The Making of..‪.‬ The Female Lead

Our guest this week is the very funny and very thought-provoking Lucy Davis!

Lucy is best known as Dawn from the British TV show The Office, she then went on to star in movies like Shaun of The Dead,  Wonder Woman and now lives in LA, having broken America and starring in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

We talked about pivotal moments in Lucy's life which has involved some setbacks including a kidney transplant and recovering from an eating disorder. In our conversation, we talk about disordered eating in some detail so that's something to bear in mind if you're going through it right now.

Lucy has really leaned into the spiritual side of her life, which is new ground for this podcast and we talked about positive thinking, healing and gratitude so it's a bit of a different conversation for the last in our series but it really made us think about the power of the mind.

The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead. And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Make your moments last forever with Missoma and get an exclusive 15% by using MAKE15 now on https://uk.missoma.com/.

Our very special guest this week is Ruby Bridges who changed the world forever at just six years old. In 1960 Ruby was the first black child to go to an integrated school in the American South. This moment has become an iconic symbol of the civil rights movement and changed her life forever. Books have been written about her, movies made about her and the artist Norman Rockwell painted the moment of her first day at school - a work of art that Barack Obama moved into the White House during his precedency.




Ruby and I talked about her story, how she became an activist, the horrific racism she faced and how she feels about her place in history. We were so lucky to have this conversation and I hope it means as much to you as it did to us.




Ruby’s memoir This Is Your Time is released in the UK this month. 

***




Born on September 8, 1954, Ruby Bridges was the oldest of five children and at two years old, her parents moved their family to New Orleans, Louisiana in search of better work opportunities. Ruby’s birth year coincided with the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, which ended racial segregation in public schools. But southern states continued to resist integration, and in 1959, Ruby attended a segregated New Orleans kindergarten. 




A year later Louisiana was forced to desegregate. The school district created entrance exams for African American students to see whether they could compete academically at the all-white school. Ruby and five other students passed the exam.




On November 14 1960 Ruby and her mother were escorted by four federal marshals to the school and they escorted her every day that year. She walked past crowds screaming slurs at her - someone even held a black baby doll in a coffin. She spent her first day in the principal’s office due to the chaos created as angry white parents pulled their children from school. Some parents withdrew their children permanently. 




Over time, other African American students enrolled and Ruby graduated from a desegregated high school, became a travel agent, married and had four sons. 

Ruby has been a lifelong activist for racial equality and in1999 she established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education. 

***



The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead. And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Make your moments last forever with Missoma and get an exclusive 15% by using MAKE15 now on https://uk.missoma.com/

Welcome to the second series of The Making of... from The Female Lead



Our guest today is the award-winning poet Hollie McNish!

Hollie was UK Slam Poetry Champion in 2009 and went on to win the prestigious Ted Hughes Award for poetry in 2016. She's released 4 books of poetry and her fifth collection called Slug is out this month.

Hollie spoke about everything from childbirth to the magic of words and she even performed one of our favourite poems.

The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead. And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Make your moments last forever with Missoma and get an exclusive 15% by using MAKE15 now on https://uk.missoma.com/

Welcome to the second series of The Making of... from The Female Lead



Our guest this week is the actor Rebecca Root!

Rebecca came to fame in 2015 starring in the groundbreaking BBC TV Series Boy Meets Girl, where she was the first transgender actor to be cast in a lead transgender role in a mainstream sitcom. Since then Rebecca has worked on a range of film and television shows including the smash hit The Queen's Gambit and The Danish Girl.

We talked about the huge changes in her life, the power of an inspiring teacher, struggling with gender identity & falling in love.




The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead. And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Make your moments last forever with Missoma and get an exclusive 15% by using MAKE15 now on https://uk.missoma.com/

Welcome to the second series of The Making of... from The Female Lead



Our guest this week is the actor, writer and disability campaigner Samantha Renke!

Samantha came to fame in the groundbreaking Maltesers ad which was one of the first representations on TV of a wheelchair user as being funny and sexy. This moment was a turning point for Samantha's career but also a really painful time due to online trolling which we talked about in our conversation.

We also covered ableism, finding independence, dating and why she hates being called an inspiration. Samantha was so funny and so honest, it was one of the most enlightening conversations and we hope you think so too.



The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead. And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Make your moments last forever with Missoma and get an exclusive 15% by using MAKE15 now on https://uk.missoma.com/

Welcome to the second series of The Making of... from The Female Lead



Our guest this week is Mandu Reid, leader of The Women's Equality Party.




Mandu made history as the first Black leader of a national political party in Britain. She was born in Malawi and lived for some time in Swaziland under the last years of apartheid. She's been campaigning for racial and gender equality throughout her life, leading her to The Women's Equality Party.




We talked about a lot of meaty subjects like racial segregation, abortion, sexual harassment and hitchhiking as a teenager through the night in South Africa.




The Making Of is hosted by Bea Appleby. The production is brought to you by The Female Lead. And the whole series is very kindly sponsored by Missoma

Make your moments last forever with Missoma and get an exclusive 15% by using MAKE15 now on https://uk.missoma.com/