THE SLOW DOWN

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/

Sex, Death, Comedy: Enter the nuanced world of Shannon Murphy
Shannon Murphy is the director of 2019 debut hit Babyteeth (94% on rotten tomatoes at last check). I was moved to tears many times by the film and have since gone on to watch other things she has directed including Killing Eve, her episode of which was nominated for 3 EMMYs, Dave which is literally one of my favourite TV series and Dying for Sex, for which she won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement at the 2026 Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Awards.
I know being a female director of the highest calibre is not easy - add onto that being a single mother, continents away from your family. I wanted to know how she finds her voice and stands her ground in her industry, how she practices patience between projects and creates such emotionally sensitive and nuanced work. 

In this episode we cover: 
From Nairobi to Hong Kong: how a globally nomadic childhood shaped her creative voice

The reality of being a female director: bias, breakthroughs, and finding your own path in film & TV

Why the “female gaze” isn’t just important—it’s where the most exciting stories are right now  

What it really feels like to premiere at Venice—and survive an 8-minute standing ovation

Why comedy is so hard: what works, what bombs, and how great directors fix it in real time

Inside high-pressure film sets: chaos, creativity, and leading hundreds of people 

Creative intensity & recovery: the ebbs and flows of a creative life and how to balance it 

Mentons:
Bertolt Brecht 
Jim Henson’s Storyteller series by Anthony Mingela
Winnie (documentary film) by Pascal Lampshe
Santiana - old fishing folk song 

Links: 
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2221724/ 
https://www.instagram.com/shannnnnny/

I’ve been obsessed with Eugene’s insightful and razor sharp cultural analysis reels on Instagram and Tiktok - along with literally millions of others who watch them. 
Eugene Healey is a strategist whose insights help brands, individuals and organisations make sense of the soup that is culture, consumerism, taste, aesthetics and social media. He is also a gifted keynote speaker and original thinker - sharing ideas in his substack Considered Chaos. He was a lecturer at the Melbourne Business School and continues to use his content as a way to educate. 
He asks questions like: How can you have authenticity in environments that are about performance? Something I think about A LOT in terms of how I can show up in spaces driven by algorithms. What is status anxiety? Are we living to be perceived? Are we on social media to consume fiction or reality? What is Netflexification? We explore all of this and more in this episode. 

In this episode we cover: 
Growing up an Asian immigrant in New Zealand 
Is ‘hard work’ a virtue? 
Selling ideas: discovering brand strategy as a career 
Learning how to perform intelligence 
Putting ‘authenticity’ as a concept in the bin 
‘Don’t lose yourself in self-analysis’
How to make your career EXACTLY what you want it to be 

Mentions:
Filterworld: How Algorithms Make Everything the Same by Kyle Chayka 
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 
Eugene Healey on vulnerability for The Guardian
Tony Wang 
Matt Klein on The Slow Down

Links: 
https://www.instagram.com/eugbrandstrat/ 
https://www.eugenehealey.com/

Only having big goals can set us up to fail. 
In her new book, neuroscientist and ex- Google executive Anne-Laure Le Cunff explores the transformative nature of living a more experimental life; turning uncertainty into curiosity, and carving a path of self-discovery. The book is a current best-seller and her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Forbes, Financial Times, WIRED, and more. She is also  the founder of Ness Labs, where her weekly newsletter is read by more than 100,000 curious minds. Her research at King’s College London focuses on the psychology and neuroscience of lifelong learning, curiosity, and adaptability. 

In this episode we cover: 
Learning to be curious in a French-Algerian household 
The desire to work and succeed in Big California Tech 
Putting work above health, and the consequences 
Going back to school to study neuroscience 
Growing her newsletter from a Tiny Experiment to 100,000 subscribers 
The process of writing a best-selling book 
Knowing when to stop with followers, fame and recognition

Mentons:
Michael Pollen - How to change your mind 
James Clear - Atomic Habits

Links:
https://nesslabs.com/ 
https://tinyexperiments.org/
https://instagram.com/neuranne