May 22, 2025 • 57 mins
A profound loss can either break us or transform us. For Kerryn Vaughan, the death of her sister became the catalyst that changed everything.
Kerryn's story begins with a self-described "rock and roll life" focused entirely on herself, until her sister's cancer diagnosis and subsequent death shattered her world. Standing on stage at a cancer fundraiser years later, Kerryn experienced a life-altering revelation: "I realized I had this incredible power within me to make a difference to other people's lives." This awakening launched her on a humanitarian path that continues to create ripples of change across continents.
With refreshing candor and humor, Kerryn shares the remarkable journey that led her to write "Magnificent Kids," a book showcasing extraordinary children making global impact—like Daniel, who despite cerebral palsy travels through jungles to protect orangutans, and Jack, who at 15 developed an affordable test strip for pancreatic cancer. These stories inspired Kerryn to found One Planet Classrooms, initially conceived as a cultural exchange program that evolved into something far more profound.
What began as a simple plan to connect Australian and African classrooms transformed when Kerryn discovered the harsh realities facing Ugandan schoolgirls. Learning that girls missed school because they had to fetch contaminated water or lacked sanitary supplies—often leading to abuse, early marriage, or worse—Kerryn pivoted her organization to address these fundamental needs. Through solar power installation, clean water access, and student sponsorships, One Planet Classrooms literally saved lives.
Kerryn's humanitarian work expanded further with Girls with Hammers, a movement empowering women to embrace their authentic selves. As she reflects on these experiences, Kerryn offers this powerful takeaway: we don't need to have everything figured out to make a difference. Sometimes, the most impactful journeys begin with simply raising your hand and saying, "I'll do it."
Ready to make your own impact? Kerryn's story proves that even our "failures" can lead to extraordinary positive change when we keep showing up and taking that next step. What difference could you make today?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Audra (00:00):
Welcome in everyone and thank you so much for joining me
again this week.
This week, I am joined by thisamazing, incredible powerhouse
of a woman.
This week, I'm joined by KarenVaughn, and she's an
international speaker, author,facilitator and fellow podcast
host, magnificent Kids, whichwas the catalyst to her founding
(00:23):
the Global Organization of OnePlanet Classrooms, which
facilitates such projects asclean water solutions and
student sponsorships programsfor communities in Africa.
She also helped launch theGirls with Hammers, which hosts
conferences and workshops that'saimed at empowering and
connecting women, and she alsohas a second book, get Off the
(00:47):
Bench, which helps people bringtheir ideas to life.
It is my pleasure and my honorto introduce to you Karen.
Karen, thank you so much forbeing here and welcome to the
show.
Kerryn (01:00):
No, thank you very much for having me.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere, wonderful.
Audra (01:04):
Well, thank you very much for having me.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere, wonderful Well, thank you
for being here.
As people might have detected,you are not from Brooklyn.
You are obviously from theother side of the planet.
Will you tell us where you arefrom, karen?
Kerryn (01:17):
I'm from Australia and down the bottom near Melbourne,
three hours east of Melbourne,in Gippsland, and so technically
we're like ahead of you.
So right now, I don't know,it's nighttime view or something
, and it's eight o'clock in themorning for me, so I can tell
you that Wednesday is abeautiful day, how's?
Audra (01:37):
that Excellent, excellent .
Well, thank you for letting usknow that Wednesday is a
beautiful day.
It is Tuesday evening here onthe West Coast, here in the US,
so I look forward to Wednesdaybeing a great day, so thank you
for letting us know that mypleasure.
Today, we're going to talkabout all the amazing things
that you have done with yourlife and with your energies, and
(02:01):
what inspired you to do that.
And your life didn't start outthat way you were.
You were a wild rock and rollstar.
Kerryn (02:10):
I was, I was living the rock and roll life and, uh,
thought it was all about me and,and clearly it was all about me
back then.
But, um, yeah, I think that wasall I was focused on and and I,
I don't think I'd really otherthan my grandma passing away
with cancer.
You know, when I was 21, Idon't think I'd really had much
(02:34):
trauma or much, you know, losinganybody close.
And then my sister got.
I was actually playing a gigand my middle sister rang me and
said that the next one down, sothe fourth, fourth girl, five
girls in our family my poorfather, but anyway he reminds us
of that often and the fourthone was diagnosed with breast
(02:56):
cancer.
And it really shocked mebecause I couldn't and to be
honest, I was probably notemotionally intelligent at all
and hadn't really lived otherthan had some good street smarts
, but I could only see the Dword for death, you know, and I
couldn't actually evencomprehend that she could
(03:19):
survive.
And anyway, I'll try and keepthis short because it's a very,
very, very thorough story.
Um, I, I tried to save her,like I'm the oldest in the
family and I, I sort of went onthis mission to save her life
and you know I even employed awitch doctor and all sorts of
(03:39):
things.
But she came to I, we, we had afamily holiday in Hawaii 20
years before this and you knowthe whole family agreed, we just
love Hawaii.
And I was going over with mypartner and my sister said I
want to come and we said are youokay?
She said, yeah, I'm cured, I'mhealed, you know everything else
.
But she had a brain hemorrhageon the plane over, which we
(04:02):
didn't know, that's what it was.
When we got off she said, oh,I've got a headache.
And then we were wanderingaround Waikiki and she was sort
of stumbling and sick andvomiting and I kept saying
you've got to go to a doctor,like this isn't right.
And she kept saying no, no, I'mgood, I'll be good.
And about a week into it Iabsolutely cracked it and said
(04:24):
that's it, I can't do thisanymore.
Yeah, you're going to thehospital.
And so I took her to thehospital and she'd had a major
brain bleed and I have no ideahow she was even walking.
She wasn't walking by thisstage.
She was just not in a goodstate but refusing to go to the
hospital, anyway.
So, and then they had to dolife-saving surgery and they
(04:47):
opened up her brain and saidit's full of tumors and we'll
have to close it back up andshe'll die here.
And so there was a lot of allmy family flew over and had to
make some really heartbreakingdecisions, you know about how to
deal with that.
But finally, with theAustralian Embassy on board, we
(05:08):
got her back to Australia andshe lived a couple more months
but she did make it back to herhometown and you know that was
all.
She wanted to come back toWarragul, which is a little
rural town in Victoria.
But after she died it was, um,you know, I guess back then I
(05:28):
was actually I wasn't that young, I was 39 and I probably should
have been a bit more grown upand a bit more mature, but I, I
was still operating in thatspace of I've got to be tough,
I've got to be strong.
I can't show emotion.
You know that's weakness andI'm the oldest in the family and
when I look back now I justthink, oh man, how I wish I knew
(05:51):
what I knew now back then.
And so I ended up quitting myjob in the city and came back to
work in a nursery and I thoughta nursery over here is where we
grow plants and not a babynursery and I thought I'll just
hide behind the plants.
You know I can have my ownlittle private little grief
(06:14):
party and nobody will see me.
But that ended up disaster.
That was disastrous.
The owners of the nursery wereabsolute oh, just pricks, you
know, yelling at everybody and Iended up locking the boss in
the shed and you know, somebodylet her out.
You know I saw her.
A few days later she was out.
(06:35):
See, the dogs love that story.
They do, they love the story,and yeah, so that and just I'll
let you ask some questions in aminute, but I'll just quickly,
you know, say that I kind offelt lost and didn't really know
.
You know, I felt like a failure, to be honest, because as the
(06:58):
older sister I'm supposed tosave.
Well, it's not the truth, butin my head, you know, I should
have been able to save her.
I didn't.
I failed and the rest of thepeople in the town, our family's
very well known in the town andpeople in the town, sort of.
We had Real Life for Lifecoming to Warragul and that I
(07:19):
don't know if you have it overthere, but it's like an
overnight event where you walkaround round a track and raise
money for the council, counciland all that so it's coming to
work your life.
We have that.
Yes, we sure do.
Yeah, you do, yeah.
So, uh, a few people in thetown said to me, why don't you
come and join the committee?
And you know, I think theythought that was a great way for
(07:39):
me to honor my sister, you know, to, to, to take part in
something cancer related.
And anyway, I took on multipleroles.
I don't know why, but you know,I just took it all on not
knowing what I was doing.
And so there was entertainmentcoordinator very easy for me.
Ceremony coordinator very easy.
(08:01):
Activities all of these thingsI already knew back to front,
but it was a massive success.
And I was on that stage on thelast day and we were, you know,
saying how much we'd raised.
It was like I don't remembernow, but something like 110,000
or something.
It was the very first one.
It was a really goodfundraising thing and I was
(08:25):
getting praise for doing goodfor others, you know, doing well
.
I didn't want the praise, butit was at that point that I
realized I had the power.
You know, I had this incrediblepower within me to make a
difference to other people'slives and I had not noticed that
before.
You know, I had not, other than, I guess, every time I was on
(08:47):
stage and I was making peoplehappy, but I was selfishly doing
it for me more than them, youknow.
And when I realized, wow, lookwhat I've done and look how many
lives this has impacted andpotentially, look how many lives
this has saved, potentially,look how many lives this has
saved it was a real turningpoint for me.
So that was the turning point.
(09:11):
It took me 11 years before Iwrote my first book, 11 years of
searching and seeking.
And what is it I want to do?
How do I help more people?
You know, how do I get thatfeeling again?
Audra (09:23):
So now I'll stop there so you can ask something, but that
, that's basically the turningpoint so that way, it was 11
years from the time that yoursister died to when that spark
hit that you're like, oh, Ithink I know what I need to do
now.
Yeah, and it was, um, so that.
(09:44):
So it was that 11 years ofsearching and being a little
lost as to now what?
Because your sister's life hadthat much of impact on you, of
that loss, that that void thatshe had left in your family,
especially you being the oldestyou put all that responsibility
on yourself of.
(10:04):
I should have been able to fixthis.
Kerryn (10:06):
And shouldn't have put that.
You know.
Yeah, that's right.
I think in that 11 years itkind of sounds like I was
wandering around aimlessly.
I wasn't, I was busy, but Icouldn't put my finger on it,
you know.
But one thing I did do is when Iwas 10, my dad was in the Lions
Club and we took a bus full ofpeople with disabilities down to
(10:30):
a fun park in the city and Iremember we stopped at a park
and I was kicking a footy with ayoung guy with Down syndrome
and I loved it.
And this was when I was 10.
I loved it and I always had inmy mind I want to work with
people with disabilities, butnever did it, you know.
Just life took me in otherdirections and probably I was
(10:51):
just being too selfish to do it,to be honest.
But then when all this happenedand after I left the nursery, I
just quit everything andthought you know what I'm going
back to learn how to work withpeople with disabilities.
So I did my certificate four indisability work and after the
two years the teacher asked medo you want to come and teach
(11:12):
with me?
She said I'm really taken bythe level of kindness that
you're showing in the role playsand I think you'd be a great
teacher.
So I did, I started that.
So I did, I started that.
And then we her and I startedum doing autism and behavior
specialist work, you know, goinginto schools and training um,
disability services and thatkind of thing and I became a
(11:35):
behavior specialist.
And then I I left the teachingand went to do that in an, in a,
an organization, department ofhuman services you you'll have
something similar to that overthere and found that that was
really not as much integrity inthere as I thought there might
be or hoped there might be, andso I ended up going out on my
(11:59):
own.
But when I was in teaching and Iwould go to some of the schools
, the teachers would say to mefix these kids, there's
something really wrong with them.
And I used to say the kids arenot broken, the system's broken,
we're getting it wrong.
And Magnificent Kids, which isthe first book I wrote when I
(12:22):
was 50, so 11 years later is notabout kids with autism, even
though there are a couple ofkids in there with autism.
It was the fact that I startedto get a bit peeved at.
Why aren't we listening to kids.
I could hear kids having greatideas and they didn't have a lid
, they didn't have this limitingbelief system, you know, that
(12:46):
says I can't do that, can't dothat Like us adults we're
professionals at that and Ithought we're not listening.
Kids, they've got some greatideas and so that was the spark
that thought I'm going to dosomething about this.
I'm actually going to showcasesome of these kids.
So I wrote the book and yeah,that's where I'm going to do
something about this.
I'm actually going to showcasesome of these kids.
So I wrote the book and, yeah,that's where I started.
Audra (13:10):
Tell us a little bit about some of these kids that
you highlighted in MagnificentKids, because you shared with me
a little bit about some ofthese kids and I was just amazed
and in awe with what some ofthese kids have done that are
quote, unquote, disabled, whichthey put me to shame and many of
(13:31):
the adults that I know to shame, because these kids are quite
accomplished and I don't carehow you label them, these kids
are amazing.
So share with us what some ofthese kids have done.
Kerryn (13:42):
Right?
Well, first of all, I will saythat the kids don't have
disabilities, so these are justordinary kids that are, you know
, out there doing magnificentthings.
However, saying that, and I'vegot the book in front of me so
that I can make sure that Iactually tell you a few things
but there is one boy in therewho is in a wheelchair and I'm
(14:06):
going to actually find itbecause I really so.
He used to love Steve Irwin.
Now, I don't know if you guyshave heard you would have
Crocodile.
You know Steve Irwin, he'dchase crocodiles, yeah, yeah.
And so he was in love with him,like he used to watch all his
shows and everything else withhim.
(14:27):
He used to watch all his showsand everything else.
Then he got stung in the heartwith a stingray barb.
Daniel went to his mum and said, distraught, who's going to
save them?
Now?
She said I don't know.
He's got cerebral palsy, he'sin a wheelchair.
He said I don't know, and he'sgot cerebral palsy, he's in a
wheelchair.
And he said, well, I'll have to.
(14:47):
And his mum was like, okay,whatever you want to do.
So the support was there.
So that's Daniel Clark.
So that's just one person.
He ended up with his brothergoing to Borneo and Sumatra and
all that and doing treks throughthe jungle.
(15:08):
They've purchased so many acresof land for the orangutans and
that kind of like.
Some amazing, amazing workthey've done, written a book and
just great stuff.
Oh, I've got this list.
It's just amazing.
Carter and Olivia Reese youknow they were seven and eight
and they started advocating foranimals, wild animals, and
(15:32):
they've been to Vietnam arguingwith the government about rhino
horns.
They've sent boxes of hair andfingernails to the Chinese
government saying this is whatwe stop poaching.
Stop poaching rhino horn.
This is what it's made of.
If you want hair andfingernails, here's a box.
They got arrested when theywere 10 and 12 for protesting in
(15:53):
Dallas about a black rhinoauction.
You know it's stuff that youand I would be too scared to do,
like we won't come up with shitand we won't do that.
And it's Jack.
Andraker is another one.
He was 15 and his family frienddied of pancreatic cancer and
(16:14):
to get pancreatic tests.
You know they're not veryaccurate, not always accurate.
He had 100 knockbacks actuallyto where the 100th lab said to
him yeah, you can come and havea play in here and see what you
can work out.
He developed a little teststrip to test for pancreatic
cancer and it was way, way, waymore accurate than anything on
(16:37):
the market and it costs like twocents for this strip and all
these others cost a fortune, youknow, and was almost
prohibitive for a few people.
And the list goes on.
Like it's just Jordan.
Who else, well, I don't know.
Jordan Shara she was just doing, you know, not just doing like
(16:58):
collecting pills, because theywere going into the rivers, you
know, and had all these pillcollection places.
Dallas Jessop she was, you know, someone got raped at her
college so she started upself-defense classes for women,
you know, just yell fire,teaching women to just yell fire
and scream, you know.
(17:18):
And Avalon Tyson she was seven.
She had a TV station, like Icould just go on and on and on.
And there's just so many amazingkids in here, but all of them
doing life world changingprojects, you know, in before
the age of 18, some of themseven and eight, and there's 23
(17:40):
of them that I've featured here.
And there's thousands of kidsin the world doing just
sensational things.
This was in 2014,.
So they're all now young adults.
You know, I still stay in touchwith quite a lot of them.
It made me realize that if I'm50 and these kids are 7, 8, 9,
(18:02):
10, you know what could I havedone?
And it's not living a life ofregret, but it's living a life
of holy hell.
You better get started, youbetter pull your finger out and
do something.
Audra (18:17):
So yeah, that's the story behind that and that led to One
Planet Classroom.
Yeah, what was the work thatyou did with One Planet
Classroom?
Kerryn (18:27):
Yeah.
So I had a book launch and aguy in Africa saw the book, you
know, saw a picture photo of mewith a friend, a friend of his.
He said how do I get my handson a book?
So I said I'll send one over toyou.
Then he said I want to start amagnificent class.
And I said that's great.
Why don't we get?
Because he wanted to Skype.
He said will you Skype with myclass?
(18:48):
Yeah, yeah, I'll do that.
Then he said I said what aboutif I get one of the kids in the
book to Skype with your class?
That's even better, like theycould talk to them.
And he's like oh yeah, that'sfantastic.
Then I said and and yourlisteners won't know this about
me, but they'll know it as soonas I say it and we'll, it'll may
all make sense.
I jump in without thinking justbecause that you know that's
(19:10):
what you do and I always fail.
I have so many failures undermy belt.
But I think it's wonderful.
And I said well, why don't Iget a class in Australia to
Skype with your class?
So you do this pen pal thing?
This was was when Skype wasreally big but very unreliable.
It was kind of like hit andmiss, will it work?
(19:31):
And a few things transpired andI ended up in a few weeks having
45 schools in Africa registeredto do this program and what I
realised is I didn't have anylaptops.
I'm like, well, how are theygoing to do that?
They're all saying, but wedon't have laptops.
I said, oh God.
So I've put a call out onFacebook Does anyone have a
(19:52):
laptop?
I want to send it to Africa.
Next thing I've got 30.
So, like you know, three times10.
And I'm like, oh my God, whatam I going to do with all these
laptops?
How, what am I going to do?
So I go to the post office andthey say it's going to cost you
six hundred dollars to send thembecause of lithium batteries
each.
And I'm like hell, that'seighteen thousand dollars.
(20:13):
I'm not going to be able to dothat.
Like now, I've got all theselaptops.
I don't want to do with them,but I.
But I thought I'm going tostart a business.
I'll just start because I don'tknow what else to do.
I'll just start One PlanetClassrooms and figure it out.
Anyway, it took us months andmonths and months and months to
send these laptops over toUganda.
They had to go through Kenyainto Uganda.
(20:34):
But I failed significantlybecause in all those months I
never stopped to question thetime zones, never stopped to
think, hey, wait a minute, thekids in Africa are not in school
at the same time as the kids inAustralia.
They're never going to work.
And not only that, I sentlaptops to a country where 95%
(20:57):
of them don't even have power.
So another disaster, you knowit's kind of like.
This is great.
Well, what they could do, theycould drive it down to the
marketplace and trickle feed it.
You know those pictures you seeon the internet of a thousand
plugs on wires just hanging offone telegraph pole.
Do you know?
You know that kind of powerpole?
So we'd just trickle feed allday.
(21:20):
So they'd spend the whole daystanding there watching,
guarding their laptop.
It wasn't going to work, butanyway, what we realized is if
we put solar systems into theschools and they could charge
their laptops and initially thatwas the idea.
But what ended up happening,which was just profound, was
that primary school goes to P7,level seven, and then if you
(21:42):
don't pass, you can't go to highschool.
Now, for the girls that'sreally significant, because if
you don't pass P7, you're goingto get married off and you might
only be 10, 11, 12 and you aregoing to get married off because
there's no other option for you.
And we're not talking aboutkind marriages to a 15-year-old
boy and, you know, like a nicelittle romance.
(22:04):
It's not like that.
It's really really awful toolder men that are incredibly
abusive.
And so the girls are desperateto pass.
So the solar system providedthem the opportunity that they
could stay asleep at the schoolfor two or three weeks when exam
time was happening and actuallypass.
(22:26):
So the solar systems werelife-saving, and when I say
life-saving I mean that theabuse often ends in murder and
stuff like that.
But also another reason thegirls weren't progressing or
passing is because they're theones that had to go fetch the
water, and so they would have togo oh, you know miles with a
(22:49):
big jerry can.
Some of the kids were as youngas three.
You know like off fetchingwater from these dirty, stagnant
ponds.
You know that men were peeingin and animals were toileting in
and just full of worms, justdisgusting, and some of the kids
were dying from that, drinkingthat sort of water as well.
(23:10):
But the girls were doing thisand while they were doing that,
they couldn't stay in school,they couldn't be in school to
learn, so they failed again.
So there's a lot of barriersfor girls and I'm going to be
honest, I had a real white man'sview before I started doing
that.
It was kind of like the poorpeople in Africa and it's I
(23:34):
don't know.
I just had a really naive viewof what might go on and pictures
of Sudan, where you know whereit's dry and there's no food,
and I just thought the whole ofAfrica was like that and I don't
know.
I had this very naive view ofjust that one little thing I
could do could save the world.
(23:55):
And you know I soon got sat onmy bum.
You know that's not exactlyright, and I soon learned about
the girls' issues that I did notknow about.
Also, while girls have gottheir period, they can't be in
school.
So in some places they have tosit over a hole for a week and
just out in the open, just sitin a bloody hole, and so while
(24:18):
they go to get water along theway there's these men that are
like boater drivers, so they'retaxi drivers on motorbikes and
they trade sex, you know, forsanitary items for the older
girls, or they rape the youngerones, or they just rape anyone
and it's kind of like, wow, youknow, wow, this is just
(24:40):
horrendous.
And so the solution to that wasto start putting in water tanks
into schools so that the girlsdidn't have to go and do that.
And so we started putting inwater tanks and water wells,
connecting clean water tovillages, that kind of stuff.
It wasn't very expensive, youknow, maybe $2,000 for each one.
And you know there's not awater shortage in Uganda.
(25:05):
This is where we do most of ourwork.
It's not a water shortage,there's an infrastructure
shortage.
You know they're not able tocatch the water.
But um, yeah, and, and and westarted doing a sponsorship
program.
So, uh, that that happened byFluka, one of the one of the
school heads of one of theschools said I photoed me, this
(25:26):
little boy lying on the ovalwith a drink bottle, water
bottle.
I said what's he doing?
She said, oh, he's hangingaround waiting for scraps.
And I said what?
I said, what do you mean?
He's hanging around waiting forscraps.
She's like well, you know,after we feed our kids, they
hang around and they beg, youknow, to see if there's any for
them.
I said, oh my God, this isterrible, you know.
(25:48):
And she said he's gone now.
And I said, oh, go and find him.
I want to go and find him, seewhat he's doing.
Anyway, she found him in achurch and what had happened was
he came from up in the hillswith a sister and a brother and
a mother and a grandmother, butthe husband, so his dad had gone
off to look for work and thedad's brother came to the house
(26:09):
and told the mother she had tomarry him, and she said no, I'm
not going to marry you, I'mmarried to your brother.
And so then he arrangedmurderers came back to kill her,
you know, a few days later, andshe ran off with the youngest
one, which was the kid hisname's Grateful, his name is and
(26:31):
they were hiding in a churchdown in the I don't know in the
town, but hiding under the pews,under the seats in a church,
and yeah.
So I said, right, get that kid,put him in a school and I'm
going to sponsor him, I'm goingto make sure he's got an
(26:51):
education.
And so we did that.
And the woman runs a schoolwent up to the village and got
all the women together and saidno, we all stick together.
You know the women don't letthis happen to anybody else.
Yeah, and so then we startedthe sponsorship program.
We had at our peak about 180kids, boys and girls and, um, we
(27:12):
, we transferred some to thatschool for another organization
to manage and I've only justgiven it up.
Last year I or this year, Idecided I can't continue.
It was eight years of it andfor a number of reasons and
health reasons sittingunderneath there as well,
there's only so much you cangive until you're burnt out from
(27:36):
compassion fatigue.
And it was a hard decision andI had a lot of sleepless nights
and a lot of guilt, a lot ofconflict and everything else.
But I've got to keep remindingmyself that I did eight years of
it and in that would have savedmany lives and, you know, made
a lot of change and sometimesyou've got to be okay with
(27:57):
letting things go, even if ithurts.
So that's the story of OnePlanet Classrooms.
Audra (28:03):
But you say it's a failure.
I think that it was remarkable,even though it was not as you
planned, even though that itstarted out as this great idea
of I'll just teach my class inAustralia to your class in
Africa it became I'll get youpower, I'll get you water, I'll
(28:25):
protect the women in thevillages and I'll make sure all
the kids have education.
That was amazing success.
That was not a failure by along shot.
No.
Kerryn (28:37):
I know, like I said, no, I always say that it was a
failure to start with, and Ialways tell this story when I'm
doing.
Keynotes about failures arefantastic, because when we call
them failures, but if weactually have a look, it's
actually feedback.
(28:58):
Failure is feedback.
It gives us information to makeother decisions and to do it
differently.
And so, no, I don't see it asfailure, as in the end result,
that's massive success.
But if it wasn't a failure inthe first place, I wouldn't have
done this.
And the other thing I want tosay is, too, that often we have
failures and we get ashamed ofthem.
(29:20):
You know, we get embarrassedand we're, you know, and we feel
like people are judging us andwhat have you?
Oh, what an idiot, you failed.
And we run with our tailbetween our legs and we do
nothing.
And I think there's a lot morepower in standing up and saying,
oh, my God, oh, I reallyscrewed that up, but you know
what?
I can fix it and I can do itway better, and I think that's
(29:43):
important.
Audra (29:45):
I would agree.
I would agree.
So your next venture was Girlswith Hammers.
Tell us about Girls withHammers.
I mean, this is.
I love this because it's.
I know that the term is girls,but it's not just girls, it's
women, and it's bringing womentogether to bring the best of
(30:07):
everything out in each other andwhat's possible.
Kerryn (30:14):
Absolutely, as I said before, I didn't even realize
this girl issue happened inAfrica, really naive life.
But I started to really thinkabout it and think, god, you
know, and I was oblivious to thegender gap.
I really was, because I'm atomboy.
I could have anything I want,anything that boys could do, I
could do.
You know, I never saw the gapDoes that make sense?
Because I was living proof thatit didn't exist in my mind, you
(30:39):
know.
But I started to become reallyaware of it and thought, geez,
this isn't good.
And I was sitting outside of aworkwear shop so they sell
tradie clothes and all that kindof stuff, flannelette shirts
and I looked up and I thought,wow, I'm going to start
something called Girls WithHammers, because I think girls
should know that they can bewhatever they want.
(31:01):
And I was particularly aimingit at, you know, teenage girls.
You know, like none of thistaking photos of your boobs and
sending them to boys and thatkind of crap and living this
sort of submissive stereotypethat I've got to sexualize
myself to be accepted.
You know a lot of bullshit.
So I was like I'm going tostart something up and I'm going
to tell girls they don't needto do this and everything else.
(31:24):
So, nothing to do with hammers,nothing to do with woodwork,
but it's metaphoric buildingstronger girls, stronger women.
And so I kind of left itbecause I had enough on my plate
.
But then I was at about a yearlater.
I was at a InternationalWomen's Day event.
There were cards on the tableand I will stand up for women.
I will stick up for women.
I will do this.
(31:45):
And I'm thinking, oh, in mymind they were a little insipid
because I thought who's notdoing this?
Like, who's not speaking upanyway?
But then I saw one that I lovedand I've got it up on my wall.
It says I will launch apurposeful, female focused
initiative.
I thought, oh, wow, there's achallenge.
See, now this is this thing mejumping in again, didn't you
know?
(32:05):
No thought.
So I got up on stage in frontof 300 women waving this bloody
card around you know, I'm goingto do this.
They're all cheering.
I get down off the stage andthought, oh no, I've done it
again.
Now I've got to do somethingwith this.
And so I came home and told mypartner, who said well, why
don't you just do Girls withHammers?
You've been talking about itand it's a perfect, perfect
(32:28):
opportunity.
I said, well, love, I'm doingit, you're doing it with me.
So I decided to go and do acouple of schools talk about it.
The girls in the schools werekind of like, oh my God, who's
this old fart telling us not totake pictures of our boobs?
You know, it's kind of like youknow, again, another failure.
This is perfect, you know,perfect failure because, no,
(32:48):
that's not going to happen.
The girls are not paying anyattention to me because they
know best and you know, they'reteenagers after all, so they
know more than me, lived a lotlonger.
So I was like, damn, I don'tknow what to do, you know.
Then we're thinking we're goingto do a tradie conference where
all the girls could come andlisten to trade speak.
Women who are in tradeelectricians, builders be
(33:10):
inspired to do that.
But then it ended up we had aconference with just and I'll
say not just, but some wonderfulspeakers that were talking
about empowerment messages, andwe just put it out there.
We just did the conference,opened it up, see who would come
, but most of them were agedbetween 45 and 65.
And there were a lot ofoutliers either side and we were
(33:33):
like wow, wow, we didn't seethis coming.
What we realized?
They were coming for connection.
They were coming because theyfelt stuck.
They were coming because theyfelt alone.
They felt like they're the onlyones going through something
they didn't have the tools toget out of, you know, to make
their life better, to flourish,what have you?
No, I'm not saying they all hadsomething wrong with their life
(33:54):
, that's not what I'm saying atall.
But every average woman, youknow, is often thinking a lot of
these things.
You know, I'm this age and whathave I done?
Who am I?
And it was hugely successful.
So this year we've got onecoming up in four weeks and
it'll be our sixth.
So six years of this.
And we have amazing speakers andthere's prizes and there's
(34:19):
music and there's, you know,lunch, and there's dancing and
like it's a lot of connection,great stories, really impactful.
We experience every emotionthat a human being can possibly
emotion, can possibly feel inone day.
It's from laughing to crying,to howling, to squealing.
(34:41):
It's a fabulous, fabulous day.
And the girls, but we kept it.
You know there are some peoplewho say women don't want to be
known as girls and you know, mypartner and I, both female, we
don't care about being calledgirls, we love being called
girls.
You know, it always sort ofignites your childlike
(35:05):
playfulness.
You know, I think it's anyway,we're not going to change it for
anybody, and but we also wantedthe message to say to girls you
know, you're a strong, you're astrong chick, whatever you are.
I think if you're a girl,you're going to be a woman.
You are a woman, you're female,you're bloody strong.
You, if you're a girl, you'regoing to be a woman.
You are a woman, you're female,you're bloody strong, you're a
(35:26):
powerhouse.
So live that powerhouse.
So yeah, some people might saymy message is incorrect, but
whatever, it doesn't matter,we're doing great things.
Audra (35:36):
That's all that matters.
It also allows the invitationfor the younger generation to,
when they feel the inclinationthat they want to join you, they
can, that they won't feelintimidated, that they'll be
surrounded by a bunch of oldladies which, quite honestly, as
you get older, you get a lotmore fun.
(35:58):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah,absolutely.
I'm here to tell you that asyou get older, you become way
more fun than when you wereyounger, because you no longer
care what anybody else thinks.
It's when you suddenly start toreally understand who you are,
because you've raised yourchildren.
If you've had children, you'veraised your children.
(36:19):
They're already out of thehouse.
You've built a career.
Maybe you're building a secondcareer, but you are suddenly now
no longer asking permission asto who you have to be, who you
want or who you think you shouldbe.
Now you're becoming who youreally are, and so there's no,
(36:40):
there's no one cares anymore.
No one cares what anybody elsethinks, and that's when the fun
begins.
Absolutely, the youngergeneration may come in and go.
These women are a lot of fun.
Kerryn (36:56):
Oh, absolutely, and we do.
We also have youth tickets.
So you know, like 13 to17-year-olds, and we do get
youth come in.
It's changed actually.
We've had stories come backthat the stories have changed
their lives.
You know, one girl was 13 andgay, but still in the cupboard,
you know, and really sort ofkeeping it quiet.
(37:17):
Only her mum knew.
One of our speakers talkedabout, you know, being the first
declared gay female footballerin our AFL footy league and you
know, it was this real rolemodel moment for this girl.
And then she said I don't careanymore, I'm going to tell
people now and I don't care.
And she said I'm going to bewho I am.
(37:39):
And this was a 13-year-old andit just changed everything.
She was thinking she hatedherself, she was thinking that
she didn't know whether shewanted to live that sort of
stuff, and this one speaker justturned her around completely.
So that's powerful, reallypowerful.
Audra (37:59):
Yeah, when you are in a room full of people women,
especially when you become partof a community and you're
embraced, you get welcomed to bewhoever you are.
Yeah, and she finally feltpermission to be who she was and
bravery to be who she was, whoshe truly authentically was,
which is magic, really magic,yeah, and in that room you're
(38:23):
100% right, there is no age Like.
Kerryn (38:25):
In that room, everyone's just everyone.
We're just, you know, it's justeveryone, loves everyone and
it's just wow, wow.
I couldn't be happier.
Audra (38:37):
I invite you to have this kind of event on this side of
the pond Well we would love to.
Kerryn (38:41):
That might be fun.
Audra (38:43):
We would love to.
We would love to.
That might be fun.
Come to this side of the planetand have some fun over here on
this side.
Well, we will.
Kerryn (38:54):
If we can find people to help us.
Audra (38:55):
yes, Well, I throw out the challenge.
I just might, I just might andI throw out that challenge
because we, the audience is aremarkable audience.
I have been very lucky and veryfortunate that this is a very
special audience and they'vebeen incredible to me.
So I'm throwing out the, the,the offer, the challenge and the
(39:19):
request and the request help usbring this type of event on US
soil.
Help us out, let's figure thisout to bring this here, because
I don't think that there'senough of these types of events
here to help support each other.
So let's figure it out, let'sdo that.
Let's figure it out and figureout how to bring it here.
Fantastic from Karen'slife-changing event of I'm out
(39:43):
of control.
I couldn't fix this.
She dedicated her entire lifeto what can I fix?
Who can I help?
That's an amazing thing.
That's an incredible thing.
And, as before, we got on airwhat I mentioned to her if we
all did something, that was apositive thing and it doesn't
(40:07):
have to be what Karen did, whichis she's literally trying to
change the world in whatever way, shape or form she can but if
we all just put somethingpositive out into the world
every single day, can youimagine what the world would be
like.
It would certainly be a wholelot less stressful.
(40:27):
I tell you that much.
Kerryn (40:29):
Absolutely, and kind Wow .
Audra (40:33):
I know An amazing feat what you have done.
I mean, you've culminated yourentire experience to throwing
that very gauntlet out by yourlast book, with writing Get Off
the Bench.
You challenged everybody by thevery same thing, by telling
everybody to do that.
(40:54):
Tell everybody about yourlatest book, get Off the Bench.
Kerryn (40:59):
Well, it's not my latest .
Actually, I've also put out agratitude journal called 100
Days of Gratitude.
Audra (41:05):
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
I misspoke, but yes, tell usabout it, then we'll talk about
the gratitude journal.
Kerryn (41:13):
That's right, get off the bench.
Yeah, it's funny.
Because of all the things I wasdoing, I started to get asked
to speak at conferences and thatkind of thing, and one, a local
one, a friend of mine wasrunning and he said do you want
to run a workshop?
I'm like, yeah, what on?
He said helping people tokickstart projects.
And I said, oh, why are youasking me to do that?
And he said are you kidding,are you joking?
(41:34):
I thought, oh, yeah, that'sfair.
So I did this workshop.
It was only for an hour, but asI was running it, people would
ask questions and I'd say, oh,we haven't got time.
We haven't got time, oh no, Iwish we had more time.
Oh, we need to cover.
Oh no, we need to cover that.
And I just couldn't get enoughinto this hour.
And now, if I run it as aworkshop, it's a three to four
(41:58):
hour workshop.
It's intense.
And I said to them give me youremail.
Now, this was not a marketingploy, but I said give me an
email and I'll go home and I'llmake up a PDF with a bit more
stuff on it.
So I came home and well, notthat day, the next day or
whatever I started writing stuffand typing stuff up and next
(42:19):
thing I know I've got that manypages of stuff and I'm like oh
my God.
And I said I should just turnthis into a book.
And I was kind of joking withmyself.
And then I went, actually, whydon't I do this?
I know how to publish onealready done one, and so why
don't I just wrap it up and puta cover on it and make it a book
(42:40):
?
And so I had that book puttogether in four to six weeks,
something like that, and I sentit to all those people.
But if I look back at it now Ithink, oh, I probably should
have said this instead of that.
You know, I probably shouldhave added this.
You know, if I were to go backI would amend it and build it
and that kind of stuff.
But then I think, and every nowand then that gets to me.
(43:00):
But then I think, and every nowand then that gets to me, but
then I think, no, I'm not goingto, because there's so many
people who have said to me thatbook changed my life.
I could hear your voice tellingme do this, do that, do that.
You know, this is how you'vegot to do it and so many people
have kickstarted their projectbecause of that book, so I'm not
going to change it.
You know, I don't want to wreckthat kind of raw I don't know
(43:26):
what word I'm looking for, butjust that rawness about it.
You know, it's just raw, it'sbasic, it's easy, yeah, so there
you go.
Audra (43:37):
So then suddenly I had two.
I mean that is a book that youcould use to kickstart anything.
It's not necessarily just aproject, it could be kickstart.
Maybe someone wants to start abusiness, maybe somebody wants
to kickstart something they'vealways wanted to do.
I mean, you wrote it in such away that is there to encourage
them to literally get off thebench of whatever sidelines
(44:00):
they've been sitting on, thatthey just need the encouragement
to go and get it done.
Kerryn (44:06):
Yeah, and just to understand that it's.
Take that first step.
Just take that first step andyou never know where to lead and
I'm big on that.
You don't ever have to plan.
I don't have a plan foranything, as you can probably
tell, and it always turns out.
I always have a vision and Idon't know what the steps are,
but I know the first one, I knowwhat I can do today, and then
(44:30):
always the next paver appearsand you just step on it.
Then the next one will appearand you just step on it and you
just keep going and readjustingand realigning it.
You know what.
You eventually get there.
So yeah's what that?
Yeah, that book, very helpful.
Audra (44:47):
And then your last book is your gratitude journal, and
I'm assuming that you wrote thisas a way for you to collect
your thoughts and have otherpeople collect their thoughts.
To, yeah, to not focus on thenegative, because it's so easy
to live in the darkness because,quite frankly, it's easier
there.
It takes more effort to focuson the positive because
(45:12):
sometimes the negative is moreabundant.
So the Gratitude Journal whatinspired you to put this
together?
Kerryn (45:24):
Now I'm glad you said put this together, because it's
not written, it's not anauthorship, it's just 100 pages
all the same.
You just repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
And I run a program calledConfident Leaders Program where
it goes for six months and I getleaders in you know newish
leaders in and you know I buildtheir confidence essentially.
(45:50):
But I was always havingself-care at the end and we were
talking about different ways toself-care and I thought this
year I thought I'm going to trysomething different, because
it's kind of too late by thetime we get there, you know, and
it's a bit dumb to just throwit in at the front and it didn't
quite fit.
So I thought I'm going to makethis journal up, I'm just going
(46:11):
to give it to them all and I'mgoing to say so it goes for six
months, so, whatever, I can'teven figure out my days, but
anyway, that's 30, whatever,that is 180 days, Anyway,
whatever, there's at least 100days in there, even if you miss
some, you know, in this sixmonths.
So I thought, right, I'm goingto give everybody a journal and
I'm just going to say this isgoing to be our self-care
(46:32):
practice and we're going tostart from there and basically
it's kind of like three goodthings that happened today,
three things I love, threethings that I did for others
today, three ways I took care ofmyself.
How did I take care of myselftoday?
You know that kind of stuff.
And it's not to be, it's not toperpetuate toxic positivity,
(46:56):
you know, and making bullshit up.
I don't agree with that.
But what it's for is to say,well, we all have crap days and
that's the way life is andthat's okay.
But can we find some good stuffin amongst all the crap?
And the more you do thisjournal, the more you do these
practices of gratitude.
(47:17):
It doesn't make your lifebetter.
There's stuff still there, butit makes your muscle quicker.
It's a much faster response tocorrect it.
So, oh man, I'm having a crappyday.
Oh, you know what?
Look at that lemon tree.
Isn't it lovely?
At least I've got that.
That's a really nice thing tolook at.
(47:38):
How wonderful.
Here I am bitching about stuffand I've got this beautiful
lemon tree looking at me.
So it's just kind of.
It makes it faster to see good.
So that's my hope anyway.
So we'll see, We'll see.
By the end of the program I'mfinishing up, one in September
and one in October.
So we'll see.
(48:00):
I think it's good.
Everyone's told me that's great.
Audra (48:07):
Well, I mean, it's better than the alternative.
Honestly, I mean, being miredin the muck is, like I said, is
easier to do, but theconsequences of that are
certainly dire.
Absolutely so doing that.
I'll be interested to hear whatthe results are that you've
started with this.
I'll be very curious to hearwhat your class says at the end
(48:29):
of this, since this is the firsttime you've done it.
I'll be very curious to seewhat they say.
I'll bet you the results willbe very positive and I'll bet
you that this will probably bethe best program that you've
done, because of this journal.
Kerryn (48:44):
Thank you, and I bet also that the results will be
invisible, and this is anotherthing.
That I think, though, isbecause it's so subtle, sneaking
up on you.
It's not a big profound da-damoment, it's kind of like a
daily kind of subtle, subtlemovement, you know, and I wonder
(49:08):
, I'm curious as to whetherthey'll see the change.
I'm seeing the change in all ofthem, like I'm seeing this
incredible difference in all ofthe people in the program, but
I'm not going to say that's dueto the book, it's due to the
program, but I'm sure the book'shelping.
Audra (49:26):
What I am so marveled at is that, once you had that light
bulb moment, you have notwasted a minute, not one second
of your time, your energy, yourthoughts, not one thing.
(49:47):
And you just keep looking forareas of okay, where can I go
next, where can I help next,where else is there a gap that I
can fill?
And you don't even.
What I think is remarkable andalso makes me smile, because it
is kind of it is kind of funnyyou don't even have a clue what
(50:08):
you're doing.
Half the time you just raiseyour hand and go, I'll do it,
I'll go, I just I'll figure itout when I get there.
That is the best part of this isthat you don't.
You're like I'll figure it out,I don't know, but you somehow
make it all work.
All you are doing is raisingyour hand and you're like I see
(50:31):
a gap, I'll figure it out, I'llfill it.
And that's amazing.
You've figured out that time isshort.
It's the only thing we can'tmake more of and it's super
(51:07):
precious, and you've just beenusing every single moment of it
that you have to make introduced, because it's something that
has been plaguing me.
I think when you hit yourmid-50s, that clock starts to
gong in your head and go oh,I've got less time in front of
me than I have behind me andI've got to figure this out.
So I'm really appreciative thatyou and I were introduced,
(51:28):
because I have found youfascinating and, quite honestly,
very encouraging and inspiringand make me want to figure out
what other stuff, what othergaps can I fill, even if I have
no idea what I'm doing.
Kerryn (51:42):
Don't burn yourself out, though.
Audra (51:49):
Karen, you have been a delight being here.
I want to make sure that theaudience knows where they can
reach you and find out moreabout you If they want to find
out more about your, your books,your speaking, and where they
can find out more about yourbooks, your speaking and where
they can find out more aboutyour foundation.
Kerryn (52:07):
I think the best place is my website.
So, karenvaughancom, as simpleas that.
K-e-r-r-y-n.
Yes, yes, you do that.
Save me, I feel like I'm on thephone to the bank.
Yes, yeah, I'll make sure thatto the bank?
Audra (52:22):
Yes, yeah, I'll make sure that's in the show notes and
for those of you who've beenlistening for a while, you know
that this is my favorite part ofthe show, where I get to shut
up and stop asking questions andKaren gets to have an intimate
moment directly with theaudience that you can leave them
something inspiring, just athought that they can take with
(52:43):
them throughout their day for amoment that they can.
Just you can leave them withsomething of inspiration that
they can just sit with, for amoment that they can contemplate
.
So the mic is yours.
Kerryn (52:56):
Right, well, now have we got three hours?
No, there's so many things Icould say, but look honestly, I
just want to keep it simple.
You know life is too short andyou know I have lost someone.
I'm sure many listeners havelost someone special.
We don't know what's around thecorner.
(53:16):
You know we're living in aworld that is it's chaotic and
it's turmoil and bad's winningover good and all that kind of
stuff.
And you know what?
We're really great people.
Most of the people on thisplanet are really good people,
and if we just back ourselvesand if we just step into who we
are, what a difference we couldmake.
(53:39):
And don't waste any time.
We're wasting all this timelike putting a lid on our jar
thinking that we're not goodenough, thinking that we don't
waste any time.
We're wasting all this timelike putting a lid on our jar,
thinking that we're not goodenough, thinking that we don't
have the capacity.
Who am I to do this?
You know, and we're allmagnificent, unique, incredible
human beings, you know that havejust got so much potential and
(53:59):
so much capacity.
And I'm not saying go try andsave the world, because none of
us can save the world, but if wejust believe we can do more
than we are doing, and thatdoesn't mean go out and spend
more of your time, but just showup as you.
If you show up as you and takeoff the mask, forget the crap
(54:21):
you know like, forget the tryingto fulfill other people's
expectations and what I shouldbe, what I shouldn't be.
Just be so proud to be you andstep into who that really is and
just give the world you, and ifyou do that, you'll use your
time more wisely and you willchange the world just by being
(54:46):
you, because you're giving otherpeople permission to be them.
Such an important thing, so Ithink that's enough.
That's all Be you.
Life's too short.
Get the hell that.
Lid off your jar and get intoit.
Just live life to the absolutefullest.
Audra (55:06):
I think that is the greatest advice I have heard in
a week, in a week.
Thank you, in a week, in a weekat least.
Karen, thank you so much forspending this hour with me and
with my audience.
I have enjoyed every minute ofit.
Thank you so much for beinghere, and, for those of you that
love podcasts, make sure youcheck out Karen's podcast too,
(55:32):
because she also has an amazingpodcast, so go check that out,
karen.
Thank you again for being here.
I so appreciated it so much,and I want to thank all of you
for listening, and we'll see youagain next time.
Welcome in everyone and thank you so much for joining me
again this week.
This week, I am joined by thisamazing, incredible powerhouse
of a woman.
This week, I'm joined by KarenVaughn, and she's an
international speaker, author,facilitator and fellow podcast
host, magnificent Kids, whichwas the catalyst to her founding
(00:23):
the Global Organization of OnePlanet Classrooms, which
facilitates such projects asclean water solutions and
student sponsorships programsfor communities in Africa.
She also helped launch theGirls with Hammers, which hosts
conferences and workshops that'saimed at empowering and
connecting women, and she alsohas a second book, get Off the
(00:47):
Bench, which helps people bringtheir ideas to life.
It is my pleasure and my honorto introduce to you Karen.
Karen, thank you so much forbeing here and welcome to the
show.
Kerryn (01:00):
No, thank you very much for having me.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere, wonderful.
Audra (01:04):
Well, thank you very much for having me.
It's an absolute pleasure to behere, wonderful Well, thank you
for being here.
As people might have detected,you are not from Brooklyn.
You are obviously from theother side of the planet.
Will you tell us where you arefrom, karen?
Kerryn (01:17):
I'm from Australia and down the bottom near Melbourne,
three hours east of Melbourne,in Gippsland, and so technically
we're like ahead of you.
So right now, I don't know,it's nighttime view or something
, and it's eight o'clock in themorning for me, so I can tell
you that Wednesday is abeautiful day, how's?
Audra (01:37):
that Excellent, excellent .
Well, thank you for letting usknow that Wednesday is a
beautiful day.
It is Tuesday evening here onthe West Coast, here in the US,
so I look forward to Wednesdaybeing a great day, so thank you
for letting us know that mypleasure.
Today, we're going to talkabout all the amazing things
that you have done with yourlife and with your energies, and
(02:01):
what inspired you to do that.
And your life didn't start outthat way you were.
You were a wild rock and rollstar.
Kerryn (02:10):
I was, I was living the rock and roll life and, uh,
thought it was all about me and,and clearly it was all about me
back then.
But, um, yeah, I think that wasall I was focused on and and I,
I don't think I'd really otherthan my grandma passing away
with cancer.
You know, when I was 21, Idon't think I'd really had much
(02:34):
trauma or much, you know, losinganybody close.
And then my sister got.
I was actually playing a gigand my middle sister rang me and
said that the next one down, sothe fourth, fourth girl, five
girls in our family my poorfather, but anyway he reminds us
of that often and the fourthone was diagnosed with breast
(02:56):
cancer.
And it really shocked mebecause I couldn't and to be
honest, I was probably notemotionally intelligent at all
and hadn't really lived otherthan had some good street smarts
, but I could only see the Dword for death, you know, and I
couldn't actually evencomprehend that she could
(03:19):
survive.
And anyway, I'll try and keepthis short because it's a very,
very, very thorough story.
Um, I, I tried to save her,like I'm the oldest in the
family and I, I sort of went onthis mission to save her life
and you know I even employed awitch doctor and all sorts of
(03:39):
things.
But she came to I, we, we had afamily holiday in Hawaii 20
years before this and you knowthe whole family agreed, we just
love Hawaii.
And I was going over with mypartner and my sister said I
want to come and we said are youokay?
She said, yeah, I'm cured, I'mhealed, you know everything else
.
But she had a brain hemorrhageon the plane over, which we
(04:02):
didn't know, that's what it was.
When we got off she said, oh,I've got a headache.
And then we were wanderingaround Waikiki and she was sort
of stumbling and sick andvomiting and I kept saying
you've got to go to a doctor,like this isn't right.
And she kept saying no, no, I'mgood, I'll be good.
And about a week into it Iabsolutely cracked it and said
(04:24):
that's it, I can't do thisanymore.
Yeah, you're going to thehospital.
And so I took her to thehospital and she'd had a major
brain bleed and I have no ideahow she was even walking.
She wasn't walking by thisstage.
She was just not in a goodstate but refusing to go to the
hospital, anyway.
So, and then they had to dolife-saving surgery and they
(04:47):
opened up her brain and saidit's full of tumors and we'll
have to close it back up andshe'll die here.
And so there was a lot of allmy family flew over and had to
make some really heartbreakingdecisions, you know about how to
deal with that.
But finally, with theAustralian Embassy on board, we
(05:08):
got her back to Australia andshe lived a couple more months
but she did make it back to herhometown and you know that was
all.
She wanted to come back toWarragul, which is a little
rural town in Victoria.
But after she died it was, um,you know, I guess back then I
(05:28):
was actually I wasn't that young, I was 39 and I probably should
have been a bit more grown upand a bit more mature, but I, I
was still operating in thatspace of I've got to be tough,
I've got to be strong.
I can't show emotion.
You know that's weakness andI'm the oldest in the family and
when I look back now I justthink, oh man, how I wish I knew
(05:51):
what I knew now back then.
And so I ended up quitting myjob in the city and came back to
work in a nursery and I thoughta nursery over here is where we
grow plants and not a babynursery and I thought I'll just
hide behind the plants.
You know I can have my ownlittle private little grief
(06:14):
party and nobody will see me.
But that ended up disaster.
That was disastrous.
The owners of the nursery wereabsolute oh, just pricks, you
know, yelling at everybody and Iended up locking the boss in
the shed and you know, somebodylet her out.
You know I saw her.
A few days later she was out.
(06:35):
See, the dogs love that story.
They do, they love the story,and yeah, so that and just I'll
let you ask some questions in aminute, but I'll just quickly,
you know, say that I kind offelt lost and didn't really know
.
You know, I felt like a failure, to be honest, because as the
(06:58):
older sister I'm supposed tosave.
Well, it's not the truth, butin my head, you know, I should
have been able to save her.
I didn't.
I failed and the rest of thepeople in the town, our family's
very well known in the town andpeople in the town, sort of.
We had Real Life for Lifecoming to Warragul and that I
(07:19):
don't know if you have it overthere, but it's like an
overnight event where you walkaround round a track and raise
money for the council, counciland all that so it's coming to
work your life.
We have that.
Yes, we sure do.
Yeah, you do, yeah.
So, uh, a few people in thetown said to me, why don't you
come and join the committee?
And you know, I think theythought that was a great way for
(07:39):
me to honor my sister, you know, to, to, to take part in
something cancer related.
And anyway, I took on multipleroles.
I don't know why, but you know,I just took it all on not
knowing what I was doing.
And so there was entertainmentcoordinator very easy for me.
Ceremony coordinator very easy.
(08:01):
Activities all of these thingsI already knew back to front,
but it was a massive success.
And I was on that stage on thelast day and we were, you know,
saying how much we'd raised.
It was like I don't remembernow, but something like 110,000
or something.
It was the very first one.
It was a really goodfundraising thing and I was
(08:25):
getting praise for doing goodfor others, you know, doing well
.
I didn't want the praise, butit was at that point that I
realized I had the power.
You know, I had this incrediblepower within me to make a
difference to other people'slives and I had not noticed that
before.
You know, I had not, other than, I guess, every time I was on
(08:47):
stage and I was making peoplehappy, but I was selfishly doing
it for me more than them, youknow.
And when I realized, wow, lookwhat I've done and look how many
lives this has impacted andpotentially, look how many lives
this has saved, potentially,look how many lives this has
saved it was a real turningpoint for me.
So that was the turning point.
(09:11):
It took me 11 years before Iwrote my first book, 11 years of
searching and seeking.
And what is it I want to do?
How do I help more people?
You know, how do I get thatfeeling again?
Audra (09:23):
So now I'll stop there so you can ask something, but that
, that's basically the turningpoint so that way, it was 11
years from the time that yoursister died to when that spark
hit that you're like, oh, Ithink I know what I need to do
now.
Yeah, and it was, um, so that.
(09:44):
So it was that 11 years ofsearching and being a little
lost as to now what?
Because your sister's life hadthat much of impact on you, of
that loss, that that void thatshe had left in your family,
especially you being the oldestyou put all that responsibility
on yourself of.
(10:04):
I should have been able to fixthis.
Kerryn (10:06):
And shouldn't have put that.
You know.
Yeah, that's right.
I think in that 11 years itkind of sounds like I was
wandering around aimlessly.
I wasn't, I was busy, but Icouldn't put my finger on it,
you know.
But one thing I did do is when Iwas 10, my dad was in the Lions
Club and we took a bus full ofpeople with disabilities down to
(10:30):
a fun park in the city and Iremember we stopped at a park
and I was kicking a footy with ayoung guy with Down syndrome
and I loved it.
And this was when I was 10.
I loved it and I always had inmy mind I want to work with
people with disabilities, butnever did it, you know.
Just life took me in otherdirections and probably I was
(10:51):
just being too selfish to do it,to be honest.
But then when all this happenedand after I left the nursery, I
just quit everything andthought you know what I'm going
back to learn how to work withpeople with disabilities.
So I did my certificate four indisability work and after the
two years the teacher asked medo you want to come and teach
(11:12):
with me?
She said I'm really taken bythe level of kindness that
you're showing in the role playsand I think you'd be a great
teacher.
So I did, I started that.
So I did, I started that.
And then we her and I startedum doing autism and behavior
specialist work, you know, goinginto schools and training um,
disability services and thatkind of thing and I became a
(11:35):
behavior specialist.
And then I I left the teachingand went to do that in an, in a,
an organization, department ofhuman services you you'll have
something similar to that overthere and found that that was
really not as much integrity inthere as I thought there might
be or hoped there might be, andso I ended up going out on my
(11:59):
own.
But when I was in teaching and Iwould go to some of the schools
, the teachers would say to mefix these kids, there's
something really wrong with them.
And I used to say the kids arenot broken, the system's broken,
we're getting it wrong.
And Magnificent Kids, which isthe first book I wrote when I
(12:22):
was 50, so 11 years later is notabout kids with autism, even
though there are a couple ofkids in there with autism.
It was the fact that I startedto get a bit peeved at.
Why aren't we listening to kids.
I could hear kids having greatideas and they didn't have a lid
, they didn't have this limitingbelief system, you know, that
(12:46):
says I can't do that, can't dothat Like us adults we're
professionals at that and Ithought we're not listening.
Kids, they've got some greatideas and so that was the spark
that thought I'm going to dosomething about this.
I'm actually going to showcasesome of these kids.
So I wrote the book and yeah,that's where I'm going to do
something about this.
I'm actually going to showcasesome of these kids.
So I wrote the book and, yeah,that's where I started.
Audra (13:10):
Tell us a little bit about some of these kids that
you highlighted in MagnificentKids, because you shared with me
a little bit about some ofthese kids and I was just amazed
and in awe with what some ofthese kids have done that are
quote, unquote, disabled, whichthey put me to shame and many of
(13:31):
the adults that I know to shame, because these kids are quite
accomplished and I don't carehow you label them, these kids
are amazing.
So share with us what some ofthese kids have done.
Kerryn (13:42):
Right?
Well, first of all, I will saythat the kids don't have
disabilities, so these are justordinary kids that are, you know
, out there doing magnificentthings.
However, saying that, and I'vegot the book in front of me so
that I can make sure that Iactually tell you a few things
but there is one boy in therewho is in a wheelchair and I'm
(14:06):
going to actually find itbecause I really so.
He used to love Steve Irwin.
Now, I don't know if you guyshave heard you would have
Crocodile.
You know Steve Irwin, he'dchase crocodiles, yeah, yeah.
And so he was in love with him,like he used to watch all his
shows and everything else withhim.
(14:27):
He used to watch all his showsand everything else.
Then he got stung in the heartwith a stingray barb.
Daniel went to his mum and said, distraught, who's going to
save them?
Now?
She said I don't know.
He's got cerebral palsy, he'sin a wheelchair.
He said I don't know, and he'sgot cerebral palsy, he's in a
wheelchair.
And he said, well, I'll have to.
(14:47):
And his mum was like, okay,whatever you want to do.
So the support was there.
So that's Daniel Clark.
So that's just one person.
He ended up with his brothergoing to Borneo and Sumatra and
all that and doing treks throughthe jungle.
(15:08):
They've purchased so many acresof land for the orangutans and
that kind of like.
Some amazing, amazing workthey've done, written a book and
just great stuff.
Oh, I've got this list.
It's just amazing.
Carter and Olivia Reese youknow they were seven and eight
and they started advocating foranimals, wild animals, and
(15:32):
they've been to Vietnam arguingwith the government about rhino
horns.
They've sent boxes of hair andfingernails to the Chinese
government saying this is whatwe stop poaching.
Stop poaching rhino horn.
This is what it's made of.
If you want hair andfingernails, here's a box.
They got arrested when theywere 10 and 12 for protesting in
(15:53):
Dallas about a black rhinoauction.
You know it's stuff that youand I would be too scared to do,
like we won't come up with shitand we won't do that.
And it's Jack.
Andraker is another one.
He was 15 and his family frienddied of pancreatic cancer and
(16:14):
to get pancreatic tests.
You know they're not veryaccurate, not always accurate.
He had 100 knockbacks actuallyto where the 100th lab said to
him yeah, you can come and havea play in here and see what you
can work out.
He developed a little teststrip to test for pancreatic
cancer and it was way, way, waymore accurate than anything on
(16:37):
the market and it costs like twocents for this strip and all
these others cost a fortune, youknow, and was almost
prohibitive for a few people.
And the list goes on.
Like it's just Jordan.
Who else, well, I don't know.
Jordan Shara she was just doing, you know, not just doing like
(16:58):
collecting pills, because theywere going into the rivers, you
know, and had all these pillcollection places.
Dallas Jessop she was, you know, someone got raped at her
college so she started upself-defense classes for women,
you know, just yell fire,teaching women to just yell fire
and scream, you know.
(17:18):
And Avalon Tyson she was seven.
She had a TV station, like Icould just go on and on and on.
And there's just so many amazingkids in here, but all of them
doing life world changingprojects, you know, in before
the age of 18, some of themseven and eight, and there's 23
(17:40):
of them that I've featured here.
And there's thousands of kidsin the world doing just
sensational things.
This was in 2014,.
So they're all now young adults.
You know, I still stay in touchwith quite a lot of them.
It made me realize that if I'm50 and these kids are 7, 8, 9,
(18:02):
10, you know what could I havedone?
And it's not living a life ofregret, but it's living a life
of holy hell.
You better get started, youbetter pull your finger out and
do something.
Audra (18:17):
So yeah, that's the story behind that and that led to One
Planet Classroom.
Yeah, what was the work thatyou did with One Planet
Classroom?
Kerryn (18:27):
Yeah.
So I had a book launch and aguy in Africa saw the book, you
know, saw a picture photo of mewith a friend, a friend of his.
He said how do I get my handson a book?
So I said I'll send one over toyou.
Then he said I want to start amagnificent class.
And I said that's great.
Why don't we get?
Because he wanted to Skype.
He said will you Skype with myclass?
(18:48):
Yeah, yeah, I'll do that.
Then he said I said what aboutif I get one of the kids in the
book to Skype with your class?
That's even better, like theycould talk to them.
And he's like oh yeah, that'sfantastic.
Then I said and and yourlisteners won't know this about
me, but they'll know it as soonas I say it and we'll, it'll may
all make sense.
I jump in without thinking justbecause that you know that's
(19:10):
what you do and I always fail.
I have so many failures undermy belt.
But I think it's wonderful.
And I said well, why don't Iget a class in Australia to
Skype with your class?
So you do this pen pal thing?
This was was when Skype wasreally big but very unreliable.
It was kind of like hit andmiss, will it work?
(19:31):
And a few things transpired andI ended up in a few weeks having
45 schools in Africa registeredto do this program and what I
realised is I didn't have anylaptops.
I'm like, well, how are theygoing to do that?
They're all saying, but wedon't have laptops.
I said, oh God.
So I've put a call out onFacebook Does anyone have a
(19:52):
laptop?
I want to send it to Africa.
Next thing I've got 30.
So, like you know, three times10.
And I'm like, oh my God, whatam I going to do with all these
laptops?
How, what am I going to do?
So I go to the post office andthey say it's going to cost you
six hundred dollars to send thembecause of lithium batteries
each.
And I'm like hell, that'seighteen thousand dollars.
(20:13):
I'm not going to be able to dothat.
Like now, I've got all theselaptops.
I don't want to do with them,but I.
But I thought I'm going tostart a business.
I'll just start because I don'tknow what else to do.
I'll just start One PlanetClassrooms and figure it out.
Anyway, it took us months andmonths and months and months to
send these laptops over toUganda.
They had to go through Kenyainto Uganda.
(20:34):
But I failed significantlybecause in all those months I
never stopped to question thetime zones, never stopped to
think, hey, wait a minute, thekids in Africa are not in school
at the same time as the kids inAustralia.
They're never going to work.
And not only that, I sentlaptops to a country where 95%
(20:57):
of them don't even have power.
So another disaster, you knowit's kind of like.
This is great.
Well, what they could do, theycould drive it down to the
marketplace and trickle feed it.
You know those pictures you seeon the internet of a thousand
plugs on wires just hanging offone telegraph pole.
Do you know?
You know that kind of powerpole?
So we'd just trickle feed allday.
(21:20):
So they'd spend the whole daystanding there watching,
guarding their laptop.
It wasn't going to work, butanyway, what we realized is if
we put solar systems into theschools and they could charge
their laptops and initially thatwas the idea.
But what ended up happening,which was just profound, was
that primary school goes to P7,level seven, and then if you
(21:42):
don't pass, you can't go to highschool.
Now, for the girls that'sreally significant, because if
you don't pass P7, you're goingto get married off and you might
only be 10, 11, 12 and you aregoing to get married off because
there's no other option for you.
And we're not talking aboutkind marriages to a 15-year-old
boy and, you know, like a nicelittle romance.
(22:04):
It's not like that.
It's really really awful toolder men that are incredibly
abusive.
And so the girls are desperateto pass.
So the solar system providedthem the opportunity that they
could stay asleep at the schoolfor two or three weeks when exam
time was happening and actuallypass.
(22:26):
So the solar systems werelife-saving, and when I say
life-saving I mean that theabuse often ends in murder and
stuff like that.
But also another reason thegirls weren't progressing or
passing is because they're theones that had to go fetch the
water, and so they would have togo oh, you know miles with a
(22:49):
big jerry can.
Some of the kids were as youngas three.
You know like off fetchingwater from these dirty, stagnant
ponds.
You know that men were peeingin and animals were toileting in
and just full of worms, justdisgusting, and some of the kids
were dying from that, drinkingthat sort of water as well.
(23:10):
But the girls were doing thisand while they were doing that,
they couldn't stay in school,they couldn't be in school to
learn, so they failed again.
So there's a lot of barriersfor girls and I'm going to be
honest, I had a real white man'sview before I started doing
that.
It was kind of like the poorpeople in Africa and it's I
(23:34):
don't know.
I just had a really naive viewof what might go on and pictures
of Sudan, where you know whereit's dry and there's no food,
and I just thought the whole ofAfrica was like that and I don't
know.
I had this very naive view ofjust that one little thing I
could do could save the world.
(23:55):
And you know I soon got sat onmy bum.
You know that's not exactlyright, and I soon learned about
the girls' issues that I did notknow about.
Also, while girls have gottheir period, they can't be in
school.
So in some places they have tosit over a hole for a week and
just out in the open, just sitin a bloody hole, and so while
(24:18):
they go to get water along theway there's these men that are
like boater drivers, so they'retaxi drivers on motorbikes and
they trade sex, you know, forsanitary items for the older
girls, or they rape the youngerones, or they just rape anyone
and it's kind of like, wow, youknow, wow, this is just
(24:40):
horrendous.
And so the solution to that wasto start putting in water tanks
into schools so that the girlsdidn't have to go and do that.
And so we started putting inwater tanks and water wells,
connecting clean water tovillages, that kind of stuff.
It wasn't very expensive, youknow, maybe $2,000 for each one.
And you know there's not awater shortage in Uganda.
(25:05):
This is where we do most of ourwork.
It's not a water shortage,there's an infrastructure
shortage.
You know they're not able tocatch the water.
But um, yeah, and, and and westarted doing a sponsorship
program.
So, uh, that that happened byFluka, one of the one of the
school heads of one of theschools said I photoed me, this
(25:26):
little boy lying on the ovalwith a drink bottle, water
bottle.
I said what's he doing?
She said, oh, he's hangingaround waiting for scraps.
And I said what?
I said, what do you mean?
He's hanging around waiting forscraps.
She's like well, you know,after we feed our kids, they
hang around and they beg, youknow, to see if there's any for
them.
I said, oh my God, this isterrible, you know.
(25:48):
And she said he's gone now.
And I said, oh, go and find him.
I want to go and find him, seewhat he's doing.
Anyway, she found him in achurch and what had happened was
he came from up in the hillswith a sister and a brother and
a mother and a grandmother, butthe husband, so his dad had gone
off to look for work and thedad's brother came to the house
(26:09):
and told the mother she had tomarry him, and she said no, I'm
not going to marry you, I'mmarried to your brother.
And so then he arrangedmurderers came back to kill her,
you know, a few days later, andshe ran off with the youngest
one, which was the kid hisname's Grateful, his name is and
(26:31):
they were hiding in a churchdown in the I don't know in the
town, but hiding under the pews,under the seats in a church,
and yeah.
So I said, right, get that kid,put him in a school and I'm
going to sponsor him, I'm goingto make sure he's got an
(26:51):
education.
And so we did that.
And the woman runs a schoolwent up to the village and got
all the women together and saidno, we all stick together.
You know the women don't letthis happen to anybody else.
Yeah, and so then we startedthe sponsorship program.
We had at our peak about 180kids, boys and girls and, um, we
(27:12):
, we transferred some to thatschool for another organization
to manage and I've only justgiven it up.
Last year I or this year, Idecided I can't continue.
It was eight years of it andfor a number of reasons and
health reasons sittingunderneath there as well,
there's only so much you cangive until you're burnt out from
(27:36):
compassion fatigue.
And it was a hard decision andI had a lot of sleepless nights
and a lot of guilt, a lot ofconflict and everything else.
But I've got to keep remindingmyself that I did eight years of
it and in that would have savedmany lives and, you know, made
a lot of change and sometimesyou've got to be okay with
(27:57):
letting things go, even if ithurts.
So that's the story of OnePlanet Classrooms.
Audra (28:03):
But you say it's a failure.
I think that it was remarkable,even though it was not as you
planned, even though that itstarted out as this great idea
of I'll just teach my class inAustralia to your class in
Africa it became I'll get youpower, I'll get you water, I'll
(28:25):
protect the women in thevillages and I'll make sure all
the kids have education.
That was amazing success.
That was not a failure by along shot.
No.
Kerryn (28:37):
I know, like I said, no, I always say that it was a
failure to start with, and Ialways tell this story when I'm
doing.
Keynotes about failures arefantastic, because when we call
them failures, but if weactually have a look, it's
actually feedback.
(28:58):
Failure is feedback.
It gives us information to makeother decisions and to do it
differently.
And so, no, I don't see it asfailure, as in the end result,
that's massive success.
But if it wasn't a failure inthe first place, I wouldn't have
done this.
And the other thing I want tosay is, too, that often we have
failures and we get ashamed ofthem.
(29:20):
You know, we get embarrassedand we're, you know, and we feel
like people are judging us andwhat have you?
Oh, what an idiot, you failed.
And we run with our tailbetween our legs and we do
nothing.
And I think there's a lot morepower in standing up and saying,
oh, my God, oh, I reallyscrewed that up, but you know
what?
I can fix it and I can do itway better, and I think that's
(29:43):
important.
Audra (29:45):
I would agree.
I would agree.
So your next venture was Girlswith Hammers.
Tell us about Girls withHammers.
I mean, this is.
I love this because it's.
I know that the term is girls,but it's not just girls, it's
women, and it's bringing womentogether to bring the best of
(30:07):
everything out in each other andwhat's possible.
Kerryn (30:14):
Absolutely, as I said before, I didn't even realize
this girl issue happened inAfrica, really naive life.
But I started to really thinkabout it and think, god, you
know, and I was oblivious to thegender gap.
I really was, because I'm atomboy.
I could have anything I want,anything that boys could do, I
could do.
You know, I never saw the gapDoes that make sense?
Because I was living proof thatit didn't exist in my mind, you
(30:39):
know.
But I started to become reallyaware of it and thought, geez,
this isn't good.
And I was sitting outside of aworkwear shop so they sell
tradie clothes and all that kindof stuff, flannelette shirts
and I looked up and I thought,wow, I'm going to start
something called Girls WithHammers, because I think girls
should know that they can bewhatever they want.
(31:01):
And I was particularly aimingit at, you know, teenage girls.
You know, like none of thistaking photos of your boobs and
sending them to boys and thatkind of crap and living this
sort of submissive stereotypethat I've got to sexualize
myself to be accepted.
You know a lot of bullshit.
So I was like I'm going tostart something up and I'm going
to tell girls they don't needto do this and everything else.
(31:24):
So, nothing to do with hammers,nothing to do with woodwork,
but it's metaphoric buildingstronger girls, stronger women.
And so I kind of left itbecause I had enough on my plate
.
But then I was at about a yearlater.
I was at a InternationalWomen's Day event.
There were cards on the tableand I will stand up for women.
I will stick up for women.
I will do this.
(31:45):
And I'm thinking, oh, in mymind they were a little insipid
because I thought who's notdoing this?
Like, who's not speaking upanyway?
But then I saw one that I lovedand I've got it up on my wall.
It says I will launch apurposeful, female focused
initiative.
I thought, oh, wow, there's achallenge.
See, now this is this thing mejumping in again, didn't you
know?
(32:05):
No thought.
So I got up on stage in frontof 300 women waving this bloody
card around you know, I'm goingto do this.
They're all cheering.
I get down off the stage andthought, oh no, I've done it
again.
Now I've got to do somethingwith this.
And so I came home and told mypartner, who said well, why
don't you just do Girls withHammers?
You've been talking about itand it's a perfect, perfect
(32:28):
opportunity.
I said, well, love, I'm doingit, you're doing it with me.
So I decided to go and do acouple of schools talk about it.
The girls in the schools werekind of like, oh my God, who's
this old fart telling us not totake pictures of our boobs?
You know, it's kind of like youknow, again, another failure.
This is perfect, you know,perfect failure because, no,
(32:48):
that's not going to happen.
The girls are not paying anyattention to me because they
know best and you know, they'reteenagers after all, so they
know more than me, lived a lotlonger.
So I was like, damn, I don'tknow what to do, you know.
Then we're thinking we're goingto do a tradie conference where
all the girls could come andlisten to trade speak.
Women who are in tradeelectricians, builders be
(33:10):
inspired to do that.
But then it ended up we had aconference with just and I'll
say not just, but some wonderfulspeakers that were talking
about empowerment messages, andwe just put it out there.
We just did the conference,opened it up, see who would come
, but most of them were agedbetween 45 and 65.
And there were a lot ofoutliers either side and we were
(33:33):
like wow, wow, we didn't seethis coming.
What we realized?
They were coming for connection.
They were coming because theyfelt stuck.
They were coming because theyfelt alone.
They felt like they're the onlyones going through something
they didn't have the tools toget out of, you know, to make
their life better, to flourish,what have you?
No, I'm not saying they all hadsomething wrong with their life
(33:54):
, that's not what I'm saying atall.
But every average woman, youknow, is often thinking a lot of
these things.
You know, I'm this age and whathave I done?
Who am I?
And it was hugely successful.
So this year we've got onecoming up in four weeks and
it'll be our sixth.
So six years of this.
And we have amazing speakers andthere's prizes and there's
(34:19):
music and there's, you know,lunch, and there's dancing and
like it's a lot of connection,great stories, really impactful.
We experience every emotionthat a human being can possibly
emotion, can possibly feel inone day.
It's from laughing to crying,to howling, to squealing.
(34:41):
It's a fabulous, fabulous day.
And the girls, but we kept it.
You know there are some peoplewho say women don't want to be
known as girls and you know, mypartner and I, both female, we
don't care about being calledgirls, we love being called
girls.
You know, it always sort ofignites your childlike
(35:05):
playfulness.
You know, I think it's anyway,we're not going to change it for
anybody, and but we also wantedthe message to say to girls you
know, you're a strong, you're astrong chick, whatever you are.
I think if you're a girl,you're going to be a woman.
You are a woman, you're female,you're bloody strong.
You, if you're a girl, you'regoing to be a woman.
You are a woman, you're female,you're bloody strong, you're a
(35:26):
powerhouse.
So live that powerhouse.
So yeah, some people might saymy message is incorrect, but
whatever, it doesn't matter,we're doing great things.
Audra (35:36):
That's all that matters.
It also allows the invitationfor the younger generation to,
when they feel the inclinationthat they want to join you, they
can, that they won't feelintimidated, that they'll be
surrounded by a bunch of oldladies which, quite honestly, as
you get older, you get a lotmore fun.
(35:58):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah,absolutely.
I'm here to tell you that asyou get older, you become way
more fun than when you wereyounger, because you no longer
care what anybody else thinks.
It's when you suddenly start toreally understand who you are,
because you've raised yourchildren.
If you've had children, you'veraised your children.
(36:19):
They're already out of thehouse.
You've built a career.
Maybe you're building a secondcareer, but you are suddenly now
no longer asking permission asto who you have to be, who you
want or who you think you shouldbe.
Now you're becoming who youreally are, and so there's no,
(36:40):
there's no one cares anymore.
No one cares what anybody elsethinks, and that's when the fun
begins.
Absolutely, the youngergeneration may come in and go.
These women are a lot of fun.
Kerryn (36:56):
Oh, absolutely, and we do.
We also have youth tickets.
So you know, like 13 to17-year-olds, and we do get
youth come in.
It's changed actually.
We've had stories come backthat the stories have changed
their lives.
You know, one girl was 13 andgay, but still in the cupboard,
you know, and really sort ofkeeping it quiet.
(37:17):
Only her mum knew.
One of our speakers talkedabout, you know, being the first
declared gay female footballerin our AFL footy league and you
know, it was this real rolemodel moment for this girl.
And then she said I don't careanymore, I'm going to tell
people now and I don't care.
And she said I'm going to bewho I am.
(37:39):
And this was a 13-year-old andit just changed everything.
She was thinking she hatedherself, she was thinking that
she didn't know whether shewanted to live that sort of
stuff, and this one speaker justturned her around completely.
So that's powerful, reallypowerful.
Audra (37:59):
Yeah, when you are in a room full of people women,
especially when you become partof a community and you're
embraced, you get welcomed to bewhoever you are.
Yeah, and she finally feltpermission to be who she was and
bravery to be who she was, whoshe truly authentically was,
which is magic, really magic,yeah, and in that room you're
(38:23):
100% right, there is no age Like.
Kerryn (38:25):
In that room, everyone's just everyone.
We're just, you know, it's justeveryone, loves everyone and
it's just wow, wow.
I couldn't be happier.
Audra (38:37):
I invite you to have this kind of event on this side of
the pond Well we would love to.
Kerryn (38:41):
That might be fun.
Audra (38:43):
We would love to.
We would love to.
That might be fun.
Come to this side of the planetand have some fun over here on
this side.
Well, we will.
Kerryn (38:54):
If we can find people to help us.
Audra (38:55):
yes, Well, I throw out the challenge.
I just might, I just might andI throw out that challenge
because we, the audience is aremarkable audience.
I have been very lucky and veryfortunate that this is a very
special audience and they'vebeen incredible to me.
So I'm throwing out the, the,the offer, the challenge and the
(39:19):
request and the request help usbring this type of event on US
soil.
Help us out, let's figure thisout to bring this here, because
I don't think that there'senough of these types of events
here to help support each other.
So let's figure it out, let'sdo that.
Let's figure it out and figureout how to bring it here.
Fantastic from Karen'slife-changing event of I'm out
(39:43):
of control.
I couldn't fix this.
She dedicated her entire lifeto what can I fix?
Who can I help?
That's an amazing thing.
That's an incredible thing.
And, as before, we got on airwhat I mentioned to her if we
all did something, that was apositive thing and it doesn't
(40:07):
have to be what Karen did, whichis she's literally trying to
change the world in whatever way, shape or form she can but if
we all just put somethingpositive out into the world
every single day, can youimagine what the world would be
like.
It would certainly be a wholelot less stressful.
(40:27):
I tell you that much.
Kerryn (40:29):
Absolutely, and kind Wow .
Audra (40:33):
I know An amazing feat what you have done.
I mean, you've culminated yourentire experience to throwing
that very gauntlet out by yourlast book, with writing Get Off
the Bench.
You challenged everybody by thevery same thing, by telling
everybody to do that.
(40:54):
Tell everybody about yourlatest book, get Off the Bench.
Kerryn (40:59):
Well, it's not my latest .
Actually, I've also put out agratitude journal called 100
Days of Gratitude.
Audra (41:05):
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
I misspoke, but yes, tell usabout it, then we'll talk about
the gratitude journal.
Kerryn (41:13):
That's right, get off the bench.
Yeah, it's funny.
Because of all the things I wasdoing, I started to get asked
to speak at conferences and thatkind of thing, and one, a local
one, a friend of mine wasrunning and he said do you want
to run a workshop?
I'm like, yeah, what on?
He said helping people tokickstart projects.
And I said, oh, why are youasking me to do that?
And he said are you kidding,are you joking?
(41:34):
I thought, oh, yeah, that'sfair.
So I did this workshop.
It was only for an hour, but asI was running it, people would
ask questions and I'd say, oh,we haven't got time.
We haven't got time, oh no, Iwish we had more time.
Oh, we need to cover.
Oh no, we need to cover that.
And I just couldn't get enoughinto this hour.
And now, if I run it as aworkshop, it's a three to four
(41:58):
hour workshop.
It's intense.
And I said to them give me youremail.
Now, this was not a marketingploy, but I said give me an
email and I'll go home and I'llmake up a PDF with a bit more
stuff on it.
So I came home and well, notthat day, the next day or
whatever I started writing stuffand typing stuff up and next
(42:19):
thing I know I've got that manypages of stuff and I'm like oh
my God.
And I said I should just turnthis into a book.
And I was kind of joking withmyself.
And then I went, actually, whydon't I do this?
I know how to publish onealready done one, and so why
don't I just wrap it up and puta cover on it and make it a book
(42:40):
?
And so I had that book puttogether in four to six weeks,
something like that, and I sentit to all those people.
But if I look back at it now Ithink, oh, I probably should
have said this instead of that.
You know, I probably shouldhave added this.
You know, if I were to go backI would amend it and build it
and that kind of stuff.
But then I think, and every nowand then that gets to me.
(43:00):
But then I think, and every nowand then that gets to me, but
then I think, no, I'm not goingto, because there's so many
people who have said to me thatbook changed my life.
I could hear your voice tellingme do this, do that, do that.
You know, this is how you'vegot to do it and so many people
have kickstarted their projectbecause of that book, so I'm not
going to change it.
You know, I don't want to wreckthat kind of raw I don't know
(43:26):
what word I'm looking for, butjust that rawness about it.
You know, it's just raw, it'sbasic, it's easy, yeah, so there
you go.
Audra (43:37):
So then suddenly I had two.
I mean that is a book that youcould use to kickstart anything.
It's not necessarily just aproject, it could be kickstart.
Maybe someone wants to start abusiness, maybe somebody wants
to kickstart something they'vealways wanted to do.
I mean, you wrote it in such away that is there to encourage
them to literally get off thebench of whatever sidelines
(44:00):
they've been sitting on, thatthey just need the encouragement
to go and get it done.
Kerryn (44:06):
Yeah, and just to understand that it's.
Take that first step.
Just take that first step andyou never know where to lead and
I'm big on that.
You don't ever have to plan.
I don't have a plan foranything, as you can probably
tell, and it always turns out.
I always have a vision and Idon't know what the steps are,
but I know the first one, I knowwhat I can do today, and then
(44:30):
always the next paver appearsand you just step on it.
Then the next one will appearand you just step on it and you
just keep going and readjustingand realigning it.
You know what.
You eventually get there.
So yeah's what that?
Yeah, that book, very helpful.
Audra (44:47):
And then your last book is your gratitude journal, and
I'm assuming that you wrote thisas a way for you to collect
your thoughts and have otherpeople collect their thoughts.
To, yeah, to not focus on thenegative, because it's so easy
to live in the darkness because,quite frankly, it's easier
there.
It takes more effort to focuson the positive because
(45:12):
sometimes the negative is moreabundant.
So the Gratitude Journal whatinspired you to put this
together?
Kerryn (45:24):
Now I'm glad you said put this together, because it's
not written, it's not anauthorship, it's just 100 pages
all the same.
You just repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
And I run a program calledConfident Leaders Program where
it goes for six months and I getleaders in you know newish
leaders in and you know I buildtheir confidence essentially.
(45:50):
But I was always havingself-care at the end and we were
talking about different ways toself-care and I thought this
year I thought I'm going to trysomething different, because
it's kind of too late by thetime we get there, you know, and
it's a bit dumb to just throwit in at the front and it didn't
quite fit.
So I thought I'm going to makethis journal up, I'm just going
(46:11):
to give it to them all and I'mgoing to say so it goes for six
months, so, whatever, I can'teven figure out my days, but
anyway, that's 30, whatever,that is 180 days, Anyway,
whatever, there's at least 100days in there, even if you miss
some, you know, in this sixmonths.
So I thought, right, I'm goingto give everybody a journal and
I'm just going to say this isgoing to be our self-care
(46:32):
practice and we're going tostart from there and basically
it's kind of like three goodthings that happened today,
three things I love, threethings that I did for others
today, three ways I took care ofmyself.
How did I take care of myselftoday?
You know that kind of stuff.
And it's not to be, it's not toperpetuate toxic positivity,
(46:56):
you know, and making bullshit up.
I don't agree with that.
But what it's for is to say,well, we all have crap days and
that's the way life is andthat's okay.
But can we find some good stuffin amongst all the crap?
And the more you do thisjournal, the more you do these
practices of gratitude.
(47:17):
It doesn't make your lifebetter.
There's stuff still there, butit makes your muscle quicker.
It's a much faster response tocorrect it.
So, oh man, I'm having a crappyday.
Oh, you know what?
Look at that lemon tree.
Isn't it lovely?
At least I've got that.
That's a really nice thing tolook at.
(47:38):
How wonderful.
Here I am bitching about stuffand I've got this beautiful
lemon tree looking at me.
So it's just kind of.
It makes it faster to see good.
So that's my hope anyway.
So we'll see, We'll see.
By the end of the program I'mfinishing up, one in September
and one in October.
So we'll see.
(48:00):
I think it's good.
Everyone's told me that's great.
Audra (48:07):
Well, I mean, it's better than the alternative.
Honestly, I mean, being miredin the muck is, like I said, is
easier to do, but theconsequences of that are
certainly dire.
Absolutely so doing that.
I'll be interested to hear whatthe results are that you've
started with this.
I'll be very curious to hearwhat your class says at the end
(48:29):
of this, since this is the firsttime you've done it.
I'll be very curious to seewhat they say.
I'll bet you the results willbe very positive and I'll bet
you that this will probably bethe best program that you've
done, because of this journal.
Kerryn (48:44):
Thank you, and I bet also that the results will be
invisible, and this is anotherthing.
That I think, though, isbecause it's so subtle, sneaking
up on you.
It's not a big profound da-damoment, it's kind of like a
daily kind of subtle, subtlemovement, you know, and I wonder
(49:08):
, I'm curious as to whetherthey'll see the change.
I'm seeing the change in all ofthem, like I'm seeing this
incredible difference in all ofthe people in the program, but
I'm not going to say that's dueto the book, it's due to the
program, but I'm sure the book'shelping.
Audra (49:26):
What I am so marveled at is that, once you had that light
bulb moment, you have notwasted a minute, not one second
of your time, your energy, yourthoughts, not one thing.
(49:47):
And you just keep looking forareas of okay, where can I go
next, where can I help next,where else is there a gap that I
can fill?
And you don't even.
What I think is remarkable andalso makes me smile, because it
is kind of it is kind of funnyyou don't even have a clue what
(50:08):
you're doing.
Half the time you just raiseyour hand and go, I'll do it,
I'll go, I just I'll figure itout when I get there.
That is the best part of this isthat you don't.
You're like I'll figure it out,I don't know, but you somehow
make it all work.
All you are doing is raisingyour hand and you're like I see
(50:31):
a gap, I'll figure it out, I'llfill it.
And that's amazing.
You've figured out that time isshort.
It's the only thing we can'tmake more of and it's super
(51:07):
precious, and you've just beenusing every single moment of it
that you have to make introduced, because it's something that
has been plaguing me.
I think when you hit yourmid-50s, that clock starts to
gong in your head and go oh,I've got less time in front of
me than I have behind me andI've got to figure this out.
So I'm really appreciative thatyou and I were introduced,
(51:28):
because I have found youfascinating and, quite honestly,
very encouraging and inspiringand make me want to figure out
what other stuff, what othergaps can I fill, even if I have
no idea what I'm doing.
Kerryn (51:42):
Don't burn yourself out, though.
Audra (51:49):
Karen, you have been a delight being here.
I want to make sure that theaudience knows where they can
reach you and find out moreabout you If they want to find
out more about your, your books,your speaking, and where they
can find out more about yourbooks, your speaking and where
they can find out more aboutyour foundation.
Kerryn (52:07):
I think the best place is my website.
So, karenvaughancom, as simpleas that.
K-e-r-r-y-n.
Yes, yes, you do that.
Save me, I feel like I'm on thephone to the bank.
Yes, yeah, I'll make sure thatto the bank?
Audra (52:22):
Yes, yeah, I'll make sure that's in the show notes and
for those of you who've beenlistening for a while, you know
that this is my favorite part ofthe show, where I get to shut
up and stop asking questions andKaren gets to have an intimate
moment directly with theaudience that you can leave them
something inspiring, just athought that they can take with
(52:43):
them throughout their day for amoment that they can.
Just you can leave them withsomething of inspiration that
they can just sit with, for amoment that they can contemplate
.
So the mic is yours.
Kerryn (52:56):
Right, well, now have we got three hours?
No, there's so many things Icould say, but look honestly, I
just want to keep it simple.
You know life is too short andyou know I have lost someone.
I'm sure many listeners havelost someone special.
We don't know what's around thecorner.
(53:16):
You know we're living in aworld that is it's chaotic and
it's turmoil and bad's winningover good and all that kind of
stuff.
And you know what?
We're really great people.
Most of the people on thisplanet are really good people,
and if we just back ourselvesand if we just step into who we
are, what a difference we couldmake.
(53:39):
And don't waste any time.
We're wasting all this timelike putting a lid on our jar
thinking that we're not goodenough, thinking that we don't
waste any time.
We're wasting all this timelike putting a lid on our jar,
thinking that we're not goodenough, thinking that we don't
have the capacity.
Who am I to do this?
You know, and we're allmagnificent, unique, incredible
human beings, you know that havejust got so much potential and
(53:59):
so much capacity.
And I'm not saying go try andsave the world, because none of
us can save the world, but if wejust believe we can do more
than we are doing, and thatdoesn't mean go out and spend
more of your time, but just showup as you.
If you show up as you and takeoff the mask, forget the crap
(54:21):
you know like, forget the tryingto fulfill other people's
expectations and what I shouldbe, what I shouldn't be.
Just be so proud to be you andstep into who that really is and
just give the world you, and ifyou do that, you'll use your
time more wisely and you willchange the world just by being
(54:46):
you, because you're giving otherpeople permission to be them.
Such an important thing, so Ithink that's enough.
That's all Be you.
Life's too short.
Get the hell that.
Lid off your jar and get intoit.
Just live life to the absolutefullest.
Audra (55:06):
I think that is the greatest advice I have heard in
a week, in a week.
Thank you, in a week, in a weekat least.
Karen, thank you so much forspending this hour with me and
with my audience.
I have enjoyed every minute ofit.
Thank you so much for beinghere, and, for those of you that
love podcasts, make sure youcheck out Karen's podcast too,
(55:32):
because she also has an amazingpodcast, so go check that out,
karen.
Thank you again for being here.
I so appreciated it so much,and I want to thank all of you
for listening, and we'll see youagain next time.
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