businesswoman Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

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

Mikaela Jade – Pioneering for First Nations

October 5, 2021October 5, 2021
by Claire

We have a treat in store for you today with a guest whom we reckon is one of the best storytellers we’ve had on the show.

Australian entrepreneur, Mikaela Jade, otherwise known as Mik, is the Founder and CEO of Indigital, a company developing innovative new ways to digitise and translate knowledge, culture and stories from remote and ancient First Nations communities.

Mik, a proud Cabrogal woman, is a UN Permanent Forum Indigenous Issues delegate; she’s a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Augmented and Virtual Reality; and she’s also been recognised as a Top 100 Innovator in Australia.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Mik reacted when, as a young adult, she learnt she had indigenous ancestors
How she came up with the idea of using augmented reality to share cultural stories in the national parks where she worked
How hard it was to get people to help her progress her augmented reality ideas
What happened when Mik reached rock bottom, and
The one technology Mik thinks we all need to read up on.

We think you’ll LOVE this conversation with the ever-so resilient and compelling storyteller, Mik Jade.

Enjoy!

Useful Links

https://indigitalschools.com/

https://indigital.net.au/

Mik on Twitter

Mik on Linkedin

Indigital on Instagram

Spatial Web book by Gabriel Rene

Great article – An Introduction to The Spatial Web by Gabriel Rene

Atlas of AI – great podcast with the author, Kate Crawford if you don’t have time to read her book

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me: 3 Founder Essentials

August 24, 2021August 24, 2021
by Claire

We’ve been thinking about the impact the global pandemic has had on peoples’ careers and one thing that’s been happening is many folk have been wondering whether it’s time for a career change and, in particular, whether they should start their own business.

So for today’s mini episode, we’ve chosen to share some brilliant advice for founders and potential founders from the successful British entrepreneur, Debbie Wosskow OBE.

Debbie is well known for building and selling her online home exchange business, Love Home Swap for £53 million.

Not only that, Debbie is now co-founder of another business called AllBright, an education and networking organisation designed to provide skills and connections to working women particularly in the UK but also internationally. We talked all about AllBright when we first spoke with Debbie on the show some years ago.

Having sold her own start-up and also being a start-up investor, Debbie knows first hand what it takes to build a business from scratch and, as you’ll hear, there are 3 key things she believes founders need.

Useful Links

Debbie’s full interview episode – Debbie Wosskow, OBE – What It Takes To Be A Successful Female Entrepreneur

AllBright Website

The AllBright Academy

TheAllBright on Twitter

Debbie on Linkedin

Debbie on Twitter

Book on Grit – by Angela Duckworth

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Mastering Your Ego

July 13, 2021
by Claire

This week’s Future Proofing mini episode is all about not letting your ego get the better of you.

We were blown away by the maturity and wisdom of young New Zealand entrepreneur, Brianne West, the founder and CEO of Ethique, the global and sustainable cosmetics company. We spoke to her on the show last year.

Brianne’s mission is to rid the world of single-use plastics and Ethique replaces bottled products like shampoos with solid bars of concentrated product.

Brianne has won all kinds of honours including New Zealand’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year and she was named an Obama Leader for Asia Pacific.

With these accolades Brianne could be forgiven for running her global business exactly as she pleases. But what’s so refreshing about this entrepreneur in her 30’s is that she’s well aware she’s never worked in any other business and so she knows she needs other people’s expertise to help her succeed.

And that’s where mastering your ego comes into it. Brianne is so authentic and open about what she does and doesn’t know.

In a world where it’s so easy for all of us to think we have to role play and claim more experience and capability than we may have, one of the secrets to Brianne’s success is that she’s learnt her business needs her to listen to the recommendations of others in order to succeed. She leaves her ego at the door when she goes to work and so do her colleagues.

Take a listen and be inspired how vulnerability really can be the best way forward.

Useful Links

Brianne’s Full Interview with us – Brianne West – Running the World’s most Sustainable Cosmetics Company

Ethique Website

Brianne on Instagram

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Ask for What You Want

June 1, 2021June 14, 2021
by Claire

This week’s Future Proof Me mini episode is all about asking for what you want.

It sounds so simple in theory but it’s not always easy to do is it?

Listen up for great and pragmatic advice on asking and negotiating from the unique and gutsy former advertising CEO, Cindy Gallop. She’s now a Founder and international speaker and she’s passionate about women being treated equally in business.

You’ll hear Cindy initially talk about being posed a great question about what she wanted to do by an old boss at the famed ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty that really got her thinking and changed her career. Then you get to hear her invaluable advice on promoting yourself and things you can do if you need to negotiate your salary.

Enjoy this mini episode.

Useful Links

Link to Cindy’s full interview with us

Ask Cindy Gallop Chatbot

Naomi Simson – The Renowned Entrepreneur 1000s of Small…

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020
by Claire

We have a brilliant episode for you this week with the renown entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Naomi Simson. Given these unprecedented times, this is just the tonic we needed and we think you will love her too.

On the topic of COVID-19, wherever you’re listening to us from, we hope you’re safe and well and not doing it too tough. Please know that you are not alone, #weareinthistogether . As you’ll hear in this episode, Naomi has some great thoughts for what leaders and businesses need to be thinking about.

Nearly 20 years ago, Naomi took her savings and founded her online business ‘RedBalloon’ when she was a Mum of two small children. The site she built is an aggregator of a vast variety of experiences that people can buy vouchers for from thousands of tourism and adventure operators around Australia and NZ, and they’re expanding internationally as well.

Today the ‘Big Red Group’ has 5 separate businesses under its umbrella with revenue over $70 million and literally millions of experiences sold to date. Thousands of small businesses rely on her company to deliver them customers, a big deal normally and an even bigger one now with COVID-19.

Naomi is also well known for sharing her positivity and business wisdom as a keynote speaker and author of two books.

In this episode you’ll hear Naomi talk about:

How she’s feeling in these uncertain times and how she’s coping with COVID 19 consequences
Her experience of stepping out of her business after splitting from her husband, only to later secretly buy back the company
What Naomi looks for when startups are pitching to her for investment
Why you’ll always see her wearing something red, and
Her advice to you in these times of uncertainty.

So stay safe, get comfy, and enjoy this episode with the super positive and impressive Naomi Simson.

One final note from us, given our leadership development business has understandably lost revenue, we’ve decided it’s timely to trial one or two ads at the beginning or end of each episode whilst taking great care not to damage your listening experience. This is a way to help us with all the hours we spend on bringing each episode to you. Thank you for being part of our community.

Links of interest

Naomi’s website

Redballoon

Big Red Group

Naomi’s books: Live What You Love & Ready to Soar

Interview

Bobbi Mahlab AM – Defining Success on Her Terms

March 24, 2020
by Claire

Our guest this week is entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bobbi Mahlab.

We think you’ll love Bobbi; she’s authentic, brave and very humble!

More than 20 years ago, Bobbi founded the content marketing and communications agency, ‘Mahlab’. Given how much the publishing and content businesses have changed in two decades, it’s a testimony to Bobbi’s foresight and agility that the business thrives and continues to evolve today.

Much more recently, Bobbi also co-founded the fast-expanding Australian arm of Mentor Walks, an initiative she was exposed to when she took part in a Mentor Walk in China, the brainchild of one of our earlier podcast guests, Michelle Garnaut.

Bobbi’s business has won multiple awards and accolades, and Bobbi herself also has her fair share of honours including recently being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to women, publishing and philanthropy.

Bobbi has some fascinating insights and perspectives on women in business and being an entrepreneur, particularly thanks to the insights she gleans from all the women taking part in Mentor Walks as well as from being a Juror on the prestigious international Cartier Women’s Initiative awards for entrepreneurs.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How it felt to grow up with a very high profile and feminist mother
Why Bobbi thinks leaders need to act like a hammerhead shark
What it was that made her walk into her office one day and say “everything changes from today”
The formative experience that taught Bobbi to think bigger

Enjoy this episode with the humble, wise and entertaining, Bobbi Mahlab.

Links of interest

Mahlab Media

Mentor Walks Australia

Cartier Womens Initiative

Episode photo credit: Mumbrella

Interview

Mandy Birch – On Being Yourself (in a Man’s…

February 25, 2020
by Claire

Our guest this week is former military leader and now Quantum Computing pioneer, Mandy Birch.

Born and bred in the USA, Mandy is super qualified . . . she has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT; another Masters in in Military Operational Art & Science, and a third Masters in International Relations!

Mandy’s entire career has been in male dominated industries. She spent 16 years climbing to senior ranks in the United States Air Force and now she’s working on Quantum Computing with a company called Rigetti. Rigetti is one of four companies (Sept 2019) to have a fully operational quantum computer.

During our conversation, we were fascinated to hear how Mandy only truly thrived in her career in the military when she learnt to be herself. She talks about how important it has been to her career to feel comfortable in her own skin, even when she was different to nearly everyone else in the room.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How to summarise Quantum Computing in a single sentence
How being under-estimated became a positive and shaped Mandy’s leadership style
Why she believes over-planning your career can be a problem
And why getting used to being different and seeing the value in that made all the difference.

Enjoy this episode with the passionate and mission-driven Mandy Birch.

Links of Interest

Mandy on LinkedIn

Rigetti Computing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:47 — 29.2MB) | Embed

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Interview

Brukty Tigabu – Changing African Kids Lives With TV

July 16, 2019
by admin

Our guest this week is one of the most determined and resilient people we’ve ever met. For the past 14 years she’s been on a mission to improve education for millions of children in Ethiopia encountering challenges on almost every front. We’re talking about the amazing Brukty Tigabu.

At the age of 10, Brukty took on the role of head of her household after her mother became very ill. She found a way to make ends meet by selling vegetables from their garden in the market. She credits this time in her life with giving her the basic business and survival skills that helped her get where she is today.

And where you find this former school teacher today, is running the social enterprise she co-founded called Whiz Kids Workshop. It creates educational media programs – including 3 internationally awarded television series for children in Ethiopia. For the past 14 years Whiz Kids Workshop has inspired a generation of young children in Ethiopia with their most famous and loved program, the puppet based educational TV show called Tsehai Loves Learning. They’ve also published over 100 books in 7 languages, produced radio programs, DVDs and teacher training – all to improve literacy, health education, gender equality and early childhood education.

Brukty has won many accolades for her work including the World Economic Forum’s “Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the year 2018”, Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ 2012 and the Rolex Young Laureate Award in 2008.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Brukty found her life’s purpose to enrich the lives of children and teens in Ethiopia and beyond
What it’s like being a woman running a business in Ethiopia (seriously hard)
How she pushes through fear
Why she found herself not being able to get out of bed and how she got herself going again.

Please enjoy this episode with the incredible Brukty Tigabu.

Links

Whiz Kids Workshop Website

Great YT video explaining Tsehai Loves Learning

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:03 — 31.3MB) | Embed

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Interview

Mia Freedman – Is the Real Deal

May 21, 2019
by admin

We don’t think we’ve ever had a guest who is prepared to be as open and honest about her life and career as Mia Freedman is. Whether it’s in our conversation for this episode, or her Insta posts or in the 3 books she’s written, Mia is determined to show her life, warts and all, because she really cares about shattering the ‘women should look and be perfect’ myth. She’s all about making women feel better about themselves.

Mia is a household name in Australia. She’s the co founder and creative director of MamaMia, one of the largest female-focussed digital media businesses in the world. Mia became the world’s youngest editor of Cosmopolitan magazine at just 24 years of age.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How Mia advises young women to think about their career
How she was persuaded to stick out a nightmare job for months while negotiating her own redundancy
How she and her husband manage working together, and …
How Mia realised she didn’t want, nor was she the right person, to be CEO of her own company.

Enjoy this frank conversation with the amazing Mia Freedman.