Grazia Life Advice

From designing coats for the bouncers at Studio 54 to revolutionising women's swimwear, Norma Kamali is the legendary fashion designer who shook up 1970s New York and is still going strong today. On a recent visit to London, Norma sat down with Grazia to share her advice on fitness, meditation and how to handle sexism in business.

We are thrilled to welcome the presenter and philanthropist Katie Piper to the podcast this week. She's no stranger to podcasting - her own show, Katie Piper's Extraordinary People, is one of Grazia's favourites. Katie's quite extraordinary herself, and has done a huge amount in the UK to destigmatise and raise awareness of scarring and burns. She shared her advice on defining success, managing failure and standing up for yourself.

In December 2017, Kristen Roupenian published the story Cat Person in the New Yorker - and quickly became a viral sensation. Her story chimed with the #MeToo movement exploding at the time, and it's now become part of her new book of short fiction, You Know You Want This. Kristen stopped by Grazia to talk about the experience of writing something that provoked such a strong global reaction, and share with us her great advice on knowing what you can control, and tuning out of what you can't.

Rochelle Humes joins us at Grazia Towers as she publishes her first children's book, The Mega Magic Hair Swap. Inspired by her own daughters, the story sets out to help children, especially children of colour, to love their natural hair. It's the latest in a series of triumphs for Rochelle, who had a recent success sitting in for Holly Willoughby on the This Morning couch. She shares some of her wisdom on parenting, compartmentalising and learning to say no.

Bella Mackie joins us this week to talk about her new book, the Sunday Times bestseller Jog On, which tells the story of how running helped her address mental health issues during the most challenging time of her life. As well as being thoughtful and empathetic, Bella is also irreverent and self-deprecating. Her advice includes tips on being a supportive friend, and finding hope during bleak times - plus the invaluable: 'Always be jazzy.'

This week's guest is the no-f***s-giving Sarah Knight, author of the bestselling The Life-Changing Magic Of Not Giving A F***. Her new book, Calm the F*** Down, is a guide to defeating your worries and anxiety - or at least channelling them in a more constructive way. On a recent trip to London she shared some of her most valuable and witty advice with Grazia.

This week we welcome the Mother Pukka herself, Anna Whitehouse. A successful blogger and journalist, Anna is known for her frank and funny take on parenting - you can get more of that on her own podcast, Dirty Mother Pukka. She talked marriage, friendship and what it's like to find yourself at the heart of a public relations disaster, and shared lots of wise advice too.

Meet Tamara Ecclestone, TV personality and founder of the baby skin-care brand Fifi & Friends. Tamara welcomed us into her home for this episode to share wise advice on love, cool-headed decision making, and trusting your own judgement even when others disagree.

This week we welcome the author Holly Bourne. Last year Holly published her first novel for grown-ups, the brilliant How Do You Like Me Now? - a Times bestseller that explored a relationship in meltdown in the age of social media. She's also a successful author of young adult fiction, most recently including Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? She was a brilliant guest on Grazia Life Advice with tons of kind and insightful advice on maintaining your health and happiness.

Our guest this week is the actress Emilia Fox, who joined us just before launching a new series of Sky One's Delicious with Dawn French. Emilia spilled the beans on what to expect from the show, but also shared thoughtful advice on finding yourself, nurturing your friendships and seeking out the brighter side of life.

This week we're joined by the legendary Barbara Taylor Bradford. Born in 1933 in Yorkshire, Barbara had a career as a journalist before publishing her debut novel, A Woman of Substance, in 1979. It went on to sell more than 32 million copies worldwide, and 40 years later she's still going strong as an author: her latest novel, Master of His Fate, is out now. Barbara shared what she's learnt about manners, self-belief and how to tell a story. This week also marks Grazia Life Advice moving to Fridays - so from now on we'll be providing you with a brilliant listen just in time for every weekend.

This week we welcome Jane Shepherdson. As the former brand director of Topshop, Jane was one of the driving forces who transformed the shop into a high street hit; then she became co-owner of Whistles and worked the same magic there. Jane left Whistles in 2016 to travel, and is now back in the UK with her own brilliant podcast, Out Of Fashion. She talked inspiringly about the importance of bravery - and knowing when it's time to move on and change things up.

This week's guest is Sarah-Jane Mee, who you'll know from Sky News's Sunrise (6am to 10am, Monday to Thursday). It's the highest-rated show on the channel, and Sarah-Jane became its first female anchor when she took over from Eamonn Holmes in 2017. Despite having been up since 3am, she was very welcoming when Grazia popped by her flat on a rainy day in November, and had great advice to share on the importance of self-belief, kindness in the workplace, and... safety pins.

Our guest this week is the one and only Mary Portas, founder of Portas Agency - you may know her as Mary Queen of Shops. Mary's just published her latest book, Work Like A Woman, which sets out her manifesto on how we can be better, happier and more productive in our workplaces by breaking out of alpha culture. As well as sharing brilliant tips on being your best career self, Mary talked about life in the public eye, picking yourself up again after a failure, and why there's no shame in admitting you can't do it all.

Our guest this week is the wonderful Davina McCall - over her decades in the public eye, we've known Davina in many guises - as MTV presenter, Big Brother queen and now fitness expert. We met her in a rather echoey north London gym where she was working with F&F to launch the new Activewear collection, which is available in select Tesco stores from January 1. As well as giving advice on fitness though, Davina talked brilliantly about ageing, putting in the effort and mothering teenagers.