Don't Stop Us Now! Podcast

We have a truly incredible guest in this week’s episode. We don’t think we’ve ever met someone with so much drive and conviction as serial entrepreneur, Sue Fennessy. Sue’s vision for her latest, purpose-led-business ‘WeAre8’ is absolutely epic. So large is the vision, that she’s spent the past 8 years building the technology platform required to take on the social media giants of the world. Yes, this one woman ‘tour de force’ is taking on the goliaths of social media with a determination to make social media better for all. She’s also invested more than $11 million of her own money to get WeAre8 to where it is today. She’s been able to do this because of her phenomenal track record building and exiting businesses. To date, she’s scaled and sold three previous businesses. The last business that Sue co-founded and then sold in 2022, the global Standard Media Index, was bought for $200million. SMI, as it’s also known, was a pioneering data and technology business recording global media spends acr

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 t

Blow out the candles and sing a merry tune for Don’t Stop Us Now! is 5 years old!  A lot has happened in the past 5 years and we’re so grateful to have had some incredible conversations with incredibly inspiring women. So in this special birthday episode, we take a step back and reflect on the key insights and lessons our guests have shared over more than 165 episodes. What we find is that there are common themes that keep cropping up again and again.Whether it’s a female leader and innovator in London, Bangkok, Silicon Valley or Costa Rica or Sydney, it turns out there are universal challenges our amazing guests have faced. We’ve also faced them and we’re pretty sure these are challenges that you’ve likely had, or may be facing too, they’re that universal. It’s not that our stellar guests are in a different league to the rest of us, it’s simply that they’ve found a way to work through these challenges en route to their success. And you can too. In this episode you’ll hear:The 5

If you’re like us and have been playing a lot with Generative AI models such as Chat GPT or Bard lately then you’ll be fascinated by today’s episode on all things Artificial Intelligence and particularly Generative AI. Today, we’re joined by a world class AI expert in what will be the first of a series of occasional episodes we’re doing on different aspects of AI and machine learning. In this episode, we explore the hype surrounding Generative AI and explore its positives as well as issues and shortcomings. Listen in as we speak with AI expert and entrepreneur, Asaf Somekh. Asaf is Founder and CEO of Israeli-based AI company called Iguazio, which management consultancy McKinsey has recently acquired because of its prowess in helping companies successfully adopt and scale AI.Asaf has been working with Artificial Intelligence since the 1990’s and his take on all the recent hype is fascinating. In this episode you’ll hear:How most businesses have struggled to operationalise AI to dateExactly

Today we have a big ‘first’ for this podcast, our first Olympic medallist!  However Zali Steggall, Olympian, barrister and now an independent member of parliament in Australia is so much more than these labels!Last year, Zali was re-elected to Federal Parliament after a stunning and, for some, an astonishing victory in the same seat at the previous election, three years earlier. Zali really is a pioneer (and winner) in so many fields: she was Australia’s first ever individual medallist and first Australian female medallist at a Winter Olympic Games. Plus, when she won the World Championship slalom skiing event a year later in 1999, she became the first ever person from the southern hemisphere ever to win that event. Not one to do anything by halves, when Zali was first elected as a member of Parliament in 2019 she defeated a former Prime Minister! What’s more, she did all this as an independent candidate with no big political party to support her, however she had an army of enthusiastic su

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 no

Our guest this week is founder and author, Natalie Yan-Chatonsky. Natalie founded her start up Full Time Lives some years ago and she’s just launched a book, called ‘The Art of Full Time Living’ which is a guide to help turn women’s mid-life transitions into fulfilling and rewarding transformations for their second half of life.Natalie is on a pioneering quest to ensure mid-life women take the time to think proactively about living fulfilled and connected lives in the decades ahead, whether that’s post kids leaving home or stepping back from a full time career. We know Natalie well and she’s bowled us over in the past few years with her dedication and commitment to making a difference to women's lives, particularly the second half of their lives. In this episode you’ll hear how: Natalie has carefully navigated her various career transitionsShe originally started researching big life changes ahead of her father’s potential retirement but it’s ended up being her life that’s changed the most&

Job interviews can certainly be intimidating and nerve-wracking, yet how we use that finite window of time that can really make a huge difference to our careers and sometimes even our lives. Whether it’s your dream job at stake or one you’re not so sure about, make no mistake, you owe it to yourself to perform to the best of your ability. And this week’s ‘How To’ episode explains why. The people we work with around the world regularly ask us for advice and support going through their interview process. So we decided it’s time to share some of our tried and tested tips and frameworks, as well as share special ‘insider’ contacts and content, with you now as well in this episode.  Not only will we walk through our key interview tips, you’ll also hear invaluable insider advice from leading Russell Reynolds executive search consultant and Managing Director in Australia, Nick Fletcher. Plus we also bring you Caitriona Staunton who’s Improbable’s Director for People Ops, responsible for recr

Our guest this week is one of the most positive, resilient and talented people we know. International award winning and globally acclaimed drone photographer, Sarah Jenkins is not your average drone pilot. Once fit and healthy, Sarah has been confined to a wheelchair for more than 6 years now and, as a result of her muscular dystrophy, she’s unable to hold and use a normal camera or even the camera on an iphone. During Covid, confined to the house and looking for something to do, Sarah and her daughter Lucy decided to try drone photography as Sarah knew that she could operate the toggles that control a drone and rest the remote control in her lap. The rest, as they say, is history.In this episode you’ll learn how:Sarah stays positive despite having lost so many physical capabilities Her attitude to learning her craft as she goesDespite being invited to enter global awards and having other international recognition she still suffers from imposter syndrome; andSarah’s advice to others w

We’re excited to bring you our first show for 2023. Our guest today is a topical choice given the recent surprise announcement by New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, that she was stepping down. Topical because we’re speaking with another female political trailblazer.The Honourable Nicola Roxon was elected to Australia’s Federal Parliament at the age of just 31. She became Australia’s Health Minister for 4 years and then the country’s first Attorney General. After 15 years in politics she decided it was time for a change and she now has a portfolio of board roles as director and Chair. In this episode you’ll hear: How a High Court Judge joked Nicola may cause a constitutional crisis when, as a young Associate, Nicola shared her plans for her next career stepHow Nicola handled and navigated the cut and (sometimes brutal) thrust of politics without taking things personallyAbout the world leading health initiative she introduced that’s been copied around the world and received special

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 e

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 doneThe key thing she learnt after nearly a decade working at AppleWhy 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

Our guest on the podcast this week is Professor Selena Bartlett, an Australian neuroscientist who’s life’s work is all about understanding how our brains work.Selena has held senior roles with leading research institutes in the US and Australia and she’s currently leading pioneering research into addiction and obesity at the Queensland University of Technology. What drew us to Selena’s story is not only her passion to understand how our brains work but also her mission to educate us non-neuroscientists about the things we can do to improve our brain’s health and even completely change our lives.In this episode you’ll hear:The very personal reason Selena switched her career path away from pharmacy towards neuroscience as a young womanSelena’s fascinating explanation of what causes mental illnesses such as schizophreniaHow she overcame her sugar addiction when she realised the impact it has on the brain Some radically simple things we can all do to improve our brain’s health; andWhy Selena thinks beco

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 spea

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 resilientHow your thoughts have a MASSIVE influence on your quality of lifeA simple exercise you can do to improve how you look at life, andWhy being kind to yourself is absolutely essential to build resilienceNow if you’re thinking th

Our episode this week is packed with great advice and stories thanks to our guest, social entrepreneur Lisa Saunders.Less than three years ago, Lisa and her partner Adrian decided they had to do something to stop so many household goods from being sent to landfill. Specifically, they made a life changing decision to prevent as many electronic appliances and tech products as they could from being thrown away. As a result, ‘Arnie’s Recon’ was born. It’s a completely free service that takes your old electronics (think phones, computers, fridges, cables etc.)  and ensures they’re recycled and not sent to landfill. Plus, as you’ll hear, this startup has already created more than 80 different products and spawned others around them to start complementary businesses. CEO Lisa’s stories of adapting to start-up life after a career in leadership development and coaching, and particularly getting used to literally getting her hands dirty in her day job are really fascinating.  Plus you’ll hear:H

Our guest on the show today is a successful entrepreneur who has leveraged the power of social media to grow her one-time side hustle into a multi million dollar business. Chi Mai, was born and raised in Hanoi in Vietnam. She came to Australia to study and it was in Melbourne some years later that her career took an unexpected turn. Instead of the corporate career she’d always imagined, she ended up with no experience and barely in her 20’s, starting a jewelry business.In just two short years since its founding in 2018, Chi’s business, called S-kin Studio Jewelry, was taking off. In this episode you’ll learn: The marketing strategy that changed everything and created an explosion in the growth of Chi’s business How and when Chi decided to let go of her day job and devote herself full time to S-kin StudioWhat she’s learnt as an introvert so she can successfully lead and delegate to her team of 9 staff; How having a baby has changed her work habits; and What success looks like

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 t

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 differenceHow homework can be both helpful and sometimes very unhelpful The genius tactic Greta’s surfing instructor used, and  What she did to transform h

Leaning into your strengths is perhaps the most powerful thing you can do as an individual to progress your career AND enjoy it more. And if it’s that important we figured we should have a conversation about this! So we did! :-) In this week’s episode, Claire and Greta have a lot of fun talking about everything you need to know to own your strengths, thrive and feel more fulfilled.We cover:Why leaning into your strengths has so many payoffsHow you discover what your key strengths really areHow to think about applying them in to your day to day work and life, andHear real life stories of people who’ve made changes and are now thriving all due to insights about their strengths.Wherever you’re at in your career, we can all benefit from pausing and asking ourselves “how much am I using my strengths this week?” Join us now :)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.