Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud your
Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money the podcast
Speaker 4: Maliles who want Financial Freedom. Welcome back to another shot
Speaker 4: back money Diary Monday, where we get to chat to
Speaker 4: one of our community members to learn more about them
Speaker 4: and their lives and most importantly, their finances. Victoria, Today,
Speaker 4: I've got a good one for you.
Speaker 2: Do you want to hear?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 2: I haven't heard that line in a while. I have
Speaker 2: no doubt it's good though.
Speaker 4: Let me tell you all about our diarists, She says.
Speaker 4: I am a dedicated humanities and social sciences teacher with
Speaker 4: a commitment to evoking a passion for social justice, especially
Speaker 4: equality for women. I am a director on a board
Speaker 4: of a nonprofit NDIS service provider, challenging the status quo
Speaker 4: for recruitment in this space. Life is not without challenges,
Speaker 4: including managing a chronic health condition, endemitriosis, with the ever
Speaker 4: increasing demands of my teaching role. Dmitriosis strikes women financially
Speaker 4: in a number of ways, including in applying for personal insurance.
Speaker 4: I am privileged to be able to work full time,
Speaker 4: but I'm aware that so many other endometriosis warriors are
Speaker 4: not so fortunate. Thank you for reading a small snapshot
Speaker 4: of my personal story.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I want to know so much more.
Speaker 2: Money dorist, welcome to the show.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much, Victoria.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, no, thank you for coming. Oh let's
Speaker 2: dive straight in. I want to know more about your
Speaker 2: money story. Please elaborate, my friend.
Speaker 5: I guess, yeah, my story is kind of diverse. It's
Speaker 5: a little bit different. You could say I have one
Speaker 5: of those stock standard public service kind of professions, but
Speaker 5: outside of that, I'm also heavily involved in volunteering, and
Speaker 5: I'm also facing the day to day challenges of having
Speaker 5: a chronic health condition. So yeah, I feel like I
Speaker 5: could share a few tips and a few experiences.
Speaker 2: Of course you can. How long have you been working
Speaker 2: because obviously I don't want to elaborate too much, but
Speaker 2: how long have you been working? And I guess how
Speaker 2: long have you known about your ENDO?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: So I've been teaching, I mean my eighth year now,
Speaker 5: which sounds crazy.
Speaker 6: It just it's gone so quickly.
Speaker 5: I had to actually look it up before I spoke
Speaker 5: to you guys today, and my indo matrices diagnosis. I
Speaker 5: was fifteen at the time now, so almost fifteen years.
Speaker 5: It's definitely been a huge part of my life. But
Speaker 5: fortunately for me, I was diagnosed early and was given
Speaker 5: that opportunity, whereas so many other women I speak to
Speaker 5: go many many years without any diagnosis.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Wow, all right, we want to know what do you
Speaker 2: do for work? How much money do you earn?
Speaker 5: So I'm a high school teacher and I earn one
Speaker 5: hundred and nine thousand gross per annum plus super anuation.
Speaker 2: Now how good is that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a quality of remuneration, but it's definitely something
Speaker 5: that's stepped so it's a salary. So as you build
Speaker 5: experience and accreditation, then your wage grows as a teacher.
Speaker 2: Oh of course. And you said before you've done it
Speaker 2: for eight years now, which I can absolutely sympathize with
Speaker 2: In a way. I was thinking about how long I've
Speaker 2: been doing my job, and I got an email a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago for my tenth year reunion for
Speaker 2: my high school, and I was like, ah, I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm going to opt out of tracking, and I'm
Speaker 2: also going to remove my year of graduation from weekedin.
Speaker 2: So we're moving on from that. Take from that what
Speaker 2: you will. All right, money, dirist, I want to know
Speaker 2: what is your big money goal? What are you currently
Speaker 2: working towards.
Speaker 5: So I don't know if I'm allowed to have two,
Speaker 5: but one of my big money goals at the moment
Speaker 5: is that I'm saving to do some renovations to my house.
Speaker 5: And I also have another big goal, which is saving
Speaker 5: to travel overseas to Europe. So sort of got two
Speaker 5: things happening at the moment.
Speaker 2: Air pic al Right, next question, do you have any investments,
Speaker 2: If so, what are they?
Speaker 5: Yes, So I have my super which is tugging along
Speaker 5: nicely despite the little bit of downturn at the moment.
Speaker 5: And I also invest in a couple of index ETFs.
Speaker 2: Oh how did you pick those?
Speaker 5: Basically through a lot of research, like based on my
Speaker 5: study while I was at university and then reading and
Speaker 5: listening to podcasts, and yeah, just decided more of a
Speaker 5: passive approach is probably most appropriate for me.
Speaker 2: I love that. Jess and I have just finished a
Speaker 2: series where we talk about like passive versus active investing
Speaker 2: and what might be right for you, And I'm loving
Speaker 2: hearing how clearly you're like, Yeah, the passive approach works
Speaker 2: for me, and this is the asset class I've chosen.
Speaker 2: Like that makes me so happy because sometimes people will
Speaker 2: say things like, oh, well I have this index ETF
Speaker 2: because that's what my friend said she was using, and
Speaker 2: You're just like, no, no, no, I did my research.
Speaker 2: I know who I am and what I want and
Speaker 2: what I need. I am obsessed. How good is that?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Like, I have a couple of Like I invested in
Speaker 5: two different shares and that's just like a very small
Speaker 5: amount as a bit of an experiment, and one's been
Speaker 5: quite good, and I'm like, oh, that was a good one,
Speaker 5: and then another one's performed because that particular company has
Speaker 5: just had like turmoil hit them in an unexpected way,
Speaker 5: so I don't think anyone would have picked it.
Speaker 6: So yeah, it's a bit of trial and error, isn't it.
Speaker 2: But I guess that's where you can go. And I
Speaker 2: would call what your strategy currently is. I would call
Speaker 2: your strategy a core satellite strategy where you have your
Speaker 2: core investments and then you satellite invest around it. And
Speaker 2: that's exactly what I do because it's just to me,
Speaker 2: I want to invest in direct shares, but I also
Speaker 2: know that's not where I want my majority of wealth
Speaker 2: and the wealth creation because I want the stability. But
Speaker 2: I also I have fun in the share market, Like,
Speaker 2: don't take that away from me. That's my favorite part
Speaker 2: of it all. So I completely resonate with that next
Speaker 2: question I have for you. Do you currently have any debts?
Speaker 2: If so, what are they?
Speaker 5: So I only have my mortgage, and I say only
Speaker 5: because obviously that's quite a considerable debt.
Speaker 2: So yes, I have a mortgage, but a mortgage is
Speaker 2: a good wealth debt. So talk to us about how
Speaker 2: much is left on your mortgage and what you purchased
Speaker 2: that property for.
Speaker 5: So I think there's about two hundred and ninety thousand
Speaker 5: dollars owing on my mortgage, and when I purchase the
Speaker 5: property before COVID, well before COVID, I think it was
Speaker 5: about three hundred and thirty five thousand.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: That's not bad at all.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I live in a regional area, so obviously
Speaker 5: I'm in that position where I'm not paying a million
Speaker 5: dollars to enter the market. And obviously before COVID and
Speaker 5: the big increase in prices house prices, I've worked.
Speaker 6: In my favor.
Speaker 2: Yeah wow, ur right, Next question, my friend, do you
Speaker 2: currently use shot back when shopping online?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I do have the extension on my browser, and I
Speaker 5: feel like I go through spades where I use it
Speaker 5: all the time and then you know, won't buy anything
Speaker 5: for a while. But yeah, I definitely use it and
Speaker 5: it's yeah, it's great free money.
Speaker 2: We love free money. That is the money win all right.
Speaker 2: Next question, we want to know what is your best
Speaker 2: money habit.
Speaker 5: My best money habit is like automating my finances. So
Speaker 5: I am just a very busy person and I hate
Speaker 5: having to manually pay a bill or you know, actually
Speaker 5: have to have things in my head and think, oh,
Speaker 5: my gosh, I've got to do this, so I automate
Speaker 5: all of my regular bills, my mortgage, you know, contributions
Speaker 5: to super, investments, savings, all of that kind of thing.
Speaker 5: So it avoids that temptation of oh, you know, I'll
Speaker 5: get to it one day, like I'll contribute to my
Speaker 5: super one day, or I might inverse one day.
Speaker 6: If it's just gone, you don't really notice it.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's also one of my best money habits.
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like it's out of sight, out
Speaker 2: of mind. If it's set up, I feel secure. I
Speaker 2: know a lot of people don't feel that way though,
Speaker 2: They're like, no, I really want to manually, and I'm
Speaker 2: just like, no, sir, that's not for me, not for
Speaker 2: me at all.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 2: All right, let's flip that narrative on its head. I
Speaker 2: want to know what is your worst money have it?
Speaker 6: Ah, it's almost hard.
Speaker 5: And it actually came to me as I was putting
Speaker 5: the garbage bins out the other day and I was like,
Speaker 5: oh my gosh, you need to stop buying excess food.
Speaker 5: I think I have best intentions. What am I going
Speaker 5: to half for the week. Let's put a meal plan
Speaker 5: in place and then it gets to Thursday and I
Speaker 5: do not want to have that, and so you go
Speaker 5: to something else and then yeah, so I think food
Speaker 5: wastage and have falling into that trap towards the end
Speaker 5: of the week. Well, I might just get something for dinner.
Speaker 5: Is probably one of my worst money habits.
Speaker 2: Yes, last week's money darist had literally the same Habit
Speaker 2: is so funny because I'm exactly the same like past me,
Speaker 2: who food preps on a Sunday. She's so healthy, she
Speaker 2: has the best intentions for the week. She believes so
Speaker 2: much in future Victoria. But future Victoria she just wants
Speaker 2: to eat pizza. She wants the pizza man, the food
Speaker 2: to the couch in a perfect world, so she doesn't
Speaker 2: have to cook that really healthy meal. Because it's also
Speaker 2: not about just being lazy. I just don't feel like
Speaker 2: that anymore, and I find that really hard to navigate.
Speaker 2: Is that something you're like, oh, I really want to
Speaker 2: work on it, or are you like, all right, this
Speaker 2: is a habit that I'm just going to agree to
Speaker 2: disagree with.
Speaker 5: I think I definitely like, particularly for health wise, it's
Speaker 5: so much better to prepare food at home, and you know,
Speaker 5: usually you can get a couple of nights out of
Speaker 5: it and that kind of thing. But yeah, it's definitely
Speaker 5: something I need to prioritize. And I think if you
Speaker 5: come home and you prepare dinner, since you walk through
Speaker 5: the door, it's easy. As soon as you hit the
Speaker 5: couch or whatever, it's gone, it's.
Speaker 2: Done, totally, all right. I want to know this last
Speaker 2: question before we go to a quick break, well deep
Speaker 2: dive further into your money story, but what grade would
Speaker 2: you give your money habits if you're forced to give
Speaker 2: yourself a grade?
Speaker 6: Oh well, this is my specialty.
Speaker 5: And every time I hear people like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 5: you're so under undercutting yourself, like you should give yourself higher.
Speaker 5: I think for knowledge, I would give myself an A
Speaker 5: just based on you know, every day, my education background
Speaker 5: and that kind of thing. But in reality, I think
Speaker 5: a B because there's a lot of things I could
Speaker 5: be doing better and there's always room for improvement.
Speaker 6: So I don't think I'm like a solid A. I
Speaker 6: would say a B plus to an A.
Speaker 4: I like that you just faltered to like a Rubricu're
Speaker 4: like in this category.
Speaker 2: I guess this category and the feedback on that, and
Speaker 2: we'll talk about it at Parent Teacher Info nite. So
Speaker 2: tell us Money Direst what would mean that you, as
Speaker 2: a student could go from your current mark up to
Speaker 2: an A plus. What would it take less talking in class?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Maybe, Like I was definitely a talker in class, so yeah,
Speaker 5: definitely one of those people. But yeah, probably I think, like,
Speaker 5: particularly if interest rates increasing, I think I need to
Speaker 5: move around a few savings accounts. I definitely need to
Speaker 5: go back to my mortgage broker and get them to
Speaker 5: check my interest rate.
Speaker 2: Oh I can do that for you. I've got a
Speaker 2: good mortgage broker.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I know, I've seen that. Yeah.
Speaker 5: So it's just like little things that I've sort of
Speaker 5: set every six months that I'll revisit. So I think
Speaker 5: there's a few things that I need to reevaluate, and
Speaker 5: particularly in the new year, of revisit everything again.
Speaker 6: And make sure it's all all chugging along nicely.
Speaker 2: I love that. All Right, with that, let's go to
Speaker 2: a really quick break because I have lots of questions
Speaker 2: and we'll get through them in a very hot minute.
Speaker 4: Alrighty, welcome back, everybody, Money Dorus. I want to kick
Speaker 4: things off by talking through your endometriosis diagnosis. And the
Speaker 4: impact that that's had on you. Because we've touched on
Speaker 4: on the Pod before, endometriosis is one of those things
Speaker 4: that is extremely commonly misdiagnosed.
Speaker 2: It's often ignored.
Speaker 4: There's like a really significant problem that I've seen, even
Speaker 4: just within my personal circle of friends, of people having
Speaker 4: the symptoms, and they're pretty severe symptoms and more often
Speaker 4: than not being chalked up to just really bad period cramps.
Speaker 4: Have you taken a panetole like not necessarily being treated
Speaker 4: with the severity that it needed to be. And then
Speaker 4: over the last few years, we've seen, I think when
Speaker 4: we spoke about the budget earlier in the year, more
Speaker 4: and more money being committed specifically to research and assist
Speaker 4: in learning more about ENDO. What was the process of
Speaker 4: getting diagnosed like for you, because you said that it
Speaker 4: was nearly fifteen years ago, so it probably wasn't as
Speaker 4: commonly spoken about as it is now. How did that go?
Speaker 4: Did you find it hard? Did people kind of take
Speaker 4: you at your word right away?
Speaker 5: So it was really challenging because at the time that
Speaker 5: my family and myself started seeking some answers, I was
Speaker 5: really only fourteen and in the in society and dometriosis
Speaker 5: like it was known about, but it really wasn't talked about,
Speaker 5: and there was among the medical profession a sort of
Speaker 5: unfounded assumption that a young person as young as fifteen
Speaker 5: wouldn't have endometriosis. So a lot of the presentations to
Speaker 5: the general practitioners were, look, it's just bad period pain.
Speaker 5: A lot of young women experience this. Have you tried this,
Speaker 5: that and the other? Have you tried contraception? Everything known
Speaker 5: to men they try first, and then you know, in
Speaker 5: a six month period, I went from being a really healthy,
Speaker 5: happy person to becoming just completely debilitated. And I was
Speaker 5: struggling to play sport, I was struggling to go to work,
Speaker 5: which I had a part time job at the time,
Speaker 5: I was struggling to go to school, and I just, yeah,
Speaker 5: became a really broken person. Unfortunately, I went to a
Speaker 5: GP and my mum was such a huge advocate, and
Speaker 5: she said, look, I'm a medical professional myself. My daughter
Speaker 5: is not well and you need to actually listen to her,
Speaker 5: and I want a referral to a gynocologist.
Speaker 6: And it sort of went from there.
Speaker 5: And once I saw this gynocologist who was like, oh
Speaker 5: my gosh, you're ticking all of the boxers. I want
Speaker 5: to book you in next week for a diagnostic laparoscopy.
Speaker 5: Once that was undertaken, I woke up and I think
Speaker 5: I'd reached the point where I thought I was crazy.
Speaker 5: Like I remember saying to the nurse, you know, like,
Speaker 5: did they find anything? I think my fear was they'd
Speaker 5: say there was nothing there, and I'm thinking like, like
Speaker 5: I'm going crazy, there's something wrong.
Speaker 2: No, but you're not, You're not crazy.
Speaker 5: I remember her saying, no, we definitely found quite a
Speaker 5: considerable amount. So they removed the end of metrisis during
Speaker 5: the surgery. So that obviously made a world of difference
Speaker 5: to my pain levels.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's crazy that it took your mum stepping in
Speaker 2: and really advocating for you. And you know, that's amazing
Speaker 2: for you. But so many people just either don't advocate
Speaker 2: for themselves or have somebody who really talks up. Because
Speaker 2: I feel like too many times people get told it's
Speaker 2: just period pain. You just need to, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: lay in bed for a little longer. Have you tried
Speaker 2: a weep pack, Like a weat pack might really help you.
Speaker 2: You could take one to work Like that to me
Speaker 2: is crazy talk because our bodies aren't actually meant to
Speaker 2: be in that much pain when we have our periods,
Speaker 2: Like it's just not actually normal. And I think we
Speaker 2: need to talk about this more often because I have
Speaker 2: a few friends who have ENDO, very very significantly. It
Speaker 2: impacts their fertility, it impacts their quality of life, It
Speaker 2: has involved lots of different surgeries over a long period
Speaker 2: of time, and I just don't think people understand that
Speaker 2: ENDO isn't just bad period pain, Like it's actually really
Speaker 2: really significant.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, And when you say to people like I
Speaker 5: remember when I was diagnosed and I'd returned to school,
Speaker 5: and you know, everyone is trying their best to be supportive,
Speaker 5: but because young fifteen year old girls, sixteen year old girls,
Speaker 5: they don't really understand what it was at the time,
Speaker 5: and they're like, oh, okay.
Speaker 6: Fantastic, you've had your surgery, you're fixed.
Speaker 5: And it was so hard to explain that this is
Speaker 5: an ongoing condition and a huge percentage of women actually
Speaker 5: have a recurrence, which I have and have had to
Speaker 5: have five surgeries since then. So yeah, it's such a
Speaker 5: struggle and a lot of women do fall into that.
Speaker 5: I want to emphasiz with you so they'll say things
Speaker 5: like no, oh, I have that period pain too, like oh,
Speaker 5: I do yoga and like I eat you know, clean,
Speaker 5: and I do this and that. Have you tried it?
Speaker 5: And I have got to the point now where I've
Speaker 5: just not in smile like yes, like you know, I
Speaker 5: have tried everything.
Speaker 2: And it's so undermining when people like have you tried
Speaker 2: eating clean? You're like, this is a chronic illness, Like
Speaker 2: you're clearly not seeing how chronic this is. Like eating
Speaker 2: clean might make me feel better for a week, but
Speaker 2: it is not going to fix the problem. And I
Speaker 2: think it can be you know, obviously from you, it
Speaker 2: would just be emotionally exhausting having to deal with questions
Speaker 2: like that or comments like that so consistently because it
Speaker 2: makes you feel like your situation isn't as valid but
Speaker 2: it absolutely is. And to me that just sounds crazy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it is getting better, like I have
Speaker 5: noticed progressively as time has gone on and I've become
Speaker 5: an adult and in adult spaces, there's less of a
Speaker 5: tendency for the people I engage with now to say
Speaker 5: those things. But definitely, as a young woman, a very
Speaker 5: young woman, I was just, yeah, I felt like there
Speaker 5: was nobody who really understood.
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry you had that experience. It's not one
Speaker 2: that I wish on anybody. Talking about chronic illness, how
Speaker 2: does that still impact your day to day life? Like,
Speaker 2: Endo's obviously something that's just not going to go away.
Speaker 2: So does that impact your teaching ability or your ability
Speaker 2: to work?
Speaker 6: Like?
Speaker 2: How does it impact you day to day?
Speaker 5: I suppose, yeah, So I since I've been diagnosed, I
Speaker 5: find I have, you know, eighteen months to two years
Speaker 5: of what I call it I refer to as a
Speaker 5: honeymoon period where I feel quite well, and then in
Speaker 5: that sort of third year, I start to get the
Speaker 5: pain recurring quite badly, and that's when it starts to
Speaker 5: impact work. So, you know, over the years, I have
Speaker 5: had to take a fervative sick leave, and sometimes the
Speaker 5: urgency to have surgery means that I might just have
Speaker 5: to take a week or so off all of a sudden,
Speaker 5: and then day to day, you know, I'm pretty much
Speaker 5: one of those people that just get on with it,
Speaker 5: and I sometimes find that it's better to be busy
Speaker 5: than to be at home thinking about how much pain
Speaker 5: I mean, or how you know, awful I feel. So,
Speaker 5: you know, work is still quite hard. I'm not a
Speaker 5: laborer obviously, but as a teacher, you're on all day.
Speaker 5: You're putting on a performance. It's like you're a performer.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm really happy to be here, so excited.
Speaker 5: You know, we're talking about global warming today and you're
Speaker 5: just trying to put on this show to engage these
Speaker 5: fifteen year olds. And it's super tough. Like it gets
Speaker 5: to the end of the day and you're like, wow,
Speaker 5: Like I haven't sat down and I.
Speaker 6: Feel so exhausted. So it is really tiring.
Speaker 5: It's a really an illness that really wanes on you,
Speaker 5: and you get to the point where you're just like,
Speaker 5: is there ever an.
Speaker 6: End point for this? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 4: And one of the financial impacts you mentioned earlier obviously
Speaker 4: taking time off work, using your slick leave, maybe taking
Speaker 4: unpaid leaves. But you kind of hinted at it in
Speaker 4: your earlier letter that any chronic illness, the ENDO as
Speaker 4: well specifically, does have a big financial impact on your life.
Speaker 4: Can you talk us through that a little bit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So, endometrisis, it has so many direct and indirect costs.
Speaker 5: For example, I could not be without private health insurance
Speaker 5: with enometrosis because if I didn't have private health insurance,
Speaker 5: I would be on public weight lists that are in
Speaker 5: my region eighteen months two years long. Because surgery for
Speaker 5: endometrosis is not considered a priority. It's an elective surgery.
Speaker 5: So with COVID, for example, I wouldn't have had my
Speaker 5: surgery last year. I would have still be on a
Speaker 5: weight list. So the cost with private health insurance. Then
Speaker 5: the cost with seeing as specialists, the out of pockets there,
Speaker 5: the out of pockets for your anethetist, you know, the
Speaker 5: hospital gap scans, ultrasounds, experimenting with different contraceptions that aren't
Speaker 5: on the PBS, dietitians trying different diets, exercise regimes, pain specialists, buzos,
Speaker 5: you name it. I've done it, and it all comes
Speaker 5: at a huge cost.
Speaker 2: That's insane. It's insane to me that that's elective surgery,
Speaker 2: Like that is not elective surgery. That is Oh, that
Speaker 2: frustrates me. And I guess that opens a whole other
Speaker 2: can of worms of discussion that I could have with
Speaker 2: you today, which is not what this is about. But
Speaker 2: it just it blows my mind that things like that
Speaker 2: aren't prioritized, and you know, to dig a bit deeper
Speaker 2: into that for a hot second. If it was happening
Speaker 2: to men, it would already be top of the list, right.
Speaker 6: Oh absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 5: I think if a male with complaining to their GP,
Speaker 5: like I'm in this amount of paid like a cart work,
Speaker 5: I can't go and play goal.
Speaker 2: For whatever it is, Oh yeah, straight to the top
Speaker 2: of the list, like that's.
Speaker 5: Correct, and they'd be like, oh my gosh, like we
Speaker 5: must do something for you.
Speaker 6: But if it's a woman, it's like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: We complain, Just get back in our boxes, I suppose
Speaker 2: is the summary of that, which is honestly really gross.
Speaker 2: And I just think that that's you know, putting us
Speaker 2: even further behind, because that impacts your ability to progress
Speaker 2: your career at the end of the day and generate
Speaker 2: more income. Like you're already burnt out at the end
Speaker 2: of a working day, like God forbid you wanted to
Speaker 2: have a life outside of that, Like I'm sure that
Speaker 2: there are days where you just go home and you
Speaker 2: absolutely crash and burn and there's just no option for
Speaker 2: side hustles or you know, taking on tutoring jobs and
Speaker 2: doing all of that other stuff because it's just not
Speaker 2: compatible to the life that you have. And that's just
Speaker 2: not fair.
Speaker 5: I used to tutor. In twenty twenty peak of COVID,
Speaker 5: I was tutoring as well, and I just burnt myself
Speaker 5: out and ended up leaving it. But I definitely, you know,
Speaker 5: a side hustle with the workload and with the chronic illness.
Speaker 5: It's just not something that I would contemplate at this
Speaker 5: point in time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, wow, was your experience with chronic illness? What kind
Speaker 4: of pushed you to become a director on the NDA
Speaker 4: sport that you're a director for?
Speaker 5: Not directly, No, Like it wasn't something that they even
Speaker 5: knew about, And I would say, they actually don't know
Speaker 5: about that diagnosis. I was approached JUDA some involvement that
Speaker 5: I had with some fundraising locally and the board had
Speaker 5: a couple of vacancies and so they were looking to
Speaker 5: diversify the board, particularly women and young women. So that's
Speaker 5: why I was approached, and also my educational background, so
Speaker 5: they were looking for someone who could bring that knowledge
Speaker 5: knowledge as an educator as well. Did you find that
Speaker 5: it was a really male dominated space like that you
Speaker 5: said they were looking to diversify When you moved into
Speaker 5: that space, did you feel that lack of diversity yeah,
Speaker 5: so it is diverse in other ways, but not with gender.
Speaker 5: So when I commenced, there were three female directors including myself,
Speaker 5: and nine men, and I was the youngest person on
Speaker 5: the board by probably about fifteen years.
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh. So it was a little bit daunting.
Speaker 6: Particularly with the men on the board.
Speaker 5: A lot of them had an accounting finance back out,
Speaker 5: so you know, they were very up to date with
Speaker 5: budgets and cash flow and just all of the lingo basically.
Speaker 5: So I remember my first meeting. I came in and
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh my gosh, like they gave they'd email
Speaker 5: me all these spreadsheets and all these documents, and I
Speaker 5: remember just staring at it. I'm like, I have nothing
Speaker 5: to add, thankfully, Like I learned very quickly, and I
Speaker 5: think that urgency of like I just don't want to
Speaker 5: look like I don't know what's going on, like I
Speaker 5: need to I need to immerse myself in this. And
Speaker 5: once I got up to speed, you know, I was
Speaker 5: able to contribute with in relation to the finances.
Speaker 2: I find that really interesting because I guess too, I
Speaker 2: want to say sympathized, but I guess back you up
Speaker 2: on that. I sit on a board as well. I'm
Speaker 2: the treasurer for TLC for Kids, which is a children's
Speaker 2: charity that is very close to my heart. I've been
Speaker 2: doing that for what now over three years, which is crazy.
Speaker 2: But when I first started, I would pour over every
Speaker 2: single document that was sent through to the board and
Speaker 2: make sure I know you went back to front, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: the financial side of things, that's where I really understood it.
Speaker 2: But like everything else I was pouring over and I
Speaker 2: would go to these meetings and you know, hope that
Speaker 2: I looked intelligent, didn't look silly, and realized that all
Speaker 2: of the men on the board they weren't doing that.
Speaker 2: They were just turning up and they're like, oh, what
Speaker 2: was this? When was it sent through? And I'd be like,
Speaker 2: what the hell? Like what the hell? Like why aren't
Speaker 2: you guys on top of these.
Speaker 5: They sounds so familiar, Like I think I went in
Speaker 5: over prepared and I knew that they always read the
Speaker 5: budget and all of that kind of thing and all
Speaker 5: the financials for the month. But as soon as it
Speaker 5: came to oh, has anyone reviewed those risk management plans
Speaker 5: for this client? Or has anyone reviewed that grant application
Speaker 5: or that letter, They're like no, I'm sorry, like I
Speaker 5: didn't get it, and I'm like, mate, I can see it. Friends,
Speaker 5: So you sin learn, yeah, that this unfounded sort of
Speaker 5: feeling of inadequacy and you think, well, actually.
Speaker 2: And it's not true, like you are so adequate, you've
Speaker 2: just never done it before, so it makes sense that
Speaker 2: it wouldn't make sense to you. But I think that
Speaker 2: that's the difference between you know, men and women, and
Speaker 2: we talk about it on the podcast all the time,
Speaker 2: like women will only apply for a job if they
Speaker 2: think they meet one hundred percent of the criteria, and
Speaker 2: men are just kind of like floating along. They're like
Speaker 2: sixty percent. That sounds good, that peace, get degrees, no worries,
Speaker 2: And I feel like every aspect of our lives kind
Speaker 2: of that filters into it. Because you know, I'm not
Speaker 2: going to make assumptions, but I'm assuming you already would
Speaker 2: have been overwhelmed with this idea of a board because
Speaker 2: I was. I was like, oh my gosh, like I
Speaker 2: cannot believe, Like it was like this massive piece of
Speaker 2: imposter syndrome where I was like, I can't believe they're
Speaker 2: not only letting me in, but they want me to
Speaker 2: be the treasurer, Like, what on earth They're going to
Speaker 2: find out that I'm terrible at least at some point
Speaker 2: They're going to fire me, and I'm going to be
Speaker 2: so embarrassed, And you know that's not the case at all.
Speaker 2: But I just don't think men have that same thought
Speaker 2: bat No, because they've never been put in a circumstance
Speaker 2: like that where their gender like is reflective of their
Speaker 2: ability to do a job. And you know, people just
Speaker 2: assume we wouldn't know, right, we were silly little women.
Speaker 2: And now I'm sure you kill it because you spent
Speaker 2: so long pouring over the details and really understanding what
Speaker 2: makes that board up of But essentially, like boards aren't
Speaker 2: as overwhelming and frustrating. And if other women are listening,
Speaker 2: join one do it, would you say the same thing?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Definitely.
Speaker 5: Before I was approached, I would never have seen, you know,
Speaker 5: an advertisement and thought, oh my gosh, like I should
Speaker 5: apply for this board. I would have thought that is
Speaker 5: for a male who is.
Speaker 6: Super experienced in their field.
Speaker 5: You know, obviously has a finance background, and you know,
Speaker 5: it's been one of the best experiences because you are
Speaker 5: an advocate for vulnerable groups in our community and you
Speaker 5: bring such a wealth of knowledge being from an educational background,
Speaker 5: like you can look at things and say, well, what
Speaker 5: is the value in this particular service that we're providing it?
Speaker 5: And I'm a big advocate for in disability service provision
Speaker 5: that we're not just providing something for people to do,
Speaker 5: like it's not just to fill your date like it
Speaker 5: should be meaningful. What life skills does this activity give
Speaker 5: this person? How does it prepare them to become more
Speaker 5: independent and transition into independent living if that's their goal.
Speaker 5: So I think it's a you know, if it opens
Speaker 5: up so many opportunities. You get to meet clients and
Speaker 5: you know, they're very open, they will tell you if
Speaker 5: something's not right, and you know, it really drives that
Speaker 5: incentive to think, well, okay, well we need to fix that.
Speaker 5: And I think a lot of times I've said during
Speaker 5: a meeting, oh well that's a minor issue. I said, okay, well,
Speaker 5: in the scheme of things, it's a minor issue for you,
Speaker 5: But for this client, every day it annoys them. So
Speaker 5: let's just get in and get it done.
Speaker 2: Yes, And do you know what baffles me even more
Speaker 2: earlier you told me you didn't tell me the statistics,
Speaker 2: but you told me the numbers. You said it was yourself,
Speaker 2: another woman and nine men on the board, right, And
Speaker 2: I was like, sorry, So while you were just talking,
Speaker 2: I did a little bit of googling. My friend. In Australia,
Speaker 2: male teachers make up twenty two percent of all teachers
Speaker 2: in all classrooms in Australia. And to think that then
Speaker 2: the saturation in your board is majority made all to me.
Speaker 2: That doesn't make sense, Like we need more women in
Speaker 2: this space, not just because women in leadership roles is important,
Speaker 2: because it is, but I'm sorry, let's make it reflective
Speaker 2: of the industry as well, Like, that makes no sense
Speaker 2: that a majority of men when a lot of the
Speaker 2: issues pertaining to this space issues that impact women directly.
Speaker 2: So I just baffles me. I'm so glad you're there,
Speaker 2: But I also think if you know people in our
Speaker 2: community are thinking about it, put your hat in the ring,
Speaker 2: like you know lots, you're a strong, smart person and
Speaker 2: you will be welcomed into a board, I promise. Often
Speaker 2: people aren't getting onto boards because we're not applying, like
Speaker 2: and I see it when I talk to other boards
Speaker 2: and you know, talk to my friends, like even when
Speaker 2: the slots are available. Women just don't throw their hat
Speaker 2: in the ring because we just don't think that we've
Speaker 2: got enough to add. And you absolutely do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, And I've said it to a lot of
Speaker 5: my friends and some of them are younger and a
Speaker 5: couple of them are on boards as well, and it's
Speaker 5: just so great to see that. You know, they are applying,
Speaker 5: but we're trying to encourage other women as well.
Speaker 6: And you can start small. It might be with your local.
Speaker 5: Football club, network club, you know, a really small provider
Speaker 5: of a particular service, and you can branch out from there.
Speaker 5: I think, you know, look for those opportunities, but also
Speaker 5: ask you know, if you see advertisements for annual general
Speaker 5: meetings being held, you can go along to them. You
Speaker 5: can express an interest beforehand, particularly if they do say, look,
Speaker 5: we are calling for nominations. So yeah, there's definitely opportunities
Speaker 5: out there.
Speaker 2: And it's cool to have an impact in a space
Speaker 2: that you're passionate about as well. And it sounds like
Speaker 2: you're doing that and I'm just I'm proud to say
Speaker 2: that you're part of our shes On the mining community.
Speaker 2: You sound like a stellar human being. Thank you, Money Dorest,
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. For joining us today. It has
Speaker 2: been an absolute pleasure learning more about you and your
Speaker 2: journey and everything that you've been through. I feel like
Speaker 2: you are so impactful and so young and have so
Speaker 2: far to go yet. Thank you for being part of
Speaker 2: our community and thank you for joining us for Money
Speaker 2: Diary today.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: No, of course, all right, Jess, that is all. We
Speaker 2: will see you guys for another episode of Money Diaries
Speaker 2: next week.
Speaker 4: Bye.
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