You want to make an impact but you're not up to shooting rocket to Mars?

No worries. You can use your skills to make a difference without being born a billionaire, without having gone through a life traumatising event or having a genius idea.

Tom Jacobs is an engineer from Australia and he did just that with Bokan Tseo, his corporate buddy, and local to Lesotho - better the lives of thousands of people by applying is engineering skills to building water infrastructure in places where people don’t have access to water - like Lesotho, in the South of Africa- a place he fell in love with and got struck by the realisation that people don’t have toilets or drinking water and decided to do this - one tap at the time.

Tune in for the full story, promising great insight on social impact, heart-warming moment, humbling stories and a great tale of building communities!

You can donate to support their cause at https://globaldevelopmentgroup.org/Projects/Details?id=421&projectName=LOKISA%20Water%20Project%20Lesotho&projectNum=J1167N&FromShortUrl=False&source=pweb

Follow them on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/lokisa-water-project-lesotho

Or Facebook or TikTok!

You can visit my website - angeliquegreco.com.au 

Follow Multiple hats https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6311fe9bae5d13001250521f

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Take your IP with you to drive science commercialisation and real world impact: How a research breakthrough became the foundation for a startup
• Steps and resources to build a medtech: What it takes to build a medtech company from scratch in Australia
• Take it one step at the time: How to navigate incubators, investors, and high-stakes decision-making
• Be in the driver seat: Why confidence and clarity matter more than credentials alone
• Navigate your loved (and not so loved) detractors: What you can learn from ignoring detractors and betting on your own vision

Dr. Maryam Parviz is the founder and CEO of SDIP Innovations, a medtech company developing bioresorbable bone implants designed to reduce surgeries, cut costs, and improve outcomes for patients and surgeons alike. Maryam’s journey started in academic research—but her story is about much more: embracing risk, engaging the right stakeholders, and building a global company while raising a young child.

• 00:00 The spark: from research to ideation
• 07:10 Commercializing a breakthrough in bone implants
• 12:48 Pivoting and reinventing the tech
• 17:15 Getting into top global accelerators
• 22:44 Building a medtech team + culture from scratch
• 29:00 What it's like pitching to investors as a first-time founder
• 36:20 Confidence vs. critics: how she kept moving forward
• 45:03 Insights on funding, product-market fit, and long-term vision
• 49:19 Final reflections: career reinvention and leadership as a working parent

• Dr. Maryam Parviz on LinkedIn
• SDIP Innovations

• Are you sitting on a powerful idea you’ve never tested outside the lab?
• What if the people telling you it’s “too risky” are wrong?
• Could your next chapter begin before you feel fully ready?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• When quitting can be your path to sucess: Why it’s okay to leave a prestigious, high-paying job if it no longer aligns
• There is no such thing as a "too steep career transition": What a career pivot looks like after 16 years in aerospace engineering
• How to draw inspiration from within: How to build a coaching business from a deep well of lived experience
• Overcome outdated leadership practices: What working parents in STEMM need that no performance review will give them
• Set yourself for sucess: Why boundaries, self-awareness, and reimagining success are key in mid-career reinvention

Cassie Leonard is a former aerospace engineer who spent 16 years rising through the ranks at Boeing—leading large, complex technical teams and delivering high-impact results. But despite the title and salary, she knew something was missing. Cassie left her “golden cage” and launched ELMM Coaching, a business helping women in STEMM—especially working parents—design careers that support the lives they actually want. She's also the author of the #1 Amazon bestseller, STEM Moms.

• 00:00 From childhood dreams to UCLA aerospace engineering
• 03:45 Being the only woman in a room of 35 engineers
• 06:22 16 years at Boeing: growth, leadership, and insight
• 10:41 The moment she knew it was time to leave
• 16:09 Starting ELMM Coaching and writing STEM Moms
• 23:15 Challenges and fears in leaving corporate
• 27:40 What women in STEM really need to hear in mid-career
• 32:10 How coaching creates space for reinvention
• 38:22 Cassie’s reflections on purpose, parenting, and success

• ELMM Coaching – Cassie’s business
• STEM Moms on Amazon

• Are you in a “golden cage”? Does your title or paycheck mask a deeper misalignment?
• What would it look like to choose clarity and autonomy over convention?
• Who could you become if you stopped optimizing for someone else’s version of success?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How academia can be your launchpad and leaving it is not quiting or failing.
• How to start with one business model and tweak it until it works
• Why you dont need business experience to start a business and how to start with a small step
• How to structure your growth and directions in aligment with your family value
• How can neurodivergent professionals can create roles that suits their brain and how to create systems and leverage people to amplify your strength and bridge your weaknesses

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Lorien Parker, known to thousands of kids and educators as "Dr. Loz", is a crystallographer, science communicator, mother, and founder of SciencePlay Kids. Diagnosed with ADHD and autism as an adult, Lorien combined her scientific expertise and lived experience to revolutionize how science is taught in Australian schools—especially for neurodivergent learners. She’s also one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence and a fierce advocate for inclusive education and feminist leadership in STEM.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Meet Dr. Loz: From science lab to kids’ lab

04:15 What is SciencePlay Kids and how it all began

06:45 From academic underdog to PhD crystallographer

11:00 Leaving academia post-babies—and why it’s harder for women

16:00 First pilot, first customers, and messy beginnings

20:00 Embracing ADHD and autism in business (and parenting)

26:00 The power of multisensory science education

30:00 Why franchising wasn’t the path—and what came instead

35:00 Pivoting to corporate-backed STEM programs for schools

42:00 Building a team, dealing with doubt, and redefining success

49:00 From “that first flop” to national education recognition

55:00 Visibility, social media, and being loud in a world that isn’t built for you

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

SciencePlay Kids – Official Website

Dr. Lorien Parker on LinkedIn

SciencePlay Kids on Facebook

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Do you feel like school—or your workplace—wasn’t designed for how your brain works?
• What role does self-knowledge play in shaping the career you want?
• What would it look like to stop fixing your “weaknesses” and instead build a team that amplifies your strengths?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

That's a wrap up for Multiple Hats and 2023!

What a great ride we had with our amazing founders sharing their journey and what it takes to be an entrepreneur, call it success and sometimes, call it quit!

Thank you for lending me your ears and coming along with me on this journey of entrepreneurship!

Let's make Multiple Hats a conversation and tell me what you think or what you want for next year. 

This episode is a word of me, your host, Angelique, and what prompted me to launch Multiple Hats.

it is an episode to connect with you and hear from you.

Multiple Hats is all about you and how it can help you finding your own script and taking your very first step!

Tune in for this kudos and reflection episode.

For now, I will leave you with some thoughts on making the first move, experiment with a portfolio career, get into the mindset of these who act with purpose, armed with grit and letting go of perfectionism.

For more insights,, I suggest a few good reads: 

- Find your why, Simon Sinek

- The power of perseverance and grit, Angela Duckworth

-The power of Onlyness, Nilofer Merchant

- This working life, Lisa Leong

- There has to be more, Rachel Service

Have a good end of the year 2023

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Why a PhD isn’t the only pathway to making a major impact in science
• How to combine diverse degrees into a career with exponential potential
• What it's like to go from biotech investor to healthtech startup co-founder
• Why timing, trust, and management are everything in co-founding teams
• How to price, pilot, and pitch a data product in conservative markets
• What early-stage funding really looks like—and how to survive it

🧠 About the Guest:

Alison Gartner is the co-founder and CFO of Evidentli, a healthtech startup transforming how healthcare providers query and interpret complex patient data. With a background in molecular biology, economics, and over a decade of biotech investment experience, Alison offers a rare dual lens: both founder and funder. Her path defies the traditional STEM career ladder, proving that the intersection of science and finance can be a launchpad for high-impact innovation.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Balancing passion and practicality in startup life

02:00 What Evidentli actually does and how it’s different

05:00 From biochemistry and economics to biotech investment

10:30 Investing in science: what startups need to know about funding

16:20 The hidden risks and rewards of venture capital

19:00 Why Alison stepped from the funder side to founder side

22:00 What makes clinicians trust data—and what doesn’t

25:00 Building Evidentli: co-founders, equity, and the first MVP

30:00 Pricing, piloting, and engaging first customers

38:00 Startups, salaries, and surviving the early years

45:00 What boards really do—and how to build one that fits your path

50:00 Mental load, income dips, and the psychological toll of entrepreneurship

56:00 Human failure vs. product failure: hard lessons from investment

01:00:00 Founder dynamics: how to manage equity, ego, and respect

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Evidentli – Official Website
• Alison Gartner on LinkedIn

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What if your unusual mix of degrees is your biggest advantage?
2. Are you putting off entrepreneurship because you don’t “fit the mold”?
3. If you had to bootstrap your startup tomorrow, who would be in your inner circle—and why?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Why 10 years in STEMM can be the perfect foundation for a purpose-led business
• How to build a profitable business from day one—with no outside funding by leveraging your network and reputation
• Why you dont need. 50 page business plan and how to do it instead
• How to build a flexible, remote-first team that unlocks hidden STEMM talent - your business, your rules
• How to leverage awards and public credibility for your business growth
• Why you can still be involved in your children school volunteering even if you are time poor by doing strategic work instead of cookies

🧠 About the Guest:

Natalie Chapman is the founder and managing director of Gemaker, a science commercialization agency working with researchers, universities, and innovation-driven companies to bring ideas out of the lab and into the real world. With a background in chemistry, an MBA, and over a decade of experience across tech transfer, marketing, and strategy, Natalie is also a vocal advocate for women in STEMM, a mentor, and a Telstra Business Award winner.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Starting Gemaker from a garage—and building credibility

02:00 From chemistry degree to marketing and tech transfer

05:00 Why she chose impact over prestige (and how it paid off)

08:00 How Gemaker grew from 2 to 20 staff—without outside capital

12:00 Flexible work before it was trendy: hiring women returning to STEMM

16:00 What tech transfer really is—and why it matters

21:00 Differentiating Gemaker from typical “one-man” consultancies

26:00 How Natalie landed her first two clients and bootstrapped the business

29:00 Sustainable from day one: how she built a model that worked

35:00 Why she never wrote a 50-page business plan—and what she did instead

39:00 The power of credibility: how awards transformed Gemaker’s trajectory

44:00 Hiring well, building trust, and growing the team with aligned values

49:00 What founders really need: legal, finance, and expert marketing

52:00 Systemic privilege, grit, and building from scratch as a woman in STEMM

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Gemaker – Official Website
• Natalie Chapman on LinkedIn
• Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia
• Telstra Business Awards
• DeadlyScience – STEM Education Access

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Could your decade of work experience be the launchpad for your own consultancy?
• Are you holding off starting a business because you think you need outside funding?
• What if your first client was right there in your network?
• What rough gem of an idea have you been sitting on—and what would it take to polish it?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a 22-year-old STEMM graduate go from the lab to co-founding a Medtech startup?

Dharmica shares how she co-founded BCAL Diagnostics while starting her PhD, using her thesis to validate a product rather than pursue pure academia. it’s a roadmap for turning your research into impact, especially if you’re a scientist wondering what else your skills can do.

If you’re a STEMM professional thinking about founding a deep tech company—or just looking to make your next move more entrepreneurial—this episode is for you.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to turn a lab discovery into a viable business—even if you’re still early in your career
• Why a PhD can be a commercialization pathway—not just an academic one
• How to validate, fund, and pitch a deep-tech idea with no business background
• How to build confidence and credibility in business as a scientist—without an MBA
• The practical steps to move from research bench to boardroom (and how to fund it)
• How to navigate identity, credibility, and investor rooms as a young woman in STEMM

🧠 **About the Guest:**

Dr. Dharmica Mistry is a medtech entrepreneur and microbiologist who co-founded BCAL Diagnostics at just 22. Her early work led to a blood-based diagnostic test for early breast cancer detection. Since then, she’s held leadership roles in deep tech and innovation, including as Head of Medtech & Biotech at Cicada Innovations and now Director of Diagnostics Industry Engagement at MTPConnect. Dharmica is a vocal advocate for equitable innovation and increasing women’s visibility in STEMM commercialization.

---

📌 **Episode Highlights:**

* 00:00 From olive oil to blood diagnostics: a scientist's accidental breakthrough

* 03:00 What is MTPConnect and how it shapes Australia’s diagnostic sector

* 08:00 Turning a biotech job into a PhD and startup foundation

* 11:00 Founding BCAL Diagnostics while doing a PhD at 22

* 18:00 Killer experiments, clinical validation, and strategic pivots

* 24:00 Bringing deep science into clinical practice—barriers and bridges

* 29:00 How incubators and commercialization training programs changed everything

* 34:00 Moving beyond the “scientist” label and building a boardroom voice

* 40:00 Crafting a deep-tech pitch that works—from KOLs to investors

* 44:00 Funding realities: early-stage capital, personal risk, and resilience

* 52:00 Regulatory challenges and how to plan for exit (or scale) from day one

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• BCAL Diagnostics – Official Website
• Dr. Dharmica Mistry on LinkedIn
• MTPConnect – Diagnostics Industry Engagement
• Cicada Innovations – Deep Tech Incubator
• Franklin Women – STEMM Visibility Initiative

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Could your research idea become a product? What’s your “killer experiment” to validate or kill it fast?
• Are you stuck in the scientist box? How can you shift your network and brand to be perceived differently?
• What’s one skill—from pitching to regulatory pathways—you could upskill in this month?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🎙️ After a decade in marine science, Dr. Sue Pillans swapped research papers for sketchbooks—founding a visual storytelling business that helps scientists, educators, and policymakers communicate complex ideas through art, all while living life by the sea.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to combine your talents and passion with yout science degree and turn it into something unique ( in this case marine biology, art, facilitation, and science communication)
• how to leverage your creative skills—like drawing and storytelling—as powerful assets in science
• How to launch a visual communication business with no formal art or business training. and how long it can take it to make it sustainable
• Why “what’s the worst (and what's the best) that can happen?” is sometimes the only question you need to leap
• What it means to build a career portfolio that reflects your values—and your environment

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Sue Pillans (also known as Dr. Suzie Starfish) is a marine scientist, artist, and founder of Picture Your Ideas, a visual storytelling business helping organizations simplify complex concepts through hand-drawn illustrations. From live graphic recording at conferences to environmental-themed children’s books, Sue’s career bridges science, creativity, and education. She’s also a published author and illustrator, and a passionate advocate for ocean conservation and visual thinking in STEMM.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 A leap of faith sparked by loss—and a magazine article

03:00 Growing up in nature and falling in love with the ocean

05:00 A career across government, universities, and CSIRO

07:00 Rediscovering watercolor during a PhD and turning it into a second skillset

11:00 What is graphic recording and how Sue works live at events

15:00 Capturing complex stories visually—fast, accurate, inclusive

22:00 Art as a universal language across cultures and languages

25:00 Losing her sister and choosing courage over security

29:00 How risk-aversion gave way to purpose-led reinvention

34:00 Finding her first client before she even advertised

37:00 Growing a business without ads—just visibility and word of mouth

39:00 The financial side: slow build, privilege, and steady growth

41:00 Pricing creative services with confidence and clarity

43:00 Writing and illustrating children’s books for environmental literacy

47:00 The publishing journey: self-funded vs. book deal

52:00 Time, creative process, and the reality of picture book economics

54:00 Burnout, boundaries, and the discipline of creative flow

55:00 Hard work, privilege, and building a life that feels like you

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Picture Your Ideas – Sue’s Website
• Dr. Sue Pillans on LinkedIn
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX3lbJEMpJagTnj7HOWCFew
• Her books: Cranky Frankie and the Oceans of Trash; The Great Barrier Thief
• Franklin Women

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Have you buried a creative skill you once loved—could it have a role in your career?
• If you could blend any two things you’re passionate about, what kind of job might you create?
• What would change if you asked, “What’s the worst that could happen?” more often?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to spot opportunities in your frustration
• How your STEM degree is a launchpad for anything you want and also your safey net
• What it means to create a purpose-driven company from the ground up—with no tech or funding background
• Why managing your cash flow and your energy is critical to building something sustainable
• How to use meditation, design thinking, and strategic bootstrapping to develop a social enterprise
• Business models: The difference between a traditional business, an NGO, and a social business

🧠 About the Guest:

Oriane Juncker is the founder and CEO of Spotz, an e-commerce and community platform that empowers mothers to earn on their own terms by selling products and services directly to one another. With a background in genetics, business strategy, and medical affairs in the pharmaceutical industry, Oriane made a radical pivot following maternity discrimination. She built Spotz from her living room while raising kids, bootstrapping the entire way. Her business now reaches over 28,000 members and reflects a bold belief: that mothers are a powerful economic force—and it’s time we designed systems that reflect it.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 From genetics to business school: Oriane’s nonlinear career path

04:00 The realization that she was “too businessy” for a lab

07:00 Why she left corporate pharma—and the comment that changed everything

12:00 Spotz is born: a community-powered answer to gendered work discrimination

17:00 What’s a social business and why does it matter?

20:00 Meditation, OneNote, and vision-driven planning

22:00 From vision to wireframes: building a platform without technical expertise

25:00 Why keeping your job as long as possible is underrated advice

28:00 Choosing your MVP wisely: strategy over perfection

30:00 Getting the first 3,500 products and 1,200 vendors—by hand

34:00 Bootstrapping, burnout, and growing while raising a family

36:00 Why it took 2.5 years to get the pitch “right”

40:00 Funding realities: impact investors vs. venture capital

43:00 Hiring mistakes, cash flow crashes, and what she’d do differently

47:00 Her future role: from CEO to social cause ambassador

50:00 Hard work, soul work, and building a business with integrity

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Spotz – Official Website
• Oriane Juncker on LinkedIn
• NSW MVP Grant Program
• Boosting Female Founders Initiative
• PWC Report on Unpaid Work and GDP Contribution

🤔 Reflection Time:

• What would you create if you stopped waiting for permission?
• Are you limiting your career moves to your degree—or expanding into your real interests?
• If your work disappeared tomorrow, would the impact you care about still exist?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.