Hello, and welcome to the Christy Cast. Well, I didn't have to look very far for an interesting person from anywhere in the world for this one, because my guest is Australian treasure Lee's Sales. I've loved Lee forever and I have so much to talk to her about, and also I'm excited to get the opportunity to personally thank her for an email she sent me when we had never even met, when I was in the depths of
a pretty brutal public shaming. Welcome to the Chrissy Cast, one of my all time faves, the legendary Lee's Sales.
Thank you so much, Natzi. If you talk about me sending you that nice email, I've got a belief in life that if you get public credit for doing a nice act, it kind of negates the nice act, right, because then it means maybe you just did it so you could get some public praise and everyone's saying what a nice person you are.
I understand what you're saying, but this is not public. This is just you and me, and I don't think I have actually said to you in person how amazing it was for that to just pop into my email. I found it. I found the actual email, and it is from twenty thirteen. Wow, can you believe it? So you and I had never met about you at all, and you said, Hi, Chrissy, I hope you don't mind this uninvited intrusion into your inbox. Of course I did not. I just wanted to send you my best wishes and
support and tell you to hang in there. With all the reaction to the smoking thing, it was terrible. If you're not across it. I was caught having a sneaky fag while I was pregnant, which is a terrible thing to do, but my god, I wanted to die. And then you said, people sure do love to judge pregnant women and young mothers, and as far as I'm concerned,
they can all go find themselves. And it was so nice to hear that, when you know, the other voices were saying that my children should be taking off me, that there were you know, new Facebook groups, you know, organized to bring me down. So thank you so much for that.
You were so welcome. That would have did you say that was twenty thirteen? Yeah, okay, so I would have been probably pregnant myself because my kids were born in twenty twelve and twenty fourteen. Yes, and so nobody I think understands how tricky it is being a new mother than when you are right in the middle of it, right you don't know what you're doing. It's the most uncomfortable you ever are. You feel like every day that
you're stuffing it up. And I just when that happened and I saw that in the paper, I just felt like and it just went on and on and on, and I just felt so bad for you because I thought no one will be feeling, you know, more down on her self to start with than Chrissy Swan.
And now to get all of this.
And so I asked someone who knew us, both, do you have an email for Chrissy Swan by any chance? And just even the tone of that, I thought I was probably enourrage when I said that, because it sounds like pregnant woman rage.
But the thing is what it did for me was it encouraged me to reach out to people I've never known and just say something nice. Yeah, And I think that is such an You sort of think, oh, I don't know me, they don't care, I'm not going to do it, but they do care. And it does make a difference.
I think even if it's you know, someone that you kind of know or like or whatever, that's nice to get encouragement from anyone. But if it's even a stranger, I think can have a significant impact on you if you're feeling low, if they offer a word of encouragement. I've been thinking about it a bit this week actually with the logis and saying Larry em to get the gold LOGI and Rebecca Gibney get acknowledged in the Hall
of Fame. Now, I've never met Rebecca Givney and I've met Larry in passing, but I don't really know him.
They are both top shelf human beings. Yeah right, I'm so thrilled for them by.
Well, Larry Emder and I think this sort of you know, is a lesson for how we all conduct ourselves.
As I say, I don't know.
Larry Mda, but kind of what I hear about Larry Emda is and not just from you know, other people on TV. I'm talking about from Crewe and producers and stuff. Larry Emda is a great guy. He's a really generous guy. He really looks after his crew and the's people who work on his show, and so you hear these echoes all the time of what a nice bloke Larry Mda is and how much he sort of, you know, bends
over to help people. And I think that's so good, isn't it to just go through life being like that and just leaving people feeling good in your wake?
Yeah, forty years he's been doing this film. Just incredible, It is incredible. I asked him one time, like, what's your secret? You're so like grateful and happy, and he said, I just I never say no. I never say no, and I turn up with a good attitude. And I thought that's important, and that's what I say to my kids now. I'm like, just don't be an asshole, because there's always going to be somebody that can do the job better than you. But if you're a pleasure to be around, you'll always get the.
Job one hundred percent. And it just I think makes the world a kind of better place to go through. Yes, So yeah, I sort of I think as well too, just having the sense that, particularly in our line of work, it can come and go really easily. And so if you start kind of believing while I'm here because I deserve to be here, or because I'm really good at what I do or whatever. I think that's just a recipe disaster because things can just very suddenly change.
Yeah, it's funny. I'm in talks at the moment about doing a TV show and it might not happen, as you know in the business. Somebody said to me, oh, why would you do this show? What if it gets axed? And I'm like, that is of no concern to me because the joy for me is turning up on set and chatting to the makeup girls and you know, being cheeky with the soundies. Like that's the experience for me totally.
And I think you kind of maybe it's a thing about age, but I think you've reached a point in life where I certainly feel like I want to do things where I feel connected to the work and that I'm excited by it, and whether it fails or not, I kind of want to have a go at it.
Yes.
So for example, this show The Assembly, Yes, I can't wait to talk about The Assembly. Yes, that's starting this week. So it's a group of fifteen autistic people who interview one prominent person like a politician, celebrity, sporting person and some one yeah, and so when it came to me, of course, one of the things you think is, well, what if I mess this up? What if I misspeak?
What if I say something that insults somebody? What if you know, I do something wrong, I use the wrong word, the wrong language to describe somebody with autism.
Even when I was researching this, I read the sentence autistic people, and I thought, is that right? I shouldn't be people with autistics.
I did exactly the same, and I checked it. I went and checked it with the Peak Autism group, and they said, it's autistic people, right. But you know, it's exactly what you say. It's things like that that you want to be respectful and say the right thing. And sometimes the way society works these days, if you are well intentioned, but you make a mistake, then you get
a pylon. Yeah, And so I thought about things like that, and then I felt like, but hang on, I think this is a really worthwhile and interesting project that I'd like to do, and I don't want to be fearful of how people might react and that dissuading me from
doing something that I think is good. Yeah, it was interesting what you said before too, about how Larry says yes to everything, because I feel like as I've gotten older, the key to being a bit happier has been learning to say no to more things.
Yes, but and me too, and I've got to be better at that. But I am so irrationally enthusiastic, as you describe your podcast about so many things, and I say yes too much because I value you fun. Yeah, and I can sort of identify what is going to be fun for me.
Yeah, same here. But the things that I've learned to say no to are the things that I don't think are going to be fun, but that I feel obliged to do.
Yes.
So people chasing me for oh, we must have a coffee or whatever, and I feel kind of nagged and like I'm just too busy and I can't fit it in. But then I just I do it. I say yes just to kind of get them off my case or whatever. Yeah, I've started being firmer, prioritizing, well, I need some me space sometimes and I can't keep everybody else happy the whole time.
Yeah.
And in fact, I sometimes we'll write in my diary like say, you know, I've been asked to go to dinner or something, and I've said no because it's a busy week. I'll write in the diary seven pm presently congratulates past Lee for saying no to the dinner that was happening right now.
Or if something works out, I go good call. I'm past Chrissy, future Chrissy. Thanks you. It's like, how do we know? I found though that all I want to do is fun things and then organize things in containers and build fires and they you know, there's this big sort of buzz trend of self care, and for a long time I thought, oh, does that mean having a book in for a massage, because I can't be bothered.
I don't want another appointment. You know. I try and treat myself to a pedicure, and I cancel and cancel and cancel. But I've worked out that my personal self care is burning things and organizing things into containers. That gives me unbridal joy. Do you have something specific like that I do?
And that's so good that you have worked out out, because sometimes I think people aren't sure what it is for me.
It's music.
I've always played the piano, but a couple of years ago I started learning the cello, and I find it very meditative, and I don't know if it's because it's so different to what I do in my job because it's using like hand die coordination. Obviously, I like cooking a lot as well, And oddly I find cooking and music not dissimilar because you're reading instructions on a piece of paper in front of you and you're translating what
you're seeing there into actions with your hands. It's often rhythmic, and then something nice is produced at the end.
This is so interesting because I find if I've got things that I need to do, and I think it says how I discovered how walking changed my life. If I'm not doing anything with my hands or something auxiliary, I can't think. I can't do anything. I need to be doing something in order to think, and sometimes that's walking or sometimes it's cooking, and I solve all my problems. It's like I have to get started doing something and then my brain starts working.
It's so interesting. So is it because you're taking the pressure off to a degree because you're not just going right, I need to think about this problem, that there's something else going on.
What do you think my I mean, I don't know, but my gut feel is that my body needs to be moving in order for my brain to move.
That's so interesting. Yeah, I wonder if there's I bet you there's some science or something that would actually explain.
That, because that is absolute fact for me, Like completely. I'm surprised to hear that you like cooking, because your podcast Chat ten looks three. You are the anti chef. When did this happen? I do. I love cooking.
What I'm anti is having to race around and find weird ingredients Crabs forever cooking.
With You know, you need one star anise, Champagne says as soon as he hits star anise on the recipe, it's out.
I deal with star and age. I can't deal with Like Crab had this recipe. We have this thing called kefla Gravria, and I was like, that's the one in one Wimbledon in nineteen eighty three.
Greek cheese, great cheese.
Like mate, I am not driving around to find that.
Oh no, Palmes, it'll do exactly.
So I don't kind of like that sort of stuff. But I do enjoy the process of cooking, and obviously I also enjoy eating. But Cello, just to go back to that is. The thing that helps me out is not what you just described about having activity. It's doing an activity that takes enough concentration that it breaks my brain out of whatever I'm ruminating on at work or whatever's worrying me, so that it gives me a break
from my regular you know, thought patterns. So I need something that absorbs my brain basically to slow down my thought process.
Right, like a distraction.
Like a distraction. And so that's why I say it feels kind of meditative because it's kind of I guess you're getting into like a flow kind of stage. And there's no shortcutting of the process with music practice either, like you have to just be in it and doing it.
It worries me. I've got I know that you've got kids. How old are they?
Twelve and ten?
Okay, So I've got an eleven year old and I have noticed that her attention span is approximately four seconds. Yeah, she doesn't like to read, she doesn't like to do anything that requires even a modicum of concentration. And I worry about that.
I think we might be moving into an era where jobs and life and everything is going to change to suit short attention span because I think a lot of. I mean, I think my attention span is shorter than mine to do so I think that the nature of technology is shortening attention span and that's going to be interesting to see. Then, well, how a workplace is designed and what do we end up doing around that?
You are so busy, and I mean you're an author, journalist, TV host, podcaster, mother, all of those things. What is your internal voice saying when people complain about how busy or tired they are.
I think, firstly, nobody really cares, is the first. I feel like it's a kind of boring topic of conversation because I think we all kind of feel busy, right, I think we all feel busy, and so it's kind of I catch myself saying it because I'll be like, oh, I'm so busy, I'm so tired, and I just think, well, it's your choice to do what.
You that's right.
So I try to kind of when I'm feeling like I've got so much and I'm so busy, to say to myself, this is how you choose to be And to be honest, I kind of often go through these patches where I go, right, the next six months, I'm going to after this busy patch. I'm going to keep that diary empty, and I'm not going to.
I have lost account of the amounts of time said after I get through this, life's going to be I've been saying that for over twenty.
Years, I know, and it just kind of stays busy. But I've kind of reached a position where I feel like, you know what, I enjoy being busy and a bit like you, I have a lot of things going on that I find really fun and that I feel like I'd hate to get to the end of my life and think, well, I could have gone to London and done a chat ten show, but I felt like I needed to keep some space in my diary. I kind of like having the adventures and doing you know, the
different things. And you know, people often talk about on nobody on their deathbed says they wish is they'd spent more time at work. I actually think, on my deathbed, I'm going to go I am so grateful for the most fascinating, interesting job that I had and all the great adventures it gave me, and what a lucky, lucky person.
Resolutely, I accepted for a long time that mantra that you know you are not your work. Work is just something you do, not who you are. And I felt very like relieved when I admitted to myself and others that that doesn't apply to me. I am my work. I am It's so important to me. It's my hobby, it's my fun, it's my connection, it's everything. And I feel really lucky actually that is the case.
That's again so good that you've been able to accept that, because I feel the same about that as well. Although I did, obviously when I left seven thirty kind of rethink my relationship to work and what I wanted out of work. And I think it's a process that evolves, you know, throughout your life. But I think so often it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking, oh, well, people think I'm a workaholic or people think this, and
it's kind of like, no, no, that's irrelevant. It's what do you want and what do you think and what's right for you and your family and so on.
I think it's irrelevant what people think about anything you do in your life. M Yeah, And I think once you really realize that, there's such freedom and happiness totally.
As I said, I didn't trink the tame they can just all gay fund themselves.
Yeah, because nobody's in it.
Yeah, yeah, that's right. It's your life. You're the one who's living it. And that's the thing for me when I was saying like social obligations. If I feel overwhelmed and I don't want to do, the person who pays the price for that is me. And also I feel conscious often that my children, right, and anytime that I don't spend with me and my children and I make a choice to do something else, that's taking me away
from them. Yeah, So I always kind of try to think, all right, well, who do I want to make happy here? Me and my children, and then you know, obviously my close circle of friends and people i'm tight with and so on. But after that, I feel like I don't really have obligations to make everyone else happy. Whether they like me or not for it, it doesn't matter. Yeah, what are your top four priorities?
I worked mine out, and when I get overwhelmed and crazy, I sort of revisit that and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's right. I've established that these are my priorities. Do you mean like values or like things to do or I guess people and reservoirs for your energy. Mine are kids, work, me, everything else, and sometimes the last me is the hardest to squeeze in there.
I would agree with that. I was thinking, my friends are very very important to me, and I'm lucky enough that I have some really old, longstanding friendships and they are just super valuable, and so I do particularly in the past few years. I don't know if it's spent turning fifty or something, but I've really made an effort to make sure I spend quality time with people who are important to How do.
You do that? Is it a phone call?
Well, so, for example, my oldest friend from school who lived around the corner and we met when we were nine. That's one of those friendships where you can not talk for a long time, but then you just kind of pick up where you left off and you just jabber on forever. So we decided this year we went away with our families for our fortieth and then we just turned fifty, so we said, let's go away for a weekend, and so we went to Kangaroo Valley in New South Wales.
So she flew down from Queensland. We had three or four days away and so you just hang out. But we don't do that very often. But that was just a really lovely thing to do.
Are you a phone call person? I find it very hard.
Less and less I used to be in my twenties, but now I'm more kind of like, I prefer to text because I can squeeze it in as I'm doing other things.
Yeah, I don't like the question how was your day? I don't want to talk about it. I've lived it.
Oh that's interesting. Nobody really ever asks me how is my day? Because my children don't give us stuff. They ask me, Mum, what's for dinner?
Yes? Absolutely, and mine too, And I'm grateful for that because I don't want to go through a blow, blow by blow account of all the stuff I've done. I've done it.
I wonder sometimes as well, if it's because you and I talk all day in our jobs and so you kind of a bit talked out.
Yeah, yeah, I've got nothing to say.
Yeah, you just kind of want a bit of peace.
You know how I wear a bum bag all the time. It's changed my life. Really, I am going to give you one before you go.
Okay, why why why is it changed your life?
Because I have everything I need on me ah, and I strapped one on a few years ago and an entire field of worry was just lifted off my head. And people people are always like, why are I going a bumba. I'm like, because I can't live without it. It's got my keys, it's got my phone, it's got everything. I never have to go. Shit, where is it? I've forgotten it? Yeah? And because it hands free, yes, and it's a bird's eye view. When I open it, I
can see everything. Okay, all right, it's magical and I'm going to give you one.
Okay.
But as part of the Christy Cast, I play a game called What's in the Belly Bag? And I'm we're going to trick it up because the item I have in here doesn't.
Fit in it.
Okay, But I'm going to hand you the belly bag and then you're going to open it, and then I'm going to reveal what.
Is okay in there? All right, sale, Okay, what's in the belly bag? What is in the belly bag is a bunt in a bunch, beautiful bunch.
What does that mean to you?
Okay? It reminds me immediately of Annabel Kram and this in joke that we've got where we call people smug bunchs.
Now, let's just clarify this belly. It is bu mdt.
That's all right. It's like in one of those molded kind of German cakes that you sprinkleizing chagarn. So we were shooting a show, oh, it must have been twenty sixteen fifteen called when I Get a minute, and there's an episode where I make a cake in a bunt in and we do as Crab calls at the dismount and bunted if you haven't greased it properly because of all the little patterns, it's hard to get it out.
And your tip to grease it is it just lots of butter melted yeah, yeah, and using a bra hated on to get into all the nooks and nooks and crannies and then let it cool a bit because it'll shrink a little bit so and then flip it up and off you go. And so when I did on the TV show The Dismount, obviously you know many a time I've done a bunt cake in half it remains in the tin, yes, and it came out absolutely flawlessly, and Crab just on the spot when you smug Butt, Your podcast is extraordinary.
What does it mean to you? Is it sense of Are you astonished by the sense of community?
Absolutely astonished. And this is a classic example of what you were talking about before about saying yes to something because it sounds fun and not really having any plan or sense of where it might go. So when it started ten years ago, was just us talking into a phone and kind of like this actually just recording a free flowing conversation, and then it just kind of built and built, and then people the way people would interact with us in public. We started feeling like, gee, I
feel like there's people listening to this. And then we set up a Facebook group so that we weren't the spokes, we weren't the center of all the spokes, so they could communicate with each other great and then that created a real community basically around it. And I often when I think of my career, it's one of the things I feel like if I walked out of here and dropped dead. Today, I do think it's one of the things that I'm the most proud of because I feel
like it has made a tangible, positive difference to people. Yeah, and I'm so grateful and thrilled and just surprised by that. It's been awesome.
Yeah, it's wonderful. Me my friends just can't get enough of it, never ever stop. Just before we hit record on this, we were talking about our lack of trust in our own skills. And last night, I mean, I've been putting aside bits and pieces of information about this podcast with you for weeks, and I even enlisted the help of my daughter. Last night. I said, do you
want to do you want to assist me? And then she had an old exercise book and her one question to you was what was it like being a correspondent in Washington from two thousand and something. I was like, oh, that's interesting. I couldn't know that. Yeah, so answer that and then we'll move on to our mistrust of our own abilities.
So that was really an amazing life experience. So I was twenty eight, it was just after nine to eleven, and I went for four years to be the ABC's Washington correspondent. So it was just it feels like when you live in Washington that you're living in a movie, right, because you're in a cab and you see the White House or the capitals. So that never wore off for me. Or you'd be driving to the airport and you pass the sign for the CIA at Langley. It's just like,
I feel like I'm living in a movie. So that was kind of thrilling. Things like if you'd go to the Pentagon for a story, I'd be just trying to seem cool, but I'd be like, I'm in the It's so cool, so cool. So that was just a really brilliant experience. One of the best things other than that the job was interesting, was my dearest friend Lisa Miller, was posted at the same time in Washington Amazing, so
we just had the greatest time. It was just did you share an apartment and all that sort of stuff. Both married at the time, so we lived around the corner from each other, but we were in each other's pockets, you know, NonStop. It was fantastic. Now the marriage has five but the French, well.
That's the important thing. Do you believe that romantic love exists? I know that your friends are very important to you and to me too, and the love I feel for them and the love I feel for my kids is like unconditional. What do you think about partner love?
I think that's a really interesting question. That's something my friends and I talk about a lot about that, particularly if you've been married before, and would you do it again kind of thing. I think that I read this article recently about this group of people in France who were single, and they decided they were going to have a dinner every Sunday night and attempt with their friendship group to replicate the dynamic of a family, and.
They got I just panicked at the idea of something every Sunday night. No way, I'm saying no future. Christie says it's sorry, I can't make it exactly.
And that their theory was friendship is the new kind of primary relationship that we expect too much from our romantic partners. That we expect our romantic partners to meet every kind of need in our life, but actually you need multiple people to meet different needs. And I kind of feel like I'm a bit of a subscriber to that view. Yes, I don't kind of believe you. Watch now that I say this, I'll walk out of here, meet eyes with some bus driver and fall helplessly love them.
But I kind of.
Tend to think I don't believe that one person's going to fill the great hole in your life.
Kind of Yeah. But I think the key there is finding somebody that agrees with that and doesn't want you all to themselves.
Yeah, exactly, So I guess you'd have to ensure that you were partnered with someone who gave you enough space.
Who also understands that that is the dynamic. Yeah, you know, it's not cheating if you want to go away for a weekend with your girlfriends.
I was thinking of exactly that example, where you need the kind of space to be able to do you know, that kind of thing.
Yeah.
And I'm also a big believer too in that certain relationships can be for a season. That just because something doesn't last for a whole lifetime friendship or romantic relationship, it doesn't mean it's a failure.
I never think that any relationship, no matter how long it lasts or how short it is, is a failure or you know, a disaster. Yea has such great things about everything.
Yeah, I agree.
That was the only question my daughter came up with because of her aforementioned attention span. Yeah. So I have, you know, turned myself inside out doing research for this podcast, and of course almost nothing that I took hours planning has been touched on or will be.
But that's the sign of a good interview. But it is chrissy because my experience with interviewing is to have the confidence to get out there. I need and it sounds like you do too, the security blanket of having done the preparation, and so I go in with like, Okay, well, this would be my list of questions. This is what I know about this person, and that gives me the confidence to go out there. But really, what you're hoping for is that you hardly have to look at that
because the conversation just keeps flowing. Yes, but I don't have the guts to kind of just rely on the information in my head to do that. No, either do I, even though it's in there and I've prepped it.
Yeah, And every time, like even with you, you know, I've been a fan for so long. I know so much about you. I consume so much of what you do, and I just never acknowledge that my curiosity will get me through. Yeah, but it would. So.
Richard Glover hosts ABC Drive in Sydney, and he is like us. He always preps. I do a weekly thing with him and we had this one time we were talking about exactly this, and I said, okay, I'm setting us a challenge. Next Monday is no prep Monday, no prepping for either of us. We have to just walk in and for our half hour we just have to talk.
And did either of you sneakily? We didn't.
When I walked, Richard said I think what I'll start with, and I went, no, Richard, that's prep like no prep. We've got to do it. I think we both found it incredibly difficult. But of course once you get going, if you've got chemistry, you can just talk. Yeah, exactly, and like you think, right, if you go to a pub with a friend, or say, if we were meeting for coffee, you wouldn't think, oh, meaningly for a coffee, I better do some prep. You would then just think we could have a conversation.
Yes, and just have everything crossed that you don't say, how was your dad? I'm so busy. I'm so tired speaking about being busy and tired. When I first started Breakfast Radio twenty one years ago, can you believe I was so tired? I couldn't believe it. Every day I felt, like you know, on those gorgeous childhood days where you swim all day and your friends above ground pool and then it hits five o'clock and your eyes are stinging and you're so tired, and you're a bit you know,
warm from the sun. Every single day I felt like that, and I couldn't believe it, and I would not shut up about it. And then I realized about two years in from just complaining, I was just like, hang on, I complained about this every day that anybody with said aber and I'm not any less tired. It's not fixing it. So I decided to stop talking about it, and that alone has made the biggest difference, because now I'm even more tired and more busy. But if you don't talk
about it, it doesn't exist. That's very interesting.
I once had a friend who sadly is now passed away, Mark Colvin, who used to be a journalist at the ABC, and he had had really bad health for about twenty five years. He contracted a horrible virus when he was working as a correspondent in Africa and his health had kind of been decimated by it. Ended up having a kidney transplant sogn and when he was a young man, he was very handsome, dashing, foreign correspondent, beautiful British accent, all of that kind of vibe, James bond James Bondie.
And then his illness had come kind of robbed his mobility, his looks, everything except his brilliant brain, basically. And I found this kind of interesting. But he would very rarely talk about even though he's in constant pain, never really talked about it, didn't talk about being ill. And one day we're in the car and I said, Colin, like, I'm always kind of curious, like what effect it's had on you, your illness, And he said, and I said, but you never talk about it, And he said, no
sales because it's just so boring. He said, there's nothing more boring than being in constant pain and being ill. It's boring for me, and I just don't want it to be boring for everybody else. And I just thought, God, isn't that incredible? Because he was an extremely interesting person and great company, and I thought that was fascinating that he'd made a conscious decision like, yes, I'm in constant pain,
but I'm just going to not talk about it. Yeah, And it made him, in my view, you know, almost an heroic person to just push through life like that.
Yeah, to not complain is a big ask. Yeah, let's talk about this new shop. Yes, they call the Assembly. Now. You have said of your new show where fifteen autistic people are given cart blanche to interview celebs beautiful like Hamish Blake, Sam Neil, etc. That one element of what you loved about it was that it shows what people can achieve if they're given a go.
Yeah.
And I've always said it just takes one person to champion you and you're away. Do you have that one person that sort of identified something in you as a young person and when she's got something, I think probably not one person.
But I feel like when I look back over my career, there's been multiple people who gave me a go at doing things when my experience on paper wouldn't have really justified the confidence or the even being given a shot.
But they gave me a shot. So when I first started, my first job was at Chryn Line in Brisbane, and so I had, like everyone does, is their junior job, you know, I'd answer the phone to viewers complaints and send the crews out and print scripts and do whatever was required role the autoque And there was a woman named Elizabeth Egan who was one of the reporters, and she let me sort of research a few stories, and she actually she didn't just kind of take the research.
She'd give me some tips and so she was actually really encouraging and sort of helped me a lot learn, you know, in a very active mentory kind of way. And then when I went to the ABC, I mean even just getting the job at the ABC was kind of because I hadn't had any reporting experience at nine, So getting in at this junior what was at the time of D grade, that was a punt that they took on me. And I'm still in touch with the
boss who gave me that gig, John Cameron. And then I think going to Washington, as I said, I was twenty seven turning twenty eight on paper, I didn't have all that experience, but it was the same boss Camo and another boss, Maxieatrich, who kind of wire like, we think that you can do it, and I think nothing, nothing propels.
You to deliver.
Then, like when someone's put some faith in you and that they're trusting that you can do it.
I agree. Have you ever been that person for someone? I hope?
So I try a lot of people want me to mentor them, and I have a few people in the ABC that I do that with on an ongoing basis, and then sometimes I just do one off things with people.
What I've I find that that's a very that's a difficult request.
It is one hundred percent.
It is because I feel like, so for me in advertising, the people that saw something in me and really, you know, gave me an opportunity. One was Jeffrey Booth and another one was Steve Hurley, and you can always you can always name the people that help you. And in radio it was Mike Perso who just hounded me and hounded me and I'm so glad he did because I'm my god, it's so wonderful. But when you I feel like when I get approached as well, you know, prefer with by
young people wanting a career in the media. But I think it needs to be organic. Yeah.
Same here. I don't generally do it when people say can you please mentor me? It usually evolves from somebody that I've been in a team with or something, already know them a little bit and you have a certain connection that means it can kind of go. There's a couple of exceptions to that, but generally that's how it works.
Because you also have to identify where because you don't know everything about everything, and I don't know everything about everything, so you need to identify the sort of person that you can help totally.
And I think as well, what I've noticed with say, you know people in the twenties that I mentor is I think actually sometimes all they want is just someone to listen to them and to just go you're doing great, Yeah, you're going to be fine. I don't think they need someone to go, well, here's how you do an interview.
Yeah.
I sometimes think they just want to bounce ideas off somebody and have like an environment where someone just gives them an hour of listening time and just encourages them that things will work out.
Okay, because I.
Think too, in your twenties, sometimes every decision, like about taking a certain job or whatever, you feel like it's a big life changing decision. Yes, but you realize when you're older there's kind of no right or wrong decisions. There's just just all different paths that.
Yeah, and you can leap frog to the side, go back a bit and start again.
Yeah, take a bit of time out if you need to you.
Know now, the assembly yes, sorry in your own words again, Yes, the assembly is people asking whatever they like. No questions are off limits. Yes, so let's try some lisales. How much money do you have in dollars and cents?
That was a question that got asked of Hamish Blake. Could anyone do it to the sense? I mean, I don't think so.
Also, like it depends on what direct deborts are coming out you who knows?
Do you have any cash in that bum bag of yours?
Not a penny? I haven't had cash for years.
Yeah, not at all.
It's terrible.
In fact, I didn't even bring anything down to Melbourne other than my phone. I didn't bring any cards at all.
Oh see, I have a little folder in here with all my cards, just in case it doesn't work. Yeah. When was the last time you had a proper pash?
Oh? Not that long ago. I don't want to go into too many jails.
No, you must not go into details. Good good news. Do your toenails look like something that you would find on a hobbit?
Yes? Mine somewhere somewhere between hobbit and acceptable. Not full scale hobbit, but not.
Great are they painted? No, No, you're a disgrace. What is the most shameful thing you've served up and called dinner? Oh?
Like packet, fish fingers and just stuff like that.
You know what you can do to judge that up in no time because I'm the shortcut coen. Yeah, I also love a fish finger, but sometimes I elevate them to the sort of slightly wedge shaped. They're fish fingers, they're just a bit bigger. You cook them exactly the same way, and then you get your tortillas. Oh and you chop them mark a bit of chipotle, and then you've got a fish taco. A bell crap does that? She does?
Yeap? She is? Is such a smug bune.
When you imagine yourself at seventy, what is the image that you can conjure.
I like to think smiling, having a great time and for me and so I don't judge anyone else having a wrinkly lived in face and gray hair. That's a good question. I think at age fifty one, I feel like, yes, but you better ask me at sixty nine, I reckon I might feel differently. Yeah, as I get closer, I.
Just feel like I'm not ready to let it go yet. I love all the you know, Nivia and Dove campaigns, this beautiful gray hair, but I'm just not ready.
I also don't think I'm gonna have beautiful gray hair. I think I'm gonna have really foul, nondescript color.
The frieze is real, I'll.
Still have to get color put in my hair to make it look like nice gray hair.
Absolutely me too, that blue the purple shampoo. Thank you so much for joining me, Lasavano. You've got a plane to catch. It's been so fun. Thank you for having real, adorable, smart, insightful and a bit naughty to water woman. You can catch Lee's amazing new TV show, The Assembly. It's available from August twenty on the ABC and ABC I View. And don't forget to follow me on the Christy cast socials on Instagram for all sorts of bits and bobs.
You can DM me anytime. By the way, I run it because I don't have a life till next time. Christy Casters, stay amazing