Pushing For Mental And Social Health

Nicole has previously held senior positions at HBF Health, Clemenger BBDO and RAC WA, has joined the Push for Better Foundation to lead the expansion of its flagship event, The Push-Up Challenge, into two new international markets: the UK and New Zealand. Read on for our interview with Nicole Cikarela.

Describe your career trajectory and how you got to your current position.

My career has never followed a straight line which has held me in good stead to get
to where I am today. I started out in sales, marketing and strategy, working across
complex organisations where growth, behaviour change and trust really mattered.
Over time, I moved into senior leadership roles across health, insurance and not-for-
profit sectors, often at points of transformation, leading operations, risk and
technology functions. Variety is what keeps me learning!

Alongside my executive roles, I’ve served on boards and advisory groups in health,
start-up and philanthropy, which gave me a front-row seat to how policy, funding,
service design and lived experience intersect, and sometimes collide. A personal
experience with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma sharpened my focus on health
prevention, equity and the systems that sit around people when they’re at their most
vulnerable.

The combination of commercial rigour, governance experience, and empathetic
leadership has ultimately led me to the CEO role at Push for Better Foundation,
where our mission sits right at the intersection of community, mental health and
large-scale behaviour change. What could be more exciting than that?!

 

^COSA Conference on behalf of Melanoma Patients Australia

What drives you to do the work that you do?

I’m driven by the belief that systems and organisations can, and should, work better
for people. Too often in health and social services, we ask individuals to navigate
complex customer journeys and organisational structures, and expect them to love
them, or at least be satisfied, when the reality is, they could almost always be better.
I’m motivated by work that makes a difference at community level: prevention, early
intervention, and community-led change. I’m also deeply interested in how we
translate good intent into real outcomes for people, so I love helping organisations
move from good intentions to measurable, sustainable change without losing
humanity along the way.

I have a deep interest and belief that technology can be a tool for good, and with my
belief in innovation, I’ve found roles and organisations that embrace the power of
digital and data platforms to harness better outcomes for people and communities.

If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself
as you first embarked on your career?

I’d tell myself (and still do daily!) not to confuse progress with speed.

It's easy for me to get caught in the cycle of saying yes, moving fast and believing
that constant action is a marker of success. But over time, and with the wisdom of
many generous leaders and advocates along the way, I’m learning that the most
impactful moments often come from slowing down enough to ask better questions,
build trust, and make decisions anchored in values, not just momentum.
I’d also remind myself that uniqueness, including lived experience, is not a
vulnerability to be hidden, but a strength to be used. That perspective now shapes
how I mentor emerging female leaders: encouraging them to lean into their
strengths, trust their judgement, and resist the pressure to lead in ways that don’t
feel authentic. Especially in the social sector, we need leaders who can hold both
empathy and evidence, and who know that sustainable impact rarely comes from
rushing.

     

^WA Women in Tech Awards, on behalf of HBF Health

What does good social sector leadership look like to you? 

Good social sector leadership is both principled and pragmatic.

It means being clear on purpose, but equally serious about governance, financial
sustainability and accountability. It requires leaders to hold complexity, to listen
deeply, while making hard decisions that serve long-term impact, not short-term
comfort.

The best leaders I’ve worked with are curious, emotionally intelligent and prepared to
share power. They invest in culture, build strong partnerships, and aren’t afraid to
challenge legacy ways of working when they no longer serve.
Ultimately, good leadership in this sector is about stewardship: leaving the
organisation stronger, more trusted and more effective than you found it.

What are you currently watching / reading / listening to?

My content consumption is as varied as my career experience! I switch between
fiction and non-fiction and some friends and I just started a very social book club to
share our thoughts.I was recently recommended Humanocracy by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini, which has been a powerful reminder that agility isn’t about moving faster, it’s about removing friction. It reinforced for me how much value is lost in layers, approvals and legacy structures, and how organisations perform best when trust, autonomy and experimentation are built into the system. In the social sector especially, that lesson feels particularly pertinent: if we want to respond to complex human needs, we need organisations designed for adaptability, not control.

^With Nick Hudson, founder of the Push Up Challenge.