Company

Stephanie Trethewey is the Founder and CEO of Motherland a non-for -profit organisation on a mission to reduce isolation for Mum's living in rural Australia.

I'm always a-gog at the pace in which Motherland has grown, from the outside looking in it seems they are always celebrating new and exciting big wins.

But in the last 12 months - life outside of Motherland - has changed dramatically for Steph and her family.

They've sold half the farm.
Moved houses.
She's scaled back the stress - and upped the happiness.

So if you think you already know the story of Motherland and Steph Trethewey I suggest you keep listening because this one is not what you're expecting.

Company is a Manson Podcasting production in partnership with Rabobank Australia.

Today, for our last episode for Season 1, 2025 I down with Georgie Poole; someone I've always wanted to get to know better.

I feel like our career paths have been running parallel for years.

Like me, Georgie is a Mum to three children, she lives in a regional community and works remotely for Rabobank.

We are both storytellers - who love where we live - and want nothing more than the awesome people and partnerships that exist there to be shown off to a wider audience.

She's actually referred to as an in-house journalist with Rabobank which I couldn't love more.

This is her story ....

For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with magazines - seriously - from the age of about 8,9 or 10 - I used to save all my pennies to buy hoards of magazines, it started as Australian geographic and then morphed into Girlfriend and Dolly, then Cosmopolitan, the Harpers Bazaar and Country Style and Vogue and now Graziher and Galah and UK Homes and Garden - and on the weekends i always buy the SMH for the Good Weekend and the Spectrum.

So to sit down with two women who have edited two of my favourite publications to talk about the world of magazine writing and story selection - is pure indulgence.

Katrina Strickland is the former editor of the Good Weekend Magazine and Annabelle Hickson is the editor of Galah.

The reason we came together was to to speak about Galah's Regional Photography Prize of which Katrina is a judge - and which is cued up to feature in Good Weekend magazine this weekend. Keep a look out.

But wow - this conversation is so much than that.

It paddles from conversation to masterclass to part counselling session and back again -

it's a long episode and I dont take that lightly I know your time is [resciosu but I really struggled to cut it down.

For you - I hope you're able to sense the intensity of commitment to getting stories from your lives into the mainstream.

Company is a Manson Podcasting production in partnership with Rabobank Australia.

Bronnie Taylor used to be a Politician.

In the NSW Parliament.

In Cabinet as a Minister for Mental Health, Regional Health and Women.

She's not a politician any more.

But still holds the same vivacious energy to celebrate, elevate and advocate.

Particularly for regional women and regional health services.

This is a Manson Podcasting podcast in partnership with Rabobank Australia.

Are you looking for a girls getaway - that's truely a girls getaway.

As in no phone service, beautiful surroundings, the chance to fully recharge and properly catch up with your nearest and dearest.

Rove Numby - run by Lou Crawford at Reid's Flat near Cowra and Boorowa in the NSW southern tablelands - is all that an more

Cocktail Bars are replaced with a wood fire in a ramshackle old stone homestead, there hiking in place of shopping and glamping tents replace overprices hotels.

What's more Rove Numby is part of a commercial modern day farm operation and Lou thinks this is part of its draw - the people who come there also get the chance to have a full, open and relaxed conversation about the details of farming that get glossed over in TV shows or newspaper articles.

This is a Manson Podcasting production in partnership with Rabobank Australia.

You can find Rove Numby here online or @rovenumby on Instagram.

Keep in the loop with our conversation via our weekly newsletter companyonsundays.substack.com

Edwina Sharrock OAM is an extreme extrovert - its true she's done the tests - and rather than trying to quieten her spirit she's run with it - and achieved a LOOOOTT.

Edwina grew up in Tamworth, went away and returned. Now she lives with her husband, two children and fave child-dog Daryl on five acres in a house her husband build just outside of town.

This story is not really about Edwina's life but about her growth as an incredible business woman in rural Australia.

Her business Birth Beat - started as a birthing course for locals in her living room and segued into a recognised and respected anti-natal course utilised by most of the large hospitals in Sydney and big corporate employers such as SalesForce. There was a little run for her money on Shark Tank also thrown in there and now the business has been sold to Device Technologies, an Australian based Med -Tech company.

She the Deputy Chair of the Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network and the Co-Chair of the Telstra Regional Council.

She was the National winner of the Commonwealth Bank 21-day Challenge Innovation Award,

a Google Regional Online Hero, Nominated for Hesta Nurse/Midwife of the Year, winner of NSW Telstra small business award, Oceana alumni of the Cartier Women's Initiative and listed in the AFR 100 women influence.

So I guess you can imagine that the last 18 months since selling Birth Beat have been a challenging transition - but she's back in the fold - and here to share her learnings.

This is a Manson Podcasting Production in partnership with Rabobank Australia.

Today's guest is well known to rural Australian's and every media outlet in the country,

If you see an innovative rural story written up in the Australian or a regional woman in Country Style or someone cool on the Today show - chances are Georgie Robertson has had a hand in getting the story there.

Georgie is the Regional PR Co which will now become the Regional PR and Co - because this years she's scaling up.

I often sit and wonder how she does all she does, her work championing the best and most innovative and impactful businesses outside of the cities seems endless and her own impact is not to be underestimated.

This chat is about just that - how she manages it all - but let's start at the most exciting part and that is - what will be new for her in 2025.

This is a Manson Podcasting production in partnership with Rabobank Australia - join our weekly conversation via the Company on Sunday newsletter at companyonsundays.substack.com

Hello and welcome back to Company for 2025 - it feel like about 3 years since I was last talking with you.

We've got an exciting year of stories lined up for you in 2025 as well as some live events in the works as well. Make sure you subscribe or follow the podcast to keep abreast of these things.

To start off the year - our podcast is sounding a bit different today - as we have not one but two guests - and for the first time ever we have a male interviewee on the airwaves.

So grab your husbands - and get them on board too because I know they will love both the male and the female in this chat.

Today we hear from Olympic Gold Medallist, commentator, professional speaker and farmer, Giaan Rooney and her fifth generation cattle farmer husband Sam Levett who also runs the livestock buying and selling platform: The Herd Online.

These guys led a *hectic* life that juggles farming, children, an innovative agricultural platform, TV gigs and just for good measure a huge house renovation too.

Giaan Rooney knew nothing about farming or agriculture for most of her life until she met Sam - and now she could hold her own amongst most of the farming greats - she's an excellent advocate for our industry -

We talked for literally hours to record this podcast, that's just the nature of their story so without further ado - let's hear it .

This is a Manson Podcasting production in partnership with Rabobank Australia.

You can find a BONUS encore of Giaans' story by becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter Company on Sundays. Sign up here - looking forward to seeing you there!

Skye Ward's journey as a mother, daughter, granddaughter and professional have taken many weaves and turns, especially in the last few years.

After a series of personally challenging events; trouble holding pregnancies, an industrial waste development proposal over the hill from her family home and then managing COVID lockdowns with a two week old baby and two older children - all of a sudden and seemingly with no notice, Skye hit a brick wall... she was really pushed to the edge

And it spurred on some big 'make you feel sick' kind of life decisions.

The biggest decision for the Ward family it was to sell the family farm, which had been in her mothers family for generations.

The reason I wanted to have Skye on this podcast not primarily because she has been through a lot but also because I think she has so much to offer in the way she articulates what she's learnt from these times.

And I think, well I hope her reflections on this most challenging of times - might be a balm to you too, as you navigate life's inevitable twists and turns.

Why does a psychologist become a psychologist?

Especially in rural Australia?

For Chantal Corish it has always been very private to her. She's never shared her true motivations publicly - but she does, here today.

Chantel has been practising psychology in rural Australia, Goondiwindi to be precise, for almost 20 years now

Right now she's undergoing a doctorate of philosophy specifically looking at safety on cotton farms - it's fascinating, innovative work that she hopes can one day be applied to all farms, not just cotton farms in Australia - she says it's the most joyful work she's done to date.

This conversation twists and turns - but we started at the beginning when she first decided to become a psychologist in a rural town - something pretty uncommon for the times.

This is a Manson Podcasting production in partnership with Rabobank Australia.