Live Life Well: The Podcast

With the start of a new month, we are also declaring the start of Season 4 for LIVE LIFE WELL: The Podcast!

In this unedited, unfiltered podcast episode, Amy shares:

• How her word of the year, "Courage" has already played out in January 2023
• How having the courage to share her "Word of the Year" project led her to our charity partner, HerSpace
• How having the courage to reach out led to some great connections with amazing individuals: Pepe, Rose and Theo
• Two other C words that she’s bringing into 2023 (we will share more in depth in future episodes)
• How you can build your courage and connections at the upcoming ESLA Wellbeing and Networking event on 25 February 2023 where Amy will be sharing on how to “burn bright not out”.

Have you chosen a Word of the Year?

Do you find them powerful, pointless or are you unsure?

In this unedited, unfiltered podcast episode, Amy shares:

• The results of the polls she took on Linkedin, Instagram and Facebook on the whole “Word of the Year” concept and some of the thoughts shared in her community.
• The research she did to come to her own conclusions about choosing a word of the year
• Why she used “Word of the Year” in 2021 and 2022 instead of new year resolutions
• Her Word of the Year for 2023
• Other resources you could use to think about how to choose a Word of the Year as a more intentional way to focus your activities for the year
• The introduction of the “Word of the Year” Project 2023

If you want to continue the conversation, join the BURN BRIGHT Blueprint Facebook group:

In this impromptu unedited, unfiltered episode, Amy shares on:

• the power of having a coach that asks you great questions 
• challenging yourself to “just do the thing” rather than just thinking about doing something
• update on burnout recovery
• reflections on the state of the world after COVID
• what she believes would be the most tragic thing…
• why she’s over how mainstream media pits people against each other
• how to start taking imperfect messy action in 2023
• why we don’t achieve our goals
• how we can get closer to achieving our goals in 2023
• the power of Sabbathing and resting well
• why she doesn’t believe the mentality “work hard, play hard” is helpful

It's been a number of months since our last episode and it was time to give our community an update as to what's been happening behind the scenes and how there's a need for us to officially take a break from podcasting indefinitely.  However, we do hope you will continue to journey with Amy and the LIVE LIFE WELL Movement.

If you'd like to keep up to date as to what's up next in the LIVE LIFE WELL Movement, please request to join our associated Facebook group:

In this episode, we continue our “Movers and Shakers” month of March by sharing the live interview we recorded on 16 March 2022 with Amy To, the co-founder of the Mexican restaurant, Amor Mexico located in Blackburn, Victoria, Australia.

Amy is the youngest of five from a refugee family but has been an entrepreneur for most of her life. A wife of two boys, public speaker, workshop facilitator and community builder, in this interview, Amy shares about the importance of community and courage in business, life and love. Amy also shares some wise life advice from her late father, the power of small acts of kindness and how the Amor Mexico community really stepped up and helped during Covid.

Amy is also one of the co-authors of the book, "My Courageous Journey" a collaborative book project that features 10 women sharing raw and real stories of courage. These women are on a mission to transform communities and make an impact.

In this episode, we kick off our “Movers and Shakers” month of March by sharing the live interview we recorded on 3 March 2022 with Samantha Jansen, an international speaker, author, business owner and publisher of Samantha Jansen Publishing to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022.

Samantha shares about her journey of leaving her home country of Sri Lanka to come to Australia, the challenges she faced and also how she overcame some of the bias or discrimination she experienced as a woman of colour. She also shares about owning her story and how she has overcome the challenges she has experienced in the last 10 years after stepping away from a corporate job, becoming a single parent and starting her own business.

Samantha's latest collaborative book project, "𝐌𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲" has also launched today on International Women's Day - 𝐌𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 featuring 10 women sharing raw and real stories of courage. These women are on a mission to transform communities and make an impact.

We took a bit of a break from the podcast waves and our host, Amy Leong is back to share with you what happened between the break and the lessons learnt during the time away from the mic.

This episode was recorded live in the newly renamed Facebook group connected with this podcast, "BURN BRIGHT Blueprint: Leadership and Wellbeing for Women who change the world" and in the episode Amy shares 5 lessons she's learnt on this journey of failing forward that she hopes will inspire and help you on your journey to living life well.

If you'd like to join the Facebook Group and get in on the conversations that happen live in future recordings, please request to join here:

In this episode, we chat with Lucy Allen, a Confidence and Career Coach, who is also one of our speakers for the upcoming LIVE LIFE WELL Summit starting on 17 November 2021.  We loved the powerful questions that Lucy shared with us in this interview including one that helped her make the leap from corporate to self-employed.  

Lucy also shares about the importance of bringing the people you love along with you on the journey of a career change and a simple but life-change mindset shift that can help you move from a position of fear to a position of possibilities.

There are so many gold nuggets here, we encourage you to grab a pen and paper (or your phone) and note them down.

You can connect further with Lucy here:

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Richard Paterson, the founder and CEO at Basix 4 Blokes, a charity created to empower and encourage men to talk about their mental health. We jump into the conversation where Richard shares why the definition of "health" is different for everyone, we talk about the importance of a safe environment for us to be vulnerable, the importance of community and how "what you focus on grows".  There are so many gold nuggets here, we encourage you to grab a pen and paper (or your phone) and note them down.

This is part 2 of a 2-part conversation we had with Richard so make sure you go back to listen to part 1 if you haven't already.

You can connect further with Richard here:

As part of National Mental Health Month in Australia, in this episode, we talk to Richard Paterson, the founder and CEO at Basix 4 Blokes, a charity created to empower and encourage men to talk about their mental health. Richard shares his own personal journey of becoming a single dad to his son, receiving a pre-cancer condition and how he took ownership of his health.  There are so many gold nuggets here, we encourage you to grab a pen and paper (or your phone) and note them down. 

This is part 1 of a 2-part conversation we had with Richard so stay tuned for the release of part 2.

You can connect further with Richard here:

As part of National Mental Health Month in Australia, in this episode, we talk to childhood abuse survivor turned Empowerment Coach, Rene Michele about some of the mental health challenges that she experienced this year being separated from her partner due to border closures and how she overcame them. We talked about the benefits of celebrating the small wins, how to course-correct, how our family origin and life experiences affect our identity and the importance of community.

You can connect further with Rene here:

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Zoe Wong (make sure you listen to episode 26 to get the full context) about how her love of journalling, the global pandemic and her desire to bring change to her world prompted her and her co-founder, Denise to start the social enterprise, Living Words Co.

We talked about the power of journalling, what it is like to work with a friend and how Denise and Zoe implement servant leadership principles in their work together in Living Words Co.

Living Words Co. gives 100% of the profits to education-focused charities and currently supports Operation Stitches.

As part of National Mental Health Month in Australia, in this episode, we talk to social impact strategist and consultant, Zoe Wong about some of the mental health challenges that she experienced during her corporate career and how she overcame them. We talked about having a clear distinction between what we do and who we are as well as some strategies that Zoe has found helpful in situations that can elevate stress and anxiety. 

This is part 1 of a two-part chat that we had with Zoe so stay tuned for a follow-up episode where we will talk to Zoe about the social enterprise she co-founded with her friend, Denise, "LivingWords.co" during the global pandemic.

To celebrate the launch of season 3 of LIVE LIFE WELL: The Podcast and Amy's new Youtube channel, "LIVE LIFE WELL with Amy Leong", tried something new and did a live recording of this season's first episode, streaming straight to Linkedin, and Amy's business and personal Facebook pages.

In this episode, we will covered:

1. the new direction of the podcast and my business;
2. why we are going on Youtube;
3. the theme for October;
4. our charity partner for October;
5. the dates of the next LIVE LIFE WELL Summit and a few other things!

Links mentioned in the live recording:

Same podcast. 

Same podcast host.

Slightly redirected focus.

In this season Amy is adding her 25+ years of leadership experience into the mix and bringing all that she's learnt from being a certified John Maxwell coach, speaker and trainer into this discussion around holistic wellness. Whilst there will remain a focus on holistic wellness, Amy is now on mission to help world-changers with burnout prevention and ending burnout culture.  

Amy is also giving herself permission to start talking more about matters of the heart including social justice issue, advocating for more creative expression in the workplace and even covering the sensitive topics around the current global pandemic.

We look forward to growing with you and helping you LIVE LIFE WELL.

In this last part of a 3-part "personal update" series, Amy shares about what is next for her and how she has now resigned from her job as a lawyer to go all-in as a transformational leadership and holistic wellness coach, certified with the John Maxwell Team.

This is also the last episode of Season 2 and you can expect some changes starting in Season 3.

This is part 2 of a 3-part conversation around some of the things that have happened since the LIVE LIFE WELL Mini Summit 2021. In this episode Amy shares about her latest brush with burnout and some of the steps she is taking in her road to recovery.

After 1.5 months away from the podcast waves, Amy is back to share with you about how the LLW Mini Summit went down! 

Let's just say that the LLW Mini Summit took on a life of its own.

Are you tired? Burnt out? Ready to make a change?

Then the LIVE LIFE WELL Mini Summit 2021 is for you and here is your official invitation! 

The online summit is a safe space created for busy, world-changing but time-poor women to pause, reflect and learn from our subject-matter experts about how they can look after themselves from a holistic perspective, empowering them to live with PURPOSE, JOY and DELIGHT.

During the inaugural LLW Mini Summit, we will be exploring four aspects of wellness (physical, emotional, social and occupational wellness), engage in a discussion around a social justice issue (it's important to not only to have an internal focus of self but to build perspective on what we can do to help others) and join our speakers for a special panel Q & A to finish off our time together.

In this episode, Amy gives you the ins and outs of the free online summit taking place from 29-31 July 2021.

GUEST KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

In this impromptus episode, Amy shares about why she has been MIA for the last 6 months on the podcast waves and three things she has learnt during this time away from the microphone.  This is a very conversational episode so it is probably not as well thought out as Amy would have liked but we still hope that you will take away what you need from sharing this journey of living life well.

Links to things mentioned in this episode:

After an unexpected break, Amy is back with an interview with Doug Thompson, a passionate storyteller and TEDx speaker.  Doug can usually be found sharing his passion for storytelling in his LinkedIn videos and his Tech Story podcast.  His passion is coaching and mentoring other technology professions on how to stop “techsplaining” and start storytelling.  He believes that everyone has a story, and it is just a matter of unlocking it from the grips of the subconscious mind.

Currently Doug is an AI Ambassador and Technology Strategist Director for the Education team at Microsoft where he leverages his 30+ years in tech sales to help his customers transform the student expereince to empower teachers and students of today create the world of tomorrow.

Doug and his wife, of more than 37 years, enjoy spending time with their two children and 7 grandchildren and 2 rescue dogs whenever possible.  He is also a retired triathlete and is a 2-time Ironman Triathlon finisher.

In this episode, Doug shares about his “scale of 10” in decision making, the power of networking and reflection, all with a sense of humour. While this interview sits within the “intellectual wellness” segment of our "6 dimensions of wellness" series, Doug shares many other nuggets of wisdom on how to thrive and not just survive. We know you will enjoy this chat.

You can connect further with Doug on LinkedIn and the link to his TedTalk and his own podcast is below:

In this solo episode, Amy introduces the topic of intellectual wellness which is the focus on expanding and challenging our minds to learn new skills, solve problems and cultivate creativity. Amy also shares some of the books, podcasts and brain training games the LLW community has been using to train their brains. A full list of the resources mentioned will be released on the podcast's Instagram page soon.

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

SOCIAL JUSTICE: We are back with an episode in our social justice stream this week, sharing an interview Amy had with Michelle Kerr, Country Manager of Eden, an organisation that recuses women from human trafficking and creates precious jewellery that carries their stories (republished with permission from For Dignity).

As we head back into our series on the 6 Dimensions of Wellness, Amy shares an interview she had with Elinor Moshe, about how she moved from trying to fit into the expectations of others when it came to her career to now thriving as "The Construction Coach", the podcast host of "Constructing You", author of "Constructing Your Career", a mentor and highly sought after speaker. 

In this short and punchy episode, Amy and Elinor talk about the benefits of having having a mentor, the power of having a vision for your life, why we experience burnout and reframing failure.

You can connect further with Elinor on LinkedIn, Instagram or via her website:

In this short raw episode, Amy shares about the thought process behind moving from just conversing about LIVE LIFE WELL principles on this podcast to now actively coming alongside young, ambitious women who wear multiple hats (whether in their career, biz and/or family) as a holistic wellness coach and mentor.

We are back after a short break and our host Amy, shares some of the changes that have happened in the background including the closing of her business, Art by Ames (for now). Through this life experience, Amy shares four lessons she's found helpful to keep in mind as she's navigated this season of change and transition. 

SOCIAL JUSTICE: In our last episode before a month break, we are privileged to share an interview Amy had with the founder of Basha Boutique, a house of hope for women in need and developed artisans making beautiful products that travel all around the world (republished with permission from for Dignity).

To learn more about for Dignity and Basha, visit: https://www.fordignity.com.au

You connect with us further on FB: https://www.facebook.com/livelifewellthepodcast or on Instagram at: www.instagram.com/livelifewell_thepodcast

OCCUPATIONAL WELLNESS: How do we find purpose in our work and occupation? In this episode, we chat with Natasha Margarits as she shares her journey from being a TV presenter in India, migrating to Australia and the challenges she had to overcome, starting her public speaking coaching business and then having the courage to shut it down and go back into the workforce. Natasha shares how she found her purpose in her work and now empowers small business owners to “go for gold” as the community lead at The Village, NAB.

You can connect with Natasha:

In light of the death of George Floyd, which has sparked global outrage against the systematic injustice experienced by black communities in the US and here in Australia, we have pushed the pause button on our series on the 6 Dimensions of Health for a two-part exploration on the topic of racism and reconciliation.

In this first of two episodes, our host Amy shares some thoughts on how she is processing recent world events so that the flames against injustice can continue to burn bright in the long term and not just burn out when media attention has died down.

NOTE: We are aware this is not a comprehensive nor detailed account of this complex issue however we hope that this episode empowers our audience to live life well in a purposeful way during these challenging times.

In Part 2 of this bonus episode on "how to start your own podcast", Amy shares about the basic tech you need to get started, podcast hosting options, the benefits of podcasting vs live video stream, ideas around how you might want to monetise your podcast in the future.

NOTE: Amy does not claim to be an expert in this field but purely sharing from her own lived out experiences to empower others to share their stories because there's always room at the table.