Women in Digital Interview Series Archives - Page 3 of 3

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Introducing the 2020 Women in Digital Awards Innovator of the Year, sponsored by Clinic to Cloud, Carolyn Mee!

Carolyn is the Founder and CEO of the Sound Scouts app, an online hearing screening service designed to check for hearing issues in children. This innovation incorporates the science of a hearing test in a mobile game that is not only accessible, but fun and affordable for families! Thanks to the Australian Government Department of Health, this life-changing service is now free in Australia and has been implemented in over 1,200 Australian schools, completed 40,000 children’s checks plus 15,000 adult tests. What an incredible innovation!

We are delighted to chat to Carolyn about her winning entry, career in digital and insights on diversity in digital industries.

Watch the live announcement of the Women in Digital Awards Innovator of the Year here.

Congratulations! We are so impressed by your entry and obviously so were our judges, but tell us, who is Carolyn the person?

I’m a woman who believes that if you put your mind to something, anything is possible. I’m a mother and a Founder. I’m as persistent as I am passionate because one without the other will only get you half way there. I care about making a difference, learning and growing in the process.

What is something that not many people know about you?

I lived and worked in the Red Sea in Egypt for a number of years. At one point I felt as comfortable under the water as I did above it.

In a bite-sized summary, how did you come up with the idea for Sound Scouts?

Sound Scouts was my final assignment for a course I completed in Digital Media. I was introduced to the concept of Serious Games, games that can do more than just entertain, and I quickly recognised the potential to apply the theory to testing children’s hearing. As the mother of three children I knew it was difficult to access a face to face hearing check so I was confident that a digital solution would be a game changer.

Who is your professional inspiration?

I’m inspired by everyday people doing things that matter because I believe that one person can make a difference. Dr Catherine Hamlin was and continues to be an inspiration. Her efforts to assist marginalised women were extraordinary. Dr Fred Hollows is also an inspiration.

You have obviously found a fantastic niche in the market, what were some challenges you encountered while launching Sound Scouts?

Disruptive technology is often frowned upon as people are skeptical about new ways of doing things. In the early days I presented to hostile audiences more often than not, rarely receiving acknowledgement for our efforts to think innovatively about a problem that had not been addressed in decades. Fortunately, we were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution and the rigour that we had applied in its development, and the sentiment slowly changed.

What’s your most recommended business resource?

I recommend listening and learning from your customers.

Most of your career was involved with production and content creation, how did this experience tie into what you do now at Sound Scouts?

As a content creator the need for digital knowledge was becoming more and more important hence why I returned to study. But there’s also a need to integrate creative thinking into digital solutions, so my background in content creation was and continues to be extremely relevant.

I had spent decades thinking about how to engage and entertain so when it came to applying that to the Sound Scouts solution it was second nature.

How do you believe Sound Scouts has made a difference for families and clinicians during this pandemic?

Sound Scouts is a digital, app-based hearing check that parents can do at home. It enables a non-clinician to triage a child (or an adult) to determine if they need to take the next step and see a clinician.

During the early months of the pandemic we doubled down on the development of our Clinical Portal which enabled hospital audiology departments to direct patients on their wait list to test at home. The clinicians could then remotely review the results and make a decision on whether the patient needed to be seen by a clinician.

What advice would you give to anyone with an idea for a business solution/ product/ app?

I would encourage anyone with an idea to take the first step. That first step may be conducting research, finding a business partner or documenting a plan. Once you take the first step, which is always the hardest, more steps will follow and before you know it you will be on the road to building a business.

What is next for you and for Sound Scouts?

We’re working on making Sound Scouts available in more countries so more children have access to an accessible, reliable hearing check that has been purpose built for children . We’re also expanding our product offering and will be releasing a number of new web apps in the hearing space in the coming months.

It is commonly recognised that there are fewer female leaders in digital and technology. What do you think could be done to improve diversity in tech?

I love the Women in Digital call to action that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ and I fully support the drive to elevate more women working in the digital space to act as role models for others to emulate.

My digital journey has been supported by firstly, a scholarship and then by several government grants. I think distributed properly this type of government support can make a big difference.

Do you have any initiatives at Sound Scouts to recruit or support female talent? We would love to hear your insights.

Sound Scouts is a small company but we encourage diversity in our team. We appreciate the value people can bring to the team if they have a different perspective on the world. This drives our culture and is top of mind when we are hiring and building new relationships.

What do you believe is the importance of industry awards such as the Women in Digital Awards?

Awards, like the Women in Digital Awards, allow people like myself to take a moment to stop, reflect and appreciate what we have achieved. It’s not uncommon for Founders and innovators to be constantly focused on the next challenge, but it is important to celebrate the milestones and Awards encourage us to do this.

What technology development is exciting you at the moment?

I’m excited by the promise of technology to deliver better outcomes in the health space. Serious games have untapped potential to engage, entertain and inform and I’m looking forward to seeing how they will be harnessed in the future.

Once again, congratulations Carolyn on this accolade and thank you for taking the time to chat with us!

Want to get involved with the Women in Digital Awards? Be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an update!

To read more Q&A blogs from our line-up of Women in Digital Award Winners, head over to our blog and keep an eye out for more success stories on our Facebook and Instagram. You can also see our list of other winners here.

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Introducing the 2020 Women in Digital Awards Founder of the Year, sponsored by Amazon Web Services, Silvia Pfeiffer!

Silvia Pfeiffer is a technologist, author and digital health enthusiast. She is also the CEO and Co-Founder of Coviu, a telehealth start-up specialising in digital service delivery platforms. Her incredible innovation enables clinicians to conduct consultations with patients on a secure, user-friendly platform. As you might expect, COVID-19 turned into somewhat of a catalyst for the uptake of Coviu as remote appointments became increasingly popular and undeniably necessary. Having scaled rapidly to support healthcare businesses during this time, Coviu is expected to achieve 250% financial growth this year. What an amazing achievement!

We were thrilled to talk to our 2020 Founder of the Year about her winning-entry, career journey and thoughts on diversity in digital.

Watch the live announcement of the Women in Digital Awards Founder of the Year here.

Congratulations Silvia! We are so impressed by Coviu and you as the successful Co-Founder of this company, but tell us, who is Silvia the person?

Thanks, I’m stoked about winning the award. I’m a simple immigrant to Australia from Germany. I have not just fallen in love with this country, but also with an Australian, ensuring I would remain in this country. I’ve been contributing to digital innovation in Australia ever since arriving as a post-doc student in 1999 to work within the CSIRO. My company Coviu is the result of a CSIRO spinout bringing innovation to digital healthcare since 2015.

In a bite-sized summary, how did you and your co-founder come up with the idea for Coviu?

While working at the CSIRO on use-cases for the new WebRTC technology that we helped to develop at the W3C, healthcare was deemed one of the key markets for its application. We created a demonstrator application for the speech therapists at Royal Far West in Manly and it was a great success. We received a lot of positive support for this product and won a couple of awards, which encouraged us to develop it into a scalable platform for telehealth for healthcare businesses across Australia.

What is something that not many people know about you?

Despite having lived in Australia for more than 21 years, I only adopted Australian Nationality this year. It was during a special ceremony held at NSW Parliament House in March, just before the COVID shut down. I am very proud to be Australian and to work with Australian healthcare businesses to support the digital transformation of healthcare.

Why do you think telehealth companies like Coviu are so important for the health sector (and the wider public for that matter)?

Coviu is a new software solution for healthcare businesses that enables them to pick up telehealth and run it as a new service offering with their patients/clients. We’ve built Coviu so it can be rolled out easily and also work in a hybrid model of offering consultations in person as well as via video. This is important because it’s the beginning of a transformation of how we receive healthcare. It’s the beginning of including digital technology and digital delivery mechanisms into models of care.

Who is your professional inspiration?

I’m inspired not just by a single person, but by the work of many people. I admire what Tim Berners-Lee has achieved with the invention of the World Wide Web, I admire both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have achieved as founders of Apple and Microsoft, I am inspired by the devotion of Marie Curie to science and by Mother Teresa to humanity.

Coviu was seemingly made for a world in a pandemic – where clinicians have had to switch to online services. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! What has been your biggest learning this year?

It was always our vision that we would support the digital transformation of your local healthcare providers – be that a GP, a psychology or physiotherapy, or a specialist practice. We expected it would take a long time for the behaviour of healthcare providers to change and for Medicare to support this transition, but we never lost sight of the need for transition to improve healthcare. My biggest learning is that it is important to be ready when the market that you predicted suddenly materialises. Never lose faith in the future that you predict – it might come around faster than you thought.

Speaking of Covid-19, what do you think was the biggest challenge Coviu encountered due to the pandemic and how did you overcome it?

By far the biggest challenge was to scale up our technology infrastructure and our customer support. Fortunately, we had built for scale – our technology was hosted in AWS and built in a way that we could take advantage of AWS’s scalability capabilities. We had some bugs in our code that led to some outages – just like all other video conferencing providers at the time. But the infrastructure scaled beautifully.

We also had to scale up our customer support and we did that by increasing the number of customer success managers that would reply to customer requests on our text chat application, on email and on the phone lines. We hired 15 people in a short time and trained them ourselves on the job. It was the only way and it worked well.

What’s your most recommended business resource?

I really like the book ‘The hard thing about hard things’ by Ben Horowitz – it appreciates how difficult it really is to build a new company and provides some great advice on how to be resilient.

If you could go back and change anything about how Coviu came to be, what would it be?

There are a number of mistakes that we made along the way, but that’s pretty normal. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have been able to avoid the mistakes and make our lives easier along the way. But I wouldn’t want to change anything about the general process of how Coviu came to be.

What tips do you have for other people with an idea for a business solution/ product/ app?

Make sure you understand your market. Who are the people that will buy it and how much will they pay? You can find out this information by talking to potential customers. It’s very important to understand this before you fully commit.

What is next for you and for Coviu?

Coviu is currently closing our Series A investment round. We will use this round to scale out the medical features of our platform, so we can better support our customers’ clinical services. We are further expanding Coviu internationally so we can offer our platform to healthcare businesses in other countries, particularly the US.

It is commonly recognised that there are fewer female leaders in digital and technology. How did you end up working in this industry?

When I started on my path in technology, it wasn’t yet a man’s business. You must know that women were the first programmers. That was because it was regarded as a secretary’s job. That changed as soon as men realised how close it was to engineering and renamed the job to software engineering. Suddenly it was a man’s domain and increasingly women were pushed out of it. I was part of the first student lot at Mannheim University to study a combined degree of business management and computer science. We had 40% women. Just a couple of years later it was down to 15% and less.

What would you tell someone interested or unsure about a career in tech?

The future is about technology. Humanity had to learn to read when the book press was invented. We now have to learn about technology because everything in the future will have technology in it. You should not be unsure about a career in technology, you should embrace it.

What do you think can be done to improve diversity in the digital industry, particularly in more technical positions?

We have to start at school. If we make programming a requirement at school just like maths, we’ll get girls as educated about technology as boys. We usually lose girls in their teens because it’s not cool. So let’s make it cool for girls. Finally, we have to change the way we hire. It’s well known that women don’t apply for jobs unless they fit it 100%, while men are more confident and apply even if they only fit 60%. It’s important to rewrite job descriptions in a more inclusive way.

What do you believe is the importance of industry awards such as the Women in Digital Awards?

Recognition of work is very important for anyone. Women are often overlooked and have to work twice as hard to get recognised. This is an outstanding award that shines a light on women in digital.

What technology development is most exciting for you at the moment?

I’ve been in technology for a long time. I did video analytics and machine learning for my PhD. It’s finally coming into its prime and there are many opportunities for its use, but also many ethically questionable misuse. We’ll have to learn to distinguish between the two and regulate the misuse, e.g. deep fake video could be used to impersonate people. But I am excited to see it come to its prime.

Once again, congratulations Silvia on this accomplishment and thank you for taking the time to chat with us!

Want to get involved with the Women in Digital Awards? Be sure to subscribe here so you never miss an update!

To read more Q&A blogs from our line-up of Women in Digital Award Winners, head over to our blog and keep an eye out for more success stories on our Facebook and Instagram. You can see the full list of 2020 Women in Digital Award winners here.

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Love where you work and accelerate your business at Hub Australia.

Founded by Brad Krauskopf in 2011, Hub Australia provides state-of-the-art functional workspaces designed for organisations of all sizes to focus and grow their business. With stunning hospitality areas, cafés, professional development events and end-of-trip facilities, Hub Australia is more than just an office space – it is one of the largest Australian owned and operated flexible workspace providers. Their workspaces can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and of course, Women in Digital’s own beautiful location in the heart of Brisbane city.

We chatted to Hub Australia about their impressive growth, the popularity of co-working spaces and what it is like to be a member of one of Australia’s Best Places to Work.

We love Hub Australia and are lucky to call it home for 2020, but tell us, what makes Hub Australia special to you?

The community at Hub is wonderful and incredibly diverse – we have teams from large global businesses working alongside and creating relationships with entrepreneurs and startups in the same spaces.

Our great team also works to support and connect the members in lots of ways, and we’ve seen hundreds of great business connections and collaborations on top of the social relationships made in the space.

What is something that not many people know about Hub Australia?

We were the first B Corp Certified co-working space in Australia, and are set to be the first Carbon Neutral Certified co-working space recognised by the Australian Government.

Co-working spaces are still a relatively new phenomenon, do you think that they’ll eventually become standard?

Co-working has been in Australia for almost ten years, but has really started to gain traction in the last 3-4 years. Co-working and flexible office spaces are a logical choice for most businesses, but many people get stuck in the habit of commercial leases without researching alternatives and all their benefits.

When you look at it, moving into an all-inclusive co-working space like Hub Anzac Square lets you work in a beautifully designed space in the centre of the CBD, upgrade your membership or office space when you grow, and use great amenities like our fitness studios, media studios, fully-equipped member kitchen, and our in-house cafés.

On top of that, Hub looks after all the day-to-day logistics – we keep the plants alive, make sure everything’s looking lovely and working as it should, greet all your guests, and our Community Leads and Member Experience team work hard to help your business stay happy and successful with events, benefits, and networking.

Why do you think co-working is so popular?

As well as making financial and logistic sense for teams and businesses, co-working has risen in popularity due to the great communities. Our members build strong professional relationships and friendships with each other, and each of our locations has an intangible ‘vibe’ that contributes to it being an enjoyable space for working, holding meetings, and having social catch-ups. Outside of COVID-19 restrictions, we foster these communities with member events including Wellness days, Breakfast Club, and our popular weekly Wine Down sessions (Brisbane is lucky enough to have them in our beautiful rooftop space!).

Co-working is also popular due to the flexibility – we offer everything from one-off day passes and virtual offices up to dedicated desks and office suites for large teams. This makes it incredibly accessible for professionals – a lot of members come in on a day pass or for a tour and fall in love with our spaces and community.

What do you think sets Hub Australia apart from other co-working spaces?

Hub Australia aims to help every member love where they work – we focus on creating premium experiences through hospitality, space design, programming, and community management, while also helping our members to live something bigger with our focus on growing positive impact through our communities with things like our Flexi Impact program and B Corp certification.

The majority of our members credit our amazing clubhouse teams as a highlight at Hub Australia – they consistently go above and beyond to ensure our members have positive experiences at Hub, from welcoming guests with a smile and a quality coffee to finding the right space and community connections for each member.

How has Hub Australia adapted to COVID-19 restrictions?

At Hub we worked swiftly to make sure our spaces stayed as safe as possible for our members, upgrading our cleaning schedules and focus points, ensuring all communal spaces are set up for social distancing, and adapting our in-house cafés and member amenities. We put together a comprehensive communications program for our members, keeping them fully across all our changes and creating a brochure for them to share what steps they could take to ensure they and their teams remained safe too.

Hub is also the founding Australian representative on the Workplace Operator Readiness Council, a global board working to set standards for everyone operating offices and workspaces following COVID-19.

We absolutely love the perks of being a Hub Australia member! What do you think are the best perks/ benefits?

There are so many! When you’re in the space, you get to make use of all the amenities, whether it’s using the end-of-trip services, spending some time in the fitness studio, or cooking up a storm in the full member kitchen. We also have dozens of discounts available to our members, covering everything from premium stationery at MiGoals to big discounts at FitBit, ASOS, and savings on groceries.

There are a lot of savings to be had, and our members can also offer their own discounts or benefits to our national community to reach new markets and potential clients.

Hub Australia is also on track to becoming a fully-certified carbon neutral organisation, how have you achieved this?

Our carbon neutral certification has been a long time in the works, and we’re very excited about it! We set it as a goal a few years ago, and have worked to ensure we can have a carbon neutral product rather than just our organisation. This is great because it means that every membership and every Hub location is now 100% carbon neutral. This also makes it easier for our members to achieve their own carbon neutral or B Corp certification, so we hope to see more people making environmentally-minded changes into the future.

Looking for extra space to facilitate return to work post-COVID-19? Or just looking for a new flexible office space? Find out more about Hub Australia’s range of workspaces and membership options here.

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Rebecca Wikman has certainly built herself an impressive resume. Boasting an extensive career in senior marketing roles, she has over 8 years’ experience delivering fast paced business growth. Currently, Rebecca is Head of Growth for video creation and editing tool Clipchamp, helping the world’s creatives produce professional quality video content. We were lucky enough to chat with her about her career journey, including her time working in London.

These are incredible professional accolades, but tell us, who is Bec the person?

I’m your pretty classic ESTJ! I love bringing people together and love leading the pack. Although, I’m very conscious of the fact that I’m also incredibly stubborn (I’m working on it!). I am not a morning person and rely on a few filter coffees a day to keep me sane. I’m at my happiest when I’m sharing red wine and Asian food with my partner and my family.

What is something that not many people know about you?

My parents named me after the female leading lady in the book Tom Sawyer.

What’s the most useless talent you have?

I can remember the marketing jingles for businesses. I’m the annoying one that always sings along while the ads are playing on TV/radio.

What are you currently watching/reading/listening to?

Watching: I’m currently on the Masterchef bandwagon. I love how the show has transformed with the new judges. Currently aspiring to be as well spoken and well dressed as Mel.

Reading: I’m re-reading Bryon Sharps’ ‘How Brands Grow’. Now seems super relevant for the journey we are about to go on at Clipchamp.

Listening: I’m an avid listener of the ‘How I Built This’ podcast – find it inspiring, relatable and reassuring. This week Guy Raz interviewed the founder of ClassPass which gave me all the feels!

Who is your professional inspiration, e.g. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I honestly have to say my Dad. He was the perfect example of how hard work, perseverance and risk can pay off. Besides that, with most of my career to date being in the startup world, I have been following Melanie Perkins success for many years as well as the other #girlbosses out there like Sophia Amoruso (NastyGal), Jennifer Hyman (Rent The Runway) and Payal Kadakia (ClassPass) – the female leaders out there paving the way for a diverse future.

What’s on repeat with your work playlist right now?

My go to for work is ‘Currents’ by Tame Impala. But this week I’m loving ‘Heavy Weather’ – The Rubens and Lucky – PNAU

What’s your most recommended Business/Marketing resource?

You can’t go past the AARRR framework (Pirates framework – Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral and Revenue) – I constantly refer back to it and it really helps myself and my team focus on the metrics that really matter.

It is commonly recognised that there are fewer female leaders in digital and technology. How did you end up working in this industry?

I’ve always been a bit of a tech nerd – especially when it came to learning a new skill to allow myself to just get the job done myself; HTML, graphic design, marketing automation. So naturally I’ve always been drawn to companies that are tech first, and also those that have quite diversified leadership teams. Also, I’ve always put in a lot of work into expanding my network. Four out of five jobs that I secured in my career I was introduced to the hiring manager by a contact. LinkedIn for the win.

What has been your biggest career challenge?

For me personally, my biggest challenge is trying to maintain a healthy work/life balance. I’m one of the 700k women in Australia that suffer from endometriosis and I’m still learning how to manage my chronic illness and making sure I give my body the time it needs. I find this hard to do when there are so many exciting and rewarding parts of my job that need more than 8 hours of the working day!

What technology development is most exciting you at the moment?

I love anything to do with marketing automation.and predictive modelling – and specifically anything that combines the two! If your digital marketing and lifecycle strategy can automatically trigger based on predictive behaviour (i.e. propensity to pay), you’re onto a winner.

What is next for you?

For the first time in a long time, I’m just embracing ‘the now!’ I’m so excited to be back in Brisbane with my family and friends. It’s exciting seeing how much the Brisbane market has changed in the past 5 years and I’m so proud to work for such a fast growing start-up. I’m looking forward to spending time exploring Australia – I will be on a plane to Barossa Valley or Margaret River whenever the craziness of Covid-19 calms down.

A big thank you to Rebecca for taking the time to chat with us. If you’d love to read more Q&A’s head over to our blog, we will be sharing further business success stories so stay updated with our Facebook and Instagram.

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Bernadette Stone is the Chief Information Officer of the Brisbane City Council and the quintessential woman in digital. With over 20 years’ experience in IT and senior management positions in Enterprise Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Bernadette has demonstrated her passion to drive change in fast paced environments. Companies on her resume include Accenture, Rio Tinto, Queensland Rail, Aurizon and Virgin Australia.

Clearly, she has built an impressive career in male dominated industries and we were very lucky to hear from Bernadette at a Women in Digital panel event earlier this year. Today, we were excited to chat to her about her career journey and developments in IT.

These are incredible professional accolades, but tell us, who is Bernadette the person?

Wow thank you… and that’s a big question. I guess first and foremost now I’m a wife and a mum of three girls. I used to be driven by very different things and definitely lived to work rather than the other way around. I now prioritise my time. I love simple things like winding down with my husband on a Friday night, gardening (geez now I sound old…) and watching my girls in whatever competition they’re in. Work is still important to me and I have a high work ethic and I loved to be challenged and to be part of real change. However, I think I have the balance not in a bad place right now – most of the time – where I didn’t before…

What is something that not many people know about you?

I guess it used to be little known that I’m hearing impaired. I was embarrassed about it for a long time and in some professional situations it can pose quite a challenge so actively trying to keep it hidden was hard. I learned to accept it for what it is and seek out help when I need to, such as letting the Chair of a Board know prior to a meeting or potentially weaving it into my introduction in large meetings.

What are you currently watching/reading/listening to?

From a leadership perspective I’m listening to Marty Moore’s leadership podcasts – you can find those on yourceomentor.com

Over the past 20 years, you’ve risen through the ranks in very male-dominated environments, do you have any advice or insights on this?

I’ve always been pretty ambitious not just in terms of vertical progression but in my professional growth. Sometimes that’s meant taking sideways moves to fill skill gaps where I felt I needed that growth. The other lens to apply is whether your core values are aligned to that of the organisation – especially as you take on leadership roles.

“Great careers don’t just happen, they are planned.” What does that mean to you? And what have you done in your own life to carve out your career?

I think I agree with that but when do you need to develop a plan and at what level of detail? I knew early on that I wanted to lead but hadn’t determined what that meant so I worked hard. When I started working it was at that time ‘work life balance’ started to be a conversation but no one took it seriously and I was routinely working more than 70 hrs a week. I knew I wanted vertical progression but I was also very determined that I wanted to develop the capability and leadership skills to be good at it when I got to the next level. I think there’s times in my career I could’ve taken more chances to move up quicker but I’ve chosen some sideways steps along the way that were meaningful for me. I’m a leader that genuinely wants her people to succeed so I’ve spent a lot of time planning how to understand my strengths and my ‘derailers’. There are so many diverse experiences I’ve had that I call on day to day that I wouldn’t have necessarily had if I had been in a bigger hurry to get here…

What would you tell early-in-career women reading this?

I wish I could’ve realised early on that I put more pressure on myself than anyone else did. I guess I’d say to try to keep perspective. All the dimensions in our lives live in a carefully balanced ecosystem – when one goes out of balance then it does impact other parts of your life. Try as much as you can to set your goals and be good to yourself while you’re killing it…

What technology development is most exciting to you at the moment?

There is a lot of hype surrounding Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Extended Reality and so on. The value of these technologies rely on good data so the exciting, emerging technologies, for me, are Data Technologies. There are technologies now that automate so much of what was manually intensive before – such as auto-tagging video images and automating the restructuring of data to enable bringing together previously disparate data. I’m hopeful these technologies mean that we can avoid having to wholesale change application landscapes to transform data to be usable and deliver more of the exciting extended reality, Robotics and AI outcomes.

What is next for you?

What’s next for me is what is now! Right now we (me and my fantastic leadership team) have set audacious goals for a target state that is transformational. Working with great people is important to me and that’s what I have in my team. I also need to know I’m creating impact. Seeing through this change will broaden and deepen my capabilities which will enable me to further my executive progression.

A huge thank you to Bernadette for taking the time to chat with us about your impressive career in digital so far. As a WID Advisory Board member, we are sure to hear from her again soon. If you want to read more Q&A’s with the top women in business, head over to our blog and stay updated on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

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Elise Bentley boasts an impressive resume. Having worked as an Electorate Advisor at the Office of Premier Campbell Newman, Business Analyst and currently the Senior Director of Marketing at Tiny, Elise has dipped her toes across a broad range of industries. We were excited to sit down with her to talk about all things marketing including her impressive career, digital trends in the industry and the lack of female leaders in digital.

These are incredible professional accolades, but tell us, who is Elise Bentley the person?

Behind the work persona is someone who I would say is pretty normal. Away from the office, I’m the person you will find avidly planning their next overseas adventure or taking time out to be with friends, family, and of course, my dogs. I will most likely always be able to tell you about what’s been happening in the latest Netflix movies and shows as well.

It is commonly recognised that there are fewer female leaders in digital and technology. You actually started your career in political communications. How did you end up working in this industry?

When my time in politics was finished, I decided I wanted to go into the commercial side of things and branch out of communications into general marketing. My first role from there was actually with a consultancy specialising in HR. It was a great experience to be able to see the impact we were able to make for clients, but I was after something that was more technical and product orientated. I then happened to land at a company which had a service arm, but was also building a tech start-up within the financial space. It was such a great experience, I thought finance was the space to be, but I ended up really missing the technological aspect, so decided to come back into tech. It has been an interesting mix of different experiences from different industries, but having all these various backgrounds I found has really allowed me to have a strong understanding of many different viewpoints, techniques, and concepts, which you wouldn’t be exposed to if you have always sat within a single industry.

Tiny was well-primed for remote working considering your team is dispersed across countries and timezones – what advice do you have for team leaders that are new to remote working?

The most important thing is to ensure your team can reach out to you whenever they need to. I find it is important to have both a professional relationship with the team, but also the understanding that everyone is human and we have all been going through massive upheavals over the last few months. It has been so important to touch base with everyone daily, not just about what they are working on, but also stimulating more casual conversation and trying to find activities to do with more team members.

What do you think can be done to improve diversity in the digital industry, particularly in more technical positions?

I have been very fortunate within all my digital and tech roles that diversity has always been fairly strong, both at the leadership level and among the wider team. I think a lot of this has been because of the human approaches these businesses have taken. It is about being willing to take risks with people who may not have been the perfect fit on paper, but have the attitude and the willingness to go the extra mile. Being in the marketing side, I have been lucky that there are always loads of really talented women marketers (along with men) and focusing on the right fit and the right attitudes has always worked out well.

What is on the cards for Tiny in the new 20/21 financial year?

We have some pretty big plans for Tiny over the next year which I cannot quite talk publicly about yet, but I’m really excited to see where we go. Watch this space!

What’s your most recommended Business/ Marketing resource?

I loath to recommend a single source, there are so many great people (and companies) out there who are doing such amazing things within the marketing space and are happily sharing their journey, and learnings, online. The digital world has opened so many different avenues to grow and explore your passion in marketing. For those who are just starting out, I always point them over to the Hubspot Blog. Love them or hate them, they provide great content on a lot of the fundamentals of marketing.

What technology development is most exciting to you at the moment?

Real-Time Collaboration. It may sound like something that has been around for ages (Google Docs anyone), but within our niche we are seeing the pent up demand for a scalable, easily deployable system which can be integrated into any product or platform. For those that follow Tiny’s blog they will know we have been working on it, and listening to the development team talk about all the different ways they are trying to solve this problem and take it to the next level. This is something I find truly fascinating. We’ve been really public about why we have been making technical decisions, and the reaction we are getting from the developer community has been amazing. We get so many comments and thoughts from developers who have tried similar things but not been able to make them work.

What is something that not many people know about you?

I am a complete nerd about far too many things. Marketing being one of them. I truly love the way you are able to take so many concepts and ideas, and bring them together to create something truly amazing and creative, and turn it into something that resonates with your customers and helps solve their problems and fulfil their needs.

What is next for you?

Being with Tiny is such a great experience – working with the team to create software which truly makes a difference in the world of Open Source. I cannot wait to continue working to redevelop and redefine the marketing arm at Tiny and deliver a world-class experience.
It is too hard to say what will be next for me as I continue to explore marketing!

A big thanks to Elise for chatting with us. If you want to read more Q&A’s with the top women in business head over to our blog! We will also be sharing further female success stories on our socials so stay updated with our Facebook and Instagram.

From a career in the commercial sector to co-founding a social enterprise, Zoe Caplen-Black is one of our top picks for women in business to keep an eye on. As CEO and co-founder of Happy Paws Happy Hearts, Zoe is helping make the world a happier and loving place by connecting socially isolated individuals with rescue animals in a safe and positive environment. We were thrilled to chat with Zoe about her insights as a business co-owner and her successful career journey so far.

You have achieved so much in your career but tell us, who is Zoe the person?

I’m an adventurer who has always had a big heart – sometimes to my own detriment! I love time with my family and puppies, travelling in Oz and abroad.

I’m the kind of friend who is always there for a long open-ended chat. You don’t have to twist my arm to have a whiskey either.

What is something that not many people know about you?

Most people would be surprised to know that I’m allergic to cats and yet I still chose to work with animals each day! Telfast does quite well out of me!

What’s the most useless talent you have?

I can still do the Highland Fling because during school I did Scottish dancing competitions with my cousins.

What are you currently watching/reading/listening to?

I’ve just finished reading Cilka’s Journey – sequel to another book I absolutely devoured. I’m almost always listening to some country music or Queen.

Who is your professional inspiration?

I look locally for my inspiration. Sandy Blackburn has taught me so much about social impact measurement and is a constant inspiration to me.

What’s on repeat with your work playlist right now?

Conversations about scaling enterprises whilst maintaining our culture and quality of outcomes for people and animals.

What’s your most recommended Business/Marketing resource?

Your own network! You don’t have to follow their advice however getting some different opinions and experiences has always helped me determine which direction to go.

You left the security and stability of corporate to co-found a social enterprise. We so often talk about ‘taking the leap’ but how did that evolve and what did that practically look like for you?

‘Taking the leap’ actually looked more like small stepping stones in quick succession! When we started our venture it was just an idea that might work so it really was a part-time gig supported by amazing volunteers. I job-shared between Happy Paws Happy Hearts and RSPCA QLD who offered me a Business Partnerships role. It was tough going because both felt like full-time jobs. After a few years, our social enterprise took off so I needed to work solely on it.

Looking back, when was a big ‘aha moment’ when you knew you were going to take your career on a new, squiggly path?

When we first pitched the concept of Happy Paws Happy Hearts, I didn’t even know I was in a pitch! I was having a side conversation with a contact I’d met through another Board position. They asked me what else I did outside of work and if I had any other ideas for what I might do. When I explained this idea, they quickly said, “we’ll fund this… go and do it” so off we went…

What role has mentors/sponsors played in your career/life?

I’ve had mentors and supporters every step of the way. I used to have only ‘care bear’ mentors who would cheer me on and over time I realised I needed to add some ‘tough love’ mentors who would deliver hard advice based on their experiences. Whenever I’m faced with a really challenging phase in the business, I go to both sets so I can help organise my thoughts.

What do you think can be done to improve diversity in the digital industry, particularly in more technical positions?

We need to engage the next generation of leaders so they understand the challenge. I’ve heard of some amazing leaders who are constantly looking to improve diversity and are even scanning their pay brackets to make sure no one is underpaid simply because they didn’t come forward. These types of leaders are actively paying the position, not the person. We need more of this.

What technology development is most exciting you at the moment?

I’m pretty amazed by voice recognition technology – even my 2 year old can tell our home devices to “play baby shark on Spotify…” Truly scary stuff!!

What is next for you?

We’re taking our programs to more rescue shelters this year in both Queensland and NSW. It’s hugely exciting and also brings on more challenges as we manage fast-paced growth.

A massive thank you to Zoe for chatting with us. Be sure to check out all the wonderful things Happy Paws Happy Hearts are doing over on their website, Facebook and Instagram! If you want to read more Q&A’s with the top women in business head over to our blog! We will also be sharing further female success stories on our socials so stay updated with our Facebook and Instagram.

Emma Croston is the queen of start-ups. When she’s not consulting or giving key insight as an influential board member, Emma runs her own dog fashion label- talk about keeping busy! Her success as a start-up founder, adviser and investor and experience across multiple industries is truly impressive and we were so excited to chat to her about her extensive career!

Emma, you now run your own eCommerce business alongside consulting with organisations and boards to deliver digital transformations. But tell us, who is Emma Croston the human?

Take me away from the office and I absolutely love to have fun. Laughter is a must in my every day, most of the time I am laughing at myself. I love new experiences… Even if they are terrifying. Recently I found myself alone, hiding under a small side table, in a tent, in the Serengeti at 3 am in the morning, armed with a whistle (that’s all they give you to fight off the wildlife), struggling with a bout of diarrhea (let’s just say I wasn’t leaving the table for anything), terrified that I was about to get caught in an elephant stampede! (I could hear them coming)….. Turns out they were zebras. That pretty much sums me up., I love adventure, even if it is terrifying, and my mind is always strategically thinking of the best option to minimise impact… hence the table!

It is commonly recognised that there are fewer female leaders in digital and technology. How did you end up working in this industry?

I started my career in marketing. When the internet came along I was working in the travel industry. The travel industry was one of the first industries people shifted to online purchasing very quicking, with flights and accommodation.

At that stage websites and e-newsletters were the responsibility of the marketing department. At the time I was living in Townsville working for the North Queensland tourism body. We were giving a $6mil grant to promote driving in North Queensland. This meant developing websites and iPod-podcasts.

When I returned to Brisbane in 2007 I thought there was an opportunity for me to position myself in digital marketing and website development. So I studied it and my career went from strength to strength.

You worked with Cathie Reid co-founding Epic Digital. You are both strong women who are used to being in leadership roles, how did you successfully navigate co-leadership?

Cathie and I have very different leadership styles which compliment each other. Cathie is very good at identifying people who can bring her vision to life. I am a strategic futurist. I can take Cathie’s ideas/visions and know very quickly if they are viable both practically and commercially.I can see problems before they happen, which some people see as a negative. Cathie is very good at understanding that I am looking beyond the problem presented and toward the future outcome. We have a lot of respect for each other and we have a lot of knowledge in different areas. We know when we have stepped on each other’s toes and we are able to move past it very quickly and focus on the vision and outcomes. We grew together and we grew to become very good friends.

Did you have any initiatives at Epic Digital to recruit female technical talent, and if so can you please share your insights.

I didn’t have any defined strategy to recruit women. However, I do believe that women are stronger in certain areas within a development team than men are and vice versa. Women naturally tend to have more attention to detail and are strong multitaskers, they tend to thrive in product manager and testing roles. I believe there is a need for more women within the development team.

What do you think can be done to improve diversity in the digital industry, particularly in more technical positions?

I think the focus needs to shift to showing women a lot of creative roles within technology development. The scoping and development of products needs female input. I would like to see more women applying for these types of roles which don’t require formal technical knowledge.

What technology development is most exciting you at the moment?

Predictive analysis I believe is the realistic first step toward artificial intelligence. Companies need to have clean data that can support decision making. Most have a long way to go in just getting clean data. I think there is more to be done before the artificial intelligent learner are ready of deep business application within existing businesses.

A massive thank you to Emma for chatting with us. If you want to read more Q&A’s with the top women in business head over to our blog! We will also be sharing further female success stories on our socials so stay updated with our Facebook and Instagram.

Delving into the world of incredible Brisbane talent, Jenna Fitch certainly packs a punch when it comes to being a woman to watch. Currently Head of Digital at JSA Creative, Jenna’s impressive career spans across the globe – she’s made a name for herself overseas in the UK to here in Australia. We were lucky enough to chat about how she built her Brisbane network from the ground up and her journey to success.

To read the full interview click here.

If you want to find out more, she’s gracing the stage as a guest speaker at Women in Digital‘s International Women’s Day Global Careers & Game Changing Moves– make sure you don’t miss out on her pearls of wisdom and grab a ticket!

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