‍

Did you know: whilst you’re applying for our first ever intake of Startmate Collective, our Startmate Collective - Leaders membership has already kicked off and is alive and thriving?

‍

Arguably the most valuable part of these memberships are the insanely talented people you get to become friends with. 

‍

So we wanted to introduce you to a few of these women to give you a little taste of what (and who) is to come when you join the Collective.

‍

Before we do, I have a ⏰ very important reminder ⏰ that applications close in less than a week!! Please make sure you finish your application here by X date so that you don’t miss out.

‍

So - let’s meet some Startmate Collective women!

‍

‍

Estelle, tell us a little bit about your career so far.

I joined Eucalyptus two and a half years ago and have scaled operations across last-mile delivery and fulfilment during hyper growth phases. Before Euc, I worked in operational and service design roles at Apple, Qantas, and CBA. I'm really enjoying building and scaling teams and functions, so I don't see myself leaving the startup space anytime soon!

‍

What's your role now?

I currently lead Customer Experience (CX) at Eucalyptus, managing a cross-border team of 50+ people. At the moment the business is navigating how to take a patient-first approach to medication that is in a global supply shortage - this is resulting in constant change in the patient experience. 

‍

Leading a team through volatility and immense change has been a significant leadership development opportunity. We're now focused on transforming the patient experience by integrating an AI workforce alongside our human team to scale support while maintaining quality and efficiency.

‍

Why did you apply to join Startmate Collective?

“Two reasons: 

1. I love the social-neurology concept "You're the average of the people you spend the most time with". I'm acutely aware that the people I surround myself with greatly influence my thoughts and actions. Connecting, jamming and learning from other Startmate Collective, will undoubtedly shape my leadership, and more broadly, who I am as a person, in positive ways. 

‍

2. I've thought a lot about 'what's my why' when it comes to leadership. For me, it's about growing my sphere of influence and learning how to improve my 'multiplier effect' as a leader. I see big synergies between my leadership purpose and that of the Startmate Collective comrades - "driven to grow, learn and build each other up", and hope through this program I'll improve my ability to grow and develop those around me.” 

‍

‍

Hannah, what’s your role now and how’d you get there?

Currently, I'm leading the People Team for Akaysha Energy, a renewable energy business going through a massive growth phase. We're on a mission to accelerate the energy transition in a bid to combat climate change - a cause close to my heart. 

‍

Prior to my current role I spent 6 years as the Chief People Officer at Ento.com, a SaaS HR platform, before a successful exit in 2022. I am a builder of systems, processes, businesses and culture. I love being a part of high growth/ high impact businesses and working with super smart and inspirational people. 

‍

What's been the best part of Startmate Collective so far?

Startmate Collective has reminded and reinforced for me the value in creating time to pause and actively think and reflect before choosing a course of action. This is a lesson I'm working to integrate more and more into my everyday decision making. 

‍

‍

Ruby, tell us a bit about how you ended up as Head of Ops at Aquila.

A renewables and systems engineer by background, I spent my uni years building and racing solar cars. I've loved the startup ecosystem since being part of the Startmate Student Fellowship and then ending up in the Blackbird Giants program with a startup tackling subconscious gender bias.  

‍

After a few years doing renewable development in wind and solar I recognised that the problem of energy and grid was where I wanted to direct my focus and joined Aquila - a deep tech startup developing long range, wireless energy transmission - as part of the first hiring round as Head of Operations. 

‍

Tell us about the best part of Startmate Collective 

The women (of course). But in particular the way that the cohort is structured means that you have long term ongoing wisdom to tap into. This isn’t a one and done this is a slow burn development of all things you never knew you needed. The course is run with such a light hand on the tiller but with a lot of thought - it almost feels like a book club for very directed learning.

‍