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Recorded At Red Nine
The Earthquake That Sparked a Children’s Book Company
Season 1
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What if a boozy rosé lunch and a magnitude 7.1 earthquake were the unlikely origins of a children's book business? That's exactly the story Hannah Davison tells in this episode.
Hannah is the co-founder of My Big Moments — a range of children's books backed by neuroscience, child psychology and play therapy, designed to help kids aged 2–7 navigate the big milestones and challenges of early life. Think: new siblings, starting school, going to hospital, grief and loss, and building resilience. The books can even be personalised, putting your child in the story as the empowered helper rather than the one in distress.
In this conversation, Hannah talks about how the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake — waking up to a freight train sound, running through broken glass in bare feet, jumpstarting a car with bricks falling off the roof — drove home exactly why this project had to exist.
She also gets into the science behind why hearing your own name fires your neurons, the Einstein quote that guides her business philosophy, how a spontaneous conversation about leaking boobs led to a multi-award-winning podcast, and why trusting your intuition might be the best business advice there is.
📚 My Big Moments
🌐 Website: https://mybigmoments.com
📸 Instagram: @mybigmoments
🎙️ Untidy Podcast (Hannah & Matilda Green)
🌐 Website: https://www.untidypodcast.com
📸 Instagram: @untidypodcast
🎙️ Red Nine Studios
🌐 Website: https://www.redninestudios.com
📸 Instagram: @recordedatrednine
🎧 Recorded at: @redninestudios
Chapters
0:00 – Intro
0:39 – What is My Big Moments?
1:11 – The books: topics, ages, and what they actually do
3:32 – Starting school, hospital visits, grief — why the big stuff matters
6:18 – Born over a boozy rosé lunch with business partner Flicka Williams
7:37 – The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake: waking up to a freight train
9:46 – "There is nothing I can do to protect my children"
11:11 – Getting out of the house: bricks, glass, bare feet
13:11 – Jumpstarting the car with the roof falling apart
15:03 – Pushing boulders off the road in your pyjamas
16:38 – The morning after: it wasn't a bad dream
16:58 – How the earthquake became the "why" behind the books
18:28 – Resilience, trauma, and turning hard experiences into superpowers
19:44 – Working with neuroscientists, psychologists and play therapists
21:40 – Why personalisation isn't just cute — it fires neurons
22:14 – Three years of work, then COVID hits the launch
24:00 – The unstoppable drive to put this thing into the world
25:10 – Pivoting during COVID: supporting parents instead of selling
26:28 – How Matilda Green came into the picture
28:29 – The conversation that became the Untidy podcast
30:09 – Business advice: what would you tell Red9 Studios?
30:58 – The Einstein quote that guides everything
32:04 – Trusting your intuition: 100% alignment, every time
33:23 – Expand your consciousness — the best advice Hannah has
34:14 – Where to find My Big Moments and Untidy
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