Benjamin Law is a journalist, playwright, author and broadcaster. He was also recently seen in the jungle on the TV show Survivor and his newest series Wellmania has just aired on Netflix and is ranked #7 globally. Hey Lemonade are so thrilled to have Benjamin on board as both a writer of peps and a voice companion. 

Read the below Q&A with Benjamin for the lemonade-flavoured-inside-scoop on which pep he loves and how mistakes make us human.

What appealed to you about being a voice for Hey Lemonade? 

Sometimes, the thing that’s gotten me out of a bad funk or a rough spot has been a good pep talk from someone whose opinion I valued and trusted. Being part of a community of writers and voices able to provide guidance – on the listener’s own terms – felt like an opportunity too good to pass up.

Name one talk that was a favourite and why? 

There’s a great pep talk by my mate Amy Thunig called “Big Meeting Gee Up” – it’s a great pep talk if you’re about to head into a professional meeting and feeling jittery and/or bowel-meltingly nervous. It’s one of my favourites because it’s not only well-written, but I know it helps: one of my friends recently DM’ed me to say she listened to this before a high-stakes job interview and totally crushed it.

What is one Hey Lemonade Pep talk you wrote? 

One of the peps I’ve written is “So You’ve Made a Mistake.” In a culture that rewards certainty, confidence and a complete lack of contrition, owning up to making a mistake is hard. It comes encumbered with so much confidence-sapping shame and remorse. As a result, it seems there are so few opportunities to wrestle with what you should do next.

How was this topic personal or important to you?

In so many ways, I wanted to articulate all the things I’ve ever needed to hear, for all the inevitable times I’ve screwed up. And it braids together the pep talks I’ve given myself and the pep talks I’ve gotten from others when I’ve needed it most.

When was a time when you needed your “So you’ve made a mistake” pep? 

Are you kidding? I make mistakes and let people down on the regular! Maybe it means I’m just worst than most people, but it’s also very possible it also just means I’m human.