The Bend Like Bamboo Blog.
Welcome to The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show
We discover that our greatest challenges often become our greatest strengths.
Each month, I sit down with remarkable leaders who've transformed adversity into triumph, sharing their inspiring journeys of resilience and renewal. Together, we explore the mindset shifts, practical strategies, and breakthrough moments that turned their setbacks into comebacks.
What you'll discover:
Real stories of people who've learned to bend without breaking, actionable tools to transform stress into strength, and evidence that when we change our story, we change what's possible for our health, relationships, and future.
Like bamboo, we're designed to be flexible.
When we embrace this truth, we don't just survive life's storms - we use them to grow stronger, wiser, and more resilient than ever before.
Join me as we explore how flexibility builds unshakeable resilience.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Terri Vinson, founder of Synergie Skin.
Terri Vinson is an Australian skin scientist, cosmetic chemist, entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author. She is dedicated to helping people feel empowered, informed and confident when it comes to their skincare choices through multilevel education and by creating her cosmeceutical skincare range, Synergie Skin.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Laura Bennetto founder of Sea Studio.
Pilates instructor and sea studio founder Laura Bennetto has a background in psychology and social work with extensive experience working in the field of mental and sexual health, addiction and disability. It is through this lens that she has created a studio where the mind and body come together.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Mark Truelson, Speaker and disruption specialist.
Mark Truelson is not your everyday speaker. He leads from the heart and brings love and emotion to the normally sterile world of Corporate Australia.
He provides the tools to employees that can ignite the passion and overcome dormancy in the workplace - the very dormancy that fuels doubt, dismay, and even personal crisis.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Toni Dingle founder of That Gut Feeling, a mother arming parents with tools to heal the gut.
Toni Dingle is the founder of That Gut Feeling and a health coach to help our babies reach their full potential in life. Toni is obsessed with arming women with the tools they need to dominate motherhood, both pre and post pregnancy. By taking a holistic approach to gut health, Toni helps women to look after themselves first and foremost, so that they're better equipped to do what they do best... look after everyone else.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Louise Carrigg Director of Barry Plant Heathmont & Ringwood.
As the Director of Barry Plant Heathmont & Ringwood, Louise's vision is to deliver the ultimate in customer service, with a trustworthy and friendly approach, Louise leaving both vendors and buyers surprised that their real estate experience can be positive and happy.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Lisa Sweeney CEO of Business in heels.
In this week’s interview, Lisa shares her incredible story of surviving a knife attack when a burglar invaded her home and took off with her dog.
Lisa knew in her heart that there was a choice, she could live in fear, or she could stop letting the incident impact her and stop giving the attacker any more power.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Mark Heggart CEO of The Myubi Foundation.
Mark is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of successfully creating profitable businesses, helping others to achieve their dreams and visions. He is a media commentator for Blockchain and Philanthropic solutions, Investor, Speaker, and Futurist. CEO and visionary for The Myubi Foundation, a private not for profit delivering a cryptocurrency daily basic income to the world’s poor. A skilled trainer in Leadership Development Mark is a keen advocate of Hypnosis and Mesmerism. With a background in music and production, Mark also has a passion for Global Audio Distribution Solutions, Event Management, Metadata, Production, ringtones, and online content creation.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Shannah Kennedy Life Coach and author of The Life Plan.
Clarity, direction, purpose. Those are the words Shannah Kennedy stands by. She had an incredible career in sports management and sponsorship working with over 100 Olympic and elite athletes until she hit burnout and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and depression. She hired a life coach for herself to shift out of the darkness, review, reset, and refocus her life. In 2000 she studied to be one of Melbourne’s first life coaches, focusing on coaching athletes into retirement after seeing so much destruction in their lives outside of sport.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Deborra-lee Furness.
Deborra-lee Furness is an internationally acclaimed actress as well as a passionate supporter of children and defender of their human rights across the globe. Her humanitarian work for children is a driving force in her life.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Donna Campisi, Author, Speaker and stroke survivor.
Donna Campisi is a passionate woman, inspiring people around the world to turn their dreams into reality by hosting a podcast called Ready! Set! Goal! She is a Keynote Speaker, Author, Coach, Mentor and Adventurer.
Donna inspired many people with her stroke to marathon challenge; from only being able to run 30 tentative steps in 2012 (after a childhood stroke and diabetes) to completing her marathon goal in 2013, while encouraging many along the way that there’s no such thing as can’t… AND raising funds for the RCH Foundation.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Phil Hadfield founder of A Chronic Comeback Podcast.
For the last 10 years, Phil has been navigating the complex journey of chronic health and all of the mental challenges that come with it.
Despite not having recovered, he believes he is closer than he's ever been and although Phil still faces extreme physical symptoms on a daily basis, he is mentally, much stronger, and resilient as a result of what he has had to go through.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Rosie Dumbrell, Founder of Lenny Rose Active, Physiotherapist, Pilates and Yoga Instructor & Podcaster.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Jane Vandermeer, founder of Intuitive Whispers & Finesse Business and Style.
Jane has an extensive & highly accomplished career within the Fashion Industry. She has been a designer, tailor, pattern maker, quality control buyer, has worked in wholesale & retail sales has lectured in her field.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Linda Whitehead, GM of Jay Jay's, Founder of Three Little Moons Yoga and Yoga for Bro's.
For the past 25+ years, Linda has been very focused on moving her way up the corporate ladder in retail buying and General Management roles. Her current role is the Group General Manager of the Jay Jays brand. She juggles the role of retail executive with being Mum to 3 kids under 15 and running a yoga business in both Australia and Bali.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Pia Kirkwood, Parliamentary Advisor and Disability Advocate.
From a young age, Pia has had a keen interest in the Victorian Parliamentary process, in particular how the legislation came to be developed, the workings of government to parliament, and Question Time. Pia has since achieved the role of parliamentary adviser.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Matt Lanigan Founder of Lucky Penny and Managing Director of Matt Lanigan Real Estate.
This year, facing change and adversity, Matt used the skills he learned to adjust and foresee what was coming well in advance. Matt explains how the changes we face in life, are making us stronger.
With a positive mindset, supportive people around us and a drive to keep moving forward, Matt reminded me that we can truly achieve anything if we can give ourselves a good environment to succeed.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Kate Save founder of Be Fit Food.
Kate’s main objective is to assist individuals achieve optimal health and well-being through balanced nutrition and appropriate exercise prescription.
I loved interviewing Kate, I have known her for about 20 years now and she continues to inspire me.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Colleen Callender founder of Mentor Me and former CEO of Sportsgirl.
Colleen has a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record in building brands, creating a winning culture, building an environment that allows people to be inspired and empowered and is now sharing not only the past 13 years experience as a CEO but the past 30 years of her retail career.
Colleen is an inspiration to women of all generations and wants to encourage women globally to have the confidence to believe in themselves, their ability, share their voice and find the “Superpower within”.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Dara Shashoua from Byzantine Designs and A Chronic Entrepreneur.
Inspired by her own journey of personal transformation, Dara is an entrepreneur at heart that has a drive that is inspiring. Having faced a challenge of a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis that led to her on a journey to learn how walk again, in our interview Dara opens up and shares how she navigated her way through that enormous challenge, discovering what she was made of.

The Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Show: Featuring Nicole Campbell, Amanda's twin!
Consistently rated as one of the most accomplished Eyebrow feathering clinics in Australia, Nicole Campbell has built Mien Brows into the leader it is today. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, with over 17 years in the Beauty Industry.