Freedom Hunters

Jamila Rizvi started her career in politics. Her first job out of university was working for the then Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. From her role as government advisor, Jamila took her career into media, where she worked at the online news site Mamamia as editor in chief. Today, Jamila is the Chief Creative Officer for the Nine Network's Future Women. She writes regular columns for Australia’s leading newpapers and has written and edited four books. During Melbourne’s strict lockdown this year, Jamila has written and produced two books.  Jamila talks about her career journey, how she made each pivot and how she approaches her career since having undergone some major life upheavals in recent years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kat Stewart is an Aussie household name due to her many stellar and powerful performances in the very best of Australian TV and theatre, which have led to her winning many accolades including AACTA and Logie awards. Kat became known in Australia for her stunning performances as Roberta Williams in Underbelly, and as Billie Proudman in my favourite Australian series, Offspring. When we spoke she had just wrapped up filming the second season of her latest TV show, Five Bedrooms. I talked to Kat about her career, and how she started out working in PR in Melbourne. However there was something inside her that just had to pursue her passion for performing, and so she transitioned her career from PR to acting. It wasn’t an easy road to follow, and Kat was very frank about the challenges that she faced when first starting out in acting. But if you are contemplating a career in acting or in the creative arts, her advice is encouraging. If you have that creative passion burning inside you, you’ve just got to do it. And if you’re in a career right now that you don’t necessarily love, it can always help you as you explore your creative side and turn it into your career. Please enjoy the episode See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lana Wilkinson is one of Australia's best-known celebrity stylists. Her client list includes some of Australia’s most stylish women, including Ruby Rose, Megan Gale and Nadia Bartel.  Lana started her career in marketing and public relations until her side hustle of styling celebrities for events and media engagements took on a life of its own. She talks about how she changed from a high-powered corporate marketing role to becoming a successful stylist, and more recently, to launching her own show collection. Lana gives great advice to anyone starting out on their own including when to stop working for free and how to have those difficult conversations about charging for your time. She also shares the best business advice anyone ever gave to her, which proved invaluable when she launched her second show collection in the middle of a pandemic. Lana Wilkinson Instagram: @lanawilkinson and @bylanawilkinson Suzanne Delahunty Instagram: @suzannedelahunty See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maria Hatzistefanis, founded her ground-breaking skincare group, Rodial, in 1999 by identifying a niche for treatments targeted to specific skin concerns. Maria has become a respected and sought-after opinion-leader as she is known for her mentoring and entrepreneurial guidance. Recently she was a judge for the British Fashion Council Vogue fashion fund, and has had guest appearances as a mentor on US fashion series, Project Runway. Maria has just launched her second book, How To Make It Happen in which she outlines how to motivate yourself and how to make your dreams a reality with stories of her own personal experience as well as truly practical step by step advice to help you achieve your own ambitions. Maria didn’t start out in the beauty business. After university she completed a business degree. Without knowing what she wanted to do with her career, she started out working in banking. But it was when she was fired from her finance job that things got interesting. We talk about how she started up her beauty business, mentoring, being an entrepreneur and what the challenges are for her in the beauty industry.  @mrsrodial @rodialbeauty @overnightsuccessxmrsrodial @suzannedelahunty

Liz Ward is the UK’s first pivot coach and founder of Slick Pivot, a boutique coaching hub for career changers, startups and entrepreneurs. She has been the coach working behind the scenes of growing startups including, The Marshmallowist and Taylor Morris Eyewear.  An AOC (Association for Coaching) recognised personal and business coach and NLP practitioner with over 12 years experience developing and mentoring high-performing individuals, from entrepreneurs in the start-up world to teams in the corporate world, Liz’s mission is to inspire you and give you the tools and techniques to create the life and work you want.  In this expert special episode of Freedom Hunters, Liz gives invaluable practical advice on making a pivot or complete change in your career. 

Georgia Gwynne Gruber grew up in Wales and studied law at Oxford University. However shortly after graduating she was charged with a minor drug offence that resulted in her spending 6 months in prison. This then spurred her on to take her career and life in a wholly different direction. From producing and presenting travel programmes for television, to starting a rap group and touring the world she eventually landing in LA where she has written and produced TV, film and book projects, working with talent from Europe to America, from Zayn Malik to Larry King. After 10 years in the film and TV industry in LA, she has recently moved back to Wales with her husband. The two are currently filming in North Wales with big plans for establishing film and TV production infrastructure in that part of the country. Georgia is also Global Change Ambassador for Round Table Global and a representative on the En Committee, serving the three global goals of Education for all; Empowering everyone; and Environmental rejuvenation.

The world needs more people like Andy Griffiths. His work has taken him into brick kilns in India where he lead a team of freedom fighters rescuing people who had been subject to enforced slavery, and to the West Bank in Palestine where his organisation help run a program to create harmony and peace between Israelis and Palestinians through sport. But Andy started out his career in a very different way. Andy studied law and went on to become the Group Legal Director for ITV the UK’s biggest commercial TV broadcaster and production company. He went on to achieve what is the career pinnacle for any media lawyer, by becoming the General Counsel of the worlds largest independent TV production company, Endemol. But it was when he realised that the pursuit of profit was not fulfilling for him that he turned his attention to the not-for-profit sector. He talks about the challenges he faced in going from a successful corporate role as a lawyer to running an office in Chennai, India, for the International Justice Mission. We also talked about how to highlight the transferability of your skillset when you are looking to make any career change. But most inspiring of all, Andy shares some truly heart breaking stories about the people he and his teams have rescued from slavery and how those perpetrators of slavery and violence have been brought to account. Laureus  International Justice Mission

Kristina is the founder of the stationary and lifestyle brand Kikki K, which has stores in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. And it is available online in over 140 countries around the world. Kristina really is living her dream life. But before she started Kikki K, Kristina tried different jobs in hospitality and travel, finding that none of them were the right fit for her. And it was during a sleepless night of not knowing and worrying about what she should do with her life that she wrote a list of exactly what she wanted from her career and lifestyle. What she wrote down didn’t include running a global stationery brand, but it was from that list that Kikki K was born. Kristina talks about how she went from that sleepless night to starting up her business and what the early days were like. We talk about mentoring, the importance of trying out different jobs and what success is for her. For anyone wondering what to do with their life, how to find out what their passion is or how to steer their career in a new direction, Kristina’s advice is going to be hugely inspiring.  Kikki K: https://www.kikki-k.com  

Most of my Australian listeners, and probably quite a few of my UK listeners will have heard of today’s guest on Freedom Hunters. You might have watched her come runner up in the first ever series of Australian Masterchef in 2009. Or you might have watched her subsequent TV cooking series, or made delicious dishes from one of her cookbooks. And if you’ve been to Adelaide in South Australia recently, you might have had cake and coffee at her café, Jam Face, in the Adelaide Central Market. It’s Poh Ling Yeow. While Poh is now running her cafe and doing various media projects, she started her career in a very different way. She was a successful artist and make up artist, who decided to follow her love of cooking when she applied to be a contestant on an at-the-tiime unknown cooking show called Masterchef Australia. We talk about what it was like to be on Masterchef and how she dealt with the media and huge attention that followed it. She shared the challenges of running a bricks and mortar business, and we also pondered the question of how to ensure that when your passion becomes your career, it doesn’t stop being a passion. @pohlingyeow www.pohlingyeow.com

Olly Bengough started his first business in his twenties when he opened a bar on the King’s Road in Chelsea. From there he went on to set up venues which have become London institutions, including Infernos in Clapham and Koko in Camden. Along the way he started up the music festival Lovebox with members of Groove Armada.  But it was Olly’s love of foreign and independent film that led him to set up the foreign film and lifestyle TV channel Cinemoi having no experience of operating a TV channel.  Olly’s entrpreneurs story is an adrenalin-filled journey. He shares all the chaos, the hard work, the chance meetings with Martin Scorsese (no less) and his practical advice for anyone wanting to start their own business. And that advice applies equally to anyone looking to take a risk in their career more generally.

Anyone with a passing interest in fashion will have heard of Tash Sefton. She is one of Australia’s most successful fashion entrepreneurs. Tash started out her career in fashion manufacturing, and moved into a business role, overseeing production, manufacturing and buying for one of Australia’s biggest streetwear brands, General Pants. But it was when she started a blog called They All Hate Us with her friend and colleague, Elle Ferguson, that work and life changed for Tash. The runaway success of their website meant that she was able to leave her job behind and turn her website into a fully fledged fashion ecommerce business. From there she has gone on to co-host TV makeover show, Style Squad, create and se ll her artwork with her sister Hayley, and provide style consulting to corporates and private clients. With her huge following Tash has also been able to shine a light on causes close to her heart such as conscious consumerism and animal preservation. Tash talked to me about her career journey, which includes one of the funniest job resignation stories I’ve ever heard. She also tells it how it is to be a fashion entrepreneur: the hard work and long hours that go on behind the glamour of the Instagram grid, and how her approach to social media has completely changed as her career has developed.  Tash’s Personal Styling site: Where Did Your Style Go Tash and Hayley’s Art: Sefton & Segedin Tash works with the Taronga Conservation Society

In episode 8, Suzanne talks to Sally Hepworth. Sally started out her career in event management and HR, but it was while she was on maternity leave with her first child that she finally followed her instinct for writing and penned her first novel. Her first book, the Secrets of Midwives, was the top selling debut novel in Australia in 2015. Fast forward a few years later, and Sally is the best selling author of five books. Sally talks about about her career journey and how she made the change out of her HR career and into full time writing. She has some valuable advice about not giving up in the face of rejection. She also had interesting insights about the idea of women’s fiction, and how writers of the genre are having the last laugh.  At the time of this episode, Sally's latest book, The Mother In Law, has just been released in the UK and USA.  You can follow Sally on her Instagram @sallyhepworth, and her website, www.sallyhepworthauthor.com

In episode 7, Suzanne talks to Naomi Mdudu. Naomi started her career as a fashion editor for some of the UK’s biggest print publications. Several grueling years later, Naomi dreamt up a career which involved the creation of content which was meaningful to her. This led to her establishing the Lifestyle Edit, an online destination and podcast designed for and about women entrepreneurs, their experiences, their challenges and their achievements. In addition to this, she is a business coach and consultant for female business founders all over the world. In this episode Naomi talks about her decision to leave the print world behind, as well as how she made the transition from editor to business woman. Naomi also shares invaluable advice for anyone with a burning desire to start a business and follow their dream. The Lifestyle Edit Website The Lifestyle Edit Podcast

Emily Johnston, blogger, columnist and digital content creator moved from South Carolina to London straight out of university to pursue her dream of forging a career in the art world. Early on, she found a role at an art auction house and ended up as a PR manager for the auction house. But it was when she started her fashion industry news blog in her spare time, that life started to change for Emily.  In this episode, Emily talks to Suzanne about how she transitioned from her corporate PR role to her current career which has involved the continued evolution of her hugely successful fashion and lifestyle blog, Fashion Foie Gras, as well as a column for Hello  magazine and collaborations with brands such as Ralph Lauren and Coach. Emily shares the challenges of going freelance, how she stays true to herself on social media and how she developed her personal brand. She also has some fascinating insights into whether the body positivity movement has gone too far. You can follow Emily on Instagram @emilyjanejohnston, and on her website Fashion Foie Gras.

Today’s inspiring guest on Freedom Hunters is Lucy Beard. Originally from South Africa, Lucy started her career as a lawyer in London city law firms, and as an in-house lawyer for the UK’s largest commercial TV producer and broadcaster, ITV. She then spent two years as general manager of the broadcast technology company, SDN. It was during a grown up gap year of travelling around Europe that Lucy and her husband Leigh, also a lawyer, were struck with the idea of starting a gin distillery. This led the two back to their native South Africa, where they started up Hope on Hopkins, Cape Town’s first artisanal gin distillery. In this episode of Freedom Hunters, I talk to Lucy about how inspiration struck her and her husband to start up in the gin business, how they made the transition from lawyers to distillers and the importance of family and friends. Hope on Hopkins: http://hopeonhopkins.co.za 

Bola Marquis started out his career as a business analyst and then programme manager in industries including oil and gas, travel and advertising. It was his entrepreneurial spirit and creative flair that led him to leave it all behind (although not quite entirely - more on that in the podcast) to start up Okun, an African inspired swimwear brand that is stocked in luxury stores and online stockists including Matches and Mr Porter.   In this episode Bola talks about how he went about "opening the door" to his new career, serendipity, how he deals with failure and his unique take on job versus passion.   The Okun Instagram account, @okunbeachwear is a beautiful source of beach inspiration, and features heavenly African beaches with the colourful, vibrant African-inspired designs of Okun men's swim shorts. With womenswear in his sights for the coming year - watch this space.   Okun beachwear: www.okunlife.com  

Celeste Wong started out her career as an actress and barista. Since moving to London, she has been listed as one of London’s top five baristas in The Financial Times and has held top positions in artisan cafes. In recent years, in pursuit of more fulfillment from her work, Celeste produced and presented her own web series based around coffee and people in the coffee industry. That was the catalyst for her to develop the ultimate portfolio career. She is now a brand consultant, video producer and presenter, actress, blogger about all things coffee, lifestyle and travel and she has her own brand of coffee beans and merchandise. Celeste talks to Suzanne about how she changed career from barista to multi-hyphen business woman, developing a brand and purpose and how she deals with failure. The Girl in the Café: www.thegirlinthecafe.co.uk Instagram: @the_girl_in_the_cafe TGITC Web Series: www.thegirlinthecafe.co.uk/webseries/ TGITC coffee and merchandise: http://www.thegirlinthecafe.co.uk/shop/

Chloe Roberts is a music industry executive in London. Her company has developed the careers of artists such as Zayn and Ellie Goulding and currently manages Rita Ora amongst other big names. Chloe also invented and launched a baby product, Lapbaby. Chloe talks to Suzanne about how she got into the music industry, her style as an executive in a creative world, time's up in the music industry and what happened when she was presented with the opportunity to take her career in a completely different direction. First Access Entertainment: www.firstaccessent.com Lap Baby: www.lap-baby.com Happy Not Perfect: https://happynotperfect.com/ Since recording the interview, Chloe has also started developing her own podcast, Corporate Buddha. In it, she’ll be talking to people about how they create work/life balance and how they bring their spirituality into the boardroom. You can follow her on Instagram @corporatebuddha

In episode 1 of Freedom Hunters, podcast host, Suzanne Delahunty, talks about her career journey from media lawyer to writer, blogger, stylist, editor and podcaster. She explains why she started Freedom Hunters, and gives a sneak preview of future guests on the podcast. You can find more on Suzanne Delahunty on her website www.secondsister.com or on Instagram @suzannedelahunty Suzanne also curates the London edition of Luxe City Guides: https://luxecityguides.com/destination/london/meet-editor-suzanne-delahunty-london/