Zoe is the author of People Stuff and is an Australian leadership expert who specialises in helping business leaders navigate the complexities of dealing with their teams and colleagues to make it all easier. But as a Canadian, it’s been an interesting journey getting here! She has always had an adventurous spirit and loves the great outdoors so she loved working at the Summer Camps that they run in the US and Canada for school kids. She went from being a leader in some local camps to wanting to spread her wings and do more of it! She knew about Outward Bound, the international network that focuses on outdoor education, and applied to become an instructor for the Australian version. Then she didn’t want to leave!

After 10 years there, rising to become the Foundation Coordinator, she decided to take what she has learned and apply it to corporate leaders. These days Zoe is an author, speaker and mentor to many business leaders. You’ll love her story!

Karen Ostenried has an amazing story, and business to share! She currently offers leadership training using horses as an example of teamwork and how people can work together. But her story as to how she arrived at her current business is fascinating. She started her career as a scientist,specialising in medical research and commercial biotechnology and so we HAD to talk about the pandemic! From there she describes how the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 devastated her personally, and her community in Kinglake, Victoria, and it was on the back of that awful event that she created her business, The Matanya Effect. She is the Choir Director for the Kinglake Phoenix group, created to help lift the spirits of the local community after the bushfires ravaged the area and so many people lost their homes. She also coaches people on stage presence and speaking skills and so much more. Karen’s positive spirit and energy in the face of awful tragedy is really inspiring and and you will love it too.

Mia Maze is an absolute dynamo! After blagging her way into an international role with realestate.com.au, after suggesting to the CEO that they could move into international sales, she spent 3 years travelling backwards and forwards to Belgium, Italy and the UK securing properties and buyers from overseas. This was followed by a stint in a senior role for Endota Spa, which she absolutely loved, Then it was time to get out of the city and so she started a business called Click Click Boom and moved to the Morning Peninsual in Melbourne. The experience of living outside of the city appealed to their family so much that they decided to go further afield and ended up in the Bega Valley in southern NSW.
Having such a great business background, and being an entrepreneur, meant she quickly caught the eye of the Bega Council and started the Bega Valley Innovation hub in 2018. The BVIH served as an engagement space to attract and retain professionals in the region and to bring new ideas to market. Mia wanted to help the local entrepreneurs to think BIG! She started an iAccelerate program to help them on their journey.
These days mia is still involved with the BVIH but she also runs her own consulting business, Mazey Consulting. As her name suggests, Mia is ah-may-zing and has so much passion for entrepreneurship, you’ll love this episode.

Chris Khor is a wonder woman! Having run her HR company for marketing peeps for a couple of decades (with some name changes and shuffling of staff), she realised that there was a weird thing going on in the business. The people who were getting the advanced leadership courses were the executive teams – but it is middle management who need it if they are going to get to the next stage! So she started Peeplcoach, offering on-demand executive coaching. It’s a brand spanking new business but one that clearly fills a gap. Starting her career in FMCG at companies like Kraft, Christine and a friend realised that there was a need for a recruitment company to help organisations find great marketers, and at that stage, there weren’t any so she jumped out of her corporate role and started an agency. She grew the agency, found a new partner, became part of a multi-office network and then downsized. That agency is still going, albeit with a new name, Chorus Executive. Two children and 20 years later, Chris is passionate about making change and is also actively working with The Hunger Project, a glocal organisation with the goal of ending world hunger by 2030.

Lisa Hollinshead is so open and generous with her story you will be gripped! Lisa’s description of getting caught in Spain during the first lockdown in 2020 is a case of bad luck all around. Her timing was terrible! She also talks about how the pandemic was the impetus for creating the OneAnother Community which offers help and support for people in the community who feel isolated and alone, or who need help. But Lisa’s life has been super interesting up to this point. Born in the UK, Lisa decided quite early on that she wanted to be in PR, so she studied it and then soon after, decided she wanted to move to Australia where she was offered a job. Soon after, she started her own agency. She also has an amazing story of her ‘miracle baby boy and how he has conceived and her relationship with his dad. Lisa is funny, self-deprecating and super lovely to chat to. She has some fantastic stories to share and what she has learned along the way. This is one interview not to miss!

My latest She’s The Boss Chats episode is with Sarah Morrissey, the Founder of Little Rockers Radio.

Sarah is amazing! She founded Little Rockers Radio, a 24/7 online radio station for children, over 7 years ago (waaaay before podcasts!) after being unable to find a kids channel to listen to with her own kids, and it has grown from there.

Sarah also partners with some fantastic social enterprises and charities such as Red Nose and The Alannah and Madeleine Foundation (to name just two) to help them fundraise. To date, she has raised over $200,000 which is a huge number!

From her early career working at Moose Toys, she worked in the health and fitness industry for years before starting Little Rockers and she discusses the challenges she encountered along the way. Sarah is such an inspiring woman, you’ll love this episode.