💬 'Finding Joy & Laughter Through Tough Times'

What a FAB episode! I really loved my chat with Joanne Pearce and in true ChatStack style, there were plenty of laughs, tangents and whoopsies! Including right at the start, when I mistakenly named Joanne’s Substack and business as ‘Her Handmaid Tail’ instead of ‘Her Handmade Hustle’ - Sorry Joanne and thank you for your professional and graceful response to my mishap… and for being such a joyful, interesting, insightful and all round wonderful guest! 🥰

Please Note: This chat was recorded on Substack ‘Live’ on 16th July 2026

💬Our Chat

* Cramming in jobs in the school day & Podcasting in the car!

* Breast Surgery - weight loss and the slimming world community

* The importance of having a good old “chin wag”

* The lost art of hobbies and building human connections

* How Joanne helps small businesses get seen

* Substack Notes and social media - escaping the scrambling!

* How my holiday helped me get back to being me

* Joanne tells us how to get yourself ‘on the map’ with a Google Business Profile

* How Joanne pivoted her career after Covid sank her successful wedding stationary business, practically overnight.

* How we’ve each dealt with our dramatic energy shifts after surgery/diagnosis

* The dreaded ‘What do you do?’ question as a multi-passionate creative

* My struggle with self-worth and the shame around receiving financial support

* Why trying to be our former selves will never work!

* The true strength of being a women (and knowing when to rest)

* Breasts, rogue nipples and the freedom of no longer wearing our bras!

* The value of finding joy and laughter throughout tough times

* Accepting that the mess and endless to-do lists just mean that you’re living ♥️

📣Mentions

During our chat Joanne opened up about the cases of breast cancer in her family and how she is a carrier of the BRCA2 gene. As a preventative measure, Joanne bravely opted to undergo a double mastectomy.

This involved major reconstruction of her breasts, using tissue from her stomach. After which she was introduced to an amazing charity, who provide tattoos of realistic looking nipples for women following such procedures.

Nipple Charity - ‘NiP’

“The Nipple Innovation Project (NiP) is the UK’s first mastectomy tattoo charity.

We help breast cancer patients get their nipples (and the confidence that comes with them) back, via amazingly realistic, long-lasting tattoos.

We work with a team of experienced, specially trained medical tattoo artists across the UK and Ireland to make sure breast cancer patients who want to restore their nipples can do so without the worry of cost or repeat hospital visits”

www.nipcharity.org

See you next time!