Episode 27 - The Dancing Radio Announcer

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Transcript

This transcription is automated, therefore it may not be 100% accurate. It is to be used as a guide only as the AI bots may have some things wrong.

0:00:00 - (Nicole): This episode of bring your kid to work is brought to you by Lioness Media.

0:00:04 - (Nicole): It's time to bring your kid to work.

0:00:07 - (Nicole): Hey everyone. It's time to bring your kid to work. It's the family podcast that explores the world of work through the eyes of parents and their kids. Each week we interview one parent and their child to chat about what they do for work, what they like, what they don't like, and how they got there in the first place. Let's find out who we're talking to today.

0:00:25 - (Nicole): Our two wonderful guests today are Ali and her son Alex. I was super intimidated for this chat because Ali is a professional broadcaster and here I am interviewing her for the pod. Lucky for me, though, Ali Babousis is not just a busy woman, but an open, warm and generous one. So I felt so comfortable chatting with her and her son. Ali is so busy because she has two jobs.

0:00:53 - (Nicole): Not only does she own her own dance school and teach hundreds of kids a year, she also is a radio announcer on the mic and playing great tunes on weekends for 97 Kiss FM in Brisbane. Teaching is in Alli's blood as her mum taught in primary school and was even a deputy principal. Ali brings with her today her son Alex, who is a soccer playing high schooler who has a clear love of family. His dad and uncle work together and he's keen to join the family tower Crane business when he's old enough.

0:01:21 - (Nicole): The sense that family is everything to these two is clear for all to hear. I love chatting with them and I know you'll love hearing their stories too. So let's get on with the show. Well, welcome, both of you, to bring your kid to work. I'm very excited because today's episode is called the dancing radio announcer.

0:01:38 - (Alex): Yay.

0:01:40 - (Ali): Thank you for having us.

0:01:41 - (Nicole): We're so excited to have you. And that's your mum's job, isn't it, Alex? Yeah, well, multiple jobs.

0:01:46 - (Alex): Yeah, you've got two now.

0:01:49 - (Nicole): We'll talk about them in a second. But Alex, let's talk about you. How old are you? What level of school are you at? All those good things. What do you love?

0:01:56 - (Alex): So, currently I'm in grade seven and I'm twelve years old.

0:01:59 - (Nicole): Yep.

0:02:00 - (Alex): And I play soccer and futsal.

0:02:02 - (Nicole): Yeah, they're your favourite things.

0:02:04 - (Alex): Yeah. Yeah.

0:02:05 - (Ali): So good, yeah.

0:02:05 - (Nicole): You like having a football at your feet?

0:02:07 - (Ali): Yeah, all the time.

0:02:10 - (Nicole): And who did you bring with you today and bring your kid to work?

0:02:12 - (Alex): My mum. Yeah.

0:02:13 - (Nicole): What's your mum's name?

0:02:14 - (Alex): Ali.

0:02:15 - (Nicole): And Ali has a few jobs.

0:02:17 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:02:17 - (Nicole): What jobs does your mum have?

0:02:20 - (Alex): Owns a dance studio at my old primary school, Coorparoo.

0:02:24 - (Nicole): Mm hmm.

0:02:25 - (Alex): And she's also a radio announcer at 97.3.

0:02:28 - (Ali): That's a lot of work.

0:02:29 - (Nicole): That's too many jobs for one person, I would've thought. That's a lot of jobs. So when your mum is a dancing school owner, what does she do in that time? What does she actually do?

0:02:40 - (Alex): Well, so on, like, Mondays and Thursdays, she goes to in the arvos after school finishes, she goes teaches dancing at the school she hires hall and does all her dancing there. And on Thursday in the mornings, she. It's like super early.

0:02:59 - (Ali): Is it?

0:02:59 - (Alex): Yeah, super early. It's like in the same hall and you have teachers dancing then. And then on some weekends she goes on the radio. Pretty cool. From about like ten to 02:00 p.m. Or something to 04:00 p.m. That sounds.

0:03:15 - (Nicole): Like a busy, busy time, Mum. Yeah. Did that explain things pretty well, Ali?

0:03:20 - (Ali): I tell you what, he nailed that. Yeah. He's obviously you're more interested than I thought in my work. Well done. He knows my whole schedule better than me.

0:03:29 - (Nicole): It's pretty impressive.

0:03:30 - (Ali): It could be my fill in. Maybe if I get sick. Yeah.

0:03:34 - (Nicole): Do you know how to do the radio announcing and the dancing?

0:03:36 - (Ali): Definitely.

0:03:36 - (Alex): No.

0:03:37 - (Ali): You might need a touch of training, right?

0:03:39 - (Nicole): Yeah, yeah, a little bit of training, I reckon you'd be fine. Ellie, your days when you are working, doing two different jobs, they are filled with dance classes, with announcing. But that's not all of what you do, is it? Because you have to prepare for those things. Yeah, that's right.

0:03:57 - (Ali): Everything does take a little bit of preparation, doesn't it? So, because I've got so many kids in every dance class, I've got about 45 kids in one of the busiest classes, you've really got to think about how you're going to map out that class. And I've brought in a dance assistant now because it's just getting pretty hectic. And so we'll separate into two groups, the younger and the older kids, and then, of course, you've got to research their favourite songs. So at the moment, of course, it's tay tay. Yes, we're doing bad blood and love it, enjoying different things. And then you've got to research some themes and then you might do some editing and mixing of the music because often we put a couple of songs together.

0:04:37 - (Ali): And then, of course, you're doing your planning, your choreography and the patterning where they might stand for all 45 kids in the. In the routine. So that's. It's actually quite fun, the process of putting it together. Yeah.

0:04:50 - (Nicole): And I don't think anyone thinks about the fact that if you're teaching a dance class, not only do you have to know how to dance and have choreography, but you're actually learning skills around putting music together and mixing things.

0:05:01 - (Ali): Yes. Which I guess it's been handy with the radio job because I've always loved the music and some of the editing spaces have helped with the dancing. So it is actually really fun and even as simple as we're doing, you know, Katy Perry's hot and cold. Yes. There's a little bit of a naughty word in the beginning of the song, so I was just able to easily edit that out. And just so it's family friendly when we do our next performance, so someone.

0:05:29 - (Nicole): Swears to come out while the family's there for watching their kids dance.

0:05:32 - (Ali): Not needed, right? It's not necessary. Let's keep it pg or g rated.

0:05:37 - (Nicole): As a former English teacher, I used to say to the kids if they'd come in and they were swearing in the classroom because I was high school.

0:05:43 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:05:43 - (Nicole): I would say there are 250,000 words in the English language and I reckon you can come up with a better one than that.

0:05:49 - (Ali): Absolutely. I'm with you. I'm going to remember that one.

0:05:53 - (Nicole): And what about Alex? When mum's doing radio announcing, what does her day look like then?

0:05:59 - (Alex): Well, so in the mornings normally makes breakfast for all of us. Then we do sometimes play board games in the morning and then after heads off to work and sometimes when we're in the car going to training, soccer training or futsal training, we sometimes hear her, which is pretty cool, and then gets back after we hang out and then makes dinner. And it's a pretty, pretty good day sometimes.

0:06:24 - (Ali): Often. Dad is pretty good hubby, Nick. He's been a trooper and putting some nice meals together while I've been at work because sometimes it's pretty long days on the weekends on the radio, I'm not getting home till like five or 06:00 p.m. So yeah, I've been getting a free pass lately with the dinner.

0:06:42 - (Nicole): Everybody should know how to cook dinner because everybody eats. That makes sense.

0:06:46 - (Ali): But I love that they tune in. So when they're doing their errands, Nick puts our station on and little Ava and you tune in. So it's nice. That's really cute.

0:06:55 - (Nicole): You get to listen to mum even if she's not at home.

0:06:58 - (Alex): That's pretty cool.

0:06:58 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:06:59 - (Nicole): But before you go on air, because that's what radio. You go live on air and you're playing music, I'm guessing, and you're chatting about what the weather's like and that kind of thing. Do you just turn up?

0:07:11 - (Ali): No. You've probably seen Alex. Me, I'm very old school. I love pen and paper and I just find that helps me just really visualise what I'm going to do the next day. So I often just prepare and plan. Just even dot points around each talk break because I can see the music log, I can grab that music log and I can see what's ahead. And if I see some fantastic songs, we'll say there is a Taylor Swift song.

0:07:36 - (Ali): You know, the other week when she was just finishing her last show in Singapore, I thought, oh, I'll just mention that little fun fact. She's wrapping up and then she'll have a break for a month or so. So you try to incorporate those current stories or information. So I love doing that beforehand because then you can just relax, enjoy the shift. Once you're there, you've got those few dot points. And then often other things come to hand during the shift. Anyway, different callers will ring up and then you might change and do a different talk break. But it's nice to have something written down and have a bit of a sense of what's ahead of you. Yeah. I just find being organised and prepared makes a huge difference to the quality of your show.

0:08:17 - (Ali): Yeah, yeah.

0:08:18 - (Nicole): I think the saying that my father in law used to say was planning and preparation prevents poor performance.

0:08:24 - (Ali): Absolutely. Because I think if you feel stressed and under the pump and under prepared, I just don't think I could do as great a job. I wouldn't be as confident. So I don't think my delivery would be as good. I would be slightly nervous or anxious and apprehensive of oh, what am I going to talk about? I have to wing it and then you might forget things. Yeah, I just think it always pays off, doesn't it?

0:08:48 - (Nicole): It sounds very much like you like to prepare things and be organised.

0:08:51 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:08:52 - (Nicole): Alex, are you someone who likes to be organised?

0:08:54 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:08:54 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:08:55 - (Alex): Because if you're not organised then everything just doesn't go away and yeah, we're.

0:09:01 - (Ali): Learning lots, aren't we?

0:09:02 - (Alex): School in primary you didn't really have to be as organised. Still organised, but not as organised because now you gotta prepare your books the day before school, get ready, know your timetable.

0:09:17 - (Nicole): Yes.

0:09:17 - (Alex): And I now catch the bus to school because bit, because I used to walk. It's not that far from my house to my primary but now it's a bit further. So gotta be organised. Yeah.

0:09:28 - (Ali): So it helps to set the alarm because on. On the Thursday when I teach dance and I start at the hall at 730, he sets his alarm and then makes his own breakfast and gets himself to the bus on time. So I've been really impressed actually.

0:09:43 - (Nicole): Yeah, that's fantastic. You have to be kind of organised when you don't have anyone else to tell you what to do, don't you?

0:09:49 - (Ali): And sleep up.

0:09:50 - (Nicole): Hey, yeah, someone is growing up and I love it. You started your career as a dance teacher or did you start doing something else?

0:09:59 - (Ali): What was your first job, Alex? My first job was actually dance teaching. And you know, I'm 40 now, Alex. So that would be 23 years ago when I finished at high school and I did a kind of a double kind of study thing where I did the dance school of excellence program for half the day and then schooling for half a day. So once I was finished those studies I straightaway started a smaller studio in Ipswich. That's where we used to live and that was my first job and it was at a PCYC in Ipswich. So.

0:10:32 - (Ali): And I remember the manager of that place struck a deal with me. He's like, well, Ali, we want you in. Let's do a 50 50% deal with you. And even back then I remembered thinking, hang on a minute, he's getting a pretty good deal for not doing too much of the work here. But it was a great introduction and I started to become a bit more business savvy and realise, hey, if I just do this myself and operate it and then just hire a hall somewhere else, I can do a lot better.

0:10:59 - (Ali): And then I organically grew dance studios elsewhere. So that was the first job. But I also, whilst I was doing that job I worked in retail. I remember just being in, I thought I better get just a regular, you know, bread and butter day job as well on the side just to top up the money. We always want more money right when we're young.

0:11:19 - (Nicole): Got so many things to spend on.

0:11:20 - (Ali): Yes, holidays and stuff. I worked in centre management and a couple of other. All these jobs at Red Bank Plaza. I'm not sure if you remember diamond of the west, that area. Yes. And it was kind of good experience but I realised actually this isn't that amazingly challenging or inspiring. So it actually took me a fair while to land the radio job. Like, I went through heaps of different things, trialling different stuff before discovering the radio as well as always keeping my little passion, the dance, teaching, going on the side.

0:11:57 - (Ali): I did banking. I tried banking in a head office. Do you know this, Alex? No. Wow. So. And would you believe I got the job as a customer relations officer, which meant I had to deal with the escalated complaints every day. I don't, I look back and I think, how did I love that? But I did enjoy it at the time and just got used to constant complaints and how people would complain over a five cent discrepancy.

0:12:25 - (Nicole): So.

0:12:26 - (Ali): And then you realised, okay, some of these people might have some other things going on in their lives if they're calling up and writing handwritten letters about five cent discrepancies. That's just one example. So I did that for a while and I. And again, I just thought, this is an absolutely. It's not blowing my mind with creativity and, and stuff. It, you know, it was good to hone in, I guess, on the customer relations and communication skills. But then again, I was like, ah, it's not my passion. And just always kept defaulting back to loving the dancing. Continued that.

0:13:02 - (Ali): And then I remember I had a little break. My mum passed away in, I think it was 2006, and I thought, oh, I might just have a little break, have a little breather and take stock of everything and what I want to keep doing in life that makes me tick. And I remember thinking, well, I definitely want to keep the dancing going. And then I thought, but I want the other thing that I'm doing the other job to be more rewarding and more, just more worthy of my time. Because I remember my mum was a deputy principal and she just loved, she lived for her role and I wanted to have that kind of passion in the next venture.

0:13:41 - (Ali): And eventually I remember doing some networking in the chamber of commerce and Ipswich and doing a couple of things and got some opportunities. And in the end I was invited to do some radio work from there. So just right place, right time, I think, and good connections.

0:13:58 - (Nicole): Hey, honestly, these are great tips, Alex, to get yourself in the right place at the right time and to make connections, for sure.

0:14:05 - (Ali): Putting yourself out there, I think, hey, like, I remember putting my hand up. It was something very, very random. But, you know, those hypnotist type shows, they had one of those guests, special guest acts at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Wow. And I thought, and, you know, this is, I would have only been probably 25. I just thought, oh, what the heck, who cares? Yeah, I put my hand up to go up on stage, make an absolute fool of yourself, doing all crazy, you know, he got us all dancing and then pretending to play instruments in a band and all this crazy nonsense. But I remember, I think my former radio boss was there that day.

0:14:41 - (Ali): And then we had a conversation afterwards. So it's funny, isn't it? You put yourself out there, then that goes into a conversation afterwards with people going, hey, that was cool that you got up there. Da da da. And then before you know it, you're doing some guest work and then just, you know, someone leaves and there's an opportunity and there's a keen person there. It's some funny how sometimes things work out. Hey, that's incredible.

0:15:02 - (Nicole): We've had a couple of stories like that on bringing people to work where people have said, I just happened to x, y, z. And that's how sometimes life works, you know? Same with soccer, with football. You're the right place at the right time, Alex. And I think sometimes you're playing as well as you do.

0:15:16 - (Ali): Absolutely. And sometimes things do just take a while to fall into place and to work out where you're meant to be. Sometimes you don't always nail the first job or realise, oh, this is what I want to do long term. I'm fortunate with the dancing. It's always brought me joy. But sometimes you need to the dance studio, sometimes you need an extra income as well. And I'm pleased I finally found that other thing that I also really love. Yeah.

0:15:43 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:15:44 - (Nicole): Alex, what do you think will be your thing that you love? Are you a dancer and a radio announcer? Do you want to give it a go?

0:15:50 - (Alex): Well, radio sounds pretty cool because you. It's just being able to talk live, everyone being able to listen to from anywhere they are. Sounds pretty cool. But my dad, he's like. He's a crane.

0:16:06 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:16:09 - (Alex): And yet that interests me.

0:16:11 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:16:11 - (Alex): So, yeah, I would want to become that. But also, of course, anyone would want to be a professional football player.

0:16:21 - (Nicole): And so if you were to be a professional football player, which professional football team would you want to join, Alex?

0:16:26 - (Alex): Manchester United.

0:16:28 - (Nicole): Oh, we can't be friends anymore.

0:16:31 - (Ali): So many good teams. What's your favourite team?

0:16:33 - (Nicole): I don't know if you can see behind me in our studio here, we have the Gunnasaurus from Arsenal. So, yeah, we are an Arsenal family, apart from my youngest son, who is decided to be a Liverpool fan. But, you know, we still let him live here, so it's fine. The crane operating. That's what dad does.

0:16:50 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:16:51 - (Nicole): What appeals to you about that? Partly being with dad.

0:16:54 - (Alex): Yeah. And because also my uncle works with him and I really look up to my uncle. Cause he's always nice. Always brings me joy. Yeah, I just love him.

0:17:03 - (Ali): Yeah, they're a good group of guys in their company. And I guess. Cause Nick sometimes involves Alex. He'll go on weekends and see the guys. And one guy in the yard brings his dog to work. Is it Mary? The dog?

0:17:16 - (Alex): Yeah, Mary.

0:17:17 - (Ali): And it's just this nice kind of family feel. They all get on. Well, sometimes they go camping on weekends. Including taking you.

0:17:24 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:17:25 - (Ali): I think you also like some of the potential financial rewards that can come from that type of construction industry. Can do quite well.

0:17:37 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:17:37 - (Ali): But in saying that it's. I think you've realised it's pretty hard work too.

0:17:41 - (Nicole): You're okay with hard work though, aren't you, Alex?

0:17:43 - (Alex): Yeah, I'm okay with it.

0:17:44 - (Nicole): What about heights? Cause cranes tower. Cranes sound like even bigger than a regular crane. Am I right?

0:17:50 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:17:50 - (Alex): Because I'm pretty sure it's on buildings.

0:17:53 - (Ali): Yeah, some of them are. And they have to be tall than a building to be able to.

0:17:58 - (Nicole): So you're okay with heights?

0:17:59 - (Alex): Yeah, I'm pretty good with heights. I don't really mind it.

0:18:02 - (Ali): That's good.

0:18:03 - (Nicole): Mum's first job was dance teacher. Straight out of the box. We clearly know what you love. Ellie. What do you think your first job's gonna be, Alex?

0:18:12 - (Alex): Maybe. Oh, well, maybe fast food. I might be at servo or work at a restaurant, like after school hours, maybe.

0:18:23 - (Nicole): Yeah. Yeah, that was my first job. Well, apart from working in my family's business, Maccas was my first job.

0:18:29 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:18:30 - (Nicole): And you get half price food.

0:18:31 - (Ali): That needs to be handy.

0:18:33 - (Nicole): It's pretty good. Not all the time, obviously. Cause it's sometimes food. It's not always great, but it's still pretty handy.

0:18:41 - (Ali): Love it.

0:18:42 - (Nicole): Yeah. When you were little, Ali, did you dream of just dancing? That was all you wanted to do? Or did you think, you know, mum being a teacher, what did dad do?

0:18:51 - (Ali): Yeah, you're right. I did. I definitely was interested in dancing because I was obsessed with dancing. Much like Alex is very passionate about his soccer. I lived for dancing, so I always wanted to be a professional dancer. And I did do some professional dancing and singing. Oh, I forgot to mention that about the singing. But that's okay. And so I think I always wanted to do that side. But I did consider being a teacher like mum because she was a teacher for many years, including when I went to primary school. She was at the same primary school then teaching before she then got promoted to deputy later.

0:19:28 - (Ali): And I thought I could do maybe high school teaching. And do dance as one of the subjects.

0:19:34 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:19:34 - (Ali): But would you believe mum actually kind of persuaded me to hang tight, just hang back and think about it? She didn't want me to jump into uni, which was interesting because she was such a. She was super smart and I just. I really would have thought she would have pushed me that way, but I think she might have seen the more creative side of me and thought maybe it would frustrate me all the study or not, be. I wouldn't end up wanting to finish or something. Maybe she saw the bigger picture more than me. But at that time, I wrestled with the idea, but I thought, well, generally a dancer's professional kind of career is very short.

0:20:13 - (Ali): So I figured, let's just jump into that first and give that a good go. Which I did enjoy doing that, as well as the dance teaching. I forgot to mention that, you know, so many different jobs. Right. And that was. And I'm pleased I did that because I think I may have regretted if I hadn't have tried doing those professional shows and also had a crack with the singing and stuff, so. But, yeah, you often wonder, hey, what would things been like if I had have done, you know, the teaching degree? Would have I still been just as satisfied? Who knows? Probably, but. Hmm.

0:20:47 - (Nicole): But I love that your mum recognised your smarts and went, you're going to be fine no matter what you do. Because university doesn't equal smart in the same way that any other job doesn't equal smart. Smart is whatever you put your talents to in the brilliant way that you can, and that is different for everybody. And I love that that's different for everybody. That's one thing I'm learning doing this show, is that everybody has different smarts and they're all applying them in different ways and it's brilliant.

0:21:13 - (Ali): So many different avenues, hey, that you can go down doesn't have to just be uni or a trade, necessarily.

0:21:19 - (Nicole): No. So many different things. But I love that your mum saw that and went, yeah, you can have a different path and give that a go. And that university is always there.

0:21:28 - (Ali): I think that's it, because I remember it was the op days and I did quite well, actually. Sometimes I often look back and think, oh, was that a waste? You know, tried so hard at school, did well academically, but didn't pursue it. But then I think, no, no, I'm actually pretty satisfied. I've had some nice diversity in my roles and I'm cool, I'm at peace.

0:21:51 - (Nicole): And it sounds like you're still loving it. Is that true, Alex? Do you think mum loves her jobs?

0:21:55 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:21:56 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:21:56 - (Alex): Very passionate about it.

0:21:58 - (Nicole): Yeah. What makes you think that? What happens at home. How is mum at home that you know, that she loves her jobs?

0:22:05 - (Alex): Well, when we're all at the table, we all ask about each other's day. She tells us how wonderful it is. And she's always up late. Not too late.

0:22:14 - (Ali): I'm a bit of a night out.

0:22:15 - (Alex): Yeah. But, yeah, she's always getting organised for the next day, so it shows a bit of commitment.

0:22:22 - (Ali): Sometimes I am practicing. My moves in front of the mirror are like. It's funny.

0:22:28 - (Nicole): That does kind of demonstrate that she likes it.

0:22:30 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:22:31 - (Ali): And we kind of have dance off parties, especially Ava, Alex's little sister, my daughter, she's three and a half, and you probably see us dancing around the house a bit. And now we even do dancing on the trampoline. And so we kind of.

0:22:46 - (Nicole): By the sounds of things.

0:22:47 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:22:47 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:22:48 - (Ali): I even roped Alex into hip hop when he was little. You came in prep and you won, I think.

0:22:54 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:22:54 - (Ali): Before you retired and moved on to soccer.

0:22:58 - (Nicole): The thing with dance, though, is it's brilliant for football because it helps you with your balance and your ability to keep yourself on your feet.

0:23:05 - (Ali): Yeah, true.

0:23:07 - (Nicole): When you think about being a grown up, Alex, what are you most looking forward to?

0:23:14 - (Alex): Um, well, just having. Just being able to do what you want, really Like going to see family whenever. Being able to drive, that driving really, like, amazes me. I really want to be able to drive soon.

0:23:30 - (Ali): Yeah. And.

0:23:31 - (Alex): Yeah. Just having heaps of freedom. Getting to choose what you want to do in your career.

0:23:36 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:23:37 - (Nicole): Yeah, yeah.

0:23:37 - (Ali): A lot of independence, isn't it, being an adult?

0:23:39 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:23:40 - (Nicole): But then there's also the responsibility. So, you know, you need to know how to look after yourself and pay bills and cook and clean and wash and all those kind of things.

0:23:48 - (Ali): So.

0:23:48 - (Nicole): Yeah, it all comes with it.

0:23:50 - (Ali): You're in training, right? You can. You can pop a load of washing on when required, and it helps me flip the bacon and the Frypan. You wouldn't get there.

0:23:59 - (Nicole): Slowly, slowly. Ellie, you've done a lot of things in your career. What was your worst job?

0:24:07 - (Ali): Okay, worst job.

0:24:09 - (Nicole): All right.

0:24:10 - (Ali): I think worst job. I don't think any was necessarily bad, but I think. I think probably the senate management one was a bit on the dull side because you're just not using your brain a lot of the time. They stuck me on the kind of the front counter. So it's like the point of contact. First point of contact for people and it was fine when people would come up and ask to hire the kiddie cart or there was something wrong. It would bring me joy when a kid lost a dollar two coin in one of those game machines.

0:24:46 - (Nicole): I'm like, ah, excellent.

0:24:48 - (Alex): Let me help you out.

0:24:49 - (Ali): I'll give you a refund. And I was like, praise the Lord. Someone's come to visit me. And the phone didn't ring that much, so I found that the days were long and you just sat there waiting.

0:25:00 - (Nicole): I had to sit.

0:25:01 - (Ali): And I'm a bit of an energizer bunny. And at home I don't really sit down much to. I'm always kind of doing something. So I did find that those eight hour days were extremely long. So that, I reckon would have to be the worst. Not that it was bad bad, but you know what I mean, for you. Yes. Right. What would be a job that was.

0:25:22 - (Nicole): Good for you, Alex? What do you think is a good job?

0:25:26 - (Alex): Well, I really want to try, like, a trade that'll be. Yeah, probably one of those.

0:25:35 - (Ali): Which one?

0:25:35 - (Nicole): Something with your hands. You want to do stuff with your hands?

0:25:38 - (Alex): Yeah, because, like, pretty cool. Because all my uncles now, I look up to all of them and they all do it. And all my older cousins.

0:25:45 - (Ali): Yeah, yeah. One of them is studying to be a carpenter under the other uncle. It's all very family connected.

0:25:52 - (Nicole): That's fantastic.

0:25:54 - (Ali): Do you reckon you were thinking, you've got a few ideas. Hey, was it carpentry or plumber? Plumber as well.

0:26:01 - (Alex): I thought about nutrition.

0:26:02 - (Ali): Yeah. Pretty good money with plumbing and, you know, and once you own your own little small plumbing thing, you could get your apprentice to do most of the dirty work.

0:26:12 - (Nicole): I think that's a pretty cool idea because then you've got lots of options and you get to try something. You get to do stuff with your hands and you can actually be useful. Although I must say, if you have a trade, your friends always call you for help.

0:26:26 - (Ali): We haven't considered that. Luckily you've got. You're a nice mate. You probably would help them all out, wouldn't you?

0:26:31 - (Alex): Yeah.

0:26:31 - (Nicole): Yeah. You reckon?

0:26:33 - (Ali): Yep.

0:26:34 - (Alex): Sometimes.

0:26:36 - (Ali): Or maybe they might be. Have a different trade and you could swap different things.

0:26:40 - (Nicole): How good would that be?

0:26:41 - (Alex): That would be really.

0:26:42 - (Nicole): You just gotta, you know, if you're a plumber, you make friends with an electrician and a carpenter and you have.

0:26:46 - (Ali): A little swap services. I like it. Exactly. Now we're talking.

0:26:50 - (Nicole): If you had to start all over again, Ali, if you weren't a dancer, if you weren't a radio announcer, is there anything else that you think you.

0:26:58 - (Ali): Might want to give a crack? You know what? I absolutely love watching doctor shows and I feel fascinated by doctors and I think I'd love to be a surgeon. And I know there's an enormous amount of study and perhaps my mum would be, you know, looking over me going, oh, I'm not sure if you'd be cut out for all that study, but it does intrigue me, you have to say. Maybe it's a bit more, of course, dramatized in some of the shows that I watch, but it would be a little bit thrilling and exciting doing these big surgeries and you feel. You would feel immensely proud when they're successful and the person's recovered and doing much better, saving lives.

0:27:41 - (Ali): It's a pretty significant thing if you're able to contribute to society with that role. Pretty admirable, hey? So I reckon I would give that a go.

0:27:51 - (Nicole): Is mum good with the first aid kid, Alex?

0:27:53 - (Ali): Um, applying band aids and splinters.

0:27:57 - (Alex): Well, Ava does. Even if she like, bumps her head, she'll definitely ask for a band aid.

0:28:03 - (Ali): Bandaid and ice? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I haven't really had to test out the skills too much, have I? More than perhaps removing a splinter is probably as far as we've got.

0:28:13 - (Nicole): But, uh, sounds like you have potential.

0:28:15 - (Ali): Yeah, great potential.

0:28:17 - (Nicole): Right? Definitely. Definitely. Alex, about all the things that you do. What else do you love doing? Because you've obviously got a lot of training that you're doing and you've got schoolwork and things like that. But what else are you interested in?

0:28:29 - (Alex): Well, I really like going out with my mates, although I always organise my mates sometimes to go to like the mall shopping centres, Carindale or I. We used to go riding a lot with my mates. Then sometimes we went Maccas in that.

0:28:45 - (Ali): Ride and pull up in the air. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And you go to skate parks as well? Sometimes, yeah. So you reckon it's the social side of it that you enjoy?

0:28:56 - (Nicole): It sounds like it. It sounds like you're a pretty good friend too if you're the one organising it, because you always need an organiser.

0:29:02 - (Ali): This is true, isn't it?

0:29:04 - (Nicole): You need someone. Yeah. Sounds awesome. Like you're a good friend.

0:29:08 - (Ali): Yeah.

0:29:08 - (Alex): Do you think you're a good friend, Alex?

0:29:10 - (Nicole): Yeah, I reckon too. Guys, I know that you are in a rush today to get to soccer training, so I don't want to keep you from futsal training. Oh my goodness. But I just want to thank you both so much for coming to bring your kid to work.

0:29:22 - (Ali): Thank you for having us. You're an absolute delight.

0:29:25 - (Alex): Really cool, Colin.

0:29:26 - (Nicole): Oh, well, I'm glad you enjoyed it because I loved all your stories. So thank you very much for sharing them with all of our audience.

0:29:31 - (Alex): So good.

0:29:31 - (Ali): And thank you for all your great work. We love listening to your podcast.

0:29:35 - (Nicole): Thank you. Appreciate that. So, yeah, you can have Ali on the radio or you can have me on a podcast. You can choose. I think that's fantastic.

0:29:42 - (Ali): So cool.

0:29:44 - (Nicole): All right, guys, thank you so much. We have another great story and another great couple of guests next week, so we'll talk to you then. Bye bye. Okay, I'm just recovering from the fact that a professional broadcaster said that she loved listening to the podcast. And let me just recover from that for just a moment before I talk about this episode. How exciting. Anyway, this was such a lovely chat. What a gorgeous pair.

0:30:11 - (Nicole): They clearly just. They love each other. Obviously, mum and son, you would hope so. But the whole love of family and wanting to work together and wanting to be together is something that runs through their family line by the sounds of things. And it's just delightful because there's not huge number of people who go, you know what I want to do when I grow up? Work with my parent. So that's a really cute thing and I just love it. And I can't wait to see what happens when maybe Alix will take over the family business one day.

0:30:40 - (Nicole): I also love the idea that you can have more than one, not just job, but career at the same time. So Ali, as a dancer, teaching dance, sharing that love of dance, but also doing the thing that's really filling her up and that's being a radio announcer. And it's wonderful that you can do both of those things at the same time. And I had no idea how much work went into a radio program. And not one of those ones where it's talking all the time and morning breakfast shows where it's competition here and talking to this person there, and where's the truck giving out the free stuff and talk to the person on the road. You know, that kind of radio program.

0:31:18 - (Nicole): Ali's radio program is putting on the music and having little competitions on the weekends and having chat to people as they call in. And it may not be as complicated, but yet she puts so much effort into that. So as the listening public, I hope we all now can appreciate that when we listen to the radio, just how much work goes into it. What a lovely pair. I love this chat. Thanks for joining me again this week. I can't wait to talk to you next week because we have another amazing pair of guests. So talk to you then.

0:29:50 - (Nicole): Bring your kid to work was recorded.

0:29:52 - (Nicole): In meant on the lands of the Jaggera and Turable, people who've been sharing their stories for more than 60,000 years.

0:29:59 - (Nicole): Thanks for listening to another episode of bring your kid to work. If you haven't already, make sure you give us a review on your podcast player of choice. It helps other people find the show and follow bring your kid to work and subscribe wherever you're listening now and send your favorite episode to a friend. These stories are too good to keep to ourselves. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at bring your kid to work and on Facebook at bring your kid to work the podcast and did you know you can join the conversation join bring your kid to work career conversations community on Facebook for great career tips and conversations about the journey of work, workplace culture, and parenting while working.

0:30:41 - (Nicole): We're always looking for inspiring guests to be a part of our show. If you have a fab idea for a guest, drop us a line at admin@bringyourkidowork.com au or dm us through the socials. We would love to hear from you. Thanks again for listening. Bring your Kid to Work is a Lioness media production this episode was produced and edited by me, Nicole Lesio. Our music is composed by Rikuo with graphics and design by Anastasia McCuka.

0:31:10 - (Nicole): Follow bring your kid to work on your podcast player and all the socials and visit.com to see our blog transcripts from our episodes and to sign up to our newsletter for the latest updates. Talk to you soon. Close.

0:35:59 - (Nicole): Bring your kid to work was recorded in mean on the lands of the Jaggera and Turrbal, people who've been sharing their stories for more than 60,000 years. Thanks for listening to another episode of bring your kid to work. If you haven't already, make sure you give us a review on your podcast player of choice. It helps other people find the show and follow bring your kid to work and subscribe wherever you're listening now and send your favourite episode to a friend.

0:36:28 - (Nicole): These stories are too good to keep to ourselves. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at bring your kid to work and on Facebook at bring your kid to work the podcast and did you know? You can join the conversation join bring your kid to work career conversations community on Facebook for great career tips and conversations about the journey of work, workplace culture, and parenting while working.

0:36:51 - (Nicole): We're always looking for inspiring guests to be a part of our show. If you have a fab idea for a guest, drop us a line at admin@bringyourkidowork.com.Au or dm us through the socials. We would love to hear from you. Thanks again for listening. Bring your kid to work is a lioness media production. This episode was produced and edited by me, Nicole Lessio. Our music is composed by Rukkuo with graphics and design by Anastasia Makkuhka.

0:37:20 - (Nicole): Follow bring your kid to work on your podcast player and all the socials, and visit bringyourkidowork.com to see our blog transcripts from our episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter off for the latest updates. Talk to you soon.