Latest / Project Emerald Collective / Wear Our Stories: Courage, Creativity & Sustainable Fashion with Olga Blake McKenzie
Transcript
- Eve McIntyre: you're approaching 70 while becoming an author and developing an entirely new way of presenting fashion. Does it feel like a reinvention or the fullest expression of who you've always been, Olga? It's a combination of the multiple things over my time that have brought me to where I am. you learn every day, so I'm still not fully finished yet. I take on board different scenarios every day. I research the hell out of everything I do. I have not always known who I was, but I always knew I had something to say. Eve: Welcome to the Project Emerald Collective. I'm your host, Eve McIntyre. Every week I sit down with women who have chosen to live differently. Designers, founders, creatives, psychologists, adventurers and change makers. People asking bigger questions about how we live, work, create and connect. These conversations aren't really about fashion. They're about living with intention. finding the courage to be yourself and discovering what becomes possible when you stop living by expectation and start living by choice. If that's the kind of life you're creating too, you're in the right place. Now let's go. Eve McIntyre: today I'm joined by Olga Blake Mackenzie, the creative force behind OllyMacs Storytelling Through Design. Olga's a storyteller, a wearable art designer and now an author with more than 50 years sewing experience and over three decades working behind the scenes across film. Television and theme parks. Her one-of-a-kind creations explore identity, courage, connection, hope, mental health, sustainability, and transformation, often using recycled and repurposed materials to give new meaning to what others might overlook or discard. Now, as she's approaching 70, Olga is entering one of the most creatively courageous chapters of her life. And at this year's Tasmanian Fashion Festival, she'll bring the characters from her book series, We're Wear Our Stories to Life on the Runway, combining fashion, literature, visual art, and live storytelling. I'm so excited to chat today. Olga, welcome to the Project Emerald Collective. Thank you so much for having me. So before we chat about the book and the runway, who are you beyond the titles and the work? I am a mum, first of all, a wife. a grandma and I'm very passionate about life in general with all the people that have touched my lives. I've worked, yes, you've just mentioned my 50 years of sewing. I've been in the film industry for 30 years. I am back of house. I generally am on what we call set deck and so that includes anything in the background on a movie on set so I do make soft furnishings as well. anything you actually see in behind the scenes on a movie, that's part of my work. theme parks is some of my main contracts as well. Basically the theme parks up here I work for Village Roadshow and that includes quite a few theme parks like Movie World and SeaWorld and Australian Outback, Paradise Country. and I do a lot of their props mainly. their floats, anything you see on a parade is basically my work. except for the costumes these days. I used to work in-house for Warner Brothers. And made the costumes on site with a a lovely team of creatives there. today I mainly do movies. I run my own little small business doing that. all my designs and stuff are my hobby on the side that I started five years ago. and here we are today with a book coming out. Incredible. So great. so you've described yourself as being made up of hundreds of experiences. Yes. Which of the experiences have most shaped the woman that you are today? All of them. All of them because everything we experience in life shapes who we are. You know, never know who we are. You're born. I was born on an outback cattle property. And so I spent most of my primary years, some early teens, on a country property. enjoy that. A lot of things back then we were taught the girls basically were taught cooking and sewing. And I was lucky to have a dad that took the girls out fencing, mustering. he was an one of the old time drovers who sadly passed away three and a half years ago. That's that in itself shaped, but then I moved to the city and was in search of life, what's new in life. I was a very young mum. And worked for various companies and always sewed on the side. I had a wedding business at one stage, a children's clothing business at one stage. I'm actually a counselor by trade. I gave the counseling up after a few years because my children were small and I felt like I was bringing home the the stories of other people. So I think that's where I got a lot of my stories from. You know, my life. plus other people's lives, friends, different things my children go through or my grandkids go through or my friends go through, life in general. We only have to look around the world. I can't watch the news without crying. So I won't go there because it upsets me that there's so much destruction in the world, in humans. And so I've tried to reshape all of that. So that's why I'm saying it's a world of experiences. You don't just one experience doesn't shape who you are. I've had some great experiences that shape me too, which is why I I do speak to the universe a lot because I think it brings you what you need. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's why I am where I am right now. without the strength of my family, the support of my husband. I I probably wouldn't be a spot because they all give me that opportunity to flow. Hmm. I love that. Thank you. What did fencing with your dad on the cattle property teach you? Work hard. Strength. I loved that he gave us multi-skills. he taught us how to, pull an engine apart, how to change your tyres, how to check your oil, all that at a very young age. And he did do that with the girls. the boys learnt a lot more about, chopping wood, milking the cows, like we all done it, but he kind of just treated us all the same, probably sisters. the one thing I nursed my dad in his last eighteen months along with my brother and sister, And he still had his wits about him. Like he was very, very conscious. He said, You do, if you could just take my head off and put it on another body, I'd be fine. we got to ask him lots of stories about his life. And one of them for me was how did you get To where you are, Dad. Like he's an amazing man of eighty-five, a drover, a station manager, all that stuff. Very hard worker, never gave up. You knew he had a five bypass on his heart, he had a cancer, bowel cancer, and ended up with a stoma bag for the last couple of years of his life. He was up painting his house at eighty-five years old the month before he passed. Doctor said to me, You've got to get off those ladders. You do you could kill yourself. And dad said, are you joking me? I said to Dad, so what is the secret? his honest words were don't sit on your ass. and we don't. I know my family are all hard workers. You don't give up and don't listen to the naysayers. Absolutely. Yeah, never listen to naysayers because they're just projecting what they feel in life. And they just want to put that somewhere else other than on themselves. So you just gotta keep on keeping on. Does that mean the life's perfect? No, it's not. No. it just meant do you get down? Of course I do. I do have days of self doubt, but then there's something inside me talks to me and goes, You just keep on going. Because not everyone's gonna like you. You know everyone's a cup of tea. We all walk different lives, I think I just get my grounding probably from my dad. Yeah. It was a very strong net. And resourcefulness by the sounds of it. Yes, that's for sure. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, there's a beautiful idea running through your story, Olga. I didn't suddenly become this woman. I've been gathering the threads of her for decades. I love that. When did you begin to recognize that? I think from a very young age. think on the cattle property I you do have a sewing machine or hands and so I made all my own clothing or what clothing's mum and dad could provide I would change them and I didn't ever want to be like anybody else I just wanted to be me and I knew that very young I started writing at a really young age as well at school They loved my essays and competitions and storytelling. I done a lot of that at school. I used to get the above average awards for that. But I used to write all that stuff and put it in a book and just sit it in a box. You know, it never came to light until the last five years. So are we gathering along the way? Always. Every life is gathering. You may not realize it. But if you sit with yourself and think about where did where did that part come from? Where did that story come from? Where did that design come from? They're just things you learn along the way. Yeah. So we are all threads at the end of the day. I've just put those threads into something you can visualize while I'm narrating to you and telling you a humankind story. I think that's really powerful. So has anything in your life felt like a detour only to later? become an important thread. No, I think every every turn is a detour Every single turn. There's nothing that stood out. I loved look, I got into the movie industry by I was doing weddings and I know I didn't just do like the bridal gown, I would do the bridesmaids, their crowns, their bouquets. the wedding reception, the chairs, the table covers, the the like I just done anything. And a photographer came to me on one of those and said, You're in the wrong field. You really need this jobs going at Warner Brothers, you should go and get a job there. You'll be doing much more exciting things. I said, well anyway, after this, tell me more about it. He told me more about it. I went and applied And I started with a group of lovely women at Warner Brothers. And they weeded us all out one by one. And somehow I managed to stay. And so that was a massive turning point, I think. And then it's it's all these industries are a bit alike once you're on a list. if you could just stay on the list. And I still haven't given that up because I do love doing it. The people are amazing, If there was a major detour, that would have been one. I think another detour in a young life would have been when I was thirteen. I had a major car accident and lost my life. I spent a couple of months in hospital learning how to walk again. I was very disfigured. I it that shaped me way more when I came out the other side. I wasn't the little girl anymore on on the farm. that happened when I moved to the city. A lot of bullying at school. called Scarface and all this sort of stuff. Like it's amazing how cruel children can be. Absolutely. More amazing how adults can be cruel. Yeah. I just felt for them because they haven't found themselves. So I just feel in my heart that these people hopefully will find who they are and become the wonderful person that they were meant to be because everyone had that choice. Everyone still has that choice. Yeah, they do. You're right. Were there skills or experiences along the way that once seemed ordinary but now make perfect sense? Yes. even the sewing skills for starters. I used to think, God, everyone learned this in the country. That's what you do. I learned way more 30 years ago moving into Warner Brothers, the skill factor. But I also drew back on things that dad draw because movie props is not just about and wearable art is not just about sewing. It's about using a drill. It's putting wire together, shaping things, glue guns, heat guns, like all these things play a massive role in what you actually do. And then because my stuff is eighty percent recyclable, it comes from some of my designs. The real wearable artists use waste. And I have done that. I've made a a design after my father died. Called homeostatus balance of the body. That whole design was made from medication blister packs. And then I got some pharmacies saving them. I cleaned them and we painted them all stained glass colors to represent the various medications, to represent life. And also to say, yes, medications can save us, but they can also damage us. But more importantly, we throw medication as alpha oil and plastic. gets put back into the earth, which takes thousands of years to break down. So those things bring awareness to the world. and then I come across someone saying, why don't you use your stories? Yeah. Bring your poetry back out. But I've kept away from the poetry and just done the stories. So now I'm writing every night. did anything stick out. There's a few things along the way. I could probably imagine another hundred more. But Yeah, you've lived so much life, but you've got so much still to live and I love that. Huge. Long way to go. Yeah. you said that there's been stages of your life when you're fulfilling all the roles expecting of you, a partner, a mother, a grandmother, and professional without necessarily stopping to ask, Who am I? And what helped you begin asking that question again? I think everyone questions who they are. it generally when roles are put before us and we accomplish some, you never lose sight of being a mum, you never lose sight of being a grandma. I love my time with those children. but you begin to think, what else could I be doing now? Like they've all left the nest, they're Even the grandkids, I spend a lot of time with them. As a matter of fact, I've just joined one of my granddaughters into modeling and she was has just been on two shows with me. Amazing. But I think you do start to go, what else can I be contributing to the world? I might come from my counseling because I was a young counsellor. they made you question, what else can I be doing that makes the world better? What else can I be doing that makes me fulfill who I am? And those dreams are making other people's lives better. having the people around me, the support has been unbelievable. but it's all about we all will question that. Who am I? Well, I am Olga Blake McKenzie, of OllyMacs storytelling through design right now. And I hope this inspiration book. reaches the world. And I hope people find themselves in that book somewhere. Yeah, I love that. So tell us about the book and the inspiration that has led to the book. The characters as such in the book I did draw from Medieval Days. I had a great liking for that in my young day. And so I started with those types of costumes. I am a mad reader of Medieval. certainly watch a lot of movies on that. And I love the stories and I they're all hardship stories. of how people are farmers and then that all of that they become a king, you know, that sort of stuff. So those stories drew me in. And then I thought, I can actually not just make and design a costume. So I've used the wearable outside, created the costume from, second hand stores, antique stores. I look for enderlines, I look for materials that have been sitting there for fifty years. Guess what? Some of them are still preserved. I have a workshop full of that. I put them together and then the stories for the characters just come from human stories at the end of the day. Like somehow those words fall into my mind and they come out my mouth and I just keep writing. I've tried to make them short stories. most of them are no longer than an A four page. Some of them might be, you know, an A five page. It's just enough. I think just enough for people to take the story in. Make something of the story. And some will resonate with people, some won't. Some might resonate. Some people might look at that and go, that sounds like my daughter. Other sounds like my friend that's what I'm hoping that I touch other people's soul really to go There's only one you in the world. Yeah. There never was another you, there never will be another you. So make it valuable. Make it worthwhile. Get it out there. Because everyone has something to give. You just gotta find what it is. It can be something really small. Another person that touched my life on that was my auntie. after I had the car accident, I went and spent valuable healing time with her in Sydney and she has lovely stories to tell but one of them was you when you get to the end of your day think of what did you learn that day. And if you can't think of what did you learn that day, look for something beautiful. And that can be as simple as a flower, a cloud formation. It can be anything, but end your day with what did you learn? And what did you find beautiful about the day? And I think those things are in my stories. Like they're there. That's what helped me create that. Beautiful. Yeah. at our dinner table, I always ask the kids and my husband and, I have to report back as well, what was the best part of your day? Yes. That's the first thing I say to my grandchildren when I pick them up. I Used to do a couple of days a week. I just dedicate one day a week to each family now in the afternoons. And I pick them up. And as soon as they get in their car in the car, tell me something good that happened today. What was something you didn't like today? What did you learn today at school? And sometimes I go, nothing. And I go, No, think about it. You learnt something today. What was it? Could have just been a word, but you learned something today. I want to hear about it. And I've always had I always have my conversations with guess what? Because from when they were babies, I taught them that guess what? Nanny loves you. And so now I say guess what? And they s they say it before me. They say nanny loves us. Okay, yeah, that's right. So it's nice what you're doing, Eve, with your family. And I know lots of people around the world do that because our children are precious, our grandchildren are precious, and we want to give them the best start possible. But it's not about saying who they should be. Yeah. It's about just nurturing the spirit they are and let them find who they are while you're nurturing. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. do you think sometimes women in particular are mistake fulfilling their roles for fully knowing themselves? they get so swept up in the role that they're playing at the time. that they're not actually thinking about who am I and what is my purpose, what am I here to do? Totally. Totally. some people spend a lifetime finding who they are. Some find that early. Some know how to do motherhood and still find a piece of themselves on the side. I probably did do a bit of that in I always played netball. that was my thing when the kids were little. Then we used to have a 10 pin bowling team with the family every week. So that joined us all in as a family. But I had my time on the side. I'm a a real great music lover and I probably get lots of my stories from music. concerts are my big thing. God I've seen some awesome legends in my lifetime. I think for women, yes, they get stuck. We get stuck in a role and we can't see outside of it. And I'm hoping with this book people get to see outside of that. So for men and women that, you know, maybe they're for various reasons caught up in different Roles that they're playing, but how can we begin finding our way back to ourselves? I think the first thing we've got to take time out. Just gotta take time out and sit with yourself. Like a really good thing is take yourself to the beach thirty minutes, even if it's a week or monthly or whatever. Take yourself to the forest barefoot. Put your feet on the ground and ground yourself. music, music is valuable, but in the forest and we have lots of them close to us where everywhere we go, even the cities have beautiful parks and stuff. But you just gotta take that half an hour. And somewhere there it's soul searching. clothing for me was in me as a very young child. story everyone has something that they've overlooked. I just spoke to a lady yesterday Anita, what a beautiful soul. She's in her fifties. she came from India about 15 years ago and she is soul searching. She found me on Instagram and read one of my stories and contacted me. And we ended up on a phone conversation. And she's just saying I'm trying to find who I am and then I just talked her through but What were you doing as a child? What did you like? What as an adult when you were a mum, what were the things that attracted, I really wanted to be a model, you know. And she did she actually did do that. She became a model. She done pageants, then she had a family. And so now I'm saying to her, Do you want to go back there? Yeah, no. Okay. Well, that's what you've got to do. It's just about getting out there and you've got to take risks and you've got to put yourself forward. That's what you've got to do. Everyone has that. Look, I know a lot of men, they're middle aged crisis generally go out and buy that hotted up car they always wanted that they couldn't have while they had a family or the motorbike. and then they join like minded people. It's joining the like minded people when you find that passion. And see, not everyone is for you, however, if you don't take the rest, you won't know. So it's it's about find out what that little thing was because we were all born with that. Mm-hmm. We were all born with something inside us that says who you're gonna be. I I used to be a bit of a astrology person. It was a big thing in the seventies, and I actually did go to one that was classed as reputable. And they had said, You were born to be a storyteller and you will be a storyteller in the world. Now, that only just hit me a couple of weeks ago. I was just like, my god, I'm gonna told that in my early twenties. And here I am. Wow. So every everyone has that possibility. Pretty nice. Absolutely. your characters embody experiences such as courage, identity, connection, renewal and wonder. So how much of you is inside of them? There's probably a lot. I think what it is, every experience we ever have growing up, just in our own life, if every single single thing touches us, sadness, death, love, hate, bullying, depression. It may not happen exactly to you, but it happens around you. You grow up with it. then you don't forget the happiness and dreams. It's all happens. So I've just tried to grab all of those. Sometimes I just start with a word. I've got a design called Lightning. And I just that started because I seen a material and believe it or not, it was a Duna cover in a secondhand shop. It cost me six dollars. It was pure white and it had gold kind of They weren't exactly lightning, but it looked like it could be lightning. As soon as I seen that mature, I went lightning. God, now I've got to think up a story about lightning. But you know what? The lightning story became all about trying to find who you are and know when the lightning strikes, grab it. It's like grab hold of that. Search for that lightning strike, because there was many times in your life that that was there. So there is a lot of me in there. I probably didn't even realize that myself until I I read back over them because some of them I I've read back over and went I didn't get out what I really wanted to get out of that. Some of them that they start with lines. I wake up in the middle of the night and I'll just write down a line that came to me. I am a bit of a night owl though. And then eventually I've just got books of lines everywhere, stories, sentences, and then I just piece them together. So yes, they're gotta be me in there somewhere. My belief system, my opinions on the world. but at the end of the day, they're my beliefs. I'm just giving you an insight into what my beliefs are and how do I nurture the world through that? How do I give hope to people? How do I spread love? How do I spread kindness? Because we all need that. Like we all need it. If this book just helps one person, Eve, I've done what I set out to do. And it has to just help one person. Yeah, absolutely. We can all make a difference in our own ways and I can't wait to read it. Is there a character that you feel particularly connected to? And can you introduce us to her? Mm. Look, the one that's close to my heart is the medication blister pack one because that was about my dad. But I also have ones I have ones that are about like the wildlife warrior. Naika. The wildlife warrior is about saving animals from extinction, saving elephants from their poaching I have another one, a recent one called Venantia, and she is about saving birds, and her she does have a Very big bird hat. her dress has birds on it, which I've embroidered. But her story goes, you know, why do we cage such beauty? You know, we capture beauty and we cage it for our own personal possession. Why? But it it should be set free so that all the world can do that. So her her warrior job is saving birds from being captured. And caught in a cage for us to look at. Yes, it's nice because well, we can look at books with photos in to see that. We can go in nature and see that. I've got, funny enough, a mile of fruit trees we planted here. at the moment the bird life out there is amazing. But I don't have the heart to net the trees because I look out that window and there's all different colored birds and I'm in suburbia. There's all these different colored birds eating the mulberries at the moment. Yeah, right. You get up in the morning and there there's at least 20 out there. all different types of birds. did you want me to read a sorry? yeah pick one This one. beautiful. Magenta. Magenta. And magenta stands for keeper of her own time. She is not where you last saw her. She is not where you expect her to be. Magenta does not arrive arrive to be understood, only to be felt. There are parts of her that do not answer, parts that do not explain, parts that have learned the power of remaining unseen. But Magenta, they thought she had reached her edge. That she had already revealed who she was. But Magenta does not move in straight lines. She circles. She disappears. She returns. Changed. Not louder, not sharper, just deeper. She does not ask to be witnessed. She allows it when it suits her. Time does not carry her. She bends it, keeps it. Spends it only where it matters. Not everything within her is meant to be known. Magenta's message to the world, do not follow my timing. You will not find me there. I love that so much. That resonates. I have actually added that to that a little bit about why she carries a mask, but yeah, it it basically is about the mask as I can I can be me when I want and I'll let you see when I want. You can see me when I want it's about life's choice is it's our choice to let people see how much of us we want them to see. Yeah. Because there are some things that are meant to stay here in your heart. There's some things you don't let out. Because that's self-preservation. it stops the judgment. That's one thing I do speak about in a lot of my stories is the judgment. How do people have that right? Yeah. The right to judge a lot of people's life. Yeah. would yeah. Society just stop already. Yes, that's exactly right. Yeah, just stop. Just stop it. They've got no idea what you know what someone's going through or where they've None or what their point of reference is. So just stop. 'Cause some people want it can be shiny ponies on the outside. Mm. Yep. and that where that old fashioned traditional thing, you don't Don't wish yourself in someone else's life. Because you don't know where they've been. You have no idea what they're going through. They might be just extremely good at putting up a good front. But once you start talking to people, you can well, I feel I can see through them. Yeah. And that's where I go. Okay, I I need to write a story about that. The stories, do you know what I could write these stories? If I had a started look even 30 years ago, 40 years ago. You could write stories every day for the rest of your life about life. Yeah. Because that's how many every day we experience life on a different level, every single day. You have to live it though. You have to live it. You have to be there present, living it, and not just an observer. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, you have to be part of it. And you've actually got to reward yourself with that. Make yourself be part of that. even in this industry I'm in now in the entertainment world, there's still some very quiet souls and certainly with models and that even designs. They don't they're very quiet, they come, they bring their stuff, and you c I feel it. it's about supporting each other. You need to walk around and find those people when you're at a show and introduce yourself and support because every single one of us are creative in some shape or form. No two of us are alike. So why are we being judgmental about someone else's line? it's models you all have that courage to get on stage and and shoot people's work and bring it to life. But when they're off stage, they're amazingly these quiet souls, public souls, you there's so many things we don't get to see. And we should be supporting everyone. The whole world should be supporting each other at the end of the day. That's always my base story. We all should be just support, love, kindness, and spread happiness. One thing with that show last weekend. It's a South African community. And although it was very multicultural, but the happiness and the joy they have is amazing. Even no matter what they're going through, they still have that. That that that's the stuff I like to see. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So at the Tasmanian Fashion Festival, you're bringing these characters from the page to life, which is so exciting. So can you describe what the audience will experience? Yes, this is an interesting one in I can't tell you everything because I study a bit, I research the area and stuff and try and get a feel for what will I show that. But most of it's about It's colourful. Lots of embellishments. looks like you just see in magenta. There will be, I could even bring magenta actually. She's a very popular pig. Yeah, please do. Yes, she's very popular, magenta. Nerith daughter of the deep is very popular at the moment as well, so I'd probably bring her. it's an electric max mix of new recycled repurposed textiles. unconventional materials, some of them are. I think I'm going to bring one that's a lot of like burlap in it, very islandy type. one which I think needs to shine through. It's one of my new ones. a lot of brocades, satins, velvets, gemstones, trims. But the biggest thing I'll try to get across in them all is yes, there's some new, but it's made everyone is made at least of 80% recyclable materials. So it could be fabrics found from any stores or whatever. What I'll bring is the emotional stories, the hobby stories, the the blossoming, the timing of just who we are. I want to show people, I want to bring that out. And it's about not just looking. I want people not just to look at the garment before them. I want them to hear the story and put the story into the garment. And that's what I want. I'm hoping my book is out ready for signing then. So exciting. So you're approaching 70 while becoming an author and developing an entirely new way of presenting fashion. Does it feel like a reinvention or the fullest expression of who you've always been, Olga? It's a combination of the multiple things over my time that have brought me to where I am. you learn every day, so I'm still not fully finished yet. I take on board different scenarios every day. I'm I research the hell out of everything I do. one word, I'll research it and see what I can come up with that. I have not always known who I was, but I always knew I had something to say. I certainly was pretty some people could have called me outspoken when I was young. I do stand up for my rights and my and other people's rights. even at schools with like my children, I didn't just take if if they did, which is very the odd very occasion, that was trouble. I didn't just take that teacher's word for it. I actually searched the whole story. And then because I come back to why do you think a person done that? You know. we learn every day, Eve. We learn every day. So yes, am I fully who I am right now? I'm getting close. But I I've got so much more. So much more to give. I don't let much keep me down. For instance, Darwin Fashion Week. love that show. Awesome people. I that was just my designs on a runway though. But at the end we had two days to spare. We have a daughter and six grandchildren up there. And we went out to spend some time at Mindle Beach. I had a really bad fall. I fractured my wrist in two places. I broke a toe. And I don't let that get me. I just keep on keeping. I can still write with my left hand. I can still I do it on a mic sometimes so that it's easier. but when things come into my head I have to get it down straight away. So that's why I know I'm still growing. There's still more there's still more. Yep. I've only got given one life, I've got to make it worthwhile. absolutely. To make it count. Yes, definitely. What surprised you most about this stage of life? A lot of people have been saying to me Why have you not retired? Why haven't you stopped? I can't retire. I feel like I have too much to say. I think to me when I was young, My grandma, She was a lovely German lady. she was lovely to talk to and she was all about keep going, keep moving. And I think that was my dad's mum, so I think that's where dad got that from. I don't give up easy. I'll never say die. It's just keep on keeping on. I think we change in life, you go from a a young child to an older child to a teenager, going into the world as as a young adult. And then some people get their career straight away, some don't, some become mums straight away. You become a mom, then you become a grandma and Then you start to question life again, usually around 40, middle age. We also question life at 60. Because 60 was always deemed to be old age. In our life now, I think to me, old age is maybe 90. Yeah. We used to always say, people say at 35 to 40, are you middle aged now? And I go, no, I'm not. And I'm real age till I'm 45. Like I've got a lot more. So I I knew that early on. No, don't don't count me out to chat. but look, at these amazing people that gathered into their 90s and there's few that are very graced with the hundred. But it's the ones that there is no secret to living a long life. There really isn't. It's about just Trying your best, looking after your body the best. And that's not necessarily, you know, good, healthy eating, food and exercise. That when you look at some people that lived to their nineties and still got their wits about them, you know, they smoke, they drank. But their job, like my my dad's, it was probably his job, kept him moving. It's also if you love what you're doing, yeah, then you're gonna stop. I absolutely am so passionate and I absolutely love what I do. And I'm not going to stop. There's that's why I decided on a book series, because I knew this isn't just about one book. I can just keep on, keep on, keeping on. When I retire from the movies, which I haven't yet, because I feel I'm still valuable there and I know I am used for my experience there now. And and I love it. I just love everything about that industry. But On the sideline of just building the book, the stories, the characters, the designs. And when I retire from work life, this would be my passion. And hopefully bringing myself in a passion that didn't come to keep me able to keep doing that. Yeah. Hopefully touching people's lives. Dolly Parton passed away this week. what part of Dolly's life has inspired you the most? What an amazing woman. She preached love and kindness and spirit at the end of every show she was passing love, be kind to one another, love one another. the fact she talked about her life and coming from a low economic background but she also had the stories of her dad and where did she learn stuff she became outlandish and eccentric because she was dolly. She didn't want to be like anybody else. That's me, I don't want to be like anyone else. Because guess what? None of us are like anybody else. That's probably what I loved about her the most. As much as she was very out there, she was also a very humble lady. you've got to love that. her husband that passed away last year. I think that hit her a lot. But the way she talked about him was so beautiful and he did keep in the background a lot. but how could how could you not love her? A lot of people don't like country music. I do, I grew up with it, But Dolly Parton just had so much to say. And when you listen to the stories behind some of her songs, it's quite inspirational at the end of the day. That's really what I love about her. We've lost a lot of great people in our day that did preach humanity and being kind and helping. And that doesn't mean it has to be money support. It just means verbally you can help anybody just by being kind. being supportive. maybe she'll inspire one of the characters in your book. Yes. Next series. It's funny. I thought about that last night. I was thinking about her and thinking, how could I bring her? Because she was someone that spoke to the world and she did become an icon and a legend. But she was, I think, above all, just known for her quotes and her love of life. I've just seen a barrage of quotes But I feel like she should have been celebrated every day, not just now that she's passed away. But that happens with most of us, isn't it? we celebrate when someone goes, and that's kind of sad. We so should be celebrating each other while we're alive. I did have another lovely young friend. From the moment he knew he had cancer, he was told he only had two to three weeks to live. So he got with his family and said, I want my party now because I'll be damned if you're all gonna drink when I'm gone. And you know what? It was the biggest most celebration of life. it people come from all over Australia. And they opened their house for 12 hours that day. And they had barbecues and spits and they had music, you know, people playing guitars and the his dad was a country music singer. And he refused to go to hospital. And he wouldn't be in a wheelchair. He just had help him people help him from seat to seat, and people would circle him while they all talked about the life they had with him. Absolutely amazing man. And you know what? We all walked out of there going, Why are we not all doing this? Like what? But then again, some people are lucky enough to know when they're about to go, like my dad did. And some people are lucky enough to have that. But it's not lucky in the fact that you know you're going to die, if you know what I mean. Like it's they had they had some time to at least get out of it. I wanted to say. a lot of people don't get that opportunity. But such a young life. He had so much more to offer the world. But he left behind a lot of beautiful friends and family that will never forget him for sure. Yeah. Absolutely. So moving on to our Project Emerald questions. Olga, what does living intentionally mean to you now? Think mainly it's about being conscious of why you're here. Yes. Being conscious of what you have to offer. never being boastful, never never think you know it all, 'cause I don't I can only speak from who I am. I think as I've grown older, you let go of a lot of a lot of things in life, things that probably did bother you, I probably stood my dig a lot more when I was younger. I tend to step back now. you learn who your circle is, but you never stop reaching out. Because your circle's big, you've just got to keep reaching out. You take risks more but probably more cautiously. But I think I've got a lot to say. So living intentionally just means never giving up, learn something new every day And then try and make the world a better place. Absolutely. If you could sit beside your younger self, what would you tell her? Well the first thing is you don't have to know where this is all leading. You don't have to know the end game. You just gotta know day by day what's here and what you have to get out. And it's something I probably taught my children and the grandkids. It's not about having a life goal. You there's two things in life when you're young. It's about having a career goal, but also having a trade goal, like something that doesn't take as long to achieve. So you feel like you've got successful along the way. So if you're talking about jobs, it would be pick a trade that only takes you four years. But your career goal might take you, Ken. Because your career goal is obviously where you want to be, but do the steps to get there. really I was talking about the threads that bind us earlier. Keep collecting them. Every day brings new things. There might be just something that someone said in a phone call. pick them up and learn them. Actually, when I was young, when I was trying to find out who I was, and when my auntie said find something beautiful in the world, what did you learn today? it was actually dad. He said, Puk up, pick up the dictionary. And look for a word you don't know what it means. Mm-hmm. And learn that word for the day. Do you know what? That was how I very first wor learned the word eccentric and what it meant. and I used it a lot in my life. And the word pedantic. Mm-hmm. I le I used that a lot. I don't anymore. But I those words meant I was learning. So it kind of came from the Auntie saying learn something and you think, What did I learn? But that's what I say to the grand kids. Well, you must have learnt something. Like you must have learned something in you. yeah, pick up the threads, bind them all together, and that's how you become who you are. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Or pick up the dictionary and learn. Yes. It works. A Bibles work. A lot of people say pick up the Bible. There's some beautiful stories in the Bible. certainly. And They're very well-meaning stories, got good morals, and I love that. The inspiration behind them. And yeah, dictionaries are extremely important. back in my day, we didn't do the full education Don't let that stop you from moving forward. Just keep on learning. Olga, what does taking your power back mean to you? Taking my palate back. I think it means I have more courage. There's a lot of things I might have thought about doing, but didn't do it because I don't think I had the courage to actually speak up. Because I'm saying, when I was young I stood up for lots of things, but then there came a time where I didn't. and I think the courage being vulnerable and knowing that every life matters, every story counts. my dad certainly is always here. and it's rather interesting when I'm going to a show and my radio is on. Nine out of ten times, there is a special song with dad and and me, and that song comes on. And I go, Like and it's usually on the way to a show or on the way back from a show. I I'm quite amazed how the universe brings you that. Yeah. It's having that awareness to tap into that. Yeah. But if there's many versions of anyone, there's many versions of me. there's still many more versions to come. as I get older. So yeah. Yeah, I love that. Olga, for the woman watching or listening who thinks her most exciting or creative years may be behind her, what would you like her to know? I would tell her to worry less about what other people think. Soul search herself. Not everyone's going to understand you. your creativity or the way you see things, they don't belong to anyone else, they belong to you. And only you know what you have. Don't let other people bring you down. I would tell her to trust her instincts more. Have the courage to to put your foot forward and have the courage to do some risk. There's things that don't work, like in my design, sometimes I'll try something and it hasn't worked. And again, but I don't give up. Sometimes I'll put it down and I won't touch it for weeks. And then I'll come back and go, I do that differently. Like and then it comes to you. That's the same with anything in life. don't let people bring you down. Don't don't listen to the judgments. Just be your authentic self at the end of the day. There is only one year. Ever only ever will be one year. Just be your aesthetic self. Show the world who you are. Absolutely. Olga, your story is such a powerful reminder that there's no single timeline for a meaningful or creative life and that the experiences we gather eventually become the very material from which we create that next chapter of ours. So thank you for sharing your story with us. And I'm excited that we'll be able to Experience Olga's characters coming to life through Olly Max storytelling through design at the Tasmanian Fashion Festival this October. In ending this, I've had a wonderful time. Eve, thank you so much. I've I was so nervous and I've and thank you for reaching out. it's given me another opportunity to know that my stories are being heard and and they are valuable. I can end this with every design has a story. Every story has a message and every message has the possibility to give hope to someone's life. Thank you. Thank you so much. Awesome. Eve: Before we finish I'd love to leave you with one question. When did you last feel like most like yourself? Not the version shaped by expectations, deadlines, or everyone else's opinions, but the real you. Maybe that's something worth sitting with this week. If today's conversation has resonated with you, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing the episode with someone who may need to hear it. Every share helps us reach more people and grow a community that's choosing to live with greater intention. Until next time, remember, take your power back, one conscious choice at a time. I'll see you in the next episode.