Show Notes
16 rounds of IVF.
Eight years.
And one text message that changed everything.
Lisa Messenger is the founder of Collective Hub, the entrepreneurial brand she built from nothing in 2013, and one of the most fearless disruptors in business I know. She's written 40 books, shared the stage with Sir Richard Branson, and built something print insiders said was already dead into a brand distributed across 37 countries in eighteen months.
But before we got into any of that, I wanted her motherhood story first. The 16 rounds. The excruciating two week waits. And the moment, completely run down after round 16, she texted her best friend Sarah asking if she'd still be her surrogate. Sarah's reply gave her full body shivers. It still does.
We get into that whole journey, the heartbreak before the joy, what it actually means to reinvent a business more times than most people reinvent their wardrobe, and why she walked away from 36 staff to build a life with none.
This episode left me speechless more than once. I think it'll do the same for you.
Lisa has also gifted my community something seriously special. 30 days free inside Collective Hub, her membership and retreat world for founders and creatives.
Claim your 30 day free Collective Hub access here: https://members.collectivehub.com/checkout/life-with-danni-duncan
Find Lisa on Instagram or via Collective Hub.
If you need a push to take control of your health - download my app FIT by Danni Duncan at or sign up for coaching.
I also share all of my health and fitness tips over on IG @danni.duncan_ so if you want more, make sure you join me over there. Or follow the podcast over @lifewithdanniduncan.
More from Life With Danni Duncan
Emily Chadbourne is one of my closest friends, a life and mindset coach, and the person who tells me exactly what I need to hear. We’d just come back from our fourth retreat together, this one in Byron Bay, when we sat down to record. We get into the comments calling me fat phobic. I talk about why that one genuinely baffles me, I’ve never called someone fat on my page. Every time I’ve said the word, it’s been about fat loss in the context of health and strength, never aesthetics. We talk about what people actually hear versus what I’m actually saying, and why your reaction to someone else’s content usually says more about you than it does about them. I also read out a message I got this week from a woman who asked her gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy even though she had no symptoms, because of something I’d said online. They found precancerous polyps. Her gastroenterologist asked if her “influencer” happened to be me, turns out multiple of his patients have mentioned me. It’s one of the best messages I’ve ever received. We talk trolls, tall poppy syndrome, comparison, why women get punished for making money, and why I will never apologise for being proud of myself again. This one is raw, it’s real, and it’s one of my favourites. Find Em on Instagram for more of this energy. If you need a push to take control of your health - download my app FIT by Danni Duncan at or sign up for coaching. I also share all of my health and fitness tips over on IG @danni.duncan_ so if you want more, make sure you join me over there. Or follow the podcast over @lifewithdanniduncan.
It's just me on the mic this week, three weeks out from the New York Marathon and I am an absolute mess with nerves and gratitude in equal measure!
Two weeks after having her second baby, Sally Grice sat in an important work meeting with one boob rock hard and engorged because her pump had failed her that morning. By the time the meeting ended, she was in agony. She ran to her office and broke down crying. Then she decided to build the pump herself.
Chris is back on the couch and this one goes places… You never know what you're going to get in one of our joint episodes 😂 We start with the woman who sh*t herself mid-way through a HYROX event and kept going anyway… before somehow ending up in a full blown debate about sex after four kids. Chris has also been dealing with his own health scare behind the scenes, a gastroscopy, a strict new diet, and getting banned from his beloved energy drinks. We get into what happens to your mood and motivation when your gut health goes sideways, and why he was genuinely "not himself" for weeks. Then we get into the real conversation. Why sex drive changes so dramatically after kids, why men and women experience desire so differently, and the theory Chris came up with comparing married life to going from a Ferrari to a Toyota Corolla. It did not land the way he hoped. We talk about appreciation as the missing link, the text message from three years ago that turned Danni on more than anything since, why men often need sex to feel loved while women need to feel loved to want sex, and yes, we get into exactly how often we're actually having it. On the record. Numbers and all. By the end we've agreed we need to get an actual sexologist on the podcast, because clearly we need help! 😂 If you want more of this energy online then follow us over on IG @danni.duncan_ @chrisduncan7 My final retreat of 2026 is coming up next month and there aren’t many spaces left! Don’t miss your chance to join me and a group of incredible women in the gorgeous BlueGreen Sanctuary in Byron Bay for 3 nights of beautiful food, mindset and nutrition workshops, yoga, relaxation and more! Don’t miss out! If you need a push to take control of your health, download my app FIT by Danni Duncan or sign up for The Vitality Project
We've never been more connected. A text, a voice drop, a scroll, and we know exactly what everyone in our life is doing without ever actually seeing them. So why, when it actually comes to showing up in person, committing to a night out, being in someone's presence, does it suddenly feel like the hardest ask in the world?