CEO Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

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

Lena Andersson – Not a Quitter

October 19, 2021October 19, 2021
by Claire

It doesn’t take much imagination to work out how many challenges tourism businesses have been facing during the pandemic.

Typically, those who’ve been challenged the most can offer us the most interesting and helpful stories and advice. So our latest episode features the first of several amazing female travel entrepreneurs we’ll be featuring in the coming weeks.

Lena Andersson is the Founder and CEO of ‘Go Running Tours’, a global platform where you can book guided sightseeing runs in more than 70 cities and towns around the world.

Pre Covid last February, Lena’s business was really hitting its strides (excuse the pun!) and receiving record bookings. . . and then Covid happened.

Prior to founding her global running tours business, Lena had a successful career in marketing for large corporates in the UK and Denmark. She was traveling more than 200 days a year and that’s when she came upon the idea that literally inspired her to quit the very next day. A friend in a foreign city took her for a run that combined running with sightseeing and Lena thought how amazing it would be if she could do this in every destination she travelled to.

Little could Lena have imagined 8 plus years ago that she’d have to deal with all the trials and tribulations a global pandemic would bring.

We think you’ll be blown away by Lena’s resilience and positivity and you’ll also hear:

How Lena decided her next steps when the world shut down last year
How she’s got through the devastating impact COVID has had on her business
Lena’s career advice if you’re an introvert; and
Why she’s optimistic about the future for her business despite everything she’s been through.

Enjoy this episode with the positive and purposeful Lena Andersson.

Useful Links

Go Running Tours Website

Lena on LinkedIn

GoRunningTours on Insta

GoRunningTours on Facebook

GoRunning Tours on Strava

Interview

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 – 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

Connie Mckeage – Resilience and Perspective

May 25, 2021May 25, 2021
by Claire

This week, we’re really thrilled to be able to share our conversation with experienced founder, CEO and all round impressive operator, Connie Mckeage.

Connie recently sold OneVue, the listed fintech business she ran in Sydney for 14 years. It was a dramatic journey at times, particularly when OneVue was left being owed $31 million dollars by another company which had collapsed.

Connie is Canadian and has spent most of her career in financial services. With OneVue she and her 200 employees were looking to disrupt the funds management market by creating a new digital model that aimed to cut out the middleman and reduce fees for end investors.

Connie has an impressive list of awards to her name including being awarded the Centenary Medal for contribution to Australian business leadership; as well as twice being named CEO of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards, including last year at the same time she was fighting to keep her business afloat when it was owed $31 million.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How Connie started her career in financial services by accident
How she dealt with her husband’s vehement opposition to her business for years on end
What she learnt from the hardest 18 months of her career; and
Her advice if you’re looking to disrupt an industry.

So get comfy and listen now because Connie has such wise and thoughtful insights on so many topics …

Useful Link

Connie on LinkedIn

Interview

Maria MacNamara – On Reinvention

August 25, 2020August 25, 2020
by Claire

Our guest on the show this week is someone who’s a textbook case in career reinvention.

Maria MacNamara completely reinvented her career after two and a half decades working in professional services. After finally getting sick of what she describes as misogyny and bad behaviour, Maria knew she had to call it quits and leave professional services for something completely different.

Now, that’s not to say professional services today has the same issues Maria experienced, and Maria is the complete diplomat on this topic, but suffice to say she needed a change and knew she wanted to do something completely different.

And so she did! Maria worked in politics and government in completely different roles including digital transformation for a number of years and immersed herself in the startup world. Today Maria’s role is CEO of Advance which is all about connecting global Australians with one another and to Australia, in order to create economic and cultural opportunities, collaborations, investments and innovations.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How being an immigrant set Maria up for successful reinvention
What it takes to reinvent your career
Maria’s principles for successful innovation, and
Her advice on networking and connecting.

Enjoy this episode with the constantly learning and always connecting Maria MacNamara.

Useful Links

Start-ups Maria has Mentored

1. Stone & Chalk and its new acquisition Ribit.net
2. Faethm.ai
3. Curious Thing
4. WithYouWithMe
5. Hyper Anna
6. Startup Muster

Interview

Brianne West – Running the World’s most Sustainable Cosmetics…

July 28, 2020
by Claire

Our guest on the podcast this week is Brianne West, the New Zealander serial entrepreneur and founder of global sustainable cosmetics company, Ethique.

Brianne has a bold and pioneering mission, to rid the world of single-use plastics. She started Ethique to replace all those bottled products we use in our bathrooms, from shampoos to moisturisers, with solid bars of concentrated product.

We’ve been so impressed with the degree of sustainability and ethical practices that Brianne has baked into her business, from sourcing her products directly from around the globe, to being a B Corp, to donating 20% of profits to charitable causes. It really is a business that walks the talk.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Brianne displayed the entrepreneurial gene very early
How she’s funded Ethique with two very successful crowdfunding campaigns, as well as what it takes to crowdfund successfully
What Brianne does to manage her anxiety; and
How Huffington Post and Britney Spears changed everything for her business overnight!

We hope you come away as inspired by this conversation as we were. It’s a real demonstration of what’s possible when a business decides to make a reasonable profit whilst also caring for planet and people.

Finally, a quick request from us, if you enjoy our podcast and have yet to rate or review us on your listening platform of choice, we’d so appreciate it if you would. This is a passion project for us and it would really make a positive difference.

Interesting Links

Ethique Website

Brianne on Instagram

Interview

Jacqueline Novogratz – Revolutionary For a Better World

May 19, 2020May 20, 2020
by Claire

We have a real treat in store for you today with a truly remarkable changemaker and NY Times bestselling author as our guest.

Acumen Founder and CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, has been named one of the 25 Smartest People of the Decade by the Daily Beast, and one of the world’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes, amongst numerous other honours.

Jacqueline pioneered the notion of ‘patient capital’, investing in social entrepreneurs around the world. Acumen supports them to establish sustainable businesses that serve some of the world’s poorest people.

What makes this episode a particularly fascinating one is that all this work with entrepreneurs has taught Jacqueline and her team so much about what it takes to succeed when trying to create change. And now she’s also just released a new book sharing what it takes to be a changemaker. It’s called Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (and there’s a free course too if you buy the book).

In this episode you’ll hear:

How her early attempts at social change in Africa seriously failed to impress the locals;
What she learnt about humanity when she became one of the first people to visit in jail someone she’d known well who’d gone on to become a major perpetrator in the Rwandan Genocide;
How Jacqueline sees investment as a means to solving problems rather than making profit as the primary goal; and ….
How she’s seeing women entrepreneurs successfully breaking the rules particularly now during the coronavirus crisis.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly inspiring Jacqueline Novogratz…

Links of Interest

Acumen Website

Jacqueline’s Books:

Manifesto for a Moral Revolution – Practices to Build a Better World – her latest book. If you buy a copy you can sign up for free to her 11 week course ‘The Path of Moral Leadership’ (usually it’s US$195)

The Blue Sweater

Interview

Caroline Issa – Feel the Fear and Do It…

June 4, 2019
by admin

Our guest this week has a habit of saying “yes” to things she doesn’t know how to do… such as designing women’s wear collections for Nordstrom when she’d never designed clothes before!

We’re talking about the unbelievably stylish entrepreneur, Caroline Issa, the CEO of the Tank group which includes the revered global fashion and culture magazine, Tank Magazine. Despite her quiet humility she’s also a fashion influencer and paparazzi favourite.

Caroline started her career as a management consultant working in San Francisco, Singapore and London. One day a friend introduced her to the Founder of Tank Magazine, and she fell in love with the business. Much to the horror of her family and friends she left her big expat consulting gig and became CEO of the fledgling business. That was 17 years ago.

Fast forward to today and Tank is one of the few boutique global print magazines still thriving. What’s more, the business has grown to include a creative agency and Caroline is constantly innovating and embarking on new projects including designing those aforementioned clothing collections for Nordstrom.

Whether she’s supporting other story tellers, advocating for young talent, working with cultural institutions or designing clothing collections, Caroline Issa has learnt the benefits of saying ‘yes’ to the opportunities that come her way.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The ‘one’ thing you must know about running a business
How Caroline found a way to succeed in the fashion world despite ignoring the advice she’d been given
What makes her say ‘yes’ to opportunities even when she feels terrified
Why she’s reassessing how she uses social media.

So without further ado, enjoy this discussion with the inspiringly positive and courageous Caroline Issa.

Links

Caroline on Instagram

Caroline on Linkedin

Tank Magazine on Instagram

Tank Magazine website

Book: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – by Susan Jeffries

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