1:09 SPEAKER_00: Welcome everybody. Today I'm joined by the beautiful Giselle to the Red Room, and the Red Room is where we have honest conversations about real women, real stories, and where they are in their journeys. So welcome to the room, Giselle.

1:26 SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for having me, Carlo. I'm yeah, I'm super excited to be here.

1:30 SPEAKER_00: And what actually brings you to the Red Room today?

1:34 SPEAKER_02: I think one of the things that attracts me about your podcast and where I was listening to the different episodes is women and how much we do, and also showing up for ourselves authentically about how much we do and speaking about it. So from a point of being a mum to growing a business to the financials and the hardships around that, to how many hats we need to wear at different times and spinning those plates rather than it be one off and one on. And just an authentic situation about how you can actually show up for yourself whilst doing these things, so how wellness can play a part in empowering yourself to be that best version of yourself so that you can go on and conquer all the things that you want to do, which you can absolutely do.

2:22 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and you know what? One of the things I loved about meeting you on the very, very first introduction phase was how honest and open you were about the resilience that you've been through in your corporate world that's brought you here today, which I found really powerful about your story, which aligns so beautifully with the Red Room, which is resilient women empowering themselves and driving their own careers in different directions. So tell us a little bit about how you come to be the founder of I Am Being, because I think it's a beautiful word.

3:01 SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Carla. So I I've had lots of different roles in my life, but those roles, in all honesty, have always been the right-hand woman to a gentleman, a man. So they were in big businesses, and I started off as um a PA EA and then a project manager and worked my way up. And the last role I had was around about seven years, and that role was building businesses for a living in a family office, private equity setting around things that mattered in this world to the person that I was working for. So I went on and started building different businesses in farms, vineyards, hotels, boxing gyms, baby brands, um gosh, what haven't I mentioned?

4:03 SPEAKER_02: Food, uh personal training apps, lots and lots. And whilst I was doing this, the last the last role I had with regards to building the business is it was actually a farmer retreat that was in Dorset. And I'm a single mum, so I was travelling up and down Dorset every every week on and off, and in doing that, travelling almost 500 miles every other week and being away from the children and COVID, it was at that point, but because we had a vineyard on the land, it meant that I was a seasonal worker, so I was still travelling, looking after the children and doing everything in between.

4:45 SPEAKER_02: I wore so many hats at that point, it became almost impossible to kind of carry on. And I at that point, my boss had actually stepped away from the company and I got a new boss. And the way I worked with my old boss was very symbiotically. We spoke to each other, we um look, Carla. I'm so sorry, I've got something bibbing in my kitchen. This is being a mum. I haven't turned it off.

5:16 SPEAKER_00: Do you know what, Lord Giselle? I love when these things happen because we so we put so much pressure on ourselves for everything to be perfect that it's fine.

5:27 SPEAKER_01: Do you know what, Carla, as well? It's a bit, and I'll be honest, it's the chicken for later for the kids because you forgot to put it on and it's gonna burn.

5:39 SPEAKER_01: I want, I want.

5:42 SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is what I love about honest business conversations because nothing's perfect anymore, it's just chaos and how you deal with it, especially when you are in the number.

5:56 SPEAKER_02: Save the chicken, save the chicken, yeah. So when my old boss, um, who I loved and I had such an incredible relationship, exited that company. I was given a new boss, and unfortunately, that new boss didn't quite understand how I worked. I'm naturally um a creative mind, but I love a spreadsheet, and I definitely um am very astute when it comes to building a business and understanding strategy and growth, etc. But when you've worked with someone for a number of years and then you're two paid across to work for someone else, and you're suddenly supposed to just fall into that way of working, yeah.

6:40 SPEAKER_02: And when every single person within that company that you've two paid across to is a man, it's very difficult to have your voice. So the more I worked and the more I travelled and the more I did, nothing ever felt good enough in that company, and it made me really question, you know, one if I was doing a good job, which I was absolutely doing a good job, but it's that ability to you know meet people where they're at and whether or not you're willing to do it. And I I was showing resilience, you know.

7:14 SPEAKER_02: I stayed in that role for a year since then and carried on, and I brought this company to fruition, and I'm so proud of you know where it's at, but it completely burnt me out to the point that I just had to say I have to step away because if I don't, it's going to be mentally damaging to me. To be honest, like, even to a point that I went to the doctor and I said to the doctor, I have like this pain in the back of my head, and it almost feels like you know, my head's bleeding. And then the doc like I explained to the doctor what was going on, and she said to me, You're heading for burnout, like you need to stop working now.

7:56 SPEAKER_02: So I did stop working, and it was at that point that I've always been a go-go go person because I grew up in very humble beginnings, um, also single mum family. You know, we moved a lot, we lived in council houses, things were very tough for us. So I've always worked hard to strive and to be the best that I could be, which I I'm super proud of. But for once I took a step back, having two children, a home, being in my 40s, a dog, and thinking I've worked since I was 13 years of age, and I've worked because I've wanted to keep the family financially safe, that fierce independence of the worry of finances, and that that's still the case that I need to do that, but how can I do that in a way that that serves me?

8:58 SPEAKER_02: And my family and friends kept saying, What are you gonna do next? What are you gonna do next? And I kept saying, you know what, like just for now, like I'm just being, I'm just being, and I had always had like my healing modalities, Reiki, cacao, sound, meditation, breath, and yoga, and they're all things that I'm trained in, but not because I thought I would end up forming I am being, but because they genuinely served me in quite a masculine world that I was in. I always get back to wellness, like come back to me, come back to who I am, come back to my femininity, and I use these tools in order to do that, and that's where I am being was was born from the need to lean on ways that you can come back to yourself and connect to yourself to find your authentic truth, not just as a human being, but as a woman, yeah.

9:51 SPEAKER_00: And you know what? I can relate so much to your story on them humble beginnings, you're instantly in survival mode for so long to put food on the table, you know, make sure everybody else is cared for before you actually give yourself some time. Um, and I clash you as a high performer in the conversation that we we've had in the past. You you are a high performer. Um, and looking back on all the women that I speak to that are in high performing categories, we've always lived up to the masculine energy to drive our careers forward, you know, and and yeah, the resilience that we build along the way is absolutely priceless because I do think some of the younger generation can learn a lot from us older ladies, more mature ladies now.

10:41 SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, you when you've got got to that point of burnout and you start re-evaluating what's actually important, it I think it's a beautiful full circle moment. So tell me where you are now in your career, Giselle, on on really staying true to your values and foundations with your founder of I am being. Where is that going to take you and and what do you want to get out of that next stage of career for yourself?

11:10 SPEAKER_02: I think like one of the main things with I am being is that again, not that it's just a female thing, but it it is directed a lot towards females in the corporate world as well, but in everyday life as well, that we're emotional, that we don't know how to regulate ourselves, that we need to look or behave in a certain way. Um, and quite frankly, Carla, like I'm sick of it. Yeah, you know, I've got to that point, and it's taken me a long time to get to that point. You know, I've suffered like myself from body dysmorphia of not feeling good enough, of always questioning what I should wear or what I should look like, and I can absolutely categorically tell you that for those individuals out there that say there'll always be that snippet of your personality that lies in you know the back of your brain, or you can always fall into those habits.

12:10 SPEAKER_02: I literally disagree. Yeah, there's absolutely nothing that you can't get through. If you put your mind to it, you can get through anything, and don't let anyone tell you anything different. Yeah, so I think for me that that's really the biggest thing with IMB, it's not about regulation. Like, I do believe in regulation, I do believe in going to the gym, I do believe in looking after yourself, I do believe in eating well, of speaking to a psychologist or psychiatrist. I have a psychiatry background.

12:41 SPEAKER_02: I do believe in those things, yeah. However, what I believe more in is co-regulation, that ability to show up for each other.

12:50 unknown: Yeah.

12:51 SPEAKER_02: Sitting in a room and saying, Do you know what? I'm not feeling great today. And for I'm gonna write that down.

12:57 SPEAKER_00: I think that's brilliant. Tell me about your philosophy around the co-regulation, because that's something new that I've heard today.

13:04 SPEAKER_02: So co-regulation is it it's what I do in most, I guess my I am being is split into a lot of sectors. So we've got personal one-to-ones, me speaking and doing healing therapies just on you, and then we've got couples, and then we've got groups, and then we've got um group sessions, circles, massive 100-person cacao ceremonies, corporates, retreats, etc. So within a setting when there is more than two people in a room, which includes a private session because I am in the room and I'm holding space, and I'm a human being that just because I'm in front of you as a facilitator, healer, whatever you want to call me, it does not mean that I don't bring the same complexities and layers into that room.

13:51 SPEAKER_02: And we need to be more honest about this. Yeah. So co-regulation is the ability to show up in a room together with where your energies are at, to talk about in an authentic way how you're feeling, your vulnerabilities, how to hold space, hold space without judgment, the ability to listen, not give solutions, the ability to ask the right questions, and to give someone tools that they don't just have in the room. So when they walk out the room, they're like, Well, what do I do now? I'm yeah, I'm safe in the room, but when I leave the room, everything feels funny again, or a day after.

14:32 SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, I want people to feel like when they leave I am being, I've got the tools to carry through any day, and yeah, some days are harder than others. So I am being is really about the ability for us to show up for each other in an authentic space to connect, connect to ourselves and to connect to each other, and it's that balance that we need more of in our energy to make us feel calm and safe, yeah.

15:00 SPEAKER_00: And you know what? I know there's a lot of beauty therapists that listen to this podcast, and when we are showing up in our salons, we do have to put on the happy faces because clients are coming to us to feel better about themselves. So we kind of got to hide all our discomforts and everything to make sure that them clients have a safe space and they leave feeling amazing. But one thing a lot of beauty therapists do is mask that all the time, and they don't know then how to process when they have to put on these smiley faces.

15:40 SPEAKER_00: Um, and what you've just said then I think is incredible for that core regulation for signposting beauty professionals and clients to go to them spaces where they can learn. Um, and and what you said then again, the tools afterwards, I would call that aftercare, which I think is really nice because I've been to sessions before and come out and gone, what did I just learn? How did you do that? Um, so the tools, I think that's an absolutely brilliant idea.

16:11 SPEAKER_02: And like you're right about so obviously, we can't, you know, I wouldn't be doing a good job if I went into a group session and said, I'm having a really hard day today, my internet crashed, I had these really important meetings, and I haven't been able to met them, etc. etc. Like that would just serve, I'd be giving people my anxiety, right? Yeah, so that wouldn't be good. Now, what is good is whether or not I say that, or whether or not I put it in a different way, my energy on my body is my energy on my body.

16:50 SPEAKER_02: So if I'm feeling anxiety, even if I mask it, Carla, I'm that's still my energy. So I could say to you, you know, Carla, I'm feeling really great today, and actually, what's going on behind the mask is I'm not feeling great. Yeah, I'm telling you that, but your energy, even subconsciously, will pick up if your energy is here and my energy's here, it'll pick up on the fact that there's an imbalance on that, and it's going to it's going to absorb into your energy. So instead, like I call it mindscape, right?

17:22 SPEAKER_02: So we can we can say things from a perspective of not of being truthful but not harming the person. In yoga, we call it satya, but we can be honest and truthful but not harm a person. So we can say, I've had a bit of a rough day, but I feel like it's going to start getting better because we can have a great chat, and maybe I can help you along your way. Yeah, like you can navigate things in a way to still be honest about how you're feeling, so that they understand the energy that they're getting from you comes from a bit of that, and you will find that you will build the best relationships when you show up as your authentic self, you do not have to pretend that you're someone that you're not or you're having a bad day, it's okay not to have a good day.

18:14 SPEAKER_02: Totally.

18:15 SPEAKER_00: And you know what? I wish I would have learned that such a long time ago because when you come from a toxic upbringing and there's a lot of violence that goes in the home, um, for me, when I came to my salon, it was my safe space, and it was the whole I'm fine, I'm here, I'm ready to take on the world. I serve 12 to 15 clients a day, and then dread going home because of the the other side of what that looks like. So the the carrying that nervousness around for such a long time is is is actually quite damaging to the person, and I don't think that's a lot um that we talk about in this industry, and what you've just said there is absolutely beautiful for people to realise that it's okay not to be okay, even though you are in a client-facing environment.

19:13 SPEAKER_02: 100%, and you know, one I'm so sorry that you know you had to go through that, and there are so many, you know, individuals that are going through such similar spaces. I have people walk into you know my room every day where you know they appear to have these, you know, incredible jobs and an incredible life, and there is so much going on behind the scenes, and to create a space, whether that be depending on financials and the ability for you to be able to do that, don't think that the only way that you can go and calm that energy and get those tools is that you have to go and sit in a 60, 80, 100 pound therapy room and speak to someone one-on-one.

20:05 SPEAKER_02: There are so many ways out there that you can do it. Go to a sound bath. Like, I I hold an online free in my six modalities sessions that's half an hour every week for those that don't have anywhere to go, those that need to switch off the noise from life and to just regulate, but it's not just regulation because so many people are on that video call showing up for themselves and each other. It's co-regulation because it's a subliminal way, Carla, that I'm saying to you I'm not just showing up for myself in this room, I'm showing up for you too.

20:45 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because we're all going through stuff, and people need to know that we are actually all going through stuff, like this. That this is life, this is real. Like, don't be shy from that. Like, yeah, we're human, it's okay.

21:01 SPEAKER_00: And you know what? That's absolutely beautiful because um you are a cacao specialist as well. Is that correct, Giselle?

21:10 SPEAKER_02: I am, yes. So I have we actually have our own single origin brand, so it's called I Am Being Ceremonial Cacao, and um it's from Flores Island, Indonesia, and we make it from seed to cup, so we know the farmers, we know the hands that go into it, there's no pesticides, insecticides, it it's all good for you. Nothing at all but raw cacao, and especially for those that do feel the stresses and the strains of life, yeah, do have complex situations to go back to or complex situations to enter into. Maybe workers are really stressful, maybe someone in work you don't enjoy as much as you wish you did.

21:51 SPEAKER_02: Maybe the kids are driving you nuts.

21:54 SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, and one thing that was really interested because I like to do my research before I actually meet with people in my red room to understand what their backgrounds are and where they're taking taking their careers next. And I remember going to my first cacao sound bath about seven years ago, and one of my clients introduced me to it, and I was like, What's this all over how? What's going on here? Anyway, it was the most incredible experience I'd ever had, so I didn't realise how much nervous energy I had, and I led down and we did the sound bath first, and I started crying, and I just thought, what on earth is going on?

22:43 SPEAKER_00: Like, this is insane from sound, and then the practitioner um um came and brought the hot cup, and it was just absolutely incredible. So, can you tell our audience the power of what happened to me in that situation and why it? Works.

23:04 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely. So cacao is, and I'm glad it works in that way. And I do promise everyone that it does work in exactly the same way because of the nutritional elements. So with sound, you don't necessarily it doesn't affect everyone. Um, I'm really glad it impacted you in that way because it's such an incredible release. But because of the compounds within cacao, it's almost like bulletproof that this is something that is going to work. Cacao is a superfood, it's one of the 10 superfoods of the world.

23:33 SPEAKER_02: It is the superfood when it comes to flavonoids and antioxidants. So there's nothing better for your skin, for inflammation, blood pressure, all that good stuff. But away from the nutrients, which are incredibly important from our body, it does particularly things that not only are good for humans but also for women in particular. So it's got theobromin in it. Theobroma is from the theobroma tree, which means it translates to food of the gods. But theobroma vasodilates the blood vessels and it bronchodilates the lungs.

24:03 SPEAKER_02: In a nutshell, that means that it allows blood to flow more easily through the body, which aids oxygen. So it eases the heart, it eases the muscles, and it eases the brain and the synapses. So you get this feeling of it. It takes about 10 minutes because it's a superfood, it's processed by the belly. Yeah. It does take about 10 minutes, but once that's 10 minutes is over, it's almost like um your shoulders. You know, when they say in yoga, like allow your shoulders to melt away from the ears, like the shoulders are naturally doing that.

24:40 SPEAKER_02: The heart feels soft and open, the collarbones are relaxed, and you have this sense in yourself of not just clarity and that's like high, but also the ability to make decisions based on feeling safe. The reason why it makes you feel safe is because of something called psychoactive compounds in cacao. PEA, polyethylene, titratine, and edendamine, which is the bliss, happiness, and the joy chemicals. So you're getting those naturally in cacao. Um, a last compound that I'll say particularly good for women is magnesium.

25:15 SPEAKER_02: Magnesium isn't just good for we know it for sleep, it powers up the heart and it's responsible for over 300 reactions in the body. But for women, it actually helps regulate your hormones.

25:28 SPEAKER_00: Wow. So it gets menopause.

25:30 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah. Menopause, menstrual cycle. If you drink, I drink it every day, but if you drink cacao, you will recognise the difference in your menstrual cycle, your perimenopause, your menopause. Literally drink it, you don't have to drink it for a month to see the difference. Have your first cup and you'll see the difference.

25:50 SPEAKER_00: Wow, and is that just one cup a day or a course of treatment? How does that work in someone's routine?

25:57 SPEAKER_02: So you can drink it whenever you like. I like to drink it in the morning. When I wake up, it's my mindfulness, 10 minutes drinking my cup of cow cacao, and you can have I'd say anywhere between 20 and 35 grams, depending you know how strong you want it. I like 30 grams a day, um, it lasts for about seven hours in my body, I feel strong, happy, calm, even when life is tough. Like it's an odd feeling, Carla, but I you know it's been years and years now, and I can promise you that if I'm going through something where I need clarity, or the day is feeling quite hard, or some's upset me, or I feel um something's been done wrong to me.

26:42 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but that makes sense to have a cup of cacao.

26:45 SPEAKER_00: Really? Well, I was thinking I'm gonna be trying that, I got it.

26:49 SPEAKER_02: It's the best thing to do in the morning because you feel like superwomen every day.

26:53 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's and and I love that you've said that because it's having the alternative because um I built I when I look back at my career now, I'm actually really proud of it, but I've nearly lost my mind twice, nearly ruined my marriage, and missed a lot of incredible moments with my children. Um, and my go-to was a bottle of wine every night. Yeah, you know, and I speak to so many women now who secretly binge um their way through stressful situations because they cannot calm the nervous system.

27:28 SPEAKER_00: And this is in people that have million-pound companies and four or five different business assets, and it really, really opened my eyes on the cost of what some of us women are going through just to say, you know, we we financially made it, and you know, uh, but killing ourselves along the along the way to get to the end result. Um, so that is a beautiful alternative and something that I'm gonna recommend some of my clients as well.

27:56 SPEAKER_02: A hundred percent. And you know, something that like I don't want to get emotional, but I like I hear your words, I hear your words so strongly, and I think something as well, just to flip what you said in the same alignment and context is the length that they go to to be able to say I've made it or I've done it or I'm independent, etc. But also the lengths that we go to to say or to not say or to cover up like actually I'm struggling. Yeah, yeah. Like, why is women can't we say, like, hi guys, like I'm really struggling here?

28:38 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, like, and they do, you know, we've all been there, we've all done it, we've all used wine, we've all used vices, whether that be um food control, exercise control, work, diving into work as escapism, yeah, alcohol, you know, whatever it may be. And the one thing I will say, which I think is so important, is cacao won't fix everything, and I don't want to give the illusion that it will. The nutrients in it will absolutely 1000% aid you to feel more ease, more joyful. I call it that it allows me to take the breath before the reaction.

29:25 SPEAKER_02: There's nothing else in this world that does that. Cacao will do all these incredible things for you, but with that, the most incredible thing about your cup of cacao is it's that five minutes in the day to sit down and to tell yourself you've shown up, you've done a good job, and I love you for exactly who you are.

29:48 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's really powerful, really powerful message. Yeah, I love that, and you know, just going back to that story there of people um covering up uh addictions or whatever's going on in their life. Um, I actually um met a therapist, psych therapist 12 years ago, and you are you've got a psychotherapy background, is that correct?

30:16 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I studied psychology at the Bristol University, then did CBT when I worked in America. But yes, psychology has always been something, you know. I studied a lot to do with the neurodiverse brain and body dysmorphia dissertation, so I do love a bit of the brain and behaviour.

30:32 SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's fascinating, isn't it? People say to me, do you still go to your therapist now? And I'm like, yeah, but it's more about just a chat about general life now.

30:43 SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

30:44 SPEAKER_00: But even now, after 22 years of running businesses, I still go for that therapeutic psycho help because you know, even now I'm faced with different behaviours, especially with the the new gen Gen Z coming in, employing contracts, HR, people's mental health. Who actually looks after the founder? You know, and and and talking to yourself, Giselle, I think your full circle career movement is absolutely beautiful, and which ties us beautifully into coming to the end of the session. But what are you building and what are you working towards now?

31:27 SPEAKER_02: My biggest part of IMB build I'm being is building a global cacao brand where every single person knows that they can use this almost hidden secret plant medicine that is so good for your mind, body, and soul as a tool every day to help ease into the day. And this plant medicine is one that you can have mindfully alone or share it with others, and it's a time to connect, connect to yourself and to connect to each other, keep showing up for each other. My events do that, my talks do that, and my cacao does that.

32:03 SPEAKER_02: Have a bit of iron being in your life.

32:07 SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love that, Giselle. And honestly, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. Um, I do want to tell my guests that um all your details will be in this podcast so they can connect with you, find out a little bit more about this cacao. I'm definitely going to be ordering some. Um, I can see the passion and just the knowledge that you have about your brand and what it is you want to do for women going forward, and I think it's absolutely incredible. And it's what the Red Room is all about helping people, you know, drive their own lives, empower themselves, um, and find their own ways of being resilient without going down the detrimental routes of damaging their health, which is absolutely fantastic.

32:52 SPEAKER_00: So, thank you so much, Giselle. Um, just before we leave the Red Room, um, I do like to ask um my guests to kind of give what advice would you give to anybody that's trying to found their own life um and something that you've been through. What advice would you give to that person now, given everything that you've been through?

33:19 SPEAKER_02: That are trying to find their own business, or where where would they be in life?

33:23 SPEAKER_00: A bit of both, because I do know there's a lot of women that I speak to do run their own businesses, but I suppose it's finding their definition of success.

33:34 SPEAKER_02: I a hundred and ten percent, uh, two things if I may. Um the first would be is stop looking at the really big goal at the end and start celebrating the little wins because it is those little wins I 1010% promise you that will get you the big wins. Celebrate the little wins because they are the things that when you have your bad days, they won't feel as bad because you're celebrating every single part of it. The second is know that it's supposed to be tough. If it's not tough, then everyone would be doing it.

34:16 SPEAKER_02: But follow your path, trust your gut, and be patient and forgiving of yourself. You are going to make mistakes. We are supposed to make mistakes, and if you're having a bad day, and if it's a really bad day, don't push on through. Just take a step back, do whatever you need, go for a walk, have a cup of cacao, listen to your favourite song, journal, do whatever you need, but give yourself that breathing space, like, don't be so harsh on your heart. Like, look after yourself first and foremost. It is so important.

34:50 SPEAKER_00: And that is absolutely beautiful. And I hope the guests that listen to this and the people that you inspire really do take that on board. So, thank you very much, Giselle. I hope our past meets in the future. I'm definitely going to be ordering some cacao. Especially, especially when you mention the menopause word of like anything to help with the menopause, I'm all over it.

35:15 SPEAKER_01: Tell me about it.

35:18 SPEAKER_00: Well, enjoy the rest of your day. And again, for anybody listening, all Giselle's contact details will be in this podcast. So please please do connect and share your wins with Giselle too. So thank you very much, Giselle.

35:33 SPEAKER_01: Bye. Thank you.

35:34 SPEAKER_00: See you soon. Bye.