Double Ds: The Discovery Diaries

It was the morning after Christmas and Wayne and his girlfriend Allison had woken up early in Arugam Bay, on the East Coast of Sri Lanka, after having arrived the previous afternoon. Leaving their beachside cabana, they went for a long walk along the beach. It was such a perfect morning that on the way back, Wayne proposed. Allison said yes. 

Only a short time later, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Sumatra, in northern Indonesia. This event led to one of modern history’s worst natural disasters, the Boxing Day Tsunami, in 2004. An estimated 230,000 people died in 14 countries. 

Listen to Wayne’s personal account of what happened to him that day and in the aftermath. An unforgettable story of survival and courage. A tale that has taken Wayne nearly 20 years to be ready to share it publicly. 

Show Notes 

Sponsors 

Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au)

Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Emerge from the Pit of an Unexpected Traumatic Life Event and Transform Your Life. 

Di Murray | Coming up 4 air | People & Culture Business Consultant, Executive Coaching, training, offsite, Facilitator, Speaker, Perth, Western Australia

Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society

Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.

Tara Jeisman talks about how a TikTok video showing her taking a sunrise plunge into the ocean went viral and the community movement Sea Gals was born. 

Tara discusses her passion for Sea Gals and how she has found her ikigai as Founder. Also covered are the underlying Sea Gals principles of inclusion, fighting against body shame, providing a safe environment to make new friends and promoting mental health. Tara also discusses Sea Gal’s expansion across Australia and new initiatives in the pipeline. 

Show notes

You can find Tara on Instagram @ _seagals_  and @tarajeisman 

Sponsors 

Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society

Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.

Di Murray | Coming up 4 air | People & Culture Business Consultant, Executive Coaching, training, offsite, Facilitator, Speaker, Perth, Western Australia

Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au)

Recently departed from his role as Director General of the Western Australian Health Department for nearly 9 years, from 2015 to the end of March 2024, Russ reflects on his diverse career, including relocating from the UK to work as a doctor in Outback Australia in the Royal Flying Doctor Service, then a multitude of other clinical then leadership roles, culminating in leading 55,000 staff in WA Health, including through the challenging COVID19 pandemic.

Russ shares his thoughts and experiences about: working in rural and remote health; the commissioning of the $2b new Fiona Stanley Hospital; how clinically trained staff can transition with ease into leadership positions if they are inclined to do so; the criticality of making decisions and backing your staff; the most challenging public health issues in the next ten years; building a strong team around you; and collaboration across the sectors and governments during the COVID19 pandemic.  

Show notes

Sponsors 

Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society

Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.

Di Murray | Coming up 4 air | People & Culture Business Consultant, Executive Coaching, training, offsite, Facilitator, Speaker, Perth, Western Australia

Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au)

Aged 14, Nio figured out she was gay. Realising it would be difficult for her to be accepted in her conservative homeland of Venezuela, she dreamt of relocating to a new country, Australia. Over the next decade, through developing a strategy, hard work, determination and a 100% certainty that she would make it happen, Nio turned that dream into reality.

Nio discusses her period of depression when she realised she was gay and cultural expectations meant she had to hide her true self; how no one else believed she would be able move to Australia; her feelings when she arrived in Australia 10 years later; and new challenges and opportunities faced in the following 10 years in her adopted country.

Show notes

Nio can be contacted

@niorangel on Instagram. 

Nio Correa on LinkedIn

Sponsors 

Di Murray | Coming up 4 air | People & Culture Business Consultant, Executive Coaching, training, offsite, Facilitator, Speaker, Perth, Western Australia

Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au)

Spotify link: Double Ds Podcast | Donna's Balcony Views (donnasbalconyviews.com.au)

Mother to young daughter Willow, Sarah wanted to give her a sibling. Sarah shares her deeply personal story about the joy she and her husband Marvin experienced when they found out she was pregnant, which was followed by confusion and devastation when they found out their unborn daughter had structural problems and was unlikely to survive the pregnancy. Sarah discusses her decision to continue with the pregnancy and then meeting and then losing Emmy.

Universal themes covered include dealing with grief and feelings of isolation after losing a loved one, slowly figuring out how life can and must go on, and how as a society, we struggle to know how to discuss the most difficult topics, such as death and grief.  

Show notes

Sarah can be contacted @sarahsaolele on Instagram. 

Ian McTavish grew up as a person of colour during South Africa’s Apartheid system, until his family moved to Australia when he was 13 years old. The violence he grew up around in South Africa became a way of dealing with difficulties and Ian ended up serving prison time for a violent crime. Ian outlines how instead of wallowing in his self-inflicted misery, he used prison as a training ground to learn how to better control his mind and his ego, becoming a role model for many and publishing a book about his transformation.

Since leaving prison, Ian has been a personal trainer for the past 18 years. Serving clients has inspired him to study a psychology degree and to commence writing his next book, giving advice about relationships.

Show notes

Click here for Ian and Donna's top 10 tips for sticking to a new gym routine

https://donnasbalconyviews.myflodesk.com/gym

Founder of Untitled & Co, Rebecca Beardsley shares her experiences of working for decades in business development in law firms and the skills and strategies she employed in a male dominated environment to progress her career. At aged 38, Rebecca experienced burnout due to a combination of professional and personal factors. The inner work she undertook to recover led her to eventually build the courage to leave her long-term marriage, where she suffered domestic violence – physical, emotional and financial. Rebecca redesigned her life and took the brave steps to leave her corporate career to become a Founder and to relocate across Australia as a single Mum with two small children.

Steve Cox shares stories from his life, starting from growing up in a large family in a small town in regional Western Australia, with a white father and Noongar mother. Steve's stories cover his search for belonging, impacts of the stolen generation of Aboriginal children, systemic and individual racism, facing personal battles and sliding door moments throughout his life experiences. 

We share our guests' life stories of courage and resilience. We are Donna and Di.