Top of Mind

For the last 18 months, Hayley has been quietly hosting one-on-one dinners with female founders - and every single one has been an unlock. With not a sales pitch or panel insight. Just two women in a restaurant, talking honestly about what it actually takes. Those dinners became the seed of something bigger: Date Night. An intimate, curated dinner for female founders, pulled together in seven days...

Layla Morris is the co-founder of Dr. Diamond: the viral jewellery cleaning pen that went from her spare bedroom to Hailey Bieber's handbag in under a year. But this episode is about far more than a product. It's about leaving a job you loved, the loneliness that comes with going it alone, trusting your gut, and what Layla's 'champagne pop' moment actually is. Recorded on the Gold Coast the day be...

Layla Morris is the co-founder of Dr. Diamond: the viral jewellery cleaning pen that went from her spare bedroom to Hailey Bieber's handbag in under a year. But this episode is about far more than a product. It's about leaving a job you loved, the loneliness that comes with going it alone, trusting your gut, and what Layla's 'champagne pop' moment actually is. Recorded on the Gold Coast the day be...

What does a year of actually backing yourself look like? When Sophie Hood first appeared on Top of Mind in July 2024, she was a Sydney founder with a hangover cure tonic and a big idea. Now she's back in Sydney briefly, away from her home in New York - pitching Qantas at board level, quietly building a second brand, and telling Hayley she doesn't really want to be the face of her own company anymo...

(Part 1) What does a year of actually backing yourself look like? When Sophie Hood first appeared on Top of Mind in July 2024, she was a Sydney founder with a hangover cure tonic and a big idea. Now she's back in Sydney briefly, away from her home in New York - pitching Qantas at board level, quietly building a second brand, and telling Hayley she doesn't really want to be the face of her own comp...

If you apply lip balm daily, there's a high chance you're consuming up to 2 tubes of lip balm a year! This one insight stopped Ali Beeck and her co-founder in their tracks. And instead of ignoring it, they built a brand around it.  Balmee is an Australian lip balm made with your microbiome in mind - and in less than a year, it's had the kind of run most founders dream about - they sold out in...

If you apply lip balm daily, there's a high chance you're consuming up to 2 tubes of lip balm a year! This one insight stopped Ali Beeck and her co-founder in their tracks. And instead of ignoring it, they built a brand around it.  Balmee is an Australian lip balm made with your microbiome in mind - and in less than a year, it's had the kind of run most founders dream about - they sold out in...

What does it actually take to build a culture where failure is a strategy?  Grace Miller is Head of Experimentation and Failure at Flight Story, the studio behind Stephen Bartlett and the world's second-biggest podcast. She's spent years at the intersection of bold creative risk and measurable growth - and she's here to share exactly what that's taught her. In this episode, Hayley and Grace get in...

What does it actually take to build a culture where failure is a strategy?  Grace Miller is Head of Experimentation and Failure at Flight Story, the studio behind Stephen Bartlett and the world's second-biggest podcast. She's spent years at the intersection of bold creative risk and measurable growth - and she's here to share exactly what that's taught her. In this episode, Hayley and Grace get in...

(Part 2) What does it actually take to understand your own brain? Alexis Fernandez is a neuroscientist, four-time author, sold-out live podcaster, and brand new mum of twins. But more than the credentials, she has this rare ability to take how the brain actually works and make it immediately useful. This is her second time on Top of Mind, making her our first ever repeat guest. And honestly? This...

What does it actually take to understand your own brain? Alexis Fernandez is a neuroscientist, four-time author, sold-out live podcaster, and brand new mum of twins. But more than the credentials, she has this rare ability to take how the brain actually works and make it immediately useful. This is her second time on Top of Mind, making her our first ever repeat guest. And honestly? This one might...

(Part 2) Refiled is three years old, and Ryan Nelson is taking on a category that hasn’t really evolved in 50 years. Ryan is a Blue Mountains kid who spent a decade in SaaS, had an idea post gym and built the first prototype in his garage with duct tape and zip ties - and now counts Google, Uber, Meta, Netflix, Atlassian and JP Morgan among his clients.  In this episode Ryan gets brutally honest a...

Refiled is three years old, and Ryan Nelson is taking on a category that hasn’t evolved in 50 years. Ryan is a Blue Mountains kid who spent a decade in SaaS, had an idea post gym and built the first prototype in his garage with duct tape and zip ties - and now counts Google, Uber, Meta, Netflix, Atlassian and JP Morgan among his clients.  In this episode Ryan gets brutally honest about what it act...

What happens when you spend eight years in a career that was never really yours?  You pivot - and you build something the world actually needs. For our first episode of Season 3 of Top of Mind, we sit down with Ash Raso, the founder of Capsule Wardrobe, a fashion brand that is less than a year old and already reshaping the way women think about getting dressed. Ash gets radically honest about her...

What happens when you spend eight years in a career that was never really yours?  You pivot - and you build something the world actually needs. For our first episode of Season 3 of Top of Mind, we sit down with Ash Raso, the founder of Capsule Wardrobe, a fashion brand that is less than a year old and already reshaping the way women think about getting dressed. Ash gets radically honest about her...

If you work in marketing, live on social media, or obsess over brand and business building - this one’s for you. In Part 2 of this two-part episode, host Hayley Westoby chats with Tahlia Kennedy, the 22-year-old Head of Content at Kinso - the viral AI startup backed by Frank and Jacques Greeff. Tahlia didn’t follow a traditional path to land one of the most exciting content roles in the country. N...

If you work in marketing, live on social, or obsess over brand and business building - this one’s for you. In Part 1 of this two-part episode, host Hayley Westoby chats with Tahlia Kennedy, the 22-year-old Head of Content at Kinso - the viral AI startup backed by Frank and Jacques Greeff. Tahlia didn’t follow a traditional path to land one of the most exciting content roles in the country. No resu...

In this episode of Top of Mind, host Hayley sits down with 13-year-old founder, creator, and education reformer Alby, an entrepreneur who’s not just questioning the system, but actively building a better one. While most teenagers are navigating their homework and social life, Alby is running a business, building digital education tools, and calling out the outdated structures of traditional school...

In this episode of Top of Mind, host Hayley sits down with 13-year-old founder, creator, and education reformer Alby, an entrepreneur who’s not just questioning the system, but actively building a better one. While most teenagers are navigating their homework and social life, Alby is running a business, building digital education tools, and calling out the outdated structures of traditional school...

“Be the designer bag - not the bargain bin.” In this solo episode, Hayley dives into a mindset shift that will completely reframe how you think about rejection, pricing, perceived value, and your worth as a business owner or service provider. It's called The Designer Bag Theory - and once you hear it, you'll never see “no” the same way again. Whether you’re tired of discounting yourself, frustrate...

This one’s raw. Candid. And packed with founder truths you don’t often hear. Frank Greeff (co-founder of Realbase, acquired for $180M, and now building Kinso) joins Hayley to talk about what really happens after the exit - the anxiety, reinvention, and pressure to prove yourself again. In this episode, Frank gets brutally honest about: Why imposter syndrome hits hardest after success How to use ob...

This one’s raw. Candid. And packed with founder truths you don’t often hear. Frank Greeff (co-founder of Realbase, acquired for $180M, and now building Kinso) joins Hayley Westoby to talk about what really happens after the exit - the anxiety, reinvention, and pressure to prove yourself again. In this episode, Frank gets brutally honest about: Why imposter syndrome hits hardest after success How t...

Let’s Chat is our Q&A episode where we answer (almost) any question that is top of mind for you! In this episode we answer the following questions: How do I balance being authentic with being strategic on social media? What should I focus on as a startup when it comes to marketing? How do I build a personal brand that feels true to me, but still sells? What are some low-cost tips to develop and ma...

Is social media eating up hours you don’t have? In this solo episode, I share my One Hour a Week Social Media System - a simple framework to batch a week’s worth of content in just 60 minutes. Whether you’re a café owner, photographer, tradie, or service provider, this system will save you time, reduce stress, and help you stay consistent online. In this episode, I share my One Hour a Week Social...

In this episode of Top of Mind, host Hayley sits down with content creator and stay-at-home dad Nick Bransgrove, whose backyard DIY and lawn care obsession has grown into a full-blown online community, complete with brand deals, viral videos, and a growing business. Nick never planned to become a content creator. But a lawn full of rubble, a few time-lapse videos, and some very persuasive encourag...