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Sharing stories from amazing leaders just like you and me. Breaking down myths of leadership, imposter syndrome & helping us all be braver. Step by step.
Episodes
4 days ago
4 days ago
Felecia Pryor wanted to be an FBI agent. A psychological test, a shuttle bus, and a conversation with a stranger at a conference changed everything. What followed was nearly two decades building people strategy inside some of the world's most complex industrial organisations - Ford Motor Company, BorgWarner, and now John Deere, where she leads HR, labour relations, enterprise security, aviation and brand across a 189-year-old company.
In this conversation, Felecia talks about what it means to be a truly strategic partner, not just good with people, but commercially minded enough to shape the agenda. About the peer who once told her HR was playing in the garden while the house was on fire. And about why she believes courage is the defining leadership capability of our time.
Felecia Pryor is Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Deere and Company, known globally as John Deere, where she leads people strategy across one of the world's most iconic industrial organisations.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 15, 2026
Friday May 15, 2026
Anu Villarosa began her career as a lawyer in London, moved to Australia on a whim during the 2008 financial crash, and somehow ended up as Chief People Officer at a leading law firm - via recruitment, mindset coaching, competitive hockey, and a 50% pay cut she took to back herself into HR. The journey makes no sense on paper. In practice, it's the perfect preparation.
In this conversation, Anu talks about why feedback is a gift most organisations don't know how to give, why self-awareness is the capability that will separate effective executives by 2040, and what it actually means to be strategically vulnerable in a profession that tends to reward certainty.
Anu Villarosa is Chief People Officer at a leading Australian law firm, an accredited coach grounded in neuroscience and psychometric profiling, and a former competitive hockey player who applies the principles of high-performance sport to executive leadership every day.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 08, 2026
Friday May 08, 2026
Damian Zahra started work early, grew up around family businesses, and came into HR with one obsession: what happens when you bring the discipline of high performance sport into the world of business? Nearly seven years into his role as Chief People Officer at Bunnings, one of Australia's most iconic and complex organisations, he's still asking the same question.
In this conversation, Damian talks about what it really means to be an interpreter of strategy, why equal portions of support and challenge create the healthy tension where growth actually lives, and why the one thing most organisations could learn from elite sport is the gift of feedback.
Damian Zahra is Chief People Officer at Bunnings Group, leading people and safety strategy across nearly 60,000 team members in Australia and New Zealand. He is also a board member of the Corporate Mental Health Alliance Australia.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday May 01, 2026
Friday May 01, 2026
Amy Stanley didn't set out to be a Chief People Officer - she wanted to be a fashion buyer like Rachel Green from Friends. What she found instead was a deep love for the work of motivating people, and a 25-year career that took her from the shop floor to the strategic centre of some of Australia's most significant organisations.
In this conversation, Amy talks about what it actually means to lead through influence rather than authority - so quietly and so consistently that her board chair told her she could hear Amy's words coming out of other people's mouths. And why, if a CPO role doesn't report directly to the CEO, she's simply not interested.
Amy Stanley is Chief People Officer at HBF, where she leads culture, leadership and organisational strategy across people and corporate affairs - and holds joint accountability with the CTO on HBF's AI strategy.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Apr 24, 2026
Friday Apr 24, 2026
Amy Walker didn't plan a career in HR- she wandered into a lecture to keep a friend company and never looked back. What followed was 20+ years building people strategy inside some of Australia's most complex, traditionally male-dominated industries, and learning that the CPO role has never really been about authority. It's about influence, deliberate, patient, and built on genuinely understanding the business you're in.
In this conversation, Amy shares what a truly great CEO partnership looks like, why she went and studied supply chain mid-career, and what she means when she says the best leaders learn to move towards the tension rather than away from it.
Amy Walker is CEO of Artemis People and former CHRO at Visy, a $4B+ global operation where she led people strategy across 10,000 employees.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Apr 10, 2026
Friday Apr 10, 2026
You can want that seat at the table. But when you get there - what are you actually bringing?
In this candid conversation, Brave Feminine Leadership co-founders Melissa Hamilton and Kelli Hayes reflect on The Impact Formula masterclass, what they're hearing from senior leaders right now, and the thing nobody teaches you about impact, reputation and turning up with a real point of view.
They get into the difference between brand and reputation - and why one lives in your mind and the other lives in everyone else's. They talk about what Melissa said when she was asked on a panel at Melbourne Business School what it feels like to hold power. And they share what they see every day from both sides of the table - the CEOs asking why their teams aren't thinking, and the executives wondering why they're not being seen.
Two former CEOs. 27 years of friendship. No filter.
https://bravefeminineleadership.com/the-executive-shift
https://calendly.com/the-brave-group/free-leadership-impact-strategy-call
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Mar 27, 2026
Friday Mar 27, 2026
Most of us have a story about who we are as a leader. The harder question is whether that story is true, or just the version we've rehearsed. In this conversation I sit down with Merle Singer, researcher, leadership developer, and creator of Epitome Leadership, to explore what three years of research across Australia and the US revealed about how women really lead. We get into the anxiety that showed up uninvited in her data, the gap between your brand and your reputation, and her four feminine archetypes: Sovereign, Consort, Empress, Seductress, that each carry their own relationship to power, their own gifts, and their own underbelly. This isn't a framework that boxes you in. It's a language for leading with more range, more agency, and a lot more honesty about what's actually driving you.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Mar 20, 2026
Friday Mar 20, 2026
The world shifted and most executives are still catching their breath. In this episode I called one of the sharpest strategic minds I know to make sense of it in real time: Matt Tice, CEO of Insurgence, who has navigated disruption with organisations across six continents. We get into what the Iran crisis actually means for business, why most leaders are asking the wrong questions, and the mindset shift that separates the ones who'll come out ahead from the ones who'll just survive it. Game theory, scenario planning, capital flows, supply chains and a framework for thinking clearly when the news cycle won't slow down. This is the conversation I wanted to have, and I think it's the one you need to hear.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
Friday Mar 06, 2026
Friday Mar 06, 2026
There are leaders who hold the seat. And then there are leaders who transform everything they touch.
Alexis George walked into AMP in August 2021 at one of the most challenging moments in the company's 176 year history. On the eve of her retirement as CEO, she sat down with us for this International Women's Day special to reflect on a career that has taken her from a small country town in Bega to the top of one of Australia's most iconic financial institutions.
She talks about growing up with parents who didn't have money but a mother who never once wavered in her belief that university was non-negotiable. She shares what it felt like to land in Prague as an Australian woman leading a business where nobody had ever seen anything like her. And she is honest about the moment her own daughter looked at her and said "Mum, it's not the glass ceiling anymore. It's the glass cliff."
She talks about what it actually takes to back yourself when the opportunity makes you sick in the stomach, why she is brutally focused on only doing the things only she can do, and what she is proudest of after five years rebuilding a culture where people are no longer embarrassed to say where they work.
Alexis also has something to say to every woman who has been told she can't have it all. Spoiler, she thinks that's garbage.
This one is special. We hope you love it as much as we do.
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bravefeminineleadership
Friday Feb 27, 2026
Friday Feb 27, 2026
As the world just announced that Craig Tiley is heading to the United States Tennis Association as their new CEO, we're bringing back this conversation to celebrate his extraordinary legacy. And what a moment to do it.
For 20 years, Craig Tiley shaped Australian tennis into something the world genuinely admires. As CEO of Tennis Australia and Tournament Director of the Australian Open, he turned Australia's Grand Slam into a global benchmark, breaking attendance records, captivating billions of fans and delivering what Tennis Australia director Chris Harrop simply called a "transformative" tenure.
In this conversation, Craig shares the daily routine that sits at the heart of every relationship he builds, the direct thread between his coaching success and his leadership success, and how every overseas flight is an opportunity to make a new friend.
Craig's passion for people is what has always fuelled his success. The USTA is getting one of the best. We are so grateful he sat down with us.
Thank you, Craig. Australia is better for what you built. 🎾
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Craving inspiration?
I send an email each Sunday about leadership reflection, top tips to build an intentional & sustainable life and other things that have captured my attention and are too good not to share! Sign up here: https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/leadershipinspiration
Loving the podcast?
Leave us a short review. It takes less than 60 seconds & will inspire like-minded leaders to join the conversation!
Access Your Free Clarity Tool
Between the endless to-do lists, competing priorities, and decisions piling up, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. But here’s the truth: you can’t give more if you’re running on empty. That’s why we created Balance Your Brave—a free 15-minute diagnostic tool to help you regain control and clarity.
In just 15 minutes, you will:
✅ Pinpoint energy drains holding you back.
✅ Identify where to focus for the biggest impact.
✅ Walk away feeling calmer and more confident in your next steps.
Think of it as your personal roadmap to balance and alignment.
⬇️ Click here to access your free Balance Your Brave diagnostic tool.
https://www.bravefeminineleadership.com/Balance-Your-Brave
Are we friends? Connect with Us.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravefeminineleadership
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brave-feminine-leadership