Becoming Lucy

About Becoming Lucy

Becoming Lucy is real life stories with real people where real change happens. It's where healing meets humour, and where Lucy and Hana turn life's chaos into connection.

Publisher

Lucy Hodgkinson

Category

society & culture · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

17 Oct 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

50 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   BORN DEPENDENT ON HEROIN, REJECTED FOR BEING TRANS: How Paralysis Made My Life Better

   Her father introduced her to heroin. Her family rejected her for being transgender. And becoming paralysed actually made her life better. Sounds unbelievable? That’s just the beginning of Bea’s story. Born dependent on heroin and spending the first nine years of her life in the care system, Bea’s childhood was anything but ordinary. From abuse and addiction to family secrets and the struggle to understand her own identity, her early years were shaped by experiences no child should have to face. But growing up was only the beginning. When Bea finally found the courage to live authentically as a transgender woman, it came at an enormous cost. Family rejection, homelessness and losing her job were just some of the consequences of choosing to be herself. And life wasn’t about to get any less complicated. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION, BEA OPENS UP ABOUT: • Being born dependent on heroin and growing up in the care system. • Childhood trauma, family secrets and the complicated relationship with her biological parents. • Discovering her gender identity, coming out as transgender and facing rejection. • Addiction, sex work, homelessness and the darkest periods of her life. • Living with Tourette’s syndrome and autism, including the unexpected realities of both. • Being crowned Miss Transgender UK and what that achievement meant to her. • The seizure that left her paralysed and why she believes it changed her life for the better. • Finding freedom through adaptive sports, Tough Mudder and a community that helped her embrace a completely different future. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ From being told she was dead to her family to being crowned Miss Transgender UK, Bea’s life is full of twists you genuinely couldn’t make up. But perhaps the biggest surprise came after she became paralysed. Despite the challenges and restrictions of living with a disability, Bea discovered a whole new world through adaptive sports, Tough Mudder and an incredible community. Now an ambassador and charity trustee, she’s using her experiences to challenge perceptions of disability while embracing opportunities she never imagined possible. So how did something that placed so many restrictions on her life also open up a world she never knew existed? And trust us, Bea doesn’t hold back. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ A NOTE FOR LISTENERS This episode contains discussions of childhood abuse, addiction, sexual exploitation, sex work and suicide. Bea also lives with Tourette’s syndrome, which can cause involuntary movements and vocal tics, including swearing. These moments are part of Bea’s everyday experience and are shared openly throughout our conversation. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 CONNECT WITH BEA 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplybea_adaptive_athlete/⁠ (https://www.instagram.com/simplybea_adaptive_athlete/%E2%81%A0) 🌿 EXPERIENCE COMMUNITY Discover the charity supporting disabled people to enjoy the outdoors, adventure and accessible activities. Website: https://experiencecommunity.co.uk/⁠ (https://experiencecommunity.co.uk/%E2%81%A0) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ FOLLOW BECOMING LUCY 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becominglucy/⁠ (https://www.instagram.com/becominglucy/%E2%81%A0) ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@becominglucy⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/@becominglucy%E2%81%A0) 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1D9rtPbwLh/⁠ (https://www.facebook.com/share/1D9rtPbwLh/%E2%81%A0) 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@becominglucy⁠ (https://www.tiktok.com/@becominglucy%E2%81%A0) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ BECOMING LUCY Real People. Real Stories. Real Change. Who are you becoming? ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer • Informational Only: This content is for general information and entertainment. It is not professional advice (legal, medical, financial, or otherwise). • No Guarantees: We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or outcomes from using the information shared. • Personal Views: Opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the official positions of any affiliated organisations. • No Liability: We are not liable for any actions taken based on this podcast. • External Links: We are not responsible for content found on any external sites mentioned.

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   ASKING FOR A SOLICITOR DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE GUILTY: Criminal Law, Racism & Turning Pain into Purpose

   Does asking for a solicitor make you look guilty? And if you’ve done nothing wrong, why would you need one? Lucy and Hana sit down with criminal law solicitor and law firm owner Shazia Ali for a conversation that changes how they think about legal representation — from what a solicitor actually does to why Shazia wouldn’t represent herself. We’re used to hearing “I’ll call my solicitor” on the telly. But what happens when you’re the person who needs one? We explore understanding your rights, the decisions you face and why having someone in your corner matters. ⸻ Behind that insight is a remarkable personal story. One of seven siblings growing up in Greater Manchester, Shazia experienced racist abuse on the way to school, started working at 14 and funded her own education before going on to build Scarsdale Solicitors. 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE • Why asking for a solicitor doesn’t mean you’re guilty. • What a criminal solicitor actually does — and why even Shazia wouldn’t represent herself. • Understanding your rights and getting advice before making decisions about your case. • Growing up in a big family, navigating cultural expectations and facing racism. • Working at 14, funding her education and building her own law firm. • Supporting women experiencing domestic abuse and her plans for a pro bono department. • Balancing motherhood, ambition and a business built around her values. ⸻ There’s laughter, a few changed opinions and a look at the person behind the profession — and Lucy is delighted to finally have someone she can call “my solicitor” while Hana hopes she never has to use one 🙌🏼😂 ⸻ CONNECT WITH SHAZIA & SCARSDALE SOLICITORS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_scarsdale.solicitors/ (https://www.instagram.com/_scarsdale.solicitors/) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsdalesolicitors (https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsdalesolicitors) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScarsdaleSolicitors/ (https://www.facebook.com/ScarsdaleSolicitors/) Shazia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shazia-ali-177401277/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shazia-ali-177401277/) Scarsdale Solicitors LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scarsdale-solicitors/ (https://www.linkedin.com/company/scarsdale-solicitors/) ⸻ FOLLOW BECOMING LUCY https://www.instagram.com/becominglucypodcast/ (https://www.instagram.com/becominglucypodcast/) Real People. Real Stories. Real Change. Who are you becoming? ⸻ ⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer • Informational Only: This content is for general information and entertainment. It is not professional advice (legal, medical, financial, or otherwise). • No Guarantees: We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or outcomes from using the information shared. • Personal Views: Opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the official positions of any affiliated organisations. • No Liability: We are not liable for any actions taken based on this podcast. • External Links: We are not responsible for content found on any external sites mentioned.

3. 

   6 Oct 2026

   MARRIED TO A ROCKSTAR & AND AN UNEXPECTED DIAGNOSIS: Music Legends, the Grammys & Living with MS

   What happens when life gives you a diagnosis that changes everything — but your story is nowhere near finished? This week on Becoming Lucy, we’re joined by Grammy-nominated artist, musician, author and storyteller Robbi Kumalo for a conversation about music, multiple sclerosis, creativity and continuing to find possibility when life takes an unexpected turn. Robbi has had an extraordinary career. She’s worked alongside legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Harry Belafonte, Mary J. Blige and Chaka Khan, appeared on television with Oprah, created award-winning music for children and reached more than a million children and families through her work. Then, at 50, Robbi was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. But that’s far from where her story ends. We talk about receiving a life-changing diagnosis, navigating a condition other people often can’t see, and how Robbi has learned to adapt without allowing MS to become the headline of who she is. And somehow, this conversation also takes us to the Grammys — including what one of the world’s most glamorous music events is actually like behind the scenes. 👀 Robbi also opens up about her book, Married To A Rockstar: Bass Lines and Musical Blessings for Healing, and the story behind a life shaped by music, marriage, motherhood, change and finding herself again. We explore creativity as a way of processing life’s difficult moments, turning setbacks into stories and art, the importance of community when you’re living with a hidden disability, and how becoming more mindful of the world around her has changed the way Robbi lives. There are stories of music legends, motherhood, spirituality, falling down and getting back up — sometimes literally — and plenty of moments that remind us that a change in circumstances doesn’t have to mean the end of possibility. In this episode: 🎶 A remarkable life and career in music 🧠 Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 50 🏆 The road to the Grammys — and what they’re really like 🫥 The reality of living with a hidden disability 📖 The story behind Married To A Rockstar 🎨 Turning life’s difficult moments into creativity 🌿 Mindfulness, self-care and Robbi’s approach to living with MS ❤️ Marriage, motherhood, family and finding purpose ✨ Why adapting doesn’t have to mean giving up This isn’t simply a conversation about MS. It’s about what happens when life changes the plan — and you decide there’s still a lot more living to do. 🎧 Listen now on Becoming Lucy. Who are you becoming? 🎙️ BECOMING LUCY Real People. Real Stories. Real Change. 📸 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/becominglucy/ (https://www.instagram.com/becominglucy/) ▶️ YouTube https://youtube.com/@becominglucy?si=b9Z–wu5RjbypKmo (https://youtube.com/@becominglucy?si=b9Z%E2%80%93wu5RjbypKmo) 📘 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/1D9rtPbwLh/?mibextid=wwXIfr (https://www.facebook.com/share/1D9rtPbwLh/?mibextid=wwXIfr) 🎧 Listen to Becoming Lucy on all major podcast platforms. ──────── FIND ROBBI 🌐 Website https://www.robbikumalo.com (https://www.robbikumalo.com) 📖 Married To A Rockstar: Bass Lines and Musical Blessings for Healing https://www.robbikumalo.com/blog-podcast (https://www.robbikumalo.com/blog-podcast) 📚 Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=9798268999525 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=9798268999525) 📸 Instagram — @multiplesuperbness https://www.instagram.com/multiplesuperbness/ (https://www.instagram.com/multiplesuperbness/) 📘 Facebook — Robbi Hall Kumalo https://www.facebook.com/RobbiHallKumalo (https://www.facebook.com/RobbiHallKumalo) ▶️ YouTube — @msrobik https://www.youtube.com/@msrobik (https://www.youtube.com/@msrobik) ──────── ⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer • Informational Only: This content is for general information and entertainment. It is not professional advice (legal, medical, financial, or otherwise). • No Guarantees: We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or outcomes from using the information shared. • Personal Views: Opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the official positions of any affiliated organisations. • No Liability: We are not liable for any actions taken based on this podcast. • External Links: We are not responsible for content found on any external sites mentioned.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

Contact Becoming Lucy

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.