conversation Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

Reality Check – Isar Meitis

May 7, 2025May 7, 2025
by Claire

This week we share a thought-provoking episode of Don’t Stop Us Now AI Edition, where we tackle head-on some of the most challenging realities of the AI revolution.

Our guest, Isar Meitis, Founder of Multiplai AI, gives us a reality check, without the sugarcoating, explaining the potential disruption heading our way. As an entrepreneur, investor, podcaster and AI strategist who’s deeply embedded in this space, Isar brings a refreshingly frank perspective about what’s coming, perhaps sooner than many of us expect.

In this compelling conversation, Isar shares his predictions about the dramatic workforce changes we’re likely to see in the next 2-3 years. While many experts talk about gradual transitions, Isar believes we’re approaching a tipping point where AI’s capabilities may create significant employment challenges across numerous industries.

We explore:

Why AI’s impact on jobs could be more sudden and widespread than most people realise
How staggeringly capable autonomous Agents will become in the next few years
How to think about creating a comprehensive and winning AI strategy for your organisation, and
Specific AI tools Isar loves and uses in his own business.

Isar also shares practical strategies for listeners looking to remain relevant and valuable in an increasingly AI-enhanced workplace.

This is an ‘edge of your seat’, fascinating and somewhat controversial conversation which, as you’ll discover, runs a little longer than our usual episodes. We think you’ll know why once you hear for yourself.

Enjoy this unmissable episode with the knowledgeable and straight-talking Isar Meitis.

Links mentioned:

Isar Meitis LinkedIn
Multiplai AI website
Isar’s AI Business Transformation Course (starts May 12 2025) **Listeners get a discount for this or future sessions of this course using the code: LEVERAGINGAI100

* Don’t forget to share this episode with any friends, family or colleagues who may be interested in this reality check on what’s coming with AI

Interview

Pursuing the Unknown – Jill Heinerth

September 19, 2024September 19, 2024
by Claire

Our guest this week is the most pioneering woman we’ve ever had on the show.

Canadian Jill Heinerth is arguably the world’s greatest cave diver and underwater explorer. She’s also a writer, photographer and filmmaker.

Jill literally goes places no human has ever gone before. She’s swum past the graves of more than 100 of her friends, as well as having some pretty close calls herself.

Jill is the first Explorer in Residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, she’s also a recipient of Canada’s prestigious Polar Medal, and a Fellow of the International Scuba Divers Hall of Fame.

To put it simply, Jill’s life story is extraordinary.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Why Jill chooses to chase fear not run from it
How Jill has learnt to develop and combine different skills in order to make her cave diving and exploring career sustainable
What happened after she dived in the crevices of an iceberg in Antarctica
How Jill thinks about putting a team for a new expedition together, and
How she feels being the star of a new, award-winning documentary about her career, called Diving Into The Darkness.*

Jill Heinerth is an amazing storyteller so enjoy this fascinating conversation with the intrepid and eloquent Jill Heinerth.

* P.S. If you’re in Sydney don’t miss the chance to see screenings of the documentary during the first week of October with Jill attending in person along with Director Nays Baghai.

Useful Links

Jill’s website – https://www.intotheplanet.com/

The Documentary – Diving into the Darkness

Official Website: https://divingintothedarkness.com/

Australian Screening Dates with Jill Heinerth & Director Nays Baghai: https://divingintothedarkness.com/ditd-week/

Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/divingintothedarkness/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/divingintothedarkness/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@divingintothedarkness

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivingIntoTheDarkness

Watch the Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIjdVAdpTnQ&t=139s

Interview

Compassion + Contribution – Dr Lineo Thahane

November 17, 2023November 17, 2023
by Claire

If you’re anything like us and fed up with all the bleak news, then this week’s episode may be just what you need; a guaranteed dose of positivity, progress and inspiration!

We’re joined by the humble and impressive Dr Lineo Thahane. Lineo is a paediatrician and is Executive Director of a major medical clinic in the Kingdom of Lesotho called the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Lesotho.

Lesotho, a tiny country in southern Africa, is ranked number two in terms of the countries with the highest proportion of its adult population living with HIV in the world. Nearly one in 4 adults is HIV positive and many children are too.

Lineo was born and raised in the US but her parents were both from Lesotho and so Lineo spent summer holidays back in Lesotho with her extended family. There, she was able to experience what it was like to live in her parents’ country of birth and, as she grew older, she felt a deep sense of unfairness at the differences in the standard of living in the US versus that of Lesotho.

As you will hear, this convinced Lineo to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a doctor so that she could return to Lesotho and help make a difference to the quality of healthcare the average person could receive there.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How nearly 10% of Lesotho’s children are orphans
How Lineo stays positive despite the sometimes confronting experiences and challenges she has faced treating sick babies and children
Why she continues to work in Lesotho when she could be living comfortably in the US,
And what Lineo has learnt about the challenges of transitioning from being a specialist doctor to becoming a leader of a large organisation with nearly 800 employees.

This is a fascinating, moving and uplifting conversation. Don’t miss this episode with the compassionate and dedicated Dr Lineo Thahane.

Useful Links:

Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation website

Texas Children’s Global Health – Lesotho

World AIDS Day 2023

Interview

Together We Can Make History – Navyn Salem

December 23, 2022December 23, 2022
by Claire

Our guest this week made such a big impression on us and listeners when she was on the show more than 4 years ago that we’re really excited to welcome her back for our last episode of the year.

Navyn Salem is Founder and CEO of a non-profit social enterprise called Edesia. Navyn founded Edesia more than ten years ago to help end global malnutrition and set about building a factory in Rhode Island in the USA to produce lifesaving nutritional products for humanitarian agencies. Edesia has already reached over 17 million children in 62 countries.

An email Navyn sent this past week really caught our attention. Despite outlining the unprecedented food crisis happening around the world, it also was filled with hope and a historic path forward.

Right now, governments have granted more funds to support the many millions facing hunger. Historically the world has the opportunity to move from helping 25% of the world’s malnourished to reaching and supporting 50%. Currently 3 million children under 5 die every year from malnutrition that is completely preventable.

Edesia, as one of the major producers of a lifesaving supplement called Plumpy Nut, has one problem . . . it can’t make their life saving product fast enough to meet the orders of humanitarian agencies tasked with spending the increased funding. So Navyn, in her true entrepreneurial and unstoppable style, is seeking to urgently scale her factory and increase its output dramatically by moving to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week production. To do that she needs help to buy $12 million worth of equipment.

We think you’ll be truly inspired by Navyn as so many others have been before. She’s a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and was awarded the major global McNulty Prize this year for leadership and vision in addressing some of the world’s toughest problems. Navyn was voted EY Entrepreneur of the year for New England in 2018, and New Englander of the Year in 2017.

Without further ado, to end the year enjoy our hope-filled conversation with the inspiring Navyn Salem.

Useful Links:

Edesia website

Donate on the Edesia website

Interview

Marching to Her Own Beat – Dot Bustelo

December 8, 2022December 23, 2022
by Claire

Our guest on the show today pivoted away from a long standing career in the music industry to found a venture focused on the visual arts.

Dot Bustello is founder and CEO of a business called Loupe, which streams and sells art from around the world and in doing so helps make all those black TV screens in our daily lives way more interesting and appealing.

Not only that, Loupe is ranked number one lifestyle app in 73 countries on Apple TV.

Dot founded Loupe seven years ago after spending nearly ten years at Apple as well as being a music producer.

Never one to believe in having a conventional career, in this episode you’ll hear Dot explain:

How she came up with the idea for Loupe and why she couldn’t believe it hadn’t already been done
The key thing she learnt after nearly a decade working at Apple
Why she thinks NFTs (non fungible tokens) are so revolutionary
Dot’s firm belief that we all have more control over what we do in our careers than most people think; and
The number 1 habit Dot relies on to stay focussed and centred.

Enjoy this fascinating conversation with the uniquely creative and entrepreneurial Dot Bustelo.

Useful Links

Loupe website – stream for free and buy art here

Loupe Insta

Dot on LinkedIn

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Beating Burnout

November 9, 2021
by Claire

We’re in the ‘home straight’ heading towards the end of the year and following the crazy year so many of us have had (thanks COVID!) we thought what better time to remind ourselves of tools to help prevent burnout?

We were lucky enough a few weeks back to run an online seminar on burnout with the best selling author, psychologist and leadership expert, Dr Jacinta Jiménez, and, as so many people signed up, we decided we should revisit Dr Jacinta’s amazing advice from our conversation on the podcast with her some months back.

Following the release of her science-backed, best selling book, The Burnout Fix, Dr Jacinta is definitely the one to turn to for advice dealing with burnout. She has deconstructed what burnout is, how it can be caused, and of course how to recover from burnout.

In this info-packed mini episode, you’ll hear that burnout for all of us is caused by one of six mismatches between who we are and our work or roles. Then you’ll hear how using Dr Jacinta’s PULSE model can help you keep burnout away.

Enjoy this mini episode and don’t forget to schedule yourself a mini break for today too! 🙂

Useful Links

Our full episode with Dr J

Link to the Mentor Walks Webinar we did with Dr J

Jacinta’s new book: The Burnout Fix

Amazon Kindle link

Amazon Hardcover link

Jacinta’s website

Jacinta on LinkedIn

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Just Ask!

August 10, 2021August 10, 2021
by Claire

Greetings everyone!

This week’s mini episode is all about challenging our beliefs about who we can and can’t ask for help.

A couple of years ago we spoke with serial entrepreneur, and now author, Rebekah Campbell about her career journey and her childhood growing up in New Zealand.

Rebekah happened to mention that she met with the Prime Minister of New Zealand when she was just 12 years of age as part of a school project she was doing. She went on to explain how this seminal meeting, that she had arranged herself, became an incredibly valuable lesson for her as she started her entrepreneurial career.

We love this story and its lesson that reminds us all to get better at asking people (when we have a good question for them) even if they seem way more senior or more powerful than us.

Enjoy this entertaining and valuable story from Rebekah.

Useful Links

Rebekah’s website

Rebekah’s new book 138 Dates

Rebekah on LinkedIn

Interview

Sophia Matveeva – A Non Tech Founder in a…

August 3, 2021
by Claire

This week’s episode shares the story of founder Sophia Matveeva who found herself having to make a big pivot when the global pandemic hit.

Before Covid, Sophia, a Russian by birth and based in the UK, had been making inroads with her fashion app called Enty. Think of it as a kind of ‘Uber for fashion stylists’, used by growing numbers of consumers, and being featured as App of the Day on Mashable.

However the global lockdowns last year quickly put an end to the need for we consumers to seek stylist advice on our outfits.

Fortunately, Sophia had also been developing a side-hustle giving talks and creating a course called ‘Tech for Non-Techies’ where she shared what she’d learnt as a non tech founder and CEO running a tech startup.

So whilst Sophia’s fashion-tech business stopped dead last year, her side hustle started to build real traction.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How hearing her app developers painful feedback was the best lesson she could have had
How it took Sophia till well in to her 30’s to feel confident enough to back herself
Why she chose to do an MBA
And, her advice for those without tech experience who want to work in the tech industry.

If you’re wondering how you can get a role in a tech business or startup then don’t miss this episode with the articulate and enterprising Sophia Madveeva ….

Useful Links

Tech for Non-Techies website

Sophia’s Tech for Non-Techies podcast

Sarah Wilson – Crusader for People & Planet

July 20, 2021July 20, 2021
by Claire

We are so excited about this episode featuring an inspiring and no-topic-off-limits conversation with the globally renowned Sarah Wilson.

Sarah has achieved massively in multiple arenas; she’s a former journalist and TV presenter, she’s an author and activist and successful entrepreneur. She wrote the New York Times bestsellers I Quit Sugar and First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, which best-selling author Mark Manson described as the best book on living with anxiety that he’d ever read.

Along with her latest book, ‘This One Wild and Precious Life’, Sarah has been ranked as one of the top 200 influential authors in the world and her online wellness ‘I Quit Sugar’ program was taken by 1.5 million people around the world.

These days, Sarah’s a campaigner for the causes that matter and, in particular, the climate crisis. Her determination to motivate us all to do what we can, is matched only by her research, her passion and her own crusading life.

In this open and vulnerable episode you’ll learn:

How Sarah’s childhood explains so much about the leader she is today
How she has completely reframed and values her anxiety
What happened when she was at her lowest ever point
How important hiking is to Sarah, and
Why 3.5% is such a magnificent and hopeful number.

Now, on a serious note, during our conversation as Sarah goes deep and vulnerable, we want to alert you that she describes a time she had dark and suicidal thoughts. If you think this might trigger you or someone listening with you please take the appropriate care.

We think you’ll just love this episode with the crusading and inspiring Sarah Wilson…

Useful Links

Sarah’s website

Link to Sarah’s book tour in Australia

All of Sarah’s Books

Sarah’s Favourite Hikes

Sarah on Instagram

Photo credits: Rob Palmer & Marija Ivkovic

Interview

Taylor White – The Art of Creating

July 6, 2021August 10, 2021
by Claire

This week we feature the first ever visual artist on the show when we talk with the entrepreneurial and talented American artist, Taylor White.

Taylor has worked around the world creating incredible street murals and fine art. You may have seen her work in Melbourne, Oslo, Berlin, LA, Miami, and her hometown of Raleigh in North Carolina.

Taylor spent a lot of last year driven by the goal to create and produce her own solo exhibition (The Pursuit of Happiness) inspired by her observations of life in the time of Covid. As you’ll hear, producing your own exhibition is no small undertaking.

Being a professional artist is a tough gig – a recent study showed that only 17% of artists make most of their income from their actual art practise. So Taylor’s experiences make this all the more interesting.

In this episode you’ll learn: