Creating economic opportunities for mob on country

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

I’ve had a pretty diverse career.  I originally started in Mental Health, as my first degree is in Psychology.  My dad became terminally sick with cancer, and for a number of reasons, I changed the direction of my career after he passed away.  I worked for the Queensland Government across a variety of industries, initially working in remote communities establishing social services for the first time, this included some pretty innovative ways of working in community and how to deliver services to them.  

After 20 years I jumped over to the community side and led organisations in a variety of industries – from job placement services, RTO (training), and the tertiary sector, and then I found myself in tech.  It was when I was in tech that I met some like-minded people who saw tech as an opportunity to help our people reach self-determination, and I haven’t looked back.  Throughout my career, I have focused on my lifelong learning journey and have just completed my second Masters (in HR).

As with a lot of Indigenous businesses, I am focused on giving back to the community and recently established our charity – The Land on Heart Foundation.  This foundation will be our vehicle to increase the number of Indigenous people accessing education and employment opportunities in tech.

Can you tell us a bit more about what Land on Heart is all about?

Land on Heart’s vision is to build innovative tech solutions that can educate non-Indigenous people on our culture and the true history of Australia as well as support the path towards Reconciliation in Australia and create employment and economic opportunities for Indigenous people in tech.  

Tech is the third largest industry in Australia and is unique in its nature in that it can provide opportunities for employment regardless of where you live.  Land on Heart has an ambitious goal of establishing 10-15 Indigenous tech skills hubs across remote and rural Australia.  As part of this, we have recently launched our digital kiosk program, which aims to address digital literacy programs in remote locations by providing access to hardware (kiosks) loaded with educational content – ranging from digital literacy through to health, depression and diabetes.  

Recently we were awarded over 2 million dollars to deliver this program across  31 (originally 27) communities in the NT.  We have also created innovative tech solutions including the Acknowledgement of Country app for “Teams” and Culture Compass – a tool which contains information across a variety of subjects specifically around Indigenous culture.

Take us through a typical day of work for you.

Running a startup tech company brings so much diversity to your workday.  Usually, I am up early – around 5 am. I read the latest book I am reading and then go for a jog and come home to make the girls’ lunches. They leave by 8 am, so usually I’m showered and at my computer pretty early. 

My day can start with delivering pitches to investors, and meetings with potential clients or other Indigenous businesses that we are collaborating with (or want to collaborate with).  Other days are full of applying for tenders or grants where you have a crazy deadline. On those days I’m up early at 6 am and could still be going late at night to get through as much as I can in one day. 

Other times, I have the pleasure of attending gala dinners and awards nights or launches for other companies or Indigenous programs.  I also attend conferences or summits and sit in on panels to elevate the voices of Indigenous women, particularly in tech.  

My favourite part of my workday is when I get the opportunity to network with other like-minded people or touch base with other Indigenous women – particularly those in my circle. It’s always good to have a yarn and catch up on the latest developments in the industry or on some amazing talent doing amazing things.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve encountered in your career, and how did you overcome it?

I think it would have to be when I started at Land on Heart.  We had a vision and a plan, but it was bad timing. The Voice was approaching and there was a lot of negative and racist rhetorid so it was not easy getting it off the ground.  Australia was also not in a good place in terms of the economy and the tech industry in particular had taken a hit.  I think I’ve shown my resilience here.  We persevered and I signed a contract with the government for over $1M to roll out digital literacy programs in 31 Aboriginal communities – I signed it on my 1st year anniversary with Land on Heart.  You need resilience,  flexibility, and the ability to quickly pivot and find something that will fit with your goals and your vision, especially in the tech startup space. 

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

Back yourself.  Too many times I’ve taken from other people’s cues – whether it was spoken or just that “look” to make me believe that I have no idea what I’m doing.  I listened to the imposter syndrome.  Then later down the track I knew my sh*t and was pretty good at what I did.  I should have had more confidence in myself.

How do you unwind after work?

I have two daughters so I don’t have much time for that.  But I have made an effort recently to either go to the beach for a walk or to the gym. Now that it’s daylight savings there’ll be more jogging/walking down the beach I think.  I just have to make sure I’m organised in the morning so we have dinner ready!

What was the last thing you watched, read or listened to?

I’m still reading it – but it’s “Springboard – Launching your personal search for success” by G Richard Shell.

I like to mix it up with Indigenous authors, health books, or personal development.  This one is pretty good – it provides insights into how to focus your energy and time on the things that matter.  I lost my father when he was just 48 so this resonates with me.  A good quote from the book is: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And, most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become” – Steve Jobs.  And it couldn’t be any more real than that.