Seize the Yay

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Sharna Burgess // Dancing with the Judge Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

If you were following our wedding last year, you probably saw the fun we had with our amazing wedding dance choreographer Jarryd Byrne who we then passed on to Samantha Gash and Mark Wales for their wedding. He very generously organised tickets for the four of us to the second episode of the new season of Dancing with the Stars on Channel 10 where he is the professional partner to Celia Pacquola and it was an absolute BLAST, it’s such an amazing show to watch and to see it in studio was even more impressive. I was lucky to follow up a few days later with one of the judges and fellow professional dancer, Sharna Burgess, for this week’s episode.

Sharna is the fiery red head among the judges for this year but has also come from 12 seasons of Dancing with the Stars USA as a professional partner to a Backstreet Boy, an NBA player and everything in between, taking away the winning spot with Bobby Bones in season 27. Dancing since the age of five, she has lived and danced in the UK, the USA and now back home to Australia and is an absolute force to be reckoned with. She’s open, honest and refreshing reminding us yet again that things are rarely an overnight success with lots of despair, hardship and challenge along the way. But her way to yay has led her to the life of her dreams and I loved having her on to chat through it all. Hope you enjoy!

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Dr Samantha Nutt // War zones, women's health and winging it Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

This week’s guest is neither our first doctor nor our first guest who has experienced war zones, but is definitely our first war zone doctor to join the show. With 11 honorary doctorates, an order of Canada, and an incredible career as a physician and philanthropist, Dr Samantha Nutt is one of the most interesting and articulate people I’ve had the pleasure to chat with.

From starting out in Somalia in her early 20s with UNICEF to founding War Child Canada to help children and women affected by war through education, economic opportunities, and legal support, Samantha is an absolute force to be reckoned with and I was so delighted to have met her on Necker Island with Business Chicks last year. If you’ve been listening a while, you’ll know my interest in crime is rivalled only by my quirky interest in war, so I have been fascinated by her career and, while war is a little anti-yay on its face, you’ll hear that her pathYAY is far from it.

I also think it’s important to use the platforms we have to confront the biggest nays to yay for humanity and shine a light on those who are fighting against it so passionately. I hope you are as inspired and mobilised by Dr Nutt as I was.

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Genevieve Day // Seize the DAY Feb 16, 2020

Show notes

This episode has been a long time coming, but I finally sat down with my wonderful manager and absolute girlboss, Genevieve Day, founder of her own trailblazing agency, Day Management. If you’ve ever wondered about how things work in influencer land, we cover it all in this episode right back from those very early days when the market was emerging and Gen saw an opportunity to jump right in leaving her PR career behind to start her own business.

From one sole talent on her books to now a whole Day Management family, including Nic and myself, Gen has pioneered, pivoted and paved the way for incredible partnerships, campaigns and careers. There’s a lot about her way to yay that even I hadn’t heard before and plenty of behind the scenes nuggets about everything from self-doubt and the sceptics being so young and successful to buying the whole office building when things took off financially. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

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Miranda Kerr // Getting to the Kora of beauty Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

I am SO excited about this week’s guest – I know I say that every week, but this one is truly still blowing my mind. I don’t think there are many people in Australia or anywhere for that matter who haven’t heard of the stunningly beautiful Miranda Kerr and it’s an absolute honour to have her join us from her home in LA. While she grew up in a small country town as a bit of a self-professed tomboy, Miranda started her modelling career at 13 when she won the Dolly Magazine model search in 1997 and quickly rose to prominence becoming a Victoria’s Secret Angel in 2007 as the first Aussie to earn her wings among many other career highlights that are too many to list here. In 2009, she stepped into her entrepreneurial shoes founding KORA Organics blazing a trail for over a decade now in natural beauty as well as having three beautiful children.

You’ve probably noticed I’m a long-time customer of KORA with many favourites among the certified organic face and body care range. You’ll get a complete run down of how Miranda keeps her skin so stunningly beautiful in the episode, and also hear about one of the key ingredients of the range – Noni Extract whose juices and oils Miranda has been using since childhood. I was very lucky to get an early sample of the Noni Bright Vitamin C Serum, which I’ve been using for months but I’m delighted to share that KORA Organics has also launched its powerful night equivalent, Noni Night AHA Resurfacing Serum, just last week. I’ll let Miranda tell you the rest in more detail, hope you enjoy!

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Guy and Jules Sebastian // Fame, family, a foundation and food deliveries Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

This episode has been a long time in the making and even longer since I’ve admired these two both separately and together. Guy and Jules Sebastian are two of the world’s biggest legends and the sweetest couple to have spent time with. With almost twenty years together, I thought they’d make the perfect guests for a power couple episode going all the way back to their teenage days when they met in little old Adelaide singing together. Yep, Jules sings too - one of many behind the scenes surprises - and while many of you know Guy as the winner of the first Australian Idol in 2003, he actually started out studying Medical Radiation before thankfully returning to his great gift for music.

Since Australian Idol, Guy is the only Australian male artist to achieve six number one singles and nine of his singles have been certified multi-platinum including the 11x platinum Battlescars, the beginnings of which you’ll hear him sing in the show. He even holds a record that Ed Sheeran is yet to beat and yet remains incredible humble, warm and grounded as you’ll hear. Jules is equally as grounded (and grounding of their beautiful family) while also forging her own successful career as a stylist, presenter, host of Tea with Jules and an incredible philanthropist (something they enjoy pursuing together, with the Sebastian Foundation) – I have so admiration for her and as you’ll hear Guy does too. You’re in for a ripper almost hour and a half with some deep behind the scenes reflections, random tangents about family, Uber Eats and Guy’s original demo CDs and of course signature Seize the Yay cackles.

Of course, knowing I would be recording this at their home studio with ALL the fancy equipment, I upgraded my usual set up with a new adapter so they wouldn’t have to share a microphone. The sound is a little different to usual – of course it happened with the Sebastians, I’m such a flipping noob – but hopefully you will enjoy it all the same.

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Image credit: Who Magazine

Amy Barber // From UN war crimes tribunals to the Red Cross (and some prison yoga on the side) Jan 29, 2020

Show notes

Welcome back to the second episode we recorded over in the West during our quick visit to Perth. In case anyone has been waiting for an example of someone who didn’t have to leave the law to find their yay, my dear friend Amy Barber is your woman. As you’ll hear, her legal career would have been my dream career if business hadn’t fallen into my lap and I am continually in awe of her resilience, open-mindedness and sense of social justice. While she too started out in corporate law at the same firm as two time Seize the Yay guest Samantha Gash for whom we were both recently bridesmaids, Amy shifted quickly towards the realm of international and humanitarian law to build one of the coolest careers I’ve encountered.

Amy’s first step out of corporate was a dramatic one into the United Nations as a prosecutor in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. From there, she has worked in East Timor, Cambodia and Liberia and developed a keen interest in military law in the process. On returning home to Australia to settle down with her husband and start a family, she has also joined the Army Reserves part time as a legal officer (now officially Captain Barber) and works full time as legal counsel for the Australian Red Cross so also has some insights into the bushfire relief work the organisation has been doing. (In her spare time, she teaches yoga in a women's prison - I mean, seriously). She is endlessly fascinating and I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

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Cameron Cranley // Fireman Cam Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

Thank you all so much to everyone around the world who participated in the Relief Run over the weekend. There were over 18,000 of us running in almost 200 countries and we raised over $1 million for the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery fund. Special thanks to those of you who joined our Seize the Yay community runs, this yayborhood continues to blow me away with your generosity and spirit.

This episode worked out with such perfect timing, I’m delighted to have our dear friend and legend Cam Cranley on the show to talk about his career as a firefighter. We’ve been trying to tee this up for months and months, but it worked out to align with a time when our interest in understanding the role of firies is more relevant than ever. I thought it would be good to get some understanding of what our firefighters have been facing, especially because we often take emergency services for granted until we need them most. And of course, we covered both the serious and the more lighthearted including Cam’s moment to shine as Mr May in the annual firefighters calendar and season 2 of the Bachelorette alongside former STY guests Georgia Love and Lee Elliott.

Cam is basically a human Labrador and is one of the few people who talks as fast as me, so I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

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Jeremy Muijs // The growth and alchemy behind Grown Alchemist Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

I hope you all enjoyed last week’s early first episode and that Lisa, Samantha and I weren’t too delirious for you to take something from it. Since then, the Relief Run has raised over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS for the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund with over 8000 people participating all over the world. Hopefully see some of you at our group runs this weekend, I’ll chat more about that at the end of the show.

For now, this episode is 2020's original first one back with the wonderful Jeremy Muijs (the pronunciation of which you’ll understand better after you listen). Unlike many of our guests, I hadn’t met Jeremy before our chat but as you’ll hear, we got along like old friends. Neither he nor his brother, Keston, started out in beauty or wellness but in true Seize the Yay fashion their way to yay took many unexpected twists and turns leading them to co-found one of my favourite beauty brands, Grown Alchemist. Despite beginning way before wellness was really part of our daily vernacular and natural beauty had become the booming trend it is today, they pioneered a holistic scientific approach to skin and beauty creating their “bio-compatible beauty” revolution.

With formulas based on a unique synergy between biology and cosmetic chemistry, they have made a name for themselves globally leading the way in anti-ageing technology with labs in London, Paris, Switzerland, Spain and Australia. I found Jeremy to be a wonderful storyteller and hope you enjoy hearing more through our chat.

+ Find out more about Grown Alchemist here

RELIEF RUN

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Lisa Messenger & Samantha Gash // Bushfire relief from Bangalow and some babbling on beginnings Jan 09, 2020

Show notes

We’re back a little earlier than planned, given what I’m sure wasn’t quite the start to the year most of you envisioned. Our beautiful Australia is burning and the effects of the bushfires have been devastating and widespread. People have lost their lives, loved ones and homes as well as millions of wildlife and hectares of land being destroyed.

It’s been terrifying to see things unravel, especially as we have family in affected parts of Gippsland. If you’ve been directly impacted in any way, you have my deepest, most heartfelt sympathies. What has been uplifting to see though is the way the national and global communities have started to mobilise to offer as much support in as many ways as possible. Thank you all to everyone out there who is doing their bit in the best way they can.

You’ll probably have seen we’ve been doing bits and pieces with our businesses, particularly with the Relief Run that my dear friend Samantha Gash and husband Nic have started. With the universe working its magic, Sam and I had planned an escape to Bangalow with our wonderful friend Lisa Messenger who has also been working furiously with Food Bank Australia and we ended up in throes of a non-stop bushfire relief working bee. As we have been struggling against the density of information despite the brevity of social media, I thought a podcast episode would give us a longer form chance to discuss what’s been happening but also to touch on some broader important themes on new beginnings, getting started and breaking through action paralysis. Lisa was our very first guest and Sammy joined last year, so it was a delight to get on the mics again to bump brains.

Warning – It’s not particularly polished and there’s some delirium in the air, but hopefully there’s some useful parts and some lighter giggles too.

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Michael Ramsey // From oil and gas to a fitness empire and getting Strong(er) everyday Dec 22, 2019

Show notes

Last episode of the year, and what a year it’s been! I’m absolutely buzzing from all the amazing things we’ve done with Seize the Yay this year and every day I’m so grateful for you wonderful listeners for being part of the yay-borhood and making it possible. Not gonna lie though, I’m definitely feeling the exhaustion and am ready for a little bit of time off – don’t forget that a big part of seizing your yay is taking time to rest, rejuvenate and PLAY while you let your mind and body recover. So while I pushed through last year, we’re taking a little break for a few weeks but I’ve triple dosed over the last week so that should keep you going!

Before we sign off, I’ve got one last episode with one of my dear friends and huge inspirations, Michael Ramsey. Like many of these chats, I’m not only honoured to be sharing his amazing story but also got to find out a heap of things I didn’t know before! You might have encountered Ramsey before through one of the six F45 studios he once owned including the world’s #1 studio in Port Melbourne. You could have also seen the buzz created by his amazing Journey retreats that have collaborated with the Keep It Cleaner Girls, Simon Hill from Plant Proof and many more to come next year. Or it could be his brand new venture, Strong, bringing the rowformer to Australia for the first time that caught your eye. And that’s only a few of the many facets of this fascinating human.

But of course, there have been so many diversions and learnings along the way and as I always love to remind you the way to yay is never linear. Before he shot to fame in the fitness world, Ramsey started his career in the oil and gas industry and also had a boating technology start up among many other things that belied the success he’d later have in a completely different world. Such a great story to finish with showing again the patience and resilience it takes to finally find your yay. Hope you enjoy!!

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