Over the Back Fence

This week Nicola and Di chat with the wise and incredible Sally Loane. Sally has had a remarkable career from starting as a journalist in print media, moving into broadcasting with ABC radio, before jumping into the corporate world and establishing herself as a non-executive director on several boards - including being the first woman on the board at the NSW Waratahs in its 135 year history! She is currently the Chairman of Destination NSW and sits on the board for several charities and other organisations. She is such an inspiring woman, who has consistently reinvented herself and believes in stepping up courageously when new opportunities present themselves.

In this conversation, we go right back to Sally’s childhood and what it was like growing up in Tenterfield, spending her mornings being homeschooled by mum, and her afternoons in the paddock with dad. She shares how her country upbringing taught her so much about resilience, which she would come to rely on later in life when she experienced great loss. 

We talk all about Sally’s early career in journalism, her time as a political reporter, the mentors she had along the way and how terrifying it was for her to make the switch from print to broadcasting and being live-on-air with the ABC. We also find out that Di was one of Sally’s loyal listeners from her days at the ABC and has been a bit of a fan girl ever since. We chat about Sally’s career transitions and reinventions and how she finds the confidence to keep taking on the next challenge. 

Sally is also passionate about women’s financial independence and so we talk about finance, why it has been a taboo topic in the past, and she shares some great tips for women to look after their financial health and how it’s never too late to contribute to your super. 

This was such a wonderful conversation with Sally, and we could have talked with her for hours. It was just like chatting with a girlfriend. We hope you enjoy this as much as we did. 

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with the Instaqueen of Palm Beach, Suebelle. Suebelle has gained an incredible following on social media and has become an icon of style, captivating her fans with her daily outfits, fashion tips and hilarious sense of humour. 

In this wonderful conversation, we hear all about Suebelle’s fascinating life - growing up in Texas, moving to Boston and becoming a first-grade teacher by day and a PlayBoy Bunny by night, before changing careers and working in travel, where she met her first husband in Honolulu. After what Suebelle describes as ‘a nice little divorce’, she went on to meet the love of her life, Richard, who she had 38 beautiful years with before he passed away earlier this year. 

Suebelle shares so many great stories from her life - including that time she kissed Ronald Reagan at the White House and told him how adorable she thought he was! 

Suebelle also tells us why she loves Palm Beach so much, what she gets up to with her posse of girlfriends, her favourite places to go and why she loves her followers on Instagram and always makes the time to be kind to her fans.

And of course, we also get some great tips on fashion, entertaining and dating from this Palm Beach queen. 

We had so much fun chatting to Suebelle and could not wipe the smiles off our faces - as Suebelle says, it’s all about being positive and not taking yourself too seriously. We couldn't agree more! We hope you love this episode as much as we did.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with the multi award-winning journalist and editor, Robyn Foyster. Robyn has had an extraordinary career in media for the past 38 years, including being the Publisher and Editor of Australia’s three biggest flagship magazines - The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day and New Idea. In 2007, Robyn was voted Editor of the Year, and in 2015 she was voted as one of the 30 most powerful women in media at the B&T Women in Media Awards. She’s also worked as a TV producer on hugely popular shows in the UK, LA and Australia, and now she’s turned her attention to the world of tech and AI and is the founder of Women Love Tech, The Carousel and Game Changers.

In this conversation we get to hear some incredible stories from Robyn’s career - including a life-changing trip to the Sahara desert, as well as the time she snuck back-stage at the Oscars and bumped into Harrison Ford, and how it felt to be the first person to put the Spice Girls on TV when she was working in London. 

Robyn shares what it was like to be the Editor-in-Chief of the iconic Australian Women’s Weekly, and the responsibility she felt to the history of that magazine and its loyal readers. 

We also have a great chat about tech, the reason Robyn loves it as a new and exciting way to tell stories and how AI is the second revolution. Robyn gives us some great tips for how we can approach AI and that it’s never too late to learn! 

We had so much fun interviewing Robyn in the studio and we hope you feel as inspired as we did after listening to all she has to share. 

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with champion netballer Cath Cox AM and author and comedian Carolyn Swindell, co-hosts of the No Dribble podcast. Cath is one of Australia’s most successful netballers, having represented Australia in 108 appearances from 1997 - 2013 and winning multiple gold medals and world championships. Meanwhile Carolyn had a career that spanned 2 decades in corporate, politics and professional sport, before she turned to stand-up comedy at the age of 49. Together with Liz Ellis, they are hosts of the hilarious No Dribble podcast, which is like listening into a conversation on the sidelines of a netball game - where they talk about all things life, friendship, family, wine and netball. 

In this conversation we hear all about Cath and Carolyn’s friendship, and how Carolyn made a plan to get to know Cath and LIz because she figured they’d all be friends if they met in real life - and she wasn’t wrong! 

Cath talks about her long career playing netball, and why she started playing in the first place - which was really all about the friendships, fun and socialising. We chat about her transition from netball into media and commentary and what that’s been like for her. 

We also hear about Carolyn’s fascinating career story and how at the age of 49, she decided to give stand-up comedy a go. She shares some funny stories about throwing herself in the deep end and the mistakes she made along the way. 

This conversation really is a funny chat between girlfriends. Everyone shares their funniest plane stories, some memorable moments from the podcast and we also talk about body image and aging - the good news is, it keeps getting better!

We had so much fun on the couch this week with Cath and Carolyn and we hope you laugh along as much as we did.   

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with an Earth Angel, Sarah Grynberg who has interviewed some of the most incredible people including Matthew McConaughey, Jay Shetty and Dr Gabor Mate to name just a few.  Sarah is a mindset coach, international speaker and world-renowned podcast host. She is also the author of a brand new book, Living a Life of Greatness - steps to a fulfilling existence, and loving mum to her 2 kids. 

In this inspiring conversation, we hear how Sarah built a career for herself in media, and was living what many people would describe as a glamorous, dream life - she was the producer of one of the most successful breakfast radio programs in the country, but on the inside, she was miserable. Sarah describes how in this period when she was feeling low and flat, she turned to personal development books and began implementing the tools she was learning and her whole life started to change. She also describes the way she manifested her dream job - as the executive producer of the Hamish and Andy podcast. This led to Sarah starting her own podcast, A Life of Greatness, which has become super successful with Sarah interviewing hundreds of amazing people who are dedicated to carving out lives of greatness.

We have so much fun chatting to Sarah about some of the incredible people she’s interviewed including Dr. Joe Dispenza, Johann Hari, Dr. Andrew Huberman and Sarah’s personal favourite - you’ll have to tune in to hear who that was! 

Sarah also shares some really helpful tips for how people can begin to make positive changes in their life, and how to get unstuck from negative thoughts. She shares what she’s learnt about relationships and the importance of not just reading self-help books, but actually practising and implementing the changes. 

This was such a beautiful conversation about the power each and every one of us has to create the life we want, follow our dreams and live our own life of greatness. We absolutely loved having Sarah in the studio and we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.  

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with the incredible Liz Courtney. Liz is an internationally acclaimed film director dedicated to accelerating awareness and action around climate solutions.She’s also a talented speaker, author and the winner of several awards including the Women Changing the World in Media award and the 100 Women of Influence Australia awards. 

In this fascinating conversation, Liz tells us about her career transition and the sliding doors moment where she went from working in PR and marketing to becoming an award-winning filmmaker in her 40s. From her first project for the ABC making a film about Sculptures by the Sea, Liz tells us about the life-changing opportunity she got to direct a documentary in Antarctica with 40 teenagers, which is what ignited her passion for climate activism. 

That experience led Liz to embrace her inner adventurer, swap out the stilettos for snow boats and create her next documentary series, The Tipping Points, which took her all over the world. Liz shares the most amazing stories about some of her adventures in Antarctica, Greenland and what it was like living in the Amazon for a month. 

Liz is full of optimism and hope for the future and she believes that we have an incredible opportunity to turn things around and make some real progress towards reducing our carbon footprint and saving the planet. She shares some great tips for everyone on the little things that we can all do to make a positive difference for the environment. 

This was such a wonderful conversation with a truly inspiring woman. We hope you learn as much from Liz as we did and feel inspired by her stories and ideas. 

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with the extraordinary Layne Beachley AO. Layne is widely regarded as the most successful female surfer in history. She is the only surfer, male or female, to claim six consecutive world titles, and she then went on to win a 7th world title in 2006 before retiring from the World Tour in 2008. Since retiring, Layne is a highly sought after speaker and is the co-author of a new book Awake Academy: Know yourself, grow yourself to live a happier, more purposeful life, which she wrote with Tess Brouwer. Layne and Tess’ book, as well as their online courses and events, give people life-changing tips and tools to turn ideas and intentions into actions, so they can become the champions of their life.

This is a really powerful episode where Layne opens up about her personal challenges and the adversity she’s had to overcome since the very early days. Layne shares all about her childhood, being adopted at birth, and then losing her mum at the age of 7 when a cosmetic surgery went horribly wrong. A year after her mum died, the local kids were starting to ask questions about why Layne looked so different from the rest of her family, and so her dad sat her down at 8 and told her she was adopted. 

Layne talks about how learning that she was adopted shattered her sense of self, and in that moment, at the age of 8, she decided that the only way she would be loveable was if she became a world champion at something. 

This was the fuel that propelled Layne to become the most successful surfer in history, but Layne talks about the moment a friend opened her eyes to what was really driving her, and how whilst she was externally successful, it was an unhealthy and unsustainable success that was driven by an inner fear and lack of worthiness. 

We talk about the inner work that Layne had to do to overcome her fears and recognise her innate worth, and the practices and tools she now lives by to be healthy, happy, purposeful and have sustainable success. 

This is such a powerful and deep chat, but it is also FULL of laughter and light. Layne is an absolute joy and this conversation had the perfect mix of everything - you get to ride the waves of Layne’s life with us. We hope you enjoy it! 

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with the incredibly talented Rachel Griffiths. Rachel really needs no introduction - having starred in so many award-winning films and TV shows, including Brothers & Sisters, Six Feet Under, Anyone But You, Hilary and Jackie, My Best Friend’s Wedding and the iconic Muriel’s Wedding, she is quite simply Australian acting royalty. Her talent has been recognised with countless awards including 2 Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe award, a further 3 Golden Globe nominations, 4 Emmy nominations and an Academy Award nomination for her role in Hilary and Jackie. She’s also a writer, producer and director, the wife of painter Andy Taylor and in her own words, an imperfect mother of 3. 

In this episode we hear about Rachel being born in Newcastle, growing up in Melbourne, but how a day trip to Sydney’s Palm Beach in the 90s, led to her falling in love with the landscape and buying a house that day - making her one of our neighbours. 

We chat to Rachel about the early days of her career - what it was like starring in huge films like Muriel’s Wedding and My Best Friend’s Wedding, her intense 10 year studio contract in the US, and what it was that made Rachel choose to move back to Australia with her family. Rachel gives us insight into how much the industry has changed over the last 30 years and the differences between movie stars of the 90s and the younger generation of actors today.

We also talk all about her new TV series, Madam, which is based on the true story of a woman who decides to set up an ethical brothel in New Zealand. We get into a really interesting discussion about the sex work industry, the economics of it and how it is so closely connected to the loneliness epidemic.  

Rachel also opens up to us about her kids, what she believes makes her marriage work, and why she thinks Esther Perel is amazing.

This was one of those conversations where it felt like we were all girlfriends having a chat and we laughed so hard, that Rachel’s watch thought she’d been doing a HIIT workout! We hope you find it as much fun as we did. 

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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This week Nicola and Di chat with the dynamic Pete Simson. He’s an entrepreneur, a farmer, a philanthropist, the co-founder of RedBalloon and a loving father to his 2 children. Pete is also a single man in his 60s, navigating the world of online dating and we wanted to get his thoughts and insights into what this has been like for him as well as any tips he might have for our listeners. 

Pete shares with us some of the highs and lows of online dating including some funny stories of dates that went wrong. He also shares the different lessons he’s learned, the psychological principles that help him to notice red flags, such as attachment styles, and the things he’s on the lookout for when it comes to dating profiles and meeting up with a potential match.

In this episode, you’ll also get to hear more of Pete’s story - growing up on a farm in rural Victoria, and the fateful day he got home from school as a 10 year old and saw that his family home had burnt down. There are tears in the studio as Pete recounts that day, and shares stories from his childhood. 

We talk about his entrepreneurship as the co-founder of RedBalloon, the company he built in 2001 with his wife at the time, and how they were ahead of their time as an online gifting experience company. And we chat about what Pete is up to now - an exciting new film project that is shedding light on white collar domestic violence and raising awareness around this important issue. 

We had such a great time with Pete in the studio - he’s full of energy and the conversation just flowed. We hope you enjoy this chat as much as we did. 

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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Books Pete referenced in this episode:

Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel S.F. Heller

Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens Davidowitz

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This week Nicola and Di chat with the bold and dynamic Erika Cramer aka The Queen of Confidence. Erika is a confidence coach, keynote speaker, best-selling author and podcast host who has transformed her story of trauma and adversity into a journey of healing and success.

In this episode Erika shares her incredible personal story, and the extremely difficult circumstances she’s had to overcome and heal from in her life. When you hear what Erika has been through, you’ll be so inspired by how she’s been able to transform her life and the wisdom she has to share. 

Erika has the most wonderful energy and shares real, no BS tools that you can use in your life to step into courage, live with confidence and attract the life that you want. Not only that, she keeps things fun, and we were all laughing in this chat.

We also talk about Erika’s new book, Becoming Magnetic, and the 5 phases that help you to naturally draw in the right opportunities, people, and experiences that align with who you really are.

This was such a fun interview and we hope you feel as inspired and uplifted listening to Erika as we did. 

This episode is proudly sponsored by Eir Women. Use code OTBF20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on any purchase. 

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Buy Erika’s book Becoming Magnetic here 

Buy Erika’s book Confidence Feels Like Sh*T here

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