innovator Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

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 – Raising Girls

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is a tribute to all parents and everything they do for their children, particularly when they raise their daughters and sons to believe that women can be CEOs, adventurers and innovators.

When we thought of all that parents do, we were reminded of our conversation with the wonderful social entrepreneur Navyn Salem who has 4 daughters. She started a social business called Edesia Nutrition aiming to end malnutrition in the world.

Edesia produces a life saving formulation called Plumpy Nut which is given to very malnourished and unwell children in developing countries. So far this mission-driven business has nourished more than 14 million children in 60 countries to date.

When we spoke to Navyn nearly 3 years ago, we asked her about how she manages the juggle of leading her business and raising 4 daughters. We also asked her about how she thinks about what she’s role modelling for her four young girls, and it’s pretty inspiring.

Enjoy this mini episode – a tribute to all parents everywhere.

Useful Links

Our full interview with Navyn

Edesia Nutrition website

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:

How Taylor creates large scale street murals
Her advice for anyone who wants to be more creative
Why focusing on what you can control is so important
And, why she believes almost anything is possible today.

So don’t miss this great conversation with the thoughtful and creative Taylor White.

Useful Links

Taylor’s Instagram – @taylurk

Taylor’s website

Taylor’s Exhibition – The Pursuit of Happiness – go see it or buy her artwork

Shaun Hussack – Melbourne street artist agency – Juddy Roller

Silo Trail in Australia (very cool murals in regional areas)

Interview

Greta Thomas – Creating Her Own Path

February 16, 2021February 16, 2021
by Claire

Hello and welcome to another special episode of the show.

For those of you listening in the past few weeks, you’ll know that we have finally relented to the many requests over time to share our own stories.

Claire’s been overwhelmed with the responses to her episode that we aired two weeks ago and this week it’s Greta’s turn to be interviewed by Claire!

Claire loved chatting with Greta about her innovative and fascinating career journey to date.

Tune in now to hear:

How Greta spent the very first part of her working career as a professional ballet dancer
How she hasn’t finished high school and doesn’t have an undergrad degree but managed to get an MBA and work at prestigious management consultancy, McKinsey & Company
How, against all odds, she managed to secure her dream job working for an overseas organisation founded by Bono
And, what she learnt from her time on the executive teams at eBay and Sydney Opera House.

Without further ado, enjoy this episode with our inventive and strategic co-host, Greta Thomas.

Useful Links

Greta on LinkedIn

Greta on Twitter

Don’t Stop Us Now! Website

Full Potential Labs Website

The Lazarus Effect Documentary co-produced by Greta

RED.org

Interview

Hayley Markham – The Unflappable Entrepreneur

July 14, 2020July 14, 2020
by Claire

Our guest this week is one of the co-founders of an international venture all about teaching the younger generation to code.

Hayley Markham is co-founder and COO of Code Camp, which to date has reached 90,000 children with their holiday and after school camps, and online programs, in Australia and also the UK.

Hayley co-founded Code Camp seven years ago and as you’ll hear this hard working pragmatist and efficiency queen got started in the business when her third child was just two weeks old! Little did she know what she was getting herself into then but there’s no doubting Hayley is an unflappable master at juggling life and building a startup.

Code Camp was named one of Smart Company’s top three, fastest growing businesses in Australia in 2018 with 510% revenue growth. It was also nominated as a Deloitte ‘Fast 50 Rising Star’ in 2019 and Hayley herself is a recent winner of Australian Mumpreneur of the Year.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How Hayley found her forte and niche in people leadership and operations after years of trial and error in different jobs not knowing what she wanted to do,
The career advice she has for others who aren’t sure what their dream role looks like,
How Code Camp overcame the challenges involved with scaling the business,
And the one thing Hayley credits with helping her juggle running a business and having a busy family life.

So if you’re looking for inspiration on how to tackle the challenges and juggles in your life, then you’ll love this episode with the unflappable and humble Hayley Markham.

Useful Links

CodeCamp website

Hayley on LinkedIn

Interview

Cecilia Tham – Predicting the Future

February 11, 2020
by Claire

If you’ve ever wondered about what we’ll all be eating in 10-15 years time then this is the episode for you!

Our guest is Barcelona-based Cecilia Tham, a Social Technologist and Futurist. She happens to have the coolest day job working for Alpha, which is Telefonica’s innovation arm briefed to build moonshots to address some of society’s biggest problems, including the future of food.

Cecilia was raised in Macau, attended high school and Harvard university in the US, and then found herself in Spain having to start from scratch, language included. She describes herself as an entrepreneur by heart, a designer and biologist by training, and a maker for life.

On her journey to working at Alpha, she founded and co-founded 3 separate ventures including a Maker cafe, a co-working community, and a coding and tech academy for women.

We think you’ll find Cecilia’s life and career lessons really inspiring. In particular you’ll learn:

How Cecilia’s former husband’s gift of a sewing machine first insulted her and then led to her uncovering a passion and her first entrepreneurial venture
What ‘Trim Tabbing’ is and why it makes her more productive
How Cecilia managed to turn her mindset around and be comfortable being different to everyone else in the room
And…. how she and her colleagues are looking at future scenarios where you’ll be able to grow an entire meal, including meat and veg, with the one plant – yes you read that right – grow your dinner!

Enjoy this episode with the multi-talented and dynamic Cecilia Tham.