Moments of Clarity

Episode 39 - “Empathy, Creativity and Vulnerability” with Claire Tonti

Today on Moments of Clarity, I am speaking to Claire Tonti.
 
Claire began her career as a primary school teacher before venturing into the world of podcasting, advertising and media production. She is a writer, singer and producer who thinks that creativity in all its forms should be celebrated and supported. Claire is a mother of two beautiful children and is married to my friend and YouTube star, James "Mr Sunday Movies" Clement.  
Claire does not only celebrate and support other creatives but creates great content in her own right. She entered the podcast space with the wonderful podcast, Just Make the Thing, but has moved onto some other projects. Claire is the co-host of Suggestible, a review podcast and also has a newsletter called ‘Tonts’ which comes out every Friday. You can follow Claire on Instagram @clairetonti where you can find lots of awesome content and all the links you need to deep dive into her work. 
 
In today's conversation we talk about the transition from teacher to business and media, putting purpose at the forefront of all decision making, the importance of vulnerability and creativity, just making the thing, the problems with the education system, societal issues stemming from a lack of empathy, the systemic failures of a false meritocracy, valuing family and time rather than growth for growth's sake, being a parent and raising kids, gender roles in parenting, resilience stemming from the privilege of safety and stability, the loneliness epidemic, Claire’s upbringing, the gender imbalance in society, doubting yourself, standing up for your beliefs, some lessons from community work and a moment of clarity.
 
Time Stamps
Introduction - 0:00 - 5:30
Part 1 - 5:31 - 46:52
Part 2 - 46:53 - 102:26
Outro - 102:27 - 103:05
 
Links
@clairetonti on instagram
Tonts Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/4ec4475df6f4/tontsnewsletter
Suggestible: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/suggestible/id1470736893
Just Make the Thing: https://www.planetbroadcasting.com/our-shows/just-make-the-thing/
 
Moments of Clarity
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
 
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos

Episode 38 - "Happy Families" with Dr Justin Coulson

Today on Moments of Clarity, I speak with Dr Justin Coulson.
 
We speak about parenting, education and society. In particular we focus on the overly prescribed lives of kids, their need for autonomy, the role of fun and play, how to show more love to our families, how covid removed our illusion of control, mental health, pressure to succeed in a failed meritocracy, ideas of success vs societal reality, the difference between schools and the home, our unkind society, the problem with discipline and behaviour management, our habits, some psychological Distancing strategies and a moment of clarity.
 
Dr Justin Coulson is a four-time best-selling author, sought-after keynote speaker (in person and virtual), podcast co-host with his wife Kylie, founder and CEO of Happy Families and father to six daughters. His focus in life is improving wellness at work, home and schools, and helping equip people with the relationship skills they need to flourish in life.
Justin is known for his research-based content with easy-to-adopt strategies and solutions for corporate staff, parents, educators and students. With these tools, they can improve their wellbeing, engagement, mindset and relationships. Justin uses hilarious, heart-warming and sometimes heart-breaking stories from his own life as a parent to illustrate his points and to make his talks come alive – onstage or onscreen. This is why clients consistently acknowledge Justin as one of the best speakers they have listened to, and invite him back again and again.
Justin is also sought after by the media for his wellbeing, relationships and parenting expertise. He has been published and is a contributor to The New York Times and appears regularly in all of Australia’s major news outlets for television, radio, and print. He’s a TEDx speaker and has worked with many of Australia’s biggest brands including the Commonwealth Bank, Intel Security, ANZ, IHG, Club Med and many, many more. He has also served as a consultant to the Australian Government’s Raising Children Network, and the Office of the e-Safety Commissioner, Life Education and others.
Justin created Happy Families to help others transform their relationships, and their lives, for the better. Happy Families does this by offering a number of free resources such as blogs and podcasts and premium content such as books, ebooks and a membership which includes webinars, a book club, Q&A sessions, and many more features.
Check out Justin’s work!
Keynote on How To Raise an Independent, Free-Thinking Child on Goalcast:youtube.com/watch?v=Krnq1wFsJmE
Happy Families Podcasthappyfamilies.com.au/podcasts/
Happy Families resources and membershipsHappyfamilies.com.au
To book Justin for your next event or webinar, please email caroline@justincoulson.com or click here: happyfamilies.com.au/speaking/ for further information.
www.happyfamilies.com.auwww.justincoulson.com
 
Time Stamps
Introduction 0:00 - 5:27
Part 1 5:28 - 53:26
Outro 53:27 - 54:07
 
Moments of Clarity
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
 
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos

Episode 37 - “A Principles-Based Approach to Decision Making” with Dr Xavier Csar

Today on Moments of Clarity, I speak with Dr Xavier Csar.
 
Xavier is currently interim CEO for the Breakthrough Victoria Fund, a $2 billion Victorian government initiative that aims to drive investment in research, innovation and growth in key industry sectors. Prior to this Xavier was CEO of Federation Square, which he had to manage during Covid. He has also worked in a number of executive and leadership roles in the Victorian and Commonwealth Public Service. Xavier is a biomedical scientist and before joining the public service, was a research fellow at the University of Melbourne and was even a founding member of Proteomics, a biotechnology start-up focused on developing new bio-therapeutics. Xavier completed his Phd in biochemistry and molecular biology in 1994 and then his MBA in 2000. 
 
On top of this, Xavier is a cyclist, scout leader and has volunteered in a range of other capacities including spending 20 years on the St John's Parish Fundraising Committee. He has done all of this while being a loving husband and dedicated father to 5 children, including triplets.
 
During the podcast we discuss Xavier’s job history including his current role, as Interim CEO of Breakthrough Victoria, being a father of 5 and the day he and his wife Shaunagh found out they were having triplets, prioritising in the face of a changing family life, volunteering as the best form of PD one can do, thanksgiving, ministry and service, being an active advocate for inclusion in the face of a changing world, the principles Xavier holds when making decisions, Federation Square, Covid and leadership, why Xavier is an optimist and a moment of clarity.
 
Follow Xavier at linkedin.com/in/xavier-csar
 
Time Stamps
Introduction 0:00 - 3:49
Part 1 3:50 - 38:40
Part 2 38:41 - 61:07
Outro 61:08 - 61:49
 
Moments of Clarity
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
 
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos

Episode 36 - "Being the Adult in the Room" with Abdi Aden

Today on Moments of Clarity I speak to Abdi Aden.
Abdi has had an astounding journey from his childhood in Mogadishu to his career as a Melbourne youth worker and inspirational speaker. Best known for his memorable role in SBS’s Go Back To Where You Came From, Abdi persevered through war zones, refugee camps and months of living on the streets to build himself a life in Australia. As a speaker, Abdi offers eye-opening personal insights into issues of conflict, refugees, multiculturalism, and youth mental health. His first book Shining was released in 2015.
 
Part 1 has some sound quality issues but the quality improves in Part 2 and 3. Thank you for listening. Please share with family and friends and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you listen to podcasts.
 
Part 1
Growing up in Somalia, Abdi’s book “Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man”, lessons from Mogadishu, trauma and identity, vulnerability and resilience.
 
Part 2
Mental health across ages and cultures, managing emotion, working with young people, being the adult in the room, doing good breeding happiness within, being real with kids, Abdi’s time in Romania, measuring success by the good that you do.
 
Part 3
Abdi’s experience on SBS’s TV series “Go Back to Where you Came From”, conversation as a tool to learn rather than a way to win a debate, discomfort as necessary for change, having kids and growing older, harmony day, creating a positive bubble, relationships as a marker of success and a moment of clarity.
 
Time Stamps
Introduction 0:00 - 3:47
Part 1 3:48 - 33:28
Part 2 33:29 - 56:17
Part 3 56:18 - 125:59
Outro 129:00 - 129:41
 
Links
Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org.au/about/governance/ambassadors/abdi-aden
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdi-aden-04048389/
Abdi’s website: https://inspirebyabdi.wixsite.com/mysite
Booked Out Speakers: https://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speaker/author/abdi-aden/
Speaking Out Speakers: https://speakingout.com.au/speaker/abdi-aden/
Twitter: @inspiredbyabdi
Abdi’s Book: https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780732299842/shining/
Kofi’s Kindness Pandemic: https://www.thekindnesspandemic.org/kofikindness.html#/
 
Moments of Clarity
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
 
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos

Episode 35 - “The Creative Advantage” with Maria Simonelli

Today on Moments of Clarity, I am speaking to Maria Simonelli.
 
Maria is an artist, author, facilitator, educator, community builder, mentor, sustainability advocate, Churchill Fellowship Award Recipient, digital change maker, creative catalyst and a whole lot more. 
 
Maria has spent many years working with individuals and organisations to create vibrant and sustainable communities. She has worked for government, NGOs, corporations, not for profits in a number of roles around sustainability. She has also founded and created Sweet Spot Careers, which was also her first book, Project Reclaim and The Creative Catalyst. 
 
Maria has just released her three book series, “The Creative Advantage: How the intersection of science and creativity reveals life’s ultimate advantage”, which aims to build creative capacity and help individuals and organisations focus on the task at hand to affect local and global change.
 
Links
https://www.mariasimonelli.com/
https://www.thecreativecatalyst.com.au/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariasimonelli/
http://www.careerredesign.com.au/
https://www.projectreclaim.com.au/
 
Time Stamps
Introduction 0:00 - 2:05
Part 1 2:06 - 43:32
Part 2 43:33 - 77:03
Part 3 77:04 - 111:10
Outro 111:11 - 111:50
 
Moments of Clarity
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
 
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos
 

Episode 34 - “Sucking the Marrow out of Life” with Glenn Manton

Today on Moments of Clarity, I speak to Glenn Manton. 
 
Glenn Manton is a former AFL footballer playing 178 games for Essendon and Carlton. He was part of the 1995 Carlton Premiership team and forged a brilliant career on the field. Post-football he continued his athletic pursuits in multiple areas including competing in the four-man bobsleigh team for Australia. Although Glenn still keeps very active, training most days to get the best out of himself physically, it is Glenn’s mind and heart that make him truly unique. 
 
Glenn is not afraid to try new things. He talks about the need for courage and a ‘you only live once’ attitude to experience every day in its fullest - to really suck the marrow out of life. 
 
Glenn has Bachelor degrees in Teaching and Education, a Diploma in Mentoring and has worked in educational settings globally for over 25 years. He co-founded Whitelion, an organisation that works to support young people at risk in the Australian community with programs and advocacy. 
 
Glenn’s passion and purpose today is to use the power of story and personal experience to help young people learn to love themselves and in turn build positive relationships - which Glenn believes is the key to a good life. He has over 20 years experience speaking professionally in an incredibly diverse range of settings and I have seen first hand the wonderful ability Glenn has to pierce through to the core of human emotion in an instant.
 
Glenn has written multiple books including Dead Bolt, Mongrel Punts and Hard Ball Gets, Tattoo Urself, Authentic, and Put Your Damn Phone Down and is in the process of writing another.
 
You can learn more about Glenn by visiting www.glennmanton.com or following Glenn on instagram @glennmanton.
 
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos 

Episode 33 - “Adapting, Surviving and Thriving” with Toby Kent

Today on Moments of Clarity, I speak to Toby Kent. 
 
Toby was Australia's first Chief Resilience Officer. Before this, Toby spent two decades working, across five continents on significant corporate and community-based partnerships. He has worked internationally to help major corporate, government, and non-government organisations achieve their commercial and operational objectives. Toby is a Board member of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia and an Associate of the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne. He has a Masters degree in Housing and Urbanisation from the London School of Economics. Toby is now working on his newest venture EllisKent consulting with his friend and colleague, Brett Ellis.
 
Toby and I discuss his work in Melbourne as Chief Resilience Officer, sustainability and urban planning, the similarities and differences between working with government and corporates, the impact of Covid, facing the climate crisis, individual resilience vs collective resilience, how to make progress in the face of inaction and cynicism, Toby’s personal journey of resilience and much more.
 
Links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobykent1/
https://mobile.twitter.com/tobykent01
https://www.elliskent.com/
https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/resilient-melbourne-strategy.pdf
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/meet-the-man-helping-to-future-proof-melbourne-20200418-p54kzi.html
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/takeover-melbourne/
https://resilientmelbourne.com.au/takeover-melbourne/
https://resilientmelbourne.com.au/
https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-melbourne/melbourne-profile/smart-city/open-innovation/Pages/open-innovation.aspx
https://www.bcsda.org.au/post/media-release-bcsd-australia-welcomes-toby-kent-to-board
 
Time Stamps
Introduction 0:00 - 3:45
Part 1 3:46 - 33:05
Part 2 33:06 - 64:55
Part 3 64:56 - 88:53
Outro 88:54 - 89:33
 
If you enjoy Moments of Clarity, please share the podcast with family, friends and social networks. It would be brilliant if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts and subscribe to the podcast too.
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos
 

Episode 32 - "It Takes a Village..." with Liam and Amanda McFadden

Today on Moments of Clarity, I am speaking to two guests, Liam and Amanda McFadden. Liam and Amanda are a husband and wife team that have recently started their own business and social enterprise, Clann. 
 
Clann's Social Enterprise Mission is to support communities by empowering families to receive or provide quality ‘Life. Be in it.’™ FamilyCare for children, the elderly and people with a disability. They provide information, up-skilling induction programs, pathways to higher qualifications and micro business employment opportunities putting people before profit, effectively re-villaging our society where families care for families again. Life. Be in it. FamilyCare works with individuals, families and communities to increase wellbeing, build strengths and encourage optimism for a better life. Clann began in Victoria supporting informal family carers to set-up new micro businesses starting with family care for children where the focus is on providing more flexible quality care, building better brains and healthy bodies. They expanded to include non-clinical family care for the elderly and those with a disability in November 2020 nationally. 
 
Thank you for listening to Moments of Clarity.
 
www.clann.com.au
Twitter: @clannaustralia
Facebook: @clannaustralia
 
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
 
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos

Episode 31 - "Activating your Agency" with Hana Assafiri

Today on Moments of Clarity, I speak to Hana Assafiri OAM.
 
Hana is an incredible person and knowledgeable on so many issues. We discuss the history and purpose of her business, Moroccan Soup Bar, creating a business with the currency of social justice at the heart of everything, building an environment that enables you to live out your values, the importance of dignity and respect for all, the new Moroccan Soup Bar and its 5 new rooms based on important societal issues, the importance of speaking up when you see injustice, the big problem with government inaction and hypocrisy, pivoting in the face of Covid, why Hana is an eternal optimist, the need for nuance and discussion, Hana’s personal journey, the role of those on the margins to take the privileged on a journey of understanding, the curse of disinformation, how external noise has replaced discussion and curiosity, anxiety and fear driving populism, how logic doesn't work when you're anxious and how Trump played into that, freedom coming with responsibility, some advice to activate your agency and more.
 
https://www.moroccansoupbar.com.au/
Facebook @moroccansoupbar
Instagram @moroccan_soup_bar
Twitter @assafiri_hana
 
 
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos

Episode 30 “Nature is our Saviour” with Korkor Kugblenu

Today on Moments of Clarity, I am speaking to Korkor Kugblenu.
 
Korkor is the founder of ‘Korkorction’, a business in Ghana that dreams is to see all women of African descent feeding their ageless beauty with wholesome products that will not harm them or the environment. As well as being an entrepreneur, Korkor works in advertising but her true passion is clearly in helping other people of African descent find, restore and protect their natural beauty.
 
Korkor offers a unique insight and perspective about business, society, fashion, beauty standards and Ghana. We also delve into the world of sustainability and how difficult it is to do what is right for our planet, no matter how hard we try. 
 
Time Stamps
Introduction
0:00 - 2:20
 
Part 1
2:21 - 49:14 Korkor’s business ‘Korkorction’, Beauty standards in Ghana, the Natural Hair Revolution, systemic discrimination, being a victim of your own success, purpose and solution based entrepreneurship, astrology and upbringing shaping personality, speaking ones mind and challenging the status quo.
 
Part 2
49:15 - 90:37
Ghanain society, motivation, following in the footsteps of others, sustainability, rural living with nature, the climate crisis, nurturing how we want to live, Korkor asks me a question and a moment of clarity.
 
Outro
90:38 - 91:29
 
Find out more about Korkor and her work.
Instagram: @korkorkugbenu and @korkorction
LinkedIn: Korkor Kugblenu
Website: https://www.korkorction.com/
 
If you enjoy Moments of Clarity, please share the podcast with family, friends and social networks. It would be brilliant if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts and subscribe to the podcast too.
Instagram: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Facebook: @momentsofclaritypodcast
Twitter: @BarneyMOC
Email: momentsofclaritypodcast@gmail.com
Podcast by Matthew Sortino
Music by Christian Prochilo
Artwork by Michael Chrisanthopoulos