Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About, the Stella Podcast. I'm Sarah Lamarquin, your host, and every week I sit down with some of the biggest names in the country, because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to Talk About. Shana Blaze is a very busy woman. She's one of the country's best known interior design experts, a television personality who's been a judge on the Block for twelve years, and a regular homes columnist
for Stella. But last year she surprised everyone when she appeared on the Mass Singer. Turns out, the woman who once moonlighted as a jazz singer had quite the hidden talent, and now she's ready to pursue it even further with an upcoming ep of new songs and a series of cabaret shows in the works. The thing about Shana is she doesn't like being put in a box, and she certainly doesn't like being labeled.
When I will get men and women that will say to me, act your age, wear the clothes for your age. You're too old to wear that, and I go, well, I know I'm not. But at the same time, only I have the right to say how I act and what I wear, so what you say around me has no power to me. On today's episode is Something to Talk About, Shana reveals why she keeps reinventing herself, how landing her job at the Block was one of the most bizarre moments of her life, her return to music,
and why she refuses to act her age. Before we begin, heads up that this conversation briefly touches upon the subject of domestic violence. If you're someone you know needs help, you can find a number to call in our show notes. Shana Blaze, Welcome to the Something to Talk About studio.
Thank you, Oh boy, do we have a lot to talk about?
We do?
You do have a lot to talk about.
I wanted to talk a little bit, Shane, about the most recent incarnation of your very well celebrated career, which is music. You released your single Warrior in May of this year. I'm sure that the apt nature of the title of that song will be something that pops up throughout the course of our conversation. And you're also going to be doing a couple of live shows in Melbourne
next month. Let me begin by asking what's a response to the fact that you have an ep on the way you were on the Mass Singer last year, so of course that was the first big reveal where everyone was like.
Oh my gosh, you SHANEA.
Blaze could sing a year on. What's the reaction now from the public.
It's actually really kind.
I think that's the thing, you know, when you're in the public eye, and I felt like for me Mark Singer was the best way to introduce it because otherwise they see you and they judge you before you even do anything, and so the fact that I was on Mass Singer, they wouldn't have a clue who it was, so then they could just hear me for me, which I was really happy about. And the reception has been the same since, in the fact of like, oh you actually can sing, and please sing more. So people have
been really excited to hear more. And I could not ask for anything better because I think that's the thing, you know, when you love something so much, you want to one do it, you want to share it, and you just.
Hope people are receptive.
So I've got to say I wouldn't have gone this far if I didn't feel like that it was something that was going to make other people happy, just not.
Me, And I hadn't really thought about that at such a good point that coming into it with total anonymity on the mask singer, let people judge you as a singer and a performer on your merits. Of course, when you're doing your two shows in November, I'm guessing, Shana, there won't be any crazy mass singer costume. It will be you, Shana Blaze. How are you feeling about that?
Look?
I have to say I have done a whole show for such a long time. Like earlier in the year, I did a launch party for friends and media which was five songs, and that's the most I'd done in one go on stage for a long time. Whereas this is, you know, over an hour. It's a cabaret show that I have co written with a fellow theater person called Martin Cruz, and I've written half the song, co written half the songs with Gary Pinto, who I wrote Warry with, and then we're doing our own version of other songs
or within a storyline. So it's just not a few songs and telling a story. It's actually telling a story with songs.
And what about the experience of getting into the recording studio to record Warrior, and the rest of the EP asked you a little bit around the nerves and the confrontational nature of performing a live show. How was it when you first got into the recording studio and it's like, this is this is real, this is getting recorded, and this is going out there for the audience.
You're laid pretty raw because that was sort of during COVID time where all the musicians were overseas or they were in another studio and in another state, so it was all recorded separately, and then it was time to do the vocals in the studio and it's really just like you and I sitting here in the fact that the voice is deadened. You can't have any effects, and you sing the whole song. But then you literally sing
line than word and sometimes a note. So there is one hundred percent focus on the tone of your voice, the strength of your voice, the timber, the fact of can you do this? And I hadn't pulled apart my voice so much ever in my whole entire life, so I felt that quite confronting, and it really did take a few days to really go, oh.
They're not just pulling it apart, because I can't do it. They're pulling it apart because that's what you do.
Because I've recorded before, but not to this end degree. So I think it was one of those things. By the end of like you know, a few days and a week, it was like, oh, I'm a musician again. And that's what it took. It was the fear, the excitement, the doubt all coming in right to that end part going not just I've got this, I'm a musician and gee that felt good.
Let me ask you a little bit about the again in I'm a musician again, because a lot of people listening, most Australians would of course know you through your work as a television host, a presenter of course on the block, as one of the best known interior designers in the country. That's a certain profile, a certain attachment that people have to you. Obviously, again implies that there's a backstory. You
didn't just decided a couple of years ago. Hey, I think I'm going to start dabbling in music to talk us through a little bit about your journey with music before you became SHANEA. Blaze, the person we know today.
I think the thing is that music and design was never separate because when I was young and growing up, you know, there was always musical theater tapes in the background. There was those big real to reels like you know, you think of Her Jesus Christ Superstar. All those sorts of plays, musical theater were on in the background. My mum was, you know, in love with Shirley Bassie. There
was always Shirley Bassi. There was Tom Jones. There was all that sort of fun sort of entertainment in the background. And my dad was very hands on with craft and very hands on with tools and making, so there was always like music playing while you're designing, while you're creating things, or you create something and then play music. So to me, it was always intertwined. And I was doing design school and then I was singing, and so then.
I got too heavy in.
Design and I had to give up music, which was fantastic in the fact that I had a design career, and then put that to the side for a little bit. And then I started having babies and then stopped working for a while, and because I was flying around the country with my job and it was just too hard with two little babies, and there just isn't the support of a working Mum's what there is today, whether you're
a single mum or a married mum. You know, krash was there, but you were expected to be the person to pick them up, drop them off. You were the full time care You did everything. It literally was you can have a career and you can have children, but don't talk about it, and don't tell us how hard it is, and don't show it.
So you had to put on your shoulder pads, because.
I was saying that late eighties, early nineties, put on your shoulder pads, put on your smile, and be the power woman that we all wanted to be. But if you show slight cracks, you're not a good You're not a good working mum. So the cracks were starting to show with me that it was just too hard to do it all myself.
So I stopped.
That want to be with my kids, still in a marriage one to be with my kids. But at the same time it was a case I just couldn't fly around the country, have this really great job and be there for them, which I really wanted to. So it was a real push and pull, and after about a year of stopping doing that.
I was bored.
I was really bored, really bored, and I went, oh, look I've just I want to dabble and get back into music. So I started doing that more as a free time thing. A few gigs, and then it just picked up from there. And then my marriage broke up and I was already singing in pubs at that stage, and then it just went on from there. It was easier to just keep that going because the kids were little. I'd read them a story, sing them a lullaby, pop them to bed. Mum and Dad would come over get
home about one in the morning. They'd wake up five o'clock and lose my voice every week for months, you know, seeing tell them stories like this because you had to go and speak. So look at was a fun time. It wasn't a lot of money. It was great. I absolutely loved it. I played in so many different bands, from covers to corporate to funk to acid jazz to indie, and you know, I think one of the great things is the friendships I still do have from those times,
which is pretty incredible. And they get such a blast thinking that, you know, they were there when Carlie and Jess, my kids were you know, anywhere from two from one of the friendships I have and now my kids have kids, so you know, it's really nice having those long term friendships that you've had music with. And you know a few of them were actually at that launch this year and they're sitting there going, wow, we saw you thirty years ago doing this and it's just it's quite bizarre.
But you know, you get to a stage where you know, that was sort of once my daughter started going to high school and so they've hit that teenage time and you go, oh, I need to be around at nighttime.
M because you know, you need to be there for the.
Yes and go to bed y as you know, you don't have control anymore exactly. So it wasn't a case of like I had to give up music. It was a decision about, Okay, what's going to be best for my family and myself. And that's when I got back into working sort of during the day. Couldn't find my way in design because I became a dinosaur. So you know, I used to design showrooms all around Australia's design products.
You used to work in corporate and by the time i'd been out of design for maybe five years, CAD was the big thing so you had to be this incredible skilled person at CAD and I missed that boat, so I had to re educate myself on that, and then I started painting, and so I went in a really slow way. I went back to painting and drawing and doing commission artwork, which eventually got me into homes and then back into design, and then sort of slowly
went through that. And by the time I'd had my own business and taken it out of the home into a warehouse, that's sort of when TV started happening. So it was a real high low high low. But they all intertwined, yeah, when they needed to.
When they needed to. There's so many fascinating intertwined.
And trends of that story.
To unpack, so many, from the shoulder pads through to the you know, calling yourself a dinosaur, for instance, after five years away. I think a lot of people listening that working particularly fast moving industries, feel that way, especially with technology changing a bit, where like, oh my goodness, I was out for a few years and I can
never get back in. I'd love to talk a little bit about that, Shane, because I think that's so interesting and inspiring, but also one of these intertwining threads about reinvention and maybe having a moment where you think, oh my gosh, what now, or that's a bit daunting, but clearly you've always found something in you to go back or discover a new skill, pick up something that you thought was buried. Would you say reinvention is a big part of your story.
Yeah, it is.
It's something I really embraced because one I lead, This is why I love design.
I lead with curiosity.
It's a case of if you can't find something immediately, then you go down the rabbit hole to find out where you need to go, and if there's a barrier there, you need curiosity to go left, right, above or below, because most of the time, in any sort of career or decision or trying to find a design, there's always a block.
Well how do you get around it? What do you do?
And I think that's the thing with not just a major career decision of feeling like a dinosaur, it's more of a case of like really finding moments in your life where people are telling you you can't do that, or you shouldn't do that, or you can only do or be one thing. And I always thought about those moments in my life where it wasn't a case of well, damn you, I'm going to do it anyway. If you say I can't do it, I'm going to do it.
It was more like in my mind, you know, I never sort of stood up and went I'm going to do that, because I actually, you know, would feel sick and embarrassed thinking, oh am I thinking too much for myself.
Can I do it? Can't I do it?
But it's like I always had, well why can't I, Why can't.
I do that?
And I do. I feel a little bit of that comes from my dad in the fact that he wasn't your typical male Like my dad knitted, my dad did stained glass, my dad made Massapan flowers for bridal cakes.
So there was no gender issue in our house because craft was craft, and so on top of that, like I had drills in my hand, you know, when I was fourteen fifteen, I was drilling things in working for my dad, changing taps because I was interested and it was never an issue of you know, your brother should do that, or it was just what I was interested in.
So I think it definitely comes from that. So reinvention, I feel like, is something we talk about now, but back then it was I look at it as a life of curiosity that if something isn't working at the time, it's not about trying to just go I've got to fix that. It's about going, well, how can I do it differently? What can I do? And a career is something that I feel I will have till I'm one
hundred and ten because I get bored too easily. But I get too excited about changing and learning and growing. And you know, I think the skill sets that you have when you're a teenager will always come back in some way as an adult. And that's what I love about the intertwining of my career and the fact of painting, drawing, singing, running bands as a businesswoman, running design as a businesswoman, is that the skills that you have in one part
of your life will transfer to another. And I've heard quite a few people these days, interestinglyly enough, especially with technology in AI's just like my skills aren't transferable anymore because it's going to a whole different navigation. And I'm like, well they can. We just haven't thought of a new way of transferable. It always used to be, well, you know, you could do transferable skills on a document. Okay, well, you know you run a business here, what are the
threads in that business to run for another business? And we're doing things differently now, So I sort of feel like those transferable skills have to be looked at in a different way as an emotion as a person, because I feel like I've really gone on a whole different tangent. But I feel like we've taken the person out of the job and the person out of reinvention. It's not just about the skills of what you've got on hand.
And also, at this point in our culture, know that people will stay in the workforce for a lot longer. I mean, we have said treasurism, said you're all going to keep working well in the seventies, those days of you know, the golden handshake, you know, and had sixty long gone. But also that people are going to undergo different career shifts in the course of their career. And again that's been a change that has probably crept in
over the last generation or two. So those two things, intersecting the fact that the average person will try their hand at quite a few different things, will often as we've talked about won't have any say in the matter because their job will be completely outsourced and they have to look at transferable skills.
And also, if.
We're going to be working until our seventies, most of us are going to want to try a few different things. I love when you said, Shana, how you've always pushed back, consciously or otherwise about the notion of being told you could be one thing, and for you it never felt well, why do I have to choose? Why do I have to choose between music and craft, between designing and between performing.
I think this.
Happens a lot even as people. We tell people you're dominated by the left brain or the right brain, You're this, you're that. I'd love to hear a little bit of what your advice might be or your own experience about how all of us can push back against this notion that we're one thing.
I think the start is how society puts labels on us because it's safety. You are the boss, you are the worker, You are an ares, you are a LEO, you are a gen X, you are a millennial. We put people in boxes because it makes us feel comfortable about how we look at those people. But by doing that, by putting, and I call them boxes, not just labels. We have a box and we put a label on it.
All of a sudden, that person feels like they can't move beyond that boundary because that's how everyone looks at them.
And I've had many moments in my life.
Where i feel like I'm screaming because I've been put in a box and it's very hard to break out of that because the more you try and break out of the box, the reaction is actually tenfold. So I think the thing is that for me, the advice for people of wanting to change, to reinvent, to break out of the mold that they have put on themselves, or society is put on themselves, or that's actually worked to together, is that, really it comes down to you. You've got
to make that step. You can't blame society, you can't blame everyone around you. All you can do is trust yourself to know that that is not who I am. So what comes down to it is that it's up to you to find out who you are. And that's soul searching, and not enough people want to do that. And I've done a hurl of a lot of soul searching because I've come up against a lot of blocks
and a lot of things. And until you do the deep work to work out who you are and where you want to be, you may not know the answer, but at least you've got an idea. When you have that, that's when you're able to not worry about what other labels get put on you, because it becomes your little force field in the fact of like not a problem. You say that's who I am. And it comes down to a lot of social media that you say that's
who I am. I know I'm not that, so you can't you can't tell me that's who I need to be. And you know, one little tiny thing, and I'll put it in a simple way of social media when I will get men and women that will say to me, act your age, wear the clothes for your age, You're too old to wear that, And I go, well, I know i'm not because inside I'm thirty six.
Hello.
But at the same time, only I have the right to say how I act and what I wear, So what you say around me has no power to me. And so that's just a little simple way of advice of until you do the deep work of truly believing that that's me, that's not me going You can't tell me what to do because that becomes across his anger. But I'm so self assured that I know who I am for me, no one else has to believe it. That doesn't matter. I believe it and I know it, which empowers me to move forward.
Of the labels that people put on me, is this something that has evolved with wisdom?
For you?
Oh the age thing? My kids will laugh about this one. No, I think I think it came down to in my twenties. You know, I had my kids when I was early twenties, and I wanted to be a career person, and I felt like I hadn't achieved what I wanted to by the time I hit thirty, So I felt like I hadn't done things. But you know, meanwhile, I've raised two incredible kids basically by myself, kept them alive, kept me alive, and you know, still worked on.
A career, bringing up a music a career.
But then once I crept into my thirties, I had the notion of where I wanted to be and who I wanted to be, and I just wasn't there. So by the time I hit my late thirties, I did my little midlife crisis, a bit of a spiral of like, you know, turning thirty ane and going.
Well, is this it? Like I literally did is this it?
And basically wasted a year of my life? And I went wow, I made myself. I made myself feel horrible. I woke up the morning of my fortieth and the birds were chirping and the sun was shining. It was a bit Disney, and I looked out the window. I went, ah, the bomb hasn't gone off. I've just wasted twelve months of my life. So how I felt? Then after a little while, I, you know, I felt like I was in my mid thirties.
So why can't.
I say I'm in my mid thirties because internally I feel that way. But then on top of that, and I think this is really poignant in the fact that between my forties and fifties I lost a couple of girlfriends to disease and then lost a couple of friends to some sad circumstances.
And it makes you realize.
The value of your body, the value of your family, the value of your friendships, the value of life itself, and the value of the great life that we have in front of us, because you get to make the choice whether you want to have a good day or a bad day, no matter what shit has been thrown at you. That I really decided in my early forties that a number is nothing. And so when people would say my number and whatever, I go, oh no, no, no,
that's not my number. And so it is a little bit of denial, absolutely, But I don't feel that number. So why should I have to be that number. I have the spirit of a thirty year old. I have the energy of a thirty year old. So in my mind, that's who I am. And if people think that's denial, I have no issue with that. But I get so much out of life because I believe that I have the youth and the energy to do whatever I want.
Coming up, how answering an ad in a newspaper changed Shana Blazer's life. Woke up that morning of your fortieth birthday, Disney birds chirping me. Did you sing a little Disney melody?
By the way?
Not quite No, maybe at the live show next month. Let me ask you then about your public career and why most Australians know your name is because of your television work, and that started in your forties. You're a co host on Selling Houses Australia back in two thousand and eight. What are your first memories of working in television?
But I suppose specifically about the chapter that that was going to introduce you to in terms of bringing all of those different skills, your design skills, your performing skills, and bringing into this whole new genre of your career.
It's quite funny in the fact that you know, answered and ad in a design newsletter, and I had done a professional writing course as well before that because I wanted to write books. And once I had that audition, and you know, Sonya Harding, who was our EP the whole time, the most amazing woman that gave me the chance, and she wanted me mainly because I was the performer. It wasn't about being a presenter. It was about the fact I wasn't nervous to just put myself out there
and I had the design skills. So it was a case of me feeling like, oh, this is where it all comes together. Because we were writing our own lines, we were writing what the story was going to be. We were able to put together designs.
I was able to perform while I.
Was doing things, and they became little tutorials in the end of how it was done. So I taught interior design too, so it was like, oh, this is just like teach so I used to teach that at tape. So all these things came together and it was like it was a case like. As I said, when I stepped on that stage, you know, earlier in the year, I felt like, oh, I'm back. I felt like that's
where I was always meant to be. And what I don't think people understand is that when you do selling houses, and even on the block, you're on a building site. The only time you ever get glammed up is for the promo shoot except the block.
You know, I get dressed up, have the best time on that.
But selling houses was a building site and that's the only way I ever saw it. And we would do a couple of Foxtel events a year and we would do a promo shoot. Other than that, it was eight months of a hard grind of the most amazing team and it was a family. And I have to say those first few years, I felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be. All the hardships of trying to work out who I am and what I was had come to this moment and I feel like I have been growing and celebrating and being.
Grateful four ever since.
And then the Block, of course, so he started there in twenty twelve. I mean, it's been one of the most iconic shows on Australian television. So that also catapults you to a whole other level of visibility and fame. Yeah, how has that experience been this past twelve years?
I have to say that was weird to start with because the Block was something that we all knew and love and Scottie and you know, and it had come to Melbourne, it was in Richmond.
It was like wow, And in my mind, I'm.
Thinking, oh, maybe I could go on the Block, you know as a contestant. I'm like, why, Yes, that was just in the back of my mind. I haven't really said that much before, but that was sort of like, oh, maybe I could, but I thought, I'm selling houses, I can't. But I was in Alice Springs in the middle of nowhere. We just finished an episode of Alice Springs and we were just looking going for a hike a few of us, you know, before we get on the plane and my
manager rang me in said, look, don't get excited. How would you feel if you were a judge on the Block? I mean in the middle of Red Earth in Alice Springs.
Go h yeah.
So I raced home on the Thursday. I had a meeting on the Monday morning. Didn't realize I'm walking up the stairs with the EP Julian Cress and the marketing you know, marketing manager Sarah, and it was Sarah Armstrong and we're chatting up the.
Way, blah blah blah.
And we get there and we sit on the desk and all of a sudden, Oh my god, they're in the room with me. And then I realized it's them, and my manager walks in and they know each other. I'm standing going, I don't even know what's happening, but I'm having a meeting and I have to fly out tonight to our next another episode. And they proceeded to tell me how great it would be to have a female judge on the Block. And I'm sitting there going, oh, they're selling it to me. I'm not selling it to them.
And it was this that's possibly one of the most bizarre moments in my TV career, the fact that they had come to tell me that they wanted me to be on the show, not for me to tell them and beg for one of these amazing opportunities. So two moments, you know, the one with Sonya Harding picking up the phone when I answered that ad, and then sitting at the table with Jules and Sarah, they were life changing
moments to me. More than being on a set or being on a photoshoot, being at the logis those two moments where these people believed in me, and they believed in me.
Because of the work that I did.
They didn't believe in me because they saw something that could be molded. They wanted me because of me. And that goes right back to what I was saying to you at the beginning, that I was at that stage in my life where I believed in myself and I didn't need validation because I knew what I was doing made me happy and I was good at it, and
I was good at it because I loved it. And I think that's the moment when you realize that they're the life changing moments that you can saw because you've got in there without any falsehoods of who you are and what you.
Do, and even all those times where you would never have foreseen that all of these different skills you're developing that one day they're going to lead to these certain moments where you're like, Wow, I've got this really unique set. Did you ever tell them that you had even considered maybe applying to be a contestant on the show?
I think I've showed them this podcast because I've never shared that.
Oh, thank you for opening up about that. Obviously everything worked out exactly how it was meant to be because you, as I say, have been a judge on the show, and it's hard to imagine the show without you. There's was talk early this year, late last year that you're leaving. You're not anything to anyone that's panicking that there's going to be the Block minus shanea Blaze in future.
No, I love it. I just it is a family. You know.
I'm so lucky with two shows of selling houses on the Block that we were a fan family the whole time. We supported each other through all the hardships of what you do on these shows. You know, they're not easy, and I absolutely love it. And each week I go in there, I go there with excitement, going, Wow, what is going to happen? Because we don't know what goes on during the week. We don't see anything. We don't know any of the dramasun till we see it on TV.
And that's why I love it so much because I'm not caught up in any of that. I'm caught up in the rawness of these people that have created a miracle every week. They've thrown themselves in with no sleep, lack of budget, lack of ideas and producing something that is phenomenal. And you know, they don't just do it by themselves. They have an amazing build team, they have amazing sponsors, they have amazing producers. There's runners behind making
toasties to make sure that they're eating. You know, there's all those things that are happening. So it's not just a machine. It's a beautiful family of you know, I'm not going to joy, but it's a family that brings something together that makes it so successful now because everybody in there really cares. And you know, anybody that's in being able to work on the block will be able to tell you.
That you're also a homes columnist to Estella and have been for about four years now.
Wanted to ask if people.
Approaching you, is there something in particular that they want to ask about with your professional design hat on? Is it bathrooms, kitchens? I mean for me, I really always love when you write about storage solutions because I'm like, great, the amount of like storage hacks I've picked up from you.
Over there, there's one of those just about to come up, brilliant, love it.
Okay, watch this space.
Wow.
You know it used to be at the beginning, it used to be about color.
You know, what color do I paint this? What's the right white? What's there?
And I keep you know, I tell people it depends on the light. It depends what it's reflecting. It depends with that it's cool, whether it's got yellow. It's just picking the right paint color is hard. It's not easy. So I would say, if you don't know, get a color consultant, because I can't tell from your iPad because that's got a blue light underneath, you know what I mean. So there's all those sorts of things. Color is definitely something storage. I think people tell me how proud they
are of their storage. They don't ask for the solution.
They want to show they wouldn't boast about it.
Okay, that makes me very happy. And then there's a lot of husbands that want to tell me how I've ruined their life because their bid has twelve cushions, And I say to them, where have I ever given advice that you need twelve cushions? You need to take that up with your wife and power to her. So there's those sorts of moments. So a lot of people aren't really asking me for advice anymore. They're actually telling me how much what I've been able to do has empowered them.
But you know what, the great thing is at the moment that I have kids coming up and telling me what they think.
Well, I'm not sure about this.
What about you know, I think they should have done this, and kids solving it because they are so immersed and they're not afraid to look at mistakes. And I look at them and I go, oh, that was me. And you could be anything and go anywhere and believe it. But get solutions and don't just say it off the top of your head. If this is what you want to do, go down the rabbit hole, be curious, make sure things work and functional, you know, learn the rules
before you break them. And so there's all these savvy, savvy kids that you know, we're going to have amazing houses. But I'm hoping those savvy kids will also look at, you know, sustainability and design solutions for multigenerational So all these bits and things that are coming through, and I feel like I love the fact people are sharing with me what they have done, because what they've learnt, and you just go, oh, my job's done.
And it's that emblematic that it's a real relationship. So they see you through the screen or the page, however, they're interacting with you, and for them it's a two way street, which is very lovely. You've also used your profile over the years on very substantial and serious issues. You've just talked about some of the sustainability issues for instance.
But a slight gear change though, about amplifying the voices of survivors of particularly violence against women, which has been a really big issue in this country and I think finally is starting to get some of the mainstream attention that it deserves. You have a charity, Voice of Change that's founded to amplify the voices of survivors. Regular listeners
are something to talk about. No, this is an issue close to our heart here, Shana, you are a survivor of violence in a relationship, but also you had an incident a couple of years ago that actually went to court where you were assaulted by a stranger. Can I ask you a little bit about why you have chosen to be so generous and brave? Which is a word we overuse, but it's very much the word when a survivor speaks up.
And have you started to.
Feel a little gratified or hopeful or maybe not at all about if there's any progress we're making.
There's a lot in there. There really is a lot in there.
And I think the thing is the big thing I'm ungrateful for is that the change is that we are talking about it. Five years ago, we never would have
had this conversation. Even when I was on Celebrity Prentice and I won, the media didn't know how to use it, and they utilized the and they were brave in saying that, you know, I won the money for this charity Voice of Change, in the fact we're talking about family and domestic violence, and some of the interviewers didn't know how to treat that, and it was dismissed a little bit, and it was only because it was uncomfortable. It wasn't
because they didn't want to talk about it. It's like, how do we talk about in the public without people turning off? So I think I'm very grateful for what has happened in the past few years in the fact that we are talking about it now. For some reason, it is worse. The numbers of not just the deaths of women and children, it is the abuse that's going on is quite frightening. And that is a big societal change that we have to do, and that's something that
voice of change. We've stepped back a little bit so that we can help help with help work with other companies that are trying to do the same thing, so we can make change. So if people are looking at what we're doing, it looks a bit quiet, but it really is because we need to come out as a strength, a voice. Because the government has put a lot of money into making change of you know, stamping out family and domestic violence by twenty thirty this generation, we're not
looking good for that one. So what do we do. We can't bury our heads. It's a societal change and one of the big things is that you know, we're women talking about things that are happening to women. So we are talking with men about how they can be the solution to the problem because most of the violence. You know, yes, somebody will say, but women do too, Yes they do. But if you look at the violence against anybody, men against men, and men against women and
men against children, it is right up there. So we need the men that say it's not all men to come together and be our alt allies and be the solution. So we need that round table of women not talking about it. We need that round table of not men
talking about it. We need that round table of women and men coming together as a society with cultural shifts in how we talk to each other in the community, on social media, in our corporations, and it is a case of not putting up with bad patterns of behavior and just really simple things of calling people out in bad patterns of behavior of hey, you speak to somebody or how they speak about their partner.
We've accepted.
Hate for so long and since COVID and Trump our hate and please don't write to me about Trump because it's just a hate speech.
It's not a political thing.
So we have accepted hate towards a fellow people. The lack of empathy, the lack of kindness, the lack of compassion is a real problem in our society that allows people to get away with treating people badly, and that's what we have to change.
So a beautiful answer, and I know it was a really big question, and thank you so much for distilling so much information and I think really important.
Powerful message is it is and we all have something to do, from the kids to the grandparents to everybody in between.
It's not just a generation. It's everybody's business.
I can't finish up without asking you about your family. You have mentioned your children, Jesse and Carlor, and you're also the grandmother.
Well, no, I'm a gg. I can't say that word. I can't be thirty six with that word, and.
I know at thirty six you're a gg GG. How's that experience being again on another huge question, but obviously you've talked about, you know, the joy and the challenge, and there's only so much that even a big pair of shoulder heads and buffer you from Shana on being a mom and a single mom and a working single mom, how's experience of being.
A Gg, Oh, can I tell you as you say, my chest is so tight because I just, oh, it's about the only thing makes me weepy at the moment. I have so much pride and so much love, and you know, to when my son and daughter in law told me they were pregnant was probably one of my happiest moments. And you know, as a family, we were going through a pretty tough time and to have this little babe be our symbol of joy in our family
was just the most amazing thing. And so little Olive, who was on Country Home Rescue, she became our little unit that brought us all back together. And she's just the lart of my life. And now we've got little Darcy as well. My son's had a little boy too in the meantime. And to have these two grandchildren call me Gg, their eyes light up when they see me more Darcy than all of Old's a bit, you know, shy, but it's just it's just the most I just don't know.
And then you sit back and you watch your your son be a parent and do it so well, and the fact that he has made his own way as a father and he's got the most amazing partner and they have an equal relationship, and so I sit back and go.
Wow, my job is done in a really beautiful way.
And so now I get to enjoy it and to see their equal partnership and when they have problems as they work it out. So it's not just the grandchildren, it's watching them as parents navigate this new world and share it. And they're not doing it because I told them.
They're doing it.
Because they believe it, and that's who they are as people. And it's a beautiful generation. And now they have a little girl and a boy that they're becoming these incredible role models too, and it's amazing, it really is.
It is amazing and really hopeful. Especially I think with our previous topic, it's about, you know, involving men and everyone in the conversation and how we as a society in a country do progress forward with every generation. You may tell me to bud out here, that's okay. By the way, you don't like to talk about your personal life in terms of romantic life, but anything that you would like to share or just even more broadly about the experience of dating in your early sixties.
I haven't even got to the earl bit yourself.
Look, I think I think for me, you know, the LT I am as much as I'm in the public, I am a really private person and I've never really put my personal life on any immediate platforms, and I don't talk about in that way. And I like to keep with that because it's for me. You know, our little conversations and who we are and what we do is so important, and you know, I think we've got to learn to you know, we can give and give as much as we can of ourselves, but we've got
to hold those little parts private. And I think that is the hardest part of you know, when you're looking at dating, when you're in the public eye, is that you're exposing yourself in a way that you shouldn't have to because well, what if that person talks and what if that person does this?
And so it is. It is a bit of a tricky.
Thing for me. It's not an age thing. I think it's that vulnerability of the public knowing your private life, and that's something I've always guarded private les so when I have been invaded without my permission, I find really quite distressing. So I think that's that that, you know, that's why why I like to keep it private because it's more of a case of you know that you should be allowed to say this is my private life, and people respect that.
And I'm not saying that you're asking that it is.
It is one of those things that those little nuances are mine should be mine in a great way. And I think dating at the moment, and I'm seeing, you know, the age of like people my age are dating people younger. I don't know about who you speak to or whatever, but I think we're in that world of the crash of online dating because no one is to be believed anymore.
And I think meeting somebody online.
Used to be a really beautiful solution, but again, there's so much deception going on that I don't think anyone believes anybody anymore. So I feel like the world of
face to face is the way to go. And you know, how nice would it be to meet somebody at a restaurant, or meet someone at a bar, or go to a party and meet somebody how we used to do it in the fact that you can actually be around people that maybe are a few of their friends are around them, so you sort of, oh, they're the sort of people there with that, you know, it's not sort of sneaking around corners and sneaking around back alleys and so it's you know, if you choose to do that, I have
no problem, but I just I just feel the world of dating online is such a dark, cloak and dagger experience that I've never gone down that road because I don't trust them.
I completely agree, and you do hear like a lot of bad story, yeah about. You know, I just think all data online is a little bit problematic at the moment, isn't it. So anything that you're going out on the leem or fear vulnerable with I should clarify as I ask my final question, Shana did only turn sixty last year, so I definitely shouldn't be rounding up to early sixties. Sorry about That's like, I'm.
Yeah, break, I'm thirty six, and you make you turn on the numbers.
Around as a fellow thirty six year old woman. I mean, so when my sons call me a boomer, I mean, that's great, labor love boomers, but I'm like, I'm not a boomer. Like it's just this rounding up things like come on, kids, you know, I'm like, oh, by cusp, of millennial or Gen X down slightly.
But you know what I'm saying. I know exactly what you say.
My final question is really just pulling together maybe some of these intertwining threads we've spoken about, pushing back against that notion you can only be one thing, the reinvention second act, maybe it's the third or the fourth act. What would your advice be to anyone listening who's thinking, Oh, I think I could be that, but I haven't tried that,
or I tried. Maybe it is singing and someone said be quiet, or maybe I'm not that good at cooking, or I just feel like I need to stay in my little box as he said with the label on it, not in a good storage solution way, a bad conversation around labels and boxes. Any final parting words.
I developed a thing called a five year plan, and that's just through what I did for myself to be able to move forward in a career. So what I would say to people is, if you don't know where you are what you want to want to do, how about you think where do you want to be now in five years? So don't worry about the bits in between. So from now in five years time, who are you and where do you want to be and who is surrounding you? And how do you feel and where you
are now? Does that marry up? It doesn't mean you're exactly the same person that things are there, But you know, if you're forty, then you're going to be forty five.
Well, god, that's five years. That's a long time. Do you want to be?
You know, what do you want to have? Do you want to be living a different lifestyle? Do you want to have more holidays? Do you want more connection? Do you want to be in a different relationship? Do you want to start a relationship that way? You can actually go Okay, well now this is today and in five years I really want to be there.
Whether I achieve it or not is one thing.
I probably could achieve more by the time I get there, But this is my starting point.
What do I have to do to do that?
And it's not a case of you know, okay, I need this amount of money, I need to do this, I need to do that, I need to have a house, I need to get this. It's a case of like, who am I as a person when I'm there? And what are the skills I need as a person? To get there, which is part of what we're saying before about are you a dinosaur? Well, what skills do you
have to learn? So if you want to be in five years a person that is going to be the best at AI technology and at the moment you can't even open your iPhone, well the first step is to learn how to open your iPhone, do a few courses.
And get that go.
I mean that's just a really simplistic thing, but it is one of those things of like, you can't be different if you're not willing to find out ways to make that happen. And one it has to come from internal. Then you have to learn external skills. And then you have to look at your environment that will allow you to get there. And you won't always be around the right people that will want you there, So you have
to make a decision about those friendships and relationships. Are they going to be the right people around you to get you there? Are they the people that are going to say to you which has been said to me, oh so you're going to be a writer?
Now?
Are they the right people to get you to where you want to be in five years? Doesn't mean you have to go now and just slash and burn all your friendships and relationships. But it might be a case of widening your circle. It might be a case of actually not relying on your friends to build you up. You might have to get a secondary circle of people you don't know, just so that you can tell the truth, so that they don't know anything about you and they
can't judge you because I don't know you before. So it really is up to you to want to change yourself. Because I've learnt from people that I've tried to help that you can try and help somebody as much as you want, and they may want your help, but if they're relying on your help to get it, they will never get it.
And if they don't get it, it's your fault.
So don't let your not getting to five years be someone else's fault.
It can only be your own.
Shana. I cannot wait to sit down again with you in five years, when we'll both be what we're thirty two now, so we'll be what thirty three if we.
Go, Oh my god, we'll be swinging from chandaliers.
Shanna Blaze has been so lovely to speak to you today. Thank you so much for coming you to the studio. You can find out more about Shana Blaze's upcoming music release and cabaret shows at the link in our show notes, and of course you can also see Shana on Sunday Nights on the Block on nine. Thank you for your company today. If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you're following us because we'll be back with another exclusive guest on Something to Talk About next week.