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Interview

A Rare CFO – Madeline Ling

  • November 8, 2022November 8, 2022
  • by Claire

Our episode this week features the first Chief Financial Officer we’ve had on the show, however Madeline Ling is not your ‘ordinary’ CFO. 

We don’t think we’ve met a CFO who values diversity and building relationships the way Madeline does, not to mention the articulate and creative way she speaks about the stories the numbers can tell her. 

Madeline has held multiple CFO roles throughout her 20-plus year career to date which has seen her work far and wide, including in the U.S., China, Mexico, Europe, and Thailand. A tech-company veteran, these days she is CFO of US-based Boomi, a fast-growing global SaaS company, focussed on easy software integration, now owned by two blue chip private equity firms.

Before taking on CFO roles, Madeline spent twelve years consulting including the Boston Consulting Group where she was a Principal. She also has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In this episode you’ll hear:

  • What Madeline learnt as an impressionable teenager when she moved to the US not speaking a word of English 
  • How she thinks about leveraging her differences to add value
  • Madeline’s recipe for building awesome working relationships; and
  • The two questions she asks herself before changing roles or company. 

In short, this was a fabulous conversation and you’ll really be inspired by the thoughtful and articulate Madeline Ling. 

 

Useful Link

Boomi website

Below you can see how the cake turned out that Madeline talked about in the interview (top right) – looks delicious!

 

Interview

Championing the Circular Economy – Lisa Saunders

  • October 5, 2022October 5, 2022
  • by Claire

Our episode this week is packed with great advice and stories thanks to our guest, social entrepreneur Lisa Saunders.

Less than three years ago, Lisa and her partner Adrian decided they had to do something to stop so many household goods from being sent to landfill. Specifically, they made a life changing decision to prevent as many electronic appliances and tech products as they could from being thrown away. 

As a result, ‘Arnie’s Recon’ was born. It’s a completely free service that takes your old electronics (think phones, computers, fridges, cables etc.)  and ensures they’re recycled and not sent to landfill. Plus, as you’ll hear, this startup has already created more than 80 different products and spawned others around them to start complementary businesses. 

CEO Lisa’s stories of adapting to start-up life after a career in leadership development and coaching, and particularly getting used to literally getting her hands dirty in her day job are really fascinating.  

Plus you’ll hear:

  • How Lisa’s ten years of doing Karate has helped her to stay mentally calm and not be triggered by difficult people and bullies 
  • Plus, the clever and simple thing she says to herself to stay in that calm state when others around her are not
  • How she and her partner navigate having to pivot as they grow their enterprise
  • The simple thing she does when she needs to think creatively 
  • And the magic of this model that stops so many electrical appliances and tech from going to landfill.

We love the ethos and the business model behind Arnie’s Recon and we think you will too. So enjoy this conversation with the passionate and resilient Lisa Saunders. 

 


 

Useful Links: 

Arnies Recon Website 

Arnies Recon on Facebook

Lisa Saunders on LinkedIn 

Clare Graves Spiral Dynamics Explanation

 

Interview

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

Belinda on LinkedIn

Bondi Wash Website

Wyalba Perfumes

Wash Wild Website

 

Interview

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

Lucinda on LinkedIn

Lucinda on Twitter

Uber.com

Uber on YouTube

Interview

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 

 

 

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