The Shift with Sam Baker

My guest today is back by popular demand.

Mary Portas, businesswoman, author, activist and retail expert, was my guest this time last year in a live episode, where we talked about her childhood, growing up and falling in love with - wait for it - retail - not, I stress NOT, fashion. We discussed all things 90s, ab fab and her years of growing up alongside her career turning Harvey Nichols into a household name. The ground she covers in her book, I Shop Therefore I am, which is out now in paperback.

(By the way, you’ll find that episode wherever you get your podcasts - just search Mary Portas, The Shift - but here's the link to make life easy for you.)

And there we stopped, but you wanted more. You wanted to know about her life after that, her midlife experience of moving on, starting her own business, reprioritising life after divorce, getting in touch with herself and finding her spiritual side. The second half, if you like, or perhaps the second third. And Mary was happy to oblige!

Mary joined me to talk about her life and work ethos and how it’s changed as she’s got older. She’s incredibly open about how it felt to lose almost everything at 60 and how she pulled herself back up again. Plus choosing to be happy, finding her spiritual side at 40 and learning not to hang on to stuff that doesn’t hang on to you.

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including I Shop Therefore I Am by Mary Portas, as well as the book that inspired this podcast, ⁠⁠⁠The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too⁠⁠⁠, by Sam Baker.

* If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Audio Productions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is the South African-born author, journalist and playwright Gillian Slovo.

Now 74, Gillian has written thirteen novels, including Red Dust which was made into a movie starring Chewitel Ejiofor and Hilary Swank, and Ice Road which was shortlisted for the women’s prize for fiction. She has also written four ‘verbatim’ plays including Grenfell which was a hit in the West End and transferred to broadway in 2024, won an Amnesty Award and been awarded a golden PEN.

In short Gillian’s career is a success by anyone’s definition.

But amongst this immense body of work, it is her memoir, Every Secret Thing, about what it means to grow up as the child of two political and cultural icons for which she is perhaps best known. Because Gillian is also the middle daughter of Joe Slovo and Ruth First, two legends of the South African anti-apartheid movement. As a child, her living room was filled with political giants, including ANC leader Nelson Mandela.

Quite the legacy to grow up with. And it’s a legacy she continues to explore by way of fiction in her latest thriller Inheritance. In which a crime writer is driven to explore her family’s dark past when her estranged sister dies and leaves her an unlikely Inheritance.

Gillian joined me to talk about growing up surrounded by political giants, living with a family legacy and how she learnt not to be haunted by her mother’s murder. We also discussed the power of sisterhood, losing your adolesence, the freedom of recognising there is no one answer and how she’s embracing her 8th decade. Oh, and that time she went drinking with Martha Gellhorn!

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including Inheritance by Gillian Slovo, as well as the book that inspired this podcast, ⁠⁠The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too⁠⁠, by Sam Baker.

* If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Audio Productions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is the former model turned leading nutritionist Rose Ferguson.

At the age of 15, Rose was discovered in McDonalds on Oxford Street by the legendary 90s photographer, Corrine Day. For a decade or more, Rose was her muse and her face and body were synonymous with the 90s aesthetic.

But modelling is rarely for life, so just after the birth of her third daughter, Rose stepped away went back to school. She studied at the London College of Naturopathic medicine and is now a leading nutritionist and functional medicine practitioner with a string of letters after her name and a successful clinical practise

She is also a firm believer that the old idea that getting older is a process of attrition, that we just have to accept we can’t do what we used to do, feel how we used to feel, be who we used to be is just that, an old idea suitable only for the bin.

Hence, The Reset, her four week plan to feeling better than ever is aimed squarely at those of us in midlife and beyond who are finding our stress levels are higher and our energy levels are lower and our middles are, well, bigger. Or maybe that’s just me. But I think not.

Rose joined me for some 90s nostalgia, to talk about making the move from model to health guru and give us a guided tour of the reset. We also discussed, people pleasing, imposter syndrome, gut health, osteopenia, insomnia and why you can’t out-supplement a shit diet!

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including The Reset by Rose Ferguson, as well as the book that inspired this podcast, ⁠⁠The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too⁠⁠, by Sam Baker.

* If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Audio Productions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to season 23 (!) of The Shift podcast, and this first episode is very close to my heart. Domestic abuse is something I have spent a lot of my adult life campaigning about, so I could not be more honoured that today’s guest is Denise Brown, older sister of Nicole Brown Simpson who was killed by her husband, American footballer OJ Simpson, on 13 June 1994, at the age of 35.

And that is the last time we will say his name during this episode because this conversation is not about him. It is about her, Nicole. A woman who did not get to live over half of her life. Who did not get to see her children grow up, did not meet her grandchildren, did not get to age or moan about wrinkles or the irritations of life after 40…

And sadly - enragingly - Nicole is far from alone. In the UK, one in four women will experience intimate partner abuse in their lifetime. In the US that number rises to one in three.

That’s something Denise Brown is determined to do something about. In the three decades since her sister’s murder, Denise has devoted herself to raising awareness of intimate partner abuse, touring the United States, speaking at shelters, fundraising and working to change the law.

Now, she has written a book, For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn’t Hurt – What to Know About Domestic Violence⁠. A powerful, heartbreaking must read, it is also packed with resources to help recognise and tackle abuse. Her hope is that it will help save lives like her sister’s.

Denise joined me from a hotel room in Manhattan, where she is currently on tour, to talk about the loss of Nicole, her lifelong mission to change the way we view intimate partner abuse, why relationship abuse doesn’t just affect younger women and how it feels to reach 69 without her sister.

In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn’t Hurt – What to Know About Domestic Violence, by Denise Brown, as well as the book that inspired this podcast, ⁠The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too⁠, by Sam Baker.

* If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠

• And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Audio Productions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today has blazed a trail through the British poetry scene ever since her work was first published in 1991. Born in Edinburgh, Jackie Kay MBE was brought up in Glasgow by her adoptive parents, Helen and John Kay, of whom much more later.

She has had countless poetry collections, short stories and novels published to acclaim, as well as her glorious memoir Red Dust Road which tells the story of meeting her birth parents. The winner of over 20 awards, Jackie is a professor of creative writing at Salford University and for five years she was the Scottish Makar (that’s basically poet laureate).

Her new collection May Day is an elegy to her beloved parents who (died within a year of each other) and taught her the meaning and power of protest. Something Jackie took to heart marching for women’s rights, gay liberation and Black Lives Matter.

I went to Glasgow to meet Jackie while she was on tour. Her beloved older brother Maxie had just died and she spoke candidly about love, loss and absence, living with nothing between you and the sky and how poetry helps her survive. We also discussed coming back into yourself in your 50s and 60s, why there should be lists after white male writer’s names, the art of living together apart and why her emotional age is 150!

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org, including May Day by Jackie Kay and the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me.

* If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on buymeacoffee.com

• And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com

• The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls @ Pineapple Audio Production. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices