mindset Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

AI for Marketing & Creative – Emma Wharton Love

July 23, 2025July 23, 2025
by Claire

This week we explore how AI is reshaping all things marketing with Emma Wharton Love, co-founder of UK-based Spark AI.

Emma helps creative agencies and in-house teams navigate the AI era, and her unique background includes helping the entire UK House of Commons transition to hybrid working during Covid.

That experience taught Emma something crucial that we explore in this episode, successful AI deployment isn’t really about the technology, it’s about people and change management.

We also probe one of the most sensitive areas for the marketing services industry, how AI is impacting the creative process itself. We also explore what AI video means for advertising and how it may result in a much bigger pool of advertisers in future.

During this great conversation you’ll also discover:

What to avoid when starting out on the AI pathway
The value of synthetic market research (and what it is)
Where Emma believes the biggest gains for agencies lie
How she thinks about AI’s future role in marketing creativity, and
The one mindset Emma believes is essential for AI success.

Whether you’re in marketing or not, Emma’s approach to managing AI transformation offers valuable lessons for any professional or business trying to harness this technology thoughtfully.

Useful Links

Spark AI website

Emma Wharton Love on LinkedIn

Interview

Nothing by Halves! – Kerry James

April 5, 2023April 5, 2023
by Claire

Our fabulous guest this week is Kerry James, CEO and co-founder of not one, not two, but three different businesses! Not so remarkable you may be thinking if these businesses came one after the other, but no, Kerry is doing this all simultaneously.

After spending many years successfully running and co-owning a high end real estate business in Singapore, Kerry is now building two other businesses in completely different industries.

The first new venture is in the flower delivery and subscription business, and the second business is filling a niche she spotted more recently in online and corporate gifting.

Now while Kerry knew everything about real estate in Singapore after building that business for more than twenty years, she and her friend, turned co-founder, Sandi Sadek, knew nothing about the flower industry, delivery logistics or e-commerce prior to launching their online flower business, Flower Addict. What’s more they both still retain their big full time work roles.

Despite these novices starting from scratch, Flower Addict has been a roaring success, being voted number one florist service in Singapore for five years, and they’ve only been going for five years!

In this episode you’ll learn how:

Kerry manages her time juggling three businesses and a big family
The huge learning curve she had with the ins and outs of a fast moving ecommerce business
How asking for help and being prepared to invest in getting the help she needs makes all the difference
How she shifts her attention from one business to another in the most positive way; and
Exactly why Kerry even wants to run three businesses all at once.

Enjoy this episode with the positive and unstoppable Kerry James.

Useful Links

Flower Addict website

Flower Addict on Instagram

GiftBoxLove website

GiftBoxLove on Instagram

Citiprop 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

How To Episode

How to Get Through the S**ttiest of Times

October 18, 2022October 18, 2022
by Claire

Our episode this week follows hard on the heels of some personally challenging anniversaries. We share how, even after the s++ttiest news possible, Claire has moved forward and thrived, thanks to some very specific mindset choices.

She shares those choices and we talk about what’s become her north star in terms of how she views work and life.

You’ll also hear from our special guest Heidi Hackemer, now Executive Director of the innovation and future focused Oatly Climate Culture Lab in New York.

Prior to her starting her time with Oatly, Heidi had had an ‘annus horribilis’ where her world fell apart. She shares her key lesson from that time and also what she did and does to get out of tough times.

You’ll also hear:

About four key building blocks to become more resilient
How your thoughts have a MASSIVE influence on your quality of life
A simple exercise you can do to improve how you look at life, and
Why being kind to yourself is absolutely essential to build resilience

Now if you’re thinking this episode will be all sombre and sad, think again – in fact re-frame those thoughts right now coz you be wrong sista!

Enjoy this episode!

Bonus Episode

The ‘Secret Sauce’ Behind Successful Change

September 8, 2022September 8, 2022
by Claire

This week’s episode covers surely one of the most topical subjects right now: how to deliver or be part of successful change at work. If the Pandemic wasn’t enough, digital disruption and changing economic and geo-political conditions are certainly ensuring that virtually every business we know of is running a change project of some sort.

That’s especially true for one of our listeners who got in touch and asked us for any tips or advice we could give her to support a big change project in her workplace. So we decided what better time to explore this important topic and figure out if there’s a ‘secret sauce’ to successful change? And if there is, what is it?

You’ll want to listen in because we have the answers to both questions for you in this episode.

We also hear priceless advice from seasoned change expert, Carole Ashford, who’s spent years helping big corporates implement successful major change projects. Carol also has a Masters of Change and numerous other change qualifications.

In this episode you’ll hear how:

None of us are immune to being part of change these days
How to respond when change projects impact you
How to build your change-ready ‘muscle’, and of course:
The Secret Sauce to making sure your change project goes well!

So before you so much as change outfits, why not pop in those ear buds and enjoy this episode!

Bonus Episode

What Surfing Taught Us About Learning

August 24, 2022August 31, 2022
by Claire

It all began with a provocative question from Claire and it ended with Greta spending last week learning to surf in Bali!

Now if you know anything about surfing then you’ll be laughing right now because you’ll know there’s only so much you can learn in a week!

Back in podcast HQ, complete with a few bruises and very sore arms (paddling and pop ups are hard people!!), it got us thinking about the lessons and crazy wipeouts that so many new learning experiences can entail.

We also asked ourselves, “what is the best way to learn a new work or hobby-related skill?” Thanks to Greta’s thrills and spills on the water, a very patient instructor, and some research we have some answers.

So in this episode come to Bali with us and hear what surfing taught us about learning, including:
Why knowing how you want to learn something can make all the difference
How homework can be both helpful and sometimes very unhelpful
The genius tactic Greta’s surfing instructor used, and
What she did to transform her experience out on the water from one day to the next.

Grab your swimmers, pull up a sun lounge and enjoy this episode. Who knows what you might learn next!

P.S. Greta is ready for surfing sponsorships and endorsements any time!! 😂

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Positivity Hacks – Future Proof Me

February 1, 2022February 1, 2022
by Claire

What better way to start a new Lunar Year than by dusting off any Omicron blues and ensuring you have the right mindset for the day and week ahead?

Our first mini episode for the year brings you self-confessed ‘rabid optimist’ and former Australian of the Year, Dr Fiona Wood. This inspiring powerhouse manages to stay incredibly positive despite her very confronting and life-saving work as a world-leading burns surgeon. Learn some tactics that she uses to bring back happy memories and change her own mood.

In this short but sweet episode you can also contemplate whether or not you agree with Voltaire on what our most important decision of all is.

Enjoy! And if you haven’t already, why not connect with us on LinkedIn… just mention “Don’t Stop Us Now! podcast” and we’ll be right there.

Links of interest

Fiona’s full interview with us

If you enjoy this episode, an interview you might like too; Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas – Humour as a Super Power

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

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)

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Facing Failure

May 18, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is all about facing your fears and not being held back in life by the fear of failure.

It’s important to know that we don’t always recognise how we’re feeling as ‘fear of failure’ when we hesitate or say no, but often that’s what lies behind any hesitation.

In this episode we hear again from Kat Dunn. Kat was running Grameen Australia when we spoke a year or so back and these days Kat is working for herself and very much still focused on social ventures.

Kat has thought a lot about failure and has held numerous failure-themed events in the past, and as a result, she has all kinds of wisdom to share as you will hear in this future-proofing, mini episode.

Extra Info

Here are the 4 different lenses we shared at the end of this episode that can help when you’re worrying about failing. . .

1. Growth Mindset – overcoming a fixed mindset and embracing the prospect of growing and learning;

2. The practise of Gratitude – to be more positive;

3. Purpose – instead of focusing on what you’re afraid of, think about what are you moving towards?

4. Play – we underestimate the power of play in the adult world to really unlock creativity and get us into a state of inspiration and action, the perfect antidote to failure-inspired hesitation and inertia.

Links

Kats Full Interview

Kat on LinkedIn

Kat on Instagram