What’s it like to stand in front of an audience and be vulnerable? To craft a personal story over many weeks and then deliver it on stage not knowing what people might think? I got to experience this and I would be delighted to share what it was like. This episode is definitely different to the usual. It all wouldn’t be possible without the Centre for Stories and City of Fremantle, as well as so many wonderful people who made the Truth Telling in Walyalup program happen. This program is a collection of stories from Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians that were shared in local resident’s backyards all around Walyalup/Fremantle. These stories were produced in partnership with and made possible by generous funding from the City of Fremantle. Find out more about their reconciliation journey and truth telling program. The collection features live recordings from people who spoke about difficult truths, hidden histories and reimagined futures, all reflections of their lived experiences of colonisation in Walyalup and beyond. I was one of the people trained by renowned storyteller Ron Bradfield Junior and supported by Luisa Mitchell and Mohammed Ayo Busari from Centre for Stories. This story is about my name, Abid Imam and what it has been like growing up in a place where your name is different. I hope it resonates. Image credit: Robyn Jean Photography. Podcast credit: Thank you to the Centre for Stories for capturing this audio and allowing me to use it for this show with my further context added to those who are interested in my journey to delivering my first story.

On this edition, we are joined by Dee Roche. Dee is a UWA Business School MBA Teaching Fellow and a Senior Management Consultant within private, public and community-based organisations. Dee’s experience spans decades in the areas of Organisational Change and Transformation; Strategic Leadership and Management Development; Governance; and Building High Performance Teams, focusing on Values. She has won multiple awards for teaching excellence and plenty of recognition in the leadership field. Most recently, she has also been receiving lifetime achievement accolades and the UWA Graduate Management Association 2024 Legend Award. Dee and I crossed paths as she was our teacher for the WA Office of Multicultural Interests Leadership & Governance program. Her work with the Australian Institute of Management enabled our cohort to work closely with Dee to learn more about ethics in the boardroom and help us on our development. It’s a great program, so thank you to those organisations for their commitment to supporting culturally and racially marginalised people to have greater representation in leadership roles. From the moment I met Dee, I was drawn to her energy and zest, as well as her immense knowledge and experience. I knew she would be so interesting to hear from. Thankfully she graciously gave her time and this makes for a great conversation with so much wisdom which I hope helps you where you are in life! This show couldn’t be where it is without your support so please give us a review or subscribe to help support Freo de Janeiro’s storytelling. Enjoy this conversation with Dee Roche

On this edition, we are joined by Samantha Lewis (She/They). Samantha is a Digital Sports Journalist at the ABC who specialises in Australian women's football and women's football more broadly, covering all aspects of the sport from grassroots to the international level, including Olympic Games and World Cups, with a particular love of history, profiles, and long-form feature writing. Samantha’s work has been published by The Guardian, ESPN, Optus Sport, and SBS - The World Game (among others), and has been recognised by organisations such as The International Sports Press Association (AIPS). Gadigal land is where Samantha lives and works. Samantha is one of my favourite football writers on the planet, covering topics that cut to the core of Australian and world football, doing so in such a creative and emotive way, that certainly captures the feeling of a moment. I invited Samantha to the show before the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, but because of our schedules, we couldn’t make it happen. This was actually a blessing in disguise because we were able to both use this conversation to decompress from the world cup. For both of us and it was healing and cathartic to revisit the emotions. Samantha produced some incredible, award winning work during the tournament so it is really wonderful to go back there again and have the hindsight of some time to reflect. I hope it helps you recount some great world cup memories and gives you a further appreciation for the work behind the scenes in crafting the words that you read in an article from great journalists. Thank you immensely to Samantha for being so candid and open in this conversation. This show couldn’t be where it is without your support so please give me a review or subscribe to help support Freo de Janeiro’s storytelling. Enjoy this conversation with Samantha Lewis, one of the great football writers and advocates of the game.

On this episode, we are joined by Anne-Catherine Ienne, she is the Team Lead of Volunteer Management at FIFA. She is from France and I worked in her team at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. I just had to invite her on the show because I had such a great experience managing volunteers with FIFA. AC has an incredible story to tell about how important volunteers are to major sporting events and the impact they make in life in general. They are amazing people doing amazing things. AC is a sports leader at the highest level so it’s a wonderful opportunity to hear about her pathway and lessons working on World Cups and Olympics. This is a great listen for anyone who loves volunteering, supporting volunteers or even wants to understand more about what its like behind the scenes of major sporting events. So basically, everyone should listen. Thank you to AC for making the time during her busy schedule and she was joining me from Dubai. This show couldn’t be where it is without your support so please give me a review or subscribe to help support freo de janeiro’s storytelling. Enjoy this conversation with Anne-Catherine Ienne from FIFA.

On this edition, Abid Imam is joined by one of the world’s great sports journalists, Tracey Holmes. She is truly a master interviewer and storyteller, and as we get to discover during the conversation, a world explorer who has so much valuable wisdom and life experiences to share from her decades of experience covering sport across the globe. Tracey started her career at the ABC in 1989 and her wonderful work over three decades has seen her become one of Australia’s most senior and respected sports journalists. She’s covered major issues in sports business, politics and governance. Tracey also has a long list of accolades from lifetime achievement awards to recognition from the International Olympic Committee. Her value set really aligns to the show and it is a conversation with many profound learnings. Thank you Tracey for your time. To hear more from Tracey Holmes, please check out her work through The Sports Ambassador.

Josh Grainger/Ningaloo Records joins Abid Imam on Freo de Janeiro for a chat about all things music, vinyl, parties, and creating community in Walyalup/Fremantle. Josh is a Walyalup/Fremantle based DJ, record collector and the head honcho at Ningaloo Records. Emerging from humble beginnings, the Ningaloo Records brand founder has enjoyed a rise to fame in recent years, educating dance floors every weekend via several residencies around Boorloo/Perth. Renowned for his dynamic and high energy DJ sets, Josh bring that vibe for an awesome convo on the show. Photo cred; @fredi_mg

Dominique Mecoy is an inspirational leader with an amazing career journey story to tell. Her career has spanned numerous fields. She is now the CEO of Leadership WA, a not-for-profit organisation which provides experiential leadership development, creating leaders galvanised to develop themselves and create positive impact upon the community. Dominique provides plenty of wisdom and helpful advice to unleash the potential leader in us all. Thank you to the team at Leadership WA for making this happen. Show notes are on freodejaneiro.com/dommecoy. Enjoy

We are joined by someone who is absolutely outstanding and you will definitely enjoy listening to. Perth/Boorloo based leader and advocate Zahra Al Hilaly. She has a very wide ranging list of accolades. Including Western Australian Young Person of the Year for 2022 and a Young Australian of the Year nominee. She’s involved with the United Nations across gender equity and youth leadership. Zahra is a champion for representation and has gone global with her advocacy. My reason for inviting her was because I was just so impressed by what she’s achieved as a young West Australian, first generation Aussie with Iraqi/Palestinian heritage. Zahra’s a must hear voice across some key issues and I hope you enjoy the messages and perspective she conveys so eloquently. Show notes are on freodejaneiro.com/zahra. Enjoy

Robbie Gaspar (@RobbieGaspar23) joins Abid Imam on Freo de Janeiro for a chat about all things sports diplomacy, being a professional footballer in Asia and building people to people links in a globally significant region. Show notes - freodejaneiro.com/

Champion Australian cricketer and coach Adam Voges OAM joins Abid Imam for a wide ranging discussion covering leadership, elite coaching, sustained success and much more Shownotes - http://abidimam.com/

As a lifelong Freo Dockers fan, it was an honour and privilege to chat with the club CEO Simon Garlick. He was open in talking about his career journey, sports leadership and strategy in the AFL. A former CEO of the Western Bulldogs (2010-2015), Simon was appointed CEO of Fremantle effective November 18, 2019 after serving as CEO of Bastion EBA (2015-2019), a division of Bastion Collective, Australia’s leading independent marketing, communications and commercial agency. Simon, who played a combined 181 games for Sydney and the Western Bulldogs (1994-2004), also has extensive experience as a director, with previous governance responsibility on the AFL Players’ Association board and as a Western Bulldogs board member. He has expertise in complex stakeholder management and engagement experience across governing bodies, local, state and federal governments, media and the negotiation of major commercial/sponsorship contracts with multinational corporations. Educated at St Kevin’s College in Melbourne, Simon has a BA Business Administration from the University of Western Sydney and an MBA from Victoria University. Thanks to Evelina Palmiotti from the club for helping behind the scenes.