Style and Substance

Hosted by Elizabeth Cairns & Fiona Humberstone

Business Entrepreneurship Health Fitness

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Episodes

142

Latest episode

Jul 2026

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About the show

Style and Substance is a branding and business podcast brought to you by The Brand Stylist, Fiona Humberstone and The Empowered Entrepreneur, Elizabeth Cairns. Resourcing you with inspiration, insights and heaps of expertise to help you navigate all things branding and business. Ideal for creative entrepreneurs and those of you looking to sidestep the hustle, keep joy at the forefront of your work your work and find a more meaningful and sustainable approach business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

September 30, 202645 min

Understanding The Autumn Seasonal Personality

September brings a new, and much loved by us both, season, so it's time to talk Colour Psychology and dig into the Seasonal Personality of Autumn. As the creator of Colour Psychology for Branding, Fi shares her abundant wisdom and helps us makes sense of how we translate the energy of this glorious season into the colours, fonts, shapes, textures, photography and illustrative styles for our brands. This is the third in this series and you can find Spring and Summer episodes here. We really hope you find it useful. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

September 23, 202653 min

Is Your Drive Truly Serving You and Your Business?

Fi and I are pretty driven in our work, but is it healthy drive? This is the question we are posing today as we dig deep and get personal about our motivations and sources of drive. Is Fi a workaholic? What drove me to put my life on the line as an environmental activist? How does being a woman in business change the nature of drive? How do we determine whether our drive is helpful or a fast road to burnout? All this and more as we lift the lid on what gets us out of bed in the morning and what we can be thinking about as women in business to create positive, sustainable and powerful drive. . We do get a little sweary in places...it's a passionate topic so we'll hope you'll forgive the odd F'bomb. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

September 16, 20261 hr 4 min

The Most Commonly Asked Questions on Branding

This week, Fiona is in the hot seat answering the most commonly asked questions posed to Google and AI about branding. There's a goldmine of wisdom which we really hope is useful and, you won't be surprised to hear, she's not holding back on her thoughts about consulting generative AI for this stuff. You'll also hear an unexpected high from my week, courtesy of @jaycopley at Run That ( www.wearerunthat.com ) do go check him out. Also the free 'Creating your Brand Where to Start' Course Fi mentions can be found here on The Brand Stylist Academy. Thanks as ever for listening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

September 9, 202633 min

Finding our way through a deeply challenging season.

Welcome back to a new season and thank you for being here. Fi has had an incredibly challenging summer, floored by illness and the accumulation of a year of personal challenges, this is a very personal episode where she shares some of how she has navigated a truly difficult time and what the priorities are coming into this new season. For anyone who wants to make the most of a fresh start in September Fi shares her personal perspective. We also shift our focus to the benefits or working on our own terms and what we can be paying attention to with our brands to make the most of the energy of a new season...with a little more kindness, compassion and an invitation to lean into our unique brilliance. The free where to start course we mention can be found in The Brand Stylist Academy here . Enjoy lovely listeners. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 15, 202644 min

Low Pressure Ways to Create More Impact over the Summer

In this last episode of the season we are exploring the low pressure ways you can find your edge, your space, create impact and maintain inspiration...even if the pace is a little slower over the summer. We talk about reconnecting with your muses, getting your processes in order, thinking more strategically to find and maintain your space and some invitations to open up to a little more possibility. We mention a few of the courses available in The Brand Stylist Academy, as well as previous episodes which you can find here: The Muses conversation Brand Clarity. Media Kit Mastered. Glow up your website in a morning episode. As it's our last episode before the break, we've taken the opportunity to have a bit of an extended catch up, and are getting a few passionate opinions off our chest before the summer. It contains content some listeners may find sensitive (we're not holding back on Ai) and reference to suicide, so if you'd like to jump straight to the main conversation you can find that around 20 minutes in. Thank you for being with us for another season and we look forward to jumping back in come September. Have a great summer Elizabeth & Fiona x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 8, 202631 min

Maintaining Your Drive When The Heat Is On

There is a big difference between a business intentionally making space for rest and restoration and one that ends up losing momentum and traction without realising it...and losing out as a result. If you tuned into our conversation on planning for a restorative summer, this is the essential counterpoint and the other half of the story. When the heat is literally on, how do we ensure we can maintain the pace and drive that we need to keep business flowing, without breaking ourselves? This conversation is for those who might have a tendency to slow down to almost a full stop and need the motivation, strategy and encouragement to keep focussed, productive and firmly in the driving seat of their business....even in a heatwave. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 1, 202616 min

A Guided Practice to Cultivate Spaciousness

Last week Fiona and I talked about the need for space to feed creativity and joy in our work and we know that the pace of this year can get a little overwhelming at times...so we're here to offer a little antidote to the haste and the hustle. As Fiona is away on a photoshoot in Guernsey this week, instead of our usual format, I've recorded a guided practice for you. This is aimed at helping you cultivate a sense of grounded spaciousness and inviting more possibility, flow and ease into your work. I do hope you find it helpful. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 24, 202651 min

Planning for a Restorative Summer

Phew! this year is galloping away lovely listeners and in this episode, as we've passed the crest of midsummer, we're thinking ahead a few weeks to the summer break. Both Fi and I traditionally take around six weeks off over the summer and today we enjoy a wide ranging conversation about why we feel the need and how we plan for it. We explore the difference for us between rest and restoration, the differing types of rest we plan to make space for and how we are trying to avoid skidding into the summer break in a hot mess! It's a pretty personal episode and we hope you enjoy the conversation. A reminder from our lovely sponsors Squarespace of their free live circle event happening today (as this comes out) Wednesday 24th, 3pm uk time with Fiona talking about Design on your terms and taking questions. You can register your place here https://luma.com/circle-live-040 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 17, 202633 min

Understanding the Summer Seasonal Personality - Colour Psychology for Branding

We continue our Colour Psychology for Branding series with this episode as we dig into the hazy delights of summer. In this conversation, Fiona walks us through the nuances of the summer seasonal personality and how we translate it through to a beautiful, stylish and elegant brand identity. We'll explore the colours, shapes, textures, photography styles, typography and key considerations for any business looking to bring the essence of summer into their brand. Thank you to our sponsors for this episode - Squarespace. You can find the details and register for a place on their Live Circle event on Wednesday 24th June with Fiona here You can find the Absolute Essentials of Colour Psychology and the other Colour Psychology resources Fiona mentions here You can find our previous conversation on the Spring Seasonal Personality here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 10, 202644 min

Our First Priority as Empowered Entrepreneurs...

Business is asking a lot of us at the moment and it's a whirlwind of creativity and genuine joy, but to ride those wild horses we are having to double down on looking after ourselves and keeping our vitality high. So this week, along with our regular catch up, Elizabeth is reading from the first chapter of her book the Empowered Entrepreneur, entitled 'Vitality - The Sustaining Force of your Business'. We hope you enjoy lovely listeners. The book is on half price summer sale at the moment so if you'd like to snag your copy while stocks last then you can order your personal signed copy from Elizabeth's website here https://www.elizabethcairns.com/book Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.