Shows
The Documentary PodcastHeart and Soul: Reclaiming yogaWith a global market worth more than $100 billion dollars a year, yoga is a massive industry. With its origins in India, Yoga is often considered to be part of the Hindu tradition, as well as being influenced by other religions including Buddhism and Islam. Yet with modern studios and teachers offering a plethora of styles from fitness to beer yoga, has it become disconnected from its spiritual roots? And is the surge in social media trends diluting its authenticity? Geeta Pendse meets the women on personal missions to ‘reclaim yoga’ whilst balancing the demands of business with the spiritual root...
2024-10-1126 minThe Documentary PodcastHeart and Soul: Muslim sex educationDespite some opposition from within their own faith communities, Muti’ah and Angelica are on a mission to teach other Muslim women how to have healthy and safe sex lives.Geeta Pendse meets them both and finds out how to deliver sex education that is both useful and appropriate for their students.Presenter: Geeta Pendse
Producer: Linda Walker
Series producer: Rajeev Gupta
Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
2024-08-1626 min
1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenSingle & childfree with 'Spinsterhood reimagined' podcast host Lucy MeggesonLucy Meggeson is a podcast producer and host, who previously worked as a programme-maker at BBC Radio 2. At the start of 2022, she launched the 'Spinsterhood Reimagined' podcast, which explores and celebrates single life, whilst challenging the stigma that can be attached to being single and without kids. Lucy is happily childfree, but in this chat, she shares an unexpected broodiness that happened in her early 40s, and how she navigated temporary feelings of grief and sadness. From smashing the negative stereotypes linked to spinsterhood and showing that being single isn’t plan B to embracing your life ri...
2022-08-3052 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenCreating a collective voice for change with the New Legacy Institute Founder, Christine EricksonChristine Erikson is an international executive and entrepreneur. She recently founded the New Legacy Institute, which aims to campaign for change around the social and policy inequalities faced by the collective community of those who do not have children. From workplaces to the education system, the New Legacy Insitute is challenging the often ingrained views of pro-natalism, where having kids is put on a pedestal.Christine describes herself as childless by circumstance, and in this chat, she shares how an abusive marriage influenced her own views around having kids. We also speak about the stigma those leading a...
2022-08-2351 min
Thrive SoloThe One Where I Talk To Journalist, Presenter & Podcaster, Geeta PendseSend us a textIn this week’s episode of Spinsterhood Reimagined, I talk to journalist, presenter, and podcaster, Geeta Pendse.Geeta is a freelance journalist and presenter with 15 years’ experience delivering content for broadcasters, who is based in Nottingham, UK. She has worked for BBC Sunday Morning Live, BBC Radio 4, BBC Breakfast, BBC Politics, East Midlands Today, BBC Three and Sky Arts as a reporter and presenter. She presents the weekly politics show on BBC One in the East Midlands, and anchored the BBC’s General Election Debate for the region.Geeta has de...
2022-08-231h 071 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenDating when you’re open to kids & celebrating life with celebrant Mel BrownMel Brown is a talent success manager, a trained celebrant and host of her own podcast, Mel’s Monday Musing. She describes herself as childfree by choice but can see children in her future. As a woman in her mid-thirties who is open to parenthood, in our chat Mel shares the pressures that come with dating when it feels like the biological clock is ticking. We dive into dating, exploring options such as egg-freezing and why Mel is asking herself if it is selfish to have children in a world of environmental uncertainty. As Mel is very much op...
2022-08-1647 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenCultural expectations, legacy and choosing your life with entrepreneur & author Vikas Shah MBEVikas Shah is a hugely successful entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. His book and blog, ‘Thought Economics’, has seen him interview some of the world’s leading thinkers. As someone who is childfree, Vikas has thought long and hard about legacy and purpose. In this chat, we explore the social expectations on men, dating when choosing to be childfree, creating a living legacy and the added layer of pressure that can come from growing up in a South Asian family. You can find out more about ‘Thought Economics’ here https://thoughteconomics.com/ or follow Vikas on Twitter @MrVikas to get all th...
2022-08-0952 min
Front RowSister Act, Dramatising the Ugandan Asian exodus, David OlusogaSister Act the Musical is returning to the London stage, after two years of Covid delays and thirty years after the much loved Whoopi Goldberg film. Tom Sutcliffe met the stars of the new Hammersmith Apollo production, Beverley Knight who plays singer on the run Deloris and Jennifer Saunders who takes on the role of Mother Superior, to discuss mixing secular and sacred musical traditions with comedy and choreography. Curve Theatre, Leicester, has commissioned a series of plays called Finding Home to mark 50 years since the Ugandan Asian exodus initiated by the then President Idi Amin. Many...
2022-07-2742 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenMoving from ambivalence to an active choice with journalist Kathryn StanczyszynKathryn Stanczyszyn is a British journalist and radio presenter who has felt ambivalent and confused about parenthood for decades. Always hoping that one day she would wake up and feel differently, during the pandemic Kathryn decided to embark on an active process to choose whether to have kids or not. In this chat, she shares how it’s not always black and white, and why the process can be a painful one. From navigating ambivalence on your own and in a couple, challenging our conditioning around where we find purpose and looking to the future as a childfree woman, Kathryn is...
2022-07-2643 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenMaking history & positive role models with Emma DuvalEmma Duval is on a personal mission to reveal and document the lives of childfree and childless women in history. Raised in France and now living in the US, Emma felt a lack of positive role models growing up. From a Gallo-Roman physician and a Buddhist nun to Hollywood icon Greta Garbo, Emma is using social media and her research skill to amplify the lives of hundreds of women. Emma is currently writing a book about single women in history. Whilst none of us are defined by our status with or without kids, in a world where leading...
2022-07-1937 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenNo one talks about this stuff with writer & journalist Kat BrownKat Brown is a journalist, commentator and social media editor. In 2022 she successfully crowdfunded, 'No One Talks About This Stuff', a new book which will see 25 writers share their experiences of infertility, childlessness, baby loss and almost motherhood. In this chat, we explore topics including ambivalence, choice, delaying parenthood due to financial instability, infertility and the power of hearing other women’s stories. If you’d like to hear more about No One Talks About This Stuff and Kat herself, you can find more information on Instagram @noonetalksaboutthisstuff @katbrownwrites or visit Kat’s website: Katbrownwrites.comIf you...
2022-07-1245 minFront RowClaudia Rankine, Derby's Museum of Making, Streamer FatigueThe American writer Claudia Rankine is best known for her poetry, which has won critical acclaim and international fans. She discusses her play The White Card, which was written during Donald Trump’s Presidency and examines race and privilege in America and beyond. Front Row is hearing from all the museums shortlisted for this year’s Museum of the Year and tonight it’s the turn of the Museum of Making in Derby. Geeta Pendse takes a walk around the museum and hears about how it’s showcasing the UK’s industrial heritage. Last month Paramount...
2022-07-0542 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenWomen's health & breaking the stigma with TV presenter Michelle AckerleyMichelle Ackerley is a TV and radio presenter who is championing more honest conversations about women’s health. Michelle recently shared her experience of living with endometriosis and the impact it can have on fertility. In this chat, she talks about the complex reasons why women may choose not to have children or are unable to and why there needs to be more openness and support around this. We also talk about how working in the public eye can add an extra layer of scrutiny when it comes to the question of children. It’s a must-listen!You can...
2022-07-0543 minFront RowThe Art of Burning Man, dementia on stage, dogs on screen at CannesRadical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man is an outdoor exhibition on the Chatsworth House estate - a series of monumental sculptures from the festival in the Nevada Desert. Geeta Pendse speaks to Chatsworth’s Senior Curator, Dr Alex Hodby, and to Burning Man artist Dana Albany from San Francisco, who has come to Chatsworth to make a Burning Man sculpture with local material and the help of local children. Sanctuary is another Burning Man inspired structure that can be seen at the Miners’ Welfare Park in Bedworth - a public memorial for the losses experienced in the...
2022-05-2541 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenEmbracing a childfree lifestyle with Curiously Childfree Founder, Erin SpurlingErin Spurling is on a mission to change the conversation for and about women who are embracing a childfree lifestyle, whether that’s by choice or circumstance. Erin is a writer and music journalist, who set up Curiously Childfree as a platform to cultivate positive, understanding and judgement-free conversations. In this chat, Erin shares her experience of being in a heterosexual childfree couple, and how she is often treated differently from her partner. We talk about the importance of community and why Erin is refusing to fulfil the trope of being angry or bitter, hating parents and children, ha...
2022-03-2244 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenSocial infertility and the transformative process of grief with Gateway Women Founder, Jody Day.Jody Day is the Founder of Gateway Women, a global friendship, support and advocacy network. Described as the Beyonce of childlessness, Jody’s Ted Talk “The Lost tribe of childless women” has been viewed almost 170,000 times. Her book “Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future without children” is what many professionals consider the ‘go-to’ book on this topic.In this chat, we explore a range of topics including social infertility, the power of community and how grief can be a transformative experience with the right support. If you would like to learn about...
2022-03-1549 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenA different knowing & rethinking family with author, Stella Duffy OBEThis International Women’s Day we have the wonderful Stella Duffy as a guest. Stella is an acclaimed author and playwright, with 17 novels to her name. She's also a yoga teacher, breast cancer survivor, trainee existential pyschotherapist and an OBE recipient. In this chat Stella, who had dreamt of having children, shares her journey of deep self- acceptance and the power she now feels embracing the life she has. As a queer older woman, she speaks of how a pro-natal and heteronormative world view, can isolate those who are different instead of valuing diversity. Stella shares the need to...
2022-03-0842 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenNo regrets & workplace inequality with Diverse Minds CEO, Leyla OkhaiLeyla Okhai is the founder of Diverse Minds, a company that works to help create a positively productive workplace, with an emphasis on mental health. Leyla is childfree by choice and through her work she has seen how a flawed system can pit mothers against those who are childfree. Alongside calling out inequalities Leyla talks about her choice not to have children, which she instinctively knew from a young age. From the environment and mental health to the trauma of racism – there are many factors at play for her. Leyla also shares the lessons she’s learnt about appr...
2022-02-2232 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenSpeaking your truth and creating community with We are Childfree founder, Zoe NobleZoe Noble is the founder of We are Childfree, a community that lifts up the voices of women and gender diverse people who have decided not to have children. Zoe always knew she didn’t want kids, but it was only in her thirties that she felt she could stand in her truth and really own it. A photographer living in Berlin, she is trying to overturn the negative narratives that can be projected onto childfree people. She’s an absolute trailblazer and has been featured on the cover of the New York Times Style section, alongside connecting with thousands of p...
2022-02-1540 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenExploring ambivalence with relationship coach Katherine BaldwinKatherine Baldwin is a love and relationship coach and mid-life mentor who once described herself as childless by ambivalence. In this chat, she shares how childhood experiences of watching her own mother fuelled her ambivalence towards parenthood. We talk about the biological clock and meeting a partner who doesn’t want children, grief around what might have been and how she is embracing her choices now. Katherine’s clients include many single women who are childless not by choice or who are still hopeful about having children but feel they are running out of time. If you want...
2022-02-0832 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenFinding clarity on choosing a childfree life, with coach Bea GristBea Grist is a life and wellness coach, who is actively sparking conversations around living a life without children. Bea is childfree by choice – but getting to that place has taken over a decade of questioning and turbulence. In this chat Bea shares how she found that clarity for herself and why she’s now speaking out on social media about the pressures many women are under. In the process, she puts forward the idea that you can be a mother without having kids of your own. Her approach is honest and liberating, and invites the idea that all we can...
2022-02-0137 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without childrenDon’t be on your own with this, with Author & Activist Yvonne JohnFrom social pressures and challenging the patriarchy to the grief of infertility, Yvonne John is an author and activist for childless women. She wrote her book, Dreaming of a Life Unlived, out of anger for those who were not being heard or listened to. She’s inspiring, funny and honest about her journey, and the pressures that can come from being a woman of colour. Yvonne shares her grief journey, and how she is now embracing a life without kids.Yvonne’s blog is called Finding My Plan B – info findingmyplanb.comYvonne is a graduate of Gat...
2022-01-2537 min1 in 5 - Leading a life without children1 in 5 Podcast - TrailerWelcome to the brand new 1in5 Podcast, a space to explore all sides of leading a life without children – whether it’s by choice or by circumstance. Hosted by Geeta Pendse, in this first series, we’ll be exploring a whole range of subjects from the pressures of social expectations, the biological clock, infertility, ambivalence around parenthood and embracing a life without kids, in whatever shape that comes. And we have some incredible guests sharing their journeys.The first episode lands at the end of Jan – subscribe wherever you get podcasts and let us know what you thin...
2022-01-1202 minFront RowDerby: 300 Years of MakingGeeta Pendse visits the new Museum of Making in Derby - an £18 million redevelopment that celebrates the city's 300-year industrial heritage. Jamie Thrasivoulou, Derby County Football Club's Poet-In-Residence, shares what it's like to perform a poem to a stadium of roaring football fans.The writer Mahsuda Snaith discusses her flash fiction written in response to Kedleston Hall as part of the National Trust's Colonial Countryside project.BBC Derby's Martin Williams learns how to create a Map of Curiousity at the Museum of Making.Presenter: Geeta Pendse
Producer: Ekene Akalawu
2021-07-2928 min