In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Olena Severyn about building a grounded, mobile life through community, presence, and thoughtful communication.

Olena shares how choosing the right environments, cultivating presence, and how writing genuinely human emails support meaningful work, wellbeing, and connection. Drawing on her experience as a digital nomad, email strategist, and wellness practitioner, this conversation explores how calm, clarity, and simplicity create work that people want to engage with.

This is a practical and reflective conversation about community, attention, and designing rhythms that support both performance and optimism.

This episode explores:
• Community as a compass for travel, work, and decision-making
• Presence and self-awareness in a mobile, nomadic life
• The freediving mindset: calm, grounded, and steady under pressure
• Writing emails people actually want to read
• Simple communication that builds trust and connection
• Work rhythms that support focus, wellbeing, and optimism

Guest links:

• Olena Severyn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olena-severyn/
• Network School: https://www.ns.com
• Recommended book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle https://eckharttolle.com/the-power-of-now/

Chapters:
01:02 Olena’s background, destination travel, and community-first living
11:40 Freediving, presence, and calm under pressure
19:00 Staying connected through simple communication
21:40 Writing emails people actually read
30:05 Belonging and contribution
35:00 Building successful communities at Network School
38:00 Productivity, structure, and balance as a digital nomad
41:00 Listening to your body: nutrition and self-trust
43:22 Inner work, optimism, and imagining positive futures

Explore further:
Discover your Natural Genius one-on-one with Sam: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne and Bali, 18 January, 2026
Produced at the Travancore and Violet Town offices, 26 January - 5 February, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with long-time friend and leadership practitioner Rosalinda Batson about emotional intelligence as a lived practice, intuition, and committing fully to meaningful work without keeping a plan B.

Drawing on decades of experience in leadership development, organisational dynamics, and emotional intelligence, Ros reflects on courage, integrity, motherhood, friendship, and long-term contribution. This is a conversation about leading with awareness, backing big decisions, and building a life with boundaries that hold.

This episode explores

• Emotional intelligence as a daily leadership practice
• Intuition, sensing, and decision-making
• Fear, love, and commitment without an escape hatch
• Leadership, motherhood, feminism and sustainable boundaries
• Long-term contribution, volunteering, and integrity
• Deep friendship and what it creates

Guest links

• Rosalinda Batson: https://au.linkedin.com/in/rosbatson
• Neural Networks: https://neuralnetworks.com.au
• Emotional Intelligence for Leaders, Coaches and Changemakers: Free version: https://www.neuralnetworks.com.au/free-ebook and full book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Leaders-Coaches-Changemakers-Emotional-Intelligence/dp/B0FF538YSW/ 

Chapters

00:14 Introduction to Rosalinda
02:42 Knowing what you stand for as a leader
06:29 Intuition, sensing, and decision-making
11:00 Commitment without a plan B
19:36 Writing, feminism, and self-actualisation
27:25 Courage, contribution, and volunteering at scale
33:40 Getting a lot done together and cultivating curiosity
40:00 Emotional Intelligence for Leaders, Coaches and Changemakers
45:00 Friendship, parenting, and shared adventures

Explore further

Signal Check-In: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits

Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 23 January, 2026
Produced at the Violet Town, Terang and Warrnambool offices, 26 January - 1 February, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with educator and collaborator Hamish Curry about curiosity as a way of moving through life and work, designing conditions for serendipity, and education that builds agency.

Drawing on Hamish’s work across Cool.org, the State Library of Victoria, and the DO Lectures Australia, this is a conversation about playfulness, designing experiences, and creating environments where people deeply learn and can’t quite explain why they’re feeling a certain way.

This episode explores:
• A “go have adventures” operating principle
• Curated serendipity and the conditions that invite meaningful collisions
• Curiosity as a driver of learning
• Designing memorable experiences using people, place, and program
• Building community through education and shared experiences
• Hope, optimism, and practical frameworks that support action
• The success of the DO lectures Australia

Guest links:

• Hamish Curry - General Manager, Cool.org. Educator, enabler, collaborator, schemer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishcurry

• Eddie Harran https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardharran 

• Cool.org’s Hope and Act Frameworks & AI Literacy for Teachers Course

• Enjoy a DO lectures Australia talk: https://thedolectures.com/everything/?eventType=DO%20Australia 

• the DO lectures Australia venue & (hosts) Tess & Graham Payne - payneshut.com

• Apply for the DO lectures https://thedolectures.com/events/do-wales/ 

• Pete Spence, Sports & Performance Consultant and creator of Creative Performance Exchange (CPX) https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-spence-6021016/

Books:
• Orbiting the Giant Hairball – Gordon MacKenzie

Music:
• To Let a Good Thing Die – Bruno Major
https://open.spotify.com/track/2nMeu6UenVvwUktBCpLMK9

Chapters:
02:30 Playfulness in work, curiosity, learning through experience and sagacity
06:10 Designing successful experiences
09:30 Curated serendipity
12:00 People, place, program: designing deeply memorable experiences
18:40 Creating community and memorable learning experiences
39:47 Hope and Optimism, the Hope + Act framework and working with Harvard researchers 

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 16 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Nicklas Wallberg about social entrepreneurship, trust, and designing work that people genuinely want to show up for.

Drawing on experience across facilitation, social entrepreneurship, and cross-sector collaboration, Nicklas shares how trust is built early, how conditions for truth-telling are created, and why joy is not a by-product of good work but a deliberate design choice.

This is a grounded conversation about courage, collaboration, and making thoughtful career decisions that create freedom and long-term impact.

This episode explores:
• Social entrepreneurship and individual leadership
• Trust-building that starts early and compounds over time
• Collaboration across systems and sectors
• Creating truth invitations and conditions for honest dialogue
• Joy and fun as deliberate design choices in meaningful work
• Making hard career decisions that lead to growth and freedom

Guest links:
• Nicklas Wallberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nwallberg/
• Tram Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/@TramSessions

Chapters:
00:13 Introduction to Nicklas
01:04 Improving systems through social entrepreneurship and Tram Sessions
08:00 Facilitation, trust, and early conditions
17:40 Why social impact attracts good people and how joy is embedded in work
31:00 Choosing when to leave a great role and trusting the next chapter
35:00 Lessons from Nicklas’s grandfather on kindness and leadership

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne and Stockholm, 20 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with strategic advisor Lisa Gamboni about strengthening your voice, holding clarity under pressure, and leading in ways that create space for others to succeed.

Drawing on decades in high-stakes commercial environments, Lisa reflects on self-belief, empathy, and discernment as essential capabilities for clear thinking and grounded leadership. This is a practical conversation about agency, courage, and  effective leadership.

This episode explores:
• Strengthening your voice in complex environments, being your own snowflake: doing “you” (uniquely) 
• Self-belief under pressure, and saying what others won’t
• Calling out bullying
• Developing capability: high performance teams, senior leaders, new consultants
• Deep empathy and natural instinct as core advisory capabilities
• The conditions that let executive teams “make room” for each other
• Lisa's observations of successful, high performance teams and leaders from her time as a senior partner at KPMG, Deloitte, and boutique consultancies, working with private equity firms and businesses across the globe

Guest links:
• Lisa Gamboni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-gamboni/
• Dealside: https://dealside.com.au/

Chapters:
02:06 Thinking for yourself, and backing your own view
06:50 Empathy and the human context behind performance
10:27 Challenging unacceptable behavior in leadership
15:40 Lisa’s sixth sense in assessing leaders capabilities
24:20 “Big buckets of cold water” to calm inflamed, high-pressure situations
30:10 Telepathy and flow in high performing teams
35:00 The “Mickey Mouse” approach: listening more
38:20 Leadership that makes room for everyone’s success 
43:49 Under pressure: “Do you want the answer or the lesson?”
48:00 Highly valued advisory: one slide, one phrase, one story 

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 16 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

This is a short, repeatable Signal Check-In you can return to whenever you need clarity. 

It’s designed for moments when things feel busy or unclear. A few minutes to listen, trust and focus. Bring your phone timer, a pen, paper and open mind.

In this episode:
• A way to settle your system
• A question to reveal what matters
• Space for knowing to emerge

Explore further:
Natural Genius Signal Reply: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Chapters:
0:12 Introduction
0:22 Signal Check-in
2:23 Close & Suggestions

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 4 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast: https://naturalgenius.com.au 

Natural Genius is a podcast and Lab for founders, operators, and leaders who want greater signal and a clear next move.

In this opening episode, Natural Genius Founder, Samantha (Sam) Bell, shares why this podcast exists, who it’s for, and how clarity often arrives when we  listen and trust.

This episode explores:
• Why inner signal matters
• How listening changes decision-making
• What “natural genius” actually points to

Explore further:
Signal Check-In: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Book a Natural Genius Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Chapters:
00:14 Welcome & Sam's background
04:30 Tapping inner knowing
05:27 Creativity in business
06:00 Apply for a free Natural Genius Lab

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 4 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast: https://naturalgenius.com.au