This Week in Talent (12th August)

Howdy ho! We’re back for another week of “This Week In Talent”, woo hoo!

This week in my own talent world – I got called “sweetheart” by a bloke that called up asking about a job I have on. Is there anything more patronising? Answer = maybe … but it really affected me. It made me feel like a little kid – it’s like saying “Awww look at you, you adorable little girl trying to act like you’re all grown up.” I can guarantee that this person doesn’t go around calling random men they’ve never met before “sweetheart”. It got me thinking about gendered language like this, and how inappropriate it is in this day and age – even when well intentioned. Have a read up on gendered language here and why it’s not okay (and could also land someone in hot water at work).

Other than working (which is all we seem to do at the moment thanks to lockdown) I’ve been developing new, unhealthy, hobbies. I wish I could say that I suddenly got addicted to running this lockdown, but alas … I’ve been obsessed with The Sims. My current character (named Jody Smith, obviously) has just gotten married to her lover Emilio and has 2 kids now (named Jody Junior Smith, and Granny Smith). OMG being a mum is hard. How do all the IRL mums do it? I struggle to keep on top of the feeding, bathing, nappy changing, playing, AND get to work on time in a good mood (let alone get any sort of promotion). I was angry that Emilio hadn’t been pulling his weight so I built a wall around him when he had to go to the bathroom and made him pee his pants.

Yes I’m living my life vicariously through my Sims and I don’t care who knows it. The dangerous thing about the Sims though, is it’s even MORE addictive than TikTok. On Sunday afternoon I plopped onto the couch to have a cheeky 1 hour Sims sesh … only for my boyfriend to discover me 5 hours later sitting in the same spot unaware that the day had disappeared and with severe back pain and dry eyes. Then I got really sad that I’d wasted my Sunday, but at the same time I couldn’t stop playing. Wow I have a problem.

One more thing I wanted to share this week, for all the Melbourne peeps out there, is this awesome new app called Yalinguth. It’s this Augmented Reality immersive experience along Gertrude St in Fitzroy – if you live within 5kms of the area, can I recommend doing it on one of your daily lockdown walks? You plug in your headphones on your phone, and it guides you down Gertrude St whilst telling you stories about the area told by Aboriginal Elders, activists and community members. An amazing idea that I hope grows legs and rolls out to other areas of Victoria (and Australia)!

That’s it from me this week. Hope you’re all okay and coping through the various lockdowns happening around Australia. For our NZ friends … we’ll hopefully see you IRL soon 🙂

Creating a Hybrid Future Outside of Work

Are you a ‘doom scroller’ like me? I get particularly bogged down and disheartened by antivaxxers on Instagram, and it leaves me feeling like absolute sh*t once I’ve finished my nightly doom scroll. This article is a good reminder to put the phone down and away out of reach, and pick up some better non-digital hobbies!

An Inclusion Influencer You Should Follow

I stumbled across this TikTok page, and I thought it was definitely worth sharing. Benjy is an influencer who is passionate about DEI, and there’s a bunch of videos there that Benjy has made that address taboo topics like “When is it okay to imitate an accent?” and “How to ask where a POC is from without causing offence”. Check it out (and follow)!

A Futurist’s Top Five Predictions For The Future Of Work

Reanna Browne is back, and she’s got some thoughts on some emerging trends happening in the world of work. I’m excited about some of these, and hope they come to fruition (hello 4 day work week) and some of these trends scare me (… work environment changes due to climate change). If you didn’t get a chance to read our recent(ish) article with Reanna Browne – give it a whirl too, and have your mind BLOWN by future insights!

What Does It Mean To ‘Hold Space’ For Someone?

You may have heard this term bandied about a bit in the last few years. I have to admit … I heard it for the first time early last year, and always pretended I knew what people were talking about … but I didn’t. Have a read up here on what it means to truly hold space for people, and then start doing it!

How To Make Your Team Meetings More Accessible

Ohhh well if it ain’t Jody here sharing yet another team meeting resource! This one’s a goodie, and contains things I honestly hadn’t thought of doing.