How Do You Decide? Podcast with Megan Stafford

10/05/2024

Hello dear FB followers! I am consolidating my profiles and all the action from now on will be happening over on my Instagram account .co
I’ll be shutting down this page so if you have IG and are intrigued by what I might be creating next please pop on over there and follow along.
Thanks for your support here and on the pod. New things coming!!

06/12/2022

For those that have been waiting to listen, it is here! Your latest listen…

A LIVE podcast session recorded at the Young Beef Producers Forum in Roma on 18 November 2022 with Alicia McClymont from Antola Trading and Sam Fryer from Black Box Co.

Alicia and Sam talk about the decision to diversify their beef businesses in different ways: Alicia splitting her time between Bondi where she designs for her fashion business and Richmond in NW Queensland where she runs her beef property, and Sam opting to expand his knowledge through university, external training and now as an Account Manager at Black Box Co.

This episode is, at its heart, about how to balance two things: external expectations and inner desires. In this context, it applies to business and is also a great conversation for anyone trying to weigh up between two options. Maybe you can have both?!

Photo: Just a zany podcast host (middle bright colours and fun earrings) with Black Box Co Account Manager & always-learning Sam Fryer (moustachioed for Movember and to left) & Antola Trading owner, designer & always-questioning Alicia McClymont. In addition, these guys also proudce beef. And I consume it.

Happy Listening 👂

15/11/2022

Podcast going live this Friday in Roma!

YBPF 2022 LIVE PODCAST HOST: Megan Stafford

Megan is a former journalist whose curiosity (read: nosiness) has never left her. After yet another trip overseas, she turned her hand to banking – because plot twists make every life story more interesting – and now works as an Agribusiness Relationship Manager for Suncorp in North Queensland. In 2021, she launched a podcast How Do You Decide? that explores how the decisions we make shape us.

See the full conference program here: https://www.ybpf.com.au/program/

How Do You Decide? Podcast with Megan Stafford Future Farmers Network

10/08/2022

🚨 NEW EPISODE ALERT 🚨

It’s the podcast’s first birthday!! ☝️

To celebrate as HDYD enters its second year in your ears and on your apps we have a special birthday episode.

The episode is just me behind the mic talking about why I decided to make a podcast series and how I went about it. Do I think the podcasters we all know probably waited until their 100th+ episode to give the listeners such behind-the-scenes reflective audio artistry? Yeah, probably. How lucky are you all then to get this after 12 episodes?! Or maybe even after listening to zero episodes. In which case I say, Welcome!

Wherever you are on your listening journey, enjoy!!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the podcast!!! 🥳

Episode available now wherever you listen to your podcasts.

05/03/2022

Congratulations to our Episode 11 star Robyn Russell! 👏
You and the Charlotte Plains set are absolutely deserving.
To hear Robyn’s story, head to your favourite listening platform and search for How Do You Decide?

The Cunnamulla station is making a name for itself in the tourism sector

06/11/2021

*** The Faces of Season 1 ***

How Do You Decide? may be done and dusted for now. The great news? We are now extremely bingeable.

If that’s the way you like to consume your content and pure looking for your next listen, head over to your favourite podcast platform and search for How Do You Decide?

These faces and their stories will be waiting.

31/10/2021

And, just like that, we reach our final dedication for Season 1. Did that go insanely quick for anyone else?! Me, too.

And we will discuss that feeling and the future of How Do You Decide? another day. For now, I bring you the final dedication…to the ones I love.

The ones I love seems too broad, doesn’t it?! You read it and you wonder, Am I in this group? Heck, there’s room for you all. Get on in here!

Still, I want to start with my sisters – the folk in this photo taken at my younger sister Samantha’s wedding. I love this photo so much: the three of us just sitting down having a chat. One of my favourite things to do. I also love this photo because it was taken on one of our wedding days. No matter what big milestones we each reach, there’s still room for us as sisters. I love that, and Penny and Samana, I love you.

Of course, there are my parents. The people who at my current age were navigating how to raise kids, be married, work and make time for the ones they love. Phwoar! That would’ve been a lot. Parents mould us, no matter where they fall on the spectrum of absent to present, loving or unkind. Mum and Dad, I’m lucky to say the scales fell more often than not toward present and loving. I love you both.

There are my brothers-in-law, Rex and Dan. My sisters chose well, and I have benefited from their marriages already, and intend for that to continue. Lotta odd jobs that need doing, boys. Lots. That’s the point of love, right?!

There’s the aunt that didn’t get her own dedication, but whose message to tell me she’d laughed out loud on a plane listening to an episode made me smile BIG. There’s the uncle that also didn’t get his own dedication. Look, he didn’t message me at all, but how can you not include him too?! He’s a good guy all the same.

There’s Andrew, my Nanna’s partner, who I got to see recently in Townsville and whose kind words meant a whole lot to me. There are the cousins, the nieces and nephew, the great-aunts, and that family down in Tasmania. The work colleagues that have been emailing the podcast link around Australia and cheering me on.

Whoa, there are a lot of people I love.

I end with the ones I started with, my sisters, but also my closest friends. A lot of my friends housed me along the way making this podcast and got a dedication. There are more that didn’t, but whose calls and texts along the way (not just on the road trip, but every day) make the difference. Friendship is one special thing. It’s the best. You know who you are – I love you.

This episode is for the ones I love. But, this series, it’s for friendship. For the people in our lives that give us the courage to do something bold. That make us feel okay with our flaws. For the ones we hope we get to end up sitting beside talking nonsense. This is for them.

To listen to this season’s final guest, Jo McNicol Feirclough, head to your favourite podcast platform.

26/10/2021

THE FINAL EPISODE!!

Jo McNicol Feirclough is what we call a character. But I think that’s being too simplistic. Because there’s a whole lot to Jo. She is, as we all are, multi-dimensional.

The wonderful thing about Jo is that she’s direct about that fact. She doesn’t beat around the bush. She tells it how it is. And we often don’t know what to do with that, so we laugh and say, “What a character.”

What I’m interested in is what makes people who they are, and in this episode, you are going to get that in a big way!

For example, Jo was hit by a bus. Yes, I’m serious. A big old bus in Townsville knocked her down on King’s Road. She fractured two discs due to the force of the fall.

That story is something we just mention in passing in this conversation. Because there was just so many other things to unpack.

The same can be said about Jo’s cervical cancer diagnosis. We might refer to it but that’s it. Our conversation was a long one. Too long to publish it all.

So, How Do You Decide what to cut?

Well, when you run a podcast exploring that question you get bold enough to cut out pretty big events like getting hit by a bus and cancer.

Not because they weren’t important. But because what I’ve kept will, I trust, show the many sides of Jo.

If you’re worried that I’ve cut all the good anecdotes, let me tell you what remains: there’s Jo getting stabbed by her then-husband, there are three other cancer diagnoses, there’s family tensions and trauma.

I hope you’re getting the picture: this episode, the last of Season 1, is Big. Let’s get to it.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

24/10/2021

DEDICATION TIME!

Jill Phillips is my grandmother. We call her Jaycee. I could’ve used a more recent photo of Jaycee, but honestly, the woman has hardly changed since this snap back in 1996 with my sisters (that’s me on the left, my younger sister Samantha in the middle and my older sister, Penny, on the right…aren’t we adorable?!). If I get to experience being 70+ and look like her, I’ll be grateful, but also, I’ll be thinking, This is what I expected. In other words, I better get her genetics. Or else.

Visits from Jaycee were probably my introduction to makeup. I loved, and still love, to watch her get ready in the morning with her series of serums and powders. All topped off with a choice of an exceptional lip colour. Magnifique. Meanwhile, when I put on my series of serums and powders, it feels like such drudgery. I guess that’s the magic of grandmothers.

Oh, and before I move on from this point, I have got to say she always smells incredible. Always. I know I’m making her out to be more confectionery treat than human. But you know what, maybe she is?! She’s an absolute delight, that’s for sure.

Jaycee lives in Toowoomba now and was my first port of call on my road trip for the podcast. Staying with Jaycee is one of the most comfortable experiences. Literally. The mattresses and bed linen are better than the best hotel. The fridge is stocked ready for 5pm drinks and nibbles. And, of course, there’s her perfumed scent wafting around the whole house. I hope everyone has a Jaycee in their life.

Since reaching adulthood, I’ve realised how lucky I was growing up surrounded by matriarchs: both on my maternal (Jaycee) and paternal (Nanna) sides. Jaycee had five kids and four of them were daughters, which meant a mother and three aunts for me. And, every five years, Jaycee and her sister Jeanie get together with all the branches of their family trees. That’s a lot of influential women, I know! And, at the helm, is Jaycee. Calling us all the wrong names, and/or Possum. We love it. Don’t change.

This week’s episode was with Robyn Russell. Robyn came to Jaycee’s house for me to interview her. It meant Jaycee giving up her home and her voice for the sake of the audio. She did it without a hint of frustration. Indeed, she spent the time making us all a delicious lunch spread. This possum’s stomach was very happy. Listen carefully and you might hear Jaycee tinkering around. If only you could smell her too.

Jaycee, thank you so much for all you’ve done, do, and will do for me. I love you. This episode is for you.

Listen to Episode 11 with Robyn Russell now. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

19/10/2021

EPISODE 11: Robyn Russell

Robyn Russell grew up on Charlotte Plains, near Cunnamulla, in south-west Queensland. The property has been in her family now for 100 years. A century of ownership, with Robyn at the helm (not the entire time, of course).

It’s not the first time she has been the sole operator keeping Charlotte Plains running. Indeed, she and her husband Reid spent four years running their family operations – Robyn’s at Charlotte Plains and Reid’s at Plain Creek, south of Charters Towers – separately and together. There’s a bit of distance between the two places, but they were determined to make it work, and they did.

Charlotte Plains is the backdrop for a lot of this conversation. It was where Robyn first met Reid, where their romance blossomed and waned and blossomed again over a 7-year courtship, and it’s been the predominant place she’s called home for her +70 years.

It’s also quite literally the backdrop for part of our conversation, as I visited Robyn there and was lucky enough to get a tour. For sharp listeners, you are correct in thinking Charlotte Plains was featured in a recent season of Farmer Wants A Wife.

In this conversation, we talk about Robyn’s two great loves: Reid and Charlotte Plains. Reid died in 2011. It meant a great deal of change for Robyn. Charlotte Plains has called for Robyn to similarly adjust over seasons of drought.

We also talk about Robyn’s time travelling overseas in her twenties – it’s not the story of a global jaunt we are used to today. We talk about life away from the land, struggling with succession, and how Robyn bought her first home by door knocking in the neighbourhood.

Search for “How Do You Decide?” wherever you listen to podcasts.

16/10/2021

EPISODE 10 DEDICATION

This week on the podcast we met Rob and Sarah Cook, who lived on a very remote cattle station in the Northern Territory, Suplejack Downs, in the Tanami Desert. So, it seemed only fitting to dedicate this episode to my own outback adventure exploring the Channel Country around Thargomindah with my former housemate, Danette O’Connell.

I met Danette through her sister, Jess, who I work with in my day job as an agribusiness bank manager. I was heading west for a race meet and Jess suggested I take her sister, Danette, with me. Danette had recently returned from overseas and was new to Townsville.

I recall distinctly thinking that saying yes could mean an excruciating road trip with a stranger, and worse, it could mean a very painful return journey feeling a bit dusty and having to talk with said stranger, who would now be less a stranger and more “weird person who consumes questionably out-of-date food and milk products.” Well, wasn’t I right? In the best way possible.

To clarify, I did not take Danette to the races. I did get to meet her a few months later at a work function. Instantly, I was hooked. I could’ve slapped myself for not taking her to the races and missing months of friendship. And when I say I was hooked, I mean it. That first meeting, I invited her to Christmas with my extended family. When I like someone, I don’t waste time.

The months passed. Danette came to Christmas with my family (Big hit with them! Huge!). We partook in a few friendship dates. And then, one fateful day, I got a message from Danette asking me if she could move in as my housemate. She included a list of advantages to having her as a housemate, but I didn’t need to see them. The answer was a resounding yes.

Danette moved in at the perfect time – just as COVID-19 hit our shores and the first lockdown orders were set. For the next 18 months, we were housemates. It was as fun and comfy as I had anticipated.

When I was on my road trip in March for the podcast, Danette was spending some time at her home property, Wombula, between Eulo and Thargomindah. With a little planning, I found myself there too.

She taught me to ride a motorbike, she’s showed me how to test the limits of expiration dates, and best of all, she’s been a listening ear and friend that I’d never say no to having on a road trip.

If you met Danette, it’d be love at first sight for you too. Trust me. But the thing is, the best parts about Danette I discovered once she was living with me, and the infatuation could cool down and I really got to know her.

Danetti, I love you. This episode is for you.

To hear this week’s episode with Rob & Sarah Cook, jump onto your favourite podcast platform and search for How Do You Decide?

12/10/2021

EPISODE 10 - Rob & Sarah Cook

In 2008, Rob was in a helicopter accident on a remote station in the Northern Territory, Suplejack Downs Station. If you want to define remote, the closest centre Alice Springs is +700km away. So, you can imagine the tension when Rob found himself in a crashed chopper, paralysed, and unbeknownst to him, a C4-quadriplegic.

Making decisions suddenly became very important to all involved: Rob's life counted on every single one. In this episode, we talk about the day of the accident, the quick-thinking of a mine medic, the generosity of fellow Territorians, and the unfolding realisation that their lives would never be the same.

This is a conversation with Rob and his wife, Sarah, who had trained as a nurse prior to the accident. High school sweethearts, business partners and parents, Rob and Sarah are great mates as well as husband and wife. In this conversation, they are very candid about what life is like now: from finding care support workers, navigating how to discipline kids when you're wheelchair-bound, through to those moments of forgetting your own physical limits.

We cover a lot of ground, and yet we only skimmed the surface. Luckily, Rob wrote a book with Carl Curtain "When The Dust Settles" that can be purchased online as an eBook with limited hard copies.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

10/10/2021

DEDICATION TIME

If you read my earlier dedication to Jekka Mann (Episode 3), you’ll know I spent a month with a group of 20 burgeoning agribusiness bankers in Albury a few years ago. Today’s dedication is to another of my cohort, Alice Mort.

Alice and I were roommates and during those four weeks had a lot of fun. We signed up to join a local gym, where we’d go in the morning to avail of their various classes: Pilates, barre, spin, yoga. We would then walk back to our accommodation via a coffee van that sold ham and cheese croissants. It’s called balance, and yes, we knew how to keep those scales level.

Our days were then spent in a classroom together, our lunches with two other grads, Jekka and Lucy, dining on various meals with the foundational element being a roast chook, and our nights congregating in our room or at a local watering hole. That amount of togetherness led to some nonsensical – but extremely funny (to us) – jokes.

Like Jekka, I’ve caught up with Alice a couple of times since then, and as I was making my way from Eulo to Gin Gin, I stopped in at Roma for a night to reminisce about old times.

We didn’t hit the gym, nor did we consume croissants and roast chooks. We did have breakfast together and then it was time to say our farewells. Only it was a false farewell as two hours later I was back in Roma. My original route had been flooded. Perfect. Another chance to see Alice and partake in what we do best – supporting local businesses as thirsty consumers.

Alice, this latest episode is a lot about education. It’s also about letting life take you where it will, and my ending up in Albury was one of those moments for me. We’ll always have the memories. Thanks for being a great host – my turn next. This one’s for you.

This week’s episode with Viv Chapman is now live on all your favourite podcast platforms.

05/10/2021

*** EPISODE 9 ***

Can you imagine being the only teacher in a school located in remote North Queensland? Can you imagine being that teacher and finding your bed is on the school veranda, you've got to dig your own toilet, and your contract end date is unknown?

If you are Viv Chapman, you can imagine it clearly because, well, he lived it. For the rest of you, you'll have to listen to his story and find out what happened next. This is a story set largely around Viv's time teaching in the small town of Malbon, a railway siding some 60km south of Cloncurry in 1969.

While his time was brief at Malbon, the months spent there led Viv to later be chosen from more than 250 people to teach in New Zealand.

In this conversation, we talk about Viv's career teaching in his various roles as teacher, principal, pastor. His memories are supported by his wife Lyn, who is included in the interview.

This episode is for those who want to know what a lifetime of teaching can teach us about how to live.

Available now wherever you find your podcasts.

05/10/2021

Want some hot stats on how the podcast is going?! Of course you do. Read on!

In the past 7 days, we have had a roaring trade amongst men (Thanks lads!) with 49% male listeners, as per photo below. Our listenership, or deci-ples (Shout out to our listener Kylie for the name) has been predominantly female-led and the ladies still run the show with 69% of the total listening pie.

We've had more than 3,500 plays and according to podstatus.com we are ranked #242 in Society & Culture in Australia right now on Apple Podcasts. They list the top 200, so if you've read this far and still haven't given the podcast a play, I'd be chuffed to see you added to the stats.

As for my Spotify listeners, well, you've been consistently listening to Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Luke Coombs throughout the season. You've got great taste, so keep on doing what you do.

Another episode - #9!!! - landing at one minute past midnight for our most dedicated deci-ples (hi Mum!) aka tomorrow.

If you've loved the stats, let me know. I'll be sure to share more!

-M xx

02/10/2021

DEDICATION TIME

When I was planning my road trip, I knew I would be heading out west of Eulo, and then need to circle back north-east to Gin Gin. There’s a bit of a stretch between the two locations – about 990kms. That’s a lot of kilometres with no planned interviews in between. Enter, my aunt and uncle – Wendy and Mick, who had lived in Charleville, a possible stop along the way and introduced me to this week’s guest, Carmel Williams.

Wendy was an RFDS nurse out at Charleville and Mick worked at the local golf club. Meanwhile, at home, they were raising my cousin, Ben, who had juvenile arthritis and required frequent specialist visits to manage his pain. It was a busy time for them, and they fast became part of the community there.

Mick and Wendy now live in Toowoomba, and I stayed with them there before heading west. During that visit, Wendy told me about how their decision to move to Charleville came at a crossroad for them as a couple: both she and Mick had applied for jobs at various locations that would be a step up for them. When Wendy found out she’d gotten the job at the RFDS, they both decided it was too good to miss out on. So, Mick decided to take a step sideways to support Wendy’s step forward.

I was a flower girl when Wendy and Mick got married. On the day, I was shocked to find out I was not as instrumental to the whole business of their marriage as I thought I was going to be. And, over the course of their 25+ year marriage, I have been surprised when Wendy and Mick have been open and vulnerable about the realities of relationships, commitment, marriage. I think it’s always surprising – in a really nice way, not like when I was flower girl and found out I wasn’t needed for every photo – when people are honest about what their experience is really like.

They also have a glorious media room in which I was able to watch Oprah’s interview with Harry and Meghan on the big screen. For that alone, I could dedicate an episode.

Wendy and Mick, thanks for having me, and please keep sharing the reality of romance with me. This episode is for you both.

Carmel’s story is now live. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

28/09/2021

NEW EPISODE

Community and contribution have been major factors when it comes to decision-making for this week's guest, Carmel Williams.

Carmel worked for Australia Post for 27 years in Charleville. She retired earlier this week. But, away from work, Carmel has been heavily involved in the community of Charleville: on committees, helping to cater for events, and doing her part to keep the community spirit out there alive.

In this conversation, we talk about where that community spirit came from, her time at Australia Post, including the delicate balance required when it comes to managing a team, and her decision to retire.

Those grappling with retirement, or taking a step back - this episode is for you. It's also for all of us. Whether you are shy or love the spotlight, contribution is something you can choose, or often, that can choose you. And, maybe, if you are like Carmel, it might even come to define you in the eyes of many.

Listen now 🎧

25/09/2021

Episode 7 with Jen Kealey was recorded in the glorious surrounds of Armidale. This week’s dedication is to my hosts during my stay in the New England – Josie Coddington and Nic Bartlett.

I first came to know Nic and Josie when we all lived in the Burdekin. I worked at NAB with Nic, and I remember having afternoon drinks at the pub in my first week and meeting Nic’s girlfriend, Josie. Soon, we were a throuple…in name only, and even then, calling us a throuple is just my way of being gentle and kind to myself. Otherwise, you could say I was a persistent and ever-present third wheel.

Nic and Josie are hugely involved in whatever community they live in, so by way of inserting myself into their lives, I found myself sitting on the Home Hill Tennis committee with them. Because of them, I confirmed my instinct that I would be terrible at Rugby 7s. I found I could much better support them and the Club as a spectator and patron of the bar and canteen.

While I joke about being a third wheel, I think there should be more said for being friends with couples. Often it can be the case that you like one part of the couple and not the other. Not so with Nic and Josie (though Nic, I confess, if you can only afford one plane ticket to
visit me, send Josie). Their friendship and their various homes became an easy place to be.

When I rolled into Armidale with Vivian (see Episode 1 dedication), Nic and Josie greeted us
with a smile, a hug, and best of all, a home-cooked roast meal. Cooking with Nic and Josie may just be my favourite part of their community spirit.

Between recording episodes for the podcast, Nic and Josie took me to see the sights around Armidale. The throuple had reunited.

Nic and Josie, you’ve looked after me in many various states and situations over our friendship. It’s always fun when we get together, and there will never be another throuple like us! You are both treasures and treasured by me and, of course, I include Darrell and Diego in this message.

This episode is all about choosing what fits for you, and your friendship fits me just fine. This one’s for you.

You can listen to Jen Kealey’s episode now on your favourite podcast platform.

21/09/2021

NEW EPISODE - EPISODE 7

If you've ever thought to yourself: life would be so much better if I lived in (enter place name), this episode is for you.

Jen Kealey and her husband Chook moved to Walcha in the New England region of NSW in late 2008. It was a very deliberate choice, and one they'd taken their time with. They'd sat down with a list of things they wanted from the place they'd call home, opened a map of Australia, and starting to make a list of places that lined up with their first list.

In this conversation, Jen and I talk about how they made that decision to move to Walcha, the isolation she felt upon arriving, and how she overcame that. We also talk about her time working at youth organisation, Backtrack, burnout, and how sometimes the hardest choice is choosing to take care of yourself and stepping back.

Available now on your favourite podcast platform.

20/09/2021

Episode 6 Valerie Coates: During our conversation, Val talked about her years living in Kenya as a child. She recalled arriving at the airport as a 9-year-old and being greeted with a cheetah. Here she is pictured with that cheetah 🐆

Listen to Val’s story now. Available on your favourite podcast platforms.

19/09/2021

We are now halfway through Season 1 of How Do You Decide? Six episodes in, six to go. This week’s dedication is all about the beginnings of Season 1. But, before I get to that, I must tell you about another beginning.

I first met Sarah Valentine as Miss Valentine, my older sister’s soon-to-be dormitory supervisor during an inspection of the school my sisters and I would all attend. A couple of years later, I was heading to high school myself, which meant boarding school, and getting better acquainted with Miss Valentine, who was now going to be my dorm Mum, the caretaker responsible for me and 30+ other 11–14-year-old girls. I remember that first year believing there were cameras hidden in the fire sprinklers on the ceiling because somehow Miss Valentine, or Mama V (a nickname my friend and peer Nicole gifted her in Grade 12), always knew who was causing mischief without ever catching the perpetrators in the act. Now I realise 30+ girls meant there were 60+ little eyes and mouths to feed information back to our mutual Mother. Still, there’s an element of all-knowing to Miss Valentine.

Mama V is also a great storyteller. As I was writing this dedication, I was with my two sisters and on that we all agreed. The other descriptors we came up with included: vivacious, eccentric (which, in our view, can only ever be a good quality), hilarious, entertaining, and very caring. Mama V’s memory is something else. On that we also agreed. When Mama V tells you a story, you are told everything. You know the layout of the room the story happened in, and the backstories of the people involved because every small detail is a crucial thread in the tapestry of the tale she is telling.

That’s why I turned to Mama V at the start of the year when I knew I wanted to make How Do You Decide? happen and needed help to get started with stories wanting to be told. Within 24 hours, Mama V had not only made a list of five candidates, but she’d also called them, and they’d all agreed to be interviewed. I ended up meeting four of the five people. Two of them you’ve already met (if you’re up to date with the podcast, and if you aren’t, time to get listening). You’ll soon meet the other two.

Mama V, you’ve been instrumental in this podcast coming to life. Thank you. I am so glad I ended up in White Dorm with you all those years ago. Listening to your stories has, I hope, made me a better storyteller. There’ll always be space for you in my heart.

Now, there is a real risk this dedication may inspire you to bake me some more banana bread, or brownies. Please know it was a risk I had to take. Thanks for introducing me to Val. This episode is for you.

Catch up on How Do You Decide? Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

14/09/2021

***NEW EPISODE***

Valerie Coates' story hinges on the three-and-a-half years she spent working in the Royal Australian Air Force, or RAAF. A le***an, Val’s sexuality was something she knew to hide in the 1960s for her own safety. She was outed in the worst way when someone she worked with told the military police that Val was a le***an. Val was subjected to hours of interrogation and dismissed from the Air Force.

The trauma of that experience has never left Val. It is an example of the potency of our experiences. Of how something that happened in minutes can stick with us for months, years, our whole life.

In this conversation, we discuss Val’s childhood, which included a move to Kenya at the age of nine, that interrogation, and about sexuality, love, and family.

Available now wherever you get your podcasts.