Episode //007 of the Unshakable Leaders 100 Series

In this honest, grounded, and free flowing kōrero, I sit down with Cory Ratahi — creator of The Chew Queenstown Podcast, the man behind @arrowtowndad on TikTok, and a true Tāhuna legend. Cory is known for his humour and relatability, but beneath that is a deep commitment to culture, community, and showing up when it matters.

This conversation moves like it needed to. Cory and I co host, going back and forth on leadership that isn’t chosen, branded, or self appointed, but born from necessity. We talk about being Tangata Tiriti, reclaiming culture, and the long, non linear journey of reconnecting to who you are when colonisation, disconnection, and survival have shaped your early life.

Cory shares his journey of reclaiming te reo Māori, honouring his māmā's wishes, and how learning his language fundamentally changed who he is. He speaks openly about being a reluctant leader, not driven by ego or recognition, but by duty, opportunity, and responsibility to the community. Leadership, for Cory, is not a role. It is the work that needs doing when you are able to do it.

We explore:

💡 Leadership as duty, not identity, and what it means to lead because someone has to
💡 Reclaiming culture and language as an act of healing, belonging, and self respect
💡 Tangata Tiriti, shared responsibility, and creating safe spaces for learning without fear or perfection

This episode is a reminder that leadership often looks quiet, practical, and deeply relational. It grows from care, grief, responsibility, and love for community. If you’ve ever questioned whether you are a leader, this kōrero gently but clearly shows that leadership often finds us before we ever name it.

Have a listen, subscribe, and share with someone who leads without calling it leadership. Reach out to @gemmarosepeacock on socials and tell me which part of the conversation stayed with you.

📌 Find Cory
🔗 The Chew Queenstown Podcast on Youtube
📱 TikTok & IG: @arrowtowndad

📌 Find Gemma
🔗 gemmarosepeacock.com | @gemmarosepeacock

Episode //006 of the Unshakable Leaders 100 Series

💛 This episode touches briefly on suicide and mental health. Please listen with care and reach out for support if it brings anything up for you. 💛

In this grounded and deeply real conversation, I sit down with Nerida Mills, a Psychosomatic Master, lover of human behaviour, and founder of the Life as Medicine philosophy and coach certification. Based in Perth, WA, she shares her mission to minimise unnecessary suffering in the world by helping people see that life is always guiding us through the challenges and pain points of everyday experience, the breadcrumbs leading us home.

Nerida’s message is both practical and spiritual: life isn’t punishing us; it’s preparing us. Every challenge carries the lesson we need next, and when we learn to listen rather than resist, we spend less time in suffering and more time in grace. She also shares her own healing journey of living with undiagnosed Lyme disease for nearly two decades before finally discovering it and going on to cure it. Her story is a testament to the body’s capacity to heal and her belief that transformation happens when we work with life, not against it.

We explore:

💡 Life as Medicine in practice, using everyday experiences as pathways to growth and healing
💡 Boundaries as a lever for influence, and how stronger boundaries create grounded, authentic leadership
💡 Integration over performance, and why real leaders live the work, not just talk about it

If you’ve ever felt shaken, disconnected from your body, or unsure of your path, this conversation will remind you that leadership is innate, challenge is your teacher, and your life is medicine.

📌 Find Nerida
🔗 neridamills.com | IG + FB: @neridamills
📖 Life as Medicine — her debut book, coming soon (join the early release list on her website)

Have a listen, subscribe, and share with a friend to grow this movement of one-conversation-at-a-time leadership. Reach out to @gemmarosepeacock on socials and tell me which moment lit you up.

📌 Find Gemma
🔗 gemmarosepeacock.com | @gemmarosepeacock

🎧 Begin your journey with my free Self-Trust Audio Series
go.gemmarosepeacock.com/conversations

#UnshakableLeaders #RealPeopleLeadingRealChange

**Side note: We are back! I lost my voice for a few weeks hence the gap between episode**

Episode //005 of the Unshakable Leaders 100 Series

In this empowering and heartfelt episode, I sit down with Stacey Adams, a money coach who knows what it means to stay quiet and what it takes to finally speak up.

Stacey shares openly about her journey of finding her voice, the lessons she uncovered about her mum since her recent passing, and how both silence and support shaped the way she now leads. From personal challenges to bold breakthroughs, her story is one of courage, healing, and turning lived experience into leadership.

We explore:

💡 What it really means to speak up boldly in life and leadership
💡 The money stories that hold so many of us back and how to break free
💡 The wisdom Stacey discovered about her mum after her passing and how it deepened her own journey
💡 How Stacey turned her experiences into a mission to help others
💡 Why money is not just about numbers but about voice, value, and freedom
💡 Practical shifts to create more space, confidence, and empowerment with money

Whether you have struggled to speak up, wrestled with your own money story, or you are ready to step into more freedom and confidence, Stacey’s episode will leave you inspired and reminded that change begins when we use our voice.


📌 Find Stacey
🔗staceyadams.co.nz or on IG @staceyadams_moneycoach

Have a listen, subscribe and share with a friend to grow this movement of one conversation at a time leadership. Reach out to @gemmarosepeacock on socials to let me know which moment lit you up.

📌 Find Gemma

🔗gemmarosepeacock.com | @gemmarosepeacock

👉 Join the Space to Lead community 👈

On Substack for more nourishing tools and community all rooted in your unique leadership

https://gemmarosepeacock.substack.com/

#UnshakableLeaders #RealPeopleLeadingRealChange

This episode is a powerful reminder that leadership doesn’t start when someone gives you permission - it starts the moment you decide to stop hiding.

I sit down with Amy McLean - founder of Te Kainga Wāhine - an Indigenous-led initiative that uplifts wāhine (women) through culturally grounded business and leadership development.

Amy’s journey has taken her from the quiet corners of accounting and corporate roles… to the front of the room, where she now leads with aroha, commitment, and a deep sense of purpose.

This episode is for you if:
✅ You’ve been stuck in the background, supporting others but hiding your own power
✅ You’re ready to lead not just for yourself, but for the next generation
✅ You’ve felt the tension between who you “should” be and who you really are
✅ You’re ready to stop talking and start moving

We explore:
🌿 Reindigenising leadership and returning to collective power
🌿 The cost of staying silent and why courage is a requirement, not a bonus
🌿 What burnout reveals about misalignment
🌿 Why wāhine need spaces created by wāhine, for wāhine
🌿 Letting go of roles, brands, and expectations that no longer fit
🌿 The moment Amy stepped into the front of the room and never looked back
🌿 Why your mission must matter more than your fear

Amy’s story is raw, reflective, and resolute. A kōrero for the wāhine who know they’re here for more and are ready to lead in a way that actually feels like them.

Your time is now. Show up. Lead the way.

📌 Find Amy
🔗 tekaingawahine.co.nz, on IG @tekaingawahine

Have a listen, subscribe and share with a friend to grow this movement of one conversation at a time leadership. Reach out to @gemmarosepeacock on socials to let me know which moment lit you up.

👉 Join the Space to Lead community 👈

On Substack for more nourishing tools and community all rooted in your unique leadership

https://gemmarosepeacock.substack.com/

#UnshakableLeaders #RealPeopleLeadingRealChange

[Video version available on Youtube]

In this dynamic and deeply human conversation, I sit down with Neil Meekin - Liverpool born, Wirral based and soon to be Queenstown local again - to uncover how his journey from council-estate child and army cadet to global Family and Systemic Constellations facilitator fuels his mission to spark profound change. He’s championing a surge of transformation by helping entrepreneurs, social enterprises and community leaders surface hidden patterns, set courageous boundaries and reclaim their unshakeable leadership for the good of their families, their teams and their worlds.

We explore

🧭 Family and Systemic Constellations as a mirror to surface hidden beliefs, values and family lineage blocks
🧭 The power of mirroring questions to help you self recognize your innate leadership qualities
🧭 How presence, as a felt state not just a concept, creates trust, psychological safety and influence
🧭 Shifting from the "me" to the "we" through co-leadership and indigenous organizing principles
🧭 Re-indigenising our leadership by walking ancestral lands and reclaiming Celtic wisdom

Key Takeaways

⚡ True leadership lives in your boundaries, learn to say no without guilt and watch your leverage skyrocket
⚡ You cannot change what you cannot see, use constellations or trusted mirrors to unveil the roots of your insecurities
⚡ Presence is your superpower, cultivate the felt sense of being fully here and everything around you steadies
⚡ Leadership scales when it shifts from ego to eco, move from lone wolf to collaborative brain trust and spark systemic impact
⚡ Reclaim your ancestral wisdom and you reclaim your sovereignty, step onto your elders pathways and let your leadership blossom

“Set the lever where you get the most change, start with your boundaries and watch the world rearrange itself.” – Neil Meekin

📌 Find Neil here

neilmeekin.com

@neilmeekin.com_pooloflife on Instagram and Facebook

Have a listen, subscribe and share with a friend to grow this movement of one conversation at a time leadership. Reach out to @gemmarosepeacock on socials to let me know which moment lit you up.

👉 Join the Space to Lead community 👈

On Substack for more nourishing tools and community all rooted in your unique leadership

https://gemmarosepeacock.substack.com/

#UnshakableLeaders #RealPeopleLeadingRealChange

[Video version available on Youtube]

In this energising and deeply human conversation, I sit down with the remarkable Katie Godden, rural country girl, educator, public speaker, mum and leadership advocate, to reveal how one powerful pause and one authentic conversation can transform lives. Katie takes us on her journey from primary classrooms in New South Wales to global training rooms and now to leading change one dialogue at a time.

We explore

🧭 Katie’s speak pause respond technique that shifts energy and authority in any room

🧭 The secret power of asking “What is needed here?” before choosing our words

🧭 How tiny, heart-led conversations create grassroots ripples of impact

🧭 Katie’s framework for self-awareness, tuning into your values, your north star and your inner compass

🧭 The messy, scrappy process of testing, pivoting and owning your role whether you’re mum, trainer or CEO

Key Takeaways

⚡ Leadership lives in your pause; responding rather than reacting creates space for real connection

⚡ Awaken your inner compass by asking “What do I need?” and “What do they need?” in every exchange

⚡ Small shifts in tone, timing and intent can redirect someone’s entire trajectory

⚡ True power comes from trusting yourself, leaning into uncertainty and learning as you go

“Lean in and trust yourself, let your voice ignite the change only you can make.” – Katie Godden

📌 Find Katie here

https://katiegodden.com

@katie.godden on Instagram and Facebook

Have a listen, subscribe and share with a friend to grow this movement of one conversation at a time leadership. Reach out to @gemmarosepeacock on socials to let me know which moment lit you up.

👉 Join the Space to Lead community 👈

On Substack for more nourishing tools and community all rooted in your unique leadership

https://gemmarosepeacock.substack.com/

#UnshakableLeaders #RealPeopleLeadingRealChange

[Video version available on Youtube]

In this powerful and soulful episode, I sit down with the incredible Jade Varopana Benioni, founder of the Kapa Ora Collective, for a kōrero (conversation) that weaves ancestral wisdom, human design, and purpose-led entrepreneurship.

Jade shares the story of how she transitioned from her first business Unearth Your Worth into the kaupapa-driven Kapa Ora Collective , a re-indigenised, community-centred initiative that honours her Māori and Cook Islands heritage and supports others to lead from their truest self.

We explore:

• The roots and meaning behind the Kapa Ora Collective
• What it means to lead with a “little i” in service of the collective
• How Jade re-indigenised her business by shifting from linear, Western strategies to cyclical, ancestral ones
• The role of human design and gene keys in helping people come home to their natural selves
• The courage it takes to evolve your business and let go of identities that no longer align
• ... And so much more!

Whether you're at a crossroads, feeling the call to realign, or exploring your own whakapapa (roots/ancestry) and purpose, this episode will nourish your wairua (spirit) and spark reflection on how you show up in your life and leadership.

Key Takeaways:

• Leadership isn’t about ego - it’s about honouring your gifts in service of the collective.
• You can reimagine your business by honouring your roots and listening deeply to what wants to emerge.
• Human design and gene keys offer powerful frameworks for returning to your true self.
• Sometimes, evolving means letting go of what once worked in order to step into who you’ve become.

”...pretty much how I’ve built Kapa Ora to this day is listening. And when the visions or the ideas would come, I would action. And if they were easy—if they just popped out—then I’d carry on. Because I knew I was working in alignment with my tūpuna.” – Jade Varopana Benioni

Find Jade here:

https://www.kapaoracollective.com/

@jadebenioni

Have a listen, subscribe & share with a friend to be part of the ripple effect that these conversations have.

Do reach out to @gemmarosepeacock on socials to share what you go out of the episode.

Join Space to Lead on Substack for more nurturing resources & community all centred around nurturing the roots of your leadership

#UnshakableLeaders #RealPeopleLeadingRealChange