Select Page
George Donikian | Love, Reinvention & The Power of Partnership

George Donikian | Love, Reinvention & The Power of Partnership

by | Nov 3, 2025 | Ageism, Female Entrepreneur, Mentor, Podcast For Women

For the first time, I swap chairs with my husband, renowned broadcaster and Executive Producer Of the Power Of Women Podcast, George Donikian, for a rare, deeply personal conversation about love, reinvention, and the power of partnership.

From SBS World News to Network Ten, George has shaped Australian media for more than four decades. A multicultural pioneer, mentor, and trusted voice. But this time, the spotlight turns on our shared journey: the highs, the heartbreaks, and the meaning behind our symbolic spiritual number, 333.

Together, George + I explore what it takes to stay visible, relevant, and connected – in both life and work – through the lens of reinvention, vulnerability and truth in storytelling.

 

You’ll hear us talk about:

➜ The fear of personal identity and finding confidence in front of the camera.

➜ How letting go of perfectionism, of sugar, of control – can transform your identity.

➜ The parallels between media and podcasting: storytelling, listening and truth.

➜ Ageism in broadcasting and why visibility still matters for women and men alike.

➜ The power of partnership – in life, in work and in love.

 

George said:

“Giving it up is an incredibly big deal.”

“Listening is key.”

“The truth is the first casualty in war.”

 

💥 New episodes drop every Monday to power your week.

📖 Read the full transcript of this conversation here:

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

DI GILLETT (00:03)

I just didn’t present in the manner in which I wanted to. But seriously, how common has that been in your experience? You’ve worked with a lot of women in front of the camera. Is that an unusual thing for you to hear?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (00:06)

Isn’t that amazing?

 

No, no, in truth if I reflect on all my team members, my colleagues and on-air partners that ⁓ I’ve shared the screen with, I can remember very early on, again, there was a…

 

desire for them to be happy with what they saw and I understand that. I can remember the first time I saw myself on camera and my then boss Bruce GYngell said to me I’m going to give you something brand new. So I had just started or about to start my television career and I’m presented with a beta camera recorder. He gave it to me so I could get comfortable.

 

with myself on screen and that I could, he knew that I had enough critic in me to will myself to get out of any bad habits.

 

DI GILLETT (01:18)

I’m Di Gillett and welcome to the POWER OF WOMEN Podcast. I love that this is a platform that showcases and celebrates the strength, resilience and achievement of women from all walks of life. Today, however, I’m going to be putting myself in the spotlight because we’re going to change this up a little bit. So for the very first time, the executive producer, George Donikian, who is also

 

my husband is joining me in the studio today. And there’s a lot to talk about through a serious lens of reinvention, partnership, and the power of storytelling. And I’ve learnt much of that from the man sitting opposite me on the desk today. And as a partner in life for 20 years to find ourselves working together,

 

for the first time in our careers is really quite something. And I know a lot of people when you say, could you work with your partner, they’d say they couldn’t do it. I have to say this is the best career I have ever had. So without any further ado, George Donikian, welcome to the POWER OF WOMEN podcast.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (02:34)

What a pleasure to finally share a microphone on POWER OF WOMEN I know how important it is and has been for you over the past year. I want to commend you. I think it’s been extraordinary watching your growth because I can remember a time, it wasn’t that long ago, when I asked you to comment on a particular

 

program I was running at the time, I think it was called the Insiders or something, or the Informer. Informer. And there was a particular topic that you had great expertise in. It was about a new idea that you were pursuing with a couple of girlfriends. was called Partenaire. And I remember saying to come on, come and talk to me about it and we’ll shoot the breeze. And no, no, when you offered up one of your girlfriends, who did a fabulous job. you, Kim.

 

DI GILLETT (03:17)

Didn’t go so well did it?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (03:24)

a tremendous job. But you sat back and I kept thinking to myself, why? So why was it then? What was it that curtailed you? hey, I’ve

 

DI GILLETT (03:30)

froze.

 

⁓

 

That’s only three years ago. Yeah, that’s a very good question.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (03:42)

I’ve been watching you and not only am I very proud, but I’ve always worked

 

DI GILLETT (03:50)

Did

 

I mention he’s my number one cheerleader?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (03:53)

I’ve always worried that if I ever unleashed the beast in you, that ferocious work ethic that you have, if I could ever unleash it and let it do something that it was passionate about, you’d be uncontrollable. And here we are.

 

DI GILLETT (04:09)

But it’s an interesting point and I like to just explore that for the purposes of our listeners because it plays into ⁓ what I talk about ⁓ when I write in my newsletter on LinkedIn, Power of Reinvention. So I have been accustomed to talking to rooms of people, being on stage talking business.

 

know my subject matter expertise could talk while I’m underwater. But in all of those settings, I’d have a microphone but not a camera. And I think that that particular day where we went in to do a piece to camera ⁓ for ⁓ what was one of my failed startups with some friends, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I didn’t like the way the camera saw me.

 

Now that was also before I gave up a 58-year addiction with sugar. And I photographed very differently, and I personally in my eyes presented very differently pre-sugar and post-giving up sugar. And so it wasn’t so much that I didn’t have the

 

the language and the knowledge of what I wanted to speak about, I just didn’t present in the manner in which I wanted to.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (05:44)

You didn’t like what you saw. Isn’t that amazing? Because that wasn’t a challenge ⁓ for me in that studio. I kept thinking, you look fabulous. Mind you, you look extraordinary now. Benjamin Button, eat your heart out. You do, but you also were…

 

DI GILLETT (05:46)

I hated what I saw.

 

⁓ I look younger now than I

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (06:09)

very very fashionable woman who knew how to carry herself and always you’ve always known how to style yourself even from was it four five or six years of age and I remember one of those stories your mother said to me oh yes she ruined many a dress I’m so she was telling the truth mm-hmm yeah you always did know what you

 

DI GILLETT (06:29)

Yeah, so ⁓ and I had no issue with what I was wearing on that day but the perfectionist in me did not like what I saw in the monitor of the camera and I didn’t want to go to air that way. It was debilitating.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (06:45)

Had I known that we would have cut sugar.

 

DI GILLETT (06:47)

So giving it up. Well, giving it up is an incredibly big, big deal. am now moving into my third year sugar free, cold turkey, zero processed sugar. And if you haven’t tried it, just give it a nudge for a couple of weeks and see what it feels like. Cause it’s a game changer.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (07:08)

There

 

you go. So you have reinvented yourself.

 

DI GILLETT (07:12)

I have. I have in so many ways, both professionally and ⁓ personally.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (07:20)

So it wasn’t imposter syndrome that could tell your opportunity to talk to the camera. was you simply not liking what you saw. Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.

 

DI GILLETT (07:36)

But seriously, how common has that been in your experience? You’ve worked with a lot of women ⁓ in front of the camera. Is that an unusual thing for you to hear?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (07:51)

No, no, in truth if I reflect on all my team members, my colleagues and on-air partners that I’ve shared the screen with, I can remember very early on, again, there was a desire for them to be happy with what they saw. And I understand that. I can remember the first time I saw myself on camera.

 

and my then boss Bruce Gyngell said to me,

 

I’m going to give you something brand new. It’s called a Betacam recorder. Now, we’re talking a long, long time ago, before they were part of what was available to the public. So I had just started or about to start my television career, and I’m presented with a Betacam recorder, which is the one that basically competed with the VHS recorders of the time. The Betacam was a better bit of technology.

 

⁓ But the marketing drive of the VHS team won the day. But I had one of very first beta camera calls. He gave it to me so I could get comfortable with myself on screen and that I could… He knew that I had enough critic in me to will myself to get out of any bad habits. So he wanted me to watch.

 

DI GILLETT (08:57)

Why did he give it to you?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (09:17)

every night’s news after the event and to decide or be very aware of nuancing. Because what we were doing was showcasing world news in a way that had never been done before. What we offered, that is the original SBS World News team,

 

It was something that shocked the marketplace. know our commercial rivals hated it. They couldn’t cope with it. They didn’t like what we were doing.

 

DI GILLETT (09:48)

But come back to the nuancing if we could: And we see it on air now and we debate about it over the dinner table as we watch news. I mean there is a way of introducing a story that has grief attached to it. There’s a way of introducing a story with brevity. There’s a way of introducing a story that’s joyful. All of those things are different.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (10:14)

Yeah.

 

DI GILLETT (10:15)

And the opportunity to play back and see yourself do that would have been incredibly helpful in understanding just what the nuancing to each of those stories might be.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (10:32)

It was exactly that. It allowed me to understand how to do a particular story. And I remember saying to one of my first producers, language is key. And he kept saying to me, it’s everything.

 

And one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist. And we have this challenge now in this modern era of the media where there’s so much disruption, so much misinformation, and every word you use, every phrase, every utterance, you’ve got to be very aware of the complications that can be in the marketplace depending on how you say it. I say to people time and time again, you can say anything.

 

DI GILLETT (11:17)

Let’s dig into what makes a great interview. Is it a voice? Is it curiosity? Is it the ability to listen or is it something else? I’ve been interviewing people on the other side of the desk for 30 years to draw out their story in an executive search setting. Is it the same?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (11:38)

In order to draw out that information that you seek, you’ve got to listen. People will tell you a lot about themselves.

 

DI GILLETT (11:49)

I find people tell me things

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (11:50)

You

 

hide between the marshes, so to speak. So it’s not what they tell you, it’s what they don’t tell you and what you’ve got to find, what you’ve got to seek, what you’ve got to discover. And it’s the way you pitch in and ask the questions that will open, that may open a pathway or a window or a portal that will get to the next chapter of the story. Do you find people… me, listening. Listening is key.

 

DI GILLETT (12:17)

Do you find people tell you things that they didn’t intend to tell you? Because I know that is something whether it’s in the setting of POWER OF WOMEN or historically in a boardroom setting interviewing somebody for a job. They end up disclosing something they didn’t need. What’s in that? How does that happen?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (12:37)

once you make someone comfortable and the discussion is one-on-one. Every interview is one-on-one and every time you’re on air you’re one-on-one.

 

DI GILLETT (12:51)

Explain that because you you’ve coached me in that it

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (12:58)

Well, I’ve known the limits of my ability and I wasn’t ever going to you. She is Max’s daughter. ⁓ Your father was a fabulous man and we miss him every day. But he told me very early on, you’re not going to be able to tell her anything. And I’ve never really wanted to tell you. I’ve wanted to offer up stuff and hope that…

 

DI GILLETT (13:04)

Would she listen?

 

Yes you do.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (13:27)

And that’s not what everyone does, you’d like more people to learn by osmosis. They observe, they watch with great care. And the more care, the more ⁓ effort and work ethic you put into it, you’ll get more out. And I’ve always watched the very best

 

And I’ve had some terrific young men and women pass through my news journey and I’ve watched their careers blossom. And all of them, I’ve tried to give them the same sort of advice. And it just goes to show you how some people take it on board and embrace it. Some, no, no, some take it to another level. Yeah. And then others…

 

DI GILLETT (14:13)

Sometimes.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (14:18)

sort of, yeah, I think I know what I’m doing and their careers are fine.

 

DI GILLETT (14:23)

Did

 

you ever think you were going to coach me?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (14:26)

On our wedding party, I remember I offered up the microphone to you. And you were wise enough to say, I don’t want to be the news anchor here. Because you were. Because I was the news anchor. But you said, I’m very happy as the weather girl. And I thought, weather girl?

 

DI GILLETT (14:46)

That is how I gave our wedding speech. You were still on TV at the time and you took the microphone at our post wedding party to a large room and spoke. And I have always enjoyed the microphone but following on from you was not going to be the highlight of my day. So I thought the only natural way to follow after you was to do the weather.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (15:14)

Yeah, and you did well. I remember saying…

 

DI GILLETT (15:17)

I

 

said there’d be some stormy weather to come. Correct. There has been.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (15:21)

100 % right. 20 years together, we’ve had our challenges, we’ve challenged each other.

 

DI GILLETT (15:29)

few thunderstorms, in climate stormy days, lots of sunshine.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (15:35)

We’ve

 

grown through all of this and I think it’s very normal but I remember also you saying that you took a line out of one of my weather people at the time you said whether it’s just a forecast is never a promise. So here we are 20 years on and we’ve kept the promise to stick together and learn from each other.

 

DI GILLETT (15:57)

Yeah. Well, and that’s probably a good segue to talk about the power of partnership. And I never in my wildest dreams thought that I was going to be working with you or coming to work close within the industry that you’ve been in for the better part of 50 years. the industry has changed enormously.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (16:25)

continues to evolve.

 

DI GILLETT (16:26)

Yeah. But did you ever envisage we would have the ability to actually work together professionally?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (16:36)

I always thought if we could find a topic or a subject that we could immerse ourselves into. I thought what you were doing, the idea of partenaires, which was a great concept and something that you and your two girlfriends at the time… …offline dating. what I loved about it was that you showed me…

 

DI GILLETT (16:55)

our offline dating.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (17:02)

that you could take all the skills that you had garnered in your 30-year career as a headhunter and put it to good use, bringing people together, not just bringing super talent to a corporate organization. And I remember you saying to me, ⁓ one of the great challenges of bringing a CEO

 

And that was always what you were trying to do. You were bringing C-suite and above to different businesses that people would come to you and they’d say, we want a change of culture. And what I loved about what you did was you were forensic. You didn’t, and I remember you were adamant. You weren’t a recruiter.

 

DI GILLETT (17:45)

That’s a word that often is used to describe me, George, actually.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (17:49)

You weren’t a recruiter, nor did you recruit. You were a headhunter. And what that meant was you didn’t go out there and put out an ad and get 55,000 applications and weed or work your way through those. You would go not to find the best talent available. You always were.

 

DI GILLETT (18:07)

No went the reverse.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (18:16)

seeking the best talent. Whether they were in a job or out of the job, you would take them out of that job. That was the task. To entice them to leave where they were because you thought they were a better fit somewhere else. And it was that that allowed you to have the success that you had and also deliver some fabulous partnerships, bringing people out from all over the world to take on positions

 

DI GILLETT (18:42)

For anybody thinking about a career pivot and the power of reinvention, all of the skills that I garnered and acquired and honed over those 30 years are the skills that I draw on every day for the Power of Women and for the POWER OF WOMEN podcast because in the same way as I need to build a curated

 

guest list of who to bring to the studio to interview. I’m the client, but the brief is who do I believe my audience wants to hear from? What are the important messages of the day that would resonate with the POWER OF WOMEN podcast audience? And some of those people are referred to me in the same way as people would put their hand up to say I’m looking for a change of career, so it comes that way.

 

More often than not, my guest list is curated through me doing exactly the same as I would have done with an executive search of come up with a plan and then go to market as to who would be the best person to speak on behalf of that particular issue or topic or narrative. And then I go out and I approach them.

 

and garner their interest in actually being part of the podcast. And only one has said no today, and I haven’t given up yet.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (20:16)

persist persist persist something you’ve done all your life. You have a tremendous

 

DI GILLETT (20:24)

And keeping in mind where husband and wife, he could have used another word and that would have been a deal breaker. So persist is very good George.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (20:31)

Perhaps I could have used another word, but persist suits, because it’s to do with your drive, it’s to do with your work ethic. And the other thing I’ve learnt is you have an extraordinary capacity to learn. You want to teach yourself something, you’ve taught yourself how to edit, you’ve taught yourself how to produce, you’ve taught yourself to use technology that…

 

I’m struggling to master and that shows me a different level of involvement, a different level of… Yeah, curiosity’s entry level. We’ve gone well past that.

 

DI GILLETT (21:05)

curiosity and learning.

 

Well, thank you. Thank you. So how do we give each other space in working together? Why do you think it works?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (21:15)

That’s okay.

 

I think you have always respected my talent and my ability in my career. I’ve always been a champion of watching you deliver. That’s true. Over the years. I don’t think I can remember even when we had a personal tragedy, we lost someone very special to us, our late sister-in-law, Amy.

 

DI GILLETT (21:31)

I do. Enormous.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (21:52)

You were tasked by your brother who was in grief, who was shattered, and he had to go overseas to claim his wife’s body and bring her back. You were tasked with creating a funeral. And I remember you asking yourself, because you were saying it aloud, so where do I start? Not only did you do the funeral,

 

brilliantly, but you also came up with two state memorial services, one in South Australia, because that’s where her parents were and she was a South Australian girl originally, Amy Safe became Amy Gillett, and then we had one also in Ballarat, because that’s where she and Simon were living. So I remember watching you take that challenge from out of nowhere, and it was not something you had ever done before, but

 

You willed yourself, you armed yourself, you found the best people to deliver it. And if you reflect back, no, there was no playbook, no trigger warning as one of your podcasts, and she’s a remarkable woman and what a terrific.

 

DI GILLETT (23:02)

There’s no playbook for that.

 

And I rest

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (23:14)

subject you had and what an enormous career and job she’s been doing for her community. again, ⁓ very, very, very proud, I think from day one watching you cope. And I shouldn’t have been surprised because I remember you did everything for our wedding. Yeah. We couldn’t go to Santorini because Amy had just passed.

 

DI GILLETT (23:37)

Mmm.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (23:44)

We didn’t want to challenge the family anymore. They were grieving. So we found a new way to have a wedding. we did it beautifully. And we had my daughter from a previous marriage, the lovely ⁓ Lauren, come up. And she was one witness. And your brother, Simon, was the other witness. And we had one other couple join us. They were told not to come. But they wouldn’t listen. They sounded like someone else I know.

 

just would not take any advice and they rocked up and you know made themselves part of our wedding party which was lovely.

 

DI GILLETT (24:22)

Probably should mention our connection around one particular number too.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (24:27)

yes, you’re talking about the number three. Well, you should recount that you did all the preparation for the wedding. We got up to the hotel at Port Douglas and just as we were about to check in on the honeymoon, yes, we got married at the Mirage Resort, ⁓ which

 

DI GILLETT (24:47)

on the honeymoon.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (24:57)

felt a bit like a mirage at the time. we went to, was it, Paul Douglas? No, Tom Cove for the honeymoon. And we arrived at our hotel and as we checking in, girl’s gone, you’ve been upgraded. And I looked up and there’s the card and there’s the number. Not just three, was three.

 

DI GILLETT (25:04)

palm cove

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (25:25)

So that became our symbol.

 

DI GILLETT (25:28)

It did and it had been my symbol for years of identifying where my luck was turning when I needed a sign and I think I’ve told the story before where you mentioned I didn’t know quite what to do with the planning of the funeral and I woke up in middle of the night and I had a vision of Amy C. On the end of the bed and it was 3.33 in the morning and 3.33 has become this

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (25:49)

You felt her presence very strongly.

 

DI GILLETT (25:57)

connection of mind that has become a connection between you and I now, where 333 becomes this powerful point and we note it quite often in the day. We quite often send each other a screenshot of our phone where 333 has come up and the quirky part of that is you’re my screensaver and I’m your screensaver as all good partners should be.

 

And this whole 3-3-3 resonance carries through our world.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (26:33)

We’ve been on holiday in Hong Kong and 333 recurring number.

 

DI GILLETT (26:40)

Turns up in the weirdest places. Where it shouldn’t be.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (26:42)

We

 

walked into a gift shop.

 

DI GILLETT (26:47)

and electronics, high tech electronics.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (26:50)

electronic

 

shop and sure enough there was this clock

 

DI GILLETT (26:54)

an old-fashioned clock, high-tech electronic store, every modern whiz-bang in store. I looked on the shelf and there was one of those old-fashioned clocks where the time clicks over on it and it’s like the tin number drops over. And I remember seeing it there and I pointed it out to you and I said to the guy behind the counter, I said,

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (27:07)

And a head…three.

 

DI GILLETT (27:22)

Why is that there? And he said he’d never seen it before. It was there frozen on 333 and it wasn’t 333 time that we’d walked through the store, but there it was frozen in time, a 333. Very.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (27:25)

I’ve never noted it before.

 

Yeah, Eerie.

 

Maybe it was Amy who reminded us to have a good time.

 

DI GILLETT (27:40)

Maybe it was. Maybe it was. Well coming up I want to talk more about the media and the power of storytelling. If you’re loving the POWER OF WOMEN podcasts be sure to jump on to our YouTube channel and hit that subscribe button to ensure you never miss an episode.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (27:59)

that you get a chance to sit together and mark a special occasion. A special occasion is our 20th wedding anniversary

 

DI GILLETT (28:10)

And it’s not that often that you get to do all the talking.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (28:13)

No, normally I leave it to the weather girl.

 

DI GILLETT (28:17)

Do you know, that reminds me George, when we… That’s a fabulous pair of lips on the screen behind us.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (28:24)

Correct. You should explain the weather girl.

 

DI GILLETT (28:27)

Well I should because when we first got married and we did a wedding party I was terrified, which is ironic given I now have a podcast, but I was terrified to take the microphone after you. And the reason was because you were still on air doing the news thing. So I decided the only credible way for me to speak up

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (28:55)

was to become

 

with a girl.

 

DI GILLETT (28:56)

was

 

to become a weather girl. So… ⁓

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (28:59)

But here we are, do know what? 20 years on and I’m now terrified to speak in your presence. Happy anniversary, bye baby.

 

DI GILLETT (29:05)

fantastic.

 

George, coming back out of this break, I want to talk about ageism and visibility. And I’ve spoken about it ad nauseam on the POWER OF WOMEN podcast, and I have written about it in my thought leadership pieces via LinkedIn as well. But I really want to talk about how it plays out in the media. And you’ve got deep, deep knowledge of this. When we think about age and gender,

 

How has that shaped your perspective of women in broadcasting?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (29:45)

Let’s look at gender for a moment and I’ll take you way back to my beginnings at SBS in Sydney at the brand new studios as they were then at Milson’s Point just next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And I can remember walking into the newsroom and it was filled with men. We had one woman and she was the director’s assistant. She was a firecracker. Fantastic talent.

 

and prove that because her career just continued to blossom as she moved through the next ten years and she ended up working for some of the biggest and best organizations on the planet. But when I started in late 1979, 1980 at SBS,

 

I can remember all these men and the one woman. By the time I left SBS, which was late 1988, just before the year would turn around and become 89, I was the lone man in the newsroom. So, had shown the media world that

 

DI GILLETT (30:53)

Is that?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (31:01)

News services didn’t have to be filled with men to ⁓ garner results, to create headlines, nor to achieve ratings. So I watched that transference and for me it was a joy. I never had a challenge, never had a problem with working for a man or a woman. And I never saw one as lesser than the other.

 

DI GILLETT (31:30)

Motion.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (31:31)

That wasn’t the collective view of the media space.

 

DI GILLETT (31:35)

Yeah,

 

so what was happening in the other free-to-air channels? Were there many?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (31:39)

I won’t name the networks because that’s not fair because the world’s changed and so have they. And it wasn’t what they were doing, was what management was doing at the time. But I can remember going to the then number one network who came in and headhunted me. I was headhunted from SBS to come and do a brand new national world news on a commercial channel which really appealed to me because they, for the first time I thought I’ll have

 

all the facilities I need, all the tools, all the ⁓ satellite coverage that I require to do the best possible job. It didn’t turn out to be the case for only one reason. The two principal people were headhunted within a year of my arrival by Murdoch and taken to Britain to help him out of a jam and how’s this for sheer

 

history. Two Australians from one end of the world who were continually told know nothing about football and that is the world game, the round ball code. And Sam Chisholm and David Hill who had done the marvelous work for the Nine Network creating the world of cricket that captured the imagination of the globe and changed the way cricket was covered and reported on forever.

 

Those two men went overseas and created the English Premier League, which has just celebrated 30 plus odd years of success and is the biggest sporting platform in the world. And then David Hill stopped what he was doing in Britain and went to America for Murdoch and helped to create Fox Sport and Fox News. So a couple of Australians who could have stayed with me.

 

chose to take on the world and were marvelous. But for me, it was again stepping into a newsroom filled with men. There were some women and very talented ones, but when you go from a newsroom that was basically only one male and it’s the one on air. Yeah. Because I was the news anchor Monday to Friday and our weekend newsreader at the time was Mary Kostakievis. And when she wasn’t available or on holiday, ⁓

 

Li Lin Chin ⁓ was the one who had come in to add yet another bit of diversity to multicultural television. And then I got the shock of my life, they sacked her. And I was shaken by that because I thought to myself, multicultural television has a role to play. And that was to give diversity an opportunity. And here they were in their infinite wisdom, new management team, thought she wasn’t going to fit.

 

And I thought, this is crazy. And then it coincided with Channel 9 coming to headhunt me. So I accepted the challenge and went to commercial television to prove my worth.

 

And I said to them, you better rethink your choice. And they went back and re-employed her. And the rest is history. So I’m delighted to have had a small part in that role. And then the news team basically at SBS after I left was all female. So there you go, all power.

 

Because their attention to detail, the ability to work together ⁓ is pretty well noted by all good management teams.

 

DI GILLETT (35:22)

Let’s stay on on-air talent as we see it today. Do you think ageism is present in what we see on air for men and for women?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (35:27)

Yes.

 

Present.

 

The end of my career effectively was 2012 when the management team at the time said, we have a decision between you and that person and we’re going to go with that person. I didn’t have a problem with that. They were probably 40 and I was closer to 60 I think.

 

DI GILLETT (35:48)

How old was that person?

 

Yeah. so you think, so as a male, did you feel at that time the decision to take you off air was about age?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (36:09)

It probably was a combination of, I was the newer arrival, they were a longer term member of that team. Albeit younger. were younger. ⁓ And ⁓ they probably didn’t cost as much. So you put all those ingredients together and that package becomes one that you can tinker with. And look, I got looked after to the best of the ability at the time, but it shook me in a way that I hadn’t imagined.

 

And I would liken it to the end of a football career, where you have to reposition yourself and ⁓ look to the next step of your development. And for me, the thing that helped me get through it was one, strength of my wife, who was in a corporate position and carried the can there, but also someone who gave me enough reason to keep looking and saying, just create your own business.

 

go out and do what you do and show others how they can do their job even better. So media training and all of that. And I also got to do over the next 12, 14 years things like I did a documentary ⁓ for SBS on Armenia. Now had I been behind the news desk, that opportunity would never have availed itself.

 

DI GILLETT (37:29)

So ageism is experienced on both sides of the divide in terms of gender. When you look at the screens today, what’s your view on the age of those on air? Do you think ageism is playing out in front of our eyes?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (37:45)

Absolutely, absolutely. We know it personally, we know it through friends and the pressure they’re feeling to continue to perform. Look, it’s always important to perform, right? But working in a newsroom or working in any space where you can feel not the sort of damocles, but you can feel a gentle arm on your shoulder saying, ⁓ it might be time. I don’t think that’s a healthy way to work.

 

We hear about toxic workplaces. The last thing you want, always, is to create a space where not only is it safe, but you walk in the door because you want to walk in the door. And I’m not talking about the people who stay, who work from home, ⁓ which is a whole new development for me. I can’t quite get my head around it, but I understand we’re in an evolving space with so much technology. And I remember

 

only recently saying to someone, we shouldn’t be surprised. The age of production or the industrial age covered about 200 years. This modern technology era that we’re going through, 2004, the iPhone, 2004, the pod,

 

the little pod, iPod. That was the beginning of you being able to carry your own material around.

 

DI GILLETT (39:24)

And now we’re carrying our TVs around.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (39:26)

Well, we’re carrying everything now. I was told by a very smart man, I said to him one day, are we going to have reporters with a camera everywhere they go? And he looked at me and he said, absolutely, that day will come. What he didn’t know was he didn’t look far enough forward, nor had he thought about the arrival of your own personal camera and microphone, high definition one.

 

and one that would be available to everyone. not only have we reached the stage where every journalist has their own camera, right, and props, but we have every person in the world. Now, it’s all well and good to have a professional with a camera because one, they know how to handle a camera. Two, they understand the responsibilities of publishing and the cost that comes with it. ⁓

 

But leaving it to just anyone to have that technology, well, all you unleash… Problems and propaganda. Stories need to be told in a manner, if you’re a professional, you need to tell the story that’s most representative of the facts. Not your story, not the one you think is the story, but the one that best represents what has happened.

 

DI GILLETT (40:31)

telling is

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (40:50)

That is how you get to the nub of a real story. But today, we’re seeing an awful lot of opinion because people don’t have enough time to produce the story.

 

DI GILLETT (41:00)

We’re sharing opinion here. mean that’s what podcasting is. It’s stories.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (41:03)

We’re

 

sharing more than opinion. In this particular case, we’re adding a layer of knowledge and a layer of experience and helping to tell the story. just, I have an idea that, you know, we’re going to do this tomorrow. No, no, no, no, no. This is based on what we’ve seen, what we’ve experienced, and what we’ve seen illustrated time and time again. And as I say to people, you know, every time they ask me,

 

DI GILLETT (41:14)

Noted noted

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (41:32)

⁓ What’s the biggest challenge in a very heavy news day? And I’d say to stay above the fray, not to allow yourself to be immersed in the emotion. Because as we’re found in war, what’s the first casualty? The truth. And yet, we hear people throw around figures and names as if they know. And I say to them, where did you get those numbers from?

 

DI GILLETT (41:47)

the truth.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (42:02)

⁓ they’re around. No, no, no, no. Where did you get them? And unless you can validate them, those numbers may well be the fanciful numbers you use for your next lottery ticket or your next phone. Yeah, because they’re not any value to anyone else. All they do is muddy the waters, raise the ire of people and stir emotions. And what we get is distortion. What we get is anger.

 

What we get is hate. And what’s it based on again?

 

DI GILLETT (42:36)

My opinion.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (42:38)

and not being able to tell the truth because in war, all those things are clouded for specific reasons. There are operational reasons you don’t tell the truth for the safety of your troops and for the safety of others. But clearly that’s not going to win too many fans and friends on the social media platform.

 

You stick to your guns as a professional and try always not to tell the story that suits you, but to tell the story that’s most representative of the facts. And those facts that you can validate. Can’t validate them? It’s just whimsy.

 

DI GILLETT (43:20)

Speaking of storytelling, and that is what the power of women is all about, how different is the power of storytelling today, do you think, through this lens being podcasting?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (43:37)

Again for me it’s exciting to watch professional women who have a passion to help each other. I’ve noted that the great many of the subjects that you’ve chosen from day one have helped you cover a particular topic of interest.

 

that resonates throughout the marketplace, whatever the subject matter was. You talked about, I can remember very early on in one of the ⁓ very early podcasts, you spoke about the imposter syndrome and how it’s carried itself on not only on one shoulder but on two shoulders to hold people down. And at various times in our lives, we all go through this imposter syndrome.

 

Whether it’s for a millisecond or is it for months or years. And I say to people, the more you work, the more you surround yourself with really good people, believe, have faith. And it’s like a high tide. It will raise the newsroom or it raise the room. It will raise the school or in your brother’s case, it raised his

 

rowing team to a world title. And they were so good at working as one. What did they do? They didn’t just win once. They kept winning. And if I reflect on the man who is your brother, what you cannot mistake.

 

is that when he says he’s going to do something, when he puts his mind to it, he does it, not he’s going to do it, he does it. he, it is DNA and I should have taken that on when I said,

 

DI GILLETT (45:33)

It’s called DNA George.

 

Did you

 

miss that? When you said I do?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (45:41)

I must have been swayed by something else. Maybe it was just your beauty.

 

DI GILLETT (45:47)

No, well I grew up in a household where there was no such thing as a thinly veiled threat.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (45:52)

No, correct. They wanted to create a hazard. You were right in middle of that hazard. But listen, if you think about it,

 

DI GILLETT (45:54)

It was a fact.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (46:08)

It’s held you in good stead, privately and publicly, and we’ll continue to do that because it’s that drive to be the best. It’s that drive to want to be even better than last year. You don’t sit on your laurels. You continue to want to make them better. And I’ve watched your reach to make sure that your technology, the grasp of technology,

 

is better each and every week, let alone each and every year. So you’re advancing this podcast in ways that very few people can.

 

DI GILLETT (46:46)

Thank you. As we come to a close today.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (46:50)

no, you’re curtailing our interview. dear.

 

DI GILLETT (46:53)

I am.

 

Is there something, and this is a bit like one of these game shows of, you know, what’s your partner’s favourite colour and you did it. But a little more depth. So what do you think is one thing people don’t know about me but should and I’m going to do the same for you?

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (47:06)

This’ll be fun.

 

⁓ what is it they don’t know about you? ⁓ I think you have a heart of gold. I’ve discovered that you have a heart You went and had a test and the doctor said, yep, it’s there. I had to sit back and go, wow. So you have a heart of gold.

 

DI GILLETT (47:31)

I have one!

 

⁓

 

Wow, that’s a thought you want to leave them with. Thanks for that George. I’m not sure that you get to stay as my executive producer.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (47:48)

They see you as a strong woman. They’ve also got to understand there’s a golden heart there.

 

DI GILLETT (47:54)

Well, and my reflection is similar. I can remember being absolutely incensed a few years ago. ⁓ You’d been approached to be on a panel for International Women’s Day and there was one particular individual who decided to make a noise about the fact that whether you should or shouldn’t be there. And as it so often is the case, when somebody’s

 

making a noise, it’s typically about them, not about the person whom they’re talking about. And that was in fact the case. And my reason for pointing that out is I think it’s probably underestimated just how many people you have helped along the way on their journey in media. And in particular,

 

women helping them on their journey, but generously giving your time. And I’ve been the recipient of that because whether it’s been through osmosis or the gentle, you know, commentary in the background, because God forbid I didn’t sign up for one of your media training courses, but ⁓ you have been a great mentor, a great cheer squad.

 

and in fact a great partner.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (49:18)

Well, it fills me with a great deal of delight to hear that. But I’ve also got to say that I’ve had my early days where I demanded more from my on-air partners. And I probably rode them harder than I should have. But it was always wanting… Hello?

 

DI GILLETT (49:37)

Hindsight is a good thing.

 

There’s industries built on hindsight,

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (49:41)

You’ve got to understand too, to arrive where I’ve arrived at today, it’s because I’ve learned from all those experiences in the past. So I say to people, don’t be so stuck in your way that there’s an intransigence, that’s a word that Paul Keating made famous.

 

DI GILLETT (50:04)

Not often you can’t say a difficult to say word George at your moniker.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (50:08)

It was case of reaching out and trying to find it again because some file in the back of my office space. But in transigence, your desire to stay rooted to a particular idea and a particular scheme or a particular fashion is not a healthy thing. In an evolving world, I think that’s the most important thing.

 

DI GILLETT (50:36)

And that is probably a great closing message because intransigence and the power of reinvention do not come together. No. So, but what I wanted to really highlight was the power of partnership. To think after 20 years of marriage, you and I can actually work together and we’re talking about some pretty exciting things coming up in the new year that we might be doing together.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (51:04)

Before you go any further, do you remember what we spoke about before we agreed to marry?

 

We both said we were better together than apart. That was the, I think, one of the biggest desires. We wanted to see that if indeed that was true, and we would be better together. I hate the term, but people say power couple. It’s not power couple. It’s about two people, two.

 

DI GILLETT (51:36)

Get thrown around a bit though.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (51:38)

It does get thrown around, but what I want to make very clear, it’s about equality. It’s about two equals pushing one another and helping one another to be better. And you’ve done it for me on a great many occasions. remember someone asked me, and someone said to me the other day, I love your dress sense. I said, well, that’s always nice to hear.

 

DI GILLETT (51:56)

done it for me continually.

 

GEORGE DONIKIAN (52:05)

I’ll pass it on, my stylist does all the heavy lifting. They went, what? I said, yes. Once upon a time, my wife used to style Steve Vizard to George Donikian. Now she has a much simpler task. She dresses George Donikian. So there we are.

 

DI GILLETT (52:17)

to protect the

 

Well, that’s probably a great point to finish on, but the power of partnership, the power of storytelling, the power of reinvention, but the power of partnership is really something else. Until next time.

 

Connect with Di:

Connect with Di on LinkedIn

Follow Power Of Women on LinkedIn

Follow Di on Instagram

The Power Of Women Podcast Instagram

Contact Di

 

Find Guest Name at:

Website https://www.donikianmedia.com.au/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-donikian-8b19361/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/newsman028/?hl=en

 

Want more fearless, unfiltered stories?

✨ Subscribe to the Power Of Women Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts

➜ Your ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify keeps these stories alive.

 

📩 Sign up for our newsletter where I share raw reflections and thought leadership on the Power Of Reinvention.

 

Disclaimer:  https://powerofwomen.com.au/podcast-disclaimer/

The Transformative Power of Wellness, Leadership & Permission to Pause

The Transformative Power of Wellness, Leadership & Permission to Pause

by | Oct 27, 2025 | Burnout, Female Entrepreneur, Female Podcast, Health & Wellbeing

In this episode of the Power Of Women Podcast, host Di Gillett speaks with Lyndall Mitchell, the trailblazer who has shaped Australia’s wellness landscape for nearly three decades. From a 14-year-old doing work experience at Camp Eden to founding Aurora Spa and the award-winning ASPAR product line, Lyndall has dedicated her career to helping others refuel and reset.

She shares why wellness is not indulgence but a necessity, the warning signs of burnout, and the simple rituals that sustain leaders, parents, and entrepreneurs alike. This is a conversation about resilience, reinvention, and the power of small, consistent actions.

 

You’ll Hear:

➜ How a teenage work experience led to a life-long calling in wellness

➜ The vision behind Aurora Spa and why urban retreats were groundbreaking in Australia

➜ The four foundations of wellness: sleep, movement, nutrition, and digital detox

➜ Why women struggle to give themselves “permission to pause” without guilt

➜ Practical rituals to build resilience and prevent burnout

➜ Why Lyndall believes wellness should be part of healthcare, not just self-care.

 

Lyndall said:

It’s the small things you do every day that make the greatest difference.”

“Wellness is not something we master. It’s a practice we continually evolve.”

“Permission to pause isn’t a luxury, it’s the fuel for leadership, longevity and life.”

💥 New episodes drop every Monday to power your week.

Your T📖 Read the full transcript of this conversation here:

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (00:02)

You’re not alone. A lot of people are doing this and our sleep is what is the dishwasher for our brain. This is where we get our energy, this is where we refuel our tank but we refuel our brain. But we also refuel our self-regulation to be able to make great decisions. And so in the morning if you’ve had a terrible sleep and interrupted sleep, chances are you’re not going to eat well. You probably won’t move your body and you’ll probably spend more money. Now there’s evidence around that.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (00:29)

You’re crazy.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (00:30)

So how do we be the protector of our sleep? Because there’s plenty of sleep robbers out there and our phones can be one of those. I’m Lyndall Mitchell and my values are health, family and economic security which ⁓ really gives me that freedom of choice later in life and my big belief is that it’s the small things in life that you do consistently that make the greatest change.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (00:56)

I’m Di Gillett and welcome to the Power of Women podcast. We’re a platform that celebrates and showcases the strength, resilience and achievement of women from all walks of life. And this is an invitation to join the Power of Women community and follow us on every game changing, unfiltered conversation with these amazing women.

 

Today, I have the privilege to showcase the story of a woman who is the pioneer of the wellness sector in Australia. And she has lived and breathed it for more than three decades. Lyndall Mitchell is the founder of Aurora Spa, Australia’s first award-winning urban spa group. She’s also a coach, a speaker, author, and entrepreneur who has built a wellness ecosystem

 

designed to give her clients something many of us struggle to find, permission to pause. Her story is one of vision and an unwavering devotion to her clients, a devotion that sees her employ and empower nearly 50 women in the organization. And she guides executives through transformational change and inspires companies and individuals across Australia and globally.

 

So today in our conversation, we’re going to explore what it means to refuel your emotional and physical petrol tank. Why ignoring the signs of burnout comes at such a cost and how wellness is a necessity for leadership, life and longevity. Lyndall Mitchell, welcome to the Power of Women podcast.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (02:41)

Thank you, Di. It’s so wonderful to be here with your community.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (02:45)

Thank

 

you. Lindle, you’ve been immersed in the wellness space for, as I said, almost three decades, or it might even be tipping over three decades, but since you were actually 14. Correct. So can you take us back to that experience of Camp Eden when you work experience from the neighbouring property and what you saw that really resonated and drew you into this industry?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (03:15)

I grew up next door to Australia’s first health retreat and at the age of 14 had the opportunity to do work experience there. And I already knew the staff because mum and I had a little banana stall down on the side of the road where you put money in the jar for the banana. And so we got to know the staff that worked at Australia’s first health retreat being Camp Eden. And so when I was 14, I did go there and do work experience.

 

And it really opened my eyes to these passionate, incredibly healthy humans that loved what they did. And you know, I saw my dad as a farmer, working every day, working hard. And whilst I think he enjoyed what he did, to see people that were this radiant health and passion with the joy they were getting out of working with guests, that’s what really inspired me. So that planted the seed when I was 14.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (04:06)

Yeah.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (04:12)

Went back to living on the farm, had my own pet kangaroo.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (04:15)

Ah, so did I. We could share a story. did. Wow. And a pet emu.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (04:20)

Okay, I need to know about that. Yeah, incredible, you know, ⁓ opportunity growing up. was such a beautiful 140 acres of tropical rain. The hint of like, you know, bananas, avocados, pawpaws were there as well. know, mum and dad lived the wellness lifestyle. And so that seed that was planted, I then wanted to explore that straight after I finished school.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (04:32)

Beautiful

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (04:46)

So I went back when I was 18 and I spent the next five years working at Eden and really working my way up. Started in the lowest paying office position and I just said yes to every opportunity that came my way. Before you know it, I’m program coordinator, which means you have 50 guests coming in and you’re the host of that program. It’s a big deal. Yeah, and you take them through and you know, it’s a really privileged position because you get to see the guests coming in in all sorts of chaos.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (05:06)

EW

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (05:15)

you know, having had burnt the candle at both ends, physically, mentally, emotionally, you know, out of whack. And, you know, no matter what state of chaos they’re in, what I saw was wellness always gave them back that equilibrium. And so I would work 100 hours in one week when you’re there so you see every, you witness every moment.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (05:36)

doesn’t sound like equally room at your end.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (05:38)

Correct. That’s why it’s not forever. And then you have a week off. A week on, week off. Okay. So you’re there for the entire guest experience and for me that solidified my belief in wellness because I just saw that it worked so well and you know 35 years ago it was considered a bit woo woo or a bit left to feel a bit hippie but now there’s enough evidence. Thankfully science has caught up and there’s enough evidence to say there is value in wellness and

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (05:41)

Yeah

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (06:07)

how it can bring you back from that state of chaos and really help you to move forward. the five years I had immersing myself in that incredible environment was just a very steep learning curve for me. You know, certainly challenged my work ethic, you know, in really working that hard. And I guess it then planted the next seed for me was we cocoon our guests in this incredible experience. And, you know, they come out feeling

 

amazing and this sense of equilibrium and reset and clarity. But what next? Where do they go to from here? And if you think back sort of your 30 years ago,

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (06:42)

Mmm

 

Well I know where it sits because you just go back and start the chaos journey all over again.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (06:53)

Yeah, and that’s what I witnessed. And so that didn’t sit that comfortably with me because for me wellness is not one week of the year. is a way of life. But what are we missing here? Because guests are leaving in this amazing place but then they’re actually not able to integrate this into their world. And when I looked into it, there just weren’t the resources available for them.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (07:03)

Yeah

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (07:20)

No, it wasn’t there at that point in time and it wasn’t easy. So I really understood that and that planted the next seed for me which was, imagine if I could create an urban retreat where those guests could continue on with what they’ve learned and actually thrive rather than fall off the wagon. And so, yeah, 28 years ago, I moved to Melbourne. 50 % of our guests were Melbourne, 50 % Sydney.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (07:40)

Yeah.

 

Which is that saying something about the stress catheters? ⁓

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (07:55)

and came up with the concept that I would start Aurora Spa and it was going to be that urban destination to support our guests for the long term.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (08:06)

Is

 

anybody else offering that in the marketplace at that point in time?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (08:10)

No spas in Australia. ⁓

 

plenty in Europe and plenty in the US but none in Australia. So what year? 1997.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (08:17)

Where are we, Linda? We’re

 

97 and no spas in Australia. Both are.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (08:22)

So there was rapid growth after that,

 

but yeah, there were no spas at that point in time. it was a concept that really needed some education around it as well. People were like, are you building bathtubs with bubbles? Like what is a spa?

 

I was very clear on the vision I wanted to create. didn’t want to be the destination retreat because I fully believe and still believe that there’s such value in going away once a year to really invest in your health in a retreat where you do have that health environment. You’re immersed in it. And I wanted to be the reset. I wanted to be that little reset that you come back to.

 

I knew that I wanted to create this environment that guests could come to us for 60 minutes or for a whole day. And from that, they can get that refuel to continue on and keep achieving all the things they want to achieve in their life. that was how we commenced. And then in time, did travel. I actually did a trip where I did 60 spa six weeks, which…

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (09:26)

Yeah.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (09:37)

It was ⁓ incredible to see the culture of spa in so many different countries. Yes, two. ⁓ in, my most favourite is Thermae Vals in Switzerland. So that’s an iconic spa that really has stood the test of time. Peter Zumther is a well-known architect for creating that masterpiece. And I think it’s just such a

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (09:44)

Any stand-out?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (10:06)

A statement of less is more. It’s profound bathing and that really struck me back then. Came in a little later in my life with the new bath house. That’s really where that seed was planted. And then Mayamo Resort in Arizona and this is where we had beautiful spa ⁓ treatment rooms and areas built into these incredible red cliffs that were the colour of Uluru.

 

And you know the reception, the waiting area had a red earth floor that was blessed by native Indians every year and there was just so much ethos and philosophy and culture behind it and that’s what really stood out. You know it was the ones that were very authentic to what they did and they stayed true to that.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (10:48)

Beautiful.

 

So as a female entrepreneur, you scaled your organisation now and employ what you said 49 women in the organisation?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (11:03)

Yeah, so at Aurora there’s 49. Two. Two me. We have two. They’re always outnumbered in, you know, I’ve worked with females all my career really with a sprinkling.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (11:19)

So is the industry globally female centric in the staffing?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (11:25)

Yes, yes. Generally, you know, if you look at the beauty therapist and massage therapists, they’re predominantly female careers. Generally, if you go into your sort of physio or remedial massage, there’s more males in there as well. And thankfully, there’s more males taking on beauty therapy as well. Yeah. But still not to the numbers that there will be for the females, you know, in taking on those careers. So I think

 

the caregiving role. The females do very well with that.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (11:55)

Ask

 

what the guys do in your organisation. do do massage.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (11:57)

And

 

we have had some bathhouse attendants as well. Okay. You know, where they’re, you know, educating our guests on the journey. But no, they’re in their massage, so deep tissue massage.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (12:10)

So can you take us behind the scenes of what it was like in the early days of being a first, because that’s uncharted territory. ⁓ as you suggested, you hadn’t really travelled at that point in time. So there wasn’t someone to look at in your immediate front yard to reference. How unnerving was that?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (12:36)

I was 23 so I think I was a little naive as well.

 

Maybe, and you know this little sheltered Queenslander that had lived on a farm with a kangaroo was sort of landed in the middle of St Kilda. And St Kilda was eclectic, you know, if we’re talking 97.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (12:59)

Very eclectic and bit grungy. wasn’t gentrified in any way then.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (13:03)

So to open

 

a… I had lots of interesting surprises and things that happened from, you know, people dressed up as fairies in the front yard to people wanting all of… All sorts of massage that we did not… I was like really shocked by, I guess, the wildness of St Kilda at that point in time and I…

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (13:15)

Every other day? Yes!

 

Yeah right.

 

I could

 

choose it.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (13:29)

because there was a really beautiful 1870s Italianate mansion and that was, it had such a soul and the space was incredible, opposite Katani Gardens. So it was the perfect location for what I wanted to do because a lot of it was exercise as well. And so that sort of lended itself really well. I guess I have a strength of perseverance when you do a strength test, you know, it always comes out that my perseverance is very high.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (13:39)

Yes

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (13:58)

So I guess my perseverance to the vision I had in mind was really clear for me. I guess I had plenty of people that said this will never work. Melbourne, this will never work in Melbourne. Who are you to come to Melbourne? You don’t know anyone. had someone say to me, how do you think you can start a business?

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (14:18)

And you’re not on a soapbox yelling out, you’re a quiet, softly spoken individual. That could be misconstrued.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (14:26)

Yes, well I think for me it was always that every person that walks in the door needs to have an experience beyond their expectation because then they are our ambassadors and that’s what we work on because 1997 I can tell you there wasn’t much social media around. no. know it was about and still to this day I do think that’s one of our best forms of marketing is it’s

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (14:49)

So it’s

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (14:57)

and Totti Goldsmith did something on ⁓ Foxtel, which was great, and Totti knew me from Camp Eden, so that was really lovely and that helped and then got on the, Totti then went on the Good Morning Show with Bert Newton.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (15:02)

helpful.

 

Because you would have had plenty of famous names through Camp Eden de-stressing.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (15:18)

I mean literally the day she went on Burt Newton, it was like my second day of opening and the phone rang and I was like, I only had one line, you know, picking up the phone, hello? I very much was at the call front with it all and got to sort of live it. But I guess my biggest thing has always been protecting the guest experience and ensuring that experience is.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (15:25)

You

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (15:43)

the best it possibly can be and you still to this day which we’ll get to in Sorrento. We run day retreats and I’m always looking for big impact you know maximum impact in the minimum amount of minutes because when I moved here from Melbourne you know we had the guests for six days so a lot of time to get to know them and to be able to navigate their personal journey when I came to Melbourne I them for 60 minutes.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (16:10)

Yeah, it’s not so revealing.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (16:12)

It needed to be expressed and I needed to really create impactful moments, which is why I started hand mixing products and created a product company. Not because I thought I want to sell products because I made these products, I use them on the guests because they were at a higher intensity and the therapy of them was higher. And then a guest asked if he could buy some and I was like, that’s strange.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (16:32)

We love your espoir.

 

Thank you.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (16:38)

But it did take me putting it into a Ziploc bag and giving it to him to think I should get more professional. I always am led by what the guests need and for me that sort of, the penny dropped that day because we had the destination retreat that you go to annually. We have the monthly top up at the spa but we have the daily self care with the product.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (16:43)

Big

 

That’s

 

the loop. So has more of your inspiration come from feedback from the guests or looking out to the marketplace externally? Yeah.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (17:12)

I’d say it’s a balance ⁓

 

because, you know, I always want to be guided like Aurora Spa and Bathhouse in Sorrento now is very much what the market’s ready for now. And when we were in St Kilda, it was very much about really landing spa in Australia and what the market are ready for and how we educate the market on the benefit of spa and taking it out of pamper and indulgence.

 

and into wellness and thriving health. And so I feel like it’s always listening to the guest as the priority. then I don’t follow trends, but I like to look at evidence as to how we can enhance our guest’s health. And doing that in the shortest amount of time is where I sort of

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (18:00)

So from 97 to 2025, what’s been the growth in the industry?

 

Yeah

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (18:08)

I

 

mean if we look at bath houses in the last year, you know, we’ve gone from really, we had the Hepburn as a bath house and Peninsular Hot Springs, but now we would have well over 200 in the industry.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (18:24)

since COVID. Yes.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (18:26)

Yes, so there’s a lot of bathhouses. know within Spa when I started within eight years there were 600 spas. So it’s a rapid growth and that’s fantastic but the market are ready for it. That’s what they’re saying and that’s really wonderful.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (18:38)

That’s incredible.

 

Experiential is also high on the consumer shopping list.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (18:51)

Yeah,

 

I people are looking for meaningful moments and when they experience the therapy of spa and the therapy of bath house, people walk out of the bath house and they just say, what just happened in there? I feel very different. And we’ve got, you know, 23 year old male who is a successful business owner and his mates go want to go fishing and he brings them into the bath house.

 

He goes, mate, you need to come in and do this. You’ll feel different. And then they come in every single time when they’re in Sorrento and have their bathing experience. And other people say that their house in Sorrento is now a retreat because they bathe before they hop to their house. So that sort of gets them in the mode of switching off their nervous system. Because I guess the thing I’ve seen a lot of over the years is people’s nervous system being quite

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (19:31)

wow. ⁓

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (19:47)

I’d it.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (19:51)

So on that point alone, do you think there’s a direct correlation in the growth of the industry and what you’re seeing and the rise of social media? I do. And handheld devices? I do.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (20:04)

Yes.

 

Look, we’ve always had tension in shoulders and in our body from looking at computer screens and our posture and all of those things, but it’s accentuated now. And the stress on the physical, and then we look at the mental and the emotional, and it’s impacting people’s sleep, it’s impacting how they switch off, their mood. Anxiety is a big one that we see a lot of, especially in the younger generation.

 

There’s been a spa and bath houses are needed now more than ever. And we’re really proud that Aurora, we’ve always been technology free and there’s not many places that we go now without our devices. And so if you can remove that device and then just allow the nervous system to be rebuilt and nourished, that’s what we really aim to provide our guests with that experience.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (21:01)

Anybody resist that? Plenty. They don’t want to leave it at door. ⁓

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (21:04)

Yeah, we’ve had people.

 

plants

 

and hiding them in robes. ⁓

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (21:11)

I

 

can remember that in my hinterland experiences of people getting gifts sent part way through the week, which would be blocks of chocolate ⁓ and another phone. I was with a very devious group, clearly, but that really struck me because they were all the things that they knew they weren’t going to have for a week and they were getting them sent in as a midpoint because they thought they’d need them.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (21:40)

Well, one of my jobs at Eden was to do the pick up from the airport and that was an entertaining job.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (21:47)

You

 

can pick the helpers or can share out the words.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (21:49)

They’re

 

sculling coffee while they’re eating chips and some chocolate just trying to get their…

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (21:54)

And they’ll be the ones who would have been throwing up detoxing the next day.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (21:59)

These

 

days was the day that some people didn’t make it out of bed and that was when I decided to myself that I would never drink coffee. Really? And I haven’t ever. Mainly because I saw the extreme of what it could do and sure it was in overdrive but yeah I thought I never want to have that.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (22:09)

re-

 

Isn’t that an interesting imprint?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (22:23)

I’ve seen the effects of that and know, Tuesdays we would have people that couldn’t get out of it, physically could not get out of bed and just vomited all day and you know, very unwell from detoxing just from coffee and you know, other people detox from stress or drugs or cigarettes. But coffee was a big one that stuck with me. So I’m a chai drinker and I’ve just, I love the smell of coffee, but I’m not going to.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (22:48)

Yeah, there you go. So when we hit COVID, you were still operating in St Kilda at that time with Aurora. What happened? I mean, we know everything in service industry came to a grinding halt.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (22:58)

Yes.

 

Yeah, that was a really challenging time for us and a lot of other businesses. We moved our product company closer to our home because we just didn’t know how do we do that? How do we send out orders? know, what do we do? And before COVID, nine months before we shut, I had made the decision we weren’t going to renew our lease in St Kilda. So,

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (23:16)

What was Nick?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (23:32)

I, ⁓ had a window of time for our guests to use their vouchers and to come in and see Aurora. And that kept getting cut shorter and shorter every lockdown because we had, ⁓ you know, we had an end, we had a in the sand that, you know, that we had to think incredibly stressful. Yeah. So I, at that point didn’t have the next step organized. really it’s

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (23:49)

I felt stressful for you.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (24:00)

I’m on the radar at that point in time when I was in the throes of the COVID, so of that COVID shutdown. And so it was incredibly stressful. And I came to the point of thinking, if the next door doesn’t open, I’m okay with that. I sort of went, you know, we’ve given 25 years to the local community of being this place of retreat for our guests.

 

And you know, only if the opportunity is right will I continue on. So for me it was the point I sort of, I was peaceful with my decision around that and I was like, okay, we’ll just see how the next little bit unfolds because…

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (24:39)

You had a multifaceted business, you had a product offering that could have continued in its own right.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (24:45)

Which has, yeah. Yeah, so I knew that that was always there, but whether the retreat was going to continue on, it needed to be the right fit for us because operating in St Kilda did become more stressful as well, different owners to what it was and not in alignment with wellness, essentially. And so it became harder.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (25:06)

Which just varies in the front yard. Yeah. Maybe. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense at all.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (25:08)

You

 

And so, yeah, wasn’t until right near the very end of finishing up in St Kilda that the next opportunity presented itself. And I was only going to be taking that if it really worked. And it was the next evolution for Aurora. And bathing was a big part of it because my passion is the culture of European bathing.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (25:35)

I

 

was going to say, Switzerland was reverberating in the back of your mind.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (25:38)

Yes, it really

 

was because we had a lot of treatment rooms in St Kilda, we had 22 treatment areas which is a big space. In comparison to in Sorrento we have eight rooms, so even bigger with treatment rooms.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (25:48)

That’s just… It’s enormous.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (25:55)

But I felt that the market was now ready for the next evolution. And for me, know, the European culture of bathing, they get that it’s a therapy. In some of the European countries, it’s still a part of their healthcare system. get rebated by bathing. Imagine. That’s my legacy piece. That’s what we need to work on. For me, if there was a bathing as a bigger offering and we could design that space to really support where our guests are up to now.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (26:13)

work on. We do.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (26:23)

that was appealing. you know, I have always gone to Blair-Gowrie for summers and for switch-off time as well. So I really saw that part of the peninsula as a switch-off and I thought that would be an incredible coastal retreat. you know, the concept of a historic property always appeals to me as well. And so when the opportunity came up to purpose build a facility at the Continental, which was double the size of Aurora, and

 

the full bathing facility it was just like a okay universe I do keep going yeah this is the next chapter

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (26:59)

Wow. Can I come back to that point you said about the legacy piece and that some parts of the world actually subsidise that as part of healthcare? Do you have the opportunity or is it in your purview to create the opportunity to open up a discussion around that with decision makers?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (27:24)

Yes, I think that there’s some great work being done in the Australian spa industry now. For example, next month there’s a spa summit up at Gwingana where all the spa operators from around Australia and New Zealand gather and there’s international speakers and it’s a summit. That’s where these type of discussions are taking place and so it’s absolutely on the

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (27:47)

Walking up the hill when it’s in numbers. Correct.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (27:50)

And we would all love it to be a part of the healthcare system and it’s gaining enough evidence now, you know, for it to be, for that to be a discussion.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (28:01)

I’m

 

there’s plenty of politicians who go through those doors too. And your doors. Yeah.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (28:05)

Exactly. Yes.

 

So no, it’s on the radar.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (28:09)

Yeah, interesting. Well, coming up, let’s explore why wellness on that thread isn’t a luxury and the warning signs that tell us when the tank’s running empty. If you’re loving the Power of Women podcast, be sure to jump onto our YouTube channel and hit that subscribe button to ensure you never miss an episode.

 

So, Lindell, as part of your wellness ecosystem that you’ve created, which is the spa, the wellness retreats, and coaching services, and you’re also a published author, so there’s a few strings to your bow. But I know you often speak about wellness as refuelling the petrol tank. Why do you think so many of us, and particularly women, ignore the warning lights until burnout actually hits us?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (29:01)

Yes, it’s a really good question and it’s one that I see with the guests walking in our doors daily that we tend to get to this point and the analogy I like to give is, know, when you’re driving around in your car and you are in a petrol car, for example, and the light is on that your petrol is low, you know, are you just cruising around in the city thinking, I am so relaxed right now?

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (29:30)

No

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (29:32)

I’m chilling out. Life is good. No, you’re not. You’re going, okay, what’s my plan if it happens at this intersection or if it happens at the next intersection, what am I going to do? How am I going to do that? Where’s my wallet? Have I got the da da da da? You’re going through every scenario in your brain because your petrol tank has gone down so low, you go into overreactive mode, which takes up a lot of thought, process and anxiety as well.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (29:58)

And life’s the same.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (30:00)

Personal energy tank is exactly the same. It’s about when we get down to that red light. That’s when the anxiety kicks in That’s when we’re feeling over reactive. That’s when we’re not making our best decisions That’s when we’re clouded in our thinking we’re feeling quite foggy You know, we’re trying to figure out the plan, but we can’t see it But we’re almost forcing it all because there’s nothing in the tank to bounce off, right? And it’s about how do we keep that tank in the orange and ideally in the green?

 

you know, what does it look like? What do we need to put in to refuel our tank to get it up to the orange and the green? And I always look with my coaching clients, always look at how they eat, sleep, move and switch off. If you think of them as a little circle, you’ve got quadrants there. And we think about all those quadrants and what they’re doing for our wellness. And the one I’d probably start on is sleep.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (30:54)

And is that, there’s a commonality in this, I’m guessing.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (30:57)

Well, these four are your foundations of wellness. you know, the sleep and we talk about technology, you know, how many people are sleeping with their phone next to their bed and then using their phone as their alarm clock. Guilty. Yeah. Guilty. You’re not alone. A lot of people are doing this.

 

Our sleep is what is the dishwasher for our brain. This is where we get our energy. This is where we refuel our tank, but we refuel our brain. But we also refuel our self-regulation to be able to make great decisions. And so in the morning, if you’ve had a terrible sleep and interrupted sleep, chances are you’re not going to eat well. You probably won’t move your body and you’ll probably spend more money. Now there’s evidence around that. So how do we be the protector of our sleep? Because there’s plenty of sleep robbers out there.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (31:42)

You’re

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (31:47)

and our phones can be one of those.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (31:50)

women that you’re working with and coaching and even in the the corporate settings, if you were to ask how many hours sleep is the average person getting, is there an average?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (32:01)

It’s the quality of the sleep that’s in. Some people can be in bed for seven hours or eight hours, but the quality isn’t there. Yeah. So therefore the sleep isn’t great. And I did a corporate talk last week where you have a hundred people raise your hand if you sleep with your phone next to your bed, 90 % of the audience.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (32:03)

Okay, so time is…

 

I’m

 

glad I’m not the exception.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (32:23)

If there’s some small wins and I’m always about the low-hanging fruit, what are we doing, the small things that help to create greater change?

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (32:33)

Is beeping of the phone that’s the issue or is it the radiation or vibration?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (32:41)

We know that we need an hour of no screen time in order to give our brains the time they need to decompress from the day. so, know, the first is getting off the phone an hour before bed minimum. We know the most restorative time for our sleep is between 10pm and 2am. And so that means you’re getting to bed, hopefully around 9am, and you’re off your device at 8pm. And most people find that difficult. So we start at

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (33:07)

Behind the eight ball.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (33:08)

Yeah. Then you’ve got your phone next to you and then what’s your alarm? It’s your phone. Okay, so you pick up your phone is the first thing you’re touching in the morning. Now do you just pick it up, turn your alarm off and put it down? Or do we go, ⁓ I might just check my emails or I might just check social media or I might just check the news. And this is about triggering our stress response.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (33:32)

straight into it.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (33:33)

Straight into it. So think of protecting your nervous system and being kind to yourself and whether that stress response is mild, medium or extreme. It’s having a negative impact on your health. It’s aging you prematurely. So if we just remove that device from the bedroom, then you have, you you’re the protector of your sleep and of that space for the quality and the quantity.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (33:48)

physically stiffens up our body.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (34:03)

That’s your benchmark to start with. So let’s get the foundations right and let’s remove those devices, get an old fashioned alarm clock so that you can just turn it off, the actual alarm without all the other things going on. you know, sleep is a big part of it and then, you know, how you eat, how you move and how you switch off are also very important and the switch off is what I obviously see a lot of in the spa where people do feel guilty and they’re still in that mindset of it’s selfish.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (34:32)

To be there. ⁓

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (34:34)

have

 

time out. And so that’s always an interesting one to talk about as well about our priorities and just the impact of your community, your work community, your family when you are refuelled versus when you’re empty.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (34:53)

That’s an interesting conversation, isn’t it? Because if you’re not refuelled, what you’re providing to family or workplace is clearly going to be compromised, yet you still feel guilty for taking the time out to pause.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (35:09)

Yes, and it eventually catches up through resentment and other emotions that are not great for our body or they cause inflammation in our body or they don’t help our relationships in any way. it always comes around and I dive into that with my coaching clients. But I see it in the spa as well. When we have our day retreats, our guests come at nine in the morning and leave at four in the afternoon. So we get a deeper dive.

 

into their challenges as well. And when someone’s done a day retreat for a whole day, you know, I say, give me one day, I’ll give you three in return. Because that’s what it feels like. We’re running a retreat next month, which is three days. So you give me three days, I’ll give you seven. You know, it’s about how do we intensify your ability to restore your nervous system.

 

Therefore restore equilibrium in your world for whatever that looks like to be achievers great But do it from a full tank where you’re going to be making fantastic decisions and seeing the best opportunities

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (36:15)

So is it frustrating when you see that guest come back at rock bottom next visit? Because I’m sure that happens and I’m sure not all of them take the messages on board and change their ways.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (36:31)

Yes,

 

look, coaching clients are a little different because you’re so invested in the journey and you’ve got, you’re accountable, they’re accountable to one person. So that’s very satisfying. And then the guests that go through the spa, it’s all about what level they’re going to have an impactful experience in. And, you know, I talk about the bath house as you can chit chat all your way, all the way through the bath house and have some hot cold, stop in the sauna, blah, blah, and then come out and go, hey, that was nice.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (37:00)

Mmm.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (37:02)

Or you can go to the bathhouse and you can be really present with yourself and really work on restorative breath for your nervous system and immerse yourself in every experience. And when your mind wanders, pull it back and actually, you know, practice wellness while you’re there and you’ll walk out and go, that was transformational. So, you know, it’s about where you want to land. You know, if you want that experience of feeling very different, it’s available.

 

if we’re open to it. And sometimes the guests might come to the bathhouse and it’s the very first time they’ve been to a bathhouse. So it takes a little moment to get into it and then in time, you know, we’ve had very emotional guests and guests that are very touched by the experience and that’s what we aim to get to.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (37:49)

Are males or females more accepting to do the latter and go in more mindful? ⁓

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (37:56)

⁓ Sometimes the males are dragged along.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (38:01)

Sounds like shopping!

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (38:04)

In

 

our marketing program, we might call them the reluctant husbands, but they’re generally the easiest ones to convert because they’re completely caught by surprise. And if I look at our regular repeat guests that are coming in weekly, the majority of those are male.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (38:07)

Yeah

 

that right?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (38:26)

Yeah, because I think that ⁓ males, from what I see, when we talk to males about their program of moving forward, they just commit to it. Whereas I think females find it harder to balance the priorities and the juggle and they do have probably

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (38:45)

the guilt as opposed to the guys are so the guys come back because it’s okay it’s like golf I can take all Wednesday or I can go to the spa

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (38:54)

of therapy.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (38:55)

Interesting. And they probably know how to make it tax deductible without you speaking to the government, us girls have probably not latched on to that yet.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (39:04)

Shut up!

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (39:06)

Isn’t that interesting though in the psyche? So in your coaching, are you coaching men and women? Yes. And do you find in that setting that women struggle more to give themselves permission than the men when you’re talking in a coaching session? Yeah.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (39:26)

Yes.

 

Yeah, really simply. coach a lot of female lawyers and that’s a high stress career. ⁓ And yeah, they sometimes find it very challenging, ⁓ predominantly male dominant industry as well. And so they find that really difficult to innately not stop proving themselves.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (39:54)

And they’re probably more inclined to take on board the emotion of the story that they might be representing too, I suspect, through a more empathic view of the world.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (40:03)

Yes.

 

Yeah. So I think it’s a greater challenge for them.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (40:08)

Hmm. Well, I mean, I’m asking a question that was kind of a rhetorical question, but I was hoping it might not be quite so black and white.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (40:19)

Sorry.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (40:21)

How

 

do you demonstrate or educate somebody that the permission to pause is okay?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (40:29)

I think people seek it out or find it when they’re ready and ⁓ from what I’ve seen over the years sometimes it’ll be someone buying a gift voucher for someone. You know as a gift of time out you know they see that someone’s working hard or he’s going through a particularly challenging time and they’ve reached out with a gift of care.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (40:56)

That’s

 

always been how I have landed at a retreat or a spa.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (41:01)

That’s interesting. Okay, so never booking yourself in.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (41:04)

never booked myself in. It’s always been through the route of it being a gift. ⁓ And I haven’t realised that until you have just said that.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (41:13)

That’s fascinating. Not unusual as well. a lot of people can be gifted that because generally the person gifting it to you has had this experience that they think you’re going to benefit from going back to them being our ambassadors. They’re ambassadors for change and they’re ambassadors for seeking you to have nourishment and nurturing.

 

And that’s how some people come to that experience. ⁓ others might try a day retreat with us, they might, a friend has told them about the bath house. But now wellness is very openly discussed, and it’s fantastic that people are going, let’s go bathing rather than go to the pub. Let’s do something that actually we feel better from.

 

rather than something that perhaps we don’t wake up feeling so great the next day. So there’s a lot more emphasis on that as well. I’ve got a daughter that’s 21 and ⁓ doesn’t love nightclubs, but she goes sauna cold plunging in a group environment for social wellness. And she goes to the bay when there’s big breathing cold plunge workout on down there as well. And they do that together. So this next generation, ⁓

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (42:24)

Fantastic.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (42:37)

a little wiser on the wellness side of it and they’re very embracing of it because there’s now the evidence behind it to show that it really worked.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (42:46)

And they’ve looked at our work-life balance flaws and said, don’t want to do what you’re doing.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (42:51)

Yes,

 

I think, know, globally things have shifted with COVID and ways of working have changed as well. you know, they’re really leading it in a new direction as well. ⁓ there is definitely that younger generation are very open to going to a spa and a bathhouse as social wellness or wellness for themselves as well. And then, you know, there’s the exhausted new moms and that sort of next generation of trying to balance.

 

the priorities of what they’ve got going on and I’ve been there. I know it’s tricky and that’s perhaps when you’re able to have more micro moments where you can have your 10 minute daily rituals where you don’t have to leave the house but you can still have those moments of pause and I think that’s where our product rituals come in that you can have, know, simply washing your hands with our hand wash.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (43:31)

Yes

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (43:48)

The essential oils are built to calm your nervous system.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (43:52)

Now I know why your body wash makes me feel so wonderful when I start my day with that in the shower. The grapefruit.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (43:58)

Is that the grapefruit? Yeah.

 

So that’s what I use in the morning. Yeah. I use the rosin aloe at night because it’s very calming. in the morning, that’s about kick-starting our nervous system, but also our thoughts and creating that clarity. And every morning when I use my grapefruit body cleanser, you know, I emulsify all over my body and then…

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (44:18)

Mmm.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (44:19)

three deep breaths. And then when you feel that, you know, overwhelming pressure coming throughout the day, you can hook yourself back to that feeling and almost smell that aroma because you were so present. So it’s about how do we bring more presence to what we’re already doing because we know the science is showing that by controlling our breath is the best way to reverse our stress response.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (44:42)

I have over subsequent time put in a three, four, five breathing reminder into my diary every morning so that I start at my desk in that manner. And it was interesting, I did an interview with somebody in the biohacking space and I’m still not quite sure where I sit on biohacking as long as it’s… ⁓

 

more along the lines of wellness than extremity. However, talking with somebody the other day and a breathing technique that I was aware of but had never done, which is the breathing in, fully exhausting the intake and then taking a further breath. I fall asleep. I fall asleep very quickly anyway, but I fall asleep immediately after doing three or four of those and I’m gone.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (45:36)

do it when you get into bed at night. Yeah. That’s the, mean, that’s a great way. I like to call it the bookends of your day. So how do you start your day and how do you finish your day? ⁓

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (45:43)

Yeah.

 

I’m not failing

 

quite as badly as I thought, Lindor. You’re doing well. You’re doing well. The body wash. You know what?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (45:50)

Yeah!

 

This wellness, the whole wellness thing is a practice. This is not something we master. This is something we continually evolve and we practice to get better at it. no one is an expert on mastering. There’s just different levels of knowledge. And for me, different amounts of people I see and what works and what doesn’t. you know, when I say to my guests go and meditate for 40 minutes, they look at me like, are you, are you for real? I don’t have 40 minutes.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (45:56)

Yeah

 

I can just hear that.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (46:24)

Over the years that building in these practices that are easy and portable are really important because during the day you don’t know what call you’re going to get or really what control you’ve got over your day. You think you’ve got a plan but that could change. How you start the day and how you finish the day generally is under your control. So I have three things in the morning and three things in the evening. So there are more bookends of the day.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (46:47)

So what’s your indulgence?

 

Not indulgences, their life practice.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (46:55)

Yeah, they’re just practices that really help me to just, you know, keep that equilibrium through the day or, you know, come back to it. So, number one, make my bed. Number two, mindful movement. And number three, mindful shower. Okay. my… Yeah. And then at the end of the day, it’s journaling because I want to get out what’s in my head onto paper.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (47:12)

⁓ I’m good. Yeah

 

Yeah, journaling is on my phone. Is that okay? Into my notes section. Better in a book.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (47:26)

Well the phone’s not going to be near your bed anymore, so you need to buy yourself a journal and a pen and put that down. better to write it down. So really getting that out on paper. ⁓ And then I like to do my breathing. And then I use my essential oils. So they’re in the form of a thermal balm, which is on the pressure points of my shoulders and my neck, or using Australian essential oils.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (47:55)

Rose

 

Fragrance

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (47:56)

Yeah, that’s actually camphor and peppermint, so it’s quite intense. And I use it on the back of my neck and down into my shoulders because it’s like a petrochemical-free tiger balm. You know, it’s that minimum type balm. And for me, it just stops my thoughts because it’s so intense.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (48:07)

Yes.

 

RELAX

 

And I know when I jump into bed what I do and I learnt this many, years ago when I developed an autoimmune condition and had alopecia totalis for four years and was totally bald. Another story. However, a practice that I learnt from that time that I have never let go is when I lie in bed at night, I go through from my toes through to my head.

 

and go through the mental let go in each point and you realise how much you’re lying there holding, holding on.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (48:52)

Yeah. You’re

 

doing your own yoga nidra. Yeah. And that’s fantastic. And we hold so much tension in our jaw, for example. And sometimes it’s not until you lie down in bed that you realize, I am so sore in my jaw. actually, I’m squinting my eyes because I’m feeling the pressure. those sorts of practices. for people that…

 

don’t know what a yoga nidri is. There’s plenty of great apps where you can insight time. There’s a free app and yoga nidri is on there as well. But the other thing you can do is just diaphragmatically breathe. Get the breath down to the belly. So when we’re lying in bed, that’s the best time to do it.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (49:26)

Yes.

 

Because it’s a straight line, you’re not folded up and seated.

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (49:36)

Yeah, so you’re just wanting to raise the belly and not chest breathe because when we’re under pressure we generally chest breathe and you know it’s that fight-or-flight sort of stress response. So we want to be you know really having these long inhalations but even longer exhalations so your body knows it’s safe and you’re really turning off that stress response and going into that rest and digest which is the perfect place to start for quality sleep.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (49:45)

Y O U F

 

So if I was to say what is the one point you would like the listeners to walk away from this conversation and recall, what would that be, Lindell?

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (50:17)

It’s the small things you do every day that make the greatest difference. I see so many guests who go for the one big thing, I’m going to run a marathon, I’m going to do something enormous and then a month in can’t sustain it. So be kind to yourself in the wellness practices that you bring in and bring in sustainable practices that you think you could be doing in three to six months time. And if you think you can be doing that in three to six months time,

 

well that’s probably a great practice to bring in. But just be kind and gentle to yourself, especially it’s an easy one to bring back to movement because you know so often if someone wants to get fit they start running five kilometres or ten kilometres and then they get an injury. Just walk around the block. It’s actually the habit that you’re building that is more important than the quantity you’re doing at the start. So you’re just building a habit of movement.

 

You’re not trying to run a marathon because actually in time you’ll build up your cardio and you’ll build up your tolerance for exercise But to start with you actually creating the habit and when we can create the habit we have more automation in our body We don’t have to think so much because we get decision fatigue throughout the day. So just the small things be kind and gentle to yourself

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (51:34)

Beautiful. So if somebody wants to find the spa, bathhouse, where

 

LYNDALL MITCHELL – AURORA SPA (51:40)

We are, there’s a website, auroraspar.com.au. Aurora Spa and Bathhouse is located in Sorrento at the Continental Hotel and the Aspar products are online as well.

 

DI GILLETT – HOST (51:53)

Beautiful. Yes. Thank you so much for joining me today, Lindle. It’s a reminder. I sit here and acknowledge everything you’re saying and reminding myself how many things I don’t do, but there’s a few things that I do do. So I’m going to challenge the listeners to do exactly the same thing. But the one thing that I am going to do, and I’m going to challenge anybody listening to do, is get an alarm clock and

 

get the phone out of the bedroom. So, job is done. Thank you. So, if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please be sure to follow and subscribe to the podcast. on all of the podcast platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and we’ve got our own YouTube channel. Until next time.

 

If you’re loving the Power of Women podcast, hit that subscribe button and be sure that you never miss an episode. Until next time.

 

Connect with Di:

Connect with Di on LinkedIn

Follow Power Of Women on LinkedIn

Follow Di on Instagram

The Power Of Women Podcast Instagram

Contact Di

 

Find Lyndall at:

Website https://auroraspa.com.au/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndallmitchell/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/947982/aurora-spa-bathhouse/?hl=en

Want more fearless, unfiltered stories?

✨ Subscribe to the Power Of Women Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts

➜ Your ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify keeps these stories alive.

 

📩 Sign up for our newsletter where I share raw reflections and thought leadership on the Power Of Reinvention.

 

Disclaimer:  https://powerofwomen.com.au/podcast-disclaimer/

PR is a Power Move – How to Build a Brand That Lasts

PR is a Power Move – How to Build a Brand That Lasts

by | Oct 22, 2025 | Entrepreneur, Female Entrepreneur, Podcast For Women

In this episode of the Power Of Women Podcast, Di Gillett sits down with Cassandra Hili, Founder & Director of Curated Agency, to unpack the art and impact of storytelling in branding.

Cassandra’s journey began at just 17 when a personal health blog went viral and set her on a path to becoming a recognised young business leader. Together, Di and Cassandra explore what it really takes to stay visible and authentic in a fast-moving digital landscape and how to build a brand with longevity, not just likes.

💡 You’ll Hear:

➜ Why storytelling is the foundation of every great brand

➜ How vulnerability drives connection and credibility

➜ The truth about earned vs paid media (and how to avoid the scams)

➜ The key to maintaining relevance long after a viral moment

➜ The first PR steps for founders ready to amplify their message

From TikTok to morning television, Cassandra’s approach to PR proves that credibility, not clicks, is the real currency.

 

Cassandra said:

“Tell your own story to connect with others.”
“Be vulnerable enough to share your story.”
“PR is about investing in credibility.”

 

💥 New episodes drop every Monday to power your week.

Connect with Di:

Connect with Di on LinkedIn

Follow Power Of Women on LinkedIn

Follow Di on Instagram

The Power Of Women Podcast Instagram

Contact Di

 

Find Cassandra Hili at:

Website https://www.curatedagency.com.au/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandrahili/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/curated_agency

 

Want more fearless, unfiltered stories?

✨ Subscribe to the Power Of Women Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts

➜ Your ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify keeps these stories alive.

 

📩 Sign up for our newsletter where I share raw reflections and thought leadership on the Power Of Reinvention.

 

Disclaimer:  https://powerofwomen.com.au/podcast-disclaimer/

Hema Prakash | Revolutionising Women’s Healthcare

Hema Prakash | Revolutionising Women’s Healthcare

by | Jul 14, 2025 | Change Makers, Female Entrepreneur, Health & Wellbeing

Hema Prakash isn’t just a successful businesswoman— she is revolutionising women’s healthcare with Ponti Health—enabliing women to reclaim agency over their wellbeing. After years navigating the boardrooms of tech and private equity—where she was often the only woman in the room—Hema turned her energy to a new frontier: transforming women’s healthcare in Australia.

Now the co-founder of Ponti Health, Hema is building what she calls “slow medicine”: a one-stop clinic for women that respects time, intelligence, and lived experience. And she’s doing it on her terms.

 

In this episode, we explore:

⇛ Menopause isn’t a disease—and Héma’s on a mission to change how it’s treated

⇛ Why financial independence and self-prioritisation aren’t luxuries—they’re essentials

⇛ Research in women’s health is underfunded and needs support.

⇛ What it means to lead with humility, excellence, and empathy in business and health.

 

Hema highlighted so many salient points including:

On menopause: “Menopause shouldn’t be medicalised—it’s a transition, not a disease.”

On women’s financial independence: “Women need to be financially independent… it’s free money, literally free money everyone, compounding at 10% interest a year.”

How her business is delivering women’s healthcare: “We’ve taken everything back to basics. We’re calling it slow medicine… because we need time.”

Highlighted the alarming steps midlife women are taking due to menopause: “Women over 45 are activating income protection insurance at $12,000 a month—because they’re falling off their perches.”

New episodes drop every Monday to power your week.

 

Connect with Di:

Connect with Di on LinkedIn

Follow Power Of Women on LinkedIn

Follow Di on Instagram

The Power Of Women Podcast Instagram

Contact Di

 

Connect with Hema & Ponti Health:

Explore Ponti Health

Instagram

 

💬 Would love to hear your thoughts on the Ponti Health revolution. Leave a comment.

📩 Want more stories of female entrepreneurs changing the playing field? Sign up for our newsletter: Link

Dr Marina Christov | Depleted, Drained: How to Get Your Energy Back

Dr Marina Christov | Depleted, Drained: How to Get Your Energy Back

by | Jun 2, 2025 | Blog, Burnout, Female Empowerment, Female Entrepreneur, Health & Wellbeing, Podcast For Women

Is your energy depleted? Do your feel drained? What if the root of your exhaustion isn’t just in your schedule—but in your organs?

Di sits down with renowned Chinese Medicine practitioner Dr. Marina Christov, founder of The House of Life on the podcast to challenge the notion of why so many women are energetically depleted —and what your liver, kidneys, and nervous system are trying to tell you. With over 25 years of experience, Marina brings a rare blend of clinical wisdom, emotional insight, and unapologetic truth-telling to this deeply personal conversation.

Marina also shares her own story of rejection and resilience—from being dismissed for being “too personable” to building a thriving wellness practice grounded in compassion, feminine energy, and fierce intention.

 

In his episode, we explore:

  • Why so many women are energetically depleted—and what your liver, kidneys, and nervous system are trying to tell you
  • How emotions are stored in the body, and how Chinese medicine maps this connection
  • Why burnout, brain fog, and tension aren’t just physical—they’re symptoms of fragmentation
  • How self-understanding and energetic alignment can become your greatest tools for healing

 

New episodes drop every Monday to power your week.

Connect with Di:

Connect with Di on LinkedIn

Follow Power Of Women on LinkedIn

Follow Di on Instagram

The Power Of Women Podcast Instagram

Contact Di

 

Find Dr. Marina Christov at:

Website https://houseoflife.com.au/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thehouseoflifeclinic/?hl=en

 

Where is your energy leaking—and what’s it trying to tell you?

Share in the comments.

📩 Want more motivating & inspiring stories? Sign up for our newsletter: Link

Megan Draper | The CEO Turning Discarded Furniture into Human Dignity

Megan Draper | The CEO Turning Discarded Furniture into Human Dignity

by | May 26, 2025 | Female Entrepreneur

DescriptionIn this episode of the Power Of Women Podcast, host Di Gillett speaks with Megan Draper, Founder and CEO of Furniture Reuse Solutions (FRS) — a 100% female-owned environmental company that has quietly redefined what it means to lead with purpose.

Megan was raised to believe that women were meant to be subservient to men — homemakers in the background, while men took the lead as breadwinners. A chance encounter at a gas station led her into the world of recycling and environmental logistics. Today, she leads a company that has redirected more than £60 million worth of surplus furniture to over 200 nonprofits and humanitarian organisations — avoiding landfill and transforming lives in the process.

We explore the growing intersection of sustainability, circular economy principles, and social responsibility — and how impact-led leadership is no longer optional in today’s business landscape. This episode is for anyone building something bigger than themselves — especially women navigating leadership, visibility, and purpose in a world that still questions their right to take the lead.

In this episode we reveal:

  • The truth about leading in a male-dominated industry
  • How one desk or chair can transform a child’s future
  • The power of circular economy thinking in business
  • Why real leadership today must include social impact

New episodes drop every Monday to power your week.

Connect with Di:

Connect with Di on LinkedIn

Follow Power Of Women on LinkedIn

Follow Di on Instagram

The Power Of Women Podcast Instagram

Contact Di

 

Find Megan Draper at:

LinkedIn

Website