There are words we use in business every single day that are doing far more damage than we realise. This week on Clowning Around Again, Em Stroud sits down with Laura Fleming Schulte, B2B pipeline strategist and founder, who has spent over 20 years navigating life and business in a language that isn't her own. Together they explore what it really means to choose your words in business, why so much of the language used in sales and marketing is actively pushing people away, and how the gap between what you say and what your audience hears can make or break a deal. From accidental slang in a Munich bakery to the warfare metaphors hiding in plain sight across every sales pipeline, this conversation is sharp, funny and genuinely eye-opening for anyone building a business on connection, communication and trust.

About Laura Fleming Schulte:
Laura Fleming Schulte is a B2B pipeline strategist who spent 15+ years building partner-led growth across EMEA — from HP and AWS ecosystems to a GTM platform serving 2,000+ brands and a DAX IPO. She founded Project Renaissance to solve the problem she kept seeing at every stage: business leaders with real traction and warm networks, but no system to convert either into predictable pipeline. Through the Pipeline Compounder, she builds the infrastructure that keeps warm leads moving — the newsletter, the LinkedIn system, the visibility, the automations — so founders and investors are chosen before the conversation begins, and she publishes Primed, a bi-weekly email newsletter for business builders ready to convert the invisible leads sitting in their dark pipeline.

Follow Laura:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/laura-fleming-schulte
Sign up for Laura's Newsletter: https://primed.beehiiv.com/

Follow Em:
YouTube: @TheComicCoach for complete video interviews
TikTok: @emthecomic for clips and latest updates
Website: emstroud.com

Bravery rarely announces itself, and this week on Clowning Around Again, Em Stroud sits down with the truly brilliant Maleena Pone to explore exactly that. From what it means to stay in a relationship with your own truth, to the quiet, defiant choices that define a brave life, this conversation goes deep in the most joyful and unexpected ways. Maleena brings warmth, wisdom and a wonderful clarity to everything she touches, and her perspective as a British Indian filmmaker, storyteller and trauma-informed creative coach makes for an episode that is as thought-provoking as it is genuinely moving. Expect honest reflections on identity, creative courage, gut feeling and why being consistently yourself might just be the bravest thing any of us can do. Do not miss this one.

About Maleena Pone:
Maleena Pone is a British Indian producer, director, storyteller and trauma-informed creative coach exploring identity, healing, courage and human connection through documentary and conversation. She is the founder of StoryTell-Her Studios, a platform dedicated to emotionally intelligent storytelling and culturally rooted narratives. Her work spans branded content, impact storytelling and self-authored documentary filmmaking, with a focus on amplifying underrepresented voices and creating meaningful dialogue.

Follow Maleena:
Website: www.maleenapone.com
Instagram: @maleenapone
LinkedIn: Maleena Pone
Substack: StoryTell-Her Time with Maleena

Follow Em:
YouTube: @TheComicCoach for complete video interviews
TikTok: @emthecomic for clips and latest updates
Website: emstroud.com

Em Stroud welcomes Jay Stansfield to Clowning Around Again for a joyful and honest conversation about creativity, what it truly means to live creatively, and why so many adults convince themselves they're "not creative." Jay shares how growing up in Lancashire with parents who simply wanted him to be happy gave him the freedom to become the artist, musician, and children's creator he is today. Em and Jay explore the golden age of 1980s children's television, the danger of social media comparison, the vulnerability of sharing your creative work, and why the only way to start drawing (or anything creative) is simply to start. Expect laughs, Lancashire sheep, Button Moon nostalgia, a Beatles deep cut, and a very public promise from Em to pick up a pencil.

About Jay Stansfield:

Jay Stansfield is a multipotentialite creating illustrations, songs, audio and animations every day of his waking existence. He's had an award for his colouring journal Squibbles, with work being exhibited on billboards in Times Square and Art Basel in Miami plus two graphic novel magazines in association with Bookmark Reading Charity distributed to over 30,000 children across the UK. His band ALL HAIL HYENA have had over a million audio streams and over 80 million social media video views and are currently promoting their new album 'Passive Regression Party' plus his podcast Voice Notes Suck, created entirely via voice notes with his mate Dave, has been nominated for an ARIA in the Innovative Technology category.

Follow Jay:

Facebook: facebook.com/thesquibbles

Instagram: instagram.com/jaystansfield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jaystansfield

Twitter/X: x.com/jaystansfield

The Squibbles: thesquibbles.com

Follow Em:

• YouTube: @TheComicCoach for complete video interviews
• TikTok: @emthecomic for clips and latest updates
• Website: emstroud.com