She Was a Corporate Lawyer. Then She Asked Herself One Question That Changed Everything.

got into law school, graduated, got a corporate job and I was sitting there one day thinking,

is this it? Is this what my life is going to be about? Very well and welcome to the

Balanced Theory Podcast to try to find something that at least make you feel a bit more of a drive.

And it was at this moment where I interviewed her that I was contemplating leaving my full-time job.

We had a really long conversation that was like the cherry on top of a big decision

and a big turning point in my life. So I was exercising, I was making time for my friends,

I was keeping my network active, I was working, I was doing everything, my schedule was jam-packed

when I look back at it now, it freaks me out a little bit. Life is not 50% work, 50% life,

kind of made me feel like I had to calibrate all these different things so they were all equal

and all sort of tended to at once and that's just not life. And I was using other people as a mirror

to myself rather than looking at myself in the mirror. Some people just want the freedom to travel,

some people want to have a family, some people want to travel with their family, you know,

there's so many variables. For me, family is like a number one value. So you have this gorgeous

baby girl. How did you balance going back to work? Of how like now you can use AI to just create

content? There'll be a lot of positives that come with AI, education, a little bit accessible.

At the end of the day, you yourself as an individual. What you gain from doing the work,

creating the content, having the conversation is a zero place. You have that intuitive feeling,

well, maybe I shouldn't move overseas or maybe I shouldn't enroll in that course. Yeah,

go and do it. AI is never going to have an experience for you. One of the most important decisions

somebody makes in their life is. When I listened to this episode, I want you guys to do this exercise.

What is one thing that you really want to do but haven't done because of fear? Fear. If you're

partner, your spouse, colleagues, the outside world family, what is the one thing that's holding

you back from accomplishing something that you really want to do? I want to hear from you guys

in the comments. Today's guest is Erica Depelegrin and why I was so inspired by her is she used

live in Australia. She was a corporate lawyer and then she decided to start her podcast called

the balance theory that I follow. And while being a new content creator, moved her to the buy and

started life here and is now a young mom. And I was so inspired by this woman who had this

traditional corporate job and training and decided, you know what? This isn't fulfilling me.

This is not everything to me. There's more to life that I want. And she didn't know anything about

podcasting started this incredible podcast that has come completely blown out, which is how I discovered

it. And then not only started a new podcast, moved continents and started living in the buy and

started a new chapter of her life. And I think it's really important for all of you women who

listen to us week after week to know that you can change your life at any given time as long

as you're inspired. And that is what today's episode is really about. Erica, thank you for coming

on the show and allowing me to introduce you to our community. It's an absolute honor. Thank you

Mon for having me on today. I'm excited. Erica, how did you go from basically being in the legal

field in Australia, moving to the buy and saying, you know what? I want to become a content creator

and I'm going to start the balance theory and help people figure out how to balance different

aspects of their light, inspire their careers. What was a pivotal point for you? I don't have one

of these stories, but it was like, I hated my job quit that day when I figured out my life

and started the podcast, right? I think a lot of people wait for this like pinnacle moment where

they have this sliding doors experience of like, this is what I'm supposed to do and then

life just unfolds. For me, it was very much of sitting my corporate job. I went through an

experience. I think a lot of people go through it where you go school, uni, work. I went to school,

did really well at school, got into law school, graduated, got a corporate job. And I was sitting

there one day thinking, is this it? Is this, is this what my life is going to be about? And at that

time I had, you know, my role models, my mom and my dad, they are what I call like careerists,

right? They weren't entrepreneurs. They were careerists. I think there are two types of people

in life. And so I'm thinking of this job as like, this is what I'm going to be doing for a really

long time. There was just something missing for me. I went corporate lawyer. So I, you know,

don't have one of these jobs where you see in like suits, where it's very dramatic and you're

involved in these cool cases and you're running all around the city and like solving crimes and

it's not really like that. It's like paper pushing and you very much you and paper. And I've

always been one of these people that love talking to people. I love getting to know people.

If I was at a party when I was younger, I'd be sitting in the back corner having a DNM,

a deeper meaningful with somebody. You know, I just always gravitated to getting to know people

on that level. Small talk absolutely drains me. And so I was sitting there in, in my work

thinking, okay, I'm in this position where I think a lot of people are where I don't have the

financial means to just quit my job and figure it out. Right. I had moved out of home. I was 22. I

just bought an apartment. I had a mortgage. Didn't have that much left over at the end of every week,

but you know, I was doing my thing. And so I thought, how do I, how do I buffer this out? How do I

create more meaning in my life without creating this massive upheaval? You know, and I don't think

people need to wait for that time where they can just quit what they're doing and figure it out. I

think there's this beautiful in between, especially before you start a family, before you have like

massive overheads or, you know, actually at any moment in your life, you can make this decision.

And for me, it came down to a couple questions. What am I missing? What's missing from my life right

now? And for me, the answer to that was this deep and meaningful connection with people. I was not

getting that at my job. I was getting a lot of other things. I love the strategy, the commercial

aspects. I love the skills I can bring in the legal profession. I'm good at it. But I was missing

that genuine connection with people. Then I thought, how do I close the gap between not having that

and having that? Can I do that in my job? And I would encourage people to actually think about that

because sometimes you can move within an industry that you're reading. You might actually really

love it, but maybe you're just in the wrong team or the wrong department. Maybe there's some

lateral movement that can go on. To me, it came down to, I don't think I can achieve this in my job.

How can I bring this into my life outside of this? And I was very interested in self-development

at the time. And it was January 1st, 2020. My now husband, we were together at the time.

We were driving back from New Year's Eve. We were away together with some friends. And we were

listening to get some Gary V. content. He's very inspiring and spirited. And it was January 1st

we were feeling very motivated. And he said, if you've got the gift of communication, you need to be

giving that to the world through podcasts or a YouTube channel. You have to be creating something

to share with others. And my husband paused and he looked at me and he said, I think you should start

a podcast. And he said, I can't explain it to you other than I just felt like a moment of clarity.

I had no idea how to start a podcast. I'd never thought about myself as a host. But it just felt

right for me. And that was the moment that I decided, I'm going to allow myself to be more

than my job. And I think it's so common that we box our thought, like, when you meet someone,

right? Hi, I'm Eric. I'm a lawyer. Hi, I'm I'm a business owner. You know, we tie our value

and our worth to our title, what we do. It's not who we are. So in that moment, I gave myself

permission to say, okay, I work as a lawyer. I have these skills, but I'm going to allow myself

to explore different parts of myself. And so that was sort of the story of how my dissatisfaction

or I guess this gap or emptiness in my job allowed me to explore other parts of myself. In what I

would say, honestly, was a hobby for many years at the beginning. And then your question in terms

of like moving to Dubai, that came a little bit later, that was maybe two years into my podcasting

journey. So I was sort of working full time and podcasting on the side, even though it was one

episode a week and you would know how much work is involved. Then we sort of just due to different

lifestyle factors and wanting to live overseas. My husband literally came home one day and was like,

do you want to move to Dubai? And I always wanted to live overseas. I'd never been to Dubai.

Honestly, did not know much about it. I had no idea it was a city it was. So I was very impressed

when I got here. And I said, sure, three months later, we moved out of our place, we rented it out,

we sold everything, closed all our bank accounts and came and we haven't looked back since.

And when he came to, why did he pick Dubai? Why was he like the Eric of the surprise we're going to go to?

Was there something that inspired him? Was there something piece of content that he saw online?

He was like, you know what? Why don't you try out that city? It was, I'd say a combination of a

couple factors. It was proximity to the rest of the world and we wanted to travel. You know,

before we got married, we wanted it was just after COVID where we had been stuck in Australia,

which really felt like this isolated part of the world at the time. So we wanted to travel and

we felt this was a good base. It was English speaking. It was, it's great whether most of the

tax advantages as well. So we know we could get ahead financially in our personal lives. So it was

kind of like the coming together of a few different things and we just thought, you know what,

if we go and we don't like it, we can get a flight straight back. We're so lucky that we're not leaving

a country we can't come back into. We're so privileged to be in that position. So we just thought,

let's just go. How did you come up with the name for the podcast? So when I was thinking about,

okay, when I landed on I came in to do a podcast, I'm interested in self-development. What do I want

to talk about? At the time I found myself really struggling with trying to do everything and

be everything to everyone. I'm the oldest daughter and I feel this is quite common. A lot of people

I meet, you know, the oldest child also came from a divorce family and I feel this also is a

common thread of like being a people pleaser. That was how maybe I received love growing up, how I

got attention, how I stood out in my family. And so I found myself on this loop where I was,

you know, quote unquote, doing all the things I was exercising. I was making time for my friends.

I was had 500 acquaintances keeping my network active. I was working. I was like doing everything.

My schedule was jam packed when I look back at it now. It freaks me out a little bit. You know,

I was a bit younger and had the time. But to be honest with you, I just felt overwhelmed all the time.

I felt guilty like I wasn't doing anything 100%. And so I really started to think about this idea

of work life balance. Like, why can't I get this right? I'm doing all the things. You know, like,

why am I not feeling the sense of balance in my life? And I realized that us looking at life

balance through that term, that simple term work life balance was what was really off for me.

That was what was really off for me because life is not 50% work, 50% life. But that statement kind of

made me feel like I had to calibrate all these different things so they were all equal and all

sort of tended to at once. And that's just not life. And the other side of that too, and I know

you're like me, we're very driven, very hungry kind of people. We actually quite masculine the

way we work. We're very like on and productive. I found that a lot of the rhetoric around having

balance in your life made you feel like you should just chill out, take it easy. Like you can't be

ambitious and have life balance. And I was like, it's alive. I don't agree with that because I

have seen firsthand when I prioritise my sleep, my health, my relationships, like quality in those

areas, I am the best version of myself to show up at work. So it became obsessed with this idea of

what's this finding balance in life mean. And it's not this golden standard that everyone's

striving for. It's so individualised, not just different between me and you, but it's different

for me at different points in my life. Spring cleaning looks a little different in my house these days.

It's not just about organising my closets. It's about what I'm actually bringing into my space,

especially as someone who cares deeply about my metabolic health and lowering overall

toxin burden load. I've been using branch basics for almost five years and it's just one of those

swaps that totally make sense to me. I used to have a whole cabinet of different cleaners,

all with ingredients. I couldn't even pronounce. And the more I learned about hormonal health and

environmental toxins, the more that started to bother me. So I switched. What I love is that

everything is built around one powerful concentrate. I diluted to clean my kitchen, bathrooms,

laundry, floors, even produce and makeup brushes. It's plant-based and mineral-based fragrance-free

and made-safe certified, which means it's screened against known and suspected harmful chemicals

that we do not want in our homes or in our bodies. It feels aligned with how I live. I'm not

extreme about everything, but I am intentional. And this is one of those smong shifts that adds

up day in and day out. If you're doing a reset in your home, I really encourage you to look at what's

under your sink too. Branch basics is available at target.com, target in store, Amazon, and of course

branchbasics.com. You can get 20% off at branchbasics.com with code biohackit20, which is BIOHECKIT20.

After you purchase, make sure you tell them you heard about them from our show because a clean home

should actually feel clean also for your body. So I settled on the idea of exploring this concept

of balance and then just go through around a few names and it came to be the balance theory.

When it comes to all the guests that you brought on and interviewed, is there somebody in

particular? Because all of us get somebody learning somewhere in our guest and we get inspired.

But is there somebody who came on in particular that you walked away with a lesson or something that

you could immediately implemented in your life and it changed the way you were living or doing

something? Yes. And it was, you know, Tracy Hamish? Yes. I love Tracy. I had her on two years ago.

It was the first time we'd met. I've had her on a few times since. It was the first interview we

did together. And so when I moved to Dubai, one thing was I, when I moved to Dubai, I worked as

a corporate lawyer here for a little while too. And it was at this moment where I interviewed her that

I was contemplating leaving my full-time job and consulting. So I had more time to do the podcast

more seriously. We had a really long conversation about, you know, creating your dream life and she

said many things to me on the episode and the penny just sort of dropped for me that they'd

solidified that decision basically. So it was like a conversation that was like the cherry on top

of a big decision and a big turning point in my life. And so I would say that one has probably been

a big standout for me. And for people, I said this before we started filming. I think women,

we get so nervous about doing something a little bit disruptive, trying a different career

later in life. We sometimes just fall into what's easy, a pattern, staying things, whether it's

relationships, work, certain friendships that we've outgrown. But what we don't realize is women,

we evolve in every stage. We change so much over the course of our lives for the women listening

to this episode. How would you tell them to, if they're thinking about making a change on any

level in their life, where should they turn to? What is a one place they should go within themselves

to find that inspiration? Well, I've had you on my show and we were talking a lot about intuition

and the role it has in terms of health. I think intuition is also where you should turn for most

things. I think for me, and again, everyone has very different vision for what they want in their

life. Some people just want the freedom to travel. Some people want to have a family. Some people

want to travel with their family. You know, there's so many variables, but creating space for

yourself to just be quiet without destruction. We live in a time where we wake up, we go on our

phones, we go for a walk, we're also scrolling, we're watching TV. You know, I heard the other day

that Netflix shows now, they have to make the storyline so basic because they know that the consumer

is on their phone while they're watching the shows. They can't create these dramatic side plots

because if they lose someone for two minutes, they tune back in their loss, they're not going to watch

a show. So we're constantly plugged in. And that means you're by definition of that, you're not

tuned into yourself. How often do you make the time to just be with yourself? You know, I had

this realization a few years ago, I remember when I was little and we used to be driving some,

we used to just stare at the window, daydream. And I remember thinking, I don't remember the last

time I've daydreamed as an adult. And it's so important to just let your imagination go to just

see what is in your mind to check in with yourself. And so I would say to anyone listening,

create space for yourself to just be with yourself. And that's not, you know,

everyone has a different form. Some people love to just journal out what they're thinking. Some

people like to just sit there and think, some people are talkers, right? They like to have

conversation. Find your outlet to just be with yourself and tune out of the world. Because it's not

just you, mommy, dad, your best friend that are weighing in. It's millions of voices. It's millions

of comparisons. It's millions of what you think you should be doing or not or what other people

have achieved and what you have. And it's this constant comparison. It's very hard to understand

what's right for you. And so when I did that, I knew I wanted to be a mom. And I thought, you know,

I'd worked for a lot of amazing women. But the way they were working in the corporate world meant

they were really absent in their children's lives. And I'm not saying that they were bad mothers

at all. That was just, their work was a massive priority for them. And I knew that when the time

came for me, I wanted to have some sort of flexibility because it's important for me to have my own

things that I'm working towards that really fulfills me as a person. I know that makes me show up

as the best podcasts are the best lawyer, the best sister, the best friend, the best mom.

But I still wanted to be very hands on with my kids. So I needed to make some sort of a shift,

knowing that that was in the next five years, hopefully. And you know, what did that look like for me?

So I think step one's creating that space and step two's really thinking about, well, what do you,

what do you want out of life? And not limiting to yourself to a, well, that's sort of a fantastical

dream. That's not possible for me. Like if I've learned anything from all my guests combined,

is you can create whatever life and experience you want if you believe in yourself and you arm

yourself with the mindset to make it happen. I think what you're also talking about is having a

strong value system. So for women listening to this and seeing this and I might be a little bit

lost, I want to take that trust my intuition and I want to do something. But it's also going back

one more layer and figuring out what are our value systems in life. And for you, you had really

clear value systems. You know, I'm with an, I'm with a partner. I see myself getting married. I

see myself having a child having a child. I'd like to be more active and present in that child

while still having a career and having an income, right? But I feel like some women, they just get

lost even in the day to day life, what's going on around them. So what advice would we give them

to step back and not only follow intuition, but get really clear in what those value systems might

be in different chapters of their life? It's a good question. I think it's interesting to think

about where certain things come from, right? So when I think about, okay, I opted to study law,

I put it on my preference list. Where did that come from? Was I this little child just wanting to

be a lawyer? Like no, yeah. Someone said to me when I was growing up, you're so smart, you'd be

a great lawyer and it just stuck with me. And then I would always hear these things like, you know,

doctor lawyer, engineer, they're like prestigious careers to follow. So over time,

these little things sort of mounted on top of each other. When I really sat with myself and

questioned, what's the source of this thing in my life? It wasn't maybe something that was

authentically me. And look, I've enjoyed the career. I don't regret anything because that would

ultimately change who and where I am today. So I have no regrets, but I think it's interesting

because you change and evolve as a person. So you should to just question, okay, I'm living in

this city. Why? Because this is where I was born. Okay, so that's still what you want to do.

You know, just and you would know this as well being a host, like just bringing curiosity to

different things and becoming obsessed with the question, why? And when you answer that one,

you go five times, why? Why? Why? Why? Until you really understand, where did this come from? Oh,

my parents wanted me to do this. I'm now living out there dream. You know, sometimes you have that

realization and, you know, I actually interviewed my dad for more for family memories the other day.

And I realized that he's been an accountant in his whole life. That was his dad's dream,

you know, and I learned that through him. He's sharing that with me. And so I think, again,

creating that space and just asking why? Especially where you feel like there's an obligation.

That was a big one for me. I come from a big Italian family. There's the word in Italian is

the Verdi. It's obligations. You know, you should call that auntie. You should do this. You should

do that. You know, why? Is it important to you? Is that a value for you? I'm not saying go and

ignore every single third relative you have, third related relative you've got. But, you know,

question the source of why things deserve time and space in your life. Because that's the truth

of it. Like you are an energy soul person on this planet. You need to really be able to decide what

deserves your time and energy. Living in a place like Dubai, picking up on the fact that slowing down,

being strong with the value systems, making space in your life, the buys a city that's very go, go, go.

And the more you do, the more it rewards you. It's like, it's got one of these frequencies. Like,

I got here and Christmas is not off. New Year's is not off. People are working. People are available.

Saturday, Sunday, it does not matter. And so in a city like this that you love and you live in,

and I have grown to love, how do you create more of that space? How do you slow down with the

constant demands of it telling you you need to do more? How do you say it to yourself? You're not

actually know. I'm going to slow down and do a little bit less over here. This really comes down

to two things for me. Clarity and intention. It's actually interesting. I had this experience in

Australia when I was living in Sydney. I felt that was this constant. It's different energy to

Dubai, but it was this feeling of you're constantly in this rat race is the term people use.

You're just chasing, chasing, everyone's like just trying to get ahead and it's like

stressy energy. But when I came here, I actually found like, yes, I agree. The more you pour

into the city, the more you get back. But I feel I find it really inspiring. I don't find it

like it demands a lot from me because you could honestly just travel here and chill out and

not do much and just enjoy the city, and that's it. But when you plug in, when you connect with

people, when you ask, when you put yourself out there, it does give back. So I find it less of like

pressure to do more and be more and more. I've intentionally moved here. I've intentionally

weak, I should say, me and my husband have intentionally decided to stay here because of the

season we're in and what we're trying to create. That comes with its sacrifices, of course. But

we're very clear on why we're here and what we're trying to build for our future and our family.

And so it makes sense. And sort of to answer your question on, how do I slow down?

Having my daughter has been the most incredible lesson for me. She's six months old, and I've

really learned this just through her being in my life of, I can have everything just not at the

same time. And what I mean by that is, since I've gotten back into work, it's been very important

for me to, when I'm working, allow myself to be present and not being armed. So guilty. I'm not

with her. I should be putting it a bit like, I felt all of that, right? But as time has gone on,

I'm really trying to lean into this of, it doesn't serve my work if I'm thinking about her and

feeling bad. Then when I'm with her, it doesn't serve me if I'm stressing out about work. And so

just being very present and intentional with where I'm at and what I'm doing, that's how I like

to stay sort of aligned. And then it sort of doesn't matter what city I mean. Then you choose

to tap in and out depending on the routine outside of that. And raising your daughter here versus

raising her in Australia, do you feel that you found the same community and support in essentially?

I would say like the bias foreign for us, right? We feel like at home over here, but we're not

from here from here versus if you're raising your daughter closer to your family in Australia.

It's, um, look, for me, family is like a number one value. I was going to say that because when

you hear you speak, that's a poor value system for you. So for me, it's a huge, so if for us,

it's a huge sacrifice in that value that we're here right now. But if I had like say 10 things in

my life that are important and families, number one, two to 10 to buy ticks over Australia right now.

So it's a difficult one because our number one priority is, will be better met in Australia. And

I know like my family's come to visit and it's so incredible when they're here and you know,

I do feel so guilty that my daughter is growing up away from her grandparents. But you know,

right now, we've decided that for our family and our future, this is the right place for us.

It always comes as sacrifices, but of course, it's an incredible privilege. And we just have to make

the most of the time that we're together. It's actually, you know, when we were living at home,

we would do Monday night dinners. So and everyone's coming together after being stressed all day and

it's like, check, we've done Monday night family dinner. Now we stay in touch. They come visit for

a whole week. It's so much more intentional. Of course, it's not the same as seeing my nephew every

week or seeing my sisters every, you know, but it's different. And for this season, I'm as well as

right thing. Yeah, it's just, it's different, but it's working. And for anybody listening,

a lot of our audiences female, you know, a lot of them have young kids like the older kids.

How did you balance going back to work? So you had this gorgeous baby girl. And then did you

stop the show for a little bit? Did you batch out episodes? Did you ease your way back in? How did

you create that space and balance in your life? I'm a batch record type person. So I made sure I had

at least the first three months once she was born to just be. I didn't want to think about an

episode. I didn't want to think about social media. But you know what I found, honestly. And I

I just wanted to give myself the space. I think the way we are like type A, you overengineer

situations a lot. And I'm like, okay, well, I want it to be like this isn't this. And the truth is

whether it's becoming a mum or starting a new business or moving cities, right? Like what you're

in between doing. You never know. You can never factor in all the ways that it's going to turn out.

And so I just wanted to really give myself that space. Of course, I tried to plan every single

inch of it. But what happened, you know what I found? I really am blessed to have A, my husband

working from home and he's very, very hands on with her. So we're very much co-parent. It's very,

very collaborative, which means we are supporting each other to drop down to the gym for an hour in

the apartment building. He can still work on his things. You know, we're very much working together.

That was a big thing because we've got no family here. So I would never want someone to look at me

and think, oh, she's just doing everything like my husband was from home. And that is a massive,

massive difference. And you know, this is a bit more of a logistical thing. But my daughter does

take the bottle as well as breast feeds, which means I can actually leave the house. And I don't

have to compromise on not breastfeeding her. And I know not all babies are like that. So honestly,

those two factors alone have really given me the mental peace to just be able to get back into

work at your own pace. Yeah. And I mean, like I said before, it definitely came with that guilt

that I'm now trying to just be present in where I'm at. What do you think, Erica? One of the,

like, one of the most important decisions somebody makes in their life is who they marry?

Because you are choosing for that person to support your dreams or not. Right. Basically. And you

iterate yourself so many times, you need to be with someone who's okay with that and not going

to be grieving or where's my childhood sweetheart? Right. Exactly. You know, they want you to,

they're going to be your number one supporter. You're going to be raising maybe a family with

them as well, being aligned or being able to have open communication when you're not aligned.

I just think if you want to have a full life, you can really experience that even more amplified

with the right person. And I think they'll support you or not, you know, to achieve in life.

So I have this. When I look at men versus women, I think men, women change so much over the course

of their life. Their hormones shift, their perspective shifts. They're so intuitive. They're more

emotional beings, right? So they shift so much. Do you believe in this? I believe it. So I'm going to

ask you, do you think men really shift and change as much as women do? Because I think the man that

you meet and who he is and the value systems that he represents and the habits is the man that he's

always going to be. Yes, to the tweak themselves a little bit, but that is a person you marry. Do you

believe that's true? Well, I can obviously only reflect on my experience. It's actually coming

up to 10 years since I met my husband. And I would say that's true. I'd say like he's value systems,

what he wants out of his life, the way he wants to be a provider. That's been pretty constant.

And then in terms of how that's manifested in the businesses he's done, the career he's chosen,

like that's shifted. But I think fundamentally at his core, that's been quite steady. So yeah,

I would say my experience, that's true. And so when women are picking partners nowadays and they're,

you know, like yourself, they might might make a career change, but they're maybe looking for love,

looking for partnership. What should they look for? Is it doing the inner work with themselves

slowing down, being like, let me get really clear about what my value systems at this stage of my

life are before I go back, date, look for somebody and how that adds to my life or what advice would

you give them? I look, I haven't been single for a long time, but I do have friends at a single

and I've had a lot of conversations with them. And I think no matter what it is, like in this case,

we're talking about a partner, but it might even be an investor, right? Job opportunity,

a new country, whatever you want to bring into your life, you want to make sure that you're attracting

that at a point where you fill a line. What I mean by that is, and I'm sure everyone has had this

experience where you've had friendships in the past where maybe you were not a lesser version

of yourself, but a less aligned version of yourself. And so when you grow and change,

you see those friendships start to break down or they just disappear and you're like,

where did they go? So the last thing you want is to be somebody you're not, attract opportunities

or a partner in an inauthentic version of yourself, because that's very difficult to maintain.

You know, I've experienced this with friendships and in work and even previous relationships when

I was younger. And I think everything serves a purpose in life, but yeah, I would really echo

what you said, which is get to know yourself, create that space, because when you're in that

energy, then whoever you meet is really aligned with that authentic version of you. And that's

something you don't have to, you know, maintain or put on a version of yourself to keep going,

because it's just, it's come at a time where you're already, you know, frequency is everything.

You're right. I'm a big believer in manifesting and the power of, you know, raising your vibration

and attracting what you're putting out. Now, I've seen that in my life. If I am going through a

period where I feel like, or I have felt like, I'm not that worthy. I don't have that much value

to give. It's really interesting to see what reflects back. Yeah. There's like no opportunities.

People are not emailing me back. I'm getting random opportunities that are not really aligned

versus when I'm feeling really abundant and I believe in myself. And I'm really passionate

about what I'm doing. It's like, oh, yeah, I just emailed that person. They came on the show.

It feels effortless. It just, it's effortless. Do you want to be attracting somebody in an energy

where you feel like, you know what? I know who I am and what I want. And you, it's more that you

just value who you are. You can't ask somebody else to see your value if you don't see it.

If you don't see it or I was going to say the reason I asked you about what women should look

for when we attract some partners because I think people in healthy relationships actually give

the best dating advice because they're living proof of what happiness and cohabitation

in a peaceful environment look like versus you turning to another single friend is like,

oh, the men suck. Everything sucks out there. It's like all like men bashing. So I think women

in healthy relationships that have careers have their independence have found their voice

understand their value systems are having families are the best people to look to and towards

be like, how did you build that? And you come from that place because I think getting really clear

like you're saying, creating space, having those value systems, manifesting from a full cup

versus depleted, all things that make you a better version of you. Yeah. And mind you, it's not like,

you know, you do all this work, you meet the love of your life and it's the end. That's

that's where the work starts. Yeah. And and even like, I've had, do you know Mo,

Gaudet? Yes. I've had him on the show and he's an amazing person to just consume his

content and thoughts on relationships and life. He's got a very interesting perspective on it.

But we had length spoke about this and it really is about getting to know yourself first and

this is an ongoing process. Your partner will also constantly be iterating and getting to know

themselves and you may even at times have different priorities. But as long as you can bring it back

and support each other and and grow together, you know, that's part of it. That's part of it. So

it's it's not to say you kind of do this work and you get to know yourself to find someone.

It's for you. It's a skill that even I use today. Like I, me and my husband still go through

seasons where, you know, he's having a rough patch. I'm having a rough patch and we need to find

that space for ourselves. So I think it's a beautiful thing to do before you find someone,

but it's not the end of that work. And I think it's useful for anything, not just relationships.

I think when it comes to talk about energy and frequency, whether it's the investors you

attract into your life, your business partners, clients, opportunities, you will always attract

into your life some of the areas that you need to work on most. So a partner can come in and reflect

parts of you that are left unresolved or unhealed. Gabra Mate says that sometimes when you fall in

love, you fall in love with the place of like the biggest weakness you had in your own childhood,

right? And you go to what's kind of familiar. And the healed version of you is the one that's like,

actually I've worked through this. I'm a better version of myself now and therefore I can sustain

this. So I think energy plays such a big role in so many of the decisions that we take because

you will attract from that frequency or not. Yeah. And a really simple question you can ask yourself

before you make any decision, even like before I sit down for a podcast, I just set an intention

or I ask myself, what's my intention? And that's just a really quick way to check in with yourself.

It's, you know, it doesn't require hours and hours. It's like, okay, I'm going to have a coffee

with this new person or I've invited this friend over, what's my intention? And sometimes you'll,

that'll be able to on earth like, oh, I feel like I should just invite this person over. I don't

really want to spend time with them. You know, and if you just get in the habit or you might be

applying for a new course that you want to study, you see, what's my intention? Do I want to

be doing this? Is this going to, do I just think I should be doing it? Because what else am I going

to do? Right. It's always such a really nice question to ask yourself and to practice tuning into

that intuition because we forget how to do it in an age of destruction. I was going to ask you

this whole gap that we think of the, you know, the content versus reality. How much of yourself

do you really want to show up as the full view and all aspects of your life? And how much

should you keep private? Because I have these conversations with myself because I think to myself,

they're certain parts of my life that are meant to stay private and they're not something I want to

share. But how do you decipher that? What is part of content versus what is part of your everyday

reality? And how to fill that void? This is very much unfolding for me. I have gone back and forth

so many years, but do I really push a personal brand? Do I not? I feel like it would really add value

to my podcast, but I am not really that great with like recording things all the time. And I have

had a lot of people who live and breathe personal branding. And like the overarching vibe is,

you show 10% of your life. When you see someone right and you follow someone online,

they might be known for their hair oil. They might be known for their cafe that they run.

You don't know about their mom, their dad, their children. And it doesn't matter because they're

very clear on what they're showing online and what they're not. Me personally, I'm still kind of

workshopping what that looks like. I've decided I don't want to show my daughter online. That feels

very private to me. I think that's amazing. Yeah. And you know, everyone's decisions, everyone's

decision. I might change my mind in the future. I'm not, you know, pouring cement on that comment.

But right now that's a decision I've made. I'd like to show podcasting and that side of my life.

I think someone said this on my show. They said, are you prepared for other people to comment

on what you're showing? And if the answer is no, then you shouldn't be sharing it. If you're okay for

other people to comment on it, like for example, I think that would indicate to you what you're

confident on or not. So for me, I feel very confident in podcasting. I love the space. I'm very

open-minded. I don't really care what what people say. I'm just showing kind of what I'm doing.

I'm happy to share that. I don't really mind if people comment on it. Versus if people commenting

on my daughter, I'd have a problem with that. So I think that's also a nice question to ask yourself.

But yes, it's very much something of so workshopping actively. I think a lot of creators are

constantly workshopping that unless they, and even people fall into a big flow, you see content

gets edited or changed or shifted in different chapters of their life. You see certain creators

build their entire career with life with a partner and then say, let's say they go through a divorce

and they're like, you know what? Actually, I'm going to tweak this on how I show up online. So I think

even giving yourself permission in different phases and chapters to even change that and take

your audience on that journey with you is so important. Yeah, it's no different to what I said

before about like allowing yourself to be more than your job. Often you think, I'm going to find

my niche, right? How often have you heard that in the content world? But like I personally think

your niche is you. There's one, you're a one of one. Yeah. We could have the same pot, like talking

about similar things on our podcast, but different way of approaching it. Different you, your curiosity

and your life experiences mean you bring different things out of guests and vice versa. And so your

niche is you, it's never too oversaturated for you to show up and do your thing. And I just think

as long as you're being authentic, because that's what you can maintain. It's very hard to play a

different version of yourself for a very long period of time, then you can just iterate as you go on

because no one's expecting you, you know, to be the same forever. That's just not realistic.

Not a standard that we can set. If I to ask you if there were three words to describe yourself,

what would they be? Driven, nurturing and kind. And would Erica, in her 20s,

I for use the same words that you're using today in your early 20s straight out of college?

I think I definitely let the voices of others tell me who I was and I almost searched for that.

If somebody didn't like me, yeah, I really took that to heart. I even had an experience

six, seven years ago that really, really shook me where someone didn't like me and basically

told me straight up. And now phase just came up to you and said, I now understand what projection

means and looks like, but I took that on board very personally. And I had a lot to learn at that

period of my life in terms of how I was people pleasing. And I was using other people as a mirror

to myself, rather than looking at myself in the mirror. And I think it's very important to use

yourself as a reference point and not others. But that took me a lot of time to unlearn because

of the way I grew up, different circumstances I was in meant. I use other people as sound boards,

even if I wanted to buy a new clothes, I'd ask my friends if they liked it or if we wanted to

get takeaway or whatever you, you know, I never felt confident sort of taking up space and being like

the base. No, this is actually what I want to do. So maybe wouldn't have used all those words

or it would have taken me a long time to spit them out. I wouldn't because I didn't know myself

as I do today. And being, you know, one of four siblings and being the oldest,

do you think the more you've changed has inspired your siblings, actually one of them's on set with us

today, to change the way they're showing up in their lives and making decisions about their

career, about how they're approaching personal relationships or dynamics? I like to think so.

I have to say my siblings are very independent, driven people. They've not said to my face that

I've inspired them, but I would like to think that, you know, as the older sister, when they've

asked me for advice, I will say though, I think I think I have shaped my dad who in his later years

has actually pursued a passion project. And we had a lot of conversation around, you know,

vlogging the early parts that were really hard for him and just pursuing a passion project,

not worrying about where it's going to go and just allowing him to be in that creative process.

And I think just being a soundboard for him gave him permission to do that in a really unjudged

way. So that was really nice. What is he doing now? That was his passion project. It's a little bit

under wraps. Okay. So I can't publicly say. But it was, it's kind of like a, he's personal life

journey and experience in a creative piece of work. That's incredible. Yeah. It's so nice to be able

to, you know, our parents pour so much into us and they give so much to us and it's so beautiful

to be able to give back to them in a meaningful way. Beyond just being like taking care of them,

being like inspiring them to change their careers, evolve themselves as people. It's just beautiful

to be able to take our skill sets and where we've learned to be able to deploy that upwards.

Yes. You know, and filter that. Yeah. That was going to mean so rewarding for you.

Yeah. It's been a really nice journey to watch him just be authentic, honestly. And I think when

people are, you know, I remember someone saying to me, think about when you were a child,

what you could spend hours doing that you'd just get lost. You'd be like, oh my god,

how's the time gone by? That's how I felt when I started podcasting. I just spent all weekend

editing and I'd be like, how has the whole day passed? I think that's where you find yourself.

You find your rhythm. It's effortless for you, you know, and so when you see other people in

the energy, it really inspires you to find that for yourself. Yeah. With everything going on with

technology and AI, I just went to pivot here because I think about that all the time, right?

How do you think it's going to impact the creator economy? That is, by the way,

set to boom over the next five to 10 years. And it did this incredible report that the creator

economy itself is blowing up so much. But then we have this kind of disruption also coming up

with AI. And what it means of how like now you can use AI to just create content and you can

don't even have to film it yourself and stuff. What do you think is going to go on with our

industries, whether it's podcasting or just being a creator online in social or tech talk or

Instagram? It's really interesting because it's virtually the worst it's ever going to be and

it's almost indistinguishable at times. Right? AI influences that are literally. And they blow up

overnight. It's crazy. And they're these perfect looking beings, saying all the right things,

looking the perfect ways. It's very interesting. And I think about this, if I can just segue for

a sec, I think about this with my daughter who's going to grow up with technology in such a different

way where it's going to be virtually impossible like who knows in 10, 20 years, like if it looks

like that now. And social media wasn't even a thing 10, 10, 20 years ago, like who knows where

it's going to be. I had a client meeting about 12 months ago. And this guy's in tech and my podcast

came up and we started chatting. And he said, you know, you should just create like an AI version

of yourself, feed it with your episodes and just get it to pump out content for you.

But that's not you anymore. He goes, isn't that so great? And I thought, my business side was like,

yeah, well, imagine how much more time I have. Yeah. But then I was like, hang on a minute.

Like this is such a, what's my why, right? What's my intention? I want to connect with people.

This is why I do my podcast. Despite how much more productive I could be, how much more money I

could make, it's not going to fulfill me. It's not why I'm doing what I'm doing. And then I thought

it's crazy to think that people could create podcasts, maybe not even in their own likeness,

create a completely different visual and hide behind it and be motivating other people. And then

I think about the ethical question behind that, right? Is that bad? Is it bad to have an AI

engineered educational platform, right? If it's helping people, maybe not so bad. But I think about

it from myself and how much I've grown as a person, how much fulfillment I've gained in my life,

where when I started, that was not even on the cards. It's like, you're sitting in front of a

camera. You're going to go through the discomfort of watching yourself back of editing,

of getting better every episode of keep on going past the 10 episodes. You know, we spoke about

10% of podcasts make it past 10 episodes. I, you know, how many people are not going to go through

that growth and evolution because there's an easier option. There's a lower hanging fruit.

So in terms of our industry, look, I think there'll be, I think there'll be a lot of positives

that come with AI in terms of, I think there'll still be educational or it'll be accessible.

But I do think there will be a lot of people that want human conversation, that want to know

what they're watching is real. They are craving meaningful non-AI type content. And I think there

will be people that are not really bothered and just want content full stop. So I think there will

be a mix of both. I'm grateful that, you know, we've started our podcast and have built an audience

in a time before all of this is sort of started where we have that credibility of where real people,

we've been doing this for a long time. We've gotten better as time has gone on. But it will,

it will also create a lot of competition. So I don't know the answer. But I will very much

stay as a human on my show. That's what I can tell you. You know, it's so important to hear you say

that because I think what AI does is, okay, it's great with algorithm and what can go viral and the

hot topics and stuff. But human intelligence and intuition cannot be replaced by that. So sitting

down with a guest, hearing their story, understanding their why, and in real time, trying to access

their energy. Even you know, we are, we match each other's energy. We sit down with somebody,

we're interviewing them. We can pick up on the parts that they soften or harden or things that

they're closed off about. I don't think AI can replace that. I don't think that is something

it can replace. I think the quality, I think if we just turn towards AI and it just goes towards

that route, then it'll be very sterile. It'll be very like dogmatic with how we're interviewing and

turning out information. And we can lose it, human touch, which is why people turn to podcasts,

right? They want to know they're your best friend. They want to know that they know you,

you're giving them access into your life. You're taking them on your journey, you know, with that,

they're able to participate in this journey with you. So I think that's where the shift happens.

And what about you? Do you see it as a threat to our industry? Do you think that human-based

content will come out stronger? Like what are you, what are your kind of thoughts?

I have a feeling that obviously it's going to be massively disruptive. I think AI is going to have

an advantage on us because of time, energy resources, it doesn't sleep, it doesn't turn off.

And the rate at which AI is transforming is insane. I think there need to be better safeguards,

put around it. I think it's going around very unregulated and it can be very dangerous when

platforms, when it comes to children being on it. I think the stronger creators will survive,

but if this is where the time is, and I ask myself this all the time, I really need to focus on

my personal brand. I need to be able to distill my audience in a stronger way that you're not just

going to follow some AI bot that's telling you some narrative that is untrue. And then I tell myself,

will it show the real reality? Because they can't, right? It's a bot. So I think people will want

more authentic content, more genuine content. They want to connect with real people who share the

highs in their lows. I'm not really great at doing that. I sometimes come across just one way online,

and I'm like, this is the year that maybe I take people more on a personal story,

but I come from a culture in South Asian and Boxland. We have such a game faced on all the time.

We keep our problems private. We don't share that stuff online. So where is the authenticity

that sets me apart from technology? And how much of that in my comfortable really showing? Not that

I don't show up as my full self online, but where do I show the softer sides of myself that AI

will not do? AI does not have a soft side to it like that. Yeah, and I wonder like, because I have

the same thought process. And I just wonder like, can if it's not authentic for you to show,

you know, your morning routine, where you're just in a robe, like, can you find softer sides in

your work or like just more ups and downs within your work, if game face or that side of use, what

is that 10% that you're showing? You know, I was thinking about that. So you see these,

some of these creators, they come online, especially in the US, in North America,

it's all the time. And they, I'll use this as an example. They sometimes cry on social media.

They're crying about things. They're showing that I'm like, that's really beautiful,

that they can do that. I, personally, and people on my team are like, they're like, you know,

sometimes, you know, an office, I'm talking to my team, a tier two will come down for something.

I'll get inspired and motivated or share something. And like, why can't you do that online? I say,

because that for me is something I keep private. Yeah, what you have to press record. And then

like, I'm just not built that way. I was like, firstly, I see myself as a founder and a CEO,

first before I see myself as a creator, number one, number two. I think something should remain

private. And that's, if I'm feeling a certain way, I'll call a friend. I'll call somebody in my

family and have a conversation with them. I don't think I need to film myself crying

in order to get that response. So it said differentiation about what real authentic city is.

And is my platform inspiring enough for other women following me to take bold decisions,

to really be empowered in the choices they have in their life, to be able to take risks.

And this is what BioHacker was all about, which is why I was so interested to interview you as

well, because it part of it is the emotional, the spiritual, the physical, all of those things

that make somebody them. And the fact that you, you know, we're living in Australia,

packed your bags and said, not only am I going to have a career change and something completely

different from what I've studied and what my background is, I'm going to leave a core value

family and try something different. And I'm still going to be able to and then have a child and

raise them with value systems that I hold true, but still get myself a chance of a new life.

That's very inspiring for me. And that's really inspiring for our audience, because it allows

women to dream and allows women any stage of their life to be like, maybe that could be me.

If I just allowed myself to sit with myself, create that space, have that awareness,

and go back to, is this what I really want to be doing at this stage? And I think our content

will set us apart for the reason that we're real. Yeah, we're now robots. And we take chances,

sometimes they're highs, they're lows, running a podcast is not easy. Navigating life sometimes

is not easy, but we make room for that in space. And we mess up at times, and that's part of the

equation. And you know, at the end of the day, even if there will be an AI bot in the future that

can replicate all the human emotion, all the empathy, all the curiosity, all the stories, at the

end of the day, you yourself as an individual, what you gain from doing the work, from creating

the content, from having the conversations, all of that, is irreplaceable. So even if from a

content consumption perspective, it's going to be indistinguishable, yourself as an individual,

and what you gain from putting yourself out there, from trying new things, and not saying,

well, I'm not going to do it because an AI is doing it. You will never be able to

see all the doors that will open from a single decision. And so follow whatever it is, because

if you have that intuitive feeling, maybe I shouldn't move overseas, or maybe I shouldn't

enroll in that course, maybe I should start that business. Yeah, go and do it because the best

worst case scenario is you just reverse that decision or you just stop and pivot, and you know,

AI is never going to have an experience for you. It can help. And I'm actually quite optimistic

about its role. It's actually helped me be so much more productive and almost be like an

assistant, but it will never be me. And I think that's just the bottom line for me.

I think one of the other things is AI doesn't have a why. We do. There's a reason for the way we

show up in this world. There's a reason why we do what we do. We always have a why that we go

back to. It comes to sometimes our childhood upbringing, the traumas that we experience,

what we've gone through in life, and how we want to contribute to society. I always say it's

contribution to society, right? You're not in service. You're contributing. AI doesn't have

the same why. And so we have to remember that human aspect, and we will always approach it with

a little bit more sensitivity, a little bit more softness than a robot would because of that.

100%. So I have actually loved interviewing you, just having you share your story, how you built

this incredible life for yourself, and hopefully inspires so many other women listening to be able

to do the same. If there's one piece of advice we've gone through so many incredible things on

this show that you want to leave our audience with, what would that be? The way you think and feel

about yourself will be reflected in the opportunities you get in life. So pay attention to that.

All the little things and the big things. Thank you Erica so much for coming in to buy a

packet, ensuring your personal story and inspiring our guests. Thank you so much for having me in

conversation. I've really enjoyed it. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this episode and we're inspired

by Erica just the way that I was. And now I want to hear from you guys. What is the one thing that

you have been putting off because of fear? Or not being able to make time for it, but it's something

that you really are inspired to do, whether it's a small change or a big project that you want to

take. Put in the comments below because we want to hear from you. And as always, thank you so

much for tuning in week after week. Please like, subscribe and share our show so it can get in front

of more incredible women like yourself.