Kiwi Yarns

Matt Brown is the man behind the powerful and vital movement, She Is Not Your Rehab. He's just released a book of the same name. Matt openly shares his own experiences of family violence and childhood sexual abuse in the book, but also in public talks and at his world famous barbershop, My Fathers Barbers in Christchurch.

Matt is playing a major role in trying to stop the cycle of domestic violence here in New Zealand. She Is Not Your Rehab is an opportunity for men to break away from their own pain and shame in a safe place.

She Is Not Your Rehab by Matt Brown with Sarah Brown, published by Penguin Random House NZ, is out now.

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Today’s guest is one of my favourite Kiwi actors, and I think it would be fair to say anyone around my age who grew up watching Shortland Street every night in the 90s with Claire Chitham playing the wonderful Waverley would have a similar fondness! The loveable actress talks how she gets into her roles, the cool thing she did when she turned 40, and how she's helping others, after years of battling Crohn's Disease. She's a stunning human!

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Today’s guest is one of the most remarkable athletes we have here in New Zealand. 

If I were to list or read out Nathan Fa’avae’s achievements over the years, we would actually run out of time to speak to him!

In short, he’s one of the greatest endurance athletes in the world. And when I say endurance, I mean races that last for DAYS.

Nathan and his teammates have won six Adventure Racing World Champion titles, and he's been involved in so many other amazing races all around the world.

Amazingly, his passion for the outdoors and long-distance events came while he was a teenager at a camp for at-risk youth. A truly awesome story.

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A cool, funny, smart, awesome woman who talks money/finance AND makes it relatable AND interesting AND easy to understand.

She is Frances Cook and she's the host of the podcast, Cooking the Books, a columnist for the NZ Herald and the author of Tales From A Financial Hot Mess.

She is awesome.

Thank you Frances for all the valuable bits of advice I got from this!

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Today’s guest is a lycra legend! A five-time Olympian, a World and Commonwealth Games Champion and someone who was at the top of both track and road cycling for 20 years.

Greg Henderson has achieved success on his bike all over the world - but since retiring from professional cycling, he still can’t quite keep away - now devoting his time to make other awesome cyclists like him as Coach Hendy.

Greg tells some amazing yarns about what it's like to be in the Tour de France - and it makes me glad I sit and watch on the television!

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Today's guest is quite simply, a national treasure.

Tammy Wells is someone we all feel like we have a connection with, she is pretty much part of our furniture...and of course the Briscoes furniture too.

Tammy is the woman who, with a big warm smile, delights us with that welcome news that Briscoes is indeed having a sale.

She's been the Briscoes Lady for a remarkable 32 years - and still loves every minute of it.

Oh how delightful this yarn is!

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Today’s guest Guy Williams - has been part of the New Zealand comedy furniture for a fair whack - even though he's only 33. 

The Billy T Award winning comedian has achieved a lot in this career (although he says achieving a lot could also be defined as failing a lot haha), across the stage, on the tele and on the radio.

It's a full noise episode, where he takes the piss out of my questions and at times hijacks some parts of it - but you wouldn't have it any other way with Guy!

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Today’s guest is such a phenomenal woman who I had the pleasure of meeting in 2018 when I ran my first ever marathon, raising money for the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust. Catriona Williams is the founder and driving force behind the charity - which supports researchers in the bid for a cure for spinal cord injuries. Catriona was one of the country’s leading international equestrian riders - but a serious riding accident in 2002, left her a C6/C7 tetraplegic and confined to a wheelchair. As you’ll hear though, this is a woman who really doesn’t let anything get in her way. I'm pretty sure you'll all have a girl crush (like me) after this one! 

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Kendra Cocksedge is one of the best rugby players in the world, and has been at the top of the sport at an international level for 14 years. She is an absolute weapon with the rugby ball, and good luck to anyone who tries (see what I did there) to get in her way on the footy field. 

At the moment, she is taking some time out from playing rugby after battling mental fatigue - so we talk about how she's doing, and how important it's been for her.

This is such a cool chat, Kendra is such a fantastic role model for young kids. Actually, grown ups could learn a thing or two too!

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Kara Rickard is a smart, funny and very talented broadcaster. A proud wahine Māori with three beautiful children, Kara is a music and martial arts enthusiast and cancer survivor. She's a respected name in radio but after a decade at George FM, decided to put the mic away at the end of last year.

A really lovely, insightful yarn.

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