Host Amelia Phillips goes behind the scenes, giving an insight into each episode, what went well, what didn’t and helps us get to know the guests a little better. This ep goes behind Wendy MacCarthy who was instrumental in decriminalising abortion, and Alisa Latto, who grew an empire from the desire to raise healthy kids in a healthy home.
About the guests:
Wendy McCarthy is nothing short of a powerhouse force for change. Now in her 80s, Wendy remains Deputy-Chair of Goodstart Early Learning, a Non-executive Director of IMF Bentham, a Patron of the Sydney Women’s Fund, Ambassador for 1 Million Women, and Advisor to Grace Papers. Wendy boasts one of the most impressive resumes of her time having affected positive change for Australian women all throughout her career.
Her latest memoir Don’t Be Too Polite Girls is full of brilliant storytelling and wise words for ambitious women.
Alisa Latto (and her business partner Dani Crews) are both Mums and the founders of 123 Nourish Me, an education hub, vibrant community and marketplace for organic, clean products for the family and home. From sunscreens to organic, nutrient rich foods and beverages, essential oils and household products, 123 Nourish Me is a great community for parents trying to raise healthy happy kids.
Visit 123 Nourish Me
Follow their entertaining and educational instagram
Book – Little Book of Hygge
Lord Huron latest album – Long Lost
Lord Huron live video. – The Night We Met
Below is an unedited transcript of the podcast episode:
Welcome to another episode of Behind My Show, where you get to know my recent guests that little bit better learn what went on behind the scenes. This month I interviewed Wendy McCarthy, a woman instrumental in so many decisions that impact US women today, including decriminalizing abortion in New South Wales in 2019, quite possibly one of the most quiet achievers of our generat.
I also interviewed Alyssa Lato, a woman who turned her desire for healthier kids into a thriving business. But let’s start with Wendy. If you’re curious to know about how one person can over their life make a difference, will Wendy is the model example. I first learned about Wendy, who’s now in her eighties through my mom, Jenny.
So I assume your husband was present in the birthing suite with you. Well, did you know that my brother, who’s now 50, was one of the first babies born in New South Wales where the father was legally allowed in the birthing suite. And that was thanks to the campaigning of my mom, Wendy, and other passionate women from the Childbirth Education Association.
So when Wendy released her autobiography, I lept at the opportunity to interview her and unpack how someone can lead such an impactful life, and what else she got up to during her. So let’s have a look at this just quickly and obviously please listen to the episode cuz it’s so inspiring. But she was the co-founder of the Women’s Electoral Lobby, or well, which was designed to determine the issues at the heart of women since they had just earned the right to vote.
So it kind of wasn’t dissimilar to the surveys used by the independence of today, but Wendy recalls when asking one electorate MP what a women’s most valuable possession was. And you know what his answer was? Her virginity. So clearly politicians were at odds with the concerns of their female who were now voting constitu.
And well brought these issues right under the MP’s noses. So it was this great lobbying group that really brought the interests of women and concerns of women to the politicians. Wendy was also instrumental in making abortions accessible to women, and finally, finally decriminalizing it in 2019, which seems all the more relevant and important in light of the Roe v.
Wade being overturned in the US recently. Wendy has sat on more boards than I can count, including the deputy chair of the abc. Her list of achievements goes on, but what really stood out to me in our conversation is at its heart, Wendy remains what she says is her proudest achievement, and that is a teacher.
She says that although her classrooms change to boardrooms or chambers, the foundational lessons that she learned as a teacher have underpinned her career. What a lesson for us, firstly, to hold onto that skill or that passion that we have. Cuz yes, ladies, we all have a skill, a superpower and a passion.
And secondly, to roll up our sleeves and get involved in that community group that you’ve heard of. Maybe it’s a not-for-profit, helping disadvantaged kids in your area. Maybe it’s a women’s shelter or a government lobbying. Because this is how Wendy first got started, appalled that her husband could not be present at her first born’s birth.
So she decided to act, look at the career. That brave first step led her down. So anyway, here’s a fast few that I did with Wendy after our chat.
Wendy, what was the last meal you ate? Oh, lunch. Ratter toy with poached decks. Oh, yum. Homemade, or were you out and about Homemade. I do love to cook. Tell me what you do for exercise. I do Pilates twice a week and I do hydrotherapy one day a week, and I walk the dog every day. Oh yes. Miss Daisy May, Daisy may.
Thoughts on the recent election results with the rise of female independence. How do you think this is gonna change Parliament? I hope it’s going to change Parliament in a way that there’s more respectful discourse, that the issues that are called women’s issues, which are not really women’s issues for the most part, they’re, everyone’s issues are paid, the respect and attention and research that they deserve.
And I hope that we will see a respect for utilizing the skills of the very smart women who’ve come in as independents. Definitely we want an inclusive parliament. There’s no point in some idiot somewhere saying they’re not in our party. We can’t listen to them. Yes, we want to hear their voices as well.
And it’s a beautiful challenge to have to work with independents in a chamber. But that’s the world. Yes, I’m hoping to see less politicking and more practical accountability as well. Tell me, as you enter your eighth decade, what is most important to you now? Staying healthy. If I was to die tomorrow, I’d die.
Healthy woman, if you can. Yes. Understand that. Yep. Hoping some of my friends hang around for a while. You know, I’ve lost a lot of friends in the last couple of years and you don’t realize what a hole in your life it makes when some of your nearest and dearest friends. It’s not about my husband or my mother or so on.
Well, they’re different, but it’s just that the sort of the community friends. But you might see, you know, once a month or you talk on the phone too. Mm. I think that sort of collegiality of friendship that over many, many years is something that I love. It’s so powerful. It’s very, very powerful and.
Watching my grandchildren grow now is, you know, the most enterprising and gorgeous thing that I can do is I just wanna stay alive. I keep shifting the date. I think first of all, Elis had to turn 21 and he’s turned 21. And then I’m thinking, I don’t think Frayer, who’s nines going to get to 21 in my life.
So I might have to put the age down where we’d do certain things together, and with grandma. Grandchildren. I love how you setting yourself these milestones and goals, but it’s wonderful. And I can just sense the joy and Jude, Viv, and the life in you, which to a lot of us who are now in our forties and realizing that we’re on the downhill side of our life, something that we, Oh, no, you’re on the upside.
You’re done. You’re doing all the things that’s proper for young women to do. Soon you’ll be 50 and life changes again. And I mean, for me, part of writing the book was to. Well, I’m 60. What’s, What am I gonna do now? And realizing 60 is the beginning of something else. Amazing. My life since I’ve been 60 has been extraordinary.
No children at home, but you know, different relationships. And I think it also just goes to show that you are still active in your eighth decade on board’s working. I hate the word retirement. I don’t think I ever wanna retire. No, don’t. No, because it means you disengage. Yeah, absolutely. Well, on that, One piece of advice for women who want to live a life as full of purpose as yours, Do what you really care about.
Just find the thing you really care about and work out how you can make it a serious part of your life. Like my, my life, women’s education and, and women’s health and children, they’re just crucial at a personal and a political. And I came upon them one by one in order. Well, mine is health. That’s my calling since the age of 14.
I feel so passionately about health and I love that you mentioned that you know, in your eighth decade what’s important to you is your health. So I know I found my calling, but I love to put it out to my listeners. What is your calling? What is important to you? You might immediately jump to your family, but then what about the life and the world that they’re going to grow up in?
How do you wanna help shape? Well, I think there are two things I, One is climate change, which is still vix, but the sort of world at my age that we live in is really important. And I think the other thing is coming to terms with the opportunities and joy that will be found for people who work in the caring economy.
Early learning and childcare age care. I mean, for me, aging has to be something I think about at various levels, and I’m on only one board at the moment, and that’s the only board I’m going to be on. But it’s for purpose investment partners, it’s about finding solutions to intractable issues, mostly in the care economy, disability, age, care, early learning, and that’s probably where I’m going to spend my intellectual energy for the rest of my.
Well, that sounds like a very worthy cause. Indeed. Thank you so much, Wendy. Thank you. Lovely to meet you. Likewise.
Alyssa Lato came across my desk when a friend. Complained that thanks to her, his wife now won’t let the kids have Vegemite then that’s because it contains msg, fyi. He said, That’s so un Australian . But I started following Alyssa and was instantly drawn to her funny, practical family hacks on Instagram.
On a mission to rid her kids and her house of unnecessary toxins. She’s developed a range of organic products from a natural version of vi’s vapor to sun care, cleaning products, food, and more. She’s such a firecracker. She’s hilarious. And our chat was both entertaining and full of simple family hat. So here’s a fast few with Alyssa Lato from 1 2 3.
Nourish me.
Lisa, what was the last meal you ate? I had, this morning I had avocado on toast and I had a really big delicious O milk coffee. Um, yum. It was good. It was really good. And I sprinkled a little bit of sea salt and squeezed half a lime on the avocado and it was so yummy. TV series you’re into at the. I’m a little bit unusual with this in that I, uh, about two years ago removed the TV from my home.
Oh, wow. Yeah. So, no, actually that’s not entirely true. I moved, I removed it from the main living areas. Yeah, yeah. And I found that my kids were becoming so addicted to wanting TV on all the time, and it got to the point where I removed it for a short period of time and there was a profound increase in their basically being pleasant.
Pleasant and present. So we have a, a TV now in the back room. So, um, we don’t watch a lot of it now. We’ve kind of got a little bit out of the habit. Such a good tip. Well, it’s hard because you’ve actually gotta be with your kids and you’ve gotta be with their behavior. I dunno if I recommend it, but for my, but for my kids, it actually improved their, you know, they were just getting very rude.
So, um, I couldn’t really answer that one now because I don’t have, I don’t watch a lot of tv. Yeah. Well, what about a book then? Have you got a book that you’re into or a book that you love? My favorite book is The Little Book of Huga. Have you read it? No. How do you spell Huga? Huga is spelled H Y double g e.
It’s a Danish word. Okay. And huga is the concept that. You know that feeling when you are sitting on a beautiful, warm area in your home on a comfy couch with really nice socks on, and you’ve got a rug and you’ve got a cup of tea, and you are looking out at a beautiful view, and you have this moment of feeling.
Absolute wellbeing and peace. Oh yes, I get that in my bed. Uh, yeah, when I have a sleep in morning and my, I’ve trained my daughter to bring me a cup of tea in bed and I have a moment. A Huga moment. Yeah. So that is Huga and this book talks about how we can create that. Beautiful feeling of wellbeing in different areas of our day and different areas of our life and, and taking that coziness and that warmth and that feeling of being really comforted in that moment and nourished.
Yeah. And bringing that into when you’re in a traffic jam. You know, bringing that into when you’re feeling like against an aggressive person. Um, so I love this book and the concept of the Danish actually bring Huga into all of the areas of their life that they can. So this, yeah, that’s my favorite book at the moment.
I love it. Okay. Love it. What about music? What’s on repeat on your music playlist? Anything that soothes my nervous system. I run a very busy life. I. Busy company. I have noisy boys and noisy kids, so I actually listen to a lot of chilled out music, a lot of classical music, anything that kind of soothes me.
I love, On Spotify, they just have like spa music and sometimes I just play that. There’s an album actually that I’ve got on repeat that you might like. It’s called Lord Huron, h u r o n. Oh, and besides the fact that he’s really sexy, That helps. It’s singing music. It’s not like spa music, but it’s kind of got this slight like country in western, a little bit of kind of elvisy.
Oh, it’s really chilled. Give Lord Huron a try. And then once you’re into it, play one of the, you know, the lives on YouTube and you’ll be like, Oh yeah, you’re a sexy guy. How smart. How’s beautiful? How? Sounds amazing. Well, you mentioned a moment ago running your business and I mean I could do a whole episode on business management with you cuz 1, 2, 3, nourish me is such an incredible business and I wish we had time to delve into that.
But I’m just gonna ask you the pit and the peak of running your own business and Moming at the same time. I’m very lucky to run my own business in that I get to work my own hours, so that’s fantastic. , I get to drop my kids at school and pick them up, and I work in between those hours, and that’s always been a priority to me in order to be able to do that.
in saying that having your own business, I think I’ve worked harder in this business than I have in any job I’ve ever had in my whole life. Yeah. So that can be a challenge of keeping the business separate to my kids. And you know, they say quite often, Can you get off your phone? And I’m like, Well, I’ve got an online business and I’m, that’s my, that’s my business and I’m on my phone.
More than I would like to be. Mm-hmm. . So I’m very, very lucky that my business affords me to be able to parent. In a way that I really have created that I love. But in saying that it’s a, it’s a balancing act between being so consumed with my business that I miss when my kids are talking to me. Do you regret starting your own business?
Oh my gosh, It’s the best thing ever. I am so passionate about my business. I mean, I just don’t feel like I work. I live and breathe it. I love it. I meet really interesting people all the time. I feel like Danny and I are making a difference in the world. We are actually contributing in a positive way, and it’s something that we feel incredibly proud of.
Good. And there’s your answer right there. Health, like everything in our life, it’s all about trying to find that balance and that harmony. Life never stays still. You’re gonna have those times to reap and times to so, and we’re also out here very thankful for the education that you do for all of us moms to help our kids lead healthier and happier lives and keep us a little bit more sane.
And you know what? Nobody has it figured out. We think other people have it figured out. We’re all just juggling. We’re all just working it out. We’re all just trying to keep our kids turning into beautiful adults. We all want that for our kids, and we’re all doing the best We. Great. Well, thanks so much for giving us a little bit of insight into your personal life and what you’re doing, and we’d love to get you back on the show some time in the future.
Absolutely. It’s been lovely chatting to you. Thanks so much for having me.
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