Ash Paraskevas had kissed girls long before she ever had sex with a woman. She would make out with girls in high school and tell herself it was something she was doing for attention. But after seven years in a heterosexual relationship, Ash could no longer ignore her feelings towards women. As scary as it was to leave her long-term relationship, she knew she had to do it if she was ever going to live authentically as a lesbian.

In part two of our conversation, Ash shares how it felt to leave the safe space of her relationship, and how she started to explore her feelings with women, including her first time, how she learned to have sex with women, and how she learned to accept herself as a lesbian.

If you missed part one of our conversation, catch up here: https://pod.fo/e/23735c

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KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Join our closed KICPOD Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630561419185145/
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram & @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Laura Henshaw @laura.henshaw on Instagram & @laura.henshaw on Tiktok
Ash Paraskevas @ashparaskevas on Instagram
Kic @kic.app on Instagram & @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com or download the app from the App Store and Google Play Store

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we answer your D&M about how to decline an invite to an overseas wedding.

You said: “I don’t know how to handle telling my best friend that I may not be at her wedding.”

We share our thoughts on overseas weddings and the expectations placed on guests to attend - often at large financial expense.

Plus we asked you to spill your celebrity run in stories! Usain Bolt, Princess Mary, and even…us!?

SPECIAL SHARES

• Steph: the podcast 'Pop Culture Parenting' with Dr Billy Garvey and Nick McCormack https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/pop-culture-parenting/id1600660063
• Steph: the book 'Ten things I wish you knew about your child's mental health' by Dr Billy Garvey https://www.penguin.com.au/books/ten-things-i-wish-you-knew-about-your-childs-mental-health-9781761345838

• Laura: no special share this week, sorry!!

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KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Join our closed KICPOD Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630561419185145/
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram & @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Laura Henshaw @laura.henshaw on Instagram & @laura.henshaw on Tiktok
Kic @kic.app on Instagram & @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com or download the app from the App Store and Google Play Store

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One in six people with vulvas reported feeling anxious or embarrassed about the way their labia looks. The recently published Labia Diversity Report from Women’s Health Victoria surveyed 1,030 women and people with labia aged between 18-50 about how they feel about their labia. They found 31% of those surveyed associated their labia with words like ‘weird’, ‘disgusting’ or ‘ugly’ and one in four Gen-Z were anxious about the way their labia looked.

In this special bonus episode of KICPOD, Laura sits down with Ellie Sedgwick, from Comfortable In My Skin, a platform where she shares photos and stories of the enormous diversity of labias that exist. Laura and Ellie discuss how Ellie went from contemplating a labiaplasty to taking photos of labia for a living, where the pressure to have a perfect labia comes from, and why no one needs to be ashamed of how their labia looks.

FIND OUT MORE

Read the report ‘Real bodies: understanding and celebrating labia diversity’ here https://whv.org.au/resources/whv-publications/real-bodies-understanding-and-celebrating-labia-diversity

Follow Ellie on Instagram @comfortableinmyskin_

Check out the vulva photo gallery here on Ellie's website https://www.comfortableinmyskin.com.au/

FOLLOW US

KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Join our closed KICPOD Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630561419185145/
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram & @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Laura Henshaw @laura.henshaw on Instagram & @laura.henshaw on Tiktok
Kic @kic.app on Instagram & @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com or download the app from the App Store and Google Play Store

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How much screen time is too much? Mandy Richardson is a child development and early parenting specialist and the creator of Raise Toddlers: a platform created to inspire and equip parents with the skills and tools they need to raise children from birth to six years old.

Very importantly, Mandy is not anti-screens!

But when she notices her three daughters have spent too much time on screens, she introduces a screen reset: time away from screens to bring them back down to baseline.

In this episode, Mandy joins Steph from Perth to discuss the impact of screen time and how to implement a screen reset if you think it could suit your family. They discuss what is happening in children’s brains when they’re watching a screen, how screens can impact a child’s behaviour and how to reintroduce screens after the screen reset has finished.

FIND OUT MORE

Follow Mandy on Instagram @raisetoddlers
Find out more about Raise Toddlers https://raisetoddlers.com.au/
Become a Raise Toddlers member for the screen reset support in our Facebook group https://raisetoddlers.com.au/membership/
To celebrate Raise Toddler’s third birthday, you can use the code THREE for 20% off any products and services

FOLLOW US

KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram, @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Join our virtual mothers' group in the the KICBUMP Facebook group. Search 'KICBUMP Community'
Kic @kic.app on Instagram, @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a recent episode of The Kardashians, Kylie Jenner broke down in tears over comments she received about the way she looks. In the episode she said "people have been talking about my looks since I was 12, 13…after 10-plus years of hearing about (my looks), it just gets exhausting." We watched it and we want to share our thoughts.

Plus Laura has been spending time on Facebook Marketplace since moving house which made us think that you guys must have some wild Marketplace stories…and you proved us right!

SPECIAL SHARES

• Steph: the song ‘you look like you love me’ by Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green) https://open.spotify.com/track/0y5Ex8oQ8zCH5TQxHUy1Eo?autoplay=true
• Laura: A Family Affair on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81361154?source=35

Kic UPDATE

We’ve teamed up with frank green to release our very own empowering Kic collection!! Stay hydrated with our reusable water bottle, grab your morning coffee in our sustainable cup or sip your smoothie on the go. With three affirmations: I am strong. I am capable and I am confident in three exclusive colours, aqua, flamingo and cherry. It’s your daily reminder that you’ve got this. Available 9am Thursday 18th July online at frank green or in rebel stores across Australia. Plus…. pre-sale starts tomorrow (Tuesday 16th) at 9am for all Kic subscribers. Keep an eye out on your inbox where we’ll send you an exclusive link to shop the pre-sale!

FOLLOW US

KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Join our closed KICPOD Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630561419185145/
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram & @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Laura Henshaw @laura.henshaw on Instagram & @laura.henshaw on Tiktok
Kic @kic.app on Instagram & @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com or download the app from the App Store and Google Play Store

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the third part of our three-episode special about having difficult conversations, we invite our coach Janey Martino back into the studio to talk through making assumptions and not taking things personally.

We’ve personally gone through our own experience of assuming we know what the other person is thinking and how they will react to something…without actually talking to them about it.

In this episode, Janey unpacks what assumptions are, how they impact us, how they can be holding us back in our jobs and relationships, how we can stop making them when we start paying attention to them, and how all of this helps to stop us taking things personally.

If you missed part one and two of this special, we'd recommend you scroll back in your feed and listen.

Part one: the most challenging conversation we've ever had to have https://pod.fo/e/24ff9b

Part two: learning to trust ourselves with our coach Janey Martino https://pod.fo/e/250d12

FOLLOW US

KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Join our closed KICPOD Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630561419185145/
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram & @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Laura Henshaw @laura.henshaw on Instagram & @laura.henshaw on Tiktok
Check out Janey’s coaching business ‘The Kintsugi Way’ https://kintsugiway.co/
Kic @kic.app on Instagram & @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com or download the app from the App Store and Google Play Store

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Janey Martino is a business founder, board director, advisor, investor and coach. She’s an advisor for Kic and our personal coach. Janey’s coaching has helped us in our confidence and leadership as individuals, and she recently helped us to faciliate the most challenging conversation we've ever had as friends. In the second part of this special three-part series, we bring Janey into the studio to share her wisdom.

First up: confidence.

What is confidence? How can low confidence impact the way you show up for yourself and others? Why do we lose confidence and how do we rebuild it? Plus what is mastery and what role does it have in confidence?

FOLLOW US

KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Join our closed KICPOD Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630561419185145/
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram & @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Laura Henshaw @laura.henshaw on Instagram & @laura.henshaw on Tiktok
Check out Janey’s coaching business ‘The Kintsugi Way’ https://kintsugiway.co/
Kic @kic.app on Instagram & @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com or download the app from the App Store and Google Play Store

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we check in on our friendship. In case you missed it, an article came out a few weeks ago claiming there was a “rift” in our friendship. There’s not! But we have been having some deep conversations and this week we want to talk about it. Plus we preview our Wednesday (and bonus!) Friday episodes with our coach Janey Martino who has made these conversations possible.

We talk about the episode of Will & Woody's podcast 'Share My Mood' with Laura. You can listen to it here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/share-my-mood-laura-henshaw/id1566497439?i=1000656872884

SPECIAL SHARES

• Steph: the song Please, Please, Please by Sabrina Carpenter https://open.spotify.com/track/5N3hjp1WNayUPZrA8kJmJP
• Laura: updating your credit card details in your parking app! And the Kic Protein Blondie Mug Cake https://links.keepitcleaner.com.au/ryVUngWQUKb

FOLLOW US

KICPOD @kicpod on Instagram
Join our closed KICPOD Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630561419185145/
Steph Claire Smith @stephclairesmith on Instagram & @steph_claire_smith on TikTok
Laura Henshaw @laura.henshaw on Instagram & @laura.henshaw on Tiktok
Kic @kic.app on Instagram & @kic on TikTok and kicapp.com or download the app from the App Store and Google Play Store

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.