Don't Stop Us Now! Podcast

We’re excited to share this week’s episode featuring someone who’s had an extraordinary career at the cutting edge of space exploration. Trudy Kortes is the Chief of the Human Exploration and Space Operations Division at NASA. With her day job, not only is Trudy working on real ‘moonshots’ she is also developing new technologies that will undoubtedly have an incredible impact on our lives in the future. An aeronautical engineer by profession, Trudy has spent about 30 years working for NASA focusing on helping the space agency develop many super- sophisticated technologies to explore our galaxy. Today Trudy leads a team of around 200 people working on a range of projects including advanced communications, propulsion and the crew module, to name a few. What we love about this episode is Trudy’s ability to translate the super complex work she’s been involved with in her career to date, into easy to understand and inspiring stories about the valuable lessons she’s learnt along the way, and about what’s possible in the future.  In this episode you’ll learn: The really unusual reason why Trudy decided at high school she wanted to work for NASA How Trudy has found her authentic and humorous self, and why it matters What she's learnt about having difficult conversations What it’s like being a senior woman at NASA And how she feels about the project she’s working on to send the first female astronaut to the moon in 2024   So click below, sit back, buckle up and enjoy fascinating stories and insights from the wonderful Trudy Kortes.     Links of interest: NASA website Trudy's website Trudy Linkedin Trudy Instagram  

Our guest this week is one of the most determined and resilient people we’ve ever met. For the past 14 years she’s been on a mission to improve education for millions of children in Ethiopia encountering challenges on almost every front. We’re talking about the amazing Brukty Tigabu. At the age of 10, Brukty took on the role of head of her household after her mother became very ill. She found a way to make ends meet by selling vegetables from their garden in the market. She credits this time in her life with giving her the basic business and survival skills that helped her get where she is today.  And where you find this former school teacher today, is running the social enterprise she co-founded called Whiz Kids Workshop. It creates educational media programs - including 3 internationally awarded television series for children in Ethiopia. For the past 14 years Whiz Kids Workshop has inspired a generation of young children in Ethiopia with their most famous and loved program, the puppet based educational TV show called Tsehai Loves Learning. They’ve also published over 100 books in 7 languages, produced radio programs, DVDs and teacher training - all to improve literacy, health education, gender equality and early childhood education.  Brukty has won many accolades for her work including the World Economic Forum’s “Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the year 2018”, Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ 2012 and the Rolex Young Laureate Award in 2008. In this episode you’ll learn: How Brukty found her life’s purpose to enrich the lives of children and teens in Ethiopia and beyond What it’s like being a woman running a business in Ethiopia (seriously hard) How she pushes through fear Why she found herself not being able to get out of bed and how she got herself going again. Please enjoy this episode with the incredible Brukty Tigabu.   Links Whiz Kids Workshop Website Tibeb Girls website   Brukty on Instagram Brukty on Facebook Brukty on Linkedin Great YT video explaining Tsehai Loves Learning 

Our guest this week is a serial entrepreneur and one of Australia’s richest and most successful women. She’s also one of the humblest and most honest people you’re likely to meet. We’re talking about Cyan Ta’eed, Co-Founder of digital marketplaces business, Envato, and Founder of ethical luxury chocolate company, Hey Tiger and Milkshake, a new app for Instagram influencers. Cyan is a true creative and started her career as a graphic designer. However after a brief stint working for someone else she decided working for herself was the way to go. She and her then boyfriend, started a side hustle to sell stock photographs and digital assets to other creatives.  Fast forward 13 years and Envato, the name of that marketplaces company, is now worth more than A$1bn, employs over 500 people and has more than one billion digital goods for sale. Not only that, but Cyan has gone on to start, amongst other things, Hey Tiger, a chocolate social enterprise aimed at women as well as her latest start up Milkshake, a website building app for Instagrammers. In this episode, you’ll learn: How Cyan and her husband, Collis, took the Envato business from zero to being valued at over AU$1bn without any real plan How an eye ulcer and sleep deprivation led her to start her chocolate social venture Hey Tiger What she did to get over her “massive imposter syndrome” Why she views self care as a non-negotiable Her learnings about difficult conversations  Enjoy this episode with the inspiring and down-to-earth Cyan Ta’eed.    Serial entrepreneur and rich lister Cyan Ta'eed & her husband Collis. Cyan with her Hey Tiger chocolate brand which is designed for women with a social conscience and a love for amazing chocolate ...yes please! Episode links Cyan's personal Insta Hey Tiger Insta Hey Tiger website - order your chocolate here (delivery to Australia, NZ & US for now) Milkshake Insta Envato Insta Envato website

Don’t forget to enter our competition (below) to win a free coaching session with Claire and Greta. This week we explore what you can do when you have that horrible feeling you’re trapped in your job… for whatever reason. Maybe you’ve been meaning to change what you do for a while but just find the whole prospect scary or overwhelming; or maybe you’re in a job that pays really well or gives you lots of status that others envy, but you feel miserable; or, perhaps, the job you took just isn’t meeting your expectations. If any of these scenarios sound like your situation then pick up those earphones and tune in now. Together we’ll share tips, tools and advice to help you feel less stuck going forward. Tune in to hear: Three key reasons why we feel stuck How one of our guests nearly died before she realised her high paying, successful career was completely wrong for her What six words are super helpful to break through any apprehension or nervousness you have about changing or going for a new job And how Claire used those same words to pluck up the courage to resign from Google. So if you feel like you are stuck or approaching stuckness, or know someone who is, then do you and them a favour and tune in now!   Links Want to move jobs but feel a bit afraid or overwhelmed? Try our Free Download: What’s the worst that can happen template Win 2 hours of ‘just-for-you’ coaching with Claire and Greta. Click here to enter. Hurry entries close July 3rd.      

Our guest this week has a habit of saying “yes” to things she doesn’t know how to do... such as designing women's wear collections for Nordstrom when she’d never designed clothes before! We’re talking about the unbelievably stylish entrepreneur, Caroline Issa, the CEO of the Tank group which includes the revered global fashion and culture magazine, Tank Magazine. Despite her quiet humility she’s also a fashion influencer and paparazzi favourite. Caroline started her career as a management consultant working in San Francisco, Singapore and London. One day a friend introduced her to the Founder of Tank Magazine, and she fell in love with the business. Much to the horror of her family and friends she left her big expat consulting gig and became CEO of the fledgling business. That was 17 years ago. Fast forward to today and Tank is one of the few boutique global print magazines still thriving. What’s more, the business has grown to include a creative agency and Caroline is constantly innovating and embarking on new projects including designing those aforementioned clothing collections for Nordstrom. Whether she’s supporting other story tellers, advocating for young talent, working with cultural institutions or designing clothing collections, Caroline Issa has learnt the benefits of saying ‘yes’ to the opportunities that come her way. In this episode you’ll learn: The ‘one’ thing you must know about running a business How Caroline found a way to succeed in the fashion world despite ignoring the advice she’d been given What makes her say ‘yes’ to opportunities even when she feels terrified Why she’s reassessing how she uses social media. So without further ado, enjoy this discussion with the inspiringly positive and courageous Caroline Issa.     Links Caroline on Instagram  Caroline on Linkedin Tank Magazine on Instagram   Tank Magazine website  Book: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway - by Susan Jeffries

We don’t think we’ve ever had a guest who is prepared to be as open and honest about her life and career as Mia Freedman is. Whether it’s in our conversation for this episode, or her Insta posts or in the 3 books she’s written, Mia is determined to show her life, warts and all, because she really cares about shattering the ‘women should look and be perfect’ myth. She’s all about making women feel better about themselves. Mia is a household name in Australia. She's the co founder and creative director of MamaMia, one of the largest female-focussed digital media businesses in the world. Mia became the world’s youngest editor of Cosmopolitan magazine at just 24 years of age. In this episode you’ll hear: How Mia advises young women to think about their career How she was persuaded to stick out a nightmare job for months while negotiating her own redundancy How she and her husband manage working together, and ... How Mia realised she didn’t want, nor was she the right person, to be CEO of her own company. Enjoy this frank conversation with the amazing Mia Freedman.   Photo Credits: Supplied or from Mia's social channels Links Mia on Instagram  Mia’s own website  MamaMia Women's Network website  MamaMia Podcasts - Apple Link Mia's Books: Work Strife Balance - her most recent book and a great read Mama Mia - A Memoir of Mistakes, Magazines and Motherhood Mia Culpa    

This week’s guest has serious grit. Katie Vanneck-Smith is a media industry veteran and for anyone who’s not familiar with that industry, let’s just say it’s a pretty male dominated and blokey world. Katie has spent more than 20 years in the commercial side of publishing on both sides of the Atlantic. Katie’s grit really came to the fore when she spent nine years - yes nine years -  trying to persuade her bosses at The Times newspaper in London to get readers to pay for online news content. Her determination and patience paid off and in 2010 The Times became the first mainstream newspaper globally to charge for access to its digital content. This changed the future of how we all read newspapers online and Katie’s motto: ‘Work hard, have fun, make history’ really came to life. Fast forward nine years and Katie is attempting to make history again. Last year she left her high-powered role as President of Dow Jones (which includes the Wall Street Journal) to co-found a new online media start-up called ‘Tortoise’ which is reporting news in a completely different way - they’re focused not on churning out breaking news but on what’s driving the news. In today’s episode you’ll hear: How Katie didn’t realise her family was relatively poor until she was 14 years old What she did over nine years to persuade her bosses at The Times to make a transformative decision for the business How she managed to double her salary, twice, in three years And how she thinks about money and failure.   So sit back, pop those earphones in and enjoy this episode with the determined and passionate, Katie Vanneck-Smith   Katie and her two Co-Founders James Hardy & Matthew Barzun; Greta and Claire with Katie at the Tortoise London offices (yes, we got the white sneaker memo!) Links Katie on Linkedin Katie on Twitter Tortoise Website Tortoise on Twitter  

We’re so impressed by how this week’s guest has grown her business and her brand from pre side-hustle stage, to become the entrepreneurial ‘foodie’ success it is today. We think you’ll love getting to know Gaby Dalkin, the California based chef, author and influencer. Gaby is the CEO of ‘What’s Gaby Cooking’. She and her team are a content and recipe creating machine! She has more than 450,000 Instagram followers, she’s published 2 cookbooks with another on the way, she’s appeared on some of America’s most watched TV shows, she has several product ranges at kitchenware giant Williams Sonoma, and has numerous other brand partnerships as well. When we met Gaby we were blown away by her obvious dedication and commitment. We actually met her whilst on holiday in Patagonia and in between our horse riding and hearty ‘estancia’ (ranch) Patagonian BBQ lunch, Gaby was clearly working on social media and we were intrigued. So intrigued, we got chatting and the rest is history! And in today’s episode you’ll learn: How this famous foodie had never tasted fish until she started at culinary school The secret to her building up such a loyal and ever-growing number of followers How her business smarts and initiative led her to her first product line with Williams Sonoma And the biggest challenge she’s had to overcome in order to be able to delegate and grow her business We hope you enjoy this episode with the super smart and delightful Gaby Dalkin. Gaby having fun - on set with two of her team, Matt & Adam; and with her husband Thomas in Patagonia (where we met them) Links: Webiste - https://whatsgabycooking.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/whatsgabycookin/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/WhatsGabyCookin/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com.au/whatsgabycookin/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/whatsgabycookin Snapchat -https://www.snapchat.com/add/whatsgabycookin Gaby's Email: gdalkin@gmail.com Where you can find Gaby's Products: 'WhatsGabyCooking' product range at Williams Sonoma (ships internationally) US Australia Gaby's 2nd Cookbook - 'What's Gaby Cooking: Everyday California Food' US Australia  Gaby's 1st Cookbook - 'Absolutely Avocados' US Australia  

Ann Sherry is a change maker who’s notched up so many extraordinary achievements during her decades long and inspiring career to date that it’s hard to know where to start. Suffice to say Australian women have a lot to thank her for as one of the many things she’s responsible for is introducing paid maternity leave to corporate Australia. She also transformed the cruise industry in Australia as CEO of Carnival Australia, notching up double digit growth every year despite having to deal with significant challenges. Today Ann sits on multiple boards including Carnival Australia where she is Chairman, she is also Chair of UNICEF Australia, and a Non Executive Director (NED) with one of the country’s biggest banks, National Australia Bank (NAB), as well as Sydney Airport, Rugby Australia, the Museum of Contemporary Arts Australia and Palladium.  Ann has many accolades for her extremely varied career to date including a Centenary Medal, an Order of Australia and the overall winner of the Women of Influence award in 2015. In this episode you’ll hear: How having a baby with Downs syndrome at just 21 didn’t stop her from pioneering his care and returning to work when he was still young How she’s learnt to be resilient and not be phased by others judging her Why she thinks women need to take more risks And why she controversially bought a host of brightly coloured pant suits shortly after becoming one of the first senior women at a major bank. For listeners who outside of Australia, near the end of the episode we talk about how there’s recently been a Royal Commission in to banking in Australia - it’s basically a court-style public inquiry into misconduct which unearthed some serious misconduct across the industry. So please enjoy this fascinating discussion with the inspiring and truly entertaining Ann Sherry.   Ann Sherry & her son Nick Links to Ann: Twitter Linkedin    

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” William Penn, Founder of Pennsylvania We know you’re probably a very busy person but you won’t want to miss this episode all about maximising your time. It’s precisely because we all are so busy that pausing to think about how we’re using our time can be so worthwhile. William Penn may have lived in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s but he was spot on with his quote above about how we humans can use our time. In this latest episode in our ‘How To’ series, we share a whole host of useful tools and approaches used by a variety of amazing leaders that will help you ensure you maximise your own precious time and reduce any frustration you feel about time racing by too fast or tasks taking you too long to achieve. In this episode you’ll hear: 4 different ways to think about your time over the longer term and how being clear about your longer term priorities really makes a difference with your day to day work 4 approaches to tackle your day to day priorities and ‘To Do’ lists Plus, one unique way one of our podcast guests has figured out to maximise her energy and productivity every week enabling her to get so much more done Do yourself a favour and invest 30 minutes listening to this episode . . . it may well change your relationship with time. Plus, we'd love to hear what works for you. Share your own time-saving or time-valuing tips and hacks with us at hello@dontstopusnow.co   The Covey Time Prioritisation Matrix mentioned in the episode:    

This week’s inspiring guest is Dr Emma Camp, a British marine bio-geochemist who searches out and then studies corals that can naturally survive in extreme conditions such as mangroves. This might sound simple but it leads to Emma listing crocodiles as one of the greatest risks of a day in the office! She’s passionate about saving the world’s coral reefs and has made it her mission that we all should be too. (Emma, we’re convinced!) Emma is a National Geographic Explorer and a current United Nations Young leader. Despite her relative youth, her pioneering research work and passion for saving corals has seen her receive numerous honours and highly-prized research fellowships. In this episode you’ll hear: How Emma used her determination and ingenuity to go from struggling to break into academia to starting her own company to get the research experience she needed How her Dad’s mantra helps her reach her goals What it felt like the first time she found herself at the UN General Assembly And, the real story about the state of the world’s coral reefs and what you can do to make a difference, Enjoy this episode with the passionate and determined Dr Emma Camp.   Links to Emma: Emma’s website Twitter  LinkedIn Instagram UN Young Leaders Website Things you can do to help save our oceans: Take small actions - don't use plastic, drink from a reusable cup, walk more Get involved in beach clean ups Eat sustainable fish. Find out how: UK - Marine Conservation Sustainable Seafood Guide US - OCEANA Sustainable Seafood Guide Australia - Sustainable Seafood Guide and App WWF Sustainable Seafood Guides for many countries Lobby your politicians - get vocal - make them accountable!  

If we had to summarise what our guest this week is all about, we’d say she’s about reinvention and being true to herself. And for 35 year old Kat Dunn, that meant abandoning a successful corporate career. Born in the Philippines, Kat had been climbing the corporate ladder at an impressive rate in Australia, first of all as a lawyer and then in a variety of roles in financial services. But she was deeply unhappy. One day she said “Enough” and took radical action. In this episode we explore exactly how and why she did this and how she feels about her new career now, several years down the track. Today Kat is CEO of Grameen in Australia, part of the global not for profit organisation founded by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus. In this frank and heartfelt episode you’ll hear: What it’s like growing up Asian in an almost all white country town in Western Australia How Kat started out as a consummate planner and then realised that just wasn’t working How she confronted failure head-on and even made a business out of it And, how she’s never felt more secure despite earning 50% less than she used to. Enjoy this episode with the wise-beyond-her-years, Kat Dunn. Links to things Kat mentioned Malcolm Gladwell - on Snap Judgements Kyle Cease - 6 minutes on Creativity Charity TV Casting Session Facebook Event - open until 7th March 2019 Links to Kat Grameen Australia Grameen on Facebook Grameen on Twitter Grameen on Linkedin Kat on Linkedin Kat on Instagram

On the show this week is Marie Johnson, an Australian entrepreneur with a passion for digital and AI. Marie’s cutting edge work today is all the more incredible when you hear her story…. She was married as a teenager, then soon found herself pregnant and living in a caravan! Despite not having the chance to take her studies further immediately after school, Marie went on to juggle motherhood and study, and earnt several degrees. One thing led to another and Marie took on CIO and other senior technology roles, particularly in Government, and in 2006 she was named “Innovative CIO of the Year – for Australia” (according to CIO magazine). Marie now leads the Centre for Digital Business - a company she co-founded with her husband (yes the same one she married all those years ago). She’s a passionate believer in finding ways to use digital technology including AI to make life more equal and fair for everyone. In this episode you’ll hear:   Why you should have a long and a short game plan What it’s like as an older woman in technology How she copes with adversity How she co-designed the world’s first digital human, Nadia, with the disabled community and How her husband’s four heart operations and her grandsons are shaping the digital ventures Marie is working on now   Enjoy this episode with the forward thinking Marie Johnson.   We were amazed by this video Marie shared with us (below) showing the incredibly human conversational skills of her current project: creating a Digital Human Cardiac Coach.  We think she and the team at FaceMe are doing a truly incredible job. Prepare to be blown away by AI in action: Other links of interest: Centre for Digital Business Website Marie on Linkedin Marie on Twitter Becoming Nadia,  a digital human

On the show this week is Debbie Wosskow, a dynamic serial entrepreneur who sold her third business, LoveHomeSwap, for US$53m. Debbie recently co-founded The AllBright, Britain’s first members-only club specifically for business women. The AllBright named after Madeleine Albright, also offers a an online academy and a community that aims to create opportunities for women to thrive and flourish. We love the idea and mission behind AllBright and think you will too. In addition to successfully selling two businesses, Debbie’s also recently been awarded The Evening Standard ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ 2018. She’s a member of the Mayor of London's Business Advisory Board and has also been awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE). We so enjoyed meeting with Debbie at the AllBright in London and talking about: Why Debbie’s mission is to create a monster, global sisterhood of kick-ass women The recent pitch that Debbie and her coFounder used to raise 9 million pounds Why it’s crucial to have a ‘Rhino Hide’ when you’re a successful professional woman The three "G's" she looks for when deciding whether to invest in a business, and How she uses her intuition and what she still gets wrong after 20 years We hope you enjoy this episode with the trailblazing Debbie Wosskow.     Links of interest: The AllBright Website The AllBright Academy AllBright on Twitter Debbie on LinkedIn Debbie on Twitter

Welcome to our first ‘What Is. . .’ episode. And, drumroll please ... the topic of our first in this series is Artificial Intelligence (AI). We’re quite sure you’ll be hearing a lot more about AI this year and so why not start 2019 one step ahead and enjoy this super useful primer on all things AI, all explained simply with some fascinating examples. In this episode we’re thrilled to feature two world-class AI experts: UK-based Kriti Sharma (see also Episode 19) as well as Australian-based Marie Johnson. (Stay tuned for our longer interview with her coming up in the next few weeks.) So, if you’re a bit fuzzy about the differences between AI, automation and machine learning then this episode is for you!   You’ll learn: What AI is and what it isn’t Some of today's amazing use cases for AI What a digital human is and how it can respond to speech, text or even sign language How to help reduce the chances of bias being coded in to systems The new types of jobs that AI is creating How to future-proof yourself And much more. Don’t miss this one! Want our special AI Cheat Sheet briefing? If you’d like a copy of our ‘What is AI Cheat Sheet’ briefing paper we’ve prepared, then don’t forget to email us at hello@dontstopusnow.co for your copy!   Meet our AI Experts featured in this Episode: Kriti Sharma   Kriti Sharma is an Artificial Intelligence technologist and a leading global voice on AI ethics and its impact on society. In addition to advising global businesses on AI, she focuses on AI for Social Good. She built her first robot at the age of 15 in India and has been building AI technologies to solve global issues ever since, from productivity to education to domestic violence. Kriti was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for advancements in AI and was included in the Recode 100 list of key influencers in technology in 2017. She was invited as a Civic Leader by the Obama Foundation Summit for her work in ethical technology. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Google Grace Hopper Scholar and recently gave expert testimony on AI Policy to the UK Parliament in the House of Lords. Earlier this year, Kriti spearheaded the launch of the Sage Future Makers Lab, a forum that will equip young people around the world with hands-on learning for entering a career in Artificial Intelligence. Kriti was appointed a United Nations Young Leader at the General Assembly in 2018. Kriti on LinkedIn Kriti on Twitter Marie Johnson Marie has been described as a "public entrepreneur”, “crazy brave” – a trailblazer with a track record for tackling wicked problems head-on.  Marie says she prefers the 'edge' because it’s uncomfortable and that’s what sparks innovation. Marie conceived and led the global co-design and co-creation effort with people with disability to deliver 'Nadia' the first AI powered digital human for service delivery. This world leading work has sparked a global industry and appetite for AI powered digital humans. Her next humanitarian project is bringing to life the AI powered 'Digital Human Cardiac Coach' - with the mission to make cardiac health information accessible to anyone on the planet. The digital initiatives Marie has led have been recognised globally. Marie was named 'Innovative CIO of the Year 2006-2007, Australia' and in 2013, named one of Australia's '100 Women of Influence'. An impatient optimist, Marie is an inclusion and diversity advocate.  She believes that artificial intelligence is a creative liberating humanising capability,