She's The Boss Chats

Melanie De Gioia is my latest guest for the She's The Boss Chats podcast. You'll love this amazing STEM advocate and a podcasting guru as she explains her career path and how she went on to create Ramaley Media.

Discovering podcasts was a pivotal moment in Melanie's life. It was a moment that led her to create Ramaley Media, a podcast agency and network that specialises in sharing stories of STEM and innovation. Her podcast, Engineering Heroes is now one of the top 4 engineering podcasts in the world!

With no background in engineering (or podcasting for that matter!) Mel started her podcast to gain some understanding of the industry and what engineers do. Since then she has interviewed engineers from all over the world, including NASA!

For over 20 years, Mel worked extensively in the IT space, never realising she should be considered as working within STEM. It wasn't until she started her first podcast - Beer with an Engineer - that Mel really realised her passion of being a STEM Advocate.

And through Ramaley Media, Mel is shining a light on all things STEM to encourage and inspire the world. Mel's story is really inspiring and you will love this woman and what she is doing!

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Janelle Bostock, CEO and owner of WNA is an incredible woman! Her story is bound to keep you gripped. Having grown up in rural Queensland, milking the cows every day before and after school right the way through to year ten, Janelle knew what hard work was all about. Her purchase of the networking group was prompted by the premature death of her husband and the need for both support from her network (she had been a member since 2000) and for a new direction for her career. Janelle knows first hand the importance of having that support group around you as running your own business can be lonely!

Janelle and her husband were a tightknit team. He worked in IT and Janelle worked in Admin for Queensland health. She also organised huge parties for the company - 600 and 1000 person events - in her spare time! She was a natural.

After years of working full time and managing a block of units in Brissie, Bruce, Janelle's husband was diagnosed at 30 with a genetic heart condition that was terminal. After having their son, who was also afflicted with the same disorder, Bruce sadly died, and Janelle was looking for a new challenge - so when the founder of WNA called and asked if she would like to buy it, she jumped at the chance.

You will love the tenacity, humour and warmth of this extraordinary woman!

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

Dr Elsa Licumba, author of Freedom To Belong, migrant wellbeing coach and all round amazing woman is truly helping migrants in Australia with belonging, (not integrating!) which she explains in the interview. She is a migrant from Africa, and when she arrived she found Australia to be a little bit bewildering and unusual. Elsa believes that one of the biggest challenges migrants face when they arrive in a new country is blending cultures, so she is passionate about assisting other migrants to attain a 'belonging' mindset and redefine their cultural identity and sense of belonging while living in a new country.

When Elsa first arrived from Mozambique she was homesick all the time, comparing and constantly criticizing the values of her host land because it was all so unfamiliar. She was suffering from culture shock! Having grown up in a close family, and studied in Mozambique, she had assumed that studying in Australia would be a great opportunity and filled with joy and happiness. But it didn't turn out to be quite like that.

Her sense of identity and sense of belonging were significantly bruised and she later discovered that belonging is not about a place or geographic location- it's a mindset. This interview with Elsa covers some pretty deep subject matter and yet it's filled with laughter. I encourage you to listen and be inspired by this wonderful women!

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

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

Carly Cohen has built one business with her husband, to a turnover of multiple millions with Leonda By The Yarra, and she now helps female business owners achieve their goals and grow to heights they didn’t know were achievable.

She helps them reduce the time it takes to manage their business by 80% through a framework she has lived and breathed in her own business.

Carly and her husband first took a leap into the unknown by buying into an entertainment venue they were managing in Carlton in Melbourne. After growing the business they realised they had a real taste for hospitality so when the opportunity arose to buy the famous venue in Hawthorn called Leonda By The River, they jumped!

Having secured funding from friends and family, they renovated the entire property and learned to manage it until it runs like a well oiled machine!

Once Carly had put a dream team in place to run Leonda, she knew she wanted to help other women like her to be able to build their own leadership teams so they can step out of the day to day running of the business. She upskilled and created a framework that other women can follow to live a life they dream. You will love this determined woman!

And if you’re looking to scale your business and want to learn from someone who has actually done it herself, she’s the coach you want!

www.carlycohen.com.au

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Lisa has spent nearly 10 years and $1M+ developing a program to help reduce teenage road trauma. After spending 20+ years in professional motorsport she thought her experience would better be used for good rather than promoting people going round and round in circles fast! 

Lisa:

"I was involved in a road trauma fatality when I was 22yo, and now have 2 teenage sons - boys are dying 4:1 on the roads. This is my purpose meets passion project.

Road trauma is EVERY parents worst nightmare - no-one wants to (and very few qualified to) sit alongside their kid & teach them how to drive. We let them fall over when they're learning to walk, but we don't want them to crash learning to drive.  And reading a book does not train anyone how to drive. Nor is it useful for them to see footage of car crashes - do we show videos of people drowning before we teach them how to swim?

After 7 years our first program was launched in 2019 and went on to win the Australasian Serious Game Congress the same year with the highest score in the history of the event. The program is safe, fun and it works - our students rated 48% more competent and 17% less anxious. The program has many applications, including disability (autism, ADHD, ABI, anxiety) , rehabilitation, immigration, CALD, indigenous, juvenile justice, etc.

In 2020 the Victorian Govt conducted a Parliamentary Inquiry into the increase of the road toll (fatality rate in the 16-20yo age bracket up 300%) -  report recommended the Govt pilot myDRIVESCHOOL® for learner drivers.

Road Safety is lagging in terms of tech uptake. Govt.'s need to adopt tech and realise/acknowledge & adapt industry knowledge v's academic papers. We haven't changed the way we teach people how to drive for 50 years! Top 10 best countries Globally for road safety - NONE do 120hours of training with 'lay driving instructors'."

You'll love this interview!

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Gill is the Director & Founder of Clover Lane Consulting and Take a Chance on ME. HR talent acquisition, coaching and consulting. Gill has a passion for humanizing the recruitment process, moving beyond traditions, and creating an eco-system style ‘give back’ approach to people, employment, and purpose.

For every placement made through Clover Lane, funds go to Take a Chance on Me to support the coaching services of those who are ready to step back into employment, beyond their own personal trauma, such as family violence.

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Rachel is an incredible inspiration and an absolute delight to talk to. As the founder of The Happiness Concierge, a business culture consultancy, Rachel really walks the walk and there are many laughs in this interview!

Rachel has had a variety of jobs as she worked her way up the corporate ladder, and she also had two periods where she burnt out. Something that is very common in ambitious, entrepreneurial women, sadly. But she has bounced back, with a big spring in her step!

Starting her career in New Zealand, Rachel got the ultimate job as PR Manager for a huge special effects company for the movie industry - we are talking Lord of The Rings and King Kong type blockbusters - before moving to London and then to Australia, following a career in PR and marketing.

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

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

Anni is such a total inspiration. She had two terrible car accidents in her early years, one at school and one after she finished. With both of them, she was lucky to survive and she has spent the last 30 years having operations to correct the damage. You would think, under the circumstances, that she could be bitter about the experience but Anni is such a positive person that she pretty much picked herself up, dusted herself off and maintained a positive outlook.

As an actor, Anni has appeared in some amazing productions but she has also written a book about resilience (who could be better qualified?!) as well as becoming a keynote speaker on the topic.

This interview is incredibly inspiring and you will love Anni, what she has achieved and her sunny perspective on life!

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