Rare Conversations

In this episode, I speak with Wiebke Katsoudas, founder of By Native - a collective of explorers, artisans and creatives who produce high quality home textiles and accessories. In Wiebke's words: "I think an object is only as beautiful as the environment in which it’s made. That's why By Native guarantees quality - not only in the products we make, but also in the lives of the artisans we work with.” Wiebke works closely with small social enterprises to ensure that every individual involved in the manufacturing process of her goods is treated with respect, works in a safe environment and receives a fair wage." Instagram: bynative_home

In this episode I speak with the legendary Buck Brannaman. The inspiration behind the No. 1 New York Times best selling novel The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans (which sold over 15 million copies). Buck was also the equine technical advisor &  body double for Robert Redford in the subsequent & much-loved Hollywood adaptation of the same name. For over 30 years, Buck has been working with horses and their owners and today he is one of the world’s leading practitioners of handling horses based on classical concepts from the California vaquero tradition; working with the horse's nature, using an understanding of how horses think and communicate, to train the horse to accept humans, and work confidently & responsively with them. He works to make the animal feel safe & secure around humans so that the horse and rider can achieve a true union.  Buck travels most of the year doing horsemanship clinics in the United States, Europe, Australia & New Zealand. When not on the road, he lives with his wife Mary and their horses in Sheridan, Wyoming. To experience one of Buck's legendary training clinics, check the dates here: www.brannaman.com Extensive online horse training videos with Buck here at his new channel: www.thebuckchannel.com

Mr Alain Ferro, is the director of the Grasse Institute of Perfumery (GIP), located just north of the French Riviera. Mr Ferro has been director of this training school for the past 35 years. The art and science of perfume creation is a fascinating and complex world that is very much protected.  Since 2018, the skills related to the perfume in Grasse - that being, the cultivation of perfume plants, the knowledge and processing of natural raw materials, and the art of perfume composition became inscribed by UNESCO on their Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Scent has the power to evoke feelings of love, happiness, lust, sensuality, peace, energy. The list can go on. It can create strong positive stimuli for your moods and the emotions you feel.  Our previous experiences also have a very strong impact on how we experience scent. www.grasse-perfumery.com - Grasse Institute of Perfumery Instagram: @gipgrasse Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrasseInstituteofPerfumery/

In this episode I speak with Hayden Russ - a "Swiss army knife" of the event industry.  Originally from New Zealand, Hayden grew up with a love of musical theatre, and from a young age worked behind the scenes on various productions. Hayden then went on to spend time working in the UK before landing in the United Arab Emirates.  He now co-owns a tech rental company, show calls and covers technical production on events across the country .  Despite a hectic schedule during the peak event season, Hayden retains an optimistic attitude and is always pitching in to help his colleagues deliver outstanding events with a high level of productivity. Connect with Hayden here:  www.ihire.ae - IT & AV equipment rental covering the United Arab Emirates Follow Leoni Milano at IG: @leonimilano

In this episode, I speak with Grace Pacie - author of the best-selling book, Late! A Timebender’s Guide to Why We Are Late and How We Can Change. Grace offers a lifeline to the twenty percent of the population who struggle with lateness, and the people who live and work with them. A self-confessed “timebender” Grace tackles a subject sadly neglected by psychologists, and reveals the surprising truth about why we are late, what’s going on in our brains, and how we can get ourselves to be on time. In addition to her BA, MBA and Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Grace has qualifications in Myers Briggs, Emotional Freedom Technique (otherwise known as EFT or tapping) and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

In this episode, I speak with Sophie Allan, owner of So Help Me Dog, a training and behavioural business for reactive and rehabilitating dogs. Sophie’s passionate about educating pet parents to help them understand their dog’s behaviour. Sophie and her team are professional handlers and qualified dog trainers. They use positive reinforcement methods during training and they assess and provide you with multiple options to help make it easier for you to better understand your dog’s needs.  Every dog is unique, which makes every training session different. Sophie is a big advocate for mental health issues - having suffered from anxiety and depression herself, she wants others to see they are not alone and that there is support available.   www.sohelpmedog.net

In this episode I speak with Michael Youngblood - an entrepreneur with a global reach and perspective.  He’s the co-founder of Unsettled, a groundbreaking travel startup that operates in 20 countries, has attracted customers from nearly 100 countries, and is changing the way people live, work, and travel in the 21st century.  Unsettled won the 2018 United Nations World Tourism Startup Competition. He’s led research on global entrepreneurship at MIT, taught entrepreneurship on behalf of the U.S. State Department, and his work has been featured in dozens of media publications including the NYT's, Forbes, Outside Magazine, and many more. Michael is an avid mountaineer, snowboarder, naturalist, sailor, and all-around backcountry explorer. He is a member of the inaugural TED Residency, a member of Sandbox, and of course, a regular participant in Unsettled’s retreats everywhere. Some of the incredible Unsettled destinations include Bali, Cape Town, Tuscany and Patagonia. www.beunsettled.co Instagram: @beunsettled

In this episode, I speak with Kayleigh Franks from Australian start-up swimwear label, Kayles Renee. Like all businesses, it started as a thought. Kayleigh worked on her ideas and when all the pieces started coming together she was able to launch her unique brand. Kayleigh wanted to not only create a brand of her own that aligned with her passions, she wanted to take it a step further and make it environmentally-friendly. After many drafts of swimsuit designs and going back-and-forth with her designer, Kayleigh settled on a fabric called ‘Econyl’  for its minimal environmental impact.  Kayleigh wants women of all shapes and sizes to feel confident in her swimwear. Her all-inclusive sizing across her range, is helping to change the way society looks at women and more importantly, how women feel about themselves. Kayleigh is on a mission to normalise all bodies by using models of all sizes.  www.kaylesrenee.com Instagram: @kaylesrenee Instagram @leonimilano

A “different” kind of business checklist:   - Business burned down? - Survived ongoing wars? - Survived a deadly explosion?   This is what life is like for people living in Lebanon. The daily stress of what they are enduring is beyond measure - and what most of us could not cope with. And through this, they are still kind, compassionate and hopeful for the future.   In this podcast episode I speak with Antoine Abi Aad from Aziz Delicatesse - a third generation family-owned business that was started in 1955 by his father Aziz in Beirut, Lebanon.   Named one of "50 Greatest Food Stores in the World" by the Financial Times in 2021, this is a true testament to the standards they hold and their strength of character to withstand setback after setback. They strive to proudly serve their customers a “top-quality French experience outside of France”.    Antoine imports the finest produce from many countries including France, Spain and Italy to name a few, however his true passion lies with the wine cellar he grew to become one of the largest in the country before the more recent economic demise.    Antoine continues on with his father’s legacy, running the family business with the same amount of optimism and grit that Aziz had. They keep showing up each day with hope for a better future.    www.azizdelicatesse.com Instagram: @azizdelicatesse, @leonimilano

In this episode I speak with Biplab Paul from Naireeta Services - a social enterprise based in India.  Biplab is the innovator of BHUNGROO®, a proprietary World Bank-awarded rain harvesting technology and product. Through BHUNGROO and its unique Women Climate Leadership model, Naireeta Services has helped free over 150,000 poor farming families across India, South East Asia and Africa from food insecurity and abject poverty. Biplab is a globally-acclaimed development professional with 30 years of multi-disciplinary experience across irrigation agri-innovation and government policies.  His work is the recipient of an incredible 30 global laurels and to name just a few, UNFCCC’s Climate Action, US State Departments IVLP-Gold Star and USAID’s Securing Water for Food.  www.naireetaservices.com Twitter: Bhungroo

In this episode I speak with Clementine Bastos, owner of Goldylost Hair. Clementine creates and sells hair replacement options for women who have experienced hair loss. Originally from New Zealand, Clementine now lives in Sydney and is mum to a little girl. She actually started Goldylost Hair whilst on maternity leave.  Clementine started losing hair at aged 16 and couldn’t find any wigs that didn’t look “wiggy”.  Hair loss took a big toll on Clementine’s self-confidence and self-esteem and she wanted to create celebrity-worthy hair for everyday women, so they don’t have to go through what she did.  She has the highest quality, most natural-looking human hair wigs and toppers. Goldylost Hair helps give women back their confidence and learn to love their hair again.

In this episode I speak with Caroleena Montanez - one of four powerhouse women running international freight company in Australia, Plane 2 Sea. Caroleena was born in Colombia and moved to Australia 17 years ago. She met her co-founders Ana and Jodie in a previous job and they had an instant connection. When that business closed down, they got together, along with Nikki, and started their own business.  Eleven years later, they have developed a strong bond built from respect, true friendship and an impeccable work ethic. They’ve been through marriages, breakups, babies and everything else in between. It’s their transparency and genuine desire to help others succeed that continues to grow their business at a healthy rate and have customers reaching out to them. Their business plays a crucial part in the global supply chain in moving goods around the world to different markets.  www.plane2sea.com.au  

In this episode I speak with expert infant and child sleep consultant Lauri Goodhardt. Lauri has worked with hundreds of families to help bring sanity back to parents and give children restorative sleep that they desperately need. Lauri is passionate about her approach where she respects that all children are different, have different needs and abilities and should be treated as such. She believes in a holistic approach to sleep, tailoring plans to meet the needs of parents and their own parenting style as well as looking at the temperament of the individual child.  We talk about the importance of early childhood development and how what happens then, plays out later,  in adult life. Lauri explains how multiple factors are impacting your child’s sleep, including their environment, sleeping patterns and family routines.  She  helps you feel empowered by creating a positive and successful experience. 

In this episode I speak with Ondina Montgomery, co-founder of OMCre8tiv. A multi-disciplinary creative agency that was formed along with her husband Mark during the pandemic.  At OMCre8tiv, they are big picture thinkers and obsessed with turning ideas and visions into reality. With Ondina’s experience from being a surface designer, to fashion brand maker, along with Mark’s film making experience, they’re now able to thoughtfully guide others who are on their own creative journey. They love working with both start-ups and established businesses.  Ondina is a former fashion designer with a background in interiors and architecture. Being introduced to the arts at a very early age gave Ondina a creative awareness and curiosity to experiment and develop her own talent and eventually go on to launch her own brand.  Their creative agency provides services such as design, business strategy, branding, creative direction, graphic design, communication and immersive visual storytelling. 

In this episode, I speak with Shae Zand from Leave It To Shae, her professional home organisation business. Coming from a mixed Persian/Filipina background and having grown up between 3 countries: Iran, the Philippines and Australia, Shae considers cultural traditions to be of great importance when it comes to our very own spaces.  After graduating from journalism studies, Shae travelled extensively, living in various countries, and that lifestyle taught her a lot about minimalism. She became an expert at packing and fitting everything into one suitcase.  Her friends and relatives would ask for help with packing as she had her own way of folding and she taught them what to take and what to leave behind.  At one point, Shae decided to move to South Korea for work. Whilst she was there, she became fascinated with their knack for being able to fit everything so neatly into very small apartments and how organized they were overall.  Shae took on some professional training around home organisation where she honed her skills and learned how to create long-lasting habits to keep environments tidy and this dramatically improved her very own personal and working life.  Shae’s been practicing home organisation now for 3 years and has clients in different parts of the world. She helps anyone from busy working mums, to bachelors - helping them to transform not only cluttered and difficult spaces, but to innovate with amazing results - where she teaches people to adopt and maintain their new daily lifestyle.  There’s nothing that beats an organised home to welcome new beginnings. 

In this episode I speak with Erin Williams, CEO of Melbourne-Los Angeles based PR agency, Modern Day Communications. Erin is also the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of two magazines - Modern Day Living (IG @moderndaylivingmagazine) that provides inspiring and relatable content for mothers & Influenced (@influenced_magazine), the world's first influencer magazine.  Erin’s earliest career started when she convinced her father to open a family daycare business from their home for 6 ½ years where it grew to be the most booked out daycare in their area. During that time Erin began her Modern Day Living magazine. She wanted to provide something cool for all the amazing mothers she’d met that wasn’t baby-focused or filled with high-end fashion. She has a strong focus on working mums, lifestyle, wellness, inspiration and balance.  From there Erin started her PR agency. After her magazine’s 3rd issue (where she landed @officialmelb on the cover) she took a leap of faith and went over to LA to expand it and create more growth. It paid off.  They’re heading into their 9th issue. In 2020 when COVID hit, Erin decided to create a second publication - “Influenced” magazine, which focuses on digital creators, influencers, beauty, lifestyle and all things social media.  When the world moved into the second year of COVID, and with some media having died down a bit, Erin decided to create a monthly beauty and wellness subscription box called Bloom Beauty Box (IG @bloombeautybox__). That way they could still manage to get her clients brands out there into people’s hands and still gain exposure whilst also making sure they had backup, in case business had to change.  Both of Erin’s magazines are now sold in 12 countries and her PR agency is growing daily with a recent slew of newly-signed LA clients.  Erin talks about the immense opportunities that are out there for brands and small businesses - including growing your own business with her.  www.moderndaycommunications.com Instagram accounts: @moderndaycommunications, @themoderndaylivingmagazine @erin_kwilliams @influenced_magazine @mdccreative__

Alessandra had the good fortune of being born and gastronomically-raised in the heart of Italy by three great cooks - her mother and her two grandmothers. They had their own food religion. Alessandra earned a Masters in Political Science and Development Studies in Rome, then worked as a project manager and humanitarian aid manager in Iraq, India, Afghanistan and Indonesia. She has travelled extensively around the Middle East and South Asia.  In 2006 Alessandra moved with her husband to his homeland, The Netherlands, where they now have three food-spoiled teens and conversations in three languages at any one time.. After graduating from a digital arts degree in 2007, Alessandra moved into photography as a career, after dabbling in it since her teenage years.  Her food photography is exquisite and each photograph is carefully brought to life via an idea, seasonal produce, curated props and is captured during a small window of time with natural light on her mildly-sunny European days.  Additionally, Alessandra is a huge fan of sourdough and is a fellow fan of organisation expert Marie Kondo and her konmarimethod.  See her incredible photography at @itsalessandramignardi

In this episode, I speak with Therese Tarlinton - brand new author of Swap - Marketing Without Money, where she takes small businesses through a step-by-step process on how to reach out to the right brands, collaborate with them and build long-lasting partnerships. Therese has over 20 years experience in corporate marketing, branding, manufacturing and distribution. Having worked with top brands such as Jeep, United Colors of Benetton and Sesame Street, Therese learned from her experience that the most effective marketing strategies involved securing the right partnerships and collaborations. Leveraging other businesses can provide rapid growth for your own brand.  Therese built a start-up that made $1 million in its first year and expanded to 5 countries using this strategy.   After selling her company, she now works with big brands to create collaborative campaigns with other businesses.  Now, small businesses think that unless they have a huge social following they aren’t exactly partnership potential, but as you will hear, that’s just not true.  

In this episode, I speak with Sandra Moscardo.   Sandra is an NLP practitioner and clinical hypnotherapist. Through the use of hypnotherapy and strategic psychotherapy, Sandra teaches people the tools to switch out negative thoughts, beliefs and behaviours to create new patterns. She focuses on helping people find a solution to what’s holding them back in health, work and relationships.  Sandra has worked with hundreds of people to help them overcome challenges with anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, procrastination, phobias, addictions and weight management.  This was quite an eye-opener of an episode. I hope you will join us. You can reach out to Sandra here: newpath-hypnotherapy.com

In this episode I speak with Sasha Eburne, CEO of Virtually Assisted and The VA Way. With over 20 years of business management experience and working in the corporate world, Sasha decided to branch out on her own as a professional virtual assistant.  She’s based on the Gold Coast in Australia and works with clients all over the world.  Sasha became successful in a very short time - which allowed her to give up her daily 9.5 within 2 weeks of launching her business, and she exceeded her previous income within 6 weeks.  Now she specialises in helping women identify and achieve their goals in becoming a successful virtual assistant to live a rewarding and flexible life. www.virtuallyassisted.com.au Instagram: @thevawayau / @virtuallyassistedau