Gianna & Brendan Lucas – Our Founders’ Story
Summary
Happow has been in the making for a very long time and now that we’ve launched, it’s time to hear our Founders’ story.
Gianna and Brendan Lucas share their individual stories, what inspired them to start Happow, the challenges along the way, their BIG vision and so much more.
Let’s #PowerUpLife!
SPONSOR
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CREDITS
Host: Co-Founder/CEO Happow, Gianna Lucas
Producers: Gianna Lucas, Marija Dukadinovska, Carissa Shale
SUBSCRIBE
Listen via happow.com/podcasts
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#PowerUpLife
ADVOCATE PROGRAM
Wanna be a Happow Advocate and contribute to our weekly talk topics and more? Email us at [email protected]. Looking forward to hearing from you!
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker 1: Three, two, one.
00:00:00
Speaker 2: I’m not just happy, I’m Happow.
00:00:05
Gianna Lucas: This is Power Up Life, the podcast. I’m your host, Gianna Lucas, co- founder and CEO at Happow, the social enterprise that powers this podcast. We help you slay life in high school, uni and beyond. Each week on the show, you’ll learn epic life skills in a super chill way. Hear from well- known legends as they reveal the biggest setbacks of milestones to date. And you’ll find out what our Happow squad, think about a whole stack of topics too. From epic challenges to super raw moments, this show has it all. So let’s power (inaudible) .
How should I describe this episode? It’s unique. That’s for sure. Normally, I’m the one interviewing our guests, but that’s not the case this time round. You see, Power Up Life is a part of Happow, a startup education and media company for youth. Though brand new to the scene, the story behind Happow is a big one and it goes back many years. In case you didn’t know, Happow was co- founded by me, Gianna and my hubby, Brendan Lucas. A bit of a fun fact, we met while studying at uni over 10 years ago and dreamed about one day launching what is now known as Happow. Thank you. Understandably, I’m not going to interview myself because that would be awkward. So Gianna, what do you think about this?
00:01:49
Speaker 4: Well, Gianna, that’s a fantastic question.
00:01:54
Gianna Lucas: I asked Happow’s chief ops officer Marija Dukadinovska to interview Brendan and I. Not just about our brand story, but also our own individual journeys, which include: our struggles with mental health, our careers before launching Happow and our vision for its future. Marija is an amazing human and we’re so grateful to have her apart of the business. So let’s power up life over to you Marija.
00:02:21
Marija Dukadinovska: Welcome to the podcast, Gianna and Brendan. Now Gianna, you’re usually the one that’s asking all the questions of our guests, but today you and Brendan are in the hot seat and I get to ask all the questions. I’m so excited to have you guys here.
00:02:37
Gianna Lucas: Thanks for having us.
00:02:38
Brendan Lucas: Thanks for having us. Thank you.
00:02:38
Gianna Lucas: It’s kind of weird actually being-
00:02:40
Brendan Lucas: Isn’t it?
00:02:40
Gianna Lucas: … the interviewee and not the interviewer and Brendan’s usually in doing the challenges as part of-
00:02:46
Brendan Lucas: I am (crosstalk) little guest appearances.
00:02:48
Gianna Lucas: It’s been a lot of fun and thank you so much for everything that you’re doing for us. You’re a valued team member as our chief ops, that’s the one. Operating or-
00:02:55
Brendan Lucas: Operations.
00:02:55
Gianna Lucas: … operations?
00:02:55
Brendan Lucas: Ops, yeah.
00:03:00
Gianna Lucas: No, but is it operating or operations officer? What’s the actual… I don’t even know.
00:03:04
Brendan Lucas: Chief operating officer.
00:03:05
Gianna Lucas: There we go.
00:03:06
Marija Dukadinovska: Operating. Oh, I always say operations. I don’t know why.
00:03:09
Gianna Lucas: You see?
00:03:09
Marija Dukadinovska: It just sounds a bit better, but I don’t know.
00:03:10
Brendan Lucas: I think it’s operating. I’m pretty sure.
00:03:12
Gianna Lucas: Chief operating officer. I’m glad that we’re clarifying this now in the early stages of the business now that we’ve launched and not teased down the track. And we’re like, ” What does Maria do in the business?” We just call it chief ops officer because we don’t really know how to say it. That makes-
00:03:25
Brendan Lucas: Sounds like special ops. Sounds like she’s in the police force almost.
00:03:28
Gianna Lucas: (inaudible) , she kind of is a police officer in a way (crosstalk) –
00:03:30
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) –
00:03:30
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) .
00:03:30
Marija Dukadinovska: … a bit of a secret agent sometimes.
00:03:32
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. Especially with your legal background. As a lawyer, you kind of have to be a bit of a secret agent at times, but in the best way of course.
00:03:39
Marija Dukadinovska: Yes, all positive things. As you guys can say, we are very professional here at Happow. We take everything very seriously.
00:03:46
Brendan Lucas: That’s it.
00:03:47
Marija Dukadinovska: Now guys, Happow has been in the works for such a long time and here we are finally in the first week of our launch. Yay!
00:03:54
Gianna Lucas: Yay!
00:03:55
Marija Dukadinovska: And a podcast and all the things and we’ve all been working so hard behind the scenes to get to this point. Now I just want to ask you, how does it feel?
00:04:06
Gianna Lucas: How does it feel?
00:04:07
Marija Dukadinovska: Yes.
00:04:08
Gianna Lucas: Oh man, it feels so exciting. It’s a relief, I feel is the word. This social enterprise has been on our hearts for a very long time and we’ll get into it in this interview anyway, but we’ve had lots of ups and downs and hurdles to jump through just to get Happow to even launch. We’re so excited it’s here, but why I say relief is because it is finally here. I mean, I know you could speak to this as well, Brendan, we’ve been talking about Happow for such a long time that it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming. I feel like I’ve been saying it’s coming for the last 10,000 years. So the fact that it’s actually here, finally the conversation can change a little bit in the most beautiful way and just the reception we’ve had and just the community (inaudible) building, even though we’re brand new is just so beautiful.
And to his stories already how Happow’s mission and vision is just making such a difference. It’s hard to describe the feeling. When you love something so much and you feel so connected to it, you feel like sometimes you’re the only one that feels that same passion. But to know that so many others feel the same way, it’s just reassuring that this is something that’s needed and has a great future ahead of it. What about you Brendan?
00:05:20
Brendan Lucas: Yeah, I 100% agree. I think it’s felt so much like a marathon. We’ve just been running literally for ages and ages and ages and there’s been trips along the way. There’s been hurdles and stumbles, but it’s just been a real journey. I think I’ve really had to sort of learn to appreciate the journey, not just the destination. Because a lot of the time in life we can get caught up in that. We want to get somewhere so badly, but we don’t actually stop and take the time to enjoy it along the way. I think as it’s sort of gone on I’ve tried to accept and appreciate. Look, in life there are these hurdles and stumbles, but we have to sort of pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and keep going along with the journey. And now we are where we are today launching, so it’s super exciting.
00:06:08
Gianna Lucas: Yay!
00:06:08
Marija Dukadinovska: Yay! Beautifully said, guys. Honestly, there’s so many golden nuggets in what both of you just said. I think that 100% it is so important to enjoy the journey and the process and rather than just look forward to the destination because you’re just going to be miserable if you don’t enjoy the journey. And yeah, it can be very, very hard at times. But as you said, Brendan, you just pick yourself back up and you keep going. And if it’s been on your heart forever and it’s meant to be then that’s something that should continue to inspire you to keep moving forward.
00:06:46
Brendan Lucas: As Kanye said, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
00:06:48
Gianna Lucas: It’s not (DeKanye) actually said-
00:06:50
Marija Dukadinovska: Kanye.
00:06:50
Brendan Lucas: Oh, in his song.
00:06:51
Gianna Lucas: In his song?
00:06:52
Marija Dukadinovska: Song.
00:06:52
Gianna Lucas: I was going to say-
00:06:53
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:06:53
Gianna Lucas: Because Kelly Clarkson said it as well, “( Singing).”
00:06:56
Brendan Lucas: Yeah. I’ll stick with Kanye. I think-
00:06:59
Gianna Lucas: It’s funny how you and Kanye-
00:07:01
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:07:01
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) –
00:07:01
Gianna Lucas: … and (Ivy) and Kelly Clarkson.
00:07:03
Brendan Lucas: (inaudible) .
00:07:04
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. (inaudible) someone, although Kanye’s got (crosstalk) –
00:07:07
Brendan Lucas: You can stick with your little Kelly and we’ll stick our Kanye.
00:07:08
Gianna Lucas: Oka, that’s fine. We’ll-
00:07:10
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) .
00:07:10
Gianna Lucas: … agree or disagree, that’s fine.
00:07:11
Marija Dukadinovska: I’m with Brendan on this one, Gianna, I’m very sorry.
00:07:13
Gianna Lucas: Oh, we’re all individuals and that’s okay.
00:07:16
Marija Dukadinovska: 100%. And that’s what makes us all beautiful and unique and special. Now, Gianna, you said before as you were speaking that Happow has been on both of your hearts forever, how about… Let’s just start with you first before we go into Brendan, what inspired you to start Happow?
00:07:34
Gianna Lucas: Do we have three and a half hours, but that’s not probably not even enough.
00:07:37
Brendan Lucas: Probably three minutes.
00:07:39
Gianna Lucas: I’ll say this as simply as I can, but it has really stemmed from a time where I really struggled. I know it was when I was in primary school. In short, when I was in primary school I had a chronic and debilitating anxiety disorder, which started on the first day of primary school where I was just so paranoid to be in public spaces, in around crowds, people I didn’t recognize or know or have a deep relationship with. Therefore I never felt comfortable to be myself. So unfortunately the way I would react is not only get this built up nausea, but when I would get nauseous it would become so unbearable that as I’d go to school I would often vomit even before turning up, on a regular basis, almost every day. For many years, from grade prep, all the way to the start of grade six. And obviously that wasn’t ideal. And the person you see now was the person I was back then. Obviously I’m a lot older and I’ve aged, hopefully look okay at 29 because I’m actually turning 29. Fun fact-
00:08:50
Brendan Lucas: You’re now 28, you’re turning 29.
00:08:52
Gianna Lucas: No, because I am 28. We’re recording this literally just before we launched this podcast episode. So I’m 28 now, but I’m going to be 29 in a few days once this actually goes out. As a 29- year- old, I’ve blossomed. Anyway, we digress. The point is, is when I was in primary school I had quite a tough time, but I was a very resilient young woman. I would see clinical psychologists, one of which I recently got to meet again after 20 plus years at The Royal Children’s Hospital because he’s actually one of the senior psychologist there and is the director of psychology at the hospital. I got to meet Dr. Ric Haslam after many years. It was great to talk about my life back then and how much I’ve grown because it was really, really tough.
And I knew that I never wanted to live a life like that, but that was the life I had experienced. And though I was going through a tough time, I knew one day I’d be able to conquer and at least somewhat control my anxiety in a way where it wasn’t taking over me, but I was able to live with it in a much more easier, manageable way. So I still get anxiety today, but it’s not like what it used to be. I’ll give you a really good example of that transition. When I was eight years old, I entered into a scene competition at my local shopping center because I loved music. Music for me was an escape.
I remember I said to my mom, I saw this ad in newspaper I said, ” I want to apply for it mom.” And she said, ” Okay, darling, if that’s what you want to do.” She was a little bit worried because she thought, ” Oh goodness, Gianna really struggles just to go to the shopping center. For her to be on stage in a talent quest, that’s next level. How is she going to do it?” But mum having faith in me and faith in God, she’s like, ” No, it’d be great.” So it came to the day I prepared my song, My Heart Will Go On, a classic by Celine Dion from the movie the Titanic. I went up on stage and just as they were calling my name before I saw everyone in the audience I just got so nauseas again that I ran off stage, went to the bathroom vomited.
And I remember looking into the mirror and just saying to myself, ” Gianna, this is not you. This isn’t you. You know that you have the ability to do great things in your small little body that you have, you can prove to yourself that this is something you can get through. Just show up on stage, do your best. Doesn’t matter if you have no energy to sing, just show up.” So, long story short, I spoke to the judges and they let me sing. And being a talent show, I could do technically anything and I didn’t have the energy to actually sing any words at all, so I mimed the song. And because I knew every line, I acted it out like a mime artist and ended up being the most amazing experience ever. I actually ended up winning the (inaudible) quest, which is a side note. But what was beautiful about it was I showed up and that is the key line here. I keep saying it’s because I could have chosen at that point to feel defeated and go, “No, I’m done,” but I showed up.
Then I was 14- years- old, so now in high school, at this stage I wasn’t nauseous because at the start of grade six a bit of a miracle happened. I looked up to the sky and I just went, ” Enough’s enough, I’m healed,” and I was and it was an amazing experience from not any longer experience that heavy nausea. But when I was 14, being in Australia’s youngest all- girl pop- group… But now I’ll fast track the story, but it was an amazing moment in time where we got to perform across Australia, record an album. But our very first performance was at a shopping center, Chadstone, which is the biggest shopping center I believe in the Southern hemisphere in Melbourne. I remember our first performance I was so excited.
And what I remember most out of any experience we had in the band called Charmz, with the Z, that I was in was when they called us on stage to perform our very first song at Chadstone. And they said, ” And here’s Charmz.” I just remember my tummy feeling excitement and almost like butterflies. I went, ” Yes, I can do anything.” And in that moment, to come back to your question, Marija, about why you wanted to start Happow, I wanted to start Happow for a very long time. It wasn’t even Happow. I didn’t even know the name of it back then, but I knew I wanted to create a community, a media company that taught and encouraged youth to believe and achieve, knowing that you can do anything if you feel in your heart you can. Because our mindset-
00:13:27
Marija Dukadinovska: Powerful.
00:13:27
Gianna Lucas: … is powerful. Yeah, our mindset is powerful. We can do anything. So I wanted to create something that could do this on a mass scale and partner with amazing humans that had that same vision. It started all the way back then. But I guess from that, I have found a love for media being in Charmz. I just loved TV and radio and decided to pursue that as a career. So part of my year 12, I did a radio course, a volunteer for many years in community radio and then went to study a bachelor of journalism where I met Brendan at La Trobe Uni. We were both studying the same course and then moved into radio full- time, which I still do today in Radio 89. 9-
00:14:10
Marija Dukadinovska: Wow.
00:14:10
Gianna Lucas: … TheLight in Melbourne, a positive radio family- friendly station. And of course having Happow. So I really do practice what I preach. I’m such a passionate person and in everything I do I just want people to feel better about themselves. I want them to feel great and that’s what Happow. But I know Brendan, you can speak a lot as to why you love media and why you wanted to create Happow as well. Over to you Brendan. Enough of me talking, I reckon that was three hours.
00:14:38
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) .
00:14:39
Marija Dukadinovska: That was a very, very inspiring and beautiful story Gianna. I’ve heard that story I think twice or three times now, but it still touches me because it’s amazing from such a young age you overcome debilitating anxiety and how that passion to help young people struggling from a such a young age has followed you throughout your life and here we are with Happow launching. So it’s amazing. I’m sure your story has already inspired so many people and will continue to inspire even more people.
00:15:11
Gianna Lucas: Thank you.
00:15:12
Marija Dukadinovska: Brendan, I’m really keen to hear more about your story as well because you’re a big part of this piece to the puzzle too. I have the blessing of working with both of you (inaudible) so beautifully together and we have so much fu. You’re both very intelligent young people who have big hearts, which is
00:15:31
Gianna Lucas: Thanks. Who’s saying we’re young?
00:15:33
Marija Dukadinovska: You are young. Look-
00:15:34
Gianna Lucas: I’m under 30. We’re both under 30. That’s good. We’re young.
00:15:37
Marija Dukadinovska: 30 (inaudible) you 20 guys. Okay? Let’s just put that out there because… But when I turn 30 that’s what I’m going to be saying.
00:15:43
Gianna Lucas: (inaudible) .
00:15:45
Marija Dukadinovska: But we digress. Yes. Brendan, would absolutely love to hear more about your story and what inspired you to start Happow together with Gianna.
00:15:54
Brendan Lucas: Thanks. And G’s story is really quite incredible that’s for sure. And just to think that how far she’s come since her childhood to where she is now it’s amazing and glad to be alongside her in this business and-
00:16:07
Gianna Lucas: And as my husband.
00:16:08
Brendan Lucas: … and in love together.
00:16:08
Gianna Lucas: For those who don’t know, we are married. We’re not brother and sister if you’re wondering why we’re both Lucas’s. That’d be weird if we’re brother and sister and married. That would be icky. So-
00:16:17
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:16:17
Gianna Lucas: … know we’re husband and wife (crosstalk) –
00:16:18
Marija Dukadinovska: And illegal.
00:16:19
Gianna Lucas: And illegal-
00:16:19
Brendan Lucas: And illegal.
00:16:19
Gianna Lucas: … and wrong in every sense of the word. Anyway-
00:16:23
Brendan Lucas: We digress. Yes.
00:16:24
Gianna Lucas: (inaudible) . We digress.
00:16:23
Marija Dukadinovska: This is what happens every time, guys, even during our meetings, ” This is my husband.” We’ll get an insight into our conversations. Anyways, Brendan, (crosstalk) –
00:16:33
Brendan Lucas: But I think… Thanks. No, I think the inspiration for me in starting Happow, it sort of really all started back at uni, but just sort of rewinding a little bit further back into my childhood. I was just like any other young kid in Melbourne growing up in the (inaudible) . And growing up with a sister and a family, I was privileged enough to have a really supportive and kind family that would always be there for me. I know there’s a lot of young people out there that don’t have that luxury to have people that… For example, every night we’d sit down and have dinner together at the table and I know that’s almost… Like for some people that’s unheard of-
00:17:13
Gianna Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:17:13
Brendan Lucas: … these days. I was lucky enough to really have that core of building relationships from a young child. And I really value building strong relationships. I dealt with a lot of my own battles around anxiety and mental health and body image when I was growing up. And it can be really challenging and I think particularly for young men and for those young men out there, there’s not enough being done around that space. Mental health has become a really big thing for me. Meditation and mindfulness is something that’s really a core to my life now.
I think more young men need to be encouraged to speak up and share their emotions and their feelings because it’s not spoken about enough in the media and in public generally. I think that’s really sort of probably been the underlying sort of factor for me as I’ve sort of growing up and wanting to really be sound of mind. Because if you sound of mind, you sound of body and everything else. But it all really started I think when I left high school. I think I always really wanted to be in the media in some capacity. I think I always wanted to be the sports journalist, it’s the classic male. I wanted to be covering 40 every day, every week at the games.
00:18:32
Marija Dukadinovska: You’re a Melbourne Football Club supporter, can I say that?
00:18:35
Brendan Lucas: I’m a diehard, yes.
00:18:36
Marija Dukadinovska: Uh- huh ( affirmative).
00:18:37
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:18:36
Marija Dukadinovska: And would you say I’ve sort of become a passionate Melbourne Football Club supporter through marriage? That (crosstalk) –
00:18:43
Brendan Lucas: It was kind of… Yeah.
00:18:44
Gianna Lucas: It was a part of the contract. Anyway, we digress.
00:18:46
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) . We brought it in.
00:18:47
Gianna Lucas: We did.
00:18:47
Marija Dukadinovska: It was in your marriage contract?
00:18:49
Brendan Lucas: Yeah. (crosstalk) –
00:18:49
Gianna Lucas: Yeah, it really was like he said.
00:18:51
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) .
00:18:51
Brendan Lucas: There’s no way getting out of that one that’s for sure.
00:18:51
Gianna Lucas: No, because my mom’s side’s Collingwood, my dad’s side’s (crosstalk) –
00:18:56
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah, Collingwood.
00:18:57
Gianna Lucas: My mom-
00:18:58
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) .
00:18:58
Gianna Lucas: Collingwood’s my second favorite team. And Brendan said to me, Melbourne must become your favorite team because Collingwood can’t be your favorite because that’s wrong. So I went ” Okay, if that’s what’s going to get this marriage over the line, I will be Melbourne.” But over the last 10 years I’ve grown to love the team. Anyway, we digress again. Back to you, Brendan.
00:19:15
Marija Dukadinovska: The sacrifices you make in marriage, guys, that’s (crosstalk) .
00:19:17
Brendan Lucas: Everyone’s got to digress clip going here which is stitched together (crosstalk) –
00:19:24
Gianna Lucas: Digress.
00:19:28
Brendan Lucas: And for those of you out there if you want to looks for dictionary, digress is to move from one topic to another.
00:19:34
Gianna Lucas: Thank you. We also educate. See, that’s what we do at Happow.
00:19:36
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) .
00:19:36
Gianna Lucas: Even in (crosstalk) –
00:19:37
Marija Dukadinovska: Brendan’s always educating us. He’s our go- to dictionary encyclopedia, all the things.
00:19:41
Gianna Lucas: Yes, (crosstalk) –
00:19:42
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) dictionary, I’m not sure about that. Back to the story, so I think all really sort of I guess started after high school sort of wanting to move into that media path, that sports journalism. I was lucky enough to get a gig at the HeraldSun first out. So not too bad, not too shabby to start with. And I think-
00:19:59
Gianna Lucas: But you were doing VFL commentating before then.
00:20:01
Brendan Lucas: Yeah, I was. But-
00:20:02
Marija Dukadinovska: That’s-
00:20:02
Brendan Lucas: … HeraldSun was sort of my main first (inaudible) .
00:20:08
Marija Dukadinovska: True.
00:20:08
Brendan Lucas: Thinking a lot of (inaudible) .
00:20:09
Marija Dukadinovska: This is a lot of (inaudible) –
00:20:10
Brendan Lucas: A lot of (inaudible) stuff.
00:20:10
Marija Dukadinovska: … stuff in media. Oh, yeah.
00:20:11
Brendan Lucas: When you want to be in the media there’s a lot of (inaudible) stuff you got to do.
00:20:13
Gianna Lucas: # Volunteering. Anyway-
00:20:15
Brendan Lucas: That’s it. So I was lucky enough to start at the HeraldSun. And working, coming out of uni from that I was lucky enough to work on a few projects at uni. One of those was working on a youth magazine as a part of a uni assignment. Working on that with Gianna was a really incredible experience and it really sort of opened my eyes to the impact that youth and media and education combined and the difference it can really make. I think that sort of was the snowball that sort of sent things running from there. And I had a great time working at the HeraldSun and newspapers and the media and had a lot of wonderful opportunities.
That sort of led me I guess from going, ” I’ve had a taste of media now, I want to get bit more of that education focus and sort of combine those two together.” So I was lucky enough to take in university and experiencing that real education environment and seeing the power that education can make. I think that education is one of those things that it literally transcends every single age group block. It doesn’t matter whether you’re five years old or 50 years old, everyone always is learning new things and can learn new things. I think it’s integral to have that sort of growth mindset both personally and professionally because it allows you to really develop and grow a lot faster. So having the experience at Deakin University and in that education space really gave me, as I said, that fusion between youth with that youth magazine element I’ve had working in an environment such as university where there are young people and the media aspect.
00:21:54
Gianna Lucas: And you worked at the Department of Education in Victoria.
00:21:54
Brendan Lucas: Yeah. I haven’t even got to that. That was the next step, working at the Department of Education and government. So again, being exposed to education. I’ve really sort of… My career path has sort of focused around that love of education made here (inaudible) youth.
00:22:10
Gianna Lucas: And now you’re at Medibank, which is all about health and wellness.
00:22:14
Brendan Lucas: That’s right, yeah.
00:22:14
Gianna Lucas: So you kind of (crosstalk) –
00:22:16
Brendan Lucas: I’ve kind of (crosstalk) not even realizing what I’m doing. It’s a bit of a pattern going on. So-
00:22:23
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah. But that’s amazing. Can I just quickly touch on that?
00:22:26
Brendan Lucas: Yeah.
00:22:26
Marija Dukadinovska: Because a lot of young people think that there’s just one direction… And one direction not the band, one way or one linear path to their dream career, right?
00:22:37
Gianna Lucas: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
00:22:38
Marija Dukadinovska: But the thing is you can have this vision and there’s so many ways to get there and it doesn’t have to look at a usually (inaudible) look linear. And your journey as you’re describing it is exactly that you’ve combined all of these passions experiences and using them now in Happow, which is phenomenal and (inaudible) just following your interests and passions and now being able to combine it all together.
00:23:03
Brendan Lucas: That’s right. Yeah, 100% Marija. I think now having started Happow now, which is super exciting, I can really say the potential this has to change millions of lives around the world. I think it’s really tough for young people today. And I would have loved to have had something like this when I was younger to have access to these amazing resources across money and relationships, health and wellness, career, all these sorts of-
00:23:31
Gianna Lucas: (crosstalk) .
00:23:31
Brendan Lucas: Yeah, all these sorts of things.
00:23:33
Gianna Lucas: Community.
00:23:34
Brendan Lucas: All these sorts of things that allow you to really grow and be prepared for the world ahead because it’s so hard with the stresses and the fast- paced nature of our world today and schools are under pressure. They do such a great job in, in helping students become who they want to be. And parents too they do such a great job, but everyone is so strapped and pulled in so many different directions. Having something like Happow is going to allow young people really just to fast track and again, future- proof themselves so they can reach their full potential. They can reach their dreams and uncover everything they want to make the most out of their lives. And that’s really at the core what I love and really inspires me to launch Happow. So…
00:24:19
Gianna Lucas: Beautifully said. Yeah, I have to agree with so much of what Brennan was alluding to. I think for myself, I know I didn’t mention this because otherwise I would have spoken for five, six hours. But on top of my work in the media, I actually coach young women and girls, preteens, teenagers. And being able to have those one- on- one relationships where you coach them for periods at a time, you get to see across the board that so many young people are experiencing the exact same things, but they all think that they’re the only ones experiencing stuff. But collectively we’re all dealing with things differently, but we all have these pressures.
So, to know that you are not alone. And that with Happow, there’s this community of people that are like- minded despite all your different ways of doing things and your different passions, doesn’t matter, altogether you want to have a great life. You want to support one another and do something that wells people and wells yourself. And if you’ve got that mindset, well, Happow is just going to give you the tools that you need to be able to smash those goals.
00:25:27
Brendan Lucas: It’s your rocket fuel.
00:25:29
Gianna Lucas: It’s your rocket fuel. It’s your lightning strike. (crosstalk) –
00:25:31
Marija Dukadinovska: I like (crosstalk) .
00:25:31
Brendan Lucas: It’s your lightning strike that’s going to jolt you interaction.
00:25:35
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. So that fuel, exactly. It’s all very exciting.
00:25:41
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah. I mean, there’s no doubt that Happow is very much needed in today’s world. I just like both of you wish that something like Happow existed when I was a teenager. And I’m not just saying that because I’m part of the team, but I truly mean that because personally when I came out of high school I was just lost. I mean, I went to uni and I got into law, which is what I wanted to do, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel lost along the way. Because on the outside it might look like you’ve got your things together, but inside you’re like, “Oh, is this really the right path? I don’t know.” And we’re constantly figuring it out as we go along. That’s the key as well. We are constantly learning and growing.
And as Brendan said, as well, doesn’t matter what age you are. You’re still growing and learning. That’s why growth mindset is so important. Now, just like every journey, there are many bumps along the way, many challenges, many hurdles to cross. I personally know that both of you have had many challenges, can you both share a bit about these challenges with our audience?
00:26:48
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. When it came to Happow and getting the idea just off the ground, there were certainly a lot of hurdles we had to climb over or sometimes roll over when we were out of energy or stamina, but we did get there. I think probably the initial one was just getting our big idea actually started. And sometimes we can get so bogged down in the vision of something that it seems so big that you just don’t know where to start.
I think it took some stop, start, stop starts in the beginning to actually know which direction we wanted to go in. Because Happow really, as it stands, is a movement and it can come in all shapes and sizes. We see Happow as a fusion between education and media. We’ve only really realized that, should I say, in the last six months. Before then we saw a very different type of Happow. But I think definitely in sort of even just creating the look and feel of Happow and just how we want people to feel when they’re engaged with the brand or with every aspect of the business, the people behind it.
But we had this idea that we wanted a whole team behind us, but for so long it was just Brendan and I. We were both working full- time and we still are basically working full- time, but we realized that our vision was so big that we needed more people to actually make it happen. And actually I should say you, Brendan, have been working really, really hard on the website for a really long time. We’ve learned so much through this process and built up our skillsets, but Marija, as you know being in the business as well, there’s been lots and lots of challenges.
I think probably one of the biggest ones was actually when we applied for an accelerator program. It was a whole lot of social enterprises and the youth space could apply for it. This was around… I think we submitted it around June, July last year. We got to one of the final rounds and we had an interview with the creators of the program and they loved everything about Happow, our mission and vision. And they just said, ” This is great. So the fact that you want to reach millions of people, how are you going to do that with two people and both of you work outside of Happow? How are you going to get this thing off the ground?”
We knew deep down that we needed more manpower. We knew, but it’s hard to hear it sometimes from somebody else because we think we can do it all on our own, but we realized we couldn’t. So at that point we decided to pause. Not stop Happow, but we had to regroup and really hone in on how we can actually start this business sustainably so that we can create content that young people resonate with, but in a way that’s actually going to allow us to not freak out and just go into a ball and go, ” Enough.” What did you say, Brendan?
00:29:39
Brendan Lucas: No, I agree. I think being able to have sustainability in scale is really critical. I think when we came up with Happow we actually set ourselves such a lofty target. Probably on purpose that we said, ” We don’t want anything half baked or small. We want to have a national and international impact.” By doing that, we probably didn’t realize that, ” Hang on a second.” It’s great to have big shoes to fill, but you need to have the-
00:30:09
Gianna Lucas: You need the faith.
00:30:09
Brendan Lucas: … the faith to fill them. So we needed a few more faith.
00:30:13
Gianna Lucas: I was going to say-
00:30:15
Brendan Lucas: We needed a few more faith.
00:30:15
Gianna Lucas: Yeah, a lot more faith.
00:30:16
Brendan Lucas: I think that’s probably one of the biggest things about starting a business is you’ve got to have the right people on board. And I think, yeah Marija, you coming into the business at the right time and having the right vision and having that alignment was so important. And you’ve got to have people that are sort of aligned with your vision, not just having the skillset. That’s another point-
00:30:37
Gianna Lucas: Big point.
00:30:37
Brendan Lucas: … is that you’ve got to have a variety of different skill sets. Particularly when you’re setting such a lofty target for the business, you need to be able to have legal skills. You got to have finance skills, you got to have technical skills. You got to have marketing skills. You’ve literally got to be a Jack of all trades let’s be honest.
00:30:53
Gianna Lucas: And have infinite time it seems it’s fantastic.
00:30:58
Brendan Lucas: Yeah. And not being (inaudible) .
00:30:59
Gianna Lucas: And not being (inaudible) . It’s fantastic. And know how they often say-
00:31:01
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) much.
00:31:01
Brendan Lucas: No.
00:31:01
Gianna Lucas: … no and people usually say, ” Oh, you’ve got to have balance in life. You’ve just got to have balance.” I don’t know why we’re British, as I said that, but it’s so hard to find balance. I think the reality is is that balance is almost unachievable. It’s about just going through the motions, doing what you feel is right for you at that time. And that might mean that one aspect of your life is going to have more of your attention than another, but that’s okay as long as it’s in line with who you are and where you want to go because we put so much pressure on ourselves to be overachievers. Again, we’ve gone a slightly weird British, but the point is there is so much confusion out there. There is so much noise out there that we can just get bogged down and just therefore just stay put and then not go anywhere at all with our dreams and aspirations because we just don’t know where to start, because we compare ourselves to others.
I think that’s probably one of the biggest things for Brendan and I as well, that there are amazing organizations out there just in a youth space alone in Australia. They all are unbelievable. We would love to partner with these organizations because instead of seeing them as competitors, we see them as collaborators. I think if you go out into the world, whether you’re studying at school or uni or wherever you are, instead of looking at everything as a competition, look at it as how can we unite? How can we do great things as a collective? And by doing that, you’re going to reach new heights. And also feel so much better within yourself. I think that’s what also Brendan and I have realized. That over the last couple of years since Happow was even just an idea, we really realized that in order for Happow to be a success, we need to be a community.
And like Brendan said, there was these big shoes we wanted to fill and we need lots and lots of faith to actually go in them. And together we need to work together so that when we take steps forward, we take steps sustainably. And as Brendan was alluding to with you Marija coming into the business, we prayed for someone just like you to come in with an equal idea that we didn’t even have to convince and you had that and it’s made life amazingly easier in many ways because we share the collective vision. For anyone listening right now, whether you play a sport or whether you are in a band, no matter what you do anything you put yourself in, always think about how you can make a difference together. Think about how your strengths can compliment another person’s strengths and see your differences as your biggest asset because that is what’s actually going to get you where you want to be and ask for help.
I think that’s the other thing we’ve realized too, Marija in terms of going through hurdles is telling people we need help and not acting like we know everything and anything because we don’t. I think by us actually saying, ” Hey, would you love to be a part of this?” Or, ” Hey, can we just pick your brain for a second?” It has opened up so many doors for us which essentially has allowed Happow to shine. But even just before we launched, we also had a massive, probably the biggest hurdle we ever had to have to go through.
00:34:09
Marija Dukadinovska: Let’s hear a little bit more about that.
00:34:11
Brendan Lucas: I think Gianna, what you were saying around looking beyond yourself is really key. We realized that we couldn’t actually do this business ourselves. It’s not possible. I think that led to a few challenges that I think by holding that to our core in what we’ve been doing this business has really helped because a couple of months ago obviously a lot of businesses, people, sort of experienced a lot of hardship with the pandemic that hit globally. And in Australia, it’s had a real impact in the economy and on a lot of people’s lives and it also impacted our lives, didn’t it? We both lost our jobs and our work.
00:34:46
Gianna Lucas: Yeah, around March, April this year.
00:34:48
Brendan Lucas: Yeah. And that was really tough because we were sort of feeling like that we were getting close to bringing this business to life. And then it’s like, again, you just get knocked down off the horse and you’ve got to somehow find a way back up. So there were a few months there where we were thinking, ” Are we going to be able to do this? Is this going to be possible?” Losing the money that we did. I think what we realized is that this business is greater than ourselves and we want to make this as accessible to as many young people in Australia and around the world as possible.
And with that, we basically said, ” What can we do differently? What can we do to make this as accessible as possible? We don’t want our hardship to affect those we know it can bring so much of a difference too.” So we said, ” Why don’t we make this platform free? Why don’t we give every young person an opportunity to learn these life skills? Why don’t we give every young people an opportunity to get these wonderful resources and really thrive and future- proof their lives in high school, uni and beyond?
00:35:50
Gianna Lucas: I think you’re right because for us deep down we always wanted this to be free, but the craziness of the world we’re living in at the time. And just again, because we weren’t thinking differently, we didn’t think it was possible. So earlier this year, when we did lose our jobs it made us think differently. It made us think how we can save more money and all sorts of different things in our personal life. But when it came to Happow, we thought, ” Let’s change up our business model so our young people don’t have to pay anything.” And that has been one of the biggest game changes for Happow. And it’s going to probably be one of the most amazing decisions we’ve ever made because in the end all you need is internet and you’ve gotH Happow in your pocket, in your phone. That has been an amazing experience.
The other thing I’ll say as well is you can look at something like losing a job as a terrible thing. And in many ways it is. But what we’ve actually found is when we lost those jobs, we actually had more time on our hands. So we decided, especially with Brendan, that he bogged down and really finished this website and made it look absolutely amazing. The reality is he couldn’t have done it if he was working full- time. And so that couple of months where he wasn’t in a job, he was working crazy hours and just trying to finish off Happow’s website. So that has been actually an amazing blessing and often Brendan and I will say to each other COVID has brought a lot of sadness to many and-
00:37:18
Brendan Lucas: Everything happens for a reason.
00:37:19
Gianna Lucas: But everything happens for a reason. In our world, in our little bubble, in Happow’s bubble, there’s a lot that’s actually come out of COVID- 19. So that is something that we are actually grateful for and something that was certainly unexpected.
00:37:31
Marija Dukadinovska: What I really love about your story is that you’ve overcome your challenges and you’ve made the most out of every single situation. You’ve turned things from a negative into a positive and that is amazing and a great lesson for our listeners as well. Now onto the future, What do you both envision for Happow?
00:37:51
Gianna Lucas: You can speak to this, Brendan.
00:37:51
Brendan Lucas: Yeah. I think that the vision we sort of have for Happow is this real self- sustained movement that can sort of grow. Again, as we were talking to earlier, that this is beyond ourselves, this is as beyond any of us. And we want really young people to champion this and their own lives, to take control of their own destinies. And that’s done through our online platform. It’s done through our podcasts. It’s done through our blog. It’s done through our events. We really want to deliver that impact of educating, entertaining, and empowering 10 million (crosstalk) –
00:38:28
Gianna Lucas: 10 people, probably have done that. And we’re off. Right. Business.
00:38:32
Brendan Lucas: 10 million, yes. 10 million people globally by 2030.
00:38:37
Gianna Lucas: That’s right. Because originally we said 1 million by 2030. And I’m happy to say it was actually a conversation we had with (inaudible) who’s our first interviewee on the Power Up Life podcast.
00:38:48
Brendan Lucas: And one of our ambassadors.
00:38:49
Gianna Lucas: And one of our ambassadors and mentors. And when we told him initially when we came to him with where we’re at with the Happow before we launched, ” We want to reach 1 million lives,” he looked at us and went, ” 1 million? No, you know what it’s like.” (inaudible) if you listen to the interview we did with Jewels you know what I mean as well. He goes, ” 10 million. You should say 10 million.” And we’re like, ” You know what? 10 million it is because through our social media, through our podcast, through our website masterclasses, which we deem life lessons and everything that we do, if I said events, probably not, but our events, every aspect of Happow, we’re going to reach 10 million in 10 years.
It doesn’t seem huge, but it is huge because with the digital world we live in, you can reach 1 million people in one post. So it depends on how you measure the 10 million. I know Brendan and I speak about this with you as well, Marija, that it’s because we’ve said 10 million because it’s sustainable and we know it’s doable through our content that we create. The other thing I want to say as well is in talking about where we want to go in our future, our advocates, these are young people just like you listening who actually help guide Happow where we’re at now and where are we going to go. Because we don’t actually exist without you. We’re just Marija, Gianna, Brendan, our leadership squad and our ambassadors, we’re just individuals without you.
But when you come on board, when you participate and share your thoughts in our talk topics on our podcasts, when you write a blog post, when you are involved in our socials and anything else we’ve got coming up in the next few months and few years ahead, when you are a part of that, you are a part of the future of Happow. You expand our vision beyond 10 million. Maybe we can reach a hundred million people in 10 years, we just don’t know. The power is in your hands. Our vision and our slogan is power up life. It’s our hashtag. It’s what we put out there to the world because we help you power up life.
But in the end you also help us power up life as well because let’s face it. We are inspired each and every day from our advocates and our advocate program is going to continue to grow. If you love to be a part of it, you just have to email your say at Happow. com and we will be in touch with you because we are excited about what the future is going to look like for Happow. It’s going to be amazing and we want you to be along for the ride.
00:41:19
Brendan Lucas: 100% I agree with that. I think it’s all about the young people and you being able to contribute and make a real difference to this movement because we want this to exist beyond us and we want you to-
00:41:32
Gianna Lucas: When we grannies and granddads or whatever?
00:41:34
Brendan Lucas: We want you to drive this into the future so your children’s children and their children’s children can have a life where they feel a sense of certainty moving beyond high school and through high school into uni-
00:41:49
Gianna Lucas: And beyond.
00:41:49
Brendan Lucas: … and beyond and feeling like they’re equipped to tackle everything they (inaudible) .
00:41:54
Marija Dukadinovska: Really well said, guys. I honestly do not have anything more to add to that because you said everything that needed to be said. It is about you as in our audience, the young people. We’re just here to facilitate that growth. We’re the vehicle, but really the power is in you the young people out there. We’re very grateful for you all.
00:42:19
Brendan Lucas: I think (inaudible) had a lovely analogy to speaking to that very well, Marija. (crosstalk) –
00:42:23
Gianna Lucas: Actually I can read it.
00:42:24
Brendan Lucas: A lovely analogy that you’ve heard before-
00:42:27
Marija Dukadinovska: Let’s hear this.
00:42:27
Brendan Lucas: … about our business. I think that’s really-
00:42:30
Marija Dukadinovska: I do.
00:42:30
Brendan Lucas: … it sums it up nicely for the listeners out there.
00:42:32
Gianna Lucas: So I keep a journal and every day I’ll write things that I’m grateful for, but I also document some really special moments that we have in Happow. And in the last journal I had, which the last date that I put in there was the 22nd of August 2020 because I’m on my new journal now, I said this. And it came to me in the middle of the night actually. I remember waking up and just sharing it with Brendan. I shared it with my parents and then I shared it with you, Marija. I just feel it’s a perfect example of what Happow actually is.
So I wrote this. Happow is young people, we, Gianna, Brendan, Marija, our whole team, our squad, the driving instructors, the guide. Happow, the brand, the movement is the car. We give the young people, the tools and instructions they need, not just to survive, but thrive in high school, uni and beyond. The car is the machine, the movement that literally moves the young person steering them in the right direction. The young person is the learner driver. They’re in the driver’s seat. They hold the steering wheel and they hold the power. They are ultimately Happow.
00:44:03
Marija Dukadinovska: Oh wow. I just got chills-
00:44:05
Brendan Lucas: Incredible.
00:44:05
Marija Dukadinovska: … got chills, guys.
00:44:07
Brendan Lucas: So good.
00:44:08
Marija Dukadinovska: That is beautiful. I can just picture you reading that at one of our events or it being written somewhere. It really, really touched my heart when you told me that for the first time and just hearing it again, it felt like hearing it for the first time. Again, that is such a beautiful way to finish off our interview, but do not go anywhere guys because right after this we are going to be talking about gratitude.
00:44:36
Brendan Lucas: Power Up Life is a part of the Happow Podcast Network.
00:44:41
Speaker 7: This week, we asked you what you love most about Happow’s mission, and vision. And here’s what you had to say.
00:44:47
Speaker 8: What I love most about Happow’s’ mission and vision is it aligns perfectly with my purpose for that time in my life, I was lost, uncertain and had no purpose. Since turning my life around I knew I wanted to educate, entertain and empower youth. And now I get through Happow’s, inspiring platform.
00:45:04
Speaker 9: I love that Happow is empowering young people through education because when we learn, we grow and human growth is what changes the world.
00:45:11
Speaker 10: I love Happow’s mission because it is something different that could impact the lives of many people like me today.
00:45:18
Speaker 11: What I love most is the idea of future- proofing the lives of young people because I don’t think our education system does enough in terms of teaching us about the things that really matter.
00:45:28
Speaker 12: What I love most is the practical and involved sense.
00:45:32
Speaker 13: Happow’s team is dedicated to supporting the life of young people in their life now and the transition into adulthood.
00:45:39
Speaker 14: It is setting up young people for life, empowering them with skills they don’t get score.
00:45:43
Speaker 15: The thing that I liked the most is educating young people and getting them prepared for the future.
00:45:48
Speaker 16: Happow’s mission is super important and relevant if we want to make a world that is inclusive and great for everyone.
00:45:55
Speaker 17: What I love the most about Happow’s vision is its emphasis on future- proofing young people, opening up a platform to learn and start conversations that we haven’t been able to have before.
00:46:05
Carissa Shale: I’m Carissa shale and that’s this week’s top topic. Got something to share? Drop us an email. Your say at Happow. dot com.
00:46:13
Speaker 19: Power up Life with Happow.
00:46:16
Marija Dukadinovska: In every episode we ask our guests what they’re grateful for, one big thing and one small thing. Brendan and Gianna, can you share what you’re grateful for?
00:46:26
Gianna Lucas: I’ll start off with my big one and it’s huge. It means the absolute world to me or they mean the absolute world to me and that’s my mum and dad, Victor and Antonella. I mentioned my mum for three seconds early on when it came to my story, especially my childhood. My parents are absolute legends and I would not be who I am today without their support. They always have championed me. And if I had a crazy idea or a really big idea growing up, they never said, ” Oh, think smaller darling.” They always said go you, do whatever you want. You can do it.” And even when I had my anxiety disorder, without their love and without their appreciation for the things that I did on a daily basis despite what I was going through, they always saw me for who I truly was. They never saw me as a girl that had anxiety. And that meant the world to me. And they’ve continued to inspire me every day.
My mom is also… As you Marija and Brendan know my mom, Antonella is also a big part of Happow. She’s a big supporter, but she also works in the business too. So without them, I don’t know where I’d be. So shout out to you mom and dad, bless you both.
00:47:41
Marija Dukadinovska: Aww. Beautiful. And what’s one small thing that you’re grateful for?
00:47:46
Gianna Lucas: Oh, you want my small one as well?
00:47:47
Marija Dukadinovska: Yes.
00:47:47
Gianna Lucas: I thought you were going to throw it at Brendan. That’s okay.
00:47:49
Brendan Lucas: Let’s get the package.
00:47:50
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah, the whole deal.
00:47:52
Gianna Lucas: All right. One small thing I’m grateful for… Do not judge me, okay?
00:47:56
Marija Dukadinovska: Oh, well, I’m concerned now.
00:47:59
Brendan Lucas: I’m judging already.
00:47:59
Gianna Lucas: Liver pate.
00:47:59
Marija Dukadinovska: Eww.
00:47:59
Gianna Lucas: What do you mean eww?
00:48:05
Marija Dukadinovska: Yuck. Liver.
00:48:06
Gianna Lucas: I’m not talking like liver and you just eat it raw in its natural form. I’m talking beautiful duck liver, chicken liver pate in like a nice jar with some crackers and-
00:48:19
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:48:20
Gianna Lucas: Imagine a cheese board.
00:48:22
Marija Dukadinovska: I-
00:48:22
Gianna Lucas: That’s not what you’re grateful for Marija, I’m guessing?
00:48:24
Marija Dukadinovska: Look, when you’re hosting a cheese nights and a liver night, I am not coming over.
00:48:30
Gianna Lucas: You’re not coming over? All right.
00:48:30
Marija Dukadinovska: Liver is actually my worst-
00:48:34
Gianna Lucas: Really?
00:48:34
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah, I hate that.
00:48:34
Gianna Lucas: It’s the worst thing.
00:48:35
Marija Dukadinovska: The smell. The worst thing? Actually I shouldn’t tell you this because if you know challenge.
00:48:40
Gianna Lucas: Yeah, I know. You’ve just given me something (crosstalk) –
00:48:44
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:48:44
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) –
00:48:44
Gianna Lucas: … to use against you. That’s great.
00:48:45
Brendan Lucas: Christmas (inaudible) Marija.
00:48:46
Gianna Lucas: Yeah, I know. On Christmas I’m just going to give her a big box of just liver pate and I’m going to relabel it as chocolate mousse or something and see how she goes.
00:48:57
Marija Dukadinovska: It’s just that smell. It gets to me. I have a story around it because growing up my family actually cooks like liver and… Just horrible memories. (crosstalk) –
00:49:07
Gianna Lucas: (crosstalk) . So if this was a segment of what you’re not grateful for, this would be Marija’s. So I’m glad. That’s great. Thanks, Marija. Real unique. See, we don’t all have to love the same things it doesn’t mean we don’t get along. We still have love for each other.
00:49:19
Marija Dukadinovska: Very much so. Brendan, over to you.
00:49:20
Brendan Lucas: I think-
00:49:20
Marija Dukadinovska: Please.
00:49:20
Brendan Lucas: … one small thing I’d say for me particularly during lockdown, sort of given me the opportunity here in Victoria to really sort of be a bit nostalgic and relive some of my fond memories as a teenager and stuff and enjoying doing stuff that I haven’t done a lot of for a long time. And getting back into Xbox and gaming, I’ve absolutely loved. Any guy can tell you that playing games like FIFA and different games-
00:49:52
Gianna Lucas: Say GTA.
00:49:53
Brendan Lucas: GTA, yeah.
00:49:53
Gianna Lucas: That’s the game you’ve been playing a lot of. Can I just say a side note? I have actually grown to like GTA. I know it’s an interesting one to say. Every now and then when Brendan’s playing the game, the one thing I enjoy the most is actually just driving a car through the streets. And I try to obey all the street signs, so it says-
00:50:14
Brendan Lucas: You drive (crosstalk) –
00:50:14
Gianna Lucas: … stop, I stop. And I stop behind the car, I don’t smash into the car and then like-
00:50:18
Brendan Lucas: You drive and then I do the missions.
00:50:20
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. I drive, but I-
00:50:22
Brendan Lucas: We tag team it.
00:50:23
Gianna Lucas: Yeah, we do. We tag team it, but I drive, but I follow the rules, whereas Brendan’s just smashing into the car like, ” Don’t worry about the red light. Just go (crosstalk) -“
00:50:30
Marija Dukadinovska: What’s the point of the game, Gianna?
00:50:32
Gianna Lucas: (crosstalk) –
00:50:32
Brendan Lucas: We’re not like that in real life, guys, if you’re wondering. You can (inaudible) thinking, ” Ooh, geez.” (crosstalk) –
00:50:37
Gianna Lucas: (crosstalk) . No, this is just in the gaming world, but in the real world when it comes to Happow we’re on it. Don’t worry.
00:50:43
Brendan Lucas: Yes, I’ve loved getting back into the games. That’s just been my downtime just to play a few games and just get into my world. I’ve enjoyed that for a small thing. I know for the-
00:50:53
Marija Dukadinovska: I love that.
00:50:53
Brendan Lucas: For the bigger thing, I think being home and working from home more every day, I think it really helps with sort of that work- life balance. What I’ve really enjoyed is we’ve got a cute little fluffy one out, chief fluff officer here at Happow, little Pippa. She’s our little what? She’s a-
00:51:11
Gianna Lucas: (inaudible) .
00:51:11
Brendan Lucas: (inaudible) probably across Shih Tzu.
00:51:12
Gianna Lucas: Shih Tzu. Yes. Brendan, we’ve had it for seven years. He act like we just got it yesterday.
00:51:15
Brendan Lucas: It’s a cross- breed.
00:51:17
Marija Dukadinovska: Great father, you are. Wonderful.
00:51:18
Brendan Lucas: Pippa, it’s been great working from home because I think I’ve gotten a lot closer to my dog and I think she-
00:51:25
Gianna Lucas: She loves you now.
00:51:26
Brendan Lucas: She loves lying on me. Stuff she would never do before she-
00:51:29
Gianna Lucas: She (inaudible) .
00:51:30
Brendan Lucas: She will be at my back and pull-
00:51:32
Marija Dukadinovska: Tell us how really feel?
00:51:35
Brendan Lucas: (inaudible) waiting for food, waiting to play with me, go for walks. So it’s been nice. It’s kind of like having my own little fairy daughter, even though I don’t have actual human one just yet.
00:51:44
Gianna Lucas: Yes, just yet. No, we don’t have any (crosstalk) –
00:51:47
Brendan Lucas: Having (crosstalk) .
00:51:47
Gianna Lucas: Happow is our baby.
00:51:48
Brendan Lucas: Yeah. Happow is literally our baby and that’s enough for now and for babies. So I really enjoy getting closer with Pippa (inaudible) .
00:51:54
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. I’m pretty sure I’m still her number one anyway. So I mean, you’re her close second.
00:51:58
Brendan Lucas: No, it’s debatable.
00:51:58
Gianna Lucas: No, I’m pretty sure if we cast a vote and we had her on this podcast, you’d go ” (inaudible) .” And that would be, ” Gianna, of course he’s my favorite.” Anyway-
00:52:07
Marija Dukadinovska: That’s exactly what (crosstalk) –
00:52:11
Brendan Lucas: Keep telling yourself that.
00:52:11
Gianna Lucas: Whatever.
00:52:11
Marija Dukadinovska: We should get Pippa on to our next episode and exclusively interview her and find out the answer to that question.
00:52:19
Brendan Lucas: I second that.
00:52:21
Marija Dukadinovska: But shout out to all the dogs out there that didn’t get enough recognition because they are keeping so many of us loved up and sane and happy. They truly are amazing. So thanks for sharing that guys. Next up, we are going to have so much fun with a challenge that I’ve planned for you guys.
00:52:41
Gianna Lucas: Yay! (inaudible) .
00:52:46
Speaker 20: Did you know Happow is on socials? Come and say hey. Follow us at @ happowau and be sure to check us out @ happow. com.
00:52:55
Marija Dukadinovska: All right. Brendan and G, it’s time for the challenge. Woo- hoo! My favorite of this day. Woo!
00:53:01
Gianna Lucas: We have no idea what these challenges. I basically said to Marija, ” Maria, you can do whatever you like however you like to do it and we just have to deal with it.” So-
00:53:11
Brendan Lucas: As long as I win.
00:53:12
Gianna Lucas: No, as long as I win. No, I said as long as I win. I don’t know. Maybe you spoke to her secretly as well.
00:53:16
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) .
00:53:17
Marija Dukadinovska: I think it’s my decision who wins. So-
00:53:19
Gianna Lucas: Is it your decision? All right. All right. What is the challenge?
00:53:22
Marija Dukadinovska: Well, I’ll let you know. Today we’re playing would you rather and I’ve got some hilarious four questions and the way you win is essentially whoever has the funniest answer or the most creative answer decided by me, by yours truly. It’s a little bit biased, but look, we have to work with what we’ve got. You guys ready to get going?
00:53:45
Gianna Lucas: Yes.
00:53:45
Brendan Lucas: Ready as ever.
00:53:47
Gianna Lucas: I’m going to win.
00:53:50
Marija Dukadinovska: Lucky, this is not a singing challenge because (crosstalk) –
00:53:53
Brendan Lucas: Would have been winning.
00:53:54
Gianna Lucas: Was I-
00:53:55
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) –
00:53:55
Gianna Lucas: I don’t think I was singing then. What did that even sound like? I don’t know.
00:53:59
Marija Dukadinovska: Let’s not repeat it.
00:53:59
Gianna Lucas: Okay, let’s not
00:54:03
Marija Dukadinovska: Okay, so first question. Would you rather never wear deodorant or have really bad dandruff? Who wants to go first?
00:54:13
Brendan Lucas: I would rather really have bad dandruff because what’s great is that when you get up and you have your bowl of cereal with milk in the morning-
00:54:22
Gianna Lucas: Don’t do it. Don’t say it Brendan.
00:54:24
Brendan Lucas: You can add a bit of something nice to those (crosstalk) –
00:54:26
Gianna Lucas: Yuck.
00:54:27
Brendan Lucas: Sprinkling off the top.
00:54:28
Gianna Lucas: Yuck.
00:54:29
Brendan Lucas: And guess what? It’s Christmas right now. You’ve got the flakes in (inaudible) , the corn flakes bit and milk. Stir it up.
00:54:34
Gianna Lucas: Stop talking.
00:54:35
Brendan Lucas: Beautiful. Love it.
00:54:36
Gianna Lucas: That’s disgusting.
00:54:37
Marija Dukadinovska: Beautiful. I love. Very creative. Gianna.
00:54:42
Brendan Lucas: Thank you. It’s actually my best (inaudible) anyway.
00:54:44
Gianna Lucas: It’s disgusting. And no, it’s not his breakfast. What would I rather? I would say dandruff because I hate (inaudible) . I’ve got a sensitive nose. I can smell everything. So I would hate to live with that. But I do have a question to ask you, Marija, can you say the dandruff statement again for me?
00:55:07
Brendan Lucas: Here we go.
00:55:08
Gianna Lucas: No, I just want to understand it.
00:55:09
Marija Dukadinovska: Would you rather have really bad dandruff?
00:55:12
Gianna Lucas: Okay. So they’re really bad. I didn’t hear the really bad-
00:55:14
Marija Dukadinovska: Really bad dandruff.
00:55:14
Brendan Lucas: Really bad.
00:55:14
Marija Dukadinovska: Not just average dandruff, we’re talking snowflakes.
00:55:18
Gianna Lucas: Okay. I’m going to say dandruff. Really, really bad dandruff because there are so many great products on the market that can actually get rid of dandruff. So it’s fixable, whereas (inaudible) is hard. I’m going to say flocking dandruff.
00:55:32
Marija Dukadinovska: Okay. I like your creative answers. So a plus for creativeness. (inaudible) the winner just yet, but let’s move on to the second question. Would you rather cover yourself in peanut butter or ketchup?
00:55:46
Gianna Lucas: I know the answers (crosstalk) –
00:55:47
Brendan Lucas: In a bottle of ketchup. Well, I would have to clearly say with that one because I’m a little bit addicted to one of them.
00:55:53
Gianna Lucas: It’s ketchup.
00:55:54
Brendan Lucas: In a peanut butter. I would literally (inaudible) the stuff. I’m pretty sure-
00:55:59
Gianna Lucas: You ate it oof the jar with a spoon.
00:55:59
Brendan Lucas: That’s a (inaudible) I used to just down about two or three jars a day. So (crosstalk) –
00:56:04
Gianna Lucas: Did you know, I will go grocery shopping and Brendan will say, ” Oh, can you get a couple of jars of peanut butter?” I’m like, ” I just bought them.” He’s like, “No, we need more.”
00:56:11
Brendan Lucas: 10 minutes later, gone.
00:56:12
Gianna Lucas: For me, man…. This is a horrible question, Maria.
00:56:17
Marija Dukadinovska: Well, that’s the point of this?
00:56:21
Gianna Lucas: Hang on. Is this bathing in it? Did you say bathing?
00:56:24
Marija Dukadinovska: Covering yourself in it. So I don’t know if that means bathing or just slapping it on like sunscreen. I don’t know.
00:56:31
Gianna Lucas: Okay. I will say peanut butter as well. But my answer is because if I wanted to, say, exfoliate my legs, hypothetically, if you get the crunchy peanut butter, not the smooth one, the crunchy one, you can use it as an exfoliant. And also it’s nice and creamy so your skin will feel right in afterwards. And it may sound really, really gross, but peanuts as long as you’re not allergic to them, can be great for the skin. It’s something we can ingest and you can actually get products that have nuts in them. So I’m going to say peanut butter for that reason.
00:57:08
Brendan Lucas: Just don’t get any of the elephant enclosure though because they will sniff you. And that whole thing (crosstalk) –
00:57:12
Gianna Lucas: I didn’t say exfoliate your legs in a elephant pen at Melbourne Zoo. I didn’t go as far as that.
00:57:18
Brendan Lucas: I’m just saying as a step, don’t go exfoliate.
00:57:24
Marija Dukadinovska: Loving the energy you’re both bringing and Gianna, that was very educational and I’m sure that listeners have learned a lot just from that answer.
00:57:32
Gianna Lucas: And also I thought I was very weird as well in the process. So… Yeah.
00:57:34
Marija Dukadinovska: Maybe a bit of that too. Onto the third question, would you rather this one’s funny or only use dog shampoo or never cut your toenails?
00:57:48
Gianna Lucas: I know my answer to this. I’ll take it first.
00:57:50
Brendan Lucas: Okay, you go.
00:57:51
Marija Dukadinovska: Okay. Go Gianna.
00:57:52
Gianna Lucas: 100% dog shampoo. Now I don’t know what dog shampoo you’re referring to, but our dog Pippa, she gets this beautiful shampoo that you can actually use for humans, but it’s called Dr. Zoo by MooGoo. And we use MooGoo on our skin and the products. And what I use on her, I would seriously use on me. So I will say lacking dog shampoo because if it’s Dr. ZOO, you can’t lose.
00:58:19
Marija Dukadinovska: Love it. Hashtag not sponsored.
00:58:21
Gianna Lucas: Not sponsored. Or if you want to send them MooGoo, send us MooGoo products. We might say no.
00:58:27
Marija Dukadinovska: We’re open to everything.
00:58:27
Brendan Lucas: For me, I think I would have to say being a neat freak, having long toenails, no, that’s disgusting. That’s just gnarly.
00:58:41
Gianna Lucas: You know what?
00:58:41
Marija Dukadinovska: Really?
00:58:41
Gianna Lucas: If you weren’t getting your toenails cut, it is gross, but at least you would have made the Guinness Book of World Records.
00:58:46
Brendan Lucas: Why would you want to make a Guinness World Record to that?
00:58:47
Gianna Lucas: You can be known for the men with the longest toenails, which is disgusting, but you’ll be known for it.
00:58:53
Brendan Lucas: No.
00:58:54
Gianna Lucas: You don’t want to be known for that in the world? You rather be known for Happow, right?
00:58:57
Brendan Lucas: No. That’s-
00:58:57
Gianna Lucas: Okay, fair enough.
00:58:57
Brendan Lucas: … disgusting. I would have to definitely pick for that one, the dog shampoo, because I think there’s enough shampoos out there that are pretty close to what humans use, I think so. And it’s cleaning your hair so it’s clean versus dirty. So, I’ll take the clean option. Thanks.
00:59:15
Gianna Lucas: Well, maybe we should use the dog shampoo as a treatment for dandruff because maybe that will get rid of the dandruff.
00:59:20
Brendan Lucas: No, but then I’m not going to have my nice flaky cornflakes.
00:59:23
Gianna Lucas: No, but I think you can do without the flaky cornflakes.
00:59:26
Brendan Lucas: Well, I don’t want that.
00:59:27
Marija Dukadinovska: I think everyone can do it (inaudible) flaky cornflakes. Okay guys, your fourth and final question.
00:59:34
Gianna Lucas: Yay! Bring it, Marija.
00:59:35
Brendan Lucas: Woo- hoo!
00:59:38
Marija Dukadinovska: Would you rather be a famous rapper or a famous singer? I think I know the answers.
00:59:45
Gianna Lucas: Oh, you’re funny. And why? This is biased to begin with because you know the answer that you would prefer and therefore you’re already going to give it to Brendan because he’s going to say rapper. I already know it.
00:59:58
Brendan Lucas: I’m already wearing my first place (crosstalk) –
01:00:01
Gianna Lucas: This is (crosstalk) , guys-
01:00:03
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) that accusations.
01:00:06
Gianna Lucas: This is just no.
01:00:07
Brendan Lucas: Gianna, you want to start?
01:00:07
Gianna Lucas: No, you can go first. I want to hear what you have to say, how you say it and then I’ll make it better.
01:00:11
Brendan Lucas: Okay. Well, I’d definitely have to say rapper because we’ve got a few rappers in the midst. Not only can myself string together a few little rhymes, but I think Marija can-
01:00:20
Gianna Lucas: Are you calling yourself a rapper?
01:00:21
Brendan Lucas: Bust a few rhymes. Now we can string some sentences together.
01:00:24
Gianna Lucas: I might dare you to do that at one point.
01:00:24
Brendan Lucas: There’s also another member of Marija’s household, Cardi B, which also-
01:00:29
Gianna Lucas: A dog.
01:00:30
Brendan Lucas: … has a bit of rapping (crosstalk) –
01:00:32
Marija Dukadinovska: She raps all the time. She’s incredibly famous.
01:00:36
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. She’s like, ” (inaudible) .” lovely.
01:00:38
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah. Very, very sassy. Just really brings the bait. S
01:00:42
Gianna Lucas: She does have her own Instagram profile.
01:00:45
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah, she does.
01:00:45
Gianna Lucas: Miss Cardi B, can you tell us actually what it is for those that like to check her out on the socials?
01:00:50
Marija Dukadinovska: Yeah. It’s blue stuff Cardi and she has more followers than me. She’s got over 7, 000 followers. It’s quite embarrassing, but we love her so much. I think it just comes with the name Cardi. I mean, how can you not be famous?
01:01:07
Gianna Lucas: That’s right.
01:01:08
Brendan Lucas: Hashtag represent rappers.
01:01:10
Marija Dukadinovska: That it, All right.
01:01:11
Brendan Lucas: (crosstalk) –
01:01:11
Gianna Lucas: So that’s your answer?
01:01:11
Brendan Lucas: That’s my answer.
01:01:12
Gianna Lucas: Okay. The other one you said was singer, right?
01:01:16
Marija Dukadinovska: Yes.
01:01:18
Gianna Lucas: Okay. Look, we’ve had many discussions fair as a team about our love for certain types of music. I do like Taytay his new album, for example, Folklore, I’ve spoken a little bit about that. Brendan, stop giving me the eyes. And there are certain rap songs. I like R& B certain artists and certain songs. So I’m not completely against at all the rapping decision that you’ve decided to bring, but from someone who once had a recording contract as a singer, I think it would be very… (inaudible) just doing that. He’s just doing, what do you call that thing?
01:01:59
Marija Dukadinovska: (inaudible) –
01:02:00
Gianna Lucas: (inaudible) . Yeah, that’s-
01:02:03
Marija Dukadinovska: (crosstalk) .
01:02:03
Brendan Lucas: No.
01:02:03
Marija Dukadinovska: Oh, look at me. Sorry. She just dropped in there that she had a recording contract (crosstalk) –
01:02:08
Brendan Lucas: I haven’t had a rapping contract, so I think so. No, that’s good.
01:02:12
Gianna Lucas: (inaudible) someone who used to sing professionally, I think it would be… I think my old management team would be disappointed if I didn’t acknowledge my past. So I would have to go with singer from that perspective. And also I love musical theater and I don’t think you can see many rappers in musical theater, tell me if I’m wrong. I’ll have to go with singer.
01:02:34
Marija Dukadinovska: Okay. Well, that was not a surprise at all. I think I knew the answer before I even asked the question. Both of you brought so much creativity to these, so much life, so much excitement, but I do have to choose one winner. You guys ready?
01:02:53
Gianna Lucas: Yeah.
01:02:54
Marija Dukadinovska: (inaudible) . Drum roll. Brendan, I’m going to have to go with you. You brought (crosstalk) –
01:02:59
Brendan Lucas: Yay!
01:02:59
Marija Dukadinovska: … a little bit more zest, especially with the dandruff and the cornflakes, that really got me. And Gianna, you lost me on liver so I was (crosstalk) –
01:03:10
Gianna Lucas: I was doomed to fail. Marija, the liver answer was in the gratitude segment. So what are you talking about you lost on liver?
01:03:17
Marija Dukadinovska: Doesn’t matter. I carry all of that onto this segment as well. So-
01:03:22
Gianna Lucas: Yeah. I was doomed to fail from the start. You guys were in on this and… Whatever. A
01:03:26
Brendan Lucas: And when say don’t try this at home, I think do try this at home with the dandruff from the cornflakes (crosstalk) .
01:03:32
Gianna Lucas: (crosstalk) , Brendan.
01:03:32
Brendan Lucas: Why not?
01:03:35
Marija Dukadinovska: Enough about the dandruff. Gianna and Brendan, as the founders of Happow, I have really enjoyed interviewing both of you. We’ve had so many laughs along the way. I love sharing your story with our audience and for them to get to know you guys on a deeper level just the way I know you both. I just want to thank you so much for your time for being on Power Up Life.
01:04:00
Gianna Lucas: Thanks for having us.
01:04:00
Brendan Lucas: Thanks for having us. It’s been good.
01:04:02
Gianna Lucas: There you go. Now that you’ve gotten to know Happow journey to date a little bit more, would you love to join us and be a Happow advocate? By doing so you’ll be able to contribute to our weekly talk topics and more. Keen to jump on board, email us at yoursay@ happow. dot com. Also, don’t forget to hit the subscribe button to be the first to know when new episodes drop and be sure to follow us on socials. Simply look us up at @ happowau to follow us and stay in the know. This episode of Power Up Life was produced by me, Gianna Lucas, Marija Dukadinovska, and Carissa Shale for the Happow Podcast Network.
Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of Power Up Life at Happow Podcast. If you loved this episode, feel legend and leave us a quick rating and review on your fav podcast app. Dive into the show notes for all episodes on our website. Catch you next time and remember to power up life.