Episode 164 Transcript
Heather Porter (00:06.422)
Camilla, welcome to the show. How are you?
Camilla (00:09.898)
I'm good, I'm really happy to be here, thank you.
Heather Porter (00:13.002)
I'm so looking forward to our chat. I purposefully hit record before asking you any meaningful questions. Cause I feel like what you're going to say is better being recorded than you and I having a catch up pre our talk. So welcome. You have a new book to talk about. You have a really interesting journey as well, which we'll, get stuck into. However, I love to start with some tangible takeaways. I know you're an entrepreneur at heart. You've had different businesses.
Camilla (00:24.492)
Yes, okay good. Thank you.
I'm just...
Heather Porter (00:40.394)
and you've even perhaps had burnout as you suggested. these tips are going to be really interesting coming from you. What are three things that you recommend, ballpark, for somebody to do in their business to stop that hustle culture and the constant grind and burnout.
Camilla (00:42.926)
So these tips are going to be really interesting coming from you. What are three things that you recommend, ballpark, for somebody to do in their business to stop that?
Camilla (00:57.326)
Yes, such a good question. think, look, self-awareness is step one. I think when I got burnt out, and I'm sure we'll talk more about this, I was lacking self-awareness. I was so in the grind, I was hustling, I was pushing, was managing two young kids, I was working in corporate, I had a leadership role, and I was just pushing all the time, and I didn't pick up the signs around me that I was struggling. I was trying to...
be that perfectionist, the best at everything. I was trying to keep everybody happy and that was a massive detriment and cost to myself. And I think my lack of self-awareness of how I was actually operating was quite shocking. I was like, I can't believe I haven't picked up the signs here. So I think being self-aware of how we're operating, looking at that rushing, hustling, there's an amazing book by Dr. Libby Weaver called The Rushing Woman, which literally changed my life.
Heather Porter (01:35.254)
Mm.
Camilla (01:52.374)
reading that book, because I suddenly realized I am so stuck in this hustle culture of just always on and always pushing and always trying to be my best. And you know, it's and that perfectionism that comes in particularly like when I got burnt out, I was working for another company, but I have had my own businesses since I was 26. So I can be really prone to workaholism and perfectionism. So I think knowing your
Heather Porter (01:52.469)
Okay.
Camilla (02:18.623)
limitations as well and knowing like, okay, I can feel that I'm pushing myself too hard here. So it just keeps coming back to that self-awareness piece. It's really important and slowing down and allowing yourself time to reset, particularly during the day. Like our brains are not set up to be going back to back like we are, you particularly online where we're using so much more glucose in the brain because we're trying to assess all the different cues. And if we're going back to back in video meetings,
by the end of the day, we can feel like a zombie. Our brain is like, literally, don't talk, can't talk to anyone else. So I think just taking breaks is so important, micro breaks. One of my hacks I talk about is being a plant. And plants need sunshine, they need water, they need air. And as humans, we need that to thrive as well. We need a bit of vitamin D, a bit of hydration, some breathing, and just taking five minutes every few hours just to have a micro break is so important.
Heather Porter (03:16.829)
It's so important and so important to the fact where I build it into my calendar. I didn't even think I should in the past. Yeah. But now it's like my time, break time buffer in between meetings, you know, yeah, it's so important, right? I know I hear you.
Camilla (03:21.985)
Mmm, I love that.
Camilla (03:26.529)
Yep. Yeah, yeah, we have to. There's actually something called our ultradium rhythms, which is kind of like similar to our circadian, our sleep wake cycle. But our ultradium is how our brain works and our cognitive functioning. And after about 90 to 120 minutes, the brain actually needs to reset. It needs like a micro break and it needs to not be on a screen. So really important, like, you know, making a cup of tea if you're working.
Heather Porter (03:38.485)
night.
Heather Porter (03:42.293)
Mm.
Camilla (03:52.802)
home putting the laundry out doing a bit of cleaning whatever it is but you're not on your phone it's like you close the tabs open in your brain so that's really important hmm
Heather Porter (04:01.398)
Interesting. like that. Okay. You made me think of something where you were talking about being a workaholic and a perfectionist. I have two step-sons and one of them when he was, he's now 22, but when he was 12, I remember he came out and I was in my home office and he goes, look, look, Heather, this is you. And he pretended like he was drinking something. And I said, well, what are you drinking? And he goes, that's called the workaholic drink.
Camilla (04:26.727)
ouch. Yeah, ouch. Kids can do that. my God, especially step kids. My husband's step kid to both my sons. So I know the cruelty that can come sometimes, but honest as well. Yeah.
Heather Porter (04:27.443)
And then he laughed and left the room. It really hit home.
Heather Porter (04:43.049)
Very honest. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to hear a little bit about your, your journey because you mentioned you worked in corporate, you've had businesses and you had a bit of burnout. Tell me more. What happened?
Camilla (04:54.637)
Yeah, look, I mean, I've always been an entrepreneur at heart. I think it's funny, I was thinking back to when I was a kid and I used to have stands all the time in our local village. I used to make things out of something called Fimo, which was like this sort of plasticine stuff and you'd put it in the oven and I'd sell it, right? So then I'd make all these weird things and then I'd set up a stall and sell them. And I was thinking about it the other day. I was like, God, I've always had that entrepreneur spirit from a young age. Anyway.
Heather Porter (05:10.494)
Yeah.
Camilla (05:21.357)
But I set my first business up in London when I was 26 with my ex-partner and we ran that in London and then we moved to Australia and we set it up in Sydney and Melbourne. So we had like a marketing agency here. So always like, even when I had my kids, was, you know, I remember like breastfeeding whilst doing tax returns whilst juggling and like, I've always, I am a classic hustler, I think. And that's something that as I've got older, I'm like, this isn't sustainable to the...
constantly be pushing. think, look, my dad is 80 this year and he still works pretty much full time. He's a film producer, director, he loves his work so much and his work has always been so important and such a priority. So I think as a role model, I looked at someone that always maybe prioritised work a little bit more than he should with other things in his life. And I've been prone to going into those places where I become very obsessed with my work. I love what I do.
Heather Porter (05:57.791)
Okay.
Heather Porter (06:13.045)
Yeah.
Camilla (06:19.66)
So I think that's, know, as entrepreneurs, when we love what we do, we can get caught up in 12, 14 hour days and then we're like, shit, we need to take a break. So I think, you know, over the years I've learned what works and what doesn't work for me and how far I can kind of push before I need to pull back. But yeah, and I worked for someone else in media as well for many years. And I think I was stuck in survival mode then. I think I was really...
trying to prove myself, I was in a new career, and I think I just lacked self-awareness and I pushed too hard.
Heather Porter (06:49.973)
Mm.
Heather Porter (06:55.143)
What happened? You mentioned you've faced burnout before. What happened when that happened?
Camilla (06:58.54)
Yeah, so look, I knew I wasn't well. I kept going to work. I had a sales target on me. I felt responsible for showing up in that business. I was the only person with young kids. I had left my kids dad when they were younger. They were three and eight. So I was a single mum for a bit. I was the only person with the income supporting them. So I had that financial survival stress mode on me.
Heather Porter (07:08.276)
Okay.
Camilla (07:27.314)
and I went into a new career. I started in media and worked my way up and up and up. And yeah, so I was eventually in this team. I was overcompensating. I was pushing really hard. And I knew I didn't feel right, but I kept going to work because I was like, no, can't be sick. Can't take time off. But I was blaming it on things like the full moon. was like, Mercury's in retrograde. I just feel really heavy. I feel really like, I feel heavy. Something's not right.
Heather Porter (07:46.821)
Okay. Yep. Yep.
Camilla (07:52.725)
Anyway, went into work and started having a really bad fever. So I left work thinking I had a virus, tried to drive home, started having a fever or fit where my jaw was going and I was shaking in the car. And I was like, this is not good. So pulled over, got picked up, got taken to the doctors and got told I had a kidney infection. And here's some antibiotics. They don't work within 24 hours, come back. Well, within 24 hours I was in A &E and I woke up in the morning and the doctor said, you were one sick.
Heather Porter (08:10.66)
my god.
Camilla (08:22.046)
lady, you had sepsis. And I was like, I didn't even realize how serious sepsis was. And I was like, all right, okay, what's that? And he's like, well, if you've gone to bed last night, you may have slipped into a coma because your organs potentially might've started, like they start slowing down and stopping. So I had such a bad infection in my body and two days prior to that, I'd been at work and I hadn't picked up the signs. So that's when I talk about self-awareness, like.
Heather Porter (08:24.22)
Heather Porter (08:45.882)
Mm. Mm. Okay.
Camilla (08:49.28)
How did I not pick up the signs? How did I not go, hey, I actually don't feel very well. I need to go and take some time off or I need to go see a doctor. Anyway, I then read that book, Rushing Women Syndrome in Hospital, Recovering, and I just went, my God, this is me. Every single page, I was like, what am I doing? I was like running on adrenaline and cortisol. I wasn't taking breaks. I was pushing in all areas of my life. It was exercise and trying to be the best mom and.
Heather Porter (09:01.268)
Okay.
Camilla (09:15.03)
trying to support my friends and trying to be a great leader at work and help and deliver on what I was trying to deliver on. So it was a big wake up call for me and I ended up setting up a wellbeing business and going into wellbeing and I've worked in corporate wellbeing for about the last nine years. Coaching people to not do what I did. Do not, yeah, do not follow, do not follow my rules around working too hard.
Heather Porter (09:38.119)
Interesting. Okay.
Heather Porter (09:45.255)
Okay, so you're doing that now you're actively coaching and mentoring other people. Yeah.
Camilla (09:49.581)
Yeah, so I work with executives and senior leaders. Everything I do is underpinned by wellbeing. I, know, a lot of my stuff's around performance, but also how do we balance performance with wellbeing and recovery. And so a lot of the stuff I'm doing in biohacking is about how do we recover? Like a lot of people that are working, we're like elite athletes, right? We're performing at such a high level, but we're not recovering. We're not taking time to rest.
Heather Porter (09:55.998)
Okay.
Camilla (10:15.614)
at weekends or during the day, we're not taking breaks. So we're just pushing ourselves too hard. And I've kind of been there, done it, got the t-shirt and no, it's not, it's not a good, it's not a good look.
Heather Porter (10:25.001)
Where does somebody start if they're, if they're so that that cycle of hustle is so ingrained into them, where do they start so they can take those breaks and start to have that self-awareness?
Camilla (10:37.92)
Well, I think we've got to look at ourselves and why we're doing it to ourselves. I think that's one thing of like, well, why are we pushing so hard? Why are we hustling? I think as business owners, it's really hard because you are the C-suite of everything, right? You're the CMO, you're the CEO, you're the CRO, you're everything. So it's like you're constantly shifting and wearing different hats. it's so hard to take a break because there's always something you can do. So I think you have to have boundaries.
Heather Porter (10:41.406)
Uh-huh.
Heather Porter (10:51.41)
Yeah.
Camilla (11:04.684)
You know, I talk to myself a lot. I know it's a sign of madness, but I'll call myself out on my BS. I'll be like, Camilla, walk away, stop, or you whatever it is, because you have to set boundaries. Otherwise I'll end up working till God knows when, but you know, you do have to have really strict boundaries and go, actually, enough's enough here. you know, I think that perfection is in peace is a real issue for business owners, because we just keep pushing and pushing. Nothing feels good enough. We're constantly striving.
Heather Porter (11:32.073)
we do.
We do. So you wrote a book, of course, which is recent. Tell me about the book. What's the name of it? And what do you talk about in the book?
Camilla (11:42.08)
Yeah, so the book's called Biohack Me and it's a guide, it's my personal story. So I talk about my burnout experience. I talk about I was very unwell. I lived in mold for about eight years in Rose Bay and no one knew what was wrong with me. I got really gaslit. I couldn't get any support. Eventually was told it was all in my head and got really sick in the end. we eventually found out I'd been poisoned by mold, went into a big recovery protocol. So this book is a lot of the stuff that I've done.
Heather Porter (11:52.501)
Mm. Mm.
Camilla (12:09.663)
to help me reverse chronic inflammation that I got diagnosed with from mold poisoning. I've also reversed my age by 10 years through all the things that I've been doing. And it's simple stuff. Like my book is, I wrote it to be accessible for people. Like biohacking globally for a lot of people feels really inaccessible because it's lots of people spending huge amounts of money on all these incredible, crazy, weird treatments and technologies.
Heather Porter (12:12.274)
Okay.
Heather Porter (12:17.159)
Wow.
Camilla (12:37.043)
and therapies, but actually the basics, the biohacking basics, which I talk about in my book, are those foundations to good health. And they're looking at sleep, know? Sleep is like our superpower, particularly when we're working like we're working, we have to prioritize our sleep. Nutrition, you know, what are we putting in our bodies? What are we fueling ourselves with? What's the quality of the fuel that we're putting in? That's really important. Our mindset, you know, like how do we view aging as a massive thing? Like we talk about anti-aging, but...
Heather Porter (13:06.356)
Mm.
Camilla (13:06.367)
let's talk about pro-aging rather than it being a negative thing. gut health, that's really important. Everything starts in the gut from a disease perspective and our mood. And so really important that we're focusing on our gut health, recovery, what are we doing to rest and give ourselves permission to recharge? So my book looks at lots of evidence-based hacks that we can do to help ourselves live longer, healthier, happier lives.
Heather Porter (13:33.588)
Would you mind sharing a few of those hacks if you could choose say your top few favorite ones specifically? What are they?
Camilla (13:40.504)
Yes. So I think from an exercise perspective, rebounding is one of my favorites, which is like a little trampoline. Have you got one or you've done it? Yeah, so good. It's like 15 minutes and it's the equivalent, NASA did a big study. It's equivalent to like half an hour in the gym or something. So you get double the time. It's like going for a run for half an hour. So I love rebounding. Most of us can find 15 minutes in our day and it's a full body workout. So that's a hack I love for just moving and exercising.
Heather Porter (13:45.084)
Yes! I have one! Yep!
Camilla (14:08.893)
Another good hack for, I think we talked about the plant hack for breaks, just five minutes of just a bit of breathing, some proper hydration. Like a lot of us are drinking so much water, but we're not actually hydrating properly. So I put Celtic sea salt in my water just to help remineralize it, put some of those electrolytes in. So it really helps. Our body's basically like the ocean on the inside. So that really helps us to hydrate properly and hydration gives us energy. So that's a really important hack.
Heather Porter (14:26.358)
Okay.
Camilla (14:38.891)
Sleep packs, honey is something that really works like manuka or raw honey after dinner or before bed. really helps to, your body's, our brain is really active as we sleep. We think that we're just like dead to the world, but we're not. Our brain's like going chk chk chk chk and uses a lot of glucose. It uses glycogen in our liver.
And when we have honey in the body, mimics that glycogen. So the body, well, the brain will use that as its initial first source and then it will tap into its secondary source. So that helps a lot of people sleep through the night just by giving them that energy for their body to use so they don't wake up.
Heather Porter (15:17.353)
Such a good hack. Cause I do love my honey, but a question for you. Can you put it in hot tea? Does it, does it hurt it or is it better to take raw or what? Yeah. Yeah.
Camilla (15:25.727)
Look, raw is better and it needs to be raw or unfiltered or manuka. Like it can't be the squeezy honey, because that will shoot your blood sugar up and your insulin. But look, there are some like Ayurvedic principles say you shouldn't heat honey. You shouldn't warm it too much because it loses some of its natural properties. But you you can. I do, I make a winter tonic and I put it in at the end when it's warm, but boiling it, probably not. But yeah, looks, the spoonful of honey helps the medicine go down.
Heather Porter (15:33.289)
Yep.
Heather Porter (15:48.178)
Yeah.
Heather Porter (15:52.82)
my gosh, so good.
Camilla (15:55.444)
I know, but yeah, so that's a good hack. There's so many, my goodness, there's so many simple things we can do. Like, mean, intermittent fasting is another great one for aging. That really helps. Like when I did my research, like I kept coming back to fasting for helping with things like telomeres. Telomeres sort of get shorter as we age and fasting helps to extend the length of telomeres. Fasting helps to get rid of our zombie cells. So it puts our body into autophagy.
Heather Porter (16:23.348)
right.
Camilla (16:25.653)
which sort of gets rid of these senescent zombie cells, which are these old cells in our body. And it supports our mitochondria, which is like our internal battery, which is like our power source, where all of our kind of ATP, our energy is produced. So fasting like minimum 12 hours a day, you know, like we don't need to be eating all the time. Our body needs to do other work than digestion.
Heather Porter (16:49.296)
Absolutely. I love this so much. So in your book is are these hacks? they little how tos? Are they concepts? Like if I were to read it, would I walk away having a bit of a toolkit of what to do? Yeah. so good. Yeah.
Camilla (16:51.627)
So in your.
Camilla (16:59.635)
Yes, yeah, there's toolkits, it's a guide. So there's so much in there and it's like, and then I've got case studies as well from clients who I've sort of renamed and jigs around, but then we're talking about how you can apply it and what's going on and, know, whether we're talking about biohacking the brain and what we can do. Like that's one of our biggest fears. Fear of growing old, FOGO, is cognitive decline, right? So there's so much we can do. Like my book is about empowering people to...
Heather Porter (17:07.174)
Okay.
Heather Porter (17:23.059)
Yeah.
Camilla (17:28.061)
about preventative health, right? And personalised health. Like we don't have to be a victim to ageing. There's so much we can do to prevent decline, but we have to start in our 40s, 50s, 60s.
Heather Porter (17:30.089)
Mm.
Heather Porter (17:39.752)
Yeah. When you say you reversed your age by about 10 years, which by the way, amazing. Did you essentially follow the protocols that you put in the book?
Camilla (17:48.779)
Yeah, look, I did, for me it was things like, look, nutrition is key for me. Like I always eat really good food. I go to farmers markets. I support local butchers, farmers, veggie shops where you get good quality products with nutrients in. So I'm diet is massive in nutrition. So always fueling myself. know, saunas is probably one of my go-to. I have one in my garage in infrared. That's so good. It's like the best thing you'll ever buy.
Heather Porter (18:03.623)
Yes.
Heather Porter (18:15.468)
heaven.
Camilla (18:18.322)
Like I saw something today on socials that was saying every house should have a sauna because they do in like Scandinavian countries they do. They've got it right. They've got it right. But yeah, so I when I was ill with mold poisoning, saunas were like my lifeline because it would help me sweat and detox out the mold. So I use them every other day. So that's something I really think has helped with age reversal, nutrition, cold showers, prioritizing sleep. Like it's nothing too crazy.
Heather Porter (18:18.834)
Yeah. Yeah.
Heather Porter (18:23.218)
Yes.
Yes!
Camilla (18:47.882)
that's done it, I think. My main problem was that I had really high levels of inflammation in my body. Like I was like literally on fire, my blood's with a chronic inflammation. And my goal was to reverse that by, you know, just reducing down things that caused inflammation in my body. Things like refined sugars, you know, gluten for me doesn't work. Certain dairy, like I do eat sheep and goat, but just looking at things that cause inflammation in my body.
Heather Porter (19:06.132)
incredible.
Camilla (19:17.474)
And so I managed to reverse that and get up into a really high percentile for low inflammation. So that was my goal, but the 10 years is great to have that on as well.
Heather Porter (19:27.806)
Yeah. And for people listening that are not, this is maybe newer for them. What, do you test for inflammation? Do you ask your GP a certain like test, blood test?
Camilla (19:36.617)
Yeah, look, you can, you can get inflammatory markers tested. So, but it just depends what access GPs have for certain tests. So sometimes you can do it through functional doctors and naturopaths. So they have access to much more comprehensive testing, but they can definitely still check for inflammation markers, the GP. I did a test out of the UK called GlycanAge and that tests glycans and glycans are things in our body that we can measure inflammation from.
Heather Porter (19:40.872)
Okay.
Heather Porter (19:49.725)
Right.
Heather Porter (19:59.529)
Mm-hmm.
Camilla (20:05.866)
And so that's the biological age test that I did. And so it measures those glycans and then it gives you your biological age. So, know, chronologically I'm 48, biologically I'm 38. So that's good. I mean, some people have, I don't know if you've heard of Brian Johnson, the crazy biohacker, he's the Netflix series, don't die. He's 18, he's reversed himself to 18. He's same age as me, frightening.
Heather Porter (20:16.296)
Incredible.
Heather Porter (20:25.582)
I was literally just gonna say, yeah, I was gonna mention that funnily enough.
Camilla (20:34.494)
I don't even say major's his son, it's like what the hell?
Heather Porter (20:37.502)
However, the work that goes into that is obscene and the money, right? Yeah.
Camilla (20:39.658)
Oh, it's insane. It's like, I think he spent $2 million US in a year. I mean, it's his full-time job. And to be honest, he's a human experiment on what we thought was possible. But I do believe that some of what he's done is now reverse, is now accelerating his age. I haven't read it, but someone mentioned that to me. So I might fact-checked it, it's, yeah, but it is like so many supplements. It's like, that can't be good for the body. Like too many.
Heather Porter (20:51.624)
Yeah. Yeah.
Heather Porter (21:01.172)
gone maybe a little too far in some areas. Yeah.
Camilla (21:09.01)
rattling around like
Heather Porter (21:09.044)
So speaking of supplements, I'm really curious of your take on that as well, because that's a huge thing, right? Your supplements stack for biohacking. So what are your thoughts about it?
Camilla (21:13.578)
Mmm.
Camilla (21:19.39)
Look, I am food first where you can, but the quality of your food has to be good. So you need to be getting it from a local farm where they haven't sprayed the crap out of it. And you you need to make sure the quality of your food that you're consuming, you're getting those nutrients. So always food first, but I'm always test first as well. So like test for deficiencies rather than blindly taking stuff. Like there's some supplements like, know, vitamin C, magnesium,
Heather Porter (21:23.709)
Nice.
Heather Porter (21:40.552)
Okay.
Camilla (21:48.67)
You know, things like that, that kind of standard, we are gonna be deficient. We can't produce enough magnesium. We can't produce enough vitamin C, like three foods. Like we're just not gonna do it. So those are kind of like, yeah, you can probably go with that. But you can get tested for so many other things now. And I'm like test before you, you know, just start chucking loads of supplements down your neck. It's such a huge industry. There's so much crap out there. Cheap, plastic, sitting in your gut.
Heather Porter (22:14.228)
crazy.
Camilla (22:17.033)
disrupting your liver, like we don't know the impact of some of these supplements. So we've got to be careful.
Heather Porter (22:22.994)
Yeah, no, I'm really thank you for saying that because you get on the socials, you're just good. You get on these little rabbit holes. Yeah, it's very overwhelming. And every day there's a new supplement or supplement brand and it's targeting your age bracket and all of that. So yeah, thank you.
Camilla (22:25.053)
Mmm.
Camilla (22:34.409)
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's huge. And I think that the NAD stuff is really interesting. a lot of people in Australia are taking supplements for the like called NMN or NR, which helps to boost our NAD. Once we hit 40, we stopped producing so much NAD. Yes.
Heather Porter (22:42.772)
Mm.
Heather Porter (22:54.234)
I've seen this. is it, it real? Is it good?
Camilla (22:58.887)
Look, the studies that have been done, so a guy called Dr. David Sinclair, who's an Aussie doctor, but he's based in the US, he did a huge piece of research, but it was on mice. And the results were incredible. And there has been human trials now. Look, I personally took it, and I took NMN, and it was completely amazing. And it lit up my brain, and I had energy like I hadn't had in years.
Heather Porter (23:01.395)
Yeah.
Heather Porter (23:18.589)
Okay.
Heather Porter (23:22.47)
Okay.
Camilla (23:22.983)
So it really worked for me, but I got tested. So I did an NAD test, blood test, to find out actually if I needed it before I started taking it. So this is the thing, like we can take stuff for a month. If you feel better, great. But I always say test first, see if you need it. Because I don't want to be taking too much stuff. when I was going through my mold detox for 18 months, I was on so many supplements. It was, A, tens of thousands of dollars.
but just so, it was so overwhelming. So now I'm trying to minimize like what's important and trying to do more food-based supplements if I can. Like the vitamin C I take is food-based. it's Kakuru palm and things like that, which has got the highest dose of vitamin C rather than ascorbic vitamin C. So there's lots of options now of stuff we can do that's not so strong on the tummy and strong on the organs.
Heather Porter (24:07.645)
Okay.
Heather Porter (24:16.116)
Thank you for your book and making biohacking more accessible because it's something I feel like everyone wants is a little bit overwhelmed with the term and where to get started. So it sounds to me like your book is an amazing resource for this. I want to ask you a question about your business. So what do you feel that you've done exceptionally well in the last year?
Camilla (24:33.31)
Yes.
Camilla (24:39.441)
In the last year, right. Okay, good question. What have I done well in the last year? I think really being disciplined about self care. I think because I'm talking about all these things to look after yourself and to buy back yourself and to help you live longer and increase your health span, I'm making sure that I definitely do as much of that as I can.
So I think I really prioritize exercise. really prioritize, you I love my sauna, my red light therapy, you know, having going to yoga and doing more restorative stuff as well and walking and being in nature and grounding and all those things. So I think for me just really being true to my book because, you know, I've got three businesses. I have a business, mold remediation testing business. I have two brands as well, plus I've written a book. So.
Like I've been working some ridiculous hours, like 5 a.m. writing my book, because that's my time and my brain's like, yay. But I think I've just been really honoring self care and making sure that, you know, yeah, this is a busy time for me, but I still need to prioritize that time. So I think that's what I've done well is really staying true to self care this year and having boundaries.
Heather Porter (25:37.864)
Yeah
Heather Porter (25:56.565)
Nice. Now you mentioned you have your three businesses. So who can work with you? Tell me more.
Camilla (26:00.521)
So look, well with my coaching, I do one-on-one coaching programs. So my Supercharge Your Life coaching program, which starts with a DNA methylation profile test, which was a swab. And that gives us like a blueprint of your genetics where we can then really personalize and tailor what foods you should eat, what exercise you should do.
you know, how your body detoxes and methylates. It will talk about if you do need supplementation, what are those gaps? So what are your genes struggling to produce because of that profile? We look at how we manage stress and dopamine. And if we're, you know, prone to different things like mold illness and yeah, so looks, so genetic profiling is really important. So that's one of my programs that I do. That's a three month coaching program and that's really personalized. And I host retreats as well. So I've got one in Bali.
Heather Porter (26:50.439)
Okay.
Camilla (26:53.861)
in September for women only fifth to the 10th, which is going to be fabulous. So that's at Revivo Wellness, is a beautiful and used to do a beautiful retreat there. So, and then I do keynotes. So I do a lot of speaking. So corporate keynotes, I do something called We Can Do Hard Things, which is about resilience and how we can turn adversity into our advantage. And so that's really about finding, I talk about finding the gold in the shit. So when we...
Heather Porter (26:55.22)
Nice!
Heather Porter (27:02.094)
Ugh.
Heaven.
Heather Porter (27:17.223)
Okay.
Heather Porter (27:21.972)
Ha
Camilla (27:22.771)
We're going through shit, there's the poo emoji, where is the gold? And try to find that because when we're going through stuff, it's really hard to see that there's gonna be any positive outcome or that there is a gift, right? And there always is, there's always learnings, particularly as business owners, you're like, what did I just go through? But you know, where have I grown through this? What have I learned? So.
Heather Porter (27:28.179)
Heather Porter (27:44.892)
Yeah. One of my, favorite things I learned was how to embrace failure. Look, just reframe what failure is and what it means to you. And that's actually just simply a stepping stone. So yeah.
Camilla (27:49.725)
Mmm.
Camilla (27:55.611)
It is, but we put shame, we associate shame with it. That's the thing. And then it's the emotions that go with it. Whereas if we keep it as like, you know, more practical and not get so emotionally invested, but yeah.
Heather Porter (28:08.498)
What's something that you wish you could have done better in the last year? If you went back to you last year, middle of winter, and you're like, okay, Camilla, like, tell me, tell me what I could do better.
Camilla (28:19.336)
Tell me what I could do better.
What could I do better? I think something that I, that I, I, something I've done differently in this business, in my biohacking business and with this book, is I have got amazing people helping me. I've never had that. So in my other businesses, I have tried to do everything myself all the time. And even when I was in business with someone else previously, we did everything ourselves.
Heather Porter (28:25.785)
Mmm.
Heather Porter (28:41.009)
Okay.
Camilla (28:49.426)
Whereas now I have people to help me. have like, you know, a web guy that helps me. I have a social media person that helps me. I've got some AI stuff that helps me, know, CRMs. I've got PR people that help me. So I think what I've just having people to support me in my business, even though literally pretty much everything I earn goes into paying other people, like pretty much. It's like, you know, it's just anyway.
It means that it frees me up to be able to do the stuff I love, which I haven't been able to do over the last couple of years. I was stuck in a business where I was very much admin related. I wasn't doing the creative piece that I love and that the content creation and being able to write and have that creativity spark because you're so in the detail of all the crap and the admin. I think just having the right people to support you, that's been such a massive investment. And I'm just so grateful to have people.
Heather Porter (29:29.672)
Yeah.
Camilla (29:46.472)
rather than having to do it all yourself. It's so overwhelming.
Heather Porter (29:49.374)
Thanks for your honesty on that one. No, so it's so true. It really, I mean, yeah.
Camilla (29:52.913)
Yeah, it's hard because it's a cost to you financially and it's like, but for me, it's like, it's worth every dollar. And it's like, now that I invest in other people to support me, it's just, it's so worth it.
Heather Porter (30:04.435)
Yeah, and so many people need what you're teaching and what you're saying right now. So many. So I'm glad that you've made that shift as well so you can get out there to more people. Important. how do people work with you if they want to know more?
Camilla (30:14.12)
Thank you. Yeah.
Camilla (30:18.994)
So you can jump on my website, www.biohackney.com.au. There's a free biohacking guide on there as well. And you can also look at my coaching programs, retreats, my book. Socials is at Biohack Me Coach and at the Wellness Coach, my two brands. And if anyone's got mold questions, I've got a mold safe business, but we're only on the central coast. It's called moldsafe.com.au. But that's purely central coast support. And we do testing and remediation and the whole.
whole support system around mold, because so many of us are living in mold, unfortunately. One in two, yeah. Yep, one in two houses, yeah. Yeah, people are living in mold, yeah. And it's, I've just, I've been on a mold detox again this year. We found it in our new house that we've been in for a few years, and I was so complacent, and I did a urine test and found out that I had black mold in my system again. I was like, where has this come from?
Heather Porter (30:53.904)
so many of us especially in the Sydney area yeah one in two god
Camilla (31:16.658)
tested our house and it was in our house. So we've ripped up all our carpets, we've had the whole house remediated, but like, and I'm so fastidious, right? And it happens to many of us. So we're fighting against the elements here in Australia. it's, every house needs a dehumidifier and an air purifier. They're just like game-changers just to get the moisture out. And also the air purifiers with HEPA filters suck in the mold spores. So just cleans the air for us. So yeah.
Heather Porter (31:36.468)
Mm.
Heather Porter (31:45.002)
Really good pointer, thank you, because I got back, was actually in the UK a couple weeks ago and you know, it's nicer weather and I got back to my place and I immediately started to feel exhausted and sneezing and allergies and we found some mold downstairs. huh, so very, yeah.
Camilla (31:57.544)
you
Did you? Okay, so you're sensitive like me. Yeah. Have you got a dehum? Like a dehumidifier down there?
Heather Porter (32:07.343)
Now I am after this conversation. Yes.
Camilla (32:09.968)
Yeah, you've got so Ozclimate, like I'm not affiliated with them at all, but that's who we recommend is Ozclimate and they've got fantastic dehumidifiers. I mean, you'll freak out the amount of water you start emptying, but it's so worth it. But the air purifiers are great. And there's one that's got like green, amber, red, and it tells you the air quality. And they've got really good HEPA filters. So they're going to suck in all those mold spores. So, and they're not honestly like...
Heather Porter (32:28.277)
Ugh.
Camilla (32:34.184)
300 bucks each or something, both units. It's not stupid prices. Absolute have to have them. Prevention. Yeah.
Heather Porter (32:36.628)
my god.
I'm sorry. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And if one and two people have this issue, which I'm very aware that they do because I see it and hear it and others as well. What a really beautiful piece of advice to share with people. yeah, thank you.
Camilla (32:47.516)
That's, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. It all comes back to prevention. Like I think, you know, my book's about preventative health and the same with things like mold. We've just got to try and prevent what we're, yeah, so.
Heather Porter (33:01.321)
Yeah. So good. As we start to wrap up and say goodbye to everyone, is there any last, I don't know, piece of advice or something that you'd like to share with our listeners?
Camilla (33:13.736)
A good friend of mine gave me some great advice, which was hold your nerve. And that stuck with me because I was going through a difficult time and, know, self doubt as a business owner, like imposter syndrome, self doubt. I call it Mrs. Doubtfire, Mrs. Imposter when they come and visit me and they're in my head. And a good friend of mine, just, I was going through a difficult time. She just said, hold your nerve. And it stuck with me because it's like, just hold your nerve, back yourself.
you we've got this. Sometimes you just feel like you wanna run away or you wanna give up. It's gone through my head so many times. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Like it's not easy, right? It's just, it's not easy having your own business and even just life in general and work. it's, you know, life is challenging. So I think we've got to back ourselves. We've got to hold on we've got to know that we're gonna come through. Things are temporary, they're not permanent. Would be my last word.
Heather Porter (34:07.702)
What a great way to end this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here and sharing and it's been a beautiful conversation. Thank you.
Camilla (34:11.377)
Thank you.
Camilla (34:15.919)
Yeah, loved it. Thanks so much.
