Living the Queen Life, a podcast by Queen of my Own Universe

Episode 22 - Denise Schelbergen, The Ikigai Entrepreneur

Denise Schelbergen is a social entrepreneur, committed to ending poverty in the world and empowering women to become powerful leaders, living a life they love. She is the founder of coaching and consulting business The Ikigai Entrepreneur, Managing Director and board member of the Dutch foundation Kula Loans and the co-creator of her poverty alleviation community microcredit project in Colombia. She is a co-author of the uplifting Amazon #1 best-seller, Goodbye Busy, Hello Happy – the magic of breaking up with busy and finding more time for joy. In 2019 Denise began her humanitarian social impact project in Colombia. In collaboration with her local partner CoimpactoB, she helps families who live in extreme poverty, on less than a few dollars a day, with hardly any access to clean drinking water, basic sanitation, or electricity, to get out of poverty for good and create a sustainable future. During the pandemic, they created a poverty alleviation model, where participants get educated about finances and entrepreneurship, create a business plan with the support of local business experts and receive an interest free impact investment from a revolving fund. Once the community businesses are operational, the indigenous entrepreneurs receive mentoring to ensure they succeed. In the same year, Denise also founded her coaching business The Ikigai Entrepreneur. She offers an inspiring curriculum of transformational personal and professional development top-tier training programs for women who want to create a life they love, become transformational leaders and make a difference in the world. Denise has always followed her heart and has gone after what she wants in life. She believes that anyone can do the same – rich or poor. That journey is not always easy as we deal with life’s challenges, but when there is a commitment to put in the work, learn and persevere, you will get there and a new future of freedom, joy, and fulfilment will be waiting for you.

Listeners I just love this episode with Denise, covering topics that I honestly could talk about all day long.  So many women that I talk to, and once upon a time it was me too say “I don’t know who I am.  I have no idea what my purpose is, what lights me up and makes me, well me”.  I see beautiful souls wandering through life seeking joy and inspiration and direction which truly can only come from within.

Denise and I both believe that every women should have her own purpose statement.  I love Denises - My purpose in life is to help people to know that they are enough and to be unstoppable in fulfilling their dreams.   How amazing is that?! 

Courage begins with an intention to lean into vulnerability. To embrace risk, uncertainty and emotional exposure. To break through boundaries, to flip paradigms of thought, or to pioneer new pathways forward. When we live with courageous intention, we have the ability to seize the new, to unlearn what no longer serves, to link previously unrelated ideas, or to give birth to an entirely different world view. Most importantly? When we live a life of courageous intention, we give others the permission to do the same. Over almost two decades, Caroline Brunne has mastered the art and science of supporting high-performing leaders via strategic life management. Through her business Organise.Curate.Design. she has earned a formidable reputation supporting industry leading CEOs, entrepreneurs and thought leaders to streamline and organise their lives to maximise their time and profitability, while creating intentional lives. Caroline is also a professional speaker, successful artist, model, mother, and is the host of a suite of podcasts including She Inspires Me and Growing Pains. Her work as one of Australia’s most prominent lifestyle consultants has been featured in Channel 7’s Sunrise, Mamma Mia, Women’s Health, Channel Nine News and Body & Soul. In Caroline’s world, more than one thing can be true. Beyond the external perceptions of Caroline’s life and work, she lives with soul-shattering grief. A trauma that, like a coiled snake, strikes through the masks and illusions that enabled her to survive childhood sexual abuse. In 2021, as the Pandemic continued its global onslaught, Caroline added author to her CV through an act of unshakable courage: the courage to speak her truth and to become something – someone – new. In writing her debut book More Than One Thing Can Be True – a story of survival, Caroline not only changed her world but ignited a mission to change the world for children today and for future generations. More Than One Thing Can Be True – a story of survival is Caroline’s memoir. It is her story. It’s her ode to healing despite the odds. It speaks to the reality of trauma, and also the power we have to transform and heal. It is a story of one courageous woman, who despite carrying decades of shame, chose to own her voice. In doing so, she is paving the way for survivors to own their voice, and live a life of courageous intention.

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Welcome to Episode 20 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

Welcome to Episode 19 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

In this episode I am joined by 3 incredible women - Ildi, Kirstin and Pooja from The Time Fix.

I don’t know about you dear listeners, but there are some weeks where time just seems to fly by and other weeks where the days go on and on. Some weeks I feel really organised and like I’ve got things under control, and the following week I feel all over the place and there’s almost nothing on my schedule.

In this conversation we take a dive into the different personality types when it comes to our relationship with time, we challenge whether time really is just a construct and what being productive actually means. If you need a little inspiration to help you get and feel more organised and less busy, this is the episode for you!

You can learn more about the team at The Time Fix at

Welcome to Episode 18 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

Today’s guest is Mary Beth O’Connor. Mary Beth has been clean and sober since 1994. She also is in recovery from abuse, trauma, self-harm, ptsd, and anxiety. Her history and her incredible recovery are chronicled in her recently published memoir From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction.

In this episode Mary Beth talks honestly and openly about the trauma of her childhood which led her to drug addiction by her early teenage years, her adult years as marred by addiction, her experiences of recovery and sobriety and the inspiring story of how she transformed herself from Junkie to Judge, graduating from Berkeley Law and in 2014 being appointed a US Federal Administrative Law Judge.

Mary Beth is a Director, Secretary, and Founding Investor for She Recovers Foundation. She also is a Director for LifeRing Secular Recovery and now uses her own powerful life story to help other women reclaim their lives too.

Mary Beth's memoir from Junkie to Judge, One Woman's Triumph over Trauma and Addiction is a powerful and inspiring read.    From a junkie addicted to methamphetamines to a federal judge, Mary Beth O’Connor’s memoir shares her inspiring journey from rock bottom to resilience as she forged a personal path to recovery from trauma and addiction.  

Searing, unsettling, and ultimately triumphant, Judge O'Connor's debut memoir takes readers on a wild ride through the rock-bottom underbelly of intravenous drug addiction to the hallowed halls of justice where she rose to the pinnacle of success as a federal judge. 

With wit and unabashed honesty, O’Connor shares her remarkable three-phase journey: the abuse and trauma that drove her to teenage drug use, the chaos that ensued from her addiction; and how she developed a personalized secular recovery plan that led to twenty-nine years of sobriety. Her story proves any addict can recover and anyone can build a productive and happy life, no matter how low the bottom or how deep the pain.

Welcome to Episode 16 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

Today my guest is Grey Area Drinking Coach, Sarah Rusbatch. Sarah is a certified Women's Health and Wellbeing Coach, an accredited Grey Area Drinking Coach and a Key-Note speaker sharing her journey to Sobriety and impact of alcohol on mental health to global audiences.

After developing what she describes as 'a dysfunctional relationship with alcohol', Sarah made the decision to remove alcohol from her life in early 2019 and has never looked back. She now works with women across the globe, guiding them from feeling lost, stuck and out of control (something she fully understands herself), to a healthier and happier way of living.

Stressed, happy, sad, angry, holidays, weekend, kids driving you nuts? Have a drink, you’ll feel better!

You don’t have to be an alcoholic to have a problematic relationship with alcohol. Finding yourself setting rules that you’ll only drink on weekends, and that you'll only drink 2 bottles of wine over the weekend? Or doing Dry July and then making up for it in August?

Did you know that a bottle of wine has the same carcinogenic properties as smoking 10 cigarettes? Alcohol directly causes 7 types of cancer and that up to 20% of breast cancer diagnosis in Australia are caused by alcohol.

Sarah gives listeners some great advice on how to reduce or give up alcohol in your routine, how to reframe your mindset and conversations about the role of alcohol in your life. Maybe consider getting sober curious - how much better could you feel without alcohol?

I recently gave up alcohol due to the impact I could feel it having on my body and I love how I’m feeling without it.  I encourage you to keep an open mind as you listen to this episode.

Learn more and get in touch with Sarah at

Welcome to Episode 15 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

Today my guest is me! I’m Margaret Foley, Founder and CEO of Queen of my Own Universe. Today we are talking about a topic that is at the core of why Queen of my Own Universe exists - Preventing and Managing Burnout for Professional Women.

Welcome to Episode 14 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

In this episode my guest is Jodie Solberg. Jodie is a Mental Wellness and Success Coach, Certified Master Hypnotherapist, Transformational Speaker, 4 time International Best-Selling Author, and the founder and CEO of Psyched Up Success. Jodie loves working with purpose driven professionals who are on a mission to live in alignment with their passion and values to create real and lasting change in their lives and the world around them. She helps her clients heal from trauma and anxiety, remove mental blocks and gain clarity and confidence to create work-life harmony, beat burnout, and achieve their personal and professional goals.

This episode is like having a conversation with my twin mind!  And it's a masterclass from 2 Master Coaches.  We cover so many of my favourite topics! 

• We’re talking about Strengths and Values - why knowing yours is important, how to uncover them and then live in alignment and the magic that happens in your life when you do. 
• How being 1% better today than yesterday is all it takes to change your life, but you have to lean in and do the work, and how a coach guides you and supports you through the bumpy bits.  
• Why I don’t teach goal setting and why New Years Resolutions don’t work. 
• And we talk about the benefits of hypnotherapy as a healing modality, my own personal experiences of hypnotherapy in my own healing journey of the past 20 years and why I’m training to become one too.

This episode is full of so much wisdom and clarity, hopefully you’ll be inspired to want and do better for yourself too.

You can learn more about my guest Jodie Solberg at:

Welcome to Episode 13 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.  In this episode my guest is Samantha J. 

Samantha J. is a sought after Spiritual Business Strategist - a paradigm shifting business strategist and leadership advisor who helps conscious coaches, experts and entrepreneurs increase their profitability, visibility, and social impact, without sacrificing their happiness along the way.

By the age of 22 years old, she had built a multi-million dollar business within her family’s property development that was recognised by becoming the Young Entrepreneur of the Year and contributed greatly in the field of Mental Health Awareness as a National Ambassador using the strategies she now teaches others.

Samantha then went on a soulful journey to find a deeper sense of meaning and purpose by embodying her divine masculinity and femininity. She traveled across the world, learning from the leading authorities in neuro-science, shamanism, sacred sexuality and humanitarian leadership to refine her gifts as a medicine woman to integrate into her entrepreneurship skills. She now has the only business school in the world, utilising a one of a kind methodology that merges spirituality, strategy and self expression

Samantha has since been named as one of the Top 20 Entrepreneurs on the Rise by Fox in 2021, and one of the Top 7 Women Paving the Way of Success in 2022 by Disrupt Magazine, for her efforts.

There is so much to love in this conversation with Samantha.  Her definitions of purpose-less, purpose-full and living your purpose are so enlightening, her analogy of the feathers, bricks and buses that can happen to us in our life and the beauty of living a grounded authentic spiritual life.  How to start listening to your intuition knowing that it is your internal truth speaking to you if only you would be quiet and listen.  Start the joyful journey of discovering who you are by creating a meaningful vision for yourself in your life. Get ready to get a little deep and meaningful on this episode, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed recording it with the incredible Samantha J.

Welcome to Episode 11 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

In this episode my guest is Karyn de Mol.  Karyn struggled with her weight since her teenage years. She thought she didn’t belong because her friends all had a ‘normal’ shape and size. She is now the co-author of the 10x multi award winning book Eating Secrets where she helps others who struggle with emotional eating and use food to soothe.

This is a big conversation for me as I am currently working on my own relationship with food and my weight which has been a 25+ year battle for me and something very personal for myself and so many other women.

Understanding the psychology behind our relationship to food, how to break the unhealthy habits addictions and cravings, our mindset and beliefs around food as a coping mechanism are just some of the topics that we cover. We talk about why some people can easily lose weight on a diet and why others can’t and why restrictive VLCD aren’t setting us up for success.

We then dive into our mindset around money and the importance of being practical about money and having an abundance mindset.

If you’ve got blocks around food or money, this is a great episode for you.

About Karyn

Karyn believes everyone has the answer within us…we just need help locating the answers and getting a new perspective which will allow us to heal and transform. Sharing her story, she captivates many, and shows that when you let go of the pain and fear, you can transform your trauma and emotions and take charge of life and happiness.

Sydney born from the Shire left to her own devises at age 15, leaving school and living alone after the trauma of losing 2 family members, resulting in food and other addictions becoming her coping mechanism. Karyn struggled with her weight since her teenage years. She thought she didn’t belong because her friends all had a ‘normal’ shape and size.

She is now the co-author of the 10x multi award winning book Eating Secrets where she helps others who struggle with emotional eating and use food to sooth. She has also recently overcome cancer and can speaks about not letting such a large hurdle come in the path of happiness and success.

Karyn is a Hypnotherapist and a hypnosis trainer, with specialties in gut directed hypnosis and virtual gastric band. Karyn is also a Master Practitioner of Time Line Therapy and NLP, Positive Psychology & EQ Facilitator. She is a Neuro Linguistic Programming and Nutrition Coach, Reiki Master and a Creatrix® Transformologist®, Certified Practitioner in Specialised Kinesiology and Touch for Health, Energy Psychology.

Purchase pdf copy of award winning book or upgrade to signed copy

What happens when you get an Alignment Coach and a Happiness Coach on the same podcast together?!  MAGIC is what happens! I just love this conversation with Alignment Coach, energetic being and super good human being LauraAura.

LauraAura is an Alignment Coach for driven female entrepreneurs to Undo the “shoulds” of life and business and reclaim the parts of themselves that they have unintentionally given away to people, circumstances, or situations so that they can create the aligned business they actually want.   

Laura is the CEO of Worx & Co, an urban branding studio, the Host of The Gutsy Podcast, speaker, author, and all-around visionary.   The Gutsy Podcast has been downloaded over 46k times in 108 countries and is designed to empower women in business while humanizing the realness that happens behind the scenes.   

She’ll be the first person to push you out of your comfort zone and the last to hug you as you head to the next level of your life. Her energy is contagious – an Aura – and if you’re up for the challenge, she just might trick you into believing in yourself.

This line - right at the end - The most impactful thing you can do on this earth is to be yourself - is the most profoundly simple and powerful affirmation I've heard.  And it's just one of the nuggets of gold in this episode.  Some of my favourite topics get a good run too - women empowering women instead of competing and comparing, the deep impact of Inner Child work and how to live in alignment with your values and what that actually means.   So many of these are covered in my 7 Steps to Living a Happy Life coaching program and it's great to get the perspective of another coach on these topics.

You can learn more about LauraAura and connect with her at:

Welcome to Episode 7 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

In this episode my guest is Susan Jarvis, founder of The Spicy Boudoir, also known as Susan the Maven.

This is certainly an orgasmic conversation Queens!

Now this episode does come with a Little Ears warning as we are talking about sex, masturbation and sex toys and a little bit of swearing.

Susan is an advocate for sex positivity for menopausal and older women, or for women living with a disability. We are all sexual beings and there’s so much shame and taboo for older women talking about sex in positive and non cringy ways.  We’re talking about tuning into your own sexual needs, in and out of relationships, understanding the female anatomy as it pertains to pleasure, the misnomers of older women who enjoy sex and the impact of menopause and ageing on sex and sex drive. Susan talks about her 3 key pieces of advice for women keen to understand themselves as mature sexual creatures - Educate, Masturbate, Communicate.

Get ready for a no holds barred conversation that will hopefully inspire you to lean into and lose the shame about enjoying sex and pleasure.

You can learn more and get in touch with Susan at:

Welcome to Episode 6 of Living the Queen Life Podcast. In this episode my guest is Caroline Bellinger.

Caroline is an award-winning entrepreneur, mental health advocate and wellness warrior. After experiencing childhood sexual abuse and over twenty years of addiction and mental health issues, Caroline enhanced her life by creating a toolbox of strategies that enabled her to improve her mindset, self-esteem and create three successful businesses. The recent winner of The Gold Coast Women Of The Year Wellness Warrior & National Roar Award Best Advocate For Mental Health Caroline epitomises the philosophy of overcoming trauma through wellness and courage. As the founder of “Be The Impossible” she has coached and inspired thousands of women to overcome their own life obstacles and create fulfilment and joy.  She is the co-author of three books including her latest Sacred Promise, an anthology with Oprah’s all-time favourite guest Dr Terari Trent. She has climbed to Everest Base Camp and competed in national sporting teams, including representing Australia in Triathlon at 50. Her transformation and achievements are a testament to her courage and determination to define her future regardless of age or past challenges. Caroline has dedicated her life to empowering other women through inspirational keynotes, books, coaching programs, and online education.

In this episode Caroline openly shares her story as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse which lead to years of battling alcohol addiction and other unhealthy coping behaviours. She shares with us how she turned to exercise to help her stay sober and how this started her commitment to fitness as part of living a life of wellness.

We talk about how Caroline has learnt to speak up for herself and other women with her “I don’t give a f@ck attitude”, and how the beauty and marketing industries are designed to make women feel bad about themselves and now not to get caught up in it and still be yourself.

You can learn more and connect with Caroline at

Welcome to Episode 5 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

In this episode my guest is my new best friend, the one and only Leah Wagner.

Leah is an ordinary woman with an extra ordinary story.  Given up for adoption at birth in South Korea, Leah was adopted at 6 months old and started her new life in a small town in Pennsylvania in the US, growing up as the only Asian kid in very white middle class America. Fast forward to her college years, Leah’s story takes another turn being a survivor of rape not once but twice. This is a harrowing story that sadly all too many women can relate to.

A habitual people pleaser, Leah buried herself in her career and work to escape, and with the ideology that if she was successful in her career it would make up for these other life experiences - something so many of us do to seek approval, acceptance and love. Marriage and a baby - her now 9yo son Isaac - and the reality of motherhood - Leah’s description of those thoughts of how to raise her tiny human are hilarious!

And then unexpectedly in 2015 a trip to the doctor for what she thought was just a cold saw her diagnosed with a rare congenital heart condition and in heart failure. This turned her world upside down - no longer able to work in the career she had drawn so much self esteem from, pressure on friendships and relationships that contributed to the breakdown of her marriage and where to from here.

Leah has a great analogy for people pleasing always being a dog person until one day fostering a cat called Chunk and discovering that she’s actually a cat person who’d been pretending to be a dog person cos everyone likes people who like dogs.

In this conversation, Leah talks openly about all these experiences, her approach to overcoming them as the fighter that she is, and what she has come to know about herself and life through this remarkable journey. Leah’s wit and sense of humour is brilliant with lots of laugh out loud moments amongst the seriousness of it all.

Amongst the things that Leah loves is potatoes in any form, shopping for stationery, diet wild cherry Pepsi, being near water and swearing - I think this is why we clicked!!

Leah is the host of her own podcast called The Leah Ideology where she quite literally shares her thoughts on life and experiences and invites us all to think a little differently.

Settle in and get ready for this one - it’s a long one but worth the listen right to the very end.

You can find Leah at

Welcome to Episode 4 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

In this episode my guest is Sandy Davies, creator of HappyPause Balm.

Today we are talking all things perimenopause and menopause. There’s a lot of using the “V” words - what else do you talk about with “The Vag Queen”?! This is the most unexpected and fun conversations I’ve had in a long time!!

Sandy is a staunch menopause advocate. An allergic reaction to a treatment for intimate dryness during perimenopause launched Sandy out of semi-retirement to become the Queensland based formulator and founder of award winning HappyPause™ Balm.  She is on a mission to help women to enjoy life through one of the un-talked about symptoms of menopause - vulval and vaginal dryness.

We talk about the various impacts of menopause on women, the sense of failure when a rogue period reappears, the psychological stresses of the overall menopause experience. We also chat about the importance of menopausal aged women finding and using their collective voices - the more of us that speak about our experiences the less we have to shout to be heard.

We also talk about our shared experience of being involved as co-authors in anthologies published by Ausmumpreneur and Women Changing the World Press and the power in telling our stories.

When not writing and heightening menopause awareness, Sandy enjoys helping others and spending time with her husband and their rescue dog Karma hunting nautilus shells along the fringing reefs on the edge of The Coral Sea. Sandy has finally found the time to pursue her lifelong dream of authorship and her latest anthology The Power to Rise Above about resilience, trauma and teenage bullying will be available in September this year.

You can learn more and connect with Sandy at:

Welcome to Episode 3 of Living the Queen Life Podcast.

In this episode my guest is Sarah MacDonald of Canine Comprehension.

Sarah Macdonald is CEO & Founder of Canine Comprehension. After changing careers from a secondary school teacher to a dog behavioural therapist Sarah decided to combine the two and create an innovative business that looks for solutions to school disengagement and child resilience building. Canine Comprehension brings therapy dogs to schools and homes around Victoria to positively interact with students, giving them essential support to improve their motivation, confidence and self-regulation.

Canine Comprehension is an entrant in the 2022 ROAR Success Awards, and Sarah has been awarded the Commonwealth Bank Australian of the Day and a Silver Stevie® Award in the category of Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand category in 2019. Last year, Canine Comprehension was nominated in the Animal Assisted Learning (AAL) Category at the Animal Assisted Therapies Ltd Conference Awards and was a finalist at the Australian Small Business Champion Awards. In 2021 Canine Comprehension won the Australian Achievers Award - for excellence in customer relations

In this episode we talk about Sarah’s personal experience with mental health issues, her advice for women around being confident and overcoming the self-doubt that we all feel at times no matter how “successful” we might seem to be on the outside. Sarah’s story of leaving behind a career that she once imagined was forever to follow a love of animals and how it then developed into a business with a purpose helping children and their families is an inspiration.

We chat about the benefits of therapy dogs for children in particular in educational settings, more in demand than ever as children struggle with the return to school and live in our “Covid normal” world, and the difference between a therapy dog and a well behaved family pet.

Canine Comprehension offers dog assisted learning interventions throughout Metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.