Christabel Voice, singer, host and presenter on 'The Champagne Series'

In this episode of the Champagne series sponsored by Everflyht Vineyard 🥂 I’m joined by Christabel, who swaps the host’s chair for the guest seat. Best known for presenting her own podcast and radio shows on Regency Radio, she shares her inspiring journey as an accomplished singer and vocal coach, while offering thoughtful insights into wellbeing, finding your voice, and the realities of being a female founder.

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_01 0:06

Hello and welcome back to the Champagne series. I'm Lucy Black, this is Bright I Am, and I'm joined here today by an extraordinary, beautiful singer, wonderful radio presenter, and all-round celebratory woman. It's Christabel. Hello. Hello, thank you so much for having me. Exciting. It's so lovely. So the last time we saw each other, I actually joined you on Legacy Radio.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Regency Radio. Regency, not Legacy Radio. Legacy Radio.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I'm getting it all mixed up when I. So Regency Radio and I joined you for an hour and it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Yeah, so you were brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah, I really enjoyed it. First time for me in a radio station and to be part of a show like that. Yeah. Let's just start maybe with an overview of who you are. What are all the different hats that you wear, Christopher? Because I know there's a few.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

There's quite a few. Let me uh buckle buckle up. No, settle, settle down, children, and I'll begin. No, I so I originally really, my my my true, my true love and and what I've always been doing is singing. So I'm I'm a singer and I'm a singing coach and I and I teach uh one-to-one. I've done lots of things like teaching, you know, drama and dance and music and singing. I've done all of that. It's beautiful. Uh I teach choirs, I have I run two choirs still. And what else do I do? Oh, well, uh, we have a restaurant that uh so my husband and I, and uh it was started by my older brother. Okay. Yeah, we have that in Brighton, Indian Summer. Indian Summer is an absolutely beautiful restaurant. Thank you so much. Well, I do all the decor and the design and stuff for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Okay, the food was great, the decor was delightful, darling.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, now wasn't I very thank you so much. Like the decor was the best, wasn't it? It really is lushing there. And what else? I do. I'm a radio presenter. I of course have a podcast too. Yes. And I am currently um do it on, so they call it pathway to PhD by publication. That's a lot of P's. I like alliteration, but that's a few too many. What it means is rather than going to one university for five years and doing one whole project, you get your PhD via a series of published papers in journals, academic journals. Okay. So I'm doing that, and then so you do a few published um pieces like papers, and then you go into a university for a couple of years and you do a project, and then you maybe do another paper or something, depending on which university you go to, and that's how you get your PhD. And it's really good for anybody who's like me who's been working for a really long time, and I've got lots of ideas, and it's and it's you know great for me to share. So, what's the subject? What will be your PhD subject being? So I'm um I'm very interested in several different things. So psychology, uh, well-being, and musicians. Okay. So I I I've been studying um musicians and their well-being in various different forms. So I've got a current paper on who is responsible for the well-being of musicians. Because what's very interesting, well, to me, that people don't know is that musicians as a group have worse mental health by about three times than the general population. Okay, musicians do. So artists, is it in all creative spaces or is it just uh yeah, it's probably in all creative spaces. Musicians, they're particularly bad. Right. Um, they suffer a lot. And whereas mu people engaging in music in an amateur uh way, that their well-being goes up. For musicians, professional musicians, the well-being it can often go down. Oh, how interesting. And this is fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

And this is part of the work you're doing, it's part of this PhD, it's a discovery, and you're finding all this out.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

So so we so we already know that. That's been the the work on that's been been done. So my paper so far, one's been on whether sung improvisation uh can help people overcome performance anxiety, music performance anxiety. And now I'm doing a paper on who is responsible and all the different players in that are like teachers like me, or management, or um the artists themselves, or the media, things like you know, the the the the the the labels, the platforms, you know, they've got all these different, you've got all these different, you know, Amazon and Spotify. Who's responsible?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah, okay, it's really good. So I mean that's a real vast collection of different businesses, different hats that you've got to wear. Yes, it is. Tell us maybe um going back, how did you start at the radio station? Because there's probably a lot of people who would love to do that, because it's quite cool to be a radio presenter.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

That's really cool. And everyone I work with, they've all been doing it since they were like 15 or something. Oh, wow. And apparently, so radio is very difficult to get into, apparently, but it wasn't for me. So what happened was um I about a year ago, a year ago this month, so we're in June. Could I say that? You can say June. You can say any month of the year here, honey.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

There's no rules.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Um, I went in to be interviewed because I was a singer on an album. Okay. So there's I'm working with some people. Uh Ash Ash Huntington, he runs Renewed 19. And uh also there's a guy called Ashley Slater who was in Freak Power. Okay. And a guy, Aaron Emerson, and his dad is uh was Keith Emerson from Emerson Lake and Palmer. Anyway, so I don't know if you've there. Yes. So I was working with those guys and I got asked into the radio station to talk about that. And while I was there, they said to me, you know, you're a real naturalist. Because what I started to do was started to sort of join in and ask them questions, and they said, come again as a guest. About three weeks later, I went back in as a guest. And that evening, they said, We'd love you to come in every week. This is a Thursday slot, come in every week as a co-host. I thought, brilliant. That day, they said, Oh, we need cover for a Saturday show. Can you do it? For that Saturday. Okay. I said, Okay, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

I was absolutely terrified. Yeah, because I mean it's all so new. When I walked in there, Christopher, like I was quite taken. Not many things take me by surprise, but there were a lot of those slidey buttons and different and big buttons and microphones and screens. Like that's complicated stuff to be in charge of.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

And they just they sort of that showed me what to do, and then they left. So I've I spent years in recording studios, recording vocals, and I record my myself a lot. And sure. I've got, you know, I've spent years working with um like PA, like, you know, the system that you you need for a live show. But yeah, that did give me a sort of insight, but it was kind of uh unnerving to say the least. Anyway, so that was through August, and then September came and they gave me my own show. Okay. And I've been doing it ever since. And then I started to interview people and I got some great guests. I interviewed uh Chris Eubank and And this was on your podcast. Well, this was for the radio. Ah, okay. So I I I interviewed um a guy called Neil Barnes and his girlfriend, his partner Tanya Sansom. He's in Left Field, he's one half of Left Field, which were a really influential nine. Well, they started in the 90s, they're still going though uh as a dance act. And um I interviewed uh him and Tanya, and then I got then I interviewed Mike Reed, who works at the radio station. So Mike Reed was a broadcaster, he's still a broadcaster, he was on top of the pulps and uh BBC Radio um one, and he was he was very famous you know back in the 80s and 90s. He's still famous, anyway. I did them, I did Chris Eubank, and I thought Chris said to me, Are you sure you want this interview just to go out on the radio? He goes, I think you need it for something else. And he's a nice guy.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Tell us about Chris Eubank.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Oh, Chris is a great guy. Is he? Okay. Yeah, I've known Chris since I was really young. Okay. And uh, we were even in his uh autobiography. Oh, that's nice, okay. He talked about how my mum was a mentor to him. That's sweet. I mean, so that's really nice. So then it became a podcast, and that was that. Okay. And that's where we got to.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

So you fell into radio presenting, yeah, quite honestly, but they saw your star quality. You're obviously a very bubbly, beautiful person. And it's at a time in your life where you could accommodate a weekly regular show.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

I could not accommodate it, but I accommodated it.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

You made it work, which is what us women do.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Uh yeah, that's exactly right. I made it work. I I had a guest on, and um, so in academia, this is very common. You get you'll get like a lecturer, and she'll be really like well established, and she'd be publishing here, and she's got books here, and you know, music, she might be an opera singer too. She's a working and you find out she's got four children and she also runs marathons. This is like, this is what these there, there's loads of them. Yes. And I interviewed uh one like that, Laura Ritchie, Dr. Laura Ritchie, and I said, Well, how do you do it? And she said, I just did it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Do you know what? That is beautiful, and this kind of subject, Christopher, has come up on these couches here at the beautiful podcaster in Brighton so many times. As a woman, can we have it all? And if so, at what cost? Great question. I know, and I think that we actually seem to deliver and have it all, but we're often quite tired and overloaded.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

It's at a cost. So um, I'm very interested in that question. I think it is quite difficult to have it all. If you have I people do, don't they? I don't have children, and I look at women who are working and doing all these different things and wearing all these different hats, who have children, and I think, how, how?

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, and it's that kind of balance. We had the beautiful um this um series is sponsored by Everflight Vineyard in Ditchling, and we had Sam and her daughter Georgia come onto the couch, and Sam was talking about how when she had a child and she was running late for child pickup and she was working in a job and she was failing in her job. Yeah, and she was failing her daughter who was asleep in the playwoman's arms. And there's kind of like this fear that you are failing everyone, I think, when you've got children. I think so. So I'm the other side, I've got teenagers now. I mean, I they'll let me have it when I go in. Oh, it's for dinner. That'll be the boy, you know, it'll be this, and yeah, I'll be picking up and doing things. But even without the whole section of life that is children, the juggle that is life, I'm being a woman, being presentable, getting our hair done. I mean, we've got your mouth, you know, you've got to shave your legs, gotta shave your legs, or wear a long skirt, all of these things, we've got this extra load. And I think um being in business and being entrepreneurial and actually having all these different hats, it's kind of like a woman's world because we seem to be able to juggle it so well. Yeah, we uh how have you how did you manage it? Oh, I just make it all up as I go along, mate. Um, like I said to you in the lift coming up, I've got Wingin' It Daily as a painting on my wall. I created um my first podcast series, um, Impact at Altitude, to tell the story of the climb from Kill and Manjaro. And I, admittedly, when I went to the other podcast um studio I used at the time, I walked in there. I'd never been I'd never been in a podcast studio and I'd never even listened to a podcast, which is such bad research. I do not recommend it. I was just a bit the same. It was a bit mad. And I went in there and I said, Oh yeah, how's this thing work then? You know, off it went. And um I just wanted to tell a story. That was my thing. And storytelling, as you know from the radio work as well, and I suppose for your music too, Christopher, it's really powerful when you can pull out the stories and the narratives. Um, so going back then with your singing, how does that work as a career? How does that work as a woman in business, in leading your own life? Do you have to put yourself out to get bookings for the choirs, for your students?

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Okay, that's an interesting question. Yeah. And I will say that putting myself out there and making work for myself has been my weak point through my life. I will say that. And I know there's lots of women like who are like you who are not like that. I I think that that's been one of my biggest challenges is putting myself forward. And what's happened to me is I things come to me and I say yes to them.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Okay, so right, there is a poster that I've got in my dining room. Yeah, and it's a beautiful, beautiful quote. I'm gonna get you one. I'm gonna get you one for your room. Yeah. And it says, make moves, not choices. Okay, or make moves, don't take choices.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Well, I'm at I'm in the choices.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah, I really yeah, I need that. So it's about kind of fixating and deciding where it is you want to be, moving towards that goal rather than saying, oh, what's on the menu? Do you know what? Menus are so large here, Christopher. We're making moves now, girl.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

I'd like, yeah, I like that making moves. Well, the I've been very lucky because I've been handed some lovely menus. Let's say that. That's brilliant. I've been blessed with the menus I've been handed. So I have not really gone out and it's not a great message, honestly. It's not the message I would give to people. I've just sat back and um Where does that come from? Where where do I well the sitting back? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Have you looked into it? Is it just something that you've accepted or you're just does it come from putting other people's needs before your hair?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

I would say it's very interesting that you ask me that. My mum and dad are what I would consider go-getters. Okay. Uh my mum is a woman. When she wakes up in the morning, if she says, I want the outside of my house to be blue, that the end of that week, that house is blue. Okay. So she wakes up and she goes, I want this lounge to be different. It's different. My dad was in team GB for triathlon. Oh, wow. That's something. He was an athlete in in team GB and he didn't take up triathlon until the age of 40 or into his 40s. He started so he was always a swimmer. He was a he was like a national level swimmer, and he took up running at about 40. And then at about 45, he took up triathlon. Like you do. Like you do. And it by the time he got into his 50s, he was in team GB. That is incredible. These are these are the people that birthed me. And so I think probably, oh gosh, I wonder, I'm, I mean, obviously that must have had an impact on me. I think the thing is, this is this is what it is. I think I haven't gone out and decided this is what I'm going to do, but what I do do is everything I do is authentic to me. Yes. I do what I choose to do. If I want to be a singer, so I'm a singer. I'll be a great, I'll be a good singer.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

And you sing beautiful. So I was very lucky to see the clip of you at the Stenning Festival. Oh. And it popped up on my social feed. And I know the magic of these local festivals, Christopher. I mean, I used to help um assist run it at the Stenning Festival back in the day. Yeah. And that kind of collection of people all there to celebrate this like local community thing. And then you get up on stage.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

It was sweet. It was really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

It was sweet, but like, honey, I think you deserve, you need to be somewhat on a bigger stage there.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Oh well, no, well, I mean, I've done loads of singing. So I've worked, you know, I've performed at the Olympics and all kinds of stuff. So I've done loads of different stuff. But I think what it is, I think how I I think my approach to life has always been I will do what is inspiring and exhilarating to me. And when I do that, I get um you know, you do do stuff, stuff happens.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Yeah, the good things come. Yeah, yeah, do what you love.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, I think so. And I think and I think that's been my motto. I've always been very driven by just what what I'm passionate about. And the other thing, I I devote myself to it. Yeah, you do. I'm devoted to it. So inevitably, if you're doing what you really love, you're doing what's very meaningful to you, and you devote yourself to it to the point where you you're you're you know, you I'm always you know coming up against challenges. Yeah, I don't shy away from things because they're difficult, I don't shy away from things because I'm tired or because I'm overwhelmed. I just keep going because that's what I'm dedicated to.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So And I suppose with your clients as well, I say clients, but they're children mainly, or do you teach adults? I teach all ages.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

I I've I have clients who are in their 90s.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Do you? Yes! And so that's oh, I love older people. So that singing coach and being in that, it's actually a very special space to hold. My daughter had singing lessons with a lovely man called James. Unusual surname, can't remember it now. And actually, it's a little bit embarrassing to sing. When you sing and you sing bad, trust me, honey, I know about singing bad. Um, but you're holding that sacred space and you're improving an area that obviously they're passionate about. So your singing lessons, they're from children right up to older people.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

I love that bell. And I've got people in my choirs in their 90s. So tell us about the choirs then. How does how did you get into working with choirs? Okay, well, it's the same kind of thing that happened. It's this is a pattern. So um I was living in London and I was working um up there as a, you know, I was singing and teaching performing arts, and I split up with my boyfriend, and I came back home, and my mum was living in Stenning. I I wasn't, I've I've never lived in Stenning before that, but she'd just moved to Stening and I I had to go and live with her for a few months. I had a flat here in Hove and it was rented out. So I was just like, you know, I had to get myself together again. I had to put some, you know, feelers out, get some work, um, you know, get some clients for teaching, singing, one-to-one uh lessons. And a lady approached me, a lady called Lucy Sterling, and she said, Oh, I don't want to speak to you about singing lessons. I wanted to speak to you about something a bit different. Can we meet for a coffee? I said, Yeah, sure, okay. She goes, I really want to start a singing group. Can you be the person that starts it? Oh and I said, Okay. That's lovely. Okay, we will. And so I did, and it started in my mum's house, and then it's grown to a choir of about 50. And then, you know, what happens is word spreads and you get known for something, and then someone else approached me and they said, We we are a choir, we've lost our our singing, you know, our leader. Can you can you lead us to? And that's happened a few times to me, and obviously I have to turn them down now, but yeah. So again, it's that kind of you set off doing something that you love, yes, and inevitably things will come your way.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, so you're sending out those vibes of, like you say, your passion, your projects, the things you're good at, the things you love. Yeah. And you're attracting the same back. So do you so you are an entrepreneur, you're a woman in business, you've got your own, you've got all your different hats and all your different bits you do. And then tell us about Indian summer. So that's mainly predominantly your husband Rob, who owns all both.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

My brother began it. Okay, so this a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Your family are cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Okay. My brother started this a long time ago. Um, and about, let me think, seven years ago, my husband and I kind of um took over the running of it. And so, yeah, and that's how we got into it. My husband had was in the bands with me. He was right, he was running the bands. Okay, so is he a musician? He's a trumpet player and he was running he's the trumpet. He's a trumpet player. Oh I used to like, we used to perform in all the like the places locally. Like we used to pull me Casablanca nightclubs.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Did you I used to love it? And then me and my friend Kelly, we used to go down there have it large. I used to bang my foot so much I had a swollen ankle the next week. Did you see a band there? I did. It was you, I don't know. There was trumpets. There was all sorts going on.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

We were down there all the time. We were down there all the time. So my husband ran the bands, and we still run those, we still run one of the bands at OMF. And um Oh, I love that. Yeah, and so he kept booking me, kept booking me until I had no other work. And you know, eventually we had to get married. Anyway, but running bands is quite challenging. Um, we were really, really busy doing this. Um, but what what can happen is you might be three days out from uh from an event, and you'll get the guitarist will go, I can't do the gig now. Yes, yes. And it was just so difficult. And I just think he wanted a change. And this, you know, this came up this with the with the restaurant, and he said, Oh, I'll I'll take over. And he loves Indian food. Okay. And that was it. And he'd never, never, never done anything like that before.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Well, well, do you know what? It just goes to show, doesn't it? When opportunities arrive, and if you're a musician and you're outgoing as well, because you've got to be outgoing to be a musician, hey?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yeah, I mean, he's not outgoing so much, but he again is is like me and totally devoted to what he's doing. To be a musician, you have to be so able to push yourself to get things right. So so when you're when you're like, you know, practicing like singing or or music to you know pretty high standards, your practice will be you might be practicing one line and you might do that over and over and over and over. And you might be practicing for hours a day doing stuff, and you're completely like obsessed with it. And so you need that in order to be able to do it at all. Yes, you know, like my dad was uh, you know, team GB. Well, he was obsessed with, obsessed with, you know, his sport. Yeah. And how to improve it, even if it's just by that tiny margin each time. And he had books and books and books, and it's the same for music. And I suppose that's the kind of attitude that we've taken, taken with us, and so yeah, it's that absolute dedication and devotion that's seen us both through.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

I love that so much, and it's so lovely. I think it's um really freeing to be a woman. Well, I can only reflect on being a woman, I'm not being a man, um, wouldn't choose to be, quite honestly, quite happy as I am right now. Um, but to be able to be an entrepreneur and to be able to forge your own path, to choose. Choose your own path to be able to pick and choose to a point because we all need to earn money. Yeah. Yeah. It's such a good thing, I would say this. Yeah. And but actually, you're a beautiful singer and you get to sing, but you get to share that and train others, elevate others, help music. You're studying in that, you're trying to find out all the information behind with your PhD path. And now also your bubbly personality, who you are as a person, you can use on the radio and your podcasts. Which I love. I know it's love. It's so good, isn't it? You just get to chat to people. You do, you get to chat, you get to turn up and talk. Eventually, I think the more you do it, the more relaxed you become, do it. That's right. Yeah. And I think that's it. You're just having a nice time with, you know, with nice people. Yeah. You're just literally having people. I mean, yesterday I had the lovely Annie come, so she's been a friend of mine for years. Massive following on Instagram that she's grown organically. And we're having a right, old gigger, we were. We had our lovely George, he's there behind the screen now. And we were tapping, yeah, tapping madly away. Yeah, he's busy, he's very good. They're very good, dear, the boys. And um, yeah, and it was just like this, it was the most fun thing I could imagine doing because I get to see Annie, we get to have a laugh. And also, you give people the opportunity to share their story and to reflect on where they are in life.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Yeah, that's been, you know, I have just been doing that, reflecting on it. You've asked me some questions that I've not um thought of. Oh, yeah, no, see, this is the thing.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

You say you're interested in psychology, I got a degree in it now. So I'm and actually what I do pride myself on is my natural curiosity to people and their lives. Yeah. Because I think that human behaviour is interesting. And I would love to look at myself from the outside in because I would have my I would have so many questions for me.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Can I ask, did you go to did you go to therapy with when you were doing like the your psychology degree and stuff?

SPEAKER_01 23:53

No, so I didn't go down that like psycho psychodynamic route. Um, I did forensic psychology. Oh, very good thing, yeah. Yeah, with the OU during COVID, um for a variety of reasons, quite honestly. And um, it took me four years for a six-year part-time degree, and I got first. I did very well in it. Really good. Yeah, I was really proud because I thought if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it properly. That's right. But I, although I don't work in the area that I was trained to, which would be um prisons, police, um, courts, etc. I do use the teachings and the learnings of psychology every single day.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Can I ask you, what's what do you think is the one thing that you you use the most in this kind of situation?

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Is there like one thing you Yeah, I think the the curiosity of people and also the genuine want to understand and to almost categorize people? So in the back of my mind, like trying to work out where they fit and also to be able to navigate that kind of there's a line I think you can cross with people. And I always like to be really kind. I always move with kindness. Absolutely. And some people you you can ask people some questions, but others you can't. There's a there's a reason behind it. So it's kind of having that the teaching to know how to navigate that with kindness. I think that's lovely. Passion, yeah. Yeah, it really is. So I've got some other questions for you. Okay. I'll tell you what we'll have. We'll have a little cheers because oh yes. We are we are drinking today because it's actually gone six o'clock, and uh, we might as well chin-chin. Yeah. There we go. Um, beautiful drop of English sparkling. And get my um Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

And I tell you what, when you when you said champagne, I thought I'd better bring up the crack out the leopard print.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Honey, it looks fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

That's it.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

This is how you what you want to do on a Friday night, anyway, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

I've been on the radio all day, I'm tired.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

So, um, for each guest that's come onto the series, I've always asked these same three questions. And I just think they're really nice way to open up a conversation. Yeah. So, what's a truth about your life, Christabel, that people would not usually guess? Is there a truth? Is there something there that they wouldn't guess?

SPEAKER_00 26:02

A truth about my life that people wouldn't guess. Yes, there is. Okay. I think people would think of me as people that don't know me would think of me as an extremely sociable person because of my extremely sociable work. Yeah. But the truth is that once I have finished my work, I actually need, like, to function well, like for my well-being. I need to be home alone as much as I can be.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Okay, so it's kind of like that external extrovert, then needs that introvert time. I really need it.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

And I've always been like it. But and people would not expect that at all, I think, of a singer who turns up to podcasts in a in a leopard print dress. No. But and works as a, you know, uh everything I do is front-facing and it's all reaching out to people, and you know, a lot of it is extracting, extracting something, you know, deep inside someone from them. But actually, I'm a person who likes to keep everything quite closed within as a way to sort of just rest and just be at home with the the wild animals in the garden. So it's like a regulation. So you it's a regulation, and yeah, it is. And I have these funny little fantasies where I uh live in a forest with just me and the crows and the foxes.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Oh honey, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I like it with those like a wild woman kind of thing. Oh my goodness, the wild woman with those mushrooms that are all red and white. Let's have it, and I'd have, and I'd have the magpies would come and you know, would you know, eat off my hands.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

You'd be like um in the Disney princess books. You're full on Disney princesses.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Do you know? It's really funny. The children that come to my house for singing lessons, they they say I'm like Snow White. It's like spring watch at my house, and I'm like, ha ha ha ha ha.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

That's so beautiful. I love it too much. That's so lush. Yeah, that's cute. Oh, okay, brilliant. That's so interesting because actually, in front of camera, on stage with people, there is always going to be a different style of us. I mean, I remember talking to my lovely friend Pippa back in the day. She did a uh university degree straight after college, and she was um doing some reading and she said, for every friend, we have a different face. And she was telling me about it. And I remember being a bit freaked out about it at the time. That's interesting. And I didn't go straight to uni, I went to Thailand and I got dreadlocks, but that's another story. And I know honestly, we'll go back into that another time. I'd be petty to hear about that. Oh, I knew the stages, you can't believe it. You'd have to have a lay down. Um, and um, she said that, and I remember being a little bit freaked out and weirded out about that.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Yeah, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

We we are ourselves, but there are versions of ourselves we show in different situations, and I think that as we get older, we get more aware of that, and we also get more raw and more authentic of our real selves, more accepting of ourselves and showing the world.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Me and my husband, we say that that as people get older, they distill into a stronger version of themselves almost like so their their real essence is really becomes nice. So I'm not I don't think I'm a quiet person at home. I'm pretty still loud and yeah, um, you know, I sing a lot.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yeah, and there's a lot of song goes on. Good job that you married the um musician trumpet player then. Yeah, yeah, that's it. No good if it's somebody who doesn't like music.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

So that's yeah, I try to keep the trumpet playing to a minimum. No, quite right. I don't like the trumpet in my life. Of course. Well, I love the trumpet, but I I I'm not so keen on it in the house, you know. I'd love that. Put the trumpet down.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Put the trumpet down, please. Oh, I love that. So we move on to our second question here. Probably a little bit deep. Oh, it's getting deep. I love it. Where did you abandon yourself? And how did you come back?

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Yeah, I abandoned my myself when I sat back on my uh laurels and I didn't have good you know, it's interesting because I really, really sat into myself as just like a singer. And I think it's very interesting because by going really into that, I abandoned a part of myself, and the part of myself that I abandoned, I was still studying. I was, you know, I've got two master's degrees, I've got a postgraduate certificate, I got to do the PhD, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it I didn't entirely abandon myself, but what I think I did was I got very comfortable, and I don't do well with very comfortable. I find it very boring.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Okay, so you didn't weren't challenging yourself academically.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

I was challenging myself academically, but I wasn't challenging myself in ac look, if if you I've done I've this is my fifth time in a university. That's not a challenge for me anymore. It's a challenge in terms of kind of it's time consuming and you have to think a lot, but it's not like a challenge. The challenge was saying yes to being a radio presenter. That was a challenge. I'm not joking. I got grey hairs like for the first time. Yeah, I didn't have grey hairs. Welcome to the club, honey. Yeah, and now I have some. Yeah. You can probably see.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Okay, so that was um it's quite interesting. I can't see. You look beautiful and fabulous. And darling, trust me, don't worry about the grey hairs. Um you turned up and you've done that, and that was a really hard thing for you to do, but you still did it. Yeah. So has it kind of made you want to explore other areas that are good? I thought it might. Yes, it's made me starving for more. Yes. So I recommend, and I know I told you about this in um when I come on the radio show, you need to grow your socials, honey.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

I'm trying. You need to turn up on there.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

I you how often do you post?

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Two or three times a day. I do about free trials, free trial reels, yeah. Two three times a day. But do you know what? The more you do it and the more creative you get at it, the quicker. So some of them literally take me five, six minutes. Today, some of the carousels a little bit longer, but yeah, and I mean that's posting on TikTok and Insta.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna make a pledge to you. Yeah, here now. I'm going to try to post more.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Yeah, because, and quite honestly, Christabel, that's the key. So I worked, I did this beautiful VIP event back in November with Aaron Knightley, the YouTuber. He's extraordinary. He's got about nine million likes on TikTok or something. He's great. And um, I hadn't even got my Instagram page up properly. Oh, okay. So this was November. So we're what, six months or so ago. And I saw, I had a really strong following on LinkedIn, great. Um I mean, I used to go on TikTok, but only to use the filters. I used to make myself look like an onion. I used to think that was a good one. My kids were like, no, mum, no. And I saw the power of this creator-led space. Sure. And Aaron kind of showed me through the back door and said, Look at this, this is what's happening. I was like, whoa. And I'm there, I'm running this event, we've got all these different people, creators, celebrities, etc., who I've always worked with. And I thought, I am actually missing out here because here I am in a fabulous dress, being in charge of this big event, speaking on stage. I haven't got anywhere to post it. One picture on LinkedIn, people just think you're a busy guy on there. So I grew and I've expressed. And the one thing that always rings true in my mind that he told me, which I'm going to say to you now, is just keep pushing it out and posting more and more every day. Be relentless, be the one who doesn't give up.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

I'll tell you right now, so until I was about November when I started to sort of do stuff, but um I didn't, you know, nothing before. I can't even tell you the things that I could have posted probably over the years and I haven't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

And this is it. So, what you could do is kind of set yourself. I think that some people can get a little bit regimented when you do this kind of posting schedule and you're going to do the pillars and the whatever else they're talking about. No good. Each week, do a looking back post if I was you. Oh, you've probably got some clips and some photos of you in all different times. Yeah. Beautiful. Probably the best thing for you for your carousel slides is them. Couple of slides, a bit of text on screen. Lovely. But then also, what am I doing? Why am I relevant? What am I up to next? Oh, right, yeah. People love it. Do it. Clips. Selfie, talk to camera. Christabel, you're beautiful and you're interesting. People want to know. Okay. Give yourself permission to post. And the people who don't want to look, they just won't follow you. Hurrah! Don't bother, mate. See you later. Yeah. But the ones who do will.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Okay, I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Yeah, it's on.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

I'm gonna take the advice. Take the note.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Love that. Take the note. And then my third question here is if there's a woman who's watching this and she's feeling stuck, perhaps where you once were. What does she need to hear? Not what sounds nice. So maybe if she was a little bit worried about a new opportunity like you had with going onto the radio station or you know, the choir when people are coming to you with this big task, what does she need to hear from your experience?

SPEAKER_00 35:22

Kel, I'll tell you what you need to hear, and this is you need to listen very closely. Um, and it's that it doesn't matter if it feels uncomfortable, it doesn't matter if you feel anxious. These are normal things. And I'm not talking about debilitating anxiety where you cannot leave the house. I'm talking about so I say this all the time to people. It doesn't matter if you're nervous, it's irrelevant to whether you do it or not. You still, if there's something you want to do, if you want to get up on stage or you want to there's something you need to do and you're too scared, that's irrelevant if you're scared. Because the cost of not doing it is going to be a life where you just live a life doing not the thing you want to do. Yeah. You have got to just be be courageous and it's literally that whole thing feel the fear and do it anyway. But it's a bit, it's a bit of like it's a bit old hat to say it even, but it's so true. I can't tell you the number of children or teenagers or they're nervous to sing. It's irrelevant. Who cares?

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Who cares if you're nervous? You still do it. Yeah. What's gonna happen? You're like gonna fall off. I mean, this is in reason, okay. So that you always have to put the caveats out there because you can't believe what people take literally. But I mean, obviously, you know, you be safe, look after your well-being, but but you have to just do it, and it doesn't matter if it's uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

That's what I that's the hard truth.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Yeah, I agree. Um, there was a nice young man actually. I was reading his post on LinkedIn yesterday. He might be in the room. Um, and he said that um he thought he would set himself up with some challenges and do things differently over a year out of his comfort zone, setting up new businesses, setting himself up in new spaces, interviewing people in the streets, even started a new sport, jujitsu. And pushed himself beyond his normal safety barrier and his norm. And he's grown so much in this last year. And I think that that is what we need to say to people is to expand what you think you can do. And you can only do that by stepping into it, right? Yeah, I always draw a little picture for my pupils. Have you got a pen? I've got a pen. I've got this um bit of carb. Oh no, I haven't got a pen.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

It's over there. Can you chuck one over? It's a very simple throw it, George. Very simple diagram. Oh, it's a big white one. I gave you that one. Well, if you don't have one, I'll have to describe it.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

There's no pens in the podcast studio. Oh, we got one, we got one. Go on, go on, George. Oh yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Thank you. So this is a very easy, and I do this very simply because it's it's for children, but it works for everybody. So here, here is our comfort zone. Here is our comfort zone. Can you see that little so this is the little circle, the little circle. If you never step over that comfort zone, that's a little mark there of your comfort zone, that's how small your life's going to be. And when you do step over it, you make a bigger, a bigger life. Yes. And every single time you step over that, you make a bigger life and you keep going. And the more and more you step outside your comfort zone, the bigger your life becomes. Isn't that beautiful?

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Yeah. And actually that is kids understand that. That's not even just for children, is it? Because I know people who have been in um controlling relationships, have been in situations where they couldn't grow for a long time as women. And then they kind of have this um surge of energy and power in midlife, whether that's because they got divorced or whether because things change or they just grew as a person. And that small circle that they've lived in, they start to realize there's a whole bloody world out there.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Yeah, well, I think the thing about the midlife is is, and this is for goes for men and women, and and any gender in between, it you you have a you you're like, well, this isn't finite. This life isn't forever. And I think that once your parents start to get you know older, you realise, well, they're getting older. And that means one day they're gonna go. And when they go, then I have to look to myself and I will go. And it's and you suddenly realize that your life's not not endless, and you you you are compelled to act.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

And to realise that the, and I suppose the terminology midlife is midlife, but you know, are you really in the middle of the life? None of us really know. No, we don't know. We don't know. I mean, unfortunately, I lost my mum, she was 57 when she died. Um, my dad's not in the in the picture. So I am now the matriarch of the family. Suits me well, darling. I feel great being in charge. Um, I do have an older sister, but I'm the boss, I'm the big boss, you'd tell you to say. I believe it. Yeah, I'm the big boss. But that midlife is the kind of time where I'm finding that you've you've had your experience, you've done your wild things, you've learned or not, as the case may be, but you've got all that wisdom now. And it's almost it can be quite a dangerous period, I think. I think it's quite dangerous and empowering because we've got all of that experience and wisdom, and we've also got all that fire and knowledge to move forward with it, to apply it to ourselves. Yeah. So with you for your future, then, Christabel, reflecting on everything you've said so far, where do you see yourself in five years' time? Or maybe where do you choose to be in five years' time?

SPEAKER_00 40:57

It's a great question. Um, well, one thing I haven't talked about is I I developed a framework, whole. So my podcast is called Whole, the podcast, W-H-O-L-E. And it's an anagram. And basically, um, whole is a framework uh designed so that people can really connect to what makes them feel most alive. Okay. So I'd really like to do more work with that. I've got, I will ideally within five years, I'll have a I'll be doctor. Oh, it's gonna be so good. So Christabel. Um, I'd like to write um a book, uh, you know, detailing whole the framework. Uh you can check that out. Whole the whole framework.com, whole framework.com. There you go. And it's it's it's full of uh it's full of insights and uh it's all it's all science-based and stuff. So um I'd like to be doing that. I'd like to be um, I'd like to do more conversing with like-minded people. I'd like to be, I'd like to be performing, but I'd like to do it more as a, you know, more speaking. I'd like to be, you know, c connecting more and more and more with people, not just through singing, but through words.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Okay, that sounds really powerful. So with your framework then, can you just give us like a little umbrella overview of what it is? What does it mean? How does it work?

SPEAKER_00 42:13

So, um, so I talk about I've talked about this a little bit already. Um, when you go into an endeavour and you dedicate yourself to something, you have to, you will not be successful. You won't, you won't get the most out of it unless you go in wholeheartedly. Yes. And the purpose of it is to is to direct people, help people, support people in really um stepping onto a path in which they feel the most alive, most authentic, where they find meaning, but where they can also accept and understand that there's going to be challenges and it's not going to be easy all the time. So W is what? What is it that is important to you? What do you want to do? Um, this is where you look at your values and you have, you know, you think about what you what your goals are. H is be honest about what you need to let go of in order to make this happen. Because I think um a lot of the time people are sort of still hung up on old self-stories, old beliefs about themselves. Maybe they're hung up on even all like their old normal ways of being and doing things. And I've always done it this way. And they don't serve them anymore. They don't serve them anymore. So be honest about that. O is ownership. Take ownership for where you are. You're only you are responsible. So this goes back to my idea about responsibility. Um so taking ownership, take responsibility. L is get out there and live it. Start doing it, put the steps in, put it into action. And E is evolution. And once you do these things, you will inevitably evolve. And you must keep cycling through this process all the time with awareness. Keep aware about where you are in life, how does it make you feel? Are you still alive? Because I got to a point where I was living my passion, but I felt dulled and bored, and I was no longer feeling. Feeling vital and alive. Okay, so you weren't feeling whole and you came up with a whole framework? Came to me um on a massage table in the Maldives. I know. Like you do. Do you know what?

SPEAKER_01 44:13

I think that's what I need in my life. I need a bit of massage table, Moldives, and a bit of whole. Bit of whole.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

I had this, I don't know if it's a whole story. I mean, but it's it's a it's a big thing. I was lying on a massage table. Um, but before we went into the massage, we with me and my husband, we were given a tray of stones to choose from. You get the you pick a stone, and he got like courage or wealth or something extraordinarily wonderful, and I got letting go. And we did this three times, and each time I got letting go, and he kept saying to me, You need that. And I was like, What do you mean I need that? I don't need that. I'm I'm great, I'm fine, I've got nothing to let go of. And then um the last day of uh the massage, it came to me. It's a book about letting go, and I needed to let go of the idea that all I could be was a singer because I was to so totally attach to the um myself as a singer.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Um and I had to let go of that. How long ago was that, Christopher? A year and a half ago. And since then, like what's happened? I developed the whole framework. It wasn't stilln't whole to start with, a whole sort of pop. Again, it was another moment I was lying down and I sat up and I went whole. And it went all out of me. And then I started with a PhD, and then I started, I did this album. Do you know what the album I did? I didn't even think I wanted to do it. And I thought, no, no, you must do it. You love singing, you love these guys, do it. And I did it, and um that opened up the opportunity for the radio. I can't even tell you. And and it's just sort of it was crazy how it all happened. And I did this exercise, this brilliant exercise. It's not my own exercise. I heard it on the Huberman lab, another podcast. Okay. It's called uh the uh the the perfect day exercise. And you imagine your perfect day, but you don't just go, and in the morning I I do Pilates, and in the afternoon I I I I you know work from home. It's you really go into detail, and mine was all about communicating, and I had not foreseen radio, I had not foreseen podcasts, I had not foreseen this, and I did that. And they said on the episode, they said, beware, it's a really powerful exercise. So boy, was it.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Call blind me. So basically, talk about a little bit of manifestation.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

I wasn't like purposely manifesting, I was just like, you know, just living really.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

And you you made it sounds to me like in that that massage suite or on the table in the Maldives, you did firmly make that decision that you were gonna be more than a singer.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Well, and this has opened up the pathways and what preceded that realization was I had a couple of massages where I couldn't understand what was going on. My husband came down ill, and then the weather turned, and there's nothing to do in the Maldives when it's raining and you're by yourself, except walk endlessly around the island. And I walked and I walked and I walked and I walked, and then I couldn't understand why I felt down, what's wrong with me? I've got this amazing life. I you know, I really I was living a dream, really. Yeah, but I was so bored.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

Okay, interesting. That's so good. But you did that self-introspection, Christabel. That is what people need, and they need to hear this.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Yeah, they need to. It's all about authenticity, all about not being afraid to look at yourself, ask yourself the difficult questions, examine, examine yourself. And those feelings.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

How do I feel? I do do this when I'm feeling a little bit aggravated. Like I'm generally a really happy person. What you see is what you get with if people cross the line, they do get the other side of Lucy. I'm the same. Yeah, there's two, there's two sides, but only when they cross the line, I'm not an arsehole. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 47:51

Um I bet you are someone to be not trifled with.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Oh, yeah, that's right. It's good. I'm glad I give that off, baby. I love that. Good. But then you go along, but sometimes you think, what is this feeling I've got? Yes. What it where is this? Well, yeah, how does it feel? Okay, I think I actually feel sad rather than irritated. Yeah. Where does the sadness come from? And then being and honouring it. This is what I find. It's okay if you feel a bit sad today, Lucy. Yeah. Why do you feel sad for whatever reason? That's okay. That's okay. And it's pretty normal. It is, and to carry on and to just see it and to feel it and to move through it. And I find, which I'm sure you a lot of women listening, emotions and feelings, they're like the waves of the ocean. They come in, let them come in and let them go. All the good and bad. But having that proactive state to look to study and then to create and to change, what you've just given everyone here is a beautiful illustration of that, Christabel. And I can assure you there'll be somebody who'll be very inspired, if not more, than one or two. I hope so. By hearing that. Yeah, I hope so. It's my aim. Yeah, and you are um you're beautiful, you've got a lovely husband, you've got your life, you're successful, you're a singer. So many people, I'd love to be a singer, but I can't sing for sure. I love singing. It's fucking horrendous. My voice is horrendous.

SPEAKER_00 49:11

But everyone should sing, everyone should sing like that, everyone should laugh and dance. Just give it a go. No, you'll take that back if you heard it. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. It's not about that. It's about it's just about feeling good.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

And it's an expression, you know. Um time's ticking away as it always does on here. But I saw on um Instagram this lady come up. I can't remember her name, I should plug her, really. Very normal-looking woman, and she was just doing this like rhythmic dancing. She had a hoodie on, she was just in the scruffy kitchen, you know, like not stage. She was shaking all out, and there was this great like house music. And I thought, I really like your style. Like, I've seen that, and it was really captivated. No, I'm like looking at, and she was saying, you know, when you're feeling funny, you're feeling tense, you're feeling low, just move your body, shake it out. And I was just so moved by that. Yeah. Because there are ways to express yourself, whether that's writing, painting, singing, dancing, doing. There are ways to get that out. And I think that's what we need to do.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

And you must get it out, yeah. You must. I mean, that's not something I struggle with, I must admit. But um, yeah, get it out, be cre be creative, be free, dance, just just be, just be you and be unafraid to be you. That's it. Yeah. Just be unafraid. Unafraid, give it a go.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

Step outside that comfort zone cycle.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

Comfort zone.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Yeah. And literally.

SPEAKER_00 50:33

I've came up with that one day in a singing, in a singing lesson for some little child who wouldn't, who wouldn't sing because they were too frightened. And did they sing in the end? Yeah, yes, they did. They all go and perform.

unknown 50:43

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

All my all my girls.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

That's so lush, isn't it? What a gift to be able to give to someone to help them find their voice and be the best voice they could be.

SPEAKER_00 50:52

And it's very special doing it for uh, because they're mostly girls that I teach. It's very special to work with um little girls and teenage girls. Yeah, oh, absolutely. It's very special. I love it. You've given everything that maybe you wanted.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

And those tips you would have liked from like a cousin or a bigger sister or whatever at the time. Yeah, and we know, don't we? I mean, uh I reflect back, although I was always a bit of a big mouth, that we do have these insecurities, don't we, as young girls? You know, you worry so much about what you look and how you're perceived and all that.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

Yeah, and I know boys are the same. They worry too. Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_01 51:29

You've got a boy, haven't you? I've got a boy and a girl, yeah. Yeah, all going on. Boy and a girl, a couple of dogs and boys are insecure too. Yeah, they are in their own way. We need help too. Yeah. And you don't have as many boys for singing as well, not at all. Not at all, no. Yeah, that's just the way it is. That's just the way it is, yeah. I tell you, before we close off for the day here, um, I just feel like we should do a shout out to Only in Brighton.

SPEAKER_00 51:51

Oh, yes, we must, only in Brighton.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

So um you're our guy. I mean, it's a fantastic platform, isn't it? That shares and um the the guys that they share so much about relevant topics, different things that happen, and they really help to promote for free exciting people and things in the area. Yes. So biggin' it up with the only Brighton.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

We love them. We know.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

Whoop whoop. I love that. So thank you so much, Christine.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

Thank you so much for having me. A lovely time, and cheers.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

We'll do a little cheers. Thanks to Everflight Vignard for sponsoring. Absolutely. Thanks to the wonderful boys at the podcaster in Brighton for hosting us, and thanks to us two for being so damn fabulous. Thank you to you. Cheers, darling. That's lovely. Thank you so much for joining us again on the Champagne series, and we'll see you again next time. Bye bye.