“Giving anaesthetic in a muddy cave kilometres underground and under water? I never thought that was a good idea.” Experienced cave diver and doctor Dr Richard ‘Harry’ Harris is no stranger to extreme dives in pitch-black, cramped conditions. But when a call came for him to assist retrieving 12 teens and their coach from treacherous conditions inside a cave in Thailand during monsoonal rains? Well, he thought the boys had no hope of being pulled out alive. This incredible recovery mission taught...
Nov 20, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Jack Manning Bancroft was 17 when he walked into Australia’s most prestigious college at Sydney University. Think sandstone buildings, young men wearing suits and gowns to the dining hall each evening. Jack, a talented athlete and student and a Bundjalung man, had been awarded a scholarship to St Paul’s College. The level of privilege he was surrounded by made him angry, but it wasn’t long before he channeled that into establishing the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) , an award...
Oct 09, 2023•37 min•Season 4Ep. 8
“We bought computers that had never been connected to the internet. Phones were taken out of the room and I unplugged everything, including televisions and fridges. At one point the cabinet secretary pointed out through my window to a block of flats across the water and said, ‘You realise the Chinese will be in there and they’ll have a laser on that tumbler of water, and they’ll have turned it into a microphone. They can listen to what we’re saying now’. So the curtains came down immediately. At...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 7
“I love that moment on the blocks. It’s the most high pressure moment. You can feel your heart beating. Your palms are all sweaty. Often when I’m going down onto the block and they say ‘take your marks’ my hands and legs are shaking. It’s a place of great failure and great success. They’re both possible in that very same moment”. Bronte Campbell could be the second best 100-metre sprint swimmer on the entire planet, and still not be the fastest in her family. That’s the reality of growing up alo...
Aug 28, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Graeme Wood knew his planet was in danger even as a little kid. No one had to tell him: he could tell by how rapidly his fishing hauls on Moreton Bay were diminishing each year. But what was a bored kid in Brisbane going to do about it? Come 2014, entrepreneur Graeme Wood sells Wotif, his internet travel booking platform, and for the first time he has the potential to enact enormous change. So why does this devoted conservationist then go out and buy one of the world’s largest wood chipping mill...
Jul 31, 2023•39 min•Season 4Ep. 5
“It's nothing short of an Australian small business fairy tale that's about to unfurl.” Poppy King was barely out of high school when she launched her first company in 1991, quickly gaining a cult-like following for her dreamy 1940s Hollywood-inspired matte lipsticks. By 1995 she was Young Australian of the Year, but not long later the company fell apart amid investor disputes. The young entrepreneur moved to New York to work for the famed Lauder cosmetics brand. “My office was on the 39th floor...
Jul 03, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 4
“When my friends were all going out and still doing Contiki tours, I was navigating a divorce.” Growing up in a traditional Fijian-Indian family, Shivani Gopal was given the message that women should be nice, they should serve others, that a woman’s value came from kindness and doing the right thing by others. So when Shivani fell in love as a teenager and her family arranged for her to be married, she tried to be the perfect wife who gave up her hopes and desires for others. “I really did try t...
May 29, 2023•51 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Best-selling author and journalist Trent Dalton appreciates things most people wouldn’t give a second glance. Growing up, Trent had no choice but to see the best in people, because if there wasn’t some light in those he loved, the world would be too dark a place to bear. When he sat down to transform that story into his best-selling debut novel Boy Swallows Universe, little did he know his experience would be adapted for the stage and then for Netflix. But it was the unexpected death of a treasu...
May 01, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 2
The thin timber floorboards and sticky carpet were a thin shield from the noise at the pub downstairs. But a 17-year-old Dee Madigan was trying to drown it all out as she studied for her final high school exams. The room above a bar hardly qualified as optimum living quarters but moving back to the city on her own to get a good education was Dee’s best shot at getting into university. After years of ups and downs in her parents’ businesses, things had taken a turn for the worse, and Dee was dete...
Apr 03, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 1
One day you can be striding into work in a suit worth thousands of dollars, and the next you can be at home in your pyjamas struggling to connect your laptop to the wifi in time for a job interview well below your pay grade. Tragedy, failure, loss – they’re all part of life’s ups and downs. Life happens to all of us, no matter how much success you’ve achieved, how fancy your job title is, or how much money you earn. But when the dust settles, it's these moments that make you. What you do when it...
Mar 28, 2023•4 min
Ever wondered how much you could grow your business, if only you could amplify your message? Now that 40% of Australians regularly listen to podcasts, it’s a great way to communicate to your clients and customers. Let Deadset Studios help you make a show! We’re a full-service production company and our team’s made many of the country’s most popular podcasts like: Australia’s most downloaded podcast Conversations Winner of New York Festivals bronze award Journo Webby award-winning Ladies we need ...
Mar 22, 2023•1 min•Season 3Ep. 11
“She helped me completely dismantle a media personality I constructed and wasn’t happy with. It was a media personality I constructed to be a television presenter. To be sort of charming, maybe trying to be funny, trying to be a smartass here and there. But it was a struggle because it wasn’t who I really am.” Richard Fidler’s had more careers than most. He’s best-known as a host of the ABC’s most popular radio show and podcast Conversations . But he came to radio via a career as a TV presenter,...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Legacy can be a bit of a loaded term when it comes to family businesses. If you’re taking over at the helm, how do you honour the legacy of those who came before you? Do you keep things as they were, or should you shake things up? Buckaroo Belts owner Tanya Van Der Water asked herself exactly these questions when her father fell ill in 2013. Unexpectedly, she was thrust into the CEO role in his place. Once upon a time, she wasn’t even interested in joining his leather-working company, let alone ...
Nov 28, 2022•42 min•Season 3Ep. 9
There’s sweat flying everywhere at the Alice Springs YMCA as a young instructor cheers the class through their workout. Michelle Bridges is learning how to bring the heat, honing her craft as the motivator-in-chief for people looking to turn their lives around. Michelle had been teaching fitness classes and entering bodybuilding competitions while she was living in the desert with her then boyfriend. She was building a small yet loyal following - but she was a big fish in a small pond, the city ...
Nov 21, 2022•43 min•Season 3Ep. 8
The sun’s setting in the Sydney suburbs, but a young Brandon Jack’s still running his science experiment. Or rather, he’s still pretending to run his science experiment. In reality, he’s just kicking an Aussie Rules football around. But when you’re the son of an NRL legend, you have to come up with a good cover story to even go near other football codes. Brandon’s talent for side-stepping the truth about football continued into adulthood. Rather than speaking openly about his fears and doubts as...
Nov 14, 2022•40 min•Season 3Ep. 7
We get it! It’s scary being your real self out there. Being vulnerable. Laying it all on the line when you’re feeling uncertain, not quite sure if you’ve got it right. We’ve noticed so many Curveball guests have had a moment where they could choose to be the all-knowing tough guy/gal, but instead decide to let their guard down. It might be emotionally risky, but how can you make vulnerability work for you in relationships, on a project, or even in the workplace? Oh, and Kellie and Curveball prod...
Nov 07, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Once upon a time, a young Kirstin Ferguson wanted to be Australia’s first female Prime Minister. And she figured the free university education and rigorous leadership training of the military would make a good first step. But – surprise! - the Royal Australian Air Force Academy of the 1990s wasn’t the most welcoming environment for an ambitious young woman. Kirstin had to adjust her behaviour in ways that would affect everything she did for the next few decades. After a stint in a law firm, and ...
Oct 31, 2022•43 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Think back to the toughest challenges you've ever faced - the longest grind, the lowest low... What would you do if, almost as soon as it ended, you were told you had to do it all again? For Kath Koschel, former New South Wales cricketer, this question isn’t hypothetical. She’d already faced loss of her fiancé and was overwhelmed with grief. And after months of rehab following a debilitating back injury, she wanted to get back on the pitch, but couldn’t. She still wasn’t able to lift her toes, w...
Oct 24, 2022•53 min•Season 3Ep. 4
As Kath Koschel steps behind the crease, she grips her bat just a little tighter than usual: she’s pushing through an annoying but minor back injury. The next thing she sees is the sky. She’s laying flat on her back. She can’t feel her legs. Turns out that back injury wasn’t so innocuous, and Kath’s on her way to the hospital. She doesn’t know it yet, but it’s not going to be her last operation, and it’s certainly not going to be the last curveball she faces. How does Kath, an athlete and cricke...
Oct 24, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 4
“We’re building it for the people comfortable doing mobile banking, who are living on the edge of the future,” says fin-tech entrepreneur Dom Pym. “All the things we do with Up are different than other banks. Because when you’re carrying your phone in your pocket, doing everything with your finger on your phone, or with your face or your voice, that user experience becomes so much more important than a web browser with a mouse and a keyboard. It just changed the whole game.” Some people spend th...
Oct 17, 2022•53 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Athlete Jana Pittman has spent her life clearing obstacles that arise out of nowhere. Chasing down Olympics gold on the 400-metre hurdles track since she was a teenager, she’s overcome injury after injury, hounded by the media along the way. All for that spot on the top podium to evade her. That kind of determination isn’t uncommon among professional athletes in the heat of competition. But where does that energy go when the race is over? For Jana, it went into pursuing her childhood dream of be...
Oct 10, 2022•50 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Were we tempting fate hosting a show called Curveball ? Because it feels a little like the universe wants us to have more first-hand experience of adversity. As 2022 began, host Kellie Riordan was champing at the bit to bring you some amazing new guests with stories of resilience. Then the Australian floods in February ruined the Curveball studio (and most of Kellie’s house!). So Kellie and her family had to pack up their lives and move out. We’d just got a temporary “studio” set up at Kellie’s ...
Oct 02, 2022•7 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Gaven Morris has put his doubts aside and stepped into a leadership role at the ABC, but his trials are far from over. While he’s trying to un-learn everything he was taught as a journalist in order to become a more open-minded, proactive leader, life starts to unravel around him. Family illnesses and a workplace tragedy that kills several of his colleagues shatter the foundations of Gaven’s work life. And looming large at all times is the rapidly changing media landscape. How do you define the ...
Nov 22, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Gaven Morris is the man behind most of the news you consume on a daily basis. As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Director of News, Gaven’s led many of the country’s top reporters and best-loved programs. But now he’s stepping away from this leadership role, and reflecting on his time in one of the most rapidly changing industries. Journalism isn’t the most logical path to leadership. When he was deciding whether or not to take a leadership role at the ABC, Gaven realised he was in a pr...
Nov 22, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 12
The crowd is spilling out of a Bob Geldof event, but one wily ex-reporter has tapped into her performing arts know-how to get backstage. Armed with nothing but a business card and a tiny handwritten message, she’s trying to get her name to rockstar Bono and his new venture, PRODUCT (RED). It might sound ludicrous. And it kind of was. Greta Thomas was a marketing professional in Sydney, Australia. She had no connection to U2’s frontman Bono and she didn’t know anyone working on his PRODUCT (RED) ...
Nov 15, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 11
When the ‘why’ is missing, often so is our motivation. Something I’ve noticed about people who bounce back from adversity, is they tend to have a strong sense of purpose – and if they don’t have one when that curveball hits, it sure prompts them to find it! Take Who Give a Crap founder Simon Griffiths – when his body gave out and exhaustion hit, his passion to make others’ lives better literally helped him get out of bed. Or Meggie Palmer – she lived through an unfair situation in her own work l...
Nov 01, 2021•14 min
“Education can change your life in a generation.” When RMIT University announced its newest Chancellor would be Richmond Football Club President Peggy O’Neal, those words from her mother might just have been on Peggy’s mind. From the tiny coal-mining town she grew up in, Peggy became the first member of her family to graduate university. Then the first woman hired by an establishment law firm. And then the first female president of the Richmond Tigers AFL club. Now Peggy will take her formidable...
Oct 25, 2021•11 min
“The more you fail, the easier it gets. People get scared of failing. I know this is something that anyone entrepreneurial will say, but every time you lose all your money, it becomes easier. Because you know you can pick yourself up.” Declan Lee never chooses the easy path. These days he’s one of four owners of the famous Messina gelato chain, but he's had to pick himself up a few times already. As a music promoter, Declan once felt the full thrust of losing all his money when he booked what se...
Oct 18, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 10
When Kate Vale was appointed Google Australia’s first employee, she didn’t have an office or a mobile phone. She found herself answering her home landline to do business! From humble beginnings she used her HR background to quickly build a team, and grew Google Australia to record revenues and eventually to IPO. Ever the digital pioneer since her days managing a dot com company before the crash, Kate Vale then headed up Spotify in Australia. Eventually she moved to California, the epicentre of s...
Oct 11, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Remember when Michael Fox first joined us on Curveball ? He’d clawed his way back from a bruising collapse of his first start-up Shoes of Prey to build a new company. Fable Foods creates a meat-alternative from shiitake mushrooms and Michael and his co-founders had convinced celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to be part of their journey. But Covid had hit and Michael wasn’t sure his newly-established food manufacturing plant would survive the pandemic. Michael Fox is the ultimate optimist and sinc...
Oct 04, 2021•23 min
