Seize the Yay

Back in your ears again, beautiful people, how time is flying by! It’s been another crazy week of a crazy year and in amongst the madness, the yayborhood has truly kept me going. A few days ago was the anniversary of the Seize the Yay book coming out (which I still can’t believe is a thing) and again, some of you sent the loveliest heartfelt messages about how it's impacted your lives sharing your a-ha moments or back stories. I know I say it all the time but the only thing that’s hard about podcasting is that I don’t get to interact with you WHILE you’re listening to see what you think or how the show lands, so when you take the time to send messages separately it really makes my day.

As for our guest, as you all know I’ve zipping around in the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross aka the yay-mobile to bring you some incredible stories from yayborhood heroes and we have another fascinating guest today here to share bit more about one of Mitsubishi’s partnerships that makes me so proud to have them as one of our partners. Mitsubishi renewed its partnership with Disaster Relief Australia earlier this year providing SUV and all-terrain vehicles to help DRA in its mission to provide rapid disaster response in the wake of natural disasters.

You may have seen some of DRA’s work during the catastrophic bushfires last year during which the Mitsubishi fleet helped deploy volunteers to five operations across three states. And today we’re joined by the National Director of Field Operations, Tom Howell to tell us a bit more about it, along with his own fascinating story. Tom served in the Australian Army as a company medic with operational experience in the middle east, predominantly Afghanistan. He completed his paramedicine studies with the Army and upon discharging worked over in Papua New Guinea as a paramedic for a few years specialising in remote area trauma. Alongside his work with DRA, he is also a full-time firefighter with Fire Rescue Victoria and has been a member of DRA since 2017, beginning in the training space but now managing the field operations team to facilitate deployment of our members across Australia and wider area of operations.

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Back with another instalment of #yaysofourlives and since you loved her so much of you weeks ago, the legendary Ang Foot is back again this week. And that was just as much for my benefit as it was for yours – I'm sure everyone's been feeling that the last few weeks have been even more intense in the news cycle than things already were and I was just feeling a bit flat and exhausted so I called in the big guns to bring the yay back to your ears.

Just like last time, this is another very unplanned, very last-minute chit chat that’s probably even more random and all over the shop than last time, which really is saying something. I always say how much I love the banter that comes out of these more casual episodes, but this time, I feel like I might've let too much of my crazy out of the bag - my brain has been so much less articulate lately than usual, so apologies in advance.

We do cover some really interesting stories as well about Ang’s family's experience through the Vietnam war, my adoption anniversary, and Ang’s grandma going viral for her AFL skills, which since the time of recording, which is only yesterday, has also gone on to national TV. And they’re even going live on ABC this week, what an absolute JOY! Hope you enjoy and this brings you a little smile!

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

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RE-RELEASE - We had a freshy ready for this week, but it's been one year exactly since one of our most popular episodes ever so it felt like a good time to bump it back into your ears. Especially with so many of us still in lockdown, I personally loved the escapism of this one so hope you do too! Please ignore any time specific references, although most of our yay is evergreen so hopefully you enjoy as much as I did!

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Sometimes, I choose our guests out of purely selfish curiosity to converse with a particular person regardless of whether anyone else would find them interesting, although I suspect most of you will be as fascinated by Dr Richard Harris as I am. After a random news article led me off on a multi-hour internet tangent a few weeks ago, I bought Dr Harris’ book - Against All Odds - and got it in my head that I HAD to talk to him and I’m so glad he kindly agreed to jump on the show.

You know I get overly excited about the unique way our talents and interests can intersect to create a yay-filled life and Dr Harris (or Harry as he insists I call him) has a truly unique set of skills as an anaesthetist and technical cave diver. So unique, in fact, that he was pretty much the only person in the world equipped to help sedate and thereby save the 13 young Thai boys of the Wild Boars Soccer team who got stuck 4km into a cave in Thailand in the rainy season of 2018 (along with diving mate and co-author, Dr Craig Challen with whom he won Australian of the Year last year). I don’t think I need to say much more to explain why I’m fascinated by his story - I gush a LOT in this one but I just couldn’t fathom the enormity of the task before him the details of which definitely went over my head watching it on the news at the time.

Among many other things, Harry also has his own wonderful podcast, Real Risk, so was equipped with a proper mic - such a pro - I highly recommend both his book AND his podcast the latest episode off which is with legendary James Cameron of Titanic fame. See links below! Hope you enjoy!

>>> LISTEN TO THE REAL RISK PODCAST HERE <<<

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When I say #yaysofourlives has a looser structure than our OG interviews, I took it to all new levels today chatting for probably half an hour before I asked the first question. But, with the inimitable Emma Isaacs jumping back on the show who I haven’t seen forever AND who has written her second, brand new book with SO MUCH painfully relevant content to cover, I’m surprised I even got to my questions at all!

If you haven’t heard Emma’s backstory yet, head back to episode 11 to hear how she has blazed a trail for female entrepreneurs (and all entrepreneurs for that matter) since the age of 18 leading her to become the founder and global CEO of Business Chicks. If you follow me at all, you’ll know what a huge impact Emma and her team have had on me both professionally and in all areas of who I am as a person and I’ll forever be indebted for the opportunities and connections they have made possible in my life (including the fact that Emma had faith enough in Seize the Yay to jump on the show just 11 episode in).

In this chat, we just have a good old catch up with bursts of me gushing about her brilliant second book, The New Hustle, in between. You’ll probably tell that once I get started, I keep linking idea after idea making my way through almost the whole book before realising I haven’t even asked about quote of the yay – but that’s why it’s such a timely read with 77 amazing messages about navigating times of challenge and change. Emma is one of the women I look up to most in the world and to have her in your ears at a time like this is so invaluable, so I hope you enjoy and take as much out of her as I do. She is at once impeccably professional and wise as well as a totally open book about parenting six kids or having breakdowns on the daily – the relatable content we all need to hear. Link to The New Hustle will of course be in the show notes

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I only met today’s guest in person recently, but we happen to share the same management which basically makes us family (big shout out to Gen and her team at Day Management) and I’d separately been a great admirer of her work since long before then. Rachael Sarra is a contemporary Aboriginal artist and designer from Goreng Goreng country whose work is a powerful tool for storytelling, change making and spreading the yay.

Crashing right through the dot painting stereotype and challenging society’s perception of Aboriginal art and identity, Rachael’s style is uniquely energetic, engaging and colourful. She pushes art to new boundaries from being projected onto the William Jolly Bridge to the packaging of some incredible brand collaborations like Matrix Hair which you’ll hear about as well as The Body Shop and How We Roll Co. I found out, however, that she originally hoped to be the sixth Spice Girl until I planted a big fat nay to yay all over that – this was also my first time as an accidental killjoy and probably a hint at how much fun we had going off on random tangents between exploring her pathYAY to date. She is another great example that what you advocate for might not be trendy until it is but the change makers are the ones who stick with it anyway. I love this woman and everything she's about and hope you do too.

MATRIX TOTAL RESULTS MIRACLE CREATOR SPRAY

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It wouldn’t truly be #yaysofourlives if I didn’t get our little yaymaker Angelena Roan to jump on for an episode. I’ve been getting so many lovely messages about how these tangential banter sessions have been helping you guys keep smiling, but honestly it’s more therapy for me that I just happen to record, so the fact that you’re enjoying too is a bonus.

You may remember Ang from the VERY first episode of the podcast, her own interview in episode 33 or all over my socials - I’ve had three messages JUST this week asking about my sister which she is not but which you’d be forgiven for assuming. She’s my mini me, best friend and has squeezed more into life at 24 than many do in a lifetime having ridden 800km from Adelaide to Melbourne for charity, started boxing for fun only to win her first fight by TKO, played in the VFLW for North Melbourne, started her own creative agency and now just happens to be a full time Physiotherapist at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

We swing from hysterically brainless to deeply philosophical which is one of my favourite things about our friendship and which definitely comes out in this chat today - apologies for the parts that don’t make sense to anyone but that we clearly find hilarious. Again for this one, I had no notes at all which I’m loving so much between our regular schedule and hope you enjoy following our crazy brains all over the place.

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I’ve been feeling this a lot lately and was wondering if it was just me until I started getting quite a few messages from you guys remarking that our guests lately seem to have been just who we needed to hear from to get through the tumultuous past few weeks with the nation in and out of lockdown. This week, the universe has delivered yet again with the delightful Sophie Cachia on the very day she announced her brand new book sparking an incredible conversation about navigating life’s unexpected twists and turns with grace, strength and positivity. (You’ll notice it’s come out a little earlier than usual and I skipped #yaysofourlives to get it out asap – we literally recorded AS Sophie was making her announcement so it's hot off the press!)

This chat highlights one of the things I love so much about this podcast – the opportunity and privilege of sitting down with people many of you have heard of but whose eloquence and poise often gets glossed over with our short attention spans on social media. Even in my own research, it was pretty hard to get past Sophie’s marriage to then separation from Jaryd Cachia, current relationship with her new partner Maddie and a very wonky chronology of everything in between. But you’ll hear pretty quickly what a switched on, emotionally intelligent and articulate woman Sophie is making the news of her new memoir, Then There Was Her just SO exciting. Add four businesses to her belt, two beautiful children and the fact that she’s only 30 years old and just getting started and you’ve got a serious force to be reckoned with who I hope you gain as much from as I did.

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Today’s is a guest who I count as one of my favourite speakers of all time who I was lucky enough to hear from on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island during our incredible trip with Business Chicks. I have been hoping to share her infectious enthusiasm, energetic storytelling and MIND-BLOWING story since that moment two years ago and am SO excited to finally share her with you now.

It's probably no surprise that Diana Nyad ended up as a marathon swimmer given that her surname means water nymph in Greek mythology (which I know because it was the name of one of my high school houses). With many achievements in competitive swimming over her lifetime, it was an idea that hit her at 9 years old to swim from Cuba to Florida that never left her. Starting from 2010, Diana began the journey to swim of over 50 hours through freezing, shark and jellyfish infested waters making not one but FIVE attempts before successfully covering the 180km and get this… at 64 YEARS OLD. As Hilary Clinton puts it perfectly, when you’re facing big challenges in your life you can think about Diana and nearly anything else seems doable by comparison.

Before we jump in, I just wanted to throw a very big shout out to Emma Isaacs and the Business Chicks team again for continually creating invaluable, unforgettable experiences for so many of us and making some of the world’s most fascinating and inspiring people accessible like Diana to its members. If you aren’t already a member, I can’t recommend anything more highly for seizing your yay so SIGN UP HERE. I hope you are as invigorated by this one as I am and please excuse a bit scratchier audio than usual – the tech woes got us good but in true Diana fashion we pressed on.

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A very short, very rambly solo #yaysofourlives episode for you this week with lots of heart-warming moments from the Tokyo Olympics.

Here's an article on the shared gold medal in the high jump finals.

Here's an article on Emma McKeon's medals and you can catch up on her Seize the Yay episode here.

Here's a link to Ariarne Titmus' coach losing his bananas with joy.

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Well, we know that big life pivots and sliding doors moments are one of my favourite things to talk about here and they’ve come in the form of reality TV shows before but never quite in the manner experienced by the ubiquitous Abbie Chatfield. You’ve seen her on Bachelor, you’ve seen her win I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here but you may not have heard her quite like this…

You’ll very soon hear from the hysterical laughter how much I enjoyed sitting down with this force to be reckoned with and how fascinating I found it diving beneath the surface of what some parts of the media seem to want us to focus on. From growing up with a single Mum to her full career as a property analyst with a degree in property economics there was a lifetime before Gemini-gate that led Abbie to where she is today. Now, she is a powerful spokesperson breaking down social taboo on so many topics like body positivity, mental health and even releasing her own vibrator range with VUSH as well as hosting her podcast, It’s A Lot Podcast. But her platform wasn’t handed to her on a silver nor was her transition into the spotlight as friendly or seamless as it might have seemed – she is a damned hard worker with an endearing openness about her experiences and challenges to date and I loved getting to know her a bit better. I hope you guys enjoy.

ABBIE'S PODCAST - IT'S A LOT

VUSH x ABBIE COLLABORATION

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