Babiche Martens
Eat Well for Less host Ganesh and his TV producer wife Jo Raj have been like ships in the night recently. Ganesh’s food education programme The Humble Yum Yum continues to expand, and Jo has a full plate mentoring the creatives behind the new web series The Sender and is already in pre-production on another show.
When their daughter Kali, 19, moved to Melbourne for university three years ago, they agreed to take time to chase their passion projects.
“Over the past 25 years, we have somehow had this lovely pendulum swing where if one of us is crazy-busy, the other isn’t, which means we can step up and take care of each other,” says Jo. “At the moment, I am at the office by eight every morning and I’m not home till after eight most nights. But Ganesh always has dinner waiting for me and he packs me a lunch for the next day.”
Ganesh adds, “I also do all the laundry and ironing!”
Jo laughs when she thinks back to their last chat with the Weekly when the pair shared how excited they were to have more time for date nights. And although these haven’t been as common as they thought, Jo, 52, and Ganesh, 54, make the most of the time they do have.
“Weekends for us are sacred,” shares Jo. “We haven’t spent any time just the two of us in about a month because Kali has been here. So we’re going to have a day to do something that’s just the two of us.”
Kali is taking inspiration from her parents
Kali is in her final year of university in Melbourne studying economics and she has already secured a graduate offer at Ernst & Young. Although they’d love to have her closer to home, the proud parents know Australia is where she needs to be.
“I’m really excited for her that she’s living in a world-class city,” says Ganesh. “You can’t rest on your laurels in a city that big – she will have to hustle. But she has a fantastic way of balancing hustle with rest.”
Jo and Ganesh spent years carting Kali to every dance and acting class imaginable, fully supporting her dream of becoming a performer. So they were surprised a few years ago when she declared that she wanted to become an economist.
But in true Raj family form, she wants to use her talents to make the world a better place, writing strategies for healthcare or helping underdeveloped countries.
Ganesh says, “Jo and I know she has a good barometer − now we stand back and see how she is going to use it.”
On navigating teen sex education and awareness
For the past 30 years, Jo has been a top TV producer. Her talents have taken her around the world working for Channel Nine in Australia, BBC in the UK, and Disney Channel and Nickelodeon in Asia, before returning home and working on shows like NZ Idol and Charlotte Dawson’s How’s Life?
Jo became more discerning in her chosen projects when Kali hit her teen years. She is particularly passionate about creating stories that help teens understand sex and sexuality, and online safety. Jo has Kali in mind when she makes these projects, but they are not always appreciated.
A particularly memorable moment for Jo was when she created The Real Sex Talk, an online series to teach teens about sex.
Kali’s health teacher played the videos in class and Kali was mortified when her mum’s name appeared at the end in front of all her classmates.
“There are episodes about masturbation and everything like that,” explains Jo. “I knew I had peaked at embarrassing my child!”
Ganesh and Eat Well for Less co-host Michael van de Elzen
The Sender
Jo’s latest project, The Sender, follows a group of school prefects who head away to a remote bach for a night of underage partying. But when the clock strikes 10, they start to receive anonymous messages containing scandalous photos that could destroy their social reputation.
It features the latest in a long list of cameo roles that Ganesh has undertaken at the request of his beloved wife − this time playing a smarmy politician named David Seeless.
“I have appeared in all sorts of guest roles for Jo, far more than any real projects we’ve worked on together,” tells Ganesh.
“I don’t put my hand up for it, but when Jo or our industry friends ask me to appear on camera, I give it my all. I’m a goofy guy, so it allows me to have fun.”
Although they are always there to lend a helping hand to each other when needed, the couple has drawn a line in the sand when it comes to any official collaborations.
As Jo says, “We did one big campaign together and it was tricky to navigate that work-home balance. So we agreed a while ago that we wouldn’t have that intimate producer/creator relationship. But we always show up for each other.”
Follow The Sender on TikTok and Instagram.
