WHAT I'VE LEARNT

As the much loved footy Season looms with the excitement of packed stadiums team scarves and hot meat pies it’s the players the teams that thrill us the most ! So we’re excited to welcome a major footy legend to the Pod winning countless awards includingthe Brownlow Medal , Norm Smith Medal , Carji Greeves Medal and Leigh Matthews Trophy · An exceptionally skilled footballer, now director of footb...

David Southwick is the Member for Caulfield in Victoria. David has held several Parliamentary Positions. In April 2013, David was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary for Police and Emergency Services. In December 2014, David was appointed into the Shadow Ministry as the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources and Shadow Minister for Renewables. In November 201...

Maggie Zhou is a Melbourne-based writer, editor, slow fashion advocate and the co-host of the Culture Club podcast.  She's written for publications such as The Guardian, ABC, The Age, Frankie, The Big Issue, ELLE, Harper's Bazaar and Cosmopolitan, and has been interviewed by the BBC, ABC, Nylon, The Project and Teen Vogue.  She's previously held positions at Fashion Journal and Refi...

World Literacy Summit 2025 Over 150 Sessions with over 200 speakers from 80 different countries. This year's conference will take place from April 7-9th at Oxford University. Monday’s program will be held in the Sheldonian Theatre with Keynote speakers in the Morning including:   Dr Molly Ness Literacy Advocate “When There Are No Bedtime Stories: Obstacles to Children's Literacy Developm...

Third Wave Volunteers are now in full deployment, with volunteer firefighters in Los Angeles battling the fires and our local volunteers doing what they can to assist. This will all unfold over the following months. Third Wave Volunteers have been disaster responders for the past 24 years and were founded at the Sept 11th, 2001 attacks in NYC by Dr. Alison Thompson. A brave Australian Dr Allison T...

Author Ella Ward  What does the world feel like when it’s ending for you, and no one else? What does life feel like when you are running away from it? This is a story that begins in a way you expect and ends very far from there. It is a story of creaking English hallways and vast Australian skies. Of hands that feel like warm sandpaper. Cicadas that sing so loudly they drown out the grief. Of whit...

Maggie Alderson is the author of ten novels and four collections of her columns fromGood Weekendmagazine. Her children’s book Evangeline, the Wish Keeper’s Helper was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Before becoming a full-time author she worked as a journalist and columnist in the UK and Australia, editing several magazines, including Mode and British ELLE. She writes a Substa...

Andy Kay  In his role as CEO of the World Literacy Foundation, Andy spearheads a powerful literacy organisation - he has the wonderful opportunity to meet likeminded amazing people and organizations around the world. With more than 750 million people globally struggling with literacy this is an epidemic It affects all aspects social health educational parts of their lives. Sometimes, l wear differ...

Collette Dinnigan 🌺 Her style is one of simple yet sophisticated beauty. Bellissima: An Australian–Italian Affair takes you into Collette’s world of beauty – interiors, gardens, food, friends, curiosities, art and travel – in Italy and Australia. It shows us Collette’s remarkable eye for detail, vignettes, texture and colour. She shares her design inspiration and reveals stunning photos never bef...

THE POWER OF TWO LISA MESSENGER & SARAH MEGGINSON A life-changing story of friendship, surrogacy and true connection Fourteen years of friendship. Eight years of ‘trying’. Eighteen rounds of IVF and now, one beautiful baby boy. The Power of Two is a remarkable true story that shows how together, we can do more than we ever thought possible. Lisa and Sarah’s journey begins with a working relati...

Janice BREEN Burns  Janice Breen Burns is a highly respected fashion journalist, editor and features writer of more than 30 years experience in metro daily newspapers and more recently, digital media.  Voxfrock.com.au is her digital blogzine based on the variety of content and style of newspaper fashion pages. Renowned for her industry knowledge and witty, realistic insights into the role of fashi...

Nikki Gemmell  An explosive, contemporary literary thriller from international bestselling author Nikki Gemmell - Wing is Lord of the Flies meets Picnic at Hanging Rock meets Promising Young Woman. Students from an elite girls' school go on a camping trip into the Australian bush. Four of them - a girl gang, a group of best friends dubbed 'The Cins' by the teachers - become separate...

Ben Shewry  Chef Ben Shewry strives for truth in life and perfection in his new memoir, Uses for Obsession.  This year marks 19 years for Ben Shewry’s Ripponlea fine-diner Attica, a restaurant whose legacy was built on imagination and creative fearlessness. It also marks the release of his second book, a memoir aptly titled Uses for Obsession. “Ultimately,” says Shewry, “this book is about using i...

Anthony “Kouta” Koutoufides is a former award winning AFL player and a Carlton Football Club legend, playing over 270 games for the club. Anthony was often referred to as the ‘Prototype of the Modern Footballer’ as he was notably athletic and versatile, allowing him to play almost every position throughout his career. Koutoufides – who insisted he was independent and not in any way aligned with th...

Michael Klim is an entrepreneur and head of the Klim Foundation best known for being and awesome guitar strumming and pumping Olympic swimming gold medallist.  In July 2022, Klim revealed that he had been diagnosed with the auto-immune disorder  which affected his legs and feet and left him struggling to walk unassisted. Based in Bali the journey has been tough but there seems some light  With the...

It takes courage to stand up and that is what Eylon Levy has done since Oct 7 As the cultural wars rage across media platforms he has used his skills intelligence and even humour to tell the world about the siege that has engulfed Israel but the global Jewish community  He is a former Israeli Government Spokesman, who became one of the most prominent voices for Israel in the October 7 War with Ham...

Molly Ness is a former classroom teacher, a reading researcher, and a teacher educator. She earned a doctorate in reading education at the University of Virginia, and spent 16 years as an associate professor at Fordham University in New York City. The author of five books, Molly serves on the Board of Directors for the International Literacy Association and is a New York state chapter founder of t...

Simone O’Brien is a domestic violence survivor, speaker, strong advocate for women against violence, and mother of three beautiful children. Her journey started in 2012 when she suffered a horrific attack at the hands of a perpetrator who would not take “no” for an answer. It started with emotional and psychological abuse and ended up with her being beaten with a baseball bat to within inches of h...

Mia Findlay, Founder and Principal Coach | Australia Mia is deeply passionate about helping others reach the same freedom she now enjoys without her eating disorder. She has worked in the eating disorder advocacy field for nine years and has been working with clients as a coach since launching Beyond Body in December 2017. Mia is based in Sydney and has worked closely with The Butterfly Foundation...

The Stella Prize CEO - Fiona Sweet Fiona is the former Artistic Director and CEO of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale responsible for the programming and curation of three Biennales. She founded the National Centre for Photography in Ballarat and was the inaugural director.  Founder of Sweet Creative, and co-founder of Melbourne’s Acland Street Projection Festival, she is a former Board Dir...

Anna Grosman, creator and owner is relaunching a new male escort agency - HER CONFIDANT. In its new incarnation, HER CONFIDANT will also cater to women who are looking for companionship in any form: emotional, sexual or for company on a date. "I want to provide a safe space for women to explore their desires and feel desired," says Anna. "There are no agencies like mine - which prov...

Suzy Zail has worked as a litigation lawyer, specialising in Family Law, but now writes full time. Among other titles, she has written The Tattooed Flower, a memoir about her father’s time as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Her first novel for young adults, The Wrong Boy, was short-listed for the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards, the Adelaide Festival Awards f...

Hi, Welcome to the What I’ve Learnt podcast From food to fashion and art to music we’ve got you covered. We wanted to highlight some amazing moments of the podcast from JAnuary to April. This Episode Features Dr Gina Cleo: a behavioural scientist, world-renowned habit-change researcher and Adjunct Professor at Bond University. Gina’s new book, The Habit Revolution: Simple Steps to Rewire Your Brai...

California has one of the lowest literacy rates in the country and according to the National Center for Education Statistics, around one in five adults cannot read. One Costa Mesa father is working hard to change his own personal stats and encourage others in the world to read. Thirty-five-year-old Oliver James says he was forgotten in school and was seen as a bad child. He felt like adults gave u...

Hi, Welcome to the What I’ve Learnt podcast From food to fashion and art to music we’ve got you covered. We wanted to highlight some amazing moments of the podcast from Febuary to March. This Episode Features Caitlin Marshall & Lizzie Rose:   Are founders of the award-winning MakeShift. This not-for-profit org is one of the first creative prescribing agencies in Australia. Lizzie and Caitlin a...