podcast interview Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

AI for Human Flourishing – Nathalie Nahai

January 5, 2025January 6, 2025
by Claire

Our guest this week is an expert in psychology, persuasive technology, and human behaviour. Nathalie Nahai is also an author, international keynote speaker and artist.

Nathalie has thought deeply about the impact of AI on humans and what she has to share with us in this episode is really thought provoking.

In this episode we cover what it will mean to be human in the coming years as AI evolves around us. We talk about what happens if businesses just default to using AI to cut costs and roles, and explore how to create AI that has values truly ‘baked in’ to support humanity.

Nathalie also shares an inspiring call to pursue the answer to perhaps the most important question for today: how do we create businesses that harness technology and support the flourishing of life? And she shares a diverse range of AI resources to listen to or read (see links below).

This is Nathalie’s second appearance on the show and an obvious choice for us given her global perspectives on humans and their relationship with tech. (It’s been six years since we last spoke to her on the podcast after meeting at SXSW in Austin. You can find that episode here.)

Nathalie’s humane perspective and questions are so important in the world right now.

Enjoy this new episode with the deep thinking and inspiring Nathalie Nahai.

Useful links

Nathalie’s AI resources page

Nathalie Nahai Art

Nathalie’s podcast

Joanna Kavanna (author she mentions)

Sanger Institute (for Genomics)

MIT AI Basics

Harvard free machine learning course

Your Undivided Attention (podcast)

Gary Marcus

Timnit Gebru

Interview

Deep Tech Community Builder – Sally-Ann Williams

June 26, 2023June 26, 2023
by Claire

We’re really excited about the wonderful guest we have for you on episode 169 this week: Sally-Ann Williams.

Sally-Ann (aka Sally) is CEO of Cicada Innovations, Australia’s leading deep tech incubator for startups and scaleups with everything from quantum computing to life sciences, ag-tech, space and hydrogen startups. Cicada provides office space, custom labs, specialised equipment and training.

Over the years, Cicada has helped its resident companies raise 1.7 billion dollars in funding and they’ve also had 1.4 billion dollars in successful exits.

And right at the heart of the Cicada ecosystem is Sally.

Before joining Cicada, Sally spent nearly 13 years at Google in diverse roles mostly in the engineering team. There she was responsible, amongst many other things, for bringing street view to Australia and influencing school curriculum to ensure better teaching of technology and STEM subjects. She’s also always been a huge proponent for the start up ecosystem and women in particular.

In this episode you’ll hear how

Sally coped working with Google’s tech engineers without any technology background
How she goes about building or harnessing diverse systems to deliver positive long term change
The biggest challenge Sally faces running a deep tech incubator
Why she thinks seaweed is actually more exciting than generative AI; and
Her strategies for coping with chronic imposter syndrome.

Sally definitely sits in the box seat of what’s happening at the forefront of tech so we’re confident that you’ll find this conversation with her super interesting.

Enjoy this episode with deep tech and community champion, Sally-Ann Williams.

Useful Links

Sally-Ann on Linkedin

Cicada Innovations website

Interview

A Rare CFO – Madeline Ling

November 8, 2022November 8, 2022
by Claire

Our episode this week features the first Chief Financial Officer we’ve had on the show, however Madeline Ling is not your ‘ordinary’ CFO.

We don’t think we’ve met a CFO who values diversity and building relationships the way Madeline does, not to mention the articulate and creative way she speaks about the stories the numbers can tell her.

Madeline has held multiple CFO roles throughout her 20-plus year career to date which has seen her work far and wide, including in the U.S., China, Mexico, Europe, and Thailand. A tech-company veteran, these days she is CFO of US-based Boomi, a fast-growing global SaaS company, focussed on easy software integration, now owned by two blue chip private equity firms.

Before taking on CFO roles, Madeline spent twelve years consulting including the Boston Consulting Group where she was a Principal. She also has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In this episode you’ll hear:

What Madeline learnt as an impressionable teenager when she moved to the US not speaking a word of English
How she thinks about leveraging her differences to add value
Madeline’s recipe for building awesome working relationships; and
The two questions she asks herself before changing roles or company.

In short, this was a fabulous conversation and you’ll really be inspired by the thoughtful and articulate Madeline Ling.

Useful Link

Boomi website

Below you can see how the cake turned out that Madeline talked about in the interview (top right) – looks delicious!

Interview

Championing Creativity – Lucinda Barlow

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022
by Claire

It’s not everyday you come across a global marketing leader who trained as an engineer and computer scientist! But that’s true for our visionary guest this week, Lucinda Barlow.

Lucinda is Senior Director, Head of Marketing for Asia Pacific for Uber. Before joining Uber two years ago, Lucinda was global Marketing Director for YouTube, with its 2 billion daily users.

With more than 20 years of experience working in Internet and mobile in Asia, the US and UK, Lucinda has some incredible and varied experience coupled with a true passion for championing creativity.

In this episode you’ll hear how:

How Lucinda changed her life, and her job, after receiving some wise advice from fashion designer and icon Diane von Furstenberg
How she thinks about making big career transition decisions
Why she believes failure should be celebrated more
And how Lucinda brings creativity out in her teams.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly passionate and creative Lucinda Barlow.

P.S. A reminder that our mini episodes are taking a little break right now so we’re back with a new episode every 2nd week.

Links

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Keep Moving – Future Proof Me

March 1, 2022March 8, 2022
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is all about the value of having a mindset of ‘keeping on going’ even when you stumble. Now that isn’t always easy is it?

One woman who’s really mastered the knack of telling herself constructive stories when things don’t go to plan, is US-based international Uber executive, Julia Paige. Julia is Uber’s global head of Social Impact and she also happens to be a mum of triplets.

When Julia was on the show 18 months ago we were really struck by how good she is at constructive self-talk and her ability to dust herself off and keep moving.

At the heart of Julia’s outlook on tackling tough times is the powerful idea that we all control our own stories. We get to write our narrative and we get to say how our stories end – and, for Julia, she makes sure that the story never ends with failure.

Enjoy this mini episode.

Interview

Stefanie Nissen – Style & Hope Shine Through

November 30, 2021November 30, 2021
by Claire

Happy December everyone!

The end of the year can mean travel planning for a lot of people, and business trips and holidays are the bread and butter for the fashion entrepreneur and founder on the show this week, Stefanie Nissen.

California-based Stefanie founded her business ‘Trvl Porter’ with the idea that you would arrive at your destination to find a hand-picked travel wardrobe waiting for you at your hotel. When you’re heading home, you can buy the pieces you love, or return them all simply by leaving them with your hotel.

The business was starting to take off when Covid effectively put Stefanie’s business into hibernation. All the more frustrating as not only had the business been really starting to get traction, it had also enjoyed some great coverage in the NY Times as well.

In this episode you’ll hear where Stefanie is at today in figuring out the future for Trvl Porter as well as:

How she started her career in fashion design
The advice her designer employer gave her that made her really change direction
How losing her luggage inspired the idea for a brand new business
And, Stefanie shares how a significant trauma actually led her to have the courage to start her new venture

This episode shares stories that are both moving and hopeful. So if you’re after some inspiration, hope and courage in your life, don’t miss this one with the resilient and courageous Stefanie Nissen…

Useful Links

Stefanie on LinkedIn (Stefanie’s new married name is Barkman)

Stefanie on Instagram

TrvlPorter website