Performance, reimagined.

Living with a long-term illness—and truly enabling flexible work

Molly Johnson-Jones is CEO & Co-founder of Flexa Careers. She previously worked in investment banking, before her search for companies that would accommodate her need for flexible working gave her the idea for Flexa: a job site exclusively for companies and candidates who believe in truly flexible working.

Supporting employees with complex life events

Maite Otero is Chief of Staff at Superlist—and host of the Mental Health at Work podcast. With a background in psychology, she’s brought her well-rounded understanding of employee wellbeing to people roles across startups & scaleups, including Typeform, Relive, and gaming giant, King.

The impact of opening up about periods at work

Lia Boyland is Co-founder of Talent Shake, a startup helping companies streamline their HR workflows using AI. After studying law, Lia has dedicated the last decade to building people-centred teams where employees can thrive. She loves nothing better than swimming in the sea in the rain.

Rethinking masculinity—while confronting PTSD

Stuart Thorburn is People Experience Lead at Learnerbly. Having started out in HR, Stuart spent several years with the police before returning to the office, giving him a broad understanding of the challenges facing the UK workforce. He’s previously held roles at Origami and the University of Cambridge.

Leading a People team—while going through a divorce

Claire Samson is a veteran People & Operations leader. With 15 years’ experience across culture, international operations, and finance, she understands businesses inside out. Claire has worked in Director positions at Beam, Bumble, and S&P Global.

Battling the drinking culture of high-pressure industries

Nick Jonsson is the Co-founder of Executives’ Global Network, a peer-to-peer community helping leaders open up about their own wellbeing. With experience across the advertising, fashion, and healthcare industries, he understands the complex wellbeing challenges people face in high-pressure roles.

Tackling mental health in the advertising industry

Emma Flaxmann is a Wellbeing & Engagement Partner at PHD. With extensive experience in the marketing industry, she uses her unique perspective to help employees shape their internal—and external—wellbeing communication.

Supporting introverts in engineering teams

Brad Jayakody is VP of Engineering at Pleo. He started volunteering aged eight and continues to give back wherever he can, always with a mental health focus. He’s previously led engineering teams at Motorway, Smart Pension, and Expedia.

Why company culture starts with belonging

Aga Bajer is the Founder of CultureBrained, a community for culture leaders shaping the future of work. She’s passionate about cultivating thriving cultures where people do their best work and solve problems. Before establishing CultureBrained, Aga led consulting teams in companies like Hay Group, Korn Ferry, and PwC.

I kept my anxiety secret for years. Then I opened up at work—and everything changed

Nicole Gottselig is Senior Brand Editor at Hotjar and host of their Through the Looking Jar podcast. She has experience as a content writer & editor with established organisations, from Yellow Pages Canada to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. About

I used to think burnout was bullshit. Then my CEO took me to hospital for anxiety

Tim Cakir is CEO at TaskDrive, a company specialising in qualified sales leads. He’s gained experience across a range of startups, and now hosts masterclasses & workshops on growth, leadership, and beyond to empower others.

I had a panic attack on a sales call

As an Account Executive here at Oliva, Indra Saha knows all about the importance of proper mental wellbeing support for employees. He joined us in early 2022 and has helped the Sales team grow and flourish ever since.

Learning to lead & live more consciously

Godard Abel is CEO & Co-founder of G2, the B2B software review platform used by 100% of Fortune 500 companies. As a serial entrepreneur, he’s been building tech-based businesses since the dot-com boom.

Getting a late autism diagnosis—as a CEO

After spending years in the US Navy and as a senior manager at Dell, Peter founded Oransi—a company specialising in air purifying products—in response to his son’s asthma.  Diagnosed with autism during the pandemic, he has become a vocal advocate for inclusive hiring and workplace policies.

Battling toxic company culture—without leadership buy-in

Laura has over a decade of experience in HR, spending time in corporate giants like Tesco, BT, and Natwest, before transitioning to the startup scene. As Chief People Officer at Tempo, she’s there to make sure companies grow sustainably—and to protect their culture in the process.

Striving for emotional presence—as a leader, and as a man

As Founder of Stride.VC, Fred Destin is comfortable thriving on chaos. He was the lead investor and board member for companies such as Cazoo, Zoopla, Deliveroo, Pillpack, Integral Ads, Secret Escapes, and more. He’s there to ensure every meeting is a whiteboard meeting.

Returning to work—with postnatal depression

Straight out of school, Mel Murphy joined a tech startup and never looked back. She has over a decade of experience in the tech-for-good industry and now looks after the team at birdie as their People Lead. As a second generation immigrant, she’s keen to hear more diverse voices joining the conversation about mental health and medication.

Telling your team you do therapy—and psychedelics

Ryan Bonnici knew he wanted to be a CMO decades before most of us knew what a CMO was. Having held roles at HubSpot, G2, Salesforce, and Microsoft, he’s now leading all things marketing at Gympass. While the rest of us were still working out how to use Zoom, in 2020 Ryan was named on Forbes’ list of the World's Most Influential CMOs.

Owning trauma—one memory at a time

As a People & Experience Specialist at Toqio, Tamara Quintela uses her mental health experiences to help others open up and get the right support. Previously, Tamara managed teams at grand hotels—until it meant she had no time to see her dog anymore. She discovered the startup world and never looked back.

Redefining work—as a workaholic

Claudia Ceke is not Head of People & Culture at Tailify. It might be her job title, but she won’t let it define who she is—and how she values herself. After learning ways to manage her own mental health, Claudia trained as a mental health first aider, and is now a passionate advocate for mental health in her own team.

Balancing your career with bipolar

As Founder and CEO of Sales Confidence, James Ski has built an open and honest community of salespeople—encouraging professional and personal development alike. He previously held senior sales roles at LinkedIn, Opogo, and Drift.

How & why recruiters should put candidate mental wellbeing first

As a Senior Talent Partner at Faculty, Laura Holcombe is determined to deliver a recruitment process that treats people like people, not just a number. She has experience in fintech, martech, SaaS, and environmental projects—and a side hustle reviewing CVs. She also has some serious emoji game.

Coming out aged 40—at home & at work

Garry Senff spent over a decade in the police force, before taking the plunge with a new people-focussed career, where he’s currently Head of HR at FirstGroup. On the way, he’s trained as a wellness coach, a mental health first aider, and is a self-confessed journaling evangelist.

Surviving—and thriving—in Sales

With over a decade of experience in Sales, Jeff Riseley is familiar with the department’s high-pressure environment—and the accompanying anxiety.  Jeff founded Sales Health Alliance to help salespeople tackle anxiety and achieve their goals—without burning out. His first book Stress Less, Sell More comes out at the end of 2022.

Special: Crying at Work

Creating an open culture in the face of British politeness

Hannah Gibson, People Operations Lead at Flatfair, shares how a career change revived her from burnout, how therapy has helped look after others as well as herself, and why anxiety could even be her greatest strength.

Dealing with family trauma—while building a family business

Matt Daley is Co-founder and CME at Circulate Digital. With his experience across a variety of paid social media and search roles, it’s no wonder that Circulate is the highest-ranking digital ads agency in the UK. He also gets free rent at his favourite co-working space after getting a tattoo of their logo.

Juggling Customer Success with parental challenges

Currently Head of Customer Success at Claap, Angela has years of industry experience in leading roles at Typeform and Belvo. When not working, you can find her listening to classical music on the beach.

Living with anxiety—and growing with it

With over a decade in the industry, Hannah knows all about creating a supportive and empowering workplace culture around mental health. Her health and wellbeing strategy that she developed as Health & Wellbeing partner at MVF, ‘Be Well’, has won multiple awards.

Running with OCD—not from it

A self-confessed lad and Co-founder of Coopah, Pete knows all about the uplifting impact running can have on mental health. Before Coopah, he had a successful Sales career at Expedia and GoCardless—but we’re most impressed by the fact he ran a marathon in his house during lockdown.

Managers have feelings too

Bridie Slater is a bonafide recruitment veteran. After cutting her teeth at big corporates, she climbed the ranks to management in her previous job at a startup. She now heads up Talent Acquisition here at Oliva.

Inspiring openness through honest conversation

As Founder and CEO of Microverse, Ariel Camus knows all about supporting international teamwork—and the challenges and rewards it brings. He now lives in San Francisco. Given his globetrotting tendencies, he probably won’t be there for long.

Embracing disabilities at work

After spending many years consulting on diversity & equality in the workplace long before it was trendy, Jane Hatton founded Evenbreak—the UK's only job site run by and for disabled people—in 2011 after becoming disabled herself. She has led the company as CEO for over 11 years.

Special: Remote—but not alone

Strangers brought together by a LinkedIn post.

Ukraine special: Work, wellbeing—and war

Featuring interviews with people at Influencer, Maze, Printify, and Preply.

Rebuilding company trust & handling pregnancy loss at work

Isabelle has a wealth of experience in workplace management, team coordination, and communications. She’s lived in Barcelona for 15 years and currently works at Free Now, where she led the creation of their first ever office in the city centre— occasional DIY included.

Finding happiness as a CEO & staying close to your team

Christophe is a French entrepreneur who co-founded two start-ups before Slite, which has now been thriving for over 5 years. He’s a committed believer in remote organisations—Slite is built for fully remote teams, by a fully remote team. He recently became a father.

Grief & opening up in a remote-working world

April is VP of People at hypergrowth start-up Maze. She’s passionate about equality and results at remote companies, and has worked in similar positions at GitLab and Concordia University. She was born and raised in Nebraska, home of the Great Plains, where she still lives today.

Leading with your vulnerable side

Jack Villiers is the Co-founder of KULA, an organisation which helps start and scale-ups to grow while staying true to their purpose, and LEAD, a leadership program for startups. He’s led recruitment at Monzo and Just Eat, and has also consulted on all things People at Flock, MoonPay, and Kroo.

Caring for your brain like the rest of your body

Maria is Chief Operating Officer at Griffin. She has worked as head of People Departments at some of the fastest growing startups in the UK at key stages of their growth, including Monzo, Permutive, Snyk, and GoCardless. She’s also the writer behind the wonderful blog and opinion site, Lower Case Opinions.

Fighting your inner imposter—for you, and your team

Lauren Gomes is the Head of People at Learnerbly, having previously worked in People departments at high-growth companies like ASOS and Booking.com. She strongly believes that leadership teams should embody their beliefs.

Creating a safe space for mental health

Hannah is Head of People Experience at Revolut. She takes care of executive assistance, culture, internal communication, people development, and diversity & inclusion. It sounds like a lot, but she assures us it’s all connected. She’s been working to improve company cultures since 2019.

Spotting burnout & making personal learnings company-wide

Will Beaton is Head of People at MyTutor. Having previously worked in a variety of roles at the company since 2016, he believes in an open approach towards mental health at work where leadership truly leads by example.

Turning a terrible experience into a positive philosophy

Abbas is a career-long advocate of People policy centered around mental health. He’s been a Director of People/HR at established companies and startups, including Dixons Carphone, Castle Trust Bank, Moteefe, and now Careem. Abbas believes in a strong community and support at work to help employees face life’s challenges.

Letting go is more than OK

David founded Hotjar in 2014. Since then, Hotjar has seen incredible success—all while staying fully bootstrapped. David’s journey started with building a website for comedian Billy Connoly in the early days of the web. Above all, he trusts and empowers Hotjar’s remote teams to guide development and operations.

The power of mindfulness & community

Marie is VP of People at Figma. Born and raised in southern California, she attended Yale University and went on to become a writer & editor. Along the way she became interested in the values of organisations. Since 2014, she’s been helping companies develop innovative people processes from the ground up.

Leading by example—for better and for worse

Jonathan co-founded Maze in 2018 to help digital product teams power up their user research process. He’s an expert in UX design, having led UX teams, taught code & design at IIM Digital School, and founded two UX-focused startups. Jonathan believes in empowering people to make their own decisions about how, where, and when they work to achieve the best possible results.

Telling colleagues how you actually feel

Before becoming COO at Whereby, Jessica spent years in senior People Ops roles at various startups and scale-ups. She believes how your team works together is its biggest competitive advantage. Originally from Australia, Jessica has lived and worked in Europe since 2014.

Asking for help

Previously leading innovation at Booking.com, Javi decided to take on the travel industry by founding the business startup TravelPerk. Over five years, he built the company from three people in a single room to 300+ employees with thousands of organisations as customers. His proudest achievement is somehow managing to build a family at the same time.