The Girlfriends: Spotlight

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E20: Rosamund Clears the Air 30.03.2026 41мин

In 2013, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s nine-year-old daughter, Ella, died from a catastrophic asthma attack. Her death transformed her mum into a formidable campaigner. First, she fought to find out what had killed Ella - why had her previously healthy little girl suddenly developed breathing problems so bad they would become fatal? The answer lay very close to home - Ella, Rosamund and her siblings lived just off the busy South Circular Road, and the air pollution levels were dangerously high. Rosamund’s fight led to Ella becoming the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause of death on her death certificate. Now Rosamund is one of the world’s leading campaigners to clean up dirty air globally. In this episode, she’s joined by a very special guest: Anna’s mum, Rachel Sinfield. Rachel’s tiny son, Kit, also died from an unexpected asthma attack, and she’s inspired by Rosamund’s work. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit novel.audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E19: Lejla Fights for the Invisible 23.03.2026 39мин

Christmas Day, 1992. Sarajevo, Bosnia. War is ranging - Serb forces surround the city. For nearly four years, its people have endured daily shelling and sniper attacks, cut off from the rest of the world in the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare. More than 11,000 people were killed. 1600 of them were children. And in the main hospital, a baby is born: Lejla Damon. Her mother didn’t want anything to do with her - if she held her, she said, she would strangle her. Lejla was born of sexual violence used as a weapon of war. Her birth mother had been raped, repeatedly, by Serb soldiers in a concentration camp. And Lejla was just too closely linked to her attackers for her to bear. Lejla was adopted by a British couple, and grew up in London. She felt alone in her earliest life experiences. But in adulthood, she’s found her Bosnian identity, and become an advocate for the countless other ‘invisible’ children around the world born of sexual violence used as a weapon of war. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit novel.audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E18: Antonia Pickets the Lusty Lady 16.03.2026 39мин

It’s the 1990s in San Francisco, and Antonia Crane is a dancer at the legendary peep show, the Lusty Lady. In the dressing room and the mirrored ‘Fishbowl’ where the dancers perform in six inch heels, a revolution is brewing. The dancers are sick of putting up with workplace injustices, or customers filming them without their consent. And they’re about to take on the system and fight to become one of the first unionised strip clubs in the United States. Antonia Crane is author, activist, sex worker and PhD candidate at USC. You can read more about her life in her memoir, ‘Spent’. The other books mentioned in this episode are ‘Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry,’ by Professor Siobhan Brooks, another Lusty Lady alum; and ‘The Ethical Stripper’ by Stacey Clare. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit Novel.Audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E17: Tooba Stumps the Taliban 09.03.2026 33мин

When the Taliban captured Herat City in August 2021, Tooba Sarwari had just one thing on her mind: cricket. Would she ever be able to play her beloved sport again? And more pressing, would the Taliban find the evidence of her and her team mates’ sporting achievements? If they did, it would surely spell the end for them and their families. This is the story of how Tooba, and the other members of the Afghan Women’s Cricket Team, risked everything to flee Afghanistan and start a new life in Australia - with the help of some cricketing friends. And how once they were there, they began to rebuilt the team… The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit novel.audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E16: Hélène Outwits the Nazis 02.03.2026 43мин

Germany. Spring 1945. The writing is on the wall for the Nazis. And thousands of women are marching along dirt roads. If they stop walking, they’ll be shot. Their route is lined with piles of corpses. It’s a death march. Among these women are The Nine. Nine young women, all members of the French resistance, who have formed an extraordinary bond of friendship and support in the concentration camp in which they’ve been held. Their unofficial leader is 25-year-old Hélène Podliasky. And she’s about to suggest something incredible: The Nine are going to escape. Hélène’s story is told by her great niece, the writer Gwen Strauss. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit novel.audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E15: Jacquie Saves a Hostage 23.02.2026 42мин

Jacquie Davis joined the police when she was just 18 years old. She was fearless and ambitious, but she quickly realised her career progression was limited by her gender and education. Everything changed when she was recruited into The Circuit - a secretive network of freelance security professionals. As one of the only women in her field, Jacquie’s career as a bodyguard would take her to incredible places - from high-risk protection jobs for Gulf State Sheikhas, to cracking a theft ring at bougie London department store Liberty, to a daring mission to free a pregnant British woman trapped in Pakistan. Risking arrest and armed conflict, will Jacquie and her charge make it across the mountains and to safety in India? The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit novel.audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E14: Visaka Sparks a Ceasefire 16.02.2026 34мин

When Visaka Dharmadasa’s soldier son was kidnapped by the fearsome Tamil Tigers in the midst of Sri Lanka’s bitter civil war, she couldn’t find anyone who could help find him - or the 608 other soldiers who had been taken the same night. So Visaka transformed herself, first into a fighter against the bureaucracy of the Sri Lankan government and the Red Cross, and then into a fearsome peace activist. Defying warnings, she crosses into Tamil Tiger territory and sits down with some of the terrorist group’s most notorious leaders, appealing to their humanity as a mother. And eventually, they listen. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit Novel.Audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight Is Back... 09.02.2026 1мин

In Season 1 of The Girlfriends: Spotlight, our global gang of girlfriends grew to include Pussy Riot’s punk icon and political prisoner Nadya Tolokonnikova, British Nigerian beauty queen and founder of Miss Trans Global, Miss saHHara and ‘The Erin Brockovich of East Africa’, environmental activist Phyllis Omido, to name a few. Now Anna Sinfield is back with more incredible stories of women like Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, who battled through trauma, loss and addiction to become the first Peruvian woman to summit Mount Everest, and Visaka Dharmadasa, a Sri Lankan mother who sat face to face with notorious terrorists and helped end a civil war. Come back every week for more stories of women winning. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit Novel.Audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E13: Silvia Climbs to the Top of the World 09.02.2026 39мин

When you’ve suffered childhood trauma, endured alcohol abuse, been through awful bereavements, how can you heal? For Silvia Vasquez-Lavado the answer was to climb to the top of the world - and then take other traumatised women and girls with her. Silvia is the first Peruvian woman to summit Mount Everest and the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain on each continent. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit novel.audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E12: Lois Captures Criminals 03.11.2025 36мин

Lois Gibson has a rare gift: A gift for accurately drawing people she’s never seen before, from fragmented descriptions from traumatised witnesses. And that gift is incredibly useful to the Houston Police Department. Lois is the world’s most successful forensic artist. Over 40 years, on more than 5089 cases, she’s worked with victims and witnesses to painstakingly piece together a likeness of a suspect. And in more than 1313 cases, her drawings have nailed it with a conviction - case closed. This is the story of how she found this talent in one of the very darkest moments of her own life. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit Novel.Audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E11: Miss saHHara Crowns Queens 27.10.2025 43мин

Miss saHHara was born to be a beauty pageant queen. As a child at home in Nigeria she would wrap herself in a mosquito net and sashay along a make-believe cat walk, delivering inspirational speeches to an imagined audience. But when she grew up and started to compete, she found that not only was she rejected from all the mainstream pageants she tried to enter, even trans beauty pageants seemed to celebrate all the cliched cisgender beauty norms. So, Miss saHHara decided to do something about it: She founded Miss Trans Global, a pageant where everybody is welcome, and where your advocacy and community work mean much more than the lightness of your skin or the bounciness of your hair. The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit Novel.Audio

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E10: Phyllis Saves the People from Poisoning 20.10.2025 32мин

Phyllis Omido is just a few months into a new job, when her infant son starts to get sick. Fevers, dehydration, hospitalisation - Phyllis is scared. Then the doctors give her some shocking news: Her son has lead poisoning. The metal smelting plant where Phyllis works, just outside Mombassa, Kenya, is leeching toxic chemicals into the water of the nearby river. And her son isn’t the only one who’s unwell: she believes the factory is poisoning the whole community. So Phyllis turns campaigner, and starts gathering stories from all over town. Children with skin burned off, babies dying in the womb, women with mysterious fatal illnesses… And she’s going to force her employer, and the Kenyan government, to pay attention. It’s a fight that will see her life threatened, and her dubbed ‘The Erin Brockovich of East Africa’.   The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit Novel.AudioSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E9: Jasvinder Redefines Honour 13.10.2025 46мин

When Jasvinder Sanghera was just 15 years old, her mum told her that she was going to be married to a man she had never met. Jasvinder’s older sisters had been through similar things. But instead of going along with the way things had always been in her family and community, Jasvinder escaped. And then, she helped thousands of other women and girls to do the same.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E8: Nadya & Pussy Riot Punk the President 26.05.2025 41мин

When Nadya Tolokonnikova saw her country Russia change under President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime, she knew she had to do something. She started the iconic ski-mask-wearing art protest collective Pussy Riot. On February 21st, 2012, they performed their anti-Putin protest song, Punk Prayer, in a Moscow church, launching Nadya into overnight activist fame… and a prison labour camp.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E7: Eilís Runs the Ball Barn 19.05.2025 42мин

As a trans woman, Eilís Ní Fhlannagáin didn’t have much faith in mainstream health care. So when she wanted gender affirming surgery to remove her testicles, she turned to her best friend and trainee doctor Willow, and asked her to perform the operation in her living room… From this humble beginning, Eilís and Willow built a whole clinic dedicated to trans women - in a tractor barn in the rural Pacific North West. Related Resources Sylvia Rivera Law Project Big Door Brigade - Mutual Aid Toolbox Transgender Law Centre Trans Rescue The Gender Reveal Podcast Jesse Lou Lawson - Media consultancy The Girlfriends: Spotlight is not affiliated to any of these organizations and we are not in a position to endorse them.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E6: Madison and Christine Become Digital Detectives 05.05.2025 45мин

Madison Conradis had her life turned upside down when someone began posting naked photos of her online. Soon, the abuse intensified with anonymous messages and calls to her family, friends and even her boss… The police didn’t seem to care, so Madison turned to her twin sister Christine for help. Together, they transformed into online sleuths, tracking the harasser across the country to get justice for Madison and other victims too.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E5: Rose Solves, At Least, 86 Cold Cases 28.04.2025 40мин

Rose Brady’s job running Baltimore County’s SVU was a frustrating one. The sexual violence crimes she and her team were investigating were just the tip of the iceberg. Her department was sitting on thousands of unsolved rape cases, dating back decades - with little hope of ever finding the perpetrators. That was until Rose made an incredible discovery: At a local hospital, a diligent forensic pathologist had kept in storage all the biological evidence from every rape exam he had ever performed. This could be the key to getting justice for hundreds of desperate women. This is a story of hard work, dogged persistence and a series of incredible coincidences… If you’ve been affected by sexual violence, there are organisations which can help. In the US: https://www.nsvrc.org/survivors In the UK: https://survivorsnetwork.org.uk/get-help/

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E4: June Rocks America 21.04.2025 46мин

From the moment she heard a guitar being played in an empty classroom at her convent school in the Philippines in 1961, June Millington knew what she wanted to do with her life: rock and roll. So when a girl called up June and her sister and asked if they wanted to start a band, the answer was hell yeah. They went on to become Fanny, the first all-female rock band to release an album with a major record label. June and her bandmates moved into a house in LA, toured the world and won fans like David Bowie. But they were also up against sexist stereotypes, skeptical audiences and critics who couldn’t believe that a group of women could rock just as hard as any guy. But June wasn’t about to let that stop her. This is the story of how she stuck it to the man and blazed a trail for generations of female musicians to come. June is the co-founder of the Institute for the Musical Arts, which offers workshops and events for women in music: https://ima.org/

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E3: Nelly Goes Undercover 14.04.2025 41мин

Nellie Bly was a true trailblazer. In late 19th century America, women were expected to get married and become housewives, or go into a suitable career like teaching. But Nellie didn’t do any of that. Instead, she changed journalism forever, becoming one of the world’s first female investigative journalists, and paving the way for a generation of incredible ‘Girl Stunt Reporters’. And Nellie’s first investigation was probably her most dangerous: In 1887, she deliberately got herself committed to the most notorious insane asylum in New York, to expose the abuse of women inside its walls. She was drugged, half starved and manipulated by doctors as the screams of other patients echoed around the corridors… Researcher and author Kim Todd tells us Nellie’s story. Kim’s book about Nellie and the journalists she inspired is called Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s ‘Girl Stunt Reporters’.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E2: Lu Ann Escapes the Order 07.04.2025 49мин

When Lu Ann Cooper was just fifteen years old, she was told to drop out of school and marry her first cousin. She would be his fourth wife. Lu Ann grew up inside the so-called Kingston Clan, a religious sect where, Lu Ann claims, every man is expected to have many wives, and every woman is expected to have many children. All with the aim of building up the Kingdom of God. But one day, Lu Ann couldn't take it anymore. She decided she had to escape… The foundation Lu Ann runs to support other people who have fled polygamy is Hope After Polygamy.