Episodes

  • Lindsay is the MD and co-founder of Chello, an agency that applies creativity to communication problems; connecting brands and people back to what matters most.

    At the age of 25 Lindsay Rogers left a dream career – to build the company she couldn’t have dreamed of. It was 2014, a time where advertising agencies were staking their claim on digital content, and digital agencies were extending their offerings to campaigns. So it was the perfect time to start Chello; an agency that wheels and deals in all kinds of content. Chello offers small and large organisations – from corporates to small non-profits.

    Chello started as two co-founders. In its first year it turned over a million dollars and reached over 45 clients – including an international airline. Since then the company has grown to over 20 people and more than a 180 clients.

    In between, Lindsay has won Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year for NSW, 2015, and has been accepted to the Executive Bootcamp in Design Thinking at Stanford University. She recently won Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media and Marketing for the Asia Pacific 2017 and has previously won B&T 30 Under 30 Specialist 2016 and Mumbrella’s Under 30s Achiever 2016.

    Lindsay uses her strategic thinking, relentless curiosity and vociferous appetite for content to shape the way clients think about their brand, campaigns and audiences. She is often called on to speak about her start-up journey with Chello, the need to stay curious, the shift in content consumption and new mediums for storytelling.

    URL: www.chello.com.au

    Handles: @acheekyhello / @lindzrogers

  • The whole time I was interviewing Sara I was nodding along. I find that once you’ve gone through a massive life shift and had to change your way of life, it really does shift your perspective and give you an affinity with other people who have also crossed over so to speak into that space in life where you need to look closely within and ask yourself if the life you’re living is really the one that is going to optimise your potential and your happiness.

    Sara owns SRA Corporate Change whose purpose is to unlock the potential of organisations and their leaders to cultivate high performance. They work with leading organisations in their core business areas of strategy, leadership and culture.

    Sara’s personal and professional experiences have refined her approach to the many facets of people development. These experiences ensure clients receive genuine results relevant to the way in which we live and work today.

    Sara’s commitment to developing organisations is demonstrated in the culture of SRA Corporate Change itself. The business was recognised as an Employer of Choice in 2015, and Sara continually strives to build a strong culture of excellence and enjoyment for the team.

    Sara’s expertise is informed by her corporate career, which spanned more than two decades in senior HR roles, her academic background in psychology, her 10+ years as an accredited Life Coach, and her experience as a Pilates instructor.

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  • Kirsty Dunphey grew up immersed in an entrepreneurial wonderland: parents who had their own businesses and rental properties, who escaped the rat race and retired in their 30’s and who enveloped her in that culture working in their businesses from a young age. It was perfect, until as the story always goes, it wasn’t.

    The valuable life lessons she lived through in her teens started the journey that lead her to starting her first two businesses coupled with two part time jobs under her belt at the age of 15, to her own award winning real estate agency at 21 and continuing on that path to being a self made millionaire at 23, self made multi millionaire by 25 and with the ability to completely retire for life at the age of 27.

    Kirsty is a proud former National Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year (the youngest awarded to date) and delights in sharing what she’s learned over a 20 year entrepreneurial journey.

    Kirsty’s has written two books: Advance to Go, Collect $1Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can. Kirsty has fast become a well known name in national business circles Kirsty has been repeatedly featured on the Today Show, Today Tonight, Cosmopolitan, BRW and Marie Claire Magazines, the Herald Sun and Age newspapers to name a few.

    Combining her passion for entrepreneurialism, customer service, property investment, building wealth, developing your sales skills, youth potential, business practices, real estate and enhancing public perception and skills of real estate agents Kirsty has delivered keynote speeches around the world and heads up a number of businesses most notably her new mortgage and finance broking company Up Loans.

  • Valerie Khoo is founder and CEO of the Australian Writers’ Centre, which is Australia’s leading centre for writing courses. Over 40,000 students have learnt at the centre and it has campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane – as well as a huge online learning community enrolling from all over the world.

    Valerie is a former journalist and author of the best-selling book “Power Stories: The 8 Stories You MUST Tell to Build an Epic Business”.

    She now combines her love of storytelling with her passion for art and managed a second career as a professional artist. Valerie focuses on creating artworks that serve as a daily reminder of a meaning, emotion or vision for collectors who connect with her abstract style.

    She has also been appointed as the City of Sydney’s Curator of the Chinese New Year Festival 2019, the third largest annual event in Sydney (behind NYE Fireworks and Vivid) and the largest celebration of Chinese New Year in the world outside of Asia.

    An avid podcaster, she co-hosts the popular podcasts “So you want to be a writer” and “So you want to be a photographer”.

    You can find the Australian Writers’ Centre at www.WritersCentre.com.au and Valerie’s artwork at www.ValerieKhoo.com

  • Elizabeth Abegg is one half of sister-duo that makes up Byron Bay fashion brand Spell and the Gypsy Collective. With a background in video editing and a lot of gut instinct, Elizabeth drove the label into a global business by embracing the blogging and online shopping world.

    Over almost ten years, the brand has grown from strength to strength, employing over 50 women in Byron Bay, stocked in American online retailers Free People, Revolve and Planet Blue and gaining over 1 million followers across their social media platforms. Spell & the Gypsy Collective was awarded the 2016 Australian Business of the Year at the National Telstra Business Awards and finalists of the Cosmo Women of the Year Awards 2017 in the Designer Category. Elizabeth is now the CBO (Chief Brand Officer) of Spell after many years of doing everything in the business, and she will be focusing on heading up Spell's main focus of making the company sustainable, continuing to create better lives for our global team producing garments as well as overseeing the overall marketing strategy and brand culture of Spell.

  • Leanne Haining is one of those people that you just feel calmer when you’re around. She’s the Creative Director of bath, body & home fragrance brand, Urban Rituelle.

    Proving that they have a business to thrive in the test of time, Leanne and her partner, Co-founder, Scott Kelly have been running Urban Rituelle since 1999.

    Having their products stocked in over 1000 boutiques in Australia, Leanne has learnt the art of adaptation and innovation throughout the changing seasons of business.

    Urban Rituelle is more than a brand. It is a philosophy of passion, care and unsurpassed quality and Leanne is the true creative force behind building this boutique brand.

    Leanne’s vision is to create a business where every touch point makes people feel good; including the team, its customers, greater community & suppliers. She believes in creating a distinctive collection of indulgent bath, body & home fragrance products that celebrate & enhance our daily rituals.

    True success to Leanne is nurturing and growing both her team and business while raising her lovely daughters in a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

    Sit back and take a listen to this gorgeous woman be so open about what it’s like to travel the world for years being foot loose and fancy free and then thrive in the serious world of raising a family and growing a business.

  • Jacinta McDonell is an absolute unicorn of a human. She’s incredibly cool, fierce and also the most kind and generous person you could imagine.

    Jacinta launched the US franchise Anytime Fitness into the Australian market in 2008. An entrepreneur and a mother of three, Jacinta has now exited Anytime Fitness and has turned her passion towards two new business ventures. Jacinta established The Human Kind Project in 2015, a not-for-profit foundation that funds life changing projects in Africa and India. In 2015 Jacinta also opened a new style of yoga studio, W1LL, with every purchase supporting a human in need.

  • Pamela Jabbour is the CEO of Total Image Group, Australia’s leader in the uniform industry dressing over 250,000 people a day. She’s super successful and the business is 13 years old but it hasn’t always been that way. It took her 12 months to sign the first client after making 100 calls a day! Persistence anyone?

    Doing what many people find astronomically difficult, she employs a large staff which also includes her father, brother and a good friend.

    We talk about how she handles the pressure of a rapidly growing business and stay sane working so closely with her loved ones.

  • Leanne Hegarty is a Partner within KPMG working with large private and family owned businesses and high net worth individuals.

    She’s also been my accountant for nearly 10 years so I know what an incredible woman she is. In today’s interview she talks about what it’s been like as a woman rising up in a traditional male dominated industry when so many deals take place on the golf course. How she bought her baby to work, how she runs marathons to stay sane and the money mistakes that you could be making.

    Leanne has been advising clients for more than 25 years and has her own businesses as well.

    She is unique in her view that business owners cannot be viewed in isolation of their business and any work must be done in parallel to achieve the goals of the individual and the business. Imagine the stories of all of the interesting people she knows!

  • Known to many as Sel, Sue-Ellen Watts disrupted the HR industry over 17 years ago when she launched her business wattsnext from home and has grown it into a National company, one of the largest of its kind in Australia.

    Sel is a serial entrepreneur and I’d recommend also looking up Scrappi, Your Secret Sauce and Zzoota.

    She’s a mum of 3, a lover of NYC and Gary Vaynerchuck in a massive way and an all round incredible woman. In this episode we touch on how Sel has defined her ideal life and unapologetically lives it, even though it sometimes goes against societal norms, how she deals with having her husband as an employee and the experiments, wins and losses that have made her into the formidable business woman that she is today. Please enjoy this incredibly honest and inspiring chat with my friend, Sue-Ellen Watts.

  • This week on the podcast are my two favourite guests, my children. I started my business before my children were born so they’ve never known a mum without it. I get asked way too often if my children are ok because I work and have a career that I love and how I juggle it all. Unfortunately my husband never got asked if our kids were ok when he worked full time and so the guilt that I was somehow doing something wrong, always feel on me.

    It’s often women that ask the question because they too are trying to work out how to get passed their own #motherguilt but the guilt serves no one and does nothing except invade your happiness and slow down your progress.

    My children told me after our interview that questions like “What is it like having a mum that works full time” seemed silly because they’ve never known any different and that’s completely normal to them. But that’s the whole point. Children will think whatever their situation is is the normal one. Mine, (which I cringed when they said it) think that dads should all stay at home and look after their children if the mum goes to work, but that’s because it’s their situation.

    As my 8 year says, “All we need is love and care”. So if you’re a mum carrying around mother’s guilt, I hope this helps you stop today.

    Whatever your situation, whether you work, don’t work, have a side business, have a massive business, it’s the right one for you and your life.

    Please forgive some answers, after all, my interviewees are 8 & 9 years old. I’d love to hear your thoughts on instagram and Facebook or pop over to tinatower.com

  • There’s lots of people that have a small success and call themselves an entrepreneur. Suzi Dafnis has done what many people dream to, she’s been a successful entrepreneur for DECADES!

    I first saw Suzi speak at a Robert Kiyosaki seminar when I was at uni and then met her when I first started my business at The Australia Business Women’s Network. No other woman in business has made a more consistent and long lasting impression on my life and business. She is truly remarkable and one of the most wise, generous and awesome kick arse women I’ve ever met.

    Suzi Dafnis is the CEO at HerBusiness and Chairperson of its Advisory Board.

    Suzi has been involved with the business since 1995. In 1998, she took over from its founder after successfully exiting her previous business, Pow Wow Events and has since managed and grown the community. She remains its media spokesperson and a champion of women in business.

    A long time internet marketer, Suzi has been doing business online since 1994. and is an expert in event management, online marketing, social media and presentation skills. She’s passionate about education and shares information with other women through keynote presentations, podcasts, videos and webinar presentations.

    Suzi is also one of those cool crossfire people, loves personal development, travel and red wine.

    Find her at @suzidafnis
    http://herbusiness.com/

  • This week I’m lucky enough to talk to Justine Teggelove, an absolute powerhouse in the construction industry. We’re pretty sure she’s the only woman founder & operational CEO of a commercial construction company and we’ll be talking about how she thrives in that environment as well as the advice she has for you in investing in property and renovating your home, managing your team and your own emotions and her big business and new business.

    Justine is one of the founders and CEO of Rodine. Rodine is a commercial construction company based in Melbourne with a national project portfolio for a multitude list of high profile clients. Melbourne International Airport, Westfield (Scentre Group), GPT and MCG to name a few.

    Impressive.

    Not to sit on her laurels, and noticing a gap in the market for female consumers in the building and property arena, Justine Co-founded Build In Common in 2017 which addresses empowering females to be well informed and confident consumers in the building and property market.

    Justine had the honour in 2018 of being listed in the Australians construction industry Top 100 Women. She has also been nominated for Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year Awards in 2016 and 2017. Additionally to this, Justine was invited to attend a Business Chicks and Virgin Unite women’s leadership program on Necker Island in 2016 with Sir Richard Branson, Netflix Co-founder Mr Marc Randolph and other world leaders.

  • In this episode I’m talking to Major Matina Jewell who really like no other lady I know. This is LONG episode but trust me, it’s worth it for the insights on resilience, leadership, working in a male dominated space and really just general kicking butt in life.

    I actually met Matti after she spoke at A Commonwealth Bank Women In Focus event where she’d shared her story and everyone was left shocked, in tears and in awe of her strength.


    After living quite close we were lucky enough to become friends and I got see how this incredible military human weapon was also this beautiful suburban blonde haired, blue eyed mumma. So different from ten years ago as she was working to capture war lords and restore peace in third world nations.

    During her 15-year military career she:

    Earned eight war medals, Completed the physically demanding Navy divers course, Served with American Navy Seals, Tracked militia leaders in the Solomons, Boarded smuggler ships in the Arabian Gulf and, Was posted as a peacekeeper with the United Nations in Syria and Lebanon. Has a Masters in Project Management Speaks 3 languages Represented Australia in two sports The only Australian to ever receive two Republic of Lebanon war medals in combat and the Lebanese war medal for acts of bravery on the battlefield.

    Medically retired, Matina served on the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council and continues to champion change for injured war veterans.

    Among many honorary roles, Matina is a founding Ambassador for ‘Project Thankful‘, a movement partnered with the United Nations to help empower women and children globally.

    Matina has been featured on the ABC’s Australian Story, is a best-selling author of the book 'Caught in the Crossfire' and her life story is currently being made into a feature film.

    So yeah, just totally your average Australian Female! :)

  • Angela Ceberano is one of those rare unicorn humans who is equal parts fierce strength and beautiful vulnerability. She's beautiful on the inside and out and has built an incredible PR company by breaking traditional moulds and backing herself. In this episode, Angela talks about leaving the comfort of a corporate job to go it alone, on building a business and dealing with anxiety and how you can get the most out of your social media marketing.

    At 28, she saw an opportunity to create a new-school PR agency that was obsessed and addicted to results.

    Flourish began in February 2010 and the business has grown from a home office into a busy dynamic creative communications agency with a double warehouse based within Melbourne’s creative suburb of Collingwood.

    Angela runs a dedicated team of publicists and creatives who are new school thinkers in the world of PR.

    Angela is also a content creator for YouTube and uploads content on business, fashion, tech & travel for her 30,000 loyal subscribers. Angela also mentors upcoming #girlbosses and enjoys show-jumping with her horse Marco.

  • If you've wondered about what it takes to build your business internationally, you're going to love listening to Canadian business superstar, Diana Goodwin.

    We met at the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Conference and I was amazed by how she uses technology to build her company with so many people spread far and wide.

    Diana Goodwin is Founder and CEO of Toronto-based AquaMobile, an on- demand at-home swim lesson provider, the largest of its kind in North America.

    AquaMobile has grown to over 2500 instructors operating across Canada and in 25 states in the U.S, and has been profiled in Forbes, Inc., Huffington Post and Techvibes to name a few. Diana has won numerous business awards including Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, and the $100,000 Small Business Challenge.

    Diana is considered an innovator and thought-leader in “Bootstrapping”, finding the most cost-effective ways to market and scale her business model to over seven figures.

  • In short, Keri is a wellness magician! She's who I turned to when I had hit absolute burnout and she helped to put me back together.

    Keri helps women come home to themselves. In their practices. In their personal lives. In their bodies. She is passionate to offer women a way to learn how to truly nourish themselves mind body and spirit to step away from over work, exhaustion, burnout and self loathing to experience personal peace, stillness and passion for life.

    Having spent over a decade working in health retreats around the world with a background in acupuncture and a deep knowledge of Chinese medicine. She has developed a unique treatment style called Rockupuncture; which is a delicious combination of acupuncture and hot rock massage.

    Whilst being brilliant as a ‘hands-on’ therapist, Keri also offers support, advice and guidance as a health coach with Executives and individuals coping with the overwhelm of ‘busyness’.

    In this conversation we explore the practicalities of getting clarity on what and who actually matters in our world, in putting the expectations of ‘doing it all’ to the side, and learning how to say ‘no’ as a complete sentence. When the immediate needs are taken care of then Keri calls us to then be clear on what is your metric for success whether it’s a health metric, or an energy metric, or it’s a connection metric, it needs to be something that is relevant and important to you. Combat the anxiety and overwhelm with real, practical and honest strategies that work.

    Find her at www.kerikrieger.com

  • Jo Cardozo is an award winning entrepreneur known for building her Self-Managed Super business “Engage” from start-up to sale.

    She has recently returned to her start-up roots with the launch of her celebrant business Love Story Ceremonies.
    In 2017, Jo’s long career in the finance industry was recognised when she was named the Women in Finance “Woman of the Year”.

    She is a passionate speaker, and inspires many with her personal stories of resilience and determination as a working mum in the male-dominated world of finance.

    Jo is a previous winner of the Telstra Australian Young Business Woman, and is regularly invited to work with aspiring female leaders, entrepreneurs, business owners and students.

    Find out more: https://www.facebook.com/lovestoryceremonies/

  • In the inaugural episode of The Female Advantage, your host, Tina Tower, welcomes you and gives you a little background on where the idea of The Female Advantage came from.

    Tina Tower has captured attention with her raw and real approach to building business. Born in 1984 in Sydney, she’s not afraid to share her failures as well as her successes. Tina is an example of what happens when you define what you want in life and go after it with all you’ve got.

    Like some people find religion, Tina found personal development which led her to go on to start investing in property at 18, starting her business at 20, getting married having 2 children, graduating from the University of Sydney and building and selling multiple businesses including a national franchise system before her 34th birthday, Tina knows how to leverage her skills and how to stick it out when faced with the stumbling blocks that we all run into on the road to success.

    Tina launched a toy store & tutoring centre in 2004, designed and licensed her own programs & curriculum as Begin Bright in 2008 and franchised her business in 2011. Building the network of Begin Bright centres up to more than 30, Begin Bright was acquired by international education company, Cognition Education in 2016.

    Tina now owns multiple businesses including The Tutoring Institute online business coaching platform for tutors, Jay St empowering jewellery brand, Nikhedonia Productions film production company and Raxy, the online marketplace site connecting business people and office space.


    Tina has been celebrated in the Australian business community winning the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year in 2014 and being the 2017 Entrepreneur in Residence for Australia’s largest business women’s group, Business Chicks as well as being featured on Sky Business, The Huffington Post and The Financial Review.

    Tina travels the world working remotely with her husband and two sons and being a true entrepreneur, runs multiple businesses and coaches others to do the same.

    You can find more information at www.tinatower.com