Team with the Queen

What makes a great leader — and what can your competitors never copy?

In this episode, we’re joined by Susan Carter for an honest conversation about leadership, authenticity, and what it takes to build a career and business on your own terms.

Susan shares her perspective on leading with integrity, building trust, setting boundaries, and creating teams where people are empowered to bring their strengths to the table. Together, we explore why the best leaders are willing to admit what they don’t know, why trust is everything, and why great leaders surround themselves with people who are better than they are.

From the dangers of letting profit and KPIs take priority over people to the importance of knowing when to draw a line in the sand, this conversation offers a refreshingly honest look at the challenges and realities of leadership.

You'll also hear a relatable take on protecting your energy, managing the pressures of leadership, and finding a moment of peace when life gets overwhelming — even if that means locking yourself in the bathroom for five minutes!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The biggest mistake leaders make
• Why trust is essential to effective leadership
• What makes you and your business truly different
• Why people should come before KPIs and profit
• How to set boundaries and stand by your values
• The difference between inexperienced and experienced leaders
• Why great leaders hire people who are better than them
• How to protect your energy while navigating leadership and life

Whether you're a business owner, team leader, entrepreneur, or aspiring leader, this conversation offers honest insights into leading with authenticity, building stronger teams, and creating a business that reflects who you are.

Because people can copy your business model. They can copy your brand. But they can't copy you.

If you enjoyed this episode, give it a like, subscribe to the channel for more conversations, and share it with someone who wants to become a better leader.

Chapters:
00:00 Cold open: the worst thing you can do as a leader is pretend you know something
01:04 Welcome to Team with the Queen
01:33 Meet Susan: first appearance as Susan Carter
03:49 What makes Susan tick: creativity, purpose, and not conforming
07:43 Turning 50 and realizing life is too short to waste time
14:43 The female leadership team at AusCare Supports: all over 50
19:33 AusCare Connect: keeping unregistered support coordinators in the sector
28:19 Brought to you by Wholii
28:54 The headbands game: guessing leadership
33:43 What is the real issue behind leadership?
35:08 What people misunderstand about leadership
38:36 The strength in vulnerability and softness as a leadership style
42:56 Celebrity question from Alex: if you had a superpower what would it be
46:36 Queen of Authenticity: the title Susan takes home today
47:05 The ripple question: what Susan hopes people say in 10 years

💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Follow Wholii:
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/wholii_au
• TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wholii_au
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@wholii_au
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wholii
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/wholii

Susan Carter — Auscare Support
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-carter/
Website: https://auscaresupport.com.au/

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Creator of Elevate Youth Lab.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/
Website: https://www.supportingcommunitiesaustralia.com/

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#NDIS #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #BuildingTrust

If you've ever wondered what actually separates a good boss from a bad one — or wondered whether the people running the systems meant to protect vulnerable Australians actually care — you need to hit play.

Today, Yosmerys sits down with Ben Revill, co-director of Safe Harbour, a SIL and STA provider built after years spent inside the NDIS and youth services sector — first in the Navy, then as a pastor, then leading NDIS and youth programs before deciding the only way to build something right was to build it himself.

If you've ever worked for someone who only cared about what you could do for them, watched an industry cut corners on people who couldn't speak up for themselves, or wondered what actually makes people choose to follow a leader instead of just tolerating one — you need to hear this.

Ben will challenge the way you think about leadership, loyalty, quality, and what it actually costs to build something with integrity in an industry where cutting corners is easy to hide.

Think of it like this: a happy customer tells five people. An unhappy one tells ten. In an industry built on caring for people who often can't advocate for themselves, that math should terrify every provider — but it doesn't always.

Ben shares stories from his time fostering children who'd been found searching for food in the bin, from NDIS participants fed through metal bars, and from the quiet, consistent moments — like sitting down for a shared meal — that rebuild trust trauma has broken.

His message is simple: you can't fake care, and the people you're meant to be serving always know the difference.

You'll also learn:

• Why leadership is "what happens when no one's watching," not when they are
• The real difference between authority and true leadership
• Why remote work quietly erodes the relationships that leadership depends on
• How food and shared meals become a tool for building trust and belonging
• Why "people matter" has to be more than a slogan
• How trauma sharpens a young person's radar for who's genuinely present
• Why Ben believes disability support should be measured by warmth, not just paperwork
• The real reason negative experiences spread faster than good ones
• Why "you've got to listen more" is the career advice most people ignore
• How growing up with undiag

This conversation will push you to rethink what leadership actually requires, question what "quality" really means in an industry meant to protect vulnerable people, and consider whether the people around you can tell — even without a word — whether you actually care.

By the time it's over, you'll understand why the most important metric in this work might be the one nobody's measuring.

Chapters:
00:00 Cold open: leadership is not what happens when people are watching
00:01:04 Welcome to Team with the Queen
00:01:55 Meet Ben: from Navy to pastor to NDIS leader
00:04:11 Safe Harbor Care: building a home with heart
00:05:32 The weird quirks: counting wheels on trucks and living with dyslexia
00:09:26 The headbands game: guessing leadership
00:09:39 Brought to you by Wholii
00:13:00 What people misunderstand about leadership
00:16:41 The qualities of good bosses: confidence, knowledge, and genuine care
00:20:30 Relationship is the secret sauce: building trust through consistency
00:22:13 Food brings people together: cooking as connection
00:26:13 The foster care story: malnourished kids and the power of dinner time
00:28:14 Why Ben walked away and started his own thing
00:31:07 Is the NDIS actually improving, or just better at hiding problems?
00:34:45 How to regulate heart: the thing the NDIS can't measure
00:38:39 Kids pick up on everything: hypervigilance and trauma
00:41:25 Celebrity question from Sarah Heria: listen more, speak less
00:47:05 The ripple question: what Ben hopes his legacy will be

💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Follow Wholii:
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/wholii_au
• TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wholii_au
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@wholii_au
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wholii
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/wholii

Ben Revill — Safe Harbour Care
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-revill-3a01b3163/
Website: https://www.safeharbourecare.com.au

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Creator of Elevate Youth Lab.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/
Website: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys/

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#NDIS #Leadership

This episode is a MUST-listen.

If you've ever felt afraid of your own body — afraid to bend down, afraid to fall, afraid to trust yourself to move the way you used to — you need to hit play.

Today, Yosmerys sits down with Jeremy Pucheta, founder of Move2Thrive, an exercise physiology-led allied health clinic in Western Sydney, and an award-winning leader in his field. Jeremy and his team work with people across NDIS, DVA, Medicare, and aged care — helping people rebuild strength, confidence, and independence, one movement at a time.

If you've ever avoided a movement because you were scared of what would happen, put off exercise because life felt too stressful already, or wondered why some people bounce back from setbacks while others stay stuck — you need to hear this.

Jeremy will challenge the way you think about pain, fear, confidence, and what it actually takes to change.

You'll learn why confidence isn't something you wait for, why "consistency is the only thing that truly compounds," and why the people who help you most are often the ones who simply ask better questions.

Jeremy also shares real stories from inside his clinic — including a woman who hadn't left her house in months, afraid to even check her mailbox, and what it took to help her trust her body again.

His message is simple: you don't need to overhaul your life to change it. You need reps, consistency, and the right support system — and the rest follows.

You'll learn:

• Why confidence is built through repetition, not motivation
• The real difference between an exercise physiologist and a physiotherapist
• Why so many people misunderstand what it takes to build capacity
• How a strong support system determines long-term success
• What "filling your cup" really means — and how exercise itself can be a stressor
• Why rest and recovery matter as much as the workout itself
• How gradual exposure helps people overcome fear of movement after injury or diagnosis
• Why preventative health through movement should be treated as seriously as medical treatment
• What happens to muscle and bone mass after age 30 — and how to protect it
• Why routines and systems beat willpower every time
• How asking the right questions changes a patient's entire healing journey
• What Jeremy hopes changes in the disability and health sector over the next 10 years
  
  
  
  This conversation will push you to stop waiting until you feel "ready" to move, stop underestimating what small, consistent action can do, and stop believing that fear of your body is something you just have to live with.
  
  By the time it's over, you'll understand exactly why movement is medicine — and you'll be ready to put in the reps.
  
  Chapters:
  00:00 Cold open: exercise is a stressor and you have to be careful how much you fill that cup
  01:12 Welcome to Team with the Queen
  02:18 Meet Jeremy: the exercise physiologist who won an award
  05:44 Move to Thrive: building strength, confidence, and independence through movement
  09:33 Network out: the term Jeremy coined for working out while networking
  12:08 Brought to you by Wholii
  12:43 The headbands game: guessing confidence
  16:22 Why people misunderstand the need for consistency to build confidence
  18:56 The lady with Charcot Marie Tooth disease who had never been asked these questions
  22:34 The biopsychosocial approach: treating the person not the diagnosis
  26:11 Filling your cup: exercise is also a stressor
  29:47 Why the Australian government should invest more in preventative health
  32:19 Routines and systems over willpower: the Tim Tams strategy
  35:41 Celebrity question from Michael Clarke: what feedback stings the most
  38:52 King of Movement: Jeremy's award
  40:01 What he hopes the sector says in 10 years about movement and fragility
  
  
  💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii
  
  Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.
  
  Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.
  
  Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au
  
  Follow Wholii:
  • Instagram: https://instagram.com/wholii_au
  • TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wholii_au
  • YouTube: https://youtube.com/@wholii_au
  • LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wholii
  • Facebook: https://facebook.com/wholii
  
  
  Jeremy Pucheta — Move 2 Thrive
  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremypucheta090/
  Website: https://move2thrive.com.au/
  
  Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Creator of Elevate Youth Lab.
  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/
  Website: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys/
  
  @teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.
  
  Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.
  
  #WomenHealth #ExercisePhysiology #MovementMedicine

Twenty six years in community services taught him that legacy isn't about what people say about you. It's about helping others build theirs. And the daughter who was nonverbal in kindy became a school prefect by year five.

This conversation explores what happens when a leader realizes that showing up every day isn't about titles or recognition. It's about the support workers who stay, the families who find hope, and the young people who exceed every expectation anyone ever had for them.

We discuss the gap between executive leadership and personal chaos, the self care strategies that prevent burnout, and why asking a simple question like are you happy can change someone's entire relationship with work. Anthony shares why retention matters more than recruitment, why culture isn't optional, and what it means to serve the people you lead instead of expecting them to serve you.

Subscribe to follow our journey of sharing the stories of 100 leaders in Australia.

Chapters:

00:00 Cold open: it's not about building your legacy, it's about helping others build theirs
00:54 Welcome to Team with the Queen
01:33 Meet Anthony: the support worker who became an executive
03:49 Shout out to unpaid carers: the unsung heroes
04:56 Paramount Care and Connect: capacity building and life stages
07:43 Capacity building: the girl who fixed her eyes on me
14:43 Self-care is part of doing the job right
19:33 Culture and retention: why support workers leave after 18 months
28:19 Brought to you by Wholii
28:54 The headbands game: guessing youth
33:43 What is the real issue about supporting youth?
35:08 No matter how much experience you have, it doesn't protect your own family
38:36 Lila's story: from nonverbal to prefect
42:56 Celebrity question from Michael: what would younger you need to hear?
46:36 King of the Village: helping others build their legacy


💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Follow Wholii:
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/wholii_au
• TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wholii_au
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@wholii_au
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wholii
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/wholii

In this conversation, Anthony shares:

• The unpaid carers in his family looking after his mum, who has dementia
• Why Paramount Care and Connect was built so participants don't need them forever
• The focus on life stages and capacity building most providers overlook
• The nonverbal, level three autistic client who reacted with pure curiosity to something as small as red lipstick
• Leading as an executive while navigating full chaos at home
• How self-care strategies and Carers Gateway counselling kept him grounded
• Why support workers hold more leverage than they realise, and why retention costs less than recruitment
• The $2,000 it costs to onboard every new support worker, and why most leave within 18 months unless leaders actually care
• The boss who once asked "are you happy," and why that question still shapes how he leads years later
• Why his son is in a correctional centre, and why that's not the end of his story
• The long waiting lists and support groups that weren't right for his family
• How his daughter Lila went from nonverbal in kindy to school prefect by year five
• Why today's youth face pressures his generation never had to navigate
• The advice he'd give his younger self, starting with being kinder to himself
• Why he no longer wants to build his own legacy, but help others build theirs

There's also a headbands game where Anthony guesses the word "youth" in under two minutes wearing a tropical flower crown, and a celebrity question from Michael Clarke on what his younger self needs to hear.

This episode is about leadership, burnout, capacity building, and what happens when professional success refuses to come at the cost of humanity.

Anthony Inu — Paramount Care & Connect
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-inu-1b241159/
Website: https://paramountconnects.com.au/

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Creator of Elevate Youth Lab.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/
Website: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys/

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#NDIS #Leadership #CommunityServices

Boost your support worker training with essential clinical skills that directly impact patient outcomes. Learn how to build professional confidence in care.

This video addresses the gap in clinical support worker skills, focusing on practical areas like medication management and peg feeding. If you are a support worker or manager looking to improve the quality of care provided, this guide highlights how better knowledge leads to better patient results. We discuss why a nurse's observation of care often matters more than standard clinical procedures.

Developing confidence in nursing support skills is critical for anyone in the healthcare sector. We explore how targeted training helps staff manage complex tasks effectively, ensuring they feel prepared during difficult patient moments. By enhancing clinical knowledge, support workers can provide safer and more reliable care.

Subscribe for biweekly healthcare professional development breakdowns, and tell us in the comments what this time it's a registered nurse who built an NDIS education model because support workers had the skill but not the confidence to deliver it.

Louisa Silva is a registered nurse, behaviour support practitioner, and care manager. She co-runs Silva Lining Support with her daughter, also a registered nurse. Together they built an education and delegation of care model that trains support workers in high skill descriptors like peg feeding, medication management, and complex bowel care. Not generic training. Participant specific training built around clinical history and care plans.

This conversation examines why NDIS providers continue to underinvest in education, why margins being thin is not an excuse, and what happens when you train workers so they can leave but treat them well enough so they want to stay.

Subscribe to follow our journey of sharing the stories of 100 leaders in Australia.

Chapters:

[FLIGHT CAST CHAPTERS]


💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Follow Wholii:
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/wholii_au
• TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@wholii_au
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@wholii_au
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/wholii
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/wholii

In this conversation, Louisa shares:

• Why she was a naughty kid who sometimes went to school when she felt like it
• The nan named Mercedes who raised her from age five and is now 93 and still independent
• Why her three year nursing degree took five years because she was a single mum
• The one wish her nan had before she died and why Louisa made sure she graduated first
• How she studied at the same uni as her eldest daughter and they exchanged notes
• Why she works across aged care and NDIS and what transferable skills actually mean
• The community nursing role that inspired her to build the education model
• Why support workers have the skills embedded but lack confidence to deliver high risk care
• What the eight high skill descriptors are and why clinical oversight is not optional
• The difference between generic training and person centred education
• Why providers think education is the last priority when margins are thin
• What would happen if the government subsidized specialist training like they do Cert IV
• Why choice and control gets limited when you can no longer afford the carer you want
• The nurse who changed a patient's outcome more than the doctor because she listened
• Why delegation of care is the term most people have never heard but desperately need
• What she hopes people say in 10 years about the lasting impression she left

There's also a headbands game where Louisa takes less than a minute to guess the word education while wearing a ladybug crown. And a story about being raised by her Chilean nan. And the moment Michael Clark sends a celebrity question about what she'd keep if everything disappeared. This is about clinical care education compliance and what happens when a nurse refuses to accept that support workers should stay undertrained because the system won't pay for it.

Louisa Silva — Silva Lining Support
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-silva-6322683ab/

Website: https://silvaliningsupport.com.au/

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Creator of Elevate Youth Lab.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/
Website: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys/

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#NDIS #Education #ClinicalCare

A mortgage broker who picks unicorn crowns at podcast recordings spent five years in plan management before he realised support workers couldn't get home loans. And the social worker at an Able Plus event didn't ask about plan management. She asked for help buying a house.

Chapters:

💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Follow Wholii:
• Instagram: instagram.com/wholii_au
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@wholii
• YouTube: youtube.com/@wholii_au
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/wholii
• Facebook: facebook.com/wholii

Episode featuring David Easton, founder of Support Finance Group. David is known as the King of Keys. He helps casual NDIS workers and allied health professionals get mortgages when banks say no. He spent five years in plan management and trust accounting. He built a mortgage brokerage because support workers kept getting rejected. And now he's fixing the gap between caring for others and owning your own home.

In this conversation, David shares:
• The social worker at an Able Plus event who asked for mortgage help instead of plan management advice
• Why casual employment in NDIS aged care and child services is the biggest labour creator in Australia
• The support workers in their 40s and 50s who thought they'd rent for life
• How car loans wreck your ability to get a home loan if you don't plan them right
• Why offset accounts give false positives to impulsive buyers
• The difference between a $2 million dream and what you can actually afford
• Why he tells clients not to borrow the maximum even when the bank says yes
• The 5% and 2% government schemes most people don't know exist
• How interest gets calculated daily and why weekly repayments beat monthly
• Why credit cards and buy now pay later products destroy credit scores
• The inquiries section of your credit report that most Australians ignore
• Why nurses physios and OTs can get special deals from different banks
• What rent vesting is and why giving up in your early 20s is not the answer
• Why we need more Australians owning one home not investors owning 20
• What he hopes one or two families say about stability in 10 years

There's also a headbands game where David guesses the word mortgage in two and a half minutes while wearing a unicorn crown. And a story about people losing deposits because of bad mortgage advice. And the moment Teresa Lam sends a celebrity question about financial independence. This is about security stability and what happens when someone finally understands your casual income.

David Easton — Support Finance Group
Website: https://supportfinancegroup.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-easton-08089656/

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the creator of Elevate Youth Lab.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia

production.

#NDIS #MortgageBroker #HomeOwnership

She started in retail. Climbed to CEO. Then walked away from the corner office to care for people who couldn't speak for themselves. And now she's the one participants call Queen Bee when they end up in hospital.

Chapters:

💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Follow Wholii:
• Instagram: instagram.com/wholii_au
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@wholii
• YouTube: youtube.com/@wholii_au
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/wholii
• Facebook: facebook.com/wholii

Episode featuring Beulah Lenanne, Operations Manager at Top Disability Care. Beulah is known as Queen Bee by the participants who trust her most. She's the one who worked bakery shifts and retail floors before finding her calling in aged care. She climbed from admin assistant to CEO and then chose to step back into operations because that's where the real work happens. She's spent years building SIL homes that feel like actual homes and preparing providers for audits they didn't know how to pass.

In this conversation, Beulah shares:
• Why she emigrated from Northern Ireland and started volunteering in aged care in Port Lincoln
• The 11 years she spent as a stay at home mum before her marriage broke down
• How Wesley Mission gave her the training that changed everything
• Why she believes no one should work in disability without passion for people with disability
• The difference between a house with support and an actual home
• Why NDIS planners are handing out million dollar plans to people who don't need them while cutting plans for those who do
• The participant who spent eight months in hospital because they had nowhere else to go
• Why she opens her home to people who need help even when her kids say not again
• The parent who called two weeks ago just to say thank you because their son turned 18
• What she hopes people say in 10 years about the difference she made

There's also a headbands game where Beulah guesses the word leadership in under a minute. And a story about the three Campanelli brothers who built Top Disability Care with their hands and their hearts. And a celebrity question from Emanuel Gini that turns into a rapid fire word association game. This is about finding purpose after loss. And building homes that feel like home. And leading teams who know you'll jump in and clean the bathroom if that's what's needed.

Beulah Lenanne — Top Disability Care
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/top-disability-care/

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Elevate Youth Lab.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys-aparicio-cuencas/
Website: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#NDIS #SIL #DisabilityCare

A dad who refused email because his fax machine worked fine. And the guy who says thank you and please to AI because he doesn't want Terminator coming back for him.

Chapters:

💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Follow Wholii:
• Instagram: instagram.com/wholii_au
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@wholii
• YouTube: youtube.com/@wholii_au
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/wholii
• Facebook: facebook.com/wholii

Episode 4 of Team with the Queen featuring Hashim Ahmed, founder of Wholii and Dream Maker. Hashim is the guy who built an AI compliance platform because spreadsheets and manual processes were killing the sector. He's been in NDIS for over 10 years. He started as a support worker. He scaled Dream Maker from the ground up by solving problems nobody else wanted to touch. And now he's bringing those solutions to every provider through Wholii.

In this conversation, Hashim shares:
• Why he's got 99 problems but solving one isn't
• The marriage of cars, problem solving, and a beautiful daughter
• How Dream Maker tested his problem solving abilities for six or seven years
• The compliance nightmare most providers face three weeks before audit
• Why using ChatGPT without understanding privacy policies is a massive breach
• How Wholii uses voice transcription to auto fill forms and generate service agreements
• The difference between data processing in Australia versus overseas AI training
• Why saying thank you and please to AI might save you from Arnold Schwarzenegger
• The fax machine dad who refused email and what that says about technology resistance
• Why friction happens because people misunderstand people
• The 1% improvement theory from Atomic Habits and England's worst cycling team
• Why collaboration isn't scratching backs but honest planning with clear expectations
• The Toyota Prius as the official car of LinkedIn coffee collaboration requests
• Why he doesn't want to be remembered individually but as part of a sector that worked

There's also a headbands game where Hashim takes seven minutes to guess the word friction while wearing a helmet. And a story about phone cards before WhatsApp. And the moment Solomon sends a celebrity question about cars and personality types. This is about AI that cuts admin time, compliance without chaos, and what happens when a problem solver builds the tools the sector actually needs.

Hashim Ahmed — Wholii & Dream Maker
Website: https://wholii.com.au
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Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Elevate Youth Lab.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys-aparicio-cuencas/
Website: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes fortnightly.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#NDIS #AI #Compliance

A man with Huntington's wanted to keep smoking. His whole care team said no. Emanuel Gini said something else. The behaviours dropped overnight.

This is what dignity of risk looks like when it is actually practised, not just written into policy.

Episode 3 of Team with the Queen featuring Emanuel Gini, National Operations Manager at Ability Connect, the Sydney specialist support coordination team that takes on the complex NDIS cases other providers refuse.

🎯 What you'll learn:
• The Huntington's cigarette story and the harm-reduction reframe behind it (27:57)
• Why information, not the diagnosis, is the real issue behind every complex case (22:41)
• The 4-month brain-injury patient breakthrough that came from just staying (25:20)
• How a car accident at 18 ended his pro soccer dream and pivoted him into community work (15:59)
• The 3-step Ability Connect model that runs the same way it did on day one: Listen, Connect, Monitor (34:08)
• Why he tells every support coordinator: stop assuming, the person is the expert in their own life (36:12)
• Knowing when you are not the right fit, the Venezuelan proverb about gold coins (40:18)

CHAPTERS:
0:00 The patient who wanted to smoke
1:20 Meet Emanuel: Mister Eggy, family, food, community
9:17 World Cup edition: soccer, Uruguay, Australia, why football still matters
15:29 The car accident at 18 that ended the soccer dream
17:31 Bakery shifts from 2am to 2pm, seven days a week
19:04 Brought to you by Wholii
20:00 Headbands game: the topic is complex cases
22:41 Information is the real issue behind every complex case
25:20 The brain-injury patient breakthrough, 4 months of just being there
27:57 Dignity of risk: the Huntington's patient he let keep smoking
28:58 Blue plate or pink plate: small choices, big behaviour changes
32:02 Ability Connect: 10 years, 20 specialist support coordinators, one philosophy
34:08 The 3-step model: Listen, Connect, Monitor
36:12 Stop assuming, the person is the expert in their own life
37:13 Stop being curious, start dying
38:45 Soccer equals coordination: every player knows their role
40:18 You cannot be a gold coin, knowing when you are not the right fit
42:26 The celebrity question from Plan Manager Stew
46:33 The King of Coordination award
47:03 What do you hope they say about what you built
49:05 Stops managing plans, starts coordinating lives


💎 PLATINUM SPONSOR: Wholii

Team with the Queen is proudly powered by Wholii, our Platinum Sponsor.

Wholii is the compliance and workflow platform built for Australian NDIS providers by people who have lived your problems firsthand. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit-ready without even trying.

Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

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👤 ABOUT THE GUEST: Emanuel Gini is the National Operations Manager at Ability Connect, a Sydney-based specialist support coordination team that has operated for over a decade. The team focuses on the high-complexity NDIS cases other providers turn away. Emanuel leads a 20-person case-management team: listen first, connect to the right services, monitor and adapt.

🔗 Ability Connect: https://abilityconnect.com.au
🔗 Emanuel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emanuel-gini-0452991b0/

👑 ABOUT THE SHOW: Team with the Queen is the fortnightly interview podcast hosted by Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas, a Latina-Australian founder on a mission to find 100 Australian leaders whose stories are worth hearing. Not the ones on every panel. Not the ones with the loudest LinkedIn. The leaders actually doing the work nobody is putting a microphone in front of yet. Until now.

🎙 New episodes every second Thursday.

🔗 Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Elevate Youth Lab.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/
All links: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys

📲 FOLLOW @teamwiththequeen on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#DignityOfRisk #DutyOfCare #TeamWithTheQueen #FounderPodcast #NDIS #SpecialistSupportCoordination #DignityOfRiskInDisability #HuntingtonsDisease #AustralianPodcast #InterviewPodcast #LeadershipPodcast #DisabilitySupport #AgedCare #AbilityConnect #EmanuelGini #YosmerysAparicio #AustralianLeader #SupportCoordinator #NDISProvider #DisabilityServices #SydneyPodcast

Thank you for listening to Team with the Queen.

You can find us on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube as @teamwiththequeen

NDIS's most connected operator started as the 16-year-old who sang Stevie Wonder to her father in ICU.

Chapters:
0:00 — Cold open: the life support decision
0:36 — Meet Gigi: the NDIS's best connector
2:24 — Two roles fill my cup
4:17 — Dad's accident at 16
12:14 — Choice and control + dignity of risk
13:25 — The Heartbreak High reveal
18:09 — Doctor or pharmacist? I chose neither
23:43 — Singing Stevie Wonder in dad's ICU
26:18 — Brought to you by Wholii
27:01 — The headbands game
39:13 — 'Open to collaborations' is the new spam
43:54 — Footprints in the sand
44:53 — The No BS Queen award

This episode is proudly presented by Wholii — built by compliance specialists for Australian NDIS providers. Wholii cuts admin time, automates the manual stuff, and keeps your whole team compliant and audit-ready. Book a free demo: https://wholii.com.au

Episode 2 of Team with the Queen featuring Gigi Bichara — Business Development Manager and Support Worker at Connect Community and Respite Services (Beverly Hills, NSW). Gigi is widely recognised as the best-connected person on the NDIS — but the path there started somewhere most people don't see.

In this conversation, Gigi shares:
- The day the medical team asked her family to turn off her father's life support
- Why she rejected the "doctor or pharmacist" expectations her Egyptian Orthodox family had for her
- What being on Heartbreak High Season 1 taught her about reinvention
- The line that separates real collaboration from "open to collaborations" spam
- Why dignity of risk is the missing pillar of choice and control
- The one thing she'd keep if everything she'd built disappeared tomorrow

Gigi Bichara — Connect Community and Respite Services

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillian-gigi-bichara-701127320/https://www.linkedin.com/company/connect-community-and-respite-services/

Yosmerys Aparicio Cuencas is the founder of Supporting Communities Australia and the Elevate Youth Lab.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yosmerys/
Website: https://linktr.ee/Yosmerys

@teamwiththequeen on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. New episodes every second thursday.

Team with the Queen is a Supporting Communities Australia production.

#NDIS #LeadershipPodcast #AustralianPodcast

Thank you for listening to Team with the Queen.

You can find us on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube as @teamwiththequeen