The Grace Tales Georgie Abay

Remember the book The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck? For me, it was life changing. It taught me not to sweat the small stuff and while it’s still a work in progress and I think it always will be – it’s impossible to float through life without getting your feathers ruffled - her wisdom has stayed with me. Today’s guest is one of my favourite best-selling authors – her name is Sarah Knight. If you’re opposed to swearing, this might not be an episode for you. Her book titles range from Get Your Shit Together to Calm The Fuck Down to most recently, Grow the Fuck Up.  

Sarah gives us all a reality check – most of us are saying yes way too much, not putting in boundaries, and running from the things we need to tackle head on. Her messages are resonating - her TEDx talk has been viewed 10 million times. If you’ve ever felt like life as an adult was meant to be easier than this, then you’ll love her new book. It’s a guide for the modern adult, written to help you become more self-aware, self-sufficient and resourceful. Amazingly, there’s not much swearing in our conversation, just lots and lots of wisdom.  

Go to www.sarahknight.com 

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Today’s guest is Sarah Salmon. She’s an Australian writer who lived in Asia for fifteen years, during which time she and her husband adopted two children – two girls – from Cambodia. Her memoir is entitled The Red Thread and it chronicles her struggle to complete her family while living in India. A psychic once told Sarah that she’d have ‘a dark-skinned child, not by the man you marry.’ Adoption was always going to be her path. In today’s episode, we talk a lot about the adoption process – and you’ll hear about the many hurdles she faced – and how she overcame them.  

Early on in the book, Sarah writes that: ‘Orphanage babies don’t cry. There is no point in crying; they know no one will come for them, so they shut down… It’s the loudest silence I’ve ever heard.’ We speak about what it was like walking into an orphanage for the first time.  

We also talk about the shocking corruption that exists in Cambodia and how she navigated this – and the sickening fact that at least a third of Cambodian prostitutes are children and girls as young as five are sold into prostitution in Cambodia for less than one hundred dollars. I know this is uncomfortable to hear, but we need more awareness around this shocking situation.  

More than anything, I hope this episode will remind you that we all have our own unique path to motherhood – and rarely is it without twists and turns.  

You can purchase The Red Thread here. 
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Now when my friend Reese Witherspoon describes a book as “Magnificent!” I pay attention. Ok obviously Reese is not my friend, but I wish she was because she has great taste in books. The book she’s talking about is called Find Your Unicorn Space and while I don’t have Reese on this podcast (yet!) I do have the brilliant author of this brilliant book Eve Rodsky.  

Eve argues that creativity is not optional – and as someone who is a true creative at heart and spends most of my life trying to tap into that creativity – it’s a message I strongly believe in.  

If you haven’t heard of Eve before, she made the New York Times bestseller list when she wrote Fair Play, a book which ignited a national conversation about greater equity in the home. She soon realised that even when the domestic workload becomes more balanced, people still report something missing in their lives - that is, unless they prioritise and devote time for activities that not only fill their calendars, but also unleash their creativity. She calls this vital time Unicorn Space - the active and open pursuit of creative self-expression in any form that makes you uniquely you.  

If you’ve ever felt like something is missing, keep listening. Her book is an inspirational guide for setting new personal goals, rediscovering your interests, cultivating creativity, and reclaiming your “Unicorn Space.” We are going to talk through exactly how to do that – and what “unicorn space” really means - in today’s conversation.  

Go to www.everodsky.com 
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Welcome back to The Grace Tales podcast. I’m your host, author and editor Georgie Abay. If you’ve been following over the last few weeks, you’ll know I’m running a mini-series with founders of SMES. Because whether you’ve launched your own business, or have a dream bubbling away in the back of your mind, I know how much hearing other people’s experience has helped me personally. Because launching a business – especially if you’re doing it solo – can feel lonely at times. But you’re not alone – more and more women are launching their own businesses. They’re looking for more flexibility, a better work-life balance, financial independence and also for meaningful work. I know after I had children, I wanted to make sure that when I was at work, it felt meaningful. If I was going to be away from my kids, I had to love what I was doing.  

And on the topic of passion, today’s founder is full of it. Today’s episode is a special one – you’re going to meet my friend Elise Pioch, who is the exceptionally clever French founder of homewares brand Maison Balzac. If you don’t know Maison Balzac yet, it’s a very beautiful brand which started with candles, later expanding into beautiful homewares such as colourful glasses, vases and candle holders. The thing I love about Elise’s imagination is she dreams up unique objects which you didn’t know you needed until she created it. But what I love most about Maison Balzac, is that Elise’s authentic and kind nature can be felt. She’s always followed her gut instinct, is not afraid to take risks and leads with kindness and compassion. It was a decade ago I turned up at her office and photographed her for The Grace Tales. She just launched the business, and she’d just had a baby. Her daughter LouLou was only 6 weeks old at the time and it’s still one of my favourite stories. In this episode, Elise shares how the business has grown organically – she now has two retail stores - and what has kept her going over the last decade.   

Let’s meet Elise!  

Go to maisonbalzac.com 
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Welcome back to The Grace Tales podcast. I’m your host, author, editor and the founder of The Grace Tales Georgie Abay.  

As you heard last week, I’ve kicked off a special mini-series where I’m interviewing female small and medium-sized enterprise founders. If you’re interested in maybe one day launching your own SME, or you’re already there and you want to hear how others do it, think of this series as your support and your inspiration. Today’s guest will certainly inspire you. 

I have known designer, creative director and writer Natalie Walton for over a decade – and I have loved watching her career (and family) grow and grow. Natalie’s a mother of four, lives in the Byron Bay hinterland, and has successfully continued to evolve her business. She does many things, which we’re going to talk about today, and one of those things is write books.  

I have her latest book, Style: The Art of Creating a Beautiful Home, on my coffee table, and it’s a joy to read.  

In this episode, Natalie shares her business journey – from launching her first workshop and wondering if anyone would turn up – to how she teaches people to live with style and simplicity in their homes.  

Let’s meet Natalie!  
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Welcome back to The Grace Tales podcast. I’m your host, author, editor and the founder of The Grace Tales Georgie Abay. Today I’m kicking off a special mini-series where I’ll be interviewing female small and medium-sized enterprise founders. As someone who 10 years ago, left her dream job to launch a small business, how to start an SME is something I love talking about. Mostly because it’s really, really hard. But like all hard things, it’s worth it. And to take the leap, we need support. So think of this series as your support – and I hope that what you hear in these conversations might inspire you to launch that side hustle. So currently, 30% of businesses in Australia are owned by women – and that number is rising. I’m always interested in how these women actually get going in the first place? What happens when they suffer a crisis of confidence? And what’s it like running your own business?  

These are all the questions I’m going to ask and I’m very excited to be kicking this series off with the amazing co-founder of furniture and homewares brand McMullin & Co Alice McMullin. A mother of two, she’s four years into her business – and why it looks like it all flows like clockwork from the outside, she’s worked hard to get where she is. There was the time her showroom was flooded. The time she lost all of her stock in a fire. And the time she was almost ready to quit, but invested her last 10K into a trade show. It turned out to be one of the best business decisions she’s made. She also used to get up at 5am with her baby and do a bread run to earn extra money while she was getting the business off the ground. So, it’s safe to say, founding her own business has been anything but straight-forward. Which is why I love the brand she’s created even more. I know you’re going to be as inspired by her determination, passion, and creativity as I am.  

Now before we get started and meet Alice, I wanted to share that I’ve written a book called Best Laid Plans. It’s my most personal piece of writing to date, but I’ve also brought in the wise words of many of the women and men I’ve interviewed over the last few years. It feels really quite wonderful to have all the lessons I’ve learnt over the last few years – and actually a lifetime – in one book. There’s not a lot I don’t cover – love, loss, birth, motherhood, career – and I ask the question – what happens when life doesn’t go to plan? What do we do next? I hope you all read it and would love to hear what you think. Writing a book was a rather enormous undertaking, but I’m so happy it’s out in the world.  

Ok, let’s meet Alice!  

Visit mcmullinandco.com 
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