TONTS.

Musician, TED talker, comedian, writer and wearer of the best red sparkle jumpsuit you've ever seen Lucy Peach is a powerhouse of a woman who teaches that menstrual cycles are not a curse but could just be your greatest super power! This is an episode that was recorded in 2019 for another podcast I made called Just Make The Thing but I think it is absolutely still incredibly relevant and I hope yo...

My guest today physiotherapist Kym Veale has been a really special person in my life and in so many women’s lives, particularly for women who experience pregnancy and birth. I’m so glad I can share her wisdom and insight in this episode. Kym Veale is now director of her own company called womankind physiotherapy, a beautiful space that supports women’s health particularly in the areas of birth pre...

My guest in this episode is a very old friend of mine Pip Reid who is a music therapist and one of my heroes. Which I know sounds very corny but I’ll explain. She is someone who shares my enthusiasm for well almost everything and is a big feeling type of person. When I met her I instantly felt like I’d met someone who was a kindred spirit who lived with their inside on their outsides. Who got what...

My guest today Maggie Zhou @yemagz is a writer, producer, instagrammer and slow fashion advocate. She has become a really influential voice in the fight for sustainability in the fashion industry here in Melbourne and her instagram photography gives you such a joyful window into the way she views the world. We talk about what it means to be a Gen Z growing up as a digital native and why teenage gi...

My guest this week Amani Haydar is a writer and artist. Her story is one of unimaginable pain and also triumph in the face of the murder of her mother Salwa Haydar at the hands of her father and the loss of her grandmother Teta who was murdered in the 2006 war in Lebanon. Her book The Mother Wound recounts in stunning prose the story of 3 women whose lives have been forever changed by violence. Sh...

It is clear to me that my guest today Siân Darling who is also a dear friend and the partner of my dad’s cousin Paul Kelly, has lived a life impacted by the stories and memories of her families past. She is a little bit magic, deeply feeling, highly creative, a champion of people who make things, of artists and musicians. Siân was also a little girl who spent much of her childhood on her own in th...

My guest today is a very good pal of mine Felicity Odgers. Flick was a primary school teacher and is now a qualified play therapist with a masters from Deakin University. Flick and I team taught many years ago in a remote community in the Kimberlys, working with a very special group of first nations children. What I learnt from Flick and her approach to working with little people has been invaluab...

My guest today is Shameless Media's Rhiannon Joyce. Rhi is an integral part of the Shameless team – spear heading brand partnerships which is an integral role in growing what is a really fresh new approach to media. If you haven’t heard of Shameless let me fill you in. Co-founded by Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews two young women in their 20s in 2018 –it started as a podcast called Shameless a...

My guest today is Freya Bennett musician, illustrator, writer and founder of the digital magazine Ramona.   Ramona Magazine is full of content from cis and trans women, as well as non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that centres the experiences of women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and BIPOC ( black, Indigenous and people of color) . It’s a place to share stories and exper...

My guest today is Zahra Biabani from Soulful Seeds. Zahra is a climate activist and influencer. I found her through the Suggestible podcast community and immediately resonated so much with her work. Her instagram and TikTok accounts are called Soulful Seeds and her message is all about figuring out how to live with the planet in mind. No small ask. Zahra is a bloody good dancer and each video she...

Sarah Wilson is a journalist, multi-New York Times bestselling author, podcaster and social entrepreneur who hiked the world with one bag of belongings for eight years to understand our need to reconnect with life again. The salve, she found, to our loneliness, overwhelm, climate anxiety and angst was to rediscover her “wild". Sarah wrote a book about her discoveries...

Joanna Bennett wears her insides on her outsides. She is also known as the poet Tatterhood and is the author of 3 books Swimming Underwater, Tiny Lungs and These Are My Delicious Sandwiches. Her poetry speaks to the heart of things. Little things that really are big things. What it feels like to watch someone you birthed into the world sleep beside you. The stretchy long days of parenting through...

TONTS. is back for a second season. Dropping March 21st every Monday. From climate activism to miscarriage, creativity and inner critic, womanhood and motherhood this season is full of in depth interviews with writers, artists, activists and deeply feeling humans who talk to host Claire Tonti about the stories that have shaped who they are. So let's go into the deep together. More connection, less...

This week on TONTS. I talk to James Clement (otherwise known as my husband man or Mr Sunday Movies). This is the final episode in the season and is one of my favourites. James and I discuss why the film Office Space changed the trajectory of his life, what it's like to become a parent, why he does what he does and his relationship with his inner critic. As always thank you to RAW Collings for edit...

Jennifer Grey’s character of Baby in the 80s iconic film Dirty Dancing was a revelation writes the Guardian’s Melissa McEwan and in re-watching this classic movie for this episode I whole heartedly agree. I remembered this movie for the swoon worthy Patrick Swayze, the corny but brilliant soundtrack and that lift at the end. In the re-watch I discovered frank, feminist and funny dialogue that whil...

Benjamin Law grew up in Queensland, gay, Asian and from a big, hilarious, hardworking family. Benjamin is my guest this week and he is a writer of books and TV shows and plays. You might recognise him from the award winning SBS TV series The Family Law based on his memoir of the same name. He is also warm and articulate and funny. Benjamin wrote a book on sex and relationship advice called Law Sch...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up in a secretive Christian sect? And what happens if you leave? My guest today Laura Conti has done just that and not only left but thrived. Her story is one of fierce tenacity, feminist principles and the power of a good education. More than that though, what I admire most about Laura's story is her bravery in telling her truth and how speakin...

This conversation you’re about to hear today is with an old friend of mine who I met through volunteering with kids from tricky back grounds, taking them on camps over the school holidays. This is actually inadvertently how I met my husband man James too but that’s a story for another day. Sandeep Varma is someone I've always admired for his intelligence, tenacity, positivity and kindness. He is s...

Today I am joined by Dr Yves Rees. They are a La Trobe University historian, a podcaster, radio broadcaster and now an author of the brilliant, paradigm shifting memoir All About Yves. Yves' book is searing and articulate, bringing to the fore with real clarity and insight what it was like for them to identify as trans. This book and their story is I think, really going to make a difference to so...

Were you a weird kid? Did you love things almost too much? Ask too many questions? Feel like a fish out of water at school? Were you lonely or awkward or felt out of place in your own skin? Well my guest today is an example of what happens when you let all of that pour out, follow your curiosities and compulsions. When you give yourself permission to be fully who you were meant to be. I have a rea...

Welcome to TONTS a podcast about feeling all of it. About the stories we are told about who we are. My guest this week is Charlie Clausen. Co-host of the beloved aussie podcast Tofop, actor in shows including Blue Heelers and Home and Away, Charlie is also a writer and producer working in partnership with his wife, director Gemma Lee. He is also Dad to one small human Iona and that’s what I wanted...

Today my guest is Daniel Steele who is a primary school teacher, basketball aficionado, Dad of two little humans and the brains behind the wonderful website Upgrade Think Learn . Dan is an old friend of mine and a legend of a bloke who also happens to be a vice principal at a school by the beach in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. He is also a writer and chock full of enthusiasm and creativity. I r...

Clare Bowditch is an author, singer and gifted story teller, a troubadour and advocate for those without power or voice. Her songs and work have meant so much to so many in our Australian community. She is an ARIA award winning musician for best female artist, won Rolling Stone’s Woman of the Year (for contribution to culture), a Logie-nominated actor for her role as Rosanna in Offspring and a for...

This week I talk to Tarang Chawla about the stories that men in particular are told through culture about who they should be. Award winning anti-violence campaigner and writer Tarang is also a trainee lawyer using his background to advocate for social and political change particularly in our approach to mental health and gender equality. Tarang also founded the Not One More Niki movement, Australi...

Carley McGauran has been a psychologist for 15 years. In her work she has spent time with kids, young adults and their families assisting them with her sage advice about everything from how to process emotions, practice self-soothing and manage trauma to what the bloody hell we should all do about iPhones and screen time. She is the other half of the company Inform and Empower run with her brother...