Q: What was your first job and what did you learn from it that you still use today?
A: My first job was stacking shelves in Kmart as a pimply and awkward 15-year-old. I learned three important lessons that I consider valuable even today.
The first was punctuality – be on time and do the hours otherwise, no pay! The second was keeping product shelves stacked and neatly presented as customers buy order not chaos and absence of product.
The third was dress for the job you need, not the one you want. I thought white socks with black shoes and pants would be cool because that’s what Michael Jackson wore in in the Billie Jean video.
I didn’t even like his music but thought I’d be cool and that the world would be my oyster because of that. Wrong. Stick to being on time and focusing on presenting the right products to customers.
Q: What’s the first thing you do when you start a new position?
A: For me, it is important to meet as many of the team members as possible and my number one priority is the front-line teams.
They know our customers and they know where the pain points are. Plus, they are people doing a job because they love the industry but also because they have a life to support. Those lives are many and varied.
Additionally, I am curious by nature and love to know how the whole organisation ticks. Culture isn’t always monolithic.
Overall, the vibe may be good but with a bit of probing and sitting and really listening to team members at every level and in every corner gives me a sense of what’s working, what needs a bit of attention and what – maybe – is not at all right and needs a whole rethink.
Ultimately knowing our customers, our people and working with them to solve problems is the most effective way to lead.
Q: What advice would you give someone wanting to start a career in travel now?
A: Good for you: you’ve chosen one of the best industries to work in – who doesn’t love to travel? Plus, for bonus points the people who work in it are generally friendly and a lot of fun.
Advice: while technology is evolving at ever-increasing rates (cue: data-led decision-making, automation, generative AI) and the distribution landscape is ever-changing, your super power is knowing you are human and knowing your customers (who are also human).
Not in a generic sense (demographics bore me) but in a deeper sense of understanding their values, aspirations, needs and wants. That’s what separates humans from machines and its where our creative sparks are born.
Q: What did the pandemic teach you about yourself?
A: That I hate working alone, in isolation, all-the-time. I have introverted and extroverted moments. I get inspired and energised through human interaction, in real-time, in real-life.
And every-day problem-solving is so much easier and quicker when spontaneous and collaborative. It can also be quite remarkable where solutions come from in the moment without hierarchy.
Q: How do you think the travel industry is looking at this moment in time?
A: Humans will always have a desire to travel and therefore we will always have the opportunity to fulfil those desires and needs.
What I love about the industry is that it changes constantly and also how resilient and tenacious the industry can be.
I’ve worked in destination marketing (NTO and STO), for an airline, a hotel group, a big member-owned motoring club, one of the largest OTAs and now cruise. I’m also on a regional tourism board and a director of an Aboriginal maritime and tourism business.
Every one of those sectors and its operators has changed as customers have changed, some better than others, but on the whole, each has and continues to evolve to address these challenges and capture the abundant opportunities.
Q: Who would you most like to sit next to on a plane, living or dead?
A: Great question! For me, right now, it would have to be David Byrne, former lead singer / songwriter / guitarist for Talking Heads. I play or at least bludgeon music (guitar and bass in a band called The Bloody MONGRuLS) and think every part of life needs a soundtrack.
David Byrne is a unique thinker with one of the most eclectic tastes in music. I am curious about humans and inspired by music.
Q: What are some of your favourite spots around the world?
A: I am not sure I like this question – just like my children, I say I love them all equally but I might like one more than the other depending on the day of the week.
Some favourites right now: Mexico, London & Paris & New York (the trio of big cities), Hong Kong, Seattle, Wellington, Broken Hill …yes, Broken Hill. Despite joining a cruise-focused company, I am on the board of Destination Country & Outback NSW and my bloodline is north-western NSW / south-eastern Qld.
Q: What is your best travel story?
A: Many moons ago, when Twitter was still Twitter, I ran a wild marketing campaign to launch Virgin Australia into Los Angeles. We had a radio promo to attract the most creative trio of friends who could prove that you could do a long weekend in LA.
The rub was that the winners would have to “Tweet” every single minute from landing to departing – that’s three days, 72 hours, 4,320 minutes or 4,320 Tweets.
Their antics were the stuff of legends including a tattoo in downtown LA, Botox in Beverly Hills, surf lessons in Malibu and so much more.
Needless to say, as the “responsible” adult, I was with them every minute of the way, ensuring there was indeed a tweet a minute (and stuff that didn’t get Tweeted, for legal reasons).
Q: What are you most looking forward to about working with Travel The World?
A: The second thing I did after meeting the team was conduct an anonymous staff engagement survey. The team has shot the lights out on loving working here, working together and working in our industry.
I am absolutely thrilled to be able to lead such a fabulous bunch of people and working with our cruise line partners as a trusted, independent partner to help grow the Australian cruise market.
