In this episode you’re going to meet Kate Mensforth. We all call her Miss Kate, she’s the woman that's built a soaring business providing children across the Clare Valley and mid north of South Australia access to the world of dance.

Kate is the brains behind the Clare Valley School of Dance offering all modes of dance ballet, jazz, ACRO, contemporary, hip hop and even ninja kids, appealing to dancers on a recreational level but also giving them the chance to compete on the statewide stage.

Starting with 50 students in 2018 to now over 300 students, 2 campuses and 4 teachers, the business continues to grow.

This episode takes you back to Kate’s early beginnings in dance with the Johnny Young Talent Team in Western Australia, which ignited her passion for dance and performance. She then moved to Adelaide and discovered classical ballet which took her dance career to a whole other level. You’ll hear her journey from her days at Xcel Dance Studios, Footsteps Dance Company, ballroom dancing at Dance Corp, teaching at Geelong College , meeting the love of her life, Luke, at the Havelock, and then her entry into the primary teaching world which drew her and Luke up to Clare Valley in SA’s Mid north.

But this creative journey in dance has come with some serious challenges for Kate. A couple of years into establishing Clare Valley School of Dance, Kate was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor, followed with a diagnosis of an extremely rare auto-immune condition in her pituitary which has continued to plague her health for the past 5 years. But these experiences would have stopped most people in their tracks - but not Kate. Even during her lowest times, not once did she consider closing the doors on her beloved dance school, in fact her determination has not wavered as she continues to live out her childhood dream and create dreams for hundreds of young dancers in the Valley.

The words Amazing, Inspiring and Passionate are over-used in this day and age, but these words I would truly describe Kate Mensforth.

Enjoy!!

Clare Valley School of Dance - https://www.clarevalleydance.au/
Xcel Dance Studios - https://www.xceldancestudios.com.au/
Footsteps Dance Company - https://footstepsdancecompany.com.au/

Voice it - https://voiceit.me/

My name is Annabelle Homer, I am a former ABC broadcast journalist and presenter. I now run my own business specialising in podcasting for organisations, voice coaching and public speaking training for individuals, groups and corporates. I also MC professional events and record and produce audio memoirs for families. Reach out if any of those services interest you.

This episode is about a man who had a entrepreneurial seizure.

What was a one-man-show in agribusiness consulting, now is the Chairperson of a multi-national company called Pinion Advisory. A leading-edge national agribusiness, water and environment consulting firm with tentacles reaching across Australia and into America.

It all started in South Australia's Clare Valley.

Before Pinion, Dave Heinjus founded Rural Directions in 1997, one of the first agribusiness consultancies in the state. It started with just him and he manages over 100 people on his team. After 23 years, he led the merger integrating Rural Directions with 3 other Australian agri-consulting companies to form Pinion; Macquarie Franklin, Sunraysia Environmental and Hydroplan.

In this podcast, you’ll hear his journey from his early days working as a contractor with the Department of Agriculture, branching into self-employment with Rural Directions, the late nights, the ongoing study, balancing all that with a young family to then chairing a multi-national company.

But let’s start with Dave’s early days growing up on the family farm on the western edge of the Barossa , a farm that he still manages.

Enjoy this journey – a journey he reflects back on and can’t believe he is where he is today.

Pinion Advisory: https://www.pinionadvisory.com/
Voice it: https://voiceit.me/

About Voice it:
My name is Annabelle Homer. I grew up on a cattle station in Central Queensland and now live in the Clare Valley in South Australia with my young family. Before children, I was an experienced broadcast journalist with the ABC travelling across the country reporting on rural issues, (The Country Hour) presenting state-wide radio programs
( Late Afternoons) and reporting for ABC TV shows ( Landline and Behind The News).

I have also completed 12 years of AMEB Speech and Drama in Queensland.

I started Voice it in 2020 specialising in public speaking training which has morphed into podcasting for organisations, private audio memoirs for families, media and interview training for organisations and MC'ing events. Thank you for tapping into Voice it and I hope you stay with me as I bring you more episodes featuring the very talented business minds of the mid-north of SA.

Welcome back to the second instalment featuring George Millington.

In the last episode you heard about George’s rise in the business world – from his early stock broking days, to transforming a humble coffee business into a successful sought after coffee brand Monjava, which was swiftly bought by San Remo. To then moving into logistics, APD Parcel Delivery.

In this episode, you’re going to hear all about the rise and rise of his rural livestock empire. Since he was a young boy, George’s dream was always to run a farm.

"I had a feeling this was what I wanted to do, I wanted to bring my family up in the country, and Sophie did too, so we came up there and almost from the first month, just absolutely loved it."

George is the owner of Collinsville Stud Merinos – one of the country’s most well respected and prominent sheep studs in Australia.

To find out how that all came to be, enjoy the rest of George’s story.

This episode starts following his decision to leave the day to day running of his logistics company ( which he is still partly owns) to venture north into pastoral country.

Since this interview was recorded George has been elected as a board member of Australian Wool Innovation – an organisation that collects wool grower levies, markets the Woolmark label and receives co-funding from the Federal Government. George speaks about his vision for AWI and that more needs to be done to boost marketing of Australian wool overseas because not enough is being done.

Enjoy the second part of the journey with George Millington. This interview took place at the end of 2023.

Collinsville Stud Merinos: https://collinsville.com.au/
Australian Wool Innovation: https://www.wool.com/
Voice it: https://voiceit.me/