In this episode of The Mettā Interview, host Anne V Mühlethaler welcomes the dynamic duo behind Salt & Sage Strategic Storytelling: Manfreda "Freddy" Cavazza and Felicity "Flea" Haythorn. These former journalists turned strategic storytellers bonded over a shared dislike for "meaningless marketing bullshit" and a communal love for clarity, brevity, and honesty.
The conversation opens with Anne guiding them through a brief centering meditation—modeling the mindful approach central to The Mettā Interview format. This grounding moment helps ease their pre-interview nerves and demonstrates the authentic presence that underlies meaningful conversations.
Freddy and Flea share what's bringing them joy: morning yoga that provides calm before the storm, and the wisdom of allowing family downtime before a holiday rather than micromanaging productivity. These personal touches reveal the human side of their professional partnership.
Their origin stories unfold through childhood memories and early career experiences. Freddy recounts a pivotal horseback riding lesson from her farmer father in Brazil, where falling off seven times was framed as part of becoming a good rider—a metaphor that shaped her approach to resilience. Flea traces her writing journey to early encouragement from teachers like Mrs. Henderson, whom she still contacts today.
The duo met through Instagram DMs five years ago when Freddy needed editorial help for a Fatface catalog project. Their collaboration revealed complementary skills: Freddy's copywriting expertise paired with Flea's production and subediting mastery from her magazine background. What started as project-based work evolved into a thriving partnership built on mutual support and creative energy.
Both share transformative career challenges that shaped their paths. Freddy describes her experience as a Daily Mail business reporter dealing with imposter syndrome, and how having children paradoxically made her more focused and "ballsy" at work. Flea reflects on being naturally shy and sensitive in corporate environments, initially seeing these traits as weaknesses until a career coach helped her recognize empathy and sensitivity as superpowers essential to good storytelling.
The heart of their conversation explores their central question: "How do we weave authentic narrative threads to support a brand voice in an age of AI-generated content?" They explain their revolutionary approach of replacing rigid "content pillars" and "content buckets" with flexible "narrative threads" that weave together like a tapestry, allowing for more creative and cohesive storytelling across all platforms.
Their philosophy centers on authenticity through depth—going beyond surface-level statements to uncover the real stories, decisions, and values that make brands unique. They emphasize the importance of foundational messaging work: understanding the what, how, why, who, and where of a brand before crafting content.
The discussion reveals their nuanced relationship with AI: they use it as a "junior copywriter" for structure and initial drafts, but then "edit the shit out of it" to infuse humanity and brand voice. They worry about AI making people feel inadequate about their own voices, potentially keeping entrepreneurs small when their authentic stories are exactly what makes them compelling.
Throughout the conversation, they demonstrate their core belief that confidence and voice are inseparable—that much of what they sell is actually confidence through words.
The episode offers both strategic insights for content creators and a deeper exploration of what it means to maintain human connection in an increasingly automated world. Freddy and Flea make a compelling case that the future belongs to those who can weave authentic narratives that AI simply cannot replicate.
A rich conversation about storytelling, authenticity, and the irreplaceable value of human experience in business communication.
Happy listening!
In this episode of The Mettā Interview, host Anne V Mühlethaler welcomes Libby Stockstill, founder and CEO of Some Days, speaking from the enchanted mountain town of Idyllwild, California. This conversation holds special significance as Libby was Anne's original inspiration for creating The Mettā Interview during a Zoom call earlier in the year.
Libby is a lifelong learner and leader with extensive legal expertise and dynamic business experience spanning Fortune 250 companies to unicorn startups. Until October 2024, she served as Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary of activewear brand Vuori, where she established the legal function and helped shape the business through rapid global growth. Her career includes leadership roles at Vans, Billabong, and nearly a decade at Latham & Watkins LLP. Through Some Days, she works at the intersection of leadership and empowerment, counselling clients in the intentional pursuit of big dreams and navigating what gets in the way.
During the conversation Libby reveals her vulnerable relationship with self-introduction since leaving her corporate legal career. She describes the discomfort of no longer having a simple title and company to "tick the box," instead needing more words to capture her multifaceted identity as someone who writes, speaks, coaches, and consults "in service of the intentional pursuit of big dreams" and the equally important "what gets in the way." She shares with Anne several stories about childhood memories, early creative impulses before turning to talk about her coaching journey — which began through writing.
After years of saying she wanted to write "the next Great American novel" but never actually writing, she had an awakening moment at a creative company where she saw others weaving their passions into their lives despite having jobs and families. This led to buying her first personal computer and finally starting to write.
Libby tells Anne how she discovered coaching, which aligned with her passion for helping people pursue their big dreams and navigate what gets in the way. She reflects on how her legal background surprisingly equipped her with the ability to create safe spaces for vulnerability—not typically associated with the legal profession.
The heart of their conversation explores Libby's central question: "How do we make the world better?" She describes the cyclical nature of this overwhelming question — getting stuck in its magnitude, feeling hopeless about her ability to make a difference, then climbing out by remembering to "just keep showing up and shining my light." The conversation explores how this feels like a revolutionary act in a world that can dim our lights, and how individual light-shining can inspire others to do the same.
Their dialogue delves into the challenges of staying awake and aware in today's world, where removing numbing mechanisms while facing current global tensions creates a particularly intense experience. Libby shares her practices for nurturing awareness: morning pages, intentional listening to diverse voices, and connecting with nature's cycles through moon rituals.
Throughout, Anne and Libby explore how spaciousness in conversation allows for deeper thinking and connection, referencing concepts like Indra's Net (where each being is a reflective gem in an infinite web) and the Bodhisattva network of compassionate beings working to better the world. The episode weaves together personal transformation, social responsibility, and the practical magic.
Happy listening!
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In this inaugural episode of The Mettā Interview, host Anne V Mühlethaler welcomes Amber Theurer, a strategist, coach, and creative devoted to bridging the digital and physical to create a more human world. Through her work with founders, creatives, and communities, she helps people slow down, reconnect to their own rhythms, and design lives and ventures that reward human connection as much as growth. She is the creator of Slow Sessions and co-founder of HUMAN AF, a media and community ecosystem exploring what it means to build…and to *be*...human in an automated world.
In their conversation, Anne and Amber explore how they first connected through the Write of Passage community and bonded over their first 90-minute Zoom call where they discovered their shared fascination with human-centered approaches to business and life. Amber shares her joy in returning to New York City after 14 months in Mexico City, describing the beautiful experience of walking familiar streets through a new lens of appreciation and noticing.
The discussion delves into Amber's origin story, treasured childhood memories, and traces Amber's unconventional career path from studying corporate social responsibility at Temple University to dropping out of college at 20 to pursue consulting opportunities in New York. She describes her transformative experience working at a community grocery store in Fishtown, Philadelphia, where her genuine curiosity about customers naturally led to her getting her first clients — demonstrating her belief that "it's people more than anything else, more than product that determines product market fit."
In the second half of the interview, Anne and Amber explore their central question, one of the leading premises of the Metta Interview — meeting around a question. Amber’s personal struggle centres on "How do you make resources move with more integrity in a transactional society?"
She traces this inquiry back to her father's wisdom during her turbulent childhood: "When you're rich in love, everything else follows suit." This foundational belief shaped her understanding that love as a currency and resource creates abundance in all other areas of life.
Their exploration reveals practical frameworks for identifying our true currencies — whether time, freedom, money, or connection — and how honest acknowledgment of these priorities can transform both personal relationships and business interactions. Amber shares how slowing down in Mexico City allowed her to see clearly what had always been shining: her commitment to putting people first in all her work.
Throughout their conversation, Amber demonstrates her gift for making profound concepts accessible through personal stories and practical tools. From her early days following creative intuition to helping founders lead with more clarity and resilience, she embodies her belief that rewarding the human often leads to more profit, not the other way around.
The episode touches on trust, intuitive decision-making, the importance of fluid relationships with time, and how mortality awareness can help us identify and remove unnecessary obstacles. Amber's approach isn't about rejecting transaction, but rather finding ways to infuse integrity and love into how resources — including attention, energy, and care—move through our lives and work.
A thoughtful and inspiring conversation that offers both philosophical insights and practical tools for anyone seeking to align their work and relationships with their deepest values.
Happy listening!
The Mettā Interview website: LeTrente.com/the-metta-interview
The Mettā View newsletter: https://themettaview.com
Anne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annvi/
Anne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-v-muhlethaler/
Le Trente: LeTrente.com
Connect with Amber:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amber.the/
Substack: https://amberthe.substack.com/
Calendly: https://calendly.com/ambermtheurer
Welcome to The Mettā Interview: generous conversations with brilliant humans.
In this introductory episode, host Anne V Mühlethaler shares the journey that led to this podcast - from five years of writing The Mettā View newsletter and hosting her long-form interview podcast Out of the Clouds, to launching in person salons and a new business, to a pivotal Zoom call moment with a brilliant friend that sparked everything.
Discover or revisit the meaning of Mettā (loving-kindness), why Anne approaches conversations through this lens of unconditional friendliness, and how her background in luxury fashion shaped her commitment to detail and depth. Explore what makes the Metta Interview a different kind of conversation: instead of showcasing expertise, each episode explores a question that feels alive for Anne’s guests right now.
This is where it all begins - an invitation into a new kind of podcast experience where curiosity meets wisdom, deep listening dances with insights and emergence.
About Anne V
Anne V (for Virginie) Mühlethaler is an entrepreneur, coach, and mindfulness teacher who spent 17 years in luxury fashion, including six years as SVP of Global Communications for Christian Louboutin. Now based in Geneva, Switzerland, she guides purpose-led brands and individuals to tell better stories through her unique blend of strategic thinking, insightful questions and contemplative practice.
A certified coach and passionate advocate for conscious communication, Anne believes everything in life can be solved by better communication. She's particularly committed to helping people find their "outside voice" - supporting those who've built deep expertise internally to share their knowledge with the world. Whether working with accomplished professionals ready to transition from expert to thought leader, or helping women claim their space in public discourse, Anne creates safe containers for authentic expression.
Through Le Trente and The Metta Interview, she's creating spaces where expertise meets humanity and genuine connection drives transformation.
Anne is currently writing a memoir while caressing other ideas for non-fiction books. She writes The Metta View, a weekly newsletter offering her perspectives on branding, communication and the future of work through thoughtfully written essays and a regular Digest.
About Le Trente
The Metta Interview is the podcast home of Le Trente, an emerging social learning studio creating a global community for open-minded, purpose-driven individuals. Headquartered in Geneva and online to the world, Le Trente offers transformational workshops, masterclasses, and intimate gatherings where guests are invited to get inspired by each other and explore big and small questions together. Each guest of
The Metta Interview is a carefully chosen contributor to Le Trente - wonderful guides, coaches, and experts from all walks of life who bring both knowhow and passion to their work. These conversations serve as an introduction to these teachers before perhaps registering for one of their sessions or becoming part of our community of practice.
Connect with Le Trente: letrente.com
Newsletter: letrente.com/metta-view
Events: lu.ma/letrente
Work with Anne:
Coaching: letrente.com/coaching
Consulting: letrente.com/consulting
For speaking requests email: info@letrente.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/le-trente
Instagram: https://instagram.com/annvi
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/annvi.bsky.social
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