We Are PoWEr Podcast
The We Are PoWEr podcast spotlights voices and perspectives that need to be heard. Our weekly podcast, with listeners in over 60 countries, delivers PoWErful conversations that inspire, challenge, and empower... from personal life stories to business insights and leadership lessons.
We share diverse experiences, bold discussions, and real solutions. Whether you're looking for career advice, topical themes, or stories of resilience and success - this is where voices spark change.
We Are PoWEr Podcast
LGBTQ+ at Work: What Inclusion Really Means
The brilliant Emma Preston and Maxwell Crowson join the We Are PoWEr Podcast – bringing honesty, courage, and compassion to a powerful conversation about what real inclusion looks and feels like in everyday life. As part of Manchester Airports Group, Emma and Max are helping shape a culture where colleagues and travelers alike can breathe, belong, and be their authentic selves.
From the security queue to the departure gate, they show how inclusion isn’t about grand gestures – it’s built through small, consistent actions. A smile, a pronoun badge, a leader who listens – all signals that turn workplaces from promises of belonging into lived experiences of safety and respect.
Emma shares her remarkable journey from darkness to light, opening up about surviving two suicide attempts and the turning point that began when someone simply said, “let me help.” Her story of resilience and self-acceptance – learning to stop being the “best transgender woman” and start being the best Emma – is both powerful and deeply human.
Max brings his perspective as a dad through adoption, exploring how confidence at work and home allows his son to face tough questions with pride. Together, they reflect on the courage it takes to bring your full self to work, to challenge bias, and to choose employers and leaders who truly see you.
Through their work with Fly with Pride, Emma and Max are turning policy into practice – offering guidance, allyship, and visibility that goes beyond parades and posters. Their message is simple but profound: inclusion doesn’t start with a strategy, it starts with people showing up.
In this episode:
From survival to self-acceptance: Emma’s journey to living authentically
Parenting, pride, and identity: Max’s experience as an adoptive dad
What inclusion really feels like day to day
Why small signals create big impact at work and in travel
Turning equity from posters into practice through Fly with Pride
How leaders can listen, learn, and make space for others to thrive
Find out more about We Are PoWEr here. 💫
This episode is part of our mini podcast and webinar series in partnership with Manchester Airports Group, where we'll be exploring belonging, representation, and inclusion. Don't forget to check out the rest of the series for more real stories and practical insights. Well, welcome to today's episode where we are going to have an amazing conversation discussing LGBTQ at work and why inclusion really matters. And I'm delighted to be joined by Emma Preston, studied in Preston, but lives in Blackburn, right? No. No. Did I get that done? No, that's what it says on your LinkedIn profile. I'm sure it does. No, it doesn't. It says Tell me, Emma.
SPEAKER_02:Names Preston, worked in worked in Preston, studied in Preston, born in Blackburn.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, see, now that's going to dispel the whole myth of my photographic memory. That's destroyed it. Anyway, welcome Emma.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you very much. It's nice to be here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:And welcome, Max Corrison, as well. Thank you so much for joining me from Manchester Airports group today. Now, how I feel like this is going to be impossible. Can you explain or describe Max in a sentence or two?
SPEAKER_02:Energetic, excitable, determined, um, driven, and just a really good mate.
SPEAKER_00:Oh. Feel in the love already in the pod. Is that Tana?
SPEAKER_03:Outside. Later, later.
SPEAKER_00:Max.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Can you reciprocate now for our Emma? Because she's been good and decent to you.
SPEAKER_03:How do I follow that, Emma? Probably with the truth. And that is that you are one of the most passionate people that I have ever met. You are tenacious, you are driven, and you are one of a kind. You truly are a true advocate for LGBTQIA plus rights. And you are my go-to person if I need anything. So thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Now I can feel LinkedIn profiles being updated as we speak. Don't forget, born in Preston, made in Preston, not in Blackburn. But anyway, we're going. How would you describe your role in sort of plain speak? Because I think when you work at somewhere like Manchester Airports Group, always been my dream job, by the way, putting that out there. Always wanted to, such an environment, isn't it? You've got so many different walks of life across the communities, across the different establishments and units and jobs probably we don't even know exist. How would you describe your job in a um a few words?
SPEAKER_02:So am I going first? Yeah. So my job is just to keep planes in the sky. But I I I've got a retail background. Well, in fact, I'm very, very old. I've got a background in everything. And for me, customer services is everything. So I don't want people to think about I just need to get through security and then I'm on holiday. I actually want people to want to come through security. So I just live my life with a big massive smile on my face and just hope that I can just take the Mickey out of passengers and enjoy life and just send them on the merry way with a big smile.
SPEAKER_00:And and to be honest, a smile is contagious, right? Isn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:And it's like a mirror.
SPEAKER_02:Definitely, definitely. That's all I think is I just want to keep planes in the sky and keep everybody happy.
SPEAKER_00:Love that. She does a good job at it as well. Thank you. Max, what about you? What's your your role and how would you describe it?
SPEAKER_03:So I'm I'm officially the world record holder for the world's longest job title. So I'll I'll take that. Um I am so officially the head of strategy, insights, and governance at East Midlands Airport. So effectively, I look after both the short and long-term strategy for both our customers and our cargo operation. Um and I also have a hold on the data that we use. So just making sure that that's accurate, that it's used effectively from an operational side and also from a forecasting perspective. Um and then governance, which is the lovely bit that they've just popped on the end, um, is just effectively making sure that information can be disseminated both up, across, and down the business to the people that need it at the right time and that it's accurate as well.
SPEAKER_00:So you're making everyone smile, keeping the planes in the air, and you're keeping everyone communicated with and informed, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Easy jobs, right? So we started that you've got two very simple jobs. So you've got loads of time for the side hustle, right? So, but what is when we talk about inclusion, because it's different things to different people, and so it should be because we are all different, but what does it look and feel like in everyday working life? And I'll start with you, Max.
SPEAKER_03:So, inclusion for me is just making sure that there's a space for everybody. Um, so I always look at inclusion off the basis of equity, and there's there's a fabulous um visualization of equity with people looking over a fence. I don't know if you've ever seen it, um, and there's a really tall person, there's a medium-high person and a short person. Equality is giving everybody the same box. So they could so the tall person sees even higher up, the one in the middle can see a little bit more, and the person who's really short at the end still can't see. Um, and for me, what inclusion is is that tall person stepping off that box that they've been given and giving that extra box to the shorter person so that everybody can see. And what what we need to do as a business and as an employee is to encourage that inclusion. So by sharing your box, if you've got that privilege, giving it to someone else and just making sure that everybody's included and there's a space for all within the organization.
SPEAKER_00:And you're very heavily part of the community group across the airports group. How has been part of this sort of shaped your work environment? We already know that you're the smiley giver and receiver.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I I really enjoy being part of a greater, wider community. And um I I do echo everything that Max has said, which is not a surprise really, that we both think very similar. Um and for me it's it's about just trying to include people on their wavelength rather than trying to include people at your wavelength, so that people feel like they're involved and um have a place in society and don't feel the other side excluded. Um, I have no idea if I've answered your question there, but it felt good to me.
SPEAKER_00:But actually, one of the things I love, you've described life as something you live to breathe, not breathe to live. Talk me through where that has come from.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so this harps back to the past when I'm uh I'm two-time uh attempt at uh taking my own life, suicide. And one was a really good or very bad attempt, if you if you know what I mean, and the other one was there wasn't so much behind it. When I blossomed out of there and people helped me, um, I realized that there was a whole life that I wasn't experiencing, and I was allowing things and others to suck the life out of me. So now I got up every morning and I cannot wait to get into that day. That's if I actually sleep. I don't think I actually sleep, but there was a time when I was breathing just to get through the day. Uh, but that them days are long gone now. Everything for me now is about, I believe I've got a hundred years ahead of me, which will be good because that'll make me the oldest person on earth, 160. But I I just want to live life to the max. And how can I do that if I am just breathing to live?
SPEAKER_00:But what broke that cycle?
SPEAKER_02:People, other people. Um, so I when people were offering to help when I was at the depths of despair and I was facing the abyss, I I saw I saw so much darkness that I couldn't I couldn't think that people were trying to help me. I just thought they were offering charity and I didn't want to take any charity. But then one day I broke down so much and somebody said, I need to help you. And I went, Yes, please. And then I saw a ray of light. So whenever I'm speaking on stage or things like that, I always say, in the darkest abyss, there is always a ray of light. And that ray of light might be just that one person who says, Let me help you. And they're not offering charity, they actually just want to help you. But the moment everything changed was when I stopped trying to be the best transgender woman I could be and started being the best Emma Presson I could be. And then in that moment I felt like a totally different person.
SPEAKER_00:And was that over a long period of time? Because that's that seems like very affirmative action, but that doesn't happen overnight, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02:No, it doesn't. It it it was. Um although the the whole transgender person, Emma Preston, that was that was like in an instant, you know. I just thought, oh, I've got to think differently here because I am me. But the whole cycle was nightmarish. It was it was years because I I felt alone. I'd been um I'd been segregated from society just for being who I am. I had um I'd chosen to live a life that I felt was very selfish, and I'd taken myself away from the family. Well, the family my my partner at the time was, you know, decided time was up, and that meant I had to leave for family way, and that was very difficult. Uh so yes, it was it was years of getting myself back on track.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And Max, you talk really openly about your identity uh and and your role as a parent. How's being a dab through adoption, isn't it? I think how's that influence your perspective?
SPEAKER_03:So I always feel that I need to be the strongest advocate for myself and my family, because that will reflect on my child. Um, so a prime example, so it was Mother's Day at school, and my little boy he was making a card for his grandma, um, because obviously there is a distinct absence of mother in our family unit. So um a child turned around to him and was like, You don't have a mummy. And for some children, they would really take that and that would really impact them. But because we've built my little boy up to be so confident and so self-assured with his family unit and about the fact that he has two dads, um, he turned around and he was like, Yes, I do. I've got a birth mum, but I've also got two dads that love me very, very much. And for me, that is him reflecting on his positive identity that we've brought up about his family unit. And that gives me so much pride because that's rubbed off and he will take that forward now. So, yeah, for me, it's really important that I'm confident in my identity and I can answer any questions that he has because he does have questions. We we are a different family, and that's okay, but it's just giving him the confidence to be able to take that on board and to really own that, and he does.
SPEAKER_00:And his name?
SPEAKER_03:His name's Frankie.
SPEAKER_00:Frankie, big high five to Frankie. Frankie's. Very proud of your dad. Done a great job on the sofa here today. Is there been a time during your career? So we're talking work life now, where being LGBTQI plus has felt like a barrier.
SPEAKER_03:Um for me personally, um, no. Um just because so when I was going through my coming out process, that was all through university, um, if you like. And by the time I'd finished university, I was very self-assured and I was very confident in who I was as a person. I was still, you know, figuring stuff out, but I was very confident that I was I was a gay man. Um and for me, whenever I go to a job interview, um, one of the first questions, or well, not the first questions, um, but I will always put into the interview at some point that I am gay. So whether that is through sort of my involvement with LGBTQA plus charities or through LGBTQI plus networks, um, or you know, having having a same-sex partner, I will always bring it up and I always try and ascertain their reaction back to me. And if their reaction is kind of all brush shut under the carpet, move on quickly, that says to me that this place isn't right for me. So I've always been really careful and selective about where I have applied to and where I have taken jobs. And um, credit to Mag, you know, when when I went for that interview, um, they kind of came back and they're like, that's amazing. Did you know we've got this network? Did you know we've got this? You can get involved in this. And for me, I was like, okay, I'm home and I'm happy. So I've I've never really had that sort of discrimination because I've always been really selective about where I have chosen to work.
SPEAKER_00:Because it's really important, isn't it? That fit is important. We spend a long time in your work environment. Emma, you've come straight from a shift straight here to the studio, haven't you? I think. But you have worked in different sectors. You said that earlier on. In fact, I think pretty much the sector you haven't worked in, you know. But what have you noticed sort of differences? I know time will be a factor as well, but have you noticed sort of differences from whether it be across retail, hospitality, which also sit within the airport as well.
SPEAKER_02:But yeah, yeah, uh there are differences, however, I um saw a distribution I worked in, and that was when my dysphoria came to the front. Um, so it it the only thing it impacted there was the way I behaved more than anything, and I was quite irrational at the time. In retail, I I never really felt any kind of angst. In fact, it played in my favour because I got on Radio 5 Live with uh Rachel Byrd and loads, it was great. And then I I then I I work in television now for the BBC. I work at Wimbledon, and they that's absolutely brilliant. Everybody embraces great. At the airport, I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt, that I have been totally embraced and really appreciated, but it's very difficult not to because I'm extremely loud, aren't I? And I'm very flamboyant and very gregarious and over the top. Um words for it. So they are um so I I I love how Maggas embraced me and I embraced well, it it was a two-way thing, and there was no talk about it, it just happened. Um so I I feel really appreciated. Is there any difference between them all? I don't know, and I don't really care. Um, I sort of am just me now, and whatever darkness I had in the past, I sort of forgotten about because I just smile my way through life now, and all I do is I earn loads of money and go skiing. It's great.
SPEAKER_00:Skiing, Wimbledon, yeah, yeah, you know, poker. Yeah, okay, we haven't got that anyway, but um but it strikes me that you because there's no plan that comes with this, but it strikes me that there seems to be a two-way relationship with your role within Manchester Airport Group, right? You've you said this is who I am, I'm this, I'm you use the word just. We try to ban the word just, you're especially not just anything. Um, but I think is that something other organizations can learn from by having that two-way dialogue to say, this is who I am, and actually, if it doesn't fit, it's okay. It might have been the best thing I ever wanted to do, or role or promotion or job in the world. But it's important to fit, it's really important, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, definitely. I think if you want people to bring their true selves to work and to be comfortable in sharing their ideas and about just being who they are, you need to embrace them as much as they're embracing you. And it it is that two-way street. How do you feel about that? Yeah, I I I agree totally.
SPEAKER_02:Um, we've got we've got people um at the same level, my peers, uh superiors, um, even right to the very top to uh to Chris, who is the managing director, who are so embracing and so supportive and appreciate um me and I'm sure Max and everybody else. And and like if there has been a challenge and there are challenges, let's not let's not beat around the bush. It's not all rosy in the garden, but the except the neuron shift, of course. Yeah, of course. But no, but in all seriousness, um when people at at that level um give their time, you know what that's fantastic, isn't it? And and that tells me that there is a rainbow, um, bright sunshine in the future. We've just got to get to it.
SPEAKER_00:And what because there'll be people either watching, listening, that are either from within the airport group or in another organization or who maybe not ready to share or to come out or to be their complete selves. What makes that workplace safe? We talked about the two-way, the fact that your the reaction that you had was, well, we've got this and we've got this, and it's enthusiastic.
SPEAKER_02:It's got to be a robust background, hasn't there? There's got to be a solid structure behind it. You've got to have people that are dedicated to making a difference. Um, there's a lady of your organization called Alicia McDonnell, and she is a true advocate for getting stuff done and doesn't sit in the background, doesn't mess around. If there's a problem, the doors open, and you can talk and you can get stuff done. Yeah. It's not easy, and you know, it's not a case of, oh, let's just go down the tick list. You know, some things you have to jump through lots and lots of hoops, but you can get there, can't you?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, 100%. And I think as well about that piece around coming out, it's just a recognition that it's very personal to every single person. So sometimes, you know, someone coming out wants that holistic support. They want people to wrap around them, they want to get involved, they want to be part of our colleague resource groups or our colleague communities, um, and they want to talk to people. Whereas some people who are just starting out that coming out process, they might just want a little flag up at Pride Month that just kind of gives them a nod and just lets them know that this is a safe space for you. And when you're ready, we're ready. Um, and tiny, tiny things, you know, such as, you know, if you've got uh a line manager and you know they start talking to you about your partner or their partner, that inclusive language just lets them know it's just a bit of a small pat on the back to say, when you're ready, we're ready. And it's little things like that that really make a big difference.
SPEAKER_00:And is always that balance because of having in action versus policy? Because you need policy and strategies, and you're in that department as well, aren't you, Ran? Making that happen. And and I know Alicia is leading a lot, you'll be able to catch up with Alicia on on her podcast as well. She'll be joining us later in the series as well. Um, but how do you how do you make it not just a policy that sits over here? And and you've talked about some of the top tips already. It's it's language. Yeah. It's but any anything else that you think actually that's some of the simple things. Because some people think it's really difficult sometimes. Sometimes it's those simple things, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, um it's sometimes I know there's a famous phrase, don't sweat the small stuff, but actually sometimes, especially for transgender people, it is the small stuff that makes a massive difference. And no problem is too large or too small um for the EDI team and for Chris and for everybody around that directorship. And that that makes me feel comfortable comfortable. I think that's fair, innit? Yeah. Uh comfortable that even if stuff doesn't get done today, there's always a tomorrow. Yeah. Um, I I don't look, I don't think as a transgender woman, I am going to get everything sorted. In fact, I don't think it will be sorted in my lifetime, but it's what I do now for those coming ahead of me, you know, over 20 somethings that are transgender at the airport, that they feel like, okay, I see Emma, yeah, things are getting, things are happening. That's what I think.
SPEAKER_00:And do you both identify as role models?
SPEAKER_02:Oh god, no. Jesus, I hope nobody follows me.
SPEAKER_00:Because you're blazer trail, right? You've created a path, you've forged a pathway. Yourself too, role model. I'm thinking, yeah, but other people are too, right? And that's the whole point of you be you, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, absolutely. And I think Yes is the answer, Emma. I'll tell you, you are a role model because I I look up to you. Um, I think if you can be a beacon of hope or if you can be um a symbol to somebody somewhere, I think that's a fantastic thing to be. So if someone can look up to me in the business and say, Do you know what? I can um I can identify with that person. I'm similar to him in some way. I mean, poor people, but if they can identify with me and say, well, he's he's made it, he's at that level. I actually I can see myself there. Um, I think I would hope that I was a role model, and I hope that I use my voice and my privilege in a way that really opens the door for other people to walk through.
SPEAKER_00:And have you found that because you lead uh Fly with Pride, don't you, at East Midlands Airport?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:What have you seen that change? I see a big smile comes to your face when we talk about this.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so um when I first joined East Midlands Airport, um, which was around three years ago now, there was a Fly with Pride network, but it hadn't really got off the ground and we didn't really sort of lead forward with it. Um, but since I joined, um I spoke to my manager at the time and I was like, look, I really want to get involved in this. There's a lot that we can do here. Um, and since then it's just gone from strength to strength. So um we've done things like we've attended Nottingham Pride for the first time, and we've done it now for three years in a row. Um we've got a local committee that we've built up that are there to not only support our colleagues but also to help inform policies, procedures, practices that we have in the business. Um, and yeah, so I I chair it, but I can't take credit for all of you know all of the results because it's the fantastic committee that sit underneath me, and also um credit to the managing director and to my line manager as well, who also advocate very strongly for it.
SPEAKER_00:And you've talked about Chris, Chris would draw for long as one of our Northern Power Women uh awards uh our advocates uh for 2025. Um there'll be leaders out there or line managers out there who think, oh, I want to be a bit more that, I want to create a safe space, I want to do that, but I I absolutely don't know where to start. What's the one thing?
SPEAKER_02:Listen. Um you know, there's uh it sometimes the quietest voices make the loudest noise, and it's just being able to pick out that one voice. I I know there's there's a film Hidden Figures, and there's a there's a moment when um the head of NASA stands there saying, Your job, Paul, is to find the genius amongst all them geniuses, and it's a bit like that with this in that who has the voice, who has the um who has the point that needs to be taken forward? Um I know I'm very loud, I don't have all the right uh questions or answers, but I think I did poker bear when I started, Mac. Um and then um things develop from there. So it's about it's about listening out for those voices and and seeing the trigger points and and and looking for those people that maybe don't say it but are in trouble. Um and when they say I'm okay, maybe they're not as okay as they're making out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think I think as well it's about recognizing the difference. So it's not only listening, but it's also recognizing that you will never be able to truly understand that person's journey. So I will never understand what Emma has been through in terms of how she has come to where she is today. Um, but I can listen and I can understand. And as soon as I recognize that, and as soon as I recognise that I'm in a position of privilege and I can help, or I can help um or she can help educate me, I think that's when you really start to grow as a person. So you won't always have the answers.
SPEAKER_00:And it's passing that knowledge and skills on because you're you're representative in other groups as well. And you don't need to be monogamous to one group, do you? You can be it's being curious and being an advocate across all, whether it's working parents, whether it's uh women, whether it's um neurodivergent. It that's important to pass that knowledge on, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, similarly, when you talk about you know the neurodivergent space, I don't understand what it's like to live in someone's head who is neurodiverse because I'm not, but I can listen and they can educate, and then I can help inform change off the back of that.
SPEAKER_00:And you had a one a magic wand, you know, you've got a limited resource and a limited rub um budget. Don't tell Chris, right? Okay, don't tell the manager director. But what would be that one change that you would take, big or small, that you would like to see more workplaces to make truly inclusive for the LG uh BTQI plus space? What's that one thing that you do? And we've talked about small things as well.
SPEAKER_02:I've given this a lot of thought uh since you posed the question a few days ago. I didn't come up with the answer because I'm sort of happy the way things are going. Um I do I would like hang on, where's camera? I would like to see see us at Pride next year in Manchester. I think I think the time's right. We need to take um we need to take a little bit of a leaf out of the book of you guys down down south and uh and show our faces and and be be brave. I'm not proud to be transgender. I'm I'm not proud. I just am, but I understand what pride's all about. So, you know, I feel I have a responsibility and a duty to I'd always said trailblaze, to to blaze a trail for those who come uh ahead of me. And I would like to do that. That's what I think Manchester Airport could do.
SPEAKER_00:Max, magic wand.
SPEAKER_03:Oh uh similar to Emma, I I think we're on the track already. I I think we are getting to where we need to be. Um, I just think we need to have a bit more courage and our conviction, and we just need to celebrate more. Um, and it's like as Emma said about pride, you know. Yes, we are at East Um at Nottingham Pride as East Midlands airport. Um, but I don't do pride for me. I'm not there for 36-year-old Max. I'll give him one of my age there. But um I don't need any more confidence, trust me. I do it for the 12-year-old Max who was struggling with his identity. He didn't really want to be the person that he was, and he was trying to squash, squash that side of him. Oh, okay, it's fine, it's fine, I'll I'll never find, I'll never find love. And that's so sad. And I just think, do you know what? If if we can turn up to Pride and show 12-year-old Max that actually it's okay to be yourself and this big company, we support you. I think that's fantastic. And as well, another point to add is when my partner and I choose to go on holiday with my family, we have to pick very carefully, and it's a really stressful time for us. Holidays are meant to be amazing, and they are. Um, but booking that holiday is really stressful because we are illegal in so many places which we want to go to. Um, they don't recognize us as a family, and that's heartbreaking. Um, and it's really, really stressful. So, for us as an airport, if we can show up and if we can give my family and families like mine that nod to say we support you and it's okay, that's one less stress out of the journey for us when we're planning and booking. So, for uh for so for me, I think we are definitely on the right track, but we just need to be that little bit more vocal and to give a bit more hope to them people out there who are probably looking at the airports for a bit of that encouragement.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think that's a good point. You know, on top of all of this, though, the only thing I'd say is that my dad is 83 years old. He calls me Emma, he calls me his daughter, and he still says he and him. So I don't care about anybody else in life except my dad. And my son loves me for who I am. Um, so you know, for me, that that's everything. But magic wonder, you know, pride about beer good.
SPEAKER_00:Now I'm gonna ask you to delve in, Max. You don't need the glasses, so you need to delve into the power jar. So the power jar is a jar which we have a question from one of our previous guests. So only one question between you. So, Max, you've got an amazing, an immense amount of responsibility in this moment. So if you want to take that out and read that, don't be making it up, by the way, because we can see you on camera.
SPEAKER_02:Is this for both of us? For both of you, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And if you don't like it, just for Max, right? All right.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so if you could instantly swap lives with a famous person for a week, who would it be and why?
SPEAKER_02:All right, okay. Well, I know I know this already. So my You didn't get a sneak at this question. Oh, I am all over this question, right? She's really good. This would be Stephen Hawking. Oh my god, he is my absolute hero in life. I love Stephen Hawking. I think he's supremely intelligent. Well, what sadly was, uh, but supremely intelligent and what that that guy went through to get to where he became, which was, you know, probably the foremost expert in well, black holes basically. Um and understand a little bit of that terrible curse that he went through. So yeah, it'd be Stephen Hawking for me, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Max.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I I would pick someone totally opposite to who I am, um, so that I could understand a bit more about them and to live live in their shoes. And it it goes back to that question that we were sort of um that we were talking through in terms of I will never truly be able to understand what someone else goes through. So what better opportunity than to step inside someone's shoes who's totally opposite to me? Um so I can't think of someone off the top of my head, but it would it would have to be someone entirely opposite just to walk in someone's shoes for a day and have a true appreciation for, you know, a different perspective.
SPEAKER_00:The unknown hero, the unknown Samaritan.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Max, Emma, thank you so much for bringing joy to our couch. Thank you so much for bringing joy through your respective airports because it makes a massive difference. We've been talking in the green room before. Made it sound fancy that we've got a green room. Um about the experience of the airport, the mirror effect. You smile, someone smiles back. It becomes contagious. It makes a part of that whole experience, doesn't it? Of whether you don't know what people are going through. So please, please, my magic wand is that you continue to keep passing that joy and that just warm, warm nature on because that's what creates the ripple effect. Sometimes it feels like a small thing when you might be having a bad day. But you know what? Just keep doing it. Those small acts of kindness, those selfies uh across the airport, whatever it may be, just keep being you because everyone else has taken. Thank you so much for joining me today. I love this conversation. Thank you. Yeah, thanks. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a review or follow us on socials. We are power underscore net on Insta, TikTok, and Twitter. We are power on LinkedIn, Facebook, and we are underscore power on YouTube.
