Interview Archives - Page 4 of 12

From Side Hustle to Multi Million Dollar Business –…

September 19, 2022September 20, 2022
by Claire

Our guest on the show today is a successful entrepreneur who has leveraged the power of social media to grow her one-time side hustle into a multi million dollar business.

Chi Mai, was born and raised in Hanoi in Vietnam. She came to Australia to study and it was in Melbourne some years later that her career took an unexpected turn.

Instead of the corporate career she’d always imagined, she ended up with no experience and barely in her 20’s, starting a jewelry business.

In just two short years since its founding in 2018, Chi’s business, called S-kin Studio Jewelry, was taking off.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The marketing strategy that changed everything and created an explosion in the growth of Chi’s business
How and when Chi decided to let go of her day job and devote herself full time to S-kin Studio
What she’s learnt as an introvert so she can successfully lead and delegate to her team of 9 staff;
How having a baby has changed her work habits; and
What success looks like for Chi.

Without further ado, enjoy this fascinating episode with the entrepreneurial and passionate Chi Mai.

P.S. You’ll only hear Greta this week as poor Claire lost her voice with a flu virus.

Useful Links

Chi on LinkedIn

S-kin studio website

S-kin studio on Instagram

S-kin studio on Facebook

S-kin studio on Pinterest

S-kin studio on Tiktok

Interview

The Amazing and Creative World of Immersive and Extended…

July 26, 2022July 26, 2022
by Claire

Today you are coming on tour with us to a newly opened, state of the art immersive technologies research centre at Portsmouth University in England.

The CCIXR, or Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality, is the UK’s first facility where the latest in special effects, gaming and virtual reality technologies are all brought together.

Come with us as we learn all about this cutting edge facility from the Centre’s Business Director, Pippa Bostock and Specialist Technician and Producer, Hattie Ball.

As you’ll hear, the Centre is at the forefront of how technologies are converging to make all kinds of experiences that much more realistic – from films and theatre, to museum visits, as well as incredible training simulations for industry and the armed forces. (Think virtual reality on steroids.)

In this episode we start with Pippa taking us through the big picture including the metaverse, and then we’re going to dive a little deeper and speak with Hattie who walks us through a real example.

In this episode you’ll learn:

What Immersive and extended realities are
How and where we might see them used in the future
How you can learn more and get creative yourself
And exactly how the buzzword of the moment, the Metaverse might play out.

All the people at the CCIXR were so welcoming so a big shout out to the whole team there. Let’s start the tour shall we?

Useful Links

CCIXR (Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality) website

Pippa LinkedIn

Hattie LinkedIn

Hattie Ball’s personal website

Interview

Making the Leap from Corporate to Startup – Maya…

July 12, 2022July 13, 2022
by Claire

We’re back from our much needed holiday and super excited about our guest this week. She’s a technology veteran who’s just made the leap, after a long career with big global tech brands, to run a climate tech startup in Singapore.

Maya Hari spent over 15 years in the digital media, mobile and e-commerce industries, working in the US and in Asia Pacific with companies such as Google, Samsung and Microsoft. She also led Twitter’s operations in Asia Pacific.

Now she’s taken up the reins as CEO of a startup called Terrascope with a mandate to scale the young venture. She’s had three months in her new role and is excited about how it fits both her professional and her personal purpose.

You can tell Maya is a deep thinker and we love how she talks about:

How she made the decision to leave big corporates to join a startup
How she assesses when it’s right to make a career transition
What she learnt from her most challenging career experience,
And we just loved a habit of hers that she calls ‘Serendipity Reading’.

So without further ado, enjoy this conversation with the strategic and thoughtful Maya Hari.

Useful Links

Maya on LinkedIn

Terrascope website

Interview

Bringing Nature Indoors – Belinda Everingham

June 7, 2022June 7, 2022
by Claire

This week we have a treat in store for you: an Australian entrepreneur who’s literally bringing nature indoors with her creation of a whole new segment using Australian native botanicals for products such as hand wash, cleaning products, and dog shampoo.

Founder of Bondi Wash, Belinda Everingham, launched her business in 2013. Today, the premium Bondi Wash range is sold and known around the world for its quality, chemical-free formulations and beautiful scents.

Curiously, what Belinda’s doing now with her business is light years away from how her career started as a management consultant.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How serendipity helped Belinda scale her overseas presence not long after launching
What happened when Belinda had to go into battle with a US giant trying to stop her using her brand name
The one thing she believes is critical for success in business
And why, when starting Bondi Wash, Belinda threw her rigorous and structured management consultant training out the window.

We think you’ll love this episode with the super thoughtful and inspiring Belinda Everingham.

Useful Links

Feminist Trailblazer – Wendy McCarthy

May 10, 2022May 10, 2022
by Claire

Our guest this week is a truly pioneering woman in so many fields. For instance, if you live in Australia today, then many of the rights you may take for granted came about thanks, at least in part, to the determined and courageous stand of feminist pioneer, businesswoman and writer, Wendy McCarthy.

From campaigning tirelessly for women’s rights, to smashing the glass ceiling time after time, Wendy, now in her 80s, has done it all including just publishing a book: ‘Don’t Be Too Polite Girls’. Unsurprisingly, she’s been described as a national treasure.

Starting out as a teacher, Wendy has evolved over the decades to be an executive, a founder and company director. Across all these endeavours, she has worked for change in education, family planning, human rights, public health, conservation and the Arts to list a few.

In this episode you’ll hear the formidable Wendy share:

How one profound lesson as a young girl has shaped her life
How she’s learnt to take risks and not be intimidated
How trying to retire at 60 was a huge mistake, and
How Wendy thinks about claiming her space when she walks into a room.

Enjoy the stories and wisdom from true pioneer and trailblazer, Wendy McCarthy.

Links

Wendy’s new book: ’Don’t Be Too Polite Girls’

Wendy on LinkedIn

Wendy on Twitter

Photographs from Don’t be Too Polite, Girls by Wendy McCarthy’s (A&U)”

Interview

Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Aliza Knox

April 26, 2022April 26, 2022
by Claire

This week’s guest was named IT Woman of the Year for the APAC region in 2020 and despite her illustrious and super busy career in senior regional leadership roles at Google, Twitter and Cloudflare, Aliza Knox also managed to find time to mentor many women along the way.

As a result of all her rich experience, Aliza has just published a book on the 6 essential mindshifts you need to rise and thrive at work. The book is called Don’t Quit Your Day Job.

These days, Aliza serves as a non executive director on Boards in multiple countries and is a senior advisor to her old consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group.

We were fascinated to catch up with Aliza to learn more about her own career lessons as well as the 6 key mindshifts she’s identified in her book. We think you’ll be fascinated too.

Hear unique advice and stories including:

Why a bad job situation led to Aliza moving countries
Why reflecting on your career options at any point in time is so valuable
What job dating is
And, which of the 6 essential mindshifts Aliza believes has been the most influential in her own career.

Aliza has some amazing career advice so sit back and enjoy this episode.

Links

Aliza’s website

Aliza on Twitter

Aliza on LinkedIn

‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job’ on Amazon, Booktopia

Interview

Championing Creativity – Lucinda Barlow

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022
by Claire

It’s not everyday you come across a global marketing leader who trained as an engineer and computer scientist! But that’s true for our visionary guest this week, Lucinda Barlow.

Lucinda is Senior Director, Head of Marketing for Asia Pacific for Uber. Before joining Uber two years ago, Lucinda was global Marketing Director for YouTube, with its 2 billion daily users.

With more than 20 years of experience working in Internet and mobile in Asia, the US and UK, Lucinda has some incredible and varied experience coupled with a true passion for championing creativity.

In this episode you’ll hear how:

How Lucinda changed her life, and her job, after receiving some wise advice from fashion designer and icon Diane von Furstenberg
How she thinks about making big career transition decisions
Why she believes failure should be celebrated more
And how Lucinda brings creativity out in her teams.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly passionate and creative Lucinda Barlow.

P.S. A reminder that our mini episodes are taking a little break right now so we’re back with a new episode every 2nd week.

Links

It’s Not About Me – Joanna Flint

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022
by Claire

We’re back from Covid (hooray!) and so even more excited about this week’s inspiring guest!

Joanna Flint is Chief Commercial Officer for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group where she’s responsible for its global marketing, sales, revenue management, brand and distribution functions. She is also a member of the company’s Board.

Joanna joined the luxury brand last year after more than twelve years with Google in Asia where, amongst other roles, she was Managing Director of Google Singapore. Based in Singapore with her family, after 20 years living in Asia, Joanna is also a member of YPO and a mentor to early stage start-ups.

If you’re contemplating your career or thinking about changing roles then you have come to the right place because Joanna has some of the most thoughtful musings on this topic we’ve heard.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The incredible story of why Joanna nearly didn’t apply for the top job at Google in Singapore and what happened to make her change her mind
The opportunities she feels she wasted because she wasn’t super clear about what she wanted next in her career
Exactly how Joanna got that clarity on what her next role needed to look like
And how she manages the challenges of leading a truly global team without working 24/7.

We know you’ll love the amazing insights and advice shared in this conversation, so enjoy this episode with the insightful and passionate Joanna Flint.

A quick P.S. from us that we are giving our mini episodes a little break for a while, so we’ll be back in two weeks time with our next conversation with an amazing, pioneering female leader. Hint – she’s ‘uber’ cool.

Links

Joanna on LinkedIn

Mandarinoriental.com

Interview

Smart Operator – Vered Raviv Schwarz

March 8, 2022March 8, 2022
by Claire

We have a smart operator and a great champion for women on the show this week.

Her name is Vered Raviv Schwarz and she’s spent the past 20 years in disruptive tech companies, based in Israel.

These days Vered is President and Chief Operating Officer for Guesty, a property management platform offering software that’s used by people renting out short term and vacation rental properties around the world. With Guesty’s multiple features they can easily list and manage their rentals on multiple sites such as AirBnb and Vebo.

Before Guesty, Vered spent nearly 6 years at the freelancer marketplace Fiverr as Chief Operating Officer. And prior to that she was a lawyer and General Counsel at other tech companies.

We’ve been struck by what a smart operator and thinker Vered is.

In this episode you’ll hear a lot of great advice including:

How some of the best advice Vered was given, and now gives herself, changed the course of her entire career
Why she’s passionate about making tech companies more diverse and what she’s doing about that
How she helps companies successfully scale and grow globally
And why Vered’s a great believer in being able to make decisions quickly.

Without further ado enjoy this episode with the switched on and dedicated Vered Raviv Schwarz.

Links

Guesty Website

Vered on LinkedIn

Vered on Twitter – @VRavivSchwarz

Interview

Life is Tough but So is She – Briony…

February 22, 2022February 22, 2022
by Claire

We’re super excited about our first guest for the year. Speaker, author and storyteller, Briony Benjamin, is known for the amazing and purposeful viral videos she creates, as well as her book, ‘Life is Tough But So are You’, which came out last year.

Briony is a master at her craft and she’s also incredibly inspiring when she talks about her cancer journey.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

The moment when Briony realised a career in accounting or commerce wasn’t for her
How her life changed in an instant with a diagnosis everyone dreads
What she thinks about when it comes to getting her creative work out into the world
And what habits she cultivates to stay on top of her content game.

Enjoy this episode with the irrepressible, funny and delightful Briony Benjamin.

Useful Links

Briony on Instagram – @briony_benjamin

Website: www.brionybenjamin.com

Must Do – watch this amazing viral video from Briony – ‘You Only Get One Life’:

Briony’s Book – ‘Life is Tough! But so are You’

Books Briony mentions:

Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life, and Let Go of Your Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Get Rich, Lucky Bitch!: A Guide for Exceptional Women to Create Outrageous Success by Denise Duffield-Thomas

Atomic Habits by James Clear

The Artists Way by Julia Cameron

Jerry Seinfeld Interview with Tim Ferriss