The business of family

Commical - Season 3 episode 3 with Lucie Chami

Published 13 August 2026 on the chasing albert website, Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Youtube.

[00:00:00] Marie: Hi everybody. Welcome back to Comical, and thanks for listening in. I'm personally super excited to have Lucy Chami on today. Actually, Lucy, are you a Chami still or a Michaels?

[00:00:11] Lucie Chami: In this workplace, I'm still a chamois. It comes with benefits

[00:00:16] Marie: Okay, well, okay, we'll keep Lucy Chami. but I'm really excited today to have somebody super special to me come on to talk about her incredible career and workplace. Um, she's the chief procurement officer at Vitex Pharmaceuticals, which is a contract manufacturing company of complementary medicines. One of the leading ones, if not the leading one, in Australia and the world. but what's super interesting is this is a family business, and together the family, along with their 300, 400 odd staff, have grown so much that they recently tripled their production capacity, are in a new state-of-the-art multimillion dollar facility. Um, and I'm super curious to hear how Lucy does this [00:01:00] working with her parents. They opened a $250 million facility. I argue with my brothers about how to open a can of tuna. So super excited to hear how you do this, Lucy. Welcome.

[00:01:12] Lucie Chami: Thank you, Marie. I'm so happy to be talking to you, not just about work, but about life and catching up with you. I've missed you very much

[00:01:20] Marie: I've missed you too. How's it... You recently just launched this thing in July, your new facility

[00:01:25] Lucie Chami: of July 2026, we just cut the ribbon on a new site. It's been a whirlwind to get there, two and a half years to be exact, of just planning the construction, the execution. It's been a lot. I'm sure you're going to ask me all the nitty-gritty about working with family. I'm sure that's gonna come up. But look, do you know what?

[00:01:45] Lucie Chami: Nothing good comes easy, and when things get tough, the Chami's get tougher. That's, that's our motto.

[00:01:51] Marie: I love that. Um, and I bet they were really tough. Before we get into that, I, I know you well, I [00:02:00] think, relatively well, but to help everybody else get to know you a little bit, I thought I'll just ask you a few quick questions.

[00:02:06] Lucie Chami: Yep, go for it

[00:02:07] Marie: Let's start with an easy one. Who's your favorite cousin?

[00:02:11] Lucie Chami: I don't know if you've heard of her, but her name's Marie. I don't know if she still goes b- goes by Najah or El Daghl. I'm just, I'll just, yeah. There's a, there's,

[00:02:20] Marie: El Daghl te- El Daggle now, I made the full transition

[00:02:24] Lucie Chami: Daghl. There you go. She is Marie El Daghl. Don't know if you've heard of her, but she's legendary

[00:02:29] Marie: Thank you so mu- you really didn't have to say that. You guys can put the guns down

[00:02:33] Lucie Chami: But do you know what? We were having a little, you know, chat about this and we just-- It's not just me. Ask my other siblings, they'll all say the same. We love you, Marie

[00:02:41] Marie: I love you all too. Um, and I did kind of force you to say me,

[00:02:44] Lucie Chami: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:02:45] Marie: the cousins that I know you love and adore. Um, I've heard a lot about your cooking. When my auntie came from Lebanon, and you

[00:02:53] Lucie Chami: Oh

[00:02:54] Marie: her to lunch, and you, you cooked and you put on a spread, all I heard about her whole trip is Lucy, Lucy.

[00:02:58] Marie: And I'm look- I'm looking at,[00:03:00]

[00:03:00] Lucie Chami: I love

[00:03:00] Marie: food, I'm

[00:03:01] Lucie Chami: her

[00:03:01] Marie: "You don't like takeaway Chinese?"

[00:03:03] Lucie Chami: Oh, I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. I love her, but I also love to cook, so I am a cook.

[00:03:09] Marie: Defi- cook over cleaning?

[00:03:11] Lucie Chami: over cleaning any day of the week. Put me in my kitchen and just, that's my therapy, Marie. After the stress that I have, some people watch the Kardashians, I cook.

[00:03:21] Marie: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:21] Lucie Chami: Sometimes, you know,

[00:03:23] Lucie Chami: you're a clean- yeah, no.

[00:03:26] Lucie Chami: Damian is my sous chef, my husband. Um, God love him. He's so helpful. He- we are literally a team at home. Um, we have to be, right?

[00:03:34] Lucie Chami: Um, and yeah, no,

[00:03:36] Lucie Chami: we support each other.

[00:03:37] Lucie Chami: Yeah, absolutely

[00:03:40] Marie: We'll know you're angry when

[00:03:44] Lucie Chami: You hear my voice, mate. I can't keep it in. You'll hear me before you see me

[00:03:50] Marie: You loud or is it in your tone?

[00:03:52] Lucie Chami: Uh, very loud, and I hate it because I wish that I had that, that deep sense of [00:04:00]seriousness and just speaking like this. But it's just, it comes out in volume and people just know to run. Um, but yeah, no, it-- I am a l- I am loud by nature.

[00:04:11] Lucie Chami: I'm my father's daughter. Don't know if you know him.

[00:04:13] Marie: Yeah, yeah, I do know him

[00:04:15] Lucie Chami: so I am my father's daughter. Um, but you know, I wish I got that trait from Robyn, my mum, because she's very much kills with her words, but the tone does not need to be elevated, and I love it

[00:04:27] Marie: what's a phrase you overuse?

[00:04:29] Lucie Chami: Mm.

[00:04:33] Lucie Chami: Oh God, it's probably a swear word. I, I just, I, I am a bit of a sailor, um, especially at work. Um, but I feel that

[00:04:46] Lucie Chami: Oh. Like, can we come back to that? Let's come back.

[00:04:50] Lucie Chami: Okay.

[00:04:51] Marie: skip it.

[00:04:52] Lucie Chami: We'll skip, uh, skip that one

[00:04:53] Marie: I bet through the course of the interview

[00:04:55] Lucie Chami: know.

[00:04:56] Marie: probably find out the

[00:04:57] Lucie Chami: What... Yeah, okay. This is [00:05:00] interesting. That's interesting. No, I've gotta keep it kosher here. No, I've gotta keep it clean.

[00:05:05] Marie: So Luz, tell me a little bit about Vitex first and

[00:05:10] Lucie Chami: sure

[00:05:11] Marie: what you and your family built

[00:05:13] Lucie Chami: So in a nutshell, Marie, without having to go back, you know, 20-odd years, I remember it coming home from school, going to the factory, helping out as a pick packer, like I was one of the team, right? And it was a business that sort of evolved when my father first took the plunge after one of his main manufacturers that used to make product for him, which he would export, went down.

[00:05:40] Lucie Chami: So the TGA came, shut their doors. They had a massive recall. I don't know if you know about it, but Travocarm, it was recalled in 2003. The TGA came, closed the doors on a company called Pan Pharmaceuticals. We lost it all. Dad was like, "Robin, do we sink or do we swim? Robin goes, 'Sink, we're [00:06:00]done. Khalas. What, what are we gonna do?

[00:06:01] Lucie Chami: We-- You know, that's it. No more. We're-- We've tried it. No, it's not gonna work.'" He went against her. She goes to him, "You're not a doctor, Elie. You can't make product. You, you're not a chemist. You don't know what you're doing." V-very simply. And he didn't listen to her, and he went on, and Robin will tell you this story.

[00:06:21] Lucie Chami: He went on, and he persevered. He started packing products that he bought products from other people, and he thought, "Okay, I can't make the product, but let me pack it." He started packing, and then he started manufacturing. Obviously, this is over years of, of hard work and having the TGA inspectors come out and audit a gentleman by the name of Dr.

[00:06:42] Lucie Chami: Anis Chami, who was 16 years old at the time, first year of uni, Bachelor of Medical Science. The kid knew nothing. He was a kid. He st- Anis, in his first semester of uni, had to be driven to uni 'cause he still didn't have his license 'cause he wasn't 17.

[00:06:58] Marie: He's so cute. [00:07:00]Hey,

[00:07:00] Lucie Chami: So

[00:07:00] Marie: at 16?

[00:07:01] Lucie Chami: uni at 16 'cause Anis skipped a grade. Anis skipped

[00:07:05] Marie: the

[00:07:05] Lucie Chami: 'cause he skipped year five 'cause he's a genius.

[00:07:07] Marie: Shut

[00:07:08] Lucie Chami: Yeah

[00:07:09] Marie: thought that was the stuff of fantasy.

[00:07:11] Lucie Chami: No, he actually skipped a grade and he started uni very, very young.

[00:07:15] Marie: study?

[00:07:15] Lucie Chami: Bachelor of Medical Science. So he studied on and became a doctor, all of that.

[00:07:19] Marie: Yeah

[00:07:20] Lucie Chami: Dad's like, "Yeah, while you're doing all of that, we're opening up a factory, just FYI, and I need you to be the chief quality officer, and I need you to put your name on the license, and I need you to go and work out the federal requirements to open up a manufacturing site in this country."

[00:07:38] Lucie Chami: So the guy, I'm, I'm, like, I'm no joke. So he comes out, they, the auditor inspector comes out. The list of deficiencies in the first factory, Marie, were four A4 pages long back to front And Anis is like, "All right, Dad, let's... All right, let's... We've got to change [00:08:00] everything." He goes to him, "Start from the top, one by one."

[00:08:02] Lucie Chami: It's like he had something to prove

[00:08:04] Marie: 17-year-old brother was saying, "This is what you do,

[00:08:08] Lucie Chami: This is, yeah, no, no. So he got the deficiencies from the inspector. The inspector came out, audited the site, and he goes, "Yeah, you guys have a long way, and if you wanna make it..." He, I think, took Anis under his wing. This guy was, like, pretty much a mentor, and he's like, "These guys have a dream, but I don't know how close they are to fulfilling it."

[00:08:26] Lucie Chami: But Elie said to him, "Start from the top of the list and work your way down. You tell me what is needed, and I will execute every single thing." And the inspector said to my dad, "You have 14 days." Because they w- ultimately were like, "You guys aren't gonna make it," so like, all right, give them this massive list.

[00:08:45] Lucie Chami: They won't do it, and, and move on. He came back, shook my father's hand, and gave him a license for one unit, one factory-sized unit, like a little unit, Marie. We're talking 600 square meters. We're talking a house. [00:09:00] That unit became two, three, and four in one year. So we took over the whole complex. The complex was made up of four units.

[00:09:07] Lucie Chami: That then became across the road. We took over the factory across the road, so we were scattered over the street, all over. So business was good, right? We were growing. We were making. We were packing everything. It was all working out.

[00:09:20] Marie: studying?

[00:09:22] Lucie Chami: to the point where he was in surgery, and we had to call him and be like, "Hey, such and such client has said this."

[00:09:28] Lucie Chami: It was full on. Oh, the stories, Marie, it's, you...

[00:09:32] Marie: Anis is next. Can you grab him?

[00:09:34] Lucie Chami: Laughable. I don't know. Let's check.

[00:09:37] Marie: no, no,

[00:09:38] Lucie Chami: He is.

[00:09:38] Marie: Uh, Dr. Anis will need his own

[00:09:41] Lucie Chami: Um, but he'll definitely wanna say hello to you. Anyway, so we do this. We grow. The tipping point for us... So this was, okay, you grow in a business. We're a small to medium-sized business, yeah? What took- what made us a large corporation? This was the pivotal moment. The pivotal moment was when you're [00:10:00]trying to load semi-trailers of product, and semi-trailers could not fit through your driveways because a truck couldn't get in because they're not designed for that type of vehicle, that the semi-trailer would park on the road, and you'd have forkies back and forth loading to the point where council was like, "We're shutting you down.

[00:10:23] Lucie Chami: This cannot continue. Get off the road." That was the moment that our first baby was born, and that was the big one, and at the time, Marie, there was no cash. I'll be dead honest with you. The site was in the realm of what we didn't imagine we would grow into, and we thought that would be our site forever.

[00:10:46] Lucie Chami: We acquired the site with a lot of debt. 2013, shit ton of debt. You then kick up, kickstart. What worked to our favors was we had a really big [00:11:00]order book Like people were placing orders. Our purchase orders were going through the roof.

[00:11:06] Lucie Chami: That took off, everyone worked day, night, weekends. I mean,

[00:11:14] Lucie Chami: all of us, all of us, and we studied.

[00:11:17] Lucie Chami: We had to get degrees. Please, I've got four degrees behind me. If I don't... If you don't get your degrees, what will people say about us? Like, come on, you know the, you know the culture, you know the community.

[00:11:28] Marie: Yep

[00:11:29] Lucie Chami: But all of that, Marie, I mean, we didn't see anyone, and we didn't grow up in the area, right? We weren't around.

[00:11:35] Marie: But you were

[00:11:36] Lucie Chami: So we have... Yeah, no, we knew we were loved, but we weren't around

[00:11:40] Marie: Yeah

[00:11:42] Lucie Chami: That then fulfilled a lifelong dream. Eli got, you know, the respect, the love that he always dreamed of having and growing a business that he could give to his family.

[00:11:53] Marie: know, I wonder whether he... I mean, he grew up in Lebanon. And

[00:11:57] Lucie Chami: He grew up in Lebanon with nothing

[00:11:59] Marie: I w- [00:12:00]you know, I wonder, I know, uh, you know, you guys are all super intelligent. Anis obviously on a, on another level. But I do wonder if your dad had the same opportunities you guys did. I mean, it does take a brain,

[00:12:14] Lucie Chami: It does take a brain

[00:12:16] Marie: to do what he's done, you

[00:12:17] Lucie Chami: and should he, and if he did, if he was afforded the same opportunities as us,

[00:12:24] Marie: Mm.

[00:12:25] Lucie Chami: it's just he would have just taken it with both hands and succeeded. The guy is a visionary. He thinks of things, Marie, that we don't even think about, and we're like, "Dude, we've all got MBAs. Who the hell are you to tell us how to run an operating process?"

[00:12:43] Marie: Yeah

[00:12:44] Lucie Chami: he knows better than us. He's worked on factory floors as well. Before all of this, Marie, he had a shit ton of jobs. Like he came from Lebanon and there were factory workers,

[00:12:53] Marie: Yeah

[00:12:53] Lucie Chami: you know? Um, and he opened up shops, and he was a driving instructor, and he was a cabbie, and he... Like, [00:13:00] he's seen a little bit of the world, right?

[00:13:03] Lucie Chami: But the fact that he still pulls us up on our shit is just really annoying. But anyway, he's incredible

[00:13:08] Marie: Was it always expected? Was it expected or did you want to work in the family business straight

[00:13:15] Lucie Chami: Absolutely not, and I told him, "After year 12, I will not work for you." It's a sticking point for him. He tells everyone this story, and I'll tell you. I told him, "I wanna be the director of sales," 'cause I'm a sales girl. I talk, right? And he goes to me, "No, no, no. The talking's on the other side when you have to negotiate.

[00:13:32] Lucie Chami: I need you on the other side of the desk. I need you buying." So hence where procurement landed. But before all of that, I said to him, "Dad, I'm gonna finish my, um, degree, and I'm gonna go live in New York."

[00:13:43] Lucie Chami: I studied a Bachelor of Commerce, majored in marketing.

[00:13:45] Marie: Okay.

[00:13:46] Lucie Chami: As...

[00:13:47] Lucie Chami: I said to him, "I'm gonna go live in New York."

[00:13:48] Marie: Yep

[00:13:49] Lucie Chami: I said, "I want the dream. I wanna be director of sales, head of sales for Coca-Cola. I want, you know, household brand. I want everything. You know, I'm gonna have that [00:14:00] life." And he goes to me, "Cute story. You start Monday." Literally laughed in my face, told me, "Habibti, before you get to New York, come, come over here and work for me."

[00:14:11] Lucie Chami: I couldn't send a fax. I didn't know that you had to dial double-0, double-1, 9, whatever, da, da, da, to send a fax.

[00:14:17] Marie: for the young listeners,

[00:14:19] Lucie Chami: Yeah.

[00:14:19] Marie: what a fax

[00:14:20] Lucie Chami: Yeah, a fax.

[00:14:21] Marie: Dude, you were in the fax

[00:14:23] Lucie Chami: I was in the fax days. I was in the days pre-email, and it was a letter that had to go via, via pigeon to the other side. I couldn't send a fax, and I remember him telling me off for answering the phone once 'cause I started as his...

[00:14:40] Lucie Chami: as, as a receptionist. "Good morning, Vitex Pharmaceuticals." And he goes to me, "Are you gonna sp-" He said this to me, and I know you can't say it these days, but he said to me, "If you're not gonna be able to talk like a man, I need you to get off the phone." He goes, "Raise your voice and talk like a man." And I'm like, "All right.

[00:14:58] Lucie Chami: Take it easy." So don't [00:15:00] worry. I learned to talk like a man, but I also talk now like a very strong woman,

[00:15:04] Marie: Yeah.

[00:15:06] Lucie Chami: you know-

[00:15:06] Marie: what he was trying to... That was his reference. If we think about

[00:15:09] Lucie Chami: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:15:11] Lucie Chami: he's not...

[00:15:12] Marie: be strong and be confident.

[00:15:14] Lucie Chami: And guys, I'm, I'm almost 40. I'm 39. This was 20, uh, two years ago. I've been at Vitex 22 years. So 22 years ago we were in a different world. He taught me to talk like a man, and then I had to empty his bins at the end of every day, and I had to make him coffee, and I had to send his faxes, and I had to do paperwork for him and everything.

[00:15:33] Lucie Chami: Like I started from the bottom.

[00:15:35] Marie: Yeah

[00:15:36] Lucie Chami: There's no nepotism here. There's no... He goes to me, "And in this office you do not call me Dad. I am Eli. I'm Mr. Chami. I'm Eli." Now we have to refer to him as Dr. Chami 'cause he's loving that doctor reference that he earned. His honorary PhD that he loves.

[00:15:55] Lucie Chami: And we call him Mr.

[00:15:56] Lucie Chami: So we call him Eli, we don't call him Dad. And Robyn's Robyn. [00:16:00] But Robyn's Robyn 'cause she's my best friend in the whole world, like she's Robyn, right?

[00:16:03] Marie: yeah

[00:16:04] Lucie Chami: So it was never in my path. Latifi wanted to be a teacher. Anis wanted to be heart and lung surgeon, and he's still a doctor by tr- by profession.

[00:16:16] Lucie Chami: He keeps his hours. But we all had different paths, Marie. And Anthony's a cer- a gre- a certified architect. He went to s-

[00:16:23] Marie: the business now too?

[00:16:25] Lucie Chami: Anthony, Anthony's got the biggest team.

[00:16:26] Marie: does he do?

[00:16:27] Lucie Chami: A chief production officer

[00:16:29] Marie: Oh

[00:16:29] Lucie Chami: Um, but yeah, so that was our path. It was never, I never thought it would be, but do I see myself now working anywhere else, Marie? Absolutely not.

[00:16:38] Lucie Chami: Like, this is my legacy now.

[00:16:39] Lucie Chami: It's, it's, it- he's passed it on. He's not. He's been here since 6:00 AM in suit and tie,

[00:16:45] Marie: on.

[00:16:46] Lucie Chami: but he's passed, but he's passed on the dream.

[00:16:48] Marie: Yeah.

[00:16:49] Lucie Chami: He passed on the dream to say, "This is what you've made." He goes, "We're all doing this together. Why do you wanna be different?" I said, "All right. Thanks, Dad. No worries. I'll see you Monday."

[00:16:59] Marie: You know what I [00:17:00] love about what you just shared? I love that you didn't just share the success story.

[00:17:05] Lucie Chami: No je.

[00:17:05] Marie: now you guys are enormous, one of the biggest, most amazing businesses in this country, and

[00:17:12] Lucie Chami: Thank God

[00:17:13] Marie: globally, touch wood. It's in- your story's absolutely incredible. there's 20 year- I think you

[00:17:19] Lucie Chami: Oh, Dad did. Yep

[00:17:22] Marie: and there's just so much hard work, stress, effort, ups and downs that came with that. Now, you're obviously on the management team as chief procurement officer.

[00:17:32] Lucie Chami: Mm.

[00:17:33] Marie: Is that

[00:17:33] Lucie Chami: Yep

[00:17:34] Marie: Your siblings would be on the management team

[00:17:36] Lucie Chami: All of us, in our own disciplines, our own departments, we don't cross over each other. Except,

[00:17:42] Marie: chairman

[00:17:43] Lucie Chami: except when Anis rules and he tell, he decides who, who wins. But yes, and the, and Ellie's the chairman, correct?

[00:17:49] Marie: So when you started, I guess, were told how to do things. You were told, "I'm the bo- this is the way it works, you

[00:17:57] Lucie Chami: Yeah.

[00:17:58] Marie: orders."

[00:17:58] Lucie Chami: Yep.

[00:17:59] Marie: now. [00:18:00]How do you communicate with somebody on in... something really important that you believe in when the person on the other side your dad or your brother?

[00:18:13] Lucie Chami: Always, and we've been told this by advisors, but we've also said this with, as a family It, your feelings being hurt at work are never personal. The end of the day, I don't care if you hate the person in the seat, you respect the person in the seat.

[00:18:36] Marie: Right

[00:18:38] Lucie Chami: Anis may go against a decision that I feel is best for the business, but I'm seeing it from a procurement lens.

[00:18:45] Lucie Chami: He's gotta consider finance, IT, production, quality, operations, marketing, commercial, uh, HR, and make a decision of all... And engineering, of all f- with all of [00:19:00] those departments in mind, and you respect the fact that he was appointed CEO and he knows what's best for the business.

[00:19:07] Lucie Chami: But Marie, what makes it very easy for us, we are so like-minded. Anis and I are the closest. We are the ones that see a vision very similar. Anthony and Latifi do as well, don't get me wrong. They're w- they're very much on the same, we're all on the same train. They may divert, though. "Oh, just add this to do this," whatever, a- a- and get it done.

[00:19:32] Lucie Chami: Whereas, like, no, if you wanna stay on this path and you wanna go gung ho, you keep doing it this way, even if it's harder It will, it will get you to where you need to be. And so it, it helps. Like the Chami, we all think the same. We're all the same person at the end of the day. And, um, we all have one common goal.

[00:19:53] Lucie Chami: We're working towards one common goal.

[00:19:56] Marie: What's the goal?

[00:19:57] Lucie Chami: Global domination[00:20:00]

[00:20:02] Lucie Chami: Well, after this new site has opened, we're now top five in the world, Marie, in size. After Saint Au-

[00:20:08] Marie: insane.

[00:20:09] Lucie Chami: Saint...

[00:20:10] Marie: medicines?

[00:20:10] Lucie Chami: Yeah, but we're now drug certified. So now i- in terms of size, we're there. But now, like I was just saying to you earlier, Marie, the hard work has started now

[00:20:20] Marie: Yeah. What about when if the, if, if it's the other way? So Anis or your dad, they've got something that they wanna talk, they're not happy about, something you had to deliver that you didn't deliver. How does that conversation

[00:20:33] Lucie Chami: Oh, it, it works, uh, very aggressively and very matter of fact. "Lucy, you fucked up. I'm so disappointed. This is not you. I expect better." It's... There's no filter, and there's no sugarcoating. My father did not... We did not have a silver spoon in our mouth, Marie. I will tell you straight up. We work like cats and dogs.

[00:20:56] Lucie Chami: Do our kids have a silver spoon in their mouth? Absolutely, and I'm about to yank it out. [00:21:00] It's not, it's... I'm telling you, my dad's like, "I'm not worried about you four. You four are fine. It's the next 13 that are on their way." Touch wood, we're up to 13

[00:21:10] Marie: Well, 30 grandkids

[00:21:13] Lucie Chami: And well, for 12 and a half, there's still one cooking.

[00:21:15] Marie: school

[00:21:16] Lucie Chami: One's coming out in a month. But, um, it- Marie, it's no sugarcoating. It's matter of fact.

[00:21:23] Lucie Chami: I'll be dead honest with you. Sometimes it's like, "Oh, yeah, get that process. We can really, um, uh, improve dispatch if we do it this way," or if, you know, "I really like the way that that works better than that. Implement that." But sitting down and talking about feelings and emotions and did I piss off this brother or this sister or whatever, that's not conducive to effective management.

[00:21:44] Marie: about at h- so where, how do you set the boundary? You've parked the emotions

[00:21:49] Lucie Chami: Yeah

[00:21:50] Marie: gotta get your shit done, but then you go home, and you're human, and anyone with a pulse is gonna feel emotions, right? go home, and then it's, you know, your daughter's [00:22:00] birthday, and that person that, you know, just told you you fucked up has to be at your daughter's birthday 'cause he's the godfather and your brother

[00:22:07] Lucie Chami: Yep

[00:22:09] Marie: How do you manage that?

[00:22:13] Lucie Chami: We turn it on and off like a switch. I can't tell you, it's scary. It's like I've just been in his office and I've had a go. It's been ultra... Like, but Marie, we've done it now for two decades. Like it- we've developed an art for it. I will blast him, he will blast me. We'll go at it, and at the end I'll kiss him and I'll say, "I'll see you tomorrow at lunch."

[00:22:37] Lucie Chami: I, I... It's crazy. It's, it works. I don't know how. I don't... I can't explain to you like what are the mechanisms you use to, to be able to adjust your brain to work. It just works. We just do

[00:22:53] Marie: Well then, how do you switch out of that? Because I imagine you can't take the same approach

[00:22:59] Lucie Chami: I don't [00:23:00]take it personally

[00:23:00] Marie: members, though. So say that being direct

[00:23:04] Lucie Chami: Oh, we, we can't. We can't with other chiefs. No, no, no. With the CFO, it's like, "Hey Bill, do you got a minute, mate? I've gotta just have a chat to you. Look, I don't understand what you're talking about here on this balance sheet,

[00:23:15] Marie: Yeah

[00:23:15] Lucie Chami: we just examine X, Y, Z? Could you get back to me in a couple of days?

[00:23:18] Lucie Chami: Thank you so much." I walk into Anise, I said, " are you headless? Have you lost your will to live? What is wrong with you? You actually wanna make this decision now when the- we're on the brink of this?" That's it. Now, but before Marie, when money... The biggest, um, issue was always money, right? Touch wood we don't have that issue now. The issue is now excellence and just achieving further, more excellence.

[00:23:43] Marie: Mm-hmm.

[00:23:43] Lucie Chami: But before when it was money, it's like, "You really approved that invoice, but I don't have the money to pay next month's bills," or whatever it was.

[00:23:51] Lucie Chami: Screaming matches. And when we were all single at home, Marie, you think we switched off at home? The family, the [00:24:00] family meeting would happen on the dinner table at home

[00:24:03] Marie: It's honestly, it's like a, a show, a TV show,

[00:24:05] Lucie Chami: It was a t... We should have been, like, a reality show. But Marie, for, at one stage I was chief of HR, chief of finance, and chief procurement.

[00:24:13] Lucie Chami: I was three chiefs in one, and full-time uni, and all... But they were the best years of my life. That truly was the best y- I love my kids, don't get me wrong. I love my life now. But those j-

[00:24:25] Lucie Chami: those journey years, Marie, they shaped Lucy Chami. They shaped who I am. I am who I am because of those struggles.

[00:24:34] Marie: Lucy then somebody was listening and they're working with their best friend their husband, you know I work with my husband

[00:24:41] Lucie Chami: Correct

[00:24:43] Marie: How... we be following the same rules? What would the rules be? Is it just don't take it personally and get the job done? Is that it?

[00:24:50] Lucie Chami: If you are in a workplace with a mission and a goal and objective that you need to meet every day and you come into work to add value every day and build something and [00:25:00] create something, the impacts of those around you, family or otherwise, getting in the way of that path are going to deter you if you keeps em- keep emotions at the forefront.

[00:25:15] Lucie Chami: My sister-in-laws work in the business too. So I have May and Claudia, Anise and, um, Anthony's wives, and they came into it when we were at the peak. You know, they, they did- they didn't witness the,

[00:25:28] Marie: The struggle

[00:25:29] Lucie Chami: they didn't witness the forklifts on the road in, with the council booting us out of Preston.

[00:25:35] Lucie Chami: They came at the peak. They get it. They got it from the beginning. It was like, "Come sit down. You want a date? Okay, let's talk."

[00:25:44] Marie: Come and see what it's

[00:25:45] Lucie Chami: I wanna be honest with you, and they know, and, and look, they are amazing. They get it, and the husbands are amazing, too. Damian and Lucien don't work in the family business probably 'cause Latifi and I wanna keep our marriages, but, um...

[00:25:59] Lucie Chami: [00:26:00]damian will tell you the funny story of me emailing in labor. Who cares, Damian? Like, get over it.

[00:26:04] Lucie Chami: It's our family business. We've gotta do what we gotta do, right?

[00:26:07] Lucie Chami: Marie, you know. You've ha- you've held your own for many, many years, and you've had a very big history of owning multiple businesses. So if I see that I can add value just by sending an email here and there, or breastfeeding and working or cooking and working and taking a call and doing it, I'm gonna do it

[00:26:29] Marie: Do you think you would have done that if it wasn't your own

[00:26:31] Lucie Chami: Absolutely not. I'm gonna be honest with you. I've said it to everyone. Everyone says to me, I said I would've taken my annual leave

[00:26:37] Marie: Yep.

[00:26:38] Lucie Chami: enjoyed my babies

[00:26:39] Marie: Yep.

[00:26:41] Lucie Chami: But I didn't enjoy Victoria and Anne. I've enjoyed the twins because now I've got four, right? Whereas if I just had the twins, they would've been in daycare from day dot and had the nanny and whatever.

[00:26:54] Lucie Chami: But now that I've got the other two in school, but also the twins, I've enjoyed more of [00:27:00] the twins. And it's hard. Dude,

[00:27:03] Marie: are you ac- 'cause you've Are you working full-time?

[00:27:06] Lucie Chami: I'm full-time. Seven days a week, Marie, I'm full-time. I'm, I've always been full-time, Marie. I'm just in the office three days a week.

[00:27:14] Marie: Yeah.

[00:27:15] Lucie Chami: of next year, the twins take on another day of full-time school, I'm in the office four days. After that, I'm back to being here all the time. And the running joke is, when is Lucy coming back to work full-time?

[00:27:26] Lucie Chami: 'Cause they all know But I'm always on call

[00:27:32] Marie: That's, it's really difficult when

[00:27:33] Lucie Chami: It's a lot.

[00:27:34] Marie: kids. Yeah.

[00:27:35] Lucie Chami: And do you know what? How good is a good community? Like it makes, it makes the world go round, Marie. We are... The girls are in a beautiful school. They have... We have a good community.

[00:27:47] Marie: Yep

[00:27:47] Lucie Chami: we've also got a village, Marie. I'm so blessed. My family supports, you know. I know if worse comes to worse and I need Ellie out of a board meeting to go and get Victoria, he will bloody march his [00:28:00] way a- and get her.

[00:28:00] Lucie Chami: I know I've got such supportive in-laws in that respect. They will do whatever they need to support us and, you know, and we have outside help. We... I'm not ashamed of it. I need it

[00:28:12] Marie: Oh, I could, if it wasn't for the help that I got, and I still get,

[00:28:17] Lucie Chami: Yeah

[00:28:18] Marie: from my parents, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, my brothers,

[00:28:22] Lucie Chami: Yeah.

[00:28:22] Marie: friend, the

[00:28:23] Lucie Chami: Yeah

[00:28:24] Marie: I once had to ring the neighbor, "The bus is coming."

[00:28:27] Lucie Chami: I know

[00:28:27] Marie: kid out the front. I could never

[00:28:29] Lucie Chami: Hundred percent.

[00:28:30] Marie: as that

[00:28:31] Lucie Chami: I'm very blessed, very fortunate

[00:28:35] Marie: Luce, you do a lot of public speaking, and you're very eloquent, obviously,

[00:28:40] Lucie Chami: yeah, thanks

[00:28:42] Marie: projection, such a fantastic voice. Was there ever a time where you weren't comfortable public speaking?

[00:28:48] Lucie Chami: Yeah, I think when I didn't know the context as much, you know? I feel like anyone... It's not the fear of public speaking, it's the fear of you have to go up and speak about something that you [00:29:00] know inside and out, because once Q&A comes, you've gotta know ready to answer.

[00:29:04] Lucie Chami: think as I was building my world and what I was great at, I was like, "Oh, shit, I don't wanna stumble here and there."

[00:29:10] Marie: Yeah

[00:29:10] Lucie Chami: But now, Marie, I, like, get off on it. I love it, you know? I've got... I'm speaking on the 20th of August at the ICC, and we're in a room full of procurement and supply chain executives, like people that manage anything from trains to medical, um, devices to hospitals to anything.

[00:29:30] Marie: Mm.

[00:29:31] Lucie Chami: Patty's Pies are coming, you know?

[00:29:33] Lucie Chami: Like, uh, I'm, you know, moderating an event, I'm talking at event, I do keynote. I just, I- th- I don't know, I've come into my own with that world. I just love it. I love talking

[00:29:45] Marie: How do you plan f- for these

[00:29:46] Lucie Chami: I don't.

[00:29:47] Marie: You just go

[00:29:48] Lucie Chami: I go up... Even today, I had no idea what you were gonna ask me. I just, okay, she's gonna have, we're gonna have a chat. Marie, I've been doing it for so long.

[00:29:55] Lucie Chami: I just feel like 22 years now, procurement, supply chain, running a [00:30:00]business, and I always say to myself, "Okay, they've asked me a question, I've stumbled on it. What would I do at Vitex? If I had this problem, what would we do at Vitex? Oh, okay, yeah, got it." Anyway, so what you need to do is you need to invest in a really good system to manage your, um, ERP.

[00:30:14] Lucie Chami: Make sure you set clear boundaries and guidelines. Like, it's all stuff that, you know-

[00:30:19] Marie: Because you've become really confident

[00:30:21] Lucie Chami: I'm c- I'm confident in the subject matter. Throw me into... And a new world for me with the family is PR. Like, this is your world, Marie. Like, you know it inside out. But we've got Sydney Morning Herald coming to my dad's house on Sunday.

[00:30:36] Lucie Chami: They're gonna take photos of us. They're gonna be, there's gonna be photographers on site. There's gonna be journalists asking us questions. What do we and don't we want said? Do we want the kids' photos, um, privacy? And I'm like, "This is a whole new world." We had PR agents on the opening on the 3rd of July.

[00:30:52] Lucie Chami: God, I wish you were there because you would've eaten this up. Marie, these people were asking us questions that I thought were [00:31:00] very basic, but I didn't think about long-term, what that would mean for the story of the family.

[00:31:08] Lucie Chami: We're not accustomed to that world. Like, Eli's, okay, in his realm, sure, he's always in the spotlight, whatever. But now that we're, like, Australian media outlets, all of this online stuff, we've got media heat all the time.

[00:31:23] Lucie Chami: So whilst I know my world and I can talk about it till the cows come home, I haven't shut up this whole bloody time that we've spoken.

[00:31:29] Lucie Chami: Like, I just... There are worlds that I don't know and that I probably won't feel comfortable in talking in, but mate, I talk underwater. I love to talk

[00:31:39] Marie: So it sounds to me like in your public speaking world, when you're talking about stuff you know and of course you're comfortable with that, 'cause you're speaking directly to people, your customers, your suppliers, your partners, that's your world, When you're speaking to a journalist speaking to a lifestyle audience, just, you know,

[00:31:59] Lucie Chami: [00:32:00]Correct

[00:32:00] Marie: in Miranda, that's different for you.

[00:32:03] Lucie Chami: It is

[00:32:04] Marie: So that's gonna take way more planning

[00:32:07] Lucie Chami: And

[00:32:07] Marie: more practice

[00:32:09] Lucie Chami: and I've said to them, I go, "What do you want me to say on Sunday?" I've said-

[00:32:13] Marie: trained?

[00:32:15] Lucie Chami: Some, a little bit. Because pre the first launch when we had the Malcolm Turnbull and whatever, that was like massive for us. After that we got media training. And then since then, with all of our public speaking staff and all of that, I, you know, I, I'm picking things up as we go.

[00:32:32] Lucie Chami: Now, all the time. Like I got people coming into my office, "Don't say this, say this. I need you for the website. You need to be able to say this."

[00:32:40] Marie: you have any public speaking training?

[00:32:43] Lucie Chami: No, never been trained public speak... I did public speaking at school. Um, I, I know how to pause and speak and el- and raise, uh, r- raise my voice at certain periods and things like that. I, I watched my brother speak. Anise is a fantastic public speaker. [00:33:00] Um, you know, I never had to go and, and learn that. I did a lot of courses at uni.

[00:33:07] Lucie Chami: Um, one of the courses that I actually topped in my e- uh, MBA was negotiation theory and practice because I was debating against another team at, at uni and blitzed that. It's just, I, it's in my DNA, Marie.

[00:33:19] Marie: was something that came

[00:33:20] Lucie Chami: Just, yeah, it came naturally

[00:33:22] Marie: Did you ever get nervous in the early days, public

[00:33:25] Lucie Chami: Yeah, I did.

[00:33:26] Marie: that?

[00:33:27] Lucie Chami: Managing nerves, I think at the end of the day, is just saying to yourself, like, you've just...

[00:33:30] Lucie Chami: It's gotta be done, just do it. Like, I'm very, I'm very pragmatic, Marie. Like, I'm not gonna fluff, and I'm teaching my daughters this, and my son. I'm teaching my daughters to, like, it- things need to get done at school. You know? You gotta sit that test, or you've gotta, you've gotta make... You've gotta do this.

[00:33:48] Lucie Chami: Um, and it's your turn to read at chapel this week, you know? And, and make sure you get up and you read the liturgy or, or whatever you're doing. So you've gotta get it done and make me proud and make yourself proud and, and have an amazing day and just be [00:34:00] positive.

[00:34:01] Marie: I love it.

[00:34:01] Lucie Chami: Yeah.

[00:34:03] Marie: And I love you.

[00:34:04] Lucie Chami: I love you

[00:34:05] Marie: so

[00:34:05] Lucie Chami: You're so welcome.

[00:34:06] Marie: to chat with me. I've really enjoyed

[00:34:08] Lucie Chami: I could do this for hours.

[00:34:10] Lucie Chami: I could really do this for hours