Your Career Journey

It’s been an incredible year of conversations on Your Career Journey, and I wanted to wrap things up by taking you through the standout moments, themes, and lessons from every guest who joined me.

From navigating redundancy… to changing career paths… to leading with purpose… to building confidence… each episode this year brought something special and genuinely useful for anyone building a career with intention.

In this episode, I’m pulling together the biggest takeaways, the ideas that genuinely shifted my perspective, the stories that stayed with me, and the practical advice that can help you cre...

In this episode, I’m joined by Keith Abraham, a globally recognised speaker, author, and one of the most passionate voices on goal setting you’ll ever come across.

Keith shares his unconventional path from leaving school early to building a successful career helping leaders and teams achieve clarity, focus, and meaningful momentum.

So what really sits behind effective goal setting?

 ✨ Creating emotional and mental connection to your goals
 ✨ Getting specific (much more specific than you think!)
 ✨ Building the right habits and support systems
 ✨ And choosing a mindset that actually helps you move f...

What do you do when the career path you’ve been on since university no longer feels right?

In this episode, I’m joined by Kate Greenwood, who shares her incredibly honest journey from a traditional career in family law to a leadership role in legal tech and innovation.

Kate talks about the reality of stepping away from a clearly defined path, including the identity shift that comes with saying “I’m not sure this is for me anymore.” She also shares how she repurposed her deep knowledge of family law without starting again from...

What does authentic leadership really look like, and how do we bring more of ourselves to the way we lead?

In this episode of Your Career Journey, I’m joined by Ann Pocock, founder of Kinetic Effect and former Corporate Marketing Communications Director, who shares her powerful transition from the corporate world to leadership coaching.

Ann and I talk about what it means to lead with emotional intelligence and curiosity. And why self-awareness and adaptability are now essential leadership skills, not nice-to-haves.

Ann shares her personal experiences with redundancy, the small but mighty “micr...

How do you really make Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work, not just as a policy, but as something that’s lived and felt in an organisation?

In this episode, I sit down with Celeste Warren, a globally recognised HR and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) leader with nearly 40 years of experience at some of the world’s largest corporations.

Celeste shares her inspiring career journey, from her early days as a journalist, to becoming a global HR executive, to specialising in DEI leadership. She reflects on the powerful influence of her father and how his experiences shap...

What really happens when you’re laid off, and how do you bounce back stronger?

In this episode of Your Career Journey, I speak with Steve Jaffe, a marketing leader whose 25+ year career has taken him from advertising to client-side roles to tech startups. Along the way, he’s faced layoffs (or redundancies, depending on where you’re based) four times.

👉 The first time left him devastated.
👉 By the fourth, he sailed through.

So what changed? 

Steve shares the mindset shifts, coping strategies, and practical tools he developed. And the “framework” that...

Are you stuck on the traditional career ladder?  

Maybe it’s time to rethink what success really looks like. 🚀 

In this episode, I sit down with marketing leader Janice Lee-Fu to unpack the power of nonlinear career paths and discuss why they might just be the fastest route to growth, fulfilment, and long-term resilience.

Janice’s journey spans engineering, global FMCG brands, executive leadership, e-commerce, and academia. Along the way, she’s learned how curiosity, agility, and resilience open doors you never expect, and why stepping sideways (or even backwards) can propel you...

🚀 Ready to transform your career and step into impactful leadership? 

In this episode, I'm joined by Camille Batiste to reveal a proven 5-step framework for Mastering Leadership Skills. A game plan that’s already helped countless professionals fast-track their growth and land leadership roles.

Camille’s journey from chemical engineer to senior corporate leader offers powerful insights for anyone navigating career transitions, especially if you’re in the “forgotten middle” of your career. 

With decades of experience in corporate America, including leadership roles at Honeywell and Archer Daniels Midland, Camille breaks down the essential steps...

If you’re tired of boring slides and disengaged listeners, it’s time to win the war for attention and avoid death by PowerPoint. 

In this powerful episode of Your Career Journey, career coach Emma Graham sits down with Kris Flegg, founder of The Presentation Design Co and author of The Presentation Playbook, to share proven strategies for winning the war for attention in any room.

In this conversation, she uncovers Kris’s Power Principles, a proven framework for Avoiding Death by PowerPoint by designing presentations with purpose, understanding your audience, and delivering with confidence.
Duration: 00:44:50

Want to get promoted, build stronger work relationships, and take control of your career path? 

In this episode of Your Career Journey Podcast, I’m joined by Matthias Mahr, author of How to Be Moderately Successful, for a candid and practical conversation on how to achieve career success, without burning out or pretending to be someone you’re not.

We dive into:
✅ Matthias’ career journey from Austria to London
✅ His transition from strategy consulting to commercial leadership roles at eBay, Eurostar, and Trainline
✅ Why building meaningful workplace relationships is key to long term success<...

Are you constantly busy but still feeling unfulfilled? In this episode, we dive into the powerful and life-changing concept of choosing meaning over mayhem with author and speaker Peggy Sullivan.

Peggy shares how breaking her addiction to busyness became her life’s mission after a stress-induced heart attack and a painful divorce. This honest and inspiring conversation exposes the dark side of busyness and the toll it takes on our health, relationships, and happiness.

With her unique “performance by design” framework, Peggy guides us on how to eliminate low-value tasks, adopt daily happiness rituals, and reclai...

Dive into this inspiring episode where we explore a unique career in marketing and customer insights with Emily Paladino! 

Whether you're just starting out or looking to pivot your path, Emily's journey offers powerful lessons on how curiosity, data, and strategy fuel success.

From aspiring clinical psychologist to CMO and Group Head of Customer Insights, Emily reveals how a love of research led to a dynamic career in marketing and customer insights. Learn how her background in market research, branding, and customer experience shaped her leadership in some of Australia’s top retail brands.
Duration: 00:47:01

Can you actually learn happiness like a skill? In this inspiring episode, Emma is joined by Declan Edwards, founder of BU Happiness College and host of the 'How to Be Happy' podcast. Who reveals the science behind happiness and how emotional intelligence and positive psychology can transform your workplace well-being and personal growth.

Join Emma as she uncovers how happiness skills, emotional intelligence, and self-awareness drive both success and happiness in life and at work. Declan shares how BU Happiness College helps individuals and organisations prioritise gratitude, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence to build stronger, healthier work environments.<...

Are you chasing success but craving purpose? In this powerful conversation with Georgi Enthoven, author of Work That’s Worth It, we unpack exactly how to find fulfilling work, pursue purpose driven career paths, and balance ambition with impact.

After living and working in a number of emerging markets and having her own struggle to balance contribution and compensation, Georgi shares her real life aha moment when the idea for the book came to her. 

Georgi talks through the transformative framework she lays out in Work That’s Worth It. This is a roadmap for anyon...

Today, I’m joined by Damian Lucas, a fractional CMO through Lucas Growth Advisory.

Damian shares his journey from being a creative student passionate about graphic design to becoming a strategic marketer obsessed with consumer behaviour and working with some of Australia’s best-known Retail brands.

In this episode, we dive into the evolution of the Australian retail landscape and why e-commerce was surprisingly slow to gain traction.

Damian also shares valuable lessons from his career, including how he utilised this knowledge when his Marketing stopped working in one particular role. How did he d...

In this episode, I chat with Scott Baker, Founder of Toast Financial.

After spending 20 years building a successful career in retail and e-commerce at The Cotton On Group, Scott found himself at a crossroads. He knew he wanted more. More purpose, more alignment with his passions, and more impact from the work he was doing. But he wasn’t sure what direction that should take.

So, what does it actually look like to reinvent your career after two decades in one industry? We unpack the steps Scott took to figure out his next move, from id...

Are you wondering how to turn your global career experience into a powerful advantage after returning home? You're not alone — and this episode will show you exactly how to navigate this life and career transition with confidence.

In this episode, I sit down with Margot Andersen, leadership strategist, founder of TalentInsight Australia, and InSync Network Group.

Margot shares her extraordinary career path from rural Queensland to London’s bustling business scene — and the emotional, professional, and strategic challenges she faced coming home to Australia.

We dive deep into:
 ✨ How to leverage your internati...

In this episode of Your Career Journey, Emma Graham chats with Vanessa Lyons, CEO of ThinkNewsBrands. We talk about the bold, intentional steps that took her from marketing to the C-suite, and the mindset shifts and personal battles (like cancer) that helped her redefine success along the way.

🎯 Whether you're a marketer ready to grow, a creative feeling stuck, or a corporate leader exploring your next move, this conversation offers deep, real-world career insights you won’t find anywhere else.

💡 Expect to Learn:

🔹 How to shift from Marketing into Executive and CEO roles

🔹 Why...

What happens when you take a chance on a short-term contract? For Amy Barry, that bold “yes” became a decade long journey through top retail brands like The Good Guys and Anaconda. 

In this energising episode of Your Career Journey, Emma sits down with Amy to explore how strategic risks, leadership evolution, and the DISC behavioural model shaped her career success.

💡 This conversation is packed with relatable stories and career advice for marketers, creatives, and professionals navigating change.

🎯 Expect to Learn:

✨ How to build a thriving career in retail marketing

✨ Why sayin...

In this episode of Your Career Journey, Emma speaks with Andrea Andric, a Melbourne-based freelance strategist, as she shares her inspiring pivot from traditional media into the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.

🚀 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✨ How internships and “happy accidents” shape career direction

✨ The pros and cons of niching down vs. broad experience

✨ What “authenticity” actually means in social media today

✨ How to transition across industries: agency → arts → tech → freelance

✨ AI and content creation: What works, what doesn’t, and what’s next

✨ The hidden power of strate...

In this inspiring episode of Your Career Journey, Emma chats with Susan Toft, Founder & CEO of The Laundry Lady, the world’s first online marketplace for mobile laundry services.

After being made redundant during the GFC, Susan took a bold leap. With no tech background and a young child at home, she built a business from scratch, turning a personal need into a multi-million-dollar enterprise, and landing a feature on Shark Tank Australia. 🦈

🎯 What’s Inside This Episode:

🔥 How Susan went from corporate marketing to tech entrepreneur

🔥 Starting small with a washing machine...

In this episode of Your Career Journey, I chat with Kym Kearney, a seasoned marketing executive who left the corporate world to launch her own marketing recruitment business.

This conversation dives deep into the emotional and practical realities of pivoting careers, starting fresh, and building a brand with purpose and authenticity.

💬 “I spent years building other people’s brands… then realised it was time to build my own.” – Kym Kearney

🎙️ Expect to learn:

✨ How a psychology background and love of people led Kym into marketing

✨ Why she left a high-level marketing c...

In this value-packed episode of Your Career Journey, Emma speaks with Marketer Catherine Toms, Co-Founder of Marketing Growth Academy, about staying competitive in a marketing world being reshaped by AI.

With 20+ years of experience helping global brands and marketing teams evolve through digital transformation, Catherine shares exactly how AI is impacting the marketing profession—and how to skill up without getting overwhelmed.

💬 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✨ What AI really means for marketers today

🧭 How to upskill, even when your company isn’t on board

🔥 Why human creativity still...

I wanted to start 2025 with this episode as Becca has so many examples of how she’s taken ownership and control of her career, from moving to Australia from the UK, from building relationships, being proactive in looking for opportunities for herself and building a personal brand. 

It hasn’t all been plain sailing, though, from overcoming challenges like visa constraints, the lack of ‘local experience’ barrier and building a career in a country where you don’t know anyone and don’t have an existing network.

We talk about the importance of genuine connections, leveraging co...

This week I speak with Wendy Chamberlain, a self-employed Buyers Agent and Sellers Advocate. Wendy’s love for property and her desire to help empower and educate others about Real Estate ultimately led her in this direction, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

Not knowing what she wanted to do after school led to Secretarial College, working in a bank, living in Tokyo, and exploring various roles at a law firm. 

Things took a significant turn when Wendy did a computing degree and shifted into IT consultancy. Climbing the corporate ladder, taking on larger proje...

Join Emma as she chats with Katie O'Malley, a leadership and organisational development coach from Chicago.  

We chat about Katie's career journey from political campaigns and nonprofit work, and eventually finding success with her own coaching practice. 

Katie shares her insights on leadership development, organisational culture, and the importance of psychological safety at work. They discuss the challenges of transitioning careers, the pressures of traditional success metrics, and the power of betting on oneself. 

Tune in for an inspiring conversation on personal growth, resilience, and creating impactful workplace cultures.

If you'd lik...

In today's episode, I’m joined by Paola Piccinno who shares her experiences navigating an international marketing career, the unique challenges, and the lessons learned along the way. 

Born in Naples, Italy, and raised in Puglia, Paola’s inherent curiosity and passion for travel led her to pursue a career that accommodated her love for exploration. 

Initially studying journalism, a pivotal conversation with a professor redirected her path towards marketing. After moving within Italy for study and then working at Microsoft in Milan, Paola made her first internal move to London.

Here working for Ki...

In this episode, I'm joined by Rita Martinez, a seasoned marketer with a career spanning blue-chip companies like Coles, Energy Australia, and CareSuper. 

Rita’s journey through diverse marketing roles has given her a wealth of insights to share. But, in the beginning, how did she know marketing was her calling? And how did having a mentor early on shape her path?

In the early days, Rita focused on Retail and Customer loyalty roles, before really branching out and taking on the ‘toolkit’ approach to building her skills. She also embraced the opportunities that came her way...

In this episode, I’m joined by the amazing Lucy Owens, a personal stylist and image expert, and the founder of Style Rises. Lucy shares her inspiring journey, transitioning from a marketing career to launching Style Rises in 2019, with a mission to empower women through the power of style.

Together, we chat about how style and personal brand are closely linked, and how what you wear can boost your confidence, improve performance, and even shape how others see you.

We dive into fascinating topics like the psychology of clothing, the idea of "enclothed cognition," and th...

Kellie is a Marketing & Comms consultant and writer, who joins me to talk about her journey from full-time agency and corporate roles to freelance. And her newly found passion for travel writing.

Kellie built the first part of her career in Agency, primarily in Account Management. It was when she had a family that she found the lack of flexibility challenging, she was able to work part time but it affected the type of Accounts she worked on, and she ultimately didn’t enjoy the work as much.

Kellie talks openly about the challenge of ba...

In this episode, I’m joined by Kelly Gurr a strategic marketing generalist and project manager. Kelly has had a varied career working across B2C, B2B, B2B2C with both local and global brands. Her favourite place to be is at the intersection of strategy, customer experience and operations. 

Recently Kelly has taken on a new challenge, embarking on life as a digital nomad. Travelling around Australia in a caravan with her husband and 2 kids, for 8 months.

Curious about what life on the road is really like? 

Join me as we d...

In this episode, I’m joined by Charlie Syme, a senior marketer and comms specialist, who has worked with member-owned, enterprise, not-for-profit and start-up businesses.

Just over a year ago, he started his own business, Pigface Marketing, where he operates as a fractional CMO. 

The discussion kicks off with Charlie celebrating the first anniversary of his business, which is a huge milestone. To understand the current direction, we go back to the beginning to uncover what led him to this point. Charlie reflects on his career trajectory, what he learned from the different stages and the...

In a slightly different episode this week, I’m joined by specialist Marketing Recruiter Lucy Bolan from New Chapter Talent to talk about what’s happening in the market at the moment.

Lucy has been in Recruitment for almost twenty years, with all bar two of those in the Melbourne market. She also recently started her own business earlier this year, called New Chapter Talent.

In news that will surprise no one, it’s still very much an employers’ market at the moment, particularly at the more senior end.  Lucy talks about how competitive it is for th...

In this episode, I’m joined by Rhiannon Di Martino, who has had a really unique career path covering Marketing, People and Culture, Diversity and Inclusion and is currently working as the chief of staff to the CEO of a mental health charity.

The broader themes for Rhi are around taking control of her career and finding purpose in what she did, but how did she go about doing that?

Rhi has sought out and taken on a succession of roles she’s never done before, she’s very much been the driver in her own ca...

In this episode I’m joined by Martin Kelly, as we talk about how he took his career from initially studying Engineering in Scotland to ultimately building his life and Marketing career here in Australia. 

Martin talks about the lessons he’s learned along the way, the things which have made a difference for him and shares practical advice and insights. 

From realising Marketing was a career option instead of Engineering, to how a chance meeting with his future wife in a backpackers in the Middle East ultimately led him to Australia.

In terms...

In this episode, I’m joined by Nigel Taylor, a highly experienced video and content producer whose career has spanned both full time corporate work and freelance work here in Australia and in London. Specific projected have included video and digital production including TV & film, shoot and talent direction, project management, editing and scriptwriting.

We talk about how Nigel got into the industry, after initially thinking that medicine would be the route he took.  What he learned from his first professional role in regional TV and why it was such a great place to start.

Nex...

In this episode, I’m joined by Jane Betshel to discuss her journey from Marketing to Mortgage Broking. Jane built a highly successful career in Marketing, working in Events, e-commerce, Product Marketing, and ultimately leading a team of 70 people as Head of Marketing.

Feeling burnt out, Jane decided to leave that role and, after a period of reflection, ventured in what seemed like a completely different direction by starting her own mortgage broking business.

Discover how Jane began her career in Marketing, successfully climbed the corporate ladder, and learned key management and leadership insights along th...

Pierre is an Executive Coach, Human Resources Advisor and leadership development fanatic. After starting his career as a Chartered Accountant he soon moved away from numbers and towards people, focusing instead on HR, Talent, Learning and Development. 

Having lived and worked in a number of different countries including Australia, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the USA, Pierre has gained valuable lived experience and insights into what really makes people tick and how being an inclusive leader has a tangible impact to the bottom line.

Our conversation starts with Pierre’s own journey from bei...

My guest today is Mickey Rummery, Founder of Connect Experience Design.

Mickey started his career in recruitment in London, before moving to Melbourne in 2010. Whilst honing his relationship-building skills he saw an opportunity to become more involved in the then up and coming area of User Experience Design. By proactively networking and creating his own opportunities, he over time, transitioned his career into the Human Centred Design space, the area in which he now has his business.

A recurring theme in Mickey's career narrative is his proactive pursuit of opportunities. By researching potential avenues...

My guest today is Sharon Morris, whose journey unfolds from an uncertain graduate to an experienced Executive championing authenticity and social impact. 

Along the way, Sharon explores various roles across industries and learns the importance of saying yes to new challenges. Her desire for change ultimately leads to her climbing the corporate ladder, although that was not outwardly her intention.

Another key part of her story is embracing lifelong learning and the shifts in perspective that this creates. 

The final pillar is the importance of being true to oneself, following her passion and wo...

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with Steph Sta Maria, a talented copy and digital content writer originally from Malaysia, now calling Australia home. Steph's journey into the world of writing is a fascinating one - despite always knowing this is where her passion lay, she shares how discovering the right pathway was still a journey in itself.

We delve into Steph's early career, where she had the opportunity to explore various roles and mediums within the media industry, providing valuable insights into what she enjoyed and what she didn't.

Talking...

Today's guest is Matt Woodard, a Talent acquisition specialist who has spent the last 16 years in this space across NZ and Australia, although the accent will tell you he’s originally from the UK. Matt now runs his own business Scalr where he works with start-ups and scale-ups in setting up their talent acquisition functions for success. 

This episode aims to give you an insight into what's happening on the other side of the fence. 

Once you've applied for the advertised role with 'X' company, what happens to that application?