Seize the Yay

Welcome to a new week, lovely yayborhood. If you‘re looking for some motivation for a fresh start, our guest for this episode is your woman. If you haven’t heard of Tory Archbold, you’ve probably encountered her work in some form or another – she is the superstar publicist whose first business, Torstar, brought Zara to Australia, took Seafolly and Sukin overseas and included Nespresso, Victoria’s Secret and Adidas in its booming portofolio.

That was, however, before the universe took her through a near-death experience which you’ll hear all about and through a complete re-evaluation of her life and priorities. In an a-ha moment sparked by Drew Barrymore, Tory decided to close her hugely successful agency and seize a brand new yay with Powerful Steps – a platform to inspire, encourage and empower others in their own lives. I think you’ll understand very quickly why this is perfectly suited to her – she has so much to share about limiting beliefs, surrender and finding your power. What a valuable guest to have with us today for some wisdom and wonder about #yaysofourlives.

TORY'S BUSINESS ATTRACTION PROGRAM

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You know I’m no stranger to a fangirl moment, but this one is really up there. Having followed her journey for over a decade and pored over her fabulous new book, Of Gold and Dust, our guest this week is none other than Samantha Wills.

You may have heard parts of how she grew her multimillion-dollar global eponymous jewellery label from her kitchen table and the Bondi markets at just 21 years old to a string of stores from Singapore to New York and the likes of J.Lo, Eva Mendes and Katy Perry clamouring to wear her jewellery. For any aspiring business owners, she has so much to share about the 12 years it took her to overnight success covering the scale up, brand growth, community building and taking things one chapter at a time. Her brilliant new book also reveals some of the character-building "shitter bits" (as you know I like to call them) along the way from $80,000 of debt, burnout, personal turmoil and crippling impostor syndrome – I didn’t realise she was a TAFE double drop out. But what I find MOST fascinating about her story is that just when Samantha Wills Jewellery had truly solidified itself as an undeniable success, she closed the business and walked away.

For someone as fascinated as I am by redefining the metrics by which you measure your life, knowing when your jigsaw puzzle need a shake up and choosing happiness before success, this was such an engaging chat I barely knew where to start. I hope it’s as enlightening and eye opening for you as it was for me.

SAMANTHA'S NEW BOOK, OF GOLD AND DUST

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You'll probably notice that this isn't actually the quote of the yay we talk about in the episode, but Khanh's was a little too dark (and a little too Latin) for the title even though it does have a strong underlying reminder that life is too short not to seize your yay. Although sometimes confronting our mortality can be the kick up the butt you need to remember that life is too precious and fleeting to let a day go by where you sacrifice who you are or what you love because of what some else expects / demands / believes. We do get very quickly back to the lightness and laughter, I promise, covering all sorts of random sources of yay from panda facts, bento box tutorials and even why faces in inanimate objects are good for the soul. Like the past few #yaysofourlives episodes, I didn't plan anything in advance and roped Khanh a few hours beforehand, which means lots of random tangents and embarrassing unfiltered insights into our thought processes, but hopefully you get a giggle out of it along the way (and some fresh new YouTube tangents to keep you smiling during lockdown!)

Note: The internet at both ends was so temperamental so halfway through we swap to FaceTime - the joys of WFH.

Here are some of the things we mentioned this week:

• Khanh's original episode, Seize the Gay
• The Human Library
• The four-day work week in Iceland
• Inanimate objects with faces

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Skipped #yaysofourlives this week as we’ve had some builders at home which don’t create the loveliest background noises for podcasting, but today’s guest well and truly makes up for the gap. It’s been probably nearly eight years since I first heard of Holly Ransom and started closely following her journey but today was the very first time I’ve had the privilege of chatting with her directly. If she’d been inspiring and influencing me from afar with her intellect, drive and leadership, her impact was tenfold in this conversation and I feel so lucky to be able to share that with some of you. Holly has about as much difficulty describing what she does as I do but that’s probably why we get along so well facing a lifelong inability not to try everything and anything (and all at once). She is a specialist in disruptive strategy, a private company director and advocate for social and economic inclusion, a businesswoman, a globally recognised speaker, podcaster and just this year also an author.

Starting with an Arts/Law degree for similar reasons as I did, Holly’s born flair for leadership and insatiable curiosity ultimately led her away from the law and into a constantly evolving career path with more accolades than I have time to list here. She was named one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review, she has delivered a Peace Charter to the Dalai Lama, interviewed Barack Obama on stage and was Sir Richard Branson’s nominee for Wired Magazine’s ‘Smart List’ of Future Game Changers to watch in 2017. In 2019 she was awarded the US Embassy’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Leadership Excellence. She won the Fulbright Scholarship to complete her Masters at Harvard University from which she graduated and has now poured the culmination of all those experiences into a fabulous book, The Leading Edge. I’ll let her tell you the rest herself in the most articulate and engaging words! I hope you enjoy

HOLLY'S NEW BOOK, THE LEADING EDGE

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As you can probably tell since I ramble on about it all the time, one of my favourite parts of creating this show is hearing not only so many fascinating and unique stories I might not otherwise have come across, but even within those stories, getting to actually sit down with the protagonist to unearth the parts that shorter interviews or written pieces might skate over. Today’s guest is the perfect example of that whose incredible success has gained her worldwide recognition but whose earlier chapters fascinated me even more.

Sarah Andrews is the owner of iconic Tasmanian Airbnb Captain’s Rest that she bought as a shack in 2016 despite locals promising her that nobody would come to visit the middle of nowhere. It is now booked out every day of the year and up to almost a year in advance earning $10-$15k per month with an entire local economy starting to build up around the venue as crowds started to flock to Tasmania’s remote West Coast. Applying her earlier science background to the science of hosting and marketing, Sarah has since turned her newfound expertise into a globally acclaimed The Hosting Masterclass guiding other business owners to success around the world and her new book Principles of Style is also soon to come out. But what I loved hearing the most was the rollercoaster it took to get here covering a career as a spatial scientist, a year living on a yacht travelling the world, a traumatic Mexican storm leading to a shipwreck like rescue by the Mexican navy and so much more in between.

I mean, if there’s a film director listening in to this one, you’re welcome – I was both emotionally exhausted and invigorated by the end of this episode which is really only just the beginning for Sarah Andrews. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

CHECK OUT CAPTAIN'S REST HERE

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE HOSTING MASTERCLASS

SARAH'S NEW BOOK, PRINCIPLES OF STYLE

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Welcome back to #yaysofourlives beautiful people - I hope you’re being gentle on yourselves during another crazy year. I really notice what a rollercoaster it is when I sit down to record these and see how drastically things change week to week - it’s a lot to take in so sending everyone lots of love.

Perfect time to send some more random, joyful banter into your ears - after I went into Dr Kieran Kennedy’s episode a few weeks ago without ANY notes or plans and had such a blast, I decided to this same for this week to see where it took us. And what a thrill to be joined by two amazing humans who also love a good chinwag, Tully Humphrey and Sarah Pasini.

It probably says a lot about their relationship that they chose two very similar #quotesoftheyay:

• I am no longer present for things that make me feel like shit.
• Distance yourself from people that bring out the person you're not trying to be anymore

You may have already heard of and/or from these two before either through their own cracking podcast, Curious Conversations, that I jumped on a few weeks ago or through their trail blazing activewear label, TULLY LOU. If you haven’t, these two are business partners and best friends who shift effortlessly between serious practical insights on eight years in business stealing the hearts of Gigi Hadid and the like to hysterical cackles about the woes of dating in the modern age.

I’ve been lucky to know them both since the very first day of Matcha Maiden and have drawn so much inspiration from them both for many years. Tully is such an amazing example of the non-conventional pathYAY overcoming anorexia and depression from 14 years old and quitting school at 16 years old to found a business that played a huge role in bringing athleisure to where it is today. Sare brings a contrasting academic background and experience in exercise science to the business and their friendship making them the perfect pair. I always have such a great time chatting with these two although I can barely remember what we even spoke about but those random chats are my favourites - hope you enjoy!

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It’s always such a pleasure to join podcast forces and after having an absolute blast on Tropeaka’s podcast a couple of weeks ago, this week we’ve turned the tables on CEO and co-founder, Caleb Marshall. Leading one of Australia’s fastest growing and largest health food companies with 14,000 5-star reviews and an ever-growing range of amazing products, Caleb is well and truly seizing his yay.

As we so often reiterate on the show, you could easily assume it’s been smooth sailing if you’d been observing Tropeaka’s impressive trajectory since 2016, but even I was surprised by how candidly Caleb discusses the tougher chapters of his pathYAY, particularly through his school years and then losing three and a half years of his life to a debilitating struggle with chronic fatigue. But the patience, self-awareness and positivity he brings to reframing that experience as a life-changing pivot is sure to reassure not just fellow chronic illness suffers but anyone out there waiting for their passion and purpose to become clear.

I love how much I learn from each guest and their perspectives on life and he particularly reminds me just how important it is to stick with the wild and whacky things you love because what makes you happy might make others desperately unhappy and vice versa but that's the whole point of seizing your yay – it’s not meant to look like any one else’s. I hope you enjoy as much as I did

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Sometimes I regret using certain phrases so much because when I really want to hammer something home I’ve usually already overdone it. So, for example, I really want to emphasise what an incredible breath of fresh air today’s guest is but I’ve probably said that many times before so thank goodness you’re about to hear from her yourself as I know you’ll agree she’s truly one in a billion.

If anyone’s pathYAY could be said to truly veer off in totally unexpected directions at every new chapter, it’s Aimee Stanton’s – she has the most fascinating story so far and she’s not even 30. If you’ve met her even once, she’s someone you want to be around more and more with the most energetic zest for life, for giving things a red hot crack and being who you truly are. You’d expect that she’s always been as confident and self-assured but I was surprised to learn that most of her earlier years were spent not only thinking but being told she’d never amount to anything culminating in an expulsion from school and many years not knowing where her place was. But after finding her feet as an award winning plumber and shaking up the industry as a lady tradie, walking ON FOOT from Melbourne to Canberra because she could, competing on Survivor and House Rules then starting an incredibly successful business, Tiny Stays, building tiny homes with her brother, she’s well and truly proved her strength, talent and drive and I bloody loved having her on the show.

We’ve been in each other’s orbit for a few years now through another regular podcast guest Sammy Gash and recently spend time in the NT getting to know each other even better. Ih op9e you guys enjoy her a much as I did

CHECK OUT TINY STAYS HERE

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Welcome back to #yaysofourlives everyone, this one’s a bit of a cracker. In a Seize the Yay first, I didn’t write any notes to prepare for this episode OR edit any of it at all which is both terrifying and liberating as well a testament to what a great conversationalist our guest for the episode truly is.

I’m joined by absolute legend Dr Kieran Kennedy, a medical doctor, psychiatrist and mental health advocate who first appeared on the show back in episode 92 (which I highly recommend you go and have a listen to for context). It is in fact the one year anniversary this week of our chat for last year’s Men's Health Week and I thought who better to join for a reunion to discuss THIS year’s Men's Health Week than Dr Kieran.

Kieran is a dedicated advocate for redefining societal ideas about masculinity, encouraging open conversations about mental health and wellbeing, and has been a shining light for many of us through the challenges of Victoria’s continued lockdowns. He also EXPERTLY weaves in amongst his technical scientific wisdom, a wicked sense of humour, passion for calf club which I’ll never let him live down and love for seizing his yay making this an absolute hoot.

We really only met properly during last year’s episode and haven’t known each other long but he’s one of those people you instantly trust and can have the most enjoyably tangential conversations with. I had also been filming for over 15 hours when we recorded this so please excuse my delirium - I usually don’t let that level of crazy out of the bag, but hopefully you get a few laughs out of it as well as some more serious, practical insights on managing your mental health.

If you feel you need support at any time, please contact Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 or your local mental health service (type your suburb followed by ‘mental health’).

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I feel like a big part of the yayborhood will already know today’s guest quite well, but in case you don’t, Victoria Devine is someone you MUST get acquainted with if you’re interested in financial freedom without skimping on the fun stuff (so basically everyone ever). Victoria is a multi-award-winning financial adviser and creator of She’s on the Money, Australia’s #1 finance podcast (and 7th biggest of all podcasts in the country) who is revolutionising the way millennials think about money.

If you’re like me, you may have grown up thinking money along with religion and politics is a topic never to be discussed at the table, but you may also have found that disempowering and an obstacle to actually learning how to build wealth, invest and safeguard your future. Enter, Victoria and her unique ability to demystify and translate intimidating financial concepts to make them accessible, non-judgmental and fun. She’s on the Money covers everything from game-changing budgeting templates to changing your money story and from debt or insurance to planning for children. From a facebook group to podcast to a brand-new comprehensive book published just this week, She’s on the Money is the ultimate millennial money guide that I cannot recommend more highly!

Now I did make sure to grab some practical takeaways for the yayborhood in this episode but the book is SO comprehensive and quite life-changing and I know you’ll all grab a copy, so I used most of this episode to chat about things that aren’t captured in its pages. I was lucky enough to meet Victoria a few chapters before She’s on the Money or Seize the Yay began and her way to yay is such a valuable reminder that the pathway to passion and purpose is far from linear. Victoria didn’t even start out in finance, with so many steps in her staircase before finding her yay. I hope you learn as much from this one as I did!

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