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Sonia Williams welcome to my podcast yeah thanks for having me this is so weird like um obviously it's a privilege
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to have you here because um you're an inspirational New Zealand businesswoman
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you know the um founder and CEO of uh sheries which is massive but also um your family it's true we are cousins um
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and I am co-founder and Co coo so work with other great people too but um that's cool yeah for sure f i I know
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that we'll get into the whole actually I I put on Instagram that you were coming
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and um uh I said you from shes and does anyone have any questions and I suppose this is the problem with assumption I
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ISM ches was um almost like a Netflix now in New Zealand where the brand recognition is so high that everyone
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would know what I'm talking about but a couple of people said oh can you know
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can you can you get her to explain sh's like what it is wow so maybe we'll start
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with that and we'll we'll get to the shy stuff later but before that we'll go
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back to Young Sonia my little cousin when you said that I was like I wonder what people
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have said no that's nice yeah no but so how yeah so like 10% of the population
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or something are on shies yeah we've got about um 700,000 investors on sheries
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and um so what it is is we call ourselves the wealth at um but it's where you can invest in um different
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investment options but really we're trying to remove the barriers that stand
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in the way of people um really thinking about their wealth and and building their wealth so um on the invest side
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you can invest in um a range of Investments with no minimum and we give you support and education to help you
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build your portfolio it's not the first time you've done that spill is it did it sound good
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it sounded like an elevator patch no it's um I mean it's just what you've
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done is just um gamechanging like I know the the Phrase game changer gets thrown
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around a lot but um like we're from we you know we're families we're from
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similar backgrounds but my dad was always an investor like Dad loved dad was always sort of anti property and
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into shares even after the 19887 Shar crash he was right into it but I never invested in in sheares until sheares
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came along because um it just seemed like to hard basket you need to find a broker you couldn't buy a portion of a
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share like you can do now like you know if you want to buy a share in like birsh
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he way or the video or something it's I don't know a th000 bucks say and now
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with shes you can just buy put a couple of bucks in and buy a portion of a sh it's it's mindblowing what you've
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done all thanks and it's true like it starts you kind of just start one day at
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a time but it's really you know um what you said there around not knowing how
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not being exposed to it like that's the same for me I didn't really know anyone
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that invested in shares my family didn't um so when you said your dad did it's
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like um even that's really cool exposure too and when we did our research um
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after we kind of started the business it was like maybe 20% of kiwi's had shares
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and of that you were most likely male over 60 and living in Oakland um but for everyone else um like I was definitely
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raised in like a family that was like anything about investing was about you know getting on the property later that
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was a lot of the advice I was given let let me guess worst house best street yeah that's it worst house
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yeah um and but it's that thing of going of wanting to get ahead but then realizing that the advice didn't suit
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today you know what that I mean we started sh um seven years ago and it was that um time of um it was the smashed
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avocado time I feel like everyone T you know no oh yeah Boomers Millennials that's what the headlines were all about
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and um but I had recently started working in a bank um after working in technology
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companies and I was learning so much about personal finance and things like that from just my colleagues General
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conversation that they were having so started getting interested in um investing messaged a few places I'd
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gotten shares actually from I used to work at zero and they gave all their teams shares as part of their package um
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but I didn't really know what that was or what that meant or it didn't really
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clock me as something that I was getting given or paid for that type of thing um
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but I did started me messaging some places um to try and invest and I call it like anti- marketing where um you can
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tell them was like don't want you as their customer cuz you're like you the
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don't Havey yeah yeah you're small fry so like it's like if um I asked my mom
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when dinner was ready when I was growing up she'd be like I'll just run around
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the house a few times you know just like you're getting told to um just be busy
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over there and then um try and forget about the fact that you wanted to invest in the first place um and so from that
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and then I guess that being the environment where people were looking for a way to get ahead um and then being
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from a technology background it was like imagine if we could just invest small amounts of money online in a really fun
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way almost like online shopping like everything you get access to has fundamentally changed because of where
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technology is I remember and this isn't even that long ago like but say me and
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my boyfriend wanted to go to the movies we used to drive to all the movies to just see what time a movie was on cuz we
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didn't have smartphones um whereas now you just look it up and you there's so
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much efficiency that kind of comes we fundamentally live life differently now some things are good about that some
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things aren't um but yeah so it's like there was actually no reason why it
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couldn't be more accessible or better those some of the barriers that stood in
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the way for people um so then after having that kind of idea started talking to some friends um and colleagues and
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that's when um through a bunch of different connections um ended up in a team um with six six of us from all a
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different range of backgrounds um who were all really committed to try and solve this problem which is how do we
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get more people um feeling empowered about their money and building their long term and giving access yeah it's um
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it's a phenomenal story but by the way I'm so [ __ ] proud of you like it's just incredible and and
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the fact that like the name [ __ ] I know you were quick to point out you it wasn't you and you alone um but the name
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was your idea and the the the you the seed of the idea was yours um and and you've gone done it you've done it
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that's amazing and still doing it like yeah oh yeah I feel like you yeah so say
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it still feels like really early days say it's a mountain see I I feel like you you've clocked it you're at the top
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of the mountain where would you say you are like base camp or yeah I'd say we're
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in the beginning for sure cuz like the mission and like it's probably an intergenerational one like ours is to
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create financial empowerment for everyone yeah and when you actually think about that and there's so much
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complexity to it and um you solve it in one aspect but then you just see the more you know the more opportunities to
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keep kind of working at that same problem but I think it's one that will keep us nerling for ages okay there's
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there there's so much to pick around at with the um the entrepreneurial stuff um
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yeah first of all let's go all the way back so how how what's our age Gap it's
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like 20 years what are you 30 I think I'm I'm uh maybe 36 36 okay so it's like
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okay so 15 years yeah so yeah we're from a massive family so your dad and my mom
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are siblings and they're two of 14 it's a massive family and then on my mom's
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side my mom's one of 11 oh my God so I'm like I don't think I knew that like it's just huge just got
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cazes and you so yeah Auntie Jenny yeah and they're all from the hot ofo yeah
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yeah so what did your mom do when when we were growing up was she she worked in like an accounting firm a bank no a bank
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my mom she was a state home mom for years and then when I was a kid um she started working at a finance company
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okay and and she would have she probably would have been doing that and she did work at a bank actually yeah when she
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was um yep she worked at a bank all my aunties worked um all my all the aunties on my mom's side work at yeah I suppose
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the reason I asked that is because I'm I'm trying to figure out where this um
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entrepreneurial Spirit came from so dad Uncle Greg one of my faves um he what what did he do I was trying to think
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about this yesterday did he make um like a canvas horse blankets yeah he had a canvas business right so he was a sort
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of an entrepreneur like it was a like a home business but you know no sort of no
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sort of aspiration to scale up or anything just to yeah it his own business um and yeah it was in canvas
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manufacturing he did a bunch of stuff um lots of wicked projects I remember once
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um just anything out of canvas really like some cool shade sales always like I was talking to someone before I came
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here where it was like um your school holidays just like driving around and to go visit different jobs you know now
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there's a lot of pressure to entertain just used to go on drives so you're um yes you're the baby of the
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family the there's uh there's um Paul Yeah Anna Paul uh Anna Paul James and
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you yeah yeah were you unplanned I feel there's a big gap between I think I think I I I don't know I haven't asked
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conversation but it's like the common thing that we get asked when we save our
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siblings is like same mom same dad because there is quite a big age difference between like my older two
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siblings and then me and my younger brother or my older young older younger brother yeah I think your growing up I
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was definitely closer to like Paul and Anna to the proximity and age and stuff um but but I always remember you being
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being like just the cutest the cutest little kid cool and um and I used to um when I started working and got my first
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car um i' drive down to see your dad and had changed my oil and my oil filter
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he's a great man he was definitely very handy yeah and like one of those people
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that just solves you know it's like the pro like however the problem gets solved
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there's just a way of doing it like no matter it seemed like no matter what it
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was like I remember once I um locked my keys and I my um I had to go to let a sky person and at um one of my
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colleagues houses was like one of my first jobs and I pulled up and I like pulled up behind the sky person and then
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like left the lock the keys in my car by accident and they were just jammed in the driveway I was like what am I going
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to do and the sky person's like calling all the customers afterwards canceling
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it all um but Dad just came down and um opened the car so resourceful so resourceful um
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yeah how how is your dad so he had um yeah as I said 14 14 brothers and sisters in the family and um I'm not
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sure who in the family is going to listen to this podcast but Uncle Greg your mom will your mom listen yeah your
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mom will definely listen she's so supportive she listens to all of them but um I'd say Uncle Greg probably my
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favorite out of all the unles yeah yeah um and he he had a what did he have like a stroke or a brain
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aneurism yeah he had a brain aneurism and and a stroke actually yeah when I was when was that I think I think um
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early 2000s yeah to that I would have been 16 I think right yeah how was that what are your Recollections of that um
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definitely like I mean it's quite a I kind I sometimes yes I was part of it like it did happen to him you know and
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he is still around um which is so great because lots of people don't survive um
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that combination or or like a brain hemorrhage or a stroke as well so um but I mean it was hugely lifechanging for um
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at 16 being like um having such a a big change happen especially such a health issue because you got kind of pottering
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along and then um you can just see how quickly things can change yeah so that was it was quite big yeah because
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because I was an adult at the time I was getting on with my my own life so mom's
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like Oh Uncle Greg's had this thing and he's in the hospital and um I'd see him
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see him every couple of years or whatever um and he he he was still the same person but he wasn't the same
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person in a lot of ways like he needed enough had get tired easily needed every couple of hours and just like just his
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personality sort of DED a little bit so I just wondered what it was like when you're when it's your dad and you're
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there yeah I definitely like um he you know I feel um like I got lots of love for all my family um and you know but he
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taught me so much around like always so witty and um you know for people who have brain injuries that stuff can you
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know you're just not as um that stuff can be harder you know and does have ongoing things after the injury so he's
00:13:02
quite different but I think you just have to well for me anyway I just um sort as like a different person you just
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get to know the new person yeah and um but yeah it felt like that was a change at the time for sure yeah still a bloody
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great person and a work sense of humor as well still very funny yeah absolutely so you um so not long after that you
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left school and you you you didn't go to university straight away you started
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working what were your what were your aspirations because Le's one of those places it' be very easy to get a job and
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then sort of you fall into the Le cycle and never leave yeah very easy to do that what what did you do out of school
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out of school so I think like um it probably you know not you like that's quite a big change to happen like
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when you're 60 I think I did lose a lot of motivation or just understanding my
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place what it what was it all about maybe that's a big question um at 16 but
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definitely know that I lost a lot of motivation around school and um def didn't see that as being just didn't
00:14:07
have much of an education pathway which I think for people who know me now I'm
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like one of the biggest nerds and like study so hard do lots of research always reading so to think that I wasn't good
00:14:18
at school um like I didn't get University entrance um CU I stopped going to school one of my um I played
00:14:25
lawn bows through high school um and my bows coach said like please just just keep doing the work just keep getting
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the credits and we arranged it so like I could get my school work um I didn't
00:14:36
have to show up to the classes I could do my school work and do the credits but I still was like maybe a few short at
00:14:42
the end of that process but I think I remember him really saying like just keep your doors open you know you got to
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keep your doors open for um wanting to go to UNI or anything like that I think I remember always wanting my own
00:14:53
business um I didn't know what that was um and I definitely didn't feel the pull
00:15:00
of uni like there was a little bit of fomo cuz my friends were so like they felt like they really knew what they
00:15:05
wanted to do and um but there was it seemed maybe more that was around going to a university somewhere but um like
00:15:13
just go somewhere get a ba or like it was more about the experience of University um whereas I probably didn't
00:15:19
have that like I didn't I liked liven I um yeah there's things about it that I
00:15:24
didn't really like but I did like it I went in um so After High school um wrapped up I spent some time on um one
00:15:32
of my uncle's Farms um in the tanaki doing some Milking for a bit and then um
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my mom was like oh there's a job going at the law firm here and so I applied
00:15:44
for that and I think um In My Memory she like made me wear her her suit to the interview which was just
00:15:52
like what were what what were you thinking at the time just okay protest I thought this was being a grown
00:16:01
up you know it's like and I remember it feeling like that analogy comes back to me all the time
00:16:07
when it's like when you feel like something doesn't feel you you're like
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no how can you make this you you know you don't want it cuz I always think like everyone else would have seen
00:16:16
that my God like 18-year-old looks ridiculous um but I got the job um and so I worked at a law firm in Leen for a
00:16:26
few years and then um I did some travel overseas and um Wanted to then decided like I wanted to go overseas and my
00:16:36
sister Anna she was she had done an accounting degree and was living overseas at the time and I remember
00:16:42
thinking H if I want to go overseas I should go get this degree and then I can go live overseas so that was really the
00:16:49
Catalyst for going to UNI but I mean I worked at a call center um before that in Wellington worked as a debt collector
00:16:58
um for a bit at in a call center did a bunch of different like call centery type jobs but but so so deep down you
00:17:04
had this sort of drive and ambition but you just weren't ready to sort of like I
00:17:09
really know what it was yeah um but I definitely remember um wanting you know when I thought of myself I really wanted
00:17:16
my own business I didn't maybe it's like an issue with authority or something
00:17:22
what which I think is genetic but yeah um yeah that's defitely a Williams trait
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um so why um why an Cy degree is that just because you're because um Anna did that
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your sister so yeah I think so right yeah people influence people because it would make sense that yeah yeah but if
00:17:40
if you knew like deep down in your soul that you were destined to have a business you'd think you'd you know get
00:17:45
a business degree or oh accounting's great you definitely need accounting to
00:17:48
run any business but I probably wasn't thinking like that at the time I did I
00:17:52
did some marketing papers as well um but again I reckon it's just naivity around
00:17:59
like if you told me when I was 16 that I would end up in a tech company um or have a career in
00:18:07
technology I just would not have believed it um largely because you know if you a I
00:18:15
didn't really know those subjects existed like I was far more interested I wasn't one of those people that like got
00:18:21
really interested in computers and how to pull them apart and um it was more like MSN Messenger or um the
00:18:28
communication aspects of technology that really grasped me if anything like um but I Reon it comes down to like if you
00:18:36
studied science in my worldview at that time I probably thought you would have been able to become a science teacher I
00:18:42
think it was just a naive I didn't see what I I didn't know what I didn't see
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you know and I wasn't really exposed to much of that type of thinking or broader
00:18:51
stuff you know I wonder if um part of that is like coming from a small town you're just not necessarily aware of the
00:18:58
the you know the bigger options or you just don't allow yourself to think as
00:19:01
big as what you should yeah maybe I don't know well you just don't know right you know your own world view um I
00:19:06
remember someone using this analogy of like um goldfish under the water and but if someone came and they're all happy
00:19:14
thinking they're under the water and that's the world they know but then one
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day someone picks up the Goldfish and they can see around above the water and then you get put back down
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there's no way you're just going to go chill and be a goldfish under the water
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you're going to be like what did I see what did I just see I thought this was
00:19:32
everything but this you know so I do think um any time like now I I think like how important a spark is like just
00:19:41
to see something or to be exposed and something that's a catalyst for so much
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and sometimes you might be like oh yeah doesn't clock it but you don't know what
00:19:49
you don't know and you don't know what's going to like really inspire you like
00:19:53
that yeah like sh's is your first business venture and it's been you know
00:19:58
it's been wildly successful it's not like you're one of these entrepreneurs
00:20:01
that you know had a crack at a 100 different things before cracking it like it's amaz you're one from one I did work
00:20:09
in a lot of other businesses yeah yeah I'm downplaying what lead you up there I
00:20:14
mean but like um yeah true I haven't really thought about it like that but yeah oh no it's it's crazy that's not an
00:20:21
insult by the way that's a massive massive compliment like yeah you're the
00:20:24
architect of this incredible brand that's um just been a game changer and it's um yeah it's something to be
00:20:30
celebrated I I suppose you were so busy you don't stop to think about how cool
00:20:34
you are I think like I do think that there's these real um kind of cool and like cool
00:20:42
moments where you're like this is great because it's it's what youth you know
00:20:46
when we first started lots of it was like um it's lots of culture change you're just helping people see life a
00:20:54
little differently like there was just a stereotype that kiwis were bad at saving
00:20:59
and investing and the thing with stereotypes is you start to believe them yourself
00:21:04
and you start to go I'm bad at saving people aren't inherently bad at stuff
00:21:08
you just you know they might not have had the right environment or the right spark or whatever that got them
00:21:12
interested in it so um the worst is when you start believing the the thing yourself like what people telling you
00:21:18
you are and like um I just love it when like there's been a few times when like
00:21:23
say my nieces and nephews or random people you know tell me about how they invest and how they think about it now
00:21:31
and um I remember a woman when I was in Le actually that a woman said um she as a grandmother takes her granddaughter
00:21:37
out and they go out for coffee like or go out for like a hot chug or whatever um once a week and talk about their
00:21:42
shares and you go that was just so cool cuz I would never have imagined that and
00:21:46
I reckon um that those are the stories that I'm like yes that's really cool
00:21:52
it's really powerful and um yeah another one of your cousins my sister Charlotte
00:21:56
all of her kids are into it as well said her son who loves the NBA like he's
00:22:01
got shares and Nike and gets very disillusioned that is you know $10 investment only goes up to like $14 but
00:22:09
you know um it's just a really I think um healthy conversation to be having cuz
00:22:14
new zealanders we're kind of like we're kind of shy and awkward people anyway
00:22:18
and when it comes to money it's like just another layer of you know complexness something that we were just
00:22:24
weird about it's true and then you don't hear like I used to hear them Market
00:22:28
updates on the radio you know probably did they do it on 92. which was the radio station of my
00:22:35
childhood um the um you know they just read out a bunch of numbers and you go like there's
00:22:43
no spark in that you know for me anyway I'm like I would have had to been following that story for those numbers
00:22:48
to make sense but say I'm like trying to get in on that story like the double
00:22:51
dutch you know waiting waiting to for when you can kind of get in and start jumping it's like um was that the stuff
00:22:59
that goes on behind those numbers is what's what's interesting and it's like
00:23:03
people you know you think of it like I wouldn't have ever you see a house and
00:23:06
you go yeah cool that's a house but you know we go to work every day people are
00:23:10
going to work every day I flew to Oakland today on an A New Zealand plane like these things are all really
00:23:16
tangible and part of our every day so when you see the numbers going up and down around these companies it's like so
00:23:22
there's so much more story behind it which helps it make it feel a bit more tangible so um I love like I think those
00:23:28
stories are really interesting and I really love the Curiosity that that Peaks yeah you're so right that's a
00:23:34
really good analogy it's almost like being at a party and there's like a
00:23:36
circle of people talking and you're trying to get into that Circle and you just can't cuz yeah on TV news they used
00:23:42
to talk about the footsy all the time I didn't even know what the foot I still
00:23:46
don't know there's so many there's so many um different like bits of jargon
00:23:50
and um an allergies and and things like that so um yeah it's just helpful to be
00:23:56
like actually you can still talk like you know what you're doing but it can also be heard from everyone and it's
00:24:03
just about like breaking down different things but yeah um I mean that's why
00:24:07
it's like even if someone like I wouldn't say I was super into Finance or
00:24:11
or money or things like that but um it is really interesting to me the stories and all that part of it and I think
00:24:19
helping people get involved in that and it's also really interesting to me what
00:24:23
um change it can make in people's lives when they feel really in control of the
00:24:29
and cuz it's a lot to do with choices and living the life that you want to live and things like that yeah um yeah
00:24:36
that's cool we will get to the shy Stu first of all um oh congratulations uh
00:24:42
you're you're a mom now you became a mom in November 2022 um to uh baby meow yeah
00:24:49
so what what's my role there what am I does that I'm not an uncle a no no like a
00:24:56
second cousin is a big we just do like cies or you know like it's just an extension of like our relationship um
00:25:04
but I'm so much older than you I feel like I should be an uncle you want to be
00:25:06
an uncle you can be an uncle you can be an uncle um that's how's that working
00:25:10
out for you it's such such a um huge change e like um I think um you know like what do I want to say about that
00:25:25
like love having a daughter um and she's such a joy like she is really amazing
00:25:30
and she's changed our lives in so many ways and it's also like a really humbling experience um I grew up in Liv
00:25:38
you know where um there's a huge High teenage um pregnancy um right so like you kind of grow up and your whole life
00:25:46
you're like trying not to get pregnant you I agree I was talking to M about this the other day it was like um yeah
00:25:52
when you're 16 17 18 it's like the you think it's going to be the easiest thing
00:25:57
like yeah thing just like almost eye contact with someone and you're going to
00:26:00
get them pregnant and then when you become an adult you realize it's actually way more complex than that it
00:26:04
is so true um so we did have a bit of a journey um to getting um our daughter and like part of it is like what that um
00:26:13
and so now feel on the other side of that like so grateful to have her in our lives and I think like what that
00:26:18
experience has shown to me is like just how amazing um every moment that it takes someone to end up and have
00:26:28
a baby like how many complex steps there are involved in that whole process but how the default is that that goes well
00:26:36
like it's just pure magic really like I mean if there's scientists listening
00:26:39
they're like well it's science but did you did you guys need um I we did end up getting some support yeah
00:26:46
yeah um but yeah and I won't dig into that too much but I think like for anyone where there's um you know I know
00:26:55
there was lots of times when I'd listen to stories and be like well I'd want to
00:26:58
be as a mom you know and um and so I always make sure I like share that that can be hard and that and acknowledge
00:27:04
that there's space there and I um I've shared that there's the stories that
00:27:08
really helped me um through that and and helped to see that there is a space for
00:27:13
like when it's hard because there can be times when it is you know really hard
00:27:16
and um I know you know you ask people you know do you want to have kids and um lots of people are like oh yeah when
00:27:22
this timing but I think it just like opened my eyes that it's really not always up to you
00:27:28
um I think like family is really important and like we're from a huge family right like um I remember it was a
00:27:35
running joke for some of my friends like would just be walking down the street they're like is that your cousin is that
00:27:39
your cousin and I'm like I think so like I don't know all of them you know yeah we are varing different um
00:27:47
relationships but um we've always really been brought up to Value family and
00:27:52
being part of something so um I am really stoked that I get to um extend that um within our little family unit as
00:28:00
well it feels like a real privilege to me yeah yeah that's cool um I'm glad you
00:28:04
had success with that as someone that's um yeah been on that fertility treadmill
00:28:07
as well and you hear the statistics and then um yeah J and I when we went together we had numerous friends of I
00:28:14
I've sort of like blocked that corner of my mind out now but um yeah with each
00:28:20
with each fail you almost get like a gamblers mentality where you think this has got to be the time like odds would
00:28:25
suggest but um it didn't work out for us but I'm so pleased it worked out for you
00:28:30
yeah meanwhile going through all this you're running this um half a billion dollar company as well like it's a lot
00:28:36
to take on it's hes um yeah I don't know what to say about it wasn't really a question no but I I
00:28:46
get what you're saying like there is um yeah it can it can there's a lot to
00:28:52
juggle in there that's for sure and um but like any you know and there's time
00:28:58
definitely when I'm like what you know you can't do it all and I like the thing
00:29:03
I like to tell myself now is like when you have to make a it's awesome to have
00:29:06
choice and to choose things in your life like I choose to go to a job that I love
00:29:12
and to work with great people and to build something that I think is really special like I'm so stoked that my job
00:29:18
gives me that and that I'm able to do that and then um I also get to choose to
00:29:22
like spend time um with my family and make sure that's a really big part of my
00:29:26
life because it is that something like really grounding to me and then whenever it feels hard or the choices feel like
00:29:33
and I'm starting to get like negative on the choices like I'm like God I've got
00:29:37
be in a 100 places at once I like um just remind myself that like every time you have to make a choice that's like
00:29:44
how you show up it's like every decision you make is asserting yourself in the
00:29:49
world cuz you can try and do it all but it's when it's really hard and you're
00:29:53
having to make trade-offs you're like well who do who do I want to be you know
00:29:56
and it's like sometimes you have to say no to stuff but I always think like that's you when you're doing that and
00:30:03
you're having to say no you're just showing up as who you are and you're
00:30:06
making like a values choice or you um and I find that like as quite a empowering way to think about it why
00:30:13
didn't you say no to the conference today you just came from a conference and you told I can't remember what it
00:30:17
was but it sound to me it sound like the world's most boring you're on a panel
00:30:21
what's up for I was on a panel um yeah it was the financial um Services conference and I was on a panel about
00:30:29
you and I have very different lives and again one of those ones that probably if I thought hey would I be on
00:30:38
that um uh you know these are rooms that I think when we first started shies and
00:30:44
even now I get um where it's like when you create something from the outside sometimes um like I never saw
00:30:53
myself in that industry but we are in it and we're in it and we're changing it
00:30:57
and we're part of it and we're partnering with people in it and they're
00:31:01
actually you know like it's um so I actually really like being in those rooms now and um cuz I think a it's
00:31:08
really interesting and people are all trying to do good stuff around helping um shape financial services for Al and
00:31:16
make a real difference for people and um then I like being in those rooms because
00:31:20
sometimes we share a different perspective and um I think we're so close to our customers and we're so
00:31:25
close to like how things might um play out for people that I think like there would have been a time when I
00:31:32
wanted nothing more than for people in those rooms to have H that voice so it's
00:31:37
like it's also a real privilege to um be in that representing our customers and
00:31:42
our team so um do you do you do you still suffer um imposter syndrome at all or not really um I definitely suffer
00:31:51
from like confidence issues I try not to use um imposter syndrome I don't know
00:31:56
why cuz but it's like I attached to you know it's like if you tell yourself
00:32:00
something enough you'll believe it but it's like so I like to say like I'm you
00:32:04
know I might be having a bit of a low confidence or something um that day and definitely cuz it's like exam mentality
00:32:11
when you're like public speaking or something you kind of go straight to what's the question they're going to ask
00:32:17
that I don't know the answer to but like but most of the time people just want you know especially in those
00:32:24
settings like people want really good conversation they're not going to ask you the thing that you have like a
00:32:28
really [ __ ] answer about ask oh no no I just wonder because like you these rooms
00:32:33
that you're going into you definitely you you've got the chops like you deserve to be there like you've proved
00:32:37
yourself but I just wonder if if there's times where I don't know I think all of us have those
00:32:43
moments we where you go back to being a kid again so you're just like little
00:32:46
Sonia from Livin and you know like but no you definitely do deserve to be in these places where did that where did
00:32:53
that reframing thing come from you know you talked about not you know not calling it a poster syndrome and oh is
00:33:00
that from like a podcast or a book or yeah I think that I definitely picked it up from somewhere it could have been um
00:33:06
I've got like an amazing network of women that I catch up with on a regular basis and it could have come from there
00:33:13
I think one of them might have shared it there or it could have come from a podcast but I remember um I think there
00:33:17
was an article actually about it um which we all read There was just around like changing that um and because it's
00:33:26
not you know that's often something that's said or it's your problem but like
00:33:31
confidence is one thing and then like I do think that when you hold a space or you um that you should think about how
00:33:37
people belong in that space and how do you create a sense of comfort like this room is very
00:33:43
comfortable so you've created that yeah it's the it's the AC candle and it
00:33:49
smells delightful so um what's the what's the um the biggest surprise about
00:33:55
being a mom so far you think oh um surprise biggest surprise um definitely like the change
00:34:03
in everything like I I felt like I wasn't you know I'd been around people
00:34:07
who had had kids before and um but I just wasn't aware like how fundamentally
00:34:12
it would change your life and you're in a new life and I think there is um this
00:34:18
thing around like um I did have on you know the it's the confidence it's like I went from
00:34:25
being at a job where where I go every day feeling like I really had gotten like I knew how to operate there and
00:34:32
then to be completely responsible for someone and something and a job that you've never done before actually just
00:34:39
like a comfort zone comfort zone being a CEO to know and I remember someone said
00:34:45
to me like oh you'll find it real easy and then I didn't I found it really hard
00:34:49
and um I was like oh but everyone finds this easy and it turns out no one finds it then again I was like why aren't I
00:34:56
finding this easy um everyone said theyd find it easy or that I'd find it easy
00:35:00
but I did like find aspects of it really difficult like is it changes your relationship and um you know it just
00:35:08
changes so much like who you are in the world and I think um you know coming back to the identity thing um I was
00:35:16
still maybe because it had T you know i' I'd almost tried to like make being a
00:35:22
mom not something that I attached to so then when I was a mom and I had to be a mom maybe bring the Imposter syndrome
00:35:28
even though I said I reframe that it's kind of like going like um having the
00:35:33
confidence to claim that and be like I am I think for a while it took me a while to go yeah this is I'm a mom now
00:35:40
yeah awesome you are and are you enjoying that role yeah it's great yeah are you good at it I hope so I try
00:35:46
really hard I I do try hard yeah um yeah so and so you're back at work now we got lots of
00:35:55
great support yeah yeah well there's that saying it takes a um so your partner Ben is he is he
00:36:01
taking care of the home duties or you have like yeah yeah he's largely doing
00:36:04
that and we also get some support um a few days a week as well which is helpful yes how did you guys meet we metet
00:36:12
through work but he's also from um Lin well he's from white toy Beach oh
00:36:18
actually is he oh my God so he knows that other uncle atie that live out there right Robin and John yeah yeah um so
00:36:30
yeah he's from the yeah our family for anyone list our family owns the horor
00:36:34
fina there's Williams everywhere some of them have different names but we're all
00:36:39
over the place I wow white literally nobody's from Whitey Beach I know your brother was living there for a while
00:36:45
though wasn't he yeah yeah and my mom was there yeah amazing did you know each
00:36:49
other were you like like childhood sweets no I think um he knew one of our cousins or a few of our cousins from the
00:36:54
beach um and um but he was a little bit older than me so we didn't cross over at
00:37:00
school or anything but we met um at when I was studying and this was probably that the job that changed my career was
00:37:08
I got a like a just an assistant job or associate job like an office job at um a
00:37:14
web design company he was working there and we met through there um cuz I work parttime there while I was at Uni cuz
00:37:21
he's like um a designer an artist yeah did he come up with the the pineapple um
00:37:26
he came up with fruit the fruit the fruit and then it evolved into the pineapple yeah pineapple the um the
00:37:33
she's logo all right let's get into some Shey stuff okay um oh okay now one last
00:37:38
one before we move on to that What's um what do you think was harder first year
00:37:41
of business or first year of parenting first year of parenting really yeah like I would like the bit the like
00:37:50
the side of the business that you were doing like the magnitude of that and we'll get to all this there must there
00:37:56
were like so many hurdles and so many obstacles to overcome parenting surely you know those obstacles are going to
00:38:02
come you know you're going to be you know a awake through the night and you yeah it's just hard I don't know yeah I
00:38:09
just found it really hard and it is hard and hard in different ways I guess like
00:38:14
I reckon like um you can like think and work through any problem oh maybe that applies to being a mom as
00:38:24
well but like I found that fish year of business really exciting yeah thanks for that it's refreshingly
00:38:33
honest yeah no no no it's cool that's interesting it's um it's just hard for
00:38:39
different reasons yeah yeah yeah but a lot of people probably wouldn't want to
00:38:42
admit that you know how you were saying no you know how you were saying before like everyone said oh it's easy you'll
00:38:46
be natural whatever and I think um yeah a lot of women who become are lucky enough to become Ms probably feel really
00:38:52
bummed out because they're like you everyone said it was going to be this and that's not and I suppose everyone's
00:38:56
um joury on in that front is different yeah yeah yeah so I found this photo and they say a picture paints a thousand
00:39:03
words yeah what is that what is that that is our founding team yeah people who probably at this point we'
00:39:14
maybe been working together for like two or three months um and now they're probably some of the most
00:39:24
important relationships I've got in my life does does the guy turn it around so I
00:39:29
can see it the guy second to right does he used to wear mozimo mozimo hodies I think he
00:39:34
does he probably looks exactly the same M yeah um he probably still wears yeah he's wearing shorts I don't think I've
00:39:41
ever like I've probably seen him in Pence like three times so is that like one of the one of the original Shear's
00:39:47
like promo shots or whatever you want to call it like I think this was for um a media story someone came and took this
00:39:54
like maybe it's for like d post or something yeah yeah I found it on old stuff article yeah that could be it yeah
00:39:59
and um they just said Oh Come and stand in this Alleyway and look you know like you're doing something special which we
00:40:07
were um and but probably didn't know at that point how big it was going to become I think we were always um really
00:40:16
ambitious um but there was no way you could you would have I mean everyone that has like a startup has Ambitions
00:40:21
right but there's no it must have ex by by now today like it must have exceeded
00:40:25
expectations back then sure or no I think um yes in some ways and no in others like a um I mean we're like
00:40:36
I'm definitely stoked with where it's at and like it's great because lots of
00:40:40
people as you say have ideas they have all the things um but it's like it all
00:40:45
needs to come together to um to become what it is but I think you know it's like this group of people like
00:40:53
so smart so and you kind of go like at this time when we were like raising money for shares and um trying to get
00:41:03
people to believe in that ambition or their aspiration that we have like lots of people had problems with it being six
00:41:10
of us and they're like Well because most businesses fall apart because there's
00:41:14
relationship issues you know and stuff like that but I think like maybe that's
00:41:17
the difference between like being a team from day one where I think Partnerships
00:41:22
can break down because they can be like my way your way blah blah blah and I only know it this way you know for
00:41:29
example but it's like the way that this team operates like we got to set in place real teamwork principles like we
00:41:35
did our values um of how we wanted to work together we spent time doing that stuff
00:41:40
of like what we were building so um I have so much respect for all of these people like some of the
00:41:46
smartest um most ambitious and like now we've been through so much together like
00:41:51
ups and downs and um like people used to say like Leon always tells the story like people used to say um you know for
00:41:59
us it was like wacka all like you can't something bad might happen but it's very
00:42:02
rare to get all of us down at once the thing with with um you with business with if you got two people
00:42:10
someone might go it's just too hard and then the whole thing could end up falling over but with sex yeah yeah and
00:42:16
like we might come back and be like oh that was so tough and then people who wi at that meeting being like Oh but
00:42:20
something good happened over here you know and um and just people see the joy in different things and people see the
00:42:27
easy in different things and the hard in different things and just it just so happens like um you know I don't like I
00:42:35
don't I it wasn't like planned hard out how we all came together um yeah okay
00:42:41
well let's yeah let's get into let's get into that story so um yes so so you and
00:42:47
your partner being um you're going out for dinner this was the smash era yeah
00:42:52
and you you we that dinner was going to cost 50 bucks and you were like after I there was there was something we could
00:42:56
do with the 50 bucks and that's sort of how the idea of shes came about yeah and you came up with the
00:43:02
name shees but see a lot of people have a good idea but then you realize just the
00:43:07
work that's going to go into it or the problems you're going to encounter going
00:43:10
into it so how do you go from having this idea which is a great idea um to actually making it happen yeah what
00:43:16
happens next and then yeah someone made a joke it's like do the most so you can
00:43:21
do the least it's like oh it's so hard to invest oh why don't you just like
00:43:24
make this company it's like it's on the one hand you that does seem but it's like I'm going to
00:43:30
have to go to work anyway so it's like might as well um work on something really interesting yeah so yeah so so
00:43:38
you who's Brooke Brooke she is here and she's one of the three and co-founders
00:43:44
as well how it all came about was um I told Ben about the idea and he said um he encouraged me to talk to more people
00:43:51
about it and um why just to make sure it was a good idea or just um I think no it
00:43:59
was like we need like cuz it's just like the different set of skills and um I
00:44:04
then got introduced to someone at Leighton and I worked on projects together at Q bank and um someone said
00:44:12
oh Leon knows about investing go you should cheat to him and we were already working on stuff together so I said oh
00:44:17
can you know should we can I talk to you about investing and he had a club he started an investing Club when he was 18
00:44:24
I think with like 13 of his friends and family where they all put put away $50 a
00:44:28
week and um they started investing in different things I heard this like hers of cash yeah he's from har so it was
00:44:36
like the first investment very similar to where it's like very typical to invest in a cow or cow invest in what
00:44:42
you know yeah yeah um and that's kind of grown over time and then um I think
00:44:47
simultaneously him and Brooke um who are now married but at the time um they were
00:44:54
dating um more seriously in dating probably in a serious relationship um and Brooke I
00:45:03
had heard about Brooke and that um she had built her career at KI bank and then went to zero and I'd almost
00:45:10
done the opposite Built My Career at zero and then went to Kiwi bank and so everyone was like oh you know Brooke you
00:45:16
know Brooke you know but I didn't know Brooke and and they were like oh you guys you guys would get along I can't
00:45:22
believe you don't know each other and then um we'd met maybe a few times um
00:45:28
and Leon said I reckon Brooke would love to work on this too and um and then and
00:45:33
she's amazing they like as I said everyone else I'm pretty gushy now but
00:45:37
um like then Martin and um Leighton were in a brass band together and Richard and
00:45:44
Martin were in a tech consultancy together and so um Leighton you know said I think they always wanted to do
00:45:51
something they always wanted to build a business and so there was real momentum around wanting to have your own business
00:45:56
and and I had like thrown around a lot of ideas and tried to get stuff going um but it hadn't really become anything and
00:46:05
so um just ideas at that point but not nothing where you kind like I'm actually
00:46:09
going to put some more effort in here um and like Richard and Martin had done you
00:46:15
know similar work they were often built like bought in to support startups to like scale their Tech infrastructure and
00:46:23
um had such good reputations and um um so the fact that you know everyone was kind of keen to do something
00:46:34
everyone's really like impact driven and Purpose Driven and um it just so happened that there was a real kind of
00:46:41
nice crossover of things that we really valued but also real like difference and
00:46:45
discipline so um lots of people were like left to just get on with it or um you know together like everyone was
00:46:53
really um contributing something so different right so yeah like but I mean I I was trying to
00:47:00
avoid saying that because it's like so much of it as crossover cuz you are all
00:47:04
in each other stuff yeah but I suppose you need the power of sex that means you can get sex as much stuff done you know
00:47:10
you're both working on the same project right yeah so um there was like a lot of
00:47:14
collaboration but there's like a real respect of each other and each other's
00:47:18
skill sets I guess and what everyone brings to the table but um you know now like it really taught me the power of
00:47:26
teamwork and everything and like you talk about people having great ideas and not getting off the ground and I think
00:47:33
um the first thing I would say is like just start talking to people about it and um cuz people bring their own
00:47:40
momentum to something and um if you can't get people excited about your idea
00:47:47
then you're probably not going to get customers excited about your idea you know it's like actually it's um if
00:47:54
people aren't going to work on it and see the power I'm working on it and they
00:47:57
don't see the value in working on it then it's going to be a far harder sell
00:48:00
to get people um sometimes it's good that not a ideas come to the light is there anyone else out there
00:48:08
that could be listening to this that could have been like the seventh founder or the eighth founder anyone that you
00:48:13
invited in early on and that they weren't into it we had so much support um and have done so yes like we're the
00:48:20
founding team but there's like been so many people um that have contributed and
00:48:25
shes wouldn't be what it is today without them so yeah definitely there's
00:48:29
people that aren't in the photo you know that were there and um helping us um
00:48:35
yeah so did did you did you all have to like put in some money initially like how did you like how did you how did you
00:48:41
get off the ground you know on like day one yeah we um didn't we worked on it um
00:48:49
and so day one we were we like doing a little bit of stuff parttime but we did into an accelerator program there was
00:48:56
one running um and I think kiwi bank and zero had both sponsored it so when we said that we had been accepted into this
00:49:05
um program they ended up just saying the program is for 3 months and how about instead of resigning you guys um this
00:49:12
was Brook Laden and I how about you guys um just take leave like take extended leave and then if it doesn't work out
00:49:19
you can come back and oh that's so generous so generous it's amazing it's
00:49:24
really really cool wow but it also put a time period it was like this thing needs
00:49:27
to show legs in 3 months cuz that's our decision- making point you can't you you
00:49:33
can't do anything in 3 months you you can build a whole business we did yeah
00:49:39
wow yeah it just the whole the whole thing and again like from the perspective of where we're sitting now
00:49:46
like it's you can sort of reverse engineer what you what you've done but
00:49:49
I'm imagine you three sitting in this office room I just don't know where you
00:49:53
even start you know the whole thing it just seems daunting like such a daunting like it's it's phenomenal I'm an a of
00:50:01
what you guys have done it's incredible I think it's like um maybe it's called
00:50:05
like strategy and action you just start doing stuff One Foot In Front of the other and
00:50:12
and then the plan reveals itself yeah CU you before this you you researched hard
00:50:17
you spoke to like thousands of people yeah um yeah I mean it's a good idea there's no doubt about it but like was
00:50:23
there resistance from um you know people that had strangle hold over the sort of
00:50:28
like stock Brokers for example and no cuz they weren't serving this audience
00:50:33
yeah but you think they'd want to protect what they had and but you but at that stage it was like we were serving
00:50:39
people who weren't being served yeah like that's changing now um but I don't I think um people were
00:50:53
actually really like had lots of advice for us people were really open with us I
00:50:59
think they didn't necessarily see us competing um with them yeah you've done so well are you
00:51:07
familiar with um like Napoleon Hill no Napoleon Hill he's like um he was like a
00:51:13
like a finance writer from probably like a hundred years ago his his big book is
00:51:16
one called Think and Grow Rich and I wondered if you've heard of him because
00:51:19
he's got a thing um which he talks about called The Mastermind group and it's
00:51:22
basically you know how everyone would say six Founders is too much he sort of says opposite like get get your
00:51:27
Mastermind group together um which it sounds like you guys have accidentally sort of done yeah yeah and I think like
00:51:36
um I think it's true for like now maybe like um if I think of like something
00:51:42
I've changed like through this experience is really like how important it is how other
00:51:47
people are just so important in your life and so um impactful and you go yeah it's like there's no way it would be
00:51:53
what it is without the team and also now the team that has grown and um everyone
00:51:59
contributes something so hard like to the business and um especially the size that is you can't be across everything
00:52:05
and so you've got these amazing people with great ideas there's probably lots
00:52:08
of little groups like that um throughout the business now and then there's also
00:52:13
people like outside of the business that help you know help me out personally or
00:52:17
help um the group out but yeah I think maybe I thought being independent was really important um how do you mean just
00:52:27
like I always thought that was a value you know I do think it's important to be
00:52:29
independent but um I think now um this whole experience has like crystallized the importance of like sharing an
00:52:38
experience with others and that's way more fun isn't it so much more fun and
00:52:43
yeah there stuff you know it's like um like high trust really high trust so like maybe that's it maybe like learn to
00:52:51
trust other people but it's so you got to just like go all in you know we already are so
00:52:57
anyway oh my god um got must have been terrifying early on though was there um cuz you hear about companies um I've
00:53:06
just been just finished reading the audio book called um that will never happen I think it's called it's the
00:53:10
Netflix story from one of the founders of Netflix and early on like they they weren't making any money there was one
00:53:15
year they lost like 50 million same about Uber you you hear about Uber I don't think Uber's ever made a profit
00:53:20
yet were you guys like like were you making money from day one or no did you lose money in those early years Y and so
00:53:28
um but how much how much you you losing in those early years I won't go into um
00:53:32
specifics but yeah you are investing um into a future you're building an asset
00:53:38
that you will continue to sell you're doing you're doing that cuz you're
00:53:40
confident it's going to work and it's going to yeah yeah that's so such a scary mindset to
00:53:46
get into that because it sort of goes against everything that you you sort of instinctively think I
00:53:52
guess yeah I think um but it is just about saying that um it is and it isn't I'm trying to
00:54:02
think of an analogy but I don't have one popping into my mind um off the bat but
00:54:07
it really is like you're creating something you've got to invest in it today and people you know we did raise
00:54:12
money um and people invested in helping us kind of get that off the ground and build that into something and then um it
00:54:20
has allowed us to really build stuff that we wouldn't have like otherwise we'd just be waiting you know and um
00:54:27
whereas we we did you know create value and we do um that grows all the time you have in those early years you
00:54:35
have like massive moments of self-doubt or like that kept you awake at night or not
00:54:43
really I can't think of any there probably is probably is but I probably get more
00:54:49
nervous about like something like this or um like a public speaking thing then showing up and doing the job job cuz you
00:54:57
just do it you just do or you work with people amazing and and our obstacles you
00:55:02
just face them as they present themselves yeah so how many staff now how many staff at she has this um we've
00:55:08
got over 160 do you know most people's names yeah do you yeah do you yeah do you actually
00:55:15
yeah you don't have your own elevator to the top floor you got your own bathroom right
00:55:20
elevator's always broken actually so you do get lots of time together it wow um
00:55:26
yeah I suppose when it's your day to-day you don't sort of think about it but um
00:55:29
yeah do you have moments where where you walk in and you look around and you see
00:55:32
all the people and and think you know I've been responsible for creating jobs
00:55:36
for this many people and I've you know oh yeah definitely and I think that's
00:55:40
the thing like there's lots of like what I thought it would be like and I think
00:55:46
um maybe it's a it comes back to like that thing of going actually when you're
00:55:51
creating something with people you get a chance to create it how you want it to be and yes could be like you know what
00:55:58
did I think what I what did I think it would look like to walk into a you know like maybe like the like I don't know
00:56:05
why about the devil we PR you know like walking in like did I think that being a
00:56:08
boss would be like that you know and I'm like is it not like that briskly walking
00:56:12
in someone's reading your messages I don't know why um that popped into my
00:56:18
mind maybe it was a meme on my Instagram today or something but it's like actually you get to create no one tells
00:56:24
you what you know like if you like you just get a chance to really create it how you want it and I I would hope that
00:56:32
um like anyone would describe us as being like really accessible like I feel like we've got really good connections
00:56:38
across the business we are in the business we work on around the place we get involved with everyone like I don't
00:56:46
I don't think that's our style that type of leadership and um I think it's better
00:56:50
for shies like we have context to learn and context to share and like I learn a lot from
00:56:57
everyone that we work with um because they see things day to day that I'm just
00:57:02
not a part of and they have different expertise but at the same time like I might have context from where I've hung
00:57:07
out for that day that I can then come back in so um I think that yeah like it's like we do know everyone's names
00:57:17
because I think that's just the style yeah I'm shocking with names this would
00:57:21
be my worst nightmare being you like the scary thing for you like it's so many people and you know that
00:57:28
everyone there knows your name sometimes they don't some I think like if they're
00:57:33
new they do if they don't they're pretending they don't surely but there's
00:57:37
so much pressure for you to know their names as well otherwise you know you seem rude or whatever yeah um so how
00:57:44
does the how does the 3o thing work so there's three CEOs yeah yeah so how how
00:57:50
does how does that work in terms of like yeah how do you split the the you know you might each have different sort of
00:57:55
job descriptions or no um we it's less ordered or structured as people might
00:58:02
believe it is um and it's probably not a model that could work for everyone or
00:58:07
every business um but it is I think by the dynamic of how our business was formed and how it came together it's
00:58:13
like we've been working so closely together for so long now um and it was origin like Brooke was the original CEO
00:58:21
um and that was largely because at the time we needed to be raising capital and um that was largely her responsibility
00:58:29
it was um speaking to investors and raising capital for sheries and that Naturally Fit within the CEO role at
00:58:37
that time and then I think it was after she'd come back from having um babies uh that I think it was like
00:58:45
actually later I started you know we would run the business while she was on Parental leave and then um I was like
00:58:52
actually should we just formalize that it's the three of us that actually sharing the CEO role and how it works is
00:58:59
um we have different direct reports and they're not kind of um what's the word
00:59:05
it's like it's not like one of us you know we have specific um Industries or
00:59:10
you know what what am I trying to say it's like um like it's not like someone
00:59:14
has the legal team or the product team or the marketing team uh we tried to purposefully make it so it's not like
00:59:20
you end up owning owning an area of the business um it's like any one of us should be able to have anyone report to
00:59:29
us and it's not about our own like knowledge or stuff like that it's about
00:59:34
just us being able to share leadership across the business so um like at the moment I um don't have direct
00:59:40
reports um because I'm like focused on more project stuff or and I've just come
00:59:44
back from Australia I've spent some time over there building our you know business over there and
00:59:51
um but we we lots of our decisions are actually made by our leadership team so we really share lots of context we get
00:59:59
quite engaged to make sure like things are off on the right track and going well lots of it is like being a sounding
01:00:06
board for the people who are making the decision and at that point you don't
01:00:09
need us all to agree we don't all we don't all agree and that would be a
01:00:12
nightmare if we had to sit there and like try and agree and for anyone that knows us we like yes we're very similar
01:00:18
in lots of ways but we're like also very different and I think that's like
01:00:21
something to be celebrated um yeah so so how do you what happen is it like a majority thing or no like I think um
01:00:28
most of the time we're able to come to some kind of consensus if we really can't it's like a usually we sleep on it
01:00:34
if it's an irreversible decision or it's like if it needs to be made now it's
01:00:38
like he like the person who cares the most um and kind of default to that but lar like I can't think of many times
01:00:48
when it's ever come to like a stand still usually what happens is you come the next day being so convinced by the
01:00:55
person but they've also come back convinced so you're now on Switched sides you know
01:01:00
like a give and take and compromise yeah that's cool yeah I mean you guys are
01:01:06
disruptors like what you've done with the app and what your business is all about is disrupting and it's makes sense
01:01:12
that you've taken that disruption sort of thing into into the you the founder
01:01:16
model and now the CEO model it's like you're not following anyone else's path
01:01:21
and I think that's really powerful there's lots as well like when I hear
01:01:24
from people that they say like oh it's really lonely you know like I do think
01:01:27
um like that's not an emotion I felt in my experience with jersies you know you
01:01:34
want to be Lely it's in the name you know but like um I think we we've got
01:01:42
like so much respect for each other and I think that's and a real clear set of
01:01:47
values but yeah also very different like I I think um yeah we all bring something
01:01:53
different to the table which is lovely as well so you so you you own a percentage of the company mhm do you say
01:01:59
how much or no no so you own a percentage of the company so that's um you're you're a very wealthy woman um on
01:02:06
paper on paper yeah yeah 100% And then you get a salary as the the 3o yeah yeah how cool yeah that's so awesome it is I
01:02:17
think it's cool um like talking about that goldfish you know and like coming
01:02:21
from Le or things that I didn't know were possible um like I think just things
01:02:27
like you know getting exposed working at zero early on there and seeing what could be made like what companies could
01:02:34
be built from Wellington and like that was Global when I well it was going global when I started there and I mean
01:02:41
there's actually so much cool stuff that comes out of New Zealand and um sometimes it's just those things that
01:02:47
plant a seed of what's possible and then um yeah yeah I don't know if this is
01:02:55
something you think about about it I suspect it's probably not where did you
01:02:58
go to school did you go to Wu oroa horo so you like right now there could there could be some young girls sitting in
01:03:05
sitting in school um and you've sort of made her realize that even though you're
01:03:09
at a high school in Lin you know you you know you can do anything yeah yeah like it's it's it's
01:03:16
like yeah I mean when you were at school the most famous thing from L was probably RJ's lior Carlo sper Carlo sper
01:03:25
yeah yeah so it's like oh actually I turned on um the uh par Olympics last night and the woman that was on the the
01:03:34
one of the equestrians was um from Le and we went to school together um but there's good people there is good people
01:03:40
who and I are I'm pretty sure like Michelle aort I was speaking oh the comedian yeah I'm pretty sure she's from
01:03:47
Lin you know there's because I always I really try to B up Len when I'm speaking
01:03:52
somewhere cuz I think it gets such a bad rap um who from who's liveing a bad
01:03:57
R is that a joke no I don't think Lin's on anyone's radar like I think Hamilton gets a bad
01:04:07
rep lein no one's even thinking about lvin maybe you're just too sensitive to
01:04:12
live in well I like I care deeply about that place I think it's great yeah so do
01:04:18
I so it's I think you got to be exposed like I think um it's nice to be exposed
01:04:24
to to different things um see what's possible yeah for sure what's been the hardest day at work so
01:04:30
far has it been like a standout day oh you you know how people people like to you know it's a bit of a cliche and it's
01:04:37
it's not not true most of the time but people talk about Blood Sweat and Tears
01:04:41
yeah yeah have there been some days that have just felt impossibly difficult or yeah yeah definitely yeah yeah but I
01:04:48
like nothing no one particular one Springs to mind we've definitely had hard times like I mean the whole Co
01:04:55
situation and that was you know really hard and huge as an employer you know you kind of oh yeah you know that really
01:05:03
threw up so much about um making sure you're looking after people yeah like it
01:05:08
really did change the whole work environment all of a sudden you got people working from home and you're just
01:05:13
trying to support people but you're not all together you know like I did I thought at that time was really interest
01:05:19
there's been so many challenges and you just because you go like there's no
01:05:23
training for this you know that I think it's the the moments maybe that stick
01:05:27
out to me are like moments where you're like oh this is I have to make this there's no one out you know
01:05:35
other than our team and we do have a great great board as well that are like really handson and um involved in the
01:05:42
business so I guess I feel like we've got lots of support but I think um yeah
01:05:46
there's definitely hard moments and hard things but you um yeah you have to grow
01:05:52
up pretty quickly I'm guessing you've had to have some very difficult conversations and
01:05:56
um you know don't you know maybe let some people go that you didn't necessarily want to along the way and
01:06:01
things like that and um I'm very good at procrastinating big decisions like that
01:06:06
in my personal life I I can't imagine like you're doing things like this on a
01:06:09
daily basis yeah um you just get does it get easier you get better at it at having
01:06:16
tough conversations and making tough decisions I think it's maybe it's like
01:06:20
that um I feel like maybe it's a lateen quote that like that whole um clarity is
01:06:25
kindness as well so it's like if you know something you know I think you can
01:06:30
what I don't even think of a particular example in my head but I think it's like
01:06:33
just with anything um there can be this situation but there's always a human
01:06:38
across from you or like I think it's just like how you connect with that person or whatever that situation is
01:06:45
there's so many different situations that that can show up with but I think um there's like it it should always show
01:06:52
respect and the humanity of it you know should always come first yeah um so I think like I think
01:06:58
culturally I think we really lead in that way um yeah is it a good place to work yeah well we just we did just win
01:07:05
employer of the year at the um Wellington gold Awards last week um humble break humble break it own it
01:07:14
that's cool why why did you win um because of a lot of our U processes and and things and how how we operate our
01:07:21
team um so I think we've got an amazing like people experience team but also
01:07:26
everyone at sher's contributes to sh being a great place I think um it's
01:07:32
definitely like and I've worked some great places as well and I know you know
01:07:35
I'm really biased but I do think um we try really hard at the things that we
01:07:40
think really matter like um you know making it like being a good place flexible working helping people do
01:07:47
their best work um working on cool problems having the tools you need like just all the things that you
01:07:55
think yeah are they sort of like the key the key tenants of um shees you think we
01:08:00
do have values do you what are do you know what they are off the top of your head of course how many are there
01:08:04
there's three three are you yeah love threes um see um uh one is Chase remarkable and
01:08:15
that's about um you know setting the new Benchmark it's like and the word the
01:08:20
kind of we always say the the clu is in the word Chase it's not B remarkable
01:08:24
it's not some somewhere get or arrive to it's a constant thing you should always
01:08:28
feel like the bit is just that little bit Out Of Reach and um stretch that little bit further and that's um about
01:08:36
setting a new Benchmark for like our customers for the industry it's about we
01:08:41
used to um when we were smaller if we released a new product we used to count how many people positively remarked on
01:08:47
it um because you can take takes you now you you go through it's really easy to
01:08:51
send a gripe to somewhere and you're really motivated to send a gripe but to actually go out of your way to
01:08:57
send a really positive message like that's very true people just don't do
01:09:01
that until unless it's been really remarkable so I think that's something
01:09:04
to really um cherish the other one is in it together and um how we really show the value of the team and work together
01:09:11
and have each other's back and things like that and the other one is always care and that's about caring for each
01:09:17
other yourself and um your customers um but also like hearing about the details it's like showing care what you do um so
01:09:27
those are our three who came up with him was that a collaborative we all did actually the founders and then it's kind
01:09:32
of evolved over time um but they're still the same but that was when we decided what
01:09:38
kind of workplace we wanted to be a part of or be a part of creating um because we've got a really strong why and we've
01:09:44
got our what you know and then the how um so think that's some that can either
01:09:50
happen by accident or by Design it's funny it's really got to yeah going back
01:09:54
to the Netflix book that I was telling you about that I've just listened to so
01:09:57
the the um one of the two founders of Netflix you know he talked about um your culture at Netflix and he said it's easy
01:10:04
to have like posters on the wall or slogans on the wall but it's really got to come from the behavior of um of the
01:10:09
management and go down so I suppose if the sex of you are coming up with those three rules and you're living by them
01:10:14
and following them um then the staff just hopefully follow take the Le and like push it you know and you that's the
01:10:23
thing that um everyone bring something to sheries and um I think that's where
01:10:29
values are important because they kind of solidify you and what you what what um what you're trying to achieve and
01:10:37
then people do really rally around those and for you personally Career Success and Financial Security has it
01:10:44
changed you or and if so how is it must have given you more confidence like yeah I think um if I
01:10:53
talk like maybe always thought and put myself in like an underdog I think it was like coming from Le you
01:10:59
know like I always felt like I didn't quite belong in places or always felt like
01:11:05
um yeah like Underdog was probably a word you know that I used um and now like I think it's I still carried that
01:11:14
feeling for a while but now as you say it's like um that was an important thing
01:11:20
to recognize that it is so different it's like you're actually different now
01:11:23
and I still kind of struggle connecting with that identity um but I still very very much like think I'm the same person
01:11:32
but just like different choices that I'm able to make and um I mean you grow up a
01:11:37
lot in those years don't you like um and I yeah learn stuff from everyone around me every day what what about
01:11:45
people around you do you think it's changed have you noticed a change in people around
01:11:49
you not not a whole lot no we love to laugh we love to work hard and have an impact yeah yeah and I think
01:11:59
um you we go away together once a year the the group and um partners and stuff as well like Shar his private
01:12:07
jet not at all um and those always just really lowkey H you know they they still
01:12:12
the same hang you know like um we just love spending time together and um or think it's important to as well like
01:12:20
once a year our families and stuff get together and stay connected to what we're creating and um no I don't think
01:12:29
it like it probably has yeah yeah I suppose you don't even notice that um um do you know that you know the
01:12:40
actor Tiffany hadish yeah yeah so I I heard her on a podcast and she was talking about um she's talking about
01:12:46
money and after she got her first big movie role um one of her old friends came to and said oh can I borrow some
01:12:50
money and and Tiffany was was thinking it was going to be 50 bucks or 100 bucks like they've always loaned each other
01:12:55
and her friend was like 12,000 and so Tiffany was stunned and she loaned her the money and she said
01:13:01
since then she's had a a thing with friends and if they ask you for money she's like okay I will lend you the
01:13:08
money but I will say once I lend you the money our friendship's never going to be
01:13:12
the same again and you have until my next birthday to pay me back and if that doesn't happen then we just can't be
01:13:17
friends anymore so I just think like um I suppose I'm going where I'm going with
01:13:21
that is you with Financial Security it does sometimes change the people people around you and I don't know if it's like
01:13:26
a a tall poppy thing or an attitudinal thing I just wondered like if you've noticed that at all yeah no I haven't
01:13:33
and I mean I'm someone who like keeps a pretty tight circle like I don't um
01:13:38
mostly spend my time with like my family and um so if you go still like still like really close to my siblings we hang
01:13:45
out a lot um but if you all go to our mes for dinner and drinks um do do your brothers and sister all like sit there
01:13:54
at the end and I think like there's moments that I um no I don't think it's played into it
01:14:01
like I don't think we've really talked about it um but yeah it's like it's in a company you
01:14:08
know it's not um yeah in my bank account you know so how old she is is now seven
01:14:14
years seven seven years okay seven years from now um where do you see yourself professionally and personally yeah seven
01:14:21
years from now definitely um that we still um creating Financial Empowerment um with
01:14:31
chers would like love to see sh's continuing to grow and develop um what it needs to to like really
01:14:39
create that financial empowerment for people like we do think it's the place
01:14:43
that you come to really grow wealth and that we help people realize that and um you know we've developed these other
01:14:49
products and it's just about like how do you integrate that more into people's
01:14:52
lives um and with the people in their Liv Liv so still think there's so much
01:14:57
change that needs to happen in um the financial services space but see so C is being really big um and solving more of
01:15:06
those problems for people um continuing to grow into Australia um and then you know we have
01:15:13
this thing that if we're still you know s years is a long time away um and if
01:15:18
I'm still useful to sheres and and I'm still enjoying it then I could be there
01:15:23
I don't have any desire to like leave it at this point but again like business has changed so
01:15:28
much and just might not be a fit at some point so I'm like open to that too you're still very young eh um I I had um
01:15:36
Anna Mo on the podcast a few weeks ago so she and she she sort of talked about um zuru as being um a mountain that she
01:15:43
climbed and she wants to climb more Mountains that's the analogy she uses for you it's just she as is right now
01:15:50
yeah I think there's definitely like other things yeah what is it um there was definitely a point where I
01:15:57
felt like it was a big part of my identity and um I think that was healthy to remove myself and try to
01:16:05
um you know separate that a bit and see you know develop who you are in the world and outside of always being
01:16:15
um like tied up into one thing cuz it's all of our thing and it's also lots of
01:16:20
other people's thing now too and um I heard someone um describe writing the highs and lows like
01:16:27
if you connect yourself so C so tightly to something that you will then feel those highs and lows but you don't
01:16:33
always have control over those so um yeah what is that I love making cool stuff that has an impact with cool
01:16:42
people you know I like that like that just guides if I think like that's I'm
01:16:48
not actually you know I'm complicated as we all are but like you know if I sum it
01:16:53
up like what do I love and what do I get a kick out of like professionally it's
01:16:56
that and those are the ingredients and so if those are there then those are there and then um personally I love to
01:17:02
laugh and I have like a I notice that every day I'm not laughing enough today you do you you do have a I've
01:17:12
listened to just about every podcast you've been on in anticipation for this
01:17:15
you do have a real easy laugh a real easy laugh um and it's it's really cool
01:17:20
yeah it's been quite of serious today I think that's good though it's been
01:17:24
really interesting to pick your brains yeah has it been too serious have we been too serious it's been quite serious
01:17:30
I thought we want more laughes um um I thought you might have asked me about running oh we we were going to go for a
01:17:41
run um where was it last weekend last weekend but some something came up yeah you're back running again yes well I've
01:17:47
never really run and I think this is um you know being here today or like being asked to come on it's huge because I
01:17:55
have followed the podcast you know long time listener first time caller um but have listened to the podcast from the
01:18:03
earliest day like I remember listening to the hype episode which was like a minute long where you were just like
01:18:08
hyping what the podcast was going to be about God how do you have time like the last three three years I've been doing
01:18:14
this podcast like you've been running this big business you you know um dealt
01:18:18
with you fertility stuff you've had a baby how do you have time to listen to
01:18:22
like junky podcasts like this it's not junky it's amazing and I did think um it was a
01:18:28
real Catalyst for like helping me like start running cuz I've never been a runner like I'll give it a spt like I'll
01:18:35
give like maybe two or three months and then I fall off the weon um but there was this whole thing about cuz it was
01:18:40
called Runners only and it and I was just like look I'm going to put this on
01:18:45
and go for a run every time it's on and um I did and then I got so into it and I
01:18:51
think like what happened is like because I was listening to this thing that was about Runners and for runners I like
01:18:57
took that identity whereas like before I never really I I thought I had to like a
01:19:03
runner was a thing that you were and it was like well I'm not that yet and I
01:19:08
never kind of put in the work to get it but um I think you've even shared the
01:19:11
line like if you run you're a runner or absolutely yeah yeah yeah I I hate that
01:19:16
people say oh I'm not a I'm not I'm not a runner like you or I'm not this it's
01:19:20
not about speed it's not about distance it's not about anything yeah and um so I
01:19:25
like kept at it largely because I just felt like I was in this community of Runners but really it was just like
01:19:30
listening to your podcast and then listening to people talk about running and I got way more into running and um
01:19:36
you know the podcast has changed so much now but it's like it's so unique and
01:19:40
that um the stories that you tell of people and um you know I I like it feels like a real honor to be here because I
01:19:47
know the people you interview I know the stories that you tell you know it's like
01:19:51
it's really special and I think um like one you know like I think I say like I try really hard or I'm a bit of a
01:19:59
try hard I Tred to like reclaim that word yeah it's a bad R it does get a bad
01:20:05
R cuz I had to give a talk back in Liv and I was like really nervous about it and I was like why are you nervous and I
01:20:10
was like it's because I think someone's going to stand up and say oh you're try
01:20:13
hard and then I was like you know cuz you play your fears out and um I was like Hey that wouldn't even be that bad
01:20:19
it's like what does that even mean like you try hard it's like I actually love
01:20:22
that yeah it's a good thing and um I think in a space like the people you profile and the way that you profile
01:20:28
them I think um it's it's celebrating a success in a way that was celebrating
01:20:34
life and stories of new zealanders in a really proud way I think that's really
01:20:38
special well I'm I'm so proud of you not not not just because we're family but
01:20:42
yeah I mean you're just a great New Zealander and you've done um you've done
01:20:45
really well um yeah yeah part part of the aspect of your story that I love is the fact that you're from you know this
01:20:51
this small shitty little town in New Zealand and you've done this amazing thing
01:20:55
um it's great L's actually great do you want to be do you want to get into politics and be like the Horan
01:21:03
or like r or something or the mirr is that what you're angling for posters like like um I don't know it's a like
01:21:12
it's just a really I think places yeah it's just nice to feel positive about what you from oh know I
01:21:19
feel I feel yeah I was born on L and we we moved to Hastings and then to paly North but um um yeah I've got a massive
01:21:28
connection to living like um at n and Grandad's place you know your dad's
01:21:32
parents and my mom's parents um we had Christmas day there and I used to get so
01:21:36
excited about it because they'd be like God I don't know maybe 50 cousins
01:21:40
running around like it was just a massive event it was so cool it's true yeah so cool um yeah oh back to yeah
01:21:47
back to the running thing like the one big thing that I get out of it and um I say this to other people like just the
01:21:54
the mental Clarity and the mental health benefits um is that a big thing for you
01:21:58
totally yeah and I think um it's it's a real mood changer in so many ways and I think it's like
01:22:06
something like this is the longest stunt I've ever stuck with running and um I
01:22:10
reckon it's like a huge part to do with the podcast because it like taught me to
01:22:14
make it social or it made me made me realize like connecting in with something was what like claiming the
01:22:20
identity and we do that like with shares users as well it's like if you invest
01:22:24
you're an investor you know like claim it like that's all part of what helps
01:22:29
stick you inide you know keep you at it cuz this beginning of anything is always
01:22:33
really hard and like running um it doesn't actually get easier I've now learned it doesn't no but you you know
01:22:42
you you just adapt and you have an ability to do more yeah but it's always like challenging in some way and like
01:22:48
you might feel different and like things that might have like it's always a a
01:22:53
challenge and I think there's something nice about um yeah I think it's just so
01:22:58
great you get to get out see different things now it's like a social thing for
01:23:01
me I get to catch up with people um and yeah like I reached out to you and your mom cuz it was like and in ockland know
01:23:08
you guys are runnner you know it's like a nice way to connect with people and go
01:23:13
yeah actually yeah it's really social and you yeah you don't have to um yeah
01:23:17
you can you can go slowly so it's a conversational pace and turn it into a social thing yeah do you when you go oh
01:23:22
hey by the way it's worth pointing out um we just heed up this Podcast chat through DMs on Instagram you didn't make
01:23:28
me go have you got a PA or an assistant I do have some help w i I didn't have to
01:23:34
go through your assistant or anything if I was you I would have like put me onto
01:23:36
the assistant that would have been a flex you're so humble um well we're a family and
01:23:46
um but what a power play um and as I say like I'm like genuinely love the podcast
01:23:53
so I think like it feels really cool to be here and um yeah I think oh the running thing one other thing I'll say
01:24:00
about it is it's like so much of life is hard and you don't choose it to be hard
01:24:04
like unexpectedly hard stuff just pops up all the time and then it's kind of
01:24:07
nice like what I find with running is cuz it CU I do find it hard it's like it's nice to choose to do something
01:24:13
that's hard and then you get used to dealing with hard things so then when they pop up randomly you're actually
01:24:19
more equipped to deal with it 100% 100% yeah there's a slogan I really like it
01:24:24
says um it goes something like hard hard Choice Easy Life Easy Choice hard life um yeah and running definitely fits into
01:24:31
that category I've got a couple of um I was going to say like um sort of easy
01:24:35
questions to finish with but maybe they not be they may not be easy um are you proud of
01:24:42
yourself y y yeah yeah you should be I like asking that one because um yeah a lot of people find it a real challenge
01:24:50
new zealanders I think in particular find it like a difficult question to answer because it almost seems like um
01:24:55
it comes with a bit of I don't know like stigma or embarrassment to say you're
01:24:59
proud of yourself yeah I do think like because as I said I've just like come
01:25:02
back from Australia and one thing I did notice while I was over there is like that kiwis do have some real baggage
01:25:08
associated with success or something good happening to you like I think we have a real strong like the success we
01:25:14
really celebrate or the good things we really celebrate is where we see that someone's put in lots of work or um we
01:25:21
really love those ones but it's like if some if something happens to someone and
01:25:25
it's just like an easy one we don't tend to celebrate that as much whereas it's
01:25:30
like it's the same you know like I don't know why it's like I think we really
01:25:34
glamorize the um the hard path to being happy or being successful being all those things and um
01:25:44
so I do like there is a complex relationship there but I think at the end of the day do I act in a way and
01:25:49
show up for the people in my life how I want to yeah I try really hard to do that and I'm really proud of it have you
01:25:55
encountered um much in the way of like tall poppy syndrome um I don't know not really I think in
01:26:04
little ways probably like but not a an event that sticks out maybe more myself or or
01:26:12
something like that yeah what what would you say your best and worst habits are if Ben was here what would he say
01:26:21
just in worst habits um um best and worst best is that I do laugh a lot and I like to laugh and I
01:26:31
can habit of laughing is good um laugh it is it is great and it makes the person you're talking to it makes them
01:26:37
feel great and it's good laughing is powerful I like to um I just get a kick out of it
01:26:44
yeah so I like think that's a habit I try to um keep it uh worst habits I don't know Ben would probably say heaps
01:26:52
of stuff what what would he say like are you like are you too hard on yourself at times uh
01:27:00
yeah yeah y probably okay well that's a bad habit isn't it that's true well I
01:27:06
don't know I suppose it's a I suppose it's like a double-edged sword in a way
01:27:10
isn't it yeah yeah but what and what about your in a voice is your in a voice
01:27:14
quite nice no I'd say it's ways negative um quite [ __ ] the amount of people I've
01:27:19
had on the podcast that say that like real high performance people like michaa blide from the sevens
01:27:27
um yeah but but you catch yourself when you're not being kind to yourself and
01:27:31
you got to re redirecting it yeah yeah try to yeah but it's like like I think
01:27:37
like anything it's a constant work on and I think like um and I think it is for everyone I really do yeah yeah what
01:27:47
about um mistakes or regrets nothing Springs to mind that's great yeah I tend to have a no regrets
01:27:55
policy I like like um yeah it's just like a um I think like it always regrets you
01:28:04
always it always feels shitty to do something that feels like it clashes with your values or something so now if
01:28:10
I'm ever on the fence about something I'm like what are you what would you do
01:28:13
you know cuz you can get caught up in the shs or the this and the that and you're like actually what would make me
01:28:18
feel really proud to look at myself in the eyes at the end of the day and I tend to just make those decisions more
01:28:23
often yeah do do you have any like um like pillars when it comes to values or is it just be a good person I think
01:28:30
Integrity like doing your actions and your behavior you know what you say and your behaviors should try and match up
01:28:35
as much as possible and um and then I think fun is a real value and try to like look for
01:28:44
the the good or the Joy or the light-heartedness um and then yeah like working with others teamwork being a
01:28:52
good person for with in other people you know with other people um what else oh like trying hard you you can't really um
01:29:03
either pick the outcome or you're not always in control of that but I think like I like to when I show up try to
01:29:12
give it my all like I I feel like I do really try hard you know yeah I I I say to people like if if you if you try hard
01:29:21
like if you legitimately try your hardest at anything you you may not always win or be the best but you will
01:29:26
be surprised at how far it takes you yeah you will be like really surprised do you think they um they really good
01:29:31
values to set um were you guys you were you religious we're a very religious
01:29:36
family were you very religious family we weren't raised relig did you not go to
01:29:40
church every Sunday no um no we didn't yeah but did you yeah yeah until I was
01:29:47
old enough to make my own decisions um but I like I look back now and it's um you I I describe myself as a
01:29:54
is now but the um like the Catholic values for the most part they're pretty good sort of values or cornerstones to
01:29:59
have um but I think you can have those without being necessarily Affiliated to a certain religion yeah yeah I think um
01:30:07
what did I I read um where I listened to a podcast it was a guy talking about happiness it was on like one of Oprah's
01:30:13
ones um I think she's written a book with him or something and it was like what makes people what are the keys to
01:30:18
happiness um always love reading something like that who it like J sh or um but one of the ones one of them was
01:30:27
like about being around things that make you feel small like and that's where
01:30:31
like say religion or for some people it's n like for me it's like nature or
01:30:35
being part of something that's bigger than you um and helping yourself like see that and I think that edit is really
01:30:42
important like it doesn't that's not religion for me but personally but um
01:30:48
that's like I like being in awe of something or feeling part of something bigger I think that's a really like
01:30:54
something that just grounds you a bit more yeah absolutely what's last one what would your definition of success
01:31:04
be I think having a positive impact and that can be like in the small or in the big
01:31:12
like I'm I am aware like through shies we have been able to impact people in a
01:31:17
really big way to really like and if we keep ated and keep doing more around that like that can be
01:31:24
something that could change people intergenerationally you know like changing the way people feel about money
01:31:31
people feel about wealth the choices they can make that's huge and um and if
01:31:38
that's I get to do that through this channel like that's amazing and that's
01:31:41
really cool that would be successful for me um but at the same time it can be in
01:31:47
the small things like I as I said like just want to be a good sort to the people in my life to show up for my
01:31:54
friends for my family to try really hard and what I do I think it's can also be
01:31:59
the success and the act of it not just the outcome of it I think on your Lissa Carrington one um podcast she talked
01:32:06
about it needs to be about more than the middle and I do think I think you got to
01:32:12
like well for me personally I need to decouple my personal success from an outcome although I am like people that
01:32:19
know me really I'm really competitive I'm really like like I'm all those
01:32:24
things I know at the same time to be fair like you you you don't like create
01:32:29
what you've been a part of creating and have the success you've had without
01:32:33
being competitive and driven and hardworking and all those things you just it just doesn't happen yeah yeah
01:32:38
and like my mom you know she has been a huge influence on my life and she um you
01:32:44
know really taught me about like growth mind she coached me like from such a young age it was always like can't do
01:32:51
what's made to do you know like she's played a huge role in um you know helping me the way I you know like so I
01:32:59
think that's also part of it it's like um it's just also recognizing yourself
01:33:04
like the bits of other people in you and like that is I think that's really nice
01:33:10
yeah I I actually heard you say that in another podcast um talking about Auntie Jenning um saying um you thought it was
01:33:16
her quate but it was a Henry Ford one if you think you can or you think you can't
01:33:20
you're probably right um but that's I suppose she was your but she was my
01:33:24
auntie so I never I never experienced the you the quotes lady growing up she was just the most um yeah kind and and
01:33:31
lovely Auntie you could ever hope to have and she like coached all all my sport you know all right through and
01:33:37
like now I F think like that's the voice and even just like the voice of where
01:33:41
your brain goes it's like um I realize now like it's so powerful to go like if
01:33:46
you're in a hard situation it's not that you're not going to get out of it it's
01:33:49
just that um you haven't found the right path yet out and I think that's a
01:33:53
different you know it's like it's nice to know and I Reon like she just taught
01:33:56
me so much of that out of like um I'm so grateful for that and I um I think it's
01:34:04
you know hugely shaping I'm just going like there's a way through here or um
01:34:11
yeah God they must be so proud I'm I I'm I'm so proud I think the last time I saw you was probably at um
01:34:18
ad and Anna's Funeral that was pre- shies um yeah that's annoying that yeah
01:34:24
that you people like Nana who she was a huge influence in our lives she never got to see any of this yeah I think
01:34:33
um I mean for family like family and like coming from such a big family it's like
01:34:40
there's a real Legacy in that though way like I do think um it's not always like
01:34:44
there's a I'm a big fan of the musical Hamilton and um love not the town not I
01:34:50
do love the town too love rip rip all the towns a handful have you been to the Hamilton Gardens yeah wonderful the big
01:34:58
giant door what is Ambassador for towns that get a really bad R um to Sonia's
01:35:06
coming for you um but um there's this nice line that um Legacy is planting seeds in a garden you won't get to see
01:35:15
and I think of that I think that's quite you just that's what that question
01:35:18
triggered to me it's like it's not often um you don't always have to be around to
01:35:23
experience it but it's like your legacy is felt and all the things that you create while you're
01:35:28
here jeez you're wise aren't you so wise well that was from Hamilton the
01:35:36
musical s that wasn't me okay you're not claiming it like your mom with the Henry
01:35:42
is it you know yeah um I didn't like I think I like to seek edit you know like I listen to the
01:35:50
podcast I listen to lots of you know I think I like to like soak up as much wisdom from others as well yeah hey well
01:35:57
thanks for coming on the podcast today yeah thanks for having me it's it's
01:36:00
really really cool to reconnect bloody um yeah before we finish is there anything that anything that we haven't
01:36:06
touched upon that you wanted to touch upon did we miss anything I mean I feel like we've gone around the place yeah
01:36:16
nothing nothing Springs to there's always a p to there's always a p to Sonia Williams um co-found of
01:36:24
sheries and 3o of sheries and my cousin thank you so much for coming on the podcast yeah thanks for having me