Get Off The Bench Podcast

Carolyn Rowland is the founder and head designer of Cazinc The Label, a Melbourne born designer label that satisfies the modern woman's needs of having a functional, yet stylish wardrobe.

Caz worked as a fashion stylist for more than 15 years and struggled to find womenswear labels that were not only timeless, but also affordable.

She knew her clients wanted classic, contemporary styles they could mix and match, and keep in their wardrobes season after season. They also shared her passion for slow fashion; quality garments made to the highest possible ethical standards. 

In 2018, Caz set out to design useful, wearable wardrobes that create planning for easy to wear styles a breeze, and versatile clothing designed to last. This was the birth of Cazinc The Label.

Beginning as a curated collection of trans-seasonal wardrobe staples designed to work for any occasion and celebrate every figure, the range has since evolved to include sharp, tailored investment pieces and everyday basics. 

Caz is committed to cruelty free clothing, and has remained committed to her original vision: classic cuts, beautiful fabrics and high-quality, sustainable product that is accessible for every woman.

She is evolving as a designer with today’s society and the needs of women, especially as their body shapes change with age and other factors, including pregnancy and menopause. 

Cazinc The Label has been featured in multiple fashion magazines including Onya Magazine, Ragtrader, The Trend Spotter, Shawtalk, Instyle Magazine, and Fashion Journal.

The range also includes charity tees, with proceeds going to the Rize Up charity which supports victims of domestic violence.

Socials: 

Website - https://www.cazincthelabel.com.au/

LinkedIn - Caz Rowland  https://www.linkedin.com/in/caz-rowland-21abb8145/

Insta - Cazinc The Label

FB - Cazinc The Label

Twitter -Cazinc The Label & Blog

Mentions: 

The Resilience Project

Dress for Success

Rize Up

Sue Smethurst is an award-winning journalist, who has written for Australia’s biggest and most respected titles, including The Australian Women’s Weekly, The Weekend Australian magazine, The Age Good Weekend, New Idea, Woman’s Day, the Herald Sun, Australian House and Garden, the Victorian RSL’s Mufti magazine, Woman’s Own (UK), Chat (UK).

Her career has taken her around the globe interviewing a who’s who of celebrities, newsmakers, colourful identities, sports stars and politicians. In addition to her editorial career, Sue has worked on and off camera with A Current Affair and Sunrise, and spent five years as a weekly commentator with Neil Mitchell on 3AW.

Sue is a best-selling author with book sales in excess of 100,000 copies, specialising in non-fiction.

Her first books, The Clothesline Diet series were published by Pan Macmillan in Australia and Harlequin in the United States. In 2015 she won a prestigious Sassy Award for her book Behind Closed Doors, published by Simon & Schuster, which was also a finalist in the 2016 Davitt Awards.

The highly acclaimed book, Blood on the Rosary was published by Simon & Schuster in 2018 followed by the epic Australian outback memoir A Diamond In The Dust, which was also published in Germany in 2020.

Sue’s most recent book, The Freedom Circus (published by Penguin Random House in 2020) is a deeply personal story of how her husband’s grandparents used the cover of a Polish circus to escape the Nazis.

Socials: 

Website: http://suesmethurstmedia.com/

LinkedIn - Sue Smethurst

Twitter - Sue Smethurst    @SmethurstSue

Insta - smethurst.sue

Mentions: 

Tarax Show

Sloppo the Clown

Moscow Circus

Trav Bell is The Bucket List Guy...The Worldʼs #1 Bucket List Expert. 

As a self-appointed ʻBucket Listologistʼ, Trav helps people live their Bucket List before it’s too late! His unique life-engagement message really wakes you up, stops ground-hog days and helps you to experience more fulfilment. 

He says, “A Bucket List is a tangible Life Plan...where our Business Plan or Career Plan should fit into our Life Plan & not be the other way around.” 

No one practices what they preach more than Trav. His ‘crazy’ globe-trotting adventures are contagious, hilarious & always fresh. He is the author of the best-selling book, The M.Y.B.U.C.K.E.T.L.I.S.T. 

BlueprintTM, a TEDx Thought Leader, and a Certified Speaking Professional.

Trav is also the Founder CEO of Bucket List Coaches, who are now on a mission to help 10 million BucketListers #tickitB4Ukickit. 

Before Trav became ʻThe Bucket List Guyʼ, he founded & franchised a chain of personal training studios across Australia. Starting with 1 client, Trav & his team went on to do over 2 million personal training sessions & motivated 10's of 1000's of clients. 

Trav is now regarded as one of the world’s most in-demand motivation speakers.

Socials: 

Website: https://www.thebucketlistguy.com/

Bucket List Coach webinar: https://www.bucketlistcoach.com/webinars

FB: Trav Bell - The Bucket List Guy   @thebucketlistguy

Twitter: The Bucket List Guy @TravBell

LinkedIn: Trav Bell - The Bucket List Guy   https://www.linkedin.com/in/travbell/

Insta: Trav Bell  bucketlistguy.travbell

Mentions: 

Reach Foundation

Bronnie Ware - 5 Regrets of the dying

Burning Man Festival

Eurovision

Life’s Too Short (TEDx) - Trav Bell

As a teenager, Jan Cavelle went to a very posh UK boarding school which groomed young ladies for marriage. Failing to be groomed, Jan progressed to London and became a ‘suitable secretary’, which lasted about a week. 

With a keen desire to be independent, Jan started working her way through a succession of jobs, finding secretarial work a nightmare, and sales easy. She hated being employed and at the mercy of the decisions and expectations of others, so initiated a series of hustles, from selling to catering.  

She travelled around Europe and had a memorable job as cook, but also found some excitement in taking an old ferry boat for a test sail to see if she was seaworthy (she wasn’t). 

A marriage left Jan with two small kids to support and very little experience to do so.  Refusing to go out to work and leave them, she started a small business, telephone selling bits and pieces to interior designers, operating from a shelf under the stairs of her tiny cottage. 

After a lot of mistakes and crazy gambles it succeeded and became a multi-million-pound business. 

The designers wanted furniture, but as Jan was no furniture designer, she put her sales hat on, looked what sold, and developed her current ranges, earning herself the honourable title of “designer”.  

Despite awards and exciting experiences, Jan still struggled with insecurity and imposter syndrome.

Once her son had left for Australia, she struggled to scale the business, not having the same motivation she had with small kids to support, and after several years and progressively worse health, decided to break it up and sell the only bit worth having which was the brand.

It took Jan quite a little while to crawl back out of her hole after that, but she decided she wasn’t beaten.  She had always wanted to write since she was small. 

Jan’s first book - ‘Scale For Success - Expert insights into growing your business’ is due to be released in 2021, after winning a contract with Bloomsbury Publishing.

So it’s full circle, Jan’s childhood dream out of the ashes.

Socials: 

Website - https://jancavelle.co.uk/

FB - Jan Cavelle - Scale for Success  @JanCavelleWriter

LinkedIn - Jan Cavelle

Twitter - @jancavelle

Insta - jan.cavelle.scaleforsuccess

Mentions: 

Harry Potter - J.K.Rowling

Tim Ferriss

Simon Sinek

Originally from Melbourne, Victoria, the year 2000 saw Wendy and her family pack up their lives and move to the Gold Coast. They opened a family café in Surfers Paradise and their children finished their schooling. After years of seven days a week in business Wendy and her husband Garry decided they’d had enough of café life and got “normal” jobs. 

Wendy took a job with the local basketball association and before long they grew to one of the largest associations in Queensland. In 2010 they took their first International junior teams to compete in Indonesia and Wendy’s love of travel blossomed. She was hooked. 

A trip to Thailand in 2011 ended with a detour to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Never before visiting Cambodia, they noticed how cheap 5 star hotels were and decided to treat themselves - not something they were accustomed to.

Little did they know this trip would change their lives forever. Coming face to face with the poverty win the market place, they knew the luxury and guilt of 5 star was not for them. They vowed in that moment to come back and do something to help.

Passing through Cambodia in 2012, on the way to Vietnam the kids also fell in love with the country and the people.  

In 2013, they returned hoping to set up a basketball tournament, but went home realising the people needed a whole lot more help than basketball.

In April 2014 they built a house for a family and then took a group of friends back in November 2014 to build a second house. 

Garry had previous building experience, and through the already existing tour company we were able to bring people to help build houses. That was the start of the change in their lives.

By 2015 they registered the charity Heartprint. By then they were travelling to Cambodia every few months and staying for weeks or months at a time. By April 2016 Wendy and Garry moved to Cambodia permanently. 

To date, Heartprint has built 64 houses, 53 toilets and installed 27 wells, as well as employing 6 full time Khmer staff. They have distributed 199 bikes and sponsor 26 students to go to an English school, with one about to start University.

Socials: 

Website - https://heartprint.org.au/

FB - Heartpint  @HeartprintCambodia

Insta - Heartprint    heartprint_cambodia

Mentions: 

Reece Plumbing

Jaimee Newberry spent most of her working life in the Web Interaction Design & Development industry, working with companies including Apple, Disney, Nintendo and Zappos.

But after a couple of years as an independent mom, and a nasty spell of Life Burnout paralleled with the loss of her dad in 2012, she decided to design her life as if it were a product using the tools she gained from a 15-year design career making award-winning digital products.

By 2014 Jaimee was being booked to share her story at events around the world, was an active podcaster, podcast guest, featured writer, and professional experimentalist. 

She learned how to own her time and pour focus into working on things she loves, with people she loves working with, and then teach others how to do the same through personal and corporate coaching.

In 2016, the evolution of an idea unfolded into what has become the most fulfilling work of her life, so far.

Jaimee co-founded Picture This Clothing (PTC) with her partner in life & in business (Ken Finney, Jr.), Launched by a single Tweet from her personal Twitter account, Picture This Clothing immediately went viral.

Jaimee is also mom to 2 human daughters, 5 cats, and 1 puppy, and is fuelled by fun, Muppets, Disney, and a heavy sprinkling of rebellion.

Her mission is to contribute something positive to the world and create tools that allow others to do the same.

Socials: 

Website - https://picturethisclothing.com/

FB - Picture This Clothing   https://www.facebook.com/picturethisclothing

Insta - Picture This Clothing     picturethisclothing    

LinkedIn  - Jaimee Newberry

Mentions: 

Steve Jobs - Poke Life

Huffington Post

Tech Crunch

Bored Panda

Now This

Power of Positivity

Scary Mommy

Ken Done

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S. Todd Stolp MD is a physician and father of three who ran a full-spectrum rural family practice in northern California for twenty years. He then served as the Public Health Officer in California, for 12 years. 

During his public health career, Dr. Stolp worked on statewide and national public health committees, did overseas work on Ebola and stateside work on Zika and is now working on COVID-19.

He has also provided research and consultations on issues from Native American tobacco use to suicide. 

During his years of medical practice, he co-authored and illustrated four children’s books addressing a range of topics from the medical examination to vaccinations and habitual behavior. 

He has often spoken at conferences on topics related to health literacy, with an emphasis on good science made more palatable with a generous dose of humor. 

He now operates STS Studios in Sonora, California, producing media messages about the adventures of his career and lessons learned while raising three children, all with the aim of advancing health literacy.

Socials: 

Website - https://sts-studios.com/

LinkedIn - S. Todd Stolp

Mentions: 

California Department of Health

Michelle Pietrafitta is an artist-entrepreneur in the music industry performing throughout the U.S. as the drummer for independent band Banshee Tree.

She is a tour designer, she books all the tours and performances for Banshee Tree.

On the music side, she is a live performance artist, a studio drummer and educator. But on the business side, she deigns tour routes, pitches to venues, negotiates contracts and builds relationships with venues and talent buyers.

Michelle has booked and performed major festivals including Arise Music Festival, Sonic Bloom and NorthWest String Summit; and with major acts such as Keller Williams, Victor Wooten, the Infamous Stringdusters and Devotchka.

Michelle is passionate about sharing her knowledge and encouraging artists to take their career into their own hands. She believes that each person has a unique voice to bring to the table and implores artists to dig deep to uncover that.

She stands for breaking the traditional lenses through which we are taught to see gender roles.

Socials:

Website - https://michellepietrafitta.com/

Insta - Michelle Pietrafitta - Michelle.pietrafitta.drums

Banshee Tree (website) - http://banshee-tree.com/

Mentions:

School of Rock

The Artists Way (Julia Cameron) book

The War on Art (Steven Pressfield) book

Banshee Tree (youtube)

Nine years ago Nina G became a comedian, and at that point was the only female comedian who stuttered. Nina believes that the problem isn’t with the stutterer, but with a society that isn’t inclusive or accessible to those who experience this disability.

In her book Stutterer Interrupted: The Comedian Who Almost Didn’t Happen (She Writes Press, August 6, 2019), Nina challenges the status quo of how people who stutter are perceived onstage and off. Additionally, she substitutes the negative emotions of shame, denial and isolation with positive ones of pride, acceptance and community. And, despite learning disabilities, she has a doctorate and is now working at a community college with students with disabilities to access their education.

As a child, Nina had a life-long dream of becoming a comedian, but never thought she’d be able to go up on stage and make people laugh. Her story is about how stuttering caused her to first abandon her dreams, then to embark on a journey that culminated in a career as one of only a handful of stuttering stand-up comedians working today.

A keynote speaker across the U.S., Nina has learned that the issues that impact people with disabilities impact everyone. Therefore, she hopes her book will not only entertain, but also inform those who don’t understand the experience of people who stutter and help those that do.

Nina is a TedX speaker, a Huffington Post contributor, and is based in Oakland, California.

Socials:

Website - https://www.ninagcomedian.com/

Website - https://www.stuttererinterrupted.com/

FB - Nina G: Comedian, Author, Public Speaker

LinkedIn - Nina G

Insta - Nina G - ninagcomedian

Book - Once Upon an Accommodation: A book about learning disabilities

Book - Stutterer Interrupted: The comedian who almost didn’t happen

Mentions:

Comedians With Disabilities Act - https://www.facebook.com/comedianswithdisabilitiesact/

Disabled Only Comedy (CD) - https://www.amazon.com/Disabled-Comedy-Explicit-Various-artists/dp/B00VNB2G7U

Bookshare - https://www.bookshare.org/cms/

Carly Findlay - https://carlyfindlay.com.au/

Saturday Night Live - https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live

Nigel Beck - AKA DJ Nige brought disco to town in the 70s and nearly 50 years later is still keeping the dance floor jam-packed. He’s effortlessly worked his way through vinyl, CDs and now digital.

Nige and his Kombi van Deidre are regularly spotted around Gippsland (Aus), spreading the love of music, and sharing the good vibes of love in and for the community he adores.

But it’s not just Deidre the Kombi! Nige also shares the stage with Deidre’s little sister - Audrey the Vesper!

The really cool thing about Deidre and Audrey, is that all the DJ equipment they house is completely battery/solar powered, which means they are environmentally friendly and can be taken totally off-grid.

For indoor events, Nige works without his friends on wheels - but inside or outside, his keen gift of reading the room and mood sees every event grooving exactly as it should.

DJ Nige is totally up for creating a vibe wherever people are. Be it on the street, in your driveway, cafe, beach, market, festival or wedding, but recently, due to COVID the usual way of doing business came to a grinding halt.

Rather than hold back the joy, Nige and Deidre hit the streets in their home-town of Warragul playing tunes and entertaining passers-by as restrictions allowed.

The recent slight easing of restrictions has offered Nige and Deidre the opportunity to hit the road and take the music to the people with their very own ‘Joyful Tour’ to lift the spirits of locals, with the support of Destination Gippsland, local Councils and the Victorian Government.

DJ Nige says: “The link between mental health, wellbeing and music is well researched and documented. This is the one thing I can do to lift community spirit and bring some joy back in our towns.”

Socials:

Website - https://www.djnigeandkombi.com/

FB - Dj Nige. @djnigeandkombi https://www.facebook.com/djnigeandkombi/

Insta - djnige_ https://www.instagram.com/djnige_/?hl=en

LinkedIn - Nigel Beck

Mentions:

Bank - https://www.bankwarragul.com.au/

Latrobe City - https://www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/

Women in Gippsland - https://www.facebook.com/womeningippsland/

Lardner Park - https://lardnerpark.com.au/

Girls With Hammers - https://girlswithhammers.com.au/

Social Dilemma (film) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11464826/

NEIS - https://www.employment.gov.au/self-employment-new-business-assistance-neis