The Glitter Effect

After being told her health was at serious risk, Brenda Keane joined a 12-week body challenge in her 50s—only to encounter a major obstacle: no major activewear brands made quality, colorful leggings for curvy women. Refusing to let larger women be pushed to the sidelines (or forced to work out in jeans), Brenda took a leap of faith. At age 57, with zero experience in fashion or retail, she launched BeKeane Healthy & Fit—an inclusive, vibrant activewear brand designed to celebrate every body.

In this episode of The Glitter Effect, host Kate sits down with Brenda (now 65) to dive deep into her inspiring entrepreneurial journey.

Website: BeKeane Healthy & Fit: Activewear for plus-size women

In this deeply moving episode of The Glitter Effect, host Kate speaks with author, advocate, and storyteller Sarah Rosse about her personal memoir, So Who Are You Anyway? Sarah reflects on the day in October 2023 that altered her family’s life forever, when her 16-year-old son survived a sudden suicide attempt. She details the overwhelming shock, guilt, and uncertainty that followed, alongside the subsequent diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and ADHD that helped them make sense of the crisis.

Sarah shares how journaling through her silent grief transformed into a journey of healing, forcing her to confront her own expectations of motherhood and rediscover her identity beyond her family roles. Through open communication, presence, and storytelling, Sarah and her son have built a stronger bond—offering listeners a powerful perspective on finding purpose, resilience, and hope in the wake of unexpected heartbreak.

Website: https://www.intentionalwritingforwellness.com/

In this episode of The Glitter Effect, host Kate sits down with former elite athlete and sports agent Sally Phillips to discuss life pivots, identity, and finding purpose beyond the game. Sally reflects on her early sports career—from being identified as a basketball prodigy at age seven and earning a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) at 16, to winning a World Cup gold medal and playing ten seasons in the WNBL.

Despite achieving peak athletic success, Sally opens up about her complex relationship with the sport, falling out of love with basketball, and retiring at just 26. The conversation explores the challenge of uncoupling personal identity from elite competition, turning past regrets into perspective, and how her life experiences led her to launch My Second Half and the C2K (Kindness & Connection) Project to drive intentionality and local community impact.

Sally writes:

“After years immersed in sporting culture I began questioning alcohol’s role not only in my own life, but in the environments that shaped me. What started as a personal journey quickly opened up a bigger question: What role does alcohol play in sport?

Half time is the moment we pause, reflect and recalibrate, looking back at the first half and asking; what’s working well and what needs adjusting?

During my own personal half-time break I reached for the whiteboard and wrote A L C O H O L in big bold letters, recognising it as a part of my game that was no longer serving me. I knew I needed to make some meaningful changes if I wanted to step into my ‘second half’ with clarity, intention and purpose.

But this reflection isn’t just personal as I’m seeing many places and spaces across sport that could benefit from their own half-time pause – an opportunity to consider alcohol’s role within clubs, teams, leagues and communities.

That’s the purpose of My Second Half, to explore the intersection of alcohol and sport through conversations around identity, wellbeing, sponsorship, advertising, ethics, fan behavior and violence, community safety, inclusion, athlete wellbeing and the cultural norms that continue to shape our sporting environments and experiences.

If alcohol is beginning to feel central rather than optional in your own sporting experiences, you’re in the right place.

This isn’t about judgement.
It’s about curiosity, conversation and possibility.”

Link: C2K project

In this episode of The Glitter Effect, host Kate sits down with Justine Martin—international keynote speaker, resilience coach, award-winning artist, author, and founder of Morpheus Publishing. Justine opens up about her extraordinary life journey, detailing a childhood marked by extreme trauma, navigating life as a primary carer for her ill mother, surviving domestic violence, and overcoming crippling anxiety.

She candidly shares the pivotal moment in 2011 when a multiple sclerosis diagnosis—alongside facing primary cancers and heart surgeries—halted her career in wellness management. Justine reflects on how hitting rock bottom led her to pick up a paintbrush, rediscover her purpose, and build a positive “avalanche” of success. Her story is a masterclass in transforming life’s heaviest chapters into hope, courage, and empowerment for others.

Website: JustineMartin.com

In this inspiring episode, host welcomes Amelia Pickering, CEO of Hope Network—an organization that has been supporting women inside and beyond the prison system for nearly eight decades. Amelia shares her personal journey from growing up in South Africa to navigating the social impact sector in Australia, detailing how confronting her own assumptions led her to advocate for incarcerated women.

The conversation highlights Hope Network’s recent transition from its original name, Prison Network, reflecting a crucial shift from focusing on a person’s past to honoring their potential. Amelia discusses the urgent need to dismantle the societal stigma surrounding formerly incarcerated women, the power of evidence-based social impact, and why providing compassionate, long-term support is vital for creating real change.

Hope Network: https://www.hopenetwork.org.au/

In this episode of The Glitter Effect, host Kate sits down with the ultimate powerhouse, Therese O’Neill. Therese is a multi-award-winning business coach, speaker, personal branding warrior, and the co-founder of the Women Supporting Women Network.

Therese shares her fascinating journey from the high-stakes world of corporate finance to becoming a premier business mentor—a transition sparked by the Global Financial Crisis and a conscious choice to spend more time with her young daughter. Moving between cities taught Therese that building community is a survival skill that requires genuine effort, vulnerability, and intentional investment.

In this episode, we unpack:

The Accidental Coach: How losing her corporate banking role during the GFC led Therese to build an industry-first mentoring program.

The Human Condition & Connection: Why we need to break out of our post-lockdown “home goblin” routines and reconnect authentically to quiet our negative internal voices.

The Power of Networks: The evolution of the Women Supporting Women Network from a small Bayside gathering to a national community of over 1,200 women.

Shining a Different Light: A sneak peek into her vital work with Man Talk Wellness, a not-for-profit creating judgment-free spaces for men’s mental health.

Tune in to learn how to step out of your comfort zone, build an unbreakable network, and leave your own trail of glitter wherever you go!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wswnetworkinggroup/

What happens when purpose meets action? Today’s guest on The Glitter Effect is Dionne Payn, the powerhouse founder of Women for Homes—a movement empowering everyday women to use their skills and collective financial power to tackle Australia’s housing insecurity crisis.

From launching a 14-townhouse affordable housing development to recognizing why women over 55 are the fastest-growing demographic facing homelessness, Dionne stopped waiting for someone else to fix the system. Tune in to learn how she is lowering the barrier to property investment, closing the gender financial gap, and building a platform to help end homelessness for everyone.

Key Takeaway: Meaningful change starts when ordinary people decide to do something extraordinary. Get ready to be inspired by a true changemaker leaving a glitter trail of impact!

Website: https://www.women4homes.com/join-the-founders-circle

In this episode of The Glitter Effect, host Kate talks with Sam Clifford, a local venue coordinator for Winter Shelter in Melbourne’s outer east (Maroondah). The community-driven initiative provides warmth, a three-course meal, and vital human connection to homeless men during the freezing winter months.

Sam explains the shelter’s unique “travelling” model: each night, a trailer packed with bedding moves to a different local church, utilizing empty buildings to create a safe, structured, and substance-free sanctuary. Driven by her own background with soup vans, Sam highlights how the program restores dignity and independence to its guests, proving how flexible community volunteering can powerfully combat the homelessness crisis.

“You find by the end of the program a lot of them are helping carry stretchers or setting the table… they’re feeling appreciated enough and confident enough to do that to say thank you.” — Sam Clifford

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maroondahwintershelter/

In this episode of The Glitter Effect, Kate welcomes Tammy Robinson, founder of Formally Ever After—a grassroots initiative in Logan, Queensland, that provides free formal wear to disadvantaged youth.

Driven by her own childhood memories of financial hardship and the anxiety of feeling “different,” Tammy launched the project from her kitchen. Spurred on by her 17-year-old son, Caleb, a single Facebook post snowballed into a massive community operation, clothing 236 students in just two and a half months.

Tammy shares how she restores confidence and dignity to young people during a major life milestone, proving that kindness has no boundaries—even sharing a heartwarming story about shipping a dream prom dress to a struggling family all the way in the UK.

“I understand that they don’t want to feel different either. They just want to go to their formals feeling confident and empowered.” — Tammy Robinson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FormallyEverAfter/

In this powerful episode of The Glitter Effect, host Kate sits down with Roni Millard, the founder of The Wellbeing Edge. With nearly three decades of experience in high-stakes global leadership roles, Roni appeared to have it all from the outside. However, she pulls back the curtain on the silent toll that “addiction to pressure” takes on high-performing professionals. Roni shares her deeply personal transition from Egyptian-born marketing leader to a health and wellness advocate in Sydney, sparked by a series of significant health crises—culminating in a 2020 breast cancer diagnosis—that forced her to stop viewing burnout as a badge of honor.

The conversation dives deep into the “systematic shift” required in modern leadership. Roni explains that true productivity isn’t found in 14-hour days or midnight emails, but in the psychological safety and holistic wellness of a team. She details how her lived experience allows her to partner with C-suite executives and organizations to bridge the gap between commercial KPIs and human health. By sharing her “life humps” and the discipline she now applies to her own vitality, Roni offers a roadmap for anyone looking to achieve professional excellence without sacrificing their sense of self.

Website: wellbeingedge.com