Really Interesting Women

Ep 88   The Rt Hon. Dame Cindy Kiro, Governor-General of New Zealand Dame Cindy Kiro's story is an extraordinary one.  Her mother was born in a hut with a mud floor. Her Father was from a poor family who lived in a mining town in the north of England. From these humble beginnings Dame Cindy rose to become the 22nd Governor-General of New Zealand. The first Maori woman to be appointed as Gover...

Ep. 87 Professor Jenny Martin Jenny Martin is a dual-trained clinical pharmacologist and practicing general physician, has studied politics and health economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, is serving as Chair of Clinical Pharmacology in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle and is the Director of Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Researc...

Ep. 86    Ilana Atlas AO Ilana Atlas is an exceptionally successful business woman....who still suffers from imposter syndrome. But she knows how to deal with it and she shares that secret with us.  In fact Ilana shares a lot of her wisdom and advice on how to not only cope, but succeed in a constantly evolving work place.  And there's very few better qualified to give that wisdom and advice....

Ep. 85  Professor Lyria Bennett Moses Lyria is my first guest that is the daughter of a previous guest, Annabelle Bennett (ep. 37). And they are both....well, quite brilliant. Lyria is currently the Director of the UNSW Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation she’s a Professor and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney. She herself graduated with a science...

Ep. 84      Senator Lidia Thorpe Lidia Thorpe's sense of injustice is always close to the surface. Her first hand experiences inform her. Growing up, her dinner table conversations and education with the family matriarchs were also hugely influential. Her life experiences continue to play a big part in who she is today and what she fervently believes will be best for not only indigenous Austr...

Ep. 83    Traci Houpapa Traci Houpapa is a company director and business advisor from New Zealand. But a simple scratching of the surface reveals a unique and inspiring story.  Her early life influences could well have something to do with her Maori father who was very active in campaigns to return properties back into Maori management in the 1980s.  As to her own career, she was advised to experi...

Ep 82   Natalie Walker Natalie Walker is, amongst many other achievements, the inaugural CEO of two start-up businesses with huge agendas - Supply Nation and Inside Policy.  She was Australia's representative on the G20's Women Business Leaders Taskforce. She’s held positions in human rights, indigenous affairs and human services in the government, corporate and not-for-profit sectors. S...

Ep. 81  Professor Michelle Haber AM FAA FAHMS Michelle Haber has dedicated her entire professional life to improving clinical outcomes for children with cancer. She is one of this country’s leading researchers and has become the face of Australian childhood cancer research internationally.  But she almost wasn't. In the late 1970’s she had one of many sliding door moments that changed the cou...

Ep. 80   Professor Bronwyn Fox Professor Bronwyn Fox has come a long way since blowing things up in her back yard with her brother. Mind you that curiosity and practical application of their ideas was probably quite informative, because from there she would go on to become the Chief Scientist of Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.  She’s been described by CSIRO’s Chief Executive as ‘driven...

Gemma Sisia has earned a global reputation through building one of the top performing schools in Tanzania, East Africa. And she built it, literally, from scratch. Well, that’s not quite true - a friend had donated $10 to the cause. Can you imagine the challenges? All this is a long way from the sheep farm she grew up on in northern New South Wales, Australia, where education, hard work as well as...

Episode 78 Dr Anne Summers AO Dr Anne Summers AO is a pioneering Australian feminist, a best-selling author and journalist with a long career in politics, the media, business and the non-government sector in Australia, Europe, and the United States.   It would not be a stretch to say her first book, published in 1975,Damned Whores and God's Police, changed the way Australia viewed women.   He...

Ep. 77  Roma Torre Roma Torre is a 2 time Emmy Award winning TV journalist and theater critic.  She is best known for her time at New York City’s first 24 hour local news station, the much loved and revered cable news channel NY1, where she was a lead news presenter for over 28 years. She’s had an amazing career. She has received over 30 broadcasting awards including those 2 aforementioned Emmy’s,...

Ep. 76   Robin White Robin White started her career as an operations manager in the rail industry. As a result of being discriminated against and denied promotion, she reassessed.... everything. You see, Robin was blocked for any promotion because she is transgender. Could be front office management or transgender. Couldn’t be both. After much soul searching and introspection, she decided to pivot...

Ep. 75   Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM Rosalind Croucher is the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission.  She's been pretty busy these last couple of years. It's a fascinating career and one which emphasises the importance of taking opportunities as they present themselves. Even when you are having doubts.  We talk about the anatomy of a career move (or several big...

Ep. 74 Tzipi Livni Ex Mossad, former Israeli Foreign Minister, Minister of Justice and chief negotiator of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. An incredible journey.  Tzipi Livni has been widely considered the most powerful woman in Israel since Golda Meir. She served in the Israeli Defence Force and, in 1980, joined Mossad - the national intelligence agency of Israel. After she resigned from that sh...

Episode 73  Belinda Hutchinson AC FRSN Belinda Hutchinson has become one of the most sought-after directors among private companies, public sector and not for profit organisations, in Australia.  She is Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Chairman of Thales Australia, a Director of Australian Philanthropic Services, Qantas Airways Limited, a member of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce...

Ep. 72 Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE FRCP (Hon) Baroness Susan Greenfield is, by any standards, quite an extraordinary woman.  An English scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords, she has held research fellowships in the Department of Physiology Oxford, the College de France Paris, and NYU Medical Center New York. She has been awarded 32 Honorary Degrees from British and fo...

Ep. 71 Dame Elizabeth Anionwu DBE FRCN   - Really Interesting Women podcast Dame Elizabeth Anionwu’s amazing career and life had as its foundation, very humble beginnings.    A tough childhood in the 1940’s and 1950’s was marked by the stigma of illegitimacy and racism. Despite all this, it was the kindness of one particular nun at a children’s home when she was a very young child that resonated s...

Ep. 70 Gretchen Carlson - Really Interesting Women podcast Gretchen Carlson has been on a journey. From child prodigy on the violin, to becoming Miss America to Stanford and Oxford, to also becoming one of America's most successful journalists. An astonishing career fall of incredible highs, debilitating lows and through it all, the common factors? Her incredible strength, resilience and dete...

Ep. 69 Amy Richards - Really Interesting Women podcast Amy Richards describes herself as an author, producer and organizer. But those generic terms hardly describe her enormous global influences on modern feminist thinking.  In fact, she is the president of Soapbox, Inc., the world’s largest feminist speakers’ bureau, and the affiliated Soapbox Foundation, creators of Feminist Camp . She co-founde...

Ep. 68 Dr Patrice Newell AM Patrice Newell has been a model, newsreader, host of morning TV and then, in the late 80’s left all that and became a renowned sustainable land manager and writer/researcher who dedicated herself to developing and communicating improved agricultural systems and innovations in an era of rapid climate change. And, as if that wasn’t enough, she’s now undertaking a new and...

Ep. 67 Stephanie Alexander AO Stephanie Alexander is a food pioneer having been an enormous influence on our food culture since the 1960’s.  She’s been a restaurant owner/chef for 30 years and has written 19 books (19 books!) and many, many articles. Her fifth book, The Cook’s Companion has been described by Nigella Lawson as one of her most prized and consulted cookbooks and she went on to say, ‘...

Ep. 66 Fleur McDonald Another extraordinary woman.  Fleur is often referred to as ‘the voice of the outback’. She is this country’s leading rural literature author and has drawn inspiration from having lived and worked for much of her life on a farm. But, like nearly all the women I’ve spoken to for this show, you only need to lightly scratch the surface to see the almost unimaginable obstacles th...

Ep. 65 Marilyn Darling AC Marilyn Darling AC, is best known as an Australian philanthropist and patron of the arts. With her husband, Gordon Darling, she instigated and has provided ongoing funding to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, ACT. She instigated it! We didn’t have one before that!  She was one of the very few women who studied science at the University of Queensland in the early...

Ep. 64    Simone Clarke Simone Clarke is the CEO of UN Women Australia. She has over 25 years’ experience working in Executive Leadership roles for the United Nations, International NGO's, Community Service Organisations and the private sector in Australia, the USA and Asia Pacific. Fair to say she’s a global not-for-profit and sustainability executive and has a particular focus on empowering...