The Female Career. Trailblazing New Zealand women share their career journeys

Do you want to think more strategically? Have you been told that you need to lift yourself out of the operational space to think more futuristically? Strategic thinking is something that frequently comes up in our coaching conversations. In this episode, we offer you our thoughts, advice and practical tools that will help you to think more strategically and progress your career. We cover:What is strategy? Why does it matter?3 ways to think more strategicallyKey tools you can use to build a strategic mindsetFollow us on Facebook and Instagram, or sign up to our newsletter to receive career insights direct to your inbox using the form on our website. Find out more about The Female Career and the services we provide, including leadership coaching, career coaching and gender pay gap analysis on our website. We’d love to hear your feedback. If you’d like to get in touch you can email us on [email protected]. Image credit: Christina Morillo

It's not easy to juggle a career with being a parent. In today's episode, five New Zealand women share their experiences and insights into how they make it all work. They talk about fitting work around their kids' schedules, what happens when family and work intersect, running a business while looking after a small child, and their hopes and dreams for more gender balanced parenting and work roles. We hope the thoughts of these women are useful and inspiring for you:Miriana Stephens (Ngāti Rārua, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui), Leader of wellness business AuOra™, Director of Wakatū Incorporation - and mum of 4Alliv Samson, Co-Founder and COO of EdTech app Kami - and mum of 1Rhiannon McKinnon, CEO of KiwiWealth - and mum of 3Jacqui Magure, Clinical Psychologist, Science Communicator, Media Contributor - and mum of 1Megan Scott, Director at PwC - and mum of 1Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or sign up to our newsletter to receive career insights direct to your inbox using the form on our website. Find out more about The Female Career and the services we provide, including leadership coaching, career coaching and gender pay gap analysis on our website. We’d love to hear your feedback. If you’d like to get in touch you can email us on [email protected].

Professor Bronwyn Hayward is an internationally-recognised sustainability and climate change advocate. Her day job is as a Professor at the University of Canterbury in the Department of Political Science and International Relations where she is also Director of The Sustainability, Citizenship & Civic Imagination Research Group: Hei Puāwaitanga. Bronwyn is also part of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She is passionate about sustainability, climate, youth and democracy. In 2021, Bronwyn was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her outstanding work. In 2022, she was chosen as the Supreme Winner in the Women of Influence Awards. In this episode, Bronwyn talks about:Strategies for breaking into academia as a womanHow we can work collectively and improve the way we collaborate to solve big issuesCompleting her PhD with young children🎙 "Doing a PhD with very young children meant that there was something I was doing for myself as well as raising the children. But I didn't know any other women who were actually doing it."Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or sign up to our newsletter to receive career insights direct to your inbox using the form on our website. Find out more about The Female Career and the services we provide, including leadership coaching, career coaching and gender pay gap analysis on our website. We’d love to hear your feedback. If you’d like to get in touch you can email us on [email protected].

Amanda Malu (Ngāi Tahu) is Chief Executive of Whānau Āwhina Plunket, which is a charity and Aotearoa’s largest support service for the health and wellbeing of tamariki under-five and their whānau. Amanda has been the Chief Executive since 2016. Prior to that, her career has seen her take on a wide range of marketing and communication leadership roles across not-for-profit and public sector organisations such as Maritime New Zealand, the Families Commission and the Tertiary Education Commission. Since recording this episode, Amanda has been appointed Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery at ACC. In this episode, Amanda talks about:Her pathway to becoming a Chief Executive out of a career in marketingHer experiences of returning to work after parental leave, including starting back when her baby was 3 months old and being promoted while on parental leaveHow she responded to situations where conversation was directed at the man in the room even when she was more senior🎙 "I think as women, one of the things we are very good at is going: 'Well, there must be someone better than me, so I'll just wait and see'. Actually, you might be the best person, so put yourself out there."

Tara Tan is the Founder and CEO of Grin – a New Zealand natural oral care brand. Tara founded the company 8 years ago after completing her Masters in Commerce at the University of Auckland. She had some concerns about the oral care products that she was using with her daughter and felt she could create safer and more environmentally friendly options that would appeal to parents. Since starting the business, she has grown the brand and range significantly, and now exports Grin products all around the world.In this episode, Tara talks about:The importance of determination and resilienceStarting a business with little experience of working in a companyBeing ambitious as a mother, daughter and wife🎙 "Don't stop halfway along the journey and think you're tired, you're exhausted, and you've tried 100 times. You probably have to try 200 times before you see the results."This episode is one of a special 5-part miniseries that we’re really proud to have developed in collaboration with Te Taurapa Tūhono, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. NZTE helps grow Kiwi companies internationally, bigger, better and faster. Each of these 5 podcast episodes brings you the inspiring story of a woman who has taken her Kiwi company to the global stage. A big thank you to NZTE for their support to bring these stories to life and if you’d like to find out more about NZTE and how they might help you grow your business go to https://bit.ly/nztewomen. We really hope you enjoy listening, and if you’d be interested in any leadership or career coaching to support your own career journey, drop us a line at [email protected].