🔍 What You’ll Learn:

Most STEM professionals don’t lack capability. They lack translation.

This short fire chat cuts straight through the common beliefs that keep people stuck in roles that don’t reflect what they’re actually capable of doing.

• Why “I’m just a scientist” is a dangerous story to keep telling yourself
• What working smart actually looks like when time and money are on the line
• How to define what “good enough” is, so you stop waiting and start moving

This is the shift from technical expert to someone who can shape opportunities, not just respond to them.

If you’re tired of waiting until you feel “ready,” play this episode and challenge the beliefs keeping you stuck.

🧠 About the Guest:

Ben Wright is a MedTech investor and operator who works with clinicians and scientists to build real companies, not just ideas.

As co-founder of Mimetic MedTech Foundry, he helps translate research into viable businesses by bringing in the right skills, structure, and strategy early on.

His perspective is grounded in reality, what actually works when money, time, and risk are involved.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 The beliefs that quietly hold STEM professionals back

01:30 What a venture studio actually does differently

03:30 Why “I’m just a scientist” limits your career

04:30 The two key skills scientists need outside the lab: storytelling and customer understanding

05:50 What working smart actually means in startups

06:40 Why “perfect” is the wrong goal in the real world

07:40 How to define what’s good enough to move forward

08:30 The real cost of starting something, time, relationships, and risk

10:00 Why clarity on your path matters more than jumping into a startup

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• 🎧 Full Interview with Ben Wright https://shows.acast.com/multiple-hats/episodes/69ce18e3057b5949959db955
• (Deep dive into MedTech, strategy, and why great technologies fail)
• Mimetic MedTech Foundry

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What belief about your role or identity is quietly keeping you playing small?
2. Where are you waiting for “perfect” when “good enough” would already move you forward?
3. If you looked at your career like a system, what skill or gap would you fill next instead of pushing harder?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

If you’ve ever thought “build a great technology and the rest will follow,” this episode will challenge that fast. Because in healthcare, the system decides what survives, not just the science.

This conversation breaks down what actually makes or kills a MedTech company, and what you need to understand if you want to move from technical expertise to real-world impact.

• Why clinical workflow, incentives, and reimbursement matter more than your innovation
• The “value triangle” every MedTech product must satisfy to survive
• How to stop trying to be everything in a startup, and build the right team early

This is where a STEM career shifts from “doing the work” to understanding how the system works, and how to influence it.

If you want to think like a strategist, not just a scientist, play this episode and start seeing where great ideas actually fail.

🧠 About the Guest:

Ben Wright is a MedTech investor, advisor, and co-founder of Mimetic MedTech Foundry.

He started in biological sciences and hand transplant research, then moved into the business side after seeing firsthand that great technology alone doesn’t guarantee success.

Today, he works at the intersection of science, clinical practice, and business, helping turn early-stage ideas into viable companies by building the right structure around them.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why great medical technologies fail despite strong science

03:00 From researcher to startup builder, the first reality check

06:30 Why accelerators don’t prepare founders for real MedTech timelines

10:00 Should scientific founders be CEOs?

14:00 The “value triangle”: clinical outcome, convenience, cost

18:00 The oral chemotherapy example, when incentives block better care

21:00 Why human behavior and workflow kill adoption

24:00 When better tech loses to incumbent business models

28:00 True disruption, and why it’s harder than you think

33:00 Why Australia struggles to fund MedTech innovation

38:00 What a venture studio actually does differently

46:00 A real MedTech failure story, and what it teaches about risk

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• 🎧 Quick Fire Chat with Ben Wright
• https://shows.acast.com/multiple-hats/episodes/69ad4b747036d73902764808
• Mimetic MedTech Foundry
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. Where are you focusing only on the “technology” in your work, and ignoring the system it needs to fit into?
2. If you stepped back, what part of your work is actually about influence, not execution?
3. What would change if you stopped trying to do everything yourself and built around your strengths instead?

This episode is a reality check.

Not to discourage you, but to show you where the real leverage is.

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The episode of Multiple Hats, released for International Women’s Day 2024, revisits a recorded interview with aeronautical engineer Cassie Leonard, who spent 16 years at Boeing after entering a 35-man team as the only woman. Cassie describes her path from aerospace study at UCLA to persistence in applying to Boeing, early intimidation, and career growth through frequent internal “bounces” that stretched her technically and as a leader, supported by an organic network of mentors and advocates. She recounts a difficult double-stretch role during her mother’s stage-four brain cancer diagnosis and how her network helped her recover by finding a new position. Cassie explains leaving Boeing methodically to focus on developing early leaders and supporting STEM parents, self-publishing her book STEM Mum, starting Elm Coaching and Publishing, learning marketing, redefining success beyond paycheck, and aiming to amplify underrepresented voices in STEM.

00:00 Only Woman at Boeing

01:41 Meet Cassie Leonard

03:29 Engineering Roots and Role Models

04:38 What Aerospace Engineers Do

06:30 Culture Shock in Engineering Classes

08:14 Landing Boeing Through Persistence

09:55 Finding Your Voice on the Team

11:23 Career Growth in Two Dimensions

14:44 Support Networks as Safety Nets

17:38 When Life Forces a Reset

21:07 Why She Left After 16 Years

22:50 Motherhood in a Male Workplace

27:13 Building a Methodical Exit Plan

29:18 From Pro Bono Coaching to Business

30:50 Yoga Detour and Finding a Niche

32:54 Marketing Through Community and Boards

34:11 Book Framework Origins

35:00 Science Mindset Coaching

37:12 Whole Life Career Stories

37:54 Holistic Planning YOLO

39:39 Writing Editing Timeline

40:26 Self Publishing Elm Press

42:32 Money Mindset Metrics

46:36 Building Business Systems

48:07 Pricing Coaching Services

50:10 Marketing Website Authenticity

54:31 Targeted Volunteering Myths

56:53 Presenteeism Performance Debate

01:01:39 Redefining Work Life Balance

01:04:02 No Going Back

01:04:23 Inspiration Book Song

01:05:28 Final Takeaways Village

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode will put words on what many women in STEM feel but have not articulated.

The podcast episode critiques performative International Women’s Day gestures and focuses on lived experiences behind why women leave STEM, featuring three co-authors of the collaborative book Beyond the Pipeline: Cassie Leonard, Associate Professor Jessica Borger, and Dr. Belinda Bartolo.

The 3 authors represent 3 paths within the STEM sector, pivoting and staying to change the system from within.

Host Angelique shares her own career pivots and ongoing struggles with high expectations and fatigue, while the guests describe identity shifts, loss of joy, and turning points that led them to stay and advocate within systems or pivot into new paths.

They discuss systemic drivers of attrition—burnout, feeling undervalued/imposter syndrome, and bias—illustrating bias through examples tied to motherhood and career interruptions, as well as bias toward non-parents.

The conversation covers boundaries, redefining success, portfolio careers, four types of burnout, and advocacy that is collective and non-performative, including allies’ roles and examples of media-driven national-level change during the pandemic.

00:00 IWD Hype vs Reality

01:16 Meet the Authors

01:44 Host Story and Stakes

03:22 Jess Finds Her Voice

06:04 Filters and Advocacy

07:30 Belinda Loses the Joy

11:25 Cassie Pressured Out

14:07 Boundaries and Glass Balls

18:34 Portfolio Careers in STEM

21:15 Why Women Leave STEM

23:29 Bias Stories and Language

29:03 Motherhood And Imposter Syndrome

30:45 Fixing Parental Leave Systems

32:34 Bias Against Childfree Workers

34:21 Finding The Right Workplace Fit

36:13 Career Visibility For Students

37:20 Four Types Of Burnout

42:01 Breaking The Busy Culture

43:56 Advocacy Without Performative Gestures

47:22 Allies Speaking Up Effectively

50:16 Pandemic Anger To National Change

52:38 How Media Advocacy Snowballed

53:37 Final Takeaways

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The episode of Multiple Hats, hosted by Angelique, addresses why women leave STEM,.

Citing a global survey where 50% leave due to burnout and lack of support, 40% for greater fulfillment, and 30% because of bias in career advancement, the authors of beyond the pipeline argue that the real challenge is retention rather than recruitment.

The host introduces a three-episode series on the “leaky pipeline” with authors of Beyond the Pipeline, a collaborative book carrying insights from 25 women in STEM worldwide and grounded in lived experience.

Guest Cassie Leonard, an aerospace engineer who left a senior management role at Boeing, discusses her identity shift in decoupling self-worth from paycheck and title, her FIRE-based financial choices, and how the book rejects the outdated pipeline metaphor in favor of a Rubik’s-cube model of complex, non-linear careers, organizing chapters around values/thriving, drivers of attrition, and solutions, and building an ongoing community via LinkedIn and Slack.

00:00 Why Women Leave STEM

00:46 Beyond Cupcakes Real Support

01:24 Series And Guest Preview

03:25 Meet Cassie Leonard

03:50 Why Write Beyond Pipeline

05:15 Rethinking Leaky Pipeline

06:54 Leaving Boeing Identity Shift

09:05 Redefining Success And Money

12:29 How 25 Authors Wrote Together

16:56 From Pipeline To Rubiks Cube

18:48 Community And Book Tour

20:01 Biggest Attrition Factor Bias

21:26 Ideal Worker Parent Paradox

24:17 Closing Takeaways Next Episode

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why job descriptions are narrow by design, and how to read between the lines to shape a bigger role.

This is my takeaway episode from my interview with Catherine O’Mahony, the founder of OnQ Recruitment (Recruitment in Life Sciences).

If you are delivering well but still feel boxed in, is the problem really you, or the way roles are designed?

Either way there are ways to expand!

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

This Quick Win episode is for STEM professionals who are no longer struggling with competence, but with scope. You know how to do the job. You meet the criteria. Yet the work feels too narrow, and the frustration keeps growing.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why job descriptions are written narrowly, and why that does not automatically mean the role will stay narrow
• How ownership, vision, and visibility change what is possible inside a role
• When to shape breadth where you are, when to change environments, and when entrepreneurship becomes the right answer

Action:

Press play if you want a practical way to stop fighting job descriptions and start using them as an entry point instead of a ceiling.

🧠 About the Guest:

Catherine O’Mahony is the CEO and founder of OnQ Recruitment. With over 25 years hiring across the life sciences, Catherine brings a hiring-side view on why roles are designed the way they are, where flexibility really exists, and how careers actually move forward in real organisations.

This Quick Win episode is drawn from the full-length Multiple Hats conversation with Catherine, where we go deeper into beyond-the-box careers, hiring risk, salary transparency, advocates, and entrepreneurship.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 When competence is no longer the problem

01:30 Why job descriptions optimise for delivery, not vision

03:00 Ownership, why your career is not your line manager’s job

05:30 Vision and visibility, seeing opportunities and being seen

08:30 Advocates vs mentors, who actually opens doors

11:30 Reading between the lines of narrow job descriptions

14:00 De-risking yourself, depth first, breadth second

17:00 Where breadth is structurally possible, small vs big companies

21:30 Portfolio careers and not asking one job to meet every need

24:00 When entrepreneurship becomes the answer

29:00 The real signal behind feeling boxed in

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Full interview episode with Catherine O’Mahony on Multiple Hats
• OnQ Recruitment Salary Survey – https://www.onqrecruitment.com.au
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. Where do you currently feel boxed in, and what capability of yours is going unused?
2. Are you waiting for permission to grow, or actively shaping visibility and advocates?
3. If this role cannot stretch further, is the next move redesigning it, changing environment, or building something of your own?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the real thing holding your STEM career back is not your skills, but the story you keep telling yourself?

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

This short Fire Chat is for STEM professionals who know they have more range than their current role allows, but keep hitting the same mental brakes. In a fast, no-fluff format, we tackle the beliefs that quietly stall momentum.

You will learn:

• Why “I’m just a scientist” is one of the most limiting stories STEM professionals repeat, and what actually transfers across roles and industries
• How to tell when perfection matters, and when it is just procrastination in disguise
• Why waiting until you have more time, money, or certainty is still a decision, and often the riskiest one

Action:

Press play if you want a sharp reset on how to stop overthinking and start moving with what you already have.

🧠 About the Guest:

Catherine O’Mahony is the CEO and founder of OnQ Recruitment. With 25 years of experience hiring across the life sciences, Catherine has seen firsthand why capable STEM professionals underestimate their value, and what actually helps people break out of narrow career lanes.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 The self-limiting beliefs STEM professionals carry

01:10 Why science skills transfer further than you think

02:40 Analytical thinking, process discipline, and communication as hidden strengths

03:30 Working smart vs working hard, and when to stop doing everything yourself

04:40 Done vs perfect, how to judge what “good enough” really means

05:30 Will your work speak for itself, or do you need to advocate?

06:40 The first step, de-risking action and why inaction is still a choice

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• OnQ Recruitment – https://www.onqrecruitment.com.au
• Full interview episode with Catherine O’Mahony on Multiple Hats
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. Which excuse do you default to most often, time, money, skill, or certainty?
2. Where are you aiming for perfect when acceptable would be enough to move forward?
3. If not acting is still a decision, what is that decision costing you right now?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

If you are a STEM professional who has done everything right but feels stuck in a narrow lane, this episode is for you.

We unpack the dynamics shaping recruitment and job seeking and how you can find breadth beyond the job description and when to build your own box with insights from Catherine's own founder journey.

You will learn:

• What actually makes a STEM candidate stand out beyond the job description, and why EQ, delivery, and motivation matter more than endless upskilling
• Why most companies hire you to stay in your lane, and how to deliberately create breadth without burning trust or credibility
• How to take ownership of your career, whether that is shaping a role internally, choosing the right company size, or stepping into entrepreneurship

Hit play if you want practical, grounded advice on how to design a STEM career that fits your life, not just your CV.

This episode was recorded in July 2025 but Catherine's word are as relevant today as they were a few months back.

🧠 About the Guest:

Catherine O’Mahony is the CEO and founder of OnQ Recruitment, which she started 25 years ago. With a background in science and decades of experience placing talent across the life sciences, Catherine brings a rare dual perspective, how careers are built inside organisations, and how creating your own business can be a deliberate career move rather than a leap into chaos.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why high-performing STEM professionals still feel underused

03:45 How STEM recruitment has changed since 1999, from fax machines to LinkedIn

07:00 What makes a stellar candidate beyond technical skills

10:41 Learning fast vs delivering value, where many STEM professionals trip up

15:00 Employer value proposition, power shifts after COVID, and what changed back

22:00 Salary transparency, equity, and what the data really shows in life sciences

27:40 Why women are still underrepresented at the top, and the role of advocates

32:10 Beyond the job description, breadth vs depth and choosing the right company size

38:00 Why career ownership is not your manager’s job

45:00 Catherine’s founder story, the real first step to starting a business

52:00 Rapid-fire truths on transferable skills, perfectionism, and taking action

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• OnQ Recruitment Salary Survey – https://www.onqrecruitment.com.au
• Company Directors Course (AICD) – https://aicd.com.au

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. Where in your current role are you delivering value, and where are you quietly bored but staying silent?
2. Do you want more depth, more breadth, or more control, and which environment actually supports that?
3. What is one conversation or small action you could take this month to stop waiting and start shaping your path?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

if you're looking for a podcast to find your vision and make it happen, that's for you.

In the inaugural 2026 episode of Multiple Hats, host Angelique Greco reintroduces the podcast dedicated to STEM professionals who seek to reshape their careers and find meaningful work. Angelique highlights her journey and the essence of the show—monthly unscripted interviews with science professionals who have engineered their careers to match their vision.

Listeners gain insights into starting businesses, handling self-doubt, and redefining roles.

The episode also touches on personal branding and thought leadership as crucial tools.

Packed with inspiring stories of innovation and perseverance, this podcast encourages professionals to think outside the box and create their own paths.

00:00 Welcome to Multiple Huts in 2026

00:29 What This Podcast is All About

02:20 Angelique's Personal Journey

04:13 The Power of Unscripted Interviews

06:08 Inspiring Stories of Career Reinvention

08:27 Special Series and Final Thoughts

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A 20-year survival story of near-death science, offshore funding, and final impact.

🔍 What You’ll Learn

If you want a real look at how drug development and STEM careers work behind the scenes, this episode gives you the straight version, not the polished one.

You’ll learn:

• Why drugs are designed, not discovered, and what that means for your STEM career choices

• Why starting with a strong target matters more than starting with an indication

• How the financial crisis and investment landscape pushed this Australian project offshore

• Why Momelotinib survived multiple handovers when it could have died at any stage

• What it takes to grow from lab scientist to CEO, and the people you need around you

Press play to hear the real story behind a drug that survived science hurdles, funding shocks, and corporate chaos to finally reach patients.

🧠 About the Guest

Dr Chris Burns is the CEO and Managing Director of AmpliaTherapeutics. He is one of the few scientists who has watched a drug he helped design reach FDA approval. While he was heading Cytopia, Chris co-led the creation of Momelotinib, a JAK2 inhibitor approved for myelofibrosis in 2023 after two decades of stops, starts, handovers, and near-failures.

📌 Episode Highlights

00:00 Why very few scientists see their work reach patients

02:00 Designed, not discovered: the truth about drug creation

05:10 The creativity behind medicinal chemistry

08:15 How Momelotinib got its name

09:45 Preclinical wins, metabolic failures, and early near-death moments

12:00 The JAK2 discovery that shifted the entire program

15:20 Running across lily pads: designing drugs at the edge of knowledge

17:45 The metabolic wall that nearly killed the compound

20:00 Entering the clinical valley of death

21:10 The handover chain: Cytopia → YM Bioscience → Gilead → Sierra → GSK

27:00 Why Australian innovation keeps leaving the country

29:30 Practical funding advice for early biotechs

32:00 Winning the Prime Minister’s Prize

33:00 From scientist to CEO, step by step

36:00 The leadership habits that matter most

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Ampio Therapeutics

• Momelotinib FDA approval

• Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation

• JAK2 mutation discovery

• Cytopia historical research

(If you want direct links added, send them through.)

🤔 Reflection Time

1. Which part of your own work would survive longer if you treated it like a design process instead of waiting for inspiration?
2. What’s one area in your STEM career where timing, allies, or better funding could shift everything?
3. If your work went through four handovers, what would keep it alive?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn from drug development expert Angelique Greco and medtech-biotech founders and investors with tangible examples that show how real de-risking plays out.

🔍 What You’ll Learn

Drug discovery feels like a maze when you're early in your career, especially when you're trying to build a biotech path without wasting years or cash. This episode gives you a clear way to turn solid science into something fundable.

You’ll learn:

• Where to find real support, from incubators to honest VC advice

• Why early commercial input matters and how to fix your market slide

• How smart entry points like animal health or adjacent indications de-risk your program and boost your funding chances

Action: Press play if you want 20 minutes that cut months of guesswork.

🧠 About the Guest

This episode brings insights from ShanShan Wang (RoamTech AI), Anushi Rajapaksa (Misti), Maryam Parviz (SDIP Innovations), Mike Lamprecht (Tenmile), and Ben Wright (Mimetic MedTech Foundry) on how founders can derisk and resource their team.

Plus why you do not always need an indication at the start, with lessons from Dr Chris Burns, whose team discovered Momelotinib in Australia before its FDA approval.

📌 Episode Highlights

00:00 Why de-risking matters for early biotech founders

00:20 Two angles: advice and smarter indication choices

01:00 How drug discovery fits a STEM entrepreneur path

01:40 Upskilling vs burning cash and time

02:10 Three pillars: compass, investors, venture studios

Roadmap & Upskilling

03:00 The value of a commercialization roadmap

03:45 Han Wang on first seeing the map

04:30 Anushi Rajapaksa on IP, regulatory and evolving the plan

06:00 Where to find training, Bridge program, NSW program

07:00 Why programs matter for network and support

08:00 Maryam Parviz on global doors opening

09:30 What you cannot Google: real conversations

10:30 How informal mentoring happens

11:00 Using tech transfer offices even if you're external

Investor Advice

12:00 Why VC advice matters before fundraising

13:00 Mike Lamprecht on critical early experiments

14:00 What a realistic market conversation looks like

Bridging Your Gaps

15:00 When to stop upskilling and bring experts

15:40 Ben Wright on scaling support instead of solo learning

16:00 How investors view founders who learn on the job

17:00 How venture studios derisk early biotech and medtech

18:00 Why structure and clinical champions matter

Success Exists

18:45 Momelotinib as a real success story

19:10 When starting with the molecule works

20:00 Dr Chris Burns: from discovery to 2023 approval

Smarter Entry Points

22:00 Why some programs need a side door

22:30 What to check before picking an entry point

23:00 Ivermectin from livestock to humans

24:30 Ketamine and S-ketamine into severe depression

26:00 How new IP opened new paths

26:40 The semaglutide pivot

Final Takeaways

27:00 Do not do it alone

27:15 Get advice early, including from VC

27:30 Philanthropy can be a real path

27:45 Be realistic and optimistic, success exists

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ve got strong data and maybe even a breakthrough idea, but can you convince an investor or pharma partner that it’s worth their millions?

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

In this second part of the Drug Discovery Roadmap series, we move from the bench to the boardroom.

If you’re a STEM researcher or biotech founder wondering what turns great science into an investible opportunity, this episode unpacks it straight from investors, pharma veterans, and researchers who’ve been through the process.

You’ll learn:

• How to pitch your science to investors — what to include, what to leave out, and how to get a second meeting.

• Why a realistic, conservative market size matters more than billion-dollar dreams.

• The smart ways to de-risk your project — from alternate indications to veterinary and agricultural applications.

🎯 Play this episode to learn how to make your science fundable and credible in the eyes of those who write the cheques.

🧠 About the Guests:

Recorded live at the 2025 ARCS Drug Discovery Forum, this episode features insights from industry investors and researchers who’ve lived the highs and lows of drug translation:

• Mike Lamprecht, Investment Manager at Tenmile, on what catches his eye in a biotech pitch (and what sends red flags).
• Dr Wolfgang Jarolimek, Head of Drug Discovery at Syntara, on why you should never bet everything on one indication.
• Dr Daniel Beard, Founder and CSO of Shearflow, on how feedback from the Forum reshaped his strategy for stroke therapy.
• Tim Boyle, CEO of ARCS Australia, on why collaboration and “asking the right questions early” are key to commercial success.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Welcome back — what makes a project investible

02:00 Tim Boyle on building the bridge between research and industry

03:45 The number one startup killer: running out of capital

04:00 Mike Lamprecht on how to pitch science to investors

06:00 Market size myths — why “$10B market” slides backfire

08:00 The antibiotic paradox: when life-saving drugs still fail commercially

10:00 Diagnostics, payers, and the hidden gap between science and buyers

11:00 Daniel Beard on differentiating his stroke therapy

14:00 How to reframe your science for clarity and investor appeal

16:00 What clinicians need to see before trials

17:00 De-risking your project: alternate indications and sectors

19:00 The case for parallel applications — human, veterinary, agriculture

20:00 Why every biotech needs backup plans

21:00 Closing takeaways: the intersection of science, strategy, and story

♻️ Share this episode with researchers and biotech scientists and anyone trying to get their science to market.

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

If you’re a STEM researcher, biotech founder, or academic thinking about commercialising your work, this episode breaks down the unseen steps between great science and a viable medicine.

You’ll learn:

• Why promising discoveries often fail — and how to spot the strategic blind spots early.

• How to define your target product profile and use it to align experiments, reduce risk, and attract funding.

• The “adjacent” essentials that make or break translation: IP timing, manufacturing readiness, and regulatory strategy.

🎯 Hit play to learn what investors, regulators, and industry partners really want to see before backing your science.

🧠 About the Guests:

This episode features insights from the 2025 ARCS Drug Discovery Forum, where early-stage researchers pitched their projects to a panel of industry veterans and investors.

You’ll hear from:

• Tim Boyle, CEO of ARCS Australia, on why upskilling and connection across the ecosystem are critical for success.
• Dr Wolfgang Jarolimek, Head of Drug Discovery at Syntara, on the importance of early pharmacokinetics and target engagement.
• Mike Lamprecht, Investment Manager at Tenmile, on designing “fail fast” experiments that protect capital and credibility.
• Dr Pegah Varamini, University of Sydney, and Dr Daniel Beard, University of Newcastle, on the real-life questions and lessons from taking lab discoveries closer to market.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 From promising data to the maze of translation

02:15 Tim Boyle on why ARCS bridges research and industry

05:00 Why there’s no one-size-fits-all roadmap

08:00 Why “good science” isn’t enough for commercial success

10:00 The Target Product Profile — your map from lab to market

12:30 The art of “fail fast” and defining go/no-go experiments

13:45 The non-negotiables: pharmacokinetics and target engagement

16:00 When $500M fails: the Simtuzumab story

18:00 How Pegah Varamini prepared for investor questions

21:00 The GMP vs non-GMP debate — what founders should know

23:00 Parallel priorities: IP, formulation, and manufacturing

24:00 Key takeaways and what’s next in the series

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. If you had to define your Target Product Profile today, what would your “no-go” experiment look like?
2. Which adjacent area — IP, manufacturing, or regulatory — could derail your science if ignored too long?
3. Who do you need in your circle to ask the right questions before it’s too late?

♻️ share this episode with researcher and biotechs scientists.

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever felt stuck in a career box, unsure how to take the next step? What if the secret wasn’t a perfect plan — but contagious enthusiasm that opens doors you didn’t know existed?

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

If you’re a STEM professional ready to design your own career — not just follow the one written for you — this short episode breaks down five lessons from Australian engineer and entrepreneur Nina Hooper, who built an extraordinary journey from Harvard to mining the moon.

You’ll learn how to:

• Use enthusiasm as a catalyst to create life-changing opportunities — even without the “right” network or background.
• Let one step lead to the next, discovering that vision often emerges through motion, not planning.
• Build your own launchpad by testing ideas and learning through creation (even small projects count!).
• Work smarter, not harder, using AI and expert conversations to accelerate your learning and credibility.
• Share your story strategically, so opportunities and collaborators start finding you.
• 
  

🎧 Press play to discover how Nina turned curiosity into a global career — and how you can do the same starting this week.

👉 Listen to the full interview with Nina Hooper for her complete story from Harvard to lunar resources:

🔗 Full Episode — Multiple Hats

💡 Or tune into the 5-minute Quick Fire Chat version for actionable insights you can apply today:

🔗 Quick Fire Chat — Multiple Hats

🧠 About the Guest:

Nina Hooper is an Australian aerospace engineer and entrepreneur whose career spans Harvard, Stanford, venture capital, and her current role in business development at Interlune, a company developing technology to mine the moon for future energy resources. Passionate about creating opportunity through enthusiasm and initiative, Nina embodies how STEM professionals can design a career that’s anything but linear.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 — From curiosity to career: Why enthusiasm is gold

03:00 — How a cold outreach led to an internship with a Nobel Prize winner

07:00 — Vision emerges in motion: Why you don’t need the perfect plan

10:00 — Creating your own vision through entrepreneurship during COVID

13:00 — What running an ed-tech startup teaches you about sales, mindset & confidence

15:00 — Working smarter with AI and mentors

18:00 — The art of visibility: Why storytelling matters as much as hard work

19:00 — Reflection prompts for your own reinvention journey

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Interlune – https://interlune.space

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. How can you make your enthusiasm more visible this week so others feel compelled to help you?
2. What’s one small step you can take — without waiting for a perfect plan — to move toward your next opportunity?
3. How might you use AI or expert conversations to fill a skill gap faster and smarter?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

In just 10 minutes, Nina Hooper, astrophysicist turned entrepreneur and now business development director at Interlune, shows you how to reframe the beliefs that limit most STEM professionals. If you’re ready to stop playing small and start shaping your own career, this quickfire chat delivers clarity and motivation fast.

• Why your technical skills transfer further than you think — and which ones transfer best.
• How working smarter (and asking for help) beats grinding harder every time.
• Why visibility and storytelling matter more than letting your work “speak for itself.”
• How to move past perfectionism, analysis paralysis, and the myth that you need “all the resources” before you can start.

🎯 Press play for a mindset reset that could open your next big opportunity in STEM.

🧠 About the Guest:

Nina Hooper is an Australian aerospace engineer turned entrepreneur and investor. She has studied at Harvard and Stanford, launched startups, worked in venture capital, and is now Director of Business Development at Interlune, a company pioneering lunar resource extraction.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Busting STEM career myths in 10 minutes

01:00 Why technical skills transfer beyond academia

03:00 Working smarter vs. working harder

05:00 Getting past analysis paralysis and perfectionism

07:00 Do you really need more resources to start?

09:00 Why visibility matters more than “great work alone”

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Nina Hooper on LinkedIn
• Interlune – Lunar Resources Company
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. Which STEM career myth do you secretly believe — and what would shift if you dropped it?
2. Where could you work smarter by asking for help or using tools instead of grinding harder?
3. Who could you share your vision with this month to increase your visibility and attract new opportunities?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

If you’re a STEM professional who feels boxed in, Nina Hooper’s story shows how you can turn your own spark of curiosity into life-defining opportunities. From interning with a Nobel Prize winner to Harvard and Stanford, launching startups, and now helping build a company mining the moon, Nina reveals how to reinvent your career by standing out, stepping out, and showing up.

• Why enthusiasm is your unfair advantage: how showing up with energy makes you memorable and opens doors credentials alone can’t.
• How stepping out of your comfort zone to test your vision—even briefly—can accelerate your corporate or entrepreneurial career.
• Why visibility and connections matter more than great work alone, and how to use them to attract opportunities.
• Bonus Learning: How the future of energy may be powered by helium-3 and other resources extracted from the moon, with insights from Nina’s work at Interlune.

🎯 Press play to learn how to make your STEM background the launchpad for entrepreneurship, visibility, and influence.

🧠 About the Guest:

Nina Hooper is an Australian aerospace engineer turned entrepreneur and investor. From interning with Nobel Prize winner Brian Schmidt to studying at Harvard and Stanford, launching her own ventures, and working in venture capital, she’s now Director of Business Development at Interlune, a company pioneering lunar resource extraction. Nina is passionate about helping others see curiosity as a career driver and visibility as a catalyst for influence.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Curiosity as the spark for aerospace engineering

The promise of helium-3 and the future of lunar energy resources

04:15 How a Nobel Prize connection changed Nina’s trajectory

08:30 Why enthusiasm makes you stand out in STEM

13:45 From Harvard to NASA: chasing vision over comfort zones

20:10 Selling ideas with energy and conviction

25:50 Lessons from founding a STEM education startup

32:00 Flipping the script: moving into venture capital

37:45 Working smarter, not harder in STEM careers

42:00 Why visibility and storytelling matter more than great work alone

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Brian Schmidt – Nobel Prize in Physics
• Nina Hooper on LinkedIn
• Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Interlune – Lunar Resources Company
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. How could enthusiasm and energy make you stand out in your current STEM role?
2. What’s one step outside your comfort zone you could take to begin shaping your own vision?
3. Who could you connect with this month to increase your visibility and open new doors?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

Feeling underutilized, pigeonholed, or stuck in roles that no longer light you up is a common frustration for STEM professionals. The solution isn’t waiting for the perfect job ad — it’s owning your narrative. In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why you already have what it takes to be a thought leader (no TED stage required)
• How to increase your visibility so opportunities align with your ambition, not your old job description
• A simple 5-minute framework (plus AI prompt) to turn your expertise into consistent, value-led content
• 
  

🎯 By the end, you’ll have a repeatable way to share your perspective — without bragging or perfectionism holding you back.

👉 Action: Hit play to learn the 5-minute framework that will help you start posting, speaking, and showing up as a STEM thought leader today.

🧠 About the Guest:

Angélique Greco, is a biotech strategist and founder of Multiple Hats. Angélique equips STEM professionals with tools to reframe their expertise into thought leadership, helping them break free from pigeonholing and design careers that truly matter.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why STEM professionals feel boxed-in and underutilized

01:00 What thought leadership really is (and isn’t)

03:00 Why your work alone isn’t enough to open doors

05:00 How building a presence advocates for you 24/7

07:00 Everyday examples: meetings, networking, and even the school gate

09:00 The three lenses for picking your core topics

10:00 Angles for your message: best practices, frustrations, common questions, misinformation

11:00 Using AI to polish your first draft (without losing your voice)

12:00 Why consistency beats perfection

13:00 Step-by-step walkthrough of the 5-minute framework

15:00 How to post, tag, and start practicing visibility

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• 5-Minute Thought Leadership Framework (Free Guide) – includes examples and an AI prompt
• https://www.angeliquegreco.com.au/stem-starter-pack-5min-framework

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What’s one topic you want to be known for — and why does it matter to you?
2. Which angle feels easiest for you to start sharing: a best practice, a frustration, or a common misconception?
3. How could posting once about this help others see you differently — and connect you to more aligned opportunities?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

If you’ve ever felt uninspired by job ads, overlooked for projects, or disappointed by the opportunities that land on your desk, the problem isn’t your qualifications — it’s clarity. This episode helps STEM professionals shift from vague intros and stale job titles to intentional positioning that matches their ambition. You’ll discover:

• How to define what you really stand for, beyond your current role or resume
• A simple self-audit to check if your current pitch matches the opportunities you want
• How clarity makes you more referable, filters out the wrong work, and helps you attract the right collaborators
• 
  

🎯 By the end, you’ll know how to reframe your presence so others see you for what you want to achieve, not just what you’ve already done.

👉 Action: Tune in to learn how to run a quick brand audit and shift your pitch so people immediately recognize you for the career opportunities you actually want.

🧠 About the Host:

Angélique Greco, is a biotech strategist and founder of Multiple Hats. Drawing on her experience helping STEM professionals design work that reflects their full ambition, Angélique shares practical tools to move past pigeonholing and start showing up with clarity.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why you feel overlooked for meaningful opportunities

01:00 Why your presence hasn’t caught up with your ambition (yet)

03:00 The problem with introducing yourself by job title

04:00 The five elements of clarity: what you stand for, impact, vision, flow, and nightmare projects

05:30 Positioning as a magnet: attract aligned opportunities, gently repel mismatches

06:30 Quick brand audit: ambitions vs. your current pitch

08:00 The test: what would colleagues recommend you for blindly?

09:00 Clarity as the foundation of being seen, referred, and invited in

10:00 How to use AI prompts to refine your elevator pitch

11:00 What’s next: how to share without feeling like you’re bragging

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Fill this to get your free brand clarity call
• Brand Audit / Know Thyself Guide (PDF) – includes an AI prompt to refine your pitch

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. If your best friend asked, “What do you really want to achieve?” — what would you say?
2. Does your current pitch or job title reflect your future ambition, or anchor you in the past?
3. Who at work would recommend you blindly for a project — and would it be the project you actually want?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

As a STEM professional, you already sit on a wealth of insight. But without sharing your perspective, people won’t know how to connect with you or refer you to the projects that align with your passion.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How thought leadership can transform your career path — no stage, TED talk, or fame required
• Why good work is only a “ticket to play” and not enough to create meaningful opportunities
• Simple, actionable ways to start sharing your expertise so that opportunities begin finding you

🎯 This episode will help you move from quietly doing good work to actively shaping the conversations that open doors.

👉 Action: Press play to discover how to reframe thought leadership as a tool for career reinvention in STEM — and start shaping opportunities that truly matter to you.

🧠 About the Host:

Angélique Greco is a biotech strategist, portfolio careerist, and founder of Multiple Hats. She draws from years of interviewing STEM entrepreneurs and professionals who refused to be pigeonholed, showing you how to apply thought leadership to design a career on your terms.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why STEM professionals already have thought leadership material

02:15 The difference between opinions, research papers, and thought leadership

05:00 Why good work is only a “ticket to play”

07:30 The real reason opportunities aren’t finding you

09:00 Everyday moments that already count as thought leadership

11:00 Busting the biggest myths: it’s not about being famous or self-promoting

13:00 Leading with value and empathy instead of bragging

14:00 Easy first steps: comments, posts, and conversations

15:00 What’s coming next: positioning audit and clarity

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• 5-Minute Thought Leadership Framework (Free Download) https://www.angeliquegreco.com.au/stem-starter-pack-5min-framework

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What’s one belief or perspective you rarely say out loud — and could share today?
2. When did you last help someone see a problem from a different angle? How could you capture that as thought leadership?
3. Who outside your direct manager knows what you really want to achieve in your STEM career?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 This is a quick win episode where You’ll Learn:

If you’re a STEM professional with more than one passion (and more than one income stream), you don’t have to choose between them. This quick win episode will help you tie it all together so your career feels cohesive — and sustainable.

Here’s what you’ll take away from Dr. Chloe Lim’s portfolio career journey:

• How to find the common thread that unites all your professional hats.
• A simple way to communicate your brand without confusing your audience.
• Why outsourcing isn’t a luxury — it’s a growth strategy.
• 
  

🎯 Press play to discover how to build a connected, recognisable portfolio career while protecting your time and energy.

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Chloe Lim is a scientist turned portfolio career creator. After leaving academia, she built a multifaceted professional life — combining a government role as a regulatory scientist with a science education company, public speaking, a podcast, and even a balloon artistry business. Her secret? A unifying “glue” that ties it all together, plus the willingness to delegate.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 What a portfolio career really means (and what it’s not)

03:00 Finding the common thread in your work

04:00 How to tailor your message for different audiences without losing your story

06:00 The case for outsourcing before you hit capacity

07:00 “Who Not How” — the mindset shift from doing it all to finding the right help

09:00 Your next steps: define your glue, delegate your first task

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Full Interview with Dr. Chloe Lim
• Who Not How by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• This Working Life by Lisa Leong & Monique Ross

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What’s the “glue” that connects all your different roles and projects?
2. Which audience needs to hear each part of your story — and where do they hang out?
3. What’s one task you can delegate in the next 30 days to free yourself for higher-value work?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 That's a quick win episode from the full interview where you will learn:

If you’re a STEM professional feeling boxed in by your current role — or even pushed out of academia — this quick win episode will help you see why it’s not the end, but the beginning of your reinvention.

Here’s what you’ll take away from Dr. Chloe Lim’s story:

• How to reframe career setbacks as a launchpad for reinvention.
• Ways to identify and translate your transferable skills into entirely new roles.
• The mindset shift from waiting for opportunities to actively creating them.
• 
  

🎯 Press play to discover how your skills and experiences — even the ones you think are unrelated — can fuse into a career that’s uniquely yours. Your beautiful patchwork.

You can listne to the full interview: Full Interview with Dr. Chloe Lim

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Chloe Lim is a scientist turned multi-hyphenate professional. After leaving academia, she carved out a portfolio career spanning government work as a regulatory scientist, founding a science education company, writing children’s books, and running a balloon artistry business — all while mentoring women in STEM and raising three children.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why leaving academia can be your career launchpad

03:00 The motherhood factor — and the “woman brain drain” in STEM

05:00 From maternity leave setback to building multiple income streams

07:00 Transferable skills: your secret weapon in career change

09:00 Merging science, artistry, and storytelling for STEM education

11:00 Taking ownership: creating opportunities instead of waiting for them

14:00 Shifting mindset and conversations to attract the right work

you can listne to the full interview: Full Interview with Dr. Chloe Lim

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. Which of your current skills could be applied to a completely different role or industry?
2. If you weren’t afraid of starting over, what would you try?
3. What’s one bold action you can take this week to move toward the career you want?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn

If you’re a STEM professional feeling stuck, craving flexibility, or worried about job security, this episode is for you. Here’s what you’ll take away:

✅ Why one career path isn’t your only option—and how a portfolio career gives you more security and fulfillment.

✅ Practical ways to turn side passions into income streams, even if you’re starting small.

✅ The mindset shift to stop waiting for opportunities and start creating them, so you can build a career on your terms.

Hit play now—because your next big career move might not be a job, but a portfolio.

🧠 About the Guest

Dr. Chloe Lim is a scientist-turned-entrepreneur, founder of Twisty Science and Giggly Wiggly Balloons, author of the children’s book What Makes You Unique, and host of the Cloud Voices in STEM podcast. She’s passionate about STEM education, creativity, and mentoring women to design careers that truly fit their lives.

📌 Episode Highlights

00:00 Do you really want to bet everything on one job?

02:10 From epigenetics research to balloon twisting (yes, really!)

06:45 The trigger that pushed Chloe out of academia

10:55 Transitioning into government work, why it matters and the transferable skills

17:20 Starting businesses without burning out: Chloe’s approach

23:00 Lessons from an accelerator: is investment right for you?

29:00 Pricing, profit, and building financial sustainability

38:30 The mindset shift: from “How can I?” to “Who can help?”

45:20 How to keep multiple careers aligned under one personal brand

52:00 Coaching, visibility, and why women in STEM need to own their narrative

01:02:00 Chloe’s advice: stop waiting, start creating

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Who Not How by Dan Sullivan & Benjamin Hardy
• Be the One (Book on personal responsibility)
• Library for All – Free children’s books

🤔 Reflection Time

1. What’s the one thing you’ve wanted to try but keep putting off because it feels “too risky”?
2. If your current role disappeared tomorrow, what would you want to do next?
3. What’s one small “yes” you could say today that might open a new door?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here’s the truth: Success often starts with one simple, underrated skill—just asking.

In this Quick Win episode, we unpack three powerful insights from ShanShan Wang, an industrial designer turned MedTech founder, to help you move forward today. These lessons apply whether you’re trying to switch careers, start a project, or simply want your work to matter more.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• The underrated power of asking: How ShanShan turned casual conversations into mentorship and secured her first $2M investment by simply asking.

• Why you don’t need to live the problem to solve it: Learn how empathy—not personal experience—can help you spot solvable, sizeable, overlooked problems (the sweet spot for impact, as discussed in Moral Ambition).

• How to rally others behind your vision: Why communicating passion and purpose matters more than perfection—and how to start doing it today.

👉 Press play now and take 10 minutes to learn how to move from “stuck” to “starting.”

📌 Want More?

This episode is part of our Quick Win series. For the full conversation with ShanShan Wang—including how she built a venture-backed MedTech company from a student project—listen here or visit Roam Technologies.

🤔 Reflection Prompt:

What’s one sizable, solvable, overlooked problem you care about—and who can you ask today to take your first step?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

💥 Are your beliefs about being “just a scientist” quietly holding you back from the impact-driven career you actually want?

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

This episode is your wake-up call if you’re a STEMM-trained professional who feels stuck, unseen, or unsure how to translate your technical skills into a bigger mission. In this quickfire conversation, industrial designer turned MedTech founder ShanShan Wang dismantles common self-limiting beliefs and shows how to take bold, strategic steps—starting now.

• Learn why communication is one of the most powerful, underrated STEM skills when transitioning out of the lab or technical fields.

• Discover how to work smarter (not harder) by thinking big and acting strategically—yes, even from Day One.

• Get practical on what’s “good enough” to start and how to stop hiding behind the excuse of needing more time, resources, or experience.

🎯 Action:

Press play to get the mindset reset and tactical clarity you need to stop waiting and start building your own meaningful path in STEM.

Full interview : https://shows.acast.com/multiple-hats/episodes/67e61b153cc004e4537316be

🧠 About the Guest:

ShanShan Wang is an award-winning industrial designer and the founder of Roam Technologies, a MedTech startup developing a handheld oxygen device. She’s a powerful voice in the STEM entrepreneurial space who’s turned her design lens into a tool for high-impact problem solving and product innovation—without waiting for permission.

Full interview:

🔗🎧 https://shows.acast.com/multiple-hats/episodes/67e61b153cc004e4537316be

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Introducing ShanShan Wang and the power of tackling limiting beliefs

01:10 What’s the most underrated transferable STEM skill? Communication.

02:45 Work smart vs work hard: how ShanShan designed for scale from Day 1

04:00 Why “my work will speak for itself” is a myth (and what to do instead)

04:45 What’s good enough to start? Three priorities and a simple to-do list

05:20 Final thoughts from Angelique

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Learn more about Roam Technologies: https://www.roamtech.ai

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What’s one belief you’ve been holding about yourself that might be limiting your potential?
2. How could you reframe your “I don’t have X” excuse into a clear, doable first step?
3. Are you expecting your work to speak for itself—or are you learning how to make others care?

Full interview: https://shows.acast.com/multiple-hats/episodes/67e61b153cc004e4537316be

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Would you have the courage to turn it into a company—and convince others to come with you?

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

If you’re wondering whether there are more impactful things you could be doing with your STEM skill set, this episode is your masterclass in spotting sizeable, solvable, yet overlooked problems—the perfect intersection for maximum impact.

• Learn what industrial design really is—and how its problem-solving mindset applies to building MedTech devices that actually get used.

• Understand why you don’t have to personally experience a problem to solve it—and how empathy and observation can be the gateway to innovation.

• Discover how to find your “patchwork” by combining corporate experience, technical design, and purpose—and how that patchwork became foundational to ShanShan’s leadership.

• See how to move from “Could I really build this?” to “Here’s how we’ll do it”—with practical strategies for forming your founding team, pitching your first investor, and making your vision contagious.

Action:

Press play to learn how to break through in a space with little innovation, conquer a complex value chain to build a better future—and what you can build when you back your own vision.

🧠 About the Guest:

ShanShan Wang is the CEO and co-founder of Roam Technologies, a medtech startup developing a tankless, portable oxygen device designed to replace bulky cylinders and improve patient mobility. Originally trained as an industrial designer, she applied her skills to a pressing problem she couldn’t ignore—and turned her thesis into a patented, clinically validated device backed by investor capital.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 – From design school to a life-changing observation

03:00 – Why innovation is so rare in oxygen therapy

06:22 – Engineering a simple solution to a complex, systemic problem

10:10 – What patients need vs. what the system rewards

15:00 – The chemistry, process, and real-time tech behind Roam

18:00 – The role of design in translating complex needs into usable products

21:00 – How corporate life became a testbed for entrepreneurship

25:00 – Turning a side project into a company—with no Plan B

30:00 – Getting people to believe: mentors, investors, and the first yes

38:00 – Pitching without a product: what investors really want to see

45:00 – The secret to rallying a team with no money—just mission

52:00 – What underrated STEM skills matter most in startups

58:00 – From control freak to visionary founder: embracing growth and risk

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Roam Technologies: https://www.roamtech.ai/
• NSW Commercialisation Training Program
• ANSTO Innovation Hub
• MedTech Actuator
• Medical Device Fund – NSW Health
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What’s a problem you’ve seen that you can no longer unsee?
2. What existing skills are you underestimating because they don’t “sound” entrepreneurial?
3. Who can you ask your next question?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

For every STEMM professional feeling stuck delivering someone else vision 9-5,

This episode help you reframe your frustration into opportunities with one simple question.

You will learn from yet another PhD who turned around their academic career to live up to their own vision and :

• the catch 22, that traps entry level into a loop of needing experience to get experience, especially in clinical research.
• How to magnetize people by communicating your purpose so well that you can open door that you never felt were possible.
• How to unlock your full resourcefulness potential by forcing full commitment.
• Tactical first steps for launching a values-driven career transition—from personal vision to rallying people and pricing experiments.

🎧 Ready to break the cycle of regrets? Hit play to learn how Sue went from postdoc to purpose-driven entrepreneur.

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Sue Nguyen is the founder and CEO of Clueo Clinical, a training and coaching organisation on a mission to solve the entry-level catch-22 in clinical research. A cancer genomics PhD turned entrepreneur, she combines deep scientific knowledge with a heart for impact—empowering the next generation of STEMM professionals to find their place in industry.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Why clinical research has a skills gap—explained

03:45 What CL Clinical teaches (and who it’s for)

06:10 From cancer research to clinical trials

09:00 Growing up in Vietnam, chasing free education

14:15 “Why did my grandmother get sick?” A question that sparked a career

17:30 How real passion landed her first job—without applying

22:10 The untapped potential of academics in industry

24:00 Leaving corporate life during a pandemic—cold turkey

30:00 Bootstrapping without a fallback plan

36:00 Why vision > backup plan

40:00 The three first steps to make your idea real

45:00 Serving underserved regions—and charging sustainably

53:00 From early adopters to sustainability (3-year journey)

56:00 Winning the Global Healthcare & Pharma Award

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• CL Clinical
• Global Health & Pharma Awards
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What core question or injustice in your field keeps you up at night—and could drive your next career chapter?
2. Can you articulate your passion and what you stand for?
3. Do you have any limiting mindsets that keeps you small?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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🎙️ Creating Your Own Path as a STEMM Professional with Dr. Anushi Rajapaksa

"If not me then who" - why you may actually be the one who should take the first step and how to get started.

What if your unique combination of STEMM degrees could solve a global health problem?

Are you a STEMM professional ready to pivot your career or start something new?

 In this episode, Dr. Anushi Rajapaksa—biomedical, mechanical and aerospatial engineer and medtech founder—shares how she used her diverse STEM background to create Misti, a groundbreaking respiratory care and lung advanced drug delivery innovation. Learn how interdisciplinary thinking, knowledge brokering, and imperfect action can help you build your own path outside traditional science careers.

🔍 **What You’ll Learn: 

• How to identify your unique "knowledge brokering" superpower and your purpose
• learn practical steps to start validating your ideas (even with Nobel Prize winners!),
• gain the confidence to take imperfect action because "scrappy progress is better than no progress."
• How to put together a roadmap that can get you started and later on grow

Listen now to transform your perspective from "I need more credentials" to "I already have everything I need to start."

 📌 **Key Topics:**

In this episode we explore additional themes, including :

• How to recognise opportunities
• The financials of getting through the first 6 months
• How to get your opinion heard and why it matters
• Why being clear on your message is the foundation of creating opprotunities
• Why you don’t have to be part of the 5am club everyday

And much more

Episode Timeline:

• [00:00] Introduction to Multiple Hats and Dr. Anushi Rajapaksa
• [02:45] What is Misty and why it should exist
• [06:30] The two product lines: My Misty and Med Misty
• [13:00] Anushi's academic journey: from electrical to aerospace engineering
• [16:30] The undervalued superpower of "knowledge brokering"
• [21:45] Early career experiences and grant writing lessons
• [28:00] Giving your expertise a voice and platform
• [31:30] First steps in founding Misty during the pandemic
• [37:00] Morning routines and managing priorities
• [38:45] Building a roadmap with IP, regulatory and customer focus
• [45:00] The role of accelerators and mentors
• [49:30] Funding journey: from small experiments to product development
• [55:30] Overcoming the perfectionism trap in product development
• [57:30] Customer engagement strategies without marketing
• [1:01:30] Privileges and systemic issues faced as a founder

🔗 **Resources & Links:**

Misti: https://www.misti.com.au

Anushi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-anushi/

Startmate Accelerator: https://www.startmate.com/

🤔 Reflection time:

What pivot could your unique combination of STEMM skills make possible?

Discover how your apparently unrelated experiences might be your greatest superpower.

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Challenging outdated 3D design processes straight out of university, Sophia Kurianski turned frustration into a startup—and built Jinolo from the ground up

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How questioning outdated systems can spark breakthrough ideas
• How to validate a product idea before writing a line of code
• What building a tech startup as a solo founder really looks like
• Why grants and customer discovery are key early tools
• How STEMM professionals can reframe failure in sales as growth

🧠 About the Guest:

Sophia Kurianski is a mechatronic engineer and the founder of Jinolo, a 3D collaboration platform transforming how technical and non-technical teams work together. Straight out of university, Sophia rejected “the way things have always been done” and built a startup that now serves over 500 customers. In this episode, she shares how problem-solving, lean execution, and persistence powered her entrepreneurial leap.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 Welcome to Multiple Hats
• 00:29 Meet Sophia Kurianski: Founder of Jinolo
• 00:37 The problem with legacy 3D design workflows
• 01:21 Bridging technical and non-technical collaboration
• 03:34 Engineering roots and early work experience
• 13:01 How Jinolo started: the first iteration
• 19:26 Building a minimum viable product
• 22:30 Getting feedback + iterating
• 27:40 Customer discovery & early sales strategies
• 34:37 Launching solo: founder mindset
• 40:07 Hiring contractors and scaling
• 46:34 Technical scalability vs customer onboarding
• 55:00 Funding the startup & managing cash flow
• 58:58 Personal growth through selling
• 01:06:57 Final reflections + future vision

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Visit Jinolo
• Sophia Kurianski on LinkedIn

🤔 Reflection Time:

What processes around you feel outdated? Could your discomfort with “how it’s always been done” be the clue to your next move?

How might your STEMM background position you to create a better way?

Hey, I hope you have enjoyed this interview and the career twists!

While you listen, can you see the pattern - Founders tend to go get their destiny and create their own luck.

And so can you!

Creating your own luck has a lot to do with how you put yourself out there and speak about what you want to do.

Send me a message if you want to start being at the right place, at the right time and make your own stars align.

visit my website angelique.greco.com.au or send me a message on LinkedIn

linkedin.com/in/angelique-greco

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did Apple "forgot" to add a period tracker to the Apple Heath tracker at a time when Femtech was not a thing?

Imagine you’re pioneering a product in a completely new sector, carving out an entirely new market category.

That’s the journey of Ida Tin, the co-founder of Clue, one of the largest Femtech health apps serving 10+ million active users across 190+ countries.

Ida coined the term 'Femtech,' to provide a unifying banner for the sector dedicated to women's health technology.

We get to hear how it started from the ida of a home hormonal test ( a decade before home testing of anything was a thing) to taking a 100% digital approach to contraception.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How Ida Tin co-founded Clue, one of the world’s most popular women’s health apps
• The origin story of the word "Femtech"—and how naming it shaped a $60B+ industry
• The workarounds of building a women’s health startup without a STEMM background
• Why data privacy, ethics, and inclusive design were non-negotiables for Clue and what happens to those who took shortcuts
• How to fund and grow a mission-driven product in a male-dominated VC landscape

🧠 About the Guest:

Ida Tin is the co-founder of Clue, a pioneering period and fertility tracking app with over 10 million active users in 190+ countries. While she doesn't come from a traditional STEMM background, her vision and language helped define an entire sector: Femtech.

Her story is one of category creation, mission-driven innovation, and challenging the norms of tech, funding, and health.

 🗂️ Episode Timeline:

00:32 Meet Ida Tin: The Mother of Femtech

01:45 The Journey of Clue

03:55 Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations

07:09 Challenges and Innovations in Femtech

17:55 Building the Clue Team

33:33 The Birth of the Term 'Femtech' , definition and a new unifying banner

39:41 Inclusivity in Femtech: Bridging the Gender Gap

40:57 The Duality of Periods: Normalization vs. Medical Attention

42:28 Creating a Supportive Work Culture for Women

44:11 Challenges in Femtech: Data Gaps and Funding Issues

51:31 funding , Ethics and Success in Femtech: A Comparative Analysis

56:24 Navigating Gender Bias in Venture Capital

01:07:14 Balancing Motherhood and Entrepreneurship

01:09:23 Conclusion: Building a Unified Future

🔗 Resources & Mentions:

Follow Ida Tin on LinkedIn

Sign up for her upcoming Femtech book

Download Clue on your app store

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Real-life examples and mindset shifts to help STEMM professionals take bold, imperfect action

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to identify and act on the projects that resonate with your passion
• The importance of surrounding yourself with supportive individuals
• Strategies to embrace your unique combination of experiences—your "patchwork"
• Ways to overcome self-doubt and external criticism
• The value of taking risks, regardless of age or stage in your career

🧠 About the Host:

Angelique Greco is the host of Multiple Hats and founder of Thought Leadership Democratised, a coaching program that helps life science professionals position themselves as thought leaders and create career paths that align with their values and ambitions. With a background in drug development, real-world evidence, and science strategy, Angelique combines her expertise in storytelling, teaching, and critical inquiry to spotlight those reinventing what it means to succeed in STEMM.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 01:02 The Importance of Community
• 01:50 Facing Detractors and Naysayers
• 02:58 Finding Support in Startup Communities
• 06:06 Real-Life Examples of Overcoming Detractors
• 13:37 Embracing Your Unique Path
• 17:17 The Value of Taking Risks
• 21:58 Age is Just a Number
• 25:38 Conclusion and Call to Action

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Take the Survey for a Chance to Win "How I Built This" by Guy Raz
• Angelique Greco's Website
• Angelique Greco on LinkedIn

🤔 Reflection Time:

• What project made your heart sing this year?
• Who are the people around you? Do they support or detract from your goals?
• What unique experiences make up your professional "patchwork"?
• What's one action you can take this month to move closer to your goals?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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Annabel Zhou and Vivian Shen launched Toastie—an app to track and manage chronic illness—just after graduating with computer science degrees, all while working full-time at Google

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to spot real opportunities: Why a messy spreadsheet turned into a startup idea—and how to recognize your own “this could be better” moment
• Why you don’t have to wait until you’re 40: How two software engineers launched Toastie almost straight out of uni
• How to start without quitting your job: Smart ways to test your idea and keep your cashflow safe while working full-time
• How failure fuels future success: What second-time founders know about learning from what didn’t work
• What mindset helps you build for impact: How to go from frustration to mission-driven founder—even if you’re still figuring it out

🧠 About the Guests:

Annabel Zhou and Vivian Shen are software engineers at Google and co-founders of Toastie, a health tracking app designed to help people with chronic illnesses understand patterns in their symptoms, meals, and daily routines. Instead of settling for messy spreadsheets, they built an app that transforms scattered health data into meaningful, doctor-ready insights. Toastie is proof that you don’t need to quit your day job—or have it all figured out—to start something important.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 Introduction to Multiple Hats
• 00:37 Meet Annabel and Vivian
• 01:05 Living with chronic illness and tracking with spreadsheets
• 03:34 From personal pain to product idea
• 09:19 Building Toastie while working full-time
• 13:01 Lessons from their first startup
• 19:26 Validating ideas with real users
• 22:30 Support networks and community
• 27:40 Future vision for Toastie

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Sign up for Toastie’s pre-release

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Are you sitting on an idea sparked by a personal frustration?
• What skill could you apply right now to start exploring a solution?
• Could your “annoyance” be your next opportunity?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Real stories from founders and program leaders inside one of Australia's most active startup communities

Welcome to a special series of Multiple Hats, created in collaboration with the UNSW Founders Program—one of Australia's leading startup accelerators for students, researchers, and early-stage entrepreneurs.

Whether you’ve already started building something or just have an entrepreneurial itch, this series is here to show you what’s possible when you dare to give it a go.

You’ll hear from:

• Founders solving real-world problems—from medtech to education to climate
• Program managers who power the supportive community behind the scenes
• Candid stories of near-explosions, “there-has-to-be-a-better-way” moments, and the turning points that sparked something new

It’s packed with insights on how to go from idea to realisation—and what it actually takes to build something with impact.

🔗 Resources:

• Learn more about UNSW Founders

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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Victoria Rose Tucker on why it’s never too early to explore entrepreneurship—and how women can take the first step with support, structure, and community

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Why the startup world needs more women founders—and how programs like New Wave open doors
• How to test your entrepreneurial curiosity without quitting your job or degree
• What makes UNSW’s New Wave program unique in lowering the barrier to entry
• How mentorship and confidence-building are just as important as funding
• Real-life outcomes: from AI health tools to inclusive innovation leadership

🧠 About the Guest:

Victoria Rose Tucker is Program Manager of UNSW’s New Wave, an accelerator designed to empower women entrepreneurs—many from science backgrounds—to take the first step into the startup world. Victoria shares how the program’s structure, community, and low-barrier entry approach is helping women build confidence, test ideas, and change the face of early-stage entrepreneurship.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 03:15 Overview of UNSW Founders’ entrepreneurial programs
• 05:13 Who can join and how it works
• 06:07 New Wave structure & what participants actually do
• 07:15 The real challenges women face—and how the program supports them
• 09:45 Success stories & future vision
• 16:46 Debunking the myths of what a founder “should” look like
• 32:22 Early-stage ideas: discreet solutions to real-world needs
• 32:37 Spotlight: AI-powered chronic illness management (Team Toastie)
• 34:05 Addressing the gender data gap in health
• 34:53 Mentorship, peer support & community
• 37:01 Building purposeful, diverse teams
• 39:02 Celebrating wins: showcase & awards
• 42:35 Victoria’s own path into entrepreneurship
• 48:21 Momentum Month: sustaining progress beyond the program
• 53:22 The future of inclusive entrepreneurship
• 54:39 How to create more opportunities for women in STEMM
• 59:48 Final reflections and call to action

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• UNSW Founders – New Wave Program

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Could a program like New Wave help you take your first step toward entrepreneurship?
• What stories or stats shook your assumptions in this episode?
• Is there an idea you’ve been sitting on that’s worth testing—just to see?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How a Biotech Student Project Brewing Beer Led to a Bioplastics Startup: Alinta Furnell on Spotting Unexpected Opportunities

💬 Subtitle:

Armed with a biotech degree and a partner-in-crime, Alinta Furnell turned a student side project into Synbiote—a startup tackling sustainability with science

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Spark inspiration early: How a biotech degree and a chance lab visit sparked an unexpected founder journey
• Why you should always try something new to set you on unpexpected tracks: Why non-alcoholic beer became a stepping stone to sustainable materials
• Leverage every event to your advantage: How to navigate pivots, branding, and IP issues early in your startup life
• Where to find help: What community, accelerators, and fellowships can do for STEMM entrepreneurs
• Step into your growth mindset: The mindset needed to turn scientific curiosity into commercial innovation

🧠 About the Guest:

Alinta Furnell is the CEO and co-founder of Synbiote, a startup creating high-grade industrial bioplastics. What began as a brewing project during university quickly evolved—after a surprising trademark hiccup—into a company at the intersection of biotech, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. With a background in biotechnology and a diverse range of early roles, Alinta has built a career rooted in exploration, creativity, and action.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 The unexpected trademark hurdle that changed everything
• 01:05 Meet Alinta and the founding of Synbiote
• 01:22 Brewing non-alcoholic beer as a biotech student project
• 03:03 Rethinking what biotech really is
• 04:37 Building innovative, sustainable bioplastics
• 07:13 How the beer-to-bioplastics pivot happened
• 14:44 Alinta’s early career, side quests & science exposure
• 33:03 The brewing startup journey (and almost exploding a brewery)
• 34:00 Sales strategy and lean innovation
• 38:29 Brand, IP, and naming lessons
• 41:09 Scaling up production and thinking bigger
• 48:02 Finding support through programs and peers
• 54:53 Personal branding in science and tech
• 59:52 Privilege, access, and systemic barriers
• 01:01:31 Final takeaways

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Synbiote – Alinta’s startup
• Bioplastics overview – Nature article
• Bioplastics & sustainability – NCBI

🤔 Reflection Time:

• What project in your life started small—but might be more than it seems?
• Could your STEMM skills translate into solving real-world sustainability challenges?
• Have you underestimated how powerful community and storytelling can be in a scientific career?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
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With her kids grown and gone, Dr. Sarah Crowe stepped into entrepreneurship with a mission to make eye care accessible and affordable for underserved communities around the world

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Find your purpose and the unique piece you can deliver: How to use your existing expertise to solve overlooked global problems
• How to have it all: What it looks like to start a purpose-driven venture after raising a family
• Your age does not matter: Why it’s never too late to pursue innovation—and how life experience can be an asset
• Finding resources: How to work with accelerators, grants, and global partners as a first-time founder
• What matters to investors: What you can do when ROI doesn’t reflect your deeper mission—and how to keep going anyway

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Sarah Crowe is a former ophthalmologist turned social impact founder. After decades in medicine—and with her children now grown—she launched OOXii Global and the 4eyesVision Foundation to make eye care more accessible in underserved regions. From her time as a young doctor in apartheid-era South Africa to deploying affordable vision kits in Papua New Guinea, Sarah’s journey shows how deep expertise, lived experience, and purpose can align into a powerful second act.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 The ambulance driver who sparked everything
• 02:26 The mission behind OOXii and 4eyesVision
• 05:36 Sarah’s academic + medical career beginnings
• 08:19 Working in South Africa’s fractured healthcare system
• 13:00 Balancing motherhood with a medical career
• 17:18 Launching her own practice
• 23:24 The decision to found OOXii Global
• 34:51 Using what already exists to drive real-world impact
• 36:48 Training local healthcare workers for scale
• 40:30 Fundraising challenges + designing a sustainable model
• 46:01 The path from paper sketches to working tech
• 57:37 Cultural sensitivity in deploying healthcare innovation
• 01:07:29 Final reflections on risk, timing, and reinvention

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Learn more about Dr. Sarah Crowe
• 4eyesVision Foundation
• UNSW Founders Program
• 
  

🤔 Reflection Time:

• What part of your professional experience might be the foundation of a new mission?
• Is there an issue you care deeply about but assumed it was “too late” to tackle?
• What would your version of a second act look like?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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With a global career spanning Russia, Sweden, and Australia, Dina Titkova now leads UNSW Founders' accelerator programs—empowering STEMM entrepreneurs to transform ideas into impactful startups through initiatives like Health 10x and the Peter Farrell Cup.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• The structure and support mechanisms of AUstralia top accelerator programs, UNSW Founders'
• There is not one size fits all personality in STEM entrepreneurship
• What you should start with
• Strategies for transitioning from a technical STEMM background to entrepreneurship
• The importance of community and mentorship in startup success
• Insights into the challenges and opportunities within Australia's healthtech landscape
• How interdisciplinary experiences can enhance innovation and leadership

🧠 About the Guest:

Dina Titkova is the Senior Manager at UNSW Founders, overseeing programs such as Health 10x and the 10x Accelerator. With over 15 years of international experience in biomedical engineering and business development, Dina is passionate about advancing healthcare innovation and supporting entrepreneurs in the STEMM fields.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Introduction to Dina Titkova and her role at UNSW Founders

02:30 Dina's journey from biomedical engineering to startup ecosystem leadership

07:45 Overview of UNSW Founders' accelerator programs and their impact

15:20 The role of mentorship and community in entrepreneurial success

22:10 Challenges faced by healthtech startups in Australia

30:00 Strategies for fostering innovation and resilience in startups

38:15 Success stories from UNSW Founders' accelerator alumni

45:00 Dina's insights on the future of health innovation and entrepreneurship

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• UNSW Founders – Official Website
• Health 10x Program
• Peter Farrell Cup
• Dina Titkova on LinkedIn

🤔 Reflection Time:

• How can your STEMM background be leveraged in entrepreneurial ventures?
• What support systems are available to assist in your transition to entrepreneurship?
• How does interdisciplinary experience contribute to innovation in your field?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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No worries. You can use your skills to make a difference without being born a billionaire, without having gone through a life traumatising event or having a genius idea.

Tom Jacobs is an engineer from Australia and he did just that with Bokan Tseo, his corporate buddy, and local to Lesotho - better the lives of thousands of people by applying is engineering skills to building water infrastructure in places where people don’t have access to water - like Lesotho, in the South of Africa- a place he fell in love with and got struck by the realisation that people don’t have toilets or drinking water and decided to do this - one tap at the time.

Tune in for the full story, promising great insight on social impact, heart-warming moment, humbling stories and a great tale of building communities!

You can donate to support their cause at https://globaldevelopmentgroup.org/Projects/Details?id=421&projectName=LOKISA%20Water%20Project%20Lesotho&projectNum=J1167N&FromShortUrl=False&source=pweb

Follow them on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/lokisa-water-project-lesotho

Or Facebook or TikTok!

You can visit my website - angeliquegreco.com.au 

Follow Multiple hats https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6311fe9bae5d13001250521f

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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From lab bench to global accelerators—Dr. Maryam Parviz shares what it’s really like to launch a medtech startup while raising a young child

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Take your IP with you to drive science commercialisation and real world impact: How a research breakthrough became the foundation for a startup
• Steps and resources to build a medtech: What it takes to build a medtech company from scratch in Australia
• Take it one step at the time: How to navigate incubators, investors, and high-stakes decision-making
• Be in the driver seat: Why confidence and clarity matter more than credentials alone
• Navigate your loved (and not so loved) detractors: What you can learn from ignoring detractors and betting on your own vision

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Maryam Parviz is the founder and CEO of SDIP Innovations, a medtech company developing bioresorbable bone implants designed to reduce surgeries, cut costs, and improve outcomes for patients and surgeons alike. Maryam’s journey started in academic research—but her story is about much more: embracing risk, engaging the right stakeholders, and building a global company while raising a young child.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 The spark: from research to ideation
• 07:10 Commercializing a breakthrough in bone implants
• 12:48 Pivoting and reinventing the tech
• 17:15 Getting into top global accelerators
• 22:44 Building a medtech team + culture from scratch
• 29:00 What it's like pitching to investors as a first-time founder
• 36:20 Confidence vs. critics: how she kept moving forward
• 45:03 Insights on funding, product-market fit, and long-term vision
• 49:19 Final reflections: career reinvention and leadership as a working parent

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Dr. Maryam Parviz on LinkedIn
• SDIP Innovations

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Are you sitting on a powerful idea you’ve never tested outside the lab?
• What if the people telling you it’s “too risky” are wrong?
• Could your next chapter begin before you feel fully ready?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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After a high-paying corporate role at Boeing, Cassie Leonard walked away to build ELMM Coaching—helping women and working parents lead with clarity, courage, and boundaries

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• When quitting can be your path to sucess: Why it’s okay to leave a prestigious, high-paying job if it no longer aligns
• There is no such thing as a "too steep career transition": What a career pivot looks like after 16 years in aerospace engineering
• How to draw inspiration from within: How to build a coaching business from a deep well of lived experience
• Overcome outdated leadership practices: What working parents in STEMM need that no performance review will give them
• Set yourself for sucess: Why boundaries, self-awareness, and reimagining success are key in mid-career reinvention

🧠 About the Guest:

Cassie Leonard is a former aerospace engineer who spent 16 years rising through the ranks at Boeing—leading large, complex technical teams and delivering high-impact results. But despite the title and salary, she knew something was missing. Cassie left her “golden cage” and launched ELMM Coaching, a business helping women in STEMM—especially working parents—design careers that support the lives they actually want. She's also the author of the #1 Amazon bestseller, STEM Moms.

📌 Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 From childhood dreams to UCLA aerospace engineering
• 03:45 Being the only woman in a room of 35 engineers
• 06:22 16 years at Boeing: growth, leadership, and insight
• 10:41 The moment she knew it was time to leave
• 16:09 Starting ELMM Coaching and writing STEM Moms
• 23:15 Challenges and fears in leaving corporate
• 27:40 What women in STEM really need to hear in mid-career
• 32:10 How coaching creates space for reinvention
• 38:22 Cassie’s reflections on purpose, parenting, and success

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• ELMM Coaching – Cassie’s business
• STEM Moms on Amazon

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Are you in a “golden cage”? Does your title or paycheck mask a deeper misalignment?
• What would it look like to choose clarity and autonomy over convention?
• Who could you become if you stopped optimizing for someone else’s version of success?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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After leaving academia and navigating life as an autistic ADHDer, Dr. Lorien Parker created SciencePlay Kids—an inclusive science education business making classrooms more accessible and joyful for all brains

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How academia can be your launchpad and leaving it is not quiting or failing.
• How to start with one business model and tweak it until it works
• Why you dont need business experience to start a business and how to start with a small step
• How to structure your growth and directions in aligment with your family value
• How can neurodivergent professionals can create roles that suits their brain and how to create systems and leverage people to amplify your strength and bridge your weaknesses

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Lorien Parker, known to thousands of kids and educators as "Dr. Loz", is a crystallographer, science communicator, mother, and founder of SciencePlay Kids. Diagnosed with ADHD and autism as an adult, Lorien combined her scientific expertise and lived experience to revolutionize how science is taught in Australian schools—especially for neurodivergent learners. She’s also one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence and a fierce advocate for inclusive education and feminist leadership in STEM.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Meet Dr. Loz: From science lab to kids’ lab

04:15 What is SciencePlay Kids and how it all began

06:45 From academic underdog to PhD crystallographer

11:00 Leaving academia post-babies—and why it’s harder for women

16:00 First pilot, first customers, and messy beginnings

20:00 Embracing ADHD and autism in business (and parenting)

26:00 The power of multisensory science education

30:00 Why franchising wasn’t the path—and what came instead

35:00 Pivoting to corporate-backed STEM programs for schools

42:00 Building a team, dealing with doubt, and redefining success

49:00 From “that first flop” to national education recognition

55:00 Visibility, social media, and being loud in a world that isn’t built for you

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

SciencePlay Kids – Official Website

Dr. Lorien Parker on LinkedIn

SciencePlay Kids on Facebook

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Do you feel like school—or your workplace—wasn’t designed for how your brain works?
• What role does self-knowledge play in shaping the career you want?
• What would it look like to stop fixing your “weaknesses” and instead build a team that amplifies your strengths?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What a great ride we had with our amazing founders sharing their journey and what it takes to be an entrepreneur, call it success and sometimes, call it quit!

Thank you for lending me your ears and coming along with me on this journey of entrepreneurship!

Let's make Multiple Hats a conversation and tell me what you think or what you want for next year. 

This episode is a word of me, your host, Angelique, and what prompted me to launch Multiple Hats.

it is an episode to connect with you and hear from you.

Multiple Hats is all about you and how it can help you finding your own script and taking your very first step!

Tune in for this kudos and reflection episode.

For now, I will leave you with some thoughts on making the first move, experiment with a portfolio career, get into the mindset of these who act with purpose, armed with grit and letting go of perfectionism.

For more insights,, I suggest a few good reads: 

- Find your why, Simon Sinek

- The power of perseverance and grit, Angela Duckworth

-The power of Onlyness, Nilofer Merchant

- This working life, Lisa Leong

- There has to be more, Rachel Service

Have a good end of the year 2023

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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Alison Gartner didn’t follow the traditional PhD path—instead, she blended molecular biology, economics, and investment experience to co-found Evidentli, a healthtech company helping clinicians unlock real-world data

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Why a PhD isn’t the only pathway to making a major impact in science
• How to combine diverse degrees into a career with exponential potential
• What it's like to go from biotech investor to healthtech startup co-founder
• Why timing, trust, and management are everything in co-founding teams
• How to price, pilot, and pitch a data product in conservative markets
• What early-stage funding really looks like—and how to survive it

🧠 About the Guest:

Alison Gartner is the co-founder and CFO of Evidentli, a healthtech startup transforming how healthcare providers query and interpret complex patient data. With a background in molecular biology, economics, and over a decade of biotech investment experience, Alison offers a rare dual lens: both founder and funder. Her path defies the traditional STEM career ladder, proving that the intersection of science and finance can be a launchpad for high-impact innovation.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Balancing passion and practicality in startup life

02:00 What Evidentli actually does and how it’s different

05:00 From biochemistry and economics to biotech investment

10:30 Investing in science: what startups need to know about funding

16:20 The hidden risks and rewards of venture capital

19:00 Why Alison stepped from the funder side to founder side

22:00 What makes clinicians trust data—and what doesn’t

25:00 Building Evidentli: co-founders, equity, and the first MVP

30:00 Pricing, piloting, and engaging first customers

38:00 Startups, salaries, and surviving the early years

45:00 What boards really do—and how to build one that fits your path

50:00 Mental load, income dips, and the psychological toll of entrepreneurship

56:00 Human failure vs. product failure: hard lessons from investment

01:00:00 Founder dynamics: how to manage equity, ego, and respect

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Evidentli – Official Website
• Alison Gartner on LinkedIn

🤔 Reflection Time:

1. What if your unusual mix of degrees is your biggest advantage?
2. Are you putting off entrepreneurship because you don’t “fit the mold”?
3. If you had to bootstrap your startup tomorrow, who would be in your inner circle—and why?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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After a decade working in science, marketing, and tech transfer, Natalie Chapman launched Gemaker—an award-winning commercialization agency helping researchers and innovators turn ideas into impact without chasing VC funding

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Why 10 years in STEMM can be the perfect foundation for a purpose-led business
• How to build a profitable business from day one—with no outside funding by leveraging your network and reputation
• Why you dont need. 50 page business plan and how to do it instead
• How to build a flexible, remote-first team that unlocks hidden STEMM talent - your business, your rules
• How to leverage awards and public credibility for your business growth
• Why you can still be involved in your children school volunteering even if you are time poor by doing strategic work instead of cookies

🧠 About the Guest:

Natalie Chapman is the founder and managing director of Gemaker, a science commercialization agency working with researchers, universities, and innovation-driven companies to bring ideas out of the lab and into the real world. With a background in chemistry, an MBA, and over a decade of experience across tech transfer, marketing, and strategy, Natalie is also a vocal advocate for women in STEMM, a mentor, and a Telstra Business Award winner.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 Starting Gemaker from a garage—and building credibility

02:00 From chemistry degree to marketing and tech transfer

05:00 Why she chose impact over prestige (and how it paid off)

08:00 How Gemaker grew from 2 to 20 staff—without outside capital

12:00 Flexible work before it was trendy: hiring women returning to STEMM

16:00 What tech transfer really is—and why it matters

21:00 Differentiating Gemaker from typical “one-man” consultancies

26:00 How Natalie landed her first two clients and bootstrapped the business

29:00 Sustainable from day one: how she built a model that worked

35:00 Why she never wrote a 50-page business plan—and what she did instead

39:00 The power of credibility: how awards transformed Gemaker’s trajectory

44:00 Hiring well, building trust, and growing the team with aligned values

49:00 What founders really need: legal, finance, and expert marketing

52:00 Systemic privilege, grit, and building from scratch as a woman in STEMM

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Gemaker – Official Website
• Natalie Chapman on LinkedIn
• Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia
• Telstra Business Awards
• DeadlyScience – STEM Education Access

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Could your decade of work experience be the launchpad for your own consultancy?
• Are you holding off starting a business because you think you need outside funding?
• What if your first client was right there in your network?
• What rough gem of an idea have you been sitting on—and what would it take to polish it?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

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**Starting a PhD While Launching a Startup and Turning Discovery Into Real-World Diagnostics**

How does a 22-year-old STEMM graduate go from the lab to co-founding a Medtech startup?

Dharmica shares how she co-founded BCAL Diagnostics while starting her PhD, using her thesis to validate a product rather than pursue pure academia. it’s a roadmap for turning your research into impact, especially if you’re a scientist wondering what else your skills can do.

If you’re a STEMM professional thinking about founding a deep tech company—or just looking to make your next move more entrepreneurial—this episode is for you.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to turn a lab discovery into a viable business—even if you’re still early in your career
• Why a PhD can be a commercialization pathway—not just an academic one
• How to validate, fund, and pitch a deep-tech idea with no business background
• How to build confidence and credibility in business as a scientist—without an MBA
• The practical steps to move from research bench to boardroom (and how to fund it)
• How to navigate identity, credibility, and investor rooms as a young woman in STEMM

🧠 **About the Guest:**

Dr. Dharmica Mistry is a medtech entrepreneur and microbiologist who co-founded BCAL Diagnostics at just 22. Her early work led to a blood-based diagnostic test for early breast cancer detection. Since then, she’s held leadership roles in deep tech and innovation, including as Head of Medtech & Biotech at Cicada Innovations and now Director of Diagnostics Industry Engagement at MTPConnect. Dharmica is a vocal advocate for equitable innovation and increasing women’s visibility in STEMM commercialization.

---

📌 **Episode Highlights:**

* 00:00 From olive oil to blood diagnostics: a scientist's accidental breakthrough

* 03:00 What is MTPConnect and how it shapes Australia’s diagnostic sector

* 08:00 Turning a biotech job into a PhD and startup foundation

* 11:00 Founding BCAL Diagnostics while doing a PhD at 22

* 18:00 Killer experiments, clinical validation, and strategic pivots

* 24:00 Bringing deep science into clinical practice—barriers and bridges

* 29:00 How incubators and commercialization training programs changed everything

* 34:00 Moving beyond the “scientist” label and building a boardroom voice

* 40:00 Crafting a deep-tech pitch that works—from KOLs to investors

* 44:00 Funding realities: early-stage capital, personal risk, and resilience

* 52:00 Regulatory challenges and how to plan for exit (or scale) from day one

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• BCAL Diagnostics – Official Website
• Dr. Dharmica Mistry on LinkedIn
• MTPConnect – Diagnostics Industry Engagement
• Cicada Innovations – Deep Tech Incubator
• Franklin Women – STEMM Visibility Initiative

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Could your research idea become a product? What’s your “killer experiment” to validate or kill it fast?
• Are you stuck in the scientist box? How can you shift your network and brand to be perceived differently?
• What’s one skill—from pitching to regulatory pathways—you could upskill in this month?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to combine your talents and passion with yout science degree and turn it into something unique ( in this case marine biology, art, facilitation, and science communication)
• how to leverage your creative skills—like drawing and storytelling—as powerful assets in science
• How to launch a visual communication business with no formal art or business training. and how long it can take it to make it sustainable
• Why “what’s the worst (and what's the best) that can happen?” is sometimes the only question you need to leap
• What it means to build a career portfolio that reflects your values—and your environment

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Sue Pillans (also known as Dr. Suzie Starfish) is a marine scientist, artist, and founder of Picture Your Ideas, a visual storytelling business helping organizations simplify complex concepts through hand-drawn illustrations. From live graphic recording at conferences to environmental-themed children’s books, Sue’s career bridges science, creativity, and education. She’s also a published author and illustrator, and a passionate advocate for ocean conservation and visual thinking in STEMM.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 A leap of faith sparked by loss—and a magazine article

03:00 Growing up in nature and falling in love with the ocean

05:00 A career across government, universities, and CSIRO

07:00 Rediscovering watercolor during a PhD and turning it into a second skillset

11:00 What is graphic recording and how Sue works live at events

15:00 Capturing complex stories visually—fast, accurate, inclusive

22:00 Art as a universal language across cultures and languages

25:00 Losing her sister and choosing courage over security

29:00 How risk-aversion gave way to purpose-led reinvention

34:00 Finding her first client before she even advertised

37:00 Growing a business without ads—just visibility and word of mouth

39:00 The financial side: slow build, privilege, and steady growth

41:00 Pricing creative services with confidence and clarity

43:00 Writing and illustrating children’s books for environmental literacy

47:00 The publishing journey: self-funded vs. book deal

52:00 Time, creative process, and the reality of picture book economics

54:00 Burnout, boundaries, and the discipline of creative flow

55:00 Hard work, privilege, and building a life that feels like you

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Picture Your Ideas – Sue’s Website
• Dr. Sue Pillans on LinkedIn
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX3lbJEMpJagTnj7HOWCFew
• Her books: Cranky Frankie and the Oceans of Trash; The Great Barrier Thief
• Franklin Women

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Have you buried a creative skill you once loved—could it have a role in your career?
• If you could blend any two things you’re passionate about, what kind of job might you create?
• What would change if you asked, “What’s the worst that could happen?” more often?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After leaving the pharmaceutical industry, Oriane Juncker founded Spotz—a mum-to-mum marketplace reshaping economic agency and flexibility for women through community-powered commerce.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How to spot opportunities in your frustration
• How your STEM degree is a launchpad for anything you want and also your safey net
• What it means to create a purpose-driven company from the ground up—with no tech or funding background
• Why managing your cash flow and your energy is critical to building something sustainable
• How to use meditation, design thinking, and strategic bootstrapping to develop a social enterprise
• Business models: The difference between a traditional business, an NGO, and a social business

🧠 About the Guest:

Oriane Juncker is the founder and CEO of Spotz, an e-commerce and community platform that empowers mothers to earn on their own terms by selling products and services directly to one another. With a background in genetics, business strategy, and medical affairs in the pharmaceutical industry, Oriane made a radical pivot following maternity discrimination. She built Spotz from her living room while raising kids, bootstrapping the entire way. Her business now reaches over 28,000 members and reflects a bold belief: that mothers are a powerful economic force—and it’s time we designed systems that reflect it.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 From genetics to business school: Oriane’s nonlinear career path

04:00 The realization that she was “too businessy” for a lab

07:00 Why she left corporate pharma—and the comment that changed everything

12:00 Spotz is born: a community-powered answer to gendered work discrimination

17:00 What’s a social business and why does it matter?

20:00 Meditation, OneNote, and vision-driven planning

22:00 From vision to wireframes: building a platform without technical expertise

25:00 Why keeping your job as long as possible is underrated advice

28:00 Choosing your MVP wisely: strategy over perfection

30:00 Getting the first 3,500 products and 1,200 vendors—by hand

34:00 Bootstrapping, burnout, and growing while raising a family

36:00 Why it took 2.5 years to get the pitch “right”

40:00 Funding realities: impact investors vs. venture capital

43:00 Hiring mistakes, cash flow crashes, and what she’d do differently

47:00 Her future role: from CEO to social cause ambassador

50:00 Hard work, soul work, and building a business with integrity

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Spotz – Official Website
• Oriane Juncker on LinkedIn
• NSW MVP Grant Program
• Boosting Female Founders Initiative
• PWC Report on Unpaid Work and GDP Contribution

🤔 Reflection Time:

• What would you create if you stopped waiting for permission?
• Are you limiting your career moves to your degree—or expanding into your real interests?
• If your work disappeared tomorrow, would the impact you care about still exist?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How community can address the women brain drain in academia

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• Why staying in academia isn’t the only way to make an impact in health and science
• How to recognize the warning signs that a traditional path might not be right for you
• What the “gender brain drain” is—and how women are disproportionately pushed out of research careers
• How to bootstrap a mission-led social enterprise while juggling a full-time job and kids
• What makes a sustainable business model work in the women-in-STEMM space and strategies to make your finance works
• Why you don’t need to start big to build something meaningful—you need consistency and clarity

🧠 About the Guest:

Dr. Melina Georgousakis is the founder of Franklin Women, a social enterprise and professional community working to keep women in health and medical research careers. Starting out as a vaccine scientist with a PhD, Melina transitioned into policy, then corporate healthcare—each move revealing more about the gaps in support and career progression for women in STEMM. With no business training but a clear mission, she built Franklin Women into a national initiative that offers mentoring, workshops, and ecosystem partnerships to support women’s long-term success in science.

📌 Episode Highlights:

00:00 The spark moment on a plane—realizing the gap for women in health

03:00 Why she left academia—and what she learned in the lab

08:00 Translating science into public health impact

11:00 Moving to corporate: navigating fears of “going to the dark side”

14:00 Spotting the systemic issues pushing women out of research

17:00 Designing Franklin Women: vision, values, and sustainable funding

22:00 Why she named it after Rosalind Franklin—and what it means today

25:00 Choosing social enterprise over charity: making women’s issues profitable

29:00 Growing a business on the side of a full-time job (and raising kids)

33:00 The leap: going full-time without a salary and what made it possible

36:00 Funding the mission: balancing impact and income with boundaries

40:00 Mapping out business models, pitches, and social enterprise growth

44:00 Overcoming self-doubt, feedback loops, and founder fatigue

47:00 Building events for real accessibility—and learning from flops

50:00 Reflecting on privilege, bias, and the importance of allyship

53:00 Owning your hard work while acknowledging structural advantage

55:00 Final thoughts on joy, purpose, and trusting your own evolution

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Franklin Women – Official Website
• Dr. Melina Georgousakis on LinkedIn
• Boosting Female Founders Grant (Aus)
• Rosalind Franklin – X-ray Crystallographer
• She Said That – Book of women’s speeches

🤔 Reflection Time:

• Are you on a path by design—or just following the default?
• What’s one thing you’d build to solve a gap you’ve personally experienced?
• What would it take to make your passion sustainable—not just inspiring?

Want to craft a career story that opens doors?

I help STEMM professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and purpose and show up as thought leaders —so the right opportunities find you.

📬 Let’s connect: angeliquegreco.com.au | LinkedIn 

⭐️ Help More People Reinvent Their Careers

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

• ✅ Leave a quick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 🙏
• ♻️ Share it with a friend who's questioning their path in STEM

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.