Meet Victoria Vanstone
Victoria Vanstone’s sobriety story started, rather inconveniently, with anxiety. After more than two decades of enthusiastic binge drinking, questionable decisions and treating hangovers as an unavoidable administrative part of adulthood, becoming a mum made it increasingly difficult to ignore what alcohol was doing to her head.
Vic got sober in 2018 and, having absolutely no qualifications in addiction whatsoever, did what any sensible person would do and started talking about it publicly. She went on to create the award winning Sober Awkward podcast, now with more than 8 million downloads worldwide, where she has built a career out of admitting things most people would prefer to take to the grave.
She is the author of two memoirs, A Thousand Wasted Sundays and Mumming: A Year of Trying (and Failing) to Be a Better Parent, and writes about drinking, sobriety, anxiety, motherhood and the enormous relief that comes from finally dropping the act.
Originally from Reading in the UK and now living in Australia, Vic is a writer, podcaster, speaker, mum of three and compulsive starter of new projects. Her work is funny, frank and occasionally inappropriate, but underneath the fanny jokes and oversharing is a fairly simple message: shame keeps people quiet, honesty gets people talking, and life without booze can be far more interesting than anyone tells you.
Meet Ulrika Jonsson
Ulrika Jonsson has spent most of her adult life in the limelight, working as a television presenter, broadcaster, columnist and writer while raising four children and somehow getting on with everything life has thrown at her. For years, alcohol was part of that life too, although her drinking didn’t always look like the big nights out people might expect. Increasingly, it happened at home, rum to be exact, at the end of a long day and a way to switch off when everything else finally stopped.
When Ulrika began questioning her relationship with alcohol, she discovered that sobriety wasn’t simply about not drinking. There were brilliant bits, difficult bits, boring bits, emotional bits and plenty of moments when she wondered what the hell she was supposed to do with herself now.
After appearing as a guest on Sober Awkward, Ulrika realised how much she enjoyed talking openly about those ups and downs. So when Vic later took a punt and asked if she fancied becoming her co host, Ulrika said yes, much to Vic’s genuine shock.
Now she brings her trademark honesty, humour and refusal to sugar coat things to Sober Awkward. After decades of having her life discussed publicly, Ulrika is refreshingly willing to tell her own version, warts and all. She talks about drinking, sobriety, motherhood, relationships, ageing, mistakes and starting again, proving that changing your relationship with alcohol doesn’t require becoming a wellness guru who gets up at 5am to drink celery juice. Thank God.
Our Story
Welcome to a whole new world of Awkward…
Sober Awkward is the award winning podcast proving that sobriety doesn’t have to be boring, beige or all green juice and meditation bells. Hosted by writer, author and mum of three Victoria Vanstone and broadcaster, writer and mum of four Ulrika Jonsson, it’s a funny, raw and painfully honest look at what really happens when you take alcohol out of your life.
Now five years old, with more than 8 million downloads and guests including Fatboy Slim and loads of other incredible people, Sober Awkward has grown from a little podcast about giving up booze into a global sober community, sharing the message that alcohol free life isn’t about missing out. It’s about finally showing up.
Vic and Ulrika came to sobriety from very different places. Vic was the big social binge drinker, always first at the bar, last on the dance floor and seemingly having a bloody marvellous time. Ulrika’s drinking looked different. Hers became more about drinking at home, pouring a glass behind closed doors and using alcohol to switch off from the pressures of life, work and motherhood. Different drinking habits, different lives, but eventually they both arrived at the same place, wondering what alcohol was actually giving them and who they might be without it.
Now they’re having the conversations they wish they’d heard years ago. Why do people drink the way they do? Why is alcohol so tangled up with friendship, motherhood, celebration, stress, confidence and identity? Why does stopping feel so bloody awkward? And what happens when you finally start figuring out who you are without a glass in your hand?
Nothing is off limits. They talk hangxiety, blackouts, parenting without the prosecco, sober sex, relationships, shame, ageing, identity, cravings, awkward parties and all the other strange bits of sobriety nobody warns you about.
This isn’t a preachy podcast and nobody is here to tell you what to do. It’s messy, funny and oddly comforting, with swearing, oversharing, ridiculous stories and the kind of uncomfortable honesty that makes you realise you’re definitely not the only one.
So whether you’re sober, sober curious, questioning your drinking or simply wondering why anyone would voluntarily go to a wedding without getting pissed, pull up a chair.
Welcome to Sober Awkward.
It’s time to feel the awkward and do it anyway.
Eleanor Parks
Lead Engineer
