I never set out to have a career in tech.
I’ve always been a lover of new tech and the promise of the future - from learning to play the keyboard from magnetic cards triggering lights flashing above the notes, through to discovering ICQ in the mid-90s and chatting with people from around the world.
I started on a pathway of creation - writing, radio, music - but was instead drawn into decoding how best to use tech for telling stories and creating an impact with audiences. Along the way I've introduced new people to classical music through Tumblr memes, created online learning modules 20 years before covid, made YouTube creator videos at a historic house in 2008, and helped reach millions of young people on TikTok through stories of science and art. From education to museums and media, every role I’ve taken has been about how we can use new technology to better serve an audience, first via websites, then social and apps.
The next tech disruption, AI, feels a little different. It’s moving fast and it touches every role and level of an organisation, bringing with it promise and risk.
Five years ago I put AI on the agenda at the ABC with research and early pilots to introduce the power of this technology to key senior leaders and journalists. What followed was an innovation roadmap, a governance foundation and a cross-disciplinary working group. Critical to this work wasn’t an ability to predict the future, but knowing what questions to ask and what people to have in the room. For any business at any stage of the journey, working out what to do next isn’t so different from past innovations, but it does require understanding the tech capability and being able to reimagine your brand and your audience in a new space.
Whether you’re excited or overwhelmed by AI, let's not start by talking about the tech; let's start by talking about what you want to do for humans. What does your business offer humans - the audiences, the citizens, the clients, the customers - and how can AI support that? With that foundation, I can help you adopt new technologies, including AI, in ways that align with your mission and strategy, not just for tomorrow but for years to come.
I work with executive teams in media, arts, culture and government, and any organisation where AI adoption is complex. I also stay in touch with my human side through regular bike rides and beach swims, blissfully free of algorithms.
So that’s my story. What’s yours?
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