On OFC, You're Invited, neighbors Navied Mahdavian (New Yorker cartoonist, memoir author, TEDx speaker) and Anthony Leyton discuss how their friendship began at Anthony’s daughter’s birthday party soon after Navied moved to Folkston, bonding through shared interests like board games and D&D and deepening through weekly rehearsals for an amateur production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They talk about how proximity, intentional effort, and comfortable silence help friendships form, what they’ve learned from each other about trying new things, confidence, competition, and embracing failure in midlife. The conversation also covers creativity for pleasure versus work, how identities shift over time, old friends versus new friends, friendships fading without closure, parenting and meeting friends through children, and storytelling as a way to create meaning in a chaotic life, ending with their final words: “light” and “adventure.”

00:00 Meet the Guests

01:09 How They Met in Folkestone

02:01 Birthday Party Friendship Spark

04:16 Moving Countries and Starting Over

05:55 Making Friends as Adults

12:05 Theatre as Friendship Catalyst

15:11 Lessons from Each Other

21:47 Creativity and Midlife Reset

26:29 Midlife Crisis Reframe

27:09 Identity After Milestones

28:49 Adult Friendship Intentionality

30:40 Old Friends New Mirrors

32:34 Who Were You Then

36:31 Escalator Politics

38:21 Roles We Revert To

41:41 When Friendships Fade

46:12 Kids And Parent Friends

48:30 Storytelling Makes Meaning

51:56 One Word Sendoff

Vanessa 📩 Join the mailing list: https://vanessamaria.os.fan/mailing-list Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nessamariaw/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nessamariaw Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamariawilson/ OFC, You're InvitedInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofc.urinvited/

campaign

Emma Slade Edmondson & Melissa Legarda on Friendship, Identity, and Building Goodfor Through Radical Honesty

On You’re Invited, host interviews Emma Slade Edmondson—author, strategist, TEDx speaker, and co-founder of Goodfor—alongside her friend, creative partner, and co-founder Melissa Legarda, a journalist and podcast producer. They share how they first met in 2019 through a mutual friend on a campaign shoot, quickly built trust, and later deepened their bond through conversations in Paris that led to creating Goodfor, a purpose-driven storytelling house and conscious marketing consultancy producing podcasts, events, campaigns, and cultural consultancy. They discuss identity, mixedness, cultural fluency, workplace harm in creative industries, and how radical honesty, transparent communication, appreciation, and written agreements help them avoid resentment, resolve conflict, and support each other. Emma explains her children’s book Mixed and their evolving views on belonging, safety, and community.

00:00 Meet Emma and Melissa

01:09 How They First Met

02:12 Creative Chemistry on Set

04:25 From Shoots to Goodfor

09:23 What Goodfor Actually Does

11:52 Friendship to Business Partners

13:22 Workplace Trauma and Safety

17:14 Radical Honesty Playbook

22:13 Contracts and Conflict Tools

25:57 Showing Up for Each Other

28:32 Community Is Inconvenience

29:07 Why Mixed Was Written

32:53 Belonging And Identity

37:20 Travel Climate Responsibility

39:00 Race Talks With Mom

43:24 Learning From Each Other

50:02 Safety Vulnerability Belonging

52:04 Final Word And Thanks

On Of Course You’re Invited, host speaks with Mam Sham founders Maria Georgiou and Rhiannon Butler, childhood friends since age 11 who grew a London supper club into a creative storytelling studio spanning events, food, design and film, known for immersive, narrative-led experiences and using packaging and physical design as storytelling tools. They discuss meeting at secondary school, building their bond through shared humor and creativity, and how “play” became central to their process and a practical tool during stressful client moments. They trace early career detours through art-world and hospitality jobs, lessons from years of graft, and key moments in learning pricing and negotiation with brands. They explain the shift to positioning Mam Sham as a studio offering cohesive storytelling across media, critique content-farming brand events, and describe partnering with Asahi to support their existing supper club.

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

01:21 Meeting at Age 11

06:30 Childhood Fears and Sleepovers

08:21 Early Creative Collaboration

12:47 The Power of Play

16:41 Finding Courage to Start

18:11 First Paid Gig

20:46 The Graft and Growth

21:30 Learning to Negotiate

25:20 Social Media vs Events

28:21 Becoming a Storytelling Studio

32:25 Creating Authentic Brand Events

34:38 Brands Back Creatives

36:19 Why Events Feel Same

37:01 Mini Eggs Satire

38:21 Funding Community Events

38:33 Asahi Supper Club Win

40:09 Studio Storytelling Dreams

43:25 Pricing Confidence Advice

46:25 Imposter Syndrome Pitch

48:16 Confidence Perception Trap

51:20 Friendship Builds Confidence

54:58 Brazil Spider Survival

58:58 Gratitude And Goodbye

Vanessa

📩 Join the mailing list: https://vanessamaria.os.fan/mailing-list

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nessamariaw/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nessamariaw

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamariawilson/

OFC, You're Invited

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofc.urinvited/