Brave Feminine Leadership

Nicole Sheffield, the dynamic Managing Director, OneDigital at Wesfarmers shares one of the best pieces of advice she received in her career. Nicole is a leader who is fearlessly intentional about shifting industries and striving to become a remarkable CEO. Her transformative journey began when early feedback led her to abandon her law degree and embark on a path of hands-on impact in the world of...

Tammy Medard faced a pivotal choice: a serious Manhattan banking career or the carefree allure of backpackers in Australia. Opting for adventure, she followed Frank Sinatra's mantra: "If you can make it here (New York), you can make it anywhere." This marked the beginning of her Australian journey. As Managing Director at ANZ, overseeing Australia's largest Institutional banking business, Tammy Me...

Dayle Stevens is a leadership breath of fresh air. In our conversation, she shares her amazing journey from growing up in Ballarat to taking the super scary step to move alone to Sydney that catapulted her global career in all things Technology. Dayle Stevens is the Executive for Data & AI at Telstra, previously the Chief Data Officer at AGL Energy, Divisional CIO National Australia Bank, and...

Ever received the feedback that you need to be more strategic? This week Melissa explores the seven steps to enhance your strategic thinking without disrupting your life. In the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world we navigate, strategic thinking is an indispensable tool for senior female leaders to leverage. These steps have been tried and tested by successful female executive...

Do you have the courage to talk about what our differences are? Imagine being focused on letting the quality, calibre and results of your work speak for themselves; yet throughout your career when successful you are questioned about whether that success is due to your race, gender or both? Imagine too that you could intentionally let that go? You would have to be someone special (and generous). Rh...

In the “Western world, less than 48% of women are financially illiterate, meaning that they can't answer five simple questions about finance.” Yet A Warwick Business school longitudinal study showed that both men and women outperformed the index when it came to investing in shares and women outperformed men. And this is where Mel Browne steps in. Mel Browne is an ex-accountant, ex-financial adviso...

This is such a powerful conversation. Sadhana and Melissa discuss; the culture shock of boarding school in Australia after growing up in Fiji; the realisation Sadhana could be herself and take off the Teflon jacket in the boardroom; the power of putting the right people around you and training yourself to be present and be where your feet are. Sadhana Smiles is the CEO of REIP (Real Estate Industr...

Liz Abrahams is an authentic, passionate, straight-talking technology industry executive, diversity and inclusion champion, wife of 33 years, mother of a 22 year old son and recent Stage 4 Breast cancer thriver. Infectious and Inspiring and full of JOY is how I describe Liz. Liz is facing the potential of 1,000 days left to live and she is intentional, passionate and deliberate about her purpose i...

Are you happy? It was a simple question from an executive coach that was the final mic drop moment for Janine Hall. It was the sinking feeling, after two years on a high-performance development program of knowing that the ladder she was climbing was on the wrong wall. Janine is proud of herself, proud of her growth mindset and of having the guts and courage to pursue a different dream. A dream tha...

This conversation left me with a deep understanding as another piece of the jigsaw puzzle clicked into place. That feeling when something finally makes sense and you can start to feel the solution. The research is clear. Women are doing more of the “non-promotable” work in organisations, leading to burnout and being overlooked for promotions. Professor Laurie Weingart, Carnegie Mellon,is co-author...

Right from the response to my first question, when Mel Silva shared her favourite Karaoke tune to belt out, I knew we were in for a great conversation. Melanie Silva is Managing Director and VP, Google Australia and New Zealand and in our conversation, shares with generous transparency some of the key moments in her career. We talk about her early days as a “meerkat", popping her head up when she...

You can be mediocre, you can be plain, you can be fat, you can be flatulent and you are still a decent person. Jane Caro is a straight talker. Her superpower is a brilliant brain that turns situations around and views problems from all angles. Together we discuss laundry. Well we don’t, but it does feature heavily. With a career spanning over 35 years as an acclaimed copywriter, Jane's creative ge...

Ever want to switch off without those feelings of guilt creeping back? In today’s podcast Melissa walks through understanding the invisible workload and why we can't switch off from work. She explores the invisible constraints, that in part come from typical gender stereotypes and the traditional roles that women have taken on, that hinder their growth. And that now, it is time for female leaders...

This week Melissa explores the new research that says women are considered to be as strategic as our male colleagues once they hit 50 years of age. Yes, 50 years. She explores what is strategic thinking, how to navigate your career to become (more) strategic - at any age, the common misconceptions applied to women and their strategic capability and why being the person who gets things done might a...

Hear from one of our amazing graduates, Tegan Judge. Tegan is Group Manager Service for the NIB Group and recently named one of the top 100 Influencers in the Contact Centre Industry. Tegan graduated from our program designed specifically to help companies retain and elevate female talent. Join our conversation as Tegan shares the impact of our program, her biggest eye opener & the two game ch...

In the final prelude to the the 'Festival of Inspiration & Empowerment for Women in Leadership', Melissa shares the final group of 7 incredible leaders who so generously share their tips and tales of their career journey. In this episode she shares highlights Professor Laurie Weingart, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University; Michelle Loader - Managing Director at Future Leadersh...

Melissa shares the stories behind the conversations for the 7 leaders released in Week 2 of the 'Festival of Inspiration & Empowerment for Women in Leadership'. In this episode she shares highlights of Ann Rhoades - Pres (person responsible for exceptional service) at Peopleink, Selena Rezvani - Leadership Speaker & Author of Quick Confidence, Josephine Sukkar - Principal of Buildcorp, Sad...

Melissa shares why she created the 'Festival of Inspiration & Empowerment for Women in Leadership' to launch her next interview series, highlighting exclusive behind the scenes insights into the conversation with the first 7 speakers including: Nicole Sheffield - Managing Director, Wesfarmers OneDigital; Tammy Medard - Managing Director ANZ, Institutional Australia & PNG, Craig Tiley - CEO...

Let me introduce you to Tracy Hailstones, General Manager Roadside Services at RAC WA and one of our amazing graduates. Tracy is courageous and ambitious. After completing our program designed specifically to help companies retain and elevate female talent, Tracy leveraged her courage, strengthened her voice and became clear on what she wanted to achieve in her career. Join our conversation as we...

Hear from one of our amazing graduates, Tegan Judge. Tegan is Group Manager Service for the NIB Group and recently named one of the top 100 Influencers in the Contact Centre Industry. Tegan graduated from our program designed specifically to help companies retain and elevate female talent. Join our conversation as Tegan shares the impact of our program, her biggest eye opener & the two game ch...

In this podcast episode, Renske Kleinsmann, a senior marketing executive at Google Asia Pacific, shares her expertise on sustainability. The conversation covers why sustainability matters for businesses and individuals, and how senior professional women can take a leadership role in promoting sustainability in the workplace and beyond. Renske highlights the power of technology and innovation in ad...

In this week’s podcast, I have invited my amazing business partner, Kelli Hayes to talk with me about leading through the numbers.  The research is clear that leaders with strong financial acumen are seen are more credible and are more likely to be promoted. Yet so many senior professional women share with us they feel anxious or psyche themselves out when it comes to contributing to financial con...

I am thrilled to be recording our 100th Podcast Episode. I am pinching myself how my idea during lockdown has been so well received by you, our listeners, that we are here today recording this 100th episode. In this podcast, I share my vulnerability from my first rookie mistake with my first interview (what would you have done?) to reflecting on the incredible leaders who share their own stories....

This week, my podcast focuses on how you can support your own mental Health and well-being as a Leader, Founder or Owner; be the leader you want to be and ensure the stability of your relationships outside of work. Yep, you can be the leader you want to be and have great personal relationships - a critical skill to filling your cup. I had a great conversation with Clare Groves, Founder and Directo...

I had an amazing conversation with Tanya Abbey, talking all things Recruitment. A critical area in the current landscape. Tanya is the CEO of Recruitcorp (Executive and Recruitment Projects) and the CEO/Founder of the Candidate and Career Consulting platform Placeme.com.au. She also volunteers her services as a Small Business Mentor under the Queensland Government’s Mentoring for Growth program. T...