Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is Constructive Voices.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: Good morning or good afternoon, depending on where you are. This is Jackie de Burcker for Constructive Voices. And I'm absolutely delighted to welcome, as our very first local expert, a person I have a huge amount of respect for and have worked with from time to time, four constructive voices, Sangeeta Waldron, who's an author and a PR expert. Sangeeta, I'm so delighted you're with us today.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: Oh, me too, Jackie. And thank you for such a wonderful introduction and it's great to be back in conversation with you.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Sangeeta. So would you like to elaborate a little bit more on your career? You know, where you are to date, first of all, about your PR work and, of course, then about your books.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: Sure.
Not to sound or put anyone to sleep, but I've been over 30 years in communications and public relations work. I started out my career many, many moons ago, writing speeches and briefings for a previous Prime Minister, UK Prime Minister and Ministers.
I've worked for some of the most amazing brands, global brands. I worked for the first Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.
And in 2009, I set up my own PR agency, Serendipity. PR and media Serendipity is something I strongly believe in. And in 2009, when I set up the agency, the world was going through a global recession and I thought, if I can survive this, then I can survive anything. And fast forward 2024, I'm still here and I'm thriving. And during that time, since 2009, I've written three books. My first book was on PR public relations and court and is called the PR Knowledge Book. And that's a book that went to universities around the world and it's still doing well.
And it. Oh, God, you know, I can't even remember timelines now, but in 20. Well, during the pandemic or. Well, yes, during the pandemic, I published my second book, which is Corporate Social responsibility is not public relations.
And that's a book all about greenwashing.
And that book was so timely and relevant and is still relevant in today's conversations about what companies are doing and how companies are behaving. And that book was shortlisted for the Business book awards in 2022.
And now in 2025, I will be publishing my third book on the 30th of January. And that book is a continuation of the conversation I had in my second book. And this one is looking at the climate crisis and the book is called what will your legacy be? Global Conversations with Change Makers. And I've interviewed 36 thought leaders, business leaders, community leaders from around the world. I have Julian Lennon in the book, I have a NASA scientist, a researcher who's looking into humpback whales. So the book has got different themes and importantly, there's a takeaway for the reader at the end of every chapter to hopefully create a more of a pro planet habit and mindset. So that's me in a nutshell. Jackie.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: That's fantastic. I mean, really, obviously, over the few years you and I have known each other, that was by serendipity via what used to be called Twitter and is now obviously called X these days. And we won't get into a discussion about that platform.
However, it was a great place to meet some people. Yourself, Henry McDonald and Steve Randall were all serendipitous meetings via Twitter. So one of the things that I'm a massive believer in, regardless of whether people are, you know, very focused on trying to help with climate change and biodiversity or not, is that the place that we find ourselves in or the place that we choose to be in can often be either supportive or not supportive towards how we thrive within our professional and personal lives. Now, I feel, Sangeeta, your ability to thrive isn't only because of the place, but I imagine perhaps the place you live in, which is in North London. And it's a place I've never visited in, but I imagine that is supportive to you. What are your own feelings about Enfield?
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Oh, 100%, Jackie. I mean, I'll start by saying, you know, I was born in London. I was born when bow bells were chiming, making me a true Cockney.
And, you know, we came to Enfield as a stopgap. It was never really meant to be long term, but it's an incredible place. There's a real community here. And what I've discovered is community plays a big part to. To help us all to thrive, to do better.
You know, there's that saying it takes a village to raise a child. I really believe it takes a community to do that and to do more. And we also have to be part of that community.
We also have to invest in our communities and where we live. Here in Enfield, surprisingly, people don't realize how green it is, how many fields we have, how much sort of, you know, beautiful trees and nature. We live among nature here. We have a river. We have a place called 40 hall, which has got amazing grounds, it's got its own vineyard, it's got its 40 hall farm.
And it's really investing in sustainability and I think we're very, very lucky to have these places on our doorstep.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: It sounds really wonderful. I mean, obviously I did my research before our conversation today and I was quite blown away and quite surprised about the amount of nature there. Now the estate that you've just mentioned, Sangeeta, 40 Hall Estate, that's actually earned a green flag award, hasn't it?
[00:06:54] Speaker A: It has. And I mean it's, it's so much part of the community. You know, people go there to escape may, you know, it's packed on the weekends. It's also a place that, where we introduce certain kinds of livestock, or would you call it livestock or you know, species back into the local ecosystem. So we've.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: You're talking about the beavers?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Yes, the beavers. How wonderful. And we've also now got this kind of, I don't know, cattle, I think, for use of a better word, that's grazing on some of the green areas there. And people, local people are invested in 40 hall. It's not just a place where you go to experience nature, but it's also the, the hall itself, the, the grounds, the, the building is a place where people get married in. It's a place where you have events and even the Antiques Roadshow came there during the pandemic. So it's a real hub and I think that's important.
It shows how nature is part of us and we live with it.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: It sounds amazing. Now going back to what you were saying, should we call them livestock or not? They are red pull cows and there's some, something that you mentioned in our, sort of like our, our pre research to this chat today, the use of QR codes. Tell me about all of this.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Yeah, so it's really ingenious and again it's using modern day technology with nature and you can download a QR code to tell you where the cattle are grazing so you, you can avoid them. And that's particularly important during their breeding season because you don't want to disturb them. It's also important if you're there and you're walking your dog because you don't want your dogs to go off and chase them.
So that QR code has lots of benefits in different ways, but more importantly it's just to help locals live side by side with the livestock there which are roaming freely. They're not in pens or, you know, stables or anything like that, just as they should be.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Obviously before we started to decide what we would do with them.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Absolutely. And there's also this big movement and I've Seen these. More of these conversations becoming mainstream about rewilding, which is allowing livestock to be free to graze where they want and we learn to live with them. And that's how it used to be years and years ago. And when you do that, you are actually.
The ecosystem becomes far more productive. And these species know how to keep things in balance. You know, they keep the weeds in check, they keep the pollinators alive. And you don't need all the nasty chemical fertilizer because they're doing their job. When you're working with nature.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, I can tell you from our little pony that I take for walks around the land, he knows exactly what to eat. He's not, you know, he's not in any way confused by nature. He's absolutely in tune with what's there. And I also find the mention of beavers because we had, as part of the training course, Sangeeta, we had a module with Spain's hall estate and they're based in Essex, and they also reintroduced beavers into the. Into the habitat there was fascinating.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: I mean, it just shows you, Jackie, you know, with beavers, they are natural.
They naturally help against flooding. Do you know, with what they do and their behavior and how they live. And it always makes me think nature has thought of everything to keep everything in place and in balance. It's just us who's gone in and disrupted everything because we don't know.
And we should make it our job to know, to understand. I do believe that, because then we have more of an understanding how we all fit.
And it's. It's a big puzzle. But we all have a place and a responsibility.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Yes. I mean, you know that I entirely agree with that, but unfortunately, so many people don't. And the human ego is such a dangerous thing that we could have probably like at least a few hours discussion just about that in itself. But going back to 40 hall, the way it's been managed, the way it's so much part of the community, that sounds really wonderful. Do you find, like, when you meet people that you know locally, that you strike up conversations about what's happening there, have you met new people through it?
[00:11:59] Speaker A: Yes. I mean, there's so much going on and they do lots of festivals, music festivals, and everyone knows 40 hall every, you know, it's a destination at some point in a season. So whether it's winter, you might go up there for craft fairs or learning craft making. If it's Halloween, you'll go up there for the Halloween that, you know, the. The Storytelling. They do. They do so many things to cater for different age groups, communities. So it's a real. It's a real place in the community and people love it and people just go up there, you know, even now in this weather, you'll find people walking, running around. It's got a huge lake there filled with ducks and geese.
It's got a beautiful garden.
I could go on and on, but it's. Yeah, every. Everyone knows. And people connect there. People will go for the music festivals to connect not just with their love of nature, but for their love of music.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: It sounds absolutely amazing. What occurs to me, Sangeeta, is apart from what we've discussed about the nature aspect of it, the likes of the music and the storytelling, that's what, you know, going back not that long ago, that was how we used to socialize as well. You know, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't with screens all the time. It's not long ago before, you know, it's not that long ago really, before we. When we didn't have screens and we. We would have gone and had storytelling and music as much more regular occurrences.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's when we were leading our best lives.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Definitely.
Definitely. So listen, Enfield sounds amazing. Are there any other places in Enfield? I mean, obviously, with so much nature, it sounds like a wonderful, wonderful place. And obviously bringing in the community to 40 Hall. This sounds like a great example to other areas. Are there any other highlights of Enfield that you would like to talk about?
[00:14:02] Speaker A: Yes, there's something called the Living Room Library in the east of the borough, a place called Edmonton. And Edmonton is, I would say, a more vulnerable part of the borough. It's a deprived area.
It's got its challenges. But what is amazing about this library, the Living Room Library, is that it is like a living room and it's a great representation of how community life is set in a very urban setting, which is the high street. And they've used sustainable thinking in restructuring this space because it used to be two old garages and they've repurposed, reconstructed that space into this marvellous library. That's very contemporary but yet sustainable. And what I love about it is, is that it's got huge windows which act like shop windows, so you can see what's going on inside and it draws people passing by inside. And I had. I just discovered this amazing place about a week ago and I went to go and visit a local group there who are the Living Room Knitters. And it's a community of knitters of different I mean, you've got half the world in that knitting club. And they all come together to create crocheted items, cushions, knitted pieces to sell so they can become sustainable as a group and so they can keep continuing to buy their wool and needles. But it's also, it's, it's a bit of storytelling in what they're doing as well. And I, I mean that, that's just such a contemporary space. And I met an organization that is based there which is a neighborhood organization who support these knitters. And the group is called React. And the woman who is one of the co directors of React, she said to me, this is like a mini South Bank. And I thought she's absolutely right because these windows showcase the best of that area.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: What a huge compliment for something. A, because you've talked about the challenges of the area, B, the fact that it was two garages originally. I mean, what huge achievement that is to turn it into something that could be compared to the South Bank.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really special. And it's now, I believe it's also become a blueprint for other, other things going on in London and it's changed the high street, it's made it more of a neighbourhood and that's important. That goes back to this whole thinking of community.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: So I mean, I guess listening to those two examples, Sangeeta, it seems like your area is actually a leading area. Would that be correct in London in general or are there other areas that you feel are equal?
[00:17:19] Speaker A: I believe we're leaders. I'm sure the other I want to say, Jackie, which is very special about Enfield, is that we have, we still have our local newspaper that's not created by AI or it's a real newspaper with a real editor and it's called the Enfield Dispatch.
And you know, there's a lot of work now being done which shows that local newspapers and local media is the backbone of communities because they counteract misinformation, disinformation and they are a place where communities go for real, authentic news. So yes, I think we are high fiving, we're on fire here in Enfield.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: That's a brilliant way to put it. But yes, I saw an interaction of yours on LinkedIn yesterday with another female, I don't remember her name. And it was of course about this, you know, local news and being authentic news. And it's a bit like we're going back to the first place that you mentioned, 40 Hall Estate, you know, and also the living room, library. It's a bit like bringing back things that we used. Used to do a lot more of, let's say, like a hundred years ago or so and bringing them back into being again. And the, you know, the local newspaper was integral always to people of my age group. I'm heading. Heading towards my late 50s now, so it's completely normal. Whereas now those things have disappeared, unfortunately, so quickly.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: Yes. Do you know what? As you were talking, it reminded me of Doctor who. We are regenerating.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: That's brilliant. I love that. So that's probably a great way just to leave our little bit of local living sort of oral history that you and I are creating. Obviously, I'm just. If you like the vessel to enable it, but you know that you've just created a little bit of local history that's genuine, authentic about your own area of Enfield. And it's been such a pleasure, Sangeeta. I'm delighted to have you as the first local expert for Constructive.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: Thank you, Jackie. I've loved talking about Enfield and love sharing all the joys that we have here.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Sangeeta.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: Thank you. This is Constructive Voices.
