Business In Colour

In this episode of business in colour we interview Krushnadevsinh Ravalji [Kano as he is popularly known] who is the founder of Third Culture Australia and Youth Commissioner at the Victorian Multicultural Commission. As a passionate advocate for D&I, Kano works to empower young people and multicultural communities nationwide. His dedication to equity has earned him accolades such as the VicHealth Future Changemaker Award and Wyndham City’s Young Citizen of the Year. In this episode, Kano generously shares his experiences of racism as a young migrant person in school and how this led him to start Third Culture and to advocate for young people. He provides some great advice for those young people wanting to engage safely and for business leaders also who need to meaningfully engage with young people. We talk business, politics, community, leadership and what the education systems need more of. Hear why Kano describes young people as knowledge brokers and why he implores us all to connect through our differences. Please enjoy the optimistic and inspirational Kano – Krushnadevsinh Ravalji. 

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In this episode, we connect with Prabha Nandagopal who is an award-winning human rights, discrimination lawyer and advocate, having worked for over 18 years in a variety of areas from business and human rights to asylum seeker and refugee policy. She is the founder of Elevate Consulting Partners and SafeSpace@elevate, which she established to support and strengthen the work of organisations committed to positive social change. In this episode, Sadhana and I talk to Prabha about her growing up years, her early influences in a gender equal home and being the only person of colour at school. We talk about key topics like psychosocial safety, positive duty, respect at work legislation, how immigration and the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is used politically. We centre the conversation on Prabha’s work in the last 18 months to influence leaders in the board room and at executive tables to think proactively to prevent sexual harassment. We talk about the change in mindset, courageous actions, and committed investment that leaders need to protect workers today, to future proof safety. Please listen to and connect with the fierce and fabulous Prabha Nandagopal.

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In this episode of Business in Colour, Sadhana and I talk with Dr. Suji Sanjeevan, a Melbourne-based doctor turned ambiance innovator, who masterfully blends science, artistry, and creativity. She is a graduate of King’s College London, beginning her career in policy development and research at leading institutions, including the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. In 2015, her career took a transformative leap, when she co-founded Light & Glo Designs alongside her husband, Dr. Sanjeevan, an allergy specialist.

Their Australian fragrance house operates through two visionary arms: LIGHT + GLO, celebrated for its premium home and personal fragrances, and BrandScent, a pioneering scent marketing agency specialising in bespoke olfactory branding.  Did you know that 60% of our emotions are driven by scent? Suji shares the science behind scents, their experience on Shark Tank, building a business from scratch with just $237, the challenges and hurdles to keep the business going – a behind the scenes in business - we don’t offer hear. We are so grateful for her honestly and even more so when she shares a bit more about herself, her SriLankan heritage, the expectations and pressure from culture and family and the impacts to well-being, finding your voice and what success truly means for culturally diverse individuals without socio-cultural norms. A jam packed episode with an outstanding, human centered, authentic leader, Suji Sanjeevan.

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In this episode, Sadhana and I speak with Sisonke Msimang who is a renowned writer, speaker and facilitator. Her work is focused on race, gender and power.  She’s been a columnist with the Guardian, written for a range of international publications and served as program director at the Centre for Stories.  She is also the author two books - Always Another Country:  A Memoir of Exile; and Home and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela.  In this episode, Sisonke generously shares her upbringing, leaving and returning to South Africa as a young adult and her journey to Australia. We talk frankly about how race and racism is so coded, how people are often in stealth mode when mentioning racism, we talk about fragility, courage and gratitude and how we can turn the value of mateship in Australia, into something that unites us. Please enjoy this intelligent conversation on race from one of Australia’s best writers and storytellers, Sisonke Msimang. 

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In this episode, we talk to Peter Malley who generously shares his journey to becoming a disability advocate, drawing from his own lived experience. Peter has been a consulting traffic engineer for 20 years with a passion for master planning and lending his transport engineering expertise to large-scale developments. He has contributed expert advice to a range of significant projects including town centres, residential subdivisions, mixed-use developments, healthcare, and educational facilities throughout his career. In 2020 Peter was involved in a cycling accident that left him a paraplegic which has led to a newfound focus on identifying accessibility gaps in our environment. Through this new perspective on life, Peter has become aware of areas that require renewed focus on the design, mobility, safety and independence elements within community and residential infrastructure to ensure they meet the needs of those with disabilities. Please enjoy the authentic and generous leader, Peter Malley. 

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In this episode, we speak with Hacia Atherton, founder and CEO of Empowered Women in Trades (EWIT), is a pioneering advocate for gender equality and psychological wellbeing in Australia's skilled trades. Under her leadership, EWIT aims to boost female representation in the trades from 3% to 30% by 2030. Hacia is well recognised, being a celebrated winner of the Victorian Telstra Business Award for Accelerating Women. Hacia gives us so much in this interview, her personal journey of knowing and embracing pain to find her purpose; her practical tools to focus her mind and body; her business growth and impact strategies and way more. What is magnetic about Hacia is her authenticity, her vulnerability and personal power to reframe herself and the agenda for gender equity in trades and positive, psychologically safe environments. Hacia is a force of nature and a force for good. Tune into this positive psychology, almost masterclass-like episode with the formidable Hacia Atherton. 

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In this episode I speak with Rugare Gomo who is a high performance life and business coach, speaker, author, lawyer, podcaster, Zimbabwean Australian who lights up this episode and the world with his infectious zest for life. Rugare has such positive mental models that he generously shares all throughout this episode…He can and has navigated barriers and hurdles because he is clear about living his dream and creating his own path. In fact he has generously written a book about this life and it has been a full life, from his parent’s values and life lessons in Zimbabwe to the 16year old young person coming to Australia on his own; to his education journey and becoming a lawyer; to discovering his sexuality; starting the Gomo Foundation for girls education; to almost being bankrupt and turning this around… to being a successful business owner, defining his impact and success on his own terms. Rugare shows us how to unlock our personal power, he has done this countless times in his big beautiful life and this is what makes his an effective coach to others. Grab a copy of his book, available everywhere on Amazon – “Dreams Forging my own path.” Thank you Rugare for calling Australia home, giving us the incredible gift of your voice and the power to imagine infinite possibilities for ourselves.

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In this episode, we speak with Rachel Castelino who is the founder of Blume Prebiotic Tonic), a company dedicated to promoting gut health through delicious prebiotic beverages packed with natural ingredients and plant fibre. Rachel educates us in this episode about the difference between probiotics and prebiotics and unsung hero of our body – the gut – how gut health is linked to mental health, skin health, and more. What we learn is that Australians don’t get enough plant fibre and we just don’t have anything quite like Blume on our grocery shelves – pay attention to the sugars and other nasties you might be consuming. Rachel’s founder story is incredible, it started with her own health journey, needing more gut microbiome’s and not finding anything on Australian shelves, she got started in her own kitchen during Sydney’s lockdowns in 2021.   Blume is now in Harris Farm Markets, WH Smith stores and other independent stockists. In this episode we also touch on the children of migrant’s and being risk averse often naturally because of all the struggles migrant parent’s go through to give children a head start. Rachel is inspiring in what she calls her “beginners mindset of being an entrepreneur”, as she had no manufacturing or supplier networks and no food science background. She is the customer always, which we love. Please enjoy the courage, care and curiosity of Rachel Castelino and head to the website, drinkblume.com.au or follow on Instagram, drink.blume

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In this episode, we speak with Min-Shi Michelle Lim, a former professionally trained ballet dancer, who uses her behavioural psychology and neuroscience background in the diversity, equity, inclusion and ethics space. She is well regarded for her advocacy and practitioner experience, named as one of the 40 under 40 Most Influential Asian Australians.

In this episode, Michelle shares openly and generously about her health journey and the impacts it has had on her as a young person and well into adulthood - including coming from a lower socio-economic background. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, from culturally diverse targets and how to implement them; career options and decisions for women of colour and how this changes at different life stages; how we talk or don’t talk about racism in the workplace; organizational risk and more. Michelle has two calls to action, that are sharp and clear, one for us all to lead no matter what our title is and another for senior leaders and organisations to embed diversity, equity and inclusion into the core of the business and to see the risks of not doing so. Thank you Michelle, you have influenced us to take our places to build a kinder, more safe, equitable world. More power to you.

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In this episode of Business in Colour, I talk to Uppma Virdi who is a trailblazing female entrepreneur. Just when her legal career in a disruptive start-up was about to take off, she made the decision to run her own business called Chai Walli. She built this business from the ground up, making it her and her team’s mission to preserve the Indian culture of teas and spices…by bringing the most authentic chai blends to the Australian market. In this episode I explore Uppma’s personal and professional journey, her thoughts on decolonizing chai, bringing back the ayurvedic value and her leadership principles – listen out for her 3 sustainability levers and her views on how to sustain purpose and passion over time. Some outstanding achievements Uppma has been awarded include being listed as a Forbes 30 under 30 in Retail and E-Commerce, CNN’s 40 under 40, Business Woman of the Year by the Indian Australian Business Community Awards, featured as a Woman to Watch by the Project on Channel 10. Hop onto the website chaiwalli.com.au buy some authentic chai – I have already – and engage with the brand, there are Chai Masterclasses for teams, ways to create your brand’s unique chai blend and more – please enjoy the warmth, ingenuity and strength of Uppma Virdi.

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