Bottled Up

-- Trigger Warning: This post talks about suicide, death and grief -- On Episode 53, Sunny and Mayank sit with the energetic, Shanaka Jayakody. Boy oh boy, where we do we begin with this one. We chatted about so many wonderful and nuanced topics off the fly -- and if there's one for spontaneity, it's this one. Shanaka is an incredibly resilient and purposeful individual, who has gone throu...

On Episode 52, Sunny and Mayank sit with Australian national champion rower and Olympic gold medalist, Rosemary Popa OAM. With a strong bloodline of rowing pedigree, Rosie is the daughter of Sue and Ion, two Australian bronze medallists from Los Angeles 1984. However, behind the glory, Rosie shares openly about what is often hidden behind the closed doors and shiny medals. She brings awareness to...

Hesh is back! Oh, and two years later, his come back looking like the chocolate version of Thor! 😏 In Episode 51, Sunny and Mayank sit with superstar (and Bottled Up Alumni), Heshan Fernando. 😉 He's a familiar face, having joined us in Episode 3 to chat about his relationship with his father, taking responsibility in life and his purpose-led organisation, The Model Man. Hesh is a man that ha...

In Episode 50, Sunny and Mayank sit with superstar Trent Cotchin. So often, as kids, and even now, we’ve seen him display courage, selflessness and a sense of power and stability on the field, but underneath all of that, is a man who knows what he wants, understands his identity and embraces vulnerability. In this episode we cover Trent's: 💡 Journey navigating perfectionism, through wanting t...

In Episode 49, Mayank and Sunny sat down with incredibly energetic, dynamic duo Tiana and Thuy Nguyen! These lovely people are the hosts of their very own podcast 'Unapologetically Asian' where they have honest and candid conversations about adulting, careers, relationships and everything in between. They started the podcast to share their perspectives and stories about navigating through...

In Episode 48, Sunny and Mayank sit down with Josh Balia. Josh Balia is a powerlifter, coach and qualifying to be a sports psychologist. He has used his amazing ability to connect with people to co-found 'Weights For Mates', a program designed to combine physical activities in the gym as a vehicle to help manage anxiety and depression. In our conversation, Josh takes us on a journey on how...

In Episode 47, Sunny and Mayank sit down with Dan 'MAMBA' Odoi. This has truly been one of our most enjoyable conversations to date. It's almost 2hrs and jam-packed with vulnerability, authenticity and true wisdom. There's even a few things that Dan has shared for the first time. We touch on so many AWESOME topics with Mamba, including: 💡 Taking accountability and being the maveri...

In Episode 46, Sunny and Mayank sit down with Kevin Helgren. After being diagnosed with Tourette’s in middle school, Kevin Helgren, a current Stanford and Harvard Candidate, shares how it’s changed his view of the world. Humans are biologically wired to categorise people, places and things: safe, or unsafe? Likable, or unlikable? Similar, or different? But first impressions are, by definition, bas...

In Episode 44, Sunny and Mayank sit with Callum MacPherson. He is the host of the Young Blood - Men's Mental Health podcast and isn't used to being in the interviewee chair! Raised in Adelaide by two teachers, he is a well-read, philosophical man who knew from a young age that he had the presence and ability to write and deliver stories. Callum's work in the media started at his local...

In Episode 43, Sunny and Mayank sit with Damien Bugeja. Damien is an incredibly inspiring individual who makes it his life mission to educate and inspire people about the benefits of community. Damien suffered a traumatic experience during his teen years when he lost his dad to a rare form of cancer. His pure resilience and willingness to inspire others led him to complete a 290km run from Craigie...

In episode 42, Sunny and Mayank sit with Arman Vestad who was a former criminal and drug addict. He now owes his life to two of the things that made his remarkable transformation possible: running and kindness. In the past, Arman spent a lot of his time on the run. Through a series of poor life choices and unfortunate circumstances, he had found himself dealing drugs and engaging in other kinds of...

In Episode 41, Sunny and Mayank sit with Hugo Toovey. Hugo was living a normal life and completing his training at The Australian Defence Force Academy when suddenly his life was turned upside down when he found an unusual lump on his testicle. After getting it checked out by a GP he was later diagnosed with testicular cancer. Hugo continued his training and later underwent chemotherapy which was...

In Episode 40, Sunny Bahuguna sits down with close friend and serial entrepreneur, Ronnie Kintanar . Ronnie was one of the owners of Jarvis, a platform that connects the time-poor with personal cleaners to take care of chores and cleaning duties. Jarvis was successfully acquired in 2020. Ronnie shares his story behind the startup, including his: 🔥 Upbringing in an Asian family and the values it t...

In Episode 39, Sunny and Mayank sit down with CEO of the Wellbeing Outfit and Chief Mental Health Advisor at EY Oceania, Jono Nicholas. Having sat down with Jono in November 2021, he is one of Australia's most prominent advocates of better mental health particularly from a public health perspective and treating it as a systemic issue. Jono is the Founder and Managing Director of the Wellbeing...

This week on Bottled Up, Sunny and Mayank chat with Scott Henderson, the man behind Australia’s most popular Men’s magazine, Men’s Health. Scott took over Men’s Health in 2018 with one goal, to redefine masculinity. Think of traditional men’s fitness magazine covers, and you’re probably picturing a ripped guy with his shirt off, it’s that image that Scott wanted to evolve. Good health means far mo...

This week, Sunny and Mayank sit down with the wonderful and always smiling, Gus Worland. Gus is a radio and television personality, having worked on Triple M breakfast radio and having hosted a three-part documentary series Man Up, which was focused on lifting the lid on the relationship between masculinity, social isolation, mental health and suicide. Fun fact, he also hosted a show called the ‘C...

Sunny and Mayank sit back and kick-off 2022 with a bang. Stay tuned for a cheeky rapid fire (juicy 👀) and an update on what’s ahead for Bottled Up. --- As always, Bottled Up is a passion project to help provide a voice to those many men who are going through the peaks and troughs of life. We are not trained professionals and if you're worried about someone close to you and their mental wellbe...

Mayank and Sunny sit down for the final time in 2021 to review what certainly has been a hectic year. --- As always, Bottled Up is a passion project to help provide a voice to those many men who are going through the peaks and troughs of life. We are not trained professionals and if you're worried about someone close to you and their mental wellbeing, it's important to get professional adv...

This week Sunny sits down with friend, fellow Global Shaper and Man Caver Daniel Datnow-Jamieson (DJ). DJ has had quite an interesting period growing up through high school, which has turned him into the man he is today. He uses his story not only to inspire and empower people but is passionate about connecting to our authentic selves. We touch on a number of different areas of DJ's life in th...

Another week, another episode! This week, Sunny and Mayank get behind the mic to checkin on each other and provide an update on Bottled Up. It's a banterous one as both try our luck at comedy -- we share some jokes, life after lockdown and what's been keeping us busy lately. In this episode we chat about: Life after lockdown: Sunny's conversations in the sauna and Mayank's recent 4...

Another week, another episode! This week, Mayank and Sunny sit down with the Actor, Mental Health Advocate and Author of his own book, 'Move Your Mind', Nick Bracks. You may have seen him in Neighbours, Dancing with the Stars, Salt Lake and more. Compulsive thinking was something nick grew up with. He knew he didn't fit it, but he didn't know how to navigate feeling different, At s...

It's Movember time! What better way to start the month with a conversation we had with Global Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Director at Movember, Brendan Maher. Brendan has been heavily involved in mental health throughout his career, having worked at Lifeline ad a General Manager, was the CEO of RUOK for 6 years before commencing his current role at the Movember foundation. Key highlig...

Sunny sits with Matthew Jackman for Episode 30 of Bottled Up. Matthew lives with Bipolar Affective Disorder and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (defined by DSM/Psychiatry), is a sibling caregiver to his younger brother and sister who live with enduring psychosocial diverse abilities, and has lost his mother to suicide, and consequently his grandparents due to stigma. His experiences of dist...

In episode 29, Ujjwal sits down with Tarang Chawla. Tarang is an Indian-born Australian lawyer, writer and anti-family violence advocate. In 2015, Tarang’s younger sister Nikita was murdered by her then-husband at the age of just 23. In this episode, we delve into a number topics including Tarang's life growing up in Australia, the life of his sister Niki and the lessons learnt after her passi...

In episode 28, Sunny sits down Jason Bluett, the founder of the Primal Man Project. The Primal Man Project and is all about supporting men to come back to their original design. What is that? Tune in to find out. Jason was born and raised in Papua New Guinea where he was exposed to the tribes of the traditional people and their ancient and traditional wisdom. Jason shares with us the lowest moment...