Get Off The Bench Podcast

After seeing the absolutely horrific scenes of the badly injured wildlife during the bushfires in 2019, 10 year old Mikaela Van Haren was gutted, and vowed then to save up as much pocket money as she could to help the koalas and all their animal friends.  Saving incredibly hard all year, and going without purchasing her favourite thins, Mikaela managed to raise $1400.20. She also did her own...

As one of Australasia’s most successful Medical Technology Business Leaders, Leanne Elich is a passionate Oncology Advocate and Global Healthcare Specialist with over 25 years experience in both clinical and corporate environments with executive leadership. Leanne began her career immediately after graduating from the University of Sydney working at Prince of Wales and Liverpoo...

If it is your mission to heighten human consciousness and spread emotional awareness you are in the right place. Tyson Sharpe looks to achieve this mission by helping spiritual coaches, healers, and lightworkers create more reach, impact, and income in their business. In the last 6 years, Tyson has coached hundreds of online business owners helping them integrate their spiritual growth with profit...

Paul Goddard has one main goal at Christmas - to bring the mystical world to life. Paul started out as a plumber in 1970 and worked his way up to becoming a manager and a mentor to apprentices. After 35 years in the trades, he retired and moved to Gippsland where he spent the first year improving the home and paddocks on his 6 acre creek frontage property. Not fully satisfied with the retired life...

Ken Baade and Leonie Orgill can’t get enough of Christmas, and in particular the squeals of joy from the kids. Even the parents get excited! What matters most to the pair of them is the amount of joy and happiness they spread to their local community. Dressed in their full costumes, Santa Claus and Mrs Clause spend every Christmas in the driveway of Ken’s home handing out candy canes and spreading...

Carolyn Rowland is the founder and head designer of Cazinc The Label, a Melbourne born designer label that satisfies the modern woman's needs of having a functional, yet stylish wardrobe. Caz worked as a fashion stylist for more than 15 years and struggled to find womenswear labels that were not only timeless, but also affordable. She knew her clients wanted classic, contemporary styles they could...

Sue Smethurst is an award-winning journalist, who has written for Australia’s biggest and most respected titles, including The Australian Women’s Weekly , The Weekend Australian magazine, The Age Good Weekend , New Idea , Woman’s Day , the Herald Sun , Australian House and Garden, the Victorian RSL’s Mufti magazine, Woman’s Own (UK), Chat (UK). Her career has taken her around the globe interviewin...

Trav Bell is The Bucket List Guy...The Worldʼs #1 Bucket List Expert.  As a self-appointed ʻBucket Listologistʼ, Trav helps people live their Bucket List before it’s too late! His unique life-engagement message really wakes you up, stops ground-hog days and helps you to experience more fulfilment.  He says, “A Bucket List is a tangible Life Plan...where our Business Plan or Career Plan s...

As a teenager, Jan Cavelle went to a very posh UK boarding school which groomed young ladies for marriage. Failing to be groomed, Jan progressed to London and became a ‘suitable secretary’, which lasted about a week.  With a keen desire to be independent, Jan started working her way through a succession of jobs, finding secretarial work a nightmare, and sales easy. She hated being e...

Originally from Melbourne, Victoria, the year 2000 saw Wendy and her family pack up their lives and move to the Gold Coast. They opened a family café in Surfers Paradise and their children finished their schooling. After years of seven days a week in business Wendy and her husband Garry decided they’d had enough of café life and got “normal” jobs.  Wendy took a job with the local basketball a...

Jaimee Newberry spent most of her working life in the Web Interaction Design & Development industry, working with companies including Apple , Disney , Nintendo and Zappos . But after a couple of years as an independent mom, and a nasty spell of Life Burnout paralleled with the loss of her dad in 2012, she decided to design her life as if it were a product using the tools she gained from a 15-y...

S. Todd Stolp MD is a physician and father of three who ran a full-spectrum rural family practice in northern California for twenty years. He then served as the Public Health Officer in California, for 12 years.  During his public health career, Dr. Stolp worked on statewide and national public health committees, did overseas work on Ebola and stateside work on Zika and is now working on COVI...

Michelle Pietrafitta is an artist-entrepreneur in the music industry performing throughout the U.S. as the drummer for independent band Banshee Tree . She is a tour designer, she books all the tours and performances for Banshee Tree. On the music side, she is a live performance artist, a studio drummer and educator. But on the business side, she deigns tour routes, pitches to venues, negotiates co...

Nine years ago Nina G became a comedian, and at that point was the only female comedian who stuttered. Nina believes that the problem isn’t with the stutterer, but with a society that isn’t inclusive or accessible to those who experience this disability. In her book Stutterer Interrupted : The Comedian Who Almost Didn’t Happen ( She Writes Press , August 6, 2019), Nina challenges the status quo of...

Nigel Beck - AKA DJ Nige brought disco to town in the 70s and nearly 50 years later is still keeping the dance floor jam-packed. He’s effortlessly worked his way through vinyl, CDs and now digital. Nige and his Kombi van Deidre are regularly spotted around Gippsland (Aus), spreading the love of music, and sharing the good vibes of love in and for the community he adores. But it’s not just Deidre t...

Rachel Dayoub describes herself as just an average lady and a single mom trying to do the best she can. But in February this year (2020), she headed to the supermarket in her home town of Pittsburg, like any other day, but this time things were different - 2 men had decided to target and stalk her. She was suddenly scared for her life and more scared that her kids may not have a mother if she didn...

With over 25 years in management with Australian public service, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the University sector, Erin Lord strives to make complex situations simple. Her current work as Director of Aeromedical Solutions, Australia’s only medical repatriation broker sees her and her co – Director Steve McLaren arrange the return of Australians who have been injured or suffered an illness...

Rachel is a radio host, model, spokesperson, and a fierce advocate for people with disabilities - particularly those with autism. A senior at University of South Florida , double majoring in English and communications, Rachel advocates for those with disabilities through her non profit, The Ability Beyond Disabilities which inspires and helps those that have challenges to strive for their dreams a...

As a performer and scriptwriter for stage, television, radio, magazines and newspapers, Jean Kittson came to national attention on ' The Big Gig ', followed by Let the Blood Run Free , Kittson Fahey, Good News Week , the Glasshouse , Flat Chat , The Einstein Factor , Media Dimensions and Strictly Speaking . Well known for her comedy debates for the ABC , Channel 9 and Channel ten , she has been a...

Bob Harris is a screenwriter, speaker, author, and has been a quiz show superstar, radio commentator, TV host, and comedian. As a screenwriter, Bob has written for Bones and CSI, was a consultant for Marvel’s Avengers: The Age of Ultron (the 10th top-grossing film of all time); head of the writers’ room on El Pantera , Mexico’s top action series; and the instructor of the graduate screenwriting pr...

Sandra Pankhurst is truly label-defying. A transgender woman, Sandra has lived many lives, rising above adversity. Her remarkable life is the subject of the internationally acclaimed, multi-award- winning book ‘The Trauma Cleaner’. Sandra (then “Peter”) was adopted into an abusive family, relegated to a backyard bungalow, malnourished, excluded from family life and escaped home in his teens. Marry...

Roy Juarez Jr. is a speaker, author and activist, and travels to inspire youth. At the age of 14 years old, Roy found himself homeless due to domestic violence, moving from house to house to survive. With only a duffle bag to call home, he was at the mercy of the streets and after navigating his way to college, Roy swore to never return to that life again. Roy is extremely passionate about helping...

Janet Hogan spent 30 years as a serial entrepreneur, running everything from restaurants to an advertising agency to multi-million dollar land developments. It wasn't till she was well into her 50s, during a simulated death experience, that she heard a voice deliver the ultimate brickbat : "You've let everyone down." In that one wake up call, she realised that by being what she thought was selfles...

Penny Cula-Reid began her journey at just 6 years old, playing football with the boys. It wasn't until the age of 14 after a training session one day, that she realised she might be different. She was tapped on the shoulder and told she couldn't play football anymore "because she was a girl" - but instead of listening, Penny asked "why?" Alongside her peers Helen Taylor and Emily Stanya, Penny too...

Dr. Ash Pachauri is the president and founder of the Center for Human Progress in India. Founded in 2009, with the aim to improve the quality of life of individuals and societies by supporting, promoting and encouraging healthy behaviours and human rights. He has also co-founded with, and inspired by, his late father R.K Pachauri, two global organisations - Protect Our Planet Movement (POP Movemen...