Seize the Yay

I spoke in last week’s introduction about the parasocial relationships we often have with the people we follow and today’s guest is another amazing human I’d been Internet besties with for a while before we met. When we did finally cross paths through a Business Chicks event - the foundation of so many great relationships - it was like the podcast universe of Sarahs folding in on itself and felt l...

In this day and age, we all enjoy a few parasocial relationships with people we follow but haven’t actually met and in fact most of our guests on the show feel that way before we record. But this week’s guest goes even further beyond that and into the realm of an honorary family member who’s with us in our lounge room, kitchen and sometimes even bedroom every single day… In the ultimate case of #I...

There would be very few Australians who haven’t encountered The Daily Aus at one point or another, consuming the latest headlines from around the world in unmistakably bright colours and a no-nonsense vernacular. Since 2017, TDA has been disrupting the media landscape by repackaging leading news stories in a digestible, engaging way for younger, traditionally news-avoidant audiences.  What you may...

Sometimes our guests are incredibly talented experts in a specific field, while other times they are extreme polymaths with ventures spanning industries and themes. Sometimes our guests are renowned public figures with extensively covered careers and other times their achievements are quieter although never less impressive.  And then, you have Merrick Watts who is all of things at once with his in...

I’ve had a string of special recordings lately with guests I’ve been lucky to know through multiple chapters of their pathYAYS and today’s is absolutely one of those. But this is even more momentous not only because Seize the Yay was our guest’s first ever podcast back in 2019, but because her return comes literally days after some HUGE announcements and this chat was the first time she could spea...

I’m not sure I even have words to describe our episode this week and you’ll understand why within the first few minutes - even the journey to our first question is a wild ride. It’s iconic, chaotic, eye-opening, thought-provoking, totally unfiltered and above all, one of the most enjoyable yaps I’ve had in a long time. I am thrilled to have had the delightful duo, Bec Judd and Jessie Roberts, in t...

You have all definitely heard of the incredible Steph Claire Smith or Steph Miller and, if you’ve been listening to the show for a while, you’ll have heard her on this show not once... nor twice... but THREE times with this episode. I’ve always said having a podcast is such a beautiful way to capture who a person is at a point in time and then, if we do remain in each other’s lives, to look back o...

It has been an absolute delight to see how many of you share in my passion for espionage or intelligence stories and to hear that you enjoyed our last episode with a real-life Australian spy. One of the most common follow up questions from you has been my top recommendations for spy books, TV shows or podcasts and, funnily enough, my own current favourite podcast was also the one our ASIO Intellig...

Over our seven years so far of seizing the yay, I’ve found myself repeatedly blown away by some of the rooms it has led me into and some of the incredible people I’ve been lucky to meet. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine one of those rooms would be a SCIF at the headquarters of our national security service, ASIO, or that one of those people would be a real life spy. For the uninitiated, a...

Welcome back lovely yayborhood, I hope the new financial year is treating you well. I’m so excited to share today’s episode not only because our guest is infinitely knowledgeable, but also because it ended up a little different to usual. Anaita Sarkar and I have been mutually fangirling for many years and one of the many things I love about her is her insatiable curiosity. Because of that, she not...

We all know I rarely find myself struggling with words, but certain guests and their stories simply defy adequate description. I was lucky enough to interview Grace Tame at an event back in 2022 where her bravery and eloquence moved a room full of excitable adults to still, silent awe. Getting to chat with her again and share that with you all this week feels like such a great privilege and again...

Welcome to BIZ — the podcast that's rewriting the rules of work for a new generation. Are you the queen of procrastination who'd rather deep clean your entire house than finish that urgent report? This week on BIZ Inbox, Em Vernem and Sarah Davidson tackle the art of actually getting work done with practical strategies – including the game-changing "eat the frog" method that might just save your p...

Lovely yayborhood, it’s been a little while since our last Seize the Bebe episode but as always that in itself is such an apt representation of the juggle. SO many topics have come up recently that I’ve wanted to dedicate episodes to without anywhere near enough time to squeeze them in (including another episode on that juggle itself after a little video I shared on it went viral) but that will ha...

Lovely yayborhood, one of my favourite things about this show is the incidental opportunity it gives me to learn about things I don’t really understand from the people who find THEIR yay in making it their area of expertise. I often refer to my selfish motivations in approaching particular guests to pick their brains about things that fascinate me and an episode on AI has been brewing for some tim...

If you’ve been on the Internet at all over the past decade or so, you’ve likely been influenced by Rozalia Russian who I feel comfortable calling one of the OG influencers of our time. While many of us embraced the mirror selfie and Valencia filter from the beginning, not all of us transformed into one of the country’s most sought after opinion leaders, brand ambassadors and dare I say “icons” wit...

Lovely yayborhood, I hope you all had a wonderful double long weekend and are getting back into the swing of things. I had some very much needed down time with lots of wholesome, offline play to yay and it does SUCH wonders for the soul. So often, you don’t realise how fast you’ve been going or how hard you’ve been pushing until you stop - I talk about the relentlessness of our modern pace of life...

The problem with being an excitable person who always uses excitable language is that I leave no superlatives in reserve for when something really blows me away. But I think most of Australia and the world (in fact, at least 60 million listeners) will grasp why I am pinching myself that our guest this week is none other than Hedley Thomas, National Correspondent for The Australian and creator of g...

I am so excited about our guest this week (although I know I say that every time), but I'm especially excited about this one as we’ve been trying to line this up for a long time and I’ve been fangirling over her for even longer. But as always, the universe in its infinite wisdom worked out the perfect timing for us in the end so that this chat would come out the same week as her very first book. Y...

Following on from last week, here's a little (very unedited, stream of consciousness style) dear diary reflection episode on the top ten things I've learnt in our first year of parenthood. If you've listened to last week's throwback, you'll remember the crazy timing of all our birthdays meaning I got to it down to record this one on the morning of my own 36th birthday. The perfect moment to think...

It is such a great privilege to have a community (or a yayborhood) sharing in our big life milestones and moments (especially over many years for some of you who have so kindly stuck around) and I’m sure it will shock you just as much as me to hear that this week marks ONE YEAR since Teddy came into the world. Weirdly it feels like I’ve been his Mum for both a minute and a lifetime all at once, bu...

Given International Women’s Day fell on a Saturday this year, consider this week’s conversation our annual dedication episode. And I don’t think we could have a more perfect guest for the occasion than the woman currently holding the highest position that exists in one of the most traditionally male dominated landscapes in Australia… the AFL. We are so lucky to have Laura Kane with us today, the E...

Welcome to part two of our very hotly awaited episode of Seize the Bebe on starting solids. In this part, we cover one of the most overwhelming parts of the process - introducing allergens - with Nourishing Bubs founder and paediatric dietitian, Olivia Bates, who answers your questions in such great detail sharing her wealth of knowledge to put our minds at ease. If you haven't listened to part on...

Welcome to a very hotly awaited episode of Seize the Bebe and by hotly awaited, I mean we had SO many submitted questions from you guys but possibly even more from me. Pretty much every area of parenting is overwhelming, sometimes confusing and energy intensive but starting solids is right up there at the top of the list in the early days so it’s one of the first topics I wanted to cover. Most of...

Many of our guests on the show tell incredible stories of trying lots of different things they don’t really love before stumbling on a particular yay that changes their life. What has fascinated me about George Hartley since the day we first met is that he’s loved then left lots of different yays to end up in his current chapter in an industry he originally knew absolutely nothing about. I was fir...

It’s not the first time we’ve touched on this week’s topic or guest on the show, but you’ll all remember how absolutely CAPTIVATED I was by the Thai cave rescue when I first read Against All Odds, so I am SO excited to be able to revisit it again. Our conversation with Dr Richard Harris a few years ago is still one of our most popular episodes ever, so I’ve been hoping to get his friend, diving pa...