Women We Love: Gaby Mendes.

Being in your twenties is a weird old time. It feels like everyone around you is at a different stage of their life and comparing yourself to other people's journeys can be difficult to avoid. Bridging the gap between childhood and adulthood is something that arguably none of us feel prepared for- and this is something Gaby Mendes realised once she left university.

Motivated by the lack of resources she felt available for her age group, Gaby set up online community, Talk Twenties, to help other twenty-somethings with everything from career advice, to wellbeing and personal development. Her platform has been running since 2020 and stretches from an online blog, to a podcast and even IRL meet ups. 

We think Gaby is AMAZING and we couldn't wait to char to her about all things Talk Twenties.

Hey honey! Please can you introduce yourself to our readers and tell them a little bit about what you do.

Hi, I’m Gaby. I’m the founder of Talk Twenties, a business that aims to bridge the gap between full time education and the big wide world of adult life and teach you all the stuff you were never taught in school about being an adult!

Talk us through your journey- how did you get to where you are today in your career?

When I left university I initially trained to be a secondary school teacher. I was only 22 at the time but whilst teaching I was given a form group of sixth form students and throughout the year they’d ask me questions like ‘Miss, what debit card I should get?’, ‘What steps should I take to get my dream job?’ or ‘How do you cope with moving away from home?’. Knowing that I was still struggling with a lot of the answers to these questions, I realised that I hadn’t been taught enough life skills in school and more support was needed for twenty-somethings who were just starting out on their adult life journey.

With this idea in my head I made the huge leap to leave my teaching job and try and get into the events industry as I thought that the best way I could help people was by doing large scale events. But shortly after my career change we were hit with the global pandemic and in-person events were off the table! I had to quickly pivot and find another way to still reach the same goal, so I launched the Talk Twenties Podcast. Each week I interview influential guests on different topics that matter to twenty-somethings in our studio in Liverpool, we now have almost 30,000 listeners and were nominated in the prestigious British Podcast Awards just a year after launching! 

We think it’s super important to set yourself both personal and professional goals. What are yours and how are you working towards achieving them?

Although Talk Twenties launched in January 2020, I’ve only recently left my full-time job to work on the business full-time. So right now it’s about growing the business to the point where I can have my own team working with me full-time and help as many twenty-somethings in the UK as we can! I plan to do this by launching more of our online learning courses like the First-Time Buyers Guide that we launched last year to help people through the steps of buying their first home.

We think you’re a hugeeeee inspiration- who is your biggest personal inspiration and what was it about them that made you stop and take note?

Ah thank you, I have to say I am a huge fan of nuddy too, so thank you for asking me to be a part of this! My biggest inspiration would have to be Steven Bartlett, he grew his personal brand with his podcast Diary of A CEO, was the co-founder of Social Chain and is now the youngest Dragon to appear on Dragon’s Den. I think what inspires me most about Steven is the fact that he’s so fearless about the goals he is pursuing, that’s pretty infectious to watch!

We absolutely LOVE what you do- what does it mean to you to be able to do what you love every day?

Still surreal! I wake up every day with a spring in my step and even though I am working harder than I have ever worked in my life before, I am really happy. Being able to build something that is yours from the ground up is a pretty cool thing!

So many people are nervous to break out and try something new- but you did. What piece of advice would you give to people who want to try something different but are too scared to take the risk?

I literally wrote a tweet about this yesterday… you have to be fearless in the pursuit of what makes you happy. Stop being scared of everything you’re leaving behind when you reach for that big goal and be excited for what’s to come. And just to add to that, try and choose happiness everyday… happiness isn’t a destination it’s more a way of life, so be brave and try to choose the things that make you happy each day.

What positive impact do you hope to have on those within your community?

I hope that we make young people feel more confident… in themselves, in their decisions and in what they do with their lives. So much of the worry in your early twenties is built up from a lack of confidence and a fear of the unknown. We always say that Talk Twenties is like the teacher, friend and cheerleader you didn’t know you needed.

We all know that life ain’t no breeze. What is one piece of advice you can offer to people in your community to help make things that little bit easier?

Don’t be scared of failure and be ok with making mistakes. Nobody is perfect, nobody has it all figured out… despite what social media might have you believe, everyone is struggling and working through something right now. So own your failures and just take it as important lessons! Phew, that was deep, but I really enjoyed chatting to you guys. Thanks for having me!

Thank you Gaby for chatting to us! You can find more about Talk Twenties over on @talktwenties and follow Gaby on Instagram at @iamgabymendes.

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