Breadwinning Mums

David Joyce is the Founder and Lead Advisor of Synapsing , Performance and Strategic Advisor of Beautiful Game Group, a long distance runner and a well-rounded family man. We spoke about the importance of sleep in high performance, choosing the buckets we prioritise in certain life phases and the awareness of the trade-off that comes with each choice, and finding a higher purpose beyond the mechan...

Shelly Horton is a journalist, TV presenter, keynote speaker, founder of the ShellShocked media , and author of “ I’m Your Peri Godmother. ” Shelly spoke about growing up in Kingaroy as a curious girl, finding herself in a Veronica Corningstone moment that would launch her career as a TV presenter, and using her perimenopause journey to empower other women and create systemic change in Australia’s...

Dr Tamsin Astor is a neuroscientist for founders and teams, a habit and leadership strategist, and an overall good human being.   Tamsin shared her life story of navigating two cancer episodes in her young son’s life, finding inner alignment and asserting her sovereignty in her first marriage, and entering fifties with so much richness and joy, and the safety to flourish as her full self.   Breadw...

Last Sunday, on the 14th December 2025, in the late afternoon during a Hanukkah celebration attended by approximately one thousand people, two gunmen shot at the crowd, killing 15 people, including a holocaust survivor, two rabbis, and a ten year old Matilda.   We are joined today by Michael Scott , an Australian Army veteran, previously Head of Military to the UN, Founder & CEO of The 2023 Fo...

It is my pleasure to end this season’s episodes with a conversation with my good friend, Ben Pronk . Ben is the Managing Partner of Mettle Global , one of the co-founders of The Resilience Shield , the co-host of the Unforgiving60 podcast, and an adjunct faculty at the University of New South Wales. We discussed all things about life, how to build resilience, and the topic of his upcoming book: ho...

In this episode we are chatting with Rickson Dsouza - the founder of Successio Global, a husband and a father of two children, and an endurance athlete. Rickson shared his life story about growing up in Dubai as a third generation Indian, starting a career in the insurance business, before finding a clear sense of mission in life to leave a set of legacy. Breadwinning Mums informs listeners that t...

In this episode we are chatting with Dr David James Penman, or Jim Penman , the founder and owner of Jim’s Group , the largest franchise chain in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 5,500 franchisees. Jim shared his life story about building his business empire, finding worthwhile purpose in his life, and how meaningful struggle remain as an essential part of his life. I’m sure you’ll find lots of...

I had a lot of fun getting to know and chatting with Victoria O’Reilly , a Registered Nurse of oncology and palliative care unit, educator, agricultural health and wellness ambassador, and a mum of three. Vicki shared with us her journey of growing up in a military family, traveling the world as a cook before finding love and settling down in Zimbabwe, before civil unrest sent her back to the UK,...

It was an absolute pleasure and privilege to be chatting with Justine Campbell , a Clinical Therapist & Positive Psychology Business Coach for Female Entrepreneurs and the founder of The Lotus Collective™. Justine shared her life story about growing up as a young girl in Australia before exploring and living in eight countries around the world, marrying a hotelier and starting a 7-figure busin...

I had an absolute blast chatting with  Alka Joshi  on the Breadwinning Mums podcast this week. Alka is an internationally bestselling author of the  Jaipur Trilogy : The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris. Six Days in Bombay is her fourth novel. We spoke about the lead female characters in Alka’s novels - their journey of self-exploration, self-realisation and sel...

On this episode we are chatting with John Cachia , an award winning financial advisor at Thriving Wealth , host of Cash Talk podcast, a husband to his beautiful wife and a proud father of three boys. We talk about finding our ikigai, or purpose in life, beyond superficial accomplishments, how spirituality and our religious beliefs shape how we show up in the world, and the importance of patience t...

On this episode we are chatting with Jon Hunter . Jon is a Coach, Adviser, Ex-public company Chief Revenue Officer and a proud father of four children. Jon spoke about his childhood, growing up with undiagnosed dyslexia amidst his super intelligent family members, climbing up the career ladder, before the pandemic forced him to really focus on what matters in life.   Breadwinning Mums informs list...

On this episode we are so privileged to have Tim Curtis on the show. Tim spoke of his life journey, growing up as the son of a Special Air Service Commanding Officer, working for and exiting the army with an MBA, consult in the UN through the 2005 Afghanistan Parliamentary Elections, all the way up to his current consultancy work and co-authorship of the Resilience Shield, and his next upcoming bo...

On this episode we continued our conversation with Steve Biddulph - Australian author, activist and psychologist with a number of influential best-selling books; and lectures worldwide on parenting, and kids' education. We delved deeper about his latest book, Wild Creature Mind , how to tap into our right brain hemisphere to get a better, deeper understanding of our experiences and perspectives an...

On this episode I was so excited to be chatting with Steve Biddulph - an Australian author, activist and psychologist who has written a number of influential best-selling books ; and lectures worldwide on parenting, and kids' education. We spoke about his latest book, Wild Creature Mind ; how to raise better children by first taking better control over our own emotions; and how to embrace the elde...

On this episode we’re chatting with Jo Westh , the founder of 4Voices , a for-purpose organisation and registered charity providing free frontline services to vulnerable women. Jo shared her life story about growing up as an extremely driven and intelligent girl, living in Italy to study psychology, before building a career in management consulting and starting a family.   Breadwinning Mums inform...

On this episode we’re chatting with Janise Mitchell , the CEO of Australian Childhood Foundation , Director of Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care, and Adjunct Associate Professor at Southern Cross University. Janise shared her life story about growing up as a head strong and self-assured girl, accompanying her mum giving relief care to wards of state, a work that would later shape her caree...

On this episode we’re chatting with Phil Hayes-St Clair , a proud girl dad, self-proclaimed raging feminist, and serial entrepreneur that I have had the pleasure to meet during my MBA study at AGSM. Phil shared his life story about overcoming adversity early in life, how he found and thrived in other domains of  his life, and highlighted the importance of supporting your partner with continued cur...

On this episode we’re chatting with  Carla Brown , the Vice President of The Personal Finance Society , and the Managing Director and Chartered Financial Planner at Oakmere Wealth Management . Carla shared her life story about finding purpose in financial planning, building a successful business whilst weathering the storm of relationship separation, and thriving at work and at home with a partner...

Please support our show by sharing the podcast and Breadwinning Mums book with other mums in your life. Thank you so much in advance!   On this episode we’re chatting with  Jo Stone , the CEO and Founder of the Balance Institute where she empowers ambitious women create balance between career and family, without stepping back or burning out. Jo shared her life story about growing up amongst corpor...

Please support our show by sharing the podcast and Breadwinning Mums book with other mums in your life. Thank you so much in advance!   On this episode we’re chatting with Carly Hopgood, a certified professional coach and the co-founder of Sajer Group . Carly shared her life story about growing up in different parts of the world, building her roots in Sydney before making a sea change with her fam...

Please support our show by sharing the podcast and Breadwinning Mums book with other mums in your life. Thank you so much in advance!   On this episode we’re chatting with  Alex Egeler , an aerospace engineer turned lead parent to his four boys when an opportunity presented itself. Alex is the founder of Empathetic Egg, where he helps parents realign their career choices with their family-centric...

Please support our show by sharing the podcast and Breadwinning Mums book with other mums in your life. Thank you so much in advance!   On this episode we’re chatting with Dr Chloe Lim , who is the Founder, Director, and Science Storyteller at Twisty Science, a Senior Regulatory Scientist at the Department of Health and Aged Care, and the Founder and Balloon Artist at Giggly Wiggly Balloons. Chloe...

Please support our show by sharing the podcast and Breadwinning Mums book with other mums in your life. Thank you so much in advance!   Today we’re chatting with Erica James , who is not a breadwinning mum, but an inspiring woman nevertheless. Erica is a Business Systems Analyst for the Ku-ring-gai Council. She shared with us her life story about growing up in Sydney as a boy, moving to Cooma and...

On Tuesday, 12 March 2024 we had the absolute pleasure of hosting our book launch at Harry Hartog Bondi with an intimate group of breadwinning mums, podcast listeners and supporters of the Breadwinning Mums project. Three mums from the book - Wendy Zveglic, Yanti Ropeyarn and Julie Parkinson graced us with their presence to share their stories and reflections on their lives as working mums, wives,...