If you haven’t already realised Mother’s Day is fast approaching – which means you better start thinking about how you are going to treat the number one lady in your life. The special day aside, we personally think that you should celebrate mum every day. Not only does she care and cook for you, she often has a long list of other responsibilities herself. Some mums even run a business too! And that is exactly what mum of two, fitness influencer and founder of James Cosmetics, Emily Skye does. No doubt you have seen Emily on Instagram as she has over a whopping 2.5 MILLION followers. Emily squeezed answering a few questions for Inside Gold Coast into her hectic work schedule. Read on to get to know Emily both personally and professionally!

How long have you been a Gold Coast local?
8 years now!

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a mother of two beautiful kids, Mia and Izaac, and I also own two businesses, Emily Skye FIT, my fitness app, and James Cosmetics, my beauty company. Through my FIT app I’ve been able to reach and connect with millions of women around the world who are working together as a community to strive for a healthier, happier lifestyle. James Cosmetics are beauty products I truly swear by and use myself! I’ve always had a huge interest in the beauty industry and wanted to share products that I love with everyone! I also have an amazing community of women through my Facebook and Instagram pages who inspire me everyday!

How did both James Cosmetics and the Emily Skye Fit app come about?
I started Emily Skye FIT after a very hard time in my life where I struggled a lot with my body image and an unhealthy lifestyle. I was in a very bad place mentally and physically and wanted to make a change. I made healthy changes in my life and started eating healthy and exercising and it completely changed my life! I wanted to share that feeling with other women and made it my mission to share knowledge I had learned along the way with other women so they can make positive changes just like I did! Over the years, FIT has become such an amazing platform where we are just one big community, constantly encouraging each other and helping each other each day! The app has definitely evolved as well as I have, as a mother I really wanted to include a pregnancy program and post pregnancy, and these have had such a great response!

James Cosmetics is my beauty company and something I am so passionate about! I’ve always been interested in beauty and skincare, I even became a qualified beautician 15 years ago! The products we release with James Cosmetics are genuinely just products that I use and want to incorporate into my routine! We started with just our 24K Gold & Collagen Crystal Eye Mask, and it still remains as one of our best selling products!

Tell us what your proudest entrepreneurial moment is?
A couple of things would definitely be being named Forbes #3 influencer in the world, and featuring on the cover of Women’s Health Magazine in more than 20 countries! They are both definitely pinch me things that I’m very proud of!

As a very busy woman, how do you manage your time to really strike that work/life balance?
I’ve found the best thing you can do is plan ahead and have lots of structure. I was never really any good at structure before having kids, I was quite spontaneous and didn’t like planning anything too far in advance. I’ve had to change that since becoming a mother and having businesses. It’s all about prioritising and having a to do list to get through and sticking to it! I’m still learning of course, but having a routine has much a huge difference to my everyday life and my mental health.

What do you love the most about being a mum?
Being a mum is just amazing in itself. Having these little humans that you and the person you love the most in the world created together and they’re like a mini you but with their own personalities. It’s so cool seeing kids grow up and evolve and watch their personalities come out! I love being able to have an impact on someone the way I can with my kids, teaching them what I’ve learned through life and being a role model to them.

How are you planning on spending this Mother’s Day?
I’m looking forward to just spending time with the kids and being grateful for them and being proud of myself as well for what I’ve done and what my body has done! I’ll also definitely be showing appreciation to my own mother as well for the amazing job she did raising my sister and I on her own!

What are your Gold Coast favourites…
Café: BSKT
Coffee spot: Three Beans Cafe
Restaurant: Gemelli
Bar or pub for a drink: The only bar I’m familiar with is a barbell at the gym

How do you choose to spend your weekends?
Either outside with the kids playing in the pool or going for a walk along the beach with the kids with a nice coffee. I love spending time outdoors, especially living in a place with such amazing weather!

You may recognise Bianca’s voice before you recognise her, as she is the prominent female voice on HIT 90.9FM between the hours of 6-9am every weekday (alongside her co-hosts Dan & Ben). Her bright and bubbly personality radiates through your ears and you just know she is a Gold Coast sweetheart. We were delighted to ask her a few questions ahead of International Women’s Day to talk all things empowerment, career and of course, her local GC loves.

How long have you been a Gold Coast local?
On and off for most of my life – I have had three different incarnations of a radio show here too! Ha!

What do you love most about living here?
After living in Sydney’s CBD for 8 years, I just LOVE the laid-back lifestyle these days, which is exactly what the GC offers. Plus, how about the beaches?! And the fantastic foodie scene has definitely grown in the last 10 years and has become my favourite place in Australia!

Tell us about your career thus far.
It’s honestly hard to summarise in a few words. But I actually started as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator at the Paradise Centre here in Surfers Paradise. I then worked my way through radio for the last 26 years – first Sydney with the original Nova crew, then did some time in Wollongong and Brisbane. But now I’m back on the Coast doing my dream job with Dan and Ben at HIT 90.9FM!

What’s your proudest career moment?
That’s a tough one – I’m fortunate enough to have had a few in 27 years! One would have to be being the first daytime announcer to beat radio legend John Laws in the radio ratings in Sydney which was pretty cool! And I was lucky enough to be awarded the “Best Announcer In The Country” Award back-to-back. And I believe, I still hold the title as the only female to do that! Humble aren’t I?!

Is there a specific women’s empowerment moment that has inspired you in your life or career?
One of the best movements I’ve seen online is #keepinitreal. It seems simple but being authentic and honest with your followers and listeners has always been something I have promised; and people relate to you when you admit that life isn’t always great!

Where have you felt empowered or disempowered as a woman?
There’s a lot of stories I can’t share as it would publicly shame people… you’ll just have to wait until I write a book when I’m 90! But I guess feeling empowered is when you have a team of amazing people around you that support you and allow you to be yourself. When you do that for fellow co-workers too that empowers them and creates a great environment where you have each others’ backs.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
International Women’s Day means something different for every woman depending on where they are in their life and in their own world. It shouldn’t depend on which country, household or relationship that woman is in as long as they are ‘free’, with the right to freedom of speech and the freedom to be who they are. This is the day to shout this from the rooftops and celebrate all women from all walks of life…

What is your International Women’s Day message?
I want to remind women that it’s okay to be unapologetically THEM! Whether that’s being a hot mess, loud, fabulous, smart, tired, exhausted, happy, single, divorced, studying or stay-at-home mums (or those who are NOT mothers), let’s just embrace who we are and stop trying to pretend to be something for other people… #BeYOU!

Tell us your favourites on the Coast…
Cafe for breakfast: no name lane – it’s just downstairs from work and I love grabbing a super clean scrambled eggs with salmon and greens and the staff are always lovely!
Coffee spot: I use my own ‘Before You Speak’ Coffee Sachets at the station – that keeps me fired all day. But on weekends I love a takeaway iced long black at either Brunch N Co in Broady or BSKT cafe in Nobbys.
Restaurant for dinner: Romano’s in Nobby Beach- they have the most drool-worthy marinara with garlic & chilli. Plus dare I say, best pizza ever?
Bar or pub for a drink: Bar is definitely Rick Shores for a cheeky Margi! And as for a Pub, would have to be Rainbow Bay Surf Club for a dirty Schnitty.

How does your weekend usually look?
It always depends on whether I am playing step-mum for the weekend. If it’s a family weekend, we usually bike ride along the beach front, have a picnic and snuggle with a Disney movie on or a barbecue on our balcony. If I have the weekend to myself, it’s usually yoga first thing both Saturday & Sunday. Following that I love heading to any of the local markets with a takeaway coffee. Sometimes I might go for a hike, catch up with mates or go for a beach walk with a girlfriend. I do also love going to the movies with mum. But when we are feeling adventurous we take our Combi to Brunswick Heads for the night!

The Merrymaker Sisters, Emma and Carla Papas, have been changing the way Australians see health and wellness since 2012.

The infectiously upbeat pair are passionate about helping people live their best lives and, following their own advice, moved to the Gold Coast just last year.

We had a chat with the girls about what we can all do to improve our health right now and how we locals rate in terms of a healthy living city.

How long have you two been Gold Coast locals?
We moved here from Canberra in February 2016.

Why did you move to the Sunshine State?
Well, why would you want to live anywhere else?! It’s amazing that we’ve created a business where we can work from anywhere, so we wanted to live by the beach. Sydney was a little too big city for us so the Gold Coast it was! Best decision ever 😉

How do you think we Coasties go in terms of health and wellness?
We think if you looked up the healthiest city in the world… Gold Coast would be there! We love how everyone is outside, walking and soaking up the sun! It’s a high vibe place that inspires us to smile, eat well and move in a way that makes us feel amazing. So yeah, you guys do VERY well!

What is the message you want to share with people?
One of our biggest inspirations is the philosopher Joseph Campbell. He said, the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. We’re all so unique, so let’s shine light on that, love who we are and be 100% ourselves every single day.

How did you come to be where you are today? 
Oh! We will try answer succinctly, as we could go on for days! Every little step has been part of the journey and brought us to where we are today. But it all started with the simple idea of starting a blog. Then creating an eBook. Then a hard copy book. Then a mobile App. Then a podcast. And so on and so on!

We really believe it’s about action, taking one little step after the other… and just keep on stepping. We’re not saying that we haven’t had ‘failures’ we definitely had our fair share but it’s about believing that every no is just preparing you for a bigger and better yes. Our other value is fun, so we always try and follow the fun too, if something isn’t feeling right or we’re not enjoying the process we’re really quick to change it up and make it into something we do enjoy.

Merrymake means to bring joy to, so in every business and life decision we keep that in mind!

What are three things people can do to improve their health right now?
Be kind to yourself. Drink lots of water. Focus on adding more good to your plate (rather than restriction).

What are three things we should incorporate into our daily diets?
For us we always include avocado (they make EVERYTHING better), cacao (because chocolate = yum!) and lots of colourful veggies!

What exciting things are you two working on right now?
As of this minute we’re making delicious sweet potato and bacon bites for the Get Merry App! YUM! But our next big project is Merry Mind, which will help Merrymakers create a balanced mindset with simple action steps and guidance.

What’s the best piece of life advice you’ve ever received? 
Follow your bliss. The stuff that brings you joy, do MORE of that.

Being a Gold Coast local, we have to ask your favourites…
Beach: Nobbys Beach
Café: BSKT
Restaurant: Hellenika or Bonita Bonita
Weekend hang: Essence of Living pilates/yoga, followed by Burleigh Farmers Markets, followed by beach time, followed by BSKT coffee, followed by chill out time back at our epic home we call Blissland with our two amazing housemates.