Karen Krizanovich is known in the film industry for her work on major studio feature films as a researcher.

As a journalist, she has been published in Wired, The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and Financial Times among others. Broadcasts include BBC1 Breakfast, BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Woman’s Hour and BBC World Service.

For ten years the writer of Dear Karen, the quite popular comedy column in EMAP’s Sky Magazine, Karen’s career encompasses voiceover work (she was once the voice of a green M&M), TV presenting and books.

Karen has appeared on over 75 different TV shows, including CNN and Newsnight. Secretary of the London Film Critics’ Circle and a member of BAFTA, BIFA craft jury, BFDG and FIPRESCI for whom she was a Cannes jury member in 2023. Karen also conceived, researched and presented Whistledown Production/BBC Radio 4‘s groundbreaking original radio documentary entitled Svelte Sylvia and the Hollywood Trimsters, Tinsel Town’s first and arguably greatest fitness and beauty expert who was wiped from history before this documentary.

Natasha Devon MBE is a writer, presenter & activist. She tours schools, universities and events throughout the world, delivering talks as well as conducting research on mental health, body image, gender and equality. She campaigns both on and offline to make the world a fairer place. 

Natasha is the founder of the Mental Health Media Charter, which scrutinises the way the media report on mental health. She works with a number of charities, is a Patron for No Panic,  as well as an Ambassador for Glitch and the Reading Agency.

A Beginner’s Guide to Being Mental: An A-Z was published by Bluebird in 2018, and Yes You Can: Ace School Without Losing Your Mind was published by Macmillan Children's Books in April 2020.

Her debut YA novel, Toxic, was published by Uclan in July 2022.

Clicks: How To Be Your Best Self Online was published by Macmillan Children's Books in May 2023.

Babushka, a prequel to Toxic, will be published in August 2023.

Based in London, Samantha Lourie is the face behind Instagram page @butterfliesandpebbles, with 100k followers. She has been running journaling workshops and online self-love/self-healing courses since 2016, developing an approach that aims to make the difficult areas of life more approachable and facilitate emotional integration and self-healing

Samantha Lourie has an English degree from King’s London and a teaching and film industry background. She describes herself as a 'free-spirit poet/writer mama'. She has been running journaling workshops and online self-love/self-healing courses since 2016, developing an approach that seeks to make the difficult areas of life more approachable. She is not a professional therapist, but she is an advocate who is curious about the human condition and she uses her work to facilitate emotional integration and self- healing. She lives in London with her husband and three daughters.

A therapeutic way of approaching the difficulties in our lives, working through (the messy) aspects to discover a new sense of self and freedom, THE POWER OF MESS interrogates mess itself - why we are taught to hate it, whether it's an untidy bedroom, a chaotic divorce, or a change in career, but how important and unavoidable it really is - and offers a way of working through the messy aspects of life without it becoming a negative aspect of life. Lourie encourages us to own our mess, and see life as a journey in which we pick up the pieces along the way and make something from them. Although loss, hurt and mess are still there, our perception of them has changed.

#thepowerofmess #powerofmess #butterfliesandpebbes

Anniki Sommerville is podcaster and freelancer writer. Her podcast 'How To Be A Boss At Ageing' was released in June 2020. In each episode she tackles a different aspect of growing older, with interviewees such as Cariad Lloyd and Sali Hughes.

She has her own monthly radio show on Soho Radio and regularly speaks on panels on topics such as motherhood, the changing nature of work, relationships and ageing. She has written for the Telegraph and the I and used to edit the successful parenting blog Selfish Mother.

Her instagram stories are a brilliant take on parenting and midlife, and in this episode Anniki shares the highs and lows of her career, talks about why freelancing isn't for everyone and advocates for a good cry in the work loos.

There's a little bit of swearing at the end!

Find Anniki at https://www.annikisommerville.com/

And follow her on Instagram @annikisommerville

#thebigquit #freelancing #selfemployed #annikisommerville

A freelance adventurer?! Yes, you heard that right!

You may recognise Levison Wood from his documentaries about walking such as Walking the Nile. He's supporting charity Walking with the Wounded and spoke to Freelance Feels about his own freelance work, the mental health benefits of walking and the parallels between freelancing and exploring.

Walking With The Wounded

Walking With The Wounded ‘WWTW’ deliver employment, mental health, care coordination and volunteering programmes in collaboration with the NHS to get those who served, and their families, whether mentally, socially or physically wounded, back on their feet and making a positive contribution once more. Why? Because those who served, deserve.

Walking Home For Christmas

This winter, thousands of people will be Walking Home For Christmas in support of armed forces veterans across the country.

The campaign, which runs from 9 to 20 December, is Walking With The Wounded’s annual nationwide fundraising walking challenge to support its work across mental health, employment, volunteering and care coordination.

An estimated 5 million veterans live in the UK. While most of the 15,000+ personnel who leave the forces each year have a successful transition to civilian life, a small but significant minority do not. Walking With The Wounded supports those who served, and their families, to thrive.

There are three key aspects to this year’s Walking Home For Christmas campaign:

1. #WalkWithAndy Andy, a former military police officer, will be walking 350 kilometres from the Cenotaph in London to Manchester Cenotaph. He aims to complete this extraordinary challenge in just five days, leaving London on 5 December and arriving in Manchester on 9 December.

1. Organised regional walks New for 2022, Walking With The Wounded has organised regional walks in London, Manchester, and Newcastle on the 9 December. Participants can raise vital funds – and their heart rate – at one of these fun large-scale events. Everyone is welcome.

1. Walk your own way Participants can complete their own fundraising walk - of any distance and at a location of their choosing - between 9 and 20 December. Some participants opt to walk their children home from school, others walk between offices with colleagues, and there are those who undertake a walk in memory of someone special or between locations that mean something to them.

www.walkinghomeforchristmas.com

Research

• Research from the charity finds that fewer than 1 in 3 (29%) of the UK adult population walk every day in winter – and astonishingly 10% never go for a walk. But when it comes to improving health and wellbeing, 68% would consider trying to go on a regular walk - compared to 1 in 10 (11%) interested in group fitness classes and 1 in 5 (22%) who would think about joining a gym.

#walkingwiththewounded #walkingformentalhealth #freelancing #selfemployed #levisonwood #levwood #walkingthenile #walkinghomeforchristmas

Gardening and freelancing is an analogy I've loved for a long time, and we (ahem) dig deep into it in this episiode!

Ellen Mary is a gardener, author, broadcaster, co-host of the plant based podcast and radio show host, promoting the wellbeing benefits of gardening, plants and the natural world. She writes a regular column in Grow Your Own Magazine and her first book The Joy of Gardening; the every day zen of mowing the lawn, was released in May 2021. Her second book How to Grow a Garden was release in July 2022. She also has horticulture training, many years of gardening experience, social and therapeutic horticulture, cognitive behavior therapy and wellness coaching.

Find her at ellenmarygardening.co.uk

#gardening #wellbeing #wellbeingcoach #gardeningexpert #freelancing #freelancelife #mentalhealth #freelancewellbeing #gardenlife #gardenersworld #gardenfreelancers #freelancegardener #freelancegardening