Abby Coleman can be heard on HIT 105’s Brisbane Breakfast show ‘Stav, Abby & Osher’ every weekday from 6am-9am. In addition to her role on radio Abby regularly appears nationally on Network Ten’s Have You Been Paying Attention and the Nine Network’s Weekend Today show presenting the weather.
After graduation she represented South Australia in Miss Australia in Darwin –Declaring Beauty pageants are exactly how you imagine them to be. In the year 2000 she was runner up in the first reality show to come to Australia – Channel Seven’s The Mole.
After completing radio and TV interviews for the reality show she got asked by Austereo to be a black thunder pilot and the on air gossip girl. At the same time she was writing and presenting the ABC TV’s National Children’s show Couch Potato.
A few years later she successfully auditioned for drama school in Sydney so relocated. After graduating from the three year degree atThe Actors Centre Australia she went on to perform lead roles in many plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest, A Streetcar Named Desire and Macbeth as well as staring in commercials for Australian Central Credit Union, Jacobs Creek, Cannon and Greater Union and way too many short films to mention.
In 2007 she temporally returned to Adelaide to complete her marketing degree at University but instead feel in love with a carpenter and decided to stay (he promised to build her a built in wardrobe) In January 2009 she started working as the afternoon announcer at SAFM Adelaide as well as doing the gossip segments, The Sunday Night Show and filling in for Amber Petty in the breakfast role during the show’s holidays.
Shortly after getting married in December 2010 Abby went to Sydney to fill in for the national shoe The Hot 30 for two months and then in August 2011 moved to Brisbane to take up her current role with B105 breakfast show. Abby with husband Scott have two boys Finlay and Jagger.
Did you always want to be a radio host or was there another career path you initially thought you would follow?
I worked in the black thunders at the radio station when I was 18 but then left to go to drama school in sydney as I wanted to be an actor. After many jobs in between I fell back into radio, which I love.
Having a family (two beautiful boys) how do you cope with the pressures of balancing a career and motherhood at the same time?
Well there is stress and separation anxiety but that’s only from me. My husband is a very relaxed tradie with a “she’ll be right” attitude so when I come to him saying I have a function on for B105 or flying interstate doing the weather for channel 9 he calmly workshops how we can make it work so one of us are with the boys and if that’s not possible my mum is a major help and they adore their nana. It is hard when the alarm goes off at 3:30am and you’ve been up breastfeeding a couple of times through the night but my biggest tip is NEVER count how many hours you are sleeping – knowing you’ve only had four hours is never good knowledge. Breastfeeding and working is a constant battle but I have the medela double pump and do it every three hours at work and feed as much as possible when I’m home with bubs. Some of the best advice I got was from Julia Morris who I adore- she said mothers guilt is a waste of time. It’s taken a while to overcome the constant worry of not being with my boys 24/7 whilst they are young but it makes me a better mum and they never miss out
What makes you feel confident?
Experiences! Yes feeling healthy makes me feel better about myself but real confidence comes from trying new things. How do you know what things you can achieve until you try it?
How do you make time for yourself?
Honestly I’m not sure any mum manages to find time for themselves in the way they would like but I love my job and love playtime with my boys.
What are you most grateful for in your life?
Sounds very cliché but I’m thankful for all those times I hated working as a waitress who couldn’t afford to pay my rent as its made me ridiculously thankful for my career now. Meeting my husband was the thing that changed me; he has calmed me down and made me want to have the family life we have now which I love.
Who inspires you?
People who do things, too many people sit online complaining about others and what they don’t have in life. It the end people who do things whatever it may be inspires me.
