Show Notes
Sensitive issues raised 💓 Love Notes bonus episode is part of our series of Love Stories - short, quiet episodes from The Australian Women’s Weekly. With small reminders that love is something we practise, not just something that happens to us. In this Love Note, we sit with Charmaine Caldwell, CEO and founder of VIXIN and Deputy Editor Tiffany Dunk as she uncovers something special she calls her “why book”: a journal stuffed with handwritten messages from customers, friends, charities and, most of all, her son. She reads a note she wrote to herself 16 years ago a letter for the days when everything feels heavy, and quitting would be easier and explains why she carefully copies it into every new book she starts Charmaine talks about raising her son alone, walking through a decade of menopause “fog” while building a skincare brand for women who no longer recognise their own faces in the mirror, and the messages from customers that have kept her going including one woman with cancer who asked to be buried with her VIXIN products because they made her feel beautiful on her worst days. This is a 'Love Note' episode about the love we pour into other people and the love we’re still learning to offer ourselves: packing orders with intention, sticking Maya Angelou’s “they’ll never forget how you made them feel” on the warehouse wall, and trying, every day, to be kinder in the way we speak to ourselves than the world is. If you need a gentle reminder to keep going, or permission to start talking to yourself like someone you actually care about, this Love Note is for you. Thank you for listening ❤️ before you leave... 🗣️ Get in touch What did you think? We are a brand new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] If you share your love story on social media please tag us – we’re @womensweeklymag – and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories. Subscribe to The Australian Women’s Weekly at subscription 👈🏽 See More: Menopause Symptoms No One's Talking About Naiomi Watts 'Menopause It's Not The End' If you loved hearing about Charmaine, you can follow her on Instagram and learn more about her products : Learn More About Vixin VIXIN Instagram
🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our home: Today’s episode is brought to you by VIXIN Beauty, high performance, Australian Made skincare built for real skin and real results. No complicated routines, no watered down formulas, just powerful actives that support your skin at every stage. Explore the range at vixin.com.au and enjoy up to 30% off bundles Credits: Edited by Phoebe Zukowski -Wallace Production by Thomas Crnkovic Our wonderful Australian Women’s Weekly team Learn More: Womens Weekly Website
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Love Stories
Author Heather Morris shares the extraordinary stories of love that have shaped her life, from the great-grandfather who taught her to listen to the chance meeting that inspired The Tattooist of Auschwitz. She opens up about her marriage, grief, becoming a writer later in life and the real-life story behind her latest novel, The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse.
Pia Miranda and Janine Allis went onto Australian Survivor prepared to compete against each other. Instead, they came out with a friendship that has lasted seven years and counting. The pair join Tiffany Dunk to talk about the unlikely bond they formed in the toughest of circumstances, why they trusted each other in a game built on outplaying each other, and how they've continued to pour into each other's "friendship buckets" long after the cameras stopped rolling.
Tegan Higginbotham and Paul Verhoeven have been making each other laugh since they first got together in 2013. Now married, the comedy creators join Tiffany Dunk to talk about their very unusual first date, the Paris wedding they almost couldn't afford, and what happens when the person you love the most becomes your creative collaborator.
Shaun Micallef has made Australia laugh for decades, but his son Gabe knows a very different side of him. Now co-hosting Shaun Micallef’s Parents Evening, father and son join Tiffany Dunk to talk about “growing up Micallef”, Shaun’s unconventional approach to parenting, and the humour, movies and everyday moments that have shaped their relationship.
When they were teenagers, Adam Eckersley yelled "I'm gonna marry you one day" at Brooke McClymont. She called him a mullet head. Ten years, a van at Merewether Beach, a case of scabies and a near-lost farm later, country music's most uncensored couple tell Tiffany Dunk how they're still each other's biggest fans.