder of Nobody's Watching, on a mission to inspire people to dance and change what it means to be a dancer. During our chat we spoke about the benefits of dancing, Claudia's background in dance and the influence of her mom and grandmother on her. She shares how she got the idea for Nobody's Watching, her entrepreneurship journey, how she creates safe spaces for people to feel comfortable dancing with others at her events, how she responded to the pandemic this year, and her upcoming projects, including a book and a podcast!
You can join in on the Wake Up and Dance challenge every weekday morning at 7:30am UK until December 8th by signing up to the Nobody's Watching newsletter and join in on the daily dancing fun.
If you have a story about how dancing has positively impacted your life, do reach out to Claudia to share your story at hello@nobodyswatching.co. For more check out nobodyswatching.co.
I hope this conversation inspires you to bring more dancing into your day to day, and share with a friend to spread the joy of dance!
Chapter 10 | SOLO: A bit about me!
In this solo episode I'm sharing a bit about my background, my childhood growing up in multiple countries, how I met my husband, my early adulthood and career choices, and how I ended up living in London.
Short and sweet but covers a lot of ground - happy listening!
Chapter 9 | Holistic Healing + Essential Oils with Nurse & Yogi Avery Putterman
We discussed the nursing 'whole person' approach to treatment and how essential oils can be a tool in helping to support the body naturally. We dove into what essential oils are and how they're made, how to use them supportively and intuitively but also responsibly, her recipe for cleaning with essential oils, which oils to start off with and a few different ways to get started using them.
This is a great episode if you're curious about essential oils and looking to introduce less toxic and more natural approaches to your beauty regime, cleaning products or simply start dabbling in aromatherapy. You can connect with Avery on IG @averybess.
Mentioned in this episode:
Gayatri mantra
Gabby Bernstein
On Guard essential oil
Unwell on Netflix
Chapter 8 | Building Community through Travel + Writing with Jaclyn Mishal of Pink Pangea
Pink Pangea is an online community of women who love to travel (the word 'pangea' refers to a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras). Jaclyn Mishal (and her co-founder Rachel Sales) founded Pink Pangea in 2009 with the intention of providing information and inspiration for women travellers. Pink Pangea is the place where you can get authentic travel information from other who want to see the world and are already doing it.
In this episode we discuss the evolution of Pink Pangea from blog to an online platform which includes workshops and retreats, how travel has changed for women travellers, safety when travelling, Jaclyn's favorite travel destinations, how she likes to travel and her 'before trip' habit.
We also discuss how we can travel mindfully and consciously and what a Pink Pangea retreat looks like.
Jaclyn shared the following resources during this conversation:
- Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World by Lisa Bloom
- Speck on the Globe blog
To sign up for the free Pink Pangea newsletter and learn more about their workshops and retreats, visit pinkpangea.com or find them on IG @pinkpangea.
Chapter 7 | Yoga, business, friendship + self-care with Reka & Amona of Bassline Yoga
We talked about launching their business during the pandemic and how they took the summer to reflect on the future of their brand, the shifts that have occurred in the yoga industry this year, how they've evolved their yoga teaching during this year, and of course, their SELF-CARE tips and what is serving them this year + at this stage of their lives. Enjoy!
A few things we mentioned in the episode:
- you can check out their IGTV conversation on the @basslineyoga IG page
- Lean In circles
Check out the Bassline Yoga website for more info or to get in touch.
Chapter 6 | Healthy Snacks + Growing a Business Organically with Claire Dinan of Makan Snacks
This week's episode is my chat with Claire Dinan, yoga teacher, founder of Makan Snacks and lovely human being. In this conversation, we discuss how Claire got the idea for Makan Snacks, how she's grown it organically from selling her products at a street market to now being stocked in Selfridges. Claire shares her product development process and what's kept her sane during lockdown.
You can check out her products at www.makansnacks.com and on Instagram @makansnacks.
Chapter 5 | Agile Careers for the Modern Age with Adele Barlow
In this conversation with Adele Barlow, Head of Content and Communications at Makers Academy in London, we discuss her career path (starting a business at age 21, enrolling in and then dropping out of law school), how she created and figured out her career path, her work with Escape the City and working in an early stage start-up, finding fulfilling work, managing career transitions, and how to take a L.E.A.N. approach to your career.
You can find her at www.adelebarlow.com, her blog at adelebarlow.co.uk or connect with Adele on LinkedIn, twitter and Instagram.
Chapter 4 | Clean + Green Beauty with Karen Macdonald of Blomma Beauty
This week I'm sharing my conversation with Karen Macdonald, the founder of Blomma Beauty. We discuss her career before founding Blomma, how she started the business and being an entrepreneur in the green beauty industry. She shares tips on transitioning to a clean beauty regime, her beauty routine and making the most of being in a lockdown for your beauty routine, and how she chooses the products Blomma sells.
If you're looking to start a green beauty brand, transition to using cleaner beauty products, or just want to learn more about the green beauty industry, this episode is for you!
You can find out more and purchase from Blomma at blommabeauty.com and on Instagram @blomma_beauty. Blomma Beauty is providing a 15% discount for With a Story listeners with code withastory15.
Chapter 3 | Modern Mindfulness, Practical Productivity + Emotional Intelligence with Connor Swenson
We recorded this conversation back in March of 2020, just after many countries in Europe were imposing quarantine measures due to the spread of Covid-19.
You can find more about Connor at www.connorswenson.com. You can contact him at connor@connorswenson.com. Connor also publishes a weekly newsletter called One Percent Wisdom which I highly recommend! You can sign up to receive it here: www.connorswenson.com/newsletter.
Chapter 2 | Emotional Intelligence + Wellbeing in the Workplace with professional enjoyer, Dana Svoboda
Dana Svoboda is the Chief Joy Officer for Makers Academy (makers.tech), Europe's leading coding bootcamp. She is Czech-South African and based in London. In addition to her role at Makers, she is a yoga teacher and freelance holistic coach, coaching individuals and groups on emotional intelligence, wellbeing, mindfulness meditation and yoga. In this conversation, we discuss her role at Makers, how she's combined her passions into her current career, and how to bring mindfulness and wellbeing into the workplace.
Dana says of her path:
"In everything I've encountered, I came to discover a few fundamentals of life and keys to enduring joy - emotional intelligence and our relationships with ourselves (and the rest of the world). Consciously sifting through my experiences to heal, learn and continue enjoying life has meant that I’m usually the initial subject of my own ’Test Driven Personal Development.’ I believe that life is meant to feel really good and I absolutely love helping others connect with their true joy."
Earlier this year Dana published a book on emotional intelligence which you can find here. You can find more about Dana on her website, chiefjoyofficer.com.
Chapter 1 | Ratio Cooking + Reducing Food Waste with Ann Storr of Storr Cupboard
This week I'm speaking with Ann Storr of Storr Cupboard.
With a Story Podcast - Introduction
A little background about me as your host and the intention for this show.