Guests A-Z

Bec Sanders

Featured in:
Podcast teaser
Ep 1. Where Do We Start?
Ep 2. Super Game Plan

Bec is a Branch Manager for Bank Australia, based in Kew. She’s had a pretty colourful lead into banking. In her past, she’s worked as a forklift driver, on Kiwi Fruit farms and even spent some time on fishing boats. She’s also worked at a photo lab developing film. In her early twenties, she applied for a job at a Credit Union, not knowing what a Credit Union was. Ten years later she’s still at Bank Australia and loves it! 

www.bankaust.com.au

Breeana Dunbar

Featured in: 
Ep 4. She’s a boss!

Bree lives in Brunswick Eas with her son, Ari. Some years ago, she was finishing her psychology degree and wondering what she was going to be when she grew up, when fate stepped in to throw Bree a curve ball. Nine months later, she welcomed her surprise baby into the world, and decided that the time was right to act on a secret dream she had held since she first set up a film darkroom in her backyard 20 years earlier; to pursue photography as a career.

The past six years have been the craziest and most rewarding of Bree’s life. Simultaneously tackling the two huge learning curves of new parenthood and opening a small business would have seemed impossible to pre-baby, but motherhood gave Bree a confidence she had never had before. Today she is a portrait and lifestyle photographer, who has a real passion for working with organisations who are making a difference to the lives of women.

In her spare time, you’ll find Bree riding her bike, op-shopping, obsessing over interior design blogs, and hanging out with her awesome bunch of supportive friends.

www.breeanadunbar.com

Christina Hobbs

Featured in:
Ep 2. Super Game Plan

As CEO and Co-Founder of Verve, Australia’s first superannuation fund for women, Christina Hobbs gets out of bed each day with the mission of building the financial power of women. She’s passionate about ethical investment, impact investment and ensuring that capital is used to help build a better world.

Prior to founding Verve, Christina enjoyed ten years working for the United Nations in complex humanitarian emergencies. Her role with the UN focused on advising humanitarian organisations, governments and the private sector on how to connect the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world to the financial services system, often to provide life saving assistance and livelihood support.

www.vervesuper.com.au

Hana Assafiri OAM

Featured in:
Ep 3. Work in Progress

Hana Assafiri OAM has dedicated her professional and private life to removing barriers that prevent women from living prosperous lives. By opening her first restaurant in 1998, the popular Moroccan Soup Bar in North Fitzroy–now an institution for many Victorians, Hana has provided employment opportunities for marginalised members of the community. In 2015, she was awarded TimeOut’s Legend Award for her flair for innovation and entrepreneurship. Internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei also chose to include Hana in his famous collection of portraits of local social activists.
To foster cross-cultural conversation and discussion, Hana holds monthly events coined ‘Speed Date a Muslim’ and ‘Conversation Salons’ to bring together academics, journalists and community organisations to debate and discuss contemporary issues, with a focus on women’s issues, racism and the need for plurality and a progressive vision. She has also been a mentor for many young women, particularly from marginalised backgrounds.In March 2017 Hana was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, celebrating her contribution made to local communities and human rights. In January 2019, Hana received a Order of Australia Medal OAM award. 
www.moroccansoupbar.com.au
Photo: Elisa Grassa for SBS

Jackie Roberts

Featured in:
Ep 3. Work in Progress

Jackie Roberts is a passionate advocate for empowering women, who loves vintage/rockabilly fashion, red lipstick, and Disney movies. She has completed her Diploma in Community Services, and first came to Fitted For Work as a client in 2017. She was completely blown away by the supportive service she received as a young single mum during an Outfitting appointment in their Melbourne Office, and decided that she would love to work in the community sector.

Jackie completed a 200 student placement as part of her Diploma in their face to face client services, and was invited to join the Fitted For Work team as a Referral Officer in 2018. She has recently begun a new position as Fitted for Work’s Client Referral Coordinator.

www.fittedforwork.org

Jamila Rizvi

Featured in:
Podcast teaser
Ep 6. The Mother Load

Jamila is Editor-at-Large of the Nine Network’s Future Women, host of their podcast Future Women Weekly and weekly columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She is also a regular commentator on The Project, Today, The Drum, Q and A, an occasional host on ABC Radio Melbourne. Jamila is the co-founder of the popular event series Tea with Jam and Clare, which attracts an audience of thousands each year. She previously worked in politics for the Rudd and Gillard Governments, advising on issues including media, women, child care, and employment. Jamila is an Ambassador for CARE Australia and board member of the Melbourne Writers’ Festival.

Jamila has been named as one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review. She lives in Melbourne with her husband Jeremy, son Rafi and many loads of clean but regrettably unfolded washing.

www.jamilarizvi.com.au

Jan Browning & Terry McMeekin

Photo: Simon Schulter

Featured in:
Ep 2. Super Game Plan

Jan & Terry first met in 1988 when they fetched up at the same school in Melbourne’s  south-east. Jan transferring from Brunswick to teach English and Terry from KooWeeRup to teach Geography. Terry been in teaching from finishing school, while Jan was initially a hairdresser who found her way to teaching thanks to the election of the Whitlam government in 1972. Terry had moved schools to be closer to her home in Frankston and Jan had just moved to Mt Martha with her then 3-year-old daughter when her parents decided to leave Lilydale for Mornington.

The two of them quickly discovered that life in their new school presented unforeseen challenges and difficulties as it was one of the first of the new Secondary Colleges, an amalgam that was uniting the old Tech and High divisions. The first discovery was that neither of them would be teaching their particular subject specialities but instead would be teaching ‘Humanities’ a broad umbrella designed to incorporate English, Geography, History and Social Studies.

Frictions inevitably appeared over union issues, curriculum and working conditions. They found themselves on the frontline of many battles—not a comfortable place to be—and became firm friends because of it. Both left that school as soon as possible; Terry after three years, Jan after four, but the friendship and the shared passions and values remained. Both went on to have interesting and valuable careers in teaching and both, now retired, live just two streets apart and are still involved in fighting battles of social and environmental justice.

→ Read: How two friends made $50,000 each with their ‘creative’ retirement plan by Sophie Aubrey, 29  November 2019, The Age

Juanita McLaren

Juanita McClaren speaking at an event. She's wearing a blazer and has badges on her lapel such as the Aboriginal flag.

Featured in:
Ep 6. The Mother Load

Since 1997, Juanita McLaren has worked predominantly in the not for profit sector in fundraising, and in the last three years, Juanita has also worked in the field of social justice.

In March 2019, she attended the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Women’s Conference at the UN in New York City to present on the CEDAW Optional Protocol she submitted as the complainant, in conjunction with submission authors the National Council of Single Mothers & their Children (NCSMC). Her submission asserted that the government’s decision to alter family support payment program ParentsNext unfairly targeted single mothers and their children, placing them at risk of poverty.

She is also working at Swinburne University in the Department of Social Sciences as a casual research assistant working with Professor Kay Cook on a research survey regarding women’s experiences of the Child Support System in Australia (also in conjunction with NCSMC).

@defrostedlady

Karen From Finance

Featured in:
Podcast teaser
Ep 1. Where Do We Start?

Karen From Finance is the premiere ‘corporate’ queen of Melbourne, Australia. She lives alone with her budgie ‘Dantè’ and enjoys tax time, office-based bonding activities, and invoice archiving.

After being made redundant from the accounts team at a small pie wholesaler in Geelong, Karen From Finance has since moved to the big smoke to become a real team player here in Melbourne. Make her feel welcome! CC her in on an email. Heck, BCC her if you must! Karen From Finance will always Reply To All. Specialising in BAS statements, Payroll Systems, and Accounts Payable, Karen From Finance takes her role in your office very seriously.

Karen celebrates her New Years on July 1st each year, and isn’t shy of the odd Friday night after-work drink with the ladies. Her weaknesses include the ATO, Revolver, cute temps from the Agency and conjoined paper clips.

www.karenfromfinance.com

Karen Pickering

Featured in:
Ep 1. Where Do We Start?
Ep 6. The Mother Load

Karen works across the arts, education, media and political sectors to build greater understanding of women and develop gender intelligence in organizations and individuals. She is the co-author (with Jane Bennett) of About Bloody Time: The Menstrual Revolution We Have to Have, and the editor of Doing it: Women Tell the Truth About Great Sex. She was the cofounder and director of the first Girls On Film Festival, and the creator and host of long-running salon and podcast, Cherchez la Femme. She is a highly sought-after commentator and consultant, who regularly appears across print, television, radio and at festivals around the country.

www.mskarenpickering.com.au

Layne Beachley AO

Features in:
Podcast Teaser
Ep 3. Work in Progress

Layne Beachley AO is regarded as the most successful female surfer in history. Layne’s dedication to success saw her as the only surfer, male or female, to claim six consecutive world titles between 1998 and 2003. Layne went on to win a 7th world title in 2006 before retiring from the ASP World Tour in 2008. In retirement, Layne spends her time travelling nationally and internationally as a motivational Keynote speaker for some of the world’s top commercial firms, sharing her stories about sustaining success, overcoming challenge and maintaining a winning mindset. She is also a trainer and facilitator of a series of workshops, igniting potential in everyone she works with. Layne is also the Founder and Director of her own foundation, Aim For The Stars, Chairperson of Surfing Australia and an Officer of the Order of Australia.

www.laynebeachley.com

Laura Youngson

Features in:
Ep 4. She’s a boss!

Whether it’s from 320 metres below or 5,714 metres above sea level, 2017 alumna Laura Youngson is kicking serious goals for women and girls in sport. Having achieved two world records for the lowest and the highest FIFA games in history in less than a year, Laura is fast becoming a strong voice in women’s sports advocacy globally.

As a keen sportswoman, Laura had grown tired of watching women sit on the sidelines. She saw limited opportunities, pay disparities and little respect for females in sport, from grassroots levels through to elite leagues. Compelled to do her part to change this, she cofounded Equal Playing Field (EPF), a global movement and non-for-profit initiative to promote gender equality in sport and deliver women’s sports development programs.

To make a bold statement, EPF decided to take on high-profile challenges, starting with the Guinness Book of World Records. In June 2017, Laura and the team took home their first record for playing the highest altitude soccer match ever, on a volcanic ash pitch atop Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

www.equalplayingfield.com

Leanne Miller

Featured in:
Ep 1. Where Do We Start?
Ep 4. She’s a boss!

Leanne is a woman of the Dhulanyagen Ulupna Clan, Yorta Yorta nation and Executive Director of Koorie Women Mean Business. She has an extensive advocacy background working in indigenous, legal and women’s sectors, and has represented Australian Indigenous Women at the United Nations, New York, as well as undertaking a UN Fellowship in Geneva.

Leanne comes from a line of strong women, her grandmother and mother are both highly respected Aboriginal leaders. Leanne has made significant contributions over many years to Aboriginal communities in the areas of economic development, employment, community development, tourism and the promotion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in business.

She is passionate about the elimination of violence against women and children and was instrumental in the development of the ‘Iramoo Zone’ – Mentors in Violence Prevention program. Her career spans more than 30 years, and is Chairperson of the Outback Academy. She made the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll – Minister of Women’s Affairs in 2004, and attended the United Nations Convention on the Status of Women in 2010.

Leanne was selected as part of the 2017 cohort of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity. As an Atlantic Fellow, Leanne hopes to establish a national alliance of Aboriginal women leading social and environmental responsible land based enterprises.

In 2019, Leanne was elected as the North-East representative of the Victorian First People’s Assembly.

www.kwmb.org.au

Lorraine Baloyi

Featured in:
Podcast teaser
Ep 2. Super Game Plan
Ep 5. Love + Money

Lorraine Baloyi is the Co-Founder and Director of African Family Services organisation (partnered with the Victorian Women’s Trust and Global Reconciliation). Lorraine has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Legal Studies (from Curtin University of Technology) and she is a qualified Project Management Practitioner. Specialty Areas: Legal, Corporate Governance, Project Management, Community Development, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice.

Lorraine has developed strong and trusted relationships throughout her career and is engaged with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities across Victoria; bridging social gaps, increasing accessibility to social services, providing advocacy and gender equity empowerment initiatives.

www.africanfamilyservices.org.au

Dr Lyndall Strazdins

Featured in:
Ep 6. The Mother Load

Dr Strazdins is a Professor and ARC Future Fellow (PhD Psychology, M Clinical Psych) at the Research School of Population Health, the Australian National University. She is a recognised leader in the field of work, family and wellbeing, especially the role played by work time and the pressures and health challenges for families to combine work with caring, or for young adults to combine work with study. She leads the work and family component of the Federally funded Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a study of 10,000 families, and has or currently serves as a scientific consultant to Government, including the ACT Health Promotion Branch, the Department of Veteran Affairs Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Defence forces and a consultant to the Paid Parental Leave Evaluation. She also collaborates with National NGO organisations regarding social policy for Australian families. In 2011 Strazdins was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship investigating time as a resource for health.

Her research focuses on contemporary predicaments of work and care and their health and equity consequences, viewing health as inter-linked within families. More recently she has been leading theory and evidence on time as a social determinant of health, viewing  time as a resource, like money, which underpins inequality and is fundamental for peoples’ capacity to be healthy.

www.researchers.anu.edu.au

Madison Griffiths

Featured in:
Ep 5. Love + Money

Madison Griffiths is a writer, artist and poet whose work has been published in VICESBSOverlandDaily LifeMeanjinKill Your Darlings and more. She is also an online editor at literary youth journal Voiceworks and the producer, writer and host of Tender podcast, ‘an exquisitely thoughtful narrative that meanders through the non-linear process of healing and grief’ that comes after you leave an abusive relationship. Her work revolves predominantly around issues concerning women, mental illness, and race.

@madisonrgriffiths

Dame Marilyn Waring DNZM

Featured in:
Ep 3. Work in Progress

Dame Marilyn Waring DNZM is a New Zealand feminist, former politician, author, academic, activist for female human rights and environmental issues and development consultant.

In 1975, aged 23, she became New Zealand’s youngest member of parliament for the conservative New Zealand National Party. As a member of parliament she chaired the Public Expenditure Committee. Her support of the opposition Labour Party’s proposed nuclear-free New Zealand policy was instrumental in precipitating the 1984 New Zealand general election, and she left parliament in 1984.

On leaving parliament she moved into academia; she is best known for her 1988 book If Women Counted, and she obtained a D.Phil in political economy in 1989. Through her research and writing she is known as the principal founder of the discipline of feminist economics. Since 2006, Waring has been a Professor of Public Policy at the Institute of Public Policy at AUT in Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on governance and public policy, political economy, gender analysis, and human rights. She has served as a consultant to a number of international organisations.

She has outspokenly criticised the concept of GDP, the economic measure that became a foundation of the United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA) following World War II. She criticises a system which ‘counts oil spills and wars as contributors to economic growth, while child-rearing and housekeeping are deemed valueless’. Her work has influenced academics, government accounting in a number of countries, and United Nations policies.

On December 31 2019 Marilyn was awarded Dame companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to women and economics.

www.marilynwaring.com

Michelle Sheppard

Featured in:
Ep 3. Work in Progress

Michelle is the Transgender Community Liaison Officer at Fitted for Work. She is a highly respected presenter, advocate and trainer in the gender equity space. As a transgender woman, she appreciates the difficulties within the grey created by the gender divide and not only traverses them herself, she willing takes others on the ride with her. Some of her high profile media engagements include JOY FM, the AFL, ANZ, BMW, and blogs. She has also been nominated in the media category in the 2018 LGBTI Awards (National) as well as the winner of GLOBE small business award 2017 for her work on LGBTIQ employment advocacy.

Michelle empowers women and challenges barriers to inclusion, discrimination and harassment.

www.fittedforwork.org

 

Pauline Taylor

Featured in:
Ep 2. Super Game Plan

Pauline Taylor is a finance and economics consultant whose long career spans the public and private sectors. Work in the financial services industry includes banking, stockbroking, managed funds analysis and credit ratings. In government, she provided advice and support to small businesses. Pauline has conducted seminars, discussion groups and webinars in superannuation and retirement planning for women in all the mainland states of Australia. Pauline is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. She is a board member of the Womens Information and Referral Exchange, and is a member of the Women in Super Policy Committee. Pauline is not aligned with any financial institution.

→ Buy her book How to be a Super Smart Woman: New Strategies for Superannuation 

Sheree Rubinstein

Sheree is the co-founder and CEO of One Roof, expert in curating spaces and communities that nurture female entrepreneurs. One Roof has created female-centric co-working spaces across 4 cities, engaged 10,000 women and hosted 500+ educational workshops. Sheree was awarded the 2016 Victorian Young Achievers Leadership Award. In 2015, she was nominated one of Australia’s top young innovators by the Foundation for Young Australians.

 

www.oneroof.com

Van Badham

Featured in
Podcast teaser
Ep 3. Work in Progress

Van Badham is a Melbourne-based theatremaker, journalist, critic, academic, activist, novelist and occasional broadcaster. She is currently employed as a weekly political columnist and culture critic for The Guardian Australia, while as a theatremaker she’s had more than 100 international productions of her work.

Van’s work for stage and musical theatre have appeared at international festival such as the Edinburgh Festival, New York Summer Play Festival, Royal Court Theatre, and have toured across the UK, US, Europe, and Australia.

Van has extensive experience as a keynote speaker, host, panelist, and consultant. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Creative Arts/Arts, and a Masters in Writing for Performance (First Class). She has lectured in Writing for Theatre and Writing for Film and Television, and tutored in Visual Art Theatre at the University of Wollongong. She has additionally taught programmes for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Tower Hamlets Idea Store (UK), the Central School of Speech and Drama (UK), Arts Tasmania, the NSW Writers Centre, the South Coast Writers Centre and Writers Victoria. She is presently a tutor for Guardian Masterclasses.

www.vanbadham.com.au

Fiona Guthrie AM

Featured in
Ep 7. Bonus Episode: Money + mental health

Fiona Guthrie is the CEO of Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), the peak body for financial counsellors in Australia. Fiona started her career in consumer advocacy as a voluntary financial counsellor at Caxton Legal Centre in Brisbane, and in 1990 helped set up the Financial Counsellors Association of Queensland. She has now been involved with the consumer movement for over 30 years, including a number of years on the executive of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia.

Fiona’s passion for fairness and belief that everyone deserves a fair go drives her work. Her vision is to strengthen FCA’s role as a trusted voice around financial hardship, and to secure adequate and sustainable funding for financial counselling.

https://www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au/

Georgie Harman

Featured in
Ep 7. Bonus Episode: Money + mental health

Georgie is the CEO of Beyond Blue and is known for her decisive and personable leadership style and her track record of delivering complex reforms. She has significant experience in policy development, service delivery and change management across the community, public and private sectors. Appointed CEO of Beyond Blue in May 2014, Georgie has diversified the organisation’s activities and led significant growth in service innovation, suicide prevention and digital offerings in response to community need.

Previously, she was Deputy CEO of the National Mental Health Commission and for six years prior to that, served as a senior executive at the Commonwealth Department of Health where she had national responsibility for mental health, suicide prevention, substance misuse, cancer and chronic disease. At the same time, she led the strategy and development of legislation to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products in Australia – a world first. Georgie is driven by a determination to do better for people and their families using a community heart and a business head.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Julie Barrow

Featured in
Ep 7. Bonus Episode: Money + mental health

Julie Barrow is the Coordinator of Financial Counselling Development at Financial Counselling Australia. Julie is a passionate consumer advocate and experienced financial counsellor specialising in family violence with a lens on economic abuse. Julie also has experience in assisting survivors of online dating scams.

Julie has been successful in advocating to the State Government for implementation of instalment payments for vehicle registrations in Victoria (announced and implemented in January 2018). She is a former Board Director at Financial Counselling Australia, and former consumer representative on Barwon Water Consumer Consultative Committee.

https://www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au/

 

 

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