Kintsugi Heroes
Joanne Brooks · 48 min
After losing her husband in a tragic accident, discovering a devastating secret, and watching a $30-million business collapse, Joanne Brooks rebuilt her life not once but repeatedly — proving that purpose, not circumstance, determines who we become.
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Joanne Brooks learned early that if she wanted something to change, she had to make it happen herself. At 18, her father forbade her from attending university while allowing her brother to go. Shy and uncertain, she called bank branches daily until one hired her. That lesson stuck: wanting something meant going for it.
In September 2001, police officers arrived at her workplace with news that her husband had been killed in a car accident. Within 72 hours, she learned he was HIV positive. Her family pressured her to keep this secret, a burden she carried for decades, even from her own parents. She grieved while protecting her four-year-old daughter Nicole, refusing to move back to her family on the Gold Coast and instead choosing to stay and rebuild.
Nearly a year later, a man digging ditches next door picked up Nicole after she fell. Paul became her husband and Nicole's stepfather, the support she needed to move forward. Joanne started a business to reduce Nicole's daycare hours, then launched Entamio in 2013. The company scaled to $30 million in turnover in two years, but the pace consumed her. In November 2014, her largest partner cancelled a $2 million contract with no notice. Rather than watch liquidators seize her home, Joanne sold everything she and Paul owned to clear company debts. Nearly all her staff stayed unpaid to help move the furniture.
She allowed herself five minutes on the floor, then got up and asked the question that had carried her through everything: what is the one thing I can do today? A year later, she told her story publicly to 200 people for the first time and discovered that sharing what happened, and how she came through it, mattered to others. Today, Joanne knows that purpose, not circumstance, determines who we become.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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