Business In Colour

Sam Payne is the CEO and Founder of The Pink Elephants Support Network. After experiencing her own pregnancy losses she identified a gap in terms of emotional support for couples experiencing early pregnancy loss & fertility challenges. Did you know that 100 - 150,000 women and their partners in Australia experience the heartbreak of losing a baby during pregnancy, often under 12 weeks?

In this episode, we are privileged to hear Sam and her advocacy journey to normalise pregnancy loss; to ensure no one walks this journey alone. She shares the issues of a lack of research, data, false narratives, cultural taboos, and profound silence.  Follow and support the Miscarriage Rebellion podcast, and the #leaveforloss and #countourbabies movements and plenty more on www.pinkelephants.org.au.  Sam and the team have provided multiple ways of us all to amplify their message. We love her call to action, Invoke Empathy, Insight Action. Please enjoy the courageous leadership of Sam Payne, winner of the Women’s Agenda 2023 Agenda Setter Award.

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Meggie Palmer who is the Founder of PepTalkHer, an app that empowers women to track their achievements. Meggie and her team work with ASX and Fortune 500 companies to close the gender pay gap. She is a Queenslander based in New York. She is also an accomplished as she calls it, Recovering Journalist, with a career spanning, Channel 10, CNBC, Dateline and SBS. In this episode, Meggie recounts the moment she realised as a journalist that she was underpaid compared to her male counterparts. She recounts her experience and how confronting it was and how she was given two options to quit or fight the case in court. That moment sparked the change that Meggie is leading today with the PepTalkHer app, download it today and listen to the episode to hear to how the app can benefit you as a woman. We raise in the conversation, how beneficial this app is to the confidence and evidence gathering for women who experience intersectional negative impacts, like First Nations women, women of colour, women with a disability. Meggie also calls on male allies to amplify achievements of women; to raise questions about pay gaps and to work to close them. Her call out for us all is to step into our political power at work and to Pay the Power forward. Please enjoy the magnetic Meggie, a game changing leader and advocate for pay equity.

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Embodied leadership is a powerful approach that sits at the intersection of body awareness, emotional intelligence, and nervous system regulation.

Today, we’re so driven by our heads, that we’ve forgotten how to listen to our bodies, which is where our power comes from.

This disconnect is underpinning our mental health woes, stress, burnout and exhaustion as ambitious leaders and individuals.

By activating body awareness, we can build energy, lead with understanding, and become internally aligned.

Saru Gupta shares with us her own journey and what embodied leadership means 

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Dr Shireen Morris is a lawyer and an expert in constitutional reform and Indigenous constitutional recognition with Academic publications on constitutional law, racial discrimination and native title. She is also an actress, singer, songwriter and lyricist. Shireen is of Indian Fijian heritage, born in Melbourne to migrant parents. This episode is special because we have Shireen give us a fact-based approach to understanding what the Yes referendum is all about and we have a special co-host in Nevani Pillay [Div's daughter], stepping into Sadhana’s shoes - just for this episode. Shireen recounts the conversation with Noel Pearson that got her the role at the Cape York Institute where she spent 7 years leading the Indigenous constitutional recognition policy development. In this episode Shireen addresses some of the misinformation and fear tactics that is around, shares with us that over 80% of Indigenous Australians back a YES vote and she shares the actual proposed words to be used if the constitution changes. Please read the following: 

2023 Referendum

Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

1.There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice; 

2.The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

3.The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.

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Rachelle Towart OAM, is the Managing Director of Australia’s First Indigenous Executive Search Company, Pipeline Talent. https://www.pipelinetalent.com.au/

As a 100% Indigenous-owned business certified by Supply Nation, Pipeline Talent understands not only the importance of implementing a rigorous process to source and select candidates with the capability to excel in executive roles – but also a support framework to set them on the path to success. Rachelle’s goal is to place an executive into an ASX listed company – we hope that is not in the too distant future. In this episode, Rachelle shares with us the state of the market from a candidate perspective - with the no. 1 reason to move being Financial incentives; to the changing demand from organisations to attract and select Indigenous executives for the right reasons – not just a tokenistic appointment. We talk about the need for clear, affirmative decisions to attract Indigenous executives and support, coaching and feedback required for that executive to thrive. We ask Rachelle about her reflections on the Yes Referendum – we talk about the education piece, about our collective futures, about the implications of a no and what we lose as a nation.

She refers us to Tanya Hosch’s address have a listen here:https://fb.watch/nsvxS4Ehtw/ Please have a listen to this powerful address also.

Rachelle shares with us that her philosophy in life comes from the song by Chumbawamba - "I get knocked down, but I get back up again, you are never gonna keep me down".  It captures her sentiments for what might happen if we get a No from the referendum and her advocacy for Indigenous executives to have a seat at the table. Thank you Rachelle for your leadership and courage. 

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Our 100th episode of Business in Colour is with Yasmin Poole, a public figure in Australia and globally known for her youth advocacy and activism.

Through this episode, we get a window into Yasmin the person and where this advocacy was born. She recounts being a busker at the age of 8; the GFC’s impact on their family business; her mother's story shaping her own story and finding her voice on issues of racism, sexism and classism. She recalls her reaction to Julia Gillard becoming Prime Minister, draws us into the National Press Club where Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame shared their sexual assault experiences; she shares her thoughts on Australia’s immaturity on gender intersectionality and as well as the barriers for young people in politics and in board rooms. She implores on us all to embrace our story, fearlessly to speak truth to Power. Please enjoy a leader of our time, Yasmin Poole.

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Yemi Penn is a Nigerian, British-Australian leader who has a portfolio career – she is an author, TedX speaker, Mechanical Engineer, PhD candidate, Consultant, business owner and serial entrepreneur. She talks about being okay with failure and really giving herself the permission to dream and execute ideas – something interestingly - we both found outside of our home countries. You will hear Yemi’s journey of discovery to find her voice and to use it to empower others. We talk about those moments many people of colour have experienced when they are a minority in numbers in the room and Yemi wonderfully makes the distinction – not being a minority in Power, but just in numbers – love this distinction. You know those moments, when someone refers to visiting your home country or having a friend who is from your home country or liking the food from your culture. Yemi shares some key techniques of understanding your body and mind’s reaction, finding your superpower of reading the intent [she beautifully calls it the intuitive library] and coming up with a ‘clap back’. Yemi shares a sneaky peak into her PhD topic of Trauma and how we hide it, share it, understand it, and how we can transform pain into power if we learn how to. She shares that traumatic events in our lives ultimately shape how we show up in the world, whether it be at work or at home. Time to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and bring a little humanity back into the spaces we operate. Thank you Yemi is was such a pleasure. 

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Priyanka Ashraf is an ex-lawyer turned technologist building an anti-racism tool called Maya Cares (launched 2023) supporting the mental health & wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Black and Women of Colour (WoC). She is also the Founder and Director of the Creative Co-operative working closely with the startup community through the program Anyone Can (launched in 2022), supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Black and WoC startup founders and operators to not just access, but advance in the ecosystem Priyanka is listed as one of the Top 100 Innovators in 2022 by The Australian and was a recipient of the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards -  Entrepreneur of the Year 2021. In this episode, Priyanka shares how her father beat poverty to become the High Commissioner in Australia, and how she watched other’s reactions to a brown man having power. Priyanka lives by a value her parents instilled of “paying it forward” and she describes how she is using her unearned privilege. We are lucky enough to hear her Founder’s moment, 1 week prior to George Floyd’s death, in a supermarket where she experienced racism – it was a catalyst moment for Priyanka to make scalable change and she has done just that in an incredibly short period of time. Through her advocacy and programs, she teaches Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Black and Women of Colour to realise their power in business and collectively they are closing the intersectional and intergenerational gap in the business community. Jump onto thecco.com.au to find out how to get involved. Please enjoy the powerhouse, Priyanka Ashraf.

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Jenifer Lee is the Founder of Wildly Strong, and winner of the Telstra Best of Business Awards for ACT, 2023. Jenifer is an industry-leader in women’s body transformation and lifestyle coaching and in this interview you will know why her approach is so different. She is on a mission to educate, empower and equip women with everything we need to know to change our minds about our body and with that she often sees client’s bodies change to match their healthier minds.  She works from the inside out so that the change is lasting. This interview is like a Masterclass in women’s fitness and how we fuel our bodies - as Jenifer shares her knowledge generously… awakening us to the truths about some of the fads, marketing spins and quick fixes that promise everything in 12 weeks. Getting unwell, made her realise and value the foundations of health: Strength, Nutrition and Mindset – a powerful and long-lasting combination. Jenifer offers online and face-to-face coaching to educate women on deprogramming from the diet culture, so many fall prey to. Head to her website: www.jeniferlee.com.au and check out her program and amazing free resources. True to her inside out health philosophy, Jenifer says, “Our biggest struggles carry within them our greatest gifts. Thank you Jenifer making a difference to others daily. Please enjoy this educational BIC podcast, with the incredible Jenifer Lee

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Dr Fariba Behnia-Willison is an endo-gynaecologist, pelvic floor and reconstructive specialist. Fariba and her practice, FBW Gynaecology Plus was named the 2023 Telstra Best of Business Awards National;  Accelerating Women and Championing Health Winner. Fariba also founded Desert Flower South Australia, which supports survivors of female genital mutilation [FGM] and gender-transitioning women. Dessert Flower offers free FGM reversal surgery.   Fariba is an exceptional doctor and human being and this episode will draw you in as she generously shares her father’s execution escape in Iran, how their family fled in a garbage truck and survived; her medical studies in Germany before coming to Australia to learn English and eventually finding love. Fariba recalls how fighting for a patient’s life led her to innovating with PRP therapy and how she has fought for marginalised women to have access to culturally safe and holistic care. Fariba is on a mission to reframe how we talk and invest in women’s health.  Fariba’s approach as a medical practitioner starts with connecting with the individual and their story, she says her whole team practices – FAHM – which means Understanding in Arabic – something we can all do a little more of – thank you Fariba for reminding us and being the exceptional human being that you are - you make migrant women and all women proud.

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