Our final guest for 2024, Caity Randall, is a voice that we must hear more of. There hasn't been a time that I've spoken with a guest on this podcast where I've had goosebumps from something powerful that they shared... but Caity brings many of these moments to the conversation.

During this special episode, we discuss:
Caity's experience in running her own business to challenge traditional practices and drive social impact
The challenges of a late ADHD diagnosis and turning it into a strength
The importance of promoting awareness on topics like online safety and sextortion
(Caity has written an amazing book for young people on this topic- link in Caity's bio!)
Challenging stereotypes and advocating for diversity and visibility.

I know I say this a lot- but this is a very special episode, and one I am incredibly proud of. We hope you enjoy and can take something away from listening to our chat.

About Caity Randall

Caity Randall is the founder of Sustainabil.IT and the charitable initiative 'Technology Taking Action'. As the senior fellow with the CSFI (Cyber Warfare Collaborator) for the ANZ region, she has built a reputation as a visionary in cybersecurity, IT consulting, and social procurement. With expertise in utilising a threat informed defence approach to cyber security strategies, she is heavily involved in the cyber threat intelligence world.

Beyond her business achievements, Caity is passionate about leaving a positive legacy through community outreach and educational initiatives. She has authored The Shadow World, a bestselling children’s book on digital awareness and cyber security, underlining her dedication to education and outreach.

Driven by a strong belief in giving back to the community, Caity ensures her business practices incorporate social returns on investments, holding organisations accountable for their CSR commitments in ways that benefit all stakeholders.

You can connect with Caity here on Linkedin

You can learn more about Caity's book The Shadow World, here

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children, and a Senior Account Manager at Nintex in Melbourne, Australia.

Her tech career spans 14 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, write, sing, walk along her local bea, dance, and chat

Connect with Alicia on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Instagram.

Joining me for this episode is the magnificent Bree Barsanti.

Bree is an incredible human being. A mother, daughter, sister, friend and currently, a Senior Solutions Consultant at Nintex.

Bree has had a number of career transitions over the years, from being an opera singer (something very dear to my heart), to being a project manager, sales rep and business owner. Her interest lies in continuous improvement and helping organisations to succeed and be empowered.

During our chat, we discuss:

* How her determination to solve problems led her into tech, where she took on major responsibilities, like transforming a business with cloud solutions.

*The importance of continuous improvment in both work and personal life

*Her desire for the future of tech to improve work/life balance, reducing time managing data so people can spend more time doing things they love.

Bree brings so much passion and conviction to this conversation and I'm so excited for the world to hear her voice!

About Bree Barsanti

From Bree, "I love tech and the freedom it provides for real work life balance! I’m lucky to do what I do to make this achievable for businesses and the people behind them"

Bree is a continuous improvement and process expert, a leader and a change maker.

You can connect with Bree on Linkedin

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children, and a Senior Account Manager at Nintex in Melbourne, Australia.

Her tech career spans 14 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, write, sing, walk along her local beach or participate in a silent disco there, and head to the theatre.

Connect with Alicia on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Instagram.

In this episode, I sit down with Payal Tiwari- a tech executive, board member and advocate for family violence initiatives. Payal is wise, generous and ambitious- and I know that her story will inspire others.

We discuss:

• Our mutual passions- singing, for one, as well as supporting women in technology
• Using career skills outside the workforce to support those in need and then taking those skills back into your day job, continuously improving.
• Asking for what you want, and being prepared to get it
• Trying, failing, getting back up and trying again- the snowball effect that leads to wonderful results.

I was so honoured to have Payal as a guest on the podcast, and we hope you enjoy the conversation.

About Payal Tiwari

Payal has over 15 years of experience in management consulting, customer success, IT strategy, account management, and transformation, working with leading organisations (Wipro, Pegasystems, Deloitte, Citrix, EY and Accenture) across various sectors and geographies. Currently, she is at MUFG as their Client Technology Partner.
Payal also leverages her professional skills and passion for women and children-focused causes to advise various boards and agencies on family violence prevention and reforms. Currently serving as a Board Director at Refuge Victoria and a Strategic Advisor at other Family Violence Agencies, her role is to shape initiatives and strategies for combating family violence with a focus on multicultural communities. With over three and a half years dedicated to advocacy and reform in this sector, her expertise lies in delivering tailored support services and guiding Family Violence delivery models for Prevention, Crisis and recovery.
Her mission is to make an impact that matters and inspire others to do the same.

You can connect with Payal on Linkedin

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children, and a Senior Account Manager at Nintex in Melbourne, Australia.

Her tech career spans 14 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, walk along her local beach or participate in a silent disco there, and head to the theatre.

Connect with Alicia on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Instagram.

This is short little episode where I get a little vulnerable- but I know this is where the magic is.

In this solo episode, I share a a few reflections on the benefits of a recent career break, and what I learned in my sales career about literally taking a pause.

It's been a little while since my last episode, but I'm back and can't wait to introduce some inspiring women to you.

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children and a Senior Account Manager at Nintex in Melbourne, Australia.

Her tech career spans 14 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, walk along her local beach or participate in a silent disco there, and head to the theatre.

Connect with Alicia on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Instagram.

Coming to you today with a different kind of episode, a collaboration with another kick arse woman in technology, Hannah Young- who also recently started her own podcast called POV: You’re in Tech

Starting out in the world of technology as a marketing coordinator, Hannah made the switch to sales when working for a small tech startup, despite saying she’d never work in sales! And she hasn’t looked back since. Starting out as an AE, before moving into an outbound BDR role at Aircall, she has spent time generating leads and pipeline, and then managing the sales cycle from beginning to end during her time at Liven.

Han is an ambassador for Earlywork, an Australian startup helping individuals prepare for jobs in the world of tech- and freelances helping organisations and individuals with powerful visual decks.

So excited to get cracking with this latest episode- we hope you enjoy!

You can connect with Han on LinkedIn, and I've also included a link to her fabulous podcast in the notes above.

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children and a sales professional, who is about to begin a new chapter in her sales career (all to be revealed after Easter!). Her tech career spans 13 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, walk along her local beach or participate in a silent disco there, and head to the theatre.

Connect with Alicia on ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ and at ⁠⁠⁠⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Instagram.

When I started at Supermetrics, I was fortunate to spend 4 days of 1:1 time with Noora in Melbourne, which was one of the highlights of my career in recent memory. Noora, along with being an incredible sales leader, is the most successful salesperson that Supermetrics has ever had to date. From putting herself forward for a role that there wasn’t headcount for just yet, to spending hours on end practicing her English, Noora’s tenacity and her ambition are just some of the qualities that so many admire about her.

During our chat, we cover the following topics (and much more!)

*The power of manifestation, goals and changing your mindset

*How the small things in life are actually the big things, and bringing appreciation into every day

*That persistence, hard work and resilience are the perfect combination to achieve your goals.

I’m thrilled to welcome one of my role models, Noora Laitinen, to the conversation!

About Noora Laitinen

Originally from Finland, she’s been calling Singapore home for the past 1.5 years- she moved there with her dog, to set up the JAPAC Sales team for the Finnish Martech Company, Supermetrics. She is currently Senior Sales Manager for the JAPAC region.

During her 5 year tenure, the business has grown from 7M ARR to almost 60M ARR and the sales team has grown from 5 people to 120 people. It has enabled amazing career growth opportunities as well as tons of valuable learnings for her.

She love building things from scratch - you get to be creative and bold, and the progress is clear to see and measure...and you will never have a quiet or boring day.

Connect with Noora on LinkedIn

An insightful interview with Noora with the APAC Women in Tech Sales initiative run by Salient Group.

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children and a sales professional. Her tech career spans 13 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, walk along her local beach or participate in a silent disco there, and head to the theatre.

Connect with Alicia on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ and at ⁠⁠⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠⁠⁠ on Instagram.

Ten episodes already! Not sure how that happened, but I have loved every minute of putting this podcast together.

And I’m doing something a little different to kick off the new year and to stay true to the purpose of this podcast. I want to use this podcast as a platform for kick-arse women in technology to share their triumphs and challenges, their career journeys, their words of wisdom and what truly inspires them in work and life. But I also feel inspired at times to use my voice in the hope that it might be able to spark a little flame inside someone else, or support them in their own journey.

This week’s episode is a mini one, and the topic is something that’s very close to my heart. A reflection on the lessons I’ve learned, and will be taking with me into 2024, as a working mother. It’s not a conversation this week, but a solo episode (getting me a little out of my comfort zone! I’m here for it!)

Whilst sharing of my personal experience is largely focused on my profession, it’s not unique to technology sales whatsoever.

I share in the hope that even one person will feel seen, and confident to take some different approaches in the new year as a working parent, or indeed when they return to work from parental leave.

Did this resonate? Would you like to hear more solo episodes on different topics in the future. All feedback is welcome!

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children and a sales professional. Her tech career spans 13 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, walk along her local beach or participate in a silent disco there, and head to the theatre.

Connect with Alicia on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and at ⁠⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠⁠ on Instagram.

Happy New Year! Can you feel the energy shift? I am personally really excited for 2024. And I'm thrilled to kick off the year with a very special guest on the podcast, the incredible Heather Bell.

This is a really special episode. A former VP of sales, Heather is a sales coach, mentor, and facilitator of the Top Software Sales Performer Program for Women. Her specialisation is working with women in sales roles who may have significant financial goals , but may need support with confidence, or an area of their sales skill, in order to get there.

During the conversation, we discuss-

*Why introverts and specifically, female introverts, are the best sellers.

*How a layoff can actually be a gift, propelling you into fulfilling your true purposes and a journey in entrepreneurship.

*A 2024 Prediction- LinkedIn and Social Selling will be crucial to the success of sellers. No more “spray and pray” emails! Look out world! And- you don’t have to have 10,000 followers or post daily to see results. Just take that first step!

*The impact of creating community on the success of women. And how this is crucial to Heather’s coaching program and

*The importance of being yourself and removing that tough exterior. We are not machines, it’s ok to be an emotional person, it’s part of being human.

And that's the half of it!

I'm so grateful to Heather for her contribution and we hope you enjoy our chat on the first episode for 2024 of "Holding Space for Unicorns"

About Heather Bell

A sales professional of 25+ years in the industry, Heather worked her way up to be a VP of Sales and Channel Sales for large companies.

Along the way, Heather made President's Club every year it was available to her, sold into every single market globally, and had multi-6 figures and 7-figure earning years.

Despite this crazy success, she struggled with confidence and self-esteem as a seller, mental health issues, alcoholism, and questioning her ability in sales.

She never felt like she had a system she could rely on so she always worried she just "got lucky".

She finally figured it out and developed a system to work on her craft as a seller while making sure she hit her personal goals EVERY YEAR - all while getting her life and mental health back.

Her mission is to help other women get to their personal income goals so they can live a life that makes them happy and give themselves choices outside of sales.

She wants to use her passion and energy to help women hit not just their quota, but their dream income to help them learn to feel confident in their craft and to build an income that lets them make choices around being happy instead of being stressed out.

Connect with Heather on Linkedin and view her website at https://thisisheatherbell.com/

About Alicia Payne

Alicia is a mother of two young children and a sales professional. Her tech career spans 13 years across channel and direct sales, working for Australian and Global organisations where she has grown and thrived. Alicia loves working in high growth organisations in scaling teams, and helping customers solve their business challenges with best in class technologies.

Prior to working in technology sales, Alicia graduated with a Master of Music from Monash University, performed with Victorian Opera in their chorus and taught Vocal Studies at several independent schools in Melbourne.

Connection is one of her greatest values and her passion is empowering others to find their voice through the sharing of stories, hence the creation of this podcast. When not working, mothering or interviewing inspiring women, Alicia loves to read, travel, walk along her local beach or participate in a silent disco there, and head to the theatre.

Connect with Alicia on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and at ⁠@holdingspaceforunicorns⁠ on Instagram.