You're in Charge

Andrea moves from why nobody starts a business "perfect" into the part guests rarely say out loud: she's bad at fitness, feels like there's never enough hours in the day, and hasn't figured out work-life balance so much as learned to be present wherever she is. She talks through burnout, the things politics has taught her are simply out of her control, and closes with her message to young women in business, it's your baby, arm yourself with the skills and do it.

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Before Andrea Michaels held three state government portfolios, she was born to parents who fled Cyprus in 1974 with nothing and landed in Adelaide because it was as far from home as they could get. She grew up sandpapering cabinet doors in her dad's backyard workshop while her mum worked factory shifts, and that work ethic carried her through commercial law, a solo leap into her own firm as a single mum, and eventually into South Australia's state government as Minister for Small and Family Business, the Arts, and Consumer and Business Affairs. She sat down with Sav Perera in September 2025, while still in office. She's since returned to practising law at NDA Law, but the conversation holds up regardless: the real cost of public criticism, the barriers women still hit trying to raise capital, and the self talk, "tough it up, princess," that gets her through the hard days. A grounded, honest one for anyone building something of their own.

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Andrea Michaels on why risk is unavoidable in business and politics, and the moment she stopped trying to be someone else to succeed.

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Poppy Nichaloff on running Generation Rise with her husband, and the clearly defined roles that keep them from stepping on each other's toes. When someone outside tries to stir the pot, backing each other up is non-negotiable.

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Poppy Nichaloff on the racism young Indigenous creators face just for showing up online. Plus, the moment her husband turned his own childhood trauma into something that helps boys process theirs.

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Poppy Nichaloff built an online audience before she had kids. Now she's raising two young children and running a business alongside her husband that reaches a lot further than their own feed.

That husband is Jacob Nichaloff, known as J-MILLA, a Mak Mak Marranunggu hip hop artist from Darwin and winner of the 2021 Archie Roach Foundation Award. Together they founded Generation Rise, bringing social media literacy and mental health workshops into remote First Nations communities across the country, work they've been doing for eight years.

In this episode of You're In Charge, Sav Perera talks with Poppy about the boundaries she's drawn around sharing her own kids online, despite building her entire career on sharing her life. She's candid about what it actually takes to run a business with your husband: he owns the creative side, she owns the business side, and neither one crosses into the other's lane.

Poppy also talks about burnout, the five-week trip through 13 communities from Darwin to Broome that left them both exhausted, and the moment she realised motherhood couldn't be the only title she holds. Her rule is simple: she controls the babies, not the other way around.

If you've ever tried to build something alongside your partner, or wondered what it looks like to use a platform for more than yourself, this one is worth your time.

Recorded on Kaurna Land. You're In Charge is brought to you by ThincHer, an initiative of ThincLab at Adelaide University.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open

00:17 Welcome to Season 2

00:21 Meet Poppy Nichaloff

01:24 Back to the beginning

02:51 "It never planned to be this"

03:59 Spotting the gap

05:35 What to share, what to keep back

07:11 Keeping the kids out of campaigns

08:16 Letting them in, on her terms

09:34 Working with her husband

10:39 How they resolve conflict

11:42 Keeping business out of the marriage

13:24 A day in the Nichaloff household

16:07 Mother is not the only title

18:00 The risk of burnout

19:42 Learning to step back

20:37 Reading the warning signs

21:15 Inside Generation Rise

24:09 Inside a workshop

26:43 The mental health piece

29:21 What's next for Generation Rise

29:46 What Poppy wants to master

31:05 Sav's takeaway

32:00 Next week on You're In Charge

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Poppy Nichaloff had an audience before she had kids. Now she has two young children, a business, and a husband she works with every day.

That husband is Jacob Nichaloff, known as J-MILLA, a Mak Mak Marranunggu hip hop artist and winner of the 2021 Archie Roach Foundation Award. Together they run Generation Rise, taking social media literacy and mental health workshops into remote First Nations communities across the country.

Poppy is candid about how the arrangement actually works. He owns the creative side. She owns the business side. Neither one interferes in the other's lane, and when conflict does show up, they trust each other enough to hear it out.

She's just as candid about her kids. She built her entire platform without them in it, and an audience of mums who now turn to her for advice isn't going to change that.

What she wants to master next has nothing to do with a follower count. It's mastering motherhood and running a business at the same time, without losing herself in either one.

The full conversation with Sav Perera drops tomorrow.

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Taryn Brumfitt on the gap she found in workplace wellbeing, and why the same logic sent her into primary schools. Two institutions, one argument.

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The full origin story, from a single non-traditional before and after photo to 200 million people in 190 countries. Including the part where she sold a car to keep going.

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Taryn Brumfitt posted one photograph and it travelled around the world. What followed was 7,000 messages from strangers, a book, a Kickstarter campaign nobody thought would work, and a documentary that beat Guardians of the Galaxy on opening night at the German box office.

In this episode of You're In Charge, Sav Perera sits down with the 2023 Australian of the Year, founder of the Body Image Movement and co-founder of The Embrace Collective, to talk about what actually got built and what it cost.

Taryn is candid about the early years: selling a car, working a second job, and painting a Steve Martin line onto her office wall because the rejections kept coming. She talks about why removing ego mattered more than being the smartest person in the room, why self-compassion beats self-criticism as a performance strategy, and why she is now taking body image into boardrooms through Embrace@Work.

There is also a conversation about doubt that Sav names as her own biggest takeaway. Taryn does not try to get rid of hers. She gives it a rug, a thermos of tea, and a seat in the boot of the car.

If you are early in building something, or deep in it and quietly hard on yourself, this one is worth your time.

Recorded on Kaurna Land. You're In Charge is brought to you by ThincHer, an initiative of ThincLab at Adelaide University.

Chapter timestamps

00:00 Cold open
00:15 Welcome to Season 2
00:41 Meet Taryn Brumfitt
01:36 Before the world was watching
03:18 From body positivity to body neutrality
05:26 The motherhood double standard
06:18 The photo that went everywhere
08:50 Kickstarter: $331,000 and 8,909 backers
10:41 "Who's we?" Building the team
12:10 Scaling without diluting the message
14:58 The runner and the coach
16:30 Reframing doubt
18:20 Be so good they can't ignore you
19:55 When they go low, and the messy middle
22:15 The least interesting thing about you
24:14 Body image goes to work
26:55 Getting in early with Embrace Collective
29:32 Movement, not punishment
32:50 Showing up authentically
34:29 Feminine leadership
35:09 Where do you put your doubt?
38:46 Ask for 15 minutes, not a coffee
40:40 What Taryn wants to master next
41:36 Sav's takeaway
42:32 Next week on You're In Charge

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