Career Confidence

The Pope just signed his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, and it's about AI. His warning to the world: protect the human person before artificial intelligence erodes our work, our relationships, and our agency

While tech companies race to build agents and automate everything, the Vatican did something unexpected. It created a commission on AI, not to celebrate the technology, but to protect human dignity. And when Pope Leo XIV presented the document, he did it standing beside a co-founder of the AI company Anthropic. What an unexpected twist.

So what does this actually mean for women navigating AI at work right now?
In this episode of AI Ready Women, Georgie and Lou sit down with Julianne Hickey, a social justice leader, AI governance expert, and former director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

Julianne has met Pope Francis twice, worked in Gaza and Palestine responding to humanitarian disasters, and now leads AI strategy for a major government organisation in New Zealand.

This is a conversation about what happens when we stop asking what AI can do, and start asking what it should do. And why the future of AI isn't just a technical question. It's a spiritual one.

(Recorded just before the encyclical's public release on 25 May 2026.)
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✨ 60 Day Bold Move Career Accelerator ✨
Learn more here 👉 https://www.georgiehubbard.com/bold-moves
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📚 The Bold Move: https://www.theboldmovebook.com
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Connect with Georgie:
🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiehubbard/
🟪 Instagram: http://instagram.com/georgielhubbard
♦️ Website: https://www.georgiehubbard.com
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Connect with Lou Compagnone:
🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loucompagnone/
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Connect with Julianne Hickey:
🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliannehickey/
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CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome to AI Ready Women, and the Pope's unexpected move on AI
2:40 Julianne's journey: Zimbabwe, Ubuntu, and "I am who I am because of who we all are"
4:15 From London consulting to humanitarian work in Gaza and Palestine: power, dignity, and who gets left behind
7:00 Inside Empire of AI: the extraction problem and AI's concentration of power
8:15 Te Hiku Media: the Māori organisation that built a language model on one GPU, not thousands
10:30 The Pope's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, and human dignity in the age of automation
14:30 The Rome Call and the Builders AI Forum: "What business does the Pope have in AI?"
18:00 What this means if you're not Catholic: agency, power, and why women get left out of the room
22:00 AI agents vs human agency: why the language we use matters more than we think
25:30 The Vatican's AI commission: seven departments, rotating terms, and a cross functional governance model
27:00 Why most organisations treat AI as a tech project when it's a strategic one
30:00 Burnout, fear, and feeling unsafe at work: what leaders get dangerously wrong about productivity and people
32:00 Two companies, opposite bets: cutting graduate hires vs investing in young workers
35:00 Te Whare Tapa Whā: the Māori wellbeing model Julianne uses to stay AI ready
38:00 Final thoughts: making sure AI serves people, not the other way around
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If this episode resonated with you, reach out to Julianne, Lou, and Georgie on LinkedIn. Let us know your biggest takeaway. Share what you're doing to protect human dignity in your work. Tell us how you're making sure AI serves people, not the other way around.

And if you know an incredible woman working in AI, ethics, governance, or social justice who should be on this podcast, send us her name. We want to amplify women's voices. We want representation. We want you in the room.

The future belongs to the women who are ready for it.

Let's make sure that's you.

Georgie 💜

#AIReadyWomen #PopeAI #MagnificaHumanitas #ArtificialIntelligence #WomenInAI #AIEthics #HumanDignity.

Most capable women aren't being passed over because they lack experience. They're being passed over because they can't articulate the problems they solve.

After 12 years sitting on the other side of the hiring table, I'll tell you the truth: the women who get chosen aren't always the most experienced. They're the ones with the clearest story.

In this episode, I break down the 6-step framework I use inside the Bold Move Career Accelerator to help senior women build a positioning story that makes them undeniable.

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👉 Get your free Market Readiness Score - 90 seconds, 4-signal audit.

Find out where your career is protected and where you're exposed: https://www.georgiehubbard.com/market-readiness

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In this episode:

Why "capable" gets you in the room — but "undeniable" gets you chosen

The three career stories most senior women tell (and why two of them are keeping you invisible)

The IMPACT™ Framework: my six-step process for turning experience into positioning

A real client example — from "I manage complex projects" to two inbound recruiter offers in three weeks

The 10-minute exercise you can do today to start building your story

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📚 The Bold Move book: https://www.theboldmovebook.com

✨ 60-Day Bold Move Career Accelerator: https://www.georgiehubbard.com/bold-moves

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Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiehubbard/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/georgielhubbard

Website: https://www.georgiehubbard.com

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Chapters:

0:00 — Why experience isn't enough

0:20 — The 3 components of POSITION

1:30 — Why the market rewards legibility, not capability

4:00 — The 3 stories most women are telling

6:30 — The IMPACT™ Framework

9:30 — The 10-minute exercise

10:30 — The bold move

11:00 — Get your free Market Readiness Score

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You are not behind. You are not lacking. You are under-positioned. And that is completely fixable.

Georgie 💜

Pink-collar jobs, admin, customer service, reception, teaching, and nursing are overwhelmingly held by women. They're also the roles most exposed to AI disruption right now. And the data shows women are using AI less than men.

That's the leapfrog risk. And IBM's Chief Technology Officer for Australia and New Zealand wants every woman listening to understand it before the gap gets bigger.

In this episode of AI Ready Women, Georgie Hubbard and Lou Compagnoni sit down with Angelica Veness, the CTO who openly says she can't code, and built her career through human-centred design instead. Angelica breaks down what's actually happening in the AI economy, where women are getting locked out, and the exact steps to move from AI-cautious to AI-curious to AI-queen… starting this week.

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✨60 Day Bold Move Career Accelerator✨

Learn More here 👉 https://www.georgiehubbard.com/bold-moves

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📚 The Bold Move: https://www.theboldmovebook.com

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Connect with Me:

🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiehubbard/

🟪 Instagram: http://instagram.com/georgielhubbard

♦️Website: https://www.georgiehubbard.com

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Connect with Lou Compagnone:

🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loucompagnone/

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Connect with Angelica Vaness:

🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelica-veness-9866519/

🟣 Free AI Learning: https://skillsbuild.org

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In Today's Episode:

→ Why "I'm a CTO who can't code" is a strategic position, not a confession

→ The pink-collar exposure: which roles are most at risk and why women hold most of them

→ The leapfrog problem — graduates are entering the workforce already AI-fluent. Mid-career women cannot afford to wait.

→ Why the gender gap in AI isn't about coding skills anymore. It's about who's typing the prompts.

→ The "moments that matter" framework for designing AI that makes work better, not just cheaper

→ How IKEA retrained its entire contact centre as interior designers — and built a $1.4B revenue line doing it

→ Why rigid hiring practices are locking capable women out of the AI economy — and what needs to shift

→ How IBM and Food Ladder are using AI to put healthy food in front of hungry Australian kids

→ The exact starting move: one tool, one buddy, one week. How to begin before you feel ready.

If you've been waiting until you feel "AI ready" before you start, this episode is the reason to begin now.

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CHAPTERS

[00:00] Cold open — "I'm a CTO who can't code"

[00:30] Welcome to AI Ready Women

[01:50] From gym sales to IBM CTO: Angelica's non-linear path

[06:00] Why design thinking is the AI superpower

[09:30] The obligation to use AI, not just design it — and why LLMs are learning male questions

[12:30] SIGNAL 1: Dr Tara Behan's warning — concentrating pain into the human part of the system

[18:30] The moments-that-matter triangulation: executives, employees, customers

[20:00] Lou's Uber nightmare: what bad AI design feels like as a customer

[22:30] Expertise atrophy — what happens when humans stop using the muscle

[25:30] SIGNAL 2: How IKEA reinvented its contact centre as interior designers

[30:30] Pink-collar exposure: what women in task-based roles need to do right now

[36:00] The hiring problem: rigid briefs are locking women out of the AI economy

[42:30] SIGNAL 3: IBM × Food Ladder — AI for good in Australian schools

[48:50] AI Cautious → AI Curious → AI Queen: how to make the shift this week

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If this episode helped you, the kindest thing you can do is share it with one woman who needs to hear it — and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's how more women find the show. Your bold move is waiting. Go make it.

Georgie 💜

There are career lessons that change everything. And most women don't learn them until it's too late.

You've worked hard. You've stayed loyal. You've done everything right. But somewhere along the way, the rules changed. And nobody told you.

This episode is the live recording from Fearless & Future Ready, our Sisterhood Social event featuring three of Australia's most influential women in business and AI.

One of them has never had a set career plan. One spent 26 years at Telstra before becoming a CEO. One is driving AI adoption across 10,000 people. And all three sat in a room and told the truth.

This is the conversation most women don't get access to until it's too late.

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🟣 Want to Work With Me?

The 60 Day Bold Move Career Accelerator: https://www.georgiehubbard.com/bold-moves

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✨ Grab the Book

📚 The Bold Move: https://www.theboldmovebook.com

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Connect with Georgie:

🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiehubbard/

🟪 Instagram: http://instagram.com/georgielhubbard

♦️ Website: https://www.georgiehubbard.com

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Connect with Pam Caldwell:

🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loucompagnone/

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Connect with our Panelists:

🔵 Fiona Hayes — CEO, 7-Eleven Australia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-hayes-a80718b/

🔵 Julie Watkins — CPO, UniSuper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-watkins/

🔵 Erin Ashton — AI Enablement Leader, EY: https://www.linkedin.com/in/efogg/

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What You'll Discover:

🟣 None of them felt ready when they got the role. They said yes anyway, and what made the difference wasn't confidence. It was the support network around them.

🟣 The real answer to the question every ambitious woman is afraid to ask, do you have to sacrifice everything to reach the top? Three C-suite women answered it honestly in the room.

🟣 How women stand out during uncertainty, and why the professionals who get noticed aren't always the hardest working, they're the most visible and the most willing to own a problem.

🟣 How these women created roles that didn't exist by making themselves known, speaking up, solving problems nobody asked them to solve, and taking ownership before they were given permission.

🟣 Julie Watkins has never had a set career plan. What she has instead — and why it's worked better than any plan ever could.

🟣 Fiona Hayes spent 26 years at Telstra, including 12 on the executive team, before becoming CEO of 7-Eleven in 2024. What she learned about making yourself impossible to overlook.

🟣 Erin Ashton is driving AI adoption across 10,000 people at EY. What she's seeing inside Australia's biggest organisations right now — and what it means for your career.

🟣 How Australia's biggest companies are thinking about AI — and what it actually means for the women inside those organisations.

🟣 Why your support network is not a nice to have. It is the career decision that changes everything.

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Meet the Panellists:

Fiona Hayes — CEO & Managing Director, 7-Eleven Australia 26 years at Telstra including 12 on the executive team. Appointed CEO of 7-Eleven in 2024. A leader who built her career by showing up, solving problems and making herself impossible to overlook.

Julie Watkins — Chief People Officer, UniSuper Senior executive across sectors, geographies and boards. Has never had a set career plan. Passionate about the role executive women play in shaping the future of work.

Erin Ashton — AI Enablement Leader, EY Oceania Driving AI adoption across 10,000 people at EY. Helping organisations move from talking about AI to actually using it with confidence and impact.

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If this episode resonated, share it with one woman in your life who needs to hear it right now.

The future belongs to the women who are ready for it. Let's make sure that's you.

Georgie 💜

AI is changing every career, and the CEO of Microsoft just told us something that should change how you think about yours. Plus what the CEO of 7-Eleven, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, and the Head of AI at EY are really saying about the future of work, AI for women, and staying relevant in the age of AI

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✨May’s 60 Day Bold Move Career Accelerator✨

Learn More here 👉 https://www.georgiehubbard.com/apply/may

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In this episode, Georgie and Lou debrief two major events: Lou's experience at the Microsoft AI Tour, where Satya Nadella delivered a keynote on the future of agentic AI, and Georgie's 10th Sisterhood Social featuring Fiona Hayes (CEO of 7-Eleven Australia), Julie Watkins (Chief People Officer at UniSuper), and Erin Ashton (Head of AI Enablement at EY).

What they discovered was fascinating. And a little bit unsettling. Because while some women are confidently experimenting with AI and feeling ahead of the curve, others are quietly falling behind, confused about what tools to learn, overwhelmed by the pace of change, and wondering if they're about to become irrelevant.

This episode is about understanding that gap. It's about knowing what's actually happening inside organisations right now. It's about where to focus your energy. And it's about making sure you don't burn out while trying to keep up.

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Timestamps

00:00 The CEOs you need to hear from right now

00:45 Inside Georgie's Sisterhood Social: Fiona Hayes, Julie Watkins & EY

03:37 The two types of women in every AI conversation

04:47 Adopting AI vs adapting because of it (Lou's framework)

07:13 Why most organisations are still scratching the surface

11:10 The cognitive load crisis: why AI is leaving women exhausted

15:59 What Georgie's wearable revealed about AI and sleep

18:21 Satya Nadella: AI is the new fax-to-email shift

19:57 The New Zealand Telehealth story: AI holding people while they wait

23:45 Why human skills now matter more than technical skills

25:59 The question that made the whole room go silent

31:15 Microsoft, neural implants, and resisting becoming machines

32:51 Why your zigzag career is your greatest asset

35:05 Why sticking with one AI tool is the smartest move

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📚 The Bold Move: https://www.theboldmovebook.com

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Connect with Me:

🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiehubbard/

🟪 Instagram: http://instagram.com/georgielhubbard

♦️Website: https://www.georgiehubbard.com

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Connect with Lou Compagnone:

🔵 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loucompagnone/

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🟣 What you'll learn:

Why Satya Nadella compared AI to the shift from fax to email — and what that means for your career

Adopting AI vs adapting because of it — Lou's framework for where you actually are right now

What Fiona Hayes, Julie Watkins, and Erin Ashton (EY) said about staying relevant in the age of AI

The cognitive load crisis: why AI is leaving women exhausted, and how Georgie's wearable proved it

Why human skills now matter more than technical skills — especially if you don't come from tech

The question that made the whole room go silent: can you have a family AND a senior career?

Why sticking with one AI tool beats jumping between them

The uncomfortable truth: why your zigzag career might be your greatest asset

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Your Next Step:

If this episode resonated with you, reach out to Lou and me on LinkedIn. Let us know your biggest takeaway. Share what you're learning. Tell us how you're positioning yourself for the future.

And if you know an incredible woman working in AI, tech, or digital who should be on this podcast, send us her name. We want to amplify women's voices. We want representation. We want you in the room.

The future belongs to the women who are ready for it.

Let's make sure that's you.

Georgie 💜