The Modern Crone

Lisa Clifford grew up in Sydney. She moved to Italy when she was sixteen years old and returned to Australia after winning a scholarship to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. 
After a journalism career that includes reporting for 2GB, KIIS FM and Channel 10 News, Lisa served as an associate producer of the Channel 10 Late News. Throughout her career, she continued to travel to Italy, corresponding for 2UE, the ABC’s Radio National and the Voice of America News Service. 
Lisa contributes opinion pieces, guides and lifestyle articles on Italy to The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, Gourmet Traveller and a range of other international magazines and newspapers. She is the author of Walking Sydney (Pan Macmillan 1998), The Promise - an Italian Romance (Pan Macmillan 2004), Death in the Mountains (Pan Macmillan), 2009 winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for writing about Italians) and Naples, A Way of Love (Penguin 2013), awarded the Australian Illustrated Book of the Year. 
In 2013, Lisa founded The Art of Writing, a Tuscany-based international writers' retreat for emerging and established writers. Lisa Clifford lives in Florence and Sydney. In 2025, she received a NSW State Library Fellowship to research her book Poised, a memoir/biography of her Australian etiquette-icon mother, June Dally-Watkins. 
That said, please don’t expect her to have perfect table manners.

Join us as Lisa shares:
What it was like growing up with a famous mother who was a household name in Australia and her newfound appreciation of her legacy.
How living between cultures formed her worldview and what ‘belonging’ means to her.
How her life has been a ‘forced series of pivots’.
 Her current focus on how women changed Australian culture through the 50s and 60s.
 How the ability to pivot is a woman’s superpower.
The challenge many female writers feel: they’re ‘not good enough’.
The importance of ‘watering the garden of your dreams’.
How serious research into a desired vision is key to manifesting it. 
How, in her ‘crone years’, she has returned to her true self, intentional alignment and purpose...
And so much more!
You can find out more about Lisa and her works here:
 The Art of Writing https://the-art-of-writing.com/
 Books: https://www.lisacliffordwriter.com/ 

So grateful for The Modern Crone team -
Theme music and season intro tracks:
Jason de Wilde
https://jasondewilde.com.au/
Cover design and photography
Luana Suciu
https://www.instagram.com/luanasuciu/
Luanasuciu@gmail.com 
Voice editing:
Christopher Hales - Mask Music Studios
maskmusicstudios@outlook.com
Studio and Reel production:
Kymberly Sng
kymberlysngcm@gmail.com

Paula Orbea is a mother of two daughters with a strong drive to fight for balance and justice. She has been a high school Drama teacher for over 30 years, using the classroom to inspire students to critically reflect on their world. 
Her biggest fight was against an Australian misogynistic van hire company called Wicked Campers; she eventually saw national legislation change occur after 5 years. 
Her social media presence @ultimately_to_what_end names the problem of MALE Dominance & Violence + its global effect on the FEMALE Sex. 
Join us as Paula shares:
Paula's roots in activism and inability to stand idly by in the face of injustice and misogyny
The trigger moment when her 11 yr old daughter was seriously impacted by a vile slogan on the side of a van
How speaking out gives others permission to act and is the best kind of role-modelling
The impact of her blog and Change.org petition
The stunning inaction of various standards bureaus and levels of government to effect change and make our streets safe
Her continued fight, over 5 years, even when she felt as small as a mosquito
How she dealt with derision and death threats
How a Senate enquiry tried to turn the argument against her
How she deals with the immense and seemingly never-ending injustices of the world
Why she is so passionate about teaching high school drama and debating as a form of critical thinking and essential communication
The independence, freedom and peace of being a Crone
And so much more! 
You can follow Paula on Instagram here.
And please take a moment to RATE & REVIEW The Modern Crone - this helps us enormously to reach more listeners.
Enjoy!
Big thanks to The Modern Crone team -
Theme music and season intro tracks:
Jason de Wilde: 
www.jasondewilde.com.au
Cover design and photography
Luana Suciu
https://www.instagram.com/luanasuciu/
Luanasuciu@gmail.com 
Voice editing:
Christopher Hales - Mask Music Studios
maskmusicstudios@outlook.com
Studio and Reel production:
Kymberly Sng
kymberlysngcm@gmail.com

Hilary is a strategist and futures thinker who spent thirty years inside the corporate machine before trading the analytical for the artistic and alchemic. As she approached 50, she took an intuitive leap from the limiting box she had created for herself to better align her inner and outer worlds, explore the unknown, and reach her true potential.  
Creator of the recent art exhibition ‘See: The Implicate Order- From Fragmentation to Wholeness’, she draws on metaphysics, psychology, and neuroscience, and practices Reiki and the ceremonial arts to help dismantle outdated societal notions through her creative work.

Join us as Hilary shares:
 How not quite fitting in in her younger years became her strength in charting her own course
How the theoretic ‘perfection’ of her life triggered a deep desire for change
How her process of ‘individuation’ was not only internal, but also prompted by changes in her industry and life around her
The lure of the unknown and trusting intuition to ‘make the leap’
The perils of denying your creative spirit
Navigating kick-back from loved ones when you choose to follow your purpose
Reiki as a ‘magical conduit to consciousness’
The active and retrospective nature of her artistic process
The global arc of transformation happening in the world, and how we all have a role to play
Painting as a portal, language as an activator
The freedom that came with her recent diagnosis of autism and ADHD
Alchemy, Hermeticism and the gifts of Magic
Her wonderfully inspiring tips for all women to claim their ‘weirdy-bits’
 And so much more….

You can follow Hilary and her beautiful artworks here: 
https://www.instagram.com/hilary_ridley_lee/
 https://www.instagram.com/sundialstudiossg/

And please take a moment to RATE & REVIEW The Modern Crone - this helps us enormously to reach more listeners.
Enjoy!

Big thanks to The Modern Crone team -
Theme music and season intro tracks:
Jason de Wilde: 
www.jasondewilde.com.au
Cover design and photography
Luana Suciu
https://www.instagram.com/luanasuciu/
Luanasuciu@gmail.com 
Voice editing:
Christopher Hales - Mask Music Studios
maskmusicstudios@outlook.com

Studio and Reel production:
Kymberly Sng
kymberlysngcm@gmail.com

Sara Paz is a Chief Marketing Officer, known as a Chief Cheerleader, Chief Inspiration Officer, and Fun Crusader. She’s the Co-Founder of Crone Queen, a Board Member and a Charity Board Member. 
 Her favourite Quote: “If your life is your message, what will your message be?” Crone Queen, Sara Paz, Co-Founder of Crone Queen
Sara has been described as a ‘force of nature’ – a source of inspirational energy who exudes deep industry knowledge, a passion for business creativity, and award-winning credentials. Sara’s spent time at Oxford University, which led to a life as a professional nomad: her journeys have taken her all over the world for work and play, including career postings in the USA, Mexico, England, Finland, Singapore, and Japan. 
She has been named among APAC’s Top 10 Marketers, received Intel’s 2010 Marketing Innovation Award, and won Cannes Lions. Recent honours include Asia’s Most Admired Marketing Leaders 2023, Most Successful CMOs 2021, and Best CMO’s 2020. She is a marketing strategist who transforms companies and industries.
Join us as Sara shares:
Her perspective that all of life is 'energy'
Her approach to leading global teams
The true nature of 'power'
The 'Identity Foreclosure' she experienced in her 30's
The expansiveness of authenticity
How intuition is her main compass and how she can sense incoming change
The abstract science of creativity
Life as a gift rather than a counter force
Fashion as a force
The importance of the company you keep, and the content you absorb
The mindset key to manifesting 
And so much more! 
You can learn more about Sara on LinkedIn and Instagram

As I wrap up Season 8 of The Modern Crone podcast, I realise that the stories of my incredible guests…have changed me! 
Not only because of their courage, resilience and sheer willpower…
Not only because of the powerful testaments their experiences give on the strength of the human spirit…
Not only because they remind us that ‘hardship’ and ‘challenge’ are relative…
But because they have expanded my understanding of TRANSFORMATION itself. 
I hope you enjoy my personal reflections.
Love,
Dani