Seize the Yay

It has been an absolute delight to see how many of you share in my passion for espionage or intelligence stories and to hear that you enjoyed our last episode with a real-life Australian spy. One of the most common follow up questions from you has been my top recommendations for spy books, TV shows or podcasts and, funnily enough, my own current favourite podcast was also the one our ASIO Intelligence Officer mentioned as hers.  Since its launch late last year, I have not only binged every episode of The Rest Is Classified but signed up to their paid Declassified Club to get early access to each full series covering everything from the Bin Laden operation, Edward Snowden, CIA mind control and even UFOs. Hosted by former CIA analyst turned best-selling espionage author, David McCloskey, and veteran British security correspondent, Gordon Corera, the show unravels the world of intelligence and covert operations enhanced by their intimate, expert perspectives along with incredible guests including the likes of the former head of the CIA and former head of MI5! You can, therefore, imagine my levels of excitement sending a casual DM to one David McCloskey asking if he’d consider joining our own humble show and getting an enthusiastic “yes”! Not only are we sharing today some of his insights on the intelligence world from INSIDE THE CIA including across field stations in the Middle East, but also on his life after The Agency - yes you can leave and live to tell the tale - and tell the tale in such a way that you become a Sunday Times best-selling author of three (soon-to-be four) incredible books. So, both in the realms of non-fiction and fiction, I have followed closely and thoroughly enjoyed David’s work and to have him on the show is such a treat. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did! Follow David here.Learn more about him here.  Listen to The Rest is Classified.  LINKS + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over our seven years so far of seizing the yay, I’ve found myself repeatedly blown away by some of the rooms it has led me into and some of the incredible people I’ve been lucky to meet. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine one of those rooms would be a SCIF at the headquarters of our national security service, ASIO, or that one of those people would be a real life spy. For the uninitiated, a SCIF is a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility and if you’ve followed me for even the briefest of time it won’t surprise you that I’m already familiar with all the acronyms. ALL of the content I consume involves espionage or secret operations, so you will understand why I consider this week’s episode a career and life highlight and this week’s guest a very favourite.  I am able to share that our guest is a current Senior Intelligence Officer and she has been permitted to shed some light on the incredible work she does... but her exact title, name and real voice remain obfuscated for reasons, and I can’t believe I get to say this, of national security. In fact, the identity of every individual who works at ASIO is a secret except for the Director General and the three Deputy Directors-General.  As we discuss, the very definition of ASIO’s success is preventing anything for us to know about and revealing exactly how they do that to any of us would also reveal it to potential enemies (so if you get frustrated at what our guest can’t share, know it’s for extremely good reason). While you may have ideas about spycraft from Hollywood and agencies like the CIA or MI6, there still isn’t much out there about our homegrown spies, which makes it even more exciting to get this incredibly rare insight into what life is like on the inside. I’ll also add there are a few instances where our speech may seem chopped or edits may seem messy, but you’ll of course understand that you can never know why. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. Visit ASIO's website here LINKS + Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back lovely yayborhood, I hope the new financial year is treating you well. I’m so excited to share today’s episode not only because our guest is infinitely knowledgeable, but also because it ended up a little different to usual. Anaita Sarkar and I have been mutually fangirling for many years and one of the many things I love about her is her insatiable curiosity. Because of that, she not only preferred not to spend too much time on the parts of her origin story that have been exhaustively covered elsewhere but she also asked ME more questions than a guest has before, which made for a slightly chaotic, very tangential, surprisingly vulnerable but extremely enjoyable conversation that possibly reveals more about both of us than our normal structure ever could have.But her story is inspiring, interesting AND impressive so I’ll quickly give you a run down. Born in India as the daughter of a doctor, Anaita started off on a typical high-achieving pathway at KPMG before quickly realising her yay lay elsewhere. After multiple business experiments in make up, photography, and custom leather goods, she co-founded Hero Packaging from her dining table. Hero is now a global supplier of over 30 million compostable mailers, boxes, labels, and tissue paper and Seize the yay is one of her 73,000+ happy customers!!You may also know her as the brains behind Sell Anything Online - a bustling community, the banner for her two books and the ultimate playbook on the wild world of e-commerce. She has mastered the art of building brands, telling stories and continual reinvention and we are so lucky she shared so many practical tips in between our yapping today. Somehow, she is also a Mum of three AND building a brand new business at the moment, so if you’re after inspiration - she is it. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.See Anaita's website here.Get her book here. Find out about Hero Packaging here.LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know I rarely find myself struggling with words, but certain guests and their stories simply defy adequate description. I was lucky enough to interview Grace Tame at an event back in 2022 where her bravery and eloquence moved a room full of excitable adults to still, silent awe. Getting to chat with her again and share that with you all this week feels like such a great privilege and again found me quite lost for words. Grace, on the other hand, speaks with such clarity and composure even on her unfathomable experiences of trauma and pain. As a survivor of child sexual abuse both at the age of six and 15, she has become a powerful advocate for legal reform, reduction of stigma and primary prevention of sexual violence against children.Add some complex layers including anorexia, domestic violence, late diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and having it all laid bare before the whole nation becoming Australian of the Year at just 26 while still processing it all in real time... and there you have a journey unimaginable to most of us. And yet, Grace’s capacity not only to continue her advocacy with the Grace Tame Foundation, but to find pockets of joy, hope and love is perhaps what blows me away the most.I won’t attempt to say more as it continues to feel inadequate, but I am grateful not only to help continue raising awareness of complex issues like grooming and consent but also to share some parts of Grace you don’t hear as much about elsewhere. You know that’s what I love most about this show and being a survivor of child sexual abuse is simply not the totality of Grace Tame. She is funny, quirky, reflective and hopeful - an ultramarathon runner, artist, author, bookworm and dedicated friend. Despite a pathway in which she was given no choice and where finding her yay could not be the main focus - unlike many of our guests - she somehow finds it anyway. I hope you enjoy as much as I did. Follow Grace here.Visit the Grace Tame Foundation here.If this conversation raises any emotional distress for you, please reach out to someone, or call Lifeline for 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services on 13 11 14.LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to BIZ — the podcast that's rewriting the rules of work for a new generation.Are you the queen of procrastination who'd rather deep clean your entire house than finish that urgent report? This week on BIZ Inbox, Em Vernem and Sarah Davidson tackle the art of actually getting work done with practical strategies – including the game-changing "eat the frog" method that might just save your productivity. Plus, we wade into the murky waters of workplace social media boundaries (spoiler: someone might get offended, and that's okay), and we share how to stand out as the new person at work. Welcome to BIZ Inbox, your go-to workplace advice podcast where awkward career questions get real-world solutions. If you want your work life issue solved, send us a voice note or email us at podcast@mamamia.com.au. You can remain completely anonymous!Here is Em's article about 'eat the frog’. Get more Sarah Davidson in her sensational podcast Seize The Yay!Sign up to the BIZ newsletter here to get all our tips and tricks.THE END BITSSupport independent women's mediaFollow the Biz Instagram and Sarah's very own podcast: Seize The Yay Podcast. HOSTS: Sarah Davidson and Em VernemSENIOR PRODUCER: Sophie CampbellAUDIO PRODUCER: Leah Porges Mamamia's studios are furnished with thanks to Fenton & Fenton. For more head to their website here. Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lovely yayborhood, it’s been a little while since our last Seize the Bebe episode but as always that in itself is such an apt representation of the juggle. SO many topics have come up recently that I’ve wanted to dedicate episodes to without anywhere near enough time to squeeze them in (including another episode on that juggle itself after a little video I shared on it went viral) but that will have to wait as we DID manage to catch an incredible guest during her whirlwind visit to Australia.I still can’t quite believe I had the incredible opportunity to sit down with the woman who has already revolutionised meal time in our household which is becoming quite the challenge as Teddy enters the world of toddlerhood. When it comes to feeding small humans, there is pretty much nobody better to speak to than Annabel Karmel who has published FIFTY ONE books on the subject since 1991, had several TV shows, a life-changing range of delicious ready made meals and now an amazing app featuring her easy, healthy recipes. Her decades of work since well before similar resources were accessible has earned her an MBE (our equivalent of an OAM) along with the praise and loyalty of millions of families around the world. I was not prepared for how difficult it could be to simply feed your child once they realise they have autonomy... plus the overwhelm of meal prep, balanced nutrition and finding TIME to do it all. But, Annabel’s frozen meals and recipes have been SO helpful and I couldn’t believe that just after filling our house with her goodies, I got actually meet her. Not only do we cover so many of the burning questions many of us have about picky eating, introducing new flavours, determining volume etc Annabel also shares the heartwrenching story that brought her to this point - another pathYAY she never could have predicted. A heads up, we do touch on the loss of a child so please take care while listening. In the meantime, I hope you gain as much from this one as I did!!Follow Annabel here.Find her links here.LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lovely yayborhood, one of my favourite things about this show is the incidental opportunity it gives me to learn about things I don’t really understand from the people who find THEIR yay in making it their area of expertise. I often refer to my selfish motivations in approaching particular guests to pick their brains about things that fascinate me and an episode on AI has been brewing for some time.  I think many of you will resonate with AI seeping more into your life and, in my case at least, a little quicker than my understanding of it has been able to develop. I’m surrounded by content on how it can change your life and productivity but also how it’ll replace us all by tomorrow, so I wanted a guest who not only understands it well but is known for being able to make that information digestible to the everyday person. Enter Loren Dennett who I met through my partnership with HP who has helped me better grasp and therefore harness the power of HP’s AI technologies in a big way. Loren is the product expert for HP and you’ll hear within minutes of our chat how passionate they are about the power of AI and empowering us all to reap its benefits.  From busting common misconceptions to naming key AI powered tools that can change your day-to-day life, we are SO lucky to have Loren here demystifying it all. Weaved, of course, around Loren’s own pathYAY including, as you can hear from their pronouns, their nonbinary identity, experience of inclusion and advocacy in the workplace. I hope you enjoy (and learn as much from) this one as I did! Find out more about the HP Omnibook here.Follow Loren here.LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve been on the Internet at all over the past decade or so, you’ve likely been influenced by Rozalia Russian who I feel comfortable calling one of the OG influencers of our time. While many of us embraced the mirror selfie and Valencia filter from the beginning, not all of us transformed into one of the country’s most sought after opinion leaders, brand ambassadors and dare I say “icons” with over a quarter of a million followers hanging onto her every move.What I love most about Roza, though, isn’t her effortlessly immaculate style or perfect grooming (although I do screenshot her tips on pretty much everything), it’s the lesser known parts of her story that make her perhaps more down to earth than you might first expect... Arriving in Australia with two suitcases and $250, early life in ESL classes, her hilariously refreshing approach to motherhood and the most well adjusted approach to trolling that I’ve heard. Fun fact? I’ve actually been there for most of this ride, knowing Roza not only since before social media during our clubbing days that were so much fun to relive (and before her surname became Russian which, yes, was a total coincidence) but since our teeny tiny ballerina days at the Australian Ballet School. So, it’s with a weird sense of pride that I’ve watched her flourish but also use her influence for wonderful causes over the years. This year, Roza is one of the ambassadors for the Witchery White Shirt Campaign supporting ovarian cancer research. One woman dies every 8 hours and less than half of those diagnosed will live beyond 5 years so the work of the OCRF is crucial. Last week, we celebrated the tally for this 17th year of over half a million dollars bringing the total to over $17.6 million to date. We are both wearing the beautiful shirts designed by Viktoria and Woods in this episode and they’re still on sale while stocks last even though the campaign has ended, so get yours below.In the meantime I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. FOLLOW ROZA HERE.GET YOUR WHITE SHIRT HERE.LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lovely yayborhood, I hope you all had a wonderful double long weekend and are getting back into the swing of things. I had some very much needed down time with lots of wholesome, offline play to yay and it does SUCH wonders for the soul. So often, you don’t realise how fast you’ve been going or how hard you’ve been pushing until you stop - I talk about the relentlessness of our modern pace of life so much and yet constantly fall victim to it myself. So I am very grateful not only for our guest today but for the timing of his appearance as he is a world-renowned expert in optimising our health, wellbeing and longevity and is exactly the person whose brains I needed to pick this week. Nic and I have been friends with Simon Hill for many years now connecting through multiple shared chapters in the wellness industry including launching products, opening plant-based restaurants, writing books, hanging with the Hemsworths and then, of course, podcasting (one of us has a #1 best selling book and a podcast with 40 million downloads, I’ll let you guess who). You may already know him as the brains behind the multi-platform Plant Proof, recently rebranded to The Proof, exploring the health and longevity benefits that come with mastering physical exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, recovery, sleep, and alignment. Simon is a physiotherapist and nutrition scientist with a unique ability to distil and translate convoluted, nuanced scientific information into snippets digestible (pun intended) by everyday audiences so that we are equipped to block out the noise and misinformation of the social media age and better our lives. I mean who doesn’t want to live longer and better and be given tips on how to do that? You can see why his is a brain I’m thrilled to have picked and why millions tune in to his content, this one is full of zingers  - I hope you enjoy as much as I did. READ MORE ABOUT THE PROOF.Follow Simon Hill here.LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The problem with being an excitable person who always uses excitable language is that I leave no superlatives in reserve for when something really blows me away. But I think most of Australia and the world (in fact, at least 60 million listeners) will grasp why I am pinching myself that our guest this week is none other than Hedley Thomas, National Correspondent for The Australian and creator of globally acclaimed investigative podcasts The Teacher’s Pet, Shandee’s Story, The Night Driver and the currently ongoing, Brownyn. I find every human and story interesting, but I do have a list of dream guests who I never think I’ll get and Hedley has been one since 2018 when he literally changed the landscape of criminal investigations with The Teacher’s Pet, leading to the murder conviction of Chris Dawson for the previously unsolved disappearance of his wife Lynette Dawson in 1982. You all know that while on this show I’m all about the yay, my guilty pleasure has always been true crime and there is possibly no more influential person in the space than Hedley. You can imagine how nervous I was to interview such a renowned, Gold Walkley award winning journalist - wanting to do him justice, explore his work, touch on who is he outside of work (a father, lover of cows, fan of White Lotus…) and ask all my burning questions about the Bronwyn case and what it takes to solve long overlooked crimes. We really need a whole series, but for now I tried to focus on things not exhaustively covered elsewhere so we do assume some baseline knowledge of his cases and skate over his fascinating way to yay before podcasting, which I highly recommend you research elsewhere.I have so much more to say, but I know you’re all waiting to hear the voice that so many of us know so well. I knew he’d be eloquent and fascinating, but didn’t expect him to be quite so humble and warm! For more information on the Bronwyn investigation, please do visit bronwynpodcast.com or tune in wherever you get your podcasts. This was truly a life highly for me and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. LISTEN TO BRONWYN HERE.Find out more about Hedley's work here. LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I am so excited about our guest this week (although I know I say that every time), but I'm especially excited about this one as we’ve been trying to line this up for a long time and I’ve been fangirling over her for even longer. But as always, the universe in its infinite wisdom worked out the perfect timing for us in the end so that this chat would come out the same week as her very first book. You’ll probably already know Ellie Cole as one of many things - our most decorated Australian female Paralympian of all time, sought after public speaker, talented TV presenter, and, for around the same time as me, boy Mum, which I’ve loved bonding over during these past twelve months or so. But as of this week, she can add published author to the line up releasing Felix and His Fantastic Friends into the world. With the main character based on her son Felix, the book was born out of Ellie’s passion to change the way we think about difference and follows able-bodied Felix through the playground teaching him how to make playtime magical with all kinds of friends. It’s such a heartwarming, powerful extension of Ellie’s already passionate advocacy and you’ll hear more about it in the episode. I also love that instead of recording during her decorated swimming career like we originally planned, we ended up chatting after her retirement turned reinvention which touches on all the themes we love about identity, definitions of success and finding happiness. I had about two hours of sleep the night before and you’ll hear me apologise a few times for not doing her justice, but luckily she’s as eloquent as she is talented easily overcoming my babbling questions with incredible answers so I hope you enjoy as much as I did.GET YOUR COPY OF FELIX AND HIS FANTASTIC FRIENDS HERE. Follow Ellie here.LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following on from last week, here's a little (very unedited, stream of consciousness style) dear diary reflection episode on the top ten things I've learnt in our first year of parenthood. If you've listened to last week's throwback, you'll remember the crazy timing of all our birthdays meaning I got to it down to record this one on the morning of my own 36th birthday. The perfect moment to think about the passing of time, the things that have changed me, the things I'll be taking onwards and the things I'll be leaving behind. As I say in the episode, I'm not really sure who this one is for and I didn't plan or script as much as I usually would for a solo episode. But I've always used this show as a platform to share our life in real time - highs and lows - and if anyone else out there happens to find comfort, revelations or solidarity in even a tiny part of it, that's a huge bonus. Do let me know if you found anything helpful or comforting, it means so much to hear how things reach you all. And in the meantime, I hope you're having an amazing week and are seizing your yay!LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is such a great privilege to have a community (or a yayborhood) sharing in our big life milestones and moments (especially over many years for some of you who have so kindly stuck around) and I’m sure it will shock you just as much as me to hear that this week marks ONE YEAR since Teddy came into the world. Weirdly it feels like I’ve been his Mum for both a minute and a lifetime all at once, but either way I can barely remember the person I was before and I think you can all tell it’s been my favourite chapter by far. If you follow on socials, you’ll know the first birthday milestone has come along with a very timely twelve month regression so we are back in the thick of sleep deprivation in another twist of the rollercoaster of parenthood... but it’s equally felt like a privilege (and a safe space to be honest) to share the tougher times over the past year as much as the good ones with you all. Teddy's actual birthday is tomorrow at the time of recording and we’re having a little party on the weekend, so you’ll get bombarded on all fronts with his sweet little face! As you know I love to do, I’ll be marking the occasion with a bit of a dear diary reflection episode on the biggest things I’ve learnt over the past year and taking stock of how it all feels, but that will be coming next week. Because I’ve had a few DMs asking about our birth story (plus I personally don’t really remember much of that episode having recorded in the thick of the newborn haze), I thought it’d be a nice throwback moment to re-release this one first to see what’s changed, what hasn’t and how far we’ve come. I don’t know if any other parents experience this, but I still can’t quite believe he’s real life and I look back at all the photos and videos of those very early days ALL the time, so can’t wait to re-listen to the chat we had with Sophie from Australian Birth Stories. If you have any questions for the next episode, feel free to shoot me an email or DM as always. Thank you again for embracing this new chapter with us and celebrating our little almost one year old! Hope you enjoy. LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Given International Women’s Day fell on a Saturday this year, consider this week’s conversation our annual dedication episode. And I don’t think we could have a more perfect guest for the occasion than the woman currently holding the highest position that exists in one of the most traditionally male dominated landscapes in Australia… the AFL. We are so lucky to have Laura Kane with us today, the Executive General Manager of Football at the AFL since August 2023. We so often talk about how you don’t need to know where you’ll end up because the job you’ll have might not even exist - well, Laura’s did exist only just not for women until she became the first woman to take the reins then build an executive team around her that’s 40% women and counting.Getting her Mum to write a letter to her school so she could play Auskick and not netball, Laura’s love for footy has been longstanding but coming up before women could play football professionally, she started her career in law instead. This was not the only thing we had in common either - with a career as stellar as hers, I expected her to be much older but we both grew up in the 90s era of Nokia 3310s and it humbled me immensely to realise we’re the same age. As a powerful, intelligent, but incredibly down to earth woman (who I actually met through Ang so that gives you an idea of the kind of legend she is), I was and still am fangirling hard so I’ll stop myself there before I read out her entire life story and she tells it way better herself. I hope you are as inspired by Laura as I am. LINKS+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to part two of our very hotly awaited episode of Seize the Bebe on starting solids. In this part, we cover one of the most overwhelming parts of the process - introducing allergens - with Nourishing Bubs founder and paediatric dietitian, Olivia Bates, who answers your questions in such great detail sharing her wealth of knowledge to put our minds at ease. If you haven't listened to part one, we cover all the introductory basics there (when do we start? how many meals? how much food? what is baby led weaning?) so I recommend you listen to that first. Hope you enjoy as much as I did!LINKSVisit Nourishing Bubs here. Use the code TEDDY10 for a discount if you are interested in ordering!+ Announcements on Insta at @spoonful_of_sarah+ Join our Facebook community here+ Subscribe to not miss out on the next instalment of YAY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.