If Only You Knew

High Achiever

Kris Grant is a CEO who is passionate about leadership. Reaching the C-level at just 32 and a single mum to two young children, Kris was a high achiever who worked hard. Honing her management skills while leading over 50,000 staff throughout Asia Pacific at a global talent management firm where she held the position of CFO and COO, Kris came to a cross road. Unable to change the behaviours of the old men at the top and presented with a fresh opportunity to head up ASPL Group, a leading man...

Who Dares Wins

This week Gabby Ianniello joins me to chat about the things we wish we had known. As an educator and the founder of The Adulting Manual, a platform where twenty-somethings can learn the life lessons they weren't taught in school, Gabby hears some recurring themes and we ponder if the education system will ever give us the skills we really need. Gabby is also the host of Corporate Quitter, a podcast where entrepreneurs and side-hustlers share their stories and provide listeners with actionabl...

Resiliency Reframed

As a Registered Nurse with a Masters in Leadership & Management and a Lean Sigma Green Belt Patricia Gent was climbing the ladder in the world of medicine. Spending time in critical care research, Trish was instrumental in ensuring everyone’s voice was heard to enact real and meaningful change. But she wasn’t listening to herself and after 18 years in medicine Trish felt burnt out. After some soul searching, Trish decided she needed a change and went on to found Resiliency Reframed and now...

The Ultimate Ultimatum

Upon completing her studies as an international student in Canada, Jette Stubbs was faced with the ultimate ultimatum – find a job in 90 days or leave the country. With no family to lean on and less than $100 in her bank account, Jette quickly realised she had a ton of skills but no idea how to market herself. Jette joins me to discuss how she went from applying for 100 jobs and receiving no response to finding her dream career. Jette’s path to success has not been smooth in fact there hav...

Flat Earth Dave

Listen as David Weiss, aka Flat Earth Dave tries to convince me that the earth is flat. The theory that the earth is flat has been around for a many years and has been described as the ultimate conspiracy theory. For those that do believe, it’s an enlightening experience. As one of the most renown flat earthers, Dave Weiss is on a mission to wake up the world to flat earth as he says it’s the most important topic today. As someone that hasn’t given the topic any thought I ask Dave why sh...

Great Expectations

After signing a national youth league contract with the Central Coast Mariners Matt was hungry to make it as a professional soccer player. Training 12-13 sessions per week and playing matches with his team, Matt was pushing himself to the absolute limits. Nothing was going to stop him from achieving the end goal, except perhaps himself. Football became his identity. With his sights set on playing internationally, Matt moved to the UK and signed with a conference premier league club, Southp...

Fearless Friends

With me this week is Dr Elizabeth Pritchard and Christine Burns from WALT Institute. Together this unlikely duo have a vision to create a global STEMM community that embraces Authentic Leadership by helping individuals reach their highest potential. Both high achievers, (Elizabeth completed her PhD in just 3 years and Christine played Indoor Hockey for New Zealand for 13 years), they have also experienced their fair share of adversity leaving them well positioned to help others achieve gre...

Life after luxury

Luke was ‘living the dream’ travelling the world, dining in world renowned restaurants and meeting sports stars and celebrities, all part of the job when you work for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy! Excelling in the corporate world, Luke jumped at the opportunity to take an executive position at Melbourne United Basketball Club. Combining his passion for sport and ability in the boardroom Luke couldn’t be happier, until he wasn’t happy at all…….. Luke was losing control. His family life was s...

Death Sentence

*EXCLUSIVE Interview with Robert Ray, the last man sentenced to Death in Colorado* At just 34, Robert Ray has already been in prison for 16 years. Sentenced to death in 2005 for a crime he is adamant he did not commit, Robert was the last man sentenced to Colorado’s Death Row. In his first ever interview, I talk candidly with Robert, about his life growing up in the ghettos of Chicago, gang culture, his trial and why he was happy to receive the death penalty. Robert opens up on the pai...

Right place, wrong time

Jesus ‘Eddie’ Campa joins me to discuss and reflect on his illustrious and at times, controversial career in law enforcement. Born and raised in El Paso Texas, Jesus retired as the Chief Deputy of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office after a 20 year career. Jesus’ last tour as Chief of Police in a city impacted by racial divisions led him to create and implement the innovative No Colors No Labels Initiative designed to remove the preconceived notion that the Police were racially motivated. ...

The path to JOY

Erin had an Anxiety Disorder that left her holed up in her home for nearly a year. Through that experience she learned how and why that happened and developed strategies to overcoming and preventing it. Since finding the solutions to overcome and prevent her own anxiety, Erin has been on a mission to do whatever she can to make sure that no one else has the same experience. Erin joins the IOYK Podcast to share her deeply personal journey of overcoming anxiety and uncomplicating life. If ...

Cross Culture

Colin C. Thompson, a Canadian born Jamaican, who was raised in the US but now calls China home, joins me to discuss his life and the cultural challenges he has faced as a black man living outside his native country. As one of only two black families in the US community he immigrated to at a young age, racism was all too real for Colin. Having overcome learning difficulties to graduate Howard University on a wrestling scholarship, Colin is not shy of a challenge which could be the reason that...

Amplifying Voices

While browsing for the her next social justice mission in the early days of the internet, Tracy Lamourie, an avid human rights activist, stumbled upon a death row prisoner pleading his innocence. What followed was a 20 year campaign for justice that saw an innocent man freed from prison and launched the career of a public relations sensation. Tracy joins me to discuss how she helped free Jimmy Dennis, the R&B singer wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death, why she got involve...

Fork in the road

After leaving school Dylan enrolled in a computer electronics course at TAFE but the course was not what Dylan had hoped. Knowing this was not the path for him but unsure exactly what he wanted from life, Dylan decided to find a job. But just 9 months after securing a trainee role with the largest Hire Company in Australia, Coates Hire, Dylan was involved in a serious car accident. Dylan was determined recover and get back to work and this determination has seen him progress from Trainee t...

The Life Doctor

Becoming a Doctor is unlike any other career. When you dedicate your life to medicine it’s years of study, gruelling hours, limited appreciation and a lot of tragedy. There is an expectation placed on you by society that you serve others and must continue to do so for the rest of your life. We hold Doctors to an exceptionally high standard and respect everything they do. So what would make someone walk away from it all? This week I’m chatting with Dr Meagan Kruger, a former medical doctor ...

Miss Charity Australia

After suffering a cardiac event following basic keyhole surgery at only 17 years of age, Asha was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, non-compaction and mitral valve regurgitation, which to keep it simple, means she has Heart Failure. She was told to stop everything. No sports, no dancing, no fast food, basically to stop life but swapping a teenage lifestyle for a long list of medication did not see Asha’s condition improve, instead she was getting worse. A combination of frustration and a la...

Glass Half Full

With me this week is a role model for Gen Z, Devesh Tolikani. Devesh is a student entrepreneur with a passion for social impact. As an International student and successful host of Progressholic podcast, Devesh spends his time learning and helping others to do the same. Driven by the desire to address pressing social challenges, Devesh shares his story on why he gravitated towards this space and how he is nailing it. Having spent his formative years in Dubai, Devesh knew he would need to stud...

Master Talker

How does a 22 year old Accountant go from working with one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms to training C-suite Executives in communication and starting a professional YouTube channel all while living in his mother’s basement and singing karaoke in eight languages?  Listen as I chat with Brenden Kumarasamy about this and so much more.   Follow If Only You Knew Podcast on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter for more episodes, photos, videos and other show content. Watch this ...

Remember this!

In this episode I’m chatting with Chester Santos, aka. The International Man of Memory. After completing a Bachelor of Psychology, a Masters of Software Engineering and putting in a few years at law school, Chester was working as a Software Engineer in Silicon Valley when he was flipping through the TV channels and saw a segment on ABC’s 20/20 program about the US Memory Championships. Thinking he had a pretty good memory, Chester looked further into the competition and quickly realised he...

What breaks your heart?

After suffering a near drowning accident at 14, Tony experienced what he describes as a ‘reality alarm’ and almost instantaneously made a conscious decision to live a life of purpose and meaning. This decision continues to inform everything Tony does. In this episode we discuss Tony’s career evolution and how he improved human performance for global organisations as well as a very unconventional job interview he had. Having held executive positions with multiple Fortune 500 companies inclu...

Against all odds

As the daughter of felons and growing up in a pub seeing first-hand the detrimental effects of drug and alcohol abuse, Dr Dawn Carpenter knew she wanted something different for her life. Dawn wanted to build a legacy so she escaped through education. Secretly living in academic buildings on her University campus and not having enough money to contribute less than 20 dollars to her graduating class’s parting gift, Dawn went on to become a successful Investment Banker who spent time at Wall ...

Don’t waste the crisis

I’ve saved a special conversation for the last episode of 2020. This week I’m chatting with Talley. Talley is an independent filmmaker and musician who grew up making movies and playing in bands with friends after his parent’s divorce brought him from Oklahoma to Texas. At 18, Talley was working as an on-site photographer and editor in News Television taking on any freelance video jobs he could get. Naturally talented, Talley moved to study film at the internationally acclaimed Colorado ...

Achieve Anything You Want

With me this week is success coach, speaker and author Georgia Bamber. After studying economics and working in corporate finance for two years, Georgia asked herself a question. “What does it take to create a good life and how can I make one for myself?” Knowing the corporate world would not provide the happiness she desired, Georgia left it behind and never looked back. As Georgia candidly admits, anyone can call themselves a coach but with a Bachelor of Economics, a Master of Business Ad...

One percenter

This week I’m chatting to a 1 percenter. That’s right! Errin-leigh is a truckie! Errin-leigh found herself in the transport industry after chasing a career in sales. After leaving a low paying job in childcare, Errin-leigh landed in the world of transport and quickly ascended into management roles. Not content with her role as Marketing Manager/Business Development Manager and concerned with the lack of female representation in the transport industry, Errin-leigh learnt how to drive truc...

Making a difference

This week I’m chatting with Kurt Scheuermann. Kurt has just left his job as a Senior Safety Advisor and Trainer & Assessor for a global construction and engineering company to move into a completely new role in child protection. We discuss his early career, how safety has evolved over the years and Kurt shares some best practice examples from some forward thinking organisations. I ask Kurt what it takes to build a positive safety culture from the ground up and we discuss some of the cont...

Good, Bad, Olympiad

This week I’m chatting with Jenny Taylor. Jenny has had a long and unfair journey with her health and wellbeing. After seriously injuring her back and undergoing spinal surgery, Jenny finally thought her health woes were behind her. That feeling was short lived as this was just the beginning. Deep down Jenny knew something wasn’t right with her body. She was losing feeling in her limbs and it could no longer be put down to ‘back related pain’. After 9 months, a mountain of tests, doctors...

From an Entrepreneur to an Intrapreneur with some Social Enterprise in between!

This week I’m chatting with Jessica Gilchrist. Jess is an entrepreneur who wants to live in a world filled with innovative business. Jess’ passion for entrepreneurship started early in life when she transformed a conservative chocolate tour business into a thriving and cutting edge Melbourne experience. Then in December 2015 Jess was diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma Cervical Cancer, the rarest type. After multiple surgeries and going through menopause in her mid-twenties, Jess and her family ...

Second Chance

Episode 20 is a special one for me as former colleague and friend Tony Lockwood joins me for an emotional chat. On 7th March 2012 Tony was hurtling towards the peak of his career when he was involved in a life changing accident on a remote road in Western Australia. Tony and I discuss his early career, how and why he chose to undertake post graduate education, his growth as a manager and leader and the differences between sales, operational and management roles. Tony talks us through the...

Taking a breath

This week I’m chatting with Parker Mayes. Parker is an undergraduate marketing and business student at North Carolina State University in the United States, a Global Communications Intern at LexisNexis and host of Taking A Breath Podcast, a podcast where guests share their stories and perspectives on becoming a better leader, mentor and friend. Parker shares his experience of college through Covid-19 and the challenges and opportunities that lockdown created for him. Parker explains the be...

Practitioner of Purpose

This week I’m chatting with Jeff McKeon, Coach, Mentor and Practitioner of Purpose. Jeff grew up in the 70's in a country town and struggled to find his way with an alcoholic father and an obese type 2 diabetic mother. His parents divorced when he was 11 and battling to make ends meet, it was at age 15 that he sat down and wrote a suicide letter to his mother. Luckily he made it through this period and moved to Brisbane after finishing school. Jeff loved to talk which paved the way for a s...

Making an invisible issue impossible to ignore

This week I speak with qualified Carpenter, Joiner and Social Entrepreneur Daniel Allen. Dan, along with his best mate Edward Ross co-founded TradeMutt, a social enterprise that exists to drive social and cultural change to prevent the loss of Aussie lives to suicide. Dan and Ed had an idea to use funky work shirts as a way to start conversations around mental health within the blue collar community. This extraordinary concept has evolved into a workwear, lifestyle and media brand promotin...

On and off the pitch

This week I’m chatting with Laurie Harper, a former First Class Cricketer who represented Victoria in 38 first class matches and 16 one day games as a left handed batsman amassing over two thousand first class runs. Laurie was regarded as one of the best slip fieldsman of the time and was a member of the winning Mercantile Mutual Cup team of 1997-98. Laurie also won Victoria’s Player of the Year title in 1997-98, edging out Dean Jones for the award. Laurie gives a frank and honest account ...

From the Queen’s land to Queensland

This week I chat with Katie Bunch, a UK expat with a Bachelor of Media and Communications from Birmingham City University. After finishing her degree and saving some money, Katie headed to Bali for a break but wanting to visit Australia, she quickly boarded a flight to the Northern Territory and commenced her Aussie backpacking adventure. Not unlike the 1.2 million UK citizens who call Australia home, once here, Katie fell in love with her adopted country and visited parts of Australia t...

Getting out of your comfort zone

This week I chat with Nick Wormald, the Managing Director of Grow Capital. After spending his formative years as a boarder at the prestigious The Kings School Sydney, Nick left the city with forty dollars in his pocket to become a Jackeroo at the remote Kurundi Cattle Station in the Northern Territory Australia. Nick shares some amazing stories about his time on the 3857 square kilometre station, a place so remote it is hard to fathom. Nick went on to work around Australia and the UK befor...

A bumpy ride

This week I chat with Nicolas Chiew, a husband, father and qualified Engineer who works as the Operations Director for three industry associations and also as a Director for a Registered Training Organisation. Nicolas studied a bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) at the University of New South Wales and started his career as a Project Engineer, cutting his teeth at multi-national engineering giant Sinclair Knight Merz. After five years working in this field, Nicolas felt underappreciated ...

Made in Vancouver

This week I chat with Briannah Fisher, an Aussie who moved to North Vancouver British Columbia Canada at the start of the pandemic. Moving your family across the world at any time is challenging but moving from sprawling acreage on the Northern Rivers in Australia to a 75 square metre apartment in Canada at the start of a lockdown takes it to the next level! Briannah and I discuss the need for her to re-brand herself in Canada and how she now describes herself as a marketing swiss army kni...

Breaking through the ceiling

Thinking about going back to study? Then check this out! This week I speak with mature age student Rose Reck. Like many young people, Rose wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life and contemplated becoming a tattoo artist, a chef and a nurse. Also like many young people, 13 years of study had taken its toll and Rose wanted to enjoy a ‘gap year’. A year filled with travel, adventure and making money! Most people that take a ‘gap year’ don’t head straight back to university and Rose...

The only thing in life you can’t buy is time

This week I speak with serial entrepreneur and marketing guru Gary Radford. Gary has started and sold many successful companies and his innate ability to create unique and innovative brands such as Wasp Diesel, Rhino FSD and Sumoboards sets him apart from the rest. When Gary starts a company, there is always someone waiting in line to buy it. Gary and I talk about start-ups, how to set up your business for success, building a healthy relationship with criticism and staying motivated in a w...

Impostor Syndrome

This week If Only You Knew Podcast chats with Phoebe Haywood, Principal Policy Officer at Queensland College of Teachers. As a young girl, Phoebe has vague memories of playing teacher with her younger sister but went through school wanting to be a surgeon. It wasn’t until her senior years that Phoebe found herself looking at teaching as a career option. After completing a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education (Secondary) History & Geography with QUT, Phoebe returned to her former hi...

Your network is your net worth

This week I speak to Ben Sinclair, a Customer Success Manager with a global software company about broken dreams and new beginnings. In high school, Ben was a sports scholarship student with dreams of becoming a professional footballer. Like many athletes, Ben didn’t have a backup plan, he just put everything he had into becoming a football star. After finishing high school and not immediately making an AFL side, Ben went on to play VFL for a few years, starting a carpentry apprenticeshi...

Engineering is magic, or at least the closest thing to magic that exists in the world!

This week I chat with Stefan Tschirren about his journey into the field of Engineering. Stefan took quite a streamlined approach to his career going straight from high school to university and into the corporate world. While he found that this approach accelerated his career it didn’t give him the time to discover himself. We talk about the subject selections he made to put him in the best position for his future and how his environment influenced his decision to choose this career path. ...

When expectations don’t match reality

Jenn & Mitch Hargreaves are high school sweethearts who’s shared desire to put life before work led them to sell everything they own and go travelling. They have been through so many ups and downs together and their lives has been full of twists and turns and lessons learned. Both university graduates, Jenn studied a Bachelor of Behavioural Science, (Psychology) while Mitch initially enrolled in a Biotechnology Innovation degree and changed degrees a number of times before ultimately also ...

A Hacker I Am

When I chat with Craig Ford, a Cyber Expert and Best Selling Author of "A Hacker I Am" and "A Hacker I Am Vol 2", we talk all things cyber. We discuss state based hacking groups, the recent unprecedented Government announcements about the ‘sophisticated attacks on Australia’ and how we are losing our privacy through Government legislation such as the 2018 Assistance and Access Bill, that allows access into encrypted sites such as WhatsApp &  Snapchat. Craig explains social engineering an...

When you hit rock bottom something has to change but change is a process. It’s a daily task and not a one day job

When you hit rock bottom something has to change but change is a process. It’s a daily task and not a one day job Quite quickly Dima learnt that the workplace was a far cry from the big dreams she had held during university. After 20 years as an Architect working for organisations all around the world, Dima Istambouli hit rock bottom. Dima opens up on how she came to that realisation and the strategies she used to try and lift herself out of depression knowing that she was emotionally broke...

People prioritise things differently and that’s ok

People prioritise things differently and that’s ok Not getting the marks in high school to leap straight into her preferred University degree didn’t stop Miriam Tschirren from graduating Edith Cowan University with a Biomedical Science degree. But the search for that perfect post-grad role was more difficult than expected. When I talk with Miriam, we discuss the challenges of getting a job in a laboratory, the demands of the job, the science of food microbiology and the perfect storm that w...

Horrible bosses, stealing time and firing clients!

Horrible bosses, stealing time and firing clients!  I’m talking with Nicole Murdoch who’s an Electrical Engineer turned Intellectual Property Lawyer who also holds a Masters of Industrial Property. With few electrical engineering opportunities within Australia at the time, Nicole turned to computer programming but found herself waking up every day unhappy and wanted to make a change so she could enjoy her journey through life. A life-changing event led Nicole to enrol into a law degree (and...

You can have what you want if it’s all that you want

You can have what you want if it’s all that you want When I chat with Alicia Mewburn about her new business venture Kokoro Living, we discuss brand creation and the change in mindset required to build a business where the end goal needs to be at the forefront of every decision. We chat about working on the business not in the business and turning big dreams of going global into a reality. Alicia opens up about first dropping out of University before going on to complete a Bachelor’s degree ...

Dimi Istambouli