Hi, I'm Sarah Ellis and this is the Squiggly Careers podcast. This week, no Helen. Instead,

you're going to hear me in conversation with Sharma Dean Reid, founder of an organisation called

The Stack World. She's also very impressively got an MBE to her name. The focus of our conversation

together is on networking, but you'll also hear

her talk about the importance of self-awareness and friendship, as well as offering some really

practical tips on how to build successful relationships to support your squiggly career.

What I really like about Sharma Dean and the reason she's been on our list to get on the podcast

for a while

is that she doesn't shy away from a tough topic. She thinks really deeply and she's incredibly

open about her own experiences, the good and the really hard stuff too, in a way that I just

found incredibly useful. So I hope you have that experience too. And I'll be back at the

end to let you know about some resources, but also to ask for your help for our Ask the Experts for

2023. So Charmedine, thank you so much for joining us for a conversation today on the Squiggly Careers podcast.

I can't wait to spend a bit more time with you.

Thank you so much for having me.

So let's start by introducing the Stack World, your company, to our listeners who might be coming across it for the first time or maybe they've heard of it or perhaps they've got a friend who's involved. So share with us a bit about what the stack world is and why it exists.

Thank you so much. So the stack world is a platform that powers women's communities.

It means that any one of our members can sign up. they can start or join a community, they can host

events, and most importantly, they can build their power network by connecting with other women.

We've been doing a consumer version for about a year now, and it's been really exciting,

and we're just about to launch a B2B version so that companies

in the new world of work can effectively connect all of their employees together and especially

...