Seize the Yay

There are so many people who have contributed time, wisdom and hugs to getting me to where I am today, but this guest is one who I can absolutely say I wouldn't have started without. In fact, Jess Hatzis might just be the first person I ever told about the idea for Matcha Maiden and I am forever grateful for her overwhelming love and support then and at every stage of the journey since. And it's no wonder I continue to turn to her for wisdom being a co-founder of global skincare sensation, Frank Body, as well as trailblazing creative agency Willow & Blake and more recently, a new gym Frame Cremorne with her husband. She has been a business woman laying the groundwork for the entrepreneurial boom that was to come since before most of us had ever been exposed to start ups and leaving corporate jobs to follow dreams. It's not often that your second job ever is your own business and even rarer than your second business then explodes just a few years later. Starting with $5000 and a production line of friends, family and whoever else they could get together, Jess and the four other co-founders of Frank Body grew the business to tens of millions of dollars of revenue in a few short years. Theirs is the ultimate social media start up sensation story and there are few corners of the world that Frank Body hasn't reached. It was a delight to hear the journey again I can never hear it too many times and loved hearing what's happened since I heard it last. I have looked up to Jess for the longest time and am so grateful she joined the show to share some of her pearls of wisdom, biggest lessons and why Kipfler potatoes are the best. + Full show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

This week, we welcome our first tri-citizen to the show who became an Australian citizen the day before we recorded. I always feel so lucky to have such incredible and supportive people around me and Kemi Nekvapil is one of the wisest and most empowering - how lucky Australia is to have her and if anyone has heard her speak before, you'll no doubt agree. With British, Nigerian AND Australian citizenship, Kemi spent her childhood in five different foster families and her early adulthood with as many different careers covering stage and television acting, professional baking and yoga teaching before she even touched on her current calling as a coach, author, speaker and now podcaster! Through challenge, open mindedness and a lot of self-development, Kemi has developed a unique resilience, agility and power and I always leave her presence feeling enlightened and excited for human potential. In true Seize the Yay fashion, Kemi was an open and honest book and I loved exploring the concepts of cultural identity, self-acceptance, the marvellous workings of the universe and the incredible moment when you realise you have CHOICE with her in such depth. This is the perfect blend of serious, life-changing imparting of wisdom and hysterical laugher about nipple pinching, body hair, and home births... As you'll hear, she's starting her own podcast this week and the launch is only a few days away on 5th September, so if you're in Melbourne I've popped the link for tickets in the show notes, she'd LOVE to meet you all. Hope you enjoy and are seizing your yay! + Full show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

I'm so excited to finally share the chat we recorded on our whirlwind trip to Seoul for the global Nike Joyride launch. It was such an incredible experience especially at the peak of my non-runner to running-lover conversion and so cool to head back to the motherland after 17 years (a long story that I'll tell another day). After he hosted the global launch event, I was so lucky to sit down with Nike Senior Product Line Manager, Will Moroski, to chat in more detail about this incredible shoe as well as sharing his own amazing way to yay in the process. Another wonderful example of ending up exactly where you never expected but where you were absolutely meant to be. While nurturing a love for sport from very young, Will's nerdy side also flourished through his journey. While competing seriously in track and field, he started college at UC Davis undeclared but then found himself in biomedical engineering. Loving it so much, while others took a gap year, Will headed to Oxford to do his Masters in Biomedical Engineering completing a casual thesis on Malaria in Pregnancy: Assessment of Effect Using Image Texture Analysis. This then took him to Thailand for field work and research followed by a clinical studies engineer position at pacemaker company Biotronik. It was Biotronik that moved him to Portland, the home of Nike HQ, where he found himself teaching spin classes to Nike staff who encouraged him to make the jump. Five years later, he's working on world class innovation and changing runner's lives with new technology. I'll let him tell you the rest but hope you enjoy!!!! + Full show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

As promised last week, this week's guest is the beautiful second half of the greatest power couple going around. Hearing Mark's incredible story you'd be forgiven for thinking it'd be impossible to find a worthy match, but my dear Samantha Gash is just that and more. After meeting each other through mutual obnoxious eagerness in our first year of law studies, we've had a beautiful and enduring relationship for over a decade seeing each other through many different adventures, phases and careers. She may be small in stature but she's a big personality and even bigger inspiration to myself and many hundreds of thousands of others who her story has touched and it's no surprise our chat goes well over an hour and even closer to two so buckle in! Having united her early passions in a Performing Arts/Law degree, Sammy's love for the extracurricular has been around a long time seeing her work in Texas on capital cases, in Indigenous communities throughout Australia and everything in between. Sport was never her strong point, and yet, in the first display of what has become a characteristic love for discomfort and challenge she randomly undertook the 100km Oxfam challenge and has never looked back. From there, she has continued to defy even our wildest imaginations leaving law to pursue her career as an elite ultra marathon runner and incredible public speaker starting by becoming the youngest person and first female to complete the four desert series - 4 x 250km races across the hottest, windiest, coldest and driest deserts in the world. She then ran 1968km across South Africa and 3253km across India both to raise awareness and funds for causes close to her heart. Nic and I have been so lucky to be part of her crew on a few different adventures as you'll hear and she continues to open my mind every day. I could bang on forever but I'll let her tell you the rest! Enjoy!! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

This week's guest was on the very first list of potential guests that I ever made for the podcast and while our crazy schedules full of travel and adventure mean it's taken us a little while to coordinate, I'm SO excited to have Mark Wales on the show today and his beautiful fiancé Samantha Gash to follow next week. You might already know that Samantha is one of my dearest friends and soon to be bridesmaid and that Sam, Mark and their bubba Harry are pretty much family. And yet, somehow even after hearing both of their stories many times, I am still completely blown away by these powerhouses every single time and count myself so lucky to have them as friends. They are truly just another breed of human being and their stories add something very different to the yay we've seen so far. Starting off with Mark, you may know I'm almost as obsessed with the military as I am with crime (you can't help what makes you yay) and Mark was not just in the army but an SAS platoon commander in special ops - SO COOL!!!! Having his eyes on the prize from year 9 when he first heard about the SAS, he made his way through the gruelling training to join the SAS and ultimately complete tours in East Timor, Afghanistan, Lebanon and more. Impressive enough as that is alone, his stellar career in the military was just one of many chapters on Mark's way to yay who, after coming back to the academy to teach then retired and headed to New York. And not just for a gap year or gardening leave... oh no - he went to do an MBA at Wharton and become a Management Consultant at leading international firm, McKinsey. If you thought that was enough, you don't know Mark and Sam. I can't really imagine Mark in an office environment especially after being in combat and it turns out he felt much the same so tried out for Survivor Season 2 back in Australia. On the show, he met our beautiful Sammy and the two now have the most beautiful little boy, Harry, who absolutely lights up all our lives. On top of that, Mark also started his own business called Kill Kapture designing luxury streetwear to help the ex-military transition back into their lives with armour for their day. And quite understandably, he is now a coveted public speaker sharing his wisdom and knowledge from his amazing experiences along the way. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

Today's is one of those guests who I have admired from afar for many, many years (since way before I ever contemplated starting a business myself). So, I feel even more privileged and excited than usual to have sat down with the incredible Cyan Ta'eed, which is saying something. Cyan founded her first business just one year after entering the workforce but it's her third, Envato, that propelled her onto the international stage. Envato is world's leading marketplace and community for creative assets and creative people and Nic has actually been a customer for over 10 years! You'll hear all about Envato's crazy growth to over 7 million members and nearly $100 million of turnover and, for most people, that would be enough but Cyan went on to start a CHOCOLATE social enterprise called Hey Tiger, which is absolutely DIVINE (and which just released a bunch of vegan friendly flavours to its already delightful range of delectable choccies - think caramelised popcorn and balsamic strawberry). But most excitingly, this week her brand new baby Milkshake has launched, solving the age old frustration of only having one link in your Instagram bio and not being able to edit your website on your phone. Milkshake allows you to build your own Insta website to pop in your bio and bring ALL the boys to the yard making insta work harder for you. I'll leave Cyan to tell you the rest and hope you enjoy!!! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

I know I say this all the time and let's be real, it would be impossible for me to ever choose one sole favourite episode, but I think this one really stands out for how much practical advice my wonderful friend Shelley Laslett generously imparts throughout. While we explore her way to yay and the non-linear nature of the journey like many other episodes, I love this one so much because she demonstrates at the same time why she is so incredibly brilliant at what she does and why she was meant to end up exactly where she has. While it took her a while to realise it, Shelley was born to be a neuroscience coach and this is a taste of the transformative work she does unlocking your best you, shifting mindsets and backing it up with the hardcore brain science. Honestly, it's like getting free coaching so get your pens and paper out kids, you're in for a rollercoaster ride! From politics and philosophy to advising start ups then a Masters of Neuroscience to founding her own coaching business, Vitae, Shelley is among the most articulate people I've had the pleasure of speaking too but still never without a good chuckle or two - you'll hear us have a good laugh over cowboys, cowgirls and the more appropriate cowperson. I hope you take as much out of this as I did. + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

What a wonderful week it's been, beautiful people, if you haven't already seen we started a Seize the Yay facebook community last week and it is already brining me SO much joy every day. Thank you to the 200 of you who have already joined and started sharing the little things that make you smile. It's also a lovely place to be able to leave any feedback or further questions for our guests that I can pass on and I'll also share any new events or products there first so if you want to join, I'll pop a link in the show notes. Remember it takes so little to make someone else's day brighter, so why not try do it everyday. Little sneaky shout out before we start to Miah, Al, Jill and Alisha, four beautiful listeners who made MY day last week when they came over at a friend's birthday to say hello and sang the WHOLE seize the yay sing off by heart. NOTHING brings me more joy than to meet you listeners and hear how you're seizing your yay so don't hesitate to share or reach out, it means the world! Because you're not there when we record I always forget people are actually listening so I love being reminded, thank you so much ladies! Back to today's episode, we've got a double dose of Sarah for you with the delightful Sarah Hamilton, co-founder of Bella box and more recently Sand and Sky. Bella box is Australia's largest sampling service bringing 10s of thousands of subscribers the latest of everything trending in beauty. Sand and Sky is the original Australian pink clay mask that has gone viral tightening pores all over the globe and showcasing Australian natural botanicals to the world. You've probably seen me ramble on about both before as I've been a long time customer and admirer of Sarah and her twin Emily since many years ago when we first met at a speaking gig. From working the grill at McDonald's to a career in finance overseas, I love that Sarah's greatest successes weren't even a blip on the radar until her 30s proving again that your way to yay is not only NOT linear but also not predictable. As always, there's many a chuckle and I hope you enjoy our chat as much as we did. + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

It's been a long time coming, but I've been working away on getting some awesome jobs into the mix and this episode is the first to kick us off with the fabulous Emma Lewis, an undercover cop (or covert cop as you will learn is the correct terminology) who also has an amazing side hustle called Canvast. Emma reached out earlier this year during a little social media hiatus which led her to find this and many other podcasts and I am so delighted to have connected to share her story - you've probably gathered I'm fascinated by crime and police so I nearly chewed her ear off. She is not only still a Queensland policewoman but has also created the beautiful Canvast planner - a dateless yearly planner reminding us all that you don't need to wait for a new year or month to get started on your dreams. She shares some wonderful insights including that time she peed her pants in front of a sergeant, the kind of down to earth chuckles that you know I love so much! This also motivated me to finally get a Seize the Yay Facebook group going, so that even if only for a few of us, there is an easy, centralised place to share the things that bring yay to our day! Click HERE to join or search "SEIZE THE YAY COMMUNITY". + Follow Emma here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

I think you'll agree that we've had some seriously impressive human beings share their ways to yay on the show, but I was completely blown away by our first guest for the new financial year. I'm always so grateful that our guests feel comfortable enough to show the lesser known sides of themselves (especially when it's not often that they do), which is perhaps why I was so captivated by the gorgeous Jesinta Franklin this week. While I, like most of the country, am no stranger to Miss Universe 2010 and the striking looks that have carried her through a successful career as a model, brand ambassador and TV presenter I wasn't as familiar with Jesinta's eloquence, utmost professionalism and genuine care for others (that earned her the real life title of Miss Congeniality). As you'll hear, she radiates warmth and honesty belying the fame that surrounds her both independently and together with husband and AFL superstar, Buddy Franklin. I feel very lucky that I got to steal her away this week for a delightful chat on the very day that her brand new self-funded, self-produced Jesinta App launched two days ago along with the new issue of Women's Health Magazine with her on the cover. You'll hear more about it in the episode and of course I'll pop a link to it in the show notes. We also chat about everything from idyllic Gold Coast childhoods to meeting Donald Trump, and from WAG life to the five love languages. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

Very lucky that today's guest squeezed me in during her recent visit to Australia for the amazing Business Chicks event, 9 to Thrive, in Sydney a few weeks ago. Miki Agrawal is the true definition of a game changer taking on some of society's most taboo and unglamorous areas of life and shifting the way we think about and experience them. Born in Montreal and moving to the US with her twin for college and then a corporate career in investment banking, she experienced a transformative turning point in her life after a sliding doors experience on 9/11 and decided that life was too short not to live your dreams so she left banking to pursue three of them - start a business, play sport professionally, work on films. She excelled in all three of them, which you'll hear about, and yet none of those pursuits are what really lit her trailblazing fire. It is the business she co-founded in 2011, THINX, that may ring more of a bell and that really allowed her to create change where it is most needed developing anti-microbial, moisture-wicking, absorbent, and leak resistant underwear. If it weren't challenge enough to make period pants exciting, her latest venture is TUSHY, shedding light on the outdatedness and expense of toilet paper and the superior hygiene, convenience and sustainability of bidets. She's one of the most fascinating person I've spoken to and I was captivated by everything she had to say. There's so much more I wanted to ask but she's written several books so I'll pop links to those at the end as I'm sure you'll want more by then like I did! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

You have probably seen (and heard in the last episode) about the latest issue of Women's Health that I am SO grateful to have been included in - super chuffed and still pinching myself at the experience and my family has bought every copy within a 100km radius. The same day, the Men's Health magazine hit the shelves and both magazines are Nic and my go-to sources for anything new or noteworthy in health/fitness and wellbeing. Men's Health readers may have noticed things being shaken up a bit for the better in recent times and it's mostly due to legendary editor, Scott Henderson, who has taken a more holistic approach to what constitutes fit and inspiring than what tradition has dictated since taking over the reigns quite by surprise. I was lucky enough to sneak him away when I was in the office to chat to him about his pathway to get there, his love of matcha and what an editor actually does and it was an absolute blast! Such an interesting journey that didn't actually start in journalism and crosses both founder life and working up a corporate ladder (with some spanish rapping in between). Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

I'm sure I'm not alone in having been touched by this woman's career at some point or another in one of the many stellar roles she has portrayed that have made her an Aussie household name. Kat Stewart is one of our most outstanding actresses winning many accolades for her talents including AACTA and the coveted Logie awards. But as you'll hear today, despite her immense gratitude for the recognition she has earned, she is the ultimate professional and passionately dedicated to the art form in both TV and theatre and I love her attitude of just putting her head down and getting the job done well. Extremely down to earth and originally from Bairnsdale where my own family is from, she was such a pleasure to chat to and I loved her honesty about not only the fun and glamorous moments but the very nitty gritty parts of forming an acting career. You may recognise her as Roberta Williams in Underbelly or Billie Proudman in Offspring (with many TV and theatre roles in between) but what I'm so excited about is her new show Five Bedrooms on Channel 10. A comedy drama based on the disaster of buying property these days, it focuses on 5 different people who end up at the singles table at a wedding and eventually buy a house together with each episode narrated by a different character. At the time of recording, it was just before the first episode but at the time of publishing, TONIGHT is the first episode led by Kat's character Liz. You'll hear more about it in the episode and should absolutely tune in tonight (and all Wednesdays) at 8:40pm! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

So much thought goes into the guests you hear from with my main concern being the YAY their story can instil in you (whether founders or not and whether big profiles or not). Today's guest is a perfect example - yes, she's a founder and has a big profile but she is definitely not same same! Tiff Hall is an exceptional human being in just about everything she turns her attention to - incredibly book smart but also infinitely creative, a master of several instruments, a linguist, a fitness expert with 20 years of experience, an elite athlete, an author, a TV personality, a businesswoman and a mother. While she sounds like the last person any of us can identify with, she comes from the humblest beginnings as a simple girl from Essendon growing up around the taekwondo centre her parents still own in Brunswick. And despite her incredible success since then, you'll hear that her roots stay close to her heart. While many would have taken on the reigns of the family business and felt more than accomplished, Tiff is one of the most motivating people for her appetite for challenge. With Taekwondo as her first love, she is not only a black belt but a 6th DAN black belt. She has 20 years of fitness experience that she has channelled into a role on Gladiators, The Biggest Loser and now into her own amazing online fitness program TiffXO and has also joined Chris Hemsworth's team on the Centre App. I could keep going and giving it away now but you'll hear it all in the episode so I hope you feel as motivated by this one as I do! + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

So excited to introduce you guys to one of my unofficial mentors and role models, although I'm not sure she knows it. Rachel Kelly is one of the SMARTEST and most switched on businesswoman that I've been lucky to have met and while she is absolutely knee deep in business at all times, it hasn't been by the founder route which I find really interesting. (You'll hear in the intro a few words about showing variety of life paths on the show, as I know things have been a bit founder-biased mainly because of their flexibility of time to record. Just know, I'm working away in the background on keeping things broad and diverse and thank you for all your submissions for guests - the pipeline is super exciting!) Rachel is a retail superstar having jumped from her own Red Earth franchise in Adelaide to climbing up the retail ladder and into executive mode in the Just Group to then taking the reigns as Global CEO of T2 and now looking after all of Sales at booming start up Afterpay. In between, she's been an investor, start up advisor and executive mentor and is an absolute fountain of knowledge when it comes to helping complex businesses achieve growth, focus and longevity. I feel very lucky to have had her in my ear at some of the tougher times in our journey. She is an incredible leader and shares some incredible insights for any person owning, working on or in any business and I hope you gain some pearls of wisdom from our chat. + See Rachel's website here + See more on Afterpay here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!