Conversations with Annie & Kate

Annie Parker and Kate Carruthers chatting with interesting women over a drink. This time our guest is the amazing Yvonne Adele, who came to prominence as the media personality Ms Megabyte, and she has built a career on communicating about technology. Yvonne is Australia's first lifestyle technology personality and is a technologist, public speaker, and author. Annie and I had a fascinating chat with her that ranged from starting a business to the importance of becoming your more authentic self.

Yvonne has also recently diversified into dress design with her new label Yvonne Adele Studio - which has created "The ultimate range - a black dress for every occasion. Designed to ensure the perfect silhouette for every body shape."
More at https://www.yvonneadele.com & https://yvonneadelestudio.com/

This time our guest is the open source ninja and dynamic public service leader Pia Andrews. Annie and I had a fascinating chat with Pia. We discussed the challenges of remote working in the time of covid, how she undertakes servant leadership to build her teams, and about her hope for the future of public service and the delivery of joined up government services for citizens.

I am often inspired when chatting with Pia - her optimism for the future gives me hope that there are practical steps we can take to build a better future for all of us.
http://pipka.org/
https://womenswork.me/

Annie Parker and Kate Carruthers chatting with interesting women over a drink. This time our guest is the delightfully feisty and articulate Jane Caro, adn we had a fascinating discussion that ranged across issues from how to be your authentic self to why women should not burn it all down.
https://womenswork.me/
http://wallmedia.com.au/jane-caro/

This time our guest is someone I've known for years via a group of policy wonks who used to meetup in Sydney pubs. Erin Riley is a communicator, PhD researcher, community activist, and mum. She shared with us some insights into her life as a carer, PhD researcher, small business owner, and a mother. Another interesting chat, enjoy.
http://erinriley.com.au/

On this episode we had a chat with Australian opera singer Helena Dix while she and Annie are in the same COVID quarantine hotel in Sydney. Helena shared some fascinating insights into the early years of her career, and how she recovered from a life threatening case of COVID assisted by her knowledge and understanding of breathing techniques.

https://helenadix.com/

Our guest this time is Dr Amy Coopes - journalist, writer and editor at Croakey News, a social journalism collective for health, and a junior doctor with the Victorian Rural Generalist Program. She is a recently graduated medical student at the University of New South Wales and a John Flynn scholar, now . She left full-time journalism to pursue a career in medicine, after a decade in news reporting including five years as Australia correspondent for Agence France-Presse. Amy is an editor at Croakey and continues to freelance for publications including The BMJ, Eureka Street, Crikey and Fairfax.

Our guest today is Kim Crawley, who got her start in cybersecurity via an interest in malware. She shared about her career journey, and about her experiences as a neurodivergent person who is also a self-advocate for the autism community (check out the hashtag #ActuallyAutistic) . She also shares some good tips for staying safe online.

Our guest this time is Lynn Dang - she is focused on making a difference by shifting the dial on diversity in the workplace and on helping refugees. She had a challenging start as a refugee after the Vietnam War, got a start in technology, and now has an amazing career that enables her to improve diversity at work.

One thing stuck with me from this chat - Lynn told us that she never really talked about her childhood experience because there was nobody else talking about this. Perhaps it is time we made it ok to be yourself at work?

You can donate to UNHCR here.

This time on Conversations with Annie & Kate our guest is Isabelle Kingsley. She is passionate about science communication and education. Isabelle started out as a high school science teacher but later switched gears and worked as a science communicator and educator.
https://womenswork.me/
https://www.isabellekingsley.com/

This time on Conversations with Annie & Kate our guest is Dr Desirée Kozlowski. She has done some fascinating research on the importance of emotional intelligence in clinical settings, and on gender roles, and she also teaches undergraduate psychology in Southern Cross University.

We had a wide ranging discussion that included how to find your happy place, and the importance of understanding what grounds you. With added nerdy t-shirts!