resilience Archives - Page 3 of 5

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 – What Great Ideas Need

June 30, 2021June 30, 2021
by Claire

This week’s Future Proof mini episode is all about what it takes to get a big idea signed off.

We’re excited to share very wise advice from senior Microsoft exec, Mitra Azizirad, who heads up their AI and Innovation division. Mitra speaks about what you should do when that fantastic idea or innovation you have gets knocked back. (Hands up who knows that feeling!)

Mitra is someone who’s had plenty of practise selling-in new ideas and approaches, and one of her top pieces of advice from our conversation was all about how you should react to being told “no” when you pitch an idea in a big corporate.

It’s important advice and we’re excited to revisit this with you here. Enjoy!

Useful Links

Mitra’s Full Interview with us – Mitra Azizirad – How Resilience and Persistence Can Make All The Difference

Mitra on LinkedIn – see her speeches here too! Well worth a watch!

Microsoft Innovation – Mitra’s team

Microsoft AI – also Mitra’s team

Mcirosoft’s AI Business School – Free Course

Interview

Allison Kent-Smith – Not your Typical Entrepreneur

June 22, 2021June 29, 2021
by Claire

Our episode this week features an American woman who abandoned the security and prestige of working with some of the world’s most sought after ad agencies to start her own businesses.

Her name is Allison Kent Smith and one thing that really stands out about her is that she has consciously refused to pretend to be someone she’s not when trying to find VC investors for her startup.

That startup, giide.com, is a new platform for creating rich audio learning experiences featuring a host of multimedia options such as links, articles and graphics.

In our conversation you’ll hear how

Allison has experienced a few seminal moments when she just knew she had to leap out of her comfort zone work-wise
What a Silicon Valley VC told her when she met with him for funding that nearly made her give up
Why she asks herself how can she do less when she wakes up
And how she’s found her tribe of investors and supporters by staying true to herself

So sit back and enjoy this episode with the not so typical entrepreneur, Allison Kent Smith.

Useful Links

Giide Website

iOS app in the app store

Allison on LinkedIn

Interview

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

Heidi Hackemer – On Navigating the Worst

April 27, 2021June 1, 2021
by Claire

We have a very special episode this week because we’re sharing the vulnerable story of how one of our guests was subsequently fired from a high profile role in the US and how she navigated her way through the dark times that followed.

That guest is Heidi Hackemer and what she shares in this episode is so generous and valuable for all of us to hear; after all nothing is permanent and plans fall over on a regular basis.

Heidi is a leading creative who had her own brand agency in New York and also headed up the Creative Studio at the philanthropic Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) in California.

Not long after our first conversation with Heidi in July 2018 things went wrong, very wrong. Heidi was fired from CZI and not only that, when she got back to New York, she had to close her brand strategy agency, W&W too. We learnt about this because Heidi wrote an extremely brave and vulnerable article on Medium (link below) describing what had happened and how low she was feeling.

Admiring her generous honesty, we reached out to her just as COVID was taking hold everywhere round the world last year. Heidi agreed to speak with us.

After our conversation, we made a decision not to publish the interview last year, as it just felt too raw. With Heidi’s permission, we’ve all agreed that now is the right time to share the story she has been so generous in sharing with us. She’s well and truly bounced back from the lows she describes and is now the Executive Creative Director for North America at the booming global company, Oatly.

In this episode Heidi shares:

How, after being fired, she initially couldn’t stop worrying about money
Her advice for others who lose their jobs
Heidi’s generous sharing of all the things she did to pull herself out of depression and bounce back,
And the inspiring reason she shared her extraordinary piece on Medium

Even if you are securely employed right now, we really recommend you listen to this unique conversation. And if you know someone who’s lost their job make sure they listen to this too! They’ll thank you later.

Enjoy this episode with the generous, and very thoughtful, Heidi Hackemer …

Useful Links

Our first conversation with Heidi in July 2018

Medium article that prompted this second interview

Lesley Eccles – When Founding Another Global Startup was…

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021
by Claire

Have you ever felt totally blindsided or cheated?

That’s exactly what happened to our guest this week who spent more than ten years building a startup into a huge success, only to find the company sold by the other investors without receiving a cent. Just two years later the business was valued at over 11 billion dollars!

There’s no doubt that serial Scottish entrepreneur Lesley Eccles has ridden the startup rollercoaster on a grand scale. What we find so incredible and inspiring is how she’s bounced back from the devastating loss of her and her co-founders’ first business hit, FanDuel, to focus on starting a business all over again.

Lesley says she felt she had no alternative but to start from scratch again – but this time she’s brought her knowledge of running and scaling a technology business to build the number one relationship and self care app, Relish.

As Lesley shares her fascinating journey you’ll learn how:

Lesley, her husband and their 3 other co-founders weren’t sure if their start up would be successful until they were 7 years in
How their team, headquartered in Scotland, managed to become successful in the US market of fantasy sports building a team of 500 employees with 6million users
What lessons Lesley learnt as a result of the gut-wrenching sale of FanDuel
And why Relish is all about making the world a happier place.

Lesley’s story and lessons really are remarkable so don’t miss this episode with the resilient and gutsy Lesley Eccles.

Useful Links

Relish in the Apple App Store

Relish website

Lesley Eccles on LinkedIn

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

Claire Hatton – Living Life to the Full

February 2, 2021
by Claire

By popular demand, we’re excited to share a unique episode with you today. We’re pretty excited because we’ve been asked to do this since we launched the podcast nearly 3 years ago.

If you haven’t already guessed, we’ve finally relented and will be sharing our own career stories and journeys with you. Today you get to hear all about Claire’s extraordinary career and journey.

Whilst normally you’d hear both of us asking questions, of course today, only Greta is asking the questions. Claire, of course, will be answering them. (Yippee!)

Greta was blown away by Claire’s remarkable career to date. In this episode you’ll learn how Claire:

Received an award from the UK Prime Minister as one of Britain’s People of the Year at the age of 26
How a tragedy changed the course of her life
What it was like working at Google and why they’re so innovative
And finally, why she left her plum job on the Google Australian leadership team

Without further ado please enjoy this episode getting to know our co-host, the amazing Claire Hatton.

Useful Links

Claire on Linkedin

Don’t Stop Us Now! Website

Full Potential Labs Website

3P Learning Website

APT Travel Group

Episode Photo credit: Mark Rogers

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – How to Get the Career…

January 26, 2021
by Claire

We’re excited to share our first mini episode for 2021!

It’s a topical one for many people, particularly those whose careers may have been affected in some way by COVID in the past year.

We were blown away by the career story of Dr Emma Camp, a coral scientist, a UN Young Leader and a National Geographic Explorer, amongst numerous other accolades she’s earnt along the way.

When you look at Emma’s LinkedIn profile now you would think she’s always been seen as a superstar but in fact, this is far from the truth.

At the very beginning of her career, Emma really struggled to get her foot in the door of any kind of scientific research and she had to get both creative and very resilient to continue her dream of becoming a marine scientist.

Don’t miss her story of the incredibly creative way she got her foot in the door and hear her advice on going after what you really want in your career.

Enjoy this mini episode …

Useful Links

Link to Emma’s full interview on Don’t Stop Us Now!

Emma’s website

Twitter

Instagram

UN Young Leaders Website