TIME - Travel Industry Mentor Experience
TIME - Travel Industry Mentor Experience
TIME with Melanie Cross- From Tax To Travel
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Thinking about a bold career switch or trying to make sales work smarter, not harder? Meet Mel from Melbourne, who traded a decade in Big Four tax for a front-line role in cruise sales and built a system that turned burnout into balance. We dive into her leap into the travel industry, how she pitched transferable skills to land a strategic sales manager role, and the mindset that powered her first year of relentless yes—then the turning point that followed.
Mel opens up about finding a mentor who helped her replace chaos with clarity. Together they set three pillars—structure, efficiency, and the confidence to say no—and started with tiny, tactical changes that paid off fast. That includes writing a precise out-of-office that set expectations, nudged partners to the right self-serve channels, and protected time for deep work. From there, we unpack the road plan audit that ranked accounts, prioritised high performers, and brought focus to weekly travel. The result didn’t just calm her calendar; leadership rolled the model out nationally.
You’ll hear practical tactics for territory planning, partner enablement, and building a scalable sales motion across Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. We also get real about energy and joy: country coffee versus city espresso, celebrating wins with bubbles, and the power of simple rituals like a family-made dog calendar to keep spirits high. Networking in Melbourne gets a spotlight too—why smaller rooms can create deeper conversations and stronger outcomes.
If you’re navigating a pivot, managing a crowded inbox, or racing between client visits, this conversation offers a playbook: pitch your story, build systems that serve you, and choose focus over frenzy. Stick around for light-hearted moments—lime green uniforms, dog-friendly office visits, and a shared mantra to always have something to look forward to. Like what you hear? Follow the show, share it with a colleague who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review to help others find us.
Warm Welcome And Banter
SPEAKER_02Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the Time Podcast. Today with the one and only Oh, we say that actually all the time. Let's make it different this time. Welcome back. And today we also welcome back the French Coriffey, the French inspiration to so many men, 40 plus. The one person that washes his hair even more often than the poodle does. Welcome.
SPEAKER_01I don't know where that hair washing, you know, comprision comes from, but yeah, I love it. Yeah, obviously you can see like I wash my hair every day with beautiful French products because you know the French do it better.
SPEAKER_02I do appreciate that, and to be honest, I have literally no idea how the poodle came into my head. It just flown out of my mouth, and there it was.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's your talent, Timo. So, you know, like yeah, I and here with you. I feel like I just, yeah, I just vibe of your your I love that.
SPEAKER_02I'm not sure if it's a talent or curse, but um, let's park that discussion and introduce our lovely guest. Who do we have with us today?
Meet Mel From Melbourne
SPEAKER_01Today we have the lovely Melanie Cross. She's based in Victoria, right? And Melanie is strategic sales manager for Celebrity Cruises, and we're very excited to have you today. Melanie, welcome.
SPEAKER_00No, thank you so much for having me. You missed my tagline, Mel from Melbourne.
SPEAKER_02Mel from Melbourne.
SPEAKER_00Either go by Mel C the Spice Girl, the better of the Spice Girls, or Mel from Melbourne.
SPEAKER_01But Mel C that was probably already taken.
SPEAKER_00I know, I know. I was born later, much younger.
SPEAKER_01No, it's the same debate as to like who is the original Kylie, right?
SPEAKER_00Of course, of course.
SPEAKER_01And I'm sure you have already have the answer because coming from Melbourne, you already know who is the original Kylie, right? There's only one.
SPEAKER_00There's only one.
What A Strategic Sales Manager Does
SPEAKER_02Very true, very true. Melanie, can you um talking about something more time-related, um, or or industry-related, I should say, can you maybe tell us what is your job in regards to your daily tasks, but expand in a way a non-industry person actually understands what you do?
SPEAKER_00Of course, yeah. So I am on the field sales. So on the field means I have got territories across all over Australia. So in my case, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. And my main role is to partner with agencies, home-based travel advisors in educating and supporting them and making sales for the wonderful brand celebrity cruises.
SPEAKER_02Excellent. So, how long are you in your role for?
From Big Four Tax To Cruise Sales
SPEAKER_00So I'm approaching three years. Can you believe it? So three years in the role and industry in total, because I had quite a significant career change. I say mid midlife crisis, but my mum's like, I'm far too young to have a daughter to have a midlife crisis. So yeah, had had the career change and approaching three years, which is just insane how how quick the time's gone, but also feels like a lifetime at the same time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's not that you talked about that, Melanie, because the thing is that I was there at your graduation and and then you had a really interesting sort of journey. And then I was like, do you want to touch, you know, on it a little bit? Because I think that there's a lot of professionals out there, you know, that will be in the same situation as you, that have a little bit of a passion for travel and then want to go into the industry, but they don't really know how to get these opportunities coming their way. So if you want to share a little bit about this, yeah, of course.
Landing The Role Without Ticking Boxes
SPEAKER_00So I'm a complete cruise enough. I love everything about cruising. It was my choice of vacation for many, many years growing up. And growing up, I I studied commerce. So I did a double degree at the University of Ballarat, where I followed a career as a tax advisor and did that for many years at a big four accounting firm. So I did 10 years um there, and that's when the the crisis occurred, where I was like, I really want to follow my passion, and cruising was my passion. And so I it was scary, like the sort of leaving the comfort of a career that you've built out across many, many years, and you sort of know inside and out as well when it comes to the wonderful world of tax. But it was finding the joy in every day, and that's what cruising bought me. So I looked at a couple of options, whether it was looking up and starting my own side hustle during the pandemic. So, do I do a little side gig and do a work from home tax advisor that specialized in crews? And I was like, okay, this is this is gonna take quite a bit of financial investment from my perspective. So I need to do this right to make sure the numbers were worthwhile because I am a bit of a geek when it comes to numbers. So I I did the commitment, I was like, okay, on LinkedIn, looked up who, who's the who in the travel industry in Australia, especially in cruise. And so the wonderful thing about algorithms that then changed quite significantly and was giving me job adverts across the the travel and cruise industry. And that's when I came across this wonderful role that I really had no idea about, called a strategic sales manager for celebrity cruises. And I still remember the day quite vividly where I showed my husband and he was like, just do it. What have you got to lose? And who through the interview process, I'm forever thankful for the wonderful Trevor Things and Cameron Mannix who gave me this opportunity because sitting there in that final interview, my cover letter was essentially, look, I don't meet any of your key requirements for this role, but this is how I feel like my skill sets and my passion can transfer and be successful in this role. And personally, we all got along really well as well. And I think that's that's key. Getting a team that support each other, we're a high-functioning team and we all support each other. That you can't teach. And so because we had that so easily and it came so naturally to us, it it was just a great start. And here we are three years later.
SPEAKER_02So, can I ask? It sounds like you had a very intact environment around you. Yeah, very man who supported you on that journey of quite an intense career change at industry change. Um you had a fantastic, or still have a fantastic team around you that helps you grow, helps you settle, helps you perform. Why time? Why mentoring then?
The Year Of Yes And Burnout
SPEAKER_00Time was an interesting one. I heard about it through colleagues, uh, the wonderful Barry that I know you've you've interviewed in previous um podcasts, who's also a proud Victorian. And so through my first 12 months, I had this thing that I said to myself and agreed with my leadership at the time was sort of like my year of yes. I want to say yes to every opportunity internally and externally, because I felt like my biggest gap when starting with celebrity was I knew the product inside and out because just through my own in sort of traveling and researching, that it's putting my name out there and meeting the people that I needed to meet. And so the year of yes was fantastic because I went to so many conferences, expos, functions, but became quite burnt out in that 12-month period. And so the year two was all about, okay, let's be a bit more strategic about this and refine. And through a couple of chats with colleagues that had done the program, it was quite evident that I felt like that was the next step in accelerating the networking and sort of really looking at how I was doing my role and sort of giving it my best go for that first 12 months. And was I sort of tackling it the right way with an external perspective on it as well? So it just came at the perfect time.
SPEAKER_02And who was your mentor for Mayor?
SPEAKER_00I had the the wonderful Amber Wilson, sales director at HX. And I knew Amber going into the role. So when I got that email, I'm I still had the eternal, oh yay!
SPEAKER_02So I would assume the first meeting then was fairly relaxed because you kind of knew what to expect and how to approach the person.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And and really just that getting to know you piece, like she knew a little bit uh about me as well. So it was really those first few catch-ups on um getting to know each other, her understanding my goals and what I wanted to get out of the program. And it it was quite evident that that structure, efficiency, and it's okay to say no were sort of the three key pillars that we wanted to work on for the six-month period. Um, but then giving me the tools to carry that onwards beyond the six months as well.
Why Mentoring And Choosing Amber
SPEAKER_02And um can I ask? So usually there's a lot of things that we do learn along the journey of the mentoring process. Was there something that you had to unlearn about yourself? Like a belief that you had, that you thought that's how it is, that's what you got, but you had to reverse it to kind of open up new floodgates.
Learning To Say No And Delegate
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It was that you can't be everything to everyone. Um, and I think that's where I just naturally fell into that bucket because I was just saying yes to everything. I tried to involve myself in everything, action it out every email rather than sending it to the right department to action. So I felt like I would naturally just fall back into that routine if I wasn't front of mind and present and aware of the tools that Amber and I have implemented. One of the simplest things was what does your outer office say? And so does your outer office have that efficient message to let travel partners know that you actually are a full-time on-the-road member. And so you might not be available and present at that moment where you need assistance. But here are some channels if you do need that urgent or immediate assistance that you can go to. But I will get back to you as soon as I can. So little things like that. But then the letting go of actioning as well. It's like have trust that they're gonna action off the back of receiving your out of office. So that that letting go, I really struggled with. And like I would have like, say, a couple of days off, and you would come back, and the emails would be like, oh my God, out of control. It's like, well, no, shuffle through. Like, what do you actually need to action and what were self-service emails? So I think that that one was quite an easy thing to implement that I am reaping the benefits till to this day. So it may sound simple, but little things like that have really definitely benefited and stopping me falling into that pool of, my God, I need to action every single email that is in this inbox.
SPEAKER_01It's a really good point when you're saying because you know, I've managed a lot of like people like you in in the past and and like that overwhelming feeling of having like, you know, being on the road and you know, also being there for for your agents, and then you'll be able to service them and like that oversized inbox. I received actually your out-of-office message today, and I it was actually really it was actually really well well drafted and well thought of because clearly, like you exactly what you said, you kind of explained what you were doing that you were not gonna, you're not on your inbox like 24-7, and then you direct people to the right channels, which is the way I mean, you know, I thought that it was yeah, that's the way I used to tell my team to do it. So you know, but that was a good tip. You you did well.
SPEAKER_02I'm just quickly reading it, and yes, I agree. While we're on the call, while we're on the call. Also, a quick a quick non-time related question. Who has the dog in the background?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I'm sorry, sorry, that's me.
SPEAKER_02No, no, that's another part of it. We love dogs. We love dogs.
SPEAKER_00I have a dog, mom. What about dog dogs?
Out‑Of‑Office As A Productivity Tool
SPEAKER_01I love dogs too, but that wasn't me because that was he was asking if it was me. No, no, I wasn't. But what what what kind of dog do you have?
SPEAKER_00I so I've got two lovely fur children. I've got a doggy. So a doggy, not a lot of people know what the breed doggy is, and it's a cross with a dash hound and a corgi. Um, and and his name is Gary. Um, and then I have a Corgi, and he is Jeremy. So the one that you're probably hearing barking is Gary. He's that true dash hound. I need to bark at every single noise that I hear in the background.
SPEAKER_02Shout out from Melbourne and Gary, you know.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And I'm actually thinking a new idea of sort of bringing a dog on the road program as well. So if there are any travel advisors out there that have dog-friendly offices across Melbourne, let me know and I'll bring a dog in for the day.
SPEAKER_01That sounds good. You can even have your if if one day you wanted to change career, you can have like, I don't know, um, a uh uh a rep company called Gaz and Jazz.
SPEAKER_00And they're quite I'm biased, but they're quite beautiful dogs, and my family keeps saying I should get an agency for the Corgi because he's quite pretty and he could make an income off modeling time. It's too much time.
SPEAKER_02There might be your side hustle, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right, you know, passive income here and there.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Make him work for his dinner.
SPEAKER_02Very nice. Um back to time. Did you have like a special light bulb moment where you thought, oh my gosh, yes, does it all make sense now?
Restructuring The Road Plan
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it it really came down to sort of it was at the halfway mark when we were sort of looking at how I was tackling uh being on the road and sort of how many visits I was doing a week. Um and that first 12 months, it was insane. I th it was just I was overdoing it in a sense because I needed to let these people know who I was, right, for those first 12 months. And so we reviewed the the numbers and sort of highlighted who were the high-performing accounts, who are opportunities, more strategic accounts, and then made a little bit of a more structured plan in regards to okay, for my top 70 to my top 100 accounts, these are really who I need to be focusing on for the next 12. By doing that and sharing that uh program with my leadership as well, I thought it was a great idea. And leadership actually rolled that approach out nationally across all strategic sales managers for celebrity cruises. And so I feel like if it wasn't for time and us sort of driving and making that change and how I approached being on the road, we would have still been to this day running around like headless chooks, seeing as many people as we could. So when leadership were like, oh my god, that's a fantastic idea, I felt more in control of the week. And then having them implement that across the team was was really, really exciting to see.
Focus On Top Accounts
SPEAKER_01Right. There's nothing worse than spreading yourself too thin and then being everywhere and you know, like not being able to be strategic, you know, like as the role says, right? Absolutely. You know, but I mean, you know, if you were to uh if you were to to read some some book, like there's a lot of people that talk about, you know, uh how much how much energy you need to to be able to increase your turnover by 5%, how much energy you need to invest in that. And you know, uh sometimes like is it worth the investment in that energy when you're going to increase only by by 5%? When in reality, if you focus the majority of your energy on your top producers, you probably yield more uh revenues than you will get on that extra 5%. Do you know what I mean? So it makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think it's what time did was give me time to put that into place, if that makes sense. It gave you the time to reflect on it, to get that sort of second eyes, refine how that process would look, and then actually have someone make you accountable for that, like actually doing it. I think that's where the time program was just fantastic in helping me get that structure in place.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. Absolutely. Now, a non-time related question, just because we have to bring a bit of fashion into this lovely little conversation. We can't have we can't have a podcast without talking about fashion. Now, how many, Melanie? Tell me, how many lime green clothing items do you have in your wardrobe?
SPEAKER_00Look, I can't say I have any lime green. I've got a bit of tangerine because that's one of our new uh work colours, contrast with the nature here. But lime green, no, I can't say I have maybe like a ribbon for my hair, but no clothing. Interesting.
Fashion, Mardi Gras, And Joy
SPEAKER_01Well, at this stage, I don't own any piece of clothing that is lime green, but very soon I will. I promise.
SPEAKER_02And why is that? Interesting.
SPEAKER_01Because it is my my uniform for volunteering in the Mardi Gras parade.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you're volunteering in the Mardi Gras parade again? That is so I had no idea. I know what about the lime green outfit?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, can you believe that Mardi Gras is happening again? And everyone is invited to obviously come and celebrate with us because you know we we really need it. But yeah, so that's gonna be my uniform.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. Melanie, how did you celebrate your big time success? Talking about celebrations.
SPEAKER_00Definitely with a bottle of bubbles. I was gonna say glass, but it was definitely a bubble, uh bottle.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
Celebrating Wins And Public Speaking
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Um, and I was very fortunate to graduate with a colleague of mine as well from Celebrity. So we celebrated together, and then having the opportunity for the business to fly me up to Sydney for uh the graduation was just fantastic. So to be there and have FaceTime with the head office, I I I absolutely love. So any opportunity that I get to come up to Sydney is a win.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, your graduation was good, and there was uh there was a lot of people that's very diverse, sort of like it was a long, yes, very for your for your graduation speech.
SPEAKER_02Or do you do you prefer big crowds or smaller crowds from a public speaking um public speaking, public speaking? Wow, public speaking point of view.
SPEAKER_00All types of crowds. I being in sales, I it comes quite naturally to me. Um, I just don't present on the tax legislation changes. I get to present on wonderful cruises and our booking tools. So the I just wanted to get my wording right and how thankful I was for Amber's time. I really wanted to get those messages across with also a little bit of tongue-in-cheek at the end. I feel like you have to be there and make people smile. I've got such a positive outlook, and I try and make sure that every environment or every conversation, I try and blend that bit of positive personality and energy into everything that I do. So um I was a little bit nervous. I had my husband read it, I'm like, appropriate, and he was like, yeah, when are you gonna see these people again? And I'm like, um, all the time.
Networking In Melbourne
SPEAKER_01Everyone institutes, and it was a lot of fun, and there was nothing inappropriate about that. No, I don't have to admit I has still have not filed my tax return.
SPEAKER_00Whoa. Okay, so at the next time networking event will come 15, 20 minutes earlier, and we'll sit down, we'll do a coffee, and we'll get it done for you.
SPEAKER_02Yes, please. I'll join. I'll join. I usually pay way too many taxes, it's not acceptable. Tony, can you um can you actually fill us in in regards to some of the Victorian networking meetings? I'm not sure if you attended, but if so, can you share with us? Because we're never there, we know nothing.
SPEAKER_00Why not?
SPEAKER_02I know. Arnul doesn't slime you over. I actually think it's because I don't have a lime green shirt.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, we I'm sure we'll he'll be able to get some um during the weekend for you. But the the Melbourne events are fantastic. They're a little bit smaller and intimate, but I feel like that in itself has its benefit because you actually can spend time more with people and have conversations rather than at the larger events. You sort of have that anxious feel of sort of eyeballing the room and go, okay, I need to say hello to you, I need to say hello to you. And the sort of list gets on. It's almost like you're at a wedding at a family event and trying to say hello to everyone. But the Melbourne ones are fantastic, and uh the Colonel team down here do a fantastic job um in trying to mix it up a little bit because there's not too many places where we can uh meet down here in Melbourne. But yeah, they've been they've been so good, and the network down here is fantastic.
SPEAKER_02Well, I definitely have a few players that we can add to the list. I know, can you remind me later to get that organized?
SPEAKER_01I'm sure he can plug you in with a few of his contacts down in Melbourne to for some nice properties with like a nice rooftop.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, with a beautiful skyline view. We don't know, I was fancy.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm I'm actually being serious. And see, this is exactly what the timeline faces there for. You always know someone who knows someone who can do something.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, 100%.
SPEAKER_01I think so, Melbourne. Well, look, I would love to actually come to the Melbourne events because it's um, yeah, it's a good crowd of people. It's a I find that very, very different than the type of people you meet in Sydney and obviously the type of people you meet in Brisbane as well. Like very different for like, you know, travel industry, kind of professionals in different states.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02So, Melanie, how did you evaluate the program for yourself? Um, and I would assume you would say it was successful, but how do you evaluate that for you? Like how do you define success within the program for yourself or for an mentee in general?
Energy, Coffee, And Always Having Plans
SPEAKER_00I think the relationships that you come out of it, it's not really an end when it comes to, oh, you've graduated, here's your piece of paper, move on. It's it's an ongoing relationship that you stay accountable for. I bumped into Amber just randomly at the um Phil Hoffman Expo in Adelaide a couple of weekends ago, and we our walls were literally back to back to each other. So it was great to sort of be like, I I find you. So it's it's good to have those relationships where you know you've got someone in your corner if you need to bounce a couple of things off where you know you can sort of have those unfiltered conversations with someone and they can share their experiences as well. If you feel like um you've hit a wall or in your corner and you don't know what what kite direction you want to go to. So yeah, I feel like that it should never be seen as a okay, it stops now, don't talk to anyone anymore, just go back to your regular day of business. It's the it's that ongoing growth. And I think it was my induction where the wonderful um Holly had just graduated from her second time of doing the time program. And so I found that quite inspiring to be like, wow, you really do go through these larger events where you're like, you know what, I really need to revisit that. So I found that so inspiring um to see her commit and go through the program a second time because she was in a different time and space in her own career. So it was great to see that and to learn off other people's experiences from their graduation presentations as well.
SPEAKER_02That's exciting. That's one form to access. To assess success. How do you inspire yourself? How do you where do you keep your energy from? How do you keep it out? Because you're very outbursting personality in a positive sense. I mean you throw someone's energy out. You have such a positive aura. How do you create it in the morning before the first coffee? Please tell us, because we do struggle with that.
Simple Pleasures And Croissants
Under $100 Purchase: Dog Calendar
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's not one coffee, it's it's about three. But it's quite funny. I because I'm from the country, I grew up on Blend 43. So we have this little joke that we refer to it as bogendust. So you have your bogendust in the morning and then you have a proper coffee in the afternoon, usually at three o'clock to keep me going. But no, I think I'm so grateful for every opportunity that I get from the team or from relationships that I meet, whether it be from my accounts across my territories or just socially. It's fantastic where when I meet people, they're like, oh my God, what have you got coming up next? Or they saw me go to Vegas last year and do all these amazing things, like to share that when social media is such a big piece of that as well, but to share that with my family as well. Um we go on a couple of cruises as well. So they they definitely get to benefit from that as well, with me taking them on some trips. But it's always having something to look forward to as well. I think that's one of my big life mantras is just the little trip, or if it's a big international trip, just book it. You will you will definitely maybe win Tatslotto one day. And so you've just, even if it's just little, just have something tripped in the calendar to look forward to. My me and my family, we're a very sporting family. So with the Formula One and AFL coming back online, a lot we look forward to a lot of those types of events. So yeah, there's lots to look forward to in this household.
SPEAKER_02I love that. Anna, what are you looking forward to besides Mardi Gras, obviously? But what's what's the next thing on your calendar?
SPEAKER_01Well, in my calendar, at the moment there's only a lot of work trips, uh sadly. Not necessarily something personal, but there's a lot of things that I look forward to, like maybe not to the extent of what Melanie said, but I look forward to like having a nice coffee with a friend of mine on a Sunday morning. Or, you know, looking after my friend's dog, you know, when he's happy to give him to me for the day or for just like a few hours. Yeah, these little things, having a nice croissant with a good friend of mine, you know, going back to that food analogy that Timo loves so much about me. Yeah, those you know, simple pleasures. Yeah, that's uh what I'm looking forward to.
SPEAKER_02And I I thought for once we actually get an episode done without a croissant, but no, you had to sneak it in, of course.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, no.
SPEAKER_00From champagne to croissant.
SPEAKER_01It's just a lifestyle. One cannot say. Everyone should have just a croissant at least once in their life, just to understand how beautiful that is.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Fully agree.
SPEAKER_02Now, Melanie, our favorite and the final question is always you probably heard that because you stalked a podcast before. What is something that you have bought that's less than$100 that has significantly impacted or changed your life?
Family, Future Themes, And Closing
SPEAKER_00I had a little bit of a think of this overnight because you are correct. I did do a little stalk over um the last couple of days on the previous podcast. I don't think stalk's the right word. Educated myself. And I have a little bit of show and tell. So apologies for the listeners. It's gonna sound really silly, but for Christmas, me and my family have this tradition of making a custom calendar every year. So this year it was my turn, and I'm glad you heard the dogs barking in the background before. Because my calendar this year was a custom dog photo.
SPEAKER_01So January, you've got all they are so cute.
SPEAKER_00Are they just the cutest things in the whole? Like they don't, they need to make um uh income together, don't they? And so it's something to look forward to because every month you're just gonna smile every day that you see this calendar. Because I've just, it's just perfection, isn't it? It doesn't cost a lot of money. You do it like a Kmart or Big W. But my favourite one is for Christmas, you were able to put like little like emojis and stuff like that uh on the oh, where is Christmas? Come on. Oh, it'll be here before we know.
SPEAKER_01December.
SPEAKER_00You're able to put it is it in December?
SPEAKER_01Okay, little spinna hats on the daddy's so cool.
SPEAKER_00So I made one for every household of my family. So if you're across the bursa core across a family friend network, you'll see these plastered all over the walls. So little things like that, just making something custom that is to bring joy every time that you look at it. And I'm very much looking forward to Sunday because it's the first of the month, and our family group chat will be like, oh my god, it's the first of May, look at this beautiful photo. So we usually do like weddings or family holidays, but this year I was like, no, I'm gonna be selfish and do the dogs.
SPEAKER_02I really like that, and um I do love it because um I do a calendar with my partner once a year, you know. Um and we do like it's usually a movie theme or whatever it is, and the background is always AI, but the foreground is real. So we go to a costume shop, we dress up, um, and then we have like how many little things up so we can see that. We can't see it.
SPEAKER_00Come on, phone, connect, do it.
SPEAKER_02How do I do it from a light perspective? Let's have a look. Maybe this works.
SPEAKER_00Maybe angle it down. Oh, there we go. No, no, the glare.
SPEAKER_02You're gonna have to email that across. It's me being dressed up as Triton.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness, what a fantastic!
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so anyhow, I said you follow. So uh the calendar thing I can still relate to because it's it's very cost-effective. Yes, it's entertainment for full year for everyone. Yeah, we have like a uh like a group chat where everyone who attends the Christmas celebrations comes, and then every month now someone sends a little video how to change over the calendar page and all that stuff. It's just good fun, it's good.
SPEAKER_00It is, it's it's and it's so simple. Like I know, and it doesn't take long to do.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, I well, the costume dress up takes a while to be there.
SPEAKER_00But you've inspired me. I'm gonna float that idea with the family for next year.
SPEAKER_02And you have fun when you go to the costume shop together and you think about what themes you want to do, then you dress up and you think about the poses. It's actually quite entertaining.
SPEAKER_00That's fantastic, I love it.
SPEAKER_02Maybe it's not very straight, but hey, it's good fun.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And then when you have people come visit the house and they look at you with, look at the camera and be like, like I promise I'm a normal person.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. I never promise I'm a normal person, but that's okay. Lovely. Um, we're already at the end of the podcast. It was so much fun speaking to you, Melanie. Thanks for sharing your your journey.
SPEAKER_00No, thank you so much for having me. And you've committed now. I look forward to seeing you both at the next Melbourne time event.
SPEAKER_02Not just one of the next, but one off the next. One of the next.
SPEAKER_00One of, okay, in the within the next 12 months.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think it's being worked on. We'll have it out soon.
SPEAKER_02Okay, all right. I have one last question. So since 2025 was your year of yes, what's the theme for 2026?
SPEAKER_00Oh, that is a very good question.
SPEAKER_01I always have a backup for people who sneak around on a podcast before.
SPEAKER_00I think the year of family. So I think, and I know I've linked back to family a couple of times, but we've just had a little baby of our generation, the first one. Um, he it was my sister, and he she was actually due to have him on Christmas Day, but she had him on Boxing Day. So he's one day overdue. But to experience my family go into this next era of life, I'm I'm just I'm loving and watching my parents become grandparents for the first time. And so I'm being 2026 is just being present for them and being there for those for those moments and trying not travel too much for work so I can be a little bit there, more for them there.
SPEAKER_02That was beautiful and beautiful final words.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Melanie. Lovely, thank you so much. Thanks, everyone.
