The Swede-ish Podcast Jill Leckie

This week’s guest is an author and social media expert with 8000 followers on LinkedIn and a glittering biography of accolades in her portfolio. Amélie Ebongué is one of the most prominent speakers in digital innovation, the creator economy, community building and the evolution of social networks. In 2017 she helped launch Hypebeast and Forbes media to the French market. In 2018 Amélie was asked by TBWA (Audience) to lead the team developing the latest Huawei P20 Pro smartphone and has worked with leading ad agencies such as Young & Rubicon/WPP. Originally from Cameroon, born and raised in Paris, Amélie moved to Stockholm in 2020 (mid-pandemic) and has just published the book Generation Tik Tok – A new eldorado for brands. Since moving to Sweden Amélie has joined Electronic Arts as Brand Marketing Manager for the Need for Speed global group. But, why did she uproot her life and move to Stockholm? What was it about Sweden that lead her to move her entire life, including her young son, across European borders? How different is life between Paris and Stockholm? We chatted about all of this in 39 minutes on the podcast.







You can follow Amélie’s entry into Swede-ish life via the hashtag #VälkommenAmelie or via her Instagram account @ah_mais_lis.

Erica Jacobson, world renowned Swedish illustrator for working with the likes of UN Women, Sephora, Absolut Vodka, the Swedish fast food giant Max Burgers, Haagan Daz, The Swedish film institute and countless editorials, theatre poster designs, murals and installations. Erica’s style and aesthetic is bold, colourful and quite often activist led. With one foot in Sweden and another in her travels abroad, Erica draws inspiration from cultural exchanges throughout her life. Cuba, New York, Stockholm. I had the pleasure of sitting with Erica to discuss her day to day life as an illustrator, what she really thinks of Scandinavian design and her dream commissions.

Daniel White moved from the UK to Sweden in early 2020, was thrust into the zealous world of a start-up incubator only to have a global pandemic distill down his life to working from his living room and hustling to support the struggling service industry in Stockholm. All in the space of 3-4 months. I had the chance to grab a chat with Daniel, co-Founder of Tappy (the app that sends your friends their favourite beer, bun, coffee or cocktail - in just a Tap) to learn a bit more about the Stockholm start-up incubator scene; what life has really been life for entrepreneurs during the pandemic and his thoughts so far on life in Sweden.

I really hope you enjoy listening to these incredible people and their take on life between two cultures and their journey of Swede-ish-ness. All I can say is that they are the most inspiring of people. In fact, anyone who has braved the reality of uprooting their lives and moving abroad to start over is truly awesome.



This episode was produced by Jill Leckie and edited Cecile Ratovoherizo.

“I wish I had had this conversation 6 years ago…”







Genuinely, this next conversation is one everyone who is doubting their networking abilities should listen to. And, even those who are feeling the slightly jaded frustration of empty networking promises.







We all know who you know is almost as important, if not more, than what you know. Building genuine connections and communities when you’re starting out in a new professional setting, personal setting or just starting over is tough. Shaena Harrison doesn’t think it should be and knows that gamifying networking is the key to building genuine, long term and personal connections that will build your professional network.

When you emigrated, did you have a plan? Was there a timeline, a list, a spreadsheet of things to do and what to achieve in the first 12 months? Or, perhaps like Stephanie Darvill, COO of Aline, you let the opportunities that presented themselves set the course of your new life?







The merits of having a plan are a-plenty, but what if it’s getting in the way of you seeing the multitude of chances to start afresh, do something new and find a completely new side to yourself? Stephanie never set out to be an entrepreneur. But, after a series of events that almost ended in her leaving Sweden for good, she stuck it out and co-founded an Antler VC cohort start-up, Aline.