Room for All - S1 E3 - Wine and Whining - Reflecting on Podcasts, Leadership, and Overcoming Fears

In this reflective episode of 'Room for All,' hosts Andrea Comastri and Saraya O'Connell discuss their journey with the podcast, personal challenges, and their mission for inclusion in the hospitality industry. They delve into their demanding schedules, touching on personal life pressures, leadership struggles, and the importance of self-care. The episode includes light-hearted moments, such as planning a wine tasting, celebrating small wins, and recounting humorous interactions with guests. Andrea and Saraya also announce upcoming episodes and fundraising challenges, including a nerve-wracking skywalk and a skydive. The conversation concludes with mutual appreciation and gratitude, underscoring the importance of recognizing achievements and supporting each other in leadership roles.

00:00 Starting the Recording

01:57 Introduction to the Podcast

02:27 Wine and Whining

04:12 Reflecting on Past Episodes

08:02 Leadership Challenges and Personal Struggles

14:19 Facing Fears and Fundraising

21:09 Upcoming Events and Awards

24:28 Burnout and Self-Care

28:52 Introduction to SK Bodyworks

29:00 Holistic Wellbeing and Mental Health

29:44 Fitness and Leadership

30:23 Celebrating Successes

31:18 Friday Night Fun

33:36 Upcoming Podcast Episodes

34:41 Rapid Fire Questions

45:17 Leadership and Appreciation

50:06 Final Thoughts and Farewell
____________________________________________________________

White wine: Arneis, Nahsdale Lane, Orange, https://nashdalelane.com/
Red wine: Tash, Adelaide Hills, 2023 https://thethiefwnes.com.au
Scenic World Beyond Skyway: https://www.beyondskyway.com.au/
Skydive Australia: https://www.skydive.com.au/

Chapters

• 0:00 Starting the Recording
• 1:57 Introduction to the Podcast
• 2:27 Wine and Whining
• 4:12 Reflecting on Past Episodes
• 8:02 Leadership Challenges and Personal Struggles
• 14:19 Facing Fears and Fundraising
• 21:09 Upcoming Events and Awards
• 24:28 Burnout and Self-Care
• 28:52 Introduction to SK Bodyworks
• 29:00 Holistic Wellbeing and Mental Health
• 29:44 Fitness and Leadership
• 30:23 Celebrating Successes
• 31:18 Friday Night Fun
• 33:36 Upcoming Podcast Episodes
• 34:41 Rapid Fire Questions
• 45:17 Leadership and Appreciation
• 50:06 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Transcript

Andrea: Yes 

Saraya: Are you actually recording? 

Andrea: Yes, I'm recording. 

Saraya: Are you sure?

Andrea: Yes. 

Saraya: On on all three or four? 

Andrea: Two. There and there. And we're rolling. Welcome back to the studio for, um, another episode, a special one of Room for All, the inclusion in hospitality podcast. Um, my name is Andrea Comastri and I'm here with my co host Saraya O'Connell Hi Saraya 

Saraya: Hi. 

Andrea: How are you? 

Saraya: I'm good. How are you? It's Friday. 

Andrea: I'm exhausted. 

Saraya: It's been a very big week. 

Andrea: No, I don't think it's a week, uh, much longer than that, but I'm exhausted. 

Saraya: We will dive straight into that. I'm sure. 

Andrea: We are. Here for a very special episode, because we've decided to do a bit of a reflection on our first few weeks of podcast. 

Saraya: I think it's important to reflect. I think you and I never really, we move so fast all the time that we never really do it, but we haven't named what we're calling it, but we did bring wine. 

Andrea: Well, I suggested wine and whining. 

Saraya: Wine 

Saraya: and and whining. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Saraya: Not bad. Um, 

Andrea: it's wine o'clock. 

Saraya: We're good. so and it is Friday. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Saraya: Oh, alcohol though is not sitting right with me today.

Andrea: So, um, what are you drinking? 

Saraya: I have no idea. You poured it for me. So why don't you tell me what I'm drinking? 

Andrea: Well, you're drinking an Arneis Um, I think it's a wine from Orange, if I'm not mistaken. But we might sort of, um. 

Saraya: Get Michael to. 

Andrea: Put that in the show notes. I think a review. And this is a new one. I think it's a Sangiovese. Um. drop. Um, quite good bit of tannin. Um, 

Saraya: I don't even 

Andrea: quite dry, you know, when you, when you, uh, cause you drink white, so it's a bit, but when you drink it after a while and the back of the palate, you can, it's a bit dry. You can, it's a, that's a tannins that sort of. 

Saraya: Got it.

Andrea: Do that effect on you.

Saraya: I should know that because Jon did a wine tasting with us.

Andrea: Yeah, I know. It's really hard to get your head around all the wines. There's so many varieties and so many, I'd love to do a sommelier course or some sort of 

Saraya: do it 

Andrea: wine appreciation course. 

Saraya: Do you have time? 

Andrea: No, 

Saraya: we will just make time. Um, 

Andrea: let me just sip on this. 

Saraya: So what does it, wine and whine

Andrea: Wine and whining.

Saraya: Wine and whining. 

Andrea: Even though we're not going to just whine, as in whining. 

Saraya: I said wine and dine, but we're not eating. 

Andrea: No, we're not going to eat. We're not going to do the mic. It's not going to work very well. 

Saraya: So, reflection. So, we should probably do this every like five or six episodes, just a little. 

Andrea: Yeah, so we're a bit early.

Saraya: Well, not really. We've recorded five. 

Andrea: Recorded four? Well, one was a dud, so we had to redo it. Yeah. So, we need. The episode zero, which was a mistake from a technology point of view, because, um, Some of the platforms don't like the number zero, don't allow the number zero. So I think it just messes up with the algorithm online.

Saraya: So if you are listening to this, you need to go back and listen to episode zero. 

Andrea: Episode zero is the key because it tells the story. So, um, yeah, episode zero. 

Saraya: So there's one mistake. We've learned. 

Andrea: Yep. And then there's, but that's, you know, can't be fixed ever unless we do another podcast. Uh, then there's episode one where we have Tracylee Arestides is one of our founders, co founders. And then we have episode two, who will be releasing this weekend. So I'll probably be editing this episode tomorrow. Um, and. Either release it straight away or something. 

Saraya: Just let it go. 

Andrea: Yeah. And then we've recorded another two, one with Mariella our our Program Elevate Manager. And, uh, Scott Bear, the general manager of Manly, of Mercure Manly, who was here twice. Yes. Cause I lost the audio. 

Saraya: You didn't just lose the audio, you lost everything. 

Andrea: No, no, no. I had the video, but it just was the audio from the, from the camera. So it wasn't good enough. So yeah, anyway, that's, um, that's a lesson. So now I'm recording it twice. I'm recording on the computer. I'm recording on the mixer. recording on the phone, on the, on the camera, but that won't be used. And, um, last week we also had a camera recording, so we had four audio tracks. I've already edited it. It's good. I wasn't much on the cutting floor. 

Saraya: Oh, there should have been a lot on the cutting floor. 

Andrea: I've kept.

Saraya: There was a lot on the cutting floor in Mariella's cause we couldn't stop laughing the entire time. 

Andrea: No, and then I got into a little bit of trouble with you because I didn't cut some things that you wanted cut. 

Saraya: Yeah. 

Andrea: On the episode with Scotty. I'm still. Uh, Scott, sorry. 

Saraya: Still pissed about that, I'm not gonna lie. 

Andrea: Um, but I asked permission from Scott, so he was happy to be called Scotty the hottie. 

Saraya: Mm, and you just wanted to say that again cause you know how much it pisses me off.

Andrea: Yeah, yeah. And obviously Scotty the hottie is a nickname that comes. From around the hotel. 

Saraya: Which is so unprofessional. 

Andrea: It is totally unprofessional. I just wanted to expose you and your friends within the hotel. 

Saraya: The entire team. It wasn't just me that named him that, by the way. 

Andrea: No, all the girls. 

Saraya: Yeah, there are a lot of girls that work for us.

Andrea: But he's a hottie. He's a bit of a hottie. Scotty. 

Saraya: Yeah, but you're not meant to, one, you're not meant to tell that person that nickname. 

Andrea: He appreciates uh, come on, 28 year old, he's handsome, successful. 

Saraya: We have nicknames for a lot of people, but now I'm never ever going to tell you what they are because.

Andrea: What's mine? 

Saraya: I'm not telling you. 

Andrea: Alright. 

Saraya: Because it will end up in a podcast and you won't cut it. 

Andrea: Okay, well I can tell you what yours is. I can tell what yours is. 

Saraya: Mine is Slayer. 

Andrea: Yeah, so coined by Super restaurant manager Michael. 

Saraya: I've been named Slayer for a while. I don't know whether 

Andrea: What's Michael's?

Andrea: Ah, Cakey. 

Saraya: Cakey. 

Andrea: I don't know where that comes from. He's a bit Flaky cakey. 

Saraya: Flaky cakey. But, um, yeah, I don't know where Slayer comes from, and I don't know whether or not I should be insulted. 

Andrea: It comes from that presentation we did to all the staff, and the staff had to come up with something, their other managers had to come up with something, 

Saraya: and should I be insulted? Like Slayer, it's like I'm the boss bitch. I don't think I'm a boss bitch. 

Andrea: No, you can be much worse than that. You should be much worse than that. 

Saraya: I try to lead with empathy. Thank you very much. 

Andrea: Yeah, that doesn't get you far. 

Saraya: I know. I do have to put my big elbow out. 

Andrea: No, not true, not true. This is such a, such a nice, soft place.

Saraya: So you started the episode by saying you're exhausted. Let's talk about why we're exhausted, what we've done in the last few weeks. Besides recording all of the podcasts 

Andrea: It's not just the last few weeks I am working 24/7 

Saraya: Yeah. 

Andrea: I've had a pretty tough personal year on the personal front, which is still not over. 

Saraya: Yeah. 

Andrea: In fact, it's quite into the thick of it. Um, and work is just, um, unrelenting and, and, and never ending. Um, Just when you think you got there, you've got to raise more money, push more business and manage, but actually with people we're doing okay. I think over the last few months, things have generally speaking been okay. I mean When when you employ 45 people, it's always, there's always a bit of pressure. It's always, you know, people's needs and personalities and stuff. But 

Saraya: in the leadership course I did a few weeks ago, a lot of people were saying the same thing. People management is the hardest part because yeah, it's, it's exhausting. 

Andrea: So tell us a bit about your leadership course. What was it? How did that come out, come about?

Andrea: And what was it about? 

Saraya: So I applied for a scholarship through, um, Oh my God. 

Andrea: Australian Scholarship Foundation. 

Saraya: Australian Scholarship Foundation, yeah. Um, and it was for the McKensey 2024. 

Andrea: McKinsey? 

Saraya: McKinsey. See, it's my pronunciation. This is why I shouldn't do a podcast because I can't say anything. Um, so it was the 2024 Rising Leaders Forum. Uh, it was four very intense days 

Andrea: and it was a huge number of you, 

Saraya: 256 people online. Yeah. 

Andrea: Imagine that screen with the, 

Saraya: it was insane. And like, you just go like, but it was like, it was so well executed. 

Andrea: Like what's the show with the family thing, 

Saraya: um, the Brady Bunch, I think there was a little bit more than that. Um, look, it was, it was. The greatest thing that I have ever done. 

Andrea: I know you kept messaging me saying, Oh, look at this guy. Like this presenter, go on YouTube and look him up, look her up, look him up. 

Saraya: Um, I think it came at a time and I don't know if I want this to air, so you might have to cut it out, but it came at a time where I was feeling pretty shitty about my leadership. Like it's been a very rough year. Um, we've had a lot of challenges and it came at a time where. I was really struggling and that's no secret. I open up to you when, when I'm in that space. But, um, yeah, it gave me back. I think my kick in the step and I am doing the right thing. And I think that as a leader, like you and I work really hard. Are we allowed to swear in this episode? No, we work really fucking hard. 

Andrea: I can do the beep button. I can't, I can't do it here, but I can do it. 

Saraya: We work really, really hard. And I think that, um, Leadership is thankless. I think, you know, um, it's also very lonely. Um, and sometimes I think that that takes a toll on you. So like, I mean, for three years, we've been go, go, go, go, go. Well, I have, you've been go, go, go longer than I have. But, um, 

Andrea: By the way, yes. Happy anniversary. This week was your third anniversary. 

Saraya: Third anniversary yesterday. Yeah. 

Andrea: Very good. good 

Saraya: Yeah. But yeah, no, it was great. It was the best thing I ever did. I've got so many takeaways. This book is literally full of like quotes and. 

Andrea: I thought you were doing digital notes. 

Saraya: Heaps of stuff. No, well, no, cause I had my computer, um, but I will take a photo of it and put it into, to my good notes. Um, but yeah, it's, it's a lot. Um, we had one of the dinners, uh, like we had a one where we all got together. So it was 250 people, like nationwide. So we even had people from New Zealand actually. Um, So we had one face to face drink slash dinner, um, in Sydney who I met some great people. Actually, one of them is walking around the hotel as we speak. Um, she came up for a visit, but yeah, it was just, it was a safe place. Um, we've joined what we call, it's called a mini board group. So you, you get broken down into two mini board groups and then they become like your support through it. So we actually have already scheduled catch ups and stuff. So it's kind of like a really nice support. 

Andrea: I need one of those. I mean, I've got, I've got the board, but you know, the board are my boss, so it's, it's really tricky. And you know, 

Saraya: I have another one, I have two now and I find them invaluable. Like I had one two days ago with them cause I was just, it was a shit day. I've been, 

Andrea: I've had the privilege of most of my career to be in, in leadership positions and I just fell into it. You know, you just become a leader within a small organization and then it grows with you when you grow with it. And, and. It just never ends. It gets lonelier and lonelier and lonelier. Um, and no matter what you do, you get mentors, you get coaches, the board is good and you get good colleagues. It's, it's actually, sometimes I wish I was just stacking shelves at Coles. Uh, no, honestly, it's, it's, 

Saraya: you wouldn't give up what we do though. I wouldn't either. 

Andrea: Best job in the world, but it's, um, it's tiring. 

Saraya: This is becoming a very vulnerable chat 

Andrea: Whatever you you do has a huge effect on people. Whatever you say, whatever your facial expression says has a huge effect on people. And so, but the, so the pressure and you perform all the time, you need to be at your top of your game all the time. I know that, you know, the trend is to value the vulnerability of a leader. And I think I'm pretty vulnerable. 

Saraya: I think this episode's going to be very vulnerable. 

Andrea: I think I'm pretty vulnerable generally. And you know, I've, I wear my heart on my sleeve, but, um, The pressure that comes with being at the top top is, is massive. So once when I was studying my MBA years and years ago, there was this sort of, um, metaphor cause you know, I like metaphors of, you know, like if you think of there's a light source at the top and you are a person leader that rises the top to the top and rises and rises and rises. The, the shadow that you cast as you get closer to the top gets wider and wider and wider and wider. And so it's enough to really like raise your, raise your eyebrow in a conversation to have a ripple effect throughout the organization that it just, it's amazing. I know you say, you say the wrong thing. Once, once I've made that mistake and look in my defense, I was really sick. I had glandular fever. We had just gotten off a plane to Melbourne.

Andrea: Um, and from Melbourne, um, it was, Like 8am in the morning, we were up here, we had TV cameras here, we, um, I'm not going to repeat what happened because I would, well, I can, I can do that. I can give a little bit of a summary. Like they were filming, they needed a bit of silence, there was a bit of noise in the room in the background and you told some of the staff to be quiet.

Andrea: You did it in a bit of a rough sort of way without sort of thinking of the consequences. And they just set in motion, uh, a series of events, and 

Andrea: the 

Andrea: the person stood up for themselves, which I think it was good, uh, a bit annoyed at you and then you sort of answered back in even a worse way. I did. Yeah. And then, yeah, but 

Andrea: I 

Andrea: I learned my lesson.

Andrea: I went to hell between my legs and I apologized. I absolutely learned my lesson on my advice. No, not on your advice. Yes, it was on my advice. Well, you said cop it sweet, you fucked up. And I said, yeah, I did. But the thing about that is, is that you're not allowed to be human. The human you was allowed to react the way you reacted.

Andrea: The professional you was not. There's no way that you could have said what you said. But again, in my defense, I was tired. I was really sick. I know. But that's the problem. There's never a defense. There's no human. You're not allowed to be human. There is never a defense. And so that's really, really tiring.

Andrea: Anyway, let's move along from my mistakes. You don't have many that I can call you out on. Huge, huge mistakes. But anyway, that's, um, yeah. So I'm very tired. I'm very tired. And, um, and the problem is that the work is not finishing. It's continuing. In fact, we've just made a huge decision this week to face our fears.

Saraya: Yeah. 

Andrea: What have we done? 

Saraya: Well, 

Andrea: Well it's not really a reflection on our podcast, is it? It's just like a performance appraisal meeting. 

Saraya: Um, um, so we have, we we've been talking like we've done a lot of work on our strategy this year and our fundraising campaigns and stuff. Um, I'm very scared of heights. Like, I mean, to the point where elevators in some of our corporate partnerships, I have to like, hold, yeah, they scare me. Like I can't be near a window in the high buildings. Like I'm petrified of heights. I think I once, when I was about 15, went up Centrepoint tower. I couldn't get out of the lift. So I will never ever do that again. Um, so I will be, um, 

Andrea: Oh, we will be, 

Saraya: we will be, you're going to join me. I can't do it alone.

Andrea: Hold your hand. 

Saraya: I'm scared you'll push me over. That's what I'm more scared of. 

Andrea: So where, where is it? 

Saraya: Um, we're doing the Skywalk at Scenic World. 

Andrea: Not Skywalk, it's called Beyond Skyway. 

Saraya: Same thing. No, no, the Skywalk is that. 

Andrea: Yeah, it's Beyond Skyway. So for those of you that know at Scenic World, one of the attractions is the cable car that goes across from, across the valley, 270 meters high on the Jameson Valley.

Saraya: Which is stupid. and so do you know how that came about? 

Andrea: There's a little manhole on top and you get hooked up and then you climb up the stairs and you stand up and you are hopefully tethered and they give you a mocktail 

Saraya: hopefully. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean they give you a mocktail to drink? I don't have alcohol. 

Andrea: You, what are you gonna have? 

Saraya: Yeah, alcohol. 

Andrea: But that's after what? While you're there, they give you mocktail is not allowed to have alcohol. Yeah. 

Saraya: I have to face that sober? 

Andrea: Well, no, you can, I suppose you can get there, preloaded but, um, it's, I wouldn't advise it. 

Saraya: I wouldn't advise it. 

Andrea: Your head's already going to spin by itself.

Saraya: Oh, man. 

Andrea: So you're going to do that on the 20th of December with me, and I'd like to acknowledge the generous, 

Saraya: um, Contribution. 

Andrea: Support of Scenic World who has donated the tickets to us to, to perform it, to do, to perform this challenge, uh, which is great. And we are associating a fundraising campaign to this, uh, which we just launched this afternoon.

Saraya: Well, one of our, um, biggest things here is that you need to be comfortable in the discomfort and I'm really not comfortable with this. I don't know if I'm going to do it. 

Andrea: Yeah, this will make or break it. 

Saraya: Yeah. It will make or break me for sure. 

Andrea: But then. 

Saraya: The cables can snap, right? 

Andrea: No. 

Saraya: It's like bungee jumping.

Andrea: We would be in the news if we do that.

Saraya: Oh yeah, famous. 

Andrea: No, um You're making this It'll be fine. It'll be fine. 

Saraya: Well, I'm glad you're doing it with me. 

Andrea: Anthea, the, the, the CEO and owner of, um, of Scenic World was really excited and proud and said, Ah, it's great. It's fantastic.

Saraya: Well, this came about because I was talking to Jason and David at graduation. I said, there's no way in hell I would ever do that. 

Andrea: So Jason's the operations manager at, uh, Scenic World and owner of the, um, Uh, bus tours double, you know, double decker. Yeah. Tours in, um, in Katoomba. And, um, David is the elder aboriginal elder, David King, um, traditional owner of the, Gundangurra land. And he works for, um, Scenic World and he does all the First Nations 

Saraya: great man 

Andrea: towards, which is fantastic. Fantastic. In fact, he's gonna be here in a couple of weeks next week or something. Yeah. As a guest. Um. And and so yeah, that's your challenge. Yeah. And so then my challenge is cause you're, you're scared of heights. I'm scared of dying. 

Saraya: You are scared of dying. You've mentioned this a lot. You always say to me, you're like, I've already lived twice. Like, I'm like past my peak. Like you always say you like, what do you say? You don't have, you've lived more than you have left. 

Andrea: It's all downhill from here. I've 30 years left in my life. If I'm lucky. 

Saraya: That's a long time. I'm 34. 

Andrea: 30 years but exactly. All of your life. That's it. Uh, and you know, I could get sick along the way, probably a bit of a decline and especially with drinking wine at five o'clock in the afternoon. 

Saraya: So it is a big week, but, um, so you are afraid of dying. 

Andrea: I decided to end it earlier.

Saraya: And yeah, well, I've done it. So I did it for my 21st and then for my 30th, one of my friends brought me a voucher, but I haven't gone again. 

Andrea: But what is it? We haven't said it. 

Saraya: No. So you are going to jump out of a plane. You are legit. And I've been trying to get you to do, 

Andrea: I am being pushed out of a plane. 'cause I'll be just 

Saraya: Yeah. I've been trying to get you to do this for a year. 

Andrea: Mm-Hmm. 

Saraya: Yeah. Um, yeah. 

Andrea: So do you know what the chances are of dying? 

Saraya: Did you look it up? 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Saraya: Why ? 

Andrea: 0.0003%. 

Saraya: What about on the Skyway 

Andrea: I know there's no, there's no statistics on that. You, you are 

Saraya: look, I've done it and I'm petrified of heights. So, you'll be fine. It is the most amazing feeling in the world. 

Andrea: It's not The height is just, the action. 

Saraya: The action. 

Andrea: But anyway, I'll be sort of strapped to this guy 

Saraya: The scariest part, and like, I actually re watched my video from my 21st the other day, which I'll never share with anybody.

Andrea: Are you going bababababa like that 

Saraya: but it gave me, so afterwards and you, you'll, you'll know afterwards, but afterwards you get this. You rethink everything in your world because you've just gone through this massive, 

Andrea: I don't want to do that. 

Saraya: You go through this massive thing. 

Andrea: I want to forget everything. 

Saraya: No, that's called dying. 

Andrea: I want to forget the last 12 months. Um, no way. 

Saraya: But yeah, it's, it's, So when I rewatched my video, I got that same feeling. So we're doing that on January 12th, 

Andrea: January 12th in Wollongong. So we put together this, uh, we bookended the period with, uh, with the fundraising. And so we just launched a campaign. And so we'll put the link in the podcast notes and we've, uh, we are pushing out on social media. We really, really need your help because no matter how good we are at our work, we still will need a lot of support to. Fill a gap of funding and, uh, I mean this will only be a little bit of help, but anything helps. Donations are tax deductible and so, um, 

Saraya: Yeah, 

Andrea: please, please, please, please help. Be generous for Christmas.

Saraya: Oh, yes, it is Christmas. We're in November. I actually need to start Christmas shopping now. I'm starting to freak out. 

Andrea: Well, instead of doing the Christmas shopping, tell your daughter that you're putting all the money towards our fundraising campaign. Get a tax break and then with the tax saving you can buy a little present.

Saraya: I could do that, but don't you think I give enough to Etico

Andrea: No, I've just made my own donation. 

Saraya: Yeah, I will sponsor you. I will do. I will sponsor you. 

Andrea: And I paid for my own ticket, by the way. You had a voucher. 

Saraya: Yeah, but my friend, mine was a 30th birthday present for the skydiving. Am I meant to pay for your ticket to come with me?

Andrea: I thought that's what the deal was in the first place. Anyway, 

Saraya: it's very cold in here. 

Andrea: Yeah. Well, you got your electric blanket there. Yeah. An old lady. 

Saraya: 34. Um. 

Andrea: What else? 

Saraya: Why else are you exhausted? Like what have we been doing in the last few weeks? Like I mean, Wednesday we had the awards, which we didn't win.

Andrea: Where's the beep button? 

Saraya: Awards. 

Andrea: Yeah, we went to the disability service awards and we were a finalist and we lost to very, um, um, 

Saraya: well known, 

Andrea: uh, well known and well deserving Down Syndrome, New South Wales. And, um, you know, Helen, the, that was there representing the Down Syndrome NSW is when they called us up on the stage. As soon as she stood up, she looked at me and she went, 

Saraya: yeah, she did not want us to win 

Andrea: But you see the nice photo that they published online about us celebrating with her. So it's really nice to celebrate with others 

Saraya: within the disability space. We encourage each other. 

Andrea: Yeah, but 

Saraya: we're all trying to do the same thing.

Andrea: Well deserved. Um, so yeah, that was it was tiring because it was a late evening before that there was a small business awards and now we've got two other awards ceremonies coming up. We are up for the Australian Hotel Association in Brisbane, the national, um, finals. 

Saraya: Yeah, I'm very excited about that one because I get to go to Brisbane.

Andrea: Because we won the Accommodation Australia, um, inclusion award and we're up for, as the finalist says, an all abilities, um, hotel. We'll see how that goes. It's national, so I'm sure there's going to be lots of competition and we won't win it but it's good exposure. 

Saraya: Plus, we get to go to Brisbane, 

Andrea: we get to go to Brisbane, we get to visit a couple of other social enterprises, meet with people, meet with your grandmother.

Saraya: Yes, my grandma, I messaged her last night and my sister, Cynthia, she's very excited. 

Andrea: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She makes, um, a great lunch. 

Saraya: She's very good. For context, when we were in Brisbane for World Down Syndrome, um, 

Andrea: forum, 

Saraya: forum, um, A few of our grads and Andrea and Tracey Lee, the co chair of our board, we all went and had lunch with my grandma, which she very much loved.

Andrea: Um, and then at the end of November, we're doing, we're finalists for the Hotel Management Awards, HM Awards, as a partnership with the Fairmont Resorts. We put in an application, uh, for, for the award for our collaboration, uh, with our, uh, graduates at the Fairmont. I remind people they employ four of our graduates. They're a great partner, a great team of people and, um, yeah. 

Saraya: So it's a busy month. And December's going to be even busier because we start Yeah. 

Andrea: Lots of panels. You're speaking at a diversity council of Australia. 

Saraya: I am, yes. I'm very excited because Quinn will be joining me. Yeah. I'm the second choice. I'm never the first. I'm always the second choice. 

Andrea: Uh, and I'll be speaking at the non profit, not for profit alliance, uh, long lunch, which is actually really exciting. They're building up a lot of momentum about their promotion and it's going to be, uh, Another very deep reflective exercise because it's about where you love Loathed learnt laughed about and something else and I need to think about it um so I see how I feel that day because I might just completely open up and make everyone cry.

Saraya: You've done that before 

Andrea: Yes And yet next week. I've got a panel with social traders In Parramatta. 

Saraya: I'm excited for that. 

Andrea: Yeah Are you coming to aren't you? 

Saraya: Yes Yes. 

Andrea: And then we've got the 10th anniversary of Social Impact Hub coming up next week. 

Saraya: It's a busy month. 

Andrea: So many things. 

Saraya: This has been our years. I mean.

Andrea: Yeah. I know. 

Saraya: But I did learn something in my leadership course. about burnout, because let's be honest, you and I both hit burnout before, but you can only last in the red stage. And I'll share it with you. I'll show you the table. You can only last in that stage, the stress stage for eight weeks before you get completely burnt out, which is why I got glandular fever. I've noticed. Um, but you need to stay in the green and the orange. 

Andrea: In my case, it never affected my health, my physical health, um, but, um, I have to say two years ago before I became officially the CEO full time of Hotel Etico when I was still doing my day job, I was, I thought I was smart and sort of negotiated with my day job employer to do a full time job in four days. Um, and then do this officially one day a week, but effectively I was doing already seven days a week or seven nights a week. Um, I did it for, yeah, from April to beginning of June. And then in June I started realizing that at work I was in meetings and people were talking and it was like they were talking, speaking another language. I knew that I was meant to know what they were saying. Um, but it was, it was really freaky. Um, I was presenting, I was saying things and I knew that I was saying the right things, but i, 

Saraya: you weren't in your own body. 

Andrea: Oh, it was the most bizarre experience ever. So I went to my colleagues and boss and friends and then, and opened up and I started crying like a baby.

Saraya: And you are very vulnerable. You can be, I 

Andrea: I was I was

Saraya: I don't know I don't know why people say you're intimidating. 

Andrea: I don't, like it was the worst experience of my life from a work point of view, or one of the worst experiences. And, um, and, but they were really supportive. They gave me a break for a month and I said, yeah, I need to reflect on what to do. And then after that month, I sort of said, no, I've decided that I've got the means to be able to survive for a few months without a pay. I'll jump off and, um, 

Saraya: Have a break. 

Andrea: And then had it. Well, no, not have a break. Have a break from pay. Yes. And then I started talking to the board more officially, more formally, and, uh, we got to the point where after a few months I was able to join on a full time basis. But, um, there was the, I never experienced that in my life. Um, 

Saraya: It's pretty, so Dr. Gemma, it's Gemma King presented in the leadership thing. She is amazing. Can we get her on? Do you reckon she'll come on? She's in Brisbane. We're going there. Oh, I'm so going to reach out on LinkedIn. Actually, I'm going to do it. But she's really great. Like she has so many studies on it and stuff. Um, I think you really do need to look after yourself. I've started lately. 

Andrea: Yeah. I've noticed your performance has just completely declined. 

Saraya: Bullshit. It has not. I've just put in boundaries. I've, you know, I've, 

Andrea: I know that. 

Saraya: Um, I'm just, I'm more self reflective. I look after myself. I go to the gym. I make sure that I make time in my day. 

Andrea: You're more selfish, which is fine. That's the way you need to be. I'm copping it, but that's okay. 

Saraya: You're so not copping it. I still do everything above and beyond. 

Andrea: Look at me, look at me, I am copping it. Um, but that's all right. Um, it's, it is what it is.

Saraya: Yeah. 

Andrea: Um, yeah. Yeah, no, I, I agree. 

Saraya: And can you just go back? My performance has not slipped for the listeners. 

Andrea: Yeah, you still have to submit your performance appraisal, uh, reports, which I've been waiting for about a month or two.

Saraya: So that's going to be edited out., 

Andrea: maybe you're waiting for your performance to pick up before you submit it. That's what it is. And so you think that it's like a recency bias that I need to follow. 

Saraya: Um, I told you I was open and honest with you and I said, I can't think of anything I'm doing good. And that was before my leadership course when I said I was in a really bad place.

Andrea: Yeah. And I also said that's not true, but anyway, 

Saraya: you can't hear that when you're in a state of burnout. 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Saraya: Um, let's talk about burnout. Let's just talk about happy things from now on. We're both not in burnout. 

Andrea: So yeah. Talking about me, I, um, I'm really proud of myself to, for having got into a groove with my fitness. Um, even though, you know, it doesn't show. 

Saraya: I am proud. You're back to 10 Ks and running. 

Andrea: I'm I'm up to running 10 kilometers, uh, 

Saraya: Should you do a shout out to your PT? 

Andrea: Very slowly. Um, yeah. My PT. 

Saraya: Who you stole from me? 

Andrea: I can't pronounce her last name. Shanaye Kuntzer Kuntzer I think. Shanaye Kuntzer She is amazing. 

Saraya: SK bodyworks.

Andrea: SK Bodyworks. 

Saraya: Andrea stole her from me. Just saying. 

Andrea: No, you introduced her. 

Saraya: She's great.

Andrea: Yes. Um, she's really good. She operates in the Hawkesbury area.

Saraya: She does a very holistic, um, 

Andrea: She mostly focuses on women. I think I'm the token male, uh, which I'm happy, very happy to be. Um, I'm convinced that I'm the only male.

Saraya: Nah. 

Andrea: She had males before, but, um, 

Saraya: Yeah, she has had males. 

Andrea: I'm the only current one. 

Saraya: I'm still, from my PT session this week, like, I'm still feeling, yeah. 

Andrea: So, yeah. 

Saraya: But she does a holistic way of looking at your wellbeing. 

Andrea: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I know. I had to submit my report to that yesterday or something and I had to sort of open up about my mental health status. Um, but, um 

Saraya: This is becoming a depressing wine. 

Andrea: Yeah, it's wine. Wine is depressing. 

Saraya: No, it's not. I was fine on champagne the other day. But I think the key takeaway is that we're really focusing. 

Andrea: Yeah, no. So I go to the gym three to five times a week, depending on the week, on the activities at work. Uh, I run two or three times a week, uh, do lots of stuff. I eat a little bit better. Um, so yeah, I, I'm really happy. I've lost three or four kilos already. 

Saraya: To be a great leader, you really need to look after yourself. So. 

Andrea: I know, but again, it's another piece of pressure I put on you. 

Saraya: I know, I know. 

Andrea: I just want it to be easy. 

Saraya: Nothing is easy in life, and we've 

Andrea: I'm fed up with it. It's just too hard. It's just too hard. I need help. 

Saraya: You get help. I'm here to help you. I will support you in any way. 

Andrea: But on the other hand, talk about successes. 

Saraya: We've had some great successes. 

Andrea: Well, the, the most, um, rewarding thing is that, um, at this point, uh, approximately 82 percent of our graduates have secured employment 

Saraya: that's pretty great 

Andrea: in the tourism and hospitality industry, which is amazing. We have more jobs available that we have Um, uh, graduates, um, the missing ones that are not, uh, securing a job yet is due to a number of, of, of, of situations which are personal location and skills and aspirations and so on. But we'll get there. 

Saraya: We will get there. We don't give up. 

Andrea: We'll get them a job. Um, and so yeah, the future is bright in that sense and the present is bright, uh, there's no doubt. So, but again, it's yeah, a lot of work, a lot of work. 

Saraya: Look, if there's any two people that can do it. 

Andrea: Yeah, well, well two people with a lot of people behind us, of course. Um, yeah, the, the, the team is doing an amazing job. And last Friday I was here for the, the Friday. 

Saraya: Are we staying for dinner tonight? Cause I want to, I want to.

Andrea: Yeah. Um, it's my second home. Uh, uh, there was some music, live music last Friday, like every Friday. And, uh, we had some special guests as well in the hotel and the music was just so nice. And the trainees started dancing and, um, and Neave came out of the apartment. So She, she wasn't around, all of a sudden she appears from the corridor, starts dancing. She's a dancer. She starts dancing, performing like blowing kisses around, moving. She moves really well. She's really good. 

Saraya: She's a really good dancer. 

Andrea: And then the other joined in, even the ones on shift. 

Saraya: I saw Michael. 

Andrea: So Toby was in. Yeah, Michael was dancing. Uh, our restaurant manager, like, uh, Toby was going from between pouring a glass of wine until I get to a guest to jumping on the, jumping on the dance floor and then back and then. And then I was just signaling from this, okay, come back and it was coming back. So yeah, it was amazing. amazing 

Saraya: Whenever I have a hard week, whenever I think that we're having, like whenever, whenever it's problem after problem, I can sit here on a Friday night and know exactly why I do what I do. Like you need to love what you do and you need to love who you do it with. But 

Andrea: yeah, yeah, that's right. I know I saw your post on LinkedIn the other day after the 

Saraya: event, 

Andrea: the awards, 

Saraya: yeah, but it's true. 

Andrea: You ladies were looking fabulous in your red dresses. 

Saraya: Thank you. We did coordinate that, but Sophia let it slip. 

Andrea: You should have told me to wear a red tie though. 

Saraya: We wanted you in black.

Andrea: I know, but a red tie, you know, a touch of red, I should have done that. Yeah. 

Saraya: Touch of red. 

Andrea: Yeah. A touch of red. Um, maybe we can do it for the next ones. 

Saraya: No, I'm not pulling out that red dress again. I'm going pink or blue or something, but we'll figure it out. I've got a pink one for the next week. 

Andrea: You wore that before.

Saraya: No, I got a brand new one. 

Andrea: Yeah, I've seen it. 

Saraya: No, you haven't, I just bought it. It's got tags on it. 

Andrea: Alright, okay. Uh, I'll wear my usual black tuxedo. 

Saraya: Okay, so you can judge me for my looks. 

Andrea: Yes. 

Saraya: But I can't judge you for wearing the same thing. Why don't you get a white tux? 

Andrea: Now, white gets dirty. No, white is, no, not white.

Saraya: You know what? 

Andrea: Maybe sequence 

Saraya: I will legit, don't you tempt me, I will wear my sequence suit and you can wear yours. 

Andrea: Yeah, sure. Um, no. 

Saraya: Great wins. 

Andrea: What else? 

Saraya: We haven't actually reflected on the podcast. 

Andrea: We're recording a couple of other episodes in the next couple of weeks. Uh, we will have, um, Sally from Westpac foundation.

Saraya: Yeah. 

Andrea: Who's going to be a guest here. 

Saraya: And we've got Nat, our training manager. 

Andrea: Natalie, our training manager. Who's been preparing for the last month. 

Saraya: No, she wants a month to prepare. 

Andrea: Yeah, well, we're halfway through it. 

Saraya: No, we're a week in. Yours? 

Andrea: No. 

Saraya: You've got no time. 

Andrea: 4th of December is when she's going to do the recording. So yeah, it was there. Um, and then we're going to have Alex. We had to cancel this week, but we were going to have Alex from Italy. 

Saraya: We have a lot of great guests coming. 

Andrea: You know why he stood us up? Cause he had an interview with the Italian national television. 

Saraya: So, oh, so they're more important than our podcast.

Andrea: International day of people with disability. So coming up in December. So it was pre recording that. 

Saraya: 3rd of December. 

Andrea: 3rd of December. 

Saraya: 3rd of December, yeah. 

Andrea: What did I say? 

Saraya: No, you just said December. I just wanted to point out that it's the 3rd of December. 

Andrea: Yeah, 3rd of December. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, 

Saraya: got a lot coming up.

Andrea: What else? I just want to fire a number of rapid fire questions at you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just, just, just see what comes up. 

Saraya: Favorite book, uh, Verity at the moment, Verity, um, by Colleen Hoover. It's the one that got me back into reading. 

Andrea: With your Kindle? 

Saraya: Uh, I read that one, paper, I like paperback, but I prefer Kindle now because it's just so much more convenient.

Andrea: And what's it about in three words? 

Saraya: It's fucked up I can't 

Andrea: is that the one about the crazy lady

Saraya: that lives in the house? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's all I'm gonna say but

Andrea: it's like a sort of like a Stephen King ish type of thing obviously written in a, you need to read Stephen King stuff 

Saraya: Okay, but since that book it's what got me back into reading. So I have read Ten. 

Andrea: It's very light. It's very easy to read. You can just you just flick through the pages. 

Saraya: I've just read Yeah, I've just read ten more of her books. 

Andrea: Favorite movie. 

Saraya: Oh Nobody's I've got two um, so miracle on 34th street, it's a Christmas movie. Um, I'm a big Christmas person, huge. Like I go all out. I love Christmas. Um, Um, and there's a great quote in that, that I will find and share with you, but, um, that's my favorite. And then nobody would ever hear this movie, but, um, it's called August rush and I don't know what or why I have it on DVD cause I refused. I got rid of all my DVDs, but I kept that one again.

Andrea: We'll put it in the show notes, 

Saraya: um, and then, sorry, another one. I'm a big fan of Top Gun. So, maybe three. 

Andrea: First one or second one? 

Saraya: First one. Second one's pretty good for a sequel, but first one, I'm a Top Gun girl. 

Andrea: Um, favourite song? 

Saraya: Oh, fuck, you can't pick a favourite song. 

Andrea: Yes, you can. 

Saraya: No, you cannot pick a favourite song. There's so many. 

Andrea: Oh, there's one that 

Saraya: Hotel California. Yeah. Yeah. . Um, no, I'm a big, uh, 

Andrea: country music girl. 

Saraya: I am a big country music girl now. 

Andrea: And you're a Swifty. 

Saraya: Of course. I'm, she's a fucking genius. I don't care who nobody's, everyone's a swifty. Um, but I'm also a big, like sixties, seventies, and eighties. Like, I love, I love old school music. 

Andrea: That's when the good music was, 

Saraya: I'm a mad, um, Cat Stevens fan. 

Andrea: Me too. 

Saraya: Although that's not his name anymore. Um, 

Andrea: Yusuf. 

Saraya: Um, one of my favorite songs, it's called operator. Um, it's a it's a great, great song. I I can't pronounce his last name, but it's Jim crush crush 

Andrea: favorite holiday destination.

Saraya: I mean, well, I go to Bali every year, so Bali at the moment, but my favorite holiday destination. Yeah, I know I can, but I haven't traveled much. You know, 

Andrea: Favourite type of holidays, beach, I suppose for you, right? 

Saraya: I'm not going to lie. And I spoke to Sophia about this the other day. My favorite holiday would be me going away by myself with a book and not seeing anybody or talking and I don't care anywhere near the beach.

Andrea: Okay. 

Saraya: Anywhere near the beach. 

Andrea: Favorite food. 

Saraya: Shit. Pasta? Maybe? Pasta? 

Andrea: Creamy pasta or non creamy pasta? Or my, or my. 

Saraya: You make good pasta. You make a good Carbonara 

Andrea: Yeah. With cream or without cream? 

Saraya: No, it's with egg. I'm no amateur here now. I know the rules. Um, but also I'm a big cheese girl. 

Andrea: And what's the meat that goes in it? Do you remember? Uh It's not pancetta. 

Saraya: It's not pancetta. I don't know the neck. 

Andrea: That's right. It's guanciale. The cheek, not the neck, the cheek. Guanciale. 

Saraya: You send me to every deli to get pancetta and now you've changed it. 

Andrea: Well, guanciale is the main thing, but you do it with pancetta. If you don't like pancetta, you do it with bacon, which is crappy, but anyway.

Saraya: But I'm also a very big, like, savory person. I love cheese and crackers. 

Andrea: Best drink? Drink? Alcoholic drink? 

Saraya: Oh, um, I don't know. I'm a vodka person, but also, yeah, I'm a vodka person. 

Andrea: And that's about it. 

Saraya: All right. Go for you. I don't know the questions. What were the questions? Uh, okay. Favorite song. 

Andrea: I think favorite song probably Hotel California. Look, I've got a very eclectic music taste. Taste, if you look at my Spotify, you'll just find the weird stuff. Like at the moment I'm into French cafe music type of stuff. So like, oh, that's so catchy. So nice. I like French, I love French music. But. Then I go to the gym and I got my gym motivation list, which is all the boom, boom, boom, boom.

Saraya: I can't deal, I can't deal. 

Andrea: Oh my God. I love it 

Saraya: Too much doof. 

Andrea: I go home, I go home and I keep it going. I switch it from my headphones. 

Saraya: I know I've called you on teams once and you're like, can to turn it all down? Yeah. 

Andrea: Boom, boom. Love it. But then, yes, I love melodic music. I love, um, I like, like, like Cat Stevens. I agree. I like, um. U2, I like, you know, the 1970s and 80s music. Um, I like all sorts of music. I like Italian. Sometimes I feel nostalgic and I put Italian playlists. Modern. Oh, my 

Saraya: favourite movie. 

Andrea: Favorite movie, again, I'm not a movie person. I'm not a, 

Saraya: can you sit still long enough to watch a movie? 

Andrea: No, I can't. I'm more into short films. Um, so not a great movie watcher, but, um, and I can watch anything. I do like sci fi, but, um, 

Saraya: nah. 

Andrea: Well, I do. It's about me. 

Saraya: No . 

Andrea: Um, but the movie that I've watched the most times in my life, and I'll keep watching it over and over and over and over is Love Actually. I know that.

Saraya: Oh my God. That is the best movie. 

Andrea: I know, I know. It feels like a, you know, a softy sort of, uh, crazy thing for 

Saraya: why love actually, man. Nice. 

Andrea: I just love it. I think it's an incredible cast, incredible conversation, dialogues, and, um. 

Saraya: I love that. 

Andrea: The, the, the, the just, the music's great. Um. 

Saraya: Favorite holiday. 

Andrea: I just love it. Favorite favourite holiday? I think, I think it's mountains. 

Saraya: Wow. 

Andrea: Even though I haven't been too many times as a holiday. 

Saraya: Mountains. 

Andrea: I love the mountains. Just, just hiking, mountains, fresh air, away from sand that gets into your cracks everywhere. 

Saraya: Oh, sand is the best. There's nothing better than going for a cold plunge in the ocean.

Andrea: Well, you get cold in the mountains. 

Saraya: Yeah, but it's the ocean. 

Andrea: So. I do like my, I mean, I like the beach as well, but I, I do, I do like mountains. I think, uh, I also like traveling like cultural type of travel, you know, like museums and sightseeing and all this sort of thing. I like, I love flying. I really love flying. I know you hate flying.

Saraya: I don't hate flying. I don't, I don't hate, flying 

Andrea: that's why you jump off the planes. 

Saraya: I don't hate flying. I just, I get really. Nervous in turbulence. Like I can't stand it. So I had a really bad flight to my friend got married on the Sunshine Coast. Um, and I flew up with my friend. Um, but you know, we had the worst flight ever. Like I'm talking, like, I didn't think I was going to land 

Andrea: You know I wanted to be a pilot. I actually did a selection. 

Saraya: you go and do lessons. Do you have time? 

Andrea: I did a selection thing. Yeah. Add it, to the list. Um, at selection for Alitalia, um, years and years and years ago, and I got through a number of stages and then I think I failed when they did the mental health psychologist, um, test. I did all the IQ things and you know, blah, blah, blah. And then they put me through a conversation with a psychologist and 

Saraya: You didn't go from there. 

Andrea: They wrote a letter saying, sorry. 

Saraya: Really? Brutal. 

Andrea: Yeah, which is probably a good thing because I would have hated it. 

Saraya: I always wanted to get my helicopter license. I think I could. 

Andrea: That scares me a little. 

Saraya: No, it'd be brilliant. I mean, not great scared of heights, but I've always 

Andrea: Are you done with the questions? 

Saraya: Hobby. 

Andrea: Hobby? I didn't ask you about hobby. 

Saraya: Yeah, I'm just 

Andrea: I do woodwork. Uh, I mean I do lots of running, long distance running as people have heard before, but um, I do woodwork with a knife, with a dremel, with um, All sorts of tools, I've got my own workshop at home, I've done toys, tables, we've done a table together.

Saraya: Yeah, we've done a table, that's good. I love restoring furniture, but yeah, your table's beautiful. 

Andrea: With live edges and all that sort of stuff, and I love, I've done lots of stuff, lots of benches, I've done transformer benches type of things that sort of fold up and sort of, I really enjoy doing that. 

Saraya: I don't really have any hobbies anymore.

Andrea: I like the creative side of things. Do monsters and toys, and I've done a chess board. So so yeah, I love, uh, that's a very meditative type of hobby for me. Yeah. So that's it. 

Saraya: I need to get back into my hobbies. Like I love restoring furniture, but I have a small house, so I can't restore much more. But yeah, I definitely need to get back into hobbies. You gotta find the time. 

Andrea: Okay. 

Saraya: Is that the end of the questions? I don't really have anything else. 

Andrea: You said hobby, you said hobby. Uh, music, you said movie, you said holiday. 

Saraya: I don't know. You're the one that gave rapid high question. 

Andrea: You didn't ask me about food. 

Saraya: I know your favorite food. 

Andrea: What is it? 

Saraya: Pasta.

Andrea: Yeah. I think. Yeah. Savory stuff. 

Saraya: And drink. 

Andrea: You know, but the listeners might not know. So yeah. Antipasto type of stuff. Like, you know, entrees type of stuff. And, um, and pasta. Yeah, sweets, really, I could do without. Meat, I eat, but I could almost do without. I need the, the, the nice lean savoury person, yeah.

Saraya: Savoury, savoury. Um. But I do love a cheesecake, don't. 

Andrea: Yeah, cheesecake's good. Um, and that's it. And drink, red wine. 

Saraya: Negroni, isn't that your thing? 

Andrea: Yeah. No, I drink it. But again, I'm, I'm very eclectic. I don't know a lot about cocktails and stuff. 

Saraya: I don't like cocktails 

Andrea: Gin and tonic. I don't mind the gin and tonic. I don't mind the cold beer when it's really hot. Um, red wine, white wine. Um, Amaro. I like an Amaro after dinner. Uh, whiskey. Pretty pretty much anything really. 

Saraya: So you're just an alcoholic, just drink, drink, drink. 

Andrea: No, it's about quantity and moderation. I just, uh, yeah, I just, I like to try different things and, um. 

Saraya: I've decided after this week, I don't think I like champagne anymore. 

Andrea: Yeah, that's about it. I think we've got 10 seconds left on our timer, so we can finish here. It was a great time. to record the, we had a great time recording the podcast. We've had a great response. We almost up to about a hundred, a hundred downloads. 

Saraya: Are we going to keep it going? Do you think? 

Andrea: I want to. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's good fun. I've now become quite efficient at doing the editing. 

Saraya: I know last week you edited one in like 

Andrea: a couple of hours. It was really good. I really enjoy, in fact, I look forward to recording new content so that I can do the editing. I just, it's, it's, 

Saraya: it's becoming your new hobby then 

Andrea: it's a good fun thing to do. And then I do all the short bits for the social media and stuff. So, um, I just hope that we're giving something to people. I mean, I suppose this episode was more about getting to know us. We didn't really offer, we didn't really offer lots of takeaways. What are the takeaways? are the takeaways like, look after yourself. Your mental health, your physical health, leadership is hard. 

Saraya: I think, look, I get a lot of comments, um, all the time from families or, you know, and, and, you know, like I even had a message from a family member today that said, how are you and are you looking after yourself? And I think, um, 

Andrea: I never get that.

Saraya: I do it all the time. I message you all the time to say you should be looking after yourself. But I think, um, Yeah, I think the takeaway is you need to be vulnerable. I think leadership is really hard and I think, you know, you and I don't pretend that we're perfect. 

Andrea: It's about reminding yourself of it and, and it's, it's, it's really hard to do that. Um, but yeah, appreciation is, is, um. 

Saraya: My love language is appreciation. Um, I like to be appreciated. I like to know that I've done. a good job, like, I know a lot of people have different love languages. Like people have like touch or personal affection. I am not an affectionate person, but I absolutely love just appreciation or a thank you.

Andrea: And what do I do that you hate? In terms of appreciating you, this is a lesson for me, which I still haven't learned. I've done it to my kids. I do it all the time and I do it to myself. 

Saraya: What, 

Andrea: what do I do that you hate when I appreciate you and I thank you and I recognize you 

Saraya: You are very good. 

Andrea: But what do I do? I do,

Saraya: you always tell me how to improve it. 

Andrea: There's always a but. 

Saraya: There's always a but. You always do the but. You are very self assured. That's right. 

Andrea: You did great. 

Saraya: You did so amazing. 

Andrea: That was really good. But maybe you could have done like this. You know, you could also do it better. You could do. 

Saraya: You're aware of it.

Andrea: So bad. 

Saraya: You're aware of it and you can't always be perfect. 

Andrea: But, so, imagine living with myself. Imagine the the fact that I live with myself and I always have that about myself. How miserable. I feel because I never appreciate enough what I do. So I move on. Well done. Boom. Get to the next one. 

Saraya: Yeah. I think we need to look at the wins.

Andrea: It's, it's, um, it's a really tough thing. 

Saraya: It is. You are really good at appreciating people. 

Andrea: I think I do, but again, I just, this right away, move on to something else. And then 

Saraya: you always want continuous improvement. That's not a bad thing. 

Andrea: I know. 

Saraya: That's not a bad thing. Continuous improvement helps you get where you are.

Andrea: I know, but I went from perfectionism in my early ages to the ready fire aim type of approach to the, you know, like good enough is good enough, um, type of approach, which I love. Now I need to move on from that continuous. I think continuous improvement is great. But you need to balance it with appreciating the achievements and celebrating the achievements. And I haven't cracked that yet. 

Saraya: We both haven't. I think we need to celebrate our achievements a lot more. 

Andrea: Well, you need to start achieving a lot more. 

Saraya: Oh, you know what people are going to listen to this episode and think I don't perform in my job. That is not the case. 

Andrea: You do amazing. 

Saraya: He just likes to put shit on me.

Andrea: You do amazing. 

Saraya: Thank you. See appreciation without a but. Um, you are also, 

Andrea: but let's wrap it up

Saraya: but I do want to, I do want it. Cause we spoke a lot about leadership. I think, um, I don't say this enough, but I appreciate you as a leader. I shut up. See, this is why I don't say it enough because you make me feel terrible, but you are a great leader. Um, you have taught me and mentored me, um, and I've done a few appreciation posts and I've told you this, but you do, you really do mentor people. You want the best in people and you are the right person to lead this organization. Yeah and you are a great leader. 

Andrea: I appreciate it. I really appreciate it. And I haven't been told that enough in my life. And that's what's been really frustrating. 

Saraya: It's lonely at the top.

Andrea: Yeah. And, and when you got people around you that are not, and I'm not talking about this organization at all, but. The live music is starting. I'm testing the mics. I'm testing the mics. It's time to wrap it up. In the conservatory, so you might hear some noise, but when you've got leaders around you and colleagues around you that don't appreciate you.

Saraya: Oh, you feel like shit, I've had a few. 

Andrea: It's uh, it's really bad. Yeah. It's really, really bad. So thankfully in this organization, there's an amazing leadership, an amazing board. 

Saraya: Yeah, I agree. 

Andrea: Experienced, skilled, empathetic, thoughtful, leave you enough room to, you know, leave you enough rope to do your own things and, um, so yeah, extremely appreciative. Um, but, you know, everyone can always do better. 

Saraya: I've been bullied quite significantly from a leader and it really Fs you up. It really does. 

Andrea: Well, let me know if I start bullying you. 

Saraya: You bully me every day, what are you talking about? You make fun of me every day. Surely that's bullying. 

Andrea: Yes. 

Saraya: Yeah. Okay. 

Andrea: Yes.

Saraya: Maybe up it. No, I'm just kidding. 

Andrea: All right. Well. 

Saraya: Cheers. I finished. I'm a faster drinker than you are. 

Andrea: Thank you. It's been a pleasure. 

Saraya: Maybe the next one where we talk about or reflect that we shouldn't be so depressed. depressed 

Andrea: No, I don't think this was depressive. This was reflective. Um, so. You know, like, uh, again, I think even if no one takes anything away from this, maybe we've taken stuff away from it. Um. 

Saraya: I think, yeah. We We take something away from everything. 

Andrea: Yeah, you know, cause we don't stop and talk about the achievements. We don't talk about, let's talk about the learnings, the problems, the challenges and stuff. So, so so yeah, I really enjoyed it. Um, 

Saraya: maybe this is just therapy and I'll never go live. 

Andrea: Yes. So thank you, Saraya

Saraya: Thank you. And this was fun. 

Andrea: Thank you, Saraya

Saraya: You're going to make a cut. Thank you, Andrea. 

Andrea: Thank you to you to our listeners. Please keep listening, keep following, keep subscribing, keep liking, keep reviewing, send us messages, send us suggestions, spread the message. 

Saraya: And if you want to be on the podcast, also reach out.

Andrea: Let us know. Yes, yes. We'll slot you in. Absolutely. And, um, let's keep making room for all. 

Saraya: And keep fighting for inclusion.