This week Nicola and Di chat with the funny and vibrant Shelly Horton. Shelly is a bold, outspoken journalist and TV presenter, who has been on our screens in Australia for decades. We chat about her pathway to confidence plus her new book, I’m Your PERI Godmother. 

We hear all about how Shelly got her start in TV, the cruel way she was fired for being “too fat”, and how she made her way back onto our screens through a mentor, a goal-setting course, and the power of visualisation and dressing the part. 

Shelly gives us some of her highlights from her 6 years as a gossip columnist and the 1500 events she attended in that time - including her favourite celebrities and who was the worst - you’ll want to tune in to hear those stories! 

We also talk all about Shelly’s brilliant new book, I’m Your PERI Godmother, which has been described as a hilarious guide to help you survive perimenopause with science, helpful tips and proven treatments. Shelly tells us about her own journey with perimenopause and the way it completely changed her mental health. She talks about her own lack of knowledge in this area, and how she thought menopause was for old ladies. As Shelly says, it’s so important for us all to educate ourselves about perimenopause and then decide what’s best for us. The best part is, Shelly has a way of making this topic fun and we laughed a lot in this interview. 

And finally we ask Shelly about her tips for being more confident, and simple things that people can do to feel more prepared if they have a speech coming up. 

We absolutely loved chatting with Shelly and it felt like we had a good girlfriend at the back fence with us. We hope you love it as much as we did. 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

Follow Shelly on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/shellyhorton1/

Buy Shelly’s new book I’m Your PERI Godmother here - https://geni.us/ImYourPeriGodmother

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di chat with the kind and generous Karen Ledbury. Karen has been a television presenter in Australia for three decades and for the last 18 years has graced our screens on Channel 7’s The Morning Show and Sydney Weekender. She’s worked for every commercial network in Australia, and describes how her early days working alongside Bert Newton was the best training in the industry. 

In this heartfelt episode, we hear about the funny and interesting stories from Karen’s TV career, as well as the incredibly harrowing period that Karen faced recently when in a 6-month period her father passed away, her husband suffered a catastrophic stroke and her 19-year old son was diagnosed with cancer. 

Karen opens up and shares about the day when her world was turned upside down, when she received a text message whilst she was on air that her completely healthy husband had been taken to hospital, and they didn’t think he would make it through the night. We hear about the powerful moment days later which completely shifted Karen’s perspective.

She talks about the importance of gratitude, living in the present and giving back. As someone who has been through so much, it’s so inspiring that Karen still devotes so much of her time to giving to others through her charity work. 

We felt all of the emotions in this conversation - there were lots of laughs but also tears. It really was a beautiful moment of connection and we hope you feel as uplifted and inspired as we did listening to Karen’s story. 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

Follow Karen on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/karenledbury/

Find out more about the charity Save Our Sons and how you can help here - https://saveoursons.org.au/

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

Buy your Eir Women products here. Use code OTBF20 at checkout for a 20% discount

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di chat with the best-selling author Jacqueline Maley. Jacqui is an esteemed, award-winning journalist and novelist, who works as a senior writer and columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She is celebrated for her incisive commentary on politics, culture and social affairs. Her latest novel Lonely Mouth, is the book everyone is talking about, including Nigella Lawson who says it’s one of her favourite Australian books. 

In this episode we hear how Jacqui got started in her career as a journalist. After studying law and getting a summer clerkship at a prestigious law firm in her final year of uni, Jacqui very quickly realised that this wasn’t the career for her. After graduating, Jacqui went backpacking around Europe and she applied for a cadetship at The Sydney Morning Herald whilst she was overseas. She got the cadetship and from the moment she started working as a journalist, she absolutely loved it and didn’t look back. 

We chat about the way Jacqui deals with the negative feedback and online criticism that she, like so many journalists, receive these days. Jacqui has a very refreshing way of looking at it, which we know you’ll want to hear.

We also talk all about Jacqui’s new book Lonely Mouth, which is getting rave reviews. We hear about the Japanese expression which gave the book its name, and the fascinating topics the book explores - the conflicted way women think about their bodies, their appetites, and themselves in the world, and the way we believe ourselves to be worthy - or not - of love. 

Jacqui shares her own book recommendations with us and we chat about why giving someone a book as a gift is such a beautiful and powerful present. 

We really loved this conversation with Jacqui and it was so wonderful chatting books with such an esteemed author, who was really lovely and down-to-earth. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

 

Follow Jacqueline on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/jacqueline_maley_writer/

Buy Jacqueline’s book Lonely Mouth here - https://www.booktopia.com.au/lonely-mouth-jacqueline-maley/book/9781460759189.html

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

Buy your Eir Women products here. Use code OTBF20 at checkout for a 20% discount

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di chat with the globally renowned meditation teacher, Davidji. Davidji has taught millions of people around the world how to meditate, he’s a stress management expert and the author of several best-selling books including Secrets of Meditation, Destressify and Sacred Powers. He spent over a decade as the lead educator at the Chopra Centre where he helped shape the modern meditation movement alongside Deepak Chopra. He teaches people how to tap into stillness, break old habits and become their most powerful, authentic selves. Known for his soothing voice, his practical wisdom and his signature phrase, ‘ripple it outward’.

In this episode, we hear the story of the incredible moment that led to a total career and life transformation for Davidji back in 2001. Davidji had been working in the finance sector in New York for 20 years when a chance encounter on the street led him to quit his job and go to a meditation retreat with Deepak Chopra, which ultimately led to him working as the COO for the Chopra Centre for a decade. 

Davidji shares some beautiful and simple meditation techniques in this episode, which anyone can practice. He talks about the way meditation allows you to be fully present, and that it’s not about eliminating your thoughts, but rather witnessing them and knowing that any thought that comes, will also go if you surrender to the practice and stop resisting.  

We hear about the 4 needs of the heart, and how we can begin to recognise what we need in any given moment and give that to ourselves. As Davidji shares, it is through transforming our inner world, that we will transform the world. 

We talk about the power of the ripple effect of small acts of kindness. The way you engage and show up in the world can truly ripple outwards and change lives.

We absolutely loved talking to Davidji and were so grateful for his wisdom and generosity. He has a way of making meditation and mindfulness so simple and practical, as well as keeping it fun for all of us. We hope you love this episode as much as we did.  

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

Follow Davidji on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/davidjimeditation/ 

Buy Davidji's books here - https://davidji.com/books/

Watch Davidji’s guided meditations on his YouTube channel here - https://www.youtube.com/c/davidjimeditation

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

Buy your Eir Women products here. Use code OTBF20 at checkout for a 20% discount

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome another episode of bitesize chats with Nicola and Di. This week they chat to their producer Sam about her new business MyndGym, which is an online gym for people to exercise their mental fitness. Nicola and Di met Sam in 2019 in Phuket, which is where the idea for her business came about, so it was fun to talk about the journey from idea to launch, and the way Di helped brainstorm the business name. 

Sam wants to offer all of our Over The Back Fence listeners a special discount when they sign-up for a MyndGym membership. You’ll get 50% off when you enter the code OTBF and hit ‘apply’ on the payment page. That means all MyndGym memberships are less than $5 per week for our back fencers. 

Everyone gets their first 7 days for free to try it out. If you sign-up and it’s not for you, you can cancel anytime with the click of a button and you won’t be charged a cent.   

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Follow MyndGym on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/mynd.gym/ 

Download the MyndGym app to start your free 7-day trial here. Enter the code OTBF and hit ‘apply’ on the payment page for a 50% discount - https://www.myndgym.life/app

Watch a short video to see how to sign up at MyndGym - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47AwdDT52hw

Find out more about MyndGym here - https://www.myndgym.life/

Follow Sam on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/samanthalthomas_/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di chat with the brilliant journalist, broadcaster and presenter Kumi Taguchi. Kumi has been working in the Australian media for almost 30 years, since she landed her first job as a Production Assistant for the 7.30 Report in the 90s. From there she went on to become the host and presenter of many shows, including her current role as the host of the SBS show, Insight. Kumi can now add author to her title, with the release of her book: The Good Daughter: A memoir of losing my father and finding home. 

We chat to Kumi about some of the powerful and emotional moments that she shares in her new memoir, The Good Daughter. Kumi talks to us about the estranged relationship she had with her father and the unbelievable moment they shared in Japan when Kumi went to close that chapter in her life, and the universe sent her a glaring sign that it was far from closed. 

Kumi talks about what it was like growing up as half Japanese and half Australian, and how it was actually her Australian mother that kept the Japanese culture alive in her home. Kumi shares the beautiful moment when a Japanese woman on a train in Tokyo, helped her to reframe how she thinks about her heritage in the most powerful way.  

We also chat about some of the incredible personal challenges that Kumi has achieved - like that time she ran a marathon in the middle of the desert, or the time she was in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, despite the fact that she had no sailing experience and a history of getting sea sick. 

And of course, we wanted to hear all the behind-the-scenes intel about what really goes into an episode of Insight, how the show is made, and what Kumi’s favourite shows have been over the years.  

We had so much fun with Kumi and we could have chatted to her for hours. We loved having her in the studio and we really hope you enjoy this episode. 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

Follow Kumi on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/kumikotag/

Buy Kumi’s book here - https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/The-Good-Daughter/Kumi-Taguchi/9781925750799

Watch Insight here - https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/news-series/insight

Follow Kumi on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/kumikotag/

Follow Kumi on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kumitag/

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

Buy your Eir Women products here. Use code OTBF20 at checkout for a 20% discount

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di are back with the third episode of our monthly financial series, Over The Money Fence with Roger Montgomery. This series aims to help you take control of your finances with clarity and confidence. Roger is the Founder and Chairman of Montgomery Investment Management, has over 30 years’ investing experience and is a highly respected financial commentator featuring on various ABC programs, as well as his popular column in The Australian newspaper. He is also the author of best-selling investment guidebook Value.able.

In this conversation we chat about how to manage your money wisely at every age and every stage of your life. Roger goes through each generation from Gen Z, to Millennials, to Gen X, to Boomers and what you might need to focus on or consider when it comes to your finances for that stage of your life.

Regardless of where you’re at in life, Roger recommends having a wealthing account. Entirely separate to a savings account, this account is where you focus on building wealth. As he suggests, a great financial habit to start is to pay yourself first into this account

Roger talks about the benefits of taking some risks when you’re younger, why he thinks spending a lot of money on a wedding isn’t the best financial decision, why starting a side-hustle and being entrepreneurial is a great idea if you’ve got the drive and why paying down your mortgage first can make good financial sense. 

We also weigh up the pros and cons of investing your money in an investment property versus a private credit fund. Roger gives us solid ways of being able to make those decisions by making sense of and evaluating the true returns you’re getting on any investment you’re making. 

As always, this episode was full of so much valuable information and we’re so glad to be able to bring you these conversations with Roger where we are learning so much. We hope you are too. 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

Find out more about Montgomery Investment Management here - https://montinvest.com

Learn more about Roger and read his articles here - https://rogermontgomery.com

Buy Roger's book Value.able here - https://rogermontgomery.com/valueable-book/

Follow Roger’s YouTube channel here  - https://www.youtube.com/user/rogerjmontgomery

Follow Roger on X here - https://x.com/rjmontgomery

Follow Roger on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/montgomeryroger/

Follow Roger on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogermontgomery/

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Follow Nicola and Di on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di chat with the stunning and soulful Kate Bell. Kate is an international model, writer and yoga teacher, who is passionate about using her voice to challenge outdated ideas in fashion and beyond. Kate has been modelling for 4 decades and has worked for so many incredible designers and iconic brands, appearing in fashion shoots and runway shows all over the world. Now at 57, Kate is speaking out against ageism and advocating for change.

In this conversation we hear how Kate got started in modelling, and by the time she was 19, was living in New York and flying all over the world. Kate shares some of the most juicy stories from her early modelling days, which you won’t want to miss. 

Kate talks about the 2 different worlds and lives she was living - there was the model Kate and the yogi Kate, and she describes the full circle moment, later in her career when she was hired by an activewear brand as a yoga teacher and her two worlds integrated in the most beautiful way. 

Kate also opens up about the ways she has experienced ageism in her career and how ageism really is the last ‘ism’ that needs to be kicked out of the room! We couldn’t agree more. 

It was so lovely speaking to Kate. She is graceful, grounded and full of insight and we were so grateful to have this conversation with her in the studio. We hope you love it too.  

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

Follow Kate on IG here -  https://www.instagram.com/i_am_katebell/

Follow Kate and read her articles on Substack here - https://katebell.substack.com/

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

Buy your Eir Women products here. Use code OTBF20 at checkout for a 20% discount

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di chat with the incredibly talented Rob Carlton. Rob is an award-winning actor, writer, director and an all-round brilliant storyteller, who grew up near Nicola and Di’s backfence on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. He’s been in so many memorable shows which you may have seen, including A Country Practice, Underbelly, Paper Giants, Black Snow, Boy Swallows Universe and The White Lotus, to name just a few. He also hosts Bravewords Live, with his wife Adrienne Ferreira, an event which brings wildly entertaining true stories to the stage. Bravewords Live has been such a success over the years, that they’ve now decided to bring these incredible stories to you with the Bravewords Podcast, which will be launching at the end of the month. 

In this episode we get all The White Lotus goss from Rob. He shares how secretive it was from the very beginning, when he first received the script to audition for ‘The Secret Garden’. He talks about how much mystery there was surrounding the show, from the script to the filming locations, and how great it was to be a part of the show. He talks about the fun the cast had on set, the friendships he made, the sketchy past of the superyacht they were filming on, and what it was like working with Mike White. Rob also give us such a great take on why he thinks The White Lotus became such a huge hit, and the Mike White magic that lies at the heart of this show. 

We also hear what it was like to become Kerry Packer, for his Logie award-winning performance in Paper Giants. Rob shares such an honest story of how he almost lost the opportunity before he even had the role, because of the way he was being driven by fear and self-sabotage. 

As well as his wonderful work in TV, we chat to Rob about Bravewords - his live storytelling events that he hosts with his wife Adrienne. The next one is coming up on June 29th at Avoca Beach Theatre with Larry Emdur. The good news is, over the years they’ve curated hundreds of brilliant true stories, and are about to release this as the Bravewords Podcast in the coming weeks. 

And it’s not all career chat in this episode with Rob. He also opens up about his family relationships - the magnificent lessons from his parents, what makes his marriage work, the power of having difficult conversations and the way that he tries to parent his 21-year-old twin boys. 

This is such a beautiful and rich conversation with Rob, and we hope you love it as much as we did. 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or [email protected]

Follow Rob on IG here -  https://www.instagram.com/robbyjcarlton

Find out more about Bravewords and get tickets here - https://www.bravewords.com.au/

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

Buy your Eir Women products here. Use code OTBF20 at checkout for a 20% discount

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Nicola and Di chat with one of Australia’s most sought after relationship therapists, Melissa Ferrari. Melissa has been working with couples for over 25 years, helping them create healthy, secure relationships. She is certified in the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) and is regularly called upon as a relationship expert in national media. We know that the quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives and that connection to others is vital to our health and happiness, so we were thrilled to explore this topic with Melissa. 

In this conversation we hear about the common challenges that couples face that Melissa sees over and over again in her therapy. Melissa gives us some good advice for how to ‘fight right’, including the importance of being face-to-face and looking each other in the eyes. 

We chat about the hormones that flood our bodies when we’re in love, and what we need to remember when those hormones wear off, and we’re really getting to know the person in front of us. Melissa talks about putting the relationship first, recognising that you’re in a 2-party system where things are give and take, and the need to get to know each other on a deep level, including the trauma that you’re both bringing into the relationship. 

Nicola opens up and shares a very vulnerable story about a recent relationship she was in, which ended in deception and betrayal. You won’t believe this story until you hear it! She talks about the importance of speaking up, of holding people to account, of women supporting women, and feeling empowered. 

We hope you enjoy this special episode with Melissa as much as we did. And if you love our Over The Back Fence chats, come and hang out with us and some amazing guests at our in person event this week on the 19th of June at the Woolly Bay Hotel in Sydney. You can buy your tickets here - https://events.humanitix.com/over-the-back-fence-podcast-9r2scfqj/tickets 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. 

Follow Melissa on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/melissaferrari_psychotherapist/

Follow Melissa on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/melissaferrarirelationshipspecialist

Follow Melissa on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-f-38a77575/

Find out more about Melissa’s work here - https://www.melissaferrari.com.au/

Buy Wired For Love by Stan Tatkin (Melissa’s teacher and mentor) here

Buy Wired For Dating by Stan Tatkin here

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

Buy your Eir Women products here. Use code OTBF20 at checkout for a 20% discount

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.