On our final episode of season two we talk to Danielle Moylan, who has had a wide ranging career spanning the music industry, foreign service with Australia’s Foreign, humanitarian response in Afghanistan and Syria, and now as a cafe owner and cook in London at Grove Lane Deli, Camberwell.

It’s a biggie, covering letting go of ambition, interrogating why we strive - do we truly want it or because we've been told to, being a quality not a control freak, and above all not waiting to know everything before jumping in. 

As usual, we hit Danielle up with the important Qs: 

Last meal:  fried chicken - the good stuff

Currently reading:  Recipe books in desperate search for new ideas - Australian Women’s Weekly Cake Book - a classic, and Andy Baraghani 

Currently watching:  The Crown

Listening to:  BBC news podcast, Beyoncé’s latest masterpieces 

Favourite unwind:  have a bath - hot water immersion

What advice would Danielle give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

You're way more capable and better than what you think you are. And you don't need to know everything to try something. A lot of people feel like they need to fully understand everything. But you can, at any career point, jump into something and learn as you go. Don't wait until you feel like you know everything because you probably never will. And then you realize once you get into that field that nobody knows anything anyway. 

But most importantly, my advice, especially to young women I work with, is that they're so bright, they've got so much going for them. The world really is their oyster.I think that is something that's worth reminding ourselves every single step of our career.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

Today on the podcast we talk to Lucy Earle, who is Director (interim), Human Settlements at the International Institute for Environment and Development. We talk taking risks, how treating new hires badly backfires and the unmitigated pleasure of travelling alone for work. 

Lucy’s work focuses on the intersections of urbanisation, urban poverty and humanitarian crises, in particular forced displacement in urban areas. Prior to joining IIED, Lucy was an urban advisor at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and was seconded to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to support a programme on improving humanitarian response to urban crises. PhD in development studies from the LSE.

As usual, we hit Lucy up with the important Qs: 

Last meal:  something Middle Eastern

Currently reading: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

Currently watching: Industry on BBC, Call My Agent, Emily in Paris
Currently listening to:  a Mahler or Bruckner symphonies if the office is pumping

Favourite unwind:  Swimming and travelling alone for work

What advice would Lucy give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

Get a coach. The questions made me think about work and the answers were really eye opening. It’s really helpful to get someone to ask you the difficult questions and give you homework to do things differently. So if you can afford it, or if you can get your work to pay, get a coach.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

Today on the podcast we talk to Ika Nurain Mudzar who is a communications specialist and fiction writer by night. She’s also a sculptor and we find out where in the day she manages that while also talking about the pros and cons of workplaces as ‘families’, taking leaps of faith and the surprising outcomes you can have when you trust your worth (or trust other people who keep telling you to trust yourself) 

Ika has 15 years experience as a communications expert working across many different sectors including the oil and gas industry, publishing sector, international humanitarian emergencies, and accountancy. Her fiction has been published internationally in several pro and semi-pro rated markets. 

As usual, we hit Ika up with the important Qs: 

Last meal: Her mum’s risolas  

Currently reading: Joe Abercrombie fantasy novelist

Currently watching: BoJack Horseman

Listening to: Low fi music, classical playlist, gaming soundtracks, and 9 to 5 with Avi and Anita! Check out the episode with Victoria Cavanagh which inspired Ika's negotiating success.

Favourite unwind: the gym three or four times a week; writing if she’s in the mood or sculpting - create something with her hands: “I think it's such a good balance to work with your hands rather than staring at the computer screen all day.”

What advice would Ika give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

Find a weekend or a time where you can be quiet with your thoughts and detach from the craziness of work, the craziness of your day-to-day, to just listen to your gut and see where that is going. Find that one voice in your head that keeps on repeating that particular thing that resonates with you.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

Today on the podcast we talk to Helen Teede, a Zimbabwean artist. It’s a big episode on creative practice and its cyclical nature, the mysteries of paint, the imperative driving the vocation to be an artist and all the reasons why we shouldn’t and challenging the patriarchy. 

Helen has been dividing her time between Venice and Harare  for the past five years and has had solo and group shows internationally in spaces and arts fairs including the Paris Internationale, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art, Cape Town, Qingdao Art Museum in Shanghai, and First Floor Gallery, Harare.  She was a finalist in the 2022: Norval Foundation Sovereign Art Prize in Cape Town and has also just been selected ​​to join the very first Tracey Emin artist residency in Margate this year.

As usual, we hit Helen up with the important Qs: 

Last meal: Avocado on toast

Currently reading: In Gratitude by Jenny Diski; Lessico Famigliare (Family Sayings) by Natalia Ginzburg; and The Visible and the Invisible by Merleau-Ponty.

Currently watching: music videos: florence and the machine ‘King’, meghan thee stallion

Listening to: Mokoomba 

Favourite unwind: Running 

What advice would Helen give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

There’s this whole thing: identify your dream or your truth and follow it. But it's so much easier said than done. It comes from such a position of privilege to assume that people can just follow their dreams. Nevertheless, listen to yourself and figure out what you really enjoy, and then carve out a bit of time for that. I think that’s necessary in order to not end up in an existential crisis. Especially with what's going on in the world.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

Today on the podcast we talk to Carlie Jones, a secondary teacher in Australia and a disability and inclusion leader at the school where she teaches. She has been teaching for around 20 years, so has a lot of experience under her belt.

We talk advocacy and supporting students with ADHD, autism and trauma, the impact of COVID-19 on kids’ education and the teaching environment, the importance of family and self care, and the intrinsic rewards that keep you going.

As usual, we hit Carlie up with the important Qs: 

Last meal: Roast pork with all the trimmings, ie. quality crackle 

Currently reading: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Currently watching: Yellowstone

Listening to: 90s playlists - here's a banger to get you started

Favourite unwind: spending time with her little piglets (two of the most adorable girls going) and  family 

What advice would Carlie give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

Take it slow. There will be pressure to take on extra roles and you'll be excited and want to do things but just take it slow; work on work life balance and master your craft. 

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

Today on the podcast we talk to Sarah Keenan and navigate her process of elimination to arrive at being a Reader in Law at Birkbeck University, London. Raised on Giabal and Jarowair land in Toowoomba, Australia, Sarah worked in Brisbane as a Judge’s Associate in the Supreme Court of Queensland and as a solicitor at Prisoners’ Legal Service before moving to the UK to take up a PhD studentship at Kent Law School.  

It’s an episode rich in how we fit into and bust out of systems and find ourselves through the many wonderful people we met on our career journeys. It’s loaded and littered with recommendations and references 

As usual, we hit Keenan up with the important Qs: 

Last meal: Vegetarian Lasagna

Currently reading: 

• My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh 
• When Species Meet by Donna Harraway 
• Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing 
• Return of a Native by Vron Ware

Currently watching: Killing Eve - last season a bit disappointing tbh

Listening to: 

• Mitski 
• Torres 
• Sharon van Etten 
• the Hidden Cameras 
• the audiobook Valencia by Michelle Tea 

Favourite unwind: swimming and/or cycling 

What advice would Keenan give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

Ok so we somehow forgot to ask this extremely pertinent question, however if we mine Keenan’s lightning round there seems to be a strong recommendation to extend your friend network beyond your professional circle so that you can occasionally talk about something other than what you work on. We do not disagree, as such Anita has since quit her job so she could remain friends with Avi.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

Today on the podcast we talk to Sunanda who is a Punjabi-Thai writer, comedian, radio host, and producer raised in Bangkok, matured in New York City and Los Angeles, and has since moved to Melbourne for love. 

This year, they were nominated for the highly coveted Best Newcomer award from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for their solo show, "Sunanda Loves Britney." 

Sunanda is a core collaborator of the award-winning Melbourne queer clowning troupe, Po Po Mo Co, and in 2022 their children’s short film series “Once Upon a Drag Storytime” is the official selection at several worldwide film festivals with screenings. 

They have performed stand up in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Manila, Hyderabad, Singapore, Bangkok and Melbourne among other cities. Sunanda also created, curated, and hosted the groundbreaking show, "Indian Wedding," a South Asian variety show that was called one of the fifteen best things to do in Los Angeles by LA Weekly. They produced Broad City's "I Heart NY" webisode, the feature film “How To Follow Strangers” (Prix D’or of L.E.S. Festival) and countless other shorts where they’ve worked with Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), Ilana Glazer (Broad City), Lucia Aniello (Emmy-award winning director and writer of Hacks, Broad City), Reggie Watts, Horatio Sanz (Saturday Night Live), Michael Che (Saturday Night Live), Ego Nowdim (Saturday Night Live), Jena Friedman (The Daily Show), and Chioke Nassor (High Fidelity) among others. 

I’m sorry, but please, these collabs. Needless to say, this conversation was funny, frank and you’re going to love it. 

As usual, we hit Sunanda up with the important Qs: 

Last meal: Gai Pad Krapow

Currently reading: Instagram captions

Currently watching: We are lady parts

Listening to: Spotify playlist - ‘Back at Mine’; plus Dua Lipa x Elton John collab Cold Heart

Favourite unwind:  Alternative weird comedy, smoke some pot and then dancing at a queer bar

What advice would Sunanda give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

If you can, just go after it. As long as it’s fun, try to waste as little time as possible anxious about if you’ve made the right move. The less time you wait, the more time you have to improve on the thing you just did.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

Today we talk to Zoë Flood who is an independent journalist and filmmaker. Based out of Kenya for much of the past decade, Zoë has reported for a wide range of international media, including the BBC, the Guardian, Al Jazeera and the Washington Post. She runs a production company based in Nairobi that provides production support across the African continent.

Zoë also produces long-form investigations, such as 'Gamblers Like Me', which she shot and directed for BBC Africa Eye and which was shortlisted for best documentary in the 2020 British Sports Journalism Awards. In 2021, she was both Edit Producer and Archive Producer on ‘9/11: Inside the President’s War Room’, the landmark BBC/AppleTV+ feature documentary to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks. The film has won multiple awards, including the Bafta for Editing, and was also nominated in the Best Documentary category, as well as the Editing category at the Emmys. 

Zoë is also Executive Producer and Co-Producer of the ground-breaking Zimbabwean feature film 'Cook Off', streaming on Netflix since 2020. Check out more of Zoë's work at www.zoeflood.com.

So as you can imagine it is a huge episode where we get into Gratitude ImbalanceTM, what it means to be independent and not taking shit. Let us know what you think. 

As usual, we hit Zoë up with the important Qs: 

Last meal: A wood-fired margherita pizza

Currently reading: Chick lit! 

Currently watching: Bling Empire

Listening to: ‘The rest is politics’ podcast, ‘how to fail’ podcast 

Favourite unwind: long walks, reading, swimming and seeing friends

What advice would Zoë give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

Think very hard about what your needs are and what your desires are, not what society's expectations are, your colleagues, your friends and family’s expectations are. We all live with many contending pressures…but taking the time and space to try and work out what it is that you want, what you need, what your values are, is a really valuable step.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

In episode one of season two, we talk to Laura Federico who is a psychotherapist, sex therapist, and consultant specializing in delivering creative, innovative virtual therapy - at  laurafedericotherapy.com. 

Laura has lived and worked in the United States, Turkey, and Switzerland, and has a background in crisis work and psychological first aid. Laura applies a holistic approach to mental well-being and has a specific focus on sexual health, self-worth, the mind-body connection, and relationships.

We spoke about the lenses that we've been brought up with, innovating business models and backing yourself in the face of scepticism. And honestly, the vindication!

You can find out more about Laura's cycle tracking book Bodied at mybodied.com.

As usual, we hit Laura up with the important Qs: 

Last meal: Nachos

Currently reading: Jia Tolentino’s review of Angela Garbes’ Essential Labour: mothering as social change

Currently watching: Couples Therapy

Listening to: Big Thief 

Favourite unwind: Seeing friends, being with people

What advice would Laura give to someone who's wondering about the next step in their career?

Connect with what feels meaningful for you and embody that in making a choice. It’s easy to get connected to the external validators of what is the right versus the wrong choices. Something I try to do for myself, and when I talk to the people I work with, is to remove the labels of right and wrong, and take a step back from all those external lists of what is considered successful. And then spend some time in that internal space working out what feels good. 

A little about your co-hosts

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!

Welcome to season two of 9 to 5 with Avi and Anita - a podcast where we talk with excellent women in the middle of their career journey about how they got where they are and where they're going. 

We had such great time last season speaking to women from around the world, and such a huge response from our listeners that we decided to do season 2. We have a great line up in store - from women working in comedy, sex therapy, teaching, journalism, hospitality, the arts, and more.

Expect career conversations covering the big questions - how to find balance, negotiate what matters, and find meaning in your work. If that sounds like your kind fo thing, join us for season two -  launching Thursday 15 December.

A little about your co-hosts:

Anita Dullard is studying a MSc Climate and Energy Policy, taking time out from media advocacy; Avigail Shai is a diplomatic and policy adviser, and former diplomat – they met working in the international humanitarian sector, stayed for the chat and hilarity.

And don't forget to join our 9 to 5 community on IG, FB and TW, and don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review!