THE SLOW DOWN

Justine Palefsky grew up in San Francisco, raised by open-minded, community-oriented parents who treated their home as a shared asset and took her to Burning Man. That ethos of hospitality, gifting and non-transactional exchange became the foundation for everything that followed.
After studying cognitive neuroscience at Brown, she moved into customer experience roles at OpenDoor and Homebound. When she decided to take the leap into building her own company, she made a deliberate and unusual choice: she wanted a co-founder first. Matchmade by OpenDoor's CEO Eric Wu, Justine and Tasneem Amina spent four days locked in a cabin in Calistoga doing what Justine calls "co-founder dating".
What emerged was Kindred: a members-only home-swapping platform now with over 350,000 members across 150+ cities, 450,000 nights booked and $150 million raised. The radical bet at its core? Remove money from the guest-host relationship entirely. No buying credits. Every home is equal. A give-to-get economy where the most generous members hold the most power (not the wealthiest). It's a small pocket of the world built the way Justine wishes the rest of it worked.

In this episode we cover:
Growing up with community values in San Francisco 

Studying cognitive neuroscience at Brown 

Why she chose her co-founder before her product idea

The "co-founder dating" cabin retreat - questions to ask before you commit 

The history of home swapping, from Intervac in the 1950s to today

Why Kindred removes payment between guests and hosts — and why Silicon Valley thought she was crazy

Building a platform based on Radical Generosity

How handwritten thank-you notes became a cultural pillar of the platform

Raising $150 million while refusing to grow at all costs — the "no assholes rule" for investors

What it means to lead as a woman who is "not Zuck" — and dropping the CEO mask

Burnout, the cost of giving a damn, and how to pull yourself back

Defining the meaning of life for yourself and sticking to it 

Mentions: The Partnership Charter by David Gage The New York Times 36 Questions to Fall in Love Intervac: https://www.intervac-homeexchange.com

Links: Kindred: https://www.instagram.com/livekindred/ Justine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinepalefsky/

This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, Greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com. Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

After being fostered, Andrew Missingham became a drummer and musical director on gold-certified UK records, then spent three years running British Council music programmes across 43 countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, then lead arts programming at the ICA. He later moved into data and strategy, becoming a Chief Data & Insights Officer and AI adoption pioneer for clients including Nike, Google, Unilever, Discord and the Southbank Centre, and a serial entrepreneur who founded 8 businesses and built and exited a 30-person consultancy. 
In 2020, the pace caught up with him. A nervous collapse forced Andrew to rebuild his life from the ground up, and 1,300 consecutive days of vipassana meditation later, he's become one of the most thoughtful voices on what it looks like for a man to lead by listening instead of force. Andrew now lives by a mantra tattooed on his arm: Live to Listen. Listen to Learn. Learn to Share. 
Andrew is one of the most genuinely curious people I've met, and someone who has spent decades doing the connective, uncredited work of bringing people, culture and data together without ever chasing recognition for it.
In this episode we cover:
Choosing to be fostered

How drumming led to managing and producing 

Blacktronica Club nights at the ICA and other memorable events

What is an ‘insight’? 

His 2020 nervous collapse and what it forced him to rebuild

The 4 key steps of his recovery: his new tools  

A 10-day Vipassana that led him back to his foster parents 

What gentle masculinity looks like in practice, and leading by listening

His fears of being a good father & his relationship with his daughter 

Mentions:
Emergency on Planet Earth by Jamiroquai (1993 album)
The Messengers (1995) by Barungwa
Blacktronika https://www.blacktronika.com/ 
The ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) 
Dhamma Sukhakāri https://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schsukhakari 
The Eye's Mind by Bridget RileyAbout a Boy (film)Shakara by Fela Kuti, ft. Tony Allen on drums
Links: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmissingham/
This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

June Angelides MBE believes that what is meant for you will find you — but only if you make the space to let it. Growing up in Lagos, she arrived in the UK and built a career in finance that, on paper, made sense. It wasn't until her second maternity leave — when she found herself the first woman at Silicon Valley Bank's UK office to take mat leave, confronting a company with no infrastructure for mothers — that she understood what she was actually meant to build. Mums in Tech, the community she created to teach mothers to code, earned her an MBE. What followed was a portfolio that was always, deliberately, many things at once: venture and angel investing, advisory work, a column in the Financial Times, board seats, and now a debut book — a biography-come-love-letter to the grandmother who shaped her. She is interested in not just how we build successful careers but how we build ones we can actually sustain. 
June is an extraordinary friend, mother of 3  and one of very few senior black women in venture capital. She juggle A LOT with so much grace and intention - I wanted to know how she finds the balance and how she sees her journey so far. 
In this episode we cover:
Growing up in Lagos

Being the first woman at Silicon Valley Bank UK to take maternity leave 

The motherhood penalty

Building Mums in Tech & getting an MBE for it 

Starting The Portfolio Method to support people with portfolio careers 

Leaving full-time corporate life and sitting with the uncomfortable silence

Her grandmother's legacy and the book written in her honour

Mentions: 
Ejeka Jo by Ecstasy (her aunt and uncle's band) 
Mindset by Carol Dweck 
Links: https://www.instagram.com/juneangelides/

This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on www.kiohne.com Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Rollo Skinner is a British artist, author and botanical set designer (clients include: Gucci, Barbour, Mulberry, and renowned fashion photographer Tim Walker) whose work is rooted in a deep love of the natural world. Based between Dorset and London, Rollo feels most at home amongst the trees in the woods by his family farmhouse, dreaming up stories and new creations with Ben (the family sheepdog who’s terrified of sheep). Having taken a series of self-described wrong-turns throughout his twenties, reconnecting with the natural world of his childhood has become both his inspiration and his anchor. 
Rollo has grown a practice that spans illustration, storytelling, painting, botanical installations and set design. He realised that by creating things, he was recreating the self that he had lost along the way, and is now committed to following his curiosity, repeatedly, over and over again – his mission is to inspire others to do the same.

In this episode we cover: 
Growing up queer in the countryside

His acting career & saying no to a Netflix TV deal 

Why the advertising years broke him 

How lockdown led him to flowers 

Reframing Return: Why going home isn't going backwards

Working with Tim Walker & other dream jobs 

Building a practice where you can explore our multitudes 

Mentions:
Lifeboat (Lovers Rock) by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIgrtSkUOEc) 

Links:
https://www.instagram.com/rolloskinner/ 
rolloskinner.com 

This season of The Slow Down is sponsored by female-founded, greek swim and resortwear brand Kiohne. The Slow Down listeners can use code theslowdown for 20% off their first shop on kiohne.com Enter their world, explore their collection and buy beautiful pieces designed to be enjoyed while slowing down this summer.

Award-winning psychologist Dr. Lalitaa Suglani unpacks why the most capable people in the room are often the most anxious — and how to stop performing wellness and start feeling it. A conversation about burnout, workaholism,  inner child work, and what real success actually looks like. Dr. Lalitaa is a renowned speaker, somatic practitioner, and the author of High Functioning Anxiety — a book that has helped thousands of high achievers move from survival mode to intentional living. Her holistic approach combines science-backed strategies with practical tools for personal growth to help people rebuild self-trust from the inside out.

In this episode we cover: 
Her own childhood  as 1 of 5 kids and examples of success
Following her intuition to psychology 
The Swan Analogy to help explain High Functioning Anxiety 
Shifting from anxiety-driven doing to grounded, intentional being. 
Her step-by-step clinic exercise: The Trigger Worksheet 
Every yes is a no to you - A reframe on people-pleasing.
Why highly sensitive individuals unconsciously absorb other people's emotional states
Why real-world interactions are the antidote to the highlight reel
The connection between menstrual cycles, mood, and anxiety

Mentions: 
Kirtan - singing
Omnom restaurant  

Links:
https://www.instagram.com/dr.lalitaa/