The Imperfects

In the ultimate power move, we interview Zan Rowe, ‘one of Australia’s best interviewers’. Talk about pressure. 

Champion of the airwaves, TV presenter, music journalist and podcaster, Zan has soundtracked the lives of many Australians. In this episode of the Vulnerabilitea House,  Zan draws the card; ‘how would your ambitions change if you only had one year to live?’ 

In between getting ‘death ready’ and facing burnout just when h...

Have you ever made a really bad decision? Made a call that you couldn’t undo? It's a fear for many, and for others, living with the reality of a ‘roll of the dice’ gone wrong, is cause for great sadness, and discomfort. 

But, there is wisdom in mistakes. And for Poh Ling Yeow, learning to own her bad decisions, meant she could move forward with empathy and acceptance. 

A skill she's honed through a life of ‘magooing’ ...

How does food affect our mood? Does diet actually impact our mental health? What is a gut micro-biome, and can we still eat a few chips without ruining it?

In this Academy of Imperfection episode, we are joined one of the worlds leading experts on the relationship between what we eat, and how it effects our mental health, Professor Felice Jacka.

And if can we trust anyone to get to the bottom of the vagus nerve ‘highway’; ou...

Last season we met Chanel Contos from Teach Us Consent and we were completely blown away by her courage and the work she's taking on. So much so, that within minutes of Hugh opening and reading Chanel’s book, “Consent Laid Bare”, he had nominated her for Australian of The Year. 

In this snippet from the full episode, Hugh, Ryan, Josh and Chanel discuss the normalised and systemic nature of sexual violence against women and the perv...

What would it feel like to have the very thing that mad you great - your body, strength and co-ordination - slowly and painfully taken away from you?

As a swimmer, Michael Klim was on top of the world - he was literally ‘World Swimmer of the Year’. Trips to the Olympics, medals of every colour, 21 world records AND his face on the cover of a Foo Fighters Album, Michael really did have it all.

However, in 2022 Michael was diagnosed ...

Do you have boundaries? Have you ever crossed someone else’s boundaries? How would you react if someone crossed yours? It is WAY easier to ignore it. Avoiding potential conflict and awkwardness is second nature to most of us. For those of us with people-pleasing tendencies, telling someone they have violated a boundary can be an acute version of living hell.

Luckily for us, our resident psychologist Dr. Emily is here to help us nav...

Living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is not a life sentence, as Rick Davies so eloquently tells Hugh and Josh in this episode of The Imperfix. Best known as Jimmy from the TV show 'Offspring', Rick is unbelievably vulnerable in sharing his story with OCD - from the awkward and painful compulsions, to the relief of a diagnosis at 18 years old.

Here Rick share's how he was inspired by the trailblazing work of Penny Moodie ...

From being ‘canceled’, to alcoholism and post-natal depression, Yumi Stynes knows how to get vulnerable in the Vulnerabilitea House.

Starting as a magnetic, music presenter on Channel V, Yumi’s career spans more than 20 years on our screens, on the radio, or in the very successful books she’s written. However as she shares with Hugh, Ryan and Josh, there were times when the phone simply didn't ring and her career felt like it was a...

Unfortunately, we all know what bad leadership looks like, for many of us, it doesn’t take long to think of examples…but what does it actually take to be a ‘good leader’?

This week in the Academy of Imperfection, Hugh, Ryan and Josh are joined by a legend of the sport, former rugby league player and current coach of the Queensland Maroons, Billy Slater. Billy has been called the best fullback ever to have played the game. As a play...

How kind is your inner voice? What does it say to you when your with friends, having family dinner, at work, when you mistakes, or, when you look in the mirror?

We all have an inner critic and for lots of us, that voice can be loud and relentless - holding us back from thriving, from living the life we want to live and being the person we want to be.

In this episode of the IMPERFIX, we jump back into an episode with Dr Em and get u...

Its hard to imagine a life more remarkable, or as unique as that of Nathan Cavaleri.

Nathan rose to fame as an 8 year old blues prodigy, regularly appearing on Aussie TV screens in the 90’s, but there is so much more to Nathan and his story than that. Whether it’s touring Australia with the likes of Jimmy Barnes; or touring America with blues Legend B.B. King; being signed to Michael Jackson’s label; or starring in a Baywatch spin ...

After his sister, Niki, was murdered by her ex-partner, Tarang Chawla made a decision - that he wouldn’t allow Niki to be remembered as just another statistic. Since then, Tarang has become an activist, working to reduce incidents of all forms of violence and abuse towards women in Australian.

In this episode of the IMPERFIX, we reflect on a conversation we had with Tarang back in 2022. Here, Tarang discusses the importance of beli...

Taking a risk, by definition, is hard. A lot of us spend most of our life avoiding risks, under the assumption that it’s the ‘safe’ thing to do.

As Dr Em explains, we have an evolutionary instinct for self-preservation; tendencies to overestimate danger and underestimate our ability to cope; and we often have early childhood experiences and messages around safety that can coalesce into ‘playing it safe’ behaviours.

In this episode,...

We mean no disrespect to any of our other guests, but when Hugh says that Dr. Kiran Martin, is the most impressive person he has ever met, it’s hard not to agree.

Dr. Kiran Martin is the founder of ASHA in India. It’s a not for profit, that for over 35 years, has provided healthcare and education to millions of people living in slums in India.

In this clip, Dr Kiran tells us of the time she decided to wash the feet of a Dalit woman...

All too often when talking about infertility, we only tell one side of the story. Traditionally in the public discourse, it has very much fallen into the category of a ‘women’s issue’. However, as our guest this week Reece Conca can all too painfully attest, 40% of infertility issues are actually male factor related.

Reece Conca is a former Australian Rules Footballer, who played over 150 games for Richmond and Freemantle.

When Ree...

In this episode of the IMPERFIX, we revisit our chat with Australian comedian Luke McGregor. Many of us live with Anxiety, Luke McGregor has for a lot of his life. For Luke, his anxiety became so overwhelming that it resulted in him having panic attacks on stage in front of audiences. In this clip Luke explains what anxiety looks like for him and what he now does to manage his anxiety, allowing him to continue to work and to get th...

Every Thursday over 3 million people want to hear what James Clear has to say. They do so in the form of his ‘3-2-1 newsletter’, one of most popular newsletters on the planet. In 2018 James Clear published his book Atomic Habits, a comprehensive, practical guide on how to change your habits and get 1% better every day. And that book has now sold over 15million copies. So you won’t be surprised to hear how excited we were to have Ja...

In this episode of the IMPERFIX we revisit one of our many conversations with Johann Hari. However this IMPERFIX starts with Josh, delivering what may be one of the most powerful and moving acts of vulnerability we’ve ever seen on this podcast, when he felt compelled to share a realisation, that he had been addicted to the internet for much of his life. Johann’s response was as always, heartfelt, engaging, hopeful and empowering. A...

What would you do if a teacher said you couldn’t achieve your dreams because your hair and skin colour weren’t acceptable?

When this became Pallavi Sharda’s reality she moved to India by herself and became the first Australian women to lead a Bollywood movie

In this episode we meet Pallavi Sharda, a powerhouse actress, who grew up in Taylors Lakes, a suburban area in Melbourne’s west, who went on to not only clock Bollywood, but se...