July 9, 2025 • 19 mins
Pats gets a little “Fan Girl” in Part One of her chat with The Big Group Co-Founder and Media Personality Chyka Keebaugh. They talk about her collaboration with NY Style Icon Iris Apfel, turning 50, empty-nesting and the liberation of learning to say no.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cheek a Keyboard is a powerhouse business woman, co founder
of the Big Group alongside husband Bruce's mother to now
adult children, author and media personality. But when you sit
down to chat with Chica, you feel as though you've
known her for years. She is the real deal, authentic,
(00:21):
fearless and utterly divine. I didn't want our meeting to end.
We talk turning fifty, empty, nesting, and the liberation of
learning to say no, enjoy. Woman's got it all together.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Menopause, It's coming for you no matter what.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Let's build a village of support.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Why is it so damn hot in here?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Menopause is so hot right now?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I think I'm only in menopause.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Women just want to feel hurt rage against the menopause
as I'm so excited. I have the beautiful cheek at Keyboard.
Who you might know from. I think you did three
seasons of Housewife. I did Melbourne. But far more than that,
you are an entrepreneur. You're described on your website Chica
(01:11):
dot com, warm, kind, classy. I have been a fan
of yours for so so long. Our paths crossed at
lunch last year for Derby Day, and I had seen
you at a few other events, and I thought, you
know what, I'm actually going to introduce myself this time
because I think you're so amazing Checker. So I did
(01:32):
go up to you, and I was so I don't
know what I was expecting, but I felt like i'd
known you for ever.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I love that. That's exactly what I like people to
feel like. I think that's a nice thing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Well you are. You are warm, and you are kind.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And you are cute.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Gosh, you're classy. Know you were on Housewives. I thought
that you just you held yourself so beautifully and elegantly
and didn't get involved in the nasty. No.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And it's funny because I just that's who I am.
I'm not that person to get into drama and to
cause problems. And I found it really interesting watching that
show and being a part of that show and seeing
how they sort of made that all work and happen
and obviously set off the fireworks, but I was like, Nope,
that's not who I am. And also too, I had
a business to protect. I was certainly not going to
go out looking like I was the gossiping person when
(02:22):
in fact, really that's not who I am. And I
wanted to protect and make sure that no one thought
that that's what I was doing when we're in someone's
private space.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So you're a class act. Thank you, of course, you
and Bruce, the beautiful Bruce, your husband of thirty two.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Thirty two, been together thirty four.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Wow, you run the Big Group, which is an international
hospitality group. Yeah, would that be fair?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Absolutely, It's been a journey and it's funny. We both
started that business to save up some money to go
backpacking through Europe, and then we sort of picked up
more and more work and then sort of got more
and more stuff, and then suddenly it was like, oh,
that trip's not going to happen the way we thought
it was. We went on a six week trip, but
we just got so much that we just sort of
thought we better come back and keep going.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
But you're a great team. Everything you touch terms to gold.
Everything is beautiful. No no, no, But the way you dressed today,
you'd never step.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You're so kind.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I love things like that though, Like I love fashion,
I love you know, decorating homes, I love beautiful food,
Like all those things are very much who I am
and have been who I've been all my life. Like
my I had two amazing grandmothers. One was a real
homemaker and the other one was actually an actress on
the stage during World War one and two. And I
feel like I've got both of them sitting on my
shoulders because I've got a bit of both of them.
(03:34):
And my mum's mum taught me how to fold cheets,
how to do flower arrangements, make the perfect roast. All
those things were absolutely who I am. So it's truly
in meat, deep and deep.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I look at your website. Your house is just always
so it's the house everyone wants. I need you to
set all this argument. So before Christmas, I found this
most beautiful door wreath. Yes, but I'm one of the
people that loves a wreath all year round, right, Like,
I think it's just that's beautiful, not Christmas themed. I
(04:07):
just think it's hey, the Newmans live here. We're a
happy and we're happily and we're come inside and put
your feet up. Anyway, my husband and daughter don't agree. Anyway,
I found this beautiful wreath. As I was saying, it's
almost like a pink heather and very very full, like
very very full, and you can barely close the door
for it, like it's just exceptional, and I want to
(04:30):
I'm trying to find like a pink waterwave, taffeta ribbon
or velvet ribbon.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I can tell exactly where to get that because I
get a lot of my ribbons from a company in America,
and the Americans have everything, like if you want to pink, they've.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Got forty pinks. You can choose from any.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Shade, any thickness, wire, you know, velvet, grow grain, whatever
you one, I'll give.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It to you because it's I think a ribbon really
does make it look free.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And like I said to Chris, I've got this vision,
and he said, no, it's got to go down now Christmas.
I'm like, no, I'm going to ask check.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Or it doesn't sounds like it's very Christmasy. Anyway, I
think it's a beautiful boat.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It looks stunny, and we've got this beautiful big burgundy
timber front door and it just got in the bricks
kind of burgundy. And after contrast, yeah, and I thought,
you know what, Chica will set me on the street.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
In America, they always have wreaths on their doors. Lots
of homes, whether it's auto or it's spring.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I love it. I think it's keep it. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I'll tell him you said that.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Do you tell Chris that from me, because.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You've now you've done one of your rooms up recently,
all that beautiful bottle green.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
So we put a conservatory on our house down on
the peninsula, and it's funny. It's not the biggest room
in the world, but it kind of gave us the
entrance that we never really had, and we were doing
the garden at the same time.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I can't tell you how I love I am with it.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Like our whole house is sort of black and beige
and a bit gray and bruce. And said to me,
I wasn't allowed to put nicknacks because I do love
my cutter, and slowly, slowly I have found its. But
this new green room has got all my beautiful white china,
and I'll collect you named I've got it.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Napkins place mats.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Love showing it off, and I don't mean showing it off,
I mean like just showing.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
It so you can see you have been enjoying it.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, And when you can see it away, you use it.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And I'm all about people using what you've got in
the cupboards because we all just use the top five
things and that's it. So this new green room is
my love and I love it so much and it's
so pretty and it was fun to decorate for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
When I looked at it and I thought, gee, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
It is it is like green everywhere, but it's the
best green. Yeah, and we got those tops that those
tiles are from Morocco. But because I've done all this
green outside, it just brings it always that.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It just feels gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I'm so happy, like I cannot wait to get in
the car and drive back down.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, I'm a happy place. I bet you also have collaborations,
don't do illusion.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yes, it's a beautiful shop, which you know what.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
They came to me a couple of years ago and
the first thing they asked me to do was to
do a photo shoot in New York with Iris Apsoll,
who has always been my idol. Yes, and I was like,
are you serious? And we had the most extraordinary dal
I'll never forget it. It was truly to meet that extraordinary
woman and have time with her and just to talk
to her about style and design was amazing. So yes,
(07:07):
I'm doing that I've got another really exciting one coming
out with Mecca, which is really.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
His favorite shop. It's gone from like Smiggle suddenly to
Mecca and no in between. It's just all of Christmas
was Mecca vouchers.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Don't you Just when I see a mechat box under
the tree, I'm like, oh, please for me. So yeah,
I've got some really fun things that I've got coming up,
like some food brands and do you know what? Every
year starts off not knowing what's going to happen, and
then you get all these sort of questions asked, and
I'm like, let's just do it at the age of
my life now where I'm like, I'm not gonna not
say yes. I'm going to give it a go, see
(07:42):
what happens and take it from there.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Throw it to the wind. Don't you think I've spoken
the first series? For me? It was once I turned fifty.
There is a bit of no fucks given, isn't it?
As you throw caution to the wind anything, Well, what's
the worst that could happen if I fall flat on
my face? It leads out I know I've how to go.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I think we've got more confidence when I turned fifty
My new word was no, because I felt like I
said yes to everybody all my life and then suddenly
I was like, I don't want to do that, so no,
thank you very much. And I felt so liberated when
there were things happening that I didn't have to go
to or where I just sort of decided it wasn't
what I wanted to do because my week was already
really busy, and I've just been kind to myself and
(08:22):
it's been incredibly liberaated.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I was about to say, it is so liberating. I
think at first you feel like I'm going to miss
out on something. I'm missing out on opportunities because you're
always told to go for it. And you know, I
think too, as a woman, sometimes it is a bit
fight for the bone, like you really have to be
out there. But you're right, it's liberating. Once you turn fifty,
something happens, something washes over you. Yeah, like it's okay.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
I've got this real theory in life too, that these
sliding into all moments. Whether if you say no to
something then you can't look back and regret. If you
say yes to something and it's absolutely the best thing, fantastic,
and if it doesn't work out, just learn from it,
and that's okay too, to sit back. And I really
feel like we need to do this more that we
sit back and go that didn't work because of but
that's all right. Or I should have done something differently,
but that's all right. Like we have to give ourselves
(09:07):
a little bit of leniency.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And how hard is it to say no? Because as
a woman and as a mum, its hard to turn the.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Which is why it's liberating to be able to say it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, and you think, oh, that's all right. No small
children were harmed in the saying.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yes, my no? Is it going to save or change
the world?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
So where? Tell me? Where are you with your menopause journey?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, it's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I actually don't know because I started at forty nine, yep.
And I my mum had a really tough time with
menopause and that was when I first knew what it
was about. And she was all over the shop and
I remember she sent me some flowers to say I'm sorry,
and that's when she went on too HRT. And you
know how long ago we talking. Mum's eighty two a
(09:50):
long time ago. Yeah, And there was a whole thing
about you know, the different risks that HRT had. But
I always said, if and when that happens to me,
I will jump on board stra away. So when I
started feeling a the sweats and you know, feeling the
anxiety and all the rest of it, beautiful Bruce said
to me, sweetheart, do you think it's time you went
to the doctor? And I thought, okay, I'm obviously not
(10:12):
being gracier so.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Of being a bit like me do so perhaps.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
So my I love my doctor. She has been with
me since I got married. Correct, She's been through the
journey with the kids and all the problems that they've
all had. And I just sat with her and said,
tell me what to do, and you know, they're very open.
Here's some options you choose. And I said, well what
are you going to do? And she said, oh, no
one's ever asked me that before. And I said, well,
what will you do? So she told me and I said, well,
(10:37):
I think I'm going to do what you're going to do.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
And so at forty nine, I did the Marina. I
started on HRT and it was literally.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
A game changer.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
But now I'm fifty six, and I said to her,
the other day, when do we stop this?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You don't have to.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Oh wow, you can keep going. You can do whatever
you want. You can you know, obviously I'll take the
Marina out. But like I sort of this is the
year I'm going to investigate all of that, sort of
see where I don't need to keep.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Doing prioritize yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah a bit. Yeah, because I feel fantastic, Like.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You look fantastic, glowing. When you came into the studio,
I thought, my god, this woman's got it all together.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Just had a nice holiday.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
No, but you do. You look relaxed and refresh can
On top.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Of I feel really good. I feel good going into
this year.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Actually, so I've had a lot of happy times over
the last couple of weeks, which I think also makes
you feel good, feels your cup.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But the whole HRT thing for me has been the best.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
So I just feel like I'm at my normal keep
going and doing what I need to do without any
sort of.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And you've got like you've got a madic routine. You
can be flying all around the world. Yeah no, but
you can yes absolutely different time zones and really your
life has not.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Bruce had I had a conversation and said, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
So at fifty five we both talked about what the
next five years we're going to look like, and then
we said, we're having this chat again at sixty, so
we kind of know that the next what's happening in
the next five years. Both kids live overseas, so it
is literally just about us, our beautiful otto and that's
what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And I think it's working really well for us.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Your daughter is now thirty and your son is twenty eight. Yes,
and getting married next year, yes, which is so exciting.
Oh my god, that will be the wedding of the century.
Oh wait, do you know what?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
We have literally done thousands and if not hundreds of
thousands of weddings, And to have the opportunity to do
something for your own child and their beautiful partner, it's
the greatest gift in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And we Brice and I. You should hear us.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You're excited, like and they're so cute, the two of them.
They're like whatever you think.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I'm like, okay, well, of course the experts are in.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Do give an inch, you'll take a mile. No.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I was just thinking empty nesting. How did that coincide
with you going through perimenopause and the kids leaving, because
it seems like for me, it's a life collision where
you've got elderly parents whose needs are greater, so you're
getting stretched in that direction. For me, it's a teenage daughter.
(13:03):
It's not the restrictions but the demands of breakfast radio.
And it does feel like this collision course of everything
at once. And then I'm also grappling with not being
able to sleep and going through I'm still perimenopause like,
and then you've got the kid like everything.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It's a lot, and it always happens at the same time. Yes,
because then my two children left. In fact, Jess's been
living in America now for ten years. Bj went and
did college over there, came back, went back again, so
it's not been five or six so.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Actually probably they missed the worst of it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It is interesting how it all happens.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
And then suddenly you sit in bed and go, oh
my god, I don't have to jump out of bed
and make breakfast for anyone, or worry about dinner tonight
or who's been picked up dropped off? So yes, it does.
It changes everything, and I supposed to a degree Bruce
and I have been quite selfish in the fact that
it's just about us.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, but again I'm finding that even though fourteen this year,
I'm sort of finding that reconnect with my husband again
because she's even more independent, becoming special. So it's like,
and you know what's really nice. I just thought the
other day, because you know, when you you feel like
ships in the night and it is like tag team,
even though we've only got one child, it's sort of
(14:19):
like you be here, you be there, I'll do this,
you do. There's never there's no date nights a lot,
not enough, No, but it is nice to come back
to that point and think that connection is still there.
And it's scary after all those it.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Is and the number of my friends who have separated
after their children have left because they're looking at each other.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Going, who, I don't know you anymore.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
That's why you got to make your date nights.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, because Bruce and I always had date nights because
we're obviously working together, living together, children together, and I
think sometimes to go out for dinner and just talk
about a couple.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Nothing like no.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Work, not business partners. Yeah. God, he's so cute.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I love him.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So he looks great.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I say, do you know what? He is living his
best life.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
He looks fantastic, happy's shape.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
After COVID, which is obviously an incredibly tough times for
many people, but it was really tough in the hospitality industry,
he really showed up to a lot of people with
He did lots of Instagram chats and all the rest
of it. And I think he's at a really great place,
a bit like what we're talking about, how we feel
like at fifty you can say no, Yeah, he's at
that stage where he knows what he's good at, what
(15:23):
he's capable of, what he wants to do more of,
and he's just going for it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And I love that about him because his face says it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, he looks he's naughty.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Well thirty plus years thirty two, that is, that's a great.
How did you meet?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh my god, we met on a plane going up
to Queensland. We were both working for a caterer called
Peter Rowlands. Yes, and Bruce used to go up and
do the Brisbane bed football lunches every second week and
one day the girl that used to go couldn't, so
I went and that was.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Its fuck and the rest is history and.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
The rest is history.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
And then we thought no one knew that we were together.
And there was a big drum or a big marquet
had blown down, a big society wedding down in Flinders,
and we got the phone call from Peter saying, can
you please go and go fix it? He said, and
can you make sure Bruce is with you? And I'm like,
how did he even know we're together?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
So it was just one of those funny things. But
now as a business own now you know everything that's
going on.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah, but your soul mates teasted me that you.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And I feel like we've grown up together like we
were young. We were twenty three when we got married.
So I really feel like between having the big group,
which is we always say our first child, and having
our two children and just everything that's gone on in
the world of you know, what we've been doing, it's
been great.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
There have been times where I wanted to, you know, kill.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Him, Yeah, but that's that's natural.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
But he's not the best and I can't imagine walking
into the last half of my life without my best
friend by my side.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That's beautiful. Tell me what was his how important was
his support. You said that he instigated you. Maybe, yes,
see the GP.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
He was amazing.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, and he's been incredible, Like he's not every day
how I am, but he absolutely is across it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And you know, I'm tell him things and he's interested.
He listen. He doesn't brush it away. No, And I
think that's.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
A thing about menopause and perimenopause. Most guys don't know
much about it, no, so I think it is important.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
A lot of women don't know about it. I came
into this and I was so unarmed, cheeker. I thought,
I don't think I'm I'm not a dumb person, but
why aren't we talking about this? I don't know enough
about it. No one's talking about it on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I love that you have got it.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
And I was telling quite a few people that I
was doing this today and so many were like, oh
my god, that is so good to hear because there
is not much enough information out there. There's not enough
understanding that we're all different and we want to do
it differently. But it's also important to know we can
feel back to our normal selves.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
So yeah, that's the thing I remember saying to my GP.
I said, am I going to feel normal again. Yes, Like,
I don't know, it's such a funny thing, my journey.
So how's this so coming off the back of Christmas?
So I think it's when we stop down on survey break,
we have a We're very very lucky, very fortunate in
(18:06):
that we have five or six weeks off and that
is a time for your body to just completely relax.
So I went, this has happened three years in a row,
eleven months without a period. So I thought, Wow, this
is it. I'm finally like high five after a lifetime
of you know, pcos and endometriosis and all that. I thought,
you know what, this is it. This is the next chapter.
(18:28):
And then always when I'm off in that survey break,
I get a period. Yeah, so I go back to
square one.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Is it a real period? Though?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Well, the first one certainly was. It was like the
gates of hell, Yeah, that's horrible. And then it was
like a bit of a puff the second. The second
time it happened. And then so this December, that's just happened.
I said to my husband, we were about to go
up to the WIT Sundays for our break, and I said,
you know what, I was really pissed off. I said
(18:58):
to Chris, can you believe I think I'm going to
have to go and get some tampons because I am
pretty sure that my period's coming. He's going no, and
I said, no, I'm serious. Like even cheek are the
saw boobs And they got sore each day, and then
I started to get the cramping, and I thought, you've
got it like I was.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So that would make me furious.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
I just stormed into a west Damn these damn tampons.
And if you enjoyed this episode with Cheeka, download part two.
If your menopause journey is making you feel disempowered, I
highly recommend Back in Control, where she talks about how
she took charge of her journey and inspires other women
(19:40):
to do the same. I'm Petrina Jones strage against the
menopause
Cheek a Keyboard is a powerhouse business woman, co founder
of the Big Group alongside husband Bruce's mother to now
adult children, author and media personality. But when you sit
down to chat with Chica, you feel as though you've
known her for years. She is the real deal, authentic,
(00:21):
fearless and utterly divine. I didn't want our meeting to end.
We talk turning fifty, empty, nesting, and the liberation of
learning to say no, enjoy. Woman's got it all together.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Menopause, It's coming for you no matter what.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Let's build a village of support.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Why is it so damn hot in here?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Menopause is so hot right now?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I think I'm only in menopause.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Women just want to feel hurt rage against the menopause
as I'm so excited. I have the beautiful cheek at Keyboard.
Who you might know from. I think you did three
seasons of Housewife. I did Melbourne. But far more than that,
you are an entrepreneur. You're described on your website Chica
(01:11):
dot com, warm, kind, classy. I have been a fan
of yours for so so long. Our paths crossed at
lunch last year for Derby Day, and I had seen
you at a few other events, and I thought, you
know what, I'm actually going to introduce myself this time
because I think you're so amazing Checker. So I did
(01:32):
go up to you, and I was so I don't
know what I was expecting, but I felt like i'd
known you for ever.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I love that. That's exactly what I like people to
feel like. I think that's a nice thing.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Well you are. You are warm, and you are kind.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And you are cute.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Gosh, you're classy. Know you were on Housewives. I thought
that you just you held yourself so beautifully and elegantly
and didn't get involved in the nasty. No.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And it's funny because I just that's who I am.
I'm not that person to get into drama and to
cause problems. And I found it really interesting watching that
show and being a part of that show and seeing
how they sort of made that all work and happen
and obviously set off the fireworks, but I was like, Nope,
that's not who I am. And also too, I had
a business to protect. I was certainly not going to
go out looking like I was the gossiping person when
(02:22):
in fact, really that's not who I am. And I
wanted to protect and make sure that no one thought
that that's what I was doing when we're in someone's
private space.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So you're a class act. Thank you, of course, you
and Bruce, the beautiful Bruce, your husband of thirty two.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Thirty two, been together thirty four.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Wow, you run the Big Group, which is an international
hospitality group. Yeah, would that be fair?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Absolutely, It's been a journey and it's funny. We both
started that business to save up some money to go
backpacking through Europe, and then we sort of picked up
more and more work and then sort of got more
and more stuff, and then suddenly it was like, oh,
that trip's not going to happen the way we thought
it was. We went on a six week trip, but
we just got so much that we just sort of
thought we better come back and keep going.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
But you're a great team. Everything you touch terms to gold.
Everything is beautiful. No no, no, But the way you dressed today,
you'd never step.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You're so kind.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I love things like that though, Like I love fashion,
I love you know, decorating homes, I love beautiful food,
Like all those things are very much who I am
and have been who I've been all my life. Like
my I had two amazing grandmothers. One was a real
homemaker and the other one was actually an actress on
the stage during World War one and two. And I
feel like I've got both of them sitting on my
shoulders because I've got a bit of both of them.
(03:34):
And my mum's mum taught me how to fold cheets,
how to do flower arrangements, make the perfect roast. All
those things were absolutely who I am. So it's truly
in meat, deep and deep.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I look at your website. Your house is just always
so it's the house everyone wants. I need you to
set all this argument. So before Christmas, I found this
most beautiful door wreath. Yes, but I'm one of the
people that loves a wreath all year round, right, Like,
I think it's just that's beautiful, not Christmas themed. I
(04:07):
just think it's hey, the Newmans live here. We're a
happy and we're happily and we're come inside and put
your feet up. Anyway, my husband and daughter don't agree. Anyway,
I found this beautiful wreath. As I was saying, it's
almost like a pink heather and very very full, like
very very full, and you can barely close the door
for it, like it's just exceptional, and I want to
(04:30):
I'm trying to find like a pink waterwave, taffeta ribbon
or velvet ribbon.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I can tell exactly where to get that because I
get a lot of my ribbons from a company in America,
and the Americans have everything, like if you want to pink, they've.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Got forty pinks. You can choose from any.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Shade, any thickness, wire, you know, velvet, grow grain, whatever
you one, I'll give.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It to you because it's I think a ribbon really
does make it look free.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And like I said to Chris, I've got this vision,
and he said, no, it's got to go down now Christmas.
I'm like, no, I'm going to ask check.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Or it doesn't sounds like it's very Christmasy. Anyway, I
think it's a beautiful boat.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It looks stunny, and we've got this beautiful big burgundy
timber front door and it just got in the bricks
kind of burgundy. And after contrast, yeah, and I thought,
you know what, Chica will set me on the street.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
In America, they always have wreaths on their doors. Lots
of homes, whether it's auto or it's spring.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I love it. I think it's keep it. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I'll tell him you said that.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Do you tell Chris that from me, because.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You've now you've done one of your rooms up recently,
all that beautiful bottle green.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
So we put a conservatory on our house down on
the peninsula, and it's funny. It's not the biggest room
in the world, but it kind of gave us the
entrance that we never really had, and we were doing
the garden at the same time.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I can't tell you how I love I am with it.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Like our whole house is sort of black and beige
and a bit gray and bruce. And said to me,
I wasn't allowed to put nicknacks because I do love
my cutter, and slowly, slowly I have found its. But
this new green room has got all my beautiful white china,
and I'll collect you named I've got it.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Napkins place mats.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Love showing it off, and I don't mean showing it off,
I mean like just showing.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
It so you can see you have been enjoying it.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, And when you can see it away, you use it.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And I'm all about people using what you've got in
the cupboards because we all just use the top five
things and that's it. So this new green room is
my love and I love it so much and it's
so pretty and it was fun to decorate for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
When I looked at it and I thought, gee, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
It is it is like green everywhere, but it's the
best green. Yeah, and we got those tops that those
tiles are from Morocco. But because I've done all this
green outside, it just brings it always that.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It just feels gorgeous.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I'm so happy, like I cannot wait to get in
the car and drive back down.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, I'm a happy place. I bet you also have collaborations,
don't do illusion.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yes, it's a beautiful shop, which you know what.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
They came to me a couple of years ago and
the first thing they asked me to do was to
do a photo shoot in New York with Iris Apsoll,
who has always been my idol. Yes, and I was like,
are you serious? And we had the most extraordinary dal
I'll never forget it. It was truly to meet that extraordinary
woman and have time with her and just to talk
to her about style and design was amazing. So yes,
(07:07):
I'm doing that I've got another really exciting one coming
out with Mecca, which is really.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
His favorite shop. It's gone from like Smiggle suddenly to
Mecca and no in between. It's just all of Christmas
was Mecca vouchers.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Don't you Just when I see a mechat box under
the tree, I'm like, oh, please for me. So yeah,
I've got some really fun things that I've got coming up,
like some food brands and do you know what? Every
year starts off not knowing what's going to happen, and
then you get all these sort of questions asked, and
I'm like, let's just do it at the age of
my life now where I'm like, I'm not gonna not
say yes. I'm going to give it a go, see
(07:42):
what happens and take it from there.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Throw it to the wind. Don't you think I've spoken
the first series? For me? It was once I turned fifty.
There is a bit of no fucks given, isn't it?
As you throw caution to the wind anything, Well, what's
the worst that could happen if I fall flat on
my face? It leads out I know I've how to go.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I think we've got more confidence when I turned fifty
My new word was no, because I felt like I
said yes to everybody all my life and then suddenly
I was like, I don't want to do that, so no,
thank you very much. And I felt so liberated when
there were things happening that I didn't have to go
to or where I just sort of decided it wasn't
what I wanted to do because my week was already
really busy, and I've just been kind to myself and
(08:22):
it's been incredibly liberaated.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I was about to say, it is so liberating. I
think at first you feel like I'm going to miss
out on something. I'm missing out on opportunities because you're
always told to go for it. And you know, I
think too, as a woman, sometimes it is a bit
fight for the bone, like you really have to be
out there. But you're right, it's liberating. Once you turn fifty,
something happens, something washes over you. Yeah, like it's okay.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
I've got this real theory in life too, that these
sliding into all moments. Whether if you say no to
something then you can't look back and regret. If you
say yes to something and it's absolutely the best thing, fantastic,
and if it doesn't work out, just learn from it,
and that's okay too, to sit back. And I really
feel like we need to do this more that we
sit back and go that didn't work because of but
that's all right. Or I should have done something differently,
but that's all right. Like we have to give ourselves
(09:07):
a little bit of leniency.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And how hard is it to say no? Because as
a woman and as a mum, its hard to turn the.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Which is why it's liberating to be able to say it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, and you think, oh, that's all right. No small
children were harmed in the saying.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yes, my no? Is it going to save or change
the world?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
So where? Tell me? Where are you with your menopause journey?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, it's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I actually don't know because I started at forty nine, yep.
And I my mum had a really tough time with
menopause and that was when I first knew what it
was about. And she was all over the shop and
I remember she sent me some flowers to say I'm sorry,
and that's when she went on too HRT. And you
know how long ago we talking. Mum's eighty two a
(09:50):
long time ago. Yeah, And there was a whole thing
about you know, the different risks that HRT had. But
I always said, if and when that happens to me,
I will jump on board stra away. So when I
started feeling a the sweats and you know, feeling the
anxiety and all the rest of it, beautiful Bruce said
to me, sweetheart, do you think it's time you went
to the doctor? And I thought, okay, I'm obviously not
(10:12):
being gracier so.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Of being a bit like me do so perhaps.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
So my I love my doctor. She has been with
me since I got married. Correct, She's been through the
journey with the kids and all the problems that they've
all had. And I just sat with her and said,
tell me what to do, and you know, they're very open.
Here's some options you choose. And I said, well what
are you going to do? And she said, oh, no
one's ever asked me that before. And I said, well,
what will you do? So she told me and I said, well,
(10:37):
I think I'm going to do what you're going to do.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
And so at forty nine, I did the Marina. I
started on HRT and it was literally.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
A game changer.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
But now I'm fifty six, and I said to her,
the other day, when do we stop this?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You don't have to.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Oh wow, you can keep going. You can do whatever
you want. You can you know, obviously I'll take the
Marina out. But like I sort of this is the
year I'm going to investigate all of that, sort of
see where I don't need to keep.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Doing prioritize yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah a bit. Yeah, because I feel fantastic, Like.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You look fantastic, glowing. When you came into the studio,
I thought, my god, this woman's got it all together.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Just had a nice holiday.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
No, but you do. You look relaxed and refresh can
On top.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Of I feel really good. I feel good going into
this year.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Actually, so I've had a lot of happy times over
the last couple of weeks, which I think also makes
you feel good, feels your cup.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But the whole HRT thing for me has been the best.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
So I just feel like I'm at my normal keep
going and doing what I need to do without any
sort of.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And you've got like you've got a madic routine. You
can be flying all around the world. Yeah no, but
you can yes absolutely different time zones and really your
life has not.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Bruce had I had a conversation and said, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
So at fifty five we both talked about what the
next five years we're going to look like, and then
we said, we're having this chat again at sixty, so
we kind of know that the next what's happening in
the next five years. Both kids live overseas, so it
is literally just about us, our beautiful otto and that's
what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And I think it's working really well for us.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Your daughter is now thirty and your son is twenty eight. Yes,
and getting married next year, yes, which is so exciting.
Oh my god, that will be the wedding of the century.
Oh wait, do you know what?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
We have literally done thousands and if not hundreds of
thousands of weddings, And to have the opportunity to do
something for your own child and their beautiful partner, it's
the greatest gift in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And we Brice and I. You should hear us.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You're excited, like and they're so cute, the two of them.
They're like whatever you think.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I'm like, okay, well, of course the experts are in.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Do give an inch, you'll take a mile. No.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I was just thinking empty nesting. How did that coincide
with you going through perimenopause and the kids leaving, because
it seems like for me, it's a life collision where
you've got elderly parents whose needs are greater, so you're
getting stretched in that direction. For me, it's a teenage daughter.
(13:03):
It's not the restrictions but the demands of breakfast radio.
And it does feel like this collision course of everything
at once. And then I'm also grappling with not being
able to sleep and going through I'm still perimenopause like,
and then you've got the kid like everything.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It's a lot, and it always happens at the same time. Yes,
because then my two children left. In fact, Jess's been
living in America now for ten years. Bj went and
did college over there, came back, went back again, so
it's not been five or six so.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Actually probably they missed the worst of it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It is interesting how it all happens.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
And then suddenly you sit in bed and go, oh
my god, I don't have to jump out of bed
and make breakfast for anyone, or worry about dinner tonight
or who's been picked up dropped off? So yes, it does.
It changes everything, and I supposed to a degree Bruce
and I have been quite selfish in the fact that
it's just about us.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, but again I'm finding that even though fourteen this year,
I'm sort of finding that reconnect with my husband again
because she's even more independent, becoming special. So it's like,
and you know what's really nice. I just thought the
other day, because you know, when you you feel like
ships in the night and it is like tag team,
even though we've only got one child, it's sort of
(14:19):
like you be here, you be there, I'll do this,
you do. There's never there's no date nights a lot,
not enough, No, but it is nice to come back
to that point and think that connection is still there.
And it's scary after all those it.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Is and the number of my friends who have separated
after their children have left because they're looking at each other.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Going, who, I don't know you anymore.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
That's why you got to make your date nights.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, because Bruce and I always had date nights because
we're obviously working together, living together, children together, and I
think sometimes to go out for dinner and just talk
about a couple.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Nothing like no.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Work, not business partners. Yeah. God, he's so cute.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I love him.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So he looks great.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I say, do you know what? He is living his
best life.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
He looks fantastic, happy's shape.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
After COVID, which is obviously an incredibly tough times for
many people, but it was really tough in the hospitality industry,
he really showed up to a lot of people with
He did lots of Instagram chats and all the rest
of it. And I think he's at a really great place,
a bit like what we're talking about, how we feel
like at fifty you can say no, Yeah, he's at
that stage where he knows what he's good at, what
(15:23):
he's capable of, what he wants to do more of,
and he's just going for it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And I love that about him because his face says it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, he looks he's naughty.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Well thirty plus years thirty two, that is, that's a great.
How did you meet?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh my god, we met on a plane going up
to Queensland. We were both working for a caterer called
Peter Rowlands. Yes, and Bruce used to go up and
do the Brisbane bed football lunches every second week and
one day the girl that used to go couldn't, so
I went and that was.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Its fuck and the rest is history and.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
The rest is history.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
And then we thought no one knew that we were together.
And there was a big drum or a big marquet
had blown down, a big society wedding down in Flinders,
and we got the phone call from Peter saying, can
you please go and go fix it? He said, and
can you make sure Bruce is with you? And I'm like,
how did he even know we're together?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
So it was just one of those funny things. But
now as a business own now you know everything that's
going on.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah, but your soul mates teasted me that you.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And I feel like we've grown up together like we
were young. We were twenty three when we got married.
So I really feel like between having the big group,
which is we always say our first child, and having
our two children and just everything that's gone on in
the world of you know, what we've been doing, it's
been great.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
There have been times where I wanted to, you know, kill.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Him, Yeah, but that's that's natural.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
But he's not the best and I can't imagine walking
into the last half of my life without my best
friend by my side.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That's beautiful. Tell me what was his how important was
his support. You said that he instigated you. Maybe, yes,
see the GP.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
He was amazing.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, and he's been incredible, Like he's not every day
how I am, but he absolutely is across it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And you know, I'm tell him things and he's interested.
He listen. He doesn't brush it away. No, And I
think that's.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
A thing about menopause and perimenopause. Most guys don't know
much about it, no, so I think it is important.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
A lot of women don't know about it. I came
into this and I was so unarmed, cheeker. I thought,
I don't think I'm I'm not a dumb person, but
why aren't we talking about this? I don't know enough
about it. No one's talking about it on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I love that you have got it.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
And I was telling quite a few people that I
was doing this today and so many were like, oh
my god, that is so good to hear because there
is not much enough information out there. There's not enough
understanding that we're all different and we want to do
it differently. But it's also important to know we can
feel back to our normal selves.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
So yeah, that's the thing I remember saying to my GP.
I said, am I going to feel normal again. Yes, Like,
I don't know, it's such a funny thing, my journey.
So how's this so coming off the back of Christmas?
So I think it's when we stop down on survey break,
we have a We're very very lucky, very fortunate in
(18:06):
that we have five or six weeks off and that
is a time for your body to just completely relax.
So I went, this has happened three years in a row,
eleven months without a period. So I thought, Wow, this
is it. I'm finally like high five after a lifetime
of you know, pcos and endometriosis and all that. I thought,
you know what, this is it. This is the next chapter.
(18:28):
And then always when I'm off in that survey break,
I get a period. Yeah, so I go back to
square one.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Is it a real period? Though?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Well, the first one certainly was. It was like the
gates of hell, Yeah, that's horrible. And then it was
like a bit of a puff the second. The second
time it happened. And then so this December, that's just happened.
I said to my husband, we were about to go
up to the WIT Sundays for our break, and I said,
you know what, I was really pissed off. I said
(18:58):
to Chris, can you believe I think I'm going to
have to go and get some tampons because I am
pretty sure that my period's coming. He's going no, and
I said, no, I'm serious. Like even cheek are the
saw boobs And they got sore each day, and then
I started to get the cramping, and I thought, you've
got it like I was.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So that would make me furious.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
I just stormed into a west Damn these damn tampons.
And if you enjoyed this episode with Cheeka, download part two.
If your menopause journey is making you feel disempowered, I
highly recommend Back in Control, where she talks about how
she took charge of her journey and inspires other women
(19:40):
to do the same. I'm Petrina Jones strage against the
menopause
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