RISE with Henna Riaz RISE with Henna Riaz

The guests chosen for our second highlights episode really did share a part of themselves in their conversations with me. Each has overcome significant adversity to become the person they are today and their impact on society is truly inspirational.

Kane Mousah chose the road to becoming a world champion fighter, whilst navigating a life on the streets. A combination that led to time in jail and the decision to turn his life around from there.  His is a story of change, evolution and redemption.

Margaret Aspinall lost her eldest son to the Hillsborough disaster and has spent 30 years on a search for answers. Her deeply personal and inspirational journey has helped the 97 families who lost loved ones that day and aims to force reform into our justice system.

And finally, Tina Rehana's search for identity led her to seek out emotional outlets, that would ultimately create a lifelong goal; that all children have social mobility and equal chances in life. At only 30 she ranks alongside Marcus Rashford as one of her regions most important change-makers.

If you enjoy this, please join the journey and catch up on their wider stories in our complete series.

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With so many extraordinary guests across this series we felt we had to distill some of the most poignant moments into a couple of highlights episodes. This first episode showcases guests who set their mind on goals and have achieved incredible results.

Starting with Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe from boy band Blue they talk about the impact of fame at an early age and the ways they kept themselves grounded as a group and most importantly, as friends.  

Katie Ball tells us about her journey to becoming England's strongest woman and the ways she continues to challenge herself and add value to other people's lives. And finally, Donna Ashworth gives voice to people everywhere who just can't find the right words to say. With her poetry as a backdrop she shares some fantastic learnings on self-confidence and mindset.

All the full episodes are available earlier in our series and we hope that if you've only just found us, these highlights will encourage you to listen further and fully join the Rise journey!

Donna Ashworth has a rare talent. She can find the words for situations when everyone else is at a loss for them. Her poetry resonated around the world during the COVID pandemic helping us all deal with the feelings we were having.

“You’re not imagining it, no one wants to talk right now” is the first line of a poem that you may have seen across the internet in 2021/22. It went viral after celebrities from Fearne Cotton to Cat Deeley shared it with their audiences on social media.

With her own audience growing rapidly, Donna has gone from self-publishing her first book to number one in the book charts in the UK, US and Canada and signing a publishing deal with Black & White for her latest collection of poetry ‘I wish I knew’.

Outside of the pandemic, Donna is a champion of women, empowerment and self-esteem and her work is comforting, inspiring and hopeful. 

I’m really excited to share the fantastic work that Donna does through this interview.

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Healing isn't burying your pain underneath everything in the hope you will forget about what happened; that’s just a distraction. 

Having recently turned 30, Tina Rehana is a hugely successful Mum, social entrepreneur and businesswoman, appearing in Forbes magazine and working with the likes of Stormzy.  


But with the toughest of starts in life, her journey has not been easy and is characterised by hard work, determination, purpose and a search for identity. 


Tina turned the challenges of her own childhood into an ultimate purpose to give every child she meets the opportunities to thrive.  


This mission began at 13 when she chose dance as an emotional outlet. By 16 she was running community organisations and today she is ranked alongside Marcus Rashford as one of her regions most important changemakers.    


Extraordinarily grounded whilst driven by purpose she has a string of ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ accolades to her name and yet her proudest moment is hearing that her son named her as his hero in a school project. 


Her story is beyond inspirational and I am so proud to be sharing it with you. 

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