The Female Career. Trailblazing New Zealand women share their career journeys

For International Women’s Day we are bringing you a special episode on the theme of #BreakTheBias. Many of our previous podcast guests have faced some form of bias in their working lives. In this episode six wāhine talk about their experiences of bias at work and how they have fought to break it.Stacey Morrison (Te Arawa, Ngāi Tahu) is a radio and TV broadcaster, journalist and author. Stacey talks about how women are perceived differently once they become mothers and the expectations women put on themselves. Vic Maclennan is a technology entrepreneur and champion of digital capability for all. Vic speaks about gender pay discrimination and the power of supportive colleagues. Teresa Tepania-Ashton (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa) is the Chief Executive of Māori Women’s Development Inc. Teresa talks about challenges at the intersection of ethnicity and gender and we can overcome bias by believing in ourselves. Sarah Lang is Director of Government Advisory and Strategic Relationships at Beca. Sarah talks about struggling to be heard in male-dominated workplaces and the value of female role models. Hema Patel is a senior business leader in the software and technology sectors. Hema speaks about breaking the bias by finding the courage to have the conversation or ask the question. Caren Rangi (Cook Islands Māori) is a professional director and supporter of Aotearoa’s Pacific community. Caren talks about challenging the expectations we hold of ourselves and cutting ourselves some slack.

As is sometimes the way with virtual recordings, the audio quality varies in this interview. Please don't let that put you off listening though - Renee has such an interesting story!How do you decide whether to make the leap into a new career? Can you incorporate multiple passions into your working life? How does historical sexism impact on the experiences of women at work today?Dr Renee Liang, a second-generation Cantonese New Zealander, blends her passions for medicine and the arts. A paediatrician with special interest in community and youth health, she is also Asian Theme Lead for the landmark longitudinal study Growing Up in NZ. Alongside her medical career, Renee also works as a poet and playwright. She has written, produced, and nationally toured eight plays, and has made operas, musicals, and community arts programmes. Her poems, essays, and short stories are studied from primary to tertiary level. In 2018, Renee was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.🎙 “We feel it’s a good thing to have balance, but it’s also a good thing to be passionate about lots of things and to draw energy from lots of things, so long as it makes you burn with something to do it.”Image credit: John Rata

Jo Fair is the former Global Head of Human Resources for Fonterra, a company of 22,000+ employees. Her career journey has taken her around the globe to Europe, the Americas and Asia. In 2019, Jo left the corporate world to found FutureWork Studio, supporting organisations to re-imagine the world of work. We hope you enjoy listening to her inspiring career story, which includes:The huge cloud of self-doubt she felt when she first made the shift from HR to a line roleWhy she believes women should know there's no magic rule book for leadership and businessHow she's handled stepping into the entrepreneurial world, after many years in a global corporateWhy her proudest career moment involves her daughter figuring out what her Mum actually did for a jobAnd that it's ok not to be superwoman!

Wyndi Tagi dropped out of teacher's college at age 21 when she became pregnant with her first child. She now runs WE Accounting, employing 15 people across New Zealand and Samoa, and helping SMEs to thrive. She is also involved in a wide range of charitable work, with a focus on bettering the statistics for Māori and Pacifica people. On top of her busy working life, she's a Mum of 5, a keen sportsperson, and holds a black belt in Karate! We hope you enjoy hearing her talking honestly about the story of her career, which includes:The challenges and preconceptions she's faced as a Māori woman in businessHow she responds when people assume her husband runs the business, rather than herHow she coped after both her Dad and Grandfather passed away in 2017, and when she was diagnosed with breast cancerHer take on work-life balance and how she juggles having 5 kids, her business, and her Board and charitable work

Listen to The Hon. Ruth Richardson share the intriguing and focused story of her career.Ruth Richardson rose to international prominence in her role as a reformist minister of Finance in New Zealand in the 1990s - the first and so far only woman to hold this role. Following her political career, Ruth has worked extensively in New Zealand and internationally as a Public Policy Consultant and Board Director. She currently holds a number of Directorships including NZ Merino, Synlait Milk and Bank of China (NZ) and has previously served on numerous Boards including Jade Software, the Reserve Bank, Oyster Bay and Wrightson.In this interview she shares the story of her career, including:Declaring at age 15 that she wanted to be a politician and then strategically pursuing this career pathAs a change agent and reformist, why she's focused on being respected, not being likedHow important family is to her, with a new granddaughter born the morning of the interview!

Emily is a specialist insurance lawyer who has worked in NZ, Australia and the UK. She's been a Partner at Wynn Williams since 2011 and is a key member of their Dispute Resolutions team. She's also a strong advocate for women at work.Here, she shares some highlights and challenges from her career journey, including:Why she finds law to be both creative and fun, and how her science background has helped her as a lawyerHow she manages the juggle between being a partner in a law firm alongside being a single Mum and a widowHow she's navigated her way through burnout and bullying in her careerHow she feels part of the fabric of Christchurch after being involved in resolving so many post-Earthquake insurance claims

Gemma Miller of GG Jewellery is a talented goldsmith, who transforms precious heirloom jewellery into contemporary pieces you want to wear. She's also one of the co-founders of The Makers, bringing together over 20 jewellers from across NZ on an online retail marketplace.Here, Gemma shares her career story, including:How a 'non-linear' accident helped her discover her passion for jewellery at age 27How it's an ongoing challenge to balance creativity and running a businessHow she created a community of jewellers to support each otherThat it's ok to not know what you want to do as a career, and to keep asking questions until you discover what makes you happy

Jessie owns and runs a dairy business in Mid Canterbury with over 1000 cows. For the last 20 years she’s also worked in a range of roles in agricultural policy, research and sustainable farming for the likes of Meat and Wool NZ, Federated Farmers, AgResearch and Environment Canterbury. She was the recipient of the 2017 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year award. In recent years, she’s also grown her career into Governance, and currently sits on a number of Boards including Ngai Tahu Farming and Alpine Energy. She is also the Chair of RuralCo, and is the first ever woman to take on that Chair role.In this episode, Jessie shares her career story, including:How moving between jobs early in her career has been hugely helpful now in her Governance rolesHow she's learnt something from every career twist and turnWhy farming is a great career for women

Laura grew up on a sheep and deer farm in Southland, New Zealand. After 10 years of a varied corporate career, she returned to her farming roots, swapping high heels for gumboots. Here she shares her journey to starting her own farm tourism business Real Country and finding her purpose in helping NZ girls build their confidence.In the episode, Laura shares:How she's coped with the challenges of Covid-19 for her Queenstown tourism businessWhy feeling satisfied is more important to her than being happyHow she shifted through several roles and companies in her 20s, never staying for more than 18 months at a time, before finding her career purposeHow anyone can build their confidence - but it involves taking on unfamiliar, uncomfortable tasks

Louisa Wall (Ngati Tuwharetoa me Waikato) is a member of the New Zealand Labour Party and has been an MP since 2008. She has held a variety of roles across the public sector and her work is founded on a commitment to universal human rights together with promoting the rights of gender and sexual minorities. Louisa also had a highly successful sporting career as both a Silver Fern and also a Black Fern, including being named NZ Women's Rugby Player of the Year in 1997.In this episode, she shares her career story including:How her sporting career taught her focus, determination and teamworkWhy she doesn't let criticism and being called 'abrasive' stop her from fighting for others' rightsThe challenges of sexism, racism and homophobia she's faced along the way in her career

Traci is an award winning company director and a recognised industry leader. She is also a trusted advisor to Māori and Government on strategic and economic development. Traci is known for her strong and inclusive leadership and her clear focus on building the wealth and prosperity of Aotearoa New Zealand.Traci has been named as one of the top ten most influential women in New Zealand agribusiness and the Listener’s top ten influencers in New Zealand. She won the Westpac Fairfax Media Women of Influence Board and Management award and has been named on Westpac’s New Zealand Women Powerbrokers list. Traci has been awarded the Massey University Distinguished Alumni Service Award for services to New Zealand agribusiness and Māori, and named amongst the BBCs 100 Most Influential Women in the World. Traci has recently been made a Chartered Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, the highest level of the IODs Chartered categories, making her a nationally recognised role model for other directors and business leaders.Traci has an MBA from Massey University and is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, a Justice of the Peace and a Marriage Celebrant.In this podcast episode she shares:How broad work experience early in her career has helped her in her variety of governance rolesHow she handles incidences of racism or chauvinism that she encounters in her life and workThat her life is busy but she tries to also keep it 'simple' - taking care of herself and asking for support when needed

Jo hails from Ōtautahi Christchurch and has had a varied career, from media to wine sales and she even trained as a chef! She also worked for a number of years for the Christchurch City Council, bringing to life events such as the World Buskers Festival. In 2013, she tapped into her entrepreneurial roots and set up her own business, social change agency Brown Bread, who specialise in partnering with social purpose organisations to revolutionise giving and fuel creativity. Throughout her career, there’s been a strong thread of creating movements around big ideas and building communities around great causes. In this episode, Jo shares:How the 'wiggly-woggly' variety of roles in her early career have helped her enormously in running her own businessHow she combines purpose, profit, and passionHow she agreed with her husband that he'd be the stay-at-home parent for their son while she runs the business

Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick shares her inspiring career journey as part of The Female Career podcast.Chlöe has been a law student, journalist, business owner and a community project leader. When interviewing politicians of all stripes on daily issues she found that too often they had become out of sync with everyday people’s lives. She couldn’t see herself, her friends, or her whānau in politics.So, in 2016 Chlöe did what any reasonable, disillusioned 22 year old would do. She ran to be the Mayor of Auckland. Almost 30,000 Aucklanders gave her their vote after Chlöe and her team campaigned for just 4 months on a shoestring budget.As a next career step, Chlöe stood as a candidate for the party whose values matched hers and was elected as a Green Party MP into Parliament in 2017 after a particularly gruelling campaign.She is the youngest MP in Aotearoa for over 40 years. She entered parliament to show people that politicians can look a little different, sound a little different, do things a little different, and to drive home the message that politicians work for people.Chlöe is the Green Party spokesperson on issues that she can really get her teeth into: Education (including Tertiary), Internal Affairs, Sensible Drug Law Reform, Local Government, Arts Culture & Heritage, Small Business, Broadcasting and Youth."Whatever you do in your career, things are going to be hard at points along the way. And to me that demonstrates a massive sense of empowerment because regardless of whether you choose to work nine to five desk job that perhaps you hate or pursue your passion and start something from the ground up, both of those things are going to be hard in quite different ways. You will go through periods of suffering, of ups and downs and that's what it means to be alive. You know that you have things to contribute and you know that there is more to come."If you would like to be one of the first to hear other inspiring career stories of a diverse rang of women of Aotearoa New Zealand, please do sign up to our mailing list - you can find the sign up form at the bottom of The Female Career website.

Abby Foote is a professional director with over 12 years’ governance experience, including both publicly listed and Crown companies. With qualifications in both law and accounting, Abby's career has covered both disciplines, focusing on corporate finance, treasury and commercial transactions. Abby is Chair of Z Energy, and currently serves on the boards of TVNZ, Sanford Limited and Freightways Limited. Abby’s previous governance roles include Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Transpower New Zealand, Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) and the New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA). She’s also a strong advocate for encouraging diversity of thought, background and perspective at the Board table.

We really hope that you enjoy the career story of Jane Hunter. Jane is known around the world as the First Lady of New Zealand Wine. As owner, viticulturist and managing director of Hunter’s Wines since 1987, Jane has led the company to outstanding local and international success as one of New Zealand’s ground-breaking premium wine labels.Born in South Australia, Jane’s father was a contract grape grower. She gained a degree in Agricultural Science at the University of Adelaide. Jane moved to New Zealand in the 1980’s and headed Montana’s viticulture team.Jane met and married Irishman Ernie Hunter in 1984, and after his untimely death in 1987 she took over running Hunter's Wines which Ernie had established in Marlborough in 1978. The winery has continued to grow in size, annual output and reputation. Hunter’s has grown to 5 times its original size. The list of awards and accolades is impressive: now having won over 250 gold medals and more than 45 trophies both in New Zealand and around the world. Jane is supported by her nephews, James Chief-Winemaker and Edward Asst. General Manager as the business moves to a new era of innovation and sustainability. Jane herself has won national and international recognition for her work including being the first ever woman to be inducted into the NZ Wine Hall of Fame in 2013 and being inducted into the NZ Business Hall of Fame in 2019."When I was growing up, I really didn't have any idea what I wanted to be. And even through secondary school, I didn't really have any clear direction. Where I've ended up to a lot of people, myself included, has been quite astounding."

We really hope you enjoy listening to the inspiring and honest career story of Kendall Flutey. Kendall is the Co-Founder and CEO of Banqer, the financial education platform used by more than 150,000 Australasian primary school students. She has a background in Accounting, Economics and Web Development, all of which she uses now as an entrepreneur. Kendall enjoys the new challenge that comes with growing a mission driven impact business, where she can seek to make a difference in our communities. She has been widely recognised for her efforts, winning the 2018 Young Māori Business Leader and 2019 Young New Zealander of the Year. "I think there's a bit of misconception around tech. People often think that you have to be the math or science geek and be really switched on in terms of numbers. But to me, tech's really just more creative. I like the possibilities of what you can build, how you can improve lives, how you can solve problems all through tech and you can do it in a pretty cost-effective, quick way."

Dr Ayesha Verrall is an Infectious Diseases Physician and Senior Lecturer with Otago Medical School. She became a household name in New Zealand in early 2020 when she was asked by the Government to review their existing Covid-19 contact tracing strategy. She didn’t hold back with her criticism, and the implementation of her contact tracing recommendations was key in relaxing restrictions in NZ. Ayesha’s specialty area is in fact in Tuberculosis and she has lived and worked in Indonesia and Singapore before returning home to New Zealand. She's now considering a career change into politics, and is on the Labour Party List for the Sept 2020 election."It's really amazing to be able to work with people, patients when they're ill. And obviously there's some sad parts to that, but there's also some really fulfilling parts. And most of the time if I meet a patient with a serious infection in hospital, they recover and I see them in a month or two in my clinic looking so much better. So usually you're part of helping people through a really difficult time or a crisis in their life and helping them get better."

Andrea Jewell is Co-Founder of Fix & Fogg Nut Butters. Although Andrea has always had a passion for food and making things, she's actually a lawyer by background. Originally from the UK, Andrea started her career as a criminal barrister before moving to Aotearoa New Zealand where she's worked as a lawyer for ACC and the NZ Qualifications Authority. In 2014, together with her husband Roman, she entered the entrepreneurial world, wanting to create nut butters that are healthy and delicious. Having received a jar of crunchy peanut butter as a gift, we came across Andrea's story. "I really love being self- employed a lot, but it's more than just the fact that we're kind of our own bosses if you like. It's the freedom to do really crazy things if we want to. The agility to pivot onto something different."

Zoë George is a producer and journalist and proud supporter of women and sport. Early in her career Zoë worked in international cricket both in New Zealand and abroad. She attended tournaments in Botswana, Bangladesh, Samoa and Singapore as a communications advisor and team manager. Her more recent career has taken her more directly into the world of journalism and she worked for a number of years with Radio NZ, both as a producer and reporter, on everything from the Concert programme to hosting the Fair Play podcast where she helped to shine the spotlight on women in sport. Zoë is now a senior sports reporter with Stuff, and she continues to champion women in sport."I know that not everything I'm going to write, people are going to agree with. And that's okay, because it's starting a conversation and that's how we influence change."

Mahsa Mohaghegh is a Senior Lecturer and also Director of Women in Tech in AUT’s School of Computer, Engineering, and Mathematical Sciences. She is a well-recognised leader in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. She is also the founder of the charitable trust She Sharp, a women’s technology networking and learning group, where she works to encourage young New Zealand girls to consider what a career in technology offers.For the past seven years, Mahsa had organised and led Google CS4HS (Computer Science for High Schools) workshops in Auckland, with a recent focus on providing high school teachers with the skills to implement New Zealand’s new digital technologies curriculum. She was named winner of the Emerging Leader category in the 2013 Westpac Women of Influence Awards and was one of ten finalists for 2018 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year. In 2019 she was the Champion Award winner of the YWCA Equal Pay awards, and in 2020 presented with the Massey University Distinguished Alumni Award."Stop trying to change yourself too much. Focus more on your own capability. Never give up, and you just need to keep pressing on. Don't let anyone ever tell you that you cannot do it. Technology fields, they need females. They do really need them."