The Mentor with Mark Bouris

Aussie twin brothers Chris and Cameron Grant are pioneering the concept of ‘wilderness on demand’ and inviting stressed out office workers to get out of the city and experience the bush, through their accommodation start-up Unyoked. They build and design tiny, solar-powered and mostly phone-signal-free cabins in previously inaccessible locations no more than two hours from major cities around Aust...

Internationally recognised producer Michael Cassel is the Founder and Director of Michael Cassel Group, who produce some of the world’s best musical and theatrical productions. Before Covid19 put everything on hold, they were producing three of the biggest shows on stage: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  in Melbourne, a global tour of  The Lion King musical, and the blockbuster musical Hamilton...

Peta Shulman is the Founder and Director of GoodnessMe Box, Australia’s largest health-food subscription box. Every month they deliver a box straight to your door that’s filled with healthy goodies to take the guesswork out of making better food choices. Peta's own autoimmune disorder helped her discover the power of whole-foods, and she wanted other people to experience the same benefits of eatin...

Brandon Martignago is the owner and director of Dulcie’s Kings Cross – a bohemian 1920’s and 30’s era cocktail bar that sells only 100% Aussie spirits. Brandon was always inspired by the magic of theatre and wanted to create an immersive venue experience that really engaged patrons – so in 2018 he started Dulcie’s, right in the middle of the Sydney Lockout Laws. In March of this year, like all hos...

Matt Connelly is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Me3D, a Wollongong-based maker of 3D printers and software. Since 2014 they've worked with schools to use 3D printing to teach kids as young as six how to imagine, design and create 3D models. In early 2020, Matt and his team were working around the clock to fulfil orders that were flying out the door – until Covid19 hit and business grou...

In mid 2019, brother and sister duo Julie and Eduard Otter walked away from successful corporate careers to start their own premium whiskey and vodka distillery Otter Craft Distilling (OCD), using only sustainable and traceable ingredients. Eduard is the distiller and creator of everything inside the bottle and Julie is the creator of everything outside the bottle –  so they’ve got the family busi...

Few industries have been harder hit by COVID19 than live music and events, and my guest this week, Jeremy Fleming, has been on the frontline of this. Jeremy and his wife Tabitha are the owners of StageKings who have been building custom-made stages for music festivals and sporting events since 2015. But when COVID19 forced the end of large public gatherings earlier this year, StageKings lost 95 pe...

There's not a single business in the world that Covid19 hasn’t effected in some way, so for the next few episodes I'll be speaking to business owners who have had to pivot their business, rethink the way they operate and find innovative ways to keep their businesses going in some of the most challenging times we’ve ever seen. So to kick it off, I speak to Paul Dewhurst, Operations Manager at Three...

This week I'm talking to the owner and ‘Chief Smuggler' of swimwear brand Budgy Smuggler, Adam Linforth, who's business was founded at a backyard BBQ in true Aussie fashion. Budgy Smuggler definitely know a thing or two about doing things differently, because while other brands were focusing on people with perfect physiques, Budgy made it their mission to focus on ordinary people of all shapes and...

My guest this week is changing the game for the PR and Marketing industry. Lara Vandenberg founded her business Publicist while working in New York, where she saw an industry that needed a big shake-up. The traditional way of hiring talented PR professionals through word of mouth and recruiters was becoming outdated and ineffective. So at just 28 years old, Lara took on a challenge to automate the...

After working as a beauty editor for some of Australia's top magazines for over 15 years, Carla Oates was shocked by the synthetic substances used in so many commercial beauty products. When her daughter developed allergies and eczema, Carla put her family on a gut-healing plan that included probiotic-rich whole foods and quickly noticed a huge difference in her daughter’s skin and wellbeing. So a...

If recent events have shown us anything, it’s that Australian small businesses are resilient and have a fighting spirit in challenging times. Having the right online setup for your business shouldn't be daunting, it should be simple and accessible so that anyone can feel confident to set it up themselves. My guest Suzanne Mitchell is the Marketing Director for GoDaddy Australia and knows a lot abo...

After 25 years working in retail, Julie Mathers decided to take her experience, combine it with her passion for the environment and animal welfare, and create a business committed to making a meaningful impact on the world. So in 2014 Julie launched her online store Flora and Fauna, specialising in ethical, eco-friendly and vegan products. When the business launched there were 30 brands and 500 pr...

Husband and wife duo Tara and Danny Solberg worked as designers collecting inspiration on their travels around the world, and always dreamed of bringing the unique things they saw home to Australia. So they turned their passion into a business and created Few and Far, a furniture and homewares business on the South Coast of NSW. Few and Far source and import one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture and d...

My guests this week are Shaun Greenblo and Elliot Midalia from Boody, a sustainable clothing brand that creates everyday essentials from eco-friendly organic bamboo. Shaun and Elliot have been best friends since they were kids and their dads started the business together in 2012, when they saw an opportunity to sell an unconventional product for the health-conscious and environmentally minded cust...

Like many who work in the fitness industry Kirsten King didn't start there; she initially worked in marketing for a decade before founding Fluidform Pilates in 2012, which gave her the perfect understanding to develop the brand and business. In early 2019 Kirsten launched Fluidform at Home, an online subscription-based Pilates program which boasts subscribers from all over the world. I talk to Kir...

Mike Pritchett grew up obsessed with video, always carrying a camcorder around to film his friends doing skateboard tricks. He founded his first production company in 2006, working on big budget video projects, when he was challenged by one of his clients to create a scalable and affordable video offering. So he created Shootsta, a customised video kit and training platform; teaching clients to ca...

Julio Ribeiro is the co-founder and CEO of Inventia Life Science, the med-tech company behind the 3D bioprinter technology that creates realistic replicas of tumours to test cancer treatments. Julio grew up in Brazil where he studied biology and genetics, and in the 90’s he migrated to Australia to do his PhD in medicine. After working for a scientific tech supply company, he saw a gap in the mark...

Masood Naqshbandi is an entrepreneurial scientist and Co-founder of Abyss Solutions, a robotics company that provides automated underwater inspections for dams, reservoirs, bridges, ship hulls and oil and gas platforms. They combine remotely operated underwater vehicles and drones with data analytics to allow their clients to reduce inspection costs of places that are typically very difficult to i...

This week in the final instalment of Women in Tech month I speak to Carolyn Mee, the founder of Sound Scouts, a health tech company focused on the delivery of accessible, fun and affordable hearing screening. Developed in collaboration with the National Acoustic Laboratories, Sound Scouts flagship product is an easy to use mobile game app that uses scientific principles to detect a range of hearin...

This week as part of 'Women in Tech' month I sit down with the co-founders of Beam Australia, Stephanie Reuss and Victoria Stuart. Beam is a HR tech company and online marketplace for part-time professionals including high profile businesswomen, athletes and carers looking for the flexibility of part-time employment. Since 2016, Beam has contributed over $17 million in new salaries to the Australi...

This week as part of ‘Women in Tech’ month, I sit down with Olga Oleinikova, co-founder and CEO of Persollo, the world’s first social media instant-checkout platform. Olga grew up in Ukraine and worked as a consumer researcher and behavioural scientist before migrating to Australia in 2012. While undertaking her PhD, she founded Persollo, with the aim of helping SME’s sell without big investment....

To kick off ‘Women in Tech’ month - where I talk to some of the most powerful and innovative female entrepreneurs and leaders in the tech space – this week I sit down with Georgia Vidler, the Director of Product at Canva. Canva is an easy to use graphic design platform and it’s Australia’s fastest-growing tech start-up, with over 25 million monthly users worldwide. Georgia is leading the charge fo...

When Quentin Nolan was 22 years old, all he wanted was to get down to the snow to snowboard; so he started driving coaches to the ski fields from Sydney. After seeing a gap in the market in the ski tourism industry, he came up with his own business - Liquid Snow Tours, tailoring ski and snowboard holidays to resorts around Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In 2008, Quentin took his first g...

This week in the final instalment of #fightermonth, I’m talking to light-middleweight boxer Tim Tszyu, who made his professional debut in 2016 and held the Australian title in 2019. At 25 years old, Tim holds a powerful record of 15-0 and as the son of former world champion Kostya Tszyu, it goes without saying that he grew up with boxing in his blood. I ask Tim about what his brand stands for, and...