Seize the Yay

Hello beautiful yayborhood, I can’t believe we’ve reached our FINAL episode for the year!!! I actually had one or two more up my sleeve but am trying to practice what I preach and not stick so rigidly to my own deadlines that were arbitrary anyway. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s starting to fade away a little bit so I’m saving those episodes instead to come back with fresh and fabulous new year energy. I always say it but I need reminding myself that there’s no point going so hard that you don’t do it properly, so our lovely guest today will be our last for 2020.

And boy does Jennifer Atilemile have a great message on wading through uncertainty, rejection and adversity to embrace all that makes her different and unique and make history in the process. This year, she’s gone from having no work for four months and wondering if she’d ever work again to becoming Australia’s first EVER curve model to star in a Victoria’s secret campaign. She is a passionate advocate for inclusion and diversity encouraged further by her mixed heritage with her father from the French Island of Reunion and her mother an Aussie of Irish/Danish descent. Moving from performing arts to double majors at university and then falling into modelling more recently, she has such wise words to share on the tangents of finding your yay, blocking out the noise to hear your intuition and finding where your voice can make its best contribution to this world. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

+ Follow Jennifer Atilemile here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

>>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<<

>>> GET YOUR JERGEN'S NATURAL GLOW MOISTURISER HERE <<<

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lovely yayborhood, we’ve got another dose of delight this week that’ll have you in stitches with the wonderful Tanya Hennessy. As you’ll hear her discuss in the episode, one of the greatest gifts you can give is a moment of laughter and a little escape from what’s been a shitshow of a year (not that anyone needs reminding) and she does that expertly leading her to become one of our most beloved comedians, presenters, authors, internet creators and campaigner for adults to be able to order children’s meals in pubs.

You’ll hear from the get go how effortlessly witty, intelligent, empathetic and honest this woman is and how beautifully she combines self-deprecating, relatable humour with some serious and inspiring messages in between. She is a multi-platform multi-talented creative delivering us everything from the hysterical viral Everyday Makeup Tutorial to two nearly three fabulous books – Am I Doing This Right?, Help Self that just came out and a Children’s book to follow soon. I couldn’t help but fall in love with her and I’m sure many of you will too – be prepared for A LOT of loud laughter in your ears!

+ Follow Tanya Hennessy here

+ Buy her new book HELP SELF here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

>>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<<

>>> GET YOUR JERGEN'S NATURAL GLOW MOISTURISER HERE <<<

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been a hell of year for us all and something I’ve reflected on a lot over the past few months is resilience. And who better to join us to explore that further than the wonderful Jamila Rizvi who not only embodies the concept herself but has just published Untold Resilience – a collection of nineteen awe-inspiring stories of resilient women and the lessons they have for us in navigating this crazy time.

It says something about Jamila though that my favourite of the stories is hers – one that has so many facets that I was quite nervous about this episode, wanting to do her justice. You may know her as an author, presenter and political commentator or Editor-at-Large of Future Women and former editor in Chief at Mamamia, but she’s also a mother, modern feminist, and Harry Potter lover who juggles it all while managing chronic illness and several brain surgeries over the past few years.

Jamila is endearingly witty, articulate, honest and humble taking us through her health journey, the work we still need to do on supporting women returning to work post motherhood, her changing relationship to success and happiness, and so much more. I hope you are as inspired by her as I am.

+ Follow Jamila Rizvi here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

>>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<<

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re a regular podcast listener, today’s guests probably need no introduction but if you haven’t already tuned in to Happy Hour with Lucy and Nikki I’m sure you will be after this. Their banter is absolutely UNMATCHED, I don’t think I’ve laughed as hard in an episode for a long time and it’s absolutely clear why they’ve grown a cult following across their joint account We the Wild Ones started in 2015 to follow their festival adventures, Jagger and Stone their booming fashion label kicked off with a bang in 2018 with an iconic shoot at Joshua Tree after Coachella and of course, their podcast that just took home silver at the Australian Podcast Awards.

Lucy and Nikki have such a refreshingly different take on work/life balance to many of our past guests taking the party wherever they go but also building highly successful careers and businesses at the same time. Their straight-up approach to self-doubt and worst-case scenarios is also the example we all need of people who don’t let fear control their decisions and a reminder that two can achieve far more than one can alone. I had SUCH a great laugh - Lucy and Nikki are an absolute breath of fresh air with the perfect blend of self-deprecating and no f***s given and after a very serious year. Amazing reminder that life is far too short not to enjoy! I hope you love them as much as the rest of us already do!

+ Follow We the Wild Ones here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

>>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<<

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While last week Farah spoke of faraway places, this week’s guest is homegrown but has exported the Aussie experience through a booming business described as Aussie Made, Globally Loved. Blair James co-founded self-tanning disrupter Bondi Sands in 2012 to capture everything that makes Aussie summers iconic through what has grown to over 50 products in a whopping 30,000 retailers worldwide.

Of course the business’ huge success, continual innovation and championing of sun safety and sustainability are incredible impressive and Blair shares many useful tips on brand building and scaling that had me furiously taking down notes. But, unsurprisingly if you’re a regular listener, I was more thrilled to explore his lesser known earlier years including his very small country hometown called – wait for it – YEA (pronounced "yay") – and that he didn’t excel in VCE nor did he finish university neither of which have hindered where he ended up. As always, there’s some hilarious fun facts in between – nothing humanises a person more than hearing them laugh especially about the joys of iso haircuts! As a businesswoman but also as a human, I love exploring the brains behind beloved brands and hope you do too.

+ Follow Blair James and Bondi Sands here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

>>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<<

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While last week’s episode was one of those chats you know I love that show a different side of someone you’ve probably already heard of, I equally love introducing you to people and stories you might not already know. And while sometimes, that’s because our guest is early on in their journey or in a niche, behind the scenes area, for Farah Mohamed it’s more the opposite playing on a global, life-changing scale beyond most of our day to day lives.

We met during our incredible trip to Necker Island with Business Chicks last year where I first heard her story and was absolutely captivated by her every word as I’m sure you’ll be. You don’t often expect the guest speaker to then sit down with you for a chat afterwards, but Farah is humble and attentive in a way that belies the incredible way she is shaping our world for the better. She is interesting in so many ways from her own experience as a Ugandan refugee of Indian heritage and Muslim faith who fled to Canada in early life to serving as CEO of the Malala Fund, inspired by Malala Yousafzai, who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban for going to school and became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

And she LOVES to laugh which left us in stitches many times in a beautiful, heart wrenching and warming blend of the serious and the silly. There’s so much in between but I won’t reveal any more here – hope you enjoy as much as I did.

+ Follow Farah Mohamed here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

>>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<<

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m excited to be back this week with another incredible guest whose name I’m sure you’ve heard before but who, like many of our guests, has so much more depth than their surface level media portrayal might suggest. You know I love peeling back the layers of a well-known name to explore the lesser known parts of who they are underneath and Ashy Bines got right on board for a juicy, thought provoking chat.

Ashy’s huge success in the health and fitness world with a community of millions and now several businesses under her belt belies her humble beginnings on dairy farms the same way that her energetic positivity and confidence belies the negativity and narratives thrust upon her earlier in life. Having followed her for many years, I’d heard some of her story but she is stronger and more resilient than I ever knew and so generous in sharing her experiences with trolling, body image and motherhood so that others might feel less alone and better equipped for their own journey. I’ll let her tell you the rest and we cover A LOT of ground with so many nuggets that I hope you find as useful as I did. We recorded this before the restrictions in Victoria eased a bit so ignore those references as that's all I could talk about back then!

+ Follow Ashy Bines here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our last Q&A episode for the year to mark our first anniversary as Mr and Mrs Davidson (or should I say, YAY-vidson). Thank you all so much for your questions and for giving us a reason to sit down and reflect on what has been a tumultuous but transformative year.

We got through as many as we could with a healthy dose of bagging each other out, soppy love dedications and lots of chuckles along the way. I always get a bit of a vulnerability hangover after these ones without the buffer of a new third party guest to take most of the spotlight, but I also love how they force me to reflect on questions I don't always otherwise make time for so I hope you enjoyed getting to know us a little better.

BOOK YOUR BANNISTERS ESCAPE TODAY

+ Follow Nic Davidson here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Few people actually end up living out their childhood dreams, either because the dream changes or life does. But, enchanted by the glossy pages of the first fashion magazines she ever read, Justine Cullen made it her mission to conquer the extremely competitive, coveted and convoluted ladder of the publishing world and ultimately landed her dream job as Editor in Chief at Elle Magazine. Her journey reinforces everything I love to say about being open to whatever pathway might get you to your dream and being patient with the steps along the way. But, it’s her journey from there and into her new role as Editor-in-Chief of Jones Magazine that I found most interesting in how it forced her to untangle her identity from the prestige, title and everything that satisfied her former self to build the next chapter for the new person she had become.

As well as the existential crisis of success and the beauty of being a beginner, she also dishes up some juicy stuff that we all love to hear about how Editor life isn’t just swanning about and definitely isn’t always easy – I was a tiny bit satisfied by that. And as a Mum of four, she is more than qualified to share some words on priorities, balance and humility. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!

>>> VISIT THE SKINNOVATION HUB HERE <<<

+ Follow Justine Cullen here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I hope you enjoyed our little throwback re-release last week and I promise the guest we had to postpone will be well worth the wait in a few weeks. As for today’s guest, if you haven’t heard of him personally, you will definitely know of some of his incredible work through one of the world’s great examples of using business success for good.

And that in itself is one of the cleverest things about the Cotton On Foundation – that so many of you could have made a positive impact by shopping as you might have anyway and that it makes a philanthropist out of us all combing the power of all our purchases so we can make an impact without having millions of dollars. And Tim Diamond is the Foundation’s General Manager who has been there since its establishment and helped grow it to the incredible vehicle for change it has become today.

You’ll be able to hear how Tim has absolutely found his purpose and see his own growth interweave with the foundation’s growth over the years. But like always, he didn’t just land there one day and I LOVE that there’s a signature right place, right time sliding doors moment in the mix as well. You’ll also hear how despite his very impressive role, he’s still a Torquay boy and a chiller dad at heart! I’ll let Tim tell you the rest and hope you are as inspired as I was.

>>> VISIT THE FOUNDATION'S RANGE HERE <<<

+ Follow Cotton On Foundation here

+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah

+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.