Seize the Yay

While last week Farah spoke of faraway places, this week's guest is homegrown but has exported the Aussie experience through a booming business described as Aussie Made, Globally Loved. Blair James co-founded self-tanning disrupter Bondi Sands in 2012 to capture everything that makes Aussie summers iconic through what has grown to over 50 products in a whopping 30,000 retailers worldwide. Of course the business' huge success, continual innovation and championing of sun safety and sustainability are incredible impressive and Blair shares many useful tips on brand building and scaling that had me furiously taking down notes. But, unsurprisingly if you're a regular listener, I was more thrilled to explore his lesser known earlier years including his very small country hometown called - wait for it - YEA (pronounced "yay") - and that he didn't excel in VCE nor did he finish university neither of which have hindered where he ended up. As always, there's some hilarious fun facts in between - nothing humanises a person more than hearing them laugh especially about the joys of iso haircuts! As a businesswoman but also as a human, I love exploring the brains behind beloved brands and hope you do too. + Follow Blair James and Bondi Sands here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY! >>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<

While last week's episode was one of those chats you know I love that show a different side of someone you've probably already heard of, I equally love introducing you to people and stories you might not already know. And while sometimes, that's because our guest is early on in their journey or in a niche, behind the scenes area, for Farah Mohamed it's more the opposite playing on a global, life-changing scale beyond most of our day to day lives. We met during our incredible trip to Necker Island with Business Chicks last year where I first heard her story and was absolutely captivated by her every word as I'm sure you'll be. You don't often expect the guest speaker to then sit down with you for a chat afterwards, but Farah is humble and attentive in a way that belies the incredible way she is shaping our world for the better. She is interesting in so many ways from her own experience as a Ugandan refugee of Indian heritage and Muslim faith who fled to Canada in early life to serving as CEO of the Malala Fund, inspired by Malala Yousafzai, who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban for going to school and became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. And she LOVES to laugh which left us in stitches many times in a beautiful, heart wrenching and warming blend of the serious and the silly. There's so much in between but I won't reveal any more here - hope you enjoy as much as I did. + Follow Farah Mohamed here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY! >>> JOIN THE SEIZE THE YAY FB GROUP <<

I'm excited to be back this week with another incredible guest whose name I'm sure you've heard before but who, like many of our guests, has so much more depth than their surface level media portrayal might suggest. You know I love peeling back the layers of a well-known name to explore the lesser known parts of who they are underneath and Ashy Bines got right on board for a juicy, thought provoking chat. Ashy's huge success in the health and fitness world with a community of millions and now several businesses under her belt belies her humble beginnings on dairy farms the same way that her energetic positivity and confidence belies the negativity and narratives thrust upon her earlier in life. Having followed her for many years, I'd heard some of her story but she is stronger and more resilient than I ever knew and so generous in sharing her experiences with trolling, body image and motherhood so that others might feel less alone and better equipped for their own journey. I'll let her tell you the rest and we cover A LOT of ground with so many nuggets that I hope you find as useful as I did. We recorded this before the restrictions in Victoria eased a bit so ignore those references as that's all I could talk about back then! + Follow Ashy Bines here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

Our last Q&A episode for the year to mark our first anniversary as Mr and Mrs Davidson (or should I say, YAY-vidson). Thank you all so much for your questions and for giving us a reason to sit down and reflect on what has been a tumultuous but transformative year. We got through as many as we could with a healthy dose of bagging each other out, soppy love dedications and lots of chuckles along the way. I always get a bit of a vulnerability hangover after these ones without the buffer of a new third party guest to take most of the spotlight, but I also love how they force me to reflect on questions I don't always otherwise make time for so I hope you enjoyed getting to know us a little better. BOOK YOUR BANNISTERS ESCAPE TODAY + Follow Nic Davidson here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

Few people actually end up living out their childhood dreams, either because the dream changes or life does. But, enchanted by the glossy pages of the first fashion magazines she ever read, Justine Cullen made it her mission to conquer the extremely competitive, coveted and convoluted ladder of the publishing world and ultimately landed her dream job as Editor in Chief at Elle Magazine. Her journey reinforces everything I love to say about being open to whatever pathway might get you to your dream and being patient with the steps along the way. But, it's her journey from there and into her new role as Editor-in-Chief of Jones Magazine that I found most interesting in how it forced her to untangle her identity from the prestige, title and everything that satisfied her former self to build the next chapter for the new person she had become. As well as the existential crisis of success and the beauty of being a beginner, she also dishes up some juicy stuff that we all love to hear about how Editor life isn't just swanning about and definitely isn't always easy - I was a tiny bit satisfied by that. And as a Mum of four, she is more than qualified to share some words on priorities, balance and humility. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did! >>> VISIT THE SKINNOVATION HUB HERE <<< + Follow Justine Cullen here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

I hope you enjoyed our little throwback re-release last week and I promise the guest we had to postpone will be well worth the wait in a few weeks. As for today's guest, if you haven't heard of him personally, you will definitely know of some of his incredible work through one of the world's great examples of using business success for good. And that in itself is one of the cleverest things about the Cotton On Foundation - that so many of you could have made a positive impact by shopping as you might have anyway and that it makes a philanthropist out of us all combing the power of all our purchases so we can make an impact without having millions of dollars. And Tim Diamond is the Foundation's General Manager who has been there since its establishment and helped grow it to the incredible vehicle for change it has become today. You'll be able to hear how Tim has absolutely found his purpose and see his own growth interweave with the foundation's growth over the years. But like always, he didn't just land there one day and I LOVE that there's a signature right place, right time sliding doors moment in the mix as well. You'll also hear how despite his very impressive role, he's still a Torquay boy and a chiller dad at heart! I'll let Tim tell you the rest and hope you are as inspired as I was. >>> VISIT THE FOUNDATION'S RANGE HERE <<< + Follow Cotton On Foundation here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

**** Re-releasing this one for something different as a very big, exciting guest had to postpone last minute this week AND I realised some of you have only just joined and may not have caught up on our back catalogue! Also realised how much I've learnt about audio plus we recorded this in a very noisy hotel, but it's still a zinger so I hope you enjoy! **** I mean, what words really are there to do this week's guest justice and adequately explain the feelings you can only imagine I felt being lucky enough to sit down with him for a chat about seizing the yay. As I've been bombarding you about on socials, I'm sure most of you already know I met the inimitable Gary Vaynerchuck last week when he was briefly in Melbourne to launch the epic collaboration between his new company, Empathy Wines, and Aussie wine legends, Vinomofo, thanks to another amazing Seize the Yay guest and Vinomofo founder, Justin Dry. Ahead of every curve with his astonishing intuition, Gary Vee has gone from former Soviet Union migrant to worldwide entrepreneurial sensation embracing e-commerce before the term was coined taking his family wine business from a $3million to $60million turnover when he took over the reins and producing content prolifically since YouTube was just four months old. The accolades and achievements since then are too many to list, but most importantly not as relevant to list as you might expect despite him having since founded VaynerMedia as well as investing early in many of the world's biggest beasts a la Facebook, Snapchat, Venmo etc. Not having been quite sure what to expect, it was so delightful to be met with an incredibly humble, hardworking and honest person focused more on redefining success away from financial metrics and external approval and towards happiness and love - he is definitely seizing his yay and I'm SO grateful he shared some of it on the show. Full video will follow shortly too! Ladies and gentleman, Gary Vee... + See show notes here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

If you're a cricket fan, you'll certainly appreciate how incredible today's guest is but even if you're not I have no doubt that you'll understand how remarkably well adjusted, humble and untainted Ellyse Perry is for someone who has been an elite international athlete since the tender age of 16 when she made her debut into the Australian team. Whether you understand the sport or not, we all know that elite athletes in any field face incredible pressures and expectations as well as the ups and downs that fame and fortune can bring but I'm still taken aback by how level headed Ellyse has remained and how endearing her views on winning, being a role model and the importance of friends and family truly are. There are too many accolades to list but to give you some background, Ellyse became the youngest-ever Australian Test Cricketer debuting at the age of 17 and has amassed incredible statistics since mastering both the batting and bowling disciplines. Not only that, she played for Australia in BOTH Cricket AND Soccer until the growth of hers and the profile of both sports allowed athletes to go full-time and required her to choose one or the other and she has continued to absolutely flourish becoming a leading figure for the rising female presence in Aussie sporting culture. Despite her great success, she has such a refreshing attitude towards winning and competition AND I loved hearing that her closest friends know absolutely nothing about cricket keeping her feet firmly on the ground. I hope you enjoy getting ot know this Aussie legend as much as I did. + Follow Ellyse here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY! >>> LISTEN TO THE LATEST EPISODE OF BEAUTY IQ UNCENSORED <<

It's been a while since the last time we did this, but this episode is dedicated to one of our beautiful listeners who originally emailed to suggest three other women but it was HER story I was captivated by. I think I spend longer writing these intros than I do on the episode, because I always have so much more to say after re-listening and Kate Bridgman really epitomises so many things about this show. Firstly, she gives a name to something I've been bumbling around trying to express - duality. Things can be tough and beautiful so, while some episodes do cover heavier topics, it's to show how adversity can be overcome and that yay can be one layer in a multifaceted experience. Secondly, that yay isn't just starting a business and have a profile of some sort. It's a privilege to show a different side to our more famed guests but also a joy to introduce you to those you haven't like Kate and her intrapreneurial journey in education. Thirdly that our brains are incredibly complex, and we are constantly impacted by so many things - societal expectations, misconceptions, pride, worthiness, perfectionism and these conversations help me build so much self-awareness and hope some of you gain the same. There are so many other things I can say but I'll let you soak it all up in our chat. Just a little warning, we cover some deep moments of Kate's journey with perinatal anxiety and depression to help normalise and bring awareness to the topic. But her story is so beautifully reassuring about coming out the other end after breaking to rebuild and I hope it helps even one person feel more equipped, less alone and reassured in their own journey. If you need support, please reach out to Lifeline 13 11 14. Click here for Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia Click here for BeyondBlue + Follow Kate here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY! >>> GET THE SEIZE THE YAY BOOK HERE <<

You've probably heard me rattle off the quote, "everyone you meet knows something you don't" and I reflected on that a lot during this episode. Creating this podcast expands my mind and world so much, but each guest teaches me something in a completely different way. Often I pull out specific nuggets or ideas that click in my brain as we're chatting a long, but with Fred Schebesta it was the way his brain works overall churning through concepts that I found most fascinating particularly because it's so different to my own and I could honestly never guess where his mind was going next. You'll be able to tell by how much we jump all over the place what a keenly curious mind he has, which is no doubt responsible for his incredible achievements, and while it definitely kept me on my toes we ended up peeling back more layers than I expected to wade through the depths of self worth, internal judgment and the complicated relationship we have with success. If you don't think you've heard of Fred, just conjure the Finder.com.au jingle (which everyone has heard) and he's the man responsible. With over 10 million visitors a month, Finder offers us easy access to resources that help us understand financial products in the Australian market and Fred has won just about every entrepreneurial award there is and justifiably too. I would never have guessed that he came from a medical family and lived out part of his childhood in a caravan at the back of the medical centre his parents built, nor would I have guessed that Finder had to make a come back a few years into its journey from a complete ban by Google (which makes me SHUDDER to think of the challenge that would pose). Like always, there's so much more to his way to yay than you'd expect and there are chapters we didn't even get to like his success in the wild world of cryptocurrency. It's a rollercoaster this one, so buckle in BUT there are so many great takeaways and a whole person, father and chicken-lover behind the title you see most... + Follow Fred and Finder.com.au here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY! >>> GET THE SEIZE THE YAY BOOK HERE <<

Hope you enjoyed this week's bonus episode everyone and we're chasing it up with a very appropriate chat for Women's Health Week. The beautiful Lindy Rama-Ellis joined us from her home in Bali to tell us about her new business, Fig Femme, which is blazing a trail in breaking down the taboo surrounding a fundamental area of women's health. Lindy is endearingly (and perhaps surprisingly honest about how challenging it's been adding a bold new project to mothering four children juggled between two countries with a global pandemic added to the mix. Yes, there's a bit of vagina talk, but in the way Lindy seems to deal with everything in life, it's as classy and poised as ever. And of course, my favourite part of every story is that this latest chapter is preceded by so many others that revealed nothing about where Lindy would end up which we spend equally as much as time on. She is one of the perfect examples of someone whose title in the media creates a totally incomplete picture of who she really is - while she is indeed a Balinese princess through her paternal side, she was brought up as a Tassie girl by her mother back in Australia. We chat dyslexia, the identity struggle in divorce, the liberation of entering your 30s and 40s, motherhood, criticism and the elusive concept of balance. She's known among friends for rocking a ballgown when required but being as down to earth as ever in every other moment and I think that shines through in this episode - hope you learn as much as I did. + Follow Lindy and Fig Femme here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY! >>> GET THE SEIZE THE YAY BOOK HERE <<

I've got a little bonus episode for you this week, lovely yayborhood, with the wonderful duo from Shameless Podcast, Mich and Zara. I've been so lucky to share so much of the book-writing journey with these two culminating in our joint book birthdays on September 1, so we sat down that very day to get their freshest feelings on launching their incredible guide to your 20s, The Space Between. You might remember they joined Seize the Yay back in April 2019 (for episode 29) so we caught up on the explosive growth of Shameless, the highs and lows of the space between then and now - sorry couldn't help myself - then dish up the behind the scenes dirt on what it takes to bring a book into the world. You probably also know that they hosted the Seize the Yay book launch the day after this chat, so we've had a lot of each other lately and it's been as enlightening and enjoyable as always. We scrapped the normal episode structure for the occasion in favour of a juicy, honest chat about the rollercoaster of feelings we're all going through right now. Add the extension of stage 4 in Victoria yesterday and I'm a bit all over the place to be honest so I won't keep talking or I might open the floodgates but sending my fellow Victorians so much love and I hope this brings you a chuckle and a smile as you listen along. >>> BUY THE SPACE BETWEEN HERE <<< + Follow Mich and Zara here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

Welcome to Spring everyone (or to Autumn if anyone is tuning in from the Northern Hemisphere). The new month and season also brought with it the birth of the Seize the Yay book which finally launched into the world yesterday - thank you so much to everyone for your lovely messages of support and for buying your copies. We'll talk more about the book in due time, but today is all about our wonderful guest Jade Kisnorbo who you might have seen gave the yayborhood an incredible make up tutorial for Chits and Giggles last week. Over a thousand of you tuned in and it seemed many of you learnt as much as I do every time I chat to Jade - she's technically an internationally renowned hair and make-up artist but I think a far better title for her is as a creator of confidence. Since we took an educational approach for our IGTV tutorial (which you can still watch I'll be posting the full product list in the next few days), I thought this episode should focus more on the storytelling which you know I love so much. Some episodes truly unravel like a chat on the couch between friends and for most of this one I forgot we were recording just soaking up the lesser known backstory of how Jade made her way to yay. We jump around from balancing career priorities in a marriage, the freedom of the expat experience, the challenge of starting from scratch in an industry and what it takes to build a name for yourself as well as being a mother and businesswoman which is something I admire about Jade so much. There really is a bit of everything and most of this I was hearing for the first time along with you. I really cherish the openness some guests are willing to bring to these chats especially when they are well known professionally in the media or around town. I hope you enjoy as much as I did! >>> WATCH OUR BEAUTY TUTORIAL HERE <<< >>> SIGN UP TO JADE'S MASTERCLASSES HERE <<< + Follow Jade K here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

This is a guest I haven't caught up with properly in a long time and I'm sure you'll hear how much we both enjoyed connecting again. We only started recording after about 45 minutes of chatting and I still could have kept going forever. Em Toner is such a special sausage combining the precision of scientific psychological study with the depth of mindfulness and meditation practice. She is a nationally registered clinical psychologist with a research background in positive psychology and behavioural neuroscience but also a meditation and mindfulness teacher, speaker, musician and music producer and Medibank ambassador. She had me not only smiling and laughing but also reflecting deeply on the workings of our mind, my experiences with psychology and the concept of positivity. Her ability to put you completely at ease makes it unsurprising that I share a few things I hadn't shared before (which you all know is pretty hard given what an over sharer I am). I hope she sparks some reflection in you guys as she does every time for me. FIND EM'S GRATITUDE MEDITATION HERE + Follow Emily Toner here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!

This guest is one I've actually been meaning to get on since I started the podcast having been a huge role model and support for me in business and in life. Every time Erika and I run into each other, speedy catch ups seem to reveal that one or both of us is on the cusp of a revelation or new chapter leading to such interesting chats about ideas of success, personal development and joy. While you might have encountered Erika in her role as one of the co-founders of global e-commerce sensation, Frank Body, her story extends far beyond that in both directions all of which she openly explores with us today. Most recently, Erika is making waves with her fresh and fabulous Fluff Casual Cosmetics taking a bold new approach to beauty with refillable AND conversation starting packaging that's up there with my favourite handbag essentials. As one of the cleverest people with words that I know, Eri tells it far better than I could so let's jump right in - I hope you enjoy! + Follow Erika here + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah + Join our Facebook community here + Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!