Work history

March 2022 –

See now.

January 2020 – March 2022

Collaborative Citmaking Ecosystem: a better city system for our increasingly complex and rapidly changing world.

Digital Life Officer: help Townsville CityLibraries to deliver services that are inclusive, creative, social, and to provide opportunities for economic development that will benefit the local community.

September 2017 – January 2020

In September 2017, an organisational restructure reassigned me from the Business Development in libraries to Digital Content Production for Townsville City Council’s newly formed communication team, so I could contribute my skills to benefit the entire organisation. Within a year, our team won national awards for our content driven campaigns.

Content such as this disco in the dump… campaign winner of a 2018 PRIA Golden Target Award.

This uplifting character profile…

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Role: Townsville City Council: Digital Content Producer. 

Objective. To make emotive character and story-driven content that provokes, informs, entertains and inspires.

Results. National awards; exponential increase in numbers of followers on social media; exponential increase in positive sentiment for Townsville City Council; developing confidence in Council teams to produce more creative and customer-centric content. 

Existing skills used often. Content production – everything from concept to delivered product, including collaboration. 

New skills gained through this role. How to work closely with policy makers in Government and still be able to produce creative, colourful content that informs, entertains and inspires.

What I loved about this role. Working as part of a growing team in a rapidly changing, fast-paced environment that required problem solving and agility in our approach. I enjoyed finding the balance between political sensitivities, creativity, and customer demand.

October 2015 – August 2017

Role. Townsville City Council Planning and Business Development Officer: Community Engagement & Communications Strategist for Libraries.

Objective. To design, deliver and drive cutting-edge community engagement and communication systems and strategies, collaborating with and leading/inspiring 70 staff serving a region of 190,000 residents; to introduce human-centred-design, co-design, relationship marketing and content marketing to the team; to help the library adjust to a flatter organisational structure utilising agile team methodology, and most importantly, to co-design valuable assets with the community.

Results. The business achieved an increase in perception of value from the local community and with state and national peers; the human-centred-design and library automation systems were successfully developed to the prototyping stage and featured in national ALIA keynote presentations; engagement had begun to increase before I was restructured into the newly formed Council-wide communications team.

Existing skills used often. Team management, digital strategy design, communication, workshop facilitation, CMS management, marketing strategy development, content production…

New skills gained through this role. Working within a local government organisation; improving human-centred-design processes for a local government team.

What I loved about this role. Libraries operate at the centre of public and private sectors and the community; it’s a wonderful place to collaborate and innovate with people; to inspire and lead; to co-design, develop and provide resources for the community.

January 2011 – October 2015

Role: Australian Broadcasting Corporation: ABC Open Producer.

Objective. Collaborate with a national team to design, develop and drive a system and process that can source, manage, mentor, nurture, lead and empower diverse groups of citizens to produce high-quality award-winning content for the ABC; including video, radio, online and experiential content broadcast to local, national and international audiences. In a nutshell, help people make content for the ABC.

Results. Every year, thousands of Australian’s produced quality content for the ABC, attracting millions of views. Locally, I developed and led a team of 30 regular content producers, and nurtured relationships with an additional 400 content contributors each year. Some participants have now achieved successful careers in the content production industry and I was able to automate 80% of the production process for my region. The national ABC Open team won awards such as the Clarion Award and Walkley Award. As the initiative matured, ABC Open was integrated into the broader ABC team. (Facebook.) 

Existing skills used often. Filmmaking, photography, team management, CMS management, social media, relationship management…

New skills gained through this role. Community engagement, leadership, human-centred-design, workshop facilitation, journalism, multi-platform storytelling, keynote speaking, mentoring, project development, project management, conflict resolution, business development within a corporation, system automation, partnership development.

What I loved about this role. Start up culture within a large corporation! All the resources of a large organisation combined with the culture of growing a business, which means you can co-design and focus on creativity and innovation with customers, the community, partners and a national team to problem solve with and share the journey. The team was focused, passionate and absolutely awesome!

September 2007 – December 2010

Role: Wallaby Creative: my own business and Digital Nomad experiment.

Objective. To travel the world and see more countries than my age.

Results. Leveraged off emerging internet technology and globalisation to travel the world, working remotely and helping clients design and develop digital systems and strategy and online content for their business and projects. Explored 6 continents and engaged with people, business owners and decision-makers in more than 30 countries. Brilliant.

Existing skills used often. Mentor/consult, digital strategy development, content production, relationship management…

New skills/experiences gained through this role.  Communication (especially in non-English speaking countries, and places where I represented a minority group – this has helped immensely for community engagement work), CMS development, efficient time management (work half a day, explore half a day), international travel.

What I loved about this initiative. Freedom. Working half a day, exploring half a day, using digital technology and innovative ideas to help people improve their business and quality of life, being in a new culture every few weeks, and choosing clients that interested me.

June 2001 – September 2007

Role. Wild Blue Sound + Music: Lead Media Producer.

Objective. Collaborate and develop a business that enabled the team to do work we love.

Results. Content production for marketing, advertising, films, documentaries, radio – including pre-production, location and post-production. Early adopter in digital technology and online content for clients. Led teams and contributed to the growth of a regional start up (just 2 of us) into a capital city based business with local, national and international clients such as National Geographic, Coca Cola, BHP Billiton and more. The business evolved into the award-winning creative agency, Khemistry (28+ staff) and in February 2019, Khemistry combined with seven other agencies, rebranded as GrowthOps, and listed on the Australian stock exchange. Go team!

New skills gained from this role. Marketing strategy and systems, music composition, pre-production planning, post-production, team management, talent management, client management, business development, filmmaking.

What I loved about this role. Being part of a small team with clear vision and purpose, collaborating to nurture and grow a business, working with focused, influential people and organisations. Never felt like work; was doing things I loved with fun, inspirational people. 

Qualifications

Life experience is the best way to develop skills and knowledge; when traditional qualifications are required, I hold…

• Bachelor of Arts – Music & English (JCU),
• Certified Developer of Enterprise (QLD Government), and
• IAP2 Certificate (Townsville LG).

This project was fun…