Stay Weird

Welcome to The Art of The Impossible, the weekly newsletter where I unearth five pieces of content which I hope will both inspire and embolden you.

When I was in the depths of working in startups, I always wished I could find some respite and inspiration on my weekends, and this newsletter is the thing I wish existed so I do hope you enjoy it.

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by the wonderful team at Descript - the product I use to edit all my podcast episodes with ease - sign up for FREE here.

PODCAST

Mary Lou Jepsen | A Handheld Device to Defeat Cancer

What if the bulky, expensive machines that fill hospital radiology departments could be replaced by a wearable? In this episode from the Foresight Institute, they speak to the amazing Mary Lou Jepsen — founder of Openwater and pioneering inventor — about how breakthroughs in light-based imaging could democratize access to brain and body scans.

From her work at Google X and Facebook’s moonshot labs to her current mission at Openwater, Jepsen has spent decades at the frontier of tech and health. Now, she’s building a future where scanning the body for disease is as simple as putting on a hat — no radiation, no giant machines, no $1M price tag. The conversation explores:

• Why light could be the key to affordable, real-time medical diagnostics

• How her device works — and what it might replace

• What it takes to challenge the medical-industrial complex

• Her vision for global healthcare access and early detection

Watch/listen here. Also, my interview with Mary Lou here.

QUOTE

“There’s a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.”

INTERVIEW

She Escaped War and Beat Sexism: The Incredible Story of Dame Stephanie Shirley

I was so sad to learn of Dame Stephanie Shirley’s recent passing and wrote about it here.

Since I first met and interviewed her almost ten years ago, I have always wanted her story to reach far and wide so I am sharing her interview this week with the High Performance hosts - Jake Humphrey and Professor Damian Hughes.

Dame Stephanie Shirley was a businesswoman, technology pioneer and philanthropist who had a long career championing women in the workplace and new forms of technology, including being part of the team that programmed Concorde’s black box flight recorder.

Dame Stephanie fled the Nazi regime and came to the UK as one of many unaccompanied children on the Kindertransport when she was just 5 years-old. After living with a foster family, Dame Stephanie want on to found a software company, despite the many challenges she faced. She sold er company for over £2 BILLION, making over 70 of her nearly all female employees millionaires.

Watch/listen here.

BOOK

Lead Boldly: Seven Principles from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Robert F. Smith

Leadership insights from one of history’s most influential voices

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated more than 55 years ago, yet his words continue to inspire millions of people, young and old—from all races and backgrounds. During his remarkable life, he embodies bold and compassionate leadership and achieved a level of influence few thought possible for a Black man born in Atlanta just before the Great Depression.

Now, aspiring leaders can reflect on some of Dr. King’s most impactful speeches and integrate his lessons into their modern leadership journeys. Robert F. Smith, billionaire Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, offers his own insights and experiences on each passage on how themes like “The Beloved Community”, “Economic Justice”, and “Two Americas” played a central role in his own leadership development and why the visionary ideas of Dr. King espoused are so important for leaders to understand and apply today.

Pre-order the book here - out September 25th 2025.

WATCH

SWIPED

It’s good to see a film finally being made about a female tech founder - in this case, Whitney Wolfe Herd of dating apps Tinder (co-founder) then founder and CEO of Bumble.

Inspired by the real-life story of the visionary founder of online dating platform Bumble, “Swiped” introduces Whitney Wolfe as she uses extraordinary grit and ingenuity to break into the male-dominated tech industry.

Watch the trailer here. Out on Hulu 19th September.

Thank you so much, as always, for reading the newsletter and for listening to the podcast.

If you enjoy them, please do feel free to like and share - my goal is for these stories to inspire and embolden as many as possible.

Until next time, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Danielle

PS If you would like to join the likes of Notion, Vanta and Boardy AI by sponsoring the newsletter, you can do so here.

PPS I am thinking of writing a book where I interview founders and innovators in the AI space - those who shaped/are shaping it - who should I add to the wish list of interviewees?