---
title: "Visibility, Empowerment And Authenticity"
episode: 165
date: 2025-07-04
guest: "Raimonda Jankunaite"
canonical: https://inclusionbites.co.uk/podcast/165-visibility-empowerment-and-authenticity
audio: https://cdn.seech.uk/podcast/episodes/ibs-165/audio.mp3
---

# Visibility, Empowerment And Authenticity

Joanne Lockwood is joined by visibility and empowerment mentor Raimonda Jankunaite to explore what it means to be seen, heard and unapologetically yourself. Raimonda shares her personal journey, from growing up in Lithuania and later navigating life in the UK as an immigrant, to rebuilding her sense of identity after a traumatic and toxic relationship left her feeling voiceless and disconnected from who she was. Together, they talk about how fear, shame and social conditioning can lead people—especially women—to mask, stay quiet and shrink to fit. The conversation moves from personal liberation to wider social realities: beauty standards, workplace perceptions of women’s leadership, and the importance of finding communities where it feels safer to speak up. Raimonda describes her decision to shave her head as a symbolic act of self-acceptance and a practical rejection of expectations placed on women’s appearance. They also reflect on global political shifts, the rollback of inclusion efforts, and why visibility and collective voice matter when rights and representation are being challenged. The episode closes with a call to action: build supportive networks, use your platform—however small—and be an ally for those whose voices are being silenced.

## Chapters

- 00:00 — Introduction and Welcome
- 01:30 — Inclusion Bites: Conversations for Change
- 04:28 — Embracing Authenticity in Entrepreneurship
- 06:53 — Finding Voice Through Struggle
- 11:12 — Female Resilience in Patriarchal Lithuania
- 13:32 — Redefining Women's Life Roles
- 19:22 — Bold Transformation: Hair to Bare
- 22:30 — Style Change, Not Health Issue
- 24:06 — Short Hair Perception in Leadership
- 28:47 — Embracing Change and Self-Discovery
- 31:49 — Global Challenges and Emerging Threats
- 33:51 — Far Right Politics' Unpalatable Agenda Exposed
- 36:22 — Modern Dystopia: Reality Unfolding
- 42:59 — Empowerment Through Collective Choices
- 45:48 — UK vs France: Protest Culture
- 48:54 — Empower Communities, Take Action
- 53:17 — Empowering Women Globally Through Media
- 55:01 — Rapid Social Media Growth Success
- 57:23 — Global Women's Voice Movement Ignited

## Key takeaways

- The process of reclaiming identity and voice after experiencing trauma and societal silencing.
- How cultural conditioning and patriarchal expectations shape self-perception and limit women’s opportunities.
- The importance of dismantling beauty standards and embracing self-authenticity in professional and personal realms.
- The transformative power of community in amplifying marginalised voices and creating social movements.
- Strategies for resisting the rollback of rights and maintaining advocacy amidst far-right political shifts.
- Practical actions individuals can take to empower themselves and elevate social justice within their circles.
- The role of visible leadership and storytelling in inspiring others and safeguarding hard-won progress for future generations.

## FAQs

### What are the central themes discussed in this episode?

The episode centres on visibility, empowerment, and authenticity, particularly as they relate to women’s voices and presence in society. Joanne Lockwood and Raymonda Jankunaite explore the barriers women face, the journey to reclaiming one’s voice, and the power of embracing one’s true, unapologetic self.

### Who is Raymonda Jankunaite and what is her expertise?

Raymonda Jankunaite is a visibility and empowerment mentor, international speaker, author, and founder of Women Thrive Media. Her work revolves around amplifying women's voices globally and empowering others to recognise and actualise their potential.

### How does culture and upbringing influence women’s visibility and empowerment?

Raymonda shares how her Eastern European upbringing, particularly in Lithuania, influenced her perceptions of gender roles and societal expectations. She highlights how social conditioning and cultural norms in both Lithuania and the UK shaped her advocacy for women’s visibility and rights.

### What role does trauma play in shaping visibility and authenticity?

Raymonda discusses personal experiences of trauma, particularly the loss of her voice both physically and emotionally. This sense of violation and identity loss was pivotal in her journey to empower both herself and others, as she realised the importance of regaining and owning one’s narrative.

### Why has shaving her head become symbolic for Raymonda?

Shaving her head represents Raymonda’s rejection of societal beauty standards imposed on women. It was an act of liberation, a shedding of masks and expectations, demonstrating the shift from external validation to genuine self-acceptance and empowerment.

### How do social expectations and biases impact women’s leadership and self-perception?

The episode underscores how labels such as “bossy” are disproportionately ascribed to women in leadership, whereas men exhibiting the same behaviour are often deemed assertive. These biases, which begin in childhood and permeate workplaces, contribute to internalised barriers for women.

## Transcript

Joanne Lockwood: Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary for bold conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion, belonging and societal transformation. Ever wondered what it truly takes to create a world? Remember, everyone not only belongs, but thrives. You're not alone. Join me as we uncover the unseen, challenge the status quo and share stories that resonate deep within. Ready to dive in? Whether you're sipping your morning coffee or winding down after a long day, let's connect, reflect and inspire action together. Don't forget, you can be part of the conversation too. Reach out to jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share your insights or to join me on the show. So adjust your earbuds and settle in. It's time to ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites. Today is episode 165 with the title Visibility, Empowerment and Authenticity. And I have the absolute honour and privilege to welcome Raimonda Jankunaite. Raimonda is a visibility and empowerment mentor, international speaker, author and founder of Women Thrive Media, dedicated to amplifying women's voices on a global stage. When I asked Raymonda to describe her superpower, she said it is seeing the potential in others before they see it in themselves and empowering them to step into their true, authentic and apologetic, unapologetic selves. Hello, Raimondo, welcome to the show.

Raimonda Jankunaite: Hi. So good to be here. I'm excited to finally be doing this podcast with you, Joanne. Yes, likewise. I mean, we, we

Joanne Lockwood: met online. It's gotta be four, five, maybe even pre Covid when you're just setting up your online presence and what you do. I think I came on your show and you interviewed me and we talked about some various things and it's been dying to get you back on mine and it's great you connect. Thank you for bearing with me with your name. Yeah, I had to. I practised that, as you know, in the green room. I practised that several times because you're not from Western Europe, you're from the Eastern side of Europe. So where do you come from originally? Yeah, well, originally I am from

Raimonda Jankunaite: Lithuania and I grew up, was born there and grew up there and I've actually spent. Spent 22 years living in the UK and now I live in Spain. So I've kind of travelled around, but originally from Lithuania. Ah,

Joanne Lockwood: I've been to Lithuania once and that was in the noughties 2007, eight, something like that. I went to Vilnius and had a. A stag weekend. Yeah, they are quite in the old

Raimonda Jankunaite: Days. Back in the old days. Yeah, it was a.

Joanne Lockwood: I spent a bit of time in the old town in the cobbled area and the sort of the. The very typical Balkan old, old style town. You know, I've been to Latvia and, and Estonia as well, so very similar cultures and architecture, isn't it?

Raimonda Jankunaite: Yeah, it. It is really a stunning place and it has really grown a lot and changed over the last few years. I love going back. I have not been able to be back since COVID but it's a really lovely place, to be honest. Now I kind of travel everywhere else and love my life in Spain. I've moved here four years ago and it's just absolutely fantastic being here. Weather's a bit warmer, I

Joanne Lockwood: guess, on the Baltics, that a bit of coast there. It can be a bit brutal, can't it? Yeah, absolutely. I wake up every day and I

Raimonda Jankunaite: thank myself for making this decision to be here.

Joanne Lockwood: So your, your work centres around empowering women, amplifying voices, and that authenticity sits in the heart of you because you're empowering yourself, ensuring you have a voice. So what was the trigger point? Where did that come from? You obviously haven't done this all your life, so where did, where. Where did that momentum come from? Yeah,

Raimonda Jankunaite: for sure. You know, I. I do think that authenticity comes from truly finding yourself some reason. It's the hardest thing for people to do, just to be themselves. And I had very much of the same struggles where I was hiding, hiding of who I am or my true potential of who I can become. And I started work in entrepreneurship when I was 21, so it has been quite a few years I've been doing this. And I started first with a community called Women In Business Club, which was really amazing and it was gaining a lot of traction. And I was always spotlighting women, I was always putting them on stages, putting them on podcasts, interviewing them, running summits and doing all this amazing work. Never really asking myself why this was part of what I do, part of, like, why am I so passionate? Until my mentor, Les Brown, asked me, why do you want to speak? I joined his speaking programme in 2021 and in one of our first calls, he said, right, why do you want to speak? Why is this important to you? And in that moment, in that split second, I realised something and I said it. Mr. Les, I want to speak because I know what it's like not to have a voice. And the penny dropped for me where I realised, wow, that is truly part of my mission of why I do what I do.

Joanne Lockwood: That's so true. Because if. If you're not speaking and being heard, then others are speaking for you and over the top of you or you have no place in that conversation. So as a speaker, wherever, however, you just identify that having that voice is so important, isn't it? Yeah. Well, for me, it was

Raimonda Jankunaite: more than just, I guess, not having a voice. I lost my voice physically and mentally when I faced trauma through a relationship that was a toxic relationship and events that unfolded during the breakup of that relationship. And I felt violated. I felt violated emotionally, spiritually, physically. And that brought on shame, guilt, fear. I started to lose my identity, I started to lose my confidence. And seeing myself in the mirror, I couldn't see who I was anymore. So the only way I could still function is almost putting on a mask and continue to function, pretend that I was okay. And I literally couldn't speak. For two years I couldn't speak. And I really struggled. I challenged myself to try and get better, but I didn't know that. I was struggling with depression and I was struggling with the symptoms from what happened that really tore me, tore my true self sense of self away and my identity. And that struggle was really what gave me the passion not only to build my own voice back up, but then to help others, especially women who may have gone through these kind of challenges and traumas in their own lives. Yeah, I think I saw some of the echoes of

Joanne Lockwood: that part of your life on Facebook and you were quite public around owning that part of your life. Did you also have a child at that time as well? No, it was some time later. This

Raimonda Jankunaite: was in my mid-20s, so this was about 10 years ago. It was. It was hard times. It was really hard times. And it took me quite a while to find my voice again and realise who I was. Because seeing yourself in a mirror and you don't know who you are anymore. And I think that's what trauma does. And I wrote about this when in 2021, Mr. Les Brown asked me this question of why you want to speak. Like I said, the penny dropped or why I've been doing all this work. And then I started to own my truth. And this is where the unapologetic comes from, starting to own your truth and speak your truth. Because we are so often disempowered to be our true, authentic self and speak our truth. And therefore, because we are afraid of judgement, we have fear, shame of who we are. And that rips our true, authentic selves and our voice away from being able to speak and advocate for Ourselves. I think that's so true for many people around the world.

Joanne Lockwood: Certainly when you have, we describe it as a marginalised characteristic or a minority characteristic, being voiceless is one of the side effects of that marginalisation not being heard. Does it, do you think it disproportionately affects women intersectionally than the men, if you like? I think women historically have been told

Raimonda Jankunaite: to fit in, to stay quiet, to not speak up, that their voice don't matter. So I think there has been a lot of conditioning. Now something like trauma can affect or say sexual abuse can affect anyone. And certainly men have been affected by some of the same things and I think they have been torn their voices away as well. But certainly I think historically women have been torn more so than the men. To some of it come down to

Joanne Lockwood: social conditioning. You said there that women traditionally have been, let's use the word oppressed or marginalised in their upbringing and generally a lower expectation set on girls than boys. If it's lower

Raimonda Jankunaite: expectations, but certainly a different social conditioning in the way we are expected to behave, in the way we were expected to show up. Right. There's certain characteristics of boys, when they show up, it shows leadership. If women show up in the same way, they seem bossy. Right. So the labels and the perception and biases that are built around how unequally women and men are treated from playgrounds to schools to their workplaces and societies, it's undeniable and therefore we have to break those biases and start a different narrative. Do you think you were influenced by.

Joanne Lockwood: Undoubtedly you were influenced, but how much were you influenced by the culture of where you were born in Lithuania at that time? And I don't want to give your age away. It was a different world in those parts of the world and maybe still living in the echoes of the previous Soviet Union and the countries are still emerging and finding their own identity themselves. How did that influence being a young woman in Lithuania at the time? I think my growing

Raimonda Jankunaite: up was just at the cusp of that turn of a century of Lithuania becoming independent country. I was brought up in a very women led family, if you like, and very strong women. So from the very beginning I observed women being strong and to some extent fearless, yet at the same time suppressed. Suppressed by domestic violence, by expectation that men have the authority, they are in control, they manage the funds of the house. So women, even though, let's say in my own household, this was not always the truth because my mom had contributed a lot to the business of our family, yet my dad was Always in control of the money. Right. So some of these things, of course, starts to shape your perception from an early childhood. But travelling to the UK and when I came to the UK, I was 13 years old, I didn't speak English, I couldn't start education there because at first I was an immigrant. But what I got thrown into is this melting pot of diverse people, people from all around the world, different colours, different cultures, different religions that I've never seen before. And also feeling like I was marginalised because I was now an immigrant. Right. Like the minority. And so most of my friends were from minority groups. When I started my school, my college, I would always make friends with those who were not, perhaps from the UK themselves, because I could understand their struggles and challenges. And I started to build that rebelliousness inside of me to say, look, we have to fight for ourselves, we have to stand up for ourselves. And that social conditioning still played a part where you should stay quiet, you should be a good girl, you're a woman, all of those things, it still plays in your mind, but now you're starting to see that there is something worth fighting for. And it's not just for yourself, but for others as well. And that's where I said, I have to empower myself if I'm going to make a difference. And I had no choice because I burnt my bridges with ever going down the route of conventional career path. So I had no choice. Yeah, I think

Joanne Lockwood: we're often put on this conveyor belt of life, aren't we, to this very early age, you will do this, you will do this, you will do this. As a young woman, there's a high expectation of getting married, falling in love, having children, being a homemaker. Um, the last 20, 30, 40, even 50 years, women have now understood that their role is what they want it to be. Yes, they may well wish to have children, but it's not an automatic thing that they have to want. And I've seen many women who embrace the not having children, not being a mother, not being a parent, and they've consciously abstained from that. And. And that's a choice people make. Whereas previously there was this high expectation you weren't good enough, you were failing as a woman and owning that and empowering yourself to make the decision for your own self and your own body is something that we're starting to embrace now, or even more so. Yeah, yeah, of course. And there were lots

Raimonda Jankunaite: of experiences in my life where there was certain expectations and even my own family and, you know, and my love choices. I Remember when I was relatively young, I was dating a guy who's a man of colour, right? And my mom said to me, why can't you just go for a Lithuanian guy? And my conditioning from a young age was, well, Lithuanian guys actually beat women. They don't treat them right. That was, that's what I've seen growing up. So naturally I was too afraid to date a Lithuanian guy. And I said to my mom, really bluntly, I said, mom, he can be blue, green, black, yellow, I don't care, as long as he treats me right and loves me. I will date whoever as long as he's good to me. So you can't tell me that a colour of his skin is going to make a difference to anyone and to make different choice because of it. So I was very, very clear from very young age that I was just not going to conform.

Joanne Lockwood: You came up with that observation about Lithuanian guys? I had a bit of a surprise. I was in kyiv back in 2019 and I was with a group of people, we were speaking at a conference and we were there and I remember walking around Kyiv town centre or city centre, restaurants and bars and just around the central part and I noticed that there was a. Seemed to be common that men, Ukrainian men just walked straight through women. There was this kind of like. And I felt I had to get out of a man's way. There was no accommodation. Maybe in the UK a man would have been more polite and sort of stepped out the way or ladies first. I just got the impression that a Ukrainian man's were just very much more, I own the pavement, you have to get out of my way. And it happened in a supermarket as well. They just literally walked through me and I thought, wow, in one respect it was so gender affirming, but in the other effect it was like a real difference in culture is that have I. Have I represented that feeling accurately, do you think?

Raimonda Jankunaite: It's interesting. I've never been to Ukraine, but I think that Eastern European men are more, in their own self view, macho men who try to uphold that masculinity and any weakness seems just not really not masculine enough. And therefore they try to exercise violence or overpowerment of women to assert their masculinity and their power. Yeah, I mean, part of it is a lot of the social conditioning and culture normalising it. You know, in the Western world it's not so normal and a lot of times, well, it has been illegal for a long time. Yeah, it was kind of socially accepted back in my country for women to beat men, for men to beat women. And I, I could, haven't seen that growing up. I just couldn't, couldn't deal with it. And I, I decided I will never accept that in my own relationship or I will never accept in my surroundings for that to be the case.

Joanne Lockwood: So you shouldn't. Society puts a burden on women to present look, in certain ways there's a certain social value to a young, beautiful, attractive woman and as you get older, wrinkles, grey hair, child tummy, whatever, there's a certain pressure that you become less valuable. And so women are striving. And again, part of this struggle with empowerment is trying to fit in with these societal expectations which are generally designed by the patriarchy, designed by men who want to value and own women in a certain way. How can women be authentic and start to create their own value for who they are without having to subscribe to all these beauty standards?

Raimonda Jankunaite: It's hard. I think I've seen many, many people having to live up to it and subscribe to it, as you say. However, I think the first step to it is a real self acceptance and knowing that those external layers does not define us. And I've done the same for many years, trying to look good and trying to, you know, you know, have the perfect body and the beautiful hair and then at one point just realising that's not what it's about. And actually when I was young, I went down the modelling route and at some point I decided that's not what I want to be known for. I. I want to be known for my impact and my knowledge and the way I see the world, not the way I look, because I felt that was so shallow. Oh, you, you can. To

Joanne Lockwood: my attention. I mean, I do follow you on Facebook, I think I'm part of some of your groups and see some of the updates. What struck me, I think it was about three or four months ago, two or three months ago, suddenly you went for being long by most standards, beautiful, long hair, blondish, aged on one side. I think you hit it cut and then suddenly you said, it's all coming off. And then next shot, there you are with a grade zero, effectively you shaved it all off. And you were just so striking in that contrast between the old you and the new you. And I could see in your eyes and the smile when you shaved your head off, there's this certain ownership of self, wasn't there? You really owned that look. It's making me laugh. My whole life I was

Raimonda Jankunaite: living up to the long blonde hair look. Never Changed it until a few years ago when I shaved one side and it was another act of rebellion and self ownership. And one day I just made a decision. I'm no longer subscribing to this. I'm just. That hair does not define me anymore. It has taken me so many years and so many layers of shedding shame, shedding fear, shedding societal expectations, living up to those things. And even before I shaved, I had fear. Don't get me wrong, I was afraid, what am I going to look like? What are people? What's next? What's after you shave? Your hair is gone. You can't just grow back overnight. I had a lot of fears. But the minute when I took it all off and I saw myself in the mirror, I held my head and I cried and I was like, wow, this is how it feels to liberate yourself of all those things you've been carrying your entire life. Having to live up to those expectations and finally seeing yourself in a mirror, finally seeing yourself without a mask. Because we put on a mask, we wear these masks of clothing brands, hair, makeup, whatever, other things to distract people from seeing our true authentic selves. And it was the most amazing experience and so empowering. It changed so many things for me when I'd done that. The level of self acceptance, it's just amazing. And I recommend it to so many people in whatever shape or form to empower yourself to that degree where you actually just don't care what other people think and you just live your true authentic self. Just be you. If you love yourself, people have no choice but to accept you. Do you find that you get different

Joanne Lockwood: reactions from people now? I mean, I'm gonna say different, I guess, specifically around how men treat you than before. Do you get the impression men feel more threatened by you with the shorter hair, more nervous about you, more apprehensive about you, take you more seriously?

Raimonda Jankunaite: Don't know exactly. But I recall walking in a supermarket in London a couple months ago and I'm noticing guys don't pay attention to me the way they used to. I realised that so much attention used to come to me because of being that. Having that perception of a kind of woman that you are, right? The long blonde hair, the curves or whatever, you know, I used to get a lot of attention and now I realise, okay, I'm not getting that attention and I don't mind either way because I have a partner, I have family. So for me it's neither here or there, but it's just an interesting observation. And those who Know me, but perhaps don't know me personally that much, afraid to ask, why the change? Because they think maybe I. I'm sick, maybe I have cancer. And sometimes when I see them for the first time and I realise that they kind of looking but trying not to ask anything, I say, don't worry, this is just a style change. You can ask me and make a little joke. And those who are in my community, especially my peers, have really supported this change, like, really supported this change. They love the change and they said, this is. This really, really suits you. I think it's very

Joanne Lockwood: iconic. I think it suits you. And obviously different styles suit different people, but you kind of own it. You can see the empowerment there. I think from your authenticity point of view, it really is authentic with who you are and redefining your place in the world. I think it's very iconic. Thank

Raimonda Jankunaite: you. I appreciate it. Because I've got

Joanne Lockwood: other female friends who have felt the pressure to shorten their hair because in the workplace or in leadership positions, they felt they weren't being taken seriously having long hair and they had to get a bob because this is almost this perception that long hair equals young, short hair equals older and more mature. So this desire to be perceived as more mature, more capable and I think your style, if you don't mind me saying, confuses men because what they're seeing is an empowered woman who's prepared to buck their needs and treat it as yourselves. I guess men are more apprehensive around you and, yeah, scared. Maybe. You're scared. Yeah. Well, you know, I want

Raimonda Jankunaite: to just mention that my own partner. So this thought has come to my mind about two years ago and I said it to my partner, I said, I just want to shave it off. Honestly, dealing with so many challenges around my hair that I'm just tired. And at the time, I didn't go through with it. But he said to me, do it. Let's do it. Go for it. You're going to look amazing. And so when this next time I came around to him, I said, I think I'm really ready to do this now. I'm just so fed up. The hairdressers here in Spain causing me so much just, just. It was more headache than it was worth. And his wavering support and confidence and real love showed me that, you know, it doesn't matter what I look like, he loves me for who I am. And as that was enough of confirmation for me to say, I don't mind shaming it off, he's gonna still love Me. Regardless. Just for anyone who's listening, who hasn't got the

Joanne Lockwood: video of this podcast, I should explain that you are rocking a kind of a grade one, grade two at the moment with grade one, grade zero sides. So you've maintained the short hair even after several months now? Yeah, Yeah, I love

Raimonda Jankunaite: it. It's so easy to maintain. Sometimes I look at my older pictures, you know, the blonde hair, different looks and the curly hair. I mean, it looked nice and sometimes I miss it, but it's a different chapter and I have to just embrace this new chapter, new look. At first it was really strange because I didn't know what to wear. I didn't know what suited me. The colours no longer suit me, the dresses no longer suit me. So I was like, okay, we're gonna have to uplevel the entire wardrobe now.

Joanne Lockwood: What a hardship, Abe. What a hardship. I've gotta go shopping. It sounds like a real nightmare. I mean, if I was a prolific shopper, that would be

Raimonda Jankunaite: absolute pleasure, but I'm not quite. Well, you can always

Joanne Lockwood: embrace that. That new side of you. Yeah. Style queen.

Raimonda Jankunaite: Yeah. Yeah. But I am enjoying exploring who I am. In this new chapter. I. I was consciously aware of

Joanne Lockwood: my own hair. So for much of my life, pre transition, in my later years, I was, for the sake of ease and convenience, I was rocking a grade one, grade two. You just get so used to just jumping in the shower, quick, quick wash, quick rub with the towel, it's all dry and off you go. After my transition, hair meant something to me. So I started with wigs. Had a hair weave at one point, and then toppers. And then eventually I went for a hair transplant. I remember going into the hair transplant clinic and with the doctor, the surgeon, and he said, we're going to have to shave your head. And I was like, completely unprepared for this because I thought they would just work around what I had. So I'd grown my hair to roughly the length it is now to down to my shoulders. And so I was just imagining to pick bits out and just. And make it fine. He said, no, I've to shave it off. And I said, okay. And I needed 10 minutes to compose myself. I was crying my eyes out. I was kind of going, all of this because I'd known it had taken me two or three years to get to the length it was and it was going to go. I thought, wow. So I cried. They shaved it off. And then I thought, okay, you're not allowed to wear a wig or a hat or cover your Head for at least a fortnight and you shouldn't wear a wig for at least, I think it was a month or two months. I thought, wow, what am I going to do? I can't live. I've got to go out, I gotta, gotta do something. So I thought, okay, let me just open this. I. I rocked the scabby bald head look and I got some stuff, some big hoop earrings, some big bright lipstick. I just went for the soul singer. I was doing Zoom calls. I remember going to London and running a training course on site for somebody and I was still post surgery. Traumatic scabbed all over my head. I just walked in and just got on with my life. I think once I realised that all of those stories you tell yourself are just stories and you can overcome them. I thought, I remember thinking, because after the second, I had a second hair transplant, it was about 18 months after that, so I shaved it all off again, everything. I grew and I had to carry on again. But then the next time I was more empowered and I. I've got friends who had air transplants as well and they got back to the wig as soon as they could. And I thought, well, at some point when they're happy with themselves, they've got to transition again to take the wig off and declare, this is the real me. And I thought, with me, every day is a better day. Every millimetre it grows is a better day than it was yesterday. So I was able to grow into my style rather than have another step change another point. So, yeah, I was quite pleased with that, owning it. But yeah, it's so key to your identity and how you see yourself and how others perceive you. Such a massive. It plays a big part on your

Raimonda Jankunaite: confidence, on your subconscious. Look, when I shaved, at first I was elevated. I was absolutely amazed by the support. I was so confident, rocking it. And then few weeks passed and I started to feel the effects of it, started to judge myself, started to see myself differently. Oh, this doesn't fit me anymore. Do I look beautiful still? I started to question it and started to feel like I'm showing up less, not posting as confidently as I was not doing camera. And then I had to remind myself a little bit that, hey, this is not going to define you. And you made this choice. And before one of our major events recently, I called my boyfriend and said, I, I don't know what to wear. Nothing fits me no more. He said, why are you trying to still fit in your old clothes? You changed, you elevated. So everything needs to elevate Embrace it and go for it. So this advice was like, yeah, why am I still trying to fit into my old self? Just move on. And what you're wearing now is

Joanne Lockwood: it's like a limey yellowy colour blouse. Very striking, very contrasting. Yes. It's a beautiful dress and a beautiful necklace around your neck as well. So, yeah, kind of owning that look. Whereas if with the long hair, you would have covered half of that up, wouldn't you? You'd have covered your V neck up, your necklace up. It will all be around you. You say hiding behind the hair as a comfort blanket. Yeah,

Raimonda Jankunaite: that's a huge mask and that's what I realised. It was a big mask. And so many people hide behind those various things.

Joanne Lockwood: So you work with women all around the world. You're a global business. There's a lot of changes going on in the last month, I guess. Six weeks from over America, attitudes in the uk, rise of the far right in France, Germany, other countries as well. Unsettlement in the east of Europe around the worry about Russian threats. How are women experiencing this on a global basis? Is there. Is there worry out there? Certainly there's a lot of worry and

Raimonda Jankunaite: I think women feel things more global compassionately. Personally, it affects me personally, it seems like, well, it's all going on in the States and it shouldn't really bother us. I feel that is a personal threat on women, on minority groups, on LGBTQ communities, on minorities, on different continents of the world where the war is happening on children, the injustice and the far. The few people who are in power, the perception that they can do just about anything right and they own us. It's really heartbreaking. And at first it was very concerning and it is still very concerning because I think we're going through massive shift and change in the world and I don't know where this is leading us to yet, but something I realised that up until now, the enemy was hiding in the plain sight. It wasn't as obvious who our enemy was. Now they come out of the woodworks and we know exactly what we're up against. And we wouldn't be so driven to stand up and advocate and fight for our rights than we are more now. Because when your back is against the wall, you will do something to fight back. And up until now, our backs were never down, back to the wall, as hard as it is now. So now we know where we need to take action. Now we clearly there is no in between for people. Now. You either that way or the other way, you either support this New far right movement or you completely against. There's no middle, there is no grey zone. And for me it's really simple to say these are the people I'm with and these are the people I am not. It makes it a little bit clearer in the world, very concerning what's going on, but it's certainly time for all of us to start having a voice and start fighting for it. Right? I think you're right. I think before

Joanne Lockwood: the way hard right far right politics worked was they were picking people off in small subgroups and sort of talking to you, talking to you, talking to you. It didn't matter if the people talk to each other, as long as you were resonating with what caused me pain, I could ignore everything else. And now I think, as you say, because it's not hiding in plain sight, all those different areas of attack are coming out onto the table and they're all looking unpalatable to many. Even people that have been previously empowered to vote in favour of these views are now realising the impact of it's not just what gives me pain, there's the things that give me pleasure that are being curtailed. Women's reproductive rights, needing more masculine energy in business, removing women from positions of power because they seem to be less capable or weaker of the dei higher. All these kind of things. We're rolling back good business practise, not just dei, this is sound business practise and marginalising women still further. Just women. I mean, the whole. The decades of

Raimonda Jankunaite: work that has gone in into diversity and inclusion, into policies, into the work that has been done to build bridges, to build inclusivity, to give rights to minorities overnight being eradicated. How it's affecting us not just now, but how it's going to affect in generations to come, decades. So we are rolling way back and I look at, let's say the women in Afghanistan whose rights in the last few years have been taken away to the point where they have to cover the entire faces with burkers. They can't speak, they can't use public transport, they can't use. They can't walk out the house easily, they can't go to education, they can't go to hospitals without men's assistance. I mean, that was not the case just few years ago. What makes us think that we're safe in the rest of the world if these kind of things are being rolled back? So if we don't do something now, be very afraid that in a few years our society is going to look very different and the Next generations observing all of this will say this is normal. So we're rolling back decades, not just few years of work that's gone into it. Yes, it's almost like the dystopian Margaret Atwood

Joanne Lockwood: handmaid's tale come into fruition in plain sight. I think that's the shock. You know, I think during the last term of the current president we saw signs of this dystopian future. I think what's happened this time is it's been kind of where we picked where we finished off last time. It's now been accelerating and you know, LGBT rights, Q rights, rolling back the DEI programmes, replacing people in the federal government in positions of power in the executive branches. There's nobody left to say no. And every time you do say no, then you're being strong, armed out. And there's an immense amount of pressure on business leaders, the billionaires, the Zuckerbergs, the Bezos and the people who run these big companies to start winding it back. I saw the other day that Zuckerberg and his wife, I can't remember her name, Chan. So they have the Czi A foundation and they've removed all of the dei. They've even defunded some of the causes they were supporting that are pro dei. Facebook have even taken wheelchairs out of the avatar. They'll build your own avatar. Any pride outfits have all been taken out so you can't even express yourself using a Facebook avatar anymore to match your full identity. So these things are. Took years to build and now people are caving in for fear of. Fear of their own marginization, I guess. Survival. Yeah. If there was nothing to fear,

Raimonda Jankunaite: this would not be happening. Okay. They are too afraid of the power of these so called minorities because we are far from minorities. The exercise of their attempt of their power, honestly, I see it as a small man syndrome. I've seen it in my own country with men trying to exercise their power when they just simply don't feel empowered. And what's a biggest shame really is about that we're losing the ability. This huge divide is creating such a chaos that we're losing our ability.

Joanne Lockwood: To. See and appreciate each other's differences and how

Raimonda Jankunaite: much it is needed. You can't take away the fact that we have so many continents around the world that in each continent, each country there are different cultures, different colours, different. They're not minorities. I'm sorry? They are not minorities. Look at Africa, look at China, look at other parts of the world. These are not minorities. This is the rest of the world. So if you are living in this cave and you think you're the best and you're the most powerful, you may be acting like that, but I'm sorry, there is a lot more billion people in the world that see things differently. And as a leader myself and I have a community of more than 600,000 people embrace diversity, inclusion, that I embrace different voices because if we are only going to hear one type of voice, one type of perception, we're going to start believing it's true. And you can't be a right leader if you are going to be the only smartest person in the room. You can't. And you're only going to see things one way because like I said, there are so many people in the world. And if you think you, you're, you're the bee's knees and you're everything in this world, unfortunately you are living in a very delusional world.

Joanne Lockwood: So it's that part of the problem where. And again we're trying to create too many stereotypes. The the able bodied white man was perceiving that they were marginalised themselves. You know, we see the rise of figures like Andrew Tate with toxic masculinity and the incel movement gaining traction against with young men in the belief that they're the ones that are getting no advantages now. You know, it's all for people of colour, for queer people. If you're straight and white, then there's nothing for you anymore. Yeah, just feeling

Raimonda Jankunaite: threatened. They're feeling threatened, yeah, because they don't have a club

Joanne Lockwood: to stand up for them. And maybe that's sdei being too exclusionary on and exclusion the majority. You know, we need men in the conversation to create change and we all know, we all know that men often don't want to join into those conversations because they, they don't understand or they don't have the tools or capability to be great allies or to challenge their own behaviour. Sometimes

Raimonda Jankunaite: their behaviour not being challenged as well. This is where the open conversation leads to change. Inclusion of different voices, perspectives, experiences. If you don't understand what one is experiencing, you're not willing to listen how you're going to know. So you're living in your silo of your own experience and you're expecting or you thinking everything is great until you start to experience. Even Elon Musk, his daughter, his son, sorry, came out as trans. Like she wanted a change and he was not accepting it. That's on his own doorstep. So not only you're not willing to accept that Society is changing and there are people with different experiences, but you're always also disowning your own daughter. Fear of a lack of understanding and fear. It's more

Joanne Lockwood: than just disowning his daughter. He's now an active part of a regime that is trying to exterminate and eradicate anybody who's not straight and cis. And you know, we may be talking about trans, non binary people, queer people today, but there's certainly no exceptions for people of any part of the sexual spectrum or gender spectrum. And we'll see, I'm sure we'll see further eradication of gay rights, lesbian rights, bi rights in the future. And this is just the first step. And that's certainly what we see the far right in the UK and other places. It's us today, you tomorrow, that's the worrying thing. It just escalate the purging of. I'm not going to say it's going to be euthanasia or ethnic cleansing or anything like this, but there is a purging of people who aren't fitting into the stereotype. Truth is you're not going to

Raimonda Jankunaite: eradicate them. You will disempower them and you'll think they non existent, but you will not eradicate people. And there is still power in the masses. And our choices are, we still have, we hold a lot of financial power in our choices and our voices and as long as we don't buy into the messaging of disempowerment. Because yes, you may not be able to change anything, but that does not need to change your life completely. Your choices, what you stand for in, in how you treat others and how you respect others in the way you advocate for others, like in your workplace. Don't allow that narrative to be happening, don't allow the behaviour be the one that caused out in your society, in your community. Because change starts at macro level, not just at the massive level when the leaders fail us. We need to start looking at the difference that we can make at a macro level. That's where we need to start putting our efforts in. How are you seeing the impact

Joanne Lockwood: of what's going on in America right now, on Europe? I think I always perceive that the UK is very much more culturally tied to America, economically, politically and kind of emotionally. That doesn't necessarily translate into a French, a Spanish, a German, a Swiss or other Nordic views. Does it translate the same? I'm a great believer as a UK person, we should be looking right, not looking left all the time. We should be looking to our closest Partners, obviously Brexit messed a lot of that up, but we should be looking to our European partners where we're more culturally similar. I believe in many respects, I think. They just need to have more backbone, simply. Yeah. You know,

Raimonda Jankunaite: have the strength to stand up for something, not. Listen, the reason why I never went down the corporate route, because I'm not going to come to anyone and therefore I believe that hold your own, have your own culture, have your own beliefs, have, you know, like, like France, look how strong they are. You try something with French people, they'll come and put their tractors in front of your government and pour crap all over the floor. Yes. Yeah, they're not having it, but slowly, slowly. I think people in the UK have been conditioned and just, you know, when you're trying to fry, boil a frog, English people have been unfortunately boiled slowly to now accept whatever the government is giving them. And it's a shame because the government is not really as strong backbone as I think they could be right now.

Joanne Lockwood: Yeah. I think if you go back to the 1970s, there was the, the miners strike, there was the Thatcher government and the, the political will at that time was to break the back and the morale of the, of the worker. And I think they quite effectively did that. So the same way, as you mentioned, France, as you say, they'll barricade, they'll. They'll put sheep everywhere and make a mess everything, close everything down. And that's kind of culturally the way they do things in this country. They're more like to send the riot police in and arrest people, change the laws, ban it, which we've seen. Some of the anti protest laws that have come out have been to prevent that kind of. The French behaviour for whatever way of describing it. Yeah. Culturally, we don't want to make a fuss, do we? We want to have a cup of tea and sit down and be very nice about things and play cricket, which I think we're evolving away from that. And I think the more we see the echoes of what happens if we don't speak up around the world, then we're going, hang on a minute, we don't want to go back. And I'm not seeing, apart from the media, which is. Right, right. Biassed. I'm not saying much, much momentum to go back to the right again. Well, you never know. You never know. Yeah, the uproar is not as strong and

Raimonda Jankunaite: I think until something is completely on your doorstep and affecting you so much that it's causing you pain, people will not take action. And because it's not happening on their doorstep, they just simply ignore it. They can get on with their daily lives and that's fine. Personally, it doesn't sit right with me. And every single day I wake up and think, how can I make a difference in a story world? Might not be able to change everything that's happening, but it starts with us. It starts with us having a voice, putting our voice, advocating for ourselves, advocating for others, knowing you're not the only one in this world and you need to have a voice and be an ally for those who perhaps don't have a voice. Yeah, no,

Joanne Lockwood: for sure. I completely. That's the song I'm singing as well. Yeah. And I, I like many, get frustrated. We can't change the world. But we're both speakers, we're both able to speak up. And part of our reason to speak is to have that voice to speak out and change as many people as we can around us. And hopefully those people will change people around them as well. I think we can start by changing ourselves, influencing others and creating a momentum richer. If we abdicate responsibility, then who's going to do it? We can't. Unfortunately,

Raimonda Jankunaite: the last few years has showed us that we can't trust leadership to have our backs and therefore we have to have our own backs.

Joanne Lockwood: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean I've gone into reflective mode now thinking about what you're saying. Yeah. Because it is. And you took, you gave, you gave some thoughts there. But you speak to your large community of global menu women. How can each one of them step up and get in, get involved in it? How can people empower themselves for social justice, for social change, or even pure resistance and saying no, what are things that people can do? I think

Raimonda Jankunaite: being part of communities that are like minded is this first step because a lot of spaces are no longer safe spaces and finding spaces where we can have those conversations, where we can create movements. Taking your own responsibility for your part in this world and knowing that you doing nothing or just coming off social media isn't going to solve the problem. So many people see I'm just coming off social media. That's not solving the problem. It might be giving you peace of mind, but that action is going to come and bite you in the ass in a few years time when you're starting to see all your rights being rolled back. So it's not a time to stay quiet and just do nothing. See what you can do within your community. Events, host podcasts, start those conversations, become more vocal, be more empowered to speak up. We're still very, very disempowered to speak our truth. Too afraid of judgement, too afraid to stick out, let's stick out. Let's be that sore thumb, right, that is going to keep pointing the finger at what is wrong in this society right now. So maybe those who don't actually see it can start to realise that we are those frogs that are being boiled in the water right now, slowly and not realising it. It's time to take action. It's time to get angry. It's time to get vocal. We can't sit here and continue accepting this as our new reality. So the future generations will look back on us and say, what did you do when you had the choice to do something? If your answer will be, I sat back and watched it all unfold, it's not going to be good enough. Yeah, that's well said. I completely resonate with that.

Joanne Lockwood: I mean, I. I started saying recently that my existence is resistance. And by my very existence, I challenge people's definition of what should or shouldn't be. So if I. If I remove myself from the spaces that they're making uncomfortable for me, I make it more comfortable for them. So by being that grain of salt in the mollusk, let's make some pearls. Let's be annoying, let's. Let's rive up the people the wrong way. Because if I shut down and go away, they've won and I'm more empowered. And I've never used the word. I don't identify as a word activist. I don't want to be an activist. But maybe activism is not settling for the status quo. Maybe it's speaking up, maybe it's being that resistance. Because if I don't, then who will? If not me, then who? By having a voice. If I. My voice, if my voice isn't in the conversation, whose will be? Because the conversation will still happen. If we're not there, people will just make up their own stories. So you need to have the voice of opposition, the voice of difference, the voice of another perspective. And no matter how challenging that is sometimes, and I do a lot of media interviews and it's. They're very toxic. They're designed to attack. But if I'm. If I'm not doing it, who will? Yeah, yeah,

Raimonda Jankunaite: we. We publish a lot of books and stories of women and you not sharing your story is you not empowering or being a voice for somebody else right now. And we have to, because as you said, our voice is going to be silenced. So many books are being pulled from the Libraries because it's the attempt to silence and eradicate us. So if you leave social media, you stop speaking, you stop showing up. Yeah. You become non existent. Yeah. And you know, you just look back through

Joanne Lockwood: time, how women have been repressed, you know, with gaslighting, domestic violence, abuse. And the story is the same. Don't speak up, it'll be shameful. Don't tell your friends because they'd be shame. When women finally have the courage to leave a toxic relationship, people say, well, why didn't you do it sooner? Well, I couldn't. I was tied up. There was financial, there was emotional pressure, no one would believe me. And that's because people are being silenced. And if you don't speak up and have a voice, then no one will hear you. So we need to create spaces where people can speak up, can be heard and we can amplify, which is, I think, a lot of what your community does as well, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. We host events globally,

Raimonda Jankunaite: virtually. I publish a magazine. So my whole entire mission is to create a platform, global platform for women to have a voice, to be advocates to. We have Women Thrive Media, which is a publishing company, so we publish books, solo authors, co authored books, magazines, host events and do a lot of production on podcasts, doing social media lives any way, shape or form. I can help women amplify their voices and make them heard because I have been blessed to have been built, to have built such a big community and audience globally. I have that responsibility to do that. And luckily my mission is, I guess, the right mission with the right intention to spotlight women and give them the voice. And the empowerment piece runs deep through everything that I do, from the way I handle our clients, our partners, our team to the way I run everything is all about empowerment. And it's a byproduct if, if anybody comes into our community, into connection with us, you experience the same thing. And by the end you can't help but feel empowered and supported to share your voice, to share your message, to have collaborations and step out there knowing that you have the support and backing of a bigger organisation. It's bigger than me. It's a movement and that's what we're doing. It's been a quite a

Joanne Lockwood: monumental rise. I mean, when I first, I think when we first met, it wasn't necessarily the right at the beginning, but it was in the earlier days and the growth has been phenomenal over the last four or five years. Yeah, it has.

Raimonda Jankunaite: It was the right time for, for the right thing in the first year, when I started using Instagram, we grew to a hundred thousand followers and I was just like, wow, that is just insane. And then we triple that on Facebook. It's just been a huge growth. But consistency in everything, in my brand, in my messaging, in showing up, in my commitment, in the things that we do. You know, publishing and the magazine and the summits that I do every, every March to celebrate Women's History Month creates momentum. I started small. I started at nothing. I started in 2017 with zero followers. And so my success or the rise of our community is not some kind of magic and overnight shot. It happened because of the dedication and the mission behind it. No, I

Joanne Lockwood: completely applaud your passion, focus and mission. So it's been phenomenal to just keep in contact with you and see and see what you do. I'm sure you have inspired the person at the end of this set of headphones that's listening to this right now, and they want to find out more. How can they get in contact with you? Do you want to give some URL to your website? Well, put them in the show notes, but just tell people how, then get hold of you. Yeah, I mean,

Raimonda Jankunaite: anywhere you search. Women Thrive, Women Thrive Media, Women Thrive Magazine, Women Thrive Summit is where you will find us. Like I said, we host an annual summit that happens every March, third week of March, we have our books that we publish, which is called Women Thrive, that are published on Amazon and we have fourth edition now out. And Women Thrive magazine goes, goes out and ships globally. So you can go to womenthrimagazine.com and any other websites. As long as you Google Women Thrive Media, you will find us.

Joanne Lockwood: And so if you say you're on Facebook, you're on Instagram, people can find you on LinkedIn. But yeah, women Thrive is the key search term.

Raimonda Jankunaite: Yeah, absolutely. You'll find a lot. And the best part, you'll find not only a voice of mine, but voice of other women who have risen together to this common mission to empower, inspire others. Their stories. It's not about me. It's about our collective voices coming together. You've ignited a movement, I

Joanne Lockwood: think is probably the phrase, isn't it? You've given people a collective power of voice. And I think that's, that's what you've achieved. And I think, as you said, now is a time when it's needed more than ever. From Afghanistan, Ukraine, across Europe, UK and now in the US across the world. And there's still areas of the world where women need to be heard. You know, the World Economic Forum is still talking about 200 years for gender equity across the globe, 80 to 100 years in Western Europe. So there's a long way to go and a long way that women need to have their voices heard. So, Amanda, thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming on. I've loved our conversation. It's been amazing. Thank you for the opportunity.

Raimonda Jankunaite: It's been so much fun to just catch up and hopefully inspire other people to use the power of their voice and be part of communities and create safe spaces for others to flourish and appreciate each other's differences. I always say there's so much more that unites us than separates us, and I hope that is a message that we can continue to carry and respect and love each other. Thank you. As

Joanne Lockwood: we bring this conversation to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude to you, our listener, for lending your ear and heart to the cause of inclusion. Today's discussion struck a chord. Consider subscribing to Inclusion Bites and become part of our ever growing community driving real change. Share this journey with friends, family and colleagues. Let's amplify the voices that matter. Got thoughts, stories or a vision to share? I'm all ears. Reach out to jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk and let's make your voice heard. Until next time, this is Joanne Lockwood signing off with a promise to return with more enriching narratives that challenge, inspire and unite us all. Here's to fostering a more inclusive world one episode at a time. Catch you on the next bite.