S6 Ep 2 | You Can Never Lose by Giving: Juliet Mayhew on Purpose, Growth & Impact

0:28Welcome to Beyond Marketing, the podcast. and philanthropy, Juliette Mayhill is someone who leads with heart, intention and impact. We're diving into her gift first philosophy, her journey of constant evolution and the courage it takes to build a life and a legacy hooted in service, creativity, joy and faith. Welcome to Beyond Marketing, the podcast. I am so honored to be here, but with an introduction like that, I hope I'm not going to disappoint. I'm like, who is that person? Wow. It's you, my love. What a joy. What a joy to be here. Yes, I'm so thankful for you to be here. I think I'm quite moved because I think this was in the...

1:20I think it's been brewing for some time when we first connected. Shall we talk about how we connect? Yeah, I think I stumbled across your Instagram probably around three, four years ago, and I was just blown away by it. Thank you. And the seeds of knowledge, the gifts, actually, that you were dropping in the conversations that you had with the guests on your show, I was like, this is so refreshing. This is what people need to hear. This stirs hope, creativity. It shows purpose. And it's like it was linear. People can absorb it well. So for me, I then started listening and hearing and then sent you a DM.

2:06You sent me a DM. And then the question was so beautiful. You just said, hi, are you Christian? I did. Yes. And then I responded back, yes, I am Christian and I love Jesus. And you're like, oh, me too. And then that was it. That was it? That was like the connection that we needed. And I think probably I truly believe in God. And I think that God put people in a way. Well, I think it was a divine moment, divine appointment. And I knew in the right timing, I didn't doubt that something would happen. And it happened a few months ago. We met in person for the first time after many years just being social friends.

2:45And now... And now look at us, we're here. We are here. And I think through that we have a genuine friend of both of us that we both respect deeply. 100%. And that was really the catalyst because I think you can meet people and be inspired and the fruits show in their life and with what they say. But I think often if there is a connection point, there is an anchor. There is an anchor. 100%. So Australia. Yes. You were born in Australia. Yeah. And you lived in Australia until what age? So my family are still there and I was born in Australia, raised in Australia, did junior school in Australia.

3:25But then with my father's work, we travelled extensively. So we actually lived in Saudi Arabia for two years in Riyadh, just after Desert Storm. Wow. We lived on then an island in the middle of the South Pacific, which is two by five miles called Norfolk Island. My dad was chief medical officer there, which was extraordinary. everyone was either Christian, Bailey, Fletcher, Fletcher, Bailey, Bailey, Fletcher, Christian, Christian, Bailey, all 2 ,000 residents because they came from the mutiny on the Bountiny. So they were like they'd married islanders when Australia was discovered by Captain James Cook, the Endeavour ship came round the islands and the penal settlement for the convicts was on Norfolk.

4:05So Norfolk was like bred out of the captains on the ship who had lived there, maybe a few escaped convicts. and so a lot of them have the names of, as I say, Fletcher, Christian Bailey, a mixture of. Wow. And then you come in as TEPs, Temporary Entry Permits. I lived on this phenomenal island for two years. How old were you? I was 10, 9, I think 9 1⁄2 to 11 1⁄2. Then my parents moved to Saudi Arabia and then I had to go school. It was after Desert Storm School, really finished senior school there and we had a home in England. We always had my parents' half English. So we'd come in the summers, we'd see family.

4:49And there was a discussion about school and they'd seen a school called St Mary's Ascot and they thought, well, maybe that's the option for Juliet. But I had found this school in Trin, a Harper chair. And it was a Yehuda Menuh and accredited music school. It was started by Dame Alicia Markova. Jane Seymour was there. Lady Diana went for a season. Old Rothschild mansion in the middle of this amazing acreage. The Bullroom is where you do your ballet classes. And you found that school. I found it. I'd done a drama course in the summer. All I wanted to do was perform an act. And I'd done a drama school.

5:28I'd met this fabulous girl with the name Emily Ovingdon. And I thought, who has a stage name like that? And my former name was Pandit. Juliet Pant. I was like, that is just not a good stage. Now I've got Juliet Mayhew, so we'll stick with that. But I remember thinking, and she told me every day about this amazing school she was at. And, you know, I was 11 and a half, nearly 12, and I just couldn't imagine that there was a place that you could sing and dance and tap dance and perform and create and do art every single day of your life. So I'd never been trained and I had to learn an audition piece and a song.

6:07and do you remember the song? Yes, it was from Annie. Can you sing? Annie, Annie, Annie, look what you've done to us, Annie, Annie, Annie. I mean, I could do the whole audition again probably. And I remember I had no training, so it was clearly potential. Clearly, actually. Clearly potential. Clearly potential. And so I started this life. My parents got back on it. I'd flown and we'd spend the Christmas in, I got in, couldn't believe it. I believe it. We'd spend Christmas in Thailand. I had my huge trunk. We had to go to Savile Row to buy all my uniform. Wow. And it was all put in a trunk. And they literally dropped me at the front steps.

6:45They had to go back to Heathrow to catch a flight back to Australia to go to Australia to move to Saudi Arabia. So it was like a whole thing going on. Oh, my God. And you're 12 years old. Yeah, and I remember just wavy. And then my life began. And in those days it was faxes. So you'd send faxes or the air. Do you remember the air envelopes? Yes. And if you missed the side, you'd miss half the words. Okay. So my mother would send one once a week and fax and, you know, you'd have a phone card and you'd kind of click, click, click to Australia or click, click, click, click to Saudi Arabia. And my life began there.

7:20And I love that your parents is kind of like they let you to do it at 12 years old. Because if Antonio, my son, is 11, if he asks me this next year, can I wave and say goodbye? And go, I'm probably going to say no. I think they knew in me they had a different child. Which is, I love it. Yeah. Do you know what? They celebrated my uniqueness. I have to give them that. I love, yeah. But equally, my father did actually train professionally as a musician. Okay. He was from a family of eight. His father was a missionary in Argentina. Eight children. Eight children. Yeah, amazing. Amazing. A lot of the boys became vicars.

7:57Sorry, his sisters married vicars. Okay. He became a doctor. his other brother was a professor of English, set up the Oxford schools of English in Italy. And the other brother became a vicar and was canon actually of Liverpool in this country. And they all lived then. One went to Canada, America, Australia. I mean, we spread the globe. 36 cousins, 56 second cousins. Wow. It's a real legacy. It's a real legacy. And there's two in Australia? And my, all around the world, but my family, all in Australia. All in Australia. Yeah. And then, like, your father, as you're saying, he did a lot of humanitarian work and he still does it?

8:36He's still. Okay. 81. And he's working and he loves it. And do you know what? I thank God he's working because his brain is, he's so smart. If he's not stimulated, he'd be an absolute nightmare for all of us, including my mother. And then, like, what is, like, he's the kind of guy that wrote a book on his holiday to the North Pole. Wow. I mean, that's how he spends his time off. Wow. So he's not in stop. But probably you got that from him. The energy probably, yes. Yes, the energy from him. So, but like until 12 years old, you're living with your parents, traveling the world, and then following your father, and then seeing his work that he was doing as a medical service and a humanitarian.

9:14What do you think from that period of life made you to be who you are today? Like the lessons of that period? Because it looks like your parents are amazing in the work that they do. I'm exceptionally blessed to have been brought up with the parents. I'll get emotional. But my holidays, for instance, at boarding school, you're living this life in this stunning Rothschild mansion. You're wearing white gloves and a boater. You're curtsying. You're dancing to classical music every day. You're learning theatre and literature and all these wonderful things that happen at Tringles, like a fairy tale.

9:50And then in my half term or my holidays, my father would say, do you want to come and meet me in Thailand? And I would accompany him on the mission trips. And we would travel to northern Thailand, Burma, at the time Myanmar, in the middle of a civil war, and you would see absolute abject poverty, but not only poverty, persecution, and it's a war zone. So they would be going cross-border to where the NGOs couldn't go to take their teams. Hence the fact it would be half a day schlepping through the foothills of the Himalayas. so my father could then take the team in to do operations, you know, emergency operations.

10:26I mean, there were bombs falling overhead. You know, we were with the president. We used to stay with the president and the general bomber, the head of the army. We would go in. They were so grateful to have medical aid. And because of Dad being a top tropical medicine doctor, he had the knowledge and he was fearless. He felt led by God so there was no fear. He wasn't putting us at risk. He wanted us to experience this. So how then that translated for me to come back, a juxtaposition of the life I was being prepared to live was huge. I was joking. I'm like my parents were going around the world saving lives and I was trained to entertain lives.

11:04But, you know, God has created us in a unique way for all our separate purposes. 100%. And I think that gave me a deep sense of compassion for knowing the story behind the story. Also acceptance, difference is good. Difference isn't something to be scared of. I literally have chili with every single thing I eat because I spent so much time in the jungle eating rice and chili. Wow. And I love that. And it's formed me who I am. I mean, I actually set up a company in Thailand. I had a luxury leather goods company in a factory in Bangkok, first Rama II, then Sarana Pong. And because I love the people so much.

11:44In fact, there's so much of my heart still in Asia. And I really love the different cultural experiences and that's enriched me. So I think you're asking how it's impacted the way I've done life. I think I don't go in with a cookie cutter look at how life translates. This is beautiful. And I think there's so much in what a person can give out of their experience. And I think seeing the survivors that came out of what's been an ongoing civil war for many, many years, they taught me more than I could ever teach them. No, I just don't have any doubt about it. And what I love about you is just because you build that incredible life where it's multifaceted, right?

12:28So you're an entrepreneur, you're still doing your philanthropic work. And then you did end up at West End, right? Yeah. For how long you were performing? So my first professional job, I was 16 actually. Wow. I was still at school, but back in the day there was a TV program in Australia called Home and Away. They had Neighbours and Home and Away. And Emily Simmons was supposed to be Cinderella. But I'd been working with a director at the school who'd come to do guest classes and I'd got into a young, it's called National Youth. There's National Youth Theatre and National Youth Music Theatre. And in the summers I'd been touring.

13:02Like Jude Law started in National Youth Theatre. It's something you audition for. Some of the best performers in the UK would do it. So this director had been working with us. He was in school one day doing private, like doing masterclasses. And he approached me and I think because of being Australian and I'm flattered he thought there was some similarity to Emily Simmons because she was fantastic. So you end up being the Cinderella. He said she's late, she can't start. Could you open and start the show and learn it and I'll direct you in. So I had to get permission from my headmistress and my sister at the time was studying at Soas University in London.

13:35So had a flat. She was here in London. And I started rehearsing at Sadler's Wells. And the next thing I know, we opened Cinderella. And then you wore the Cinderella. Then she came and took over for the rest of the run. But you did the first Cinderella. And I'll never forget because at the time the lead was Buddy Holly on the West End. Wow. I've forgotten his name but he was a huge star. And he was Prince Charming. And I quickly read down the bottom of the script says, Prince Charming now kisses Cinderella. and I'm like, I've never done an onstage kiss. What do I do? Is there tongues? Is there not tongues?

14:06I mean, I was so, like, green, but I had to pretend I was so grown up and such a professional. And, I mean, it was so... And what did you do with a kiss? It was so uncute now. Like, you can't. It would be so illegal. We'd all be arrested. But in those days, they saw this cute blood and I'll never forget, he grabbed me and he just threw me over and he slapped one and then picked me up again. And the whole, the director, the cast, they all burst out laughing because they knew And I went, you were not supposed to do that. Yeah, but it was really nice. Oh, my God. And that's what I think I'm loving about you because you're telling me about like your upbringing, the experience you had with your family, especially with your father, and then starting a new job when you were 16.

14:49Well, I went back and finished my education. Yes. But I had started. And I think National Youth Music Theatre, that experience in itself, you train up as a professional very quickly because you're performing at the Edinburgh Festival. but do you think like you're very grounded it feels like you're very very grounded you're only as good as your last job yes exactly you're very grounded and you have have achieved so much thank you yourself as a career again doing so many different things and still very grounded and well do you think that experience like as you said like global experience and living in the middle of a war, it taught you that doesn't matter how much you achieve in life, you still need to be grounded and remember where you're coming from.

15:38Because it's not everyone that will be at your position today, but still be so grounded and with this big heart and big energy. And I know like generosity for you, it's a must in your life, the giving back. Yeah. Look, I think that in life, especially in the life that I've experienced, is that I'm so grateful. And you know, life's a vapor. It's a vapor. And it can be gone. Oh my God, it's going to be gone like in a second. And I think that I've seen a lot. You know, I can't talk of the horrific things that I saw when I was - You still have memory, so you remember. And I think that makes you treasure every moment, every day, and every relationship that you can in as much capacity as you can.

16:22I think I've had to also learn a lot of resilience. I actually find it quite emotional and difficult with my close, close family not seeing them all the time. And I had to kind of build up a resilience with almost knowing that they're there, but, you know, not seeing them so frequently was not normal living 12 and a half thousand miles. So you have to learn in your own capacity to work out how to survive. And I think I really leaned on heaven for that and knew that, you know, I have an external family with regards to friends. You build up a family. Yeah, you build up a family, yeah. You choose your friendships and the people that you're accountable to.

17:03I had some great mentors and I think that has made a big difference in my life, people that I admired, people that I looked up to, people that had done very, very well in life who sewed back into my life. And I think simply because they saw in me my questions were not just of the peripheral motor questions wanted to go deeper. I wanted to be stretched. And I think that is probably because when you've been exposed to a lot, I think your expectations are higher. It's so true. It's so true. And that connection with heaven and faith and God, it came when you were at that phase of your life or is something that is always been part of our life?

17:45How did you learn to be faithful? How did you learn to trust in a God and giving and surrendering your life to him? Well, I think very early on, I had a deep sense of who Jesus was. I'd seen miracles and I'd seen prayer and power in action. So there was definitely an experience that I knew was to be truthful. truthful. What I needed to understand was because I'd come from this faith filled home, I needed to find it for myself because I think, you know, especially in the world that I was trained up in the entertainment world, it's godless. So I didn't know how it collated. And I didn't want to be odd because at some point I thought maybe I'm odd because my brain thinks differently and my approach is different.

18:43And it's such a nasty dog-eat-dog world. And I was celebrating everyone's wins while they were, you know, attacking the win because I'm the competition. And so my, I just didn't, it wasn't like I was going against the grain. Yes. But then I realised, you know, the revelation that I had is I knew who, I was born in the image of Christ and he wants the best for me. and he set me apart for a reason. So I'm never going to beat to the same drum. No, you're never going to. And I think that confidence came in my own maturity, my failures, my disappointments, my heartbreaks, and seeing God heal me through those moments and the gifts from heaven.

19:28Like I have had so many miracles happen in my life. I love that. And I don't know how I could ever deny that Jesus is my saviour with the amount of gifts I've been given. Exactly. That is not from my own worth. And I used to say that because sometimes it's just like it's difficult to explain, but you don't explain because if you see miracles happen in your life and if you 100 % have been chosen and there is a much bigger force that is looking after you, that doesn't matter the failures, the mistakes, the nothing. because you're always going to be someone that's going to hold your hand and take you to the next phase because he knows what is best for you and that's how you build your face knowing that.

20:13Well, I think as well, on the way over actually in the car, I was thinking about Walt Disney at Disneyland has a dream center and he would have a group of people just to dream, dream up new concepts. And I remember reading this years ago and thinking that is just extraordinary because I really know that your dreams come from heaven. and how big can you dream? You can't outdo God. You can. It's that verse in the Bible, you know, I can do exceedingly abundantly more than you could ever hope, dream and imagine. Well, I mean, if my dreams are this big, imagine how big God's dreams are for me. So my bar may be here, but his bar is here.

20:50And I'm thinking on this level and he's thinking on this level. So for me, I think you never can stop dreaming. You can never not have high expectations. Bring your best self. Come expectant. And I think that's what God's never let me down. It's beautiful. I get chills because I just like this is a big testimony. And then we need to have more people like you that talk about it because it's not everyone that is feel the, you know, it's empowered to talk about so naturally and without caring about what other people would say. I think that we're in a time now in the world where there is just so much conflict.

21:26So much division, pain, loneliness, hurt. but we have a young generation of people who are seeking truth and they are critical thinkers. And when you're a critical thinker, you need to weigh up the yin and the yang, the black and the white. You need to see clearly. And I think we've got to start just giving seeds of truth and there's nothing more than the seeds of truth that comes from the truth, the word of God. This is so beautiful. It is so clear. And there's an answer for everything, whether it's in business, whether it's in relationships, whether it's in parenting. It's all in the Word of God.

22:01It's all in the Word of God. And then you talk about failures and mistakes. How do you deal with your failures and your mistakes? Is it something that you see as a working progress for you to be better? Listen, we are all a work in progress. And I thank God I'm a work in progress. And I thank God I'm learning every day. I see failures as actually a good thing because I think it molds us and builds our character. And I think if you go through life not admitting to failure or wrongdoings or things that you've messed up and not able to, A, acknowledge it, ask for forgiveness or forgive yourself on it, you're not moving forward.

22:40So true. So I think there are many times I've let – I'm human. We're all going to let people down, right? No, yeah. And I think my expectations, I think, that I put on other people, you know, if I put too high expectations, they're going to let me down and I'm going to have disappointment. You need to meet people where they're at and you need to be met where you're at. And I think my failures and disappointments I celebrate because quite honestly, it's helped me become every day hopefully a better person. And, you know, I let myself be challenged and disciplined. I let people who I respect say, oi, don't behave like that.

23:17Don't behave like this. You're better than that. Yeah. Don't let this take you down. Stay in your lane. You know, don't talk about people like that. Don't act. Don't put yourself in that situation. Think about what you're listening to. Think about the music. Think about what you're reading, what you're being exposed to. How is it feeding your spirit and your soul? Spirit and your soul. And I've put people in place that have the authority over me to say that. And I'll go to them and say, what do you think? And sometimes I don't like what they're going to say. And it's just so tough. And I'll argue with them.

23:47But they're always right. And often it's my father and my mother. and they are such prayerful warriors. So you still go back to them? Yes. When you need that. Yeah, I'm desperate to go home. I'm missing them so much. I mean, obviously, they're my family. Yeah. It's been harder as the children got older because their school is so crucial. A-levels, UCSEs. Yeah, yeah. It's a long way. It's a long way. But, you know, my father gets planes like buses. So it's really only 24 hours. There's a sleep in the air. It's like Brazil. And talk about, like, because then you have this whole personality around you, right, which is like one of them is your styling, your statement pieces.

24:26It's just like how does this become part of who you are? Because you address amazingly, externally well. You're always with some very unique pieces that it just really translates of that light and energy and pure heart that you are. so was this is something that is always been very natural for you like the fashion your statement passes the way you show up or is something that it developed as you were growing up and you're feeling more confident about yourself I could hear my mother laughing at the moment um because she would say even at three years old I would be telling my father daddy you can't wear that tie with that shirt and I would be picking things out but I think as a creative because I did study look I studied obviously all of the creative you know performance side of things but I also studied art, textiles, ceramics, fashion at school I did you know learn all of those things and I loved it it was part of my A-level piece that we did because I was in such a creative school we had the ability to do all of those things which collates with you know floral arrangement, setting a table it's the things that I love it's creating a space and making it beautiful So for me, I've always loved clothes.

25:40I mean, when I do a babysitting job, I would save up my money to buy Kendo. That's a big Australian designer. And Kendo was my favourite. And they were not cheap pieces. And my mother would be like, she's all this baby. I just would save up to get this one outfit that I just wanted. Or this one, you know, now I would suppose it would be like Zimmerman. But back in the day, it was Kendo. It was those pieces. You know, they were not cheap, but it was a statement piece. and I think you know I've I'm my I have my own style completely you have which that's isn't and nowadays it's so unique because more and more with social media we all became the same I mean the same in terms of styling like what's in trend we all wear the same thing because the social media is influencing a lot you must have this shirt you must have this jacket it's color code and then you feel like oh if it's the trend might need to go to that direction because everyone is in that direction.

26:33That's the trend. But with you, you can see that no matter what the trend is saying, no matter what social media is saying, TikTok, Instagram, you are very kind of, you're sticking with who you are. And this is amazing. Thank you. It's just like stunning. I have to be honest with myself. Yeah. And it's tricky when you have people and they bring things and they would like to style you. And I've got a very distinct style. Yeah. And, you know, and it doesn't correlate Because I've got to be honest with myself. 100%. I know what I'm going to feel comfortable in and what I'm not going to be comfortable in.

27:05But look, I think it's part of being, you know, the performer. I mean, this is the persona. This is something that I am. I'm authentic through and through. So, you know, sometimes you'll just see me in my gym kit. I will be having a gym kit day. Because you are very into wellness, right? Yeah, I love going to that. We work five days a week. Pilates, weights. What is your route? Do you, you're someone that is very like, do you stick you up with your routine? So what is your routine? What time do you wake up? I usually get up between 5.30 and 6.30, depending on the day of the late, late. And I, cause I want time to pray and with God to have my personal reflection, have a coffee and, you know, have that.