Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About the Stellar 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. Earlier this year, Pip Edward
Speaker 1: surprised everybody when she announced she was stepping down from
Speaker 1: pe Nation, the active where brand she co founded in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and helped turn into a global force. Then
Speaker 1: a month later, Pip now she would be rejoining Subie,
Speaker 1: the brand where she kicked off her career in fashion
Speaker 1: twenty years ago. In her first in depth conversation since
Speaker 1: those headline making professional moves, Pip joins me in the
Speaker 1: Something to Talk About studio today to explain how her
Speaker 1: return to Subie is part of a much larger and
Speaker 1: total personal rebrand.
Speaker 2: It's my son's birthright.
Speaker 1: Pip also opens up about the media's continued obsession with
Speaker 1: her love life and who she's dating.
Speaker 3: I don't know what's so interesting about my boyfriend's I
Speaker 3: think I'm more interesting.
Speaker 1: Her bond with friend and radio presenter Jackie.
Speaker 3: O where spiritually aligned, were emotionally connected, and I just
Speaker 3: will forever have her.
Speaker 1: Back and at forty four, why she believes she has
Speaker 1: truly come into her own.
Speaker 2: I'm now going to prove myself right. Pip Edwards.
Speaker 1: Welcome to something to talk about.
Speaker 2: It's so nice to be here.
Speaker 4: It is so nice to have you here on the
Speaker 4: cover of Stella today.
Speaker 1: Last time you and I sat down together with microphones
Speaker 1: in front of us was early this year with Julie Bishop,
Speaker 1: but also more recently you and I ran into each
Speaker 1: other at the Travis Scott.
Speaker 3: Concert where we were happy to have each other at
Speaker 3: that concert with our sons. O.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, what a night.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you. You see much more of
Speaker 1: the cool person that would be in that sort of
Speaker 1: ironment me and a Travis Scott constant, not not the
Speaker 1: most obviously.
Speaker 2: Your trainers on. You know, I was impressed. I did.
Speaker 2: I was trying to never seen you in a trainer No,
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 1: Trying to channel my my inner Pip, but you were.
Speaker 1: I was definitely very excited to see there. But the
Speaker 1: things that a mother will do for her teenage son.
Speaker 3: And that's what I think we were talking about. It's
Speaker 3: amazing when you get to a point where you do
Speaker 3: get this amazing access, but to share it with them
Speaker 3: and make it really special for them, and they get
Speaker 3: to see things that they might not ordinarily get to.
Speaker 2: That's what's exciting.
Speaker 1: And it's also a reminder of the passage of time
Speaker 1: because you know, your son, Justice is eighteen, he's been
Speaker 1: doing his final year.
Speaker 2: It's last exam tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Oh what what?
Speaker 4: Who's more relieved? She org him.
Speaker 3: I think both of us are, but I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's end of end of an era. Lots of lots
Speaker 3: of endings of eras, lots of endings of eras. And
Speaker 3: that's right, because a lot to talk about today is
Speaker 3: the name of the podcast, suggest something to talk about,
Speaker 3: you know, one ending of an era, of course, referring
Speaker 3: to peeing nations. So it was August of this year
Speaker 3: you announced on Instagram that you had decided to step
Speaker 3: down from the brand that you co founded. You're still
Speaker 3: remaining on as a director in substantial shareholding, but PIP
Speaker 3: such an iconic brand that bears your initials, so successful
Speaker 3: so quickly in less than a decade old. Talk us
Speaker 3: through a little bit if you caught about making that
Speaker 3: decision and how you're feeling. A couple of months after
Speaker 3: going public with that decision. I mean, we collectively achieved
Speaker 3: the unimaginable, you know, and it was an amazing whirlwind
Speaker 3: ten years of blood, sweat and tears. There was a
Speaker 3: lot of effort that's gone into that, and we reached
Speaker 3: heights we never thought possible. I mean, I don't even
Speaker 3: know if we even took stock of all the amazing
Speaker 3: things we did because we was just so in turbo mode.
Speaker 3: And the decision around that really was a holistic life decision,
Speaker 3: and I think that's kind of what I wanted to
Speaker 3: make clear. And you touched on justice, you know, finishing school,
Speaker 3: there's a whole lot of change going on, and I
Speaker 3: actually thrive on change. I'm curious. I love creative disruption.
Speaker 3: I grow from that. I searched for that, and I
Speaker 3: think the timing of going through the rebrand for PA
Speaker 3: Nation and seeing that go down the runway and seeing
Speaker 3: the results of that for me was just tying into
Speaker 3: this whole stuff that was going on in the background
Speaker 3: for me personally with life and justice, and it was
Speaker 3: just like the business got a rebrand, and in that.
Speaker 2: Process I reflected too.
Speaker 3: So it's a part of my own rebrand and I'm
Speaker 3: sitting here, you know, obviously just as finishing school tomorrow,
Speaker 3: like legitimately, and he's going off into the wild world
Speaker 3: and he wants to go overseas, and I felt that
Speaker 3: the timing of this whole change was all fitting in holistically.
Speaker 3: And then I got this job offer that actually required
Speaker 3: some creative disruption.
Speaker 2: It required a lot of learning.
Speaker 3: It was, you know, of the move to Subie was
Speaker 3: it's a huge global brand that's based in America. That's
Speaker 3: where my son wants to live, and it saw me
Speaker 3: I might spend more time over there.
Speaker 2: All this stuff was.
Speaker 3: Going on, and it just aligned in the way that
Speaker 3: for once it suited me.
Speaker 1: So it was twenty years ago. If I have the
Speaker 1: maths right that you first started at sub To two
Speaker 1: thousand and four.
Speaker 2: Two thousand and three, two thousand and four.
Speaker 1: We're sitting here in November twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: How was it? You can't expect it? Actually can?
Speaker 1: You really can't script it? And as you say, a
Speaker 1: new offer, but going there as creative director again talking
Speaker 1: about chapters ending new beginnings, can I ask you to
Speaker 1: talk me through the pip Edwards walking in there as
Speaker 1: creative director after this mammoth success that you have built
Speaker 1: as opposed to the young woman that went in there.
Speaker 2: You were working on Nie.
Speaker 3: I went from Price water House Coopers to suvi As
Speaker 3: initially as Dan's Pa, Dan's Justice's father, and then I
Speaker 3: moved moved into the PR department for years, and then
Speaker 3: they put me into women's wear. I think what people
Speaker 3: don't know is that while I was at university studying
Speaker 3: at comments at Sydney UNI, I actually had a retail
Speaker 3: job and I was with Marx, so I worked the floor,
Speaker 3: so I had this practical knowledge of fashion. And Marx
Speaker 3: ended up the late Mark Kirey, who was one of
Speaker 3: my first ever great men tours in the industry and
Speaker 3: everyone he's loved and adored. He took me into head
Speaker 3: office and I was fit model and I was the
Speaker 3: muse for the diffusion collection called baby Doll and it
Speaker 3: was based on Denham. So I have had this string
Speaker 3: of denim and if I look back at my whole career,
Speaker 3: so at UNI, even though using you know, my corporate
Speaker 3: like maths side of my brain, I was learning practical
Speaker 3: denim knowledge on the ground in retail at Marx. I
Speaker 3: then go to SUBI anchored in Denham. I then go
Speaker 3: to Sassinbaid anchored in Denham. I then go to General Pants,
Speaker 3: anchored in Denham. And it's almost like the detour was
Speaker 3: p Nation.
Speaker 4: I was just going to say, that's like things, and
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 3: That people don't even because everything's associated with PA. And
Speaker 3: don't get me wrong, PE Nation wasn't a detour. It
Speaker 3: was almost just putting working knowledge into play. And what
Speaker 3: a great success story for all of us.
Speaker 2: With PE.
Speaker 3: We disrupted the market, We had global recognition, We really
Speaker 3: resonated with women. We impacted women, we gave them their confidence.
Speaker 3: We turned active, where ath leisure on its head. You know,
Speaker 3: it became a wardrobe staple. I can only speak glowingly
Speaker 3: about the brand. And yes, the brand had you know,
Speaker 3: my energy and all those things. But the brand is
Speaker 3: bigger than me, as any brand should be. But my
Speaker 3: love for fashion lies in Dennit it always has and
Speaker 3: that's that's the return home. And I think for me,
Speaker 3: the biggest thing which really still gets me emotional, it's
Speaker 3: my son's birthright. And when I talk about PE and YPN,
Speaker 3: why you know, put all this effort into it. It
Speaker 3: was a sign of the times to survive like it
Speaker 3: really that job was to really look after my son
Speaker 3: and get him to a point where I got him
Speaker 3: through school and give him all the life that I
Speaker 3: want him to have. And this decision is about me
Speaker 3: and my growth and my experience in my knowledge, but
Speaker 3: it ties in something so deep. I'm so deeply connected
Speaker 3: and passionate about that. It's still about him, but it's
Speaker 3: for me, and it's a family legacy.
Speaker 2: It's wild.
Speaker 1: So the intersection of you joining sub as creative director
Speaker 1: happening literally the same month almost as Justice finishing up school,
Speaker 1: is not at all a coincidence. It's very much.
Speaker 2: It was very much.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a month of planning around that for sure.
Speaker 3: And the funny thing is is that Justice has this
Speaker 3: newfound love for the brand. He's obsessed with SUBI and
Speaker 3: it's a beautiful joy to see because it's his dad's creation.
Speaker 3: You know, it's in his genes no pun intended, literally
Speaker 3: in his genes. And the you know, the culture and
Speaker 3: what sub have done overseas internationally is just ridiculously amazing
Speaker 3: impressive global footprint, but especially in America, which Justice has
Speaker 3: this affinity to the basketball urban vibe. It's it's almost
Speaker 3: like I don't know, but we both gravitated in that way.
Speaker 1: He must be, I imagine, so proud of you. But sometimes
Speaker 1: if you're the I'm sure any parent listening things on
Speaker 1: my team, How has he reacted to this? Sounds like
Speaker 1: he's absolutely elated.
Speaker 3: Like he obviously is so supportive of Pe and he
Speaker 3: would wear pe and understood. But this is a different
Speaker 3: kind of This culturally fits with his vibe. It's his aesthetic,
Speaker 3: it's his swagger, it's his dad's, it's now his mom's.
Speaker 3: It's a wild scenario, but he, you know, he's so
Speaker 3: the kids that are at eighteen, they are watching the
Speaker 3: TikTok as, they are watching the basketballers and SUBI has
Speaker 3: that cut through. So he's just now, oh my god,
Speaker 3: like this is actually happening.
Speaker 2: I've got this new credibility with my son. I think
Speaker 2: that that's wow. I'll take it. I'll take it.
Speaker 1: You talk about disruption a couple of times, creative disruption.
Speaker 1: What's your vision for the brand as you come into
Speaker 1: sub as creative director.
Speaker 3: I think a big part of what I do in
Speaker 3: there is to amplify what they're already doing. They've already
Speaker 3: got an incredible base. What they've done globally is amazing.
Speaker 3: You know, flagship stores all over the States, LA, New York, Chicago, Miami,
Speaker 3: new one in London, now Sydney, like it's really got
Speaker 3: a global footprint. I think a little bit of having
Speaker 3: that original energy in there is really important and I
Speaker 3: can see since being in there how that resonates with
Speaker 3: the staff and understanding you know the connection between the art,
Speaker 3: the music and that.
Speaker 2: So I'm amplifying that. But a big thing for.
Speaker 3: Me is really leading design innovation and all the fit
Speaker 3: swashes and stuff.
Speaker 2: So I'm going right from the beginning.
Speaker 3: But it's not changing, it's amplifying and together it's improving.
Speaker 3: And I really want Sube to be that global success.
Speaker 3: From my time back in Subi it was, it was
Speaker 3: the pinnacle and all I want is for that to
Speaker 3: be it again, but fully globally. And I'm just there to,
Speaker 3: you know, get it to those heights.
Speaker 1: And what about your esthetic and your design origin in
Speaker 1: terms of the audience, because obviously with a pe Nations
Speaker 1: such a huge female demographic and with Subi.
Speaker 3: There's obvious it's very much I think it's seventy eighty
Speaker 3: percent male. So for me, that's where that's where I
Speaker 3: get my disruption. I'm learning a lot about men'swear globally.
Speaker 3: I'm learning a lot about America, which was a market
Speaker 3: that was quite hard for P Nation to penetrate. So
Speaker 3: there's a lot of learnings which is amazing and hats
Speaker 3: off to Subi for really nailing that. I think for me,
Speaker 3: what I bring is the Aussie mentality I do.
Speaker 2: I bring the woman to the business and.
Speaker 3: What relates there is Australia and Europe, so combined it's
Speaker 3: it's a pretty powerful combo. And under the helm of
Speaker 3: Craig King, who's the CEO, who was my boss when
Speaker 3: I was at General Pants, So there's a beautiful synergy
Speaker 3: in working relationship that exists in Subi. There's a lot
Speaker 3: of the team I have worked with in the past.
Speaker 3: I've been in this industry for so long. And then
Speaker 3: there's a lot of respect for the heritage, and then
Speaker 3: there's a lot of respect for obviously what we created
Speaker 3: at p Nation and it's just ready to thrive in
Speaker 3: a new way. That's speaks that leans into my fashion roots,
Speaker 3: and Sube wants to lean into the fashion roots.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the woman in the business, and I'd love
Speaker 1: to talk to you a little bit about your business acumen,
Speaker 1: because you are somebody who has been and is still
Speaker 1: a very successful creative director, designer, but also has co
Speaker 1: founded a business, has really strong entrepreneurial background. Do you
Speaker 1: have a preference between that side of your brain the
Speaker 1: left side or the right side, and what part of
Speaker 1: yourself do you think you might be drawing on more
Speaker 1: coming into this new chapter.
Speaker 3: My skill set is I'm ingrained. I'm trained from school
Speaker 3: to university. I'm wired that way naturally, so I'll always
Speaker 3: think about the commercials before. So whatever's on top the
Speaker 3: creative decision has a commercial footing anyway. I think I'm
Speaker 3: always trained to look at margin and think of that,
Speaker 3: all of those things, but they just come naturally. Some
Speaker 3: want of decisions made and it is a gut decision.
Speaker 3: It's an informed, gut decision. It's not just a creative
Speaker 3: gut decision. I can't explain it. But there is a regard,
Speaker 3: and more so now in this landscape, it has to
Speaker 3: have that regard. But you can work in creative disruption
Speaker 3: if you know your market, you know your audience, you
Speaker 3: know your numbers, you know.
Speaker 2: All the things.
Speaker 3: So it's all of it together. It's not nothing's in isolation.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love the way that you explain that about that
Speaker 1: gut instinct, but gut instinct backed up by.
Speaker 2: By data, and I take it on and I like
Speaker 2: to know.
Speaker 3: I like to know all the pieces of data so
Speaker 3: that whatever the creative decision is made, it's already it's
Speaker 3: already got the base.
Speaker 1: It's always difficult for any of us to think about
Speaker 1: how our own brains work, but I would still like
Speaker 1: to ask you a little bit about it because this
Speaker 1: left brain v right brain. So obviously, as everyone knows,
Speaker 1: you've got the left brain traditionally, you know, analytical, logical,
Speaker 1: the part of the brain that might have a preference
Speaker 1: for learning languages or being good at maths, and then
Speaker 1: the right side very much creative intuitive. You obviously are
Speaker 1: somebody that has both parts of the brain are firing.
Speaker 3: I dip in and out or they intersect. I think
Speaker 3: common sense. I think my training in terms of experience
Speaker 3: in fashion coming from Marks and going to SIBBA, But
Speaker 3: more so what I learned at General Pants is common
Speaker 3: sense around who your customer is. That's the analytical side.
Speaker 3: So even if I'm being creatively disruptive or trying to
Speaker 3: push them boundaries. I won't hold my ground. I feel
Speaker 3: there's a commercial decision that's better, I will go for that.
Speaker 3: But you're always still ahead of the curve because my
Speaker 3: creative vision can be wild, but when it's tamed back
Speaker 3: to the commercial, it's still something different, and I think
Speaker 3: that's where the magic is.
Speaker 1: I also love the fact that you you know, you
Speaker 1: did study law commerce and you have always lent in
Speaker 1: to that side of your skill set as well, because
Speaker 1: sometimes I think in our society we can from a
Speaker 1: gender perspective, encourage women to follow that more creative humanities
Speaker 1: for instance, and boys we can tend to more encourage
Speaker 1: them in the sciences and the maths. Was that anything
Speaker 1: that you ever felt or are you conscious of now
Speaker 1: that your business success and the fact that you understand
Speaker 1: the data you don't just need people to be feeding
Speaker 1: it to you. Are you aware or conscious of the
Speaker 1: fact that that is still really pushing back a little
Speaker 1: bit about agenda trope I would argue still probably exists
Speaker 1: a bit in Australia in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: My parents are highly academic and followed their path. I
Speaker 3: always say, I think it's important to know the underlying
Speaker 3: of that all those financials or understand and know how
Speaker 3: to read things or inquire about them, because you can't
Speaker 3: do one without the other. The gender thing, I think,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. I just keep thinking about Justice and kind
Speaker 3: of where I sit with him, and he's following a
Speaker 3: different road to you know, if he doesn't do basketball,
Speaker 3: he's going to do psychology, which I just love. So
Speaker 3: he's gone down a mindset roade. But it is all
Speaker 3: about that too. What I've learned from Justice is mindset,
Speaker 3: and that's how you succeed, you know, if you overcome
Speaker 3: your mind and the niggle of your brain and commit
Speaker 3: and understand that, that's powerful for anybody. So yeah, he's
Speaker 3: really and he reads a lot of books around mindset
Speaker 3: and it's like all of the stuff. So I'm you know,
Speaker 3: that's not something that you know, my parents were like,
Speaker 3: you're you know, you're going to You're going to be
Speaker 3: an accountant, You're going to do and I was just
Speaker 3: like Justice, I'm like, oh no, that's where his passion is.
Speaker 1: And so that's and do you think then for you
Speaker 1: as a mother hearing Justice, that's clearly sounds like he's
Speaker 1: got very well round ideas about you know, mindset and
Speaker 1: something like psychology, but also has been allowed to pursue
Speaker 1: his love of sport.
Speaker 3: I did facilitate that. But what he has learned as
Speaker 3: well is you know, structure and discipline to achieve. And
Speaker 3: I think that's a really important lesson all round. So
Speaker 3: whether or not, I think for me, university was about
Speaker 3: structure and knowing, knowing that place or knowing that, knowing
Speaker 3: the hierarchy, and really focusing.
Speaker 2: And I learned that at university.
Speaker 3: Apart from whatever you know the content or the subject is,
Speaker 3: it's more sticking to this structure and plan to get
Speaker 3: something and achieve something. He's actually learned that through basketball,
Speaker 3: which is amazing that he's learned that through his passion,
Speaker 3: because sometimes fashion doesn't teach you that going into fashion.
Speaker 3: It's so great And nowadays the term creative directors use
Speaker 3: quite loosely, isn't it insens.
Speaker 2: It can be.
Speaker 3: It can be, but there is a structure to that,
Speaker 3: and there are KPIs to that, and it is linked
Speaker 3: to the bottom line and all of that stuff.
Speaker 2: So I learned it corporately.
Speaker 1: First, you've mentioned with Subie there'll be a big global focus.
Speaker 3: SUBI will probably see me travel a lot more to
Speaker 3: the States to really understand that business over there. They've
Speaker 3: got a big office in New York, and you know,
Speaker 3: there's focus on London as well, So I'm really looking
Speaker 3: forward to spending time on the ground over there because
Speaker 3: it is a big business and it's a beast and
Speaker 3: they've cracked it.
Speaker 1: Would you see yourself in the future permanently relocating or
Speaker 1: splitting your time between two countries, especially you say Justice as.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think it's a permanent situation, but you know,
Speaker 3: the CEO does spend a significant amount of time, like,
Speaker 3: you know, three months at a time over there, so
Speaker 3: I can probably see myself doing a stint once a
Speaker 3: quarter definitely, and that's exciting. Yeah, I long for that,
Speaker 3: and I think that suits where Justice is going.
Speaker 1: And coming up Pip on why female friendships is so
Speaker 1: important to her, how she deals with negative headlines, and
Speaker 1: why she's finally ready to own exactly who she is.
Speaker 1: I'd like to shift gears a bit if we can
Speaker 1: and talk about something that is an issue that you
Speaker 1: have been I think a real trailblazer on the last
Speaker 1: eighteen months about talking about publicly, which is about perimenopause menopause.
Speaker 1: This started your public story. Of course, you actually spoke
Speaker 1: about it in Stella in March of last year, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three with the white chirt campaign, where you revealed
Speaker 1: that it was only at thirty nine that you first
Speaker 1: started getting symptoms and realizing that you were going through perimenopause.
Speaker 1: And in the eighteen months since then you've spoken about
Speaker 1: how it is a completely natural and common experience and
Speaker 1: we shouldn't be made to feel like we are going
Speaker 1: through it alone. But when you were going through it,
Speaker 1: you really struggled. You said, I didn't know where to
Speaker 1: turn for help or information. Since March of last year, PEP,
Speaker 1: when you first started that conversation, right through to now
Speaker 1: where you're still talking about it and advocating about how
Speaker 1: we tackle it in the workplace, I'd love to talk
Speaker 1: to you about do you feel less isolated now? Would
Speaker 1: you agree that you have helped make a lot of
Speaker 1: other Australian women feel a lot less isolated about it?
Speaker 1: Are we getting somewhere in terms of destigmatizing it.
Speaker 2: I think we're getting somewhere.
Speaker 3: I think the conversation is happening because I'm doing a
Speaker 3: lot more talking about it, and I think that's the
Speaker 3: whole thing. The conversation is important because not one woman
Speaker 3: experiences the same symptoms, nor do they correlate nor you know, again,
Speaker 3: I'm here now forty four and I'm still relearning or
Speaker 3: finding myself learning more because my symptoms are changing again.
Speaker 3: So there isn't it's a never ending conversation. There's definitely
Speaker 3: chatter around it. But I think the thing is there's
Speaker 3: still a lot we don't know, and there's still a
Speaker 3: lot and there's not a lot of great advice out
Speaker 3: there in terms of where's this one, where's this one
Speaker 3: place to go to get all this information?
Speaker 2: Like right now, again, I'm getting a flush.
Speaker 3: Now, I've had to change, I've had to up my
Speaker 3: dose on an HRT, like I'm going through. I'm still
Speaker 3: like even my mother who's in her eighties is back
Speaker 3: on the patch. So you know, it's a work in progress,
Speaker 3: and it requires all women to talk about We talk
Speaker 3: about our periods, we talk about men.
Speaker 2: This is men.
Speaker 3: I sometimes say it's men on pause, lol, But but
Speaker 3: I think, you know, we should be talking about it
Speaker 3: because that's me. Because every woman is different, and that
Speaker 3: experience and that sharing of that knowledge is priceless because
Speaker 3: the doctors don't all know, you know, they don't know
Speaker 3: where to go, whether it's you know, there was that
Speaker 3: stigma for a long time, don't do HRT for all
Speaker 3: the reasons of being related to breast cancer, and that
Speaker 3: that made me actually go through a severe amount of
Speaker 3: symptoms for a long time.
Speaker 2: Because I did go down the natural road.
Speaker 3: I wanted to try that, and I'm not saying, you know,
Speaker 3: it does work for some people. For me being so
Speaker 3: young and the symptoms being so extreme because I was
Speaker 3: so young, that's one of the problems of you know,
Speaker 3: get hitting Perry really young.
Speaker 2: The hot flushes are severe, you know.
Speaker 3: And I did acupuncture, and I went to a nutritionist,
Speaker 3: and I tried to change my exercise and I did
Speaker 3: all the things, and I persevered for a long time,
Speaker 3: but it didn't work because of the taboous around HRT, and.
Speaker 2: You know, and then I went on HRT and I
Speaker 2: got my life back.
Speaker 3: But again I'm still on HIRT, still working riding the
Speaker 3: waves of change. I actually was talking last week to
Speaker 3: Michelle Bridges about it because she's doing this menopause workout,
Speaker 3: you know, holistic kind of.
Speaker 2: Thing, and I learned again you know what.
Speaker 3: She taught me that a frozen shoulder can be a
Speaker 3: symptom of menopause, and I was like, what, I had
Speaker 3: a frozen shoulder. I went to pilates to try and
Speaker 3: work through it, and it wouldn't go away. I did
Speaker 3: not know, like all the things you don't know. But
Speaker 3: the more women talk about what they're experiencing, because there's
Speaker 3: more that is more valuable than what the doctors are offering,
Speaker 3: is the mission. And my only other mission while I've
Speaker 3: got the camera and I've got you, is that younger
Speaker 3: women need to know. So the younger already, I want
Speaker 3: the women in their twenties and thirties to know that
Speaker 3: this is happening, this can happen, and if they plan
Speaker 3: for it, for it. Because for me, the other part
Speaker 3: of that was fertility, and that was my mission of
Speaker 3: doing the white shirt campaign and quite recently the Dove campaign,
Speaker 3: because my mission is to not for women to not
Speaker 3: have a choice, and I want women to have a choice.
Speaker 2: I want their options.
Speaker 3: Because yes, modern the modern woman, she chooses to work hard,
Speaker 3: she trains really hard, she's on a lean die, she
Speaker 3: does all the things. And because that's also new, the
Speaker 3: impact on your body. That's what you don't know. And
Speaker 3: I just want women to have a choice and be informed.
Speaker 1: And I can only imagine how much with this conversation
Speaker 1: becoming more that we are discussing these things openly, that
Speaker 1: so many women would be hearing different things, things that
Speaker 1: you have said. They would be having that moment like
Speaker 1: you had.
Speaker 3: And you know what, the other thing, it's so crazy,
Speaker 3: it's like the easiest thing, ask your mom. Go talk
Speaker 3: to your mom first, because a lot of it is
Speaker 3: hereditary and that's what we forget. And then you add
Speaker 3: on all the symptoms of you know, what could bring
Speaker 3: on early menopause, if it's high stress or diet whatever,
Speaker 3: all there are a few things that bring it on,
Speaker 3: but it starts with hereditary jeans, and just talk to
Speaker 3: your mom first, then talk to your girlfriends.
Speaker 1: And can I ask you a bit about your approach
Speaker 1: as a senior woman in the industry and an employer
Speaker 1: yourself a cow an employee now an employee, but a
Speaker 1: very very senior employee that will absolutely be shaping the
Speaker 1: culture of the business. What's your approach to that you're
Speaker 1: mentioning earlier, how big part of your work has really
Speaker 1: been encouraging young women, especially to become aware of this
Speaker 1: and have access to the information that was denied to
Speaker 1: you in your twenties and thirties. Are you seeing that
Speaker 1: culture shift in workplaces? And for you personally, is that
Speaker 1: something that you supperve.
Speaker 3: I think for me, it's more about connection and connecting
Speaker 3: with my colleagues, which I'm two months in and doing
Speaker 3: that quite well. But having the safety and creating the
Speaker 3: safety for conversation and connection is actually the best place
Speaker 3: to start. And I'm not, you know, asking for any
Speaker 3: wild changes at my workplace, but the change would be
Speaker 3: checking in.
Speaker 2: You know, how are you? If you and the God
Speaker 2: we didn't sleep? I'm like why?
Speaker 3: And that's where that's where that support comes in, and
Speaker 3: really invested in your conversations with your colleagues about what's
Speaker 3: going on, because that really impacts productivity. And if they
Speaker 3: feel supported and heard and they feel that they're in
Speaker 3: a space where they can just have that private conversation
Speaker 3: in the kitchen or in the hallway, it really does
Speaker 3: elevate productivity and all of the things that they can
Speaker 3: come to a workplace and go I'm seen and heard.
Speaker 3: It's all about a supportive network at work, just creating
Speaker 3: a safe place. But I mean everyone goes to it.
Speaker 3: They don't want to do a bad job. I don't
Speaker 3: believe people go to work to do a bad job.
Speaker 3: You're they're five days a week, you know, nine ten
Speaker 3: hours a day. They deserve to be heard a little bit.
Speaker 3: But it's you're at a colleague level. I want to
Speaker 3: say that then can become to a managerial level. I
Speaker 3: just think you want to just support support your mates
Speaker 3: at work.
Speaker 1: Connection, as you said, was the word connection then brings
Speaker 1: me back to sitting in the studio at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year with yourself and Julie Bishop, but not
Speaker 1: just that friendship, which is an amazing friendship, and that
Speaker 1: was an amazing conversation and a huge response to your friendship.
Speaker 1: And I think what it says about high profile women
Speaker 1: supporting one another, women of different life experiences but sharing
Speaker 1: so much in common that you wouldn't think, but also
Speaker 1: being united in their differences. I mean, there's just a
Speaker 1: lot about that story. I think that resonated with a
Speaker 1: lot of people.
Speaker 3: I think what really resonates with that story for me
Speaker 3: is just our honesty and honesty and having that trust
Speaker 3: surpasses all the other things, all the shiny things people see,
Speaker 3: you know, knowing I trust when I talk to her,
Speaker 3: I can tell her everything, and she's she's a good
Speaker 3: she's a vult, She's got my back.
Speaker 1: Her trust is good, isn't it. I mean, when you
Speaker 1: find trust in any one colleague, friend, it's partner. It's
Speaker 1: just there's nothing like it, because the opposite of trust
Speaker 1: is something that none of us want. I know, we
Speaker 1: talked about this, you and me and Julie, but just
Speaker 1: that idea of how we celebrate female friendship a lot,
Speaker 1: not just in a superficial sort of way, all like
Speaker 1: that or you know, sisterhood. You've all got a lot
Speaker 1: of each other.
Speaker 2: It's not about that.
Speaker 1: But you know, for a lot of us growing up,
Speaker 1: that was not what was being supported. And if there
Speaker 1: were two women, even if one of you is a
Speaker 1: you know, former female foreign minister and one of you
Speaker 1: is the co founder and the creative.
Speaker 4: Director, that's it's all got to be.
Speaker 1: You don't have two successful women in the same room.
Speaker 1: It's great that that's called out, and that is obviously
Speaker 1: you know, you have a lot of female friends, and
Speaker 1: some of them, of course, we'll never see and we'll
Speaker 1: never know that names and that's so important. And then
Speaker 1: some of them like Julie, but also someone like Jackie.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I'll talk about that because it's a really
Speaker 3: beautiful one. But I will talk about some of the
Speaker 3: women you don't see because there is a common thread
Speaker 3: shared there and it's literally wanting the best. Jackie O
Speaker 3: is one of the most humble, interested, invested females I've
Speaker 3: ever met. Who she is and how she speaks, she
Speaker 3: is that on the street. I've watched her talk to
Speaker 3: a thousand people, take her time out to have photos,
Speaker 3: say hello, like actually give herself to people she knows,
Speaker 3: she respects that. But she is one of the greatest friends.
Speaker 3: We have parallel interests, we're spiritually aligned, we're emotionally connected.
Speaker 3: It's honest, it's all the things, and I think that
Speaker 3: really shines through in how we interact, even if it
Speaker 3: is on Instagram. Her honesty is such an inspiration, and
Speaker 3: her honesty and being a real woman is what really
Speaker 3: got me at the beginning, and I just will forever
Speaker 3: have her back, like I have Millie's back, like I
Speaker 3: have Jane's back, Like I'll list all the women in
Speaker 3: my life. They all deserve a mention. But it's not
Speaker 3: as they're not. It's not a big bunch of women.
Speaker 3: It's a curated bunch of women over time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's quality and it's about genuine friendship. I
Speaker 1: obviously Jackie has recently made headlines with her memoir, which
Speaker 1: is amazing by the way, and spoken about, you know,
Speaker 1: taking herself to rehab and her addiction. But I just
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you, Pip about the power in sharing
Speaker 1: part of that because the vulnerability that's required, the bravery,
Speaker 1: and we often overuse the word bravery, but there's such
Speaker 1: bravery and generosity in somebody sharing a story. I have
Speaker 1: the immense privilege of people doing it here all the
Speaker 1: time in the podcast studio. And you, for instance, when
Speaker 1: you spoke about your perimenopause at thirty nine, I'm sure
Speaker 1: that that was something that you wrestled with before you
Speaker 1: went public. I'm sure you like me and of course
Speaker 1: your dear friends with her. But for Jackie, I mean
Speaker 1: the power of her sharing that story and challenging some
Speaker 1: of the still prevailing ideas that we have about addictions.
Speaker 3: I think for her it was extremely healing and it
Speaker 3: was time for her to stand in her truth. She
Speaker 3: has nothing to hide. It is nothing to be ashamed of.
Speaker 3: She's now connected with thousands and millions of women who
Speaker 3: she has now inspired them to really face what they're
Speaker 3: going through and not I mean, we actually celebrated her
Speaker 3: book launch on the weekend and she went round the
Speaker 3: room and spoke about everyone and how she does have
Speaker 3: a great network that allowed her to really believe in
Speaker 3: herself to get through it to come out the other end,
Speaker 3: and she owed it to women to stand in her truth,
Speaker 3: which in herself empowered herself. So it's this sick lital
Speaker 3: thing and I think that's what people don't understand. You
Speaker 3: can inspire women that then inspire you and it comes
Speaker 3: back and all it does is just elevate the vibration
Speaker 3: and creates so much more positivity. And to all the
Speaker 3: critics out there, fuck off. Sorry, you know, I just
Speaker 3: want to say that. And the night Jackie released the
Speaker 3: story on radio, I went that night to her house
Speaker 3: to be with her and just you know, give her
Speaker 3: a big hug, and she shared with me the quote
Speaker 3: that Jemmy gave her about being in the arena and
Speaker 3: the Benet Brown being in the arena and know that
Speaker 3: there's always the cheap seats. The people that stand back,
Speaker 3: they'll always throw their comments, throw their judgments, but they're
Speaker 3: not getting mard or they're not in the dust.
Speaker 2: They're not getting seen.
Speaker 3: And every day that person in the arena stands up
Speaker 3: and shows up every time. But you know, whether it's
Speaker 3: failure or victory, she's doing it. And that's why Jackie
Speaker 3: and I have that amazing connection because we are in
Speaker 3: the arena, but we're in the arena with integrity and
Speaker 3: purpose and rawness. Right, So that's that I go home
Speaker 3: that night and I'm so impressed with this quote. I
Speaker 3: tell it to Justice and I'm like, be in the arena,
Speaker 3: blah blah.
Speaker 2: And he looks at me. He goes, mum.
Speaker 3: There is a Theodore Roosevelt quote that also says that,
Speaker 3: and it's like, but his version was the man in
Speaker 3: the arena, and it's the same kind of thing. You know,
Speaker 3: don't worry about the critics in the seats. They're not
Speaker 3: they're not they're not doing the work. And I think
Speaker 3: that's what we've got to remember. We're putting ourselves on
Speaker 3: the line every time we're telling our stories. We're showing
Speaker 3: up to work where good women, we're raising our children.
Speaker 2: That's what people don't see.
Speaker 3: They just all they want to see is that clickbait
Speaker 3: story that brings someone down. That and yet you know
Speaker 3: they're private on Instagram, they don't show anything, so cheap
Speaker 3: seats go back to the nosebleeds. I'll happily be in
Speaker 3: the arena every day of the week.
Speaker 4: I absolutely love that, and I love that justice also.
Speaker 2: Like, wow, I know this, myst son is just just genius.
Speaker 2: I love him.
Speaker 1: You know this, this profound raw friendship and solidarity and
Speaker 1: then getting trailed by perhaps I mean, Pip, You're always
Speaker 1: everywhere you go, there'll be you know.
Speaker 3: What's so interesting about my boyfriends? I think I'm more interesting?
Speaker 4: Well, I think you are definitely the most interesting.
Speaker 3: When you quote me on that, can you quote that
Speaker 3: with a bit of laughter? I was being quite funny there.
Speaker 3: I'm not like, you know, no look in respect to
Speaker 3: the ex boyfriends, but there's way more interesting things and
Speaker 3: way more layers to me than that. And if that's
Speaker 3: how they want to portray me for clickbait, that's on them,
Speaker 3: and it's actually on the audience too, And anyone that
Speaker 3: meets me knows that that shit doesn't even touch the sides.
Speaker 1: Do you find it frustrating the fact that because you
Speaker 1: don't encourage that or buy into that, and like, to
Speaker 1: be really honest, like as you and I are sitting here,
Speaker 1: I know it's something that you don't want to talk
Speaker 1: to And I'm not going to ask you about lock.
Speaker 1: I'm really not. But is that something that you find
Speaker 1: frustrating that that narrative then the.
Speaker 3: Link the link to the narrative, and then then the
Speaker 3: link to the next one. And it's kind of like,
Speaker 3: why aren't you seeing the woman that's really had an
Speaker 3: incredible career directory in an industry, worked for some incredible businesses,
Speaker 3: It's made some kind of inroads, raised a child on
Speaker 3: her own, independently financially, who's a great friend, who's got energy.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm talking about myself here, But I kind
Speaker 2: of have to.
Speaker 3: I kind of have to in a way because all
Speaker 3: of that gets wiped by some man that I happen
Speaker 3: to have some experience with. Yeah, and I don't flaunt it.
Speaker 1: No, I wonder if it will ever go away, Like
Speaker 1: I'm sure it will at some point, not for you,
Speaker 1: I mean, but it.
Speaker 3: It's fine, But I mean, I'll happily now just talk
Speaker 3: about the real shit.
Speaker 1: Well, I love that you have talked about a lot
Speaker 1: of real shit with me today. I'd like to finish
Speaker 1: it up by bringing it full circle. You spoke about
Speaker 1: new doors opening and closing other doors. What a year
Speaker 1: it has been, and you know you're only forty four, Pip.
Speaker 2: This is the thing.
Speaker 1: So I'd love to ask you a little bit about
Speaker 1: that idea of being in your forties and having all
Speaker 1: of these amazing things ahead of you, and again a
Speaker 1: bit what we talked about with cross generational conversations that
Speaker 1: I think is something that wasn't necessarily available for our
Speaker 1: mother's generations, much less great grandmother's generations. Do you feel
Speaker 1: I mean it's a bit cliched. You're just sort of
Speaker 1: getting started in so many ways at forty four.
Speaker 3: I'm about to in one way with my son obviously,
Speaker 3: like reaching the milestone of parenting. I mean, I'll always
Speaker 3: be his mother, but you know, getting a son to
Speaker 3: eighteen and having that solo journey doing that, it's a
Speaker 3: lot and I've had to really reflect on that and
Speaker 3: what that means for me and what's going to.
Speaker 2: Drive my next chapter.
Speaker 3: But the best thing about being forty four and having
Speaker 3: got my son to eighteen, I'm in my skin and
Speaker 3: I'm unashamedly, unapologetically energetically me take it or leave it,
Speaker 3: And I don't want to hide anymore. I don't want
Speaker 3: to censor anything. I don't need to filter anything, proofs
Speaker 3: in the pudding. You know, I've ticked my boxes with work.
Speaker 3: I've raised a beautiful, beautiful son who is the most balanced, measured, sensitive, funny, charismatic,
Speaker 3: all the things. I'm proud. I'm proud so now now, yeah,
Speaker 3: I make myself proud. You know it before it's been
Speaker 3: always an external validation. I don't need to externally validate anymore.
Speaker 3: It's just it's like, instead of proving people wrong, which
Speaker 3: it's been that tough journey. It really has been that
Speaker 3: tough journey, I'm now going to prove myself right.
Speaker 1: A lot of us are driven, I think by proving
Speaker 1: people wrong. So I love that you verbalize that.
Speaker 2: I think that.
Speaker 3: Would prove myself right and if anything, don't prove.
Speaker 2: Improve m I love that.
Speaker 1: Are you proud of yourself right now?
Speaker 5: Though?
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm proud of making some big decisions. I'm proud
Speaker 3: out of, you know, stepping into new challenges. Because that's
Speaker 3: always scary. I'm proud of the work I've done. I'm
Speaker 3: proud of knowing myself inside out.
Speaker 2: I still.
Speaker 3: I still deal with, you know, things that are so personal.
Speaker 3: But that's the journey. I'm not You're never You're never
Speaker 3: really there. And if you think you're going to get
Speaker 3: you think you've got that kind of goal.
Speaker 2: That's not how.
Speaker 3: It's just it's just being president in the moment and
Speaker 3: making the decisions in the moment that are right. And
Speaker 3: that's all you can be proud of.
Speaker 1: It has been an absolute pleasure to talk to you
Speaker 1: so lovely, to see you so thank you so much.
Speaker 3: A cover I feel on it, honestly, humbled on it, honestly, no, no.
Speaker 1: There's always a cover with your name on it. Can't
Speaker 1: wait to see how everything unfolds for you over the
Speaker 1: coming months.
Speaker 5: Thank you so I will see you at the next Travis.
Speaker 5: Wherever we are, I'll be holding your hand. Thanks again, Edward,
Speaker 5: thank you, thanks so much.
Speaker 2: Pip, of course, is.
Speaker 1: The creative director of SUBI, and you can find out
Speaker 1: more via the link in our show notes. Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening today. If you've enjoyed this episode, then leave
Speaker 1: us a rating. Or a review, and 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