In this episode, I’m joined by Jessica Smalley — producer, storyteller and comedic strategist behind Two Doting Dads , a weekly parenting podcast hosted by Matty J and Ash that’s reshaping the way men talk about fatherhood. After producing business deep-dives for Mark Bouris, Jess pivoted to the parenting aisle — bringing her systems brain, strategic storytelling and creative intuition to a show that’s part chaos, part catharsis, and entirely relatable. With a growing audience of mostly 29–35 ye...
Jul 01, 2025•51 min•Ep. 108
In this episode, I’m joined by Jo Abi, senior writer at 9Honey and one of the most refreshingly honest and compassionate voices in Australian media. With a background in radio, over a decade in digital journalism, and a side-hustle writing from the trenches of parenting three neurodivergent kids, Jo has a deep understanding of what makes a story resonate. At 9Honey, Jo writes across consumer, lifestyle, and real-life content — often drawing on her own lived experience and relentless curiosity (y...
Jun 28, 2025•34 min•Ep. 107
In this episode of Hack Your Own PR, we’re joined by Melissa Reader, CEO of Violet, whose journey from profound personal loss to leading social change is nothing short of inspiring. Through Violet, Melissa is helping us all navigate life’s final chapters with grace, humanity, and proactive planning. Over the past year, Melissa’s voice has been everywhere, from AFR, The Australian and ABC to SmartCompany, Mamamia, and Women’s Agenda. Her work is not just about practical end-of-life planning but a...
Mar 30, 2025•44 min•Ep. 106
In this episode of Hack Your Own PR, host Odette Barry sits down with Calum Jaspan, media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, to explore the evolving media landscape, journalism's challenges, and the art of pitching stories that stand out. Calum shares his career journey from Mumbrella to his current role, offering insights into the Australian media industry and what it takes to navigate a dynamic newsroom. He reflects on his experiences covering everything from the ABC and News Co...
Mar 23, 2025•45 min•Ep. 105
In this episode of Hack Your Own PR, Odette Barry sits down with the unstoppable Mia Fileman, founder of Campaign Del Mar and one half of the brains behind Ripple Festival. Mia shares her journey of building a two-day event that fuses creativity, small business, and purpose, offering a insights on how to navigate the public speaking circuit with intention, and as a true advocate of the events that you’re keen to speak at. We dive into: The inspiration behind Ripple Festival and why Mia and co-fo...
Mar 17, 2025•43 min•Ep. 104
In this episode of Hack Your Own PR Odette Barry is joined by one of Australia’s most influential voices in podcasting: Kellie Riordan, founder of Deadset Studios and the original producer of my beloved and all time fave podcast, ABC Conversations. Kellie has been a pioneer in the Australian media landscape, with a career spanning radio, digital news, and podcast production. She helped launch the now-iconic ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler back in 2005, long before podcasting became mainstr...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 103
In this episode, Odette Barry is joined by Lem Zakharia, a powerhouse in the Australian media industry with an eclectic career spanning radio, music, and podcasting. Currently the executive producer of It’s A Lot with Abbie Chatfield, Lem has been instrumental in transforming the podcast from a casual, couch-recorded project to a top-ranking hit in its sixth season. With a core audience of women aged 19–35 and strong ties to the LGBTQ+ community, the podcast covers everything from reality TV to ...
Feb 19, 2025•57 min•Ep. 102
Welcome to the Hack Your Own PR with Odette Barry. In this episode we are joined by Justine Cullen, Editor-in-Chief of InStyle Australia. With over 30 years in the magazine industry, Justine has built a stellar career, starting at teen magazines and rising to lead iconic titles like ELLE and InStyle. In this episode, Justine shares her insider knowledge on: The evolving media landscape and the role of magazine covers in driving meaningful conversations. How to pitch successfully to InStyle and o...
Feb 19, 2025•47 min•Ep. 101
Georgie Abay is just about one of the most intelligent, hard working, kind and humble editors you’ll find at the helm of a glossy mag - and she’s back for interview number 2 on Hack Your Own PR - after her first interview several years ago, in her role as the editor and founder of Grace Tales. In September last year, Georgie took on the prestigious role leading the vision and team as editor of Marie Claire. As you’ll hear in this episode, she’s keen to use her platform to campaign for better out...
Jul 15, 2024•37 min•Ep. 100
Imagine a world where Business Class and Economy Class costs about the same. Naturally, everyone would choose Business Class. Today we're joined by Steve Hui, also known as "The Points Whisperer" and founder of iflyflat.com.au. Over 12 years ago, Steve cracked the code to unlock how to fly business and first class on the cheap. I invited Steve to the podcast because I have seen his name everywhere. From ARF, news.com.au, Sky News, The Project, you name it - he’s been featured there. With over 40...
Jun 26, 2024•38 min•Ep. 99
I think you’re going to enjoy this episode if you’re a beauty or lifestyle brand. Today we're joined by beauty industry veterans Sarah Tarca and Sherine Youssef, founders of the popular newsletter gloss etc. With over 30 years of combined experience in journalism and media, Sarah and Sherrine have seen it all when it comes to PR pitches. Sarah Tarca is a former magazine editor (Marie Claire, Girlfriend, Cosmopolitan), beauty journalist and Sherine Youssef is a beauty editor, who has worked acros...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 98
Today I'm joined by Euan Black, the Work and Careers Reporter at The Australian Financial Review. Euan began his career in journalism accidentally after finishing an internship in Cambodia. He landed his first journalism job at Southeast Asia Globe before moving to Australia where he now very happily writing for The Financial Review. In this episode, Euan shared how he generates story ideas through one-on-one conversations with industry sources, the challenges of balancing idea generation with w...
Jun 12, 2024•46 min•Ep. 97
Polly Taylor is the Contributor and Page editor at Mamamia. Polly previously worked in the UK in the women’s lifestyle media space, when she visited Australia on a ‘quick working holiday’ and found the perfect job at Mamamia, she’s never left! Polly walks us through the contrasting stories you’ll find on the home page of Mamamia, from the latest celebrity drama to hard-hitting, gritty contributor pieces from survivors of domestic violence - there isn’t anything like Mamamia in the Australian med...
May 22, 2024•30 min•Ep. 96
Wendy Tuohy is a senior writer focusing on social issues impacting women and girls at The Age. With over 40 years of experience writing about social affairs, Wendy is one of the true advocates, who in particular, has chosen to use her position of privilege to amplify and influence the mainstream media narrative about issues that truly matter. In a time when mainstream media is copping heat left right and centre for its misrepresentation and downright misbehaviour, Wendy occupies a corner of the ...
May 12, 2024•47 min•Ep. 95
Sam Hussey is the head of news and lifestyle at Forbes Australia, having previously been the Channel Seven editor in chief for the 7news.com.au publishing a cheeky 120 news pieces daily. The change of pace to business, entrepreneurism and luxury lifestyle is a welcome one, as Sam discusses, as he’s tackling a slower, deeper style of journalism, that allows him and the team to interrogate issues in the business ecosystem with more time - and perhaps a little more finesse. With new content series ...
May 01, 2024•31 min•Ep. 94
This week on the Hack Your Own Podcast, join me in conversation with Tarla Lambert, co-founder of Agenda Media and editor-in-chief of Women’s Agenda. Alongside her business partner, Angela Priestley, Tarla has cultivated a wholly independent, women-owned, and operated media empire that engages over a million Australian women each month. Tarla shares insights into Women’s Agenda’s demographic and focus, catering to professional women aged 25 to 45, including 30% small business owners, with a rece...
Apr 24, 2024•45 min•Ep. 93
Meet Nicole Maycroft, the PR & Communications Manager at Kic. Nicole walks us through what media efforts have successfully converted for Kic, how she gets Steph and Laura involved with timely trends and expert commentary, and how to create leverageable collaborations and events. We get to hear the behind-the-scenes strategy for Kic’s latest ‘feel good’ January campaign which saw a 100% increase in year-on-year sales, and how the Kic team was able to rise above the ‘new year, new me’ toxic me...
Apr 03, 2024•50 min•Ep. 92
This week on the Big Ideas Miniseries I chatted with Sophie Walker, founder and host of popular podcast Australian Birth Stories. Sophie is the mum of 3 who used to record her podcast from the back of her Nissan X Trail during covid. She has amassed 16 million podcast listeners informing and empowering women and their birth support teams and has grown to become a million-dollar birth and pregnancy educational ecosystem. In late 2022, I had the pleasure of working closely with Sophie to build her...
Feb 25, 2024•52 min•Ep. 91
In this episode of the Big Ideas Miniseries we’re putting our big ideas to work! Today I chatted with Jodie Darlington, Global Content Director at The CEO Magazine. Jodie gives you the exact blueprint for how to write and submit your opinion editorial pieces through CEO Magazine’s newly launched contributor portal. Jodie walks through how to pitch yourself for expert commentary and why you must provide value beyond your industry to address global concerns. Stick around if you want insights on ho...
Feb 13, 2024•53 min•Ep. 90
The third episode of the Big Ideas Miniseries is all about thought leadership, expert commentary and opinion editorial. We get to the bottom of exactly how you can leverage the media to get your cause in the spotlight. Side note: Don’t get caught up in the industry lingo, I make sure I strip things back to basics to teach you what expert commentary and opinion editorial is and how they differ. I walk you through a concept I like to call the clout and credibility ladder. We'll begin by exploring ...
Feb 01, 2024•30 min•Ep. 89
In this episode I walk you through exactly how to get your big ideas media ready. I give you my own 5 step process as a publicist and PR mentor to stretch your big idea. I don’t want to oversell it but I genuinely believe our stories can change the world. But if no one knows about them, we can’t create impact. Often, we wake up in the middle of the night and jot down an idea. When we attempt to elaborate on it the next day, we realise that it's a hot take, a perspective that many others already ...
Jan 25, 2024•23 min•Ep. 88
Introducing my new miniseries, the Big Ideas Podcast, where I walk through exactly how to get your big idea seen, heard and acted upon. I think we can all agree that the current state of play, of systems, waste, climate inaction is not good enough. We’re in a dire state of crisis upon crisis. We need to dramatically change the way we operate in business and the way we care for one another, we need innovation AND simplification, we need fierce clarity and gentle compassion. We are ready for a new...
Jan 22, 2024•19 min•Ep. 87
In this episode, we speak to renowned Singapore-based Food and Lifestyle Contributor Grace Ma on Restaurant PR and deep dive into what it takes to stand out in the busy world of F&B, how to put on a food tasting for media, what great storytelling looks like in restaurant PR as well as covering topics such as if it’s important to showcase the chef! Grace has over 16 years of experience in food journalism and has written about a plethora of chefs and restaurants — from one-man-show hawkers to ...
Nov 09, 2023•38 min•Ep. 86
Madieson is the head of PR and Communications at Great Wrap. I nerded out with Madieson, as PR’s do when they get together, to understand the inner workings of how Great Wrap has gained memorable media attention since the very beginning of their business journey. In this episode, Madieson walks us through Great Wrap’s humble beginnings, where founders Jordy and Julia were packing orders in their living room after getting their first Broadsheet feature. They've since outgrown their first producti...
Nov 07, 2023•41 min•Ep. 85
Laura House is the FEMAIL Editor at Daily Mail, where she has been very happily employed for almost 7 years. As someone who is deeply fascinated by the inner workings of small businesses and how they have risen to viral success, FEMAIL is one of the very best places for emerging brands to win headlines. If you’re willing to open up, be a lil vulnerable, and if you’re bluddy well prepared, then talking to Laura or one of the FEMAIL team could just be that rocketfuel that your business needs to ge...
Oct 27, 2023•41 min•Ep. 84
Today I had the pleasure of chatting with Luke, the Co-founder and Co-director of Compass Studio. Luke stepped out of his comfort zone today by getting in front of the mic rather than organising an interview for one of his amazing clients. Luke walks us through the inner workings of running his PR and digital marketing agency which is determined to amplify the impact of world-bettering brands. Luke talks about what the ‘forensic’ process of getting B-Corp certified and how the experience could i...
Oct 18, 2023•55 min•Ep. 83
Lauren Sams is the fashion editor at The Australian Financial Review, where she works across the newspaper, Fin! magazine, The Australian Financial Review Magazine and Life & Leisure. Lauren, much like her readers has grown up with the media. A career that started in the teen and young adult mags, of Cosmo and Elle, writing a snark gossip column a la Perez Hilton, through to maturing with her readers as they grew into AFR consumers, where she now writes about the business of fashion. In this...
Sep 20, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 82
In this episode I chat with the very lovely Fiona Killackey award-winning author, speaker, accredited business coach and host of the popular podcast, My Daily Business. My Daily Business has almost clocked 1m downloads with around 8000 downloads each month, helping small business owners navigate the wild world of marketing, brand, content, systems and business strategy. Fiona has enjoyed a celebrated career working for some of the biggest global brands, through to some of Australia’s iconic bran...
Sep 11, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 81
Mary Christina is the founder of experiential Events and brand experience agency, Minni. I connected with Mary late last year when we began planning the launch events for Australian Birth Stories. I can hand on heart say this woman and her team can make an impactful, memorable and beautiful event that gets the internet talking. Events can be powerful ways to make a splash in the busy digital world. Paired with influencers, media invites and clever PR strategy, I think some of Mary’s events are s...
Sep 05, 2023•41 min•Ep. 80
Carmen Braidwood is a confidence on camera coach and modern media trader. After 20-odd years in commercial radio and TV, Carmen has become very well informed on what it takes to cut through and build your confidence to speak on camera. She is a regular presenter on the Nine Networks including Destination WA and she has had plenty of experience on the telly from Nine News, The Today Show, The Project and Today Tonight. These days she teaches entrepreneurs and founders how to speak more confidentl...
Aug 21, 2023•55 min•Ep. 79
