Brave Feminine Leadership

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! David Thodey is one of Australia's most respected and influential leaders. He was part of the original eight male CEOs asked to be on the then titled Male Champions of Change. David is the Chairman of CSIRO, Tyro and Xero and is a non-executive board director of Ramsay Health Care, a global hospital group and prior to this was a successful CEO for Telstra and IBM Australia...

I loved Dr Kristy Goodwin’s latest book ‘Dear Digital, We need to talk’ and lapped up our conversation with practical brain-based top tips to tame our tech habits. Habits that in recent years has seen us living in an ‘always-on’ digital culture - and we know this is contributing to burnout. Do you feel it? As one of Australia’s digital wellbeing and productivity experts, she is focused on the neur...

The tables are turned in this week’s podcast as Kelli Hayes, co-founder of The Brave Group, interviews Melissa Hamilton, co-founder of The Brave Group and Founder of Brave Feminine Leadership. Together they explore what it is to be a vulnerable leader and what is not, how vulnerability can be a leadership superpower and how to shake off the vulnerability hangover. Listen today to hear top tips in...

I loved my conversation with Baxter, founder and CEO of With Baxter. Baxter is a world-traveller-Yoga Therapist, who has cheffed on yachts, flew planes in the skies, speaks 4 languages, and co-hosted food and wine tours around the world. When she discovered yoga over two decades ago, she turned her attention to the wellbeing space, became a qualified yoga therapist, specialising in Midlife. Togeth...

In our series: 5x5 Top Tips for Senior Professionals to Thrive and Find the Joy in Leadership podcast, I invited Dr Kellie who talks about stress and burnout, debunks the common myths and most importantly preventative steps you can take now. Dr Kellie spent the first decade of her career working with Olympic athletes and world-record holders in Australia and Europe, where she honed her deep passio...

Sally Bruce joins me this week for our Brave Feminine Leadership Podcast Bites. She is the COO & CFO for Culture Amp, the world’s leading employee experience platform and Non-Executive Director for Chief Executive Women (CEW). Her roles have included CEO of AMP Bank and CFO for Business & Personal banking at NAB. Sally shares how she played the long game, got a seat at the table and has be...

Peggy O’Neal is Chancellor for RMIT and appointed Chair for the Commonwealth Games Victoria 2026 Organising Committee. In 2021, she was named Melburnian of the Year and in 2019 made an officer of the Order of Australia for her service to Australian rules, football, financial services, law, and women in leadership. Peggy was also the President of the Richmond Football Club when they won three premi...

Michelle Winzer is a truly brave feminine leader. She's open, down to earth, vulnerable, and always learning. Michelle has operated at the highest levels of corporate life as CEO of Bank of Melbourne, holding executive roles in retail banking, business banking, call centres and operations at Bankwest, the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. After 30 years in banking, Michelle joined RACQ as the group e...

Missing out on her dream role gave Sally Haydon the space to really find her voice. Her passion for customers and people has led her to a global career in Australia, the UK, India, the Philippines, and Dubai. Sally is the Senior Executive at ahm health insurance, previously the Vice President for digital experience and transformation for du; and an Executive Director for Digital division at Telstr...

Juggy Sihota-Chahil is Vice President of Consumer Health for TELUS, one of Canada’s largest Telecommunications companies. She was listed as one of Vancouver Magazine's Power 50 in 2019 and 2022, received the 2021 Influential Women in Business award from BIV and listed in the Top 100 for Women’s Executive Network WXN 2021 Canada's Most Powerful Women. Listen to the podcast highlights of a great con...

David Thodey is one of Australia's most respected and influential leaders. He was part of the original eight male CEOs asked to be on the then titled Male Champions of Change. David is the Chairman of CSIRO, Tyro and Xero and is a non-executive board director of Ramsay Health Care, a global hospital group and prior to this was a successful CEO for Telstra and IBM Australia and New Zealand In this...

Kathryn Fagg AO is without a doubt one of the most highly respected leaders in Australia today. Any wonder our initial conversation is still one of the most downloaded. Kathryn and I connected over so many different areas, but what I loved the most is her straightforward advice on how to help yourself. Join our Podcast Bite conversation now. -----------------------   Craving inspiration? I send an...

Kate Mason, Ph. D., is a storytelling debate champion who elevates women’s’ communication through her coaching program so they can lead with impact and authority. I had a fabulous conversation with Kate. What I loved the most was how Kate deals with her inner voice when it flags doubt or concern. Kate has spent her career running communications functions at Google, YouTube and Khan Academy, and mo...

I loved my conversation with Professor Laura Kray. Laura is an expert on the role of gender stereotypes and mindsets about gender on workplace behaviour, including negotiations, leadership, and ethical decision making. In 2008 she founded the Women’s Executive Leadership program of Berkeley Executive Education – and as an Alumni, I highly recommend this program. In these highlights, we talk about...

Rani Puranik has used her upbringing in two countries, India and the United States, to lead her path to success. Rani shares that she spent so long trying to fit into both worlds, until she realised that the deep questioning of herself ended up being one of her greatest blessings. Join Rani and I as we discuss what led to her finding her voice at 35, her leadership philosophy inspired by A.A. Miln...

Sathya Gnanakaran fell into Immigration law, but five years ago started questioning her purpose and asking what she was truly passionate about. A chance introduction opened her eyes. Join Sathya and I as we discuss the video she watched that changed everything. The video where she fell in love and knew where she needed to be. Intentional career moves followed. Sathya is doing incredible work as as...

Catherine Fox is an innate Optimist who thinks we can change. In her own words she is at a stage in life where she can say and do things that women in mid-career can’t. She makes no bones that we are far from an equal playing field. Join Catherine and I as we discuss the why that drives her, the hypocrisy that drives women into the ground, tokenism and how to get beyond box ticking. Catherine shar...

Burnout, juggling a demanding career as a single mother, weaving in and out of Senior Executive Roles and the Philanthropic sector. Kristi Mansfield is on a mission to bridge the data divide, to enable policy change and open up seats at the table for people normally excluded. Join Kristi and I as we discuss our ‘mother of the year moments’, self-care and reaching the point where your self-doubt is...

Sometimes it is as easy as making the decision. Peter Tonagh shares a story of a startup CEO who opted to keep roles vacant until he found the right female to keep their team balanced. This was just the beginning. Join Peter and I as we discuss dreams of being a fighter pilot, his five basic leadership principles, the challenge of providing tough feedback and why he doesn't believe you should ment...

Cheryl Hayman and I have a fabulous conversation about women getting younger as we age, about the joy of Board roles continuing to provide opportunities to stretch and learn, and how to say YES and work out how later. Chery has a diverse portfolio career and is a non-executive director on several listed Australian Boards (Ai Media Technologies, Beston Global Foods Company, Hancock & Gore), is...

One of the hallmarks of the leaders I spend time with, leaders who are driving real change, is incredible generosity. Liz Broderick stands out. Liz puts herself at considerable risk as a Special Rapporteur and Independent Expert of the United Nations Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls. Together we discuss that courage is a muscle, that shining a spotlight on problems is one of...

Mark McGinley was nominated as a CEO Magazine ‘CEO of the year’ 2021. He will humbly tell you he didn’t win. Join Mark and I as we discuss how he delivered game changing results by elevating female leaders in his business. For him it was simply the fair and smart thing to do. Mark grew up in Belfast where everyone he knew had small businesses. It was in this landscape in the 80s that he was expose...

Div Pillay is an inspirational leader. Growing up under apartheid she watched her adventurous parents navigate barriers and limitations and at six months pregnant when she migrated to “the lucky country” she found out that the Australia people see from afar is not as lucky as she imagined. Together we discuss building a life led by social impact, being carjacked at knifepoint and leaning in to sol...

Look really hard, I am still convinced you won’t find someone as genuinely supportive of women everywhere as Jules. She is a connector. A supporter. She gets on with it and makes things happen. Her mission is to make women more visible. Jules Brookes is the founder of Handle Your Own PR and the founder of the She’s The Boss community that has grown widely since the pandemic. Jules has interviewed...

For the past nine years, Kris Grant has been leading ASPL Group as CEO, overseeing its management consulting, training and recruitment divisions to deliver major transformational projects, strategic leadership training, and personnel resourcing to improve business functions and increase productivity across Australia’s public and private sectors. A champion of emerging leaders and an ambassador for...