Black Create Connect Podcast

Ep 17 - Living BRAVE - Facing decisions that scare you ft Beverley Akufo-Addo

Bev was the ACS president at the time Alicia started University of Hertfordshire, she is one of Alicia's favourite examples of great community leadership. Since University, they've kept in touch and supported one another on various projects, events and business ventures throughout the years. Today, Bev is a confidence & Creativity coach, Leadership & Belonging Consultant and International Public Speaker. She's been running her own consultancy VYBE365 for almost a year, as a Leadership Consultant and Confidence & Creativity Coach, Bev works with organisations and individuals to help creative women show up, stand out, and succeed in their personal and professional lives. Using her 10+ years of experience in communications, journalism, project management, Higher Education, and community-organising, Bev has developed bold strategies that are essential to driving the results you need for a sustainable approach to performance, progression, and retention. 
 
In this episode Alicia and Bev discuss:
 
- The reality of journalism 
- The REAL story working in Journalism as a black woman
- UNI, ACS and Studying abroad in LA
- Build your experience in Uni
- Body Confidence choosing health 
- How to be a Trustee or Board Advisor 
- Trading, Investing and Loosing 
- Starting the entrepreneurial journey - KEY TIPS 
 
 
SERVICES Bev Offers include:- Bespoke 121 or group coaching and consulting services to individuals and organisations who are truly committed to equity and inclusion, and ready to change the game amongst their peers.-  Engage in keynote, guest and panel speaker bookings that align with my mission in long-lasting change with empowering women in the workplace. 
 
Connect with Bev on - hello@vybe365.co.uk or https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverleyakufoaddo/ 
 
Links discussed in Podcast:
https://www.gettingonboard.org/
https://dynamicboards.co.uk/roles/
https://www.womenonboards.net/en-gb/home

Ep 16 - Barriers exist but we will overcome them ft Oden Croal

Oden and Alicia crossed paths whilst they were both employers at an advertising agency. They connected on the basis that they were both one of the only black Caribbeans from South London within their agency. They found that they could connect on similar challenges and experiences and developed a way to support one another. Oden started off in a career in marketing and transitioned into a career in new business is now an Associate Business Director at a leading advertising agency. 
 
In this Episode Alicia and Oden discuss:
 
- Reacting to discrimination in the workplace
- How to change set-backs to comebacks
- How to truly have impact within an organisation as a black professional 
- Making unharmful change
- What defines great leadership
- The biggest learnings working in New business within an ad agency
 
Connect with Oden here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/oden-c-99337a34/ 

Ep 15 - GRAND RISINGGGGG Ft Bami Kuteyi, DEI Speaker, Consultant and Founder -Twerk After Work

Alicia and Bami are DEI business partners, good friends, and practically now sisters! They've been working closely together for 3 years. Within their first 6 months of working together they reached over 5,000 employees globally at some of the most credible organisation s including Nike, Google, Meta, Analog Folk, Shopify and more. In 2018 Bami Kuteyi decided to risk it all and quit her job as advertising specialist and Black Googler Network Lead at Google to focus on diversifying the fitness industry to create the inclusive award-winning dance fitness movement 'Twerk After Work'. In 2020, with the increased focus on the BLM movement she decided to expand her DEI efforts and pour them back into the industry that she came from. Today Bami is a wellbeing, confidence and fearless influencer, with a global team of over 20 dance fitness instructors worldwide.
 
In this episode Bami and Alicia discuss:
- Dating as a successful Black woman in London
- Moving from Canada to Dublin to work at Google 
- The birth of Twerk after Work 
- Knowing when to leave your 9-5
- How Bami and Alicia connected 
- Getting the B2B bag
- Moving to Mexico during lockdown & Growing in spirituality 
- Making "feel good" business decisions
- Working with friends, how to make it work
 
Connect with Bami on the links below
Bamikuteyi - IG & Linked In
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bamikuteyi/
https://www.bambamboogie.com/twerkafterwork
https://www.instagram.com/twerkafterwork/?hl=en  

Ep 14 - The journey of becoming a Quantitative Trader ft. Josh Nizzy

Josh is a Quantitative Trader, who has a background within both investment banking and hedge funds. He was born and raised in Peckham, and passionate about educating young black professionals on economics, and has been running his own blog called Nizzynomics where he educates us on topics around, trading, investing and how he interprets economic trends.
In this episode Alicia and Josh:
The challenges he had to face and overcome during his upbringing
How to stay true to yourself and succeed
Handling educational rejection and biases
Giving us an insight and understanding of Hedge funds
How to get your foot in the door with investment banking
What to expect working within investment banking
To subscribe to learn more about finance and economics from Josh's perspective
 https://www.nizzynomics.com/
Connect with Josh on instagram - JoshNizzy

Ep 13 - Do what you say and Say what you do ft. Akbar Karenga

Akbar is Burundi born and London bred.
 
He is the:
- Director, Recruitment @ Metafy.
- Founder @Maarusi
- Mentor @ Black Valley and an advisor @ Udder
 
He has built international tech teams for the last 12 years from China to the US, UK and more. A proud refugee and advocate for equity he has been able to contribute to building better businesses and communities. 
 
In this Episode Alicia and Akbar discuss:
 
- How to become a recommendable individual 
- How to identify where you best thrive 
- Why moving "back home" is the long term plan 
-  Engaging with clients using a personal approach 
- How to be a consistent person of value 
- Managing inclusive hiring with stakeholders
- Scaling startups and identifying what your role could be
- Secrets to high-volume hiring
- How to progress effectively within your career 
 
Connect with Akbar here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/akbarkarenga/ 

Ep 12 - How to be a stand out Candidate - CV, LINKED IN, JOB APPLICATION TIPS

Are you at a point in your career where you feel stagnant ? Unsure what to do next or how to approach applying for new positions? How do you really leverage your network ? In this week's Episode Alicia gives detailed tips and advice on how to best approach your job search from personal branding, reaching out to your network and more !
In this episode Alicia shares insights on:
- How to identify what you want to do next in your career- How to create opportunities with companies- Writing a Stand Out CV and Linked In Profile- How to pitch yourself to companies - How to map out your skill sets and what role is right for you- How to best approach and succeed in interviews
To book a detailed chat about the next step in your career with Alicia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-richardson/ 
You can connect with her on - https://calendly.com/alicialatoyarichardson
 
 

Ep 11 - Longest & Best Friend Chronicles, 6 figures under 30 and a thriving career at Google ! ft. Nadine Haughton

Nadine is Alicia's longest and closest friend, they've worked together, studied together, lived together, travelled together, they're practically sisters ! Nadine is a highly influential sister and mentor to Alicia, and based on her experience and expertise Alicia felt that it was only right to have Nadine on as a special guest. Nadine graduated in Psychology at Brunel university and is a Google Marketing Platform Sales Manager, she's previously worked with Oracle, Adobe, Microsoft and Axiom, in Sales positions and has successfully developed in her career as a leading tech sales professional. Nadine is available for 1 2 1 consultations, chats and talks, connect with her using the contact details below.
 
In this Episode Alicia and Nadine discuss:
- Going to private school and transitioning to a "black" school
- How to develop your mental health from a young age
- Tackling Bullying in the workplace
- Identifying and combatting Impostor Syndrome
- Ethnocentrism & the effects it has on psychological diagnosis
- The Student- life Hustle juggling 3 jobs studying
- Thriving in a career within Tech Sales
- How to stand out in a competitive Sales Tech market
- Self-promotion and adding value within the workplace
- How to keep valuable external relationships
- Why putting YOU first is important
- How to get a job at Google or a top tech company
- Writing a stand out CV and Cover letter
To connect with Nadine - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadine-rochelle-haughton-69392a109/
Contact - nadine_haughton@hotmail.com

Ep 10 - Sectioned 3 X,Music Career journey, battling mental health and becoming an Inspirational speaker ft. Shocka

Shocka is a Mental health advocate Ted Talk speaker, Artist and signed Poet. He originally started his career as an artist in 2008 alongside Double S and Vertex in a popular Grime group called Marvell. Shocka was popular within the grime scene amongst artist such as Tinie Tempah, Chip, Skepta and Diversity. During his time as an artist, Shocka worked with Ghetts' Grime collective "The Movement", alongside Devlin, Wretch 32, and Scorcher. Marvell was eventually signed by Grime label Risky Roadz in 2011. Over the years although Shocka experienced being sectioned on multiple occasions he has thrived, developing his advocacy in mental health and becoming an inspirational speaker, and poet. Shocka has just released his most recent music video "Don't be ashamed" where he shows his most recent experience of being within a mental health institution. He also wrote a poetry book during this time which is due to be published later this year. 
 
In this episode Alicia and Shocka discuss:
 
Navigating his career in music 
Miracles that led to his group getting signed 
Having encounters with music mogul's such as Drake and Rihanna 
Why his group was dropped from his Label and how that affected him 
Being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and defining it
The process of being in and out of a mental health hospital 
Coping with mental health and identifying your triggers 
Loosing mum in 2022 and the impact it has had on Shocka's mental health 
Becoming a Ted Talk, influential speaker and a mental health advocate 
The change and growth in his music career 
New music, New signed deal, New Poetry Book etc.
 
Listen and Watch Shocka's latest video and single 'Don't be ashamed" - https://youtu.be/zoxU3ezliU4 
Youtube - Shockatv - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRjgZMoyzXcHuPRU4gJ21Gg 
Connect with Shocka on Instagram - https://instagram.com/shocka_artist?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Read more abut Shocka here -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shocka#2008-2011:_Career_beginnings_and_Marvell 
 

Ep 9 - We need to work 10 times harder ft. Leoni Tawiah

Leoni is an extremely experienced senior tech talent partner with over 6 years experience, she connected with Alicia through the Black Recruiters Network (BRN), where Leoni is a Co-lead alongside 2 members Arsema and Ricardo. Leoni is passionate about creating a space for black excellence to develop in tech and recruitment, she's doing this through running a network, connecting with black recruiters and launching her very own Podcast coming Aug 2022 !
In this episode Alicia and Leoni discuss:
The growth Black Recruiters Network
Growing into a role within recruitment as the only black woman at her agency
Why there's a lack of senior black leadership
Why we need to work harder than everyone else
Opting out of the UK political system
How PCOS has an effect on woman in the workplace
Overcoming Macro Racism as a child and in the workplace
The true power of community and how to find yours
Connect with Leoni here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonitawiah/
Find out more on the BRN network here - https://www.linkedin.com/company/black-recruiters-network/ 

Ep 8 - Games of Law ft. Rebecca Daramola

Rebecca is an incredibly intelligent young lady, she's an Oxford and Princeton Biochemistry graduate, Trainee Solicitor and she is the Founder of Gapwhiz; an organisation that matches students seeking internships or graduate jobs with employers. She runs her own female travel club and takes huge pride in providing support and coaching for graduates to elevate within corporate.
In this weeks episode Rebecca and Alicia discuss:
- Attending a disadvantage school and transitioning into a career in Law
- Having an independent mindset what it means and how to develop this
- Studying at Oxford and Princeton university
- The process in thriving within a Law firm
- Not bringing your full self to work and why
- Why Rebecca started Gapwhiz
- Travel Black women club visiting 27 Countries and counting
Connect with Rebecca here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-daramola-14310178/
Find out more about Gapwhiz here - https://www.gapwhiz.com/