Jessica is the founding committee member and up until recently, the CEO of St Kilda Mums. 12 years ago, she organised a working bee in the photocopier room at her local maternal health centre. Under her leadership, this simple seed of an idea grew to what it is today – an organisation with thousands of volunteers supporting more than 20,000 babies and children each year across Victoria.

Jessica has also inspired and personally supported many other like-minded organisations across Australia and she has received several awards for her community work, including an Order of Australia Medal in 2019.

Jessica talks to us about how technology enabled the rapid growth at St Kilda Mums and she also shares some of the challenges experienced managing change through COVID at St Kilda Mums. We finish up talking about how Jessica intends to leverage this experience to help other organisations around Australia deliver digital transformations through the work she is doing with Blaze your Trail, a technology consultancy she established in April of this year. 

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If you would like more information about how to support St Kilda Mums, please visit www.stkildamums.org

For more information about Blaze your Trail, or to contact Jessica Macpherson to get support or advice on how Blaze your Trail might be able to help you implement digital transformation, visit www.blazeyourtrail.org

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If you have any feedback, suggestions or would like to be a guest on this podcast, please reach out to us at rachel@trainingandchange.com.au

In this episode, I speak with Ronnie Altit, co-founder of Insentra group. We speak mostly about organisational culture and what it takes to be listed year after year on the Great Places to Work study.

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Guest Bio:

Ronnie Altit is changing the corporate culture landscape. As the co-founder of Insentra, a global IT Services business, Ronnie has always dared to be different. His vision is to create an outstanding workplace where his people can be the best versions of themselves, love the work they do and amaze each other and their clients every day. Recently awarded number 2 in the Great Places to Work study, Ronnie believes that an organisation’s culture is paramount to running a successful business.

His approach to corporate culture is simple and based on transparency, honesty and creating an open environment where his team can flourish. Under Ronnie’s leadership, Insentra has been awarded Job Advisors Top 20 Coolest Company in Tech, CRN Fast 50, BRW Fast Starters and CRN Editors Award.

Prior to starting Insentra, Ronnie worked for an investment bank reaching CIO for Australia and then as General Manager with a global systems integrator. Ronnie is regularly called upon by the media as a spokesperson for entrepreneurship, leadership and corporate culture and is an inductee of the ARN ICT Industry Hall of Fame. He has been featured in BRW, The Huffington Post, The Collective Magazine, Dynamic Business and The Financial Review.

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For more information about Insentra group, or to read the 'Train story' that is referenced in the podcast, please visit : Insentra Train Story - Insentra (insentragroup.com)

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If you have any feedback, suggestions or would like to be a guest on this podcast, please reach out to us at rachel@trainingandchange.com.au

In this episode I speak with John Condilis, who is one of the co-founders of Nobody Denim, an iconic a Melbourne based and family-owned fashion brand specialising in premium denim.

John and I talk about the three major turning points for their business since 1992 when they started a denim laundry. We talk about how they tackled these points of change within the fashion manufacturing industry, and how their business managed to not just survive but actually thrive through each of these points of change and come out even stronger, notably recent impacts from COVID were mitigated through the development of a new product line for masks and scrubs which has actually seen the team grow to over 80 employees, all based locally in Melbourne.  

Which ties in quite nicely to the next point which is the experience John shares about their ‘second turning point’ which was around the late 90s when increased tariffs were causing suppliers to close their doors and most of the competitors were going offshore for manufacturing. At this time, John and his team decided to bring manufacturing in house. John shares some incredible insights into his personal journey learning about lean and implementing this change in his business.

John shares how he has since gone on to make innovation and process improvement a fundamental aspect of the DNA at Nobody Denim and that the trick to it is all about communication and collaboration.

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For more information about Nobody Denim, please visit www.nobodydenim.com or check them out on Instagram @nobodydenim

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If you have any feedback, suggestions or would like to be a guest on this podcast, please reach out to us at rachel@trainingandchange.com.au

In this episode, I speak with Matt Jones who is one of the co-founders of Four Pillars Gin.

Matt shares openly about their journey from being a start up to being named the world’s leading gin producer for two years in a row.

Matt and I talk about the process of defining their purpose, scaling capability and the importance of ensuring everyone in your business understands the core business.

Matt also goes onto share the recent experience Four Pillars had when their business, like many others, was significantly impacted by the global pandemic. Four Pillars pivoted and within a three-week window had created an entirely new product line of hand sanitiser.

We talk about the rapid product development process and we touch upon how sometimes clearly articulating the standard of work expected is critical when developing an MVP.

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For more information please visit www.fourpillarsgin.com

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If you have any feedback, suggestions or would like to be a guest on this podcast, please reach out at rachel@trainingandchange.com.au

In this episode, I speak with Elizabeth Lewis-Gray who is the Managing Director of Gekko Systems.

Gekko Systems started out in 1996 producing inline Pressure Jigs for continuous gravity separation and since then they have become an award-winning leader within the mining technologies sector. 

Gekko is a based in Ballarat, Australia, with an international reputation for innovation. It has welcomed the challenge of creating a solution to the increased requirement for invasive ventilators worldwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This successful, agile innovator and manufacturer has adapted quickly to develop the fit-for-purpose GeVentor GEV019 ventilator, working closely with local, but globally experienced, clinicians and researchers and in collaboration with other Victorian and Australian organisations and medical experts.

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For more information please visit www.gekkos.com or www.gekkomedical.com

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If you have any feedback, suggestions or would like to be a guest on this podcast, please reach out to us at rachel@trainingandchange.com.au