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Carolina Giraldo was eight months pregnant, facing the prospect of giving birth alone at the start of the pandemic and about to lose her business as retail sales completely stopped with the uncertainty of COVID. With 180 employees across Colombia and Australia, people were relying on her for their livelihoods when things started to shut down. One of the proudest moments of her life is managing to keep every single employee on and reinventing her business to make that possible. Now with two small children and a growing business, she is working to balance her family and her business, and all the competing responsibilities.
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Wendy Tuohy is a journalist and columnist focusing on gender equality, women and work, women's safety and social issues. This is a fascinating conversation with someone who understands what’s going on by speaking daily with women who are impacted by systemic barriers, unfair workplace practices and inequality in the home and outside it. She saw what an impossible situation women are put in at work when they become mothers, and is passionate about sharing the truth about our lives, how we’re impacted by policies and legislation, and how it all shows up in our relationships and families. Wendy is hugely knowledgeable about our lived reality, this is a fascinating conversation.
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Having stuck it out in a workplace where she was disrespected and shut down to the extent that it was detrimental to her health, Charmaine Loratet won’t do that again, and she doesn’t want anyone else to live through that either. She is passionate about supporting women to be the most authentic version of themselves, so they can show up fully at work and in life. Charmaine also shared her very personal IVF story in this episode. She wants to normalise the conversation about IVF, but also about anything important that is happening in our lives. Work and life are so intertwined that we can’t separate them, and we can’t possibly show up authentically if we feel we have to hide a part of ourselves. Charmaine’s bright, bubbly energy and her passion for supporting women really shines through in this recording.
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Investigative journalist Jess Hill wrote the award-winning See What You Made Me Do, about the national emergency of domestic abuse in Australia. It’s a riveting but deeply distressing look at the real-life stories of women and children, how the justice system enables abusers, and hope for reducing violence through community intervention. Please note there is a content warning on this episode. It’s incredibly important listening, but it’s also upsetting at points, and we discuss family violence and child abuse.
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Diversity Council of Australia CEO Lisa Annese is a self-described feminist and activist, working to improve gender equality in Australian workplaces. She is passionate about the connection between the gendered roles we still expect at home with a lack of progress for women in workplaces. Lisa shared research from the DCA that shows men’s mental health and wellbeing benefits from being in gender equal relationships, families and workplaces. The conversation around men’s mental health and women wanting flexibility and support in the workplace are two sides of the same coin, and Lisa’s deep knowledge around gender issues led us on a fascinating discussion.
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Welcome back to Women at Work Podcast! After a bit of a hiatus that included a global pandemic and extreme homeschooling, we’re back with this season themed women speaking up. The impacts of COVID on working women have been shocking but unsurprising. Women everywhere are saying they’re burnt out, overwhelmed and overworked. This season we’re talking to women who have something to say about gender equality and the barriers women face, as well as the real steps they’re taking in their own lives and careers to combat it. Enjoy the season!
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What We Cover: How Larissa made her way to senate. The impact of breastfeeding in parliament How Larissa's life is set up to manage a full career and family How Australian workplaces are structured with regard to supporting families. What can people do to change this paradigm Dated beliefs in parliament The impact of politics on everyone’s lives How to stay engaged with the political system. What arguments can you use to help influence people who are opposed to your viewpoint Gender pay gap Advice to working mums
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The infrastructure you need to have a big job and a family Relationship dynamics when the woman is the primary earner Letting go of mother guilt Giving yourself permission to receive support How to fit self care into a busy schedule Stepping back and getting perspective in life
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The speed of change with the gender equality, and changes that contribute to hope The Persisterhood The seven myths of women at work The four stages of gender equity awareness The male breadwinner model in Australia and how it impacts progress The importance of financial freedom for women, and teaching that to girls Invisibility of older women and statistics around homelessness How can we make change ourselves, and gathering groups together to drive change Benefits of long daycare for children
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What work 180 does and why Valeria’s passionate about it Equality between men and women in the workplace and in their working remotely How to manage yourself and other people who work remotely and flexibly How to start the discussions around working remotely or flexibly Companies that are at the forefront of flexible working The Still Birth Foundation, and maternity leave post-stillbirth How to come back after you’ve had a career break - the Work180 community, regaining your confidence and how parenting gives you a host of new skills that can be applied at work Girls in STEM, and Work 180's Super Daughter Day The value of a network in your career The importance of volunteering in feeding your passions and creating opportunities
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Denise Duffield-Thomas helps women create wealth through her mindset courses and practical wisdom on releasing money blocks. She is a self-made millionaire who has done it all while raising three small children, against a backdrop of a life of ease and joy. Denise has written three books, Lucky Bitch, Get Rich Lucky Bitch and Chillpreneur, where she gives a fresh and funny road-map to create an outrageously successful life and business. Her honesty, trademark humor and down-to-earth wisdom make her relatable and engaging while she's out in the world changing lives.
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“We will rise together or not at all.â€
Jamila Rizvi is an author, presenter, political commentator, the newly appointed editor-at-large of Future Women, former editor-in-chief of MamaMia. She’s written two books, Not Just Lucky and The Motherhood, and signs off her emails Troublemaker At Large, which is a great sign.
We discuss:
a series of hilarious but also scary statistics, like the fact that there are more men named Andrew than women running ASX200 companies Tips for negotiating, such as focus on what you want, not what you’ve got The structural inequalities that we live in, and the importance of understanding them so we can see it’s not ‘just me’ Diversity is proven to shift the bottom line in organisations, so how do we make workplaces work better for women A glorious story about how Barak Obama’s female staff supported each others ideas and in being heard That we can all be part of the sisterhood and the feminist movement in whatever way works for us as individuals The importance of community How we all need to let go of the pursuit of perfection, and give ourselves a bit of a break ResourcesWe mention some resources throughout the conversation, here is where you can find links to them all!
Future Women, where Jamila has taken the helm and is building an amazing community.
Jamila’s books, Not Just Lucky and The Motherhood
And her own website.
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“I remember those days were just so challenging. He was traveling for work, I was traveling for work...There was a moment where we were just hoping the various planes we were on weren’t delayed so that we could pick up the kids!”
Caroline Patrick is one of Australia’s most passionate marketers, ticking off a variety of achievements such as revitalising one of Australia’s most loved brands, launching a health fund, and winning Australian Marketing Institute Certified Practising Marketer of the Year Award. Currently, Caroline sits on the Executive Management Team at the Radio Rentals Group and is part of a team driving business transformation. Caroline has been making very deliberate choices aiming for a balanced and fulfilled lifestyle and career, and now lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, supported by her stay at home husband Iain and their two children Amelia, 11 and Cameron, 8.
What we cover: Caroline’s background and how she accidentally moved to Australia from the UK Why she had to become creative in her job choices and the benefits of bypassing the corporate ladder and pursuing a jungle gym career The importance of having a sense of purpose and alignment of values in work roles Being the only woman on the executive team The process Caroline and her husband Iain went through to make the transition for him to be a stay-at-home dad Making conscious decisions and changes to support those decisions, as opposed to just letting life happen Caroline’s experience of Mother Guilt and the double standard for stay-at-home dads in our society The important of putting judgments aside when making decisions that are right for you Caroline’s advice to anyone who might be in the two-working-parents juggle right now Why you should ask for what you want and question the status quo The gift of giving yourself permission to outsource the things that make life easier ResourcesCaroline mentions the FriDads, a group of stay at home Dads from Alice Springs
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“If I give myself a vision of where I want to get to and then only identify the next step... I actually end up going to places that I hoped to get to but that seemed like a wild dream.”
Summer Edwards is a Life and Leadership Coach, and the founder of Lead Mama Lead, a social enterprise that empowers working mothers to drive change in the workplace. With a background in community development programs, working in Indigenous Affairs and internationally in developing countries, she has a strong interest in gender empowerment work, inclusive economies and social enterprise development. After becoming a mother, Summer transitioned from employment into a freelance career in community development and the social innovation sector, working with social enterprises and NGOs to capture and learn from the social impact of their work. Still, she found herself called to do something more with her experiences and challenges with work and motherhood. The Lead Mama Lead community (based around a website and a Facebook group) was born, because engaged motherhood and an engaged career should not be mutually exclusive.
What we cover: The challenges Summer faced negotiating challenging work in a part time role as a new Mum How a blog side-project helped her find challenging, career-worthy work in her field of expertise The mission of Lead Mama Lead and how it came to be The power of small steps, incremental changes, and treating your leadership path as an experiment How to discover what energises you by asking reflective questions: What have I really loved doing? What kinds of activities have I got lost in? Where have I found that sense of flow? What activities leave me feeling energised and on a high? What tends to deplete me and how can I do less of that over time? What do I always ask for more of at work? What has really worked for me in my career? What challenges have I overcome before? What can I draw on from those previous experiences? The importance of clearing space and avoiding distractions in order to create change in our lives The leadership skills we learn from parenting Why we need to change our views of success and transform the workplace to recognise that home and family life matters too Balancing the internal battle with the external (bottom-up and top-down) conversations, and power of community in supporting women’s confidence to challenge the system The trap of internalising unrealistic expectations about parenting and working The two big problems impacting mums: Imposter Syndrome and Overwhelm The Overcoming Overwhelm program and other ways to work with Summer Quotes“I quickly found that a job that I’d loved and was so challenging, and gave me so much variety and opportunity, became very routine and pigeonholed as I returned to the office 3 days a week… I felt really dissatisfied and trapped.”
“The solution cannot be for everyone to haemorrhage from existing institutions, corporations, public service agencies. We need to keep mums in these roles, we need their perspectives on policies and product decisions, and every facet of our economy, so we can’t have everyone [become a freelancer].”
“Mums should be able to have a meaningful and engaged career, and have the time that they want for their family and to take care of themselves.”
“If I give myself a vision of where I want to get to and then only identify the next step... I actually end up going to places that I hoped to get to but that seemed like a wild dream.”
“We can’t transform our work overnight but can we can do little 1% changes that will move us closer to where we want to go.”
“We [need to] transform our workplaces so that they recognise that life outside of work is there and it matters and it doesn’t get in the way of being a good, productive employee.”
“We should never forget that great change often seems impossible before it happens and we just have to trust that every little thing we do to stand up for ourselves is going to contribute to the tipping point that will normalise a different view of mums and flexible workers in the workplace.”
“Women are expected to work like nothing’s changed in their life after they’ve become a mum, but they’re also expected to be a Mum as if they don’t have a job. And we internalise those expectations of ourselves and think that we are failing if we’re not performing. We need to let go of unrealistic expectations that we have about ourselves.”
ResourcesWe mention some resources in this episode, including ways to work with Summer:
The Lead Mama Lead Website
The Lead Mama Lead Facebook Group
Summer’s Overcoming Overwhelm course
We also mentioned authors Brené Brown and Annabel Crabb, who you can find on Twitter.
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You can reinvent yourself, you just have to believe in yourself to do it.
Fiona Hitchiner has over 20 years’experience working in the Diversity & Inclusion, Work-Life Balance, Recruitment and Human Resources sectors working for multi-national, private and government organisations across Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
She is passionate about working with organisations to truly support and engage their people, through the development of work-life, diversity and inclusion as well as talent management programs.
Fiona is the proud mum to two young boys, an avid reader, runner, swimmer and yoga enthusiast, and has most recently signed up to volunteer as part of the community visitors scheme – connecting with older and socially isolated people.
This ended up being a really deep, honest conversation about the beauty and the challenges of life, and the ways we can choose to overcome difficult times.
The four areas she tries to focus on in her life: career, family, community and improving peoples’ lives The fact that your job really has to align to your values in order for you to be happy at work Big, spontaneous changes she’s made in her life and career The ‘profoundly negative impact’ on her at work for taking maternity leave, and tips to manage that if you’re thinking about taking maternity leave Fiona shares a really personal story, and the way she overcame huge challenge and trauma Great beauty comes out of the challenges we face Her life experiences led her to want to give a voice to anyone who doesn’t have one, because she knows first hand how it feels to be silenced. The choice we have, every day, to be a victim or to forge forward and take back our power  The ways we can look after ourselves, including a gratitude practice ResourcesWe mention some resources throughout the conversation:
DCC Careers (now Work180) company checklist
WGEA Employer of Choice
FlexCareers for flexible work options
100Mums recruitment for working mothers
Brene Brown’s Daring Greatly
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