The Champagne Series 🥂 Mandy Smith - Entrepreneur and Author 'Cabin Fever'

In this first episode of The Champagne Series 🥂 sponsored by Everflyht Vineyard - Cabin Fever author and female founder Mandy Smith gets honest about the realities of building a business while caring for others, the seasonal life chapters and career pivots in a woman's journey and the uneven playing field for women in business.

From the patriarchy to the mile high club... this opening episode has it all. 

Pour a glass, sit back and enjoy a conversation between Lucy Black
@lucyblack_official and the wonder of a woman Mandy Smith.

This is 🎙️BrightIAM - The Champagne Series 🥂 

The Champagne Series is a bold, unfiltered podcast where powerful women
come to tell the truth and share their stories - not the polished versions, the
real ones. Set in a beautiful, high-energy space, each conversation blends
honesty, humour, and depth as we uncover the stories behind the success, the
struggles no one saw, and the moments that changed everything. It’s a celebration of self-expression, resilience,
and women who chose to do life on their own terms - with a glass of champagne
(or non-alcoholic alternative) in hand and nothing held back.

Filmed at: The Podcast Room Brighton

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hi and welcome. So this is the Champagne series, and it's a space where women in leadership and in life can come and join me on the sofa and we can discuss anything from work, relationships, successes, and the failures that often come as part of life. So this is sponsored by Everflight Vineyard, and we are not messing around. We're sharing a glass of champagne. Thank you. And this is my beautiful first guest of the series. This is Mandy Smith, Cabin Fever author, an extraordinaire and a very good friend of mine. Hi there. It's so lovely to have you. We're gonna have another ching. Come on. Ching, ching. Ching to the champagne series. So it's just so great to be in this space and to be able to share stories of women of inspiration like you, Mandy, with the world. So first off, what's an overview of you? Who are you? What's gone on today? Oh, I'm just doing a jack of all trades, is is what I would really say. I started off because I've never really enjoyed staying in one place when I was younger, work-wise. I would jump from job to job and I was never really settled. Went from admin to receptionist to working in an office, and I think I was always pushed that way.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Because my father wanted me to go and do business, because that's what he did. And where did you grow up? Did you grow up up north? Up north, yeah. Up north. And I did, I went to Teesside University and studied um computer programming, probably back in the days of COBOL and C Plus and Pascal, which is really old languages now. But they do go out of date every 18 months. So as soon as you've not been in the business for 18 months, you're really out of date. So I couldn't really step into that, those shoes when I came down south. And what brought you down south then? What what happened there? Well, I was still at university when my parents moved down south because my dad was the director at um Sun Lions, which is based in Horsham. And we call that Sun Lions City because it's literally just hugely based around Sun Lions and not much else there. And um, yeah, so we they moved down and I used to come down and visit on the National Express coach. Yeah, I remember doing them from Talkie in Devon, yeah, yeah. Um which is about a tenor in those days. I used to have to get through to Middlesbrough and it all. Yeah, tenor in ten hours, wasn't it? Oh no phones, I can't remember if we had phones. I think I just probably slept the whole way there. But um, yeah, then my parents basically stayed down there with my little brother. Right. My big brother was in Russia at the time. He was doing important export out there. So when he moved back, he moved down south as well. Okay. Um, so we all ended up being down south, which is quite nice. And um, yeah, then I just carried on I was looking for a job and again jumping from job to job. Yeah. And when I went into a recruit recruitment consultants in Horsham, and the chap who was the manager there said to me, Would you like a job here? And he I really got on well with him, he had such a good rapport. Oh, so you were going to look for a job, and they wanted you to work as a recruiter. Okay, great. And I was like, Oh, okay, I didn't even think of that. So yeah, that would be good. So I ended up working there for a while. Yeah. And he said, You've had such a wild experience of jobs, you'd be very good for our clients. So I was like, okay, so I did that for a little while. And then I saw this job come up that was for programming, and I thought, oh, I wonder if I could get back into that again. Okay. Um, so I ended up going through to Crawley, um, Gatwick, actually, on Manor Royal Estate, um, to Tails, is it, with the TH, Tails, um, in engineering, and one at Virgin Engineering. I went for a couple of engineering, um, aeronautical engineering positions, and um, they weren't actually programming, they were just job card programming, which is really basic. Right. And um ended up getting the job at Virgin Engineering, and it was so it's in Virgin the um Richard Branson Virgin. Yeah, okay. Well, we were it was a separate company back then, so we were attached to Virgin, but we weren't on the same offices. But um, yeah, and I was only going to do a six-month contract because all my friends were all surfers, and they used to go traveling, come home for six months work, go with six months. Sounds perfect. Perfect. That's what I said. So I was like, Oh, I'll go and get I'll get a six-month contract, which is what I did. I got the six-month contract in engineering. And um, after four months, they offered me the permanent position. They were like, We really want you to stay, you know, we pay for your engineering qualifications, and and I was and then you get free travel and travel anywhere around the world for £28. Oh my goodness, that sounds insane! That sounds amazing! Yeah, exactly. So I was like, Oh, that sounds really good, and I could go and visit my friends. Yes, yeah. Um, but what they don't tell you is they only give you three weeks' holiday to do it. Oh no, you see, there's always a catch. When you're working for somebody else, it does feel like that that there's always a catch. Yeah, but then how and what age were you then, Mandy? So what kind of age broke? Early 20s. Yeah, the world boys, yeah. Yeah, man, and you're beautiful, you're young, you're full of energy, brilliant. And then I know that you became cabin crew. So how did that transition happen? Well, it was really funny. Well, I've got a story about um I wanted to tell you actually, because we were chatting about um fairness and equal opportunities for women. Yes, and obviously the struggles that we have with the glass ceiling anyway. And the that glass ceiling, I I still feel it's there. And I mean, we're in 2026 now, I don't understand. And just for anybody who's listening and maybe hasn't heard this narrative, this term, the glass ceiling, could you just tell us what you see that as? So the glass ceiling is basically the the top earner that a woman could be. And unfortunately, men, you know, they're always told you can be what you want to be. My father, but my father had always told me I could be what I wanted to be. So I was really confused when I went into business. Um, because I was no longer working for my dad. And basically, I was like, well, so I can't be what I want to be then, anyway. So this is what the glass ceiling is. It's the the top of the sphere that the patriarchy impose on women, not men, but the patriarchy. There's a difference. So this is the institutionalized patriarchy that we have been brought up with since the early 1900s when they got rid of paganism, you know, when they're going back a long way now, when basically um the Catholic churches wanted to impose um proper sanctions and control the people. Yeah, that's my view, anyway. This is where they imposed religion and they brought about Christianity into um Western Europe and basically controlled the paganism, which is what we were, because in England we all had Anglo Sa Anglo-Saxon paganism. Yeah, if you look at our history, and you know, they didn't want people having big orgies and things. Oh, they didn't want people having big orgies. Oh, they sound so boring, bastards. And like that pagan thing just going a little bit off topic here. That's kind of related to worshipping other energies in the world, spirituality, or anything that's not that um Christianity. Yeah, yeah, God. Yeah, so I'm not really religious myself, but I do look back and think, and you can see that that's the way that the the patriarchy's developed this infringement on the whole of society, not just women, yeah, to control us and keep us in our place. So this glass ceiling for women is different to a glass ceiling for men, or do men have it, in your opinion, also? I'm sure working class men do. Yeah. Um, but women more so because it's like a pecking order, isn't it? And like, you know, they always say shit rolls downhill.

unknown 7:51

Ha!

SPEAKER_00 7:52

That's good. It's all right if you're at the top, then, isn't it? Exactly. But this is the thing. So women have never been able to break through that glass ceiling and get to earning. So, unless you're a lawyer, like my sister-in-law is a derivatives lawyer, so she's obviously earning the same and on the same benefits and all the rest of it. But has she had now? This is what I find really interesting in this world of work for women, is has she had extra hurdles to jump over to get on that same level as the men? Yes. And this is this is something that we uncover and something that I I find I talk about with a lot of women in leadership, in entrepreneurship and life, is yes, sometimes you can enter an industry where it's equal and you'll get equal pay, but my goodness, it's harder to get to that equal spot as a woman. Yeah, I'm sure she has had that. So you've taken on this full-time contract, okay, and um your friends have gone surfing. And what happens next? So the story behind this um the peer review, yes, I basically found out the guys, there's three young guys that I trained up that were getting more money than me. Oh they were on exactly the same job title, exactly the same qualifications because we all did the same engineering qualifications together. And I found out just by seeing one of their pay slips that they were actually on more money than me, even though they'd been there less time. And you'd been part training. And I'd been training I trained them all up. So I was fuming. Good. And I went we went to Richard Branson's party that weekend. Okay, and I was I I was like, Oh, I'm gonna speak to Richard. Good! Mandy, listen, I know you and I know that you would, honey, so I'm loving this. Well I went when I went storming in there and obviously it Richard Branson, it Richard's lovely. He was there saying hi to everyone on the door, didn't think Phil it was appropriate to mention it then, so I thought I'd speak to him later. Anyway, got to the um I don't know if you know about the the parties at Kidlington. No, but basically, Richard used to have a party at Kidlington every year. It's more like a festival. Right. So it was his entire company, so we're talking 35,000 people. Oh, it sounds like my kind of party, man. Invited to his house. This is his his actual home, which has got a mort going around it. It's beautiful in Kidlington. And we were allowed to camp out on his fields, and we had big stages and like mm proper bands and hot air balloons that we could go up and travel in with his hot air balloon friend who's sadly passed away now. Um, and yeah, so we used to do all that with Richard was there and it was fun. We used to, and it was all free, it was amazing. So Richard used to give everyone tokens. You'd get free tokens for drink, free tokens for alcohol, for food, for all of the events, for the for the rides. There was literally everything. There was like an inflatable laser quest that we used to go on. That was amazing. I can't believe this is a real thing. I've never been to anything like this. Well, it's amazing. It stopped after a while. I think about after about five or six years, the villagers were all complaining about the noise, and then they all ended up getting invited. Yes, yeah. And then when I was cabin crew, Richard was still having them, but then he started inviting all the unique passengers. Right. So then we were like, Well, I'm I don't want to go to work, don't want to go to my boss's house for a party and be seeing people from work. Because do you know it was just one of those things, anyway? So I was at the the drinks bar and I bumped into um Jeff, who was the director of engineering at the time, just a friend of mine, really good guy. And um and and I said, Jeff, I want a word with you. And he was like, What? What have I done now, man? And uh and I went, I've just found out that Matt and Kwame and the I can't remember the other chap's name, they're all getting paid more than me. I said, I trained them up. And he just laughed at me, he went, It's because you're a girl. Okay. And I went, okay, now I know Jeff, and I knew that he was only kidding. And he just said to me, Go through the proper channels, but then come back to me if you don't get anywhere and he give me a wink. And I was like, Okay, I will. So that's what happened. I tried to go through my manager, went through my line manager, I went to the departmental manager, and as far as I got to, as far as I could get, was the departmental manager. Right. And I said to him, We ought to just call him Tiger because he was completely spineless. I love the honesty in this space. I love it. You've only had one sip of champagne. Oh, you know me, don't need any alcohol. And um, and I said, you know, um, what's gonna happen? And he said, Well, I'm just gonna tell you now we don't have the money in the budget. Oh, they don't have the money in the budget to pay the women the same as the men. Wow. So I just sat there and kind of nodded my head and I was like, that's fine, that's fine. Same as I'd done with my manager and my online manager. I was like, I'm just going through the procedures. Okay. So at the end of the meeting, stood up, shook his hand over the table, and I just said, just so you know, I'm not happy and I will be taking this further. Good for you. And he just he just kind of went, Oh, silly woman. Yeah, silly woman. Anyway, I left his office, went straight upstairs to the top floor, and went into Jeff's room and closed the door behind me. And Jeff went, Oh, Mandy's angry, the door's shutting. It's so good. And I sat down and I said, Look, Jeff, I didn't get anywhere, mate. And he was like, Okay, um, let's see what we can do. And within a week, I had all my back pay, I had all my money the same as the guys, and it all just came up to date. And I was like, Why couldn't the others just do that? Okay, so what's really interesting there for me is you're a very likable person. You're somebody who gets on with people. Okay, you're also somebody who's really happy to talk their truth, to speak their truth, and to put it out there. But if you weren't well liked by Jeff or had that relationship, you wouldn't have got any further. Was it a little bit unusual for somebody, a young woman like yourself in your 20s, to speak out about that injustice? Yeah, yeah, of course. There was other things I'd spoken about that never got actioned. And then I found out since I'd left that they were actioned after I'd left because I'd made that complaint and because the second person had then gone to HR about it. So that was to do with one of my senior engineers who was basically getting me to do all of his work. And I was like, why am I doing this? This is a senior engineer's job. I mean, I'm not being funny. Some mornings I was so hungover, I'd go in there and go, how do I do this job again? Am I? What is it? What's programming? Oh, I love it. It's really interesting, though, that isn't it, that actually if we don't speak our truth about an injustice we see, and I mean, this is back in the day now, this is many years ago, obviously. This is the 90s. It's in the 90s, okay. So things have changed and moved on a little, albeit not enough, which is something we'll explore. But if we don't voice our views and actually bring those issues to the forefront, then even if we don't get somewhere, the person behind us might, and that's what happened there. This is exactly the point there. So we need to help each other and realize that even if we don't, if there's no point in. I mean, I was always the first one to complain. I was always like, come on, guys, let's go and complain about this, and then they'd be like, Yeah, let's go. And I'd go, we think this is something wrong with this, and they'd go, Who's we? Because I'd turn around and there's no one behind me. That's brilliant. Where have you all gone? That's brilliant, but yeah, so anyway, it turns out this guy, Amjad, bless him, he was a lovely guy, but he was doing his own um master's degree and he was bringing his homework to and his coursework to work. Oh, so he was getting paid to do his job. Okay, yeah. And his college work whilst at work and doing it and getting paid overtime some days. Okay. But they found out because they were watching him on the C C TV. Okay. So yeah, so the girl who took over my job when I left, she complained too, and obviously um that got stopped. So when you left this role then, the programming, um, after all your adventures and your time there, that's when you moved into being Cabin Crew. Yes. So how did that transition come about? Did you think, oh, I quite like the outfit, I'd look good in that? No, that was really, really, really strange because I never even thought about going to Cabin Crew. Yeah, yeah. Never mind. Well, if you were engineering and programming, it's not. Not even entered my head yet, because it's not even on in my in my sphere. One of the engineers who I used to work with, Conrad, absolute corker of a guy. We worked really close together. There's me, Mark, Conrad, and Matt. You'll sit in a little quad. And we always used to play tricks on each other, you know, like turn each other's drawers upside down and empty your whole punch into each other's drawer, and you know, stupid little tricks like that. And then all the engineers had like all these women with bikinis on and or naked with their boobs out. So me and there was one other girl in engineering, and we used to go around at lunchtime while they're all on their lunch and draw bikinis on their boobs. Oh, I love little things like that. Um, so yeah, we're all it was a lot of banter and we had a good laugh. But um, oh, I've lost my train of thought. Well, you were saying about when you moved to um being cabin crew and how that came back. So Conrad, Conrad's wife was British Airways. Oh, cabin crew. And um, you know me, I'm very chatty. Yes, Randy, you are, and I love it. Very chatty. So I used to get told off in the office for talking to him often. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. So apparently, when we're stood waiting for things to be printed out on the printer, we weren't allowed to talk to each other. Because the printer was right next to the boss's desk, right? Why would you put the printer next to your desk if you didn't want people talking to you? Yeah, yeah. Anyway, that's another conversation for another time. But um, so Conrad said to me, Do you know what, Mandy? You're so chatty and bubbly. Have you thought about going for cabin crew? And I went, No, what's that? Yeah, because actually your personality and you fill a room with your energy, your vibe, it's brilliant. And you're in an office-based role here, you're in a small office, small team. More to give. Yeah. So he was saying, you know, why don't you go and do that for for a while? So I was chatting about it and I thought, oh, I don't know. And Jeff was there and uh he said, I'll sponsor you. He said, Go for it. He said, I've got friends in the cabin crew, so they'll run recruitment, I said they'll get you in. I went, I don't want any special favours. Yeah, go on, Jeff. I like Jeff. I like Jeff. Yeah. He said, go, and if you don't like it, come back in a year's time and just be my PA or something. That's exactly what Jeff said to me. And I was like, I'll do that then. Do you know what? That's so good because people get stuck where they feel safe. And that can happen at any age, and I think particularly when you get older. I mean, we're in midlife now, but that's great that you were young, you took that, let's do it, let's try it. So, what was that like then? Oh, it was really cool because I had uh a guy I was really interested in at the time that I liked. Yeah, he was an engineering too, Matt, my ex. And I was with him for seven years. We flew together as cabin crew. Oh, the first seven years of my cabin crew was completely different experience to the last half of my cabin crew years because I was in a serious relationship. Oh, and he was um he he joined as a cabin crew member too. He was training to be a pilot and we lived together, so he he never had any money to do anything. Um and he used to spend every penny that he he ever earned on his pilot's licence on on flying and you know, training. And when we went to Orlando together, we used to go down to the Florida Keys and fly over there in Cessna Cessna's and beautiful. Yeah, it was beautiful. That's where I joined the Mile High Club. Oh, hold on a minute, right? Have a sip of that champagne. So we are now, how old are we? We're getting to let's say we're getting towards the end of your relationship with Matt. So what age are we here? Early 30s? Um or late 20s, maybe. Early 30s. Early 30s. Because I think I had my 30th while I was still seeing him. I had it with all my friends in Vegas and I didn't invite him. Okay, so it was getting towards the end of that relationship. So backing up a little bit, you joined the Mile High Club when? Over the Florida Keys. Sounds like a really nice place. Hold on a minute. Don't even want to know about the logistics in a two-seater. No, I don't, I can't work it out in a two-seater Cessna. I love it. The geystick did get the wall. Well, not the centre console in it. The geystick, you know what I mean? I don't, I don't, I've never been in the cockfair. I love it. Brilliant. Okay, so you're flying, you're living this life, but actually it's almost part restricted because you have got a partner. Yeah. And you're yeah, you can't go out and be wild per se. Well, well, sounds like this is it. But we it was pretty wild, but yeah, I never really put myself in out there until yeah, but now I was quite happy. And we had been cabin crew about six or seven years at that point. Absolutely loving flying, and you know, went on to do it for 12 years in the end. So didn't even go back. And Jeff Jeff was waiting for his PM. He left engineering before I even he's retired. No, he's still there waiting. I've heard he's emailed me this morning or retired before I even thought about leaving. Wow. But um, yeah, so anyway, I the weird thing was I never really thought about splitting up with that. And then when we did split up, um it was a whole different ball game. Yeah, well, it's a whole new world. It's completely different. You don't see that side of of life when you're serious and committed to someone. Yeah, so when I wasn't in a relationship, I was like, whoa, this is amazing. This is crazy. You know, you'd be out there, we'd be partying. There's like 22 young lasses, and by this time I was a uh a CSS, so I was the manager.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

So I we I was going out and I was in charge of all the girls, and I'd have like 22 lasses or lads and lasses with me. Yeah, and we'd go to Vegas and we just get get in everywhere for free, and you're all guest lists, you're all glamorous. Oh, it's lovely. Little Gucci handbags and little parada shoes, and yeah. Wow, what a life, man. It was crazy. But I used sorry, I used to go traveling myself as well in between flights. Okay. You could swap flights. So you only kind of did four flights a month because of the turnaround. So if you moved your flights and you had holiday, you could have like a whole month or two off.

unknown 22:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

So I used to go traveling with just my backpack. Okay. And just use my 28-pound tickets. Okay. So you actually okay, so that's really interesting. So now you're living a different life. You're not doing the programming. It's not so restricted with your three weeks' holiday. You can maneuver and manipulate your time. Yeah. And you were just traveling on your own or with your friends. On my own. Yeah. I try I plan to do it with friends. Yeah. Um, but that like life work balance doesn't always work out for everyone. Yeah. Um and my other friends uh I travel plan to go traveling around Thailand, Peru, and Bolivia with Lindsay and Verity.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

And unfortunately they both had boyfriends and that this happened or that happened. And then Lindsay went into being she left being cabin crew and went to be a really serious job. She was a social worker, so didn't get as much holiday off. So it was like they were then restricted. So I just thought, well, I'm not gonna not go. Yeah. Okay, so that's really, really positive. You're you're such a go-getter, Mandy. It's something I know, it's something I love about you. But people can't make it to this plan, but you're gonna go anyway. And you've actually managed to carve out at this point in your life a balance, which is that work-life balance. It is, that's what people want in life, is that work-life balance. And I I just didn't find it working in an office. No, didn't you for me? And maybe not in that relationship with Matt either. No, yeah. Well, there's more complex, there's always more complexities to relationship, isn't it? Because you know, it takes a village and all that, and his family didn't really weren't keen. Not weren't keen on the mile highs. They were hard work, put it that way. His mum would say things to me like, you know, if if you know me, I'm always planning things. Yeah, yeah. So I planned this weekend away in Paris, and I I took him away to Paris because he never had any money because he always spent every single penny he had on flying lessons, on gliding lessons, on you know, doing his pilot's license.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

So I thought, oh, I'm gonna still plan stuff and I just pay for it. You know, I'm only the type of person who'll ask you to do something twice and then I'll do it myself. Yeah, you know. So um I basically I planned this trip to Paris and she said to me, I hope Matt didn't spend his money on you because he's got better things to spend it on. Oh, she sounds nice. She's divine. How is she? We know. I don't know. I'm sure she's lovely still. You know, it takes me back. I had a um boyfriend called Matt back in the day in my early 20s, and his mum hated me too. Oh, she I walked in to meet her the first time, Mandy. She went, Oh, you're not blonde. Well, no, love. Do you want to check? Yeah, yeah, have a look. I thought to myself, you're not friendly. I know where I stand here. Spiky. Yeah, spiky ladies. Okay, so we are now out having it large, we're traveling in between. You've got your work-life balance. And as I introduced you, we know that you've written this amazing book, which is a bestseller, Cabin Fever. So, when did you leave um being a uh a member of the cabin craft and then write this book? How did that all come about? Well, it was really strange actually, because I'd left when I left flying. I went to work as a peer, but for another director. Oh, not for Jeff. No, Jeff's gone. Not for Jeff. Jeff was well out of there. It would this was for Chris, the sales and distribution director at Virgin Holidays. Okay. The best boss I've ever had. Oh, we love Chris. Give it up to Chris. We used to do the most cool things. We used to organise because we we had all of the we were in charge of staff travel, we were in charge of all of the the books, um, the magazines that we used to put out there. So part of my job as his PA was to go and test out the new hotels. Oh now we're talking. Mandy, you're falling on your feet here. I know it was brilliant. And um, yeah, it just was we used to take turns because it was nine P's, but it was amazing that job. We used to do things like have fish and uh fish and chip Fridays where Chris used to say just get everyone fish and chips. So we used to I used to organise a fish and chip van come round and for all the staff because we'd try and incentivize all the sales staff and it was really nice atmosphere. There was always bake sales going on, and I was always baking, but I wasn't that good at baking back then. Well you are good now, yeah. We like that. Good now, but that's just through necessity though, having kids, isn't it? Well, this is it, and this is where we get to is actually we our skill sets change as we get older and and different things come into our lives. Yeah, so I basically went on to um do that, then fell pregnant. Okay, so we've met met Glenn. Met my husband, yeah, Glenn. And then fell pregnant and um decided not to go back after having the baby.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

And even though I was offered another two PA jobs in virgin holidays, and wow, they tried to keep me on gardening leave, which messed all my tax up, and I was like, no, I really don't think you can do this job part-time. It's you know, to be a peer, I need to be there more than the director is. Yes, yeah, agreed. That's my ethos for work. Okay, so that's really interesting now because you've really highlighted something that I get a lot talking to women is the question that can you have it all? And it sounds very sensible that you've now realized that the role you did, the job you had, maybe the life and all the travel and that could have been curved back, but the actual role, being that PA, being on call, knowing what's going on all the time, you can't do part-time. No, so you either have to give your child full-time to someone else or you have to put that job down. That's really difficult. This is it. So that's the decision I had to make. And um, they even said you could job share with someone. But to me, if I'm in charge of a director, I want to be in charge and I need to know everything that person's doing and I need to know and to be one step ahead of them. Yeah. You know, and if in I could now, as I'm a CEO now, I would say I would want my peer to be that. Yeah, that's what you need. It just doesn't quite work, does it? Because something will get lost, something will get missed. And the communication, you cannot communicate everything from half of a week's work to the other person. Yeah, and unfortunately, working part-time, I didn't feel uh would would uh handle in that position. And it turns out the girl who took my job, uh the the job uh that that they'd offered me part-time also said that she only stayed six months. Right. She couldn't handle it. Yeah, it was the same situation that I knew in my head would work out. So basically I'm sat there on my sofa at home, breastfeeding, yeah, feeling like a mammoth cow, yes, you know, breast just breast pumps on, honey, I know arms free, even when the baby's asleep, he's still doing other stuff. Yeah, yeah. And it's you can't really do a job because your brain, you get a lot of baby brain. Yeah, you know, you know what's like when babies are so little. And you're tired. Yeah, you're tired. But I always found you know, I you know, I've got had two children, teenagers now. My identity shifted when I had babies. Big time, big time. Because I wasn't just Lucy anymore, I was a mum, and you lose part, you grow and gain so much, as we know. We're happy to be parents, but it's like a whole new door has opened, and you're in a room, you don't know where you are at. Yeah.

unknown 29:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

So what made you write the book? Well, the I was sat there with breastfeeding and had my hands free. Ah, okay. So baby on the boob, you got the pillow under there, yeah, yeah. You got hands. Yeah. So I ended up um looking through a couple of my journals and rewrought them. I was chatting to a friend of a friend who's one of Glenn's friends, actually, my husband, and he had um just written a book about the Madeline McCann um situation. He was one of the policemen on that force, and it was all very serious. But he recommended me to his book agent. Right. So I pitched this book thinking they're never gonna take this. I just rang him up and I was like, hi Andrew. That's Andrew Louney. He's very, very famous at the moment. Apparently, Donald Trump's suing him at the minute. Is he? Oh Donald Trump. I just sue anyone, yeah. But um, yeah, so I was like, hi Andrew. Um, I was giving a number your number by I can't remember his name. Yeah. Um, basically, are you interested in this? So I pitched it over the phone. It's about five air hostesses. It's gonna be like sex in the city, in the sky. I'm gonna write it about me and my five friends, it's gonna jump from story to story, and it's all about the millionaires and billionaires that we've dated. It's gonna be loads of naughtiness and be fun. And I basically told him this story about something that had happened a week before last, where me and my five air hostess friends, because we were all very close, they were all actually my bridesmaids, and uh, we were actually in a car travelling back from Lindsay's house up north, and there was a car accident in front of us. Wow. Um, it was eight o'clock in the morning on a Sunday, nothing else on the roads, but this car just swerved off the road into a ditch.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

And we were shocked because we were totally sober and like, what's going on? Um, Kath, who was driving and didn't used to be an air hostess, but we were like, pull over, pull over, pull over, because all of us were all first aid trades. So we're like, pull over, get over there. So she had to reverse up the motorway to get into the lay-by. Wow. We were all clambering out, got out, went to rescue these four guys that four young lads, they were in their early 20s, late teens, and they'd basically been to a festival all night, still off their head slightly, whatever it was. And some of them didn't make it. Wow. Like the back of their heads were not fully there, and it wasn't very pleasant. But we we were on the phone to the ambulance service. I said, Well, so if if you can imagine five air hostesses with high heels and and denim shorts running down the motorway going to save all these guys. Oh my goodness. And we literally kept them alive or kept kept them alive until the helicopter turned up. Wow. But we heard after then that one of them had seriously been injured, and I don't think he made it, bless him. But um, he didn't have a seatbelt on. Oh my goodness. Silly, he was in the back, but he didn't have a seatbelt on. But yeah, so we basically kept them alive until the ambulance turned up, and I pitched him this story over the phone and he went, I love it. Yeah, well, it's a story and a half, isn't it? Write it all down. I'd already kind of written it down. So I said, I'll send you what I've got. And he went, Yeah, you're not touching on the subject. So it's like what you said earlier. So it's because it's my life and I've lived it, I don't know what the special bits are. Yeah, you've normalized it. And actually, people listening to this podcast, they will be like, This woman's done these crazy things. She was so bold when she was so young, she was this, she was that. Whereas it's just you, it just comes naturally and it's normal. So you then had to unpick the elements in your life and try and see it through the perspective of a reader, I suppose. Exactly. So Andrew actually, as a manager, he set me aside a ghostwriter. Oh, okay. And she helped pick out the stories that she felt were the most juicy, shall we say? Yeah. The ones that are gonna make people want to read on for more. Yeah, yeah. But as again, being a woman in that environment, I've really felt like I'd salt my soul a little bit. Okay, how so? I don't feel if that had been a man selling his autobiography, would they have asked him to put so many sex stories in? Interesting. I would say so many kiss and tells, so many of that. And you felt that from that, um, is it a publicist? Pressure, he's my manager. Manager, they were pushing for more juicy bits. Always they want names of celebrities, they want names of this, they want this and that. I went, look, I'm not here to ruin families.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Because I had lots of names of celebrities that my colleagues had been with and sat with, and things had happened, and I didn't name names of anyone in the book that it wasn't already out there because I was not there to ruin families. Yeah. Um so tell us one juicy story from that. We've got time for that. So from your book, and it is Cabin Fever, and it's Mandy Smith is the author. I'm sure people who are going to be listening to this are gonna be intrigued if they've not already read it. Okay. Give us a one of the juicy stories. Come on. Oh, what do you class as juicy? Honey, my middle name, I'm Lucy Juicy. I don't know, I can't do what's I brought it 15 years ago. I'm doing yeah, so you can't. But we'd say celebrities having it off. And some naughty things happening high up in the sky, I suppose. Yeah. Okay. So there was lots of the um, yeah. I can't honestly, I'm really sorry, I can't remember a bloody thing about that book. Actually hilarious. You're gonna have to go home and do your own work on your own author. I have literally, yeah, I'm so over that now. Yeah, but actually, that's really interesting that you are so over that now. And I think we can all, as women, reflect on years gone by. I mean, what is that 15 years? The life cycle of your daughter today, 15 years. I was not the same person 15 years ago. That's basically my entire sex life from my twenties in that book. Is it there? We go. So some of it I want to forget. Yeah, all honey, don't we? All story I was I was telling them about me getting obviously the story of me in the Cessna was one of those. Um, obviously, a story in there of this chap. I was he was a bit of a tough. I did hit date a few posh guys who are very attractive to me, being from up north. I really like that posh accent. Yeah, and um, yeah, he kind of slammed me against the tiles so hard in his bathroom that the tiles broke. Oh goodness. He was lovely. Yeah, he sounds interesting enough. Glenn knows him. Does he? That's your husband now. Oh, don't go there. Oh, I've told him everything. He knows it. Don't go in any town bathrooms. Glenn's not, he's you know, he's such a lovely guy. He's ego, doesn't take any damage. Glenn, your husband, who obviously I know and I've met through through yourself, he's um ex-famous rugby player. He's a professional rugby player, yeah. He used to play for Saris, Bristol, Bath, and then in his later years when I met him, he was playing for Hove. Yeah. And then he's gone on to be a businessman in his own right. So kind of skipping away from him, because this is the Champagne series and it's about us women and what we want to talk about. Tell me about the transition from becoming a mum and becoming an author. I know you were on TV a lot, you've done a lot of different radio shows. How was that for you? Yeah, so going on TV. That was really interesting because obviously trying to manage, because Glenn's out there, yeah, earning the bread and butter. Yeah. And obviously, I did earn quite a lot from the book, but you never know how much you're going to earn from your royalties. It's kind of just on the shelf, and it does just depend how much PR you do. Yeah. So every and it's really interesting because you can see the PR graph goes up and down the more interviews you do. Yeah. So you're in control of your own Amazon page, and you can see the little graph going up and down every time we do a BBC interview or a GMTV or so the yeah, so you the word of the book, people have seen you, they've warmed you, and then they are clicking and they're buying. Yeah. So it's very important to get yourself out there and talk about it. Very reactionary, yeah. Very so the PR definitely make a make or break any business. And you were your own PR. Yeah. I was gonna say, because there ain't no one who can do PR better than you, darling, advertising yourself. Good, good. So lots and lots of PR. And I remember the best one. I mean, I took Glenn with me on this one as well. So he was over the room to meet Martin Kemp. Oh, amazing! That's so cool. Um Holly Willoughby was interviewed me. Um, she's lovely, she's a lovely person. She was very giggly because she she's very pro-breastfeeding as well. So when I told her I brought my book because I was breastfeeding and on the couch, she looked like she loved that. And um Philip Schofield wasn't there that day, so I had another girl called Christine, I think she interviewed me. And I met um Carrie Katona and all the other girls, everyone else in the green room, you know, McNolly's famous. I'd already met them on board the plane, but obviously they won't remember me because I only served them tea and coffee or whatever. Yeah. That was great. Going out and doing the actual interviews in a studio is completely different to the experience of me doing these from home interviews. So when I was doing I did a whole um what what would they call it? When you do a whole load of interviews one after the other. I don't know. Just a when you do a book tour, they'd kind of make a book tour, but it was for penguin books when because um there was one publishing house in Australia that had it, I can't even remember the name of them now, Black Inc. Then it had um Thistle in UK and it had Penguin in America. Right. And it's really funny because the Americans just didn't get my sense of humour. Oh, interesting. Really didn't get it. Canadians loved it and all the Germans and every you know, all the rest around the world, but the Americans just did not get my sense of humour out of all. Do you think they could understand you with your Geordie accent? Probably not. I did talk to them when we did these radio interviews. So I'm sat at home, obviously, husband's at work. Right. I'm having to put an iPad in front of my daughter. Of course. To keep her busy. So that she doesn't run in in the middle of these interviews. And you're having these interviews with these big, big publishing houses, and you're doing it, and it's a radio, but it's done over the phone. Well, I this one particular day I had must have been at least 10 interviews back to back, not even enough time to pee in between. You know me, I can pee for England. Yeah. I literally going um, so they would go from one radio station to the next. So it was the penguin lady that organized it. So we'd go from Florida to Texas to um New York to there were literally different radio stations, and it was one after the other after the other after the other. And you were live on these, where you were joining us. All live, all live, chatting away about different celebrities or things and trying to obviously watch what I'm saying. And it's funny because when you go live on air, they go, right, here's the legals. Don't say this, don't say that, don't say this, don't say that. Go. But they want you to talk about some juicy and interesting thing. I'm like, you just told me not to. Wow. So that's really hard actually. So you were working. I mean, and that is work. You're working. You're constantly thinking. And I've got Glenn behind the camera sometime going to me. Like this. And I'm like, What's he saying? What's he doing? Well, this is afterwards I go, what the fuck were you doing? Do you have Holly Woolley booby's head? I love that. And I was like, I was telling you that you weren't answering her question. I went, I was avoiding the question and answering how I wanted to answer. Yeah, thanks, Glenn, for the funky arm dance in the background, mate. Yeah. And so all the time you're doing that, you're building, you're growing. And then obviously, um, your daughter's growing up, she's going through her years and ages. So, what happened after you wrote that book? What happened with your career trajectory from then? That was a really funny one because um lots of uh different things happened with the book. So I got um death threats. Whoa, okay, now that's unusual. Is that from people you had mentioned in the book or I don't know. There were people online that had started trolling me that were saying they were cabin crew and I'd stolen some of their stories or oh, they were jealous. Yeah, and apparently one of them had all of the same stories written in their laptop in their car, and I'd obviously stolen their car, took the laptop and then replaced it all. I don't know where I got it from. Anyway, even to the point where my brother had a dinner party, and he had a girl who was cabin crew just by chance at the dinner party, and she said, Oh, this bloody Mandy Smith, rah-rahra. And he went, Whoa, that's my sister. Wow, okay, so you'd come up, so you'd done something for the first time, actually, because there wasn't a book about the life of a cabin crew out there. So you'd got a novel idea, you'd moved with it, and anyone else who was maybe not so action-oriented was thinking about it, you picked them to the post, honey. People don't like that. Exactly. But this girl thought that had I'd put her in my book because I used her name. But what I don't think she realised was the girls that were in my book had used pseudonyms and they'd chosen those names. Yes, yeah. So those so she just happened to have the name that says Emma, and that was the pseudonym that's been chosen. I don't even think I knew this girl or remembered her. I'm without being without blowing my own trumpet, people tend to remember me at a party because I'm usually the one standing on the table kicking your glass of wine off. Good. But you know, it it's one of those things I and I was the boss, so I had like 20 young girls that I was managing. I didn't always remember everyone. Of course you don't know. No, no, it's busy. I was told afterwards by one of the girls, they all looked up to me and they you know revered me. So they remembered me and they would be like, Oh yeah, I remember working with her, she's really whatever. Yeah. Um, so yeah, that it's different when you're the manager. Yeah, and you're leading the way. And I think that being a woman in leadership, I suppose being a man in leadership, sometimes you're so fixated on everything you're doing and where you're going to, then there are going to be people and things you miss along the way. That's how we shine. Yeah, and you see hundreds, if not thousands, of people maybe a week. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you've got death. So people were jealous that you'd rolled with this idea, it'd become a success, and you were on TV, all the glitter and glam that they wanted, I suppose. But I think a lot of the time people don't have the balls to take that step of action and make it happen. Yeah, well, I that made me realise that I didn't actually like being in the limelight as much as I and actually I appreciate that because it's been hard work getting you to come on here. Interesting, Mandy. Yeah. So I realised I'd rather take a step back. So I then went into uh scrolling. Oh wow, I didn't know that. So I then went to Met Film Studio. Right. At at Ealing at Ealing Studios, at Met Film School, sorry, and um did um a couple of years there, a couple of scenes. Okay. It was really interesting and I loved it. And those people, and sometimes the guest lecturers came in and opened your eyes because they would say something like, you know, so if you're a woman, not necessarily women, men or women, in um in screenwriting. And this one lady made this statement and it just blew my mind. And she said, So what do you want to do? What's your goal in life? And they were like, Oh, I want to write a movie, and I want it to be a blockbuster, and I want it to be in in in LA. And she'd be like, Okay, let's let's just unravel that slightly. So you would like to be your one movie that you're gonna get paid 20 grand for. That's how much you're gonna probably get for your screenplay. You're probably gonna be taken on as a consultant afterwards, so you get a couple like another five, ten grand for that. But that's probably two to three years' work you're getting 20 grand for. Right. And you're writing about something in LA that you don't know anything about. Yeah, so it's like a dream there. Yeah, she said I all I recommend that you all write about what you know. Only write about what you know. So that changed my mind again because you're like, Whoa, yeah, really. Obviously, I've been in a lot of places, but you've got to write what you really know. Isn't that interesting? And I think anybody listening now, because that's really just hit a nerve with me. Write about what you know, do what you know and what you what sets your soul on fire, I suppose. What part of your knowledge and your unique life experience is really interesting? Oh, how interesting. She was amazing. This guest lecture can't remember her name, but she was so cool. And she basically said the best way to make money as a screenwriter is to think of ideas. So I was like, Oh, I'm always full of ideas. That's one thing I've got is a million ideas. I'm such a procrastinator, right? Sometimes I'm so full of ideas, I get overwhelmed and I don't know which one to do first. So I was and she said, What you do, you get five cr five grand per idea because you can sell them to the producers. Ah, and then they roll with your ideas. Maybe I should have got into that. I've got loads of ideas. So what you she basically told us how to do it. So you have to write a whole screen play, get it edited, get a manager, get an agent, sorry, not manager, and then then you get put into that clique. So you're in that zone, they know your abilities. You then write the skeleton outline of each each series, TV series, or movie. Wow. And you sell it per idea. So then you're in in the zone of how many ideas can you come up with a week? And you're pitching to these producers five grand a pitch. Wow. Sometimes like 20 ideas a week. So that's the way to make money as a screenwriter. Oh, how interesting. I never knew that about you, Vanty. Okay, yeah. I'm I'm a bit of jack of all trades. You are, and actually that's what you said at the beginning. I thought, well, no, because you're just this forward, you um, you know, confident, go get a woman. But yes, you have had this whole perlphora of different roles in different um industries. So, what is it that sets your soul on fire now? What are we looking to towards the future? Well, now I've just because when I had my daughters, like you say, it changes your complete periphery. Yeah, changes your opinion and your outlook on life. And when I found out, I was watching, I think it was about 12 years ago now I started designing this particular item. So I had this idea. Okay. I was watching Watchdog, and it was Esther Ranson, I think. Oh, I remember that. I used to love watching that. Yeah, well, she'd made this um Watchdog about um smoke alarms and how children under the age of 12 are not able to be woken up by an average run-of-the-mill smoke alarm that we have in our homes right now. So um, just so I can get this right, the smoke alarms, I mean, we're in this beautiful studio here, the podcast studio in Brighton, that standard alarm wouldn't wake up a 12-year-old. And why is that? The high frequency is the pitch just doesn't wake them up. So I don't know if you know this, um, but the police and shopping, shopping mall cops, I guess they're called, use frequencies, uh, uh they send frequencies out to disperse teenagers. So, like you do with the foxes in your garden. Oh no! You can't even hear it, it just happened. This and Becky, our friend Becky, who's the firearm specialist, she was telling me she knew all about this, and she she was saying, Oh yeah, I've heard about this. So in shopping malls, they don't want all the teenagers gathering. There's a frequency being palade that's anti-teenage ear olds, and it keeps them away. Apparently, I didn't know that bit. Wow, that's crazy. I'd watched this watchdog, and they showed you all of the videos they'd done research in it. There was one of the universities had been doing, I think it was one of the Scottish universities, I can't remember off the top of my head. And they'd basically been doing all this research on um whether the children wake up or not. So they'd videoed it all, and it was really interesting watching it because the children it was only like one or two waking up and then they just go back to bed again. Ah it's really worrying. Yeah. Now, she, Esther Ranson Blesser, confronted the Fire Brigade and said, Why aren't you doing anything about this? What what why don't we know? As parents, why aren't you telling us these things? Because there must be deaths because of it. Yeah, yeah. Well, obviously there are. I mean, like a grandfall. Yes, I mean it's horrendous. But he the the the representative for the fire brigade basically said, We are relying on parents to grab their children on their way out the door. But unfortunately, it takes four minutes or three to four minutes for an average four-bedroom house to fill up with smoke, and it's the smoke that kills you. The smoke inhalation, it's not the fire. Right. And my friends who are firemen have told me many stories. I won't relay all of them, but some of them have like of children that they've found that are curled up in a wardrobe trying to hide from the fire and they're just burnt to a crisp. It's just gross because because we're it we're not addressing this problem. So I thought, right, there must be something I can do. So I've designed a small calam that children can hear. So not only is this brilliant, but it will save lives. It will, yeah, definitely will save lives. So, what's the difference with what you've designed? How does it work? I've just changed the frequency and I've um adapted it so that the parents can record their own voice. Oh wow, this is absolutely brilliant. It's all intertwined with the I've done a full smoke safety system now. So it's going to be a smart safety system that will be integrated into control four. So most people with control four um or people who haven't got control four will basically just use Off Alexa. Okay, so we're talking about something that's fixing a problem that has been around for years, and most people don't even know it's a problem. Yeah. But this could alert a child under the age 12 years and younger that there is a fire happening, and then they will have maybe the education before to know what to do. Well, this is it. So I've written a book to go with that. Of course, she's written a book. I've written a book to go with that and our awful mandate. This is the thing. So I've actually so I'm pulling in all these background informations from my previous experience. So I've got the onboard fire safety system from when I worked in aeronautical engineering, where on an airplane you follow the lights.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

But where it's green, it's safe to go, and when it's red, you don't. So I'm this is what I'm integrating into the system. Right. I won't go too much into it to give all my secrets. No, no, this is brilliant. I've written a book to go with it. So it's an actual educational book that teaches the parents as they're reading it to their children, and it's there's going to be like if this happens, then do that. So there's like alternate endings. Oh, okay. So I used to love those books when I was growing up. They were the goosebump books, weren't they? You chose your way through. And that means it's interactive. Yeah. And you're giving the child the choice of a path and they can see where they go. Yeah. Mandy, I am blown away by this. So, what is the name of this product? When is it going to be out? And and how do people find out more? Okay, so I've called the company Cloud Angel Technologies. Yeah. And I've also designed the whole smoke alarm system around that children's smoke alarm. So they all look very similar and it integrates into the entire house now. It's amazing. Yeah. Absolutely amazing. Okay, well, you'll be hearing more about it soon. So that's fantastic. Um, so I'm gonna ask you three questions. Okay. Um, champagne's been flowing, get that down your neck. Come on, no messing around. Um, and I'd like to make sure I speak to all the women that join us here in this beautiful space and ask them the same questions. So because this is the first one. I don't know my heart yet, Mante. So, what is a truth about your life that most people would never guess? Oh, I mean, you've done quite a few with us already, so that's quite a good one. About me personally. Yeah, about your life and about you. That maybe um maybe something about how you feel, because you come across as a really bold, confident woman. Is there a truth behind that that's maybe going on that people could relate to? Um I can't think of anything. Sorry. That's all right. Don't worry. You come to you later on when you're in bed. Exactly. You'll think of ten of them. Let's go to number two. No pressure. Um, where in your life did you actually once abandon yourself? And how did you come back from that? Abandon myself. I could definitely answer that one. I would say that was in Thailand. Okay. I was kind of on a mission back then when I used to go back packing on my own. Um I'm surprised I haven't died a million times because I was so adventurous. If at there was one particular time when um we were on a a boat going around some islands in in Thailand, Kor Pepe, I think we were. And this guy came upstairs in broken English. Who wants to come? Who wants to come? And I was like, Oh me. I didn't even know what I was volunteering to. Didn't know where you were going. And uh and my friend who was there, Pepsi's like, you sure? And I went, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I he'd clearly heard something I hadn't. And he went, You might want to borrow my reefs, my sandals. And I went, Okay, what why? So we were the plan was to swim out to this hole in the side of this mountain, climb up the side of these rocks into the hole of the mountain, and then hike over to the other side of the island. Right. And I was just gonna do barefoot. I'm like, me, I'm coming, just take my shoes off, I'm off. Oh my goodness, I was just I was just psychotic back then. I would just do anything. I'm like, yeah, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_01 54:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:59

And Gujarat took his reefs because it was just one tiny little Thai man pulling us out of the water where these waves were beating us against the rocks, and we had to climb up these rocks on a tiny little rope, and it's one man grabbed my hand and pulled me out. We had to climb through this crack in the mountain side and then hike across the most beautiful um jungle. It was amazing. Yeah, so once you're there on that other side, that's quite symbolic, I think, for this series. It's a beautiful beach. Yeah. So it's kind of like what that reads to me is taking a risk into the unknown. But actually, if we don't take action towards our dreams, which I think you symbolize perfectly, actually, Mandy, you won't get to that beautiful jungle or that special sacred place, the other side. So during your travels and times in Thailand, was there a time when you felt a little bit lost and you weren't so sure of where you were going? Um, I guess most of the time. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. So honest. And still, and still now, yeah. Like in life, now, you know, even though you know people would class us as successful as of as a family or as a you know a couple, you just never know. And like we said earlier about resilience, I've I've just realized how resilient I am. And the the only difference between someone who's successful and someone who's not seemed to be as successful is the amount of times you can get back up and just keep getting back up and saying, come on then, keep it coming. Yeah. I'll be knocked down, but I'm gonna get back up. I'm gonna get back up, I'm gonna just gonna keep going. Because your end of your story is only an end if you end it. Yeah. But if you just keep going, it's still part of your story. Yeah. It's funny. I think I shared a post on my um Insta the other day. What was it? Something along the lines of fear kills more hopes and dreams than failure ever does. So the fear of taking that action is is only a fear, it's only a thought, isn't it? And we have to move forward, we have to keep moving forward. And that's a really interesting reflection as well, Mandy, that people on the outside can often think, oh, they've got it all sorted. Oh, look at her, yeah, you know, and I will say, you're in your 50s now, your early 50s, you do not look at you're fabulous. But people would look at you, you've got your beautiful child, you've got your daughter, you've got your husband, you're doing this thing, you've been there, you've done a book. But actually, I think as people, as women, which we're concentrating on in this series, there are days when we feel just as lost as everyone else. And it's how you keep going and plowing through. Yeah. And I think that honesty helps each other. Yes. Brings you back to we're just the same as everyone. And yeah, it's all about supporting each other. Women supporting women is a huge thing.

SPEAKER_01 57:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

And we really need to do more of that because if if we don't, I don't believe it's gonna happen. You know, we need to this when I was chatting too earlier about um the 90s, I'm talking about 1996, so that's 30 years ago. Yeah. We're still having the same issues now, yeah. You know, this manosphere that's just come in. Yes, that's right. Louis Ferrari. Yeah, so just an overview of that. That's people who were logging onto a website to find out how to dra drug rape their wives, their partners and wives, and some of their mothers. It was horrific. Yeah, these people, and it no, it this is whenever anyone's saying now, you know, this, you know, this when people arguing online, because that's one of my favourite hobbies. Yeah, we do. Yeah, we need to talk about that. We need to just get you out the house a bit more. But the arguing online, but at least you're sharing your truth, you're spicing it up, you're putting it out there. I do enjoy arguing with flat earthers and fascists, I must admit. I have my pseudonym on online, but um, yeah, this this red pill society of this manosphere of you know, they're trying to make us back to being trad wives again. When we if you wanted to be a trad wife, perfectly fine. Yeah, this is the this is what feminism is about equality, but it's also about choice. Yes, Mandy. It's about your choice. If you choose to be a trad wife, go for it. I really respect you, and I couldn't do it and just do that alone. I tried, and I was so monotonously bored in my head and I lost myself.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:13

Um, but I needed something to inspire me to and my mind was like all over, like a dog on I flee on a dog's back. But if that's your choice and that's the life you choose, then great. But do you feel like women are being through this manosphere steered into these roles more? Being told that's where they need to be. They're being we've been told, literally told online, social media now being told white liberal women are the problem. So they've moved away from the immigrants now. Yeah. And they're moving on to white liberal women. And they're in America mostly, obviously, is coming into this country now as well with the reformists. But um, they're getting rid of you know women's rights in America. Women are not allowed to have abortion anymore. Um, there's people traveling over three state lines to get abortions for their 10-year-old daughters who's been raped or something awful's happened by family members, and then the doctor who didn't do anything wrong, the female doctor that did the abortion actually got prosecuted for that. So there's women who are um, you feel like women, white women in their in their lives are being subject now to the attention and kind of making them conform into a role that maybe we've been speaking out a little bit too much. This is what are we? Are we a bit dangerous? We're a little bit dangerous. We're worse than terrorists, apparently. Are we? Worse than Marteria as well. Yeah, we are classed as what is it they call us? Um, domestic terrorists now. In America, we're domestic terrorists. Okay, so a woman with her opinion and feeling confident to stand united against what she sees as an atrocity is a um what's the term? Terrorist? Yeah, domestic terrorist. Domestic terrorists. Well, this is exactly what's happening in America. So they're labelling people, they're moved on from immigrants now, and anyone with a different skin colour, yeah, they're now moved, they've realized, I think they've realized that they can't actually manage without the people doing the jobs they didn't want to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:09

That's what's happened. Oh, so the attention shifted. And actually, I've been working um uh with a lovely guy called Matt, um, who's a social impact storyteller, Matt Mahood Ogden. Um he's on LinkedIn, he's brilliant, and he's been talking to me a lot about the trans women in America and how their rights have been ripped away. It's horrendous out there at the moment. It's just no rights whatsoever for any LGBTQ of our friends. It's just horrendous. And I you know, I chat to people online and I say, come to Brighton. Yeah. We are completely asexual here. Yeah, yeah. Not in asexual, we're kind what's the word I'm looking for? I don't know, like open, we're we're open, we're we're tolerant of and accepting of everyone. I mean, even the toilets here, they were a unisex. I've just been in. Yeah, yeah. I did see a little bit of we on the toilet seat though, and I can't help but to tut tut tut and think, hmm, wouldn't happen in the ladies. So we're running out of time. I mean, you're gonna have to come on again. I love talking to you, but just as a final remark on this first episode of the champagne series, if a woman is watching this and she's feeling stuck, perhaps in a part of her life from a time gone by where you once were, what does she need to hear? Not what does sound nice? What would you say to her, Mandy? I've been there. Just if you have an idea, even if it's the silliest idea of a business plan or something you've wanted to do or thinking about doing, just go for it. Yeah. If it's just an idea, just go for it. Because that's how businesses start, and that's how ideas start, is just from a silly little idea that's projected, it's progressed into something else. Yeah, just go for it. Whatever you want to do, if it's if it's been staying at home with your children, go for it. Yeah. If it's going out there and conquering a new company and and developing you know smart home ideas, brilliant, that's what you want to do. Go for it. Because everything starts at the beginning and your journey will start at the beginning too. Yeah, that's beautiful. So if you've got an idea, you've got a passion, you want to pursue a purpose, move. Yeah, move, take action, yeah, roll with it. I love that. You've been such an inspiring guest. Like Mandy, I knew you would be. I could sit here. Well, I mean, we've still got champagne in there. Oh, we do normally sit here for hours. Yes, we do. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll go and head down the pub now, shall we, darling? Let's. Yeah. Bless you. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. So you've been listening to Bright I Ams, the champagne series, and we've had the wonderful Mandy Smith, author of Cabin Fever and a whole periphera of other work and life experiences. Thank you so much for listening. Hope you've really enjoyed it and be back again soon. Thank you. Come, darling. Hey!