Cleola Anderiesz & Chantel Thornton
Hope can take many forms. It can be found in science and discovery, in advocacy and action, and in the quiet determination to create a better future for those who come after us.
Dr Cleola Anderiesz and Dr Chantal Thornton collages are a window into the lives of two incredible women beyond the Lab coats, bringing together the people, places, experiences and moments that sit beyond their professional lives, revealing the humanity and a full and layered life behind the work they do.
Letter to Myself - Cleola
Dear Cleola,
I know you're trying so hard.
You spend a lot of energy wondering if you're enough, ifyou're doing enough, and believing confidence comes after you've provenyourself.
But let me tell you something that will take you fartoo long to learn: confidence doesn't come before the leap. It comes because ofthe leap.
Self-belief is built through small acts of courage. Throughuncomfortable conversations, difficult decisions, and trusting yourself beforeyou have certainty.
You'll spend time waiting until you feel ready. Waiting forproof. Waiting for permission.
Don't.
Some of the best decisions you'll ever make will come fromtrusting yourself long before you know the outcome.
You will have opportunities to learn from extraordinarypeople. Be grateful for their lessons, but never lose your own voice. The worlddoesn't need another version of someone else. It needs you.
Being shaped by different cultures will give you empathy,perspective, and the ability to connect with people from all walks of life. Thegoal isn't fitting in. The goal is belonging to yourself.
Life will also teach youabout loss. There will be
moments that break your heart, but they will help you seewhat truly matters.
Loss has a way of stripping away the unimportant. It teachesyou that life is fragile, people are precious, and time is more valuable thanachievement. Loss will deepen your compassion and will expand yourunderstanding of what others carry. And somehow, through the pain of loss, youbecome more of yourself, not less.
There will be times when you find yourself facing a mountainthat feels impossible to climb, don't focus on the summit. Focus on the nextstep.
Resilience isn't about always being strong. It's aboutcontinuing forward when you are uncertain.
Especially when you're uncertain.
Your greatest fulfilment will come from helping others. Theprivilege of helpingpeople live a healthier life, find comfort, or feel hope when they needed itmost, will matter far more than any title or achievement.
The work won't always be easy, but it will always beworthwhile.
That sense of purpose that comes from helping others iswhere your heart will always feel most at home.
But as you build your career, remember that whatmatters most are the people beside you. Cherish your family and friends. Maketime for them. Be present for the moments that matter.
There will be times whenlife asks you to start
over and you'll want to play it safe. Don't.
The greatest opportunities, lessons, and growth come fromtaking risks. Be bolder. Raise your hand before you're ready. Speak up beforeyour inner critic talks you out of it.
Playing it safe may protect you from failure, but it canalso keep you from discovering what you're capable of.
Choose courage over comfort more often than you think youshould.
When life asks you to reinvent yourself, don't be afraid.Some of the most beautiful chapters of your story have yet to be written.
XX
Letter to Myself - Chantal
My dear child,
Do not wait until your fourth decade to truly reflect on who you are andhow you are living.
There is so much I want to say but never enough time to say it all.
Time is your most precious commodity- you can never earn it back.
Don’t feel compelled to fill every minute of every day. Busyness is notthe same as purpose. Allow yourself moments of stillness. They are notwasted—they are where clarity lives.
Learn to make peace with imperfection.
You were raised with wonderful values. Your mother taught you that “nearenough is not good enough” and “if a job’s worth doing, it’sworth doing well.” Those lessons built discipline, resilience andpride in your work. But remember that not every area of life demandsperfection. Never let perfection steal your joy.
Allow yourself to enjoy life without guilt. Work hard. Beresponsible. But don’t believe you must earn every moment of happiness. Joyisn’t a reward reserved only for productivity—it is part of a life well lived.
As you dream about your future, remember thatyour goals should reach far beyond your career. Success is only one part of ameaningful life. Build relationships.
Nurture your health. Develop your faith. Protect your curiosity. Thesethings matter just as much.
When it comes to choosing a life partner. Find someone whose aspirationsalign with yours—not just professionally, but spiritually, emotionally,financially and in the way you both want to live your lives. Shared values willcarry you much further than shared interests.
Never stop looking for better ways of doing things. Don’t continue aprocess simply because it’s familiar or because changing feels difficult.Innovation begins with asking, “Is there a better way?”
And stop trying to do everything yourself. Itwill often feel quicker, but it rarely is.
Learn to trust others. Delegate. Outsource. Allow people the opportunityto contribute. Your time and energy are too valuable to spend proving you cando it all alone.
Please don’t keep walking a path simply because you’ve already investedyears in it. Have the courage to let go when something is no longer right, andhave even more courage to pursue new opportunities.
Take the time to discover what truly makes you happy. Understand thatthe answer will change throughout your life—and that’s perfectly okay. Giveyourself permission to evolve. Don’t cling to an old version of yourself simplybecause it’s familiar.
Remember this above all:curate the lifeyou want.No one else can do it for
you. Life doesn’t happen by accident; it is shaped by the choices youmake every day.
Don’t be afraid to step off the treadmill. Halfway through the marathonof life, stop. Pause. Wander. Explore. Look around. Stop rushing toward thenext milestone long enough to appreciate where you are.
One piece of wisdom from your mother is timeless: “Do untoothers as you would have them do unto you.” Live by it. But alsounderstand that not everyone has been taught this principle. Be kind, but don’tbe naïve. Extend grace, while also setting healthy boundaries.
Finally, do the things that are hard—the thingsyou naturally avoid. Learn
about money. Make financial plans. Set meaningful goals. Reflect often.Growth usually lives on the other side of discomfort.
If you can learn these lessons earlier than I did, your journey will notnecessarily be easier—but it will be richer, more intentional, and far morefulfilling.
Life is not a race to be won. It is a gift to be experienced.
Walk it with courage. Live it with purpose. Love deeply. Laugh often.Rest without guilt. And never stop becoming the person you were created to be.
With all the wisdom I’ve earned,
Your'old' self
Chantel
Letter from a friend - Chantel
When I think of Chantal, the word that immediately comes to mind is selfless.
She is an exceptional breast cancer surgeon, but what I admire just as much is the person behind the surgeon.
She is a devoted mother to two children, and somehow, while giving so much love and time to her own family, she continues to give an extraordinary amount of herself to her patients.
Chantal is genuinely one of the most selfless people I know. Her care doesn’t finish when the appointment ends or when she leaves the operating theatre. She gives her personal time, she listens, she reassures, she answers the extra call, and she never makes anyone feel that they are asking too much.
Her patients are never simply patients to her. She sees the person, the family, the fear and the uncertainty behind every diagnosis, and she is there for all of it.
Professionally, she is an extraordinary surgeon. Personally, she has enormous compassion, generosity and heart.
Chantal is selfless in the truest sense of the word as a mother, as a surgeon and as a human being. She gives so much of herself to others, and somehow, she always finds more to give.
That is what makes her so incredibly special.
Jacqui Maree Stamas
All About Cleola (Cle)
From Kate, with contributions by Melissa (Mel), Marnie (Marns), Chithra (Chitt), Trudy (Trudes), Jenni (Jen) and Marina (Mern)
I met Cle for the first time aged 9, when I started in Prep 5 at Korowa, the school we all attended, way back in the long-ago. Cle had been at Korowa since she was basically a toddler, so knew her way around. Even at that young age, she exhibited a degree of poise and self-possession that was very unusual. I was much messier and a bit chaotic, so we didn’t have much in common then, but I remember being absolutely transfixed by her perfect hair, which was in two long, tidy, black plaits that went down past her waist. She had very famous hair, and Marnie remembers everyone wanting to play with her just in case her glamour rubbed off on them. This continued right through after leaving school, when Cle got a job on the Estee Lauder counter at David Jones, and we hoped that somehow we’d learn how to use makeup and look amazing, just by being in her proximity.
Cleola’s hair became somewhat of a fixture of our adolescence. Trudy remembers her trimming her split ends with tiny scissors all through Chemistry class, much to our teacher’s rage, and Jen remembers her using her mum’s iron to straighten it on the ironing board, in the last century before straighteners were invented. But appearances are deceiving. Behind Cleola’s perfect outward presentation, immaculate clothes and fashion sense (even in the 80s) was someone quite different, who loved nothing more than to go shooting or fishing with her Dad in Gippsland. These were very unusual pursuits for a young girl for the times (and probably now). I don’t know anyone else on the planet who can rock equally both a Chanel suit and a pair of waders.
In fact, some of us found it hard to believe when Cle told us that she’d won another clay shooting trophy, as, to be brutally honest, she was pretty crap at school sports. We had to wear a hideous grey, box-pleated gym tunic with matching grey undies (and they checked!) for PE, and I think she was so offended by the ugliness of the garment that it inhibited any ability she might have had. In an early example of Cle’s instinct for fundraising, she and Melissa took part in a charity bike ride along the river in Year 12, and made the poor decision to ride a tandem bike. However, they were so inept that they ended up riding it right into the Yarra (people have died from swallowing that water). I think that was the last year they ran that particular fundraiser.
Many people believe that what you do (or don’t do) in high school dictates your whole life and career after it, and I love to use Cleola as the exemplar that proves that theory wrong. For example, we had a fearsome science teacher in senior school who told Cle that “she’d never be any good at science”. Well, Cle didn’t get the highest score in HSC, but she got into a science degree at Monash, went on to do Honours and then completed a PhD in reproductive biology with the group that pioneered IVF, the Trounson lab. Then, as if that wasn’t impressive enough, she went on to greater things at Cancer Australia and now, she’s the CEO of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. So there, Mrs. F.!
We are all very proud of Cleola, and everything that she’s achieved, and no doubt, will continue to achieve. It’s impossible to believe that some of us have known Cle for 50 years!! The years truly fall away though when we catch up for drinks together in Melbourne, make way too much noise for a bunch of middle-aged ladies, and all the old stories come flooding out. Thanks so much for the opportunity to contribute to this podcast.
