Seize the Yay

Welcome to the second segment of our second miniseries for the year showcasing some incredible women in science thanks to the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science fellowship program. While our running miniseries wasn’t sequential and could be listened to in any order, I’d recommend going back to last week’s episode for the full introduction to the program and the landscape before digging into this one.

A stat that definitely deserves another mention, however, is that only 28% of researchers today are women with less than 20% making up the most senior leadership positions, and only 3% of Scientific Nobel Prizes have been awarded to women. So, L’Oréal, a company brought to life by scientists 100 years ago, are dedicated to changing those statistics and have awarded five outstanding women in the industries broadly referred to as STEMM – science, technology, engineer mathematics and medicine – a fellowship to help them further their groundbreaking research.

One of the biggest challenges for women in these areas is a lack of exposure to career paths and role models, so L’Oréal has also created a Girls in Science program to highlight for school students how diverse, dynamic and deeply impactful pathways in science can be. And since the in person events weren’t able to go ahead, I’m so honoured that these Seize the Yay episodes will take their place and be distributed to young girls who are just starting to think about their way to yay so that a new generation of young scientists might see a future for themselves in the sciences.

Our first two guests last week absolutely bowled me over – Dr Mahdokht Shaibani is an Iranian battery engineer working on cleaner alternatives to lithium batteries and Dr Kirsty Nash is a marine biologist looking at the relationship between changing nutrient production from fisheries and coral reefs on one hand and micronutrient deficiencies in humans on the other. This week our three mini-interviews focus more on medical breakthroughs in epilepsy, neuroscience, cardiovascular health and anxiety. I hope you find Dr Philippa Karoly, Dr Jiawen Li and Dr Olivia Harrison as inspiring as I did!

Find out more about the FWIS fellowship here.

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I’m so glad that you’ve all been loving our running miniseries and, as promised, I’m thrilled to have a second one for you kicking off today. This one has changed my perspectives and extended my knowledge just as much, but in a completely different way and in relation to completely different pathways to joy but that’s exactly the essence of seizing your yay – it looks different for everyone.

The thing is, so often you don’t know what you want your future to look like until you can visualise it or see it represented out in the world, but lack of exposure can really hinder people in finding their purpose because they simply never know it exists. Enter, one of the biggest challenges facing women in science or the industries broadly referred to as STEMM – science, technology, engineer mathematics and medicine.

Today, only 28% of researchers are women with less than 20% making up the most senior leadership positions, and only 3% of Scientific Nobel Prizes have been awarded to women. Numerous studies have found that women in STEMM fields publish less, are paid less for their research and do not progress as far as men in their careers.

There are so many different factors contributing to this disparity, but one is definitely the misconceptions surrounding what scientists actually do and the industries they can end up working in. Beauty and cosmetics, for example, is not the first industry you’d connect with say, engineering or maths, but our partner in this miniseries, L’Oréal, was founded by scientists over 100 years ago – without science L’Oréal simply wouldn’t exist.

Which is why, for over the past 20 years, the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation and UNESCO have been committed to women in science, to increase the number of women working in scientific research. In 1998, L’Oréal and UNESCO founded the For Women in Science program to promote and highlight the critical importance of ensuring greater participation of women in science.

Each year, the program recognises the achievements of exceptional early-career female scientists and awards them with Fellowships to help further their research. And I’m DELIGHTED to bring you this miniseries showcasing the five 2021 Fellowship recipients and the ground-breaking, mind-blowing work they’re doing highlighting how diverse, dynamic and deeply impactful pathways in science can be.

I’ve emerged kind of wanting to move into science myself and wish there had been programs like this when I was younger. Wonderfully, L’Oréal’s work also includes a Girls in Science program in partnership with UNSW and Melbourne University where these fellows are connected with girls in school to empower young women to forge careers in STEMM and inspire them to be part of cultural change in the industry.

Unfortunately, the in-person Girls in Science events were unable to go ahead, but fortunately, this miniseries has taken their place so that it’s not just schoolgirls whose minds can be opened by these five fascinating women and the way they’re changing the world. Even if you don’t aspire to a career in STEMM, I was captivated by these amazing humans and hope that you all are too.

Find out more about the FWIS fellowship here.

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I hope you enjoyed our Power Your Inner Runner podcast series, it was such a pleasure to create and I’ve loved seeing all of your learnings and reflections. I did have the second miniseries of the year ready for #yaysofourlives this week, but it’s been pushed back slightly to align with some official announcements relating to the guests, so it's back to your regular scheduling for now but keep your ears peeled.

Today’s guest is one of those people that I feel so lucky to be able to share with you because a one on one session with such a trail-blazing industry leader is so highly coveted, so we’re very lucky to have her on the show. If you haven’t heard of Colleen Callander, you’ve definitely encountered her work through 20 years across iconic brands Sussan and Sportsgirl, 13 of which she was in the top spot as CEO. You might assume she was a born leader with her sights set on something like an MBA to work her way to the top, but Colleen is all the more fascinating for not having finished school at all and starting as a retail assistant on the floor at Just Jeans. I also love how she perceives leadership as a lifestyle choice rather than something intrinsic that you have to be born with – you don’t have to be an extrovert or even in a senior position to be a leader, you can work hard and speak through your results and she certainly has done so.

There’s also some very useful reflections on burnout leading to three months away from work altogether touching on all our favourite themes of unravelling our identity from productivity and achievement. And of course, then the bold choice to step away from the dream job when it starts to become a comfort zone to embark on a new chapter and restart as a beginner. Colleen is such a delight to learn from and I hope you guys get as much out of our chat as I did.

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Welcome to our final episode of the Power Your Inner Runner podcast series in partnership with Nike Running and Rebel, gosh that’s gone so quickly! I feel so lucky to have been able to pick the brains of three amazing Nike athletes and Olympians on everyone’s behalf – the tips and tricks they’ve shared have enhanced my training so much and I hope they’ve done the same for you. Whether you’re a running beginner or a seasoned pro, they’ve jam packed so much universal advice into these chats that will be invaluable in the lead up to Melbourne Marathon and beyond. But even if you’re not interested in running in the least, I think all three of these women still have fascinating pathyays that are empowering, motivating and just a joy to listen to.

So, we’ve heard from Catriona on mastering your mindset and Sinead on distance, determination and defying the doubters but I still have some pretty specific questions left around FUEL. What and when does one eat and drink before, during and after a race? How lucky are we to have as our third and final guest Linden Hall, a 1500m Olympian, Nike athlete and VERY conveniently, also a qualified dietitian who headed to America after high school to get the college experience at Florida State University! Today we get into the guts of our guts and, again, in the few runs I’ve done since recording this episode, Linden has dramatically improved my running experience.

As well as the practical stuff, we also hear how Linden went from being spellbound watching the Atlanta Olympics as a five-year-old to actually making it to the Olympics first in Rio and then again this year in Tokyo. It gave me goosebumps to hear Linden explain how it felt to actually qualify after dreaming of the moment since childhood and working so hard to become the fastest 1500m runner in Australian history. Even cooler? She got faster and faster in Tokyo from the heat to the semi-final and then the overall final where she finished in 6th place with a personal best. So we also get some fabulous tips on improving speed and why you often don’t do so by running your competition speed but by doing all kinds of other runs instead – mind blown!

As I’ve been recording these episodes, I’ve really been reminded of how powerful sport can be – I mean I get so teary during the Olympics for the way it connects people transcending language, boundaries and geography. Even on a very local, personal level, I’ve been reminded how transformative sport can be which is a big tenet of Rebel’s Sport is Calling campaign. If you’ve been out of the sporting loop for a while, sport can be such an antidote to life’s challenges whether you have professional or competitive aspirations or not so I hope some of you hear sport calling your name again and get motivated to move those bodies. Also, just a reminder, in case you were worried, the episodes aren’t sequential, so if you’re only tuning in now don’t worry each segment stands alone and you can listen in whatever order you like.

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Welcome to November everyone, I honestly can’t believe we’re here. Very quick hello from me today as we’ve got a yayborhood guest interview for this week’s #yaysofourlives, so I’ll save the banter for next week’s regular scheduling with Ang (who I’m so glad everyone is enjoying so much).

Our guest for today is someone you’ve heard of many times now because she’s not only been in the yayborhood since the very beginning, but been such an active and thoughtful contributor. Dana Phang is the woman who started the yayborhood gift exchange during lockdown for members to get to know each other better and bring each other a little joy which then sparked our healthcare and frontline worker care package send out. She’s also a doctor herself and her own podcast, Junior Doctor’s Corner, shines such a great light on the lesser-known side of the early days in a medical career to help others feel less alone if it’s not quite the dream they expected. I thought that in itself was a great yayborhood watch item to share with you all but also just wanted to get to know Dana a bit better and what a lovely chat it was.

Ang wasn’t originally able to join the call but I peer pressured her into it a few minutes in because I knew they’d get along like a house on fire, so she joins part way through. I saw so many other lovely good news items in the media this week – it was such a nicer week to be online with international reunions finally happening, everyone enjoying freedom and sunshine, some amazing Halloween costumes etc – but I’ll save my yayborhood watch picks for next week, so for now enjoy getting to know your yayborhood mascot, Dana!

Dana's #quoteoftheyay was, "I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become" from Carl Jung.

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The third anniversary episode is finally here, thank you so much to everyone who submitted questions (especially the four amazing yayborhood members who sent theirs in by voice memo). I had been hoping to celebrate this milestone with a real life event, but this was still a pretty special way to reflect on the past few years with our new co-host, Ang (who also happened to co-host the very first episode ever back in 2018 - such a full circle moment). I could never have imagined then that we'd still be here three years later learning from incredible humans and welcoming new friends to the yayborhood each week. I'll never be able to say enough times how grateful I am for all of your support - I know I sound like a broken record, but I still pinch myself to get to create this show for you.

As has been a recurring theme with #yaysofourlives lately, I got a major vulnerability hangover the minute we stopped recording and plunged into the depths of overthinking wanting to change all my answers straight away - it's so much easier being the one asking the questions!! Recording with Ang means you REALLY get the unfiltered, totally scattered, absolute goober versions of who we are (although I've always thought that was the beauty of podcasts - you hear how people are without an audience even though, of course, later there is an audience). Old me would have re-recorded to make my answers more articulate, considered and thorough but new me is practising what I preach and uploaded the whole thing without edits - done is better than perfect! As usual, we got carried away in the first half and I rushed a bit in the second half (hence wanting to redo my answers), but I REALLY enjoyed your diverse and interesting questions and hope there's some enjoyable listening somewhere in amongst our rambling.

And yes, we did a little glow up to celebrate the milestone - ABOUT TIME! Felt like a great opportunity for a little refresh, since I whipped up our original assets in about 7 minutes without really thinking too much but then kept them for three years!

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You know one of the main facets of the Seize the Yay philosophy is separating what you do from who you are but, naturally, our conversations still touch on “the doing” because work is inextricably related with finding your overall purpose or passion in life. Today’s guest, however, has faced perhaps more upheaval in relation to “the being “– not so much in finding what you love but in finding who you are.

Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness to hard-working, immigrant parents in regional Victoria, Deni Todorovič's environment didn’t exactly foster the language or conversations that allowed them to fully articulate their identity until almost their 20s. But having come out not once, but TWICE since then (along with all the torment and confusion that accompanies such big shifts in identity), Deni is now living their absolute best life as a non-binary role model encouraging us all to honour who we are as well as gently and patiently helping us all learn more about the language and landscape of gender identity and sexuality.

For someone who once didn't feel like they had the language to express how they felt, Deni is one of the most articulate guests I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with sharing so openly about even the most awkward elements of gender fluidity i.e. we learn how they pick which bathrooms to use. Sexuality aside, Deni has also had an incredible pathYAY working their way from shit kicking intern all the way up to Fashion Editor at Cosmopolitan right up until its closure in 2018.

Their insights are equally as powerful in dealing with the unexpected loss of dreams embracing a giant pivot to move back to Geelong and embrace the freelance world wholeheartedly (including becoming the face of The Body Shop's Self Love Campaign - a company you know I adore working with). Their energy and passion for equality and kindness is so infectious and energising (and the gold sparkles I turned up in barely did Deni justice) – I hope that they bring your heart the warmth that mine was filled with the whole way through.

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There are so many people without whom this show would not have been possible, but this guest in particular really pushed me forwards at the pivotal moment where I could have backed out. We connected a few years ago when I jumped on his own incredible show, Behind the Human, for one of my very first podcast interviews and a few months later it was Marc who I turned to when I wanted to start my own. Back then he was about the only person I knew with their own show and I still can’t believe how instantly and generously he shared the details of his gear, software, reaching out to guests and everything in between. And what a privilege, years later now, to at least begin to repay the favour by sharing the exciting news about his brand new book, Personal Socrates.

Marc has one of those fascinating stories that begins with a whole decade in an area that now I can’t imagine him in corporate sales and brand management for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. His side passion for photography was the first inclination of possible career shift building from self-taught newbie to even joining Photographers Without Borders on a trip from his native Canada to Senegal. But it was through his groundbreaking journaling and mental fitness app, KYO, that I first met Marc which saw incredible success right up until the day he decided to delete it. And now he is a brand new author helping us ask bigger and better questions to upgrade our lives at just the perfect time fro World Mental Health Month.

I’m not sure if it’s his Canadian background or not, but you’ll hear instantly what a genuine and kind soul he is and his book is exactly the handbook to happiness and mental fitness we all need as we continue to navigate so much uncertainty and change. I hope you get as much out of him as I did!

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