Favourite Positions – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Episode description:

In this thought-provoking episode of Career Unlocked, Alex sits down with Dean Connell, a creative director with over two decades of experience in the interior design industry and the founder of the innovative design consultancy, I-AM.D.C. Dean shares his journey from growing up in inner-city London to becoming a leading voice in sustainable and circular design. He discusses the pivotal moments that shaped his career, including his transition from working at Phones4U to studying interior design at Kingston University and eventually launching his own design consultancy. Dean opens up about his unique philosophy that takes cues from nature to transform traditional workspaces and hospitality environments into sustainable, circular spaces. He also shares his passion for moving beyond 'tick box' sustainability and creating lasting, desirable pieces that transcend functionality. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of design, sustainability and the evolving nature of work.

Key points discussed:

• Dean’s early life in inner-city London and his transition from working at Phones4U to studying interior design
• The importance of focusing on specific skills and developing discipline in one’s career
• Dean’s experiences working as a junior designer and the evolution of his career in the interior design industry
• Founding I-AM.D.C and the inspiration behind challenging the 'take, make, waste' mentality in design
• The integration of circular principles into his work and the importance of creating lasting, repairable and adaptable furniture
• Dean’s approach to moving beyond 'tick box' sustainability and fostering a community committed to circular design
• The impact of technology and innovation on the future of workspace design and how AI and VR may influence the industry
• Dean’s views on the importance of community and user-centered design in creating sustainable and functional workspaces
• Insights into Dean’s most rewarding career moments, including working in Japan and developing the Sessions project
• Upcoming projects and initiatives at I-AM.D.C, including collaborations with Patch co-working spaces

Resources and links:

• Connect with Dean Connell: LinkedIn
• I-AM.D.C: Website
• Patch Co-Working Spaces: Website
• Living With Buildings: The Sessions House Project: Website

Stay up to date with us on Instagram and LinkedIn:

• Favourite Positions Podcast Instagram
• Alex Young on LinkedIn

As always, please reach out and let us know how you’re finding the series and feel free to send us any suggestions for topics you’d like us to explore in future episodes! Thank you for listening and supporting the platform. We're so grateful that you're here.

Episode description: 
In this episode of 'Favourite Positions: Careers Unlocked,' Alex chats with Molly, Co-Founder of Flexa, to explore her journey from working on a farm during her childhood to creating a groundbreaking platform that redefines flexible working. Molly shares her unique experiences, including a rigorous gap year, her university life at Oxford and her career in investment banking, which ultimately led her to identify a significant gap in the market. Discover the motivation behind Flexa, the challenges Molly faced and how Flexa is changing the future of work for millions. Molly also discusses the impact of flexible working on diversity and inclusion, the importance of employee value propositions and her vision for the future of Flexa. Tune in to gain valuable insights on navigating the evolving landscape of work and fostering a more inclusive, flexible work environment.

Key points discussed:

• Molly's early life and upbringing in London and Somerset
• Her transition from university to investment banking and the intense gap year experiences
• The inspiration and motivation behind starting Flexa
• The challenges faced in the early stages of building Flexa, including the impact of the pandemic
• The role of flexible working in enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion
• The concept of employee value proposition and its significance
• Strategies for companies to introduce flexible working arrangements
• How individuals can identify and negotiate flexible working options
• Staying informed about changes in the future of work
• Future goals for Flexa and the broader vision for the future of work

Resources and links:

• Flexa: Website
• Connect with Molly: LinkedIn
• Recommended study: Nick Bloom’s research on remote and hybrid work
• Articles on flexible working: BBC Worklife, Harvard Business Review

Please stay up to date with us on Instagram and LinkedIn:

• Favourite Positions Podcast Instagram: Favourite Positions Instagram
• Alex Young on LinkedIn: Alex Young LinkedIn

As always, please do reach out and let us know how you’re finding the series and feel free to send us any suggestions for topics you’d like us to explore in future episodes! Thank you for listening and supporting the platform, we're so grateful that you're here.

Founded in 2022 by curator Eden Maseyk and entrepreneur Luke Davis, Helm Gallery in Brighton is the result of a collective vision; one that aims to provide a never-before seen arts and exhibition space in the heart of the city. 

The gorgeous gallery space is made up of two floors. A ground floor consisting of a rotating selection of limited-edition prints and highly sought after original pieces carefully selected and curated by the team. Downstairs is home to the exhibition hall, a vast area that hosts cutting-edge shows, classes and immersive experiences.

Helm places a huge emphasis on ensuring their doors are open to everyone. They are determined to make the art world more inclusive and accessible. They never charge anyone to view the art and their events series focuses on showcasing as many art forms as possible, including music, dance and interactive workshops.

We sat down with Eden and Artist Liaison, India Coles, to discuss why it’s so important to wider society to make art more accessible.

Learn from the experts on the finest contemporary art in the world about the magic of creativity.

Stay up to date with Helm here:

https://helm-gallery.com/

As for us, we’re wrapping up this series on a high as we have a new venture to tell you about

As of 2024, we will be doing LIVE in person ‘What’s Working?’ events. Starting early in the new year, join us as we collectively shape the future of work at our new FREE event series  – these 90 minute sessions are packed with expert speakers, an insightful panel discussion and network opportunities.

Engage in panel talks dissecting critical work-related topics from AI to hybrid working, gather actionable insights and contribute to thought-provoking conversations about the future of work.

Join discussions led by top speakers, gain fresh perspectives and discover approaches that can help you to redefine how you view work.

We’ll be sharing the links to our 'What's Working?' events soon so stay tuned if you want to be part of shaping the future work.

Thank you so much for listening to the first of our collaborative podcast series between Favourite Positions and Projects, it’s been such a pleasure to interview all of the inspiring guests we’ve had on over the past few months and we can’t wait to release more episodes next year.

You can stay up to date with us on Instagram and Linked In:

https://www.instagram.com/favouritepositionspodcast/

https://www.instagram.com/projectsbtn/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-young-74431a135/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-harris-9504a4212/

Please do reach out and let us know how you’ve found the series and feel free to send us any suggestions for topics you’d like us to explore in future episodes.

Wishing you a wonderful end to the year.

We’re looking forward to exploring what the future holds with you.

In this episode we had the absolute pleasure of speaking to Sam Hornsby, co founder of creative career app ERIC. 

ERIC is an award-winning platform connecting the next generation of talent to the creative industries.

Sam and her childhood best friend Mae founded ERIC, which is on a mission to give young people access to career experiences, initiatives & opportunities, whilst also helping creative companies get these opportunities in front of their target audience.

We spoke to Sam about what Gen Z want from the world of work, what companies can be doing to ensure they’re making diverse and inclusive hiring decisions and what exactly the creative industries are.

Thank you for listening, we hope you found this episode insightful and we will be back next week with another so stay tuned - next week will actually be our last in the series, it’s not going to be one to miss! 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-hornsby-25a95334/?originalSubdomain=uk

https://www.meet-eric.com/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/eric-creative-career-app/id1593220987

As always don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram. We are @favouritepositionspodcast and @projectsBTN. 

You can also let us know how you found this episode via LinkedIn. We would love to hear from you and find out what’s working for you right now.

Garrett Keogh is an expert in uncertainty and this episode is exactly what you need to listen to if you’re feeling worried about the future.

As a pioneer in the digital sector, he has worked at a senior level for huge brands, from MTV to AOL, running digital and content departments and leading digital strategy. He’s delivered major campaigns for BBC, ITV, SKY and Red Bull, led social media strategy development for the BBC and helped launch some of its biggest TV brands online. 

Garrett talks to us about his career to date, starting out as a journalist, writing about which printers and other new technological devices were worth purchasing, then reviewing websites in magazines (yes, that wa a real job) to eventually running his own agency, building from scratch to a multi-million-pound turnover with clients including TGI Fridays, NBC Universal, Sony, HP, Nike, Sky and more. 

We loved hearing from him about his take on how the changes we’re experiencing currently in the world of work are really exciting and how technology can continue to evolve and enable us to live better lives.

Find out more about the Uncertainty Experts here: https://www.uncertaintyexperts.com/

We hope you find this episode insightful and we will be back next week with another so stay tuned. As always don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram. We are @favouritepositionspodcast and @projectsBTN.

In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking to Jonathan Reid, a podcasting and personal branding specialist who has achieved incredibly impressive things in his career to date, all through self-taught practises. His company, Reidentify helps B2B businesses and their representatives become thought leaders in their industry. 

He also runs an organisation called Purpose Led, through which he impacts thousands of driven people on a regular basis through a weekly podcast, speaking engagements at schools, universities and corporates across the UK and he hosts his own events too. 

Jonathan is all about impact, positive mindset and leaving the world a better place than how you found it!

He’s a fountain of wisdom and we know you’re going to really enjoy this episode.

For anyone wanting to connect with Jonathan, you can find him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-reid-654566172/

Learn more about Reidentify:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/reidentify/

Listen to Purpose Led:

https://www.purposeledclub.com/

We’ll keep you up to date with any events we run with him, too and hope they’re not far in the future.

Thank you for listening. We will be back next week with another so stay tuned. As always don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram. We are @favouritepositionspodcast and @projectsBTN. 

You can also let us know how you found this episode via LinkedIn. We would love to hear from you and find out what’s working for you right now.

In this series, we are interviewing a range of inspiring experts across diverse industries, finding out how they got into the positions they’re in and what they think the world needs to look like.

This episode, we’re fortunate enough to be joined by Thom Elliot, who alongside his brother James, founded the incredible pizzeria chain Pizza Pilgrims which as of the time of this recording has 25 sites around the UK.

Thom talks to us about the journey they’ve been through to get Pizza Pilgrims to where it is today, the importance of surrounding yourself with passionate people and how to cultivate the happiest team possible

He also gives us a low down on how to make the best pizza in the world, so it’s not an episode to miss. 

Please stay tuned on the Projects website for our interview with Thom which will go live in November.

You can check out Pizza Pilgrim’s story in more detail here: https://www.pizzainthepost.co.uk/pages/who-we-are#:~:text=Pizza%20Pilgrims%20was%20born%20in,famous%20pizzaoli%20in%20the%20world

We will be back next week with another so stay tuned. As always don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram. We are @favouritepositionspodcast and @projectsBTN

With over 17 years in communications working at London’s top beauty agencies, Jasmine Wicks-Stephens has worked with the industry’s best talent and a plethora of amazing brands from all aspects of beauty.

She launched her own agency Known five years ago. Her team is made up of likeminded go-getters and brand builders including PR pros, designers, social media managers, events specialists, marketing pros and experts in everything else you could possibly need to get your brand, Known. Their clients range from global market leaders to indie start-ups. 

In 2020, Jasmine launched a skincare brand, Faace. Working alongside the beauty insiders she has known for over a decade, she created her own brand to fill a gap in the market, giving consumers a new, more direct way to shop for their skin. Faace launched with a capsule collection of Period, Tired and Sweaty Faace masks and the brand is now stocked in retailers across the globe - from Harrods and Lane Crawford to Lookfantastic and Boots ME.

For anyone interested in starting their own company, this is not one to miss.

We spoke to Jasmine about sustainability, community, trust and autonomy, being a female founder and what success looks like. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Find out more about Known here: https://www.known-community.com/

Check out Faace here: https://www.wearefaace.com/

Connect with Jasmine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-wicks-stephens-b912641b/?originalSubdomain=uk

We hope you find this episode insightful! We will be back next week with another one so stay tuned. As always don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram. We are @favouritepositionspodcast and @projectsbtn. 
You can also let us know how you found this episode via LinkedIn. We would love to hear from you and find out what’s working for you right now.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-young-74431a135/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-harris-9504a4212/

Welcome back to the Favourite Positions podcast. In this series, we've teamed up with Projects who run high-end, inclusive work spaces. We're asking experts from diverse industries 'What's Working?' for them and their teams, discussing the future of work and coming up with strategies for bringing the best out of ourselves and those around us.

This episode, we’re joined by Pauline Roussel.

Pauline is an expert in coworking spaces and community. Over the last 8 years, she has dedicated her time and effort to better understand the world of modern workspaces. Her mission is to teach people and companies about how to create spaces that work best for them and help them to attract and retain talent by being one step-ahead when it comes to their workplace strategy.

She’s the co-founder of Coworkies, a global job board setting the hiring and recruiting standards for the coworking and flex industry. The job board is the outcome of 5 years of travelling, visiting over 500 coworking spaces around the world.

She is also the co/author of "Around The World in 250 Coworking Spaces" a 350 pages coffee table book highlighting 250 founders of coworking and collaborative workspaces and their stories.

https://www.instagram.com/coworkies

https://www.linkedin.com/company/coworkies/

https://www.coworkies.com/

Pauline talks to us about her career to date, how to create inspiring work spaces and what she thinks the future of towns and cities around the world will look like - spoiler: coworking spaces play a leading part!

We hope you find this episode insightful! We will be back next week with another one so stay tuned. As always don’t forget to connect with us on Instagram. We are @favouritepositionspodcast and @projectsbtn. 

You can also let us know how you found this episode via LinkedIn. We would love to hear from you and find out what’s working for you right now.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-young-74431a135/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-harris-9504a4212/

Welcome back to the Favourite Positions podcast and if you’re new here then hello for the first time. My name is Alex and I’m the Founder of this platform. I designed it to help inspire people to find what they love to do! 

This our 4th series and for the first time, we’re proudly collaborating with Projects for the next 10 episodes. Projects is a coworking space provider with 2 stunning spaces in Brighton and many more set to open across the UK. 

I’m joined by Alana Harris who runs one of Projects’ spaces and is also leading on Projects’ marketing, she’s going to be cohosting this series with me and I’m so lucky to have her onboard. 

This episode, we’re talking to Josh Connolly, resilience coach and one of the UK’s most influential mental health speaker.

TW: We need to put a trigger warning in here because suicide is briefly touched upon so if listening to any references about this topic isn’t supportive of you in your journey then we apologise and welcome you to listen to any of our other episodes.

Josh speaks incredibly openly in this episode and mentions that in December 2012, he began planning his suicide. He had just become sober, but after years of dependency and a lifetime of trauma, he explains that he was completely lost.   

He tells us that back then, he believed that resilience was the ability to keep going no matter what, to avoid any struggle and show up. That ideal drove him to a place where he felt the best thing to do for his children was to take his own life. Today, he has a new idea of resilience. One that is fluid, that allows him to struggle and ask for help. Listen to Josh talk about how he’s learnt to understand what he feels, knows what he needs as a result and is able to communicate that within his activities and relationships.

https://www.joshconnolly.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/josh_ffw/

If you’re yet to follow Favourite Positions on socials then please do, it’s always so fulfilling to hear from our listeners about what they thought about the episodes and find out what career challenges they’re facing - you can connect with us @favouritepositionspodcast on Insta and by searching for Favourite Positions on LinkedIn. You can also listen to all of the other 3 series via all major streaming platforms and read our handy expert written guides on our website: favouritepositions.com - we have articles up about getting into a huge range of roles, improving your overall wellbeing at work and inspiring a high-performing team.

If you’re yet to join Projects’ online community then you’re missing out! Follow us on social media @projectsbtn and benefit from better business related advice, we’re always posting about how to benefit people and the planet whilst maximising profit! We’d love to connect with you there, too.

In fact, if you’d like to experience working from a Projects space yourself then get in touch! You can book a tour and trial here: https://www.projectsclub.co.uk/visit-us