A very happy Monday to you, Shameless frens!

Today on the show, we bring you the incredibly warm Mari Andrew. If you don’t recognise Mari’s name, which you likely do anyway, you’ll no doubt know and adore the illustrations she posts on her Instagram account @bymariandrew. In 2015 after her father passed away, Mari began posting a watercoloured illustration a day onto her Instagram page, as a way to express grief, yes, but to also spread light. Now, Mari boasts over one million Instagram followers and is a New York Times best-selling author too, who has published two books, Am I There Yet and My Inner Sky - the latter of which she wrote while recovering from an unexpected illness that left her paralysed for an entire month while living in Spain.

In this chat with Mari, we talk about why she’s so unafraid to harness loneliness, her relationship with grief, and how she manages to write deeply private stories for her public audience without unleashing past trauma.

For more from Mari, follow her on Instagram at @bymariandrew. And to grab a copy of her book, My Inner Sky, head here. If you enjoyed this interview, we recommend you listen to our In Conversation episode with Zoë Foster Blake here, who Mari has created a lot of book illustrations for.

Thank you so much to today’s sponsor, Sweaty Betty. Check out their new high-waisted power leggings here, and don’t forget to use the code ‘SHAMELESS’ at checkout for 20% off your entire order.

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Thanks so much for lending us your ears for this episode! Have a great day! Stay hydrated!

This episode was produced by Annabelle Lee for Shameless Media.