FIRST MOVERS with Yas London

Content warning: this episode discusses domestic and intimate partner violence, and may be distressing for some listeners. Please take care while listening, and skip this one if it isn't the right episode for you today.  One in four women in Australia has experienced intimate partner violence. One woman a week is murdered by a current or former partner. And the pattern that makes that possible alm...

You’re smart. You’re careful. You think you’d know if something wasn’t real. But what happens when your daughter’s voice can be cloned, your boss can appear on a video call, or the health expert in your feed looks credible, sounds authoritative, and has the followers to prove it? Would you actually know? In this solo episode, Yas London explores trust literacy , the skill of deciding who and what...

Your child wants their first phone. They want to stay connected with friends, have more independence and, of course, “everyone else has one”. But there’s a conversation we need to have before we hand it over. Because a first phone doesn’t just introduce a child to technology. It introduces them to a new set of rules around privacy, access, boundaries, consent, friendship, and eventually relationsh...

Jo Tarnawsky ran one of the most powerful offices in Australian politics: Chief of Staff to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, after twenty years as a diplomat in postings from Iraq to Zimbabwe to India. Then she raised a bullying complaint. Within weeks she was locked out of her own office. Five months later she stood in front of the cameras and asked for an apology. When it didn't come, she s...

You’re optimising with AI. You're hitting your KPIs. You look like you're killing it. But behind the scenes it’s a different story. Dr Kristy Goodwin calls it the success tax - and in this episode, she makes the case that high-performing women in the digital world are paying it with their health, their relationships, and their biology. Every. Single. Day. Kristy is one of Australia's leading resea...

I was hosting a leadership conference. Senior women. CEOs, founders, executives. Ruth Limkin asked one question -"How many of you are the eldest child?" - and 85% of the room put their hands up. That's not a quirky data point. That's a pattern worth pulling apart. This episode is about the conditioning that shapes high-achieving women long before they ever step into a boardroom. The identity that...

⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode contains references to domestic abuse, coercive control, and family violence. What if the most dangerous weapon in a domestic abuser's hands isn't a fist — but your bank account? In this episode, Yas London sits down with Catherine Fitzpatrick, CEO of Flequity Ventures and Australia's leading expert on financial abuse and technology-facilitated domestic violence. C...

What do online abuse, the boardroom, and elite sport have in common — when it comes to women? The same system, playing out in different venues. And in this episode I'm making the case for exactly what that system is, what it costs, and why the organisations that say they want more women at the top are often the last ones to see it happening on their watch. The pipeline isn't broken. It's being blo...

What if the single biggest invisible barrier to women's performance at work has nothing to do with strategy, leadership, or culture? Taryn Brumfitt - 2023 Australian of the Year, founder of the Embrace Collective, and one of the world's leading voices on body image - calls it the hidden variable in performance. And it's costing Australian businesses $36 billion a year. In this episode, Yas London...

When Capability Becomes a Cage:The Psychology of High-Functioning Women Why sustainable success starts beneath the surface In this episode of the First Movers podcast, Cassie Roma and Yasmin London sit down with clinical psychologist Rajna Bogdanovic to unpack the truth about high-functioning women in leadership and the hidden toll of chronic stress, over-functioning, and hyper-independence. Throu...

What happens when influence stops being content… and starts becoming culture? In this episode of First Movers , Yasmin London and Cassie Roma peel back the algorithm (and the big business of influence) to explore the rise of the super influencer — the creators shaping how we think, who we trust, and who we believe we should become. From the $250B creator economy to the tiny fraction of voices domi...

Before sponsorship deals. Before prime-time coverage. Before anyone thought women’s football was “marketable.” There were rats in the hotel rooms. And women who made a pact to play anyway. In this episode of the First Movers Podcast in partnership with Dina Uniform Group, Matildas pioneer Renaye Iserief reflects on the audacity it took to choose football in an era that barely chose women back. We...

In this episode of the First Movers Podcast in partnership with Dina Uniform Group, Matildas alum Leigh Wardell shares a story that begins in shyness and ends in leadership. Leigh wasn’t the loudest in the room. She wasn’t chasing headlines. But football taught her something deeper than dominance. It taught her character. And then character. We talk about what it means to find your voice when you’...

Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma. Please take care while listening. Before the Matildas rose to global recognition…Before tailored uniforms and sold-out stadiums…There was a young girl carrying pain she didn’t choose. In this powerful episode of the First Movers Podcast in partnership with Dina Uniform Group, Trae McGovern shares how childhood trauma shaped her...

Before tailored blazers. Before sold-out stadiums. Before the world paid attention. There were hand-me-downs. In this episode of the First Movers Podcast, Matildas trailblazer Eesh Ferguson takes us from dirt-smeared childhood games to representing Australia on the world stage. We talk team chemistry, locker room hierarchies, and the quiet power of finding your people. But we also go deeper. Into...

What happens when girls grow up outrunning the boys… but the system still tries to bench them? In this episode of the First Movers Podcast, we sit down with Sue Read to talk about the joy, grit, and quiet rebellion of women’s sport. From solitary hours of practice to the electric surge of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Sue unpacks how sport shaped her confidence, gave her agency in hard seasons, and...

Note: This powerful episode describes traumatic events of the London Bombings on July 7, 2005 In this powerful First Movers conversation, Gill Hicks reminds us that leadership doesn’t begin on a stage or with a title. It begins in a moment of choice. After surviving the London bombings on the 7th of July of 2005, Gill faced a question few of us ever want to confront: What now? When many might choo...

What if money was never the point? What if it was always about freedom — the freedom to say no, to rest, to choose, to leave, to stay, to breathe? What if money was always about agency and choice? In this solo episode, Cassie Roma unravels the emotional truth about money (inspired by Yas and Cassie’s previous conversation with the amazing Betsy Westcott) — why it’s never just numbers, never just s...

December 10, 2025 was a big day Downunder. Australia became the first country to ban social media for under-16s. As an expert in social media, online safety, and work to protect kids (and adults online), Yasmin London has an inside look at what this means and gives us the context we need to understand and navigate the change. It’s bold, it’s controversial, and it signals that we’re willing to go f...

What if wealth wasn’t about the number in your bank account…but about how alive your life feels? In this electrifying conversation, Cassie and Yasmin sit down with the phenomenal Betsy Westcott — money educator, advocate for educating women, and unapologetic disruptor of the “good girls don’t talk about money” myth — to explore how women can reclaim financial power in a world that was never design...

In this First Movers “quick bite,” Cassie Roma dives into what it really takes to show up online with courage in a world that feels like both a megaphone and a minefield. From trolls to algorithms to world leaders calling people “quiet piggies,” Cassie breaks down how women can build confidence as a muscle , not a mood — and why showing up online is an act of rebellion, leadership, and cultural ch...

This week’s First Movers Quickie has Yas exploring one of the most confronting trends shaping tech, identity, and emotional connection: AI intimacy. Following our conversation with global sextech expert Bryony Cole, we dive into what it means when AI stops being just a tool and starts becoming a partner — emotionally, romantically, even sexually. From digital boyfriends and virtual “heart links” t...

What happens when curiosity meets courage and a bit of chaos? In this episode, we chat with Bryony Cole —Sex Tech pioneer, futurist, and all-around badass—about the rise of Sex Tech, breaking down shame, and redefining what it means to live (and love) freely. From her childhood as a wildly curious kid to building a career that’s anything but linear, Bryony shows us how following your questions—not...

For our first-ever live recording at Clear Hayes House, SXSW Sydney, Cassie Roma and Yasmin London sit down with the extraordinary Dr Catherine Ball — author, futurist, and unapologetic disruptor. From her curious childhood and the mentors who shaped her, to her fearless work at XPrize and Vox Helix, Cath takes us on a wild ride through science, storytelling, and the future of technology — includi...

First Movers Quick Bites: Yas London Breaks Down the AI Actor Shaking Up Tech, Gender and the Future of Storytelling In this solo episode, Yasmin London brings you a bold, bite-sized drop on one of 2025’s most provocative stories: the rise of AI-generated actor Tilly Norwood. Crafted, not cast, Tilly has graced Variety and Forbes, but she’s not real. She’s a synthetic persona, raising urgent quest...