Going back to basics with shyness expert Nadia Finer. 
What is shyness? When do we feel shy? Why do we feel shy?

Horse Whispering - How horses can help shy people.
With Carol Trengereid, the Horse Confidence Builder.

My Shy Life: Katie's story

Shy person, Shay, finds the courage to share her story and experiences of shyness. 

Handling sensitivity and stress, with hypnotherapist Will Aylward 

Tune in for words of wisdom from Dr Joanna Martin, founder of One of Many.  We discuss shyness, growing up and what organisations can do to better support their shy people. 

Interview with Josie Dom - children's book author 

Tune in to discover lots more tips on how to shine in an interview as a shy person.

In this latest episode of the Shy and Mighty show, I'm talking about job interviews. I know nailing an interview can be super stressful when you're shy, which is why I'm on hand to offer a whole bunch of top tips to help you shine. 

Mary Baird-Wilcock has one goal to help people simplify their lives. With over 16+ years of experience in running her own company, she coaches creative entrepreneurs on how to simplify and optimize the operations side of their small business, including sales mastery, shifting towards a thriving mindset, and how to do less to accomplish more. Ultimately, helping them become a hero.
Mary is the host of The Simplifiers Podcast, where she takes topics in business and in life and SIMPLIFIES them. Her podcast has thousands of devoted listeners in 106 countries around the world and is rapidly growing!
An international public speaker who's been published in Forbes magazine, Huffington Post, MSN, Metro and featured as one of the “Top 25 Young Event Pros to Watch” by Special Events Magazine. Mary is also on a mission to share the gospel of what a Texas breakfast taco is all about.
Visit thesimplifiers.com to listen to the podcast and get connected!

Tell me a bit about your shyness... (if you're going to be sharing your story with us)
I was a terribly shy child all the way up to when I was 13 years old. My favorite pastime was playing in my closet with all my toys and closing the accordion doors, shutting out the outside world. It was my safe space and I didn't have to interact with others. However, one day at age 13, I felt like the Universe whispered in to my ear... "if you continue to close out the world, you'll miss out on so much in life. Life is better together." From there, I've cultivated my ability to be bold, courageous and learn how to spark a conversation with anyone at anytime. I've slowly changed from being an introvert to an ambivert, learning how to navigate my shyness and turn it into a superpower of attentive listening and kindness. This has helped me build a multiple six-figure business (The Simplifiers) and opened up doors you couldn't even imagine throughout my career so far.

How has being shy impacted you personally and professionally, would you say?
When my shyness flares up, I start to doubt my innate abilities to do the work I'm here to do, professionally. And when I let the shyness pop up in my personal life, I find I'm not as assertive as I should be, laying down my needs/wants/desires to placate others. Not good. I've been doing the work over the years to reverse this and happy to share what's helped.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a shy person?
Fear of failure
Fear of rejection
Fear of abandonment

In your expert opinion, what do you think we could do better to help shy people be more mighty?
Remember, "shy" doesn't always equal "introvert". Even ambiverts and extroverts can feel shy. Remove the stigma and educate the masses to help people feel more comfortable in big moments in work and life.

What specific tips or advice would you like to share with the Shy and Mighty listeners to help them overcome the aspects of their shyness that are holding them back?
- nurture the people around you to form deeper relationships (clients, colleagues, prospects, friends, neighbors, and beyond)
- cultivate your BOLDness and simply ASK!
- together is better... alone serves no one.
- do less to accomplish more... that is the art of simplifying

thesimplifiers.com

How to squash the demons and sell yourself,  with author and writer Gillian Harvey

How to overcome social anxiety with Mark Metry, author of Screw Being Shy. 

Mark shares his journey from having severe social anxiety, where he was unable to speak to anyone or even make eye contact, to becoming a socially free person and speaking on stage to thousands of people worldwide. 

Mark shares his advice on how to move beyond the fear of judgement so that you can get on with living your life. 

Antonina Mamzenko is an award-winning family photojournalist based in London, UK. Originally from Russia, she's been living in the UK for the past 15 years and working as a professional photographer since 2009. She's also a mother, a bookworm, a geek and a hippy-at-heart who loves to travel. She uses her camera and curiosity to find love, joy, beauty and humour in unexpected places.

"I've been shy and quiet for as long as I can remember. I've always felt different from my peers at school, and I'd always been much happier to be reading a book than talking to people. But I think I also had quite a low self-esteem and that made me doubt myself and what I wanted and as a result, I wouldn't pursue it or not tell anyone about it. Like I really wanted to write novels as a teenager but even that I was shy about and embarrassed to admit and show my writings to anyone.

But curiously my mother told me recently that as a pre-schooler I wasn't really that shy at all. I was talking all the time, asking questions, etc. I'm not exactly sure when and what happened, it could have been a passing comment from someone that really made an impression on me, or at nursery me wanting to play with older kids as I was quite advanced and was bored in my age group, but obviously the older kids didn't want to have anything to do with me, I don't know. But eventually, I just shut down and became very shy.

And now I have a 9-year-old son who is also very shy (but also extraverted!) and it falls on me to be understanding of his shyness but also encouraging him to overcome it without pushing him too much. It's been an interesting challenge and a process.

Professionally, my shyness has meant I wasn't able to grow my business as fast as I would have liked. It's only in the past 2-3 years that I've been able to step over my shyness and really put myself out there, go meet new people, do interviews and talks and so on. Before that, just speaking on a podcast would have been my worst nightmare! I remember being asked to do a presentation as I was graduating with my Masters here in the UK and it nearly killed me and was a disaster!

When I first started as a photographer I was convinced I couldn't be a people photographer because I wasn't confident or assertive enough directing a crowd. It's only years and years later I realized that my shyness and quietness is my unique gift and embraced it. So I don't direct people, I could quietly observe them and create the most unique photographs that capture real moments that are just so precious.

Personally... I really like people and having deep, interesting conversations with people, but I've often been too shy to say "hi" first and start that conversation. Thank god for the internet as that way I've been able to start making connections much easier and then take them offline.

I've gotten a lot better at overcoming my shyness in social situations. But I think people still can sometimes assume that I just don't like them or that I'm not friendly, whereas I'm just shy and really want them to make that first move!

Having said that, it's been a huge help to know that some of my idols both in the photography industry and generally in the world are actually quite shy and introverted, but they work on themselves to still put themselves out there and have successful careers. I'm also very introverted and reading Quiet, the book by Susan Cain, has been eye-opening and empowering in understanding that it's normal and the boundaries I need to have in place in order to function at my best."

How to find your happy - with Shrink Mom, aka psychologist Lindsay Weisner

Shoot me! My super self conscious photoshoot

Grilling politicians with Nice Boss, Roopam Carroll