What She Did Next

Highlights from our third season of conversations with some truly inspiring women.

This episode will get you across the kind of stories we share... and if you like what you hear, you can scroll back through the feed to find the full episodes.

As regular listeners will know, the conversations we feature are with women from a whole range of backgrounds who have navigated some pretty big changes in their lives and careers.

These are women in business, in leadership, in the not-for-profit sector and in creative industries, who share the very personal journeys they’ve been on and the turning points that sparked a new chapter.

For some, these moments inspired a career change; for others, it’s been the catalyst to start their own business or passion project or movement for change.

The one thing you will notice is that all of these women are doing something pretty purposeful and impactful… so if you are looking for inspiration to have a positive impact yourself, you will definitely find it among these stories.

Thank you so much for being with us for another season – and a big thank you to Women’s Agenda for their support of the show.

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Becoming a first-time mum should be a joyful celebration but what if everyone around you was saying ‘sorry’ instead of ‘congratulations’…

Our guest today is Ingerlise Svaleng and she’s the founder of 21 Gifts – an initiative she started with her husband after their first daughter, Maia, was born with Down syndrome.

Maia’s ‘welcome to the world’ was not as IngerLise wanted, not because of her daughter’s diagnosis but because of the response of the medical staff around her. The idea that her beautiful daughter was something to be sorry about was absolutely crushing… but then a special delivery to her hospital room in the form of a little suitcase completely turned everything around.

Now, Ingerlise is on a mission to pay forward that gift of hope to other parents facing a similar child diagnosis, and she’s working with hospitals across Australia and New Zealand on better ways to talk to families about babies born with ‘a little extra’ – leveraging her background in communications, organisational coaching and positive psychology.

In this episode, Ingerlise talks about her journey to launching 21 Gifts, how she succeeded in getting more than 100 hospitals on board in the first year, what the reality of having a daughter with Down syndrome has actually been like, and how she now juggles her day job with growing the movement that 21 Gifts has become.

LINKS

Find out more about 21 Gifts: https://www.twentyonegifts.com/  

Follow 21 Gifts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TwentyoneGiftsBox

Follow 21 Gifts on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twentyonegifts/

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest today is Kylie Flament and she’s the General Manager of Green Connect, an award-winning social enterprise that does incredible work helping young people and former refugees into employment, while leading the way in growing fair food and diverting waste from landfill.

These days Kylie loves nothing more than spending time at the Green Connect farm on the outskirts of Wollongong in NSW, or utilising her impressive array of skills to generate funds and interest in their work.

But when the job was first offered, Kylie nearly didn’t say yes, worried that after her big-city roles in the corporate and government sectors, it might be a step backward – or worse, she might be bored.

Three years on, she’s discovered that to be far from the reality… and inspired by the ripple effect of Green Connect’s work in the local community, she’s become a fierce advocate for the power of social enterprise to create positive change for people and the planet.

In this episode, Kylie talks about making the leap to the not-for-profit sector, what being a social enterprise actually means, the hardest and most rewarding aspects of her work, and why she’s happy to let the Greta Thunbergs of the world do their thing, while she does hers.

LINKS

Find out more about Green Connect: https://green-connect.com.au/  

Find out more about the Social Enterprise Council of NSW & ACT: https://secna.org.au/

Find out more about Social Traders: https://www.socialtraders.com.au/

Follow Green Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greenconnectau/

Follow Green Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenconnect_/

Follow Green Connect on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreenConnect_

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest today is Solai Valliappan and she’s an investor in the tech space, with a keen focus on start-ups that are bringing about positive change.

She’s also a champion of female founders and hopes to inspire more women to start their own companies and get the backing they need to bring their big ideas to the world.

Solai decided to become an investor after observing the lack of women on the funding side – particularly women of colour – and realising that having more female investors would ultimately lead to more funding for female founders.

It was a whole new world for Solai who spent the first 10 years of her career in the insurance industry, starting out as an actuary for a big global firm.

In this episode, Solai talks about making the leap from corporate life to the start-up world, what she’s learned from being one of the few women at the investor table, her role as a #ChooseMaths ambassador to encourage more young women into STEM careers and a new documentary series she’s involved in called ‘Women’s Work’, an initiative of Sydney Women’s Fund, which aims to get more women thinking about their financial future.

LINKS

Follow Solai Valliappan via her blog: https://solaivalliappan.medium.com/

Follow Solai on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SolaiValliappan

Follow Solai on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solai_tech/

Watch the ‘Women’s Work’ documentary series: https://womenswork.org.au/

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest today is Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe and she’s a passionate advocate for human rights, social justice and the environment.

She’s also a proud Gunnai Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, who takes inspiration from a long line of strong matriarchs in her family.

In 2017, Lidia made history by becoming the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the Victorian Parliament. And in 2020, she made the leap to Federal Parliament as the first Aboriginal Senator for Victoria.

But Lidia’s path into politics has not been typical. Growing up in public housing, she left school early to start working and her professional experience covers everything from Aboriginal services to running her own businesses.

As an activist, Lidia spent years fighting the system from the outside. Now she’s in the halls of power, determined to use her lived experience as a catalyst for change.

In this special episode to mark International Women’s Day, Lidia shares the story behind her move into politics, the hardest and most rewarding aspects of her work, what she hopes to achieve in her role as a Senator and why we need more women from diverse backgrounds in public office.

LINKS

Find out more about Senator Lidia Thorpe: https://lidia-thorpe.greensmps.org.au/ 

Follow Lidia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lidiathorpegunnaigunditj/

Follow Lidia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lidiathorpe/

Follow Lidia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lidia__thorpe

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest today is Victoria McGrane and she’s the artist and textile designer behind The Scenic Route, whose distinctive illustrations inspired by Australian nature have earned her collaborations with major brands and retailers.

She’s also among a growing number of Australians who’ve traded in the daily grind, in search of a different way of life and a greater sense of freedom.

After selling their house, Victoria and her partner Darren got rid of nearly all their possessions to move into a solar-powered motorhome with their dog, Gypsy. Among their motivations for wanting such a huge lifestyle change was their love of travel, but also their environmental concerns.

Victoria now spends her days with her sketchbook under her arm and camera at the ready, taking inspiration from the plants, animals, colours and landscapes around her. It’s a far cry from her former life as a fashion designer in the big cities of Sydney and London – and with more space and freedom to be creative, her business is thriving.

In this episode, Victoria talks about making the leap to live off-grid in a van, the highlights and challenges of running a business on the road, what prompted her move away from the bright lights of the fashion industry, and her collaborations with conservation groups such as Rainforest Rescue.

LINKS

Find out more about The Scenic Route: https://www.thescenicroutestyle.com/

Follow The Scenic Route on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thescenicroute_style/

Follow The Scenic Route on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheScenicRouteStyle

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*Content warning: This episode contains mentions of death and grief, so please consider this before listening, particularly if you might find this triggering. In Australia, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 to access 24-hour crisis support.

Our guest today is Yanti Turang and she’s a registered nurse from Australia who lives in the US, where she has spent the past year working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She’s also the founder and executive director of LearnToLive, a global health not-for-profit she started in response to seeing her own family members in Indonesia suffering from chronic and preventable illnesses.

But Yanti didn’t start out as a healthcare worker. In fact, in her 20s, after taking off from Australia to see the world, she was playing in a rock’n’roll band and touring the US… when suddenly Hurricane Katrina hit her adopted city of New Orleans.

Seeing the devastation around her, it was the prompt Yanti needed to rethink her direction in life and she decided to go back to university to study nursing. She’s since gone on to become a respected leader in the public health space and is soon to write a book about her journey.

In this episode, Yanti talks about making the leap to the healthcare sector, her experiences working in hospitals and clinics around the world, what she’s learned from setting up her own not-for-profit organisation, and the hardest and most rewarding moments of her frontline work in the battles against COVID-19 and Ebola.

LINKS

Find out more about LearnToLive: https://learntoliveglobal.org/

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*Content warning: This episode contains brief mentions of self-harm and suicide, so please consider this before listening, particularly if you might find this triggering. In Australia, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 to access 24-hour crisis support.

Our guest today is Sanaz Fotouhi and she’s an author, academic and filmmaker, whose book-writing journey began back in her 20s with a life-changing trip to Afghanistan.

What she saw on that trip would stay with her forever and it set her on a path to show the world what was happening for women and children in that country.

More than a decade on, Sanaz has co-produced two award-winning documentary films, juggling a PhD in English Literature along the way… and behind the scenes, she was toiling away on a manuscript.

She nearly gave up many times over the years but after a rollercoaster of rewrites and rejections, her manuscript won the 2019 Peter Blazey Fellowship, and her book ‘Love Marriage in Kabul: A Memoir’ has now been published and is gracing the shelves of bookstores around the country.

In this episode, Sanaz talks about her book-writing journey, the different facets of her career, her adventurous travels to Kabul and her latest project with Australian charity Mahboba’s Promise to support and empower women and girls in Afghanistan.

LINKS

‘Love Marriage in Kabul: A Memoir’ is published by Gazebo Books: https://gazebobooks.com.au/

Buy the book: https://www.booktopia.com.au/love-marriage-in-kabul-sanaz-fotouhi/book/9780648901105.html

Find out more about Sanaz Fotouhi: https://sanazfotouhi.com/

Follow Sanaz Fotouhi on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanazWrites 

Find out more about Mahboba’s Promise: https://mahbobaspromise.org/

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest today is Jenny McAllister and she’s on a mission to transform the fashion industry, to make it more inclusive and accessible for the one in five Australians living with a disability.

Jenny suffered a stroke at the age of 21 and that life-changing event – which she was lucky to survive – left her with reduced mobility that makes it difficult to grip or hold things and requires the use of a wheelchair or walking frame to get around.

One thing that didn’t change after Jenny had her stroke was her love of fashion, but finding clothes she can wear that are stylish and make her feel good has been hampered by the mainstream fashion industry being slow to cater for people with disability.

Through her new business, StyleAbility, Jenny aims to work with major fashion brands and retailers to make their designs more inclusive – looking to overseas brands like Tommy Hilfiger that are leading the way in adaptive fashion.

In this episode, Jenny talks about her experiences as a young stroke survivor, the role of fashion in her ongoing recovery, the issues around fashion and disability, and the journey she’s been on to start her new venture.

LINKS

Find out more about StyleAbility: https://styleability.com.au/

Follow StyleAbility on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/style_ability/

Follow StyleAbility on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StyleAbilityAU

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Season Three of What She Did Next, hosted by Jacqui Ooi.

We’re excited to bring you our new series of conversations with some truly inspiring women.

This trailer episode provides a recap of what the show is about and our new partnership with Women’s Agenda.

We’ll be releasing episodes fortnightly this season, so make sure you hit the subscribe button in your podcast app to catch our conversations as they land.

CREDITS

Host and producer: Jacqui Ooi

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatshedidnextpodcast/

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatshedidnextpodcast

Visit our website: https://whatshedidnext.com.au/

What She Did Next is proud to be a part of the Women's Agenda Podcast Network. Visit https://womensagenda.com.au/

What She Did Next acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this podcast is recorded and produced, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora nation and the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal nation. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.