Overnight success sometimes takes 12 years - it certainly did for today’s guest Samantha Wills. I’m Ali Hill and welcome to Stand Out Life podcast - a podcast dedicated to living boldly amongst the busyness. 

Samantha Wills started her self-titled jewellery company on the kitchen table of her share house in the eastern suburbs of Sydney when she was just 21 years old. Her rise to the global stage was meteoric and came with dedication, focus and a few scars along the way. Since making the courageous decision to close her business Samantha has captured her story - all of it in her memoir ‘Of Gold and Dust’. 

It is so much more than a business memoir and Samantha shares her insights in today’s episode around the decision to go into business, the essence of the community behind the brand, the power of creativity and why all of us need to be listening to our health even amongst the busyness. Samantha tells the intimate details of her life and business, sharing her truths with a rare rawness and vulnerability.

Soak up the honest, warmth, and insights from the beautiful Samantha Wills.

Ep 109 Samantha Wills - Of gold and dust

Stand Out Life is a podcast dedicated to living boldly in a busy world, with psychologist, Ali Hill. 

Throughout these podcasts we sit down with influential women - and a few good men - and chat about how they live a life of purpose while making progress. We dig into their stories, both the successes and the struggles and in doing so, we get some amazing insights into what it takes to live big  and ultimately how they’ve found the wins in this crazy busy world.  

Let’s dive deep into what it takes to live a Stand Out Life.

Health & Fitness

Chocolate that loves you back - sounds like the ultimate luxury. 

From Model to Naturopath & Nutritionist to founder of an AFR Fast 100 company, Emica Penklis’s story is a fascinating one. Emica is a visionary entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Loco Love Pty Ltd, a trailblazing Australian chocolate company renowned for its innovative "high vibe" products. And if you haven’t come across these chocolates I’m here to tell you, you are missing out. They are an experience. 

Within this conversation Emica shares the challenges she faced in her modelling career, the importance of having to explore the power of healing and how creating products that are good for people is the thread behind her work. 

We also chat about the role of leadership and key lessons she’s learnt along the way. Clarity on our intentions, gathering people around us to support us and continuing to learn and grow are the things I’ll take from this conversation. 

Enjoy this insightful conversation with Emica Penklis.

Ep 170 Emica Penklis - The heart of the (chocolate) matter

Habits - all of us have them. 

Some we’re happy to keep, others we’d love to kick. This time of year is the perfect time to get forensic about the habits in your life and how they are serving you. 

As a trained dietitian, Dr Gina Cleo has helped people improve their health and well-being - however noticed that her clients struggled to maintain their progress over time, much like those elusive goals you might be grappling with at this start of this year. 

Driven by the desire to find lasting solutions, she pressed pause on her clinic and completed a Ph.D. at Bond University. It was there that she uncover the transformative power of habit change and its potential to impact every facet of life. 

In this conversation we talk about some of Gina’s personal experience, including an experience that left her questioning everything and required her to rebuild every habit in her life - starting with brushing her teeth. We talk about the importance of self-belief, of realising that steps backwards are part of the process (not proof it’s not working) and how important it is to chase rituals over results. 

Dr Gina Cleo’s new book ‘The Habit Revolution’ is a game-changer when it comes to practical tools to explore and understand habits. 

This conversation will leave you feeling empowered not embarrassed about habits, soak up the wisdom and warmth that is Dr Gina Cleo. 

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The Habit Revolution - https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-habit-revolution-gina-cleo/book/9781922616654.html

Dr Gina Cleo - https://www.drginacleo.com

Ali Hill - https://www.alisonhill.com.au

Ep 169 Dr Gina Cleo - The Habit Revolution

What would it take for you to be able to work with (almost) anyone? 

Michael Bungay Stanier helps people know they’re awesome and they’re doing great. 

He’s best known for his book The Coaching Habit which is the best selling book on coaching this century and is considered a classic 

His most recent book is How to Work with (Almost) Anyone and it shows how to build the Best Possible Relationship with the key people at work. 
He founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that has trained hundreds of thousands of managers to be more coach-like in organizations from Microsoft to Gucci. 

He left Australia about 30 years ago to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University ... where his only significant achievement was falling in love with a Canadian ... and which is why he now lives in Toronto, having spent time in London and Boston. 

Balancing out these moments of success, he was banned from his high school graduation for “the balloon incident” (you’ll hear about that) ... was sued by one of his Law School professors for defamation ... and his first published piece of writing was a Harlequin Romance-esque story involving a misdelivered letter ... and called The Male Delivery. 

Enjoy this conversation with the thoughtful Michael Bungay Stainer.

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Host / Producer: Ali Hill https://www.alisonhill.com.au/
Guest: Michael Bungay Stainer https://www.mbs.works/
Sound Editor: Jason Strozkiy https://www.strozkiymedia.com/
Talent Producer: Maddy Westbrook https://thenoblegroup.com.au/

Ep168 Michael Bungay Stainer - How to work with (almost) anyone

Much of what we do is living life by default even when life has dished up hard-ships, maybe even trauma. We’re going through the motions….but what if we were to shake things up and become curious rebels. 

Yemi Penn is a global thought-leader on igniting our rebellious curiosity at an individual, team and organisational level. 

British born, Nigerian, living in Australia Yemi is an Engineer by profession, Entrepreneur by passion. Yemi fuses analytical thinking with creativity to produce superior outcomes. Transformation is the theme across Yemi’s focus, whether this is opening a F45 gym in London, a café in Sydney’s South-West Suburbs, authoring a book, managing complex projects such as Crossrail and Sydney Metro or producing an impactful documentary. 

Within this conversation we dive into how we can tap more into curiousity, the invitation to put ourselves in the way of discomfort, and to unlock a rebellious heart. This conversation is a deep one….it’s a beautiful one. 

Soak up the wisdom and invitation shared by Yemi Penn.

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Host: https://www.instagram.com/alihill/ or https://www.alisonhill.com.au/ 
Guest: https://yemipenn.com/
Sound Producer: Jason Strozkiy - https://www.strozkiymedia.com/
Talent Producer: Maddy Westbrook - https://thenoblegroup.com.au/

Ep167 Yemi Penn - Igniting the curious rebels

All of us can fall into trying to make sense of the unknown, drawn towards an insight, a theory or a story that seems just far-fetched enough to be true. But what makes rational people believe irrational things? 

As someone who studies behavioural scientists today’s guest is akin to chatting with an intellectual hero. It’s highly possible you haven’t come across Dan Ariely’s work, but his research drives much of what we know about irrational behaviour. 

Dan Ariely is Professor of Psychology & Behavioral Economics at Duke University, his research is dedicated to answering questions about irrational behaviour, and help people live more sensible – if not rational – lives. 

He is a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, co-creator of the film documentary '(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies', and a three-time New York Times bestselling author. 

This conversation focuses on Dan’s latest book 'Misbelief', which is a personal deep dive into an experience Dan faced through COVID with untruths being shared about him and his research. Believing he could just convince people they weren’t true lead him down the path of identifying what he calls the ‘funnel of misbelief’. 

This conversation is insightful, fascinating and practical for us all as we navigate the unknown. Take a trip into understanding the funnel of Misbelief with Dan Ariely.

Ep 109 Samantha Wills - Of gold and dust

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