February 2019 - Don't Stop Us Now

Kat Dunn – Making Tough Career Decisions to be…

February 26, 2019
by admin

If we had to summarise what our guest this week is all about, we’d say she’s about reinvention and being true to herself. And for 35 year old Kat Dunn, that meant abandoning a successful corporate career.

Born in the Philippines, Kat had been climbing the corporate ladder at an impressive rate in Australia, first of all as a lawyer and then in a variety of roles in financial services. But she was deeply unhappy.

One day she said “Enough” and took radical action. In this episode we explore exactly how and why she did this and how she feels about her new career now, several years down the track.

Today Kat is CEO of Grameen in Australia, part of the global not for profit organisation founded by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus.

In this frank and heartfelt episode you’ll hear:

What it’s like growing up Asian in an almost all white country town in Western Australia
How Kat started out as a consummate planner and then realised that just wasn’t working
How she confronted failure head-on and even made a business out of it
And, how she’s never felt more secure despite earning 50% less than she used to.

Enjoy this episode with the wise-beyond-her-years, Kat Dunn.

Links to things Kat mentioned

Malcolm Gladwell – on Snap Judgements

Kyle Cease – 6 minutes on Creativity

Charity TV Casting Session Facebook Event – open until 7th March 2019

Links to Kat

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:45 — 31.0MB) | Embed

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Interview

Marie Johnson – Breaking Digital Boundaries and Challenging Stereotypes

February 12, 2019
by admin

On the show this week is Marie Johnson, an Australian entrepreneur with a passion for digital and AI.

Marie’s cutting edge work today is all the more incredible when you hear her story….

She was married as a teenager, then soon found herself pregnant and living in a caravan! Despite not having the chance to take her studies further immediately after school, Marie went on to juggle motherhood and study, and earnt several degrees.

One thing led to another and Marie took on CIO and other senior technology roles, particularly in Government, and in 2006 she was named “Innovative CIO of the Year – for Australia” (according to CIO magazine).

Marie now leads the Centre for Digital Business – a company she co-founded with her husband (yes the same one she married all those years ago). She’s a passionate believer in finding ways to use digital technology including AI to make life more equal and fair for everyone.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why you should have a long and a short game plan
What it’s like as an older woman in technology
How she copes with adversity
How she co-designed the world’s first digital human, Nadia, with the disabled community and
How her husband’s four heart operations and her grandsons are shaping the digital ventures Marie is working on now

Enjoy this episode with the forward thinking Marie Johnson.

We were amazed by this video Marie shared with us (below) showing the incredibly human conversational skills of her current project: creating a Digital Human Cardiac Coach. We think she and the team at FaceMe are doing a truly incredible job. Prepare to be blown away by AI in action: