There’s a moment in life when you realise that what you’re doing every day—the endless grind, the corporate deadlines, the box-ticking—doesn’t actually reflect who you are, or what you believe in. For me, that moment had been bubbling away for years. I’ve been what you could call a “corporate slave” for most of my working life: long hours, endless meetings, and a creeping feeling that while I was helping build someone else’s vision, I wasn’t building my own.
I wanted more than that. I wanted something meaningful.
That’s how StandUp Stories was born.
This podcast is my way of stepping outside the daily grind and into something that matters. It’s about telling the stories of people who had the courage to stand up when it would have been easier—and safer—to sit down. These aren’t just history lessons; they’re reminders of what it takes to spark change, to resist injustice, and to choose bravery over comfort.
I’ve always believed that stories are powerful. They connect us across time, culture, and geography. They remind us that change isn’t always led by leaders in suits or people with platforms—it often begins with ordinary people who refused to stay quiet. Rosa Parks didn’t wake up one morning intending to become a civil rights icon. The LGBTQ+ patrons of the Stonewall Inn didn’t expect their resistance to a police raid to ignite a global movement. The Aboriginal activists who built the Tent Embassy in Canberra weren’t backed by money or power—just conviction.
Those are the kinds of stories I want to tell.
For me, StandUp Stories is more than a podcast—it’s a way to reclaim my own voice, to create something that reflects what I care about, and to invite others to join me in remembering, reflecting, and hopefully finding inspiration. These stories are sometimes heavy, because injustice is heavy. But they are also hopeful, because they remind us that change is possible—and it has always started with people willing to stand up.
In season one, you’ll hear about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the night at the Stonewall Inn that changed LGBTQ+ history, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and the fight for land rights, Kath Walker and the 1967 Referendum, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that transformed labour rights, and Black South African writers who defied apartheid with their words.
Each episode is carefully researched and told with honesty, but also with an understanding that not every detail can ever be perfect. History is complicated, messy, and often painful. My role isn’t to polish it—it’s to share it.
So here I am, a so-called corporate slave, finally creating something that means more than an email chain or a KPI. StandUp Stories is for anyone who wants to be reminded that the world doesn’t change by accident. It changes because ordinary people—people like you and me—choose to stand up.
I hope you’ll listen. More than that, I hope you’ll feel something. Because if these stories have taught me anything, it’s that courage is contagious.
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