Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Sabrina Dhowre Elba

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Join Emily and Raymond for a walk in London's Richmond Park with Sabrina Dhowre Elba - Canadian model, UN Goodwill Ambassador and co-founder of S'ABLE Labs - the melanin inclusive skincare brand. Sabrina talks about her childhood in Canada and the sacrifices made by her mother which led to her earning a philosophy degree with the aim of becoming a lawyer. It all changed with a chance meeting - when she met her now husband, Idris Elba, in a bar in Vancouver. Sabrina tells us about finding her own place in the world, her humanitarian work and how it feels to hear 'Will Idris be the next Bond?' every day. S'ABLE LabsAward-winning melanin inclusive skincare formulated with African botanicals powered by modern science to target hyperpigmentation. Developed by Sabrina and Idris Elba.https://uk.sablelabs.co/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Walking&utm_id=WTD&utm_term=SE&utm_content=logolinkFollow Sabrina's work on Instagram Follow Emily: Instagram - @emilyrebeccadeanX - @divine_miss_emWalking The Dog is produced by Faye LawrenceMusic: Rich Jarman Artwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett Walking The Dog is a Goalhanger Podcast brought to you by Petplan: visit petplan.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Walking the dog is sponsored by Pet Plan, who pay 97% of all the claims they receive. Pet Insurance can be a confusing business, but I think ultimately it's all about the quality of the vet fee cover provided. Pet Plan cover things other insurers don't and can pay your vet directly, so you get to spend your cash on other essentials. No, Raymond, that doesn't include dog biscuits. Terms, conditions and excesses apply. Pet Plan is a trading name of Allian's Insurance PLC. No, we're not comparing Raymond to Idris. No.

You just compare. I don't know what I said. Raymond, my shih Tzu, to Idris Elba. I should introduce you. Well, probably. But what I'm going to do? I should introduce myself. How rude.

Hello, everyone. My name is Sabrina Dore Elba. And I'm here walking in Richmond Park alongside my new friend. I'm a Canadian. She's a British. I was born East Coast, Canada, Montreal, but then grew up West Coast, Vancouver, Canada. And if you've never been to British Columbia, the West Coast of Canada, it is so unbelievably beautiful. We've got beaches, mountains, friendly people, I mean, everything you want in a city.

And it really shaped a big part of who I am. But I moved to London seven years ago because a sort of graduating year university, I met this amazing person who said six months into our new relationship, do you want to move to London? And I thought, why not? I can always come back. So I did this sort of like moving, but mom, I might come back to you if everything doesn't work out. And I took a chance and I'm so thankful I did. And it was really hard at first. Moving away from my family, I come from a big family, two brothers, two sisters, 100 cousins like most Somalis. And it was a very hard. And it was a It's really hard for me, but I'm really happy I did because I think I found my best friend,

as you have found your best friend with Raymond. So that was my comparison. That was my comparison. And your best friend, we should say, is... Idrisalba, yes. Quite well-known British actor, DJ, producer, rapper, husband, amazing father, but man of all trades. Well, Sabrina, that's possibly the most brilliant start to a podcast. The producer is nodding.

I've ever had in my entire life. I mean, you've done all the work for me. I'm going to go home. You're fantastic at this. Come on, Raymond. Just holding everyone up. Let's go. He's like, all right.

He's so excited. So this is like a dog's dream, right? My boss gets to take me to work every day, and I'm the star. It's like being a Druselba. Well, I don't get to go to work with him as much anymore. You know, I used to. I used to love that. Like, when he was filming, I'd be at set all day,

and I would just be, like, working away in his trailer, and I loved it. And now I just don't really have the time. I miss it. But I loved it. He would always, I'd be his show and tell at work. Just bothering everyone. Should we watch out while the car is? Yeah.

Sabrina, you're a much more responsible dog owner to Raymond than me. No, I'm what you call a satellite. Is that the word for it? Like, satellite parent? Like, if there's anything, I'm just all... Like, it's not a good trait. Sorry, Sabrina. It's not the most dignified start to the walk I'd hope for.

Yeah, but also right by the bin. I'm very impressed by Raymond's number two exactly by the park bin. Oh, and a little wee. And a wee for good measure. I'm just going to get a poo bag out the car. In her little Gucci poo bag case. I feel someone as fragrant and beautiful as you

shouldn't have to be witness to this. It's just a bit of poo. We're all adults here. Come on, Raymond, let's go. Don't let anyone embarrass you ever. You do your number two politely by the bin. So how old is Raymond? So Raymond is seven.

Oh, so you've been like besties forever. He is my absolute best friend. Yeah. And I also thought it was a bit sad when people said their best friend was a dog. I also thought what's wrong with you? And now I completely get it. So is Raymond your first dog? Yeah.

And I put it off my whole life. Oh, look at these two. Very chic. What are they? I don't know. Spaniel. No. Something mixed, I think.

Some sort of spaniels. Those are proper dogs, not like you. Yeah, I got Raymond. He was sort of a present to myself after a bit of a shitty time, you know? You know, when you go through and I look, my sister had died and I was, like, feeling really sad. Well, they say animals are healing, right? Sometimes you need to bring joy into your life. Of course.

And he represents joy. Your joy came in a little black fluffy thing. My joy comes in a tall black thing. It's a rather handsome, so, you know. Raymond, that is... Are you comparing... I don't think Raymond likes the no horses sign. No, we're not comparing Raymond Tidris.

No. You're doing that. You just compared. I don't know what I said. Raymond. My shit's... to Idris Elba. But you know what?

I can relate in one aspect that when I was sort of going through a kind of crossroads maybe at my life, and I met this amazing human being who changed my life quite drastically and in a healing way. Well, I want to know all about that. There's very little I don't want to know about you. But I'm so happy to do this while walking in the park, because I come from a little bit of a podcast background now, can I say? We did couple them with Audible, and I understand and appreciate respect how much hard work it takes and how generous with your energy you have to be, and you are very generous with your energy.

And that's coming from a Canadian. When you say, how much hard work you do, speak for yourself, Sabrina. No, I have listened. I'm going to wait until that car's gone, because I'm giving you a compliment, and I'm not going to waste a compliment on the sound of an engine running. Right, go away, Range Rover. Come on Rayway. Ray's really good off lead. He gets the stuck in his bottom. Oh, you know, sometimes I get those stuck on my shoes.

Come on. Don't let her make you feel bad. I'm just a leaf. If anything, everything's just attracted to Raymond. That's what's happening. Oh, that's very sweet. I love dogs so much. So growing up in a Somali Muslim, Muslims can.

can't have dogs. A big part of the faith teaches that dogs, because they lick you and they're so affectionate, they sort of break your prayer wash because Muslims keep up their cleansliness for prayer time. Anyway, so I never grew up with a dog and no and my family did, but I've always loved animals and I've always sort of like somehow found friends with dogs. And, you know, so hopefully people sort of don't take that and think that it's something against dogs themselves because I think most people love dogs. Who doesn't love an animal that loves a human more than anything else? So, you know, I never grew up with them, but I always had friends who had dogs. And I just don't want people

to think that it means that it says that dogs are bad or anything in any way. Every animal is special in the Quran. And, you know, Muslims generally love all animals, as most people do. but I was always a little bit envious because look at them oh cut to Raymond not looking so cute thanks Raymond Sabrina come on

I'm so thrilled to have you on this podcast I was so excited when I heard you were going to join us because I've been really fascinated by you for a long time ooh it's only just me well not in a border line

creepy way. But I've been really, really aware of, I know you do so much amazing work and just your advocacy for other people and groups. But what I thought, when I look at your CV, Sabrina, I sort of think, you're, you sound like, you're like the Nightmare X in a rom-com, love rival. It's like, oh yeah, yeah, she's a model and, oh yeah, and a UN ambassador. Oh, she's got a philosophy degree. Oh, she's also a CEO of her own business. I mean, at that point. Oh, my gosh.

It took me a little while to get there, but thank you for saying that. I was thinking actually the other day, I've learned so much about myself through podcasts because you don't ever take time to sit and reflect. But when you do an interview or speak with a friend, and who says that to you in that way, you're kind of like, oh, wow, I've gone a bit further than I had been, you know, seven years ago or wherever, when I first moved to London. And sometimes I'm kind of like, how did I manage to kind of get to do a lot of the things

that I've always wanted to do? And I'm very thankful, super, super thankful, because not only have I been able to travel and see amazing places, but I've been able to do a lot of the philanthropic work I've always wanted to do, as you said, which I feel very, very proud of and very connected to. Well, I want to talk about all your work here, but you grew up in Canada and you are from a very big family, aren't you? Oh my gosh, massive. Like, I mean, we did not know what to do with the wedding, but then I thought of a very good little rule.

No one under 16 could come, and that cut out so many people. And it was also great for all the parents who just wanted to chill. Well, I did that on my side, because it would just be just. Like there's so many first generation Canadians in my family from like my cousins and aunts who were like We're 16 and under back then It's just it's ridiculous like my mean my mom had eight siblings my dad had more We're not even sure we know how many And then who all had like six to eight children who then all now have starting to have children

It's it's massive and then of course Somalis come from a a culture with tribes and tribes are sort of like, you know, that your extended family. So then I meet people all the time who say, you know, they're part of this tribe. And it's true because they can't be actually that far away from you, having been from the same tribe. So you just, all Somalis have massive families. It's quite ridiculous. But does that mean that people can just call you and say, hi, I'm in London and I'm part of

your tribe, so I'm coming to a crash on the sofa for two weeks? Is it a reciprocal arrangement? Not the sofa, but I do hear it, I do hear it quite a bit. Oh, I am so-and-so and I'm of this tribe. And then, you know, of course I'm always excited because I'm like, oh my gosh. So I signed up for, you know that ancestry site 23 and Me? Have you done it, by the way? I haven't.

Oh, it's quite good. You should do it. So I wasn't expecting that it notifies you. Every time you have a family. I have so many notifications. It's not normal. Like, I am like, what is going? I bet the people at 23 and me are going.

like, oh my God, another Somali. It's insane. So I do love the website, though, and I found out something so weird, and my mom fully denies this. She thinks it's just a mistake or an error in the system, but it says I'm 50% Egyptian. And it's like, Mom, what's going on here? She's like, no, it's not true. We are Somali, Somali, Somali.

And I was like, well, you know, it's looking at your DNA. So something interesting there. And there's something interesting about, you know, that whole sort of East Africa mix, being so close to the Gulf. But also Egypt having historically made trips to Somalia in exchange for frankincense and things like that. So I think there's a really interesting culture there with Somalis.

And Somalis are generally community-led people. We love community. We love friends. We tend to stay in Somali communities. I notice, especially in the UK, but I think once you get in a group of Somalis, you're in it for life. There's no escape. So we're in Richmond Park in South West London, and are you getting used to the planes? You know what? I have. I didn't think I could. And now I have.

But it's every 20 minutes, I think, actually. So it is hard to get used to, but I have gotten used to it now. You've lived in London for... Oh, listen to that shouting, Sabrina. Aren't you, are you one of those people that wants to go over and look? Yeah, I am. So we go to look? Should we just walk in that direction casually? I mean, it's either, we're hearing some noises.

There are men shouting. Yeah. There's a football expression, which you may be familiar with. Idris likes football, doesn't it? Loves, oh my gosh. So let me guess the team. Okay, go on. Kelsey?

Nope. He's gonna, if he, if he listens to this, you know, he's going to be so offended. I've got a feeling, grew up in East London. He did. I actually don't know what that means because I forget that the teams come from different places. Well that would be I'd assume something like West Ham, but I'm wondering. West Ham is from East London. Yeah. Oh. It's a confusing thing. I would say I've got a feeling he's one of mine. And? I'm Arsenal. Oh, he's Arsenal. Yes. He is. Do you know, I always love that man. I've learned to say, come on, Arsenal. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I just shouted the TV. Come on, Arsenal. Well, there's an expression that he will be familiar with called, it's all right, it's just handbags. It's just handbags. Okay. Out of nowhere, because there's a match Saturday, I'm going to say, I think it's Liverpool. I'm going to say, it's just handbags. But what's the right context?

You can't just like, when do I say it? So handbags is, it's a reference to, it's just a fuss over nothing. So you can say it's just handbags. If I'm hitting someone with my handbag, you're right, it's not that serious. I'm going to go away. Yeah, exactly. So that was just handbag. So I want to hear about your origin story.

But I want to hear firstly, let's bring you here first. Should we take this path? Yeah, good idea. Yeah. Let's find out how you ended up in London to begin with. You're in a bar. You're in Canada. Yeah.

This is, what, seven years ago? Yes, I was at actually, it's a hotel. So there's this party that happens at this. Well, it kind of goes around Vancouver, but they did it at the Opus Hotel, which is quite shishy-foo-foo-and. It's this night called Slow Jam Sundays. So they do it once a month,

and when you're there, all you hear is like old-school nostalgic slow-jams. A good girlfriend of mine decided to have her birthday party there. So we're there. There's a group of ten of us, ready to, you know, have fun. And there's, of course, his gorgeous wallflower, who was like, hat kind of low, you know. One of my girlfriends was like, ooh, he's quite cute.

So we went over, and I tried to wingman it a bit, walked away, and came back. And she was like, I think he's a bit more interested in you. I was like, how dare he? I can't talk to him now, although he's really cute. So we had a chat, and we were talking. And I remember someone saying to me, oh my God, that's Idris Elba. So then I'm thinking, well, okay, he's some big movie star. You know, I'm probably not going to talk to him.

He's, you know, he's cute, but whatever. And we exchanged numbers. I didn't take it too seriously. We definitely had, like, a really nice banter. And, you know, but you just can't help but think, like, come on, he's not interested in me. Like, there's just something that goes, that's him. And I'm just like, you know, this was a lovely memory. But I went to this sort of next spot that we went to continue the party at.

And I was leaving, because I had actually just gotten out of a really bad breakup. So I'd come to the party kind of really dressed down. And I was like, oh, whatever. And I told my friends, okay, I'm leaving early. I'm going home. He had just pulled up to this place. I mean, he could have gone anywhere else. And as I'm about to get my taxi, he calls my phone.

and I look at my phone and I can see it's a foreign number so I knew it was him and I thought oh he's calling me and he goes where are you going and I was like oh I'm going he's like no no look I'm here and he's in a car just one car down and he's like come here come here so we ended up sitting in the car together we were talking and then we just like we're inseparable

for a good three months then he had to leave so did you stay up all night in the car we really did we talked for like four hours I think in the car and it was freezing cold and then we and then we just ended up like talking like so like we just couldn't stop you know you just meet someone that you just can't stop talking to like we didn't we weren't even talking about anything significant we just could not stop talking we loved it and I hadn't quite had that I think in my history of dating it wasn't it maybe was I'd maybe dated someone because I thought they're really cute or the but the way we connect on a sort of intellectual level I'd never had before and it felt like I had this best friend in a matter of two minutes. He was just as funny and as charming as you'd expect him to be and like I mean so handsome of course but really really kind-hearted and yeah I was in love quite quickly so.

Ray, he's met a little that's a little border terrier. I love that Raymond asked for this nothing happened. Did someone sniff me? Well, yeah, he treats encounters with dogs. They're almost a, they're a slight embarrassment. He'd rather pretend they hadn't. He's like, I'm sorry these beasts are talking to me. He does think he's a human.

Do you know what you mean? Can you see that? I can totally see that. No, this is Raymond's world. We're just living in it. He's sort of gentleman Ray. Well, he's, because he's a shih Tzu, they were emperor's dogs, weren't they? Ah, they're fancy.

So I'm loving this meeting with it, And be honest, when you first met him, did that slightly concern you? Just, because like we were saying earlier, sometimes you have all incorrect assumptions about people and you think movie star, oh, okay. I think it took me a while to accept the fact that he might just actually really like me. And because I didn't think, I don't know. And I mean, look, I was at a point in my life also where my self-esteem had taken a bit. big hit and my confidence was pretty low and I thought like why why me and you know we should never think this about ourselves but also I mean gosh he's freaking is yourself and I do remember

battling with that a little bit and he just gave me this sense of security and confidence and he's always made me feel like I am this tallest brightest light in the room and I love that about him and I needed that also at that time and you know he just has this way of lifting people up and a lot of the things I've gone on to do in my life and even the brand that we started together I would never have thought I could have done if he hadn't given me the words and feelings of encouragement he has this infection or infectious dreaming dreaming personality I don't even know how to put it he just dreams all the time it's a heavy dreamer and it is infectious and you kind of wake up and go, oh yeah, I can take over the world today.

He'll literally say you're just talking to the wrong person if you've got to know. And it's true, isn't it? I mean, we always just give up too quickly. Keep asking, keep trying. And I love that. He's a good guy. He really is. And I get really sappy and talking about him.

And of course, we have, like, fights and everything, like every other couple. but when I look at the bird's eye view on our relationship in the last seven years of my life, I feel very blessed. I feel very lucky, and I found my soulmate, and not a lot of people can say that. You first came on my radar. It was at Harry and Megan's wedding.

Oh, my God. I did not think I would be at that way. That was like, also I kept telling myself it wasn't that big a deal. And then I had like 100 text messages. Oh my God, we can see you on the telly. I look at me saying telly now, I've been here a long time. But I was like, what?

Like, everybody watched that. You can kind of remember where you were when that happened. And I was, what am I doing here? But I had like the best time and they're such good people. Do you know how many people watched it? It was $1.9 billion. Oh my God. So I remember watching that wedding and I saw,

I saw Idris Elba. always happy to see his face and then I see this woman with him amazing Gucci coat dress and everyone looked great they all had their traditional wedding floral pastles it's what we do in this country and then this fashion goddess strides out and I thought okay I can do business with her here's my faith of you to say that I remember it was actually one of the the first times that a big brand was dressing me and Gucci was dressed me and I was so excited just to take whatever. I was like, oh my God, thank you.

So I appreciate you saying that because I was genuinely excited. But looking back, I probably would have worn something different. No, because it was a little loud, maybe. No, because I think what you did was bring a modernity to it. And I think people, you're a disruptor. And we'll talk about that. That's what you do in business. And you were challenging the received narrative.

You were saying, no, it's a wedding. These are my friends. I want to wear what I want to wear to express. myself. I think you need to be like my PR or something. And so we should go back pre Idris. You grew up, as you say in Canada and your mum was Somalian and your dad and you must have been, you were about 12 when you lost your dad, won't you? Yeah. I'm really sorry about that. And it's actually when we moved from east to west, um, So, no, thank you.

It was a long time ago. Thank you for saying that. But I loved my dad. He's great. He's so fun. I saw the best memories of him. And I actually, I have anxiety about losing these memories, because as you get older, they start to fade more and more.

So I'm always looking at pictures of us and talking about him with my mom. And I loved my dad. But it was a big deal for my mom. They were actually divorced when he passed. But she was with him every day. I mean, they were more friends than. romantic, if you know what I mean. And she stayed by his bedside.

So I remember going to the hospital one day and he was absolutely fine. And then going home the next day and waking up and he was gone. So it was really hard for me to accept that, but he was just fine. He just gave me some orange juice. But, you know, it happened when I was younger and actually I'm quite thankful that it happened. At that time, it was going to happen in that, in that. time of things because my mom was actually going through a really hard time and I don't know how my dad would have dealt with it and I don't know if I would bend it up with my

brothers and sisters because my mom then remarries but my stepdad was not maybe she kind of went in the opposite direction who wasn't exactly the same I don't even I mean he was a tough one and they were in an abusive relationship and And I'm so thankful for my younger siblings, because we, I mean, we don't even call each other half-siblings. We grew up together. We're super, super close. But I wonder if my dad was still around,

if they would have ever stayed together. But yeah, so my mom's like this really strong person who I've always kind of admired and for that reason have thought, wow, she's like a superwoman, because she got through that with five kids at the end of it, on her own. And did she, you guys went to a, She took you to a safe house, essentially.

Yeah, so when we went to Vancouver, we were initially in the safe house. And it was, so it's a system set up where no one has the address. Women can kind of get away from their abusers. Funny enough, people are always like, oh my gosh, I must have been horrible. But I was like, oh no, it was amazing because, first of all, BC is so beautiful. We had horses at the house. I mean, I learned how to, like, bake with some other staff. And I had an amazing time.

that transition, but also that's a testament to my mom, you know, who tried to make it as easy for us as she could. And we stayed there for about a year. We switched to, between two safe houses in that time, and then we ended up getting our own place, and then finally settling down. And, you know, the friends I have in Vancouver, I'm still best friends with, like, we're all still best friends. It really is an amazing city. But my mom had to really go through it with us and find her way and her place and her footing. I mean, she'd also just, come to Canada when she was 18 and you know who was straight into kids and marriage and never got to finish school the way she wanted although she did later in life um you know it's a lot for her

and we always kind of grew up with not much but a very happy and thankful household yeah and eventually a lot of our family did come to Canada from Somalia so my mom did grow this community I heard your mom on the podcast you do with Idris couple them There's one episode and it really made me cry actually, Sabrina. Oh, I actually can't listen to that episode because it makes me cry. Your mum starts getting very emotional when she's talking about, she says the proudest day of my entire life was to see you get your education and graduate. And do you know what?

That told me so much about her that she didn't say your wedding's, day. She didn't say when you won the Miss Van Coober Pachent. She said, when I saw you and how she put it, which I loved was with that thing on your head. And you went, yeah, it was a mortar board mom. She sacrificed everything she was working towards and she wanted us to have everything that she couldn't have. And it's funny because I said recently in some interviews that I realized now a lot of the work I do is actually to kind of of either make the world the place that I wanted it to be when she was younger or to help

people with the same kind of opportunities that grew up in the same way as she did. It's in my subconscious so much and it fills me emotionally and you know we still talk about all the time and now I'm so passionate about her wanting to get to do everything she wants to do and you'll see her with me on like a red carpet or like traveling because I'm just like mom come she's never seen these places I just want her to have that. it all and she deserves it. She always talked about education, how important that is, as most immigrant parents do. And, you know, she was very much of that school of thought. Everyone needs to go to school. What are you doing when you want to be? So I knew I was going to, you know, be a lawyer

or wanted to be a lawyer for since I was a kid because my mom was like, what are you going to do? What do you? Like, you need to think about your life path. Let's talk about this seriously. Let's look at the options. And very early on, I decided a career path that never ended up coming to fruition, so it'd be interesting to ask her about that now. So my dad used to joke and say I argue a lot, I should be a lawyer. It actually turned out that I just love philosophy. I argue a lot, I should take philosophy, which I loved. And I actually took it because it's good prep for the LSAT. And it really was, like I think, you know, the logic portion of the LSAT is obviously. And we don't have that here, Sabrina. So explain what that is ELSA. Right. So the ELSAT is a prep exam or an entry

exam for law school and you have to sort of perform quite high on that alongside you know a good score from uni to get into law school so it's there's a lot of pressure it's a big big exam and if you are a philosophy major you are in some way slightly better prepared because there's a logic portion of the exam and logic is a big takes up a big space in philosophy so you decided you did your philosophy degree and then what did you decide to do? So I thought I was going to go back east because I was born in Montreal and I did sort of do a semester abroad in Montreal when I was in uni and I thought, okay, I might do law school there or I might stay in BC. I had applied to both anyway. So I didn't really know what I was doing. I was really genuinely at this crossroads where I could have taken some time

off. I could have done anything. So at the cusp that I had met Idris and I just graduated, I was like taking probably a year off at that point and thought, you know what, let me just go to London and see what that's like. How old were you when you met Idris then? So I was 26. Yeah. Yeah, it was 27 when I moved to London. It would be very easy to just think,

well, I'm just going to have to get caught up in this person's world. Yeah. Because everything they do sort of dictates our life and where we live. Yeah, he's a big world. Yeah. Idris is big world. He's got a big world. Yeah, and that did happen a little bit, you know, self-admittingly, yeah, and because of how big it is.

And I was also so fascinated that, you know, I, you know, saying to you earlier, sometimes I'd go to set all day and I'd kind of forget about me, but not in a bad way. That's really honest of you to admit that, that you, you must do. I mean, it was good fun. I'll say that. Yeah, let me just go and travel and see what you're doing. And then it's funny at the time that, you know, so I'm living in shortage actually when I first moved to London because he has a son, we didn't live together right away, because I think, you know, that needed a slower and warmer introduction. I think it was also good for us.

So we were living separate, and I started working at a PR firm with Chloe Francis, Francis and Coe in Fitzrovia, and I was at a desk. And of course, Idris was traveling and doing it. things and busy and it sort of became this kind of thing in between us that was separating us. And I thought, okay, well, I don't want to sit in an office. Isn't it funny that my whole life I prepared myself and thought I was going into a profession that requires quite a lot of sitting in an office? And the moment that I did, I was like, I don't really want to do this. And I remember having this amazing conversation with Chloe who runs the business and I was like Chloe I kind of just want to see and explore this side of myself for a bit and travel

and she's like I completely get it and I did and there was like probably a good six months where we just went everywhere together and it was such good fun I mean we're in a B-son because it just as a DJ as well right and we had this amazing time and that's probably when I got a bit lost in it turning 28 at this point I needed to sort of, in my mind, get my life together. And then we got engaged. How did he do the engagement? You know what? I was like so shocked.

I never would have taken him to do it this way. But when we met, he was working on this film, his first directorial debut. He was so sort of like all enveloped in it. Like it was like his everything, as it should be, you know. I mean, his first time director, super passionate. And I wanted to help him as much as I could. So it kind of became this thing for us that we were both passionate about. And at the viewing or showing for his friends and family,

which he did at the theater or the cinema that inspired him to be an actor. So he remembered sitting in this cinema when he was like about eight years old. I think he said he was watching Spider-Man or something. And he sat there thinking, I'm going to be an actor. And he did it at this cinema. So he's showing all his friends and family. So I mean like his mom is there, like everyone is there. I know.

And he's on stage with Gina Carter, who's a good friend of us, who's actually there the night that we met. She's on stage and they're chatting about the film and it's inception and all the work that's gone into it. And he goes, Sabrina, can you come to the stage? And I'm thinking like, what? Why do I have to go to the stage? And like, I was like, no, I don't watch it

because it's also like everyone we know. I'm like to stop. And he's like, no, no, no, seriously. Come to the stage. I'm like, ugh. So I comes to the stage and he gets on one knee. And I was so shocked. I just like started crying.

I was like a mess. I was a mess. And he's like, are you gonna say yes? I didn't, I couldn't even look at what was happening. And he said he'd had it in his pocket for a while. It just felt like the right time. He's so sweet. Anyway, so, but the best part was that as everyone watched the film,

because we'd obviously already seen it together, we went to the park, close by and just sat on the swings and just, just I know it was really sweet and I called my mom and I mean she was crying and I called all my besties as you do and he's just sat there smile like at me as I'm calling oh my god this is so lovely yes and then that happens right so then literally as I'm like trying to figure out what I want to do so but then but then you did enough we met these wedding planners through Amal cluny and she was like you could they had just planned her wedding she's like you have to use you who's, you know, Ricardo, he's the best, and met him, and then they're helping upon my wedding.

And I loved their business acumen, and the two of them, and it's Lanzin Buccina's the name of the planning company. And I was like, oh, my God, I love business. I just, you know, was like, what is my passion? And I'd always loved beauty and wellness. So, I mean, we'll get into that. I did end up going into beauty, but I remember thinking at the time, maybe I could be an entrepreneur. Maybe I could work for myself. And did you talk to Idris about that?

Oh, I mean, he was super excited about that. I think he loves the idea of, well, what do you want to see in this world? No, go create it. And I think, you know, I mean, when someone says that to you, how do you say it? No, right? So I did. And that's how I ended up kind of wanting to start Sable. I worked a bit with Idris' team before that, kind of exploring his businesses and

and his production company and before I genuinely decided I wanted to go into business, but I realized, you know what, I think I like entrepreneurship. I like the idea of working for myself. And cut to four years later, we have Sable Labs. So Sable Labs, this is your skincare brand. Yes. And it's a gentiless and inclusive.

And it's yours and Idris's skincare brand. No, I was such a connoisse's skincare brand. No, I was such a connoissellise. a connoisseur in the sense that I had everything on my bathroom counter but I had everything and of course he had access to like a mini Sephora because I couldn't find quite what was right for me and I sort of always battled with that in the beauty industry like growing up oh there's a horse coming should we oh how our horse sees around. Well spotted Sabrina that sounded sarcastic but you're Canadian so you wouldn't mind anyway because you like sarcasm or not.

Do you ride? I do, but not as much as I like. I love horses. I'm obsessed with horses. Yeah. Hello. Hello. So I'm sort of growing up, not feeling like the industry was a place for me in the sense

that I had really bad skin in high school. I had lots of hormonal teenage acne. And at that time, it was like Neutrogena and Clearacell and all of these very strong actives for teenage acne that wasn't actually good for skin. with that's melanin-rich. So if you have more melanin your skin, your darker complexion, inflammation can sort of translate into post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. So if you ever see sort of like dark spots, and we all get hyperpigmentation, but it's a bit more visible on melanin-rich skin and actually can stay a lot

longer. And I found that a lot of products weren't actually made for melon-rid skin. It's not tested on melon-rich skin, you know, we kind of get the shitty end of the stick. But the truth is that ingredients that are better for melon-rich skin, like using things like a nicinamide or tyrosinase inhibitors, at trionic acid, it's actually good for all skin. So if you treat melanin-rich skin better, everyone benefits. It's like it's not going to do you any harm to be vegetarian, vegetarian food if you're a meat eater. Exactly. It's the same principle in a way, isn't it? In fact, it does you good, doesn't it? Yeah, it's the exact same principle, but brands kind of notoriously cheap out.

why add these expensive ingredients? Why use more hemectins? Why, you know, moisturising ingredients because fairer skin can get away with kind of a bit more of the minimum. So then I'm starting this brand knowing this and I get actually a friend to come along on the journey, Jessica, who was at Tom Ford at the time,

she was sales and education. Oh no, biggie. Just poached the woman from Tom Fort. She was my superhero. Yeah, but she's also one of my best friends. But you know what that was? You said, we can't get Jessica. She's at Tom Ford.

It was saying, you're just asking the wrong person. You're just asking in the wrong way. Yeah, exactly. And I was not an answer. Ask her again. But she's blonde-haired and blue-eyed. And I said, between the both of us, we're completely different complexions. And then you included Dress, and he's like a beautiful chocolate in the mix.

We're going to make something that works for all of us. And she was like, yeah, let's do it. And we did. And we've created these formulations that are now clinically proven. We've won awards. And we're looking at post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. which I was dealing with in a completely different way, so a bit more of a 360 way,

because you need it to be gentle enough so that it doesn't have fragrances or drying alcohol, so it's not further causing inflammation. No, never mind a lawyer. You could have been a chemist or a pharmacist. I mean, this girl hasn't come to play. You know your stuff. You strike me as someone that would have done a lot of research.

I kind of became obsessed. Yeah, I can see you've got that. But I'm also now a trained destician because I was so excited to learn as much as I could. So I can give you a facial. I always say that word wrong by the way. Aesthetistician. I don't, I'm not good with lots of us.

It's a bit wrong, doesn't it? I know. I'm an officer, officer, I'm a trained ascestian and I'm not drunk. I much prefer the word facialist. If you ever get pulled over by the police, never say, I'm in a decision. Because you're not off in a cell.

It's so true. But yeah, it's not a good word. But what's incredible, and you know what, we can all, you're never too old to have. have your eyes opened up. Friends of mine have said they've had to drive to certain areas to buy a specific skin products for black skin.

Even in sort of big department stores, the black products are sort of in their own aisle. I always thought that was weird. You know, like, anyways, you know, that's a whole other can of worms, isn't it? But I also wanted my products to feel a bit different those products with notoriously the products in those aisles don't give the Lux experience they're kind of loaded with sort of chemicals and bad ingredients

are a bit cheaper and I wanted my products to sit next to the cleanest of brands Sabrina look at that have you ever seen anything so sweet so proud it's a look at its big stick what kind of puppy is that it looks like it could be a shih Tzu Sabrina yeah maybe a shih Tzu with a big stick ladies and gentlemen This dog has got a lovely George Clooney salt and pepper. Yes, it is a George Clooney salt and pepper. But that is interesting. I can imagine.

Yes, I wanted to create a more luxe experience. Not that it had to have lux prices, because you also realize as you're creating these things and getting behind the curtains, as they say, there's only a couple of ingredients that really work. And what you're buying when you're spending so much more on certain brands, we won't name who they are, is actually maybe you're buying into a lot.

lifestyle, a culture. Some people just want good skin care that works and we don't use any secondary, we're very sustainable, it's just as it is. And a lot of, you know, from that is, or a lot of that comes from Idris's opinions about beauty and wellness. Like he hates the pink tax and he just wants products to sort of just be what they are and efficient and minimal routines. What's the pink tax? Pink tax, did you say? So that sort of women's products are so much more embellished and then charged at a premium for that embellishment. You know, the industry for men is so dumbed down and he pointed out that his products all said like invigorating and spicy and masculine, nothing about like where it's from or, you know, and he hated that too and he thought

that men care about their skin just as much and want to be putting things on their skin that's good for it, not bad for it. And then also supporting communities where we get our ingredients from that's like, you know, fair trade, because people don't talk about fair trade when it comes to skincare. We talk about fair wages in fashion. We talk about fair trade food, but we don't think about where the ingredients in our skincare comes from. And we wanted to change that as well, because we do so much work with rural people and in the agricultural sector, we get to now support communities where we buy our raw materials from, bring that to the lab and, you know, help and support that way as well. And that gets us very excited. Isn't that amazing that you're doing that,

Sabrina, just that whole journey that you've managed to, because there's a lot of your cultural heritage in those products as well, isn't that? Oh, yes. The mask essentially is my mom in a bottle. Oh my super waggy. Hi. Hello. Ludo. Ludo is very happy. Mudo has got the best Billy Moe-Saurus hair do I've ever seen. Party at the back. It was the pink coat. Did it for him. He's got... He loves you. Business at the front party at the bath dog.

He really does. I love that dog. Mullet. Ray didn't think he was quite right. No. Ray was a bit snooty over him. I didn't much like Ray in that encounter. Walking the dog is sponsored by Pet Plan.

As some of you may know, I'm fussy when it comes to my dog, which is why I never went back to that groomer who gave him a mullet. But I'm fussiest of all when it comes to his health, and that's why I've always ensured him with Pet Plan. I've always found them so easy to deal with, and they cover things other insurers don't, which is probably why they're the UK's number one pet insurer.

Your number one as well, Raymond? Calm down. Terms, conditions and excesses apply. Pet plan is a trading name of Allian's Insurance PLC. I'm sorry, but there's a beautiful green bird. Do you see that? What? That's like a pet bird that's like escaped. Oh. Oh, Sabrina.

What are those? Are they parakeets or? There must be like fancy, expensive parakeets. You saw that, right? That was so cool. They looked like super tropical words. Our day's been blessed now. You see that?

It's good luck. Thanks, Ray. We're having a good day. But that's amazing what you've done. I think that's so incredible the brand that you guys have launched. Well, you've launched, let's be honest. You've done all the work. Well, where we are good at when we work together is that I have time to do a bit more of the logistic stuff.

and... Work. He can... Idris comes in and goes, I'm high-fied with that. Yeah, exactly. He can come in with this big opinion. Idris, tell us your opinion on the way to the Arsenal game. But he's also an amazing creative and he thinks so outside the box.

Like he has this special skill where he will just like see something that no one else has thought of. And he'll come in sort of throw our meetings into chaos and we'll go, oh gosh, no one's thought of that. And he's so passionate behind it. So I love working with him on it. I think seeing his educational curve with skincare has been really fun. He's no longer using Lamar on his feet, ladies and gentlemen. He's now using Sable, probably on his feet as well. But that's okay.

Presumably he was a bit more skincare literate than a lot of men just because... From his career. Yeah. Sitting in a makeup chair, learning about what's on his skin and what to remove the products that they'd put on because actors wear a lot of makeup. And there's a lot of stunt makeup, a lot of heavy alcohol-based makeup involved

that takes serious removal. Otherwise, it's all over your bed sheets, which happens to us all the time. His side of the bed looks like how mine should look. Like, I never leave makeup on my pillow. He has got like, oh my gosh, it's a thing. It's right. We should also say, in addition to running Sable Labs,

you also do so much kind of humanitarian work as well, don't you? How did that come about? Was that something that you gradually got involved in when you thought, look, I've got a profile. 1.9 billion people, seems like you didn't even know that, so I'm telling you. But, you know, you were suddenly aware that there is a power. And you can use that power quite wisely, can't you?

Absolutely. Well, I knew I'd wanted to do work in the first. philanthropic area at some point because it's like a huge part of my mom's life she has the hoya murdian foundation she's still doing work all the time she goes to somalia and helps bring water to areas where they don't have access to water and she'll just she'll do anything and everything she can she's always been um an activist and a humanitarian and that lived in my subconscious for a very long time but i didn't think that my platform because in my mind I started, oh, hello.

What are these, Sabrina? These are little poodles. Yeah. They're quite cute, are you? They're very cute. Hello poodle. Oh, no, we don't like the poodles, says Ray. So I thought originally I didn't feel my platform was, I don't know, we deserved.

I think I shouldn't have and probably read too many comments about what she's, I remember. So for instance, there was this panel someone had asked me to do. It was a Somali panel. So there was like a notable smallie writer, a director. And we were just speaking sort of about small youth and opportunity. And they put me on a picture to kind of go for the marketing and to sell tickets to the panel. And there was a lot of comments saying, why is she on there? Just because she's married someone.

And I remember thinking back then, oh my gosh, what am I doing speaking up? And it was actually my mom who was like, are you mad? If you can speak to anyone about anything, you use that opportunity. It's a very privileged position to be able to speak to someone. You're not going to throw it away. And I were thinking, oh, gosh, that's right. And I did go. I ended up going to the panel and spoke, and it went really well.

And everyone was quite excited. And I was like, okay, so why am I letting this deter me? Whatever. Why should I care what they think about this platform? I have it now. Let's admit it. You know, it's there. I love being out in the world and I love speaking to people. And I also am very thankful that I'm able to do the work I do now with the UN and with the other organizations I work with. It's genuinely my life's passion. And if I could be paid to do it, I would just do that. And you're a good world ambassador for the UN, aren't you? And it's, you focus a lot on, it's that sort of farming and agricultural.

Is it sort of based on the principle of, you know, teach someone to fish essentially? Absolutely. Because we both been a bit skeptical of how bigger agencies work at the time that we'd been sort of trying to figure out what we could do together, when we fell upon EFAD and their work, we loved the model. Because I do think, and we both think, that sometimes the aid model can be a bit cyclical. Right. that if you're not actually providing a solution as well as aid,

because obviously it's important. I mean, you have a hurricane. People need something, right? But if you're not actually providing a solution and any long-term sort of forward adaptation to these problems, then it's just going to happen again. And it's just going to require all this aid, these aid budgets again. So eFAD in its...

An EFAD stands for... The International Fund for Agricultural Development, which has a global mandate, but they mainly work in the global south. and they help people learn to farm and live off the land that they live on. So you can teach someone, like you said, how to take care of themselves. And I think that's so important. But where we're finding now that we need to advocate for is that you can teach someone to farm

and then a climate catastrophe happens. And then what are they going to do? You have to also help teach them how to adapt. So they need things like climate resilience seeds. They need better weather prediction devices. So adaptation has been, because of climate change, a big part of our work. So we do so much more climate work and climate advocating now than we thought we would be doing. But at the end of it, we're really passionate about rural people.

Because also, growing up in African, I got tons of, like, sort of nasty comments when poverty porn was a thing, you know, and we see all these ads on, and we still do sort of, you know, on TV about starving Africans and starving children. and I got teased at school because of those ads. And you'd think that that wouldn't be the outcome, but you kind of are providing a space for people to become, what's not used to. I can't think of the word. I know exactly what you mean.

It becomes... It stops invoking empathy if you see it so much. Well, yeah, you're absolutely right. And I think that that's a stigma that we try very hard to fight against, because actually the people we encounter on our field visits in the work that we do are very hardworking people. They're not waiting for handouts. They want to build their lives.

They want a future. They want to send their children to school. They don't want to be in the AIDS cycle. And I think that that sort of desensitization to people kind of builds this idea that, oh, well, they're just stuck in that. You're quite an incredible woman, aren't you? It's not the response I was expecting. Do you know, the more time I spend with you, Sabrina, gives me so much respect for Idris Elba.

And I think, what an amazing man to have chosen you. And I tell you why. Because I imagine if you're Idris Elbert, you spend a lot of time being the most powerful person in the room. And that can get heady. And with that can come the temptation to always want to be that person and not to want an equal around you. And to think, well, it would just be so much easier to go home in for that. to continue but he's chosen someone who would challenge perhaps question who's bright who's smart who wants her own identity and I think yeah he's a good guy oh he is a very good guy

he is a good guy and I definitely challenge him but do you know what I mean by that yeah I think that's very nice of you to say that thank you I think he's never made me feel like he's a dress and I'm just his I don't know this trophy or something silly like that. No, we, I do feel we are equal footing and equal partners, regardless of what he does as a profession. Do people get, what do people get most wrong about you when they first meet you? What do they assume? I think potentially that I might be a bit, um, I do, I, you know what, I don't even know if I can actually pinpoint exactly what it is, but I always hear, oh, I didn't expect you to be so well spoken or, or eloquent or, or,

or passionate or, I mean, and then it does make, did you think I was going to be like, I don't know, like a twat? But then it also speaks to the idea where I potentially don't dress or conform to this idea of a businesswoman or how we think we should see a CEO because I also love Fashion Week and love, you know, fashion as the industry and exploring that as you do. And that doesn't take away from what I have to say because of what I chose to wear.

And it's nice to be able to beat all sides of yourself. I was a bit afraid of that at first. I thought I had to dress a certain way when I was in a certain room. But no, it's so much better to always be genuinely yourself and let people be surprised. It's no problem, not mine.

I think, I don't know about you, but I think there's a real shared sensibility with specifically Canadian and Brits when it comes to humour. Do you feel that? Definitely. Yeah. I think particularly East Coast Canadian.

It's like Montreal, for sure. I think it could be very dry. There's a shared sensibility for sure. Who is the first one to... Who's good at conflict resolution? Who's the real UN ambassador in your relationship? Do you know what I mean? There's always one person who says, okay, I give in.

I would say he is better at saying, okay, I'll give in. the words, but I am better at emotionally getting over it faster. My thing is that I just need to go be alone, whereas he'll come right up to you and go, no, no, no, no, let's move on. Silent Treatment is his worst nightmare. Oh, needy idress. I like needy idress, but I think that's how it should be. I love that you to have found each other, and I love that you make this business work together so brilliantly, and I love everything about it. I love the aesthetic and the... Thank you. Ethos and the origin story.

It feels like the opposite of a celebrity brand, if that's a compliment. Yes. Unfortunately, it is. Do you know what I mean by that? You know, it's funny when we launched, I remember thinking, oh my God, every week, someone else is launching something. What is happening? It was like non-stop, wasn't it? It's kind of crazy.

But we felt that there were some people who were just making a bad news. name for others in the sense that it was a lot of white labeling, a lot of just, you know, not enough passion behind it. Yeah. So I got very frustrated when people started to think that was our brand because we obviously made something because we felt there was nothing like it. So we didn't want to be then dumped into this overly saturated group of celebrity brands. But I think people see now that there's so much intention and heart behind it that we're kind

of shaking that up. And we've also made it, you know, we've had to make a choice from a marketing perspective to actually not really include a dress in a lot of it and to kind of put him sort of in the back a bit because it does distract from the formulation. And, you know, maybe it's not the right choice. Maybe it is, but for us, we find that it's working. I don't know how to break this to you, but you are a distraction. Okay. I'm sorry, love. But funny enough, you know, just this grassroots organic community building where we speak to

small groups of people at a time. It's not about the celebrity. It's just about the formulations. That works so much better. I think seeing him can kind of distracts journalists at times and stuff. So we're just like, look, you just, you can help on the behind the scenes. Because then you just get people saying, so are you going to play bond and things? You know what I mean? Like, and they save it up to the end thinking they'll get away with it. I'm not going to ask you about it. But you know, it's so like genuinely, since I've met him, he's been asked this question at least once a week, almost once a day. And I actually admire the fact that he's been able to put up with that question for so long. So people are constantly saying, that's all they ever ask for

yourself. Are you going to be the next day before? Wouldn't it make you mad? I think I just start telling lies. It's like someone asking you every day. Are you going to start a podcast with cats? Will you start a cat podcast? Are you ever going to be the next cat podcaster? Yes. And he just puts a smile on and sometimes he'll say something quite silly. But like, I mean, kudos to him. I don't think people realize he gets asked that every day. And it's been seven years. Like, it's been a long time.

You seem like you have a very sunny disposition. You're a glass half full person, aren't you? Yeah, definitely glass half full. Do you think so? That's probably most Canadians, don't you think? It's a Canadian thing. Maybe it's, I think it's a you thing, though. Oh, well, I'll take that.

I'm definitely a glass half full person. But when I'm feeling low, I'm feeling low. And there's days that I'm, there's no glass at all. Really? As we all do. How do you deal with that when you have low days? Family. Call my siblings.

I've got four to choose from. That helps. You know, having consistent friendships. I actually went to this longevity dinner. And one of the reasons that they had found in the work that that person had done in blue zones was that having three good friends led to longer life. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I love that because I love friends and I love community.

And my friends have gotten me through so much. Yeah. It's good to have people you can trust and go to and who aren't judgmental. And, you know, that's really important. Because I think a lot of us sort of harbor feelings internally, especially negative feelings. And then it can become quite toxic. It's like anything. You need to get it out of your system, right?

So I was in the service industry a long time. And you know customers would come to a restaurant. It didn't matter how many good experiences they had at this restaurant. You only need one bad experience to put you off. It's so imbalanced, isn't it? And I remember thinking, like, you've had amazing experiences here. I'm sorry your chicken is 20 minutes late because we're packed. You know, and they leave a review.

And I remember always thinking, wow, people always remember the bad experiences. It's so true. It's a way to protect ourselves to keep. keep us from doing it again, but it's a shame. But that's interesting that you worked in the service industry as well, because I think everyone should do that at some point in their life. I actually agree with that. I think that everyone should do it because,

first of all, it opened me up. I was very shy. But it was like a cool thing to do to work at Joey's restaurant in my neighborhood growing up. I like that work at Joey's restaurant. It was very cool. Is it quite, what was it like? Was it quite friends?

bike. Yeah, it was a lot of young girls there. It was that kind of... Joey's weren't fools. Yeah, exactly. But very good food. And I thought it was very cool and I got it as a high school job and I was so excited and speaking to people so much and meeting new people and having to remember all these things and walking around. Like, it was really, really good for me. Sabrina, look at that. That's a gorgeous. That's like Google from the Magic Roundabout, isn't it? Oh, the bow. A Shih Tzu? Oh Shih Tzu?

Oh, she's, I've never seen them on completely black. Like her, it's all fur, isn't it? Yeah. There's a dog in there. What kind of dog is she? She's a Briard. They come from Brie, like the cheese. Oh, really?

Sit down. They like an old English sheep dog, only French. They come in black as well. I've had black ones before. Is she really sweet? She seems quite sweet. Yeah, she's very easy going, yeah. Oh.

You have to develop a bit of a thick skin in some ways, I think. When you're... Partners high profile. Even with the best wool in the world, people lose their head of it when they see someone, if they're a fan of someone. Oh, yeah. And it's that thing where you can get trampled in the rush. I've definitely almost got trampled in the rush. No, I agree.

I think there's a little bit of a, oh, I need to create a bit of a boundary here. But Idris is so good at kind of differentiating that aspect of his life. so I don't ever feel that it's impeding on ours because I used to be a little bit worried like when all these women I'd come up and like oh my God I love you I love you I love you and like women lose their shirts

like literally I had to be kind of quite confident in what we were doing and I am now but that took a minute So they would just come up and start, you know? All sorts of things. You can imagine there was a lot.

But it was funny because it would always happen sort of when we were having a tender moment or something. Like saying goodbye at an airport with a kiss and then someone would be in there like swimmer. You weren't threatened by that. Or if you were, you hid it well. You know, but these are, they are human beings. who are just excited as well.

And I get excited when I see him. I can't blame them. So in a sense, I don't want to ruin their moment either. You know, they've just got to see someone that they're really excited about. But I guess you must have had quite a lot of attention from a young age as well. You know what, actually?

Just because, you know. I don't think so. I was always a bit of a, like, I had tall poppy syndrome. Being so tall kind of made me shableness. tied down. We were the only black kids at my high school. And I actually kind of made it, it made me feel a bit like a black sheep, like sort of like an outcast. So I don't know. I don't think so, actually. But at the time that I had done the pageant, I'd sort of like discovered my womanhood. And this was, it was sort of a fun thing, just a right of passage teenage

thing it sounds like, wasn't it? What was it, Miss Vancouver? Oh my gosh. So silly, thinking of it now. But at the time, I was kind of excited to do it. And also they were advocating for the, or raising funds for the children's hospital. My younger sister was at this children's hospital quite a lot. I mean, I might have known the old rom-com heroine. There had to be some amazing humanitarian aspect to it. Not like the rest of us just doing selfish shit. We did end up raising a lot of money for that hospital, which I felt really good about. Even the shallow beauty pageant had a bloody charity thing. I mean, this woman is perfect. No, come on.

I have fun doing it. I really did. I have the, oh my God. I'd love to see those pictures, Sabrina. It's so cringe looking now. But I remember this one time. So we're going door to door raising money. And you know, people just have to laugh.

Like, you come up with this ground, but actually people were so nice. I mean, Canadians are so nice. And there was this one couple who'd given me this donation. And, you know, I'm putting in this envelope. And I turn around. And because I'm wearing heels, a suit, a crown. I fall and trip down their stairs, and it was quite a long flight of stairs, kick a planter over, tumble down, get to the bottom.

About two seconds later, the plant falls on me as it makes its way down the stairs. And they're like, oh my goodness, are you okay? I was like, yeah, I'm right, yeah. I had a piece of extension go over there, so some of my hair was like a meter away. I had the pot on me and I actually ended up kind of breaking my thumb joint whatever this little bone is

oh it was so embarrassing that was the kind of stuff we had to do but looking back I feel that in the moment I really enjoyed it I'll admit that I thought it was fun to kind of do it was new it was different I'd never done anything like that and for someone who was really shy

it felt quite nice to kind of you know put myself out there see isn't it funny how you know, I would look at you and think, oh God, I bet she's been told how stunning she is from a young age and I wonder what that was like to look like that and how. But you know, it's interesting when you tell me about your mum, there's that lovely poem. I don't know if you're familiar with it. Do you know, I will speak to you of your worth my daughter, not your beauty.

It's so beautiful. That's beautiful. And it's by what she called. it's really lovely about how her worth will feed her soul yeah no I love that my mom is very much of that school of thought we never talked about I mean you shouldn't want us wearing makeup or

you know that was that was not a thing in our house it was what do you have to say yeah women do get conditioned from an early age that's focused on if that's something if society deems you to look a certain way that's considered you know conventionally

attractive or beautiful. Girls get very... If flocks look a certain way, people still say, oh, well, yeah, you know, JFK was still encouraged to be president, even though he looked like a film star. Yeah. Do you know what I mean?

Whereas a woman would not have been encouraged in the same way. No, it's very true. Yeah. I think it says a lot about our society, unfortunately. But I think that's changing. Yeah. I think we all feel confident saying that now as women.

watch out for us. We've infiltrated. Now we're making moves. You thought we were just a pretty face? We've got something to say. They didn't see that one coming. Plot twist. I get the sense that Idris is a, likes women.

Do you know what I mean? He likes women. I would hope so. When I say that, I mean values and respects women. Do you know what I mean? Yes, he does. And he was a single child, by the way, but he grew up with a really strong mother. Oh, there you go.

Yep. I mean, she is tough. And she's a beautiful person. She is, yeah. And then the in-laws met then? Yes, my mom and his mom have met, but his dad passed away. Oh, I'm about eight years ago or nine years ago. So I actually just met him at the customer.

when he had just sort of gone through a bit of healing. Yeah. But he'd gone through a tough time when his father passed. He was really close with his dad. Really, really close. But he grew up with a strong mom, and he does love and appreciate women. I mean, most everyone at the business, and most everyone at his companies is females.

You know what Ray kind of looks like? What? What was that film, Never Ending Story? Yes. You know the big animal? It was in that movie, right? It's an old film, like a kid. It was a kid's film and it was like...

Yeah, I know never a new story. Yeah, but there's a big gray, fluffy thing that they flew on. I don't like where this is going, Sabrina. Am I thinking of the right character? Is it from Avatar? It's from one of those two things. Anyways, he looks like a magical creature. Sorry.

He looks like he can fly. He really gravitates towards you. He's picking up on the good end. Omies. He really likes you, doesn't he? Me and Ray. That's the next podcast,

Sabrina and Ray. Well, thank you so much for having me on your podcast. Well, I've loved and I really, really, I urge you all to go and try some Sable Labs

because it's fantastic and you can get it from a local space NK, your local space NK or online at sablelabs.com and yeah,

that's awesome. And I really, also, I know you're not you haven't had the time recently to record anymore but I also really you want to see Coupledom come back yeah Coupledom is a podcast that Sabrina and Idris do and it's brilliant I want to see couple of them come back I do hope we get the time schedule's permitting it was such fun oh look at this is so

pretty I know no this is a pretty park oh we're coming it's so underappreciated it's so beautiful I've loved our walk and I've really loved meeting you and I think I think you're good people, Sabrina. Thank you. That's such a nice thing to say. I think you're good people. Thanks for having me. What do you think of Ray? Ray is definitely good people. We can't leave Ray out of that. Good dog people. Ray, thanks for having me. Thank you for coming on by, Sabrina. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I've had such a nice day.

When you say goodbye to Ray? Goodbye, Ray. See ya. Wouldn't want to be. Just kidding. Just kidding. It rhymed. I really hope you enjoyed that episode of Walking the Dog. We'd love it if you subscribed. And do join us next time on Walking the Dog wherever you get your podcasts.