Jane Linley Thomas on deep chats and zany studios

WHAT do you do after quitting your popular daytime gig on East Coast Radio? You buy a caravan and paint bananas on it.

Well, that’s exactly what DJ Jane Linley-Thomas has been up to over the past two years.

Now, after a two-year hiatus, she’s back; working on a new podcast that’s set to launch at the end of this month.

Titled The House of Motherly (T.H.O.M), Linley-Thomas describes it as a space to connect people, dig deep, and hold space for meaningful conversations.

“I’ve been sitting with the studio. I’ve been sitting with this purpose, desire, and skill set of connecting with people,” she says. “And I think what really happened is that I kind of lost my courage. I was trying to figure out who I was outside of East Coast Radio — to really extrapolate that identity. If I was going to start a podcast, it had to be built around the right narrative. It has to be about serving community. It always has to be about that.”

She began reconnecting with her network, nurturing the relationships she’s built over the years, and having meaningful conversations, including one with Dr Imtiaz Sooliman from Gift of the Givers.

The result? One podcast episode already recorded, with several more lined up.

Her first guest is someone close to home: her old school friend and former bridesmaid, Esjay Jones; a Grammy-featured songwriter and music producer who’s worked with some of the biggest names in the industry.

That conversation, Linley-Thomas says, was about “drilling into the person.”

“One of the things I love most about human conversations is drilling down into the vulnerability and finding the relevance between me, her, and the listener. What was interesting was that she strives and pushes her career the way she does because of the feeling that she’s not good enough. And I think, whether I’m speaking to a Springbok rugby player, a musician, or just an everyday person, it’s always about finding that relevance.”

While The House of Motherly goes deep, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The podcast’s setup reflects Linley-Thomas’s playful personality.

The studio, built inside a caravan, comes with a smoke machine. Every guest must spin a wheel that lands on a surprise clothing theme and then they have five minutes to choose an outfit from a wardrobe stocked with finds from her thrifting business, The ReJoyce Collection, named in honour of her grandmother.

“It’s wild. It’s absolutely bonkers. But I think the positioning and the juxtaposition of the deep conversation set in the playful environment can only be a great foil for each other.”

A longtime mental health advocate, Linley-Thomas says the podcast’s name came to her in a dream.

“I think why it was in my subconscious is that I’ve always been an extremely mothering person. From a very young age, I’ve wanted to nurture and love people. And then it kind of took it a step further — I am a mother. And if I think about how I mother my kids, how my own mother mothers my sister and me, and how I mother myself; those are all different conversations happening within different ecosystems. But I think the base of it is that I hold stories with love and care, like a mother would for her child.”

A central theme in her work is what she calls “self-mothering”, the practice of showing yourself the same compassion, forgiveness, and care you would offer a child.

In her conversation with the Independent on Saturday, Linley-Thomas reflected on her own journey with self-acceptance and body image.

“I’ve actually disliked my body longer than I’ve loved my body,” she says.

She remembers struggling with these feelings even as a child.

“Growing up, I never saw role models who looked like me. I’d stand in the checkout aisle and all the magazines showed women that didn’t look like me. I was a bigger child. I was a heavier child. I was a strong child. And I remember, even back then, sowing the seeds of a very disparaging headspace towards myself.”

Those early struggles later manifested in anxiety that made her physically unwell, resulting in headaches and forcing her to lie down. 

“In high school, I swam for the A-team. But I remember that before gala events, I’d get so physically ill from the anxiety, I’d end up in the sanatorium at school.”

That anxiety, she adds, wasn’t about losing a race. It was about what people would think about her body when she climbed out of the pool.

After much introspection and inner work, she says she’s reached a place of deep acceptance and now “loves every inch” of her body.

Through the podcast and her ongoing advocacy, Linley-Thomas hopes to create space for others to face the same hard truths and begin the work of healing.

For Movember Mental Health Awareness Month, her guest lineup includes: former Sharks and Springbok rugby player Waylon Murray and musician Liam Magner from Veranda Panda. Also invited are comedian Rory Petzer, and rapper and songwriter Aewon Wolf.The first episode of The House of Motherly airs on 26 October and will be available on Spotify, other major platforms, and via her website.