February 4, 2025 • 28 mins
In this inspiring episode of the Black Magic Woman Podcast, I sit down with Kate Russell, a proud Worimi woman and the CEO of Supply Nation. Kate shares her journey from growing up in Western Lake Macquarie to leading an organisation that supports and celebrates Indigenous entrepreneurship.
We yarn about the pivotal moments in her career, the value of education, and the power of mentorship. Kate provides an inside look at Supply Nation’s impact, including their role in facilitating over $4.6 billion in transactions between Indigenous businesses and corporate, government, and nonprofit buyers. She also highlights programs like Jumpstart, which offers targeted mentorship to help Indigenous entrepreneurs overcome challenges and grow their businesses.
The conversation touches on the broader economic and social impact of Indigenous businesses, the importance of representation, and Kate’s vision for the future of Supply Nation. She also shares how she balances her roles as a leader, wife, and mother, offering heartfelt advice on self-reflection and resilience.
Don’t miss this empowering yarn that celebrates the achievements of Indigenous businesses and provides practical insights for those looking to engage with Supply Nation or explore entrepreneurial opportunities.
Links & Resources:
-
Supply Nation
Explore how Supply Nation supports Indigenous businesses, connects them with buyers, and provides resources like the Jumpstart program.
🌐 Visit Supply Nation -
Indigenous Business Australia (IBA)
Learn more about IBA’s programs and services designed to help Indigenous entrepreneurs start, grow, and sustain their businesses.
🌐 Explore IBA Resources -
The Sleeping Giant Report
Discover the economic and social impact of Indigenous businesses through this groundbreaking research cited in the episode.
🌐 Read the Report -
Website: www.blackmagicwoman.com.au
Follow us on Instagram - @blackmagicwomanpodcast
The Black Magic Woman Podcast is hosted by Mundanara Bayles and is an uplifting conversational style program featuring mainly Aboriginal guests and explores issues of importance to Aboriginal people and communities. Mundanara is guided by Aboriginal Terms of Reference and focusses more on who people are rather than on what they do.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Black cast, Unite our voices. Black Magic Woman Podcast acknowledges
the traditional owners of the land we have recorded this
episode on. We also acknowledge traditional owners of the land
where you, the listener or viewer, are tuning in from.
We would like to pay our respects to our elders
past and present and acknowledged that this always was Aboriginal
(00:25):
land and always will be Aboriginal land.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the Black Magic Woman Podcast with Mandinara Bales.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Welcome back to another episode of the Black Magic Woman Podcast.
It is an absolute pleasure to be here on the
beautiful land of the Cameragle peoples. I am here in
Sydney and this is the Eor Nation. So this episode
I've got the absolute pleasure of yarning too a sister
(01:01):
who's been doing some amazing stuff. So I'm going to
lectually hand over to you to introduce yourself. And it's
interesting in our culture, you know who you are is
much more important than what you do. But for a
lot of non averational people, people go straight into business.
So in this kind of format, we want to know people.
(01:22):
We want to understand who you are rather than what
you do. So do you want to tell people your name?
Your mob and a little bit about where you grew up.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Absolutely, and it's so wonderful to be here and all
you're branding all around. This is so professional, so special.
So I'm so glad that I'm here the first time
you're in this studio. But my name is Kate Russell.
I'm a proud warble coolman. I grew up on Western Lake,
Macquarie and all of my family's still there. For anyone
who knows they er at Toronto, Toronto, you got to
(01:50):
say it right. It's not Toronto, it's a Toronto. Went
to primary school there and then went into the city,
into Newcastle to go to high school. I'm an only child.
My dad was the first one to finish school and
his family and education was always really important. My mom
was a teacher, my dad was a mental health nurse,
(02:11):
and so education was the one thing that always was
a constant in our household. And when I think back
as to where it started, I remember being in year
one and during the school holidays, I did a project.
And this is back in the day, when you do
a project and it's on a big piece of cardboard.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You went to the news agents.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There was no office for works yep, and you had
to use glue and everything. And I was doing a
project and no one had asked me to do a project.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
I just for some reason.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I guess my mom might have said, let's do something
because she was probably sick of hanging out with me
school holidays.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Let's get your working.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
So I did an extra.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Project and extracurricular project, and it was on the Iran
Iraq war. Like I'm six, like, but I've always loved learning.
It's always been something that I enjoy. So, whether it's
studying a random piece of history when I'm six years old,
or it's learning a different language or just mindlessly researching something,
(03:09):
that's been the one thing that's I think open doors
for me. Let me have scholarships or get into educational
employment pathways. And I've been the benefici area of so many,
whether it is like a formal or informal mentoring that's
given me opportunities that I wouldn't have had. I think
part of my career is wanting to pay that forward
(03:30):
and create those opportunities for somebody else.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I was going to ask you, what was your first job?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
If you're six years old, you're doing extracurricular activity.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And it's on the war of Iran and Iraq. What
was your first job? What did you want to be then?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
When you were young? Like you know, they always say
what do you want to be when you grow up?
What did you used to say?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I used to say I wanted to be a teacher.
I can't And that made sense because my mum was
a teacher and her mum was a teacher, and those
were probably the only that was the only job. I
grew up in a very small part of town on
a little property, so I didn't have exposure to what
other jobs could be. And again, I like people, I
(04:08):
like having a yarn, and I like learning, so a
teacher did make sense. And I think then when I
became a teenager and saw the hell that I put
my teachers, it really took the shining off. But I
have such respect for anyone who dedicates their life to
teaching others.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
But it was pretty clear.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That I did not have the patience to be a teacher.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So what'd you end up doing?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
So I went to high school in the city. I
was lucky enough to go to a selective high school,
so there were pathways established for me to go to
university and ended up going to UNSW. UNSW gave me
housing for the first year through their Naragilli Center because
even though I grew up in Newcastle and Sydney is
only two hours away, we were not the family that
(04:52):
ever went to Sydney.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
So that that was like another world away.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Exactly like I didn't even catch public There was no
public transport where I grew up, so the idea of
going to Sydney and being on trains and buses and
all of that was a complete, a complete change for me.
So I lived on campus thanks to the Naragilli Center
for sorting that out for me, and studied international relations
because by this point I decided that I was going
(05:17):
to be a diplomat, despite the fact that I had
clearly no idea what a diplomat did and had no
one in my life that could tell me what that
would be like. And then I was given a kidet
shit with foreign affairs and trade, and I thought, right,
this is it.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Pathway laid out.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So your first job was government, first.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Proper job i'd had, like high school jobs.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I worked at sports Girl, Heyts shut Out the good
old days, was in government and I hated it.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It was not what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
My first job was government and I hated it too.
Where were you, Department of Families Communities?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
That can be a tough one though as well.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It's tough.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I went straight to a youth detention center, which I
thought I wanted to be. I wanted to work with
you and I wanted to work with our young people
that I saw coming in and out of the Murray
School getting locked out coming.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Back to the Murray School.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I wanted to go to the youth detention center, but
I wasn't game enough to break the law because of
my dad. I was not game enough. So I went
to the government. Lasted twelve months, and it was it
was traumatizing because I was seventeen. Yeah, I don't know
whether I was ready for it. But at the same time,
(06:31):
it'd opened my eyes to another world.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
But it's an interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And when I was working, I was doing a lot
with youth and in the employment and education space. If
we fast forward a couple of years and I'd talked
to these kids and they were fifteen or sixteen, I'd
be like, what do you want to do? And so
many of our kids would say, I want to be
a social worker. Or I want to be a nurse
or a teacher, because they'd had a positive experience with
those people, you know, in the different paths of their lives,
(06:56):
and they said, that's what I want to do. And
it was part of my job to sort of have
those coaching conversations to say that, like, absolutely powered to
you if you want to be a social worker or
if you want to go and engage in the frontline
that kind of work. But I also want our people
to dream in a different way because those jobs ask
can be so tricky, they can be traumatizing. It's fantastic
(07:20):
for anyone to want to dedicate their lives to that.
But there are so many different pathways, including entrepreneurship, including business,
that maybe you do want to go and be a
social worker, maybe you do want to work in a
detention center, but maybe that's not going to be you
for forty years. And for a lot of people. We
see the exit rates of those professions. They're incredibly challenging
(07:41):
jobs with beautiful people working in them.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
But let's think more broadly.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
About what your career because like it or not, we're
all probably going to be working for thirty or forty years.
It's a long time. Do you have it in you
to do that for thirty or forty years? And you
found that out early?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, And I.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Was just going to say, in terms of careers, education, training, employment,
I then went from the government into a group training
organization me too, did you stop? So in Queensland it
was the oldest GRIP training organization and it was called
Industry Commerce Employment Training. I sent and I remember being
(08:19):
a school based apprenticeship officer and there was no such
thing as school based apprentices So my job was to
go and educate the sector, industry and the high schools
around the education training reforms for the future. And now
with the work that I do, I'm able to go
and go and engage with a lot of those people
(08:40):
that are still working those organizations and hey, roll out training.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
And it's for me.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It's seeing the impact as well. Recently, I've had sort
of two experiences because I did the exact same job.
So I didn't know that about you that is not
readily available on your bio. But I was doing school
based traineeships adult traineeships again with a gto rto that
be it based in Adelaide, so I know exactly what
you're talking about, but recently I've had too.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
One was even just on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I was at one of our wonderful suppliers celebrating their
tenth year in business, and this young man is waving
to me across the room. It was kind of dark,
and I was like, oh, okay, I was so high.
He clearly knows me. And then I had a bit
of a young to him and I realized this was
one of my former school based trainees.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Stop.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's been twelve years and this young man number one,
he's like twenty seven now, not fifteen. And I'm not
going to give away my age, but the fact that
he recognized me was so flattering, and that he approached
me and said, what have you been up to?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And we've got to talk about our lives. And I'd
last seen this young man twelve years ago when he
was fifteen and in Tamworth and had a number of
challenges going on, and to see that everything's not only
worked out okay for him, but it's worked out pretty well.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And that he has just as fond.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Of memories about that time and that experience that I do.
And similarly, I had another young man I approached me
on my way to the toilet at a university event
and just you're like, Kate, Kate, do you remember me?
And I did, and being able to see that for me, yes,
it was a job and it was meaningful, but it's
also had an impact on them and that these young
people are now adults mind blowing. But they're doing really
(10:24):
well and it's the next generation. It's paying it forward.
It's so beautiful, you know, Kate.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I've never actually sat for a moment and reflected on
the impact of what we did in those jobs way
back then.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And I guess being in business, your.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Life just changes completely and I don't even remember sometimes
of the jobs that I did before that. Just the
last ten years have been crazy. So you're running or
at the head of an organization that supports I guess
economic empowerment, supply diversity, and I want you to kind
(11:01):
of say it in your words of what what you
do at Supply Nation, But doesn't it make you really
proud to see more of our mobs starting businesses, especially
our women, our sisters, our mothers, and our aunties, our matriarchs.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You've hit the nail on the head, I think in
most families and in most communities, women have been doing this.
Women and men, but women are often the unsung heroes.
They've been doing this in one way, shape or form.
What I think Supply Nation has been good at doing
over the past fifteen years is really shining.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
A spotlight on that there are.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Businesses that might be mom and dad working in a
spare room on a weekend just to pay a little
bit extra money. And then there are these incredible biicoastal,
multimillion dollar organizations. But at the end of the day,
they're entrepreneurs. They are providing for their families, they are
creating pathways for their children. But Mob's been getting this
done for a long time. We just necessarily haven't called
(12:00):
us for what it is business exactly. It was just
paying the bills, It was just food on the table.
It wasn't all Now you're an entrepreneur, and I love that.
I love that it's been elevated. And I have the
privilege of working with over fivey three hundred Indigenous businesses
that Supply Nation is verified. Those numbers are just going
through the roof. So we're fifteen years old. We just
(12:20):
had our fifteenth birthday party a few months ago. We
have over eight hundred and twenty corporate members, so corporate,
government and nonprofit we might call them buyers, and our
Indigenous businesses are our sellers. And we act not only
as a verification body to make sure that black businesses
are black businesses under their NI double A so the
(12:40):
government definition of fifty percent or more Indigenous owned as
well as so and then matching buyers and sellers. And
we try to be a little bit more e harmony
than Tinder, So we try.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
To have a love harmony j IV a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Like long lasting meaningful relationships where possible, because we think
that's how it works best for buyers and sellers is
and that's the way that blackfellows do business.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
We get to know each other.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's based on values, it's based on communications, it's based
on trust.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Of course, there's always space for a.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Deals of deals and a sales of sale, but we
like to get down. We like to know, like talk
to each other to understand where you're coming from and
exactly if you can connect on a values basis, then
it is better for business.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I was going to ask you in your short time,
like you've been there about two years.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Not even about fifteen months.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I'm just going to say, you know, in the short
time that you've been the CEO at Supply Nation, what
has been one of your I don't know, not biggest achievements.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
What are you most proud of?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
That's really tricky.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I'm really proud to have reopened our offices nationally, so
we now have people in every single state and territory
except Tasmania working on that. We've now got offices in
most capital cities. We had those many years ago, but
then COVID came and you know, there was a.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Change for so many businesses.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
But I really want Supply Nation to not be a
Sydney centric or an East Coast centric organization. So taking
Connect our Australia's largest indigenous business event. We host it
every year in August, to take that out of Sydney
and to take it to me engine to Brisbane. This
year only a few months ago, it was a little
bit of a swing, you know, it wasn't sure how
(14:30):
that was going to go, but it was our biggest
and dare I say best connect.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah. We had four thousand people through the door.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
We drove over two point one million dollars of economic
input into the Local Economy two hundred and ten exhibitors,
half of which were from Queensland. It was an overwhelming success.
So being able to show that we can do that
in Brisbane, well, I think we can do that anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Exactly because Brisbane's still seen as a little country town.
My cousin's me from Redfinissa call us country Bumpkins. So
if you could take this massive event from the ICC
and the hardest Sydney to Brisbane and still create that impact,
then that's pretty deadly right.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So where too?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
From here Supply Nation, you're taking Supply Nation to you know,
around the country, setting those officers up and having that
visibility and making sure that people can engage and connect
and build relationship with some of those staff.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
When else is happening?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Is there any news, any research papers, something exciting you
want to share or you can't share?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Oh? No, of course, We've had actually quite a few
research papers in the last couple of months alone. So
we did a legacy piece that sort of tracks the
impact of supply diversity over the last fifteen years and
also starts a conversation around mega trends like what's going
on in business, what's coming Because what we observe is
that the majority of our indigenous businesses are owned operators.
(15:58):
They're in there, they're running it. If something goes wrong,
it's all hands on deck. And when we are privy
to all this knowledge and these insights and these conversations,
we have a role not only to share that with
our indigenous businesses, but to do it in a way.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
That's digestible for them.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The average entrepreneur does not have an hour and a
half and read forty two pages of research. They want something,
they want it short, they want it sharp. Tell me
what I need to do. Tell me what's the one
thing you need me to know about AI. What's the
one thing I need to know about ESG?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
What is ESG? And why should I care?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So we're trying to do more research that's short and
sharp and has a very clear benefit to the intended beneficiaries.
We're also going to have a new social return on investment.
So we have a much quoted piece of research called
the Sleeping Giant from twenty nineteen that says for every
dollar that goes into an Indigenous business, that returns four
(16:52):
dollars forty one of economic, broader, economic and social value,
which is a fantastic stat but we're now in twenty
twenty four, almost in twenty twenty five, so we think
it's probably even higher than that. We're going to try
and do a re release of that next year.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
And when you talk about the social impact right when,
and I talk about it in the Black Card training
all the time, why should we back indigenous businesses? And
that's I always talk about the dollar value, how much
money in terms of transactions between members and suppliers in
(17:29):
the last twelve months.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So in the last financial year financially twenty three twenty four,
it was four point six billion dollars, which was five
hundred million up on the previous year of four point
one billion. I mean, that's just a good number regardless.
But when you think about the economic conditions that we've
been having, not only in this country but globally, cost
of living crisis, a lot of major political events, to
(17:53):
see that Australia and Australian corporate, government and nonprofit organizations
have backed it up to four point six billion into families,
communities and business.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It's a very nice number.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
It is.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And that's what I have to reiterate to a lot
of non abitional people that I engage with and Annie
Lillis says this all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Like, we're not victims.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
You know, Black fellows ran an entire country, like Abiginal
people ran this country not that long ago, and we
never invaded anyone and we had no armies and prisons
or police. And we've been here for millennia. So see
ourselves as owners and runners of country, not as victims,
and taking that into a business deal or negotiation. Having
(18:39):
that confidence and knowing your worth and your value that
you bring to the table. That takes time because you've
got to build those relationships.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So supply nation it is.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
You know, there's a lot of Black Fellows that have
been engaging with supply nation. What would you say that
for mob that haven't engaged yet with supply nation? Is
there any kind of advice that you could give people
if they haven't yet decided whether or not supply nations
for them?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I think it's it's often even just breaking down some
of the misconceptions. It costs you absolutely nothing to be
a part of supply nation, and it never will.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's something that we are very.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Very fundamentalist on is that if you're a registered or
a certified business it's a process to come and be
verified by us, of course, because we want to uphold
some very high standards to make sure that anyone we're
calling a black business is a black business under the
agreed upon government definitions. But when we are saying that
we've we've facilitated four point six billion dollars of impact,
(19:47):
why not be a part of that. We do training,
lots of free training for our indigenous supplies. We have
trade shows across the country, including Connect, which I mentioned earlier.
And there's business matching, so all of our members, corporate,
government and nonprofit, they have a dedicated relationship manager who
matches them with indigenous businesses to create a short list
(20:09):
or a long list for them to work through and
creates tangible opportunities. Why wouldn't you want to be a
penny jumpstart? Oh love jumpstart?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I know? Can you share with our listeners before we
wrap up this yarn? Because I think, you know, there's
there's people just think Connect. There's awards, there's a lot
of glamor, and it looks so you know, and it is.
It's a really good event. Every Connect event is pretty deadly.
But there's other programs. I love the fact that's research, right,
there's training, it's free to sign up. But jump start
(20:41):
I haven't I haven't actually utilized jump start yet, But
can you share with people why was jumpstart born?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Like, what was behind the thinking?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So Jumpstart was part of the recognition that, yes, we
want our members, our buyers to be continue spending money
on Indigenous businesses that is our bread and butter. Don't
stop doing that, yes, thank you, But also men, any
of them want to give back in other ways. And
we know that Indigenous entrepreneurs don't necessarily have entrepreneurship in
their family in a formal way. They don't often don't
(21:14):
have a formal qualification. They may not have an MBA
or a business degree, but they're really passionate about their
product or service and they might be delivering that at
different levels of scale. But if they want to grow,
they will need support and as they as I said,
busy entrepreneurs, they don't necessarily have the time to sign
up to extended extended programs. So we said, okay, let's
(21:38):
take some member organizations who have some very clever people
who are experts in a field, and let's see if
they want to mentor one on one some of these
indigenous businesses. So again we're acting as a matchmaker. We say, hey,
corporate and government organizations, have you got some clever people
that would like to spend some time. Maybe that's eight hours,
maybe that's twelve hours, maybe that's a week specifically focusing
(22:00):
on one particular problem of this indigenous business. So it's
not a broad meing program, it's what's your problem. Is
it pricing, is it procurement, is it marketing and media?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Is it pitching?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Social your financials? And then we match you up so
that you have a problem. We are not necessarily the
ones that are going to solve it as supplanation, that's
not our role, but we do want to act as
a concierge and help you find a solution.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I love this and for any of your mom that
are listening or watching this episode, really think about Supply Nation.
There's also iba into just business Australia. You can go
online and just Google to find out what supports out there.
If you're in startup mode or you've got an idea,
(22:42):
a lot of people just don't know where to go
and what to do first, so supply Nation is not
usually the first place you go to you've got to
actually kind of line your decks up, make sure you've
got a business and it's been operating. I think that's
part of the criteria right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
If you're a startup and you need support in terms
of how to write a budget, that's probably not our wheelhouse.
But we want to act with other stakeholders in the sector,
whether that's an indigenous Chamber of commerce, whether that's iba
that we can of course try and show you where
those pathways are. But where we sort of come into
the picture is where someone is already making around fifty
to eighty thousand dollars a year, that's probably when you
(23:21):
want to come and have a conversation with Supply Nation
and that's where we can start helping you on your
journey for growth.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
That's pretty deadly just to know that around the fifty
to eighty k mark and then bring up Supply Nation
and reach out to someone and have a yarn. So
if you could give anyone any advice as a deadly
black woman, it's done a few things in your life
and now leading you know Supply Nation.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Just for yeah, just whether it's career advice.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
You're a mum as well, you haven't talked about that,
you know, how do how do you keep kind of
balancing work life balance? And what could you share with
some other women and also just people in business on
trying to do that balance as well, because it's not
always easy and you're not going to always get it right.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So what have you learned? What can you share with us?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Look, I've learned that I'm definitely never going to get
it right.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
But I try and sit myself down at the end
of every day and sort of say, Okay, what am
I really happy with, either in my role as a wife,
my role as a mom, my role as a community member,
or my role as a CEO. And there's always going
to be things like some days I hit it out
of the park as a CEO and like that was
a bloody good business day, but I growled at the
(24:41):
kids and I probably didn't need to do that. I
try and give myself an assessment of and be kind
to myself in doing that of saying, okay, so maybe
I wasn't the ten out of ten mum that I
wanted to be today, but here's what I think I
can do better. Here's how I can do that and
try and get give myself sort of a grade across
the board of all the different hats that I'm wearing,
(25:02):
to say, you know what, if I'm an seven or
an eight out of ten, most days, you don't pretty good.
I reckon I'm doing okay, that it's not going to
be ten out of ten. No one's ten out of
ten all the time. And to be a little kinder
with yourself. I think, particularly Black women, we wear so
many hats, we do so many things, and we feel
so much.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Pressure real or not. We put that pressure on ourselves.
Sometimes I just try.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I'm not always successful in doing this, but I try
and just be a little bit gentle with myself while
having an honest conversation around what went well and what
didn't go so well, and say tomorrow's another day I
get to do over.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, dust it off, get back up again.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Or one last question before I let you go, what
feels your cup or how.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Do you feel your cup? How do you keep your
cup full?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It sounds, it sounds a little bit lame, but right
now it's my baby's I've got, you know, five and two,
so they're still very small and I miss them horribly
when I'm traveling. But there is nothing I like more
than wrestling on the floor with them, cuddling, taking them swimming.
It's something that is always going to beautiful. But when
(26:12):
you don't get to do it as much as you want.
Walking through the door and having them run and give
you a cuddle, I know it's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Babies.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Well, I think for a lot of us that don't
see you rolling around on the ground with your kids,
but see you out there, you know, either running the
show and at connect online. There's so much to us
that people don't see behind closed doors. So as I said,
(26:42):
thank you for taking time out of your business schedule
to just come on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And have a yarn.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
You're welcome. Thank you. I could not believe that.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
When Kate said to me, let's do the podcast, I
was like, I mean, I'm in Sydney, Let's let's let's
have this yarn.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
It's been a long time coming.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I've always want to have a yarn with anyone at
Supply Nation, just so our community who come to me
a lot and ask me questions. Finally I can say,
now go check out this episode and listen to the
CEO and if you need to know more. We'll have
some of the websites and resources, especially that research, in
our show notes, But your Mob, I hope you've enjoyed
(27:25):
this yarn Until next time, By for now. If you'd
like any more info on today's guest, please visit our
show notes in the episode description. A big shout out
to all you Deadly Mob and allies who continue to listen, watch,
and support our podcast.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Your feedback means the world.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
You can rate and review the podcast on Apple and Spotify,
or even head to our socials and YouTube channel and
drop us a line.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
The Black Magic Woman podcast is produced by Clint Curtiss
The Mos
Black cast, Unite our voices. Black Magic Woman Podcast acknowledges
the traditional owners of the land we have recorded this
episode on. We also acknowledge traditional owners of the land
where you, the listener or viewer, are tuning in from.
We would like to pay our respects to our elders
past and present and acknowledged that this always was Aboriginal
(00:25):
land and always will be Aboriginal land.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the Black Magic Woman Podcast with Mandinara Bales.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Welcome back to another episode of the Black Magic Woman Podcast.
It is an absolute pleasure to be here on the
beautiful land of the Cameragle peoples. I am here in
Sydney and this is the Eor Nation. So this episode
I've got the absolute pleasure of yarning too a sister
(01:01):
who's been doing some amazing stuff. So I'm going to
lectually hand over to you to introduce yourself. And it's
interesting in our culture, you know who you are is
much more important than what you do. But for a
lot of non averational people, people go straight into business.
So in this kind of format, we want to know people.
(01:22):
We want to understand who you are rather than what
you do. So do you want to tell people your name?
Your mob and a little bit about where you grew up.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Absolutely, and it's so wonderful to be here and all
you're branding all around. This is so professional, so special.
So I'm so glad that I'm here the first time
you're in this studio. But my name is Kate Russell.
I'm a proud warble coolman. I grew up on Western Lake,
Macquarie and all of my family's still there. For anyone
who knows they er at Toronto, Toronto, you got to
(01:50):
say it right. It's not Toronto, it's a Toronto. Went
to primary school there and then went into the city,
into Newcastle to go to high school. I'm an only child.
My dad was the first one to finish school and
his family and education was always really important. My mom
was a teacher, my dad was a mental health nurse,
(02:11):
and so education was the one thing that always was
a constant in our household. And when I think back
as to where it started, I remember being in year
one and during the school holidays, I did a project.
And this is back in the day, when you do
a project and it's on a big piece of cardboard.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You went to the news agents.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There was no office for works yep, and you had
to use glue and everything. And I was doing a
project and no one had asked me to do a project.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
I just for some reason.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I guess my mom might have said, let's do something
because she was probably sick of hanging out with me
school holidays.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Let's get your working.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
So I did an extra.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Project and extracurricular project, and it was on the Iran
Iraq war. Like I'm six, like, but I've always loved learning.
It's always been something that I enjoy. So, whether it's
studying a random piece of history when I'm six years old,
or it's learning a different language or just mindlessly researching something,
(03:09):
that's been the one thing that's I think open doors
for me. Let me have scholarships or get into educational
employment pathways. And I've been the benefici area of so many,
whether it is like a formal or informal mentoring that's
given me opportunities that I wouldn't have had. I think
part of my career is wanting to pay that forward
(03:30):
and create those opportunities for somebody else.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I was going to ask you, what was your first job?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
If you're six years old, you're doing extracurricular activity.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And it's on the war of Iran and Iraq. What
was your first job? What did you want to be then?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
When you were young? Like you know, they always say
what do you want to be when you grow up?
What did you used to say?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I used to say I wanted to be a teacher.
I can't And that made sense because my mum was
a teacher and her mum was a teacher, and those
were probably the only that was the only job. I
grew up in a very small part of town on
a little property, so I didn't have exposure to what
other jobs could be. And again, I like people, I
(04:08):
like having a yarn, and I like learning, so a
teacher did make sense. And I think then when I
became a teenager and saw the hell that I put
my teachers, it really took the shining off. But I
have such respect for anyone who dedicates their life to
teaching others.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
But it was pretty clear.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That I did not have the patience to be a teacher.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So what'd you end up doing?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
So I went to high school in the city. I
was lucky enough to go to a selective high school,
so there were pathways established for me to go to
university and ended up going to UNSW. UNSW gave me
housing for the first year through their Naragilli Center because
even though I grew up in Newcastle and Sydney is
only two hours away, we were not the family that
(04:52):
ever went to Sydney.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
So that that was like another world away.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Exactly like I didn't even catch public There was no
public transport where I grew up, so the idea of
going to Sydney and being on trains and buses and
all of that was a complete, a complete change for me.
So I lived on campus thanks to the Naragilli Center
for sorting that out for me, and studied international relations
because by this point I decided that I was going
(05:17):
to be a diplomat, despite the fact that I had
clearly no idea what a diplomat did and had no
one in my life that could tell me what that
would be like. And then I was given a kidet
shit with foreign affairs and trade, and I thought, right,
this is it.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Pathway laid out.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So your first job was government, first.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Proper job i'd had, like high school jobs.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I worked at sports Girl, Heyts shut Out the good
old days, was in government and I hated it.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
It was not what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
My first job was government and I hated it too.
Where were you, Department of Families Communities?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
That can be a tough one though as well.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
It's tough.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I went straight to a youth detention center, which I
thought I wanted to be. I wanted to work with
you and I wanted to work with our young people
that I saw coming in and out of the Murray
School getting locked out coming.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Back to the Murray School.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I wanted to go to the youth detention center, but
I wasn't game enough to break the law because of
my dad. I was not game enough. So I went
to the government. Lasted twelve months, and it was it
was traumatizing because I was seventeen. Yeah, I don't know
whether I was ready for it. But at the same time,
(06:31):
it'd opened my eyes to another world.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
But it's an interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And when I was working, I was doing a lot
with youth and in the employment and education space. If
we fast forward a couple of years and I'd talked
to these kids and they were fifteen or sixteen, I'd
be like, what do you want to do? And so
many of our kids would say, I want to be
a social worker. Or I want to be a nurse
or a teacher, because they'd had a positive experience with
those people, you know, in the different paths of their lives,
(06:56):
and they said, that's what I want to do. And
it was part of my job to sort of have
those coaching conversations to say that, like, absolutely powered to
you if you want to be a social worker or
if you want to go and engage in the frontline
that kind of work. But I also want our people
to dream in a different way because those jobs ask
can be so tricky, they can be traumatizing. It's fantastic
(07:20):
for anyone to want to dedicate their lives to that.
But there are so many different pathways, including entrepreneurship, including business,
that maybe you do want to go and be a
social worker, maybe you do want to work in a
detention center, but maybe that's not going to be you
for forty years. And for a lot of people. We
see the exit rates of those professions. They're incredibly challenging
(07:41):
jobs with beautiful people working in them.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
But let's think more broadly.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
About what your career because like it or not, we're
all probably going to be working for thirty or forty years.
It's a long time. Do you have it in you
to do that for thirty or forty years? And you
found that out early?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, And I.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Was just going to say, in terms of careers, education, training, employment,
I then went from the government into a group training
organization me too, did you stop? So in Queensland it
was the oldest GRIP training organization and it was called
Industry Commerce Employment Training. I sent and I remember being
(08:19):
a school based apprenticeship officer and there was no such
thing as school based apprentices So my job was to
go and educate the sector, industry and the high schools
around the education training reforms for the future. And now
with the work that I do, I'm able to go
and go and engage with a lot of those people
(08:40):
that are still working those organizations and hey, roll out training.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
And it's for me.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It's seeing the impact as well. Recently, I've had sort
of two experiences because I did the exact same job.
So I didn't know that about you that is not
readily available on your bio. But I was doing school
based traineeships adult traineeships again with a gto rto that
be it based in Adelaide, so I know exactly what
you're talking about, but recently I've had too.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
One was even just on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I was at one of our wonderful suppliers celebrating their
tenth year in business, and this young man is waving
to me across the room. It was kind of dark,
and I was like, oh, okay, I was so high.
He clearly knows me. And then I had a bit
of a young to him and I realized this was
one of my former school based trainees.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Stop.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's been twelve years and this young man number one,
he's like twenty seven now, not fifteen. And I'm not
going to give away my age, but the fact that
he recognized me was so flattering, and that he approached
me and said, what have you been up to?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And we've got to talk about our lives. And I'd
last seen this young man twelve years ago when he
was fifteen and in Tamworth and had a number of
challenges going on, and to see that everything's not only
worked out okay for him, but it's worked out pretty well.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And that he has just as fond.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Of memories about that time and that experience that I do.
And similarly, I had another young man I approached me
on my way to the toilet at a university event
and just you're like, Kate, Kate, do you remember me?
And I did, and being able to see that for me, yes,
it was a job and it was meaningful, but it's
also had an impact on them and that these young
people are now adults mind blowing. But they're doing really
(10:24):
well and it's the next generation. It's paying it forward.
It's so beautiful, you know, Kate.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I've never actually sat for a moment and reflected on
the impact of what we did in those jobs way
back then.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
And I guess being in business, your.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Life just changes completely and I don't even remember sometimes
of the jobs that I did before that. Just the
last ten years have been crazy. So you're running or
at the head of an organization that supports I guess
economic empowerment, supply diversity, and I want you to kind
(11:01):
of say it in your words of what what you
do at Supply Nation, But doesn't it make you really
proud to see more of our mobs starting businesses, especially
our women, our sisters, our mothers, and our aunties, our matriarchs.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You've hit the nail on the head, I think in
most families and in most communities, women have been doing this.
Women and men, but women are often the unsung heroes.
They've been doing this in one way, shape or form.
What I think Supply Nation has been good at doing
over the past fifteen years is really shining.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
A spotlight on that there are.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Businesses that might be mom and dad working in a
spare room on a weekend just to pay a little
bit extra money. And then there are these incredible biicoastal,
multimillion dollar organizations. But at the end of the day,
they're entrepreneurs. They are providing for their families, they are
creating pathways for their children. But Mob's been getting this
done for a long time. We just necessarily haven't called
(12:00):
us for what it is business exactly. It was just
paying the bills, It was just food on the table.
It wasn't all Now you're an entrepreneur, and I love that.
I love that it's been elevated. And I have the
privilege of working with over fivey three hundred Indigenous businesses
that Supply Nation is verified. Those numbers are just going
through the roof. So we're fifteen years old. We just
(12:20):
had our fifteenth birthday party a few months ago. We
have over eight hundred and twenty corporate members, so corporate,
government and nonprofit we might call them buyers, and our
Indigenous businesses are our sellers. And we act not only
as a verification body to make sure that black businesses
are black businesses under their NI double A so the
(12:40):
government definition of fifty percent or more Indigenous owned as
well as so and then matching buyers and sellers. And
we try to be a little bit more e harmony
than Tinder, So we try.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
To have a love harmony j IV a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Like long lasting meaningful relationships where possible, because we think
that's how it works best for buyers and sellers is
and that's the way that blackfellows do business.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
We get to know each other.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's based on values, it's based on communications, it's based
on trust.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Of course, there's always space for a.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Deals of deals and a sales of sale, but we
like to get down. We like to know, like talk
to each other to understand where you're coming from and
exactly if you can connect on a values basis, then
it is better for business.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I was going to ask you in your short time,
like you've been there about two years.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Not even about fifteen months.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I'm just going to say, you know, in the short
time that you've been the CEO at Supply Nation, what
has been one of your I don't know, not biggest achievements.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
What are you most proud of?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
That's really tricky.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I'm really proud to have reopened our offices nationally, so
we now have people in every single state and territory
except Tasmania working on that. We've now got offices in
most capital cities. We had those many years ago, but
then COVID came and you know, there was a.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Change for so many businesses.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
But I really want Supply Nation to not be a
Sydney centric or an East Coast centric organization. So taking
Connect our Australia's largest indigenous business event. We host it
every year in August, to take that out of Sydney
and to take it to me engine to Brisbane. This
year only a few months ago, it was a little
bit of a swing, you know, it wasn't sure how
(14:30):
that was going to go, but it was our biggest
and dare I say best connect.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah. We had four thousand people through the door.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
We drove over two point one million dollars of economic
input into the Local Economy two hundred and ten exhibitors,
half of which were from Queensland. It was an overwhelming success.
So being able to show that we can do that
in Brisbane, well, I think we can do that anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Exactly because Brisbane's still seen as a little country town.
My cousin's me from Redfinissa call us country Bumpkins. So
if you could take this massive event from the ICC
and the hardest Sydney to Brisbane and still create that impact,
then that's pretty deadly right.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So where too?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
From here Supply Nation, you're taking Supply Nation to you know,
around the country, setting those officers up and having that
visibility and making sure that people can engage and connect
and build relationship with some of those staff.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
When else is happening?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Is there any news, any research papers, something exciting you
want to share or you can't share?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Oh? No, of course, We've had actually quite a few
research papers in the last couple of months alone. So
we did a legacy piece that sort of tracks the
impact of supply diversity over the last fifteen years and
also starts a conversation around mega trends like what's going
on in business, what's coming Because what we observe is
that the majority of our indigenous businesses are owned operators.
(15:58):
They're in there, they're running it. If something goes wrong,
it's all hands on deck. And when we are privy
to all this knowledge and these insights and these conversations,
we have a role not only to share that with
our indigenous businesses, but to do it in a way.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
That's digestible for them.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The average entrepreneur does not have an hour and a
half and read forty two pages of research. They want something,
they want it short, they want it sharp. Tell me
what I need to do. Tell me what's the one
thing you need me to know about AI. What's the
one thing I need to know about ESG?
Speaker 4 (16:28):
What is ESG? And why should I care?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So we're trying to do more research that's short and
sharp and has a very clear benefit to the intended beneficiaries.
We're also going to have a new social return on investment.
So we have a much quoted piece of research called
the Sleeping Giant from twenty nineteen that says for every
dollar that goes into an Indigenous business, that returns four
(16:52):
dollars forty one of economic, broader, economic and social value,
which is a fantastic stat but we're now in twenty
twenty four, almost in twenty twenty five, so we think
it's probably even higher than that. We're going to try
and do a re release of that next year.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
And when you talk about the social impact right when,
and I talk about it in the Black Card training
all the time, why should we back indigenous businesses? And
that's I always talk about the dollar value, how much
money in terms of transactions between members and suppliers in
(17:29):
the last twelve months.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So in the last financial year financially twenty three twenty four,
it was four point six billion dollars, which was five
hundred million up on the previous year of four point
one billion. I mean, that's just a good number regardless.
But when you think about the economic conditions that we've
been having, not only in this country but globally, cost
of living crisis, a lot of major political events, to
(17:53):
see that Australia and Australian corporate, government and nonprofit organizations
have backed it up to four point six billion into families,
communities and business.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It's a very nice number.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
It is.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And that's what I have to reiterate to a lot
of non abitional people that I engage with and Annie
Lillis says this all the time.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Like, we're not victims.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
You know, Black fellows ran an entire country, like Abiginal
people ran this country not that long ago, and we
never invaded anyone and we had no armies and prisons
or police. And we've been here for millennia. So see
ourselves as owners and runners of country, not as victims,
and taking that into a business deal or negotiation. Having
(18:39):
that confidence and knowing your worth and your value that
you bring to the table. That takes time because you've
got to build those relationships.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So supply nation it is.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
You know, there's a lot of Black Fellows that have
been engaging with supply nation. What would you say that
for mob that haven't engaged yet with supply nation? Is
there any kind of advice that you could give people
if they haven't yet decided whether or not supply nations
for them?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I think it's it's often even just breaking down some
of the misconceptions. It costs you absolutely nothing to be
a part of supply nation, and it never will.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's something that we are very.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Very fundamentalist on is that if you're a registered or
a certified business it's a process to come and be
verified by us, of course, because we want to uphold
some very high standards to make sure that anyone we're
calling a black business is a black business under the
agreed upon government definitions. But when we are saying that
we've we've facilitated four point six billion dollars of impact,
(19:47):
why not be a part of that. We do training,
lots of free training for our indigenous supplies. We have
trade shows across the country, including Connect, which I mentioned earlier.
And there's business matching, so all of our members, corporate,
government and nonprofit, they have a dedicated relationship manager who
matches them with indigenous businesses to create a short list
(20:09):
or a long list for them to work through and
creates tangible opportunities. Why wouldn't you want to be a
penny jumpstart? Oh love jumpstart?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I know? Can you share with our listeners before we
wrap up this yarn? Because I think, you know, there's
there's people just think Connect. There's awards, there's a lot
of glamor, and it looks so you know, and it is.
It's a really good event. Every Connect event is pretty deadly.
But there's other programs. I love the fact that's research, right,
there's training, it's free to sign up. But jump start
(20:41):
I haven't I haven't actually utilized jump start yet, But
can you share with people why was jumpstart born?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Like, what was behind the thinking?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So Jumpstart was part of the recognition that, yes, we
want our members, our buyers to be continue spending money
on Indigenous businesses that is our bread and butter. Don't
stop doing that, yes, thank you, But also men, any
of them want to give back in other ways. And
we know that Indigenous entrepreneurs don't necessarily have entrepreneurship in
their family in a formal way. They don't often don't
(21:14):
have a formal qualification. They may not have an MBA
or a business degree, but they're really passionate about their
product or service and they might be delivering that at
different levels of scale. But if they want to grow,
they will need support and as they as I said,
busy entrepreneurs, they don't necessarily have the time to sign
up to extended extended programs. So we said, okay, let's
(21:38):
take some member organizations who have some very clever people
who are experts in a field, and let's see if
they want to mentor one on one some of these
indigenous businesses. So again we're acting as a matchmaker. We say, hey,
corporate and government organizations, have you got some clever people
that would like to spend some time. Maybe that's eight hours,
maybe that's twelve hours, maybe that's a week specifically focusing
(22:00):
on one particular problem of this indigenous business. So it's
not a broad meing program, it's what's your problem. Is
it pricing, is it procurement, is it marketing and media?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Is it pitching?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Social your financials? And then we match you up so
that you have a problem. We are not necessarily the
ones that are going to solve it as supplanation, that's
not our role, but we do want to act as
a concierge and help you find a solution.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I love this and for any of your mom that
are listening or watching this episode, really think about Supply Nation.
There's also iba into just business Australia. You can go
online and just Google to find out what supports out there.
If you're in startup mode or you've got an idea,
(22:42):
a lot of people just don't know where to go
and what to do first, so supply Nation is not
usually the first place you go to you've got to
actually kind of line your decks up, make sure you've
got a business and it's been operating. I think that's
part of the criteria right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
If you're a startup and you need support in terms
of how to write a budget, that's probably not our wheelhouse.
But we want to act with other stakeholders in the sector,
whether that's an indigenous Chamber of commerce, whether that's iba
that we can of course try and show you where
those pathways are. But where we sort of come into
the picture is where someone is already making around fifty
to eighty thousand dollars a year, that's probably when you
(23:21):
want to come and have a conversation with Supply Nation
and that's where we can start helping you on your
journey for growth.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
That's pretty deadly just to know that around the fifty
to eighty k mark and then bring up Supply Nation
and reach out to someone and have a yarn. So
if you could give anyone any advice as a deadly
black woman, it's done a few things in your life
and now leading you know Supply Nation.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Just for yeah, just whether it's career advice.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
You're a mum as well, you haven't talked about that,
you know, how do how do you keep kind of
balancing work life balance? And what could you share with
some other women and also just people in business on
trying to do that balance as well, because it's not
always easy and you're not going to always get it right.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So what have you learned? What can you share with us?
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Look, I've learned that I'm definitely never going to get
it right.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
But I try and sit myself down at the end
of every day and sort of say, Okay, what am
I really happy with, either in my role as a wife,
my role as a mom, my role as a community member,
or my role as a CEO. And there's always going
to be things like some days I hit it out
of the park as a CEO and like that was
a bloody good business day, but I growled at the
(24:41):
kids and I probably didn't need to do that. I
try and give myself an assessment of and be kind
to myself in doing that of saying, okay, so maybe
I wasn't the ten out of ten mum that I
wanted to be today, but here's what I think I
can do better. Here's how I can do that and
try and get give myself sort of a grade across
the board of all the different hats that I'm wearing,
(25:02):
to say, you know what, if I'm an seven or
an eight out of ten, most days, you don't pretty good.
I reckon I'm doing okay, that it's not going to
be ten out of ten. No one's ten out of
ten all the time. And to be a little kinder
with yourself. I think, particularly Black women, we wear so
many hats, we do so many things, and we feel
so much.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Pressure real or not. We put that pressure on ourselves.
Sometimes I just try.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I'm not always successful in doing this, but I try
and just be a little bit gentle with myself while
having an honest conversation around what went well and what
didn't go so well, and say tomorrow's another day I
get to do over.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, dust it off, get back up again.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Or one last question before I let you go, what
feels your cup or how.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Do you feel your cup? How do you keep your
cup full?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It sounds, it sounds a little bit lame, but right
now it's my baby's I've got, you know, five and two,
so they're still very small and I miss them horribly
when I'm traveling. But there is nothing I like more
than wrestling on the floor with them, cuddling, taking them swimming.
It's something that is always going to beautiful. But when
(26:12):
you don't get to do it as much as you want.
Walking through the door and having them run and give
you a cuddle, I know it's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Babies.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Well, I think for a lot of us that don't
see you rolling around on the ground with your kids,
but see you out there, you know, either running the
show and at connect online. There's so much to us
that people don't see behind closed doors. So as I said,
(26:42):
thank you for taking time out of your business schedule
to just come on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And have a yarn.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
You're welcome. Thank you. I could not believe that.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
When Kate said to me, let's do the podcast, I
was like, I mean, I'm in Sydney, Let's let's let's
have this yarn.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
It's been a long time coming.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I've always want to have a yarn with anyone at
Supply Nation, just so our community who come to me
a lot and ask me questions. Finally I can say,
now go check out this episode and listen to the
CEO and if you need to know more. We'll have
some of the websites and resources, especially that research, in
our show notes, But your Mob, I hope you've enjoyed
(27:25):
this yarn Until next time, By for now. If you'd
like any more info on today's guest, please visit our
show notes in the episode description. A big shout out
to all you Deadly Mob and allies who continue to listen, watch,
and support our podcast.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Your feedback means the world.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
You can rate and review the podcast on Apple and Spotify,
or even head to our socials and YouTube channel and
drop us a line.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
The Black Magic Woman podcast is produced by Clint Curtiss
The Mos
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