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Send us a text Debt to Financial Freedom Podcast Episode 8 with Sally Irwin "Welcome to our exciting new episode!, Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a truly remarkable guest joining us. Her name is Sally Irwin, a visionary leader and an unwavering advocate for victims of modern slavery. In March 2014, Sally founded the Freedom Hub Survival School, a beacon of hope that has transformed countless lives. This remarkable institution not only rebuilds the shattered lives of survivors but also pr...
Debt to Financial Freedom Podcast Episode 8 with Sally Irwin
"Welcome to our exciting new episode!,
Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a truly remarkable guest joining us. Her name is Sally Irwin, a visionary leader and an unwavering advocate for victims of modern slavery. In March 2014, Sally founded the Freedom Hub Survival School, a beacon of hope that has transformed countless lives. This remarkable institution not only rebuilds the shattered lives of survivors but also provides them with long-term support and an invaluable peer support program.
Sally's dedication and unwavering commitment didn't stop there. In 2016, she expanded her mission by opening a business for purpose, which has now grown to include two thriving cafes, an exceptional event venue, and an ethical online retail shop. These ventures serve a dual purpose: funding the administration of the survival school and creating opportunities for survivors to gain meaningful employment.
The incredible impact of Sally's work has earned her well-deserved recognition. The Freedom Hub businesses proudly hold accreditation from Social Traders Australia, a testament to their unwavering commitment to social enterprise. Furthermore, Sally's inspiring leadership was honored when her organization was named the New South Wales Business Chamber Social Enterprise of the Year for the region of Sydney.
Sally's influence extends beyond the borders of her local community. In 2018, she was recognized as one of Australia's top 50 business leaders by Inside Small Business. Her outstanding contributions to the field of social entrepreneurship were further acknowledged in September 2020 when she was awarded the prestigious Third Sector Award as Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
With over 14 years of hands-on experience working directly with survivors of modern slavery, Sally and her dedicated team have empowered countless individuals to rebuild their lives. Their tireless efforts have helped survivors regain their self-worth, achieve self-sufficiency, and reclaim their rightful place in society.
Today, we are truly honored to welcome Sally Irwin. Her extraordinary journey, inspiring achievements, and unwavering dedication make her a beacon of hope in the fight against slavery. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Sally as we delve into her remarkable story.
#EndModernSlavery #FreedomHubSurvivalSchool #Empowerment #LongTermSupport #SocialEnterprise #SurvivorEmpowerment #InspiringAchievements #SocialEntrepreneurship #RebuildingLives #BeaconOfHope #Dedication #Recognition #CommunityImpact #RegainingSelfWorth #HonoringJourney #FightAgainstSlavery
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Welcome to the Debt Financial Freedom Podcast. Everyone loves the benefits of money, but so many of us avoid the hard truths about saving and investing. We wrongly assume we don’t have enough time, capital or knowledge to be able to get to the point of having passive income streams, savings, or investments.The things we really need to know about money aren’t taught in schools. Spending less than you earn, maximising your income, budgeting, taxes, mortgages, investments and passive income - if you didn’t learn these things from your family, then you’re probably like most people who rely on credit cards, buy now, pay later and overdrafts. And then when you want to invest or buy property you will be wondering why you can’t get approval.But there is no judgment from me here - I was in exactly the same situation! Huge debt, poor financial habits and no assets to my name. Step by step I turned my situation around and now, as a certified mortgage broker for 16 years with several investment properties in my name, I’m here to help you go from debt to financial freedom. Because if I can do it, you can too.In this podcast, I will share tips, insights and strategies from my own journey and experience, as well as my clients and guest experts, who share my values and mission to help others create financial freedom. My goal in this podcast is to share raw, honest, transparent, and helpful stories that you can relate to, and that will inspire you to take control of your finances. The only ‘good’ debt is debt that brings you closer to financial freedom and I will show you exactly how to achieve this. Everything shared by me and my guests in this podcast is general in nature, and for education purposes only. None of your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs have been taken into consideration. I highly recommend you seek personal, financial, legal, taxation, and credit advice before you take action on what you heard on this podcast.
Victor Lagos: Welcome to the
debt to financial freedom
podcast. I'm your host Victor
Lagos and the founder of Lagos
Financial. I've been in the
finance and lending industry for
16 years, and I've personally
made financial mistakes and
learn from them. I started this
podcast to share stories and
lessons on my own journey, and
to share insights that may help
others on their journey. And I
interviewed people that I've
connected with that share the
same values and mission to help
others create financial freedom.
My goal this podcast is to share
raw, honest, transparent and
helpful stories that you can
relate to and inspires you to
take control of your finances
and only have debt that brings
you closer to financial freedom.
Everything on this podcast is
general in nature, and for
education purposes only. None of
your personal objectives,
financial situation or needs has
been taken into consideration. I
highly recommend you seek
personal financial, legal
taxation and credit advice
before you take any action on
what has been heard on this
podcast. Welcome to Episode
Eight of the debt to financial
freedom podcast. I'm your host
Victor Lagos. I am also the
founder of Lagos financial, a
finance brokerage business.
Today I've got a special guest.
Her name is Sally Irwin. I want
to give her a bit of an intro.
In March 2014. Sally founded the
freedom hub survival school that
rebuilds the lives of victims
provides long term support and a
peer support program. In 2016,
she opened a business for
purpose, which now consists of
two cafes, an event venue, and
an ethical online retail shop to
fund the administration of the
survival school. The Freedom hub
businesses is accredited by
social traders Australia. And as
one the New South Wales Business
chamber social enterprise of the
year for the region of Sydney,
Sally was awarded one of
Australia's top 50 business
leaders by inside small
businesses in 2018. And in
September 2020, to one the third
sector award as Social
Entrepreneur of the Year, Sally
has been an active advocate to
end slavery and help victims by
sitting on numerous advisory
boards and networks. With over
14 years experience working face
to face with victims of slavery,
Sally and her co workers are
helping survivors of modern
slavery, rebuild their life to a
point where they can be
employed, be self sufficient,
and have regained their self
worth. Welcome, Sally.
Sally Irwin: Thank you. It's
great to be here.
Victor Lagos: Look, it's it's a
touchy topic, because a lot of
people don't even know, you
know, what modern slavery is.
They know, obviously, the term
slavery. But I'd like to sort of
get a bit of an understanding.
So if you can maybe share your
story and what helped you, you
know, to create the freedom hub?
And why is it your calling to
help end modern slavery in
Australia?
Sally Irwin: Well, we could
spend the whole half hour on the
back story really, but I, I
basically started working with
this, in this area when I was
living in Europe with my
husband, who was posted to the
Australian Embassy in Berlin.
And as a diplomatic wife, I
wasn't able to work. So I went
looking for charity work to do
and made this head decision that
it was sort of not right that
women should be trapped in
slavery. And particularly in
Berlin, it was sex slavery girls
that were being sex trafficked
out of Eastern Europe, into
Western Europe, being brought in
to believe they're going to be
hairdressers or working in a bar
or whatever. And I just felt
that that was really wrong. And
here's me in this high society,
drinking champagne every night
doing all the embassies every
night, I just felt that the two
worlds were so far apart, that I
could try and use the wealth or
help use the wealth of the
situation I was in to try and
help fund and help some
charities that were working in
this area on the streets of
Berlin. A few probably months
into it, I realized that you
can't just donate money. People
want to know where their money's
going, what's going on. So I
ended up going down and
volunteering in what was nothing
more than like a needle exchange
in a very, very, very dark
street of burly and it was a
pretty horrible place to be. But
in that time, while I was
sitting in this little needle
exchange where women would come
in, in the morning, covered in
blood and having been, you know,
been abused all night, spending
my days helping them get their
ready for the next night,
changed my life. I would then be
at cocktail parties that night
drinking champagne with high
society and with Commissioner,
the police and all the
ambassadors from all these
different countries and
thinking, how can I bring these
two worlds together? What can I
do so I realized that very early
in the piece this was in 2008
that I really needed to become a
voice for these women. out ended
up doing what I'm doing right
now the freedom hub is another
massive leap. But if you wind
forward after four years of
doing that, I found that slavery
was happening in Australia. And
that just completely changed my
world. Because I always thought
it was a big step for me to
think that slavery was happening
in Europe, because I always
thought it was going to be in
countries that were very, you
know, Asia and South America and
Africa and poor, really poor
nations, because I thought
people really were escaping
poverty looking for work and
ended up in slavery. I never saw
Europe as being like that. And
then to find out what's
happening in our country, was
just now it's game on, I can do
something in my country, I was
always restricted in Europe, I
couldn't lobby, because of you
know, visions of Sydney Morning
Herald, you know, husband sent
home diplomat sent home because
wife was too political, I had to
be very careful in how I did
things over there. But once I've
got back here, I thought, well,
now I can be a voice, I can
lobby government, I can make
changes. And so I really spent a
year or twos, just over a year,
really working out what the gaps
were in our country, what
slavery looks like, here. I'm
still a great believer, we could
be the first country to have no
slavery, because the main
reasons that drove slavery in
Europe that I saw was poverty.
But also the organized crime
gangs that funded it. The, the
women that were sort of
escaping, were being lied to
like all this sort of corruption
with the police being involved.
And there's a lot of networking
happening to make it happen. But
in our country, where it first
of all, we're in Ireland, so
that we don't have to worry
about borders as much. We don't
have the massive corruption of
men of police. And we don't have
the huge organized crime gangs
that are making the profit, it's
the second largest profitable
business in the world. So we
don't have that either. So
really, with good collaboration
and awareness raising, I think
we could be the first country to
have no slavery. So that's
really what sort of gets me out
of bed in the morning. And what
started the freedom hub really
became there was no long term
care for people that have been
victims of it in this country.
So it started as a survivor
school, to help them get jobs
and get back on their feet and
recover and find out that in our
country, there is human rights,
and there are award wages, and
you do get superannuation and
holidays and you should be
treated fairly. So it became
educational to start with, and
it's grown since then now we've
become trauma experts, and we've
become wellness experts. And
we've got a whole methodology of
helping a survivor journey
through to being fully employed
again.
Victor Lagos: Yep. Well, and I
like how the freedom is set up.
You mentioned that it's a it's a
business for purpose. But is it
considered a social enterprise?
Sally Irwin: Okay, so this is
really interesting a year into
being running the survival
school, I realized that I'm not
naturally a charity type person,
as in, I didn't like asking for
money. So what I wanted to do,
being an X business procurement
specialist being business
person, I wanted to be able to
come up with a way of funding
our work as much as possible. I
never wanted it to be 100%
funded by business, because I
still believe that there's a
place for the, for the people to
engage in this issue, and
corporates and businesses and
people that want to be part of
the solution. But I wanted to be
enough self funded to be able to
pay salaries and not have the
stress of constantly worrying
about money. And not worrying
about the women that are in my
care. So I, I went down the
business path of getting a cafe
in Waterloo. And it's beautiful,
big venue. So it turned into an
event space. So we have weddings
and bar mitzvahs. And, you know,
every weekend, it's full of
events happening, and yet people
use it for corporate dinners and
all kinds of things. So that's
some. So that was sort of how it
all started. But what we did
back in 2014, it's was very
unique at the time is instead of
becoming a social, Proprietary
Limited, we kept those
businesses as part of the
Freedom hub charity, I actually
employed lawyers to research
whether it was legal that a
charity can run business without
becoming a business. So what's
happened since there's the world
has really bloomed in this area,
and social enterprises are
becoming huge. So it's easy for
me to say to people, we're a
social enterprise that a charity
because people can't understand
the business model. But
traditionally, of social
enterprise was a normal business
like a normal cafe or just a
traditional Proprietary Limited
business that gave a percentage
of its profits to do good in the
world. We're on were 100% and
we're all internal. We are the
social enterprise giving 100% of
our profits to ourselves, but
ourselves is our survivors of
which we've got about 107 At the
moment, so it was very unique
then It's still pretty unique.
Now. In fact, I was teaching at
Sydney business school two weeks
ago, and someone put the history
of social enterprise in
Australia upon. And it started
in 2015, with the government
saying we need to do more
indigenous purchasing. I'm like,
hang on, teach you people
something back in 2014. And the
law firm found one other
precedent, only one in
Australia, where a charity was
selling things. Well, I now
know, like Wesley's got a coffee
shop. There's a number of
charities following us now, but
it was really unique back in
2014.
And that just allows you to, to
keep growing without needing,
you know, government
contributions and charity
contributions. Yeah, rely on the
revenue.
Yeah, it was a perfect model pre
COVID.
Victor Lagos: Yeah, well, now
that things have opened up
again, yes. And everywhere.
Sally Irwin: Yes. It's certainly
a lot.
Victor Lagos: And it is a nice
cafe. I've been in there a few
times. I've even sent my laptop
there and just worked for a
little bit. It's really good
spot. It's what's the street?
It's on? Again?
Sally Irwin: Young Street,
Victor Lagos: Young Street. Yep.
Awesome. And touch more on the
modern slavery piece, because
many people don't know what
modern slavery is. And I know
there's a specific definition. I
don't know what that is you.
You've said it to me a few
times, but I can't remember. Are
you able to give a bit of an
overview of of what modern
slavery is? And then, of course,
if people can detect it, how,
how can they do that? And then
possibly, how can they report it
as well?
Sally Irwin: Yeah, so the term
modern day slavery has come
about only in the last probably
four or five years as an
umbrella term that we all use.
Now. Australia is the first
country in the world to define
it, modern day slavery with
definitions, and we've got seven
definitions. But it's an
umbrella term for those seven
types of slavery. So that's,
I'll tell you what they are. But
then I'll tell you my opinion on
this. So the seven areas are
going to make sure I get them
all for slaver sex trafficking,
which is what people have heard
just human trafficking,
servitude, as well as slavery,
which is, you know, no pay, just
working. But servitude slightly
different. The worst forms of
child labor, so not working in
your dad's garage, or helping
your mom's in the shop or
restaurant, it's like the worst
worst forms of slavery of
slavery for child labor, organ
harvesting, have got more debt
bondage. So they're all
independent sort of definitions.
And what that does is help us
prosecute, it really just helps
the lawyers. The reality,
though, is that modern day
slavery is anything where
anybody is using someone else to
profit. So using them for free
labor, or exploitation for
profit. So we can constantly be
coming up with more definitions.
For example, the latest scam, or
the latest, newest style of
modern day slavery is people
being tricked to have a job and
being locked up in a factory and
doing that scanning that we all
get, you know, or getting
messages and methods of
scamming. That's factories and
factories of people coming in
and out of Thailand, China and
into parts of parts of Asia that
are being made to scan make
constant phone calls and texts.
So they're being
Victor Lagos: held as slaves to
the scam discourse for money.
Sally Irwin: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So you know, we haven't got a
law around that. So it's, it's a
really tricky area. It's just
people exploiting people,
people. And it can. Yeah, it's
very difficult. The other reason
people don't know about it is up
until 2014, Australia had no law
against it. We just assumed our,
you know, Westerners, why would
people would people do that? No,
they won't. But when they did,
so, human trafficking definition
was so long, it was impossible
really to prosecute people. So
they often went for attempted
murder, or kidnapping, and other
ways of trying to prosecute. So
in 2014, for the first time in
Australia's history, we got a
law against forced labor,
trafficking of persons harboring
a person, sorry, which means you
can sell the person to someone
but the person that's harboring
or keeping them in slavery,
there was no law against that.
There was no law against organ
harvesting, and there was no law
against forced marriage. So
those laws didn't come in until
2014. And then it takes four to
five years for someone to be
forced to be for the court case
to catch up like it takes four
or five years to get through a
court. So so it was really we
weren't expecting to get any
prosecutions until 2018 19. So
we've starting to get them now,
which means the media can now
start reporting on facts and not
just hearsay from Sally Irwin.
It's actually you know, facts.
So we're starting to get more
and more cases revealed. We do
know that only one in five
people in Australia would be
coming Forward, most people
would not come forward. You
know, a lot of them now are
school mums, or, in fact, I was
only just reflecting on this the
other day when I was in
Melbourne speaking to all the
brokers, the women in fin shore
down there, three women came up
to me at the end and said, I've
been a victim of slavery myself,
one of them, she's, you know,
these are suited up investment
brokers, you know, that you
would never ever pick it. One of
them's husband doesn't even know
that it's a part of their life
that was so shameful, then
they're not prepared to come
forward. And then certainly many
will not go through the criminal
justice system, they just escape
and get on with life. So it's,
it's a very hidden crime. So if
we've got one in five coming
forward, how do we find the
rest, which is probably the next
part of your question is how do
we identify that most of the
people that we have come forward
now tend to be people that are
good old or the spirit has gone?
Hey, do you need help? Or can I
can I call someone on your
behalf or someone saying, you
know, I've got to clean and
next, my name is a little
cleaner that I haven't seen
outside for five years or three
years, I'm a bit suspicious. So
I think reporting anything that
you're suspicious is best, and
that is through the federal
police. They do the
investigative work, they spend
25 30,000 hours tapping phones
and emails and things to be sure
before they would actually go in
and rescue somebody. So that's
the official way of doing
things. And we were the freedom
hub. We don't take on
investigative work like that.
But if someone came to you and
said, or passed you a note, or
if you're a nurse at the
hospital, and you pretty
confident this person is asking
for help, where the freedom hub
will step in then. But we have
to have a direct line to the
survivor, we're not going to do
something on suspicion, we're
not the police. So we need to
know that person wants help, and
then we can get involved. So so
we have three referral systems.
One of them is through the
federal police that the the
government's response to slavery
is that if someone is identified
by the Federal Police has
definitely been in slavery. The
Red Cross is the paid
organization to help them with
their visa and Centerlink. And
getting, you know, getting the
criminal justice system in
process. It's a 60 day program
called the support for traffic
persons program, but then
they're on their own. So this is
why we needed the freedom hub,
we actually can then help them
get on with life rather than sit
in a refuge and wait for five
years for their court case. So
that's one referral. Another
referral pathway for us is we
get victims referred to us from
Social Services, Community
Services, nurses, as I said, I
do a lot of training in the
hospitals. And we do training
with midwives and people that
are frontline service providers
that will suspect someone has
got slavery was got they've got
wounds that have not been looked
after. And they're not allowed
to speak the person that's with
them as only the only person
speaking and there's there's
signs that you can they can pick
up on. Also, since COVID, we're
getting a lot of referrals from
domestic violence centers now
where people before a woman
before may have or a man there
is domestic violence for men,
but they're there, they've been
in a situation where they could
before they might have got the
odd beating or be you know,
coercive, controlled, but they
could still hold down a job and
they'd keep it a secret
themselves generally from their,
from their peers. What has
happened during COVID Is that
they've been locked in. So in
that time, they've lost their
phone, their friends, they've
lost their bank account, they're
being 100% controlled, and
allegedly the house
unsupervised, that's when it
slips into servitude. And, and
so that type of slavery now
being presented many domestic
violence centers that don't know
how to manage someone with that
sort of complex trauma. So we
get referred to them from
domestic violence centers. So
all and then we often have youth
being presented, presenting at
youth centers as street homeless
youth, but they've been on the
run from being forced into
marriage from their
grandparents. Often, you know,
it's necessary that you know,
they've got a situation where
they're being told they have to
marry someone, and they run
rather than put their family in
front of the courts. So they end
up homeless, so we're actually
getting youth referred to us
that way as well. So So that's
the second way that we receive
people is through a community
services. And then the final
way, which is the one that's
growing is because we're getting
more and more known people say
ring, the freedom hub, they'll
help you and so we will get
direct referrals or people
saying to us, can you help me in
some way? We tend to get a lot
of them from interstate which is
very tricky for us right now.
We're trying to expand our
school into Victoria and Perth
at the moment we will set up in
Queensland.
Victor Lagos: So this is when a
victim or a survivor or to be
survivor, they'll contact the
freedom hub and say, I'm in
trouble and I've been servitude.
I've held capital whatnot. So
it's not when someone sees or
suspects that that's happening
to someone they know they don't
contact them how For that
they're going to contact AFP.
Sally Irwin: If they do, we will
ask them to contact the AFP
because you just don't know that
there's 10 Other people
reporting like the AFP, yeah,
keep a record of that they keep
a record of all reports on a
business, particularly if it's
forced labor or something like
that. They will, they will, and
they could be someone that
they're already watching. It
adds to the evidence. Yeah, we
just don't have the resources
and the time to be
Victor Lagos: but you are
growing, which is good. And, you
know, being able to, you know,
help survivors across Australia
is really important, because
some of these people that are
put into slavery, they, they
come in through, say, Tasmania,
or something, right, they want
to work in a farm. And
Sally Irwin: yet we send all our
working students and people like
that out to the country to do
farm work. And no one's checking
his recruiting them. And let's,
and they weren't report because
they don't want to get caught up
in our criminal justice system,
because they're on a two year
holiday working holiday. So they
run? Well,
Victor Lagos: crazy. This goes
on in our backyard. And you
mentioned that five years,
approximately, it takes to go
through the court system and the
prosecution, the survivors, for
them to, you know, stand up in
court and actually point the
finger. That's not an easy thing
for them to do.
Sally Irwin: No, no, it's It's
hideous. And I feel that one of
the things that for us that we
see as a major success for us on
one of the reasons I set up the
freedom hub is because I think
these women should be able to
stand up there and face that
perpetrator, full of confidence
full of let's get them as
opposed to sitting there
waiting. And that looming date
becomes more and more terror for
them and scared and they form
deeper depression and, and then
they need a lot of medication
and so on. They're in this cycle
of just going downhill. I wanted
to say no, in our country, you
can work you can have a job, we
can help you get mentally
healthy, physically healthy, you
can become an independent and
strong woman in our country. And
by the time that court case
comes out, you're ready to get
in there and get him or you
know, or female, if it's there
are many, many women
traffickers, by the way. So it's
it's it's facing that
perpetrator with strength, and
confidence that I think is a
great sign that they've actually
started that they're on the
right road to recovery.
Victor Lagos: And going through
the, you know, the time with as
far as school, they learn these
skills all over again, yes,
skills that were taken away from
them.
Sally Irwin: Yes. Yeah. I mean,
as simple thing as choice. Yeah,
if you've, the longer you've
been in slavery, the less choice
you've had. So there's parts of
the brain that even that have a
meltdown, just choosing whether
they have to have an apple or an
orange, if you put that basic
can be right at the very
beginning which two buses
arrive, which one would I catch,
that can be the beginning for
them. So actually, helping them
rebuild choice is very
important.
Victor Lagos: This is why it
resonates a lot with with me,
because, you know, I am an
advocate of financial freedom.
That's why it's called that the
Financial Freedom podcast. And,
you know, many people want to
create financial freedom for
them and their families and
future generations. But they
don't realize that the simplest
freedom of being able to make a
choice, you know, is taken away
from a lot of people. We don't
know what that's like, I mean,
if I want to go catch a bus or
train, or if I want to visit a
friend, if I want to travel, I
can do that. Yeah, there's no
part of me, that tells me I
can't obviously there's gonna be
some financial constraints at
times. But the part of my brain
that says that I can choose is,
it's alive. But for people that
have gone through these traumas,
it's been taken away from them.
And you know, I want to
acknowledge you for the work
that you did, because you really
do help build them back on. So
like, they have that, you know,
just the the freedom that we
take for granted every day.
Sally Irwin: Yes, yeah. Yeah. I
think the closest we can relate
to it would have been very early
days or COVID. When the whole
world was changing. We didn't
even know how it was being
caught and stuff I don't know
about you. But in business, you
rapidly reached a point of what
I would call decision fatigue,
because you were just all day
just trying to fly and you just
get to a point where I can't
make another decision. I can't.
And that would be the closest
I've ever been to myself where
I've just gone cut edge and
living with this every day. Just
being making a basic decision is
hard. And I think the one good
thing that's come out of COVID I
suppose there's a few good
things but humanity has become
more compassionate to this and
become more open to
understanding what it is like to
have compassion or to have
decision fatigue and, and not
being able to just get out of
the house and it's so much more
easier to stay in your pajamas
in bed and you know, all that
stuff that people that have
trauma they live with every day.
Victor Lagos: Yeah, they've been
isolated for so long. Yeah,
living with you know,
Sally Irwin: even just getting
back out socializing for us has
become a big deal and someone
who's been in that situation
with you for 510 15 years.
Victor Lagos: Wow. Well, you
mentioned it now. One of our
earlier conversations that
you're also a property investor,
and that I wanted to ask a
little bit more around that,
because a lot of my listeners
are property investors. And I
really want to sort of showcase
the fact that when you've got
enough recurring income to cover
your costs to live, then you can
focus your attention on
something that you're really
passionate about. Yeah. And was
that something that you went
through? That gave you that
freedom to focus on this,
Sally Irwin: I would say my
husband's the property investor,
because I literally have no
money, I can't remember probably
20 years, 30 years, I don't earn
an income, because I really want
to be able to use my skills to
change the world. And I And as
you've said, I'm fortunate
enough that I don't need to that
we invested very young and very
early, you know, early 20s. In
Paddington, which is a bit of a
nice place to look back and go,
Well, we only spent $25,000 on a
place and yeah, so yeah, giving
away my age for things. But it
was 17% interest, I want you to
know, it was full on. But I had
a career in procurement as a
national buyer for my as
Australia and my husband has and
still has his massive career. So
it's, but we did that young and
we every time we got a pay rise,
we just pumped that money into
that mortgage, and the faster we
could get that mortgage down, we
did. And then when we decided to
have children, we, you know,
crossed the bridge and went to
the North Shore and, and every
time we've just got in a
situation where they're more
financial, we've just bought a
bigger and bigger place. And
then we have bought in cans,
that was not as great a decision
because the jet was just before
the GFC hit. So it's only really
got back on its feet in the last
five or 10 years. And we've
bought property overseas,
because when you're living
overseas, like we were living in
Berlin, it's easier to you can
navigate the legalities much
better if you're there and you
can make decisions rather than
online. I think it would be
really scary. But I know plenty
people do buy overseas, online,
but I'm we were there. So it was
a convenient thing to do. And
yeah, I think we've we've also
tried the stock market, but I
have to be really honest
property has been our thing.
It's really worked for us. And
and yeah, the tenant says you
rent them out pay off your
mortgage. And yeah, it's it's I
think it's, um, certainly my son
is 28 has already started that
process so
Victor Lagos: I can help him
with the mortgage. Yeah, like,
it's good to hear this coming
from the other side. Because a
lot of people do have that pot
in them that they want to make a
difference in the world. Yeah.
But if they haven't sorted out
their own home, dealt with their
own needs. Usually it's on the
back burner. One day, one day, I
can make a difference when they
won't have enough money I can I
can do what I really want to do.
So it's nice to hear your story
because you're living it every
single day. Yeah. And and I know
it's not easy. You were sharing
earlier that you've got about
five businesses under the
Freedom hub. So, but at least
you're you know, your home is
under control, right? Does your
current income there you can
live and then you can focus all
your attention.
Sally Irwin: Well, we're just
facing retirement too. So we're
not going to be able to sell
we'll keep the building one
because everybody has to have a
place to visit. It's being AB
invade most the time. But it's
nice to go into retirement
knowing that we won't have to
worry about mortgages. Yeah,
yeah. So.
Victor Lagos: So I wanted to ask
a little bit more about the
modern slavery act. It's
something that is relatively
new, but there are new
obligations for businesses. And
that's another part of your
business that you focusing on,
on the corporate side. Can you
can you help us to understand a
bit more?
Sally Irwin: Yeah. So I really
feel that the freedom has been
positioned for this time in
history in Australia with
regards to the fact we've now
got this act, which as part of
lobbying for and there's a whole
collaboration of us that were it
really is making the larger
corporates hold some kind of
ownership of the issue of
slavery overseas, particularly
overseas, but in their own
business organization and
practices as well. So of the,
it's now 50 million is the
official figure of people in
slavery in Australia in the
world. 75% of those are in Asia
Pacific region. So we're talking
about our backyard, our shopping
ground for private, we'll do you
know, Amazon and Shopify and all
that stuff. So private for
consumers. It's the shopping
ground for private enterprise.
And it's also the shopping
ground for government, right? So
we in Australia, all of us,
every single one of us can now
play a part in helping reduce
that 50 million number. By
holding the largest companies
including our government, with
any country in the world that
includes the government in the
act, by holding them accountable
for auditing supply chains. It
actually means that we've got a
massive piece of the pie doing
something about slavery in the
Asia Pacific. And what the x To
actors, for businesses that have
a consolidated revenue of over
$100 million, they must submit
every year, a modern slavery
statement that has seven major
mandatory requirements. And
supply chains. One of them
everyone thinks it's the supply
chain acts, and it's all about
auditing suppliers. But it's not
just that it's also on your HR,
it's making sure you've got
whistleblower policies in place.
Making sure factories and people
that you work with overseas have
got whistleblower and all your
policies to do with HR and
survive and not just worker
voice and systems to make sure
that things are being done
correctly, people's contracts
being written in their own
language, you know, little
things like that there's a lot
in it. And it's going to make a
huge difference. For us in
Australia, it makes a huge
difference because all these
corporates also part of what
they need to do with them other
Soviet just train all their
employees, because how do you
make sure that the receptionist
is running out to buy chocolates
for someone that's leaving and
using the corporate card? How
are we making sure that they're
thinking, oh, gosh, I better
make sure I'm spending company
money on something ethical. So
it's actually raising awareness,
which is means the freedom hub
has now been launched into this
beautiful place where we can now
work and partner with corporates
and major companies to actually
help them steer and navigate the
world of modern day slavery,
which as you've said, most
people don't even know what that
means. So we've got right from
helping employees understand
that this is happening. And it's
real, to corporates going well,
gosh, how do we map this supply
chains particularly are really
complicated. You can have
25 35,000 people in the in the,
in the process of, you know, of
one product. So it's it's some,
it's very difficult to do. So we
have and because I've got my ex
procurement experience, I know,
I know how hard work it is. So I
think that helps us the freedom
has worked at a level with
companies that many other
organizations that are stepping
into this space can't, because
they've got the broad picture
and understanding of slavery,
but they've never actually one
worked with survivors and have
lived experience to make sure
those policies will work, which
we do, but also the procurement
of that I've had an
understanding of the delicate
balance. Every business has to
go through managing their
shareholders and profits and
people. Yeah,
Victor Lagos: yeah. Yeah. And
the whole implementation
complex. Yes. Yes, yes. And
there's different layers of the
business department heads that
you need to talk to exactly. The
team. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like a
big effort. But is that
something that you're putting a
lot more focus on?
Sally Irwin: There I am.
Personally, I've pulled trying
to pull myself out of a lot of
the operational side of the
businesses, I'm still extremely
active within the survival
school, because that's my heart.
And that's my why. And I'm
spending a lot more time working
with kids consulting and helping
doing advisory and helping
businesses work out how to
navigate this, because it's a
long term thing. Now, we're not
going to sell slavery overnight,
and everyone's got slavery in
their supply chains and in
their, in their value chain
regardless. So it's definitely
something that I'm spending a
lot more time on, because
there's going to be it's a lot
of impact can be made to try and
end global slavery through this.
So you mentioned
Victor Lagos: that you're
looking for a CEO, a chief
operating officer, what would
that person look like, in an
ideal person to?
Sally Irwin: Another? No, I, I
think I, you know, I don't need
to be worrying about a catering
order that's gone out to a
corporate not arriving, I need
to have someone who's really on
the operational side of things,
just you know, rostering staff
and barista, hospitality at the
moment is just struggling to
find shifts and baristas and you
know, training people and, and
all that sort of thing. It's,
it's been distracting me, from
what I can see, it's better
value than I spend my time being
a voice for the survivors.
Helping companies have survivor
voice included into their cup
into their policymaking. What's
been happening since the modern
slavery act as they were writing
these great theories. It's, I
shouldn't call them that. But
they were writing policies and
stuff, because lawyers are
telling them how to write it.
And then I'll have it I've got a
survivor advisory board of
people who've been through
slavery, who in every type of
all those seven that I talked
about, and we will actually pay
or get the company to pay them
to give advice on whether that's
really going to work on the
ground. And there's companies
that choose to engage our
survivor board, making much
better policies and changes to
their systems than the ones that
have lawyers. I mean, they have
to, they're big companies,
they've got to have lawyers
write them, but the ones that
are really doing well are the
ones that are going okay, we've
now got our main requirements
for the modern slavery act
ticks. That's the compliance bit
done. Now how can we really
authentically go ahead and
change and end the slavery
problem and get out team and our
employees engaged Jin Xin wants
to be engaged in this. Gen Zed
wanted the planet and people
being helped. So it's the
companies that are doing the
best. And I think going forward,
the companies that are the
future world will be businesses
that have values that actually
align with environment, and
people on planet.
Victor Lagos: And the freedom
hub Cafe also has an online
store where people can buy
ethical products, as well. Yeah,
yeah, I've actually bought one
forum for a gift, like a tea set
that you had.
Sally Irwin: Oh, cool. Yeah,
we're about to launch a new
range for Mother's Day, should
be out the next few weeks. Well,
that
Victor Lagos: was something I
wanted to also ask for the
listeners that want to support
the freedom hub, and they want
to get involved. Would that be
that's one avenue, which is to
buy the products and use the
venue?
Sally Irwin: Yeah, the retails
there, because one, I'm an ex
retail. But two, I wanted to
when I was growing up, in the
seven years, we have the whole
Ethiopian crisis. And no matter
how much my parents told me that
if you eat your veggies on the
table, salsa, some starvation in
the world, I just knew that was
not true. So I just couldn't
cope with the thought that I
could be running around with
this whole oh my gosh, there's
people in the world and slavery.
And also, you can't do anything
about it. I wanted someone in
Broken Hill to be able to hear
about what's going on in our
country and go, Oh, what can I
do? Oh, I can jump online and at
least buy some coffee that's
ethical that's helping X child
soldiers or helping rehabilitate
child soldiers. I can I can buy
a candle or you know they can.
So that was really to reach the
original and the remote areas of
the country that we can't, that
can't come and have a coffee in
our cafe, or can't book their
wedding in our in our venue. We
had cafes, we had two other
cafes, I've had to close over
over COVID It would be lovely
with a COO that we'd be able to
get a coffee back cafe in each
state again, because it is it
becomes a central hub for not
just for people that feel that
they can go somewhere and make a
difference align their, you
know, the money we spend in
cafes, and move that into an
ethical place. But also it
becomes a hub for people that
want to talk about the issue,
raise awareness hold meetings.
So I'd like to get cafe's back
up and running throughout
Australia. So people can do
that. They can go retail, they
can, obviously if they're in
Sydney, they can use our space.
We have what we have like a
volunteer methodology around
Australia whereby we'll have a
ambassador and that Ambassador
will have a team of people. And
they are like our local
advocates. I'm a great believer
that the five and one in five
coming forward, the other four
would come forward if they felt
there was someone in their
community they could talk to. So
we really want at the moment
we've got teams on the Gold
Coast in Toowoomba, and Brisbane
and Vanderburgh. And Wollongong,
Sydney, Canberra and Victoria is
just starting. And we're
launching in Perth, Perth,
hopefully in the next month. So
the idea is, if you want to just
volunteer, whatever skills
you've got in your local area,
there's a team that you can
join. And they work out with the
skills they've got on that team,
what they can do Viet awareness
or fundraising or whatever. So
they that people can volunteer.
If they're highly skilled, they
can. If they're highly skilled,
they can actually volunteer to
help us save money with the head
office, marketing, Shopify, you
know, whatever, they can do that
as well. So there's lots of ways
that people can get engaged and
get, get involved in what we're
doing.
Victor Lagos: The other thing I
wanted to ask you was about
conscious consumerism.
Sally Irwin: Yeah, that's a
great way that people can engage
and help. Once again, back to
Gen Z, this is their life,
they're always looking for ways
that they can spend wisely,
whereas our generation was a
little bit like blase with how
we spent money. So there's a
million apps now out there that
you can actually jump on to make
sure that you're shopping
ethically, fast fashion is one
of the biggest areas that not
only impacts environment but
people and that is we wanting
and demanding to change our
clothing all the time. And so
sweatshops and people in
factories just trying to create
back in the day when I was a
buyer for Meyers, you know, we'd
have the seasons, the seasons
would be one or two seasons that
we'd be trying to get our
fashion and get everything
because now it's like, there's
810 seasons in a year. So So
choosing to reuse things is a
great option for the environment
and for people but purchasing
through ethical companies and
there's plenty of ethical
fashion stores. There's plenty
of ethical, everything
electrical every area now
there's opportunities. What's
difficult is finding them and
all I can say is apps you know
like the put on new app is a
great app for shopping, even my
husband uses that now you go
into, you go into a shopping
mall, and you think, Oh, I've
not heard that story before I'm
about to go shopping in that
store that looks like a good
sale. And you can just put into
that app, the name of that
store, and it'll tell you how
it's rated and graded. It can or
you can put in a brand and see
how that's traveling around the
world. You know, you could put
an address on Nike or whatever
and it'll it'll rate. So the
good on your app is really great
for the fashion. There's
appropriately for Easter right
now the good chocolate guides
out naming and shaming all the
good eggs and all the bad eggs
basically. So you use that for
all your chocolate purchasing.
The high risk areas are
chocolate fashion, fish, there's
a lot of online apps and things
that you can jump on. And
believe it or not, Australia
still imports 80% of has
seafood, and a lot of it
slavery. So these are young boys
that are on fishing vessels for
10 or 15 years and then they if
they get sick, they're thrown
overboard. I think it's shocking
what's going on in the
unregulated fishing industry. So
really picking you're really
thinking it particularly in the
right now, coming into Easter,
Good Friday, people that deep
fish are at Christmas time, like
really looking at only trying to
only purchase Australian not
imported seafood would really
help. So it's just becoming
aware our website, we've got
blogs, in fact, in our website,
under Articles, you can go into
fashion fish, we've got an
article on all the areas of high
risk and what you can do and how
you can do stuff. So that's
yeah, so becoming a conscious
consumer will help the world,
Victor Lagos: Moses and that's
the freedom hub.com But
you.org.org Okay, the freedom
hub.org. So that's the freedom
hub.org Yes. Okay. So I wanted
to ask you about financial
freedom, given us the name of
the podcast? What does financial
freedom mean to you?
Sally Irwin: Well, I guess we've
sort of covered that in the way
that I do like the fact that I
can continue to do what I'm
passionate about without
worrying too much about money.
Having said that, business is
always a worry about money, it's
sort of like you sit there
thinking only so if I could just
get a donation of a million
dollars, then all my problems
would be solved. But I think
what it really does is scale
your problems. So yes, I think,
I think, to me, if you've got
financial freedom, you should be
giving back. Like, I just think
that's, I think the worst form
of life would be to have
financial freedom and be
spending it on self. Like just
self indulgence. It's just, you
know, you don't need we don't
need stuff, we're killing the
planet. We're killing people in
buying and constantly buying, I
think we need to be using our
financial freedom to lift What's
that saying, We're all the boats
rise in the tide. If the tides
up, or the boats rise, that
we're actually those of us that
are well off, we need to make
sure we're actually helping lift
the lifts the tide for
everybody.
Victor Lagos: So those who have
reached financial freedom or
have access to a lot of capital
that they'd like to contribute.
There is a term that I've only
recently started to learn about,
which is impact investing. Yes.
Do you take on investment for
people that are looking to, you
know, invest for impact? Yes,
absolutely. And what does that
actually look like? Do you track
how much impact comes from that?
Sally Irwin: Oh, absolutely.
Have to Yes, I think it's really
essential. I think impact
investing is the answer for
charities and for people that
are trying to change the world.
Because we're on the ground and
we're actually doing it and and
for the company. So it's it's in
the old days, charity was very
much just giving out money
because it made you feel good.
Now it's very much a partnership
or certainly is with the freedom
hub, we will partner with an
organization because their
employees full of last longer,
be more engaged, feel that
they're making a difference.
It's there's enough research out
there now to show that people
will change jobs or choose their
jobs now based on whether they
feel that their company is
having an impact in the world.
So that's really critical to
helping us change the world. And
we can actually help them with
all their policies and processes
and the way that they do things
to also ensure that they're not
ruining the imprint on humanity
or the environment. So impact
investing is were very
rewarding. We also give back to
them, or direct you know, the
analytics, how many survivors
that have helped how many have
been helped with wellness and
psychology and how much they've
helped contribute to reducing
slavery in Australia or globally
and, and so on. So it's, um,
it's great
Victor Lagos: raising, I will
definitely be doing impact
investing as my business grows,
and I will be supporting the
freedom hub and just help also
create more awareness out there.
So I wanted to ask how the
listeners can connect with you.
I know when we talk About the
website, is there any other way
they can reach you?
Sally Irwin: Yes, just by
emailing us on the website,
there's a contact form. And in
that you can actually tick for
which area that you specifically
want to be engaged with us, you
know, whether you just want to
get our newsletter, which is
great, or you want to watch,
we've got YouTube, I'm just
starting catching up with all
your young people. But you know,
if they want to be involved in
booking an event or booking our
venue, or if they want to be
more engaged in corporate, in
our ethical business services,
and all that's all on my contact
form.
Victor Lagos: Amazing. Yeah, and
I'm sure people, even if it's
not them, I'm sure they know
someone else that they can
introduce to help the freedom
hub and of course,
Sally Irwin: straight donations,
always welcome to
Victor Lagos: donations. Yes,
anyone listening out there
that's got some some cash,
please, please donate. It's
definitely a worthy cause. It's
in your backyard. It's close to
the heart of everyone. What I
want to do is just really, thank
you for coming on today for
sharing your story for the work
that you're doing day in, day
out. I would love to do more.
And I will continue to support
you the best way that I can.
Thank you. So yeah, we'll stay
in touch looking forward to
doing more in the future. See
you next time. Thank you. Thank
you for listening. If you'd like
that, please subscribe to our
channels and follow us on our
socials and I'll see you in the
next episode.