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If there’s one thing you can never get enough of, it’s career advice. Whether it’s from your mum, your boss or your brutally honest best friend, it can be seriously inspiring and, for many, completely transformative.
But sometimes the best advice actually comes from those outside your immediate circle. And that’s exactly why we reached out to seven women at the top of their game to find out what advice they keep front of mind and how they stay motivated even after they “made it”. Read on to see what they said.
Jeanette Cheah, Founder & CEO at HEX
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
“The best career advice I ever received was that no choice you make in your career is irreversible, so don’t let fear stop you from making a big decision. You can always go backwards, you can always go sidewards, and every piece of experience you get will always add to your future value as a professional.”
What motivates you to succeed?
“I’m motivated by the opportunity to change the face of leadership in technology, business, and politics, and do so by educating a new generation of leaders. This is the reason why I founded my education technology (ed-tech) company HEX, which provides innovation and entrepreneurship programs to university students and the next generation of talent — to help build future global leaders. “
Laura Henshaw, Co-Founder & CEO at Keep it Cleaner
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
“Trust the process. We live in a world where we have access to so many things, in an instant. When it comes to our careers, there is truly no such thing as instant success; it takes hard work and time to grow. Embrace the process and each lesson along the way, and remember that everyone’s journey is different, we don’t all need to follow the same path.”
What motivates you to succeed?
“The biggest motivation for me is our Keep It Cleaner (KIC) community. Both our internal community — our wonderful team — and our community who support KIC and make it what it is today. Our mission at KIC is to impact as many people’s lives as possible and support them on their journeys. This is the biggest driver for me to get up every day, show up for our team and community, and strive to create the best product we can for them, to support them.”
Mikaela Jade, CEO & Founder at Indigital Edutech
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
“Back yourself before you ask anyone else to.”
What motivates you to succeed?
“I’m motivated by the Elders, teachers and kids we work with; I’m motivated by my team, the partners we collaborate with, and the conversations I have with all of them along the way. Without them, Indigital wouldn’t be possible. I’m motivated by truth-telling and preserving and proliferating 80,000 years of our peoples’ knowledge. I’m motivated by ensuring the 400 million Indigenous peoples throughout the world who are currently excluded from digital futures, have a seat at the table in designing the new internet. Indigenous peoples will play a critical role in building a spatial web that is safe for all.”
Nikita Fernandes, Co-Founder & COO at Ally Assist
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
“Aim big and fail fast. If you’re aiming to build a business, whether it’s big or small, know that it’s going to be hard. So why not dream big? The worst thing that could happen is you fail and learn some incredible lessons.”
What motivates you to succeed?
“My parents left their whole lives behind to move to Australia in order to help me build mine. I was born in India and, from an early age, I understood the blessing this country has afforded me. It’s created an obsession for me to maximise each opportunity I’m given and then generate opportunities for others.”
Taryn Williams, Founder & CEO at WINK models, theright.fit, The Influencers Agency and #Gifted
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. That has led to me meeting some of my best mentors, finding people who have ended up becoming board members, and helping me from making some big commercial mistakes.”
What motivates you to succeed?
“I love solving problems. Uniting resources, skills, people, time, the energy around problems, and creating something from nothing. Seeing an idea come to fruition is what drives me — that satisfaction of solving a real problem.”
Brooke Jamieson, Head of Enablement – AI/ML and Data at Blackbook.ai
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
“Be an early adopter of technology! Learning about cloud computing and AWS opened so many doors for me, including my job at Blackbook.ai and conference speaking opportunities around the world. It’s tough to keep learning, but so worth it.”
What motivates you to succeed?
“I love the satisfaction of finding a really creative solution to a complex problem. People often think AI and Tech isn’t creative field, but that’s not the case.”
Catherine Velisha, CEO at Velisha Farms
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
“I recently read the book ‘Chasing Excellence: A Story About Building The World’s Fittest Athletes‘ by Ben Bergeron, which has really stuck with me. The book explains that you can’t just focus on what the end goal is. Yes, the end goal creates the path. But ultimately, if this is how you gauge success daily, you’re going to be left feeling dissatisfied. Instead, when it comes to your career, you have to get to really know your goal and create the process and path that will get you there.”
What motivates you to succeed?
“There wasn’t a lot of support for young women in horticulture when I was growing up, an industry that was so dynamic, important, and strong. Horticulture and farming consisted of ‘up starters’, ‘migrants’, and ‘go-getters’. And because these people made their own way, there wasn’t a lot of focus on leading and facilitating the careers of others. So I’m very motivated to help young women to access these educational resources today.”
Editor’s note: These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.