We’re Champagne Cartel, and we’re here to remind you that this separation isn’t the end for you, it’s just the beginning of a new life full of possibilities. We’ve both been through our own difficult divorces, and we’ve come out stronger, smarter and happier – and now we’re living lives our old married selves would never have dreamed of. We’re here to help you, our sister, going through one of the most challenging times in your life – and we’ve brought a posse of incredible women to help you out.
This awesome lady-crew will guide you through the early days of separation and well beyond, offering real-world advice so you have the strength – and the practical steps – to move through your darkest days and into an exciting future. The best bit? This new future means you can start with a clean slate and create new dreams that YOU want.
Right now you may be worried that you’re not strong enough, not loveable enough…or just not enough. But we’re here to tell you that you will recover – you’ve got this.
And we’ve got you.
We’re here to help you win at divorce. Trust us, you’re better off.
Congratulations on taking the first step in the next beautiful phase of your life!
I’m Carolyn Tate – journalist, marathoner and mum of 3.
I’m Gillian Moody – digital strategist, lipstick devotee, mum of boys.
We started working together on our blog Champagne Cartel back in 2013. We were both mums at home on maternity leave, wanting to create a positive space for smart women to gather, have a laugh, learn something, and be a part of a collective of rad birds who believe in building each other up and having each other’s backs.
A lot has changed since then – most notably, we’ve both gone through painful divorces. Carolyn’s was first, then Gillian followed a year later. It was something we never expected to have in common, but as we’ve shared our own stories through the blog and more broadly in media articles and on social media, we’ve met loads of women who have gone through the same thing, and are struggling to move forward with their lives.
They’re struggling with their sense of self and the feeling they’ve failed, they’re worried about their kids and the effect the divorce will have on them, they’re unsure of how to move forward and find support. Often, they’re frozen, not knowing how to put one foot in front of the other.
Maybe that’s you right now too. And we get it. We’ve been there, and we’ve felt all of those emotions. We struggled with even the most basic of tasks after our marriages ended, we suffered a crisis of confidence in making simple parenting decisions, and we had no idea where to turn for legal advice (we didn’t even realise we needed it at first!).
We know what it’s like to feel lost and alone.
The Surviving Separation Panel of Experts
We’ve engaged some incredible experts to provide targeted advice from fields such as law, psychology, parenting, finance and personal development to ensure you embrace this opportunity to move forward and kick massive goals.
Jen Franklin
Family Law
Jen Franklin, a family law specialist with more than 20 years of experience. Jen has a Bachelor of Laws, a Grad Dip in Legal Practice and a Masters in Family Law. We like to think of her more as a divorce coach. She delivers expert guidance with integrity and compassion. Jen is someone who has walked the path of relationship transition and she understands that separation and divorce is a journey. She knows not only the legal implications of separation but also the emotional aspects and family issues that come with a divorce. She is passionate about empowering women to live their Best Big Lives post divorce and empowering them to move forward.
franklinfamilylaw.com.au
Nikki Parkinson
Style & Confidence
Nikki Parkinson is former journo, turned blogger, stylist and fashion designer. She’s also a mum of adult kids and a teenager, married twice, divorced once. Nikki believes in the power of getting up and getting dressed and getting on with it. Confidence in your style comes from dressing to show the real you to the world. And it’s ok if you have more than one version of the real you during a lifetime, after all, we are complex creatures. Our style will change through every season of our lives – marriage, post-pregnancy, divorce, re-marriage, new jobs, retirement. And that’s ok. Roll (or rollercoaster ride) with the changes and use what you wear as your superpower to see you through and out the other side.
stylingyou.com.au
Isiah McKimmie
Sex & Relationships
Isiah McKimmie is a Couples Therapist, Sex Therapist, Sexologist and Coach who has been helping women and couples discover deeper intimacy and desire for over a decade.
One of the most qualified Sex and Relationship Experts in Australia, Isiah holds a Masters degree in Relational Psychotherapy, a Master degree in Science in Medicine (Sexual Counselling/Psychosexual Therapy), a Post-Graduate Diploma of Sexology and a Certificate from the prestigious Institute for the Advanced Studies of Human Sexuality.
Isiah is compassionate, understanding and absolutely non-judgemental. She’s built her reputation on getting results and helping her clients live happier lives.
isiah-mckimmie.com
Zoey Dowling
Running & Fitness
I believe running can change your whole life, not just your fitness. I believe it can teach you to trust yourself, where that trust has been worn away. I believe it can teach you to believe in yourself, where that belief has been suffocated and I believe it can show you how you are capable of so much more than you can imagine. I believe that, because that’s what it did for me. Before I was a running coach, Level 2 Accredited Running Coach through Athletics Australia I was the least athletic person imaginable, but somehow it still had the power to show me that if I could do this, there just were no limitations on anything else. Now, as a running coach, I’ve spent the last six years using running to show women how amazing they are.
operationmove.com.au
Shari Brewer
Parenting
Shari Brewer of Teenage Survival Coach has been working with adolescents and their families for more than 30 years as a registered and practicing high school teacher and behaviour support specialist teacher. She understands the impact of family separation on teens and has supported many young people through difficult this difficult time of transition. Personally, in 2006 Shari weathered her own difficult separation and has a wealth of first hand experience and empathy to support others experiencing the same.
teenagesurvivalcoach.com
Danielle Colley
Wellbeing & Harmony
Danielle is a Sydney-based Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Positive Psychology Coach at Your Good Life who empowers and shares tools with women who feel they are burning out, running on empty, losing their identity, or are disconnected from themselves and loved ones. She helps women to connect back with their heart set, their mind set and their soul set, to rediscover their values and desires so they can realign their lives to find harmony and balance in their career, in their relationships and in their soul. She has been featured in many of Australia’s leading online and print magazines such as Australian Women’s Weekly, news.com.au, Whimn, and Body+Soul.
yourgoodlife.com.au
But what we want to say is: it gets better. In fact, we think divorce has been one of the best things that could have happened to us. We wouldn’t have chosen it in a million years, but we have learned how to take this excruciating process, learn from it, grow and get to know ourselves in a brand new way, and create a life for ourselves we never thought was possible.
So now we want to take all we’ve learnt and help you to start taking those steps towards turning what can be a devastating event into the first day of something wonderful – a new life where you will thrive and find a level of true happiness you never had before. That’s because this is your opportunity to build a world that is all about what makes you happy. And we are here for it.
Join us!
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