The Hair Therapist

Today's guest is proof that your past may explain part of your story, but it never gets to decide your future. At just 34 years old, Sheridan Rose Shaw has built a career and a life that many people only dream about. She is a wife, mum of two, award winning hairdresser, educator, creative director, O&M Ambassador, Pivot Point ANZ Creative Consultant, salon owner, and the founder of the inc...

Some stories don’t just surprise you - they stop you. Richard Kavanagh’s is one of them. Before the runways, before Italian Vogue, before becoming five‑time Australian Session Stylist of the Year, Richard’s life looked nothing like the global career he’s known for today. He grew up in New Zealand searching for belonging in places that could have destroyed him, addiction, violence, homelessness, an...

Some stories don’t just surprise you - they stop you. Richard Kavanagh’s is one of them. Before the runways, before Italian Vogue, before becoming five‑time Australian Session Stylist of the Year, Richard’s life looked nothing like the global career he’s known for today. He grew up in New Zealand searching for belonging in places that could have destroyed him, addiction, violence, homelessness, an...

There are some voices in Australian media that don’t just fill air time - they shake the room. And Jason Matthews is one of them. A radio veteran with decades of experience across multiple networks, Jason has built a reputation for sharp commentary, intelligent storytelling and an unwavering commitment to calling out the issues most people would rather avoid. He’s worked across senior production,...

Some careers shape you. Others transform you. And for Nikki Paterson, 24 years in the Queensland Police Service did both. During her decades on the frontline, Nikki stood in the most human of moments, beside people in deep crisis, sometimes keeping them alive long enough to receive help. Those experiences didn’t just define her policing career, they ignited a lifelong commitment to changing how we...

This week on The Hair Therapist , Mel sits down with Deborah Mason - survivor, mother, artist and advocate - to share one of the most confronting and important conversations ever recorded on this podcast. Deb’s childhood was marked by sexual abuse, violence and abandonment, followed by her admission at just sixteen to Wolston Park Hospital and later Osler House, where she endured sexual assault, c...

This week on The Hair Therapist , Mel sits down with Deborah Mason - survivor, mother, artist and advocate - to share one of the most confronting and important conversations ever recorded on this podcast.   Deb’s childhood was marked by sexual abuse, violence and abandonment, followed by her admission at just sixteen to Wolston Park Hospital and later Osler House, where she endured sexual ass...

In this week’s episode Mel sits down with Dominic Beirne for a raw, courageous and deeply reflective conversation.   Dom’s life has been shaped by experiences that would break many - adoption, childhood sexual abuse, grief, addiction, domestic and family violence, profound loss, and a catastrophic motorcycle accident that left him a paraplegic at 47. And just when he thought he had survived t...

Over the next two weeks (Part 1 and 2) Mel sits down with Dominic Beirne for a raw, courageous and deeply reflective conversation.   Dom’s life has been shaped by experiences that would break many - adoption, childhood sexual abuse, grief, addiction, domestic and family violence, profound loss, and a catastrophic motorcycle accident that left him a paraplegic at 47. And just when he thought h...

There are places that don’t just support learning - they ignite it. And after spending time with Lorna and Alyce from Country Universities Centre Southern Downs, it’s impossible not to feel fired up about what’s happening in their corner of the region.   They haven’t just opened a study space. They’ve built a launchpad. A hub where regional students walk in carrying big dreams… and walk out b...

Some stories are stitched together across countries, cultures, and seasons of life and Ruth Cleminson’s is one of them. Before she became a yoga teacher, Pilates instructor, somatic therapist, and co‑founder of Flourish Community Solutions and Flourish Academy, Ruth was a young woman moving around the world, raising her children in different countries while supporting her husband’s military career...

Some people spend a lifetime trying to understand who they are. Others are forced to learn early, through experiences that reshape their bodies, their identities, and the way they move through the world. In this episode, Mel sits down with Bec Gill, a woman whose story is equal parts courage, complexity, and quiet, persistent strength.   Born with a congenital heart condition, Bec’s childhood...

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of child sexual abuse, family and domestic violence, alcoholism, childhood trauma, and cultural identity. We acknowledge that these topics may be triggering for our First Nations & Torres Strait Islander Peoples and for anyone with lived experience. If this brings up anything for you please turn this episode off.   Some stories begin in p...

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of child sexual abuse, family and domestic violence, alcoholism, childhood trauma, and cultural identity. We acknowledge that these topics may be triggering for our First Nations & Torres Strait Islander Peoples and for anyone with lived experience. If this brings up anything for you please turn this episode off.   Some stories begin in p...

A year ago, Elizabeth sat with us and shared the moment her world split in two - the diagnosis, the fear, the grief, and the fierce determination to survive. It was raw, it was honest, and it touched every person who has ever faced cancer or stood beside someone who has.   Today, she’s back. Twelve months later. And this conversation is different - deeper, quieter, and shaped by the kind of t...

Some stories arrive heavy, complicated, and almost impossible to imagine - yet they reveal the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit. Today, Mel sits down with Michael, a man whose life began with trauma no child should ever endure. His early years were marked by sexual abuse, leaving wounds that would follow him into adolescence and shape the choices he made as a young man.   As he sl...

Some stories don’t just mark a life - they redirect it. Today, Mel sits down with Natascha Consigli, a woman whose journey has been shaped by profound loss, unprocessed trauma, and the long, courageous work of rebuilding a sense of belonging in the world.   Natascha’s early life was struck by tragedy with the death of her mother at a young age, a rupture that left her navigating childhood wit...

Some stories don’t just mark a life - they redirect it. Today, Mel sits down with Natascha Consigli, a woman whose journey has been shaped by profound loss, unprocessed trauma, and the long, courageous work of rebuilding a sense of belonging in the world.   Natascha’s early life was struck by tragedy with the death of her mother at a young age, a rupture that left her navigating childhood wit...

Some stories don’t just move us - they open us. Today, Mel sits down with Gia Sinha, a woman whose life has been shaped by experiences no child should ever have to endure, and whose courage has carried her through some of the darkest terrain a human being can face.   From a childhood marked by wounds that were buried too deep for words, to the moment, at thirty eight, when a cancer diagnosis...

Some stories don’t just move us - they open us. Today, Mel sits down with Gia Sinha, a woman whose life has been shaped by experiences no child should ever have to endure, and whose courage has carried her through some of the darkest terrain a human being can face.   From a childhood marked by wounds that were buried too deep for words, to the moment, at thirty eight, when a cancer diagnosis...

Every now and then, you meet someone whose life’s work is so deeply aligned with who they are that the impact they create feels almost effortless. Today’s guest, Chris Wildeboer, is one of those rare people.   Chris is a Certified Speaking Professional, a long‑standing member of Professional Speakers Australia, and the founder of Balance Central, a space she has spent more than 20 years shapi...

Some movements are born from strategy. Others are born from fire. Lioness Den is both.   In this episode, Mel sits down with Jenna Wilson and Rachael McKenzie - two women who have turned lived experience, professional grit, and a fierce sense of justice into a movement reshaping what’s possible for single mothers across Australia.   Jenna, the founder of Lioness Den, has built a communit...

Today’s guest is powerful, polished, and razor‑sharp, but beneath the success is a woman who has walked through heartbreak, survival, reinvention, toxic relationships, divorce, resilience, and the gritty, unglamorous work of rebuilding a life from the ground up.   Belinda J Shaw is an author, speaker, coach, stylist, and the President of Professional Speakers Australia QLD/NT. She’s also a fi...

Some lives read like a novel you can’t put down - chaotic, funny, raw, and unexpectedly profound. Scott Lamond’s story is exactly that. Growing up in the wild western suburbs of Melbourne, his childhood was anything but quiet. He and his mates spent their days mischievously exploring the neighbourhood, building skate ramps, riding boards, and making noise in punk bands. He was kicked out of three...

Some lives read like a novel you can’t put down - chaotic, funny, raw, and unexpectedly profound. Scott Lamond’s story is exactly that. Growing up in the wild western suburbs of Melbourne, his childhood was anything but quiet. He and his mates spent their days mischievously exploring the neighbourhood, building skate ramps, riding boards, and making noise in punk bands. He was kicked out of three...