Really Interesting Women

Really Interesting Women - the Podcast Episode 113.        Dr. Bronwyn Bancroft Dr Bronwyn Bancroft is a proud Bundjalung woman and a very successful artist. But the journey has been a long one and she's overcome hurdles that most of us can't imagine.  Bronwyn's career has included both national and international exhibitions, and her work has been acquired by all major Australian ga...

Really Interesting Women - The podcast  Episode 112    Collette Dinnigan AO Collette Dinnigan is one of the country’s most successful fashion designers.  Her creations have been worn by the likes of Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Princess Mary, and the Duchess of Cambridge. She became the first Australian to mount a full-scale ready-to-wear collection in Paris...

Really Interesting Women Podcast  Ep. 111      Danielle Laidley Danielle Laidley had an illustrious career as an AFL player and in 1996 won a premiership with the North Melbourne Football Club. She subsequently became one of the youngest head coaches in the league’s history at the age of 36 and was then inducted into the club’s hall of fame.  But her amazing career and life were never what they se...

Really Interesting Women Podcast - Episode 110 Nikki Gemmell Nikki Gemmell is an international best-selling author of over 20 books and a Walkley Award winning commentator and opinion writer for The Australian newspaper.    Her subject matter and distinctive writing style led to the French literary magazine Lire in 2007 including her in a list of what it called the fifty most important writers in...

Really Interesting Women - Podcast Episode 109 Caroline de Mori AM This is a great story of an extraordinary woman. Caroline was a journalist, ran a PR company and was a successful business woman who ran her own company with 4 of her own children. When that just wasn't a thing.  She's a risk taker, a do-er and hates injustice. Her corporate role took her all over the Kimberley and Pilbar...

Podcast ep. 108 Marita Cheng AM Marita is a former Young Australian of the Year. 11 Years on from that award her work improving the lives of others is quite extraordinary. Marita and her brother were raised by their single mother in housing commission in Cairns. She encouraged education and worked a number of jobs such as a hotel room cleaner and dishwasher to give them every opportunity she could...

To describe Janine Kirk as a prominent business, education, health and community leader would be accurate...but doesn't do justice to her actual achievements and commitments. Our conversation will shed some light on this.  Janine has a wealth of executive experience and has committed to giving back to the community through her work for not for profit and charitable organisations. In fact in 2...

Podcast Episode 106 Really Interesting Women - Jean Oelwang Jean Oelwang is the founding CEO and President of Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group. Since its launch, it has inspired a number of global initiatives – like The Elders (with Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu), Ocean Unite, Carbon War Room and The B Team.  For over 20 years Jean has worked closely with an...

Really Interesting Women - Podcast Anna Funder    Ep. 105 Anna Funder is undoubtedly one of Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded writers. Her 2003 book Stasiland won, amongst many other things, the Samuel Johnson Prize which is for the best non-fiction writing in the English language (!!). Actor Tom Hanks described it as 'fascinating, entertaining, hilarious, horrifying and very important.&...

Really Interesting Women - Podcast Ep. 104      Tanya Hosch Tanya Hosch is the first indigenous person (male or female) appointed to the AFL executive. She is the General Manager of Inclusion and Social Policy and is responsible for Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander issues, gender equality, sexuality and gender diversity, racism and sexism. It's a full dance card. And her actions in regar...

Podcast Episode 103 Really Interesting Women Jamila Rizvi Jamila is the Deputy Managing Director of Future Women which is an organisation that supports professional women to accelerate their careers, works with men to overcome unconscious bias and helps organisations tackle barriers to gender equality.  She is also a best-selling author for adults and children, a columnist for Sunday Life magazine...

Really Interesting Women   Podcast Episode 102 Ordained as a Presbyterian Minister in 1983, Rev. Dr. Margaret Mayman has been a strong progressive religious voice for justice on matters like marriage equality, abortion, and refugees. She is perhaps best known for her inclusive congregations.  She openly values the LGBTIQA+ community, supports their relationships, and celebrates their true, authent...

Really Interesting Women - The Podcast  Episode 101    Denni Francisco Denni Francisco is an award winning designer who uses stunning indigenous artists works to create prints for her clothes. And she's about to make Australian Fashion Week history as the first indigenous person to have a solo show. She's a two time winner of the designer of the year at the National Indigenous Fashion Aw...

Really Interesting Women - the podcast  Episode 100         Jane Yuile This episode was challenging for me and, I suspect, Jane. Although she made me feel very comfortable very quickly.  Persist with the audio on this episode - I'll explain why.  Jane Yuile is a successful business executive who has always been up for a challenge.  A jump from a jetty a few years ago was nothing compared to o...

Podcast Episode 99 - CHLOE DALTON OAM Chloe Dalton is one of this country’s very few elite athletes in 3 different sports: played in the WNBL, won a gold medal in Rugby 7s at the Rio Olympics, and in 2019 made the transition to Australian Rules Football where she is currently playing in the AFLW.  In the middle of all this exceptionalism, she graduated from Sydney University as a physiotherapist w...

Really Interesting Women - Podcast Episode 98 Carla Raynes Carla has worked in the homelessness field for nearly 2 decades. She’s seen the issue from all angles. And thought....'I’m seeing the same people all the time. There has to be a better way to solve this.'   To that effect, in the middle of 2021, Carla launched a charity with the aim of bringing all her experience to help create t...

Podcast Episode 97 Professor Sharon Lewin AO FRACP FAHMS Sharon Lewin is a remarkable woman.  For a start, she has been heading up two global pandemics. Simultaneously.   In 1989 Dr Lewin (as she then was), instead of seeking a medical appointment in some prestigious city hospital, chose to work in a small hospital in Kenya. It was here she became passionate about infectious diseases, specifically...

Podcast Episode 96 Jackie French AM Jackie’s books have sold millions of copies and been published in 36 languages and have won more than 60 literary awards. She’s written well over 200 books and they cover a range of different genres: general fiction, historical fiction, picture books, and nonfiction for adults and for children.    Quite an achievement when you consider she’s severely dyslexic. ...

Podcast Episode 95  Assoc. Prof. Meru Sheel The seeds of an astonishing career were sown in India where, as a child, Meru Sheel witnessed first-hand the devastation of diseases such as polio and tuberculosis.    As an infectious disease epidemiologist, she has been on the ground helping in some of the most unimaginable places. Fiji after a cyclone had flattened large parts of the country and disea...

Ep 94 Rachael Neumann Rachael Neumann is shaking up the traditional Venture Capital model and, as a result, has been able to encourage many more women to become involved in the industry.  When she and her female business partner launched Flying Fox Ventures, they were a rarity in the start-up ecosystem, which is still heavily male-dominated. She’s a startup mentor, angel investor, board member, ad...

Ep. 93    Michelle Deshong This was a really interesting conversation with an ending that left me with goosebumps. Michelle Deshong is a Fulbright Scholar, Churchill Fellowship recipient and former NAIDOC Scholar of the year. She’s a leader and advocate, with extensive experience working in both the public and private sectors. She has an in-depth knowledge of indigenous affairs, and in the mechani...

Ep 92     Imam Sherin Khankan Imam Sherin Khankan has described herself as being born between two worlds – Muslim and Christian. Her early influences have been profound. She studied sociology of religion and philosophy from the University of Copenhagen as well as studies in Arabic. She has written 4 books including Islam and Reconciliation – a public case, and Women are the Future of Islam. But un...

Ep 91   Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO FASSA FAAL is an inspirational indigenous leader.  She’s a lawyer, academic, writer, filmmaker, indigenous rights advocate and lots more.  Larissa was the first indigenous Australian to graduate from Harvard Law School and, she’s proud to say, not the last.  Her career is multi faceted and she’s often t...

Ep 90    Dr Kirstin Ferguson Kirstin Ferguson is an award-winning and globally recognised leader, executive coach, company director, writer and speaker. She is one of Australia’s most prominent leadership experts.  Kirstin has an incredible and varied career starting as an Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force where she graduated Dux in her class, to senior executive with a leading law firm, t...

Ep. 89    Maj. General Elizabeth Cosson AM, CSC Liz Cosson was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of Major General in the Australian Army.  She enlisted in the Army in 1979. She was selected with 32 other women for the first male-equivalent officer training course. Throughout her distinguished military career, she held significant logistics and administrative positions. She received a comm...