Seize the Yay

If you’re a cricket fan, you’ll certainly appreciate how incredible today’s guest is but even if you’re not I have no doubt that you’ll understand how remarkably well adjusted, humble and untainted Ellyse Perry is for someone who has been an elite international athlete since the tender age of 16 when she made her debut into the Australian team. Whether you understand the sport or not, we all know that elite athletes in any field face incredible pressures and expectations as well as the ups and downs that fame and fortune can bring but I’m still taken aback by how level headed Ellyse has remained and how endearing her views on winning, being a role model and the importance of friends and family truly are.

There are too many accolades to list but to give you some background, Ellyse became the youngest-ever Australian Test Cricketer debuting at the age of 17 and has amassed incredible statistics since mastering both the batting and bowling disciplines. Not only that, she played for Australia in BOTH Cricket AND Soccer until the growth of hers and the profile of both sports allowed athletes to go full-time and required her to choose one or the other and she has continued to absolutely flourish becoming a leading figure for the rising female presence in Aussie sporting culture. Despite her great success, she has such a refreshing attitude towards winning and competition AND I loved hearing that her closest friends know absolutely nothing about cricket keeping her feet firmly on the ground. I hope you enjoy getting ot know this Aussie legend as much as I did.

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It’s been a while since the last time we did this, but this episode is dedicated to one of our beautiful listeners who originally emailed to suggest three other women but it was HER story I was captivated by. I think I spend longer writing these intros than I do on the episode, because I always have so much more to say after re-listening and Kate Bridgman really epitomises so many things about this show.

Firstly, she gives a name to something I’ve been bumbling around trying to express – duality. Things can be tough and beautiful so, while some episodes do cover heavier topics, it’s to show how adversity can be overcome and that yay can be one layer in a multifaceted experience. Secondly, that yay isn’t just starting a business and have a profile of some sort. It’s a privilege to show a different side to our more famed guests but also a joy to introduce you to those you haven’t like Kate and her intrapreneurial journey in education. Thirdly that our brains are incredibly complex, and we are constantly impacted by so many things – societal expectations, misconceptions, pride, worthiness, perfectionism and these conversations help me build so much self-awareness and hope some of you gain the same.

There are so many other things I can say but I’ll let you soak it all up in our chat. Just a little warning, we cover some deep moments of Kate’s journey with perinatal anxiety and depression to help normalise and bring awareness to the topic. But her story is so beautifully reassuring about coming out the other end after breaking to rebuild and I hope it helps even one person feel more equipped, less alone and reassured in their own journey.

If you need support, please reach out to Lifeline 13 11 14.

Click here for Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia

Click here for BeyondBlue

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You've probably heard me rattle off the quote, "everyone you meet knows something you don't" and I reflected on that a lot during this episode. Creating this podcast expands my mind and world so much, but each guest teaches me something in a completely different way. Often I pull out specific nuggets or ideas that click in my brain as we're chatting a long, but with Fred Schebesta it was the way his brain works overall churning through concepts that I found most fascinating particularly because it's so different to my own and I could honestly never guess where his mind was going next. You'll be able to tell by how much we jump all over the place what a keenly curious mind he has, which is no doubt responsible for his incredible achievements, and while it definitely kept me on my toes we ended up peeling back more layers than I expected to wade through the depths of self worth, internal judgment and the complicated relationship we have with success.

If you don't think you've heard of Fred, just conjure the Finder.com.au jingle (which everyone has heard) and he's the man responsible. With over 10 million visitors a month, Finder offers us easy access to resources that help us understand financial products in the Australian market and Fred has won just about every entrepreneurial award there is and justifiably too. I would never have guessed that he came from a medical family and lived out part of his childhood in a caravan at the back of the medical centre his parents built, nor would I have guessed that Finder had to make a come back a few years into its journey from a complete ban by Google (which makes me SHUDDER to think of the challenge that would pose). Like always, there's so much more to his way to yay than you'd expect and there are chapters we didn't even get to like his success in the wild world of cryptocurrency. It's a rollercoaster this one, so buckle in BUT there are so many great takeaways and a whole person, father and chicken-lover behind the title you see most...

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Hope you enjoyed this week’s bonus episode everyone and we’re chasing it up with a very appropriate chat for Women’s Health Week. The beautiful Lindy Rama-Ellis joined us from her home in Bali to tell us about her new business, Fig Femme, which is blazing a trail in breaking down the taboo surrounding a fundamental area of women’s health. Lindy is endearingly (and perhaps surprisingly honest about how challenging it’s been adding a bold new project to mothering four children juggled between two countries with a global pandemic added to the mix. Yes, there’s a bit of vagina talk, but in the way Lindy seems to deal with everything in life, it’s as classy and poised as ever.

And of course, my favourite part of every story is that this latest chapter is preceded by so many others that revealed nothing about where Lindy would end up which we spend equally as much as time on. She is one of the perfect examples of someone whose title in the media creates a totally incomplete picture of who she really is – while she is indeed a Balinese princess through her paternal side, she was brought up as a Tassie girl by her mother back in Australia. We chat dyslexia, the identity struggle in divorce, the liberation of entering your 30s and 40s, motherhood, criticism and the elusive concept of balance. She’s known among friends for rocking a ballgown when required but being as down to earth as ever in every other moment and I think that shines through in this episode – hope you learn as much as I did.

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I’ve got a little bonus episode for you this week, lovely yayborhood, with the wonderful duo from Shameless Podcast, Mich and Zara. I’ve been so lucky to share so much of the book-writing journey with these two culminating in our joint book birthdays on September 1, so we sat down that very day to get their freshest feelings on launching their incredible guide to your 20s, The Space Between.

You might remember they joined Seize the Yay back in April 2019 (for episode 29) so we caught up on the explosive growth of Shameless, the highs and lows of the space between then and now – sorry couldn’t help myself – then dish up the behind the scenes dirt on what it takes to bring a book into the world. You probably also know that they hosted the Seize the Yay book launch the day after this chat, so we’ve had a lot of each other lately and it’s been as enlightening and enjoyable as always. We scrapped the normal episode structure for the occasion in favour of a juicy, honest chat about the rollercoaster of feelings we’re all going through right now. Add the extension of stage 4 in Victoria yesterday and I’m a bit all over the place to be honest so I won’t keep talking or I might open the floodgates but sending my fellow Victorians so much love and I hope this brings you a chuckle and a smile as you listen along.

>>> BUY THE SPACE BETWEEN HERE <<<

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Welcome to Spring everyone (or to Autumn if anyone is tuning in from the Northern Hemisphere). The new month and season also brought with it the birth of the Seize the Yay book which finally launched into the world yesterday – thank you so much to everyone for your lovely messages of support and for buying your copies. We’ll talk more about the book in due time, but today is all about our wonderful guest Jade Kisnorbo who you might have seen gave the yayborhood an incredible make up tutorial for Chits and Giggles last week. Over a thousand of you tuned in and it seemed many of you learnt as much as I do every time I chat to Jade – she’s technically an internationally renowned hair and make-up artist but I think a far better title for her is as a creator of confidence.

Since we took an educational approach for our IGTV tutorial (which you can still watch I’ll be posting the full product list in the next few days), I thought this episode should focus more on the storytelling which you know I love so much. Some episodes truly unravel like a chat on the couch between friends and for most of this one I forgot we were recording just soaking up the lesser known backstory of how Jade made her way to yay. We jump around from balancing career priorities in a marriage, the freedom of the expat experience, the challenge of starting from scratch in an industry and what it takes to build a name for yourself as well as being a mother and businesswoman which is something I admire about Jade so much. There really is a bit of everything and most of this I was hearing for the first time along with you. I really cherish the openness some guests are willing to bring to these chats especially when they are well known professionally in the media or around town. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

>>> WATCH OUR BEAUTY TUTORIAL HERE <<<

>>> SIGN UP TO JADE'S MASTERCLASSES HERE <<<

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This is a guest I haven’t caught up with properly in a long time and I’m sure you’ll hear how much we both enjoyed connecting again. We only started recording after about 45 minutes of chatting and I still could have kept going forever. Em Toner is such a special sausage combining the precision of scientific psychological study with the depth of mindfulness and meditation practice. She is a nationally registered clinical psychologist with a research background in positive psychology and behavioural neuroscience but also a meditation and mindfulness teacher, speaker, musician and music producer and Medibank ambassador.

She had me not only smiling and laughing but also reflecting deeply on the workings of our mind, my experiences with psychology and the concept of positivity. Her ability to put you completely at ease makes it unsurprising that I share a few things I hadn’t shared before (which you all know is pretty hard given what an over sharer I am). I hope she sparks some reflection in you guys as she does every time for me.

FIND EM'S GRATITUDE MEDITATION HERE

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This guest is one I’ve actually been meaning to get on since I started the podcast having been a huge role model and support for me in business and in life. Every time Erika and I run into each other, speedy catch ups seem to reveal that one or both of us is on the cusp of a revelation or new chapter leading to such interesting chats about ideas of success, personal development and joy. While you might have encountered Erika in her role as one of the co-founders of global e-commerce sensation, Frank Body, her story extends far beyond that in both directions all of which she openly explores with us today.

Most recently, Erika is making waves with her fresh and fabulous Fluff Casual Cosmetics taking a bold new approach to beauty with refillable AND conversation starting packaging that’s up there with my favourite handbag essentials. As one of the cleverest people with words that I know, Eri tells it far better than I could so let’s jump right in – I hope you enjoy!

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Thank you all so much for your wonderful, thought-provoking and well-considered questions, I had so much fun reflecting on them (and not so much fun listening back to my answers - even after all this time I hate listening to my own voice unless it's bantering with a guest). I can't properly express how grateful I am to everyone who has ever joined, listened or been part of the podcast in anyway - Seize the Yay brings so much depth and joy to my life and opens my mind in new ways each week to create it for you.

I covered as many questions as I could in this one and, as I mention in the intro, I genuinely can't tell anymore if my answers makes sense, are useful or if it's all just nonsense but hopefully I've addressed at least some of your curiosity. I definitely missed some things, could have said some things better, and wanted to re-record as soon as I listened back, but I'm learning to take my own advice that "done is better than perfect", that self-doubt will always make you overly self-critical and that the essence of seizing the yay is sharing my real spontaneous answers, not the curated ones.

The questions I answered in order are:

The podcast

1. Which have been your 3 most eye-opening interviews?
2. Which interviewee surprised you the most? Why?
3. What are the three biggest challenges you have faced since starting your podcast?
4. Have you had any interviews that never went to air?!
5. Any awkward interviews where it was hard to get the conversation flowing?
6. How do you speak so eloquently on your podcast episodes? You practically never say "um" or "uh". What's your secret?
7. What do you think you have learnt about YOURSELF since starting this podcast?
8. Who would be your dream person to interview?
9. How do you choose who you interview for your podcast? What’s the process
10. How did you get into what you do and what’s the advice you’d give to others getting into the podcasting space?
11. How do you find your topic, tone of voice, first guests?

The book

1. Can you give us a little sneak peak snippet of your book?
2. Can you tell us a bit more background about the story behind it etc?
3. What are the chapter headings?

Personal life

1. Top 3 achievements so far?
2. Who’s your biggest inspiration?
3. What did you wish you knew in high school or uni?
4. How do you do it all? Do you have a virtual assistant or manager?
5. Recommendations for coping with chronic fatigue or similar
6. Are you medicated for anxiety?
7. What's one piece of advice that has always stuck with you throughout your life?
8. How did you know Nic was the one and what was your history of relationships prior?
9. Have you been back to the town where you were born?
10. Would you consider adopting a child, considering how blessed you feel you were to be adopted?
11. What would be your last meal before you die!?
12. Do you drink Matcha everyday?
13. What is your absolute guilty pleasure to treat yourself?
14. Favourite foods and cheat meal?

On 2020

1. As you reflect on the volatility of 2020, what have you learnt about yourself? Maybe, have you noticed your values changing?
2. How’s your mum coping with lockdown?
3. What motivates you to keep going day to day?
4. How do you get yourself out of a deep funk?
5. How do you stay positive in iso?
6. If you were single how would you have copied?

What’s next?

1. Will you be starting a Youtube channel?
2. Do you plan on increasing the podcast production for other companies?
3. Do you plan on growing MM? Or happy where it's at?
4. What does the next year hold for you?

I had to skip a few so tried to group them all by themes. Can't wait for hundreds more to come. Lots of love to you all x

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We’re back with another guest whose episode couldn’t be more perfectly timed. You may have heard my chat with him on the TOM Organic podcast earlier this year and, if you did, you’ll know I refer to him as my spiritual guru but, if you didn't, you’ll very soon understand why. Manoj Dias has taught me so much of what I know about sitting with discomfort, understanding suffering and the deeply life-changing impact of meditation and connection. We explored some of this on the Taboo Podcast but went a whole lot deeper here, which I found enormously helpful particularly during this shit-storm of a year and I hope you do too.

Although you might not be able to imagine it of either of us as we are now, it was not wellness that brought us together but our nightclub glory days before our ways to yay really began. That alone is a reminder of my favourite theme – the non-linear nature of life and the way it unravels in many chapters not just the one you know someone from. Born into the Theravada Buddhist tradition, you might think Manoj skipped logically and smoothly straight to his position now as a globally recognised meditation teacher, writer, entrepreneur & co-founder of Open Meditation... But, squeeze a successful corporate career, teenage fatherhood, a mental health breakdown, an eating disorder and an ensuing transformative healing journey in between and you’re getting closer to the real picture.

Manoj shares all of the facets of himself so generously as well as busting some myths on meditation and I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did.

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