Better Than Yesterday with Osher Günsberg

Tanya Hennessy is a comedian, author, broadcaster and YouTube superstar. 

She’s currently on the radio every weekend right around the country, on the internet being very, very funny - and about to be on Bachelor in Paradise UNPACKED where she and her colleagues watch every episode of The Bachelor in Paradise and react to it - like a mini version of Goggle Box. It’s extraordinarily funny. 

That’s mainly because she is extraordinarily funny too. 

Tanya has an incredible story to tell, and as a woman in Australian broadcasting has some excellent lessons about success when you’re up against it. 

A note here at the top of the show. 

Tanya wrote quite extensively in her book “Am I Doing This Right?” about body image. 

She wrote a whole chapter on it. 

During this conversation she brings it up, and we begin to talk about it. 

I called her the other day to double and triple check to make sure that what we talked about was ok to go up on the podcast, and she assured me that it was. 

I am no stranger to body image issues - having been 112kg at one point, fat shamed by paparazzi and bullied in the press, I am well aware of what it is to be bigger in the public eye. 

My own story involves compulsive eating, portion control, and binge eating. 

So where I was coming from was a place of someone who works every day to keep on top of those compulsive behaviours, someone who tries to do the work every day around making sure what I eat is the right thing and the right amount, and someone who tries to train every day so that I am healthy and feel good in my own body.

That’s where I was standing when she and I dove into that often taboo discussion. 

It might be confronting to hear, and you might get an itchy outrage trigger finger - but I’d ask you to listen with an open ear and open heart to what the two of us were discussing and the reality of the business we both work in, and indeed the realities of health outcomes when you’re heavier. I can now officially say I’m a man that’s nearly 50. If I don’t stay fit and watch what I eat it’s a slippery slope to blood pressure pills, type 2 diabetes, erectile dysfunction and a stent in my arteries. 

So that’s where we both were really when we talked about what we talked about. I hope you can listen in the spirit of which it was conversed - that of two colleagues discussing the reality of where we work, the nature of our business and the plain facts about health. 

Tanya is snort-laugh funny, so I’d caution against drinking or eating when listening to this episode. 

If you want to let Tanya know you heard her here on the show - she’s online, mostly FB and Youtube - just search Tanya Hennessy. 

Her book is out wherever books are out and Bachelor in Paradise unpacked goes live right after our first episode on April 9th. 

So you ready? 

Get set for a fabulous sit down chat with Tanya Hennessy. 

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My guest today is Christina Hoff Sommers - former Philosophy professor at Clark University in the US and currently a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. 

Find her on twitter @CHSommers

Her work mainly focuses on gender politics, feminism and free speech in universities.

She’s out in Australia for the #feminist events with Roxanne Gay - Sydney Friday 29th and Melbourne Sunday 31st. 

Now I know she’s a divisive figure, and I personally don’t agree with some of the things that she said in our conversation, but I get where she’s coming from and why she’s coming at those topics from those angles. 

I felt it was important to have a conversation with someone that I might disagree with on some part of their message - but at the same time find places that we may connect. 

You’ll hear a few times that we do indeed find some resonance, but the larger focus on the conversation for me was figuring out what it is to be her. 

To be someone who’s shouted down in universities, to be excommunicated from an academic faculty that she’d been a part of for so long for questioning a status quo. 

Even though Christina does question the value of trigger warnings in this conversation - I’ll tell you right now, one of her big topics that she covers is sexual assault on campuses - so if that’s an issue for you, perhaps you’ll want to check back in for the next episode come Monday. 

If you want to reach out to her she’s very active on twitter: @CHSommers

That being said, come with me to Erskineville in inner-western Sydney and sit down for a conversation with Christina Hoff Sommers. 

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Dr Ian Chung has been practising for nearly fifty years in Sydney, Australia.

We’ll get into his story shortly - however, he made a name for himself as "Dr Rock”, the doctor to call when you have a major international performer that can’t make the show and there are 20,000 people who have bought tickets and are on the way to the gig as you speak. That’s when you called Dr Chung. 

If you’ve read my book, you’ll know how I came to meet him - but I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did. 

Not only was he and the first doctor to diagnose me with social phobia (which was the first time everything started to make sense) but he was the first doctor that I saw about my head that taught me real skills to deal with what was happening rather than just talk about it. 

I’ll never forget when Dr Chung got angry at me when I told him I’d rather have a few beers to calm down my anxiety than take antidepressants, and it was his anger and frustration that shook me out of my stubbornness and lead me to take those meds - which not only gave me incredible relief but made me lament refusing them when I was first offered them nearly ten years beforehand. 

A quick note - just because Ian helped me, doesn’t mean he’s the only person who can help. 

I’ve had many doctors since Ian and they’ve all helped me get where I am and stay where I am today - he’s just the one who set the standard to which I held all other doctors accountable to. 

There are many, many excellent doctors who can help you if you need help. It’s important to allow time to find them. You might not click straight away, it might not work for you, that’s ok - they’ll work for someone else and that’s fine. 

It’s important to keep trying, keep trying to find the doctor that you click with, one you can trust, one that makes you want to do what they tell you to do. 

Because if you’re at the point where you're seeing a Dr, you’re at the point where your ideas have run out of usefulness. So be quiet, listen to what they tell you to do, and do it. 

And it was in doing what I was told by Doctors that helped me get to a place where I’m a lot healthier than where I once was.

It’s not hyperbole to say that Dr Chung changed my life - and I am so very grateful that you now get the chance to hear the story of this incredible man. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dr Ian Chung. 

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Josh Szeps is a Tv presenter and radio broadcaster now based in Sydney Australia. 

He’s currently working on the ABC presenting the Weekend Breakfast on ABC News. 

Josh and I have worked together a few times in our careers - however, he went on to become far more successful than I with his award-winning satirical radio work, his work as a founding host of Huff Post Live, and his podcast We The People Live. 

Josh has a show coming up at the Melbourne International Comedy festival #youtoo, tickets are available at ComedyFestival.com.au

If you like the show, please let him know - he’s on twitter @joshzepps, and without further ado, here’s Josh Szepps

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Graeme Simsion is an Australian author, screenwriter, playwright and data modeller. Yes, we get nerdy and talk about Data Modelling in this chat. 

Graeme changed careers relatively late in life to become an author, and achieved astonishing success with his books centred around the character Don Tillman - the Rosie Trilogy, The Rosie Project, The Rosie Effect, and now most recently The Rosie Result. 

Graeme kindly and gently introduced the world to Don Tillman a few years ago now, a man who has a different way of going about life - it’s never really mentioned explicitly early on in the books, but Don is a genetics professor with high functioning Asperger’s Syndrome. 

You’ll find out in this chat why it was so important to Graeme to write about Don this way and indeed why it’s important to celebrate neurodiversity - the idea that neurological differences like autism and ADHD are the result of normal, natural variation in the human genome.  

I’ll let the conversation explain the rest. 

If you like what you hear, Graeme is on twitter @graemesimsion 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Graeme Simsion is an Australian author, screenwriter, playwright and data modeller. Yes, we get nerdy and talk about Data Modelling in this chat. 

Graeme changed careers relatively late in life to become an author, and achieved astonishing success with his books centred around the character Don Tillman - the Rosie Trilogy, The Rosie Project, The Rosie Effect, and now most recently The Rosie Result. 

Graeme kindly and gently introduced the world to Don Tillman a few years ago now, a man who has a different way of going about life - it’s never really mentioned explicitly early on in the books, but Don is a genetics professor with high functioning Asperger’s Syndrome. 

You’ll find out in this chat why it was so important to Graeme to write about Don this way and indeed why it’s important to celebrate neurodiversity - the idea that neurological differences like autism and ADHD are the result of normal, natural variation in the human genome.  

I’ll let the conversation explain the rest. 

If you like what you hear, Graeme is on twitter @graemesimsion 

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Joe Williams is an author, speaker, and activist. 

A proud Wiradjuri, 1st Nations Aboriginal man born in Cowra NSW, raised in Wagga NSW. 

Joe’s a former elite athlete - having played Rugby League at the highest levels in this country before switching to boxing and becoming the 2x WBF World Jnr Welterweight Champion. 

Joe now dedicates his time to traveling the country giving talks and running workshops on Suicide Prevention and Wellbeing Education. 

I obviously knew about Joe before I met him, but we got a chance to meet for real at the Brisbane Writer’s Festival where he and Audrey and I shared a wonderful meal at the Greenhouse Canteen, and talked for hours about mental health, the commonalities in our stories, and how Australia just might move beyond where it is when it comes to dealing with our obligation to the 1st Nations Aboriginal People of this country. 

Joe’s a tour de force of a man, blisteringly smart an exceptionally talented when it comes to debate - he’s a real powerhouse not only in the world of talking about Mental Health - but also when it comes to talk about race relations in Australia.

I couldn’t be more proud to have Joe on the show, and I’m grateful to do what I can to amplify his message. 

Joe’s memoir is called “Defying The Enemy Within: How I silenced the negative voices in my head to survive and thrive” and I couldn’t recommend it enough. 

We caught up over Skype a few weeks ago, and I’m grateful that we were able to make it happen. 

You can find Joe on Twitter or IG @joewilliams_tew

Let him know you heard him here. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Williams is an author, speaker, and activist. 

A proud Wiradjuri, 1st Nations Aboriginal man born in Cowra NSW, raised in Wagga NSW. 

Joe’s a former elite athlete - having played Rugby League at the highest levels in this country before switching to boxing and becoming the 2x WBF World Jnr Welterweight Champion. 

Joe now dedicates his time to traveling the country giving talks and running workshops on Suicide Prevention and Wellbeing Education. 

I obviously knew about Joe before I met him, but we got a chance to meet for real at the Brisbane Writer’s Festival where he and Audrey and I shared a wonderful meal at the Greenhouse Canteen, and talked for hours about mental health, the commonalities in our stories, and how Australia just might move beyond where it is when it comes to dealing with our obligation to the 1st Nations Aboriginal People of this country. 

Joe’s a tour de force of a man, blisteringly smart an exceptionally talented when it comes to debate - he’s a real powerhouse not only in the world of talking about Mental Health - but also when it comes to talk about race relations in Australia.

I couldn’t be more proud to have Joe on the show, and I’m grateful to do what I can to amplify his message. 

Joe’s memoir is called “Defying The Enemy Within: How I silenced the negative voices in my head to survive and thrive” and I couldn’t recommend it enough. 

We caught up over Skype a few weeks ago, and I’m grateful that we were able to make it happen. 

You can find Joe on Twitter or IG @joewilliams_tew

Let him know you heard him here. 

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Naomi Simson is an Entrepreneur, Speaker, Author, Founding director of Red Ballon and Co-Founder of the Big Red Group. She’s written three books - Live What you Love, Ready to Soar and "I Want What She’s Having”. She also featured for a number of years on Shark Tank as one of the investors. 

This is the second time Naomi’s been on the show and so much has happened since then. We do give our conversation some context but if you’d like to get the full story of her background we cover that extensively in the first chat back in episode 95. 

It doesn’t matter if you never think you’re ever going to start a business, this conversation is important to hear because Naomi’s outlook on life, leadership and what’s really important in this world are really worth the listen. 

If you resonate with this conversation - please reach out to Naomi and let her know @naomisimson on IG and Twitter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Naomi Simson is an Entrepreneur, Speaker, Author, Founding director of Red Ballon and Co-Founder of the Big Red Group. She’s written three books - Live What you Love, Ready to Soar and "I Want What She’s Having”. She also featured for a number of years on Shark Tank as one of the investors. 

This is the second time Naomi’s been on the show and so much has happened since then. We do give our conversation some context but if you’d like to get the full story of her background we cover that extensively in the first chat back in episode 95. 

It doesn’t matter if you never think you’re ever going to start a business, this conversation is important to hear because Naomi’s outlook on life, leadership and what’s really important in this world are really worth the listen. 

If you resonate with this conversation - please reach out to Naomi and let her know @naomisimson on IG and Twitter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.