Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About, the Stella Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Lamarquin, your host, and every week I sit
Speaker 1: down with some of the biggest names in the country,
Speaker 1: because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come
Speaker 1: to Something to Talk About. Shana Blaze is a very
Speaker 1: busy woman. She's one of the country's best known interior
Speaker 1: design experts, a television personality who's been a judge on
Speaker 1: the Block for twelve years, and a regular homes columnist
Speaker 1: for Stella. But last year she surprised everyone when she
Speaker 1: appeared on the Mass Singer. Turns out, the woman who
Speaker 1: once moonlighted as a jazz singer had quite the hidden talent,
Speaker 1: and now she's ready to pursue it even further with
Speaker 1: an upcoming ep of new songs and a series of
Speaker 1: cabaret shows in the works. The thing about Shana is
Speaker 1: she doesn't like being put in a box, and she
Speaker 1: certainly doesn't like being labeled.
Speaker 2: When I will get men and women that will say
Speaker 2: to me, act your age, wear the clothes for your age.
Speaker 2: You're too old to wear that, and I go, well,
Speaker 2: I know I'm not. But at the same time, only
Speaker 2: I have the right to say how I act and
Speaker 2: what I wear, so what you say around me has
Speaker 2: no power to me. On today's episode is Something to
Speaker 2: Talk About, Shana reveals why she keeps reinventing herself, how
Speaker 2: landing her job at the Block was one of the
Speaker 2: most bizarre moments of her life, her return to music,
Speaker 2: and why she refuses to act her age. Before we begin,
Speaker 2: heads up that this conversation briefly touches upon the subject
Speaker 2: of domestic violence. If you're someone you know needs help,
Speaker 2: you can find a number to call in our show notes.
Speaker 2: Shana Blaze, Welcome to the Something to Talk About studio.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Oh boy, do we have a lot to
Speaker 3: talk about?
Speaker 1: We do?
Speaker 3: You do have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk a little bit, Shane, about the
Speaker 1: most recent incarnation of your very well celebrated career, which
Speaker 1: is music. You released your single Warrior in May of
Speaker 1: this year. I'm sure that the apt nature of the
Speaker 1: title of that song will be something that pops up
Speaker 1: throughout the course of our conversation. And you're also going
Speaker 1: to be doing a couple of live shows in Melbourne
Speaker 1: next month. Let me begin by asking what's a response
Speaker 1: to the fact that you have an ep on the
Speaker 1: way you were on the Mass Singer last year, so
Speaker 1: of course that was the first big reveal where everyone
Speaker 1: was like.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, you SHANEA.
Speaker 1: Blaze could sing a year on. What's the reaction now
Speaker 1: from the public.
Speaker 3: It's actually really kind.
Speaker 2: I think that's the thing, you know, when you're in
Speaker 2: the public eye, and I felt like for me Mark
Speaker 2: Singer was the best way to introduce it because otherwise
Speaker 2: they see you and they judge you before you even
Speaker 2: do anything, and so the fact that I was on
Speaker 2: Mass Singer, they wouldn't have a clue who it was,
Speaker 2: so then they could just hear me for me, which
Speaker 2: I was really happy about. And the reception has been
Speaker 2: the same since, in the fact of like, oh you
Speaker 2: actually can sing, and please sing more. So people have
Speaker 2: been really excited to hear more. And I could not
Speaker 2: ask for anything better because I think that's the thing,
Speaker 2: you know, when you love something so much, you want
Speaker 2: to one do it, you want to share it, and
Speaker 2: you just.
Speaker 3: Hope people are receptive.
Speaker 2: So I've got to say I wouldn't have gone this
Speaker 2: far if I didn't feel like that it was something
Speaker 2: that was going to make other people happy, just not.
Speaker 1: Me, And I hadn't really thought about that at such
Speaker 1: a good point that coming into it with total anonymity
Speaker 1: on the mask singer, let people judge you as a
Speaker 1: singer and a performer on your merits. Of course, when
Speaker 1: you're doing your two shows in November, I'm guessing, Shana,
Speaker 1: there won't be any crazy mass singer costume. It will
Speaker 1: be you, Shana Blaze. How are you feeling about that?
Speaker 3: Look?
Speaker 2: I have to say I have done a whole show
Speaker 2: for such a long time. Like earlier in the year,
Speaker 2: I did a launch party for friends and media which
Speaker 2: was five songs, and that's the most I'd done in
Speaker 2: one go on stage for a long time. Whereas this is,
Speaker 2: you know, over an hour. It's a cabaret show that
Speaker 2: I have co written with a fellow theater person called
Speaker 2: Martin Cruz, and I've written half the song, co written
Speaker 2: half the songs with Gary Pinto, who I wrote Warry with,
Speaker 2: and then we're doing our own version of other songs
Speaker 2: or within a storyline. So it's just not a few
Speaker 2: songs and telling a story. It's actually telling a story
Speaker 2: with songs.
Speaker 1: And what about the experience of getting into the recording
Speaker 1: studio to record Warrior, and the rest of the EP
Speaker 1: asked you a little bit around the nerves and the
Speaker 1: confrontational nature of performing a live show. How was it
Speaker 1: when you first got into the recording studio and it's like,
Speaker 1: this is this is real, this is getting recorded, and
Speaker 1: this is going out there for the audience.
Speaker 2: You're laid pretty raw because that was sort of during
Speaker 2: COVID time where all the musicians were overseas or they
Speaker 2: were in another studio and in another state, so it
Speaker 2: was all recorded separately, and then it was time to
Speaker 2: do the vocals in the studio and it's really just
Speaker 2: like you and I sitting here in the fact that
Speaker 2: the voice is deadened. You can't have any effects, and
Speaker 2: you sing the whole song. But then you literally sing
Speaker 2: line than word and sometimes a note. So there is
Speaker 2: one hundred percent focus on the tone of your voice,
Speaker 2: the strength of your voice, the timber, the fact of
Speaker 2: can you do this? And I hadn't pulled apart my
Speaker 2: voice so much ever in my whole entire life, so
Speaker 2: I felt that quite confronting, and it really did take
Speaker 2: a few days to really go, oh.
Speaker 3: They're not just pulling it apart, because I can't do it.
Speaker 3: They're pulling it apart because that's what you do.
Speaker 2: Because I've recorded before, but not to this end degree.
Speaker 2: So I think it was one of those things. By
Speaker 2: the end of like you know, a few days and
Speaker 2: a week, it was like, oh, I'm a musician again.
Speaker 2: And that's what it took. It was the fear, the excitement,
Speaker 2: the doubt all coming in right to that end part
Speaker 2: going not just I've got this, I'm a musician and
Speaker 2: gee that felt good.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you a little bit about the again
Speaker 1: in I'm a musician again, because a lot of people listening,
Speaker 1: most Australians would of course know you through your work
Speaker 1: as a television host, a presenter of course on the block,
Speaker 1: as one of the best known interior designers in the country.
Speaker 1: That's a certain profile, a certain attachment that people have
Speaker 1: to you. Obviously, again implies that there's a backstory. You
Speaker 1: didn't just decided a couple of years ago. Hey, I
Speaker 1: think I'm going to start dabbling in music to talk
Speaker 1: us through a little bit about your journey with music
Speaker 1: before you became SHANEA. Blaze, the person we know today.
Speaker 2: I think the thing is that music and design was
Speaker 2: never separate because when I was young and growing up,
Speaker 2: you know, there was always musical theater tapes in the background.
Speaker 2: There was those big real to reels like you know,
Speaker 2: you think of Her Jesus Christ Superstar. All those sorts
Speaker 2: of plays, musical theater were on in the background. My
Speaker 2: mum was, you know, in love with Shirley Bassie. There
Speaker 2: was always Shirley Bassi. There was Tom Jones. There was
Speaker 2: all that sort of fun sort of entertainment in the background.
Speaker 2: And my dad was very hands on with craft and
Speaker 2: very hands on with tools and making, so there was
Speaker 2: always like music playing while you're designing, while you're creating things,
Speaker 2: or you create something and then play music. So to me,
Speaker 2: it was always intertwined. And I was doing design school
Speaker 2: and then I was singing, and so then.
Speaker 3: I got too heavy in.
Speaker 2: Design and I had to give up music, which was
Speaker 2: fantastic in the fact that I had a design career,
Speaker 2: and then put that to the side for a little bit.
Speaker 2: And then I started having babies and then stopped working
Speaker 2: for a while, and because I was flying around the
Speaker 2: country with my job and it was just too hard
Speaker 2: with two little babies, and there just isn't the support
Speaker 2: of a working Mum's what there is today, whether you're
Speaker 2: a single mum or a married mum. You know, krash
Speaker 2: was there, but you were expected to be the person
Speaker 2: to pick them up, drop them off. You were the
Speaker 2: full time care You did everything. It literally was you
Speaker 2: can have a career and you can have children, but
Speaker 2: don't talk about it, and don't tell us how hard
Speaker 2: it is, and don't show it.
Speaker 3: So you had to put on your shoulder pads, because.
Speaker 2: I was saying that late eighties, early nineties, put on
Speaker 2: your shoulder pads, put on your smile, and be the
Speaker 2: power woman that we all wanted to be. But if
Speaker 2: you show slight cracks, you're not a good You're not
Speaker 2: a good working mum. So the cracks were starting to
Speaker 2: show with me that it was just too hard to
Speaker 2: do it all myself.
Speaker 3: So I stopped.
Speaker 2: That want to be with my kids, still in a
Speaker 2: marriage one to be with my kids. But at the
Speaker 2: same time it was a case I just couldn't fly
Speaker 2: around the country, have this really great job and be
Speaker 2: there for them, which I really wanted to. So it
Speaker 2: was a real push and pull, and after about a
Speaker 2: year of stopping doing that.
Speaker 3: I was bored.
Speaker 2: I was really bored, really bored, and I went, oh,
Speaker 2: look I've just I want to dabble and get back
Speaker 2: into music. So I started doing that more as a
Speaker 2: free time thing. A few gigs, and then it just
Speaker 2: picked up from there. And then my marriage broke up
Speaker 2: and I was already singing in pubs at that stage,
Speaker 2: and then it just went on from there. It was
Speaker 2: easier to just keep that going because the kids were little.
Speaker 2: I'd read them a story, sing them a lullaby, pop
Speaker 2: them to bed. Mum and Dad would come over get
Speaker 2: home about one in the morning. They'd wake up five
Speaker 2: o'clock and lose my voice every week for months, you know,
Speaker 2: seeing tell them stories like this because you had to
Speaker 2: go and speak. So look at was a fun time.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a lot of money. It was great. I
Speaker 2: absolutely loved it. I played in so many different bands,
Speaker 2: from covers to corporate to funk to acid jazz to indie,
Speaker 2: and you know, I think one of the great things
Speaker 2: is the friendships I still do have from those times,
Speaker 2: which is pretty incredible. And they get such a blast
Speaker 2: thinking that, you know, they were there when Carlie and Jess,
Speaker 2: my kids were you know, anywhere from two from one
Speaker 2: of the friendships I have and now my kids have kids,
Speaker 2: so you know, it's really nice having those long term
Speaker 2: friendships that you've had music with. And you know a
Speaker 2: few of them were actually at that launch this year
Speaker 2: and they're sitting there going, wow, we saw you thirty
Speaker 2: years ago doing this and it's just it's quite bizarre.
Speaker 2: But you know, you get to a stage where you know,
Speaker 2: that was sort of once my daughter started going to
Speaker 2: high school and so they've hit that teenage time and
Speaker 2: you go, oh, I need to be around at nighttime.
Speaker 3: M because you know, you need to be there for the.
Speaker 2: Yes and go to bed y as you know, you
Speaker 2: don't have control anymore exactly. So it wasn't a case
Speaker 2: of like I had to give up music. It was
Speaker 2: a decision about, Okay, what's going to be best for
Speaker 2: my family and myself. And that's when I got back
Speaker 2: into working sort of during the day. Couldn't find my
Speaker 2: way in design because I became a dinosaur. So you know,
Speaker 2: I used to design showrooms all around Australia's design products.
Speaker 2: You used to work in corporate and by the time
Speaker 2: i'd been out of design for maybe five years, CAD
Speaker 2: was the big thing so you had to be this
Speaker 2: incredible skilled person at CAD and I missed that boat,
Speaker 2: so I had to re educate myself on that, and
Speaker 2: then I started painting, and so I went in a
Speaker 2: really slow way. I went back to painting and drawing
Speaker 2: and doing commission artwork, which eventually got me into homes
Speaker 2: and then back into design, and then sort of slowly
Speaker 2: went through that. And by the time I'd had my
Speaker 2: own business and taken it out of the home into
Speaker 2: a warehouse, that's sort of when TV started happening. So
Speaker 2: it was a real high low high low. But they
Speaker 2: all intertwined, yeah, when they needed to.
Speaker 1: When they needed to. There's so many fascinating intertwined.
Speaker 3: And trends of that story.
Speaker 1: To unpack, so many, from the shoulder pads through to
Speaker 1: the you know, calling yourself a dinosaur, for instance, after
Speaker 1: five years away. I think a lot of people listening
Speaker 1: that working particularly fast moving industries, feel that way, especially
Speaker 1: with technology changing a bit, where like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: I was out for a few years and I can
Speaker 1: never get back in. I'd love to talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about that, Shane, because I think that's so interesting
Speaker 1: and inspiring, but also one of these intertwining threads about
Speaker 1: reinvention and maybe having a moment where you think, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, what now, or that's a bit daunting, but
Speaker 1: clearly you've always found something in you to go back
Speaker 1: or discover a new skill, pick up something that you
Speaker 1: thought was buried. Would you say reinvention is a big
Speaker 1: part of your story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2: It's something I really embraced because one I lead, This
Speaker 2: is why I love design.
Speaker 3: I lead with curiosity.
Speaker 2: It's a case of if you can't find something immediately,
Speaker 2: then you go down the rabbit hole to find out
Speaker 2: where you need to go, and if there's a barrier there,
Speaker 2: you need curiosity to go left, right, above or below,
Speaker 2: because most of the time, in any sort of career
Speaker 2: or decision or trying to find a design, there's always
Speaker 2: a block.
Speaker 3: Well how do you get around it? What do you do?
Speaker 2: And I think that's the thing with not just a
Speaker 2: major career decision of feeling like a dinosaur, it's more
Speaker 2: of a case of like really finding moments in your
Speaker 2: life where people are telling you you can't do that,
Speaker 2: or you shouldn't do that, or you can only do
Speaker 2: or be one thing. And I always thought about those
Speaker 2: moments in my life where it wasn't a case of well,
Speaker 2: damn you, I'm going to do it anyway. If you
Speaker 2: say I can't do it, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2: It was more like in my mind, you know, I
Speaker 2: never sort of stood up and went I'm going to
Speaker 2: do that, because I actually, you know, would feel sick
Speaker 2: and embarrassed thinking, oh am I thinking too much for myself.
Speaker 3: Can I do it? Can't I do it?
Speaker 2: But it's like I always had, well why can't I,
Speaker 2: Why can't.
Speaker 3: I do that?
Speaker 2: And I do. I feel a little bit of that
Speaker 2: comes from my dad in the fact that he wasn't
Speaker 2: your typical male Like my dad knitted, my dad did
Speaker 2: stained glass, my dad made Massapan flowers for bridal cakes.
Speaker 2: So there was no gender issue in our house because
Speaker 2: craft was craft, and so on top of that, like
Speaker 2: I had drills in my hand, you know, when I
Speaker 2: was fourteen fifteen, I was drilling things in working for
Speaker 2: my dad, changing taps because I was interested and it
Speaker 2: was never an issue of you know, your brother should
Speaker 2: do that, or it was just what I was interested in.
Speaker 2: So I think it definitely comes from that. So reinvention,
Speaker 2: I feel like, is something we talk about now, but
Speaker 2: back then it was I look at it as a
Speaker 2: life of curiosity that if something isn't working at the time,
Speaker 2: it's not about trying to just go I've got to
Speaker 2: fix that. It's about going, well, how can I do
Speaker 2: it differently? What can I do? And a career is
Speaker 2: something that I feel I will have till I'm one
Speaker 2: hundred and ten because I get bored too easily. But
Speaker 2: I get too excited about changing and learning and growing.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think the skill sets that you
Speaker 2: have when you're a teenager will always come back in
Speaker 2: some way as an adult. And that's what I love
Speaker 2: about the intertwining of my career and the fact of painting, drawing, singing,
Speaker 2: running bands as a businesswoman, running design as a businesswoman,
Speaker 2: is that the skills that you have in one part
Speaker 2: of your life will transfer to another. And I've heard
Speaker 2: quite a few people these days, interestinglyly enough, especially with
Speaker 2: technology in AI's just like my skills aren't transferable anymore
Speaker 2: because it's going to a whole different navigation. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: well they can. We just haven't thought of a new
Speaker 2: way of transferable. It always used to be, well, you know,
Speaker 2: you could do transferable skills on a document. Okay, well,
Speaker 2: you know you run a business here, what are the
Speaker 2: threads in that business to run for another business? And
Speaker 2: we're doing things differently now, So I sort of feel
Speaker 2: like those transferable skills have to be looked at in
Speaker 2: a different way as an emotion as a person, because
Speaker 2: I feel like I've really gone on a whole different tangent.
Speaker 2: But I feel like we've taken the person out of
Speaker 2: the job and the person out of reinvention. It's not
Speaker 2: just about the skills of what you've got on hand.
Speaker 1: And also, at this point in our culture, know that
Speaker 1: people will stay in the workforce for a lot longer.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have said treasurism, said you're all going
Speaker 1: to keep working well in the seventies, those days of
Speaker 1: you know, the golden handshake, you know, and had sixty
Speaker 1: long gone. But also that people are going to undergo
Speaker 1: different career shifts in the course of their career. And
Speaker 1: again that's been a change that has probably crept in
Speaker 1: over the last generation or two. So those two things,
Speaker 1: intersecting the fact that the average person will try their
Speaker 1: hand at quite a few different things, will often as
Speaker 1: we've talked about won't have any say in the matter
Speaker 1: because their job will be completely outsourced and they have
Speaker 1: to look at transferable skills.
Speaker 3: And also, if.
Speaker 1: We're going to be working until our seventies, most of
Speaker 1: us are going to want to try a few different things.
Speaker 1: I love when you said, Shana, how you've always pushed back,
Speaker 1: consciously or otherwise about the notion of being told you
Speaker 1: could be one thing, and for you it never felt well,
Speaker 1: why do I have to choose? Why do I have
Speaker 1: to choose between music and craft, between designing and between performing.
Speaker 3: I think this.
Speaker 1: Happens a lot even as people. We tell people you're
Speaker 1: dominated by the left brain or the right brain, You're this,
Speaker 1: you're that. I'd love to hear a little bit of
Speaker 1: what your advice might be or your own experience about
Speaker 1: how all of us can push back against this notion
Speaker 1: that we're one thing.
Speaker 2: I think the start is how society puts labels on
Speaker 2: us because it's safety. You are the boss, you are
Speaker 2: the worker, You are an ares, you are a LEO,
Speaker 2: you are a gen X, you are a millennial. We
Speaker 2: put people in boxes because it makes us feel comfortable
Speaker 2: about how we look at those people. But by doing that,
Speaker 2: by putting, and I call them boxes, not just labels.
Speaker 2: We have a box and we put a label on it.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, that person feels like they can't
Speaker 2: move beyond that boundary because that's how everyone looks at them.
Speaker 3: And I've had many moments in my life.
Speaker 2: Where i feel like I'm screaming because I've been put
Speaker 2: in a box and it's very hard to break out
Speaker 2: of that because the more you try and break out
Speaker 2: of the box, the reaction is actually tenfold. So I
Speaker 2: think the thing is that for me, the advice for
Speaker 2: people of wanting to change, to reinvent, to break out
Speaker 2: of the mold that they have put on themselves, or
Speaker 2: society is put on themselves, or that's actually worked to together,
Speaker 2: is that, really it comes down to you. You've got
Speaker 2: to make that step. You can't blame society, you can't
Speaker 2: blame everyone around you. All you can do is trust
Speaker 2: yourself to know that that is not who I am.
Speaker 2: So what comes down to it is that it's up
Speaker 2: to you to find out who you are. And that's
Speaker 2: soul searching, and not enough people want to do that.
Speaker 2: And I've done a hurl of a lot of soul
Speaker 2: searching because I've come up against a lot of blocks
Speaker 2: and a lot of things. And until you do the
Speaker 2: deep work to work out who you are and where
Speaker 2: you want to be, you may not know the answer,
Speaker 2: but at least you've got an idea. When you have that,
Speaker 2: that's when you're able to not worry about what other
Speaker 2: labels get put on you, because it becomes your little
Speaker 2: force field in the fact of like not a problem.
Speaker 2: You say that's who I am. And it comes down
Speaker 2: to a lot of social media that you say that's
Speaker 2: who I am. I know I'm not that, so you
Speaker 2: can't you can't tell me that's who I need to be.
Speaker 2: And you know, one little tiny thing, and I'll put
Speaker 2: it in a simple way of social media when I
Speaker 2: will get men and women that will say to me,
Speaker 2: act your age, wear the clothes for your age, You're
Speaker 2: too old to wear that, And I go, well, I
Speaker 2: know i'm not because inside I'm thirty six.
Speaker 3: Hello.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, only I have the right
Speaker 2: to say how I act and what I wear, So
Speaker 2: what you say around me has no power to me.
Speaker 2: And so that's just a little simple way of advice
Speaker 2: of until you do the deep work of truly believing
Speaker 2: that that's me, that's not me going You can't tell
Speaker 2: me what to do because that becomes across his anger.
Speaker 2: But I'm so self assured that I know who I
Speaker 2: am for me, no one else has to believe it.
Speaker 2: That doesn't matter. I believe it and I know it,
Speaker 2: which empowers me to move forward.
Speaker 1: Of the labels that people put on me, is this
Speaker 1: something that has evolved with wisdom?
Speaker 3: For you?
Speaker 2: Oh the age thing? My kids will laugh about this one. No,
Speaker 2: I think I think it came down to in my twenties.
Speaker 2: You know, I had my kids when I was early twenties,
Speaker 2: and I wanted to be a career person, and I
Speaker 2: felt like I hadn't achieved what I wanted to by
Speaker 2: the time I hit thirty, So I felt like I
Speaker 2: hadn't done things. But you know, meanwhile, I've raised two
Speaker 2: incredible kids basically by myself, kept them alive, kept me alive,
Speaker 2: and you know, still worked on.
Speaker 3: A career, bringing up a music a career.
Speaker 2: But then once I crept into my thirties, I had
Speaker 2: the notion of where I wanted to be and who
Speaker 2: I wanted to be, and I just wasn't there. So
Speaker 2: by the time I hit my late thirties, I did
Speaker 2: my little midlife crisis, a bit of a spiral of like,
Speaker 2: you know, turning thirty ane and going.
Speaker 3: Well, is this it? Like I literally did is this it?
Speaker 2: And basically wasted a year of my life? And I
Speaker 2: went wow, I made myself. I made myself feel horrible.
Speaker 2: I woke up the morning of my fortieth and the
Speaker 2: birds were chirping and the sun was shining. It was
Speaker 2: a bit Disney, and I looked out the window. I went, ah,
Speaker 2: the bomb hasn't gone off. I've just wasted twelve months
Speaker 2: of my life. So how I felt? Then after a
Speaker 2: little while, I, you know, I felt like I was
Speaker 2: in my mid thirties.
Speaker 3: So why can't.
Speaker 2: I say I'm in my mid thirties because internally I
Speaker 2: feel that way. But then on top of that, and
Speaker 2: I think this is really poignant in the fact that
Speaker 2: between my forties and fifties I lost a couple of
Speaker 2: girlfriends to disease and then lost a couple of friends
Speaker 2: to some sad circumstances.
Speaker 3: And it makes you realize.
Speaker 2: The value of your body, the value of your family,
Speaker 2: the value of your friendships, the value of life itself,
Speaker 2: and the value of the great life that we have
Speaker 2: in front of us, because you get to make the
Speaker 2: choice whether you want to have a good day or
Speaker 2: a bad day, no matter what shit has been thrown
Speaker 2: at you. That I really decided in my early forties
Speaker 2: that a number is nothing. And so when people would
Speaker 2: say my number and whatever, I go, oh no, no, no,
Speaker 2: that's not my number. And so it is a little
Speaker 2: bit of denial, absolutely, But I don't feel that number.
Speaker 2: So why should I have to be that number. I
Speaker 2: have the spirit of a thirty year old. I have
Speaker 2: the energy of a thirty year old. So in my mind,
Speaker 2: that's who I am. And if people think that's denial,
Speaker 2: I have no issue with that. But I get so
Speaker 2: much out of life because I believe that I have
Speaker 2: the youth and the energy to do whatever I want.
Speaker 1: Coming up, how answering an ad in a newspaper changed
Speaker 1: Shana Blazer's life. Woke up that morning of your fortieth birthday,
Speaker 1: Disney birds chirping me. Did you sing a little Disney melody?
Speaker 3: By the way?
Speaker 1: Not quite No, maybe at the live show next month.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you then about your public career and
Speaker 1: why most Australians know your name is because of your
Speaker 1: television work, and that started in your forties. You're a
Speaker 1: co host on Selling Houses Australia back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight. What are your first memories of working in television?
Speaker 1: But I suppose specifically about the chapter that that was
Speaker 1: going to introduce you to in terms of bringing all
Speaker 1: of those different skills, your design skills, your performing skills,
Speaker 1: and bringing into this whole new genre of your career.
Speaker 2: It's quite funny in the fact that you know, answered
Speaker 2: and ad in a design newsletter, and I had done
Speaker 2: a professional writing course as well before that because I
Speaker 2: wanted to write books. And once I had that audition,
Speaker 2: and you know, Sonya Harding, who was our EP the
Speaker 2: whole time, the most amazing woman that gave me the chance,
Speaker 2: and she wanted me mainly because I was the performer.
Speaker 2: It wasn't about being a presenter. It was about the
Speaker 2: fact I wasn't nervous to just put myself out there
Speaker 2: and I had the design skills. So it was a
Speaker 2: case of me feeling like, oh, this is where it
Speaker 2: all comes together. Because we were writing our own lines,
Speaker 2: we were writing what the story was going to be.
Speaker 2: We were able to put together designs.
Speaker 3: I was able to perform while I.
Speaker 2: Was doing things, and they became little tutorials in the
Speaker 2: end of how it was done. So I taught interior
Speaker 2: design too, so it was like, oh, this is just
Speaker 2: like teach so I used to teach that at tape.
Speaker 2: So all these things came together and it was like
Speaker 2: it was a case like. As I said, when I
Speaker 2: stepped on that stage, you know, earlier in the year,
Speaker 2: I felt like, oh, I'm back. I felt like that's
Speaker 2: where I was always meant to be. And what I
Speaker 2: don't think people understand is that when you do selling houses,
Speaker 2: and even on the block, you're on a building site.
Speaker 2: The only time you ever get glammed up is for
Speaker 2: the promo shoot except the block.
Speaker 3: You know, I get dressed up, have the best time
Speaker 3: on that.
Speaker 2: But selling houses was a building site and that's the
Speaker 2: only way I ever saw it. And we would do
Speaker 2: a couple of Foxtel events a year and we would
Speaker 2: do a promo shoot. Other than that, it was eight
Speaker 2: months of a hard grind of the most amazing team
Speaker 2: and it was a family. And I have to say
Speaker 2: those first few years, I felt like I was exactly
Speaker 2: where I was meant to be. All the hardships of
Speaker 2: trying to work out who I am and what I
Speaker 2: was had come to this moment and I feel like
Speaker 2: I have been growing and celebrating and being.
Speaker 3: Grateful four ever since.
Speaker 1: And then the Block, of course, so he started there
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve. I mean, it's been one of the
Speaker 1: most iconic shows on Australian television. So that also catapults
Speaker 1: you to a whole other level of visibility and fame. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how has that experience been this past twelve years?
Speaker 2: I have to say that was weird to start with
Speaker 2: because the Block was something that we all knew and
Speaker 2: love and Scottie and you know, and it had come
Speaker 2: to Melbourne, it was in Richmond.
Speaker 3: It was like wow, And in my mind, I'm.
Speaker 2: Thinking, oh, maybe I could go on the Block, you
Speaker 2: know as a contestant. I'm like, why, Yes, that was
Speaker 2: just in the back of my mind. I haven't really
Speaker 2: said that much before, but that was sort of like, oh,
Speaker 2: maybe I could, but I thought, I'm selling houses, I can't.
Speaker 2: But I was in Alice Springs in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2: We just finished an episode of Alice Springs and we
Speaker 2: were just looking going for a hike a few of us,
Speaker 2: you know, before we get on the plane and my
Speaker 2: manager rang me in said, look, don't get excited. How
Speaker 2: would you feel if you were a judge on the Block?
Speaker 2: I mean in the middle of Red Earth in Alice Springs.
Speaker 3: Go h yeah.
Speaker 2: So I raced home on the Thursday. I had a
Speaker 2: meeting on the Monday morning. Didn't realize I'm walking up
Speaker 2: the stairs with the EP Julian Cress and the marketing
Speaker 2: you know, marketing manager Sarah, and it was Sarah Armstrong
Speaker 2: and we're chatting up the.
Speaker 3: Way, blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: And we get there and we sit on the desk
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, Oh my god, they're in
Speaker 2: the room with me. And then I realized it's them,
Speaker 2: and my manager walks in and they know each other.
Speaker 2: I'm standing going, I don't even know what's happening, but
Speaker 2: I'm having a meeting and I have to fly out
Speaker 2: tonight to our next another episode. And they proceeded to
Speaker 2: tell me how great it would be to have a
Speaker 2: female judge on the Block. And I'm sitting there going, oh,
Speaker 2: they're selling it to me. I'm not selling it to them.
Speaker 2: And it was this that's possibly one of the most
Speaker 2: bizarre moments in my TV career, the fact that they
Speaker 2: had come to tell me that they wanted me to
Speaker 2: be on the show, not for me to tell them
Speaker 2: and beg for one of these amazing opportunities. So two moments,
Speaker 2: you know, the one with Sonya Harding picking up the
Speaker 2: phone when I answered that ad, and then sitting at
Speaker 2: the table with Jules and Sarah, they were life changing
Speaker 2: moments to me. More than being on a set or
Speaker 2: being on a photoshoot, being at the logis those two
Speaker 2: moments where these people believed in me, and they believed
Speaker 2: in me.
Speaker 3: Because of the work that I did.
Speaker 2: They didn't believe in me because they saw something that
Speaker 2: could be molded. They wanted me because of me. And
Speaker 2: that goes right back to what I was saying to
Speaker 2: you at the beginning, that I was at that stage
Speaker 2: in my life where I believed in myself and I
Speaker 2: didn't need validation because I knew what I was doing
Speaker 2: made me happy and I was good at it, and
Speaker 2: I was good at it because I loved it. And
Speaker 2: I think that's the moment when you realize that they're
Speaker 2: the life changing moments that you can saw because you've
Speaker 2: got in there without any falsehoods of who you are
Speaker 2: and what you.
Speaker 1: Do, and even all those times where you would never
Speaker 1: have foreseen that all of these different skills you're developing
Speaker 1: that one day they're going to lead to these certain
Speaker 1: moments where you're like, Wow, I've got this really unique set.
Speaker 1: Did you ever tell them that you had even considered
Speaker 1: maybe applying to be a contestant on the show?
Speaker 3: I think I've showed them this podcast because I've never
Speaker 3: shared that.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you for opening up about that. Obviously everything
Speaker 1: worked out exactly how it was meant to be because you,
Speaker 1: as I say, have been a judge on the show,
Speaker 1: and it's hard to imagine the show without you. There's
Speaker 1: was talk early this year, late last year that you're leaving.
Speaker 1: You're not anything to anyone that's panicking that there's going
Speaker 1: to be the Block minus shanea Blaze in future.
Speaker 3: No, I love it. I just it is a family.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I'm so lucky with two shows of selling houses on
Speaker 2: the Block that we were a fan family the whole time.
Speaker 2: We supported each other through all the hardships of what
Speaker 2: you do on these shows. You know, they're not easy,
Speaker 2: and I absolutely love it. And each week I go
Speaker 2: in there, I go there with excitement, going, Wow, what
Speaker 2: is going to happen? Because we don't know what goes
Speaker 2: on during the week. We don't see anything. We don't
Speaker 2: know any of the dramasun till we see it on TV.
Speaker 2: And that's why I love it so much because I'm
Speaker 2: not caught up in any of that. I'm caught up
Speaker 2: in the rawness of these people that have created a
Speaker 2: miracle every week. They've thrown themselves in with no sleep,
Speaker 2: lack of budget, lack of ideas and producing something that
Speaker 2: is phenomenal. And you know, they don't just do it
Speaker 2: by themselves. They have an amazing build team, they have
Speaker 2: amazing sponsors, they have amazing producers. There's runners behind making
Speaker 2: toasties to make sure that they're eating. You know, there's
Speaker 2: all those things that are happening. So it's not just
Speaker 2: a machine. It's a beautiful family of you know, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to joy, but it's a family that brings
Speaker 2: something together that makes it so successful now because everybody
Speaker 2: in there really cares. And you know, anybody that's in
Speaker 2: being able to work on the block will be able
Speaker 2: to tell you.
Speaker 1: That you're also a homes columnist to Estella and have
Speaker 1: been for about four years now.
Speaker 3: Wanted to ask if people.
Speaker 1: Approaching you, is there something in particular that they want
Speaker 1: to ask about with your professional design hat on? Is
Speaker 1: it bathrooms, kitchens? I mean for me, I really always
Speaker 1: love when you write about storage solutions because I'm like, great,
Speaker 1: the amount of like storage hacks I've picked up from you.
Speaker 3: Over there, there's one of those just about to come up, brilliant,
Speaker 3: love it.
Speaker 1: Okay, watch this space.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: You know it used to be at the beginning, it
Speaker 2: used to be about color.
Speaker 3: You know, what color do I paint this? What's the
Speaker 3: right white? What's there?
Speaker 2: And I keep you know, I tell people it depends
Speaker 2: on the light. It depends what it's reflecting. It depends
Speaker 2: with that it's cool, whether it's got yellow. It's just
Speaker 2: picking the right paint color is hard. It's not easy.
Speaker 2: So I would say, if you don't know, get a
Speaker 2: color consultant, because I can't tell from your iPad because
Speaker 2: that's got a blue light underneath, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So there's all those sorts of things. Color is definitely
Speaker 2: something storage. I think people tell me how proud they
Speaker 2: are of their storage. They don't ask for the solution.
Speaker 3: They want to show they wouldn't boast about it.
Speaker 2: Okay, that makes me very happy. And then there's a
Speaker 2: lot of husbands that want to tell me how I've
Speaker 2: ruined their life because their bid has twelve cushions, And
Speaker 2: I say to them, where have I ever given advice
Speaker 2: that you need twelve cushions? You need to take that
Speaker 2: up with your wife and power to her. So there's
Speaker 2: those sorts of moments. So a lot of people aren't
Speaker 2: really asking me for advice anymore. They're actually telling me
Speaker 2: how much what I've been able to do has empowered them.
Speaker 2: But you know what, the great thing is at the
Speaker 2: moment that I have kids coming up and telling me
Speaker 2: what they think.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not sure about this.
Speaker 2: What about you know, I think they should have done this,
Speaker 2: and kids solving it because they are so immersed and
Speaker 2: they're not afraid to look at mistakes. And I look
Speaker 2: at them and I go, oh, that was me. And
Speaker 2: you could be anything and go anywhere and believe it.
Speaker 2: But get solutions and don't just say it off the
Speaker 2: top of your head. If this is what you want
Speaker 2: to do, go down the rabbit hole, be curious, make
Speaker 2: sure things work and functional, you know, learn the rules
Speaker 2: before you break them. And so there's all these savvy,
Speaker 2: savvy kids that you know, we're going to have amazing houses.
Speaker 2: But I'm hoping those savvy kids will also look at,
Speaker 2: you know, sustainability and design solutions for multigenerational So all
Speaker 2: these bits and things that are coming through, and I
Speaker 2: feel like I love the fact people are sharing with
Speaker 2: me what they have done, because what they've learnt, and
Speaker 2: you just go, oh, my job's done.
Speaker 1: And it's that emblematic that it's a real relationship. So
Speaker 1: they see you through the screen or the page, however,
Speaker 1: they're interacting with you, and for them it's a two
Speaker 1: way street, which is very lovely. You've also used your
Speaker 1: profile over the years on very substantial and serious issues.
Speaker 1: You've just talked about some of the sustainability issues for instance.
Speaker 1: But a slight gear change though, about amplifying the voices
Speaker 1: of survivors of particularly violence against women, which has been
Speaker 1: a really big issue in this country and I think
Speaker 1: finally is starting to get some of the mainstream attention
Speaker 1: that it deserves. You have a charity, Voice of Change
Speaker 1: that's founded to amplify the voices of survivors. Regular listeners
Speaker 1: are something to talk about. No, this is an issue
Speaker 1: close to our heart here, Shana, you are a survivor
Speaker 1: of violence in a relationship, but also you had an
Speaker 1: incident a couple of years ago that actually went to
Speaker 1: court where you were assaulted by a stranger. Can I
Speaker 1: ask you a little bit about why you have chosen
Speaker 1: to be so generous and brave? Which is a word
Speaker 1: we overuse, but it's very much the word when a
Speaker 1: survivor speaks up.
Speaker 3: And have you started to.
Speaker 1: Feel a little gratified or hopeful or maybe not at
Speaker 1: all about if there's any progress we're making.
Speaker 3: There's a lot in there. There really is a lot
Speaker 3: in there.
Speaker 2: And I think the thing is the big thing I'm
Speaker 2: ungrateful for is that the change is that we are
Speaker 2: talking about it. Five years ago, we never would have
Speaker 2: had this conversation. Even when I was on Celebrity Prentice
Speaker 2: and I won, the media didn't know how to use it,
Speaker 2: and they utilized the and they were brave in saying that,
Speaker 2: you know, I won the money for this charity Voice
Speaker 2: of Change, in the fact we're talking about family and
Speaker 2: domestic violence, and some of the interviewers didn't know how
Speaker 2: to treat that, and it was dismissed a little bit,
Speaker 2: and it was only because it was uncomfortable. It wasn't
Speaker 2: because they didn't want to talk about it. It's like,
Speaker 2: how do we talk about in the public without people
Speaker 2: turning off? So I think I'm very grateful for what
Speaker 2: has happened in the past few years in the fact
Speaker 2: that we are talking about it now. For some reason,
Speaker 2: it is worse. The numbers of not just the deaths
Speaker 2: of women and children, it is the abuse that's going
Speaker 2: on is quite frightening. And that is a big societal
Speaker 2: change that we have to do, and that's something that
Speaker 2: voice of change. We've stepped back a little bit so
Speaker 2: that we can help help with help work with other
Speaker 2: companies that are trying to do the same thing, so
Speaker 2: we can make change. So if people are looking at
Speaker 2: what we're doing, it looks a bit quiet, but it
Speaker 2: really is because we need to come out as a strength,
Speaker 2: a voice. Because the government has put a lot of
Speaker 2: money into making change of you know, stamping out family
Speaker 2: and domestic violence by twenty thirty this generation, we're not
Speaker 2: looking good for that one. So what do we do.
Speaker 2: We can't bury our heads. It's a societal change and
Speaker 2: one of the big things is that you know, we're
Speaker 2: women talking about things that are happening to women. So
Speaker 2: we are talking with men about how they can be
Speaker 2: the solution to the problem because most of the violence.
Speaker 2: You know, yes, somebody will say, but women do too,
Speaker 2: Yes they do. But if you look at the violence
Speaker 2: against anybody, men against men, and men against women and
Speaker 2: men against children, it is right up there. So we
Speaker 2: need the men that say it's not all men to
Speaker 2: come together and be our alt allies and be the solution.
Speaker 2: So we need that round table of women not talking
Speaker 2: about it. We need that round table of not men
Speaker 2: talking about it. We need that round table of women
Speaker 2: and men coming together as a society with cultural shifts
Speaker 2: in how we talk to each other in the community,
Speaker 2: on social media, in our corporations, and it is a
Speaker 2: case of not putting up with bad patterns of behavior
Speaker 2: and just really simple things of calling people out in
Speaker 2: bad patterns of behavior of hey, you speak to somebody
Speaker 2: or how they speak about their partner.
Speaker 3: We've accepted.
Speaker 2: Hate for so long and since COVID and Trump our
Speaker 2: hate and please don't write to me about Trump because
Speaker 2: it's just a hate speech.
Speaker 3: It's not a political thing.
Speaker 2: So we have accepted hate towards a fellow people. The
Speaker 2: lack of empathy, the lack of kindness, the lack of
Speaker 2: compassion is a real problem in our society that allows
Speaker 2: people to get away with treating people badly, and that's
Speaker 2: what we have to change.
Speaker 1: So a beautiful answer, and I know it was a
Speaker 1: really big question, and thank you so much for distilling
Speaker 1: so much information and I think really important.
Speaker 2: Powerful message is it is and we all have something
Speaker 2: to do, from the kids to the grandparents to everybody
Speaker 2: in between.
Speaker 3: It's not just a generation. It's everybody's business.
Speaker 1: I can't finish up without asking you about your family.
Speaker 1: You have mentioned your children, Jesse and Carlor, and you're
Speaker 1: also the grandmother.
Speaker 3: Well, no, I'm a gg. I can't say that word.
Speaker 3: I can't be thirty six with that word, and.
Speaker 1: I know at thirty six you're a gg GG. How's
Speaker 1: that experience being again on another huge question, but obviously
Speaker 1: you've talked about, you know, the joy and the challenge,
Speaker 1: and there's only so much that even a big pair
Speaker 1: of shoulder heads and buffer you from Shana on being
Speaker 1: a mom and a single mom and a working single mom,
Speaker 1: how's experience of being.
Speaker 2: A Gg, Oh, can I tell you as you say,
Speaker 2: my chest is so tight because I just, oh, it's
Speaker 2: about the only thing makes me weepy at the moment.
Speaker 2: I have so much pride and so much love, and
Speaker 2: you know, to when my son and daughter in law
Speaker 2: told me they were pregnant was probably one of my
Speaker 2: happiest moments. And you know, as a family, we were
Speaker 2: going through a pretty tough time and to have this
Speaker 2: little babe be our symbol of joy in our family
Speaker 2: was just the most amazing thing. And so little Olive,
Speaker 2: who was on Country Home Rescue, she became our little
Speaker 2: unit that brought us all back together. And she's just
Speaker 2: the lart of my life. And now we've got little
Speaker 2: Darcy as well. My son's had a little boy too
Speaker 2: in the meantime. And to have these two grandchildren call
Speaker 2: me Gg, their eyes light up when they see me
Speaker 2: more Darcy than all of Old's a bit, you know, shy,
Speaker 2: but it's just it's just the most I just don't know.
Speaker 2: And then you sit back and you watch your your
Speaker 2: son be a parent and do it so well, and
Speaker 2: the fact that he has made his own way as
Speaker 2: a father and he's got the most amazing partner and
Speaker 2: they have an equal relationship, and so I sit back
Speaker 2: and go.
Speaker 3: Wow, my job is done in a really beautiful way.
Speaker 2: And so now I get to enjoy it and to
Speaker 2: see their equal partnership and when they have problems as
Speaker 2: they work it out. So it's not just the grandchildren,
Speaker 2: it's watching them as parents navigate this new world and
Speaker 2: share it. And they're not doing it because I told them.
Speaker 3: They're doing it.
Speaker 2: Because they believe it, and that's who they are as people.
Speaker 2: And it's a beautiful generation. And now they have a
Speaker 2: little girl and a boy that they're becoming these incredible
Speaker 2: role models too, and it's amazing, it really is.
Speaker 1: It is amazing and really hopeful. Especially I think with
Speaker 1: our previous topic, it's about, you know, involving men and
Speaker 1: everyone in the conversation and how we as a society
Speaker 1: in a country do progress forward with every generation. You
Speaker 1: may tell me to bud out here, that's okay. By
Speaker 1: the way, you don't like to talk about your personal
Speaker 1: life in terms of romantic life, but anything that you
Speaker 1: would like to share or just even more broadly about
Speaker 1: the experience of dating in your early sixties.
Speaker 3: I haven't even got to the earl bit yourself.
Speaker 2: Look, I think I think for me, you know, the
Speaker 2: LT I am as much as I'm in the public,
Speaker 2: I am a really private person and I've never really
Speaker 2: put my personal life on any immediate platforms, and I
Speaker 2: don't talk about in that way. And I like to
Speaker 2: keep with that because it's for me. You know, our
Speaker 2: little conversations and who we are and what we do
Speaker 2: is so important, and you know, I think we've got
Speaker 2: to learn to you know, we can give and give
Speaker 2: as much as we can of ourselves, but we've got
Speaker 2: to hold those little parts private. And I think that
Speaker 2: is the hardest part of you know, when you're looking
Speaker 2: at dating, when you're in the public eye, is that
Speaker 2: you're exposing yourself in a way that you shouldn't have
Speaker 2: to because well, what if that person talks and what
Speaker 2: if that person does this?
Speaker 3: And so it is. It is a bit of a tricky.
Speaker 2: Thing for me. It's not an age thing. I think
Speaker 2: it's that vulnerability of the public knowing your private life,
Speaker 2: and that's something I've always guarded private les so when
Speaker 2: I have been invaded without my permission, I find really
Speaker 2: quite distressing. So I think that's that that, you know,
Speaker 2: that's why why I like to keep it private because
Speaker 2: it's more of a case of you know that you
Speaker 2: should be allowed to say this is my private life,
Speaker 2: and people respect that.
Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that you're asking that it is.
Speaker 2: It is one of those things that those little nuances
Speaker 2: are mine should be mine in a great way. And
Speaker 2: I think dating at the moment, and I'm seeing, you know,
Speaker 2: the age of like people my age are dating people younger.
Speaker 2: I don't know about who you speak to or whatever,
Speaker 2: but I think we're in that world of the crash
Speaker 2: of online dating because no one is to be believed anymore.
Speaker 3: And I think meeting somebody online.
Speaker 2: Used to be a really beautiful solution, but again, there's
Speaker 2: so much deception going on that I don't think anyone
Speaker 2: believes anybody anymore. So I feel like the world of
Speaker 2: face to face is the way to go. And you know,
Speaker 2: how nice would it be to meet somebody at a restaurant,
Speaker 2: or meet someone at a bar, or go to a
Speaker 2: party and meet somebody how we used to do it
Speaker 2: in the fact that you can actually be around people
Speaker 2: that maybe are a few of their friends are around them,
Speaker 2: so you sort of, oh, they're the sort of people
Speaker 2: there with that, you know, it's not sort of sneaking
Speaker 2: around corners and sneaking around back alleys and so it's
Speaker 2: you know, if you choose to do that, I have
Speaker 2: no problem, but I just I just feel the world
Speaker 2: of dating online is such a dark, cloak and dagger
Speaker 2: experience that I've never gone down that road because I
Speaker 2: don't trust them.
Speaker 1: I completely agree, and you do hear like a lot
Speaker 1: of bad story, yeah about. You know, I just think
Speaker 1: all data online is a little bit problematic at the moment,
Speaker 1: isn't it. So anything that you're going out on the
Speaker 1: leem or fear vulnerable with I should clarify as I
Speaker 1: ask my final question, Shana did only turn sixty last year,
Speaker 1: so I definitely shouldn't be rounding up to early sixties.
Speaker 1: Sorry about That's like, I'm.
Speaker 3: Yeah, break, I'm thirty six, and you make you turn
Speaker 3: on the numbers.
Speaker 1: Around as a fellow thirty six year old woman. I mean,
Speaker 1: so when my sons call me a boomer, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's great, labor love boomers, but I'm like, I'm not
Speaker 1: a boomer. Like it's just this rounding up things like
Speaker 1: come on, kids, you know, I'm like, oh, by cusp,
Speaker 1: of millennial or Gen X down slightly.
Speaker 3: But you know what I'm saying. I know exactly what
Speaker 3: you say.
Speaker 1: My final question is really just pulling together maybe some
Speaker 1: of these intertwining threads we've spoken about, pushing back against
Speaker 1: that notion you can only be one thing, the reinvention
Speaker 1: second act, maybe it's the third or the fourth act.
Speaker 1: What would your advice be to anyone listening who's thinking, Oh,
Speaker 1: I think I could be that, but I haven't tried that,
Speaker 1: or I tried. Maybe it is singing and someone said
Speaker 1: be quiet, or maybe I'm not that good at cooking,
Speaker 1: or I just feel like I need to stay in
Speaker 1: my little box as he said with the label on it,
Speaker 1: not in a good storage solution way, a bad conversation
Speaker 1: around labels and boxes. Any final parting words.
Speaker 2: I developed a thing called a five year plan, and
Speaker 2: that's just through what I did for myself to be
Speaker 2: able to move forward in a career. So what I
Speaker 2: would say to people is, if you don't know where
Speaker 2: you are what you want to want to do, how
Speaker 2: about you think where do you want to be now
Speaker 2: in five years? So don't worry about the bits in between.
Speaker 2: So from now in five years time, who are you
Speaker 2: and where do you want to be and who is
Speaker 2: surrounding you? And how do you feel and where you
Speaker 2: are now? Does that marry up? It doesn't mean you're
Speaker 2: exactly the same person that things are there, But you know,
Speaker 2: if you're forty, then you're going to be forty five.
Speaker 3: Well, god, that's five years. That's a long time. Do
Speaker 3: you want to be?
Speaker 2: You know, what do you want to have? Do you
Speaker 2: want to be living a different lifestyle? Do you want
Speaker 2: to have more holidays? Do you want more connection? Do
Speaker 2: you want to be in a different relationship? Do you
Speaker 2: want to start a relationship that way? You can actually
Speaker 2: go Okay, well now this is today and in five
Speaker 2: years I really want to be there.
Speaker 3: Whether I achieve it or not is one thing.
Speaker 2: I probably could achieve more by the time I get there,
Speaker 2: But this is my starting point.
Speaker 3: What do I have to do to do that?
Speaker 2: And it's not a case of you know, okay, I
Speaker 2: need this amount of money, I need to do this,
Speaker 2: I need to do that, I need to have a house,
Speaker 2: I need to get this. It's a case of like,
Speaker 2: who am I as a person when I'm there? And
Speaker 2: what are the skills I need as a person? To
Speaker 2: get there, which is part of what we're saying before
Speaker 2: about are you a dinosaur? Well, what skills do you
Speaker 2: have to learn? So if you want to be in
Speaker 2: five years a person that is going to be the
Speaker 2: best at AI technology and at the moment you can't
Speaker 2: even open your iPhone, well the first step is to
Speaker 2: learn how to open your iPhone, do a few courses.
Speaker 3: And get that go.
Speaker 2: I mean that's just a really simplistic thing, but it
Speaker 2: is one of those things of like, you can't be
Speaker 2: different if you're not willing to find out ways to
Speaker 2: make that happen. And one it has to come from internal.
Speaker 2: Then you have to learn external skills. And then you
Speaker 2: have to look at your environment that will allow you
Speaker 2: to get there. And you won't always be around the
Speaker 2: right people that will want you there, So you have
Speaker 2: to make a decision about those friendships and relationships. Are
Speaker 2: they going to be the right people around you to
Speaker 2: get you there? Are they the people that are going
Speaker 2: to say to you which has been said to me,
Speaker 2: oh so you're going to be a writer?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: Are they the right people to get you to where
Speaker 2: you want to be in five years? Doesn't mean you
Speaker 2: have to go now and just slash and burn all
Speaker 2: your friendships and relationships. But it might be a case
Speaker 2: of widening your circle. It might be a case of
Speaker 2: actually not relying on your friends to build you up.
Speaker 2: You might have to get a secondary circle of people
Speaker 2: you don't know, just so that you can tell the truth,
Speaker 2: so that they don't know anything about you and they
Speaker 2: can't judge you because I don't know you before. So
Speaker 2: it really is up to you to want to change yourself.
Speaker 2: Because I've learnt from people that I've tried to help
Speaker 2: that you can try and help somebody as much as
Speaker 2: you want, and they may want your help, but if
Speaker 2: they're relying on your help to get it, they will
Speaker 2: never get it.
Speaker 3: And if they don't get it, it's your fault.
Speaker 2: So don't let your not getting to five years be
Speaker 2: someone else's fault.
Speaker 3: It can only be your own.
Speaker 1: Shana. I cannot wait to sit down again with you
Speaker 1: in five years, when we'll both be what we're thirty
Speaker 1: two now, so we'll be what thirty three if we.
Speaker 3: Go, Oh my god, we'll be swinging from chandaliers.
Speaker 1: Shanna Blaze has been so lovely to speak to you today.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming you to the studio.
Speaker 1: You can find out more about Shana Blaze's upcoming music
Speaker 1: release and cabaret shows at the link in our show notes,
Speaker 1: and of course you can also see Shana on Sunday
Speaker 1: Nights on the Block on nine. Thank you for your
Speaker 1: company today. If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you're
Speaker 1: following us because we'll be back with another exclusive guest
Speaker 1: on Something to Talk About next week.