F*ck, Reinventing Myself at 40! with Talitha Cummins

Episode Transcript
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Dominique Hind (00:00):
Dom Hi, I'm Dom hind and fuck. I'm nearly 50.
Actually, I'm 47 and a month,and I have started the
countdown. The thing is, Timemoves fast. One minute you're
deep in the hustle, building acareer, hitting milestones,
feeling like you've got all thetime in the world, and then

(00:21):
suddenly you look up and think,Wait, is this still what I want?
That moment of questioning canfeel terrifying. I know because
I've been there. And today'sguest Talitha Cummins knows it
too. For years, she was a facewe all knew, reading the news,
delivering the stories thatshaped our days. But after

(00:42):
leaving channel seven, she foundherself at a crossroads, asking
the same question so many of usdo what now? For a while, she
didn't have the answer, but thenshe found herself drawn to do
something totally new, the cut aFine Jewellery brand built on
craftsmanship and meaning, andin a way, she was following in

(01:05):
the footsteps of her family. Heruncle has run a hugely
successful jewellery business inMelbourne, and that legacy of
crafts, craftsmanship andprecision, was something she
wanted to bring into the modernera. And with that, she stepped
into what I like to call career2.0 a complete reinvention. But

(01:26):
Talitha story isn't just aboutcareer change, it's about total
transformation. She's been openwith her battle with alcoholism,
and she has made the decision tostop drinking and commit to a
clean, clear and intentionallife, and that shift has shaped
everything from the way sheapproaches business to the
choices she makes every day. Imet Talitha through her husband

(01:51):
Ben Lucas, Benda, as weaffectionately call him, and
I've watched her step into thisnext chapter with so much
purpose and clarity, and I knewI had to have this conversation
with her. So let's get into it.
Because fuck, I'm nearly 50, andisn't it amazing?

(02:22):
Some people completely redefinedwhat success looks like for
them, and Talitha Cummins is oneof those people. She spent years
in the media as a journalist andnews presenter, then a decision
was made for her, it was time toleave it all behind and not on
her terms. What happens when thecareer you built no longer fits?

(02:45):
How do you start over? And moreimportantly, how do you find
something that actually feelslike you? Talitha backed
herself, took a risk and createdthe cut, a Fine Jewellery brand
built on craftsmanship, smartdesign and giving people a

(03:07):
smarter way to buy diamonds.
After 12 months in she'sabsolutely killing it, reshaping
the traditional diamond industryby championing lab grown
diamonds are more ethical,accessible, smart and
sustainable choice. And theindustry is changing fast, even
to beers. The King of thetraditional diamonds has seen a

(03:31):
drop in market cap andprofitability as more people
realise that lab grown diamondsare chemically, physically and
aesthetically identical, butwithout the ethical baggage and
the ridiculous price tag.
Talitha own transformation,stepping into sobriety, away

(03:53):
from the media industry and nowleading a thriving business
reflects smart, intentionalchoices. It's a story of
reinvention, resilience andtrusting your gut. Talitha,
welcome to fuck. I'm nearly 50.

Talitha Cummins (04:15):
Thank you so much for having me here. I'm
excited. We've already beenlaughing a lot. Yeah, I think
it's sweating and sweating. Yes,that's part of fuck. I'm nearly
50. Let me just tell you that.

Now, before we dive in, I want to hear it from
you. Can you please introduceyourself in the most Talitha

way, impossible. Okay, there have
been a couple of iterations ofTalitha. I've had Talitha 2.0
which was, you know, party girl,crazy, wild, falling asleep in
the front yard, passing out tolethal. And then there's the

(04:56):
Talitha who started getting herlife together. And. And has just
at the age of 42, or three,started a whole new career. It's
amazing. I have two beautifulchildren, yes, six and eight
years old, and an amazinglysupportive husband. I Yeah, I'm

(05:19):
pretty happy with where I amnow, but I would say that being
close to fucking 50 makes mehappier because I'm feeling more
stable and and a lot more sureof myself. Yeah, in this decade,

it's so funny, isn't it? I think when you do
get older, you do start to thinkand feel that, who gives a shit?
And you've got the confidence toactually back yourself, because
it doesn't matter like you'vegot one life to live, that's
right, you've got to do it.

And you start to do that inventory of, you
know, people and of things andof and you come to this
realisation that, yeah, this is,this is crunch time. Yeah,

yeah. I think it's the inventory of things is
a massive thing, like even yourjewellery, I think is a massive
thing. To look through theinventory and go, Okay, do I
need it all? Yeah, but now youcan't sell it. And I went, now
you can't sell

Unknown (06:17):
it, but we'll talk a lot about that.

But I went through to our storage because
we live in a terrace, yeah, andso we have to have an outside
storage. And I looked through onthe weekend, I had this whole
case full of Louis Vuitton andGucci and all of these bags that
I've wasted my money on for thelast, you know, 20 years. And I
just thought, wow, that's it's alot of money. It's a lot of

(06:43):
money there. Yeah, I know. So

Justine, who was on the first guest, she sent me
a message because she was goingthrough and packing up her life.
She sent 120 items toconsignment as she was moving.
And I was like, consignment,that means they're expensive to
begin with. I don't even want to

know concerning, isn't it, the things
that we waste our money on overthe years? It is. It's
unbelievable. I feel like, youknow, I feel like luxury in that
way, is starting to change.
Luxury

is definitely it is, and I know that we will talk
about it, but let's talk aboutyour career early on. So you
spent years in the media world avery tough, tough world. When
did you realise it was time tomove on? And how did that come
about?

I Yeah. So I was in in the media for about 18
years, working for ChannelSeven, all up this eastern
seaboard, finishing up in Sydneyfor reading news, reading for
weekend, sunrise. Just briefly,I was always a very shy and
anxious young girl, really, yes,definitely, very quiet, very

(07:53):
timid. So for me to be in thatcareer in the first place was
just a shock for my family.

Unknown (08:02):
Hi, hi, um,

but when I was in front of that camera, I was
able to compose myself and putall of that away and become this
different person. Isn't thatinteresting? So yeah, it was.
It's and I would say rightthrough until the end of my
career, I felt nervous andanxious. And working in the TV
industry, you haven't anearpiece in your ear, and we're

(08:25):
coming back from the break, andit's 54321, you know, I would
always have, if you've ever feltanxious in your life, that tight
chest that that never left mereally that whole time. Wow. And
so for me, it became aperformance, yeah, okay, you
know underneath, though, is justsort of a duck treading water.

(08:47):
So, yeah, so for 18 years, thatwas essentially me, Wow.

You must have, like, just fallen in a heap.
Then at the end of it, just fromnot having to be so anxious,
well, I

fell into a heap.

Unknown (09:02):
Which Which time Hang on.

You know, at the age of 33 when, with those
anxious feelings, I would gohome and drink myself into
oblivion. Yeah, right, you know,I know I'm talking volume
bottles, right, of wine oralcohol or whatever it was a
night, just to and I think I wasjust in this survival mode and

(09:29):
trying to deal with other thingsin my life. And so at the age of
33 I, you know, exposed to theworld that I was an alcoholic,
it hit the papers. And

how was that?

Strangely, not as terrifying as it would sound,
there was sort of something inme which said that I could help
people with sharing thismessage. It was a strange
believing, you know, I don'tknow if. A higher power, or
whatever's up there. There wassome kind of thing that was
telling me that this needed tobe told to the world. It was

(10:08):
bizarre. So anyway, leavingtelevision that wasn't entirely
my choice. Do you know what? I

think it's a great choice. After just going
through that

I tried to leave a couple of times over the
years, and they said, Hey, whatdo you want? We can, you know,
you want different positions youwant. And so I did those things.
But I was nine weeks into afterhaving my first baby, and, you
know, I'd said goodbye toeveryone on air, and I'm sort of
a little bit restricted in whatyou want to say, Yeah, that's

(10:42):
fine, but I got a call sayingthat there's been a shuffling of
the deck chairs. And would Ilike to now become a 5am news
reader?

That would work, that would work with my child?

Yes, great. So that

Unknown (10:57):
wasn't going to work.

So yeah, I took some further steps and legal
action there, which totallyunderstandable, yes, and so I
was never going to work in thetelevision industry again after
doing that. So for a few years,I sort of shuffled around. I did
a lot of media consultancy,going into boardrooms and

(11:21):
training corporate people to howto speak to the media, which was
not fulfilling entirely. Youknow, we'd have great days with
non for profit organisationswhere you can really contribute.
But yeah, and then I jumpedaround a little bit, did some
PR, spent a day at the weatherbureau in communications, and

(11:44):
then I just thought, this is notworking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And
so, yeah, I just keep talking.
Do you no stop?

You could have actually helped the Weather
Bureau and actually, like, gotthe weather right and
forecasting Correct.

Hey, I back the weather bureau. Forecasting is
an inexact site, okay? They usea lot of I'm very defensive.

Unknown (12:07):
Okay, wow, all right.

And I can remember your journey going
through and, you know, trying tofind what was actually right.
And we did have a fewconversations about it, and this
thing kept coming up with youruncle, which I think is amazing.
But how did you actuallynavigate that? What's next like?
Were you scared that youwouldn't actually find your

(12:33):
thing? I was

terrified because I people around me
seemed to have found their thingor something. You know. My
husband still gets out of bed at430 in the morning, jumps out of
bed excitedly, looking

forward to his day. You ever know, but that is
just better. Like, that is justhim, like, let's be honest.

He's he's just, you know, and then I'd see other
people, and they were happy inwhat they were doing, and they
were fulfilled, and they talkedanimatedly about their life and
their job, and I wanted that,but I felt so far away from it
at the same time as well. And somy uncle, who has been in the
diamond industry for nearly 55years, kept sort of contacting

(13:17):
me and saying, Hey, look, Ithink this would really work for
you. The bespoke side of mybusiness in Victoria is going
really well. People don't wantsomething off the rack. They
want something bespoke made forthem. And I think if you opened
an office in Sydney, you went tothe GAA and studied diamonds,
this could really work for you.
And I just I wasn't convinced,yeah. I just thought being a

(13:38):
journalist and then selling justseemed so far apart. Yeah, to
me, you know, different skillsets completely. I would have to
potentially have an opinion, youknow, in sales and and so it
took me some convincing, but Idid say to him, Look, I will do
the online component of adiamond grading course for the

(14:00):
with the GAA, and I'll see how Igo. So I did that online
component, and then I thought,that's actually

good, interesting. What did you do
when you were like, did you haveto touch all the diamonds

or Well, I did the online part, and then I
said, Okay, well, maybe I'll goto London and I'll do the face
to face practical diamondgrading. So went there into the
laboratory, and, you know, therewere seven or eight of us in the
class, and you have your ownmicroscope, and you have your
tools, and you learn how tobasically look at a diamond.
They hand you diamonds and gradethem from start to finish in

(14:38):
accordance with the four C'sreally interesting. Also a lot
of maths involved. And you know,which I didn't see coming. I did
fear that I was going to failthe exam, but I passed that, but
I was still I finished that, andI thought I still don't. I'm not
brave enough to open a businessof my own. I'm too scared. It's.

(15:00):
Terrifying. What do I know aboutbusiness? I've always had a
business brain. I've got goodsupport around me, but, yeah, I
just one step at a time. Ithought, Okay, I'm going to work
out a name, and then I'm goingto work out a strategy. And, you
know, these building blocksstarted to grow, and

that, that anxiety that you had are in
front of the camera. Yes. Do youhave that now with selling, or
is it just totally dissipated?
And I did

to begin with, but you know, the first, the
firsts are always challenging,yeah, and then I think with
entrepreneurship or having abusiness, it unearths all of
your insecurities, or so many oranything that you may not be

(15:53):
100% with. You know, I rememberhanding up my first quote,

Unknown (15:58):
and I think it was like, via email or something,
and I was like, okay, he hasn'tresponded. It's two days I
haven't responded. I'm bad. Thisis not going to work. This is,
you know, all of thoseanxieties, and it's so hard in
that instance where you go, foryou, it is the most important
thing, yeah, for you right now,you put all of your time and all
of your energy, but for theperson you're giving it to, it's

(16:20):
just one of the many things thatthey're doing. But

John was not worried about the 1010,
characters. He was just wantingfor his wife for a few months
down the track, for his, youknow, her birthday. But to you,
it's the centre of the theuniverse. It

is. And, yeah, I think yeah, that anxiety, yeah,
would build there totally.

But I but also what it's I love that unearthing
of the anxieties as well, and ifyou lean into them a little bit,
and do you have a greattherapist like I do, and I take
these to her every week, youknow, or every night. I go once
a month. Now, I

do think the anxieties would be different,
though, because you controlthese anxieties like you are the
master of driving the sales, ofdriving the business, whereas
321, back on air, that's someoneelse controlling. It's

a different it is a different way. That's true
to a certain extent, but thereare things that are thrust upon
you in business that you know,we've our social media has
expanded quite quickly, and wedo a lot of education online,
and the lab versus naturaldebate is very divided debate,

(17:32):
and we've copped a lot of, youknow, angry people abuse in that
time, which also unearths all ofthese other things that You you
sort of need to deal with aswell. So it's been a great
personal development year aswell.

Starting over is really scary. What were the
biggest fears or doubts thatcame out of it?

Everything was terrifying. What if I fail? What
if I, you know, going from whatI was doing, you know, there
were articles written and thingslike that, and I came out pretty
hard saying, This is what I'mdoing, and we're going to create
the best, you know. So I reallyput myself out there. And I just

(18:21):
thought, what if this all failsand I can't run a business and
no one wants to buy? And I wasthinking, who, who is going to
want to buy from me? Who? Yeah,like, what if I open the doors
and

it's crickets, yeah. So it hasn't been

no

gratitude.

But, but, yeah, the whole thing is terrifying,
but I found breaking it downinto a step at a time and just
taking action points was wasjust the way that I got through
it, yeah? And

I think it can be so overwhelming, like so
overwhelming, but it is justabout the next step, and the
next step and the next step,definitely, and it just makes it
a little bit easier, yes, yeah,much easier. So the cut isn't
just a business. It is, as yousaid, reshaping the industry.

(19:15):
Did you always see yourself? Youknow, even from an early age as
an entrepreneur or a businessowner, or is this just something
that you've, you know, reshapedand moved into? This has just
happened

organically, really, like it's and and I
think maybe that's why it'sresonating with people, because
what I'm doing when I firststarted in this industry, and
they were saying diamonds wererare. And I did a real and said,
diamonds are not rare. You know,most people in the Western world

(19:52):
are wearing at least one ontheir hand and earrings. And
there were all of these thingsthat we had been. Told over the
years that, as a journalistlooking into this new industry,
I thought, what

is that actually correct? Yeah or not. Are we
what? Yeah? Because, I mean,yeah, you can literally say, I
want this diamond and this andthis, and they will

find one for you. Find me a DVS one, you
know, two and a half carat,yeah, and it will, I mean, there
are, of course, exceptions, butfor the engagement ring market,
and, you know, tennis bracelets,jewellery, Fine Jewellery, when
this is they're not rare, yeah,

yeah, yep. Okay, good, great.

So when I put that reel out, it blew up. Yeah,
exploded like millions of peopleviewed responded

at how much of it was positive versus negative?
Oh, I would say both. Yeah,right. So pretty evenly skewed,
yeah. And do you think thenegativity stems and, I mean,
it's funny, like, I I said toJustin, can I just sell because
I'm not very sentimental, whichis probably not a good thing.
I'm a few when I die, what areyou going to burn it? Like,

(21:12):
like, what's going to happen toit doesn't it doesn't matter. So
I said to him, I just want tosell on my diamonds, and then
I'll just get the lab grant, andhe's like, there's not a market,
and you can't do that. But Ithink it is, you know, you've
spent so much money on thesenatural diamonds that you feel

(21:33):
like there's an price attachedto them, yeah, and there's
actually not.

And we're learning now that diamonds, the
engagement ring variety, andwhen we're not talking four plus
carrot natural diamonds, whichyou can invest in and, yeah,
that's a different market. Tinyamount of the market engagement
ring white diamonds and FineJewellery. There is no secondary

(21:59):
market. For the best that youcan do is take them to a pawn
broker or to an estate jewelleror sell them on Facebook
marketplace, you will get backwhat someone is willing to pay
for them. So the illusion thatwe are going to, you know,
you've got this beautiful$50,000 necklace, and it's, it's

(22:19):
appreciating in value. It's justnot true.

Yeah, great. And that's where the sore

point is for a lot of people. And I think I
feel like, in the last year anda half, we've been observing
through our reels and ourfeedback and everything, a
revolution in what luxury means.
Yeah, you know the there's theold luxury avert, displaying our
wealth, you know, in that way.

(22:49):
And then there's, yeah, like theLogos, the big T shirts, yes.
And now there's a new luxury,which is, it's almost like a
smarter luxury, where people arebuying things for themselves for
the reasons that they want it,and for the reasons that are,

(23:11):
you know, important to them.

So what less show, rather

show and buying something that they're
meaningful? Yeah, but doing itin a smarter way, and saying,
Hey, and this, I have Eloise,who is on my page. Beautiful
Eloise. She we use her handsbecause I've got sausage
fingers. I

didn't even think about that like a hand
model.

Okay, great. At the start, when I was starting
to, you know, video, diamonds onmy hands. Oh no, yes, it's
someone else so beautiful,Eloise bought her diamond ring
the engagement off me to beginwith, and she was toying with
the idea of natural and labgrown, and I think the natural
was going to come in around$50,000 and the lab grown around

(23:55):
10 or $12,000 and she her andher partner thought about it,
and then she said to me, no,we're not going to buy the
natural because we want to buy ahouse and we want to deposit.
And she said, we're buying aplace in Queensland because we
can't afford to live in Sydney,but we want to invest our money
in a different way, in a smarterway, yeah, which and totally

(24:18):
understand. And this is sort of,this is what we're seeing? Yeah,
I It's interesting. Yes,

yes, I bet it is with backing yourself in
business. It's a whole differentmindset than having a career.
What's been the biggest learningcurve,

because to have them daily, do

you know, I think when you start your
business, everything that youthink is easy, yes, is actually
really hard, and all the thingsthat you think are going to be
hard actually tend to be quiteeasy. Gosh,

I just that's a really big question. Jen, isn't
it the biggest learning curve?
Look, I love the I love being incontrol of my own destiny. Yeah,
I love being able to changethings on a dime, to be able to
have impact quickly. If I wantto buy something and create a

(25:16):
new product, I can do thatstraight away,

Unknown (25:24):
that's a really hard question.

I mean, we had, I had, I did a record of myself
last week because I was having ameltdown. We had seven product
seven packages stuck in us,customs. Oh, wow. And I, oh no,
I don't hear about Donald Trumpwanted them, yeah, before he had
some tariffs. And, you know, Ijust had no knowledge of this

(25:49):
area. I had no idea what to do.
Shipping consultants are hard tocome by. Like it's, you're
dealing with problems all thetime, yeah, and it's about being
resilient and living through thepain and looking at the problem,
compartmentalising it, and thenmoving to the next one.

I think that's it. That's a massive one, like
being able to move on, yeah, not

dwell, not dwell on it. And I think it's a
like, it's a business is abattle of wills, more so than
than, you know, intelligence,it's persistence, it's
resilience, it's waking up againwhen you just really don't want
to go in that day because you'veyesterday was awful, you know.
And that's, I kind of like it,yeah,

it's like Benny getting up at 630 again, again
and again, totally

Unknown (26:39):
again.

You know, it becomes a challenge. Yeah,

what have been the moments where you've
thought, What have I done

Unknown (26:50):
earlier today?

What people coming here? Thanks.

No, I've had a whole day before I came to see
you. But you know, if we have,we've, you know, a particular
chain, yes, supplier at that,oh, beautiful, amazing chains
that I love so much, not makingthem anymore. Can't get them for
six months. You know, tennisbracelet mounts. There's a
shortage at the moment becausesuppliers are not stocking them

(27:17):
because the gold price isinsane, and I don't compromise
on the quality of my thing, so Ineed those particular ones, so
you either have to make theclient wait, you know? So, so
these are the challenges thatwe're facing daily.

Yeah? So even the supply like, it is, like the
supply chain shortage, but notin construction, like we've all
been told, it's in it's in otherareas, other areas, yeah, yeah,
okay, wow. And running abusiness means owning every
decision, whether it is themarketing, the sales, the
finance and the growth, yeah, oreverything, like logistics,

(27:53):
freight, whatever it may be, howhave you adapted to wearing all
of those hats? Yeah,

there are a lot of hats.

Yeah, a lot.

Look, I have had some amazing consultants
around me, and that is really, Iwould say, the secret to how
we've become successful. BecauseI don't know it all, and I don't
pretend to know it all, but ifyou can find the people who do
know it all, you know, we've nowgot a shipping consultant. I've
got a you know designer who wereincredible in all of those

(28:29):
different areas. I've gotsomeone in HR who I talk to as
well, and it's about leaning onother people and experts and
extracting that information fromthem. I do think, I think it is

no, no, I think you're right. Like, leaning on
other people is a massive thing,because if you
naive and think that you do knowit all, that's when the problems
start. Yes, like, and whenyou've got so many amazing
people around you, if you canpick up the phone and have a
conversation and just ask forsome help, makes it so much
easier,

and that's actually probably leads us to my
biggest learning in business sofar,

Unknown (29:07):
yes,

is asking for help, yeah and admitting that
you don't know everything.
Whereas I spent my whole careerin television pretending I was
okay and I was there and I knewwhat I was doing, and just and
was too afraid to ask for help,yeah, you know. So I had, and I
was surrounded by some amazingjournalists and, you know? And I

(29:30):
just wish if I could look backnow that I that I did ask for
help.

And, yeah, I think it is when you're in
control, yeah, the business,it's easier yes than when you
are an employee. Yeah,

trying to ask for the help asking questions is
a is a healthy thing? Yeah? IYes. I love asking a question.

Why? So you touched on it before we. That
smarter choice, and why peopleare now feeling more comfortable
going lab, grown versus natural.
But do you think it is just themoney, or do you think it is,
you know, that ethical thing, orthat that is just one part of
their life? I

think, I think it's an ethical consideration as
well. In terms ofsustainability, we can't say
that lab growns are entirelysustainable, yeah, just like we
can't say natural diamonds areentirely sustainable. And I
can't as a journalist. I can't,yeah, you know, I can't say
that. And I don't know whetherit's a good or a bad thing about

(30:38):
me being in business and being ajournalist, but can't bullshit
people.

Sales are going really well. I'm yet,

so we move on.
No, I'm yet to meet clients whocome in and say to me, I want an
eco friendly diamond. Yeah, bevery honest with you.

I don't think it's even comes into the mindset
the way you Yeah, it justdoesn't.

It's essentially and, you know, as my
uncle said, it's not about usand what we want to sell. It's
about what the client wants. Heloves natural diamonds, and he's
always loved them, but he said,when these bloody things came
up, I couldn't believe it, youknow, like this is, this is
revolutionised the industry,but, and it's not, yeah, it's

(31:26):
less about the other things andmore about, I would say, just
the smarter option, yeah. And

why? Why do you think? Or what? What is the
biggest myth about lab growndiamonds?

The biggest myth, um, that they're produced
in factories in China and justchurned out by the 1000s. Okay,
how do you actually

produce the lab grown, lab grown diamonds? Like
what goes into it? Yeah. Sothere can I give my dogs ashes a
two?

There are companies that are doing that
now. And you did ask me if you'dgive me a dog that I was just
debating

whether you haven't done it, and I haven't
done it yet. She's still sittingon our bedside. Title. So

there are two beds to growing the diamonds.
There's HB, HT, and there's CBD,so high pressure. Just to
simplify, essentially, they getthe slice of a very high quality
natural diamond, yeah, put it ina chamber and apply high
pressure, high temperature forbetween two weeks and four
months.

And is that based on how big it needs to be?
Well, the rough will grow

as big as it's going to go. So once that
diamond rough has grown. Theythen pull it out, they send it
to India, where 85% of theworld's diamonds are cut,
natural and lab, yeah, thediamond is then cut, and then
it's Well, our diamonds are sentto the GAA for certification, so
the grading of the diamond tosay, you know, its

(32:59):
characteristics. Wow. And thenit reaches us. And how

long does it to grow? Like, from start to
finish? How long is it? It

can be anywhere from two weeks to four months.
Oh, six months. Oh, wow, yeah.
Okay, so it's, um, so ourdiamonds are grown in Dubai,
yeah. And then they're sent toIndia, the GAA for
certification. So we know whereour diamonds are being grown.
Okay,

good that.
That's probably a

good thing. It is a good thing, yes. So, yeah.
So there is this myth thatthey're just being churned out.
It's a very precise operation.
Yeah, it's not a matter of,there are a lot of chemicals
involved. There's a lot ofresearch. It's, it's a fine art
to producing these diamonds.
Yeah, it's not just set andforget to button on, okay,

(33:46):
probably one of the biggestmyths, I would say,

What is your vision for the cut? What do you
want to do? I

just have a vision where I I want to see I
want to show everyone what Iknow now, you know, and that's
these diamonds are incredible.
Like they at the end of the day,carbon is carbon, yeah, right,
whether it comes from a lab or amine. We are talking about
pressurised carbon. And it'sinteresting, the ones that come

(34:17):
from the ground and the storythat you can attach to it and
that, and that's wonderful. Likethere are, there's definitely a
market for natural diamonds, butfundamentally, and, and you
being a rational person and notbeing attached to, you know,
provenance, where the stonecomes from, yeah, it's a
decision. You know, the pieceitself is, is manufacture, you

(34:38):
know, is the jewellery and theperson who gave it to you and
the meaning behind it. There's,that's, you know, that's what I
want to show people. And it'sall about the craftsmanship.
It's about the diamond as well,but it's about the meaning
behind that.

Yeah, particular product, that's an amazing thing
to think about, isn't it? Yeah.
What it actually means, yeah,because

it's not about showing off. You know, there's
particular bracelets. Maybeyou're wearing one, yes, you're
wearing two. Yeah,

that popular.

Thanks Justin, and a lot of people wear them,
yeah? And I want to move awayfrom, yeah. I want to have,
like, meaningful pieces wherethe craftsmanship is the king,
yeah. Now my jeweller staysuntil three or 4am some days
when we've got to finishsomething, and then I go in and
collect it, and still he's soproud to show me it's, he's an

(35:35):
artist, yeah? I get so excited,because I love handing something
incredible over. And it doesn'tmatter whether it's a lab or a
natural diamond, it's about that

we've created.
Yeah, that is amazing. It isamazing to ask. Okay, I'm gonna
go back. Yeah, talked enoughabout the cut. Sorry. Can

we get more of my business in? Please? I

Unknown (35:57):
could talk a little bit about it.

Yeah, wow. Okay, so you've been really open about
your journey with alcohol. Yes.
Can you share what led you tomaking the decision to actually
stop stopping?

So we got Yeah, so I have done an Australian
story. There is a half hourAustralia. Sorry about a seat.
I've seen it, yes, not shyingaway from this topic, but I find
it and it's part of recoverythat we speak about it, because
our stories could be helpful,yes, to others who are going
through it. And I still getpeople emailing me. Still, I

(36:35):
wake up most mornings andthere's a message, really
someone saying, I'm goingthrough this. And I saw your
story, and it really resonatedwith me. So, like, amazing.
That's, that's my life's work.
I'm so, you know, I've gotgoosebumps, because that is so
important to me, to to have beenable to have

that to help other people. And I think it is
really interesting. You know,Justin, I have this debate all
the time or not debate. We justhad this discussion. How so many
mums are turning to having theglass, the two glasses, the
three glasses, the four glasses,oh, the bottle a night and

(37:18):
thinking that is not being analcoholic, when, in reality, you
know it, I think, what is it?
Two glasses or two glasses aweek? Yeah,

that's the recommendation. Yeah. And

there's a trend where there are more women and
more mums, yes, who are becomingalcoholics. And

it's and it's because it's acceptable. It's
not a recreational drug or anillicit substance. It's
available on every streetcorner, you know. And I was that
person. I wasn't a mum at thetime, but I was that person who
would have 2345, glasses, untilit ended up with three or four
bottles a night, to the pointwhere I just, I was comatose,

(38:02):
and I, you know, and that, ofcourse, you know, that that led
me to hospital visits and, youknow, all sorts of really ugly
things. But I didn't stop untilthere was a weekend where I was
meant to turn up to work on aSaturday and a Sunday, and I

(38:23):
woke up at about 12 o'clock. I'dobviously been drinking the
night before to, you know, like50 missed phone calls. Where are
you? And I didn't show up thatwhole weekend. And then I walked
in on Monday morning justfeeling a little bit terrified,
because for the most part, I hadconcealed this from my
colleagues. When I say concealedjournalists are big drinkers,

(38:47):
yeah, it's like the advertisingindustry lawyers, you know, like
a lot of professional industrieshave that reputation. So my
drinking was a bit like a partytrick, really. You know, I was
the funny one who could be thelast man standing up and to a
point. And then so my I walkedinto work that day, and my Chief

(39:09):
of Staff sat me down in theboardroom, and she just said,
she was lovely. She was amazingand very supportive. She just
said, you're not okay, are you?
And that's that's that's all shesort of had to say. And I my
work facade sort of crumbledright there. But

you know what?
That's a great question for herto ask. Yeah, rather than
attack, because so many peoplewould have attacked you at that
point in time and not given youthe chance to actually respond.

Absolutely. And it was, and it was that so. So
prior to that, I had been tryingfor years to stop, but it was,
and they sort of say it's acompeting fear that it takes you
to change your behaviour. Sothat competing fear was me
potentially feeling like I wasgoing to lose my job, although

(39:58):
they made it clear. That timethat I wasn't that time when,
okay, read between those lines.
So I that night, I went to AA,and I'd already been to AA a
number of years. I'd gone to AAand then gone to the pub, and I

(40:19):
tried to do dry July, and, youknow, dry August and whatever.
And I'd last a week, but I wentthat night, and something kind
of clicked in me, yeah, wow. AndI then went for 90 days in a
row, so we worked. It's when thechannel seven studios were in
Martin Place, yeah, recceCentral, yeah. And so I'd walk
down to the rocks everyafternoon, and there was this

(40:41):
little downstairs, AA meeting,and it was like sort of sand set
in the sandstone room. A lot ofbusiness people in there, a lot
of people who, you know, comeoff Navy ships, few high
profile, you know, internationalsingers. But when I walked into
that room and these people,whatever they did, just didn't

(41:05):
matter. It was all about we hadone common thread, and it was us
trying to, you know, get soberand tell our stories and and the
honesty, the support that I feltin that room, I wished that
society was like that, because Igot to experience something

(41:25):
truly amazing and and I haven'tlooked back, yes, then see

that's it like it is the support, like, whether
it's in business or even gettingthrough this, if you've got the
right support

around you. And I was, and there are so many
people out there now stillfighting that battle. I'm just
grateful that I had the selfpreservation and that support
around me so

and we live in a culture where alcohol is
everywhere, like it iseverywhere we go, like I think
even when Alfred was goingcrossing the Queensland coast.
And before the, you know, theshop shut down at 7am the bottle
shops were open. Like,seriously. Like, what is going
on? And we both can say thatbecause we're from

Unknown (42:13):
Queensland, I doubt.

But in the and it's especially prevalent in the
corporate and social settings.
What's been the biggestchallenge in navigating this?
It's I had

to change my life. I had to change how I did
life, socialising over dinners.
Now I find big partiesuncomfortable. It still unearths
this social anxiety in me, so Ifind that to be quite
challenging. So in that way,I've really, I've really kind

(42:50):
of, and it took me to grow inconfidence with myself, to be
able to say, that's just notwhat I do anymore. Yeah, you
know, I'm not going to live bysociety's rules of going to the
pub and the you know, insocialising in those ways, it'll
be done differently.

I think I can still remember when Benny told
us that he was going or he wentout on a date with you. Yes, he
was like, she doesn't drink.
What do I do?

Unknown (43:24):
I was like, What do you mean? You need alcohol, like,

to get your personality out any like, don't
tell him. I said that he'll hearit anyway. But like, I can still
remember it. And you know, evenback then, it was a, oh, really,
what do you mean? What do youmean you don't drink? I think
it's more acceptable now, yes,like, even for me, I've had
liver issues, and, you know, Idefinitely did, or was partial

(43:54):
to a drink, or way too much. Andit is about, you know, knowing
the control. I also think Idon't know for you, but my
parents didn't drink when I wasgrowing up, so they didn't
actually teach me how to drinkresponsibly, properly.

Yes, that's a really good point, actually,
well,

because even if you think about it like, how
many kids are actually, like theparents are just buying the
alcohol rather than going, okay,you know, one drink will make
you do this. To do that, threeis probably a good limit. I just
don't know whether, like, wejust say, don't drink, yeah,

but they're gonna drink, and they're going
to anyway. So why not or not?
Yeah,

why not educate them on what it actually means,
yes, to have that one, two orthree, and

that's, that's a smarter way to do it. Yeah,
would say, and I will, will dothat with my kids? Yeah, sure.
Because just because I need toabstain from alcohol doesn't
mean that anyone else in myvicinity needs to, you know,
it's all about me. It's nothingabout them. So, but you're
right, if we can educate them inthe right way and teach them how

to, how to, yeah, because I just don't
think. That there is, there'sjust don't do it versus just
that education, yes, and I thinkif I was educated how to drink
properly, I'd probably be a muchbetter drinker. That's
ridiculous, but I'd probably benot, like, a on or off.

(45:17):
Probably, yeah, but I don'tdrink now either. So, yeah, you
don't drink. No, my liver doesnot like it, so I will have,
like, one very rarely, wow. ButI haven't drank since literally
January, or, you know, not muchJanuary

last year

only. I've only drank, just stopped drinking
since March 25

Unknown (45:46):
January last year. I did not know this. Okay, well,
that's great. And how do youfeel? Like I feel amazing,

like you do feel amazing. And I do think you
know, at times you go the fearof God gets to you the next
morning, going, Yes. What did Isay? Yes, what did I do? And not
having to think about that, youcan actually get on with your
day and do something else. PTSDhere,

thinking of all of those times, yeah,

yeah. And for someone who might be questioning
their relationship with alcoholbut isn't sure where to start or
where to stop, I guess. Whatadvice would you give them? Go a
month

without it. See how you feel. Can you do it? Can
you How do you feel? Can you notdo it? It's really, you know,
removing something for from yourlife is a good way to examine
exactly what impact it's having.

I think that's great. And even just remove it
for a month, sounds simple. Itdoes sound simple, doesn't it
sounds really

tried it many times

you've made a huge pivot in your life, and you
are still a few years away frombeing 55, years Yes, that's a
few Yes. What one thing youstill want to try before you're
50?

It was always going to be business before I
was 50. I knew I loved business.
I loved the mechanics ofbusiness, and I want to, like, I
have plans for growth, yeah, no,I don't do anything in half.
Everything I do is quiteextreme, you know, I'm obsessed
with what I'm doing now. I thinkabout it morning night. I wake

(47:43):
up during the night and writenotes and work, and I want to
see how far I can take that.

Yeah, amazing, yeah, because I, because I want
to show my kids, yeah, what I'mcapable of. And I also want to
show myself, yeah. I thinkthat's the big one. Show
yourself, yeah? Like, I honestlydo, yes, such an incredible
journey. Yeah, I think

this is for you. This is, this is for me.
Now it is for you. It soundsselfish, but it's there'll be
byproducts for like, you know,kids and and they, they will see
me working hard, and they'll seethe persistence and the
resilience and the qualitiesthat I want to example for them,

yeah, I think that's amazing. And what is, if
someone's sitting on the fenceabout taking a big leap or
starting something new, what'sthe one thing you would say to
them

now, take small steps. Take the first step. You
know, just try it. Dip a toe in,you know, for me, it was the
study online. And, you know, Ithought, Okay, I'll do this
module. I broke it down to that,I'll do a module a week. And
then I still, you know, it tookme a few weeks to actually get

(49:05):
into it. But you're not going toknow unless you put yourself
through it or take that firststep, yeah, whether it's going
to work for you or not, yeah.

And you know what, even if you take the first
step and it's not right, yes,that's okay. I

took many of those first steps, you know, in
lots of different things, butthis one just feels right, yeah.
And I think instinctively you'llknow,

yeah, well, I mean, it's so your gut, it's
that, is it, it is interesting,even just seeing you now versus,
you know, when you were tryingto find out what you wanted to
do. Yes, you're just You justseem content.

Yes, I've stepped and that's what my
husband keeps saying. I'vestepped into myself. You
definitely have such a fuckinggreat feeling like, oh, just
pretended for 20 years, and nowthat was exhausting. Thing. This
is a different type of exhaustsheet. Yeah, this is exhausting

(50:05):
that it's not as exhausting astrying to fit the mould of
something that you're not.

Yes, I think that's the it is, yeah, fitting
the mould of what you're not,yeah, and finding your feet and
finding something that you love,

Yes, such a good thing. It's a good thing.

Okay? Talitha, yes. This has been such a great
chat. We've covered everything,yeah, from career pivot, yes,
reinvention, sobriety, makingsmart choices with whatever
diamond you pick, yeah, andstepping into something new. But
before we wrap up, I have onelast question, okay, which

is going to be

a big question.
It's not really there. If Icould try just one thing before
I hit 50, something to shake itup. Get me out of autopilot. Try
something different. Be bold.
What do you think I should do

it's, that's a hard one, because you've, you've
been in business, you're prettymuch sober, yeah, oh, that's a
hard one. What should

you do? Can't run marathons. I've done that,
and my knees are now done. Shortshot. Thanks, Benny.

Come and work with me.

Unknown (51:25):
Somebody, work with me.
That's what you should do. Iwill shake your life up, baby.
No, no. I will shake your wifeup.
Great. I love being shaken up. Ilike the excitement. That is the

(51:45):
best possible thing you can do.
Great, great, great, Yep, let'ssee. I can help you
Anyway, anyway,

you know, okay, good. I like that. That's a good
one. That was a good one, justanother, another person to
support you in your your questto take over the world in
smarter choices. Smart luxury,baby. Smart luxury. Exactly.
Okay, all right. Talitha, thishas been incredible, as it

(52:18):
always is, to see you, and thankyou for sharing your story and
all the ins and outs and thelessons and the ways that we can
all step into change withconfidence, because you have
definitely done that. And I dothink that you are you, are you
now, and you found you, which isamazing, like it's absolutely

(52:42):
amazing to see. And if there'sone thing I'm taking out of
this, it's that reinvention isnot starting over. It's about
stepping fully into what it'smeant to be you, which is what
you're doing, and that meansbacking yourself, trusting the
pivot, and making choices thatalign with the life you actually

(53:04):
want. And if you've loved thisconversation, make sure you
check out the cut. It's not justjewellery. It's a smarter way to
buy diamonds and a brand that isactually reshaping the industry.
If you enjoyed, if you haveenjoyed this episode, hit,
subscribe, share it with yourfriends and connect on socials.

(53:24):
And before you go, why don't youall come and work with Talitha,
or at least buy something fromTalitha. Do something bold back
yourself and take the leap.
Because fuck, we're nearly 50,and isn't it amazing? You.

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