Hosting With Heart

Susan Weil is a true pioneer of the hosting space, having managed multiple accommodation offerings in and around her home town of Bellingen, NSW for 22 years. A qualified marriage counsellor, Susan moved to the area with her daughter following the dissolution of her own marriage many years ago, and shortly following stumbled on the 8 acre property that would ultimately evolve into what is now know...

Jane Cay is an Australian entrepreneur and founder of the fashion retailer, Birdsnest. She launched the company in 2004 from her hometown of Cooma in rural New South Wales, and it has since grown into one of Australia's most successful e-commerce businesses, with a strong focus on customer service, personal styling and body positivity. In mid 2022, Jane and the team at Birdsnest opened Nest Stays,...

In this season and end of year final episode, your host Jen Clark extends her thanks to all who have helped make Hosting With Heart the resounding success it's been in 2022, as well as outlining plans for the podcast, website and community in 2023.

Ally Oyston is a woman on a mission. The former lawyer turned disability advocate, along with her husband Matt, earlier this year purchased Bimbala Cottage, a 100-year-old, lovingly restored, meticulously decorated house located in Jervis Bay, New South Wales. Having purchased it from another highly successful host, Ally and Matt were fortunate enough to acquire all of the furniture in the propert...

In 2013, Sam Bloom, an avid traveller, keen sportswoman, nurse, wife and Mum to three young boys, was holidaying in Thailand with her family when in a literal split second, she fell six metres through the decayed railing of an observation deck fence, landing on concrete. As a result of the fall, she suffered devastating injuries, including severe damage to her spinal cord that left her paralysed f...

Amanda Bertoldi-Ward and Gareth Ward have a mindset and approach to hosting that is thankfully becoming more and more commonplace as time goes on. An architect and a carpenter respectfully, they started out with an ethos centered on sustainability, wellness, quality and charity, and have carried on in the same vein ever since. Having started the building process of what would become the first two...

Liz Hayes and her husband Andy have created something so desperately needed in this ever-demanding day and age; a sustainable retreat that encourages guests to reignite their childhood sense of curiosity. Set amidst the trees of Million Springs Farm, overlooking the glorious Hakataramea Valley, smack-bang in the middle of New Zealand's South Island, Nest Tree Houses is the realisation of a long-he...

Yael Katz is one of those rare people that absolutely radiates strength and goodness. Having spent her early life in Israel where she worked in training, she went on to travel to Australia where she ultimately wound up working with indigenous communities helping to establish new businesses, predominantly in the tourism space. It is this shared passion and respect for Indigenous knowledge and cultu...

Carrie Donaldson has come full circle in her life more than a handful of times. Having spent a couple of decades in the tourism, events and marketing sector, in Tasmania, Victoria and internationally, she has a masterful grasp on the various factors that need to come together to make a destination 'sing' to prospective travellers. She also knows how vital it is to involve and consult local communi...

Gabi Thorn and Gabbie Gagne are the epitome of young, innovative, conscientious and hard-working entrepreneurs. Arriving on the NSW South Coast from the UK about 7 years ago, Gabi Thorn quickly spotted a gap in the market for an eco-friendly, sustainable, high-end housekeeping service, so decided she would start one. She wasted no time getting busy writing a business plan, cultivating a brand and...

Childhood friends Mitch Forbes and Dan Kroenert are no strangers to rolling their sleeves up and getting their hands dirty. After a 7 month council approval process, the pair, who both live in the neighbouring region, decided to build a sustainably-focused cabin for two on a 13 acre block belonging to Mitch's family, in Crackenback, New South Wales, about 5 minutes outside Jindabyne. Aptly named '...

In this special episode, Jen talks in depth about why she created the new Hosting With Heart website, the ups and downs of getting the site off the ground, who the site is for and how it aims to significantly change the landscape of hosting. She also discusses how to become a member of the site, including approval criteria and costs, along with outlining her plans and goals for the site going forw...

Perth-based Kim Swinyard is no stranger to adversity. Having for many years dutifully performed the role of primary carer for her chronically ill Mum, she sadly also endured the premature passing of her Mum several years ago, prompting her to re-evaluate her life's priorities. With that perspective in tow, Kim and her long-term partner Jeff established their building design practice, Studio Atelie...

If anyone knows the real value of wholehearted hosting, it's Tracey Northcott. Having relocated to Tokyo several years prior, Aussie expat Tracey first dipped her toes into the short-term rental water in 2010. With a baby son in tow, her two bedroom apartment was no longer ample for hosting friends and family and so a new plan was efficiently engineered: she would rent another apartment for them t...

True to the form of so many of our region's most successful property hosts, Newcastle-based Sheriden Rhodes is a wildly talented multi-tasker. As a creative child who yearned to become a journalist, she went on to do exactly that, spending her young adult years cutting her teeth working for the local newspaper before ultimately branching out as a freelance travel writer. Since then, she has writte...

Ingrid Daniell is an artist, an empath and all-round creative visionary who in 2019, following a chance discovery by her graphic designer husband Clifton, bought a rustic shack right by the water in the tiny seaside hamlet of Falmouth, Tasmania. After a modest renovation that aimed to be as sensitive to the 1980's design sensibilities of the property's original owner - and to the planet - as possi...

Chantelle Pears is one brave woman. Currently working as a nurse in an indigenous community in remote Western Australia, she and her fiance Matt purchased Flagstaff Estate, a 6 bedroom, 3 bathroom sprawling property in Tasmania's Lindisfarne, approximately 8km from Hobart, in early 2020. Following their purchase, they planned to relocate back to their home town of Hobart, but the hard COVID border...

Amber Tyrrell may be the first guest I've had on the podcast that I can say in every possible way exemplifies 'the heartful host'. I hope she won't be the last. Along with her husband Patrick, Amber runs the wildly successful Valley Views Glamping in New Zealand's stunning Waitaki Valley, located approx 2hrs north of Dunedin on the South Island. After growing up on farms in New Zealand and South A...

Amanda Stevens is a perfumer, scent designer, artist & shop owner. Her unique way of storytelling through scent can be found in properties and brands across Australia, and her online store explores a retail experience of handmade, bespoke aromas and collaborations with other artisans. After spending time working for international cosmetic companies, Amanda realised that the world of perfumery had...

Like many of the world's most celebrated creatives, Michelle Crawford wholeheartedly embraces the unpredictable adventures that taking risks can bring. With no jobs and only a credit card to keep them afloat, Michelle, husband Leo and their then infant daughter Elsa moved to Tasmania in 2004, in search of a simpler life more connected to the land. After going on to welcome a son, in 2007 Michelle...

Lisa Booth is a firm believer that you really can have it all - a beautiful, comfortable, affordable home that's also kind to the planet. In 2016 Lisa and her husband Steve, aka Boots, built a home in Victoria's Ky Valley now known as Booken House. Lisa painstakingly designed and project managed the build of the home by drawing on her intimate knowledge of best-practice sustainability principles c...

Nadine Brown started her relationship with all things flowers as a teenager, scoring a job in a garden centre at the age of 15. From there, she went on to volunteer at a local flower shop and study horticulture at TAFE before opening her own florist, Wildflower, at the age of just 23. About 10 years later, due to the intense demands that came as a result of overwhelming success, Nadine sold the sh...

Alice Armitage is a young, energetic, creatively-minded entrepreneur with ideas in abundance. She's also recently become a host, opening up a 1 bedroom space within a property she not long ago bought in Moree, in north-west New South Wales. Along with her newly forged role welcoming guests, she earlier this year launched Pandaemonium - an elegantly designed, quarterly newspaper that features stori...

If ever I was to meet a guest who personifies the saying 'don't let things happen, make them', it'd be Amanda Hogg. Based in Port Lincoln, South Australia, Amanda and her eco-friendly plumber husband Tim started remote tiny house business 'Eyre Way' in 2021, launching their first fully sustainable, luxury off-grid tiny house, Yambara, in November of that year. Since then, they've been almost fully...

Hosting With Heart has reached the incredible milestone of fifty episodes and accordingly, podcast host Jen Clark is interviewed by her partner Kirstie to reveal and reflect on what she's learned over that the past two and half years. Jen and Kirstie also discuss their personal journey over the course of the last 12 months, along with unveiling what's in store next for the podcast and the broader...