Meet the team : Hannah

Describe yourself in three words?

Curious, Playful, Creative

How do you describe entrepreneurship?

Ugh…buzzwords. To me entrepreneurship is identifying the right problem to solve and actually solving it. I am totally agnostic to whether that’s through a startup, small business or within a corporate environment or outside your front gate.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

“Always leave something behind”

My mentor and amazing leader of 5 years in my early career told me that. Her name is Lynda. In my consulting life Lynda said this to me in the context of valuing every single interaction you have with a client or in fact anyone because they may become your customers. So, I have always tried to ask surprising questions to which I like to think I truly listen. Based on that leave behind (or follow up with) an idea, something that’s inspired me that may in turn inspire that person, a quote, a connection to someone, a book recommendation…the actual book, an exhibition, a business to look up, an article, an introduction.

What's your biggest fuck up?

Ha. Well I have certainly learnt a lesson about the importance of reading a contract before co-signing it. That was about 10 years ago now. Yeah don’t give away your IP to a corporate player bigger than you by doing things in a rush guys. But gosh I learnt a lot by having to front up to those corporate lawyers and the art of negotiation was a skill I honed in that process. In the end we didn’t have to give away our IP but that was a very stressful period.

What's the last book you read/piece of content you've engaged with?

Oooof. Okay literally this minute it’s season 4 of true crime podcast “Unravelled” the storytelling and web of lies (and kiwi accents) is amazing. It’s so well produced too. Thomas got me onto it. I am also devouring my NGV Triennial 2 book – its huge, absolutely beautiful, tactile and it is enabling me to relive the exhibition and delve deeper into the worlds of the artists and the way they are challenging our perceptions through the NGV Triennial 2. Totally recommend getting along to the exhibition if you are in Melbourne…and buying the book.

If you could only have one medium, which one would you choose: Art, Film, Literature, Music?

I LOVE this question and the discussion it creates. I always fluctuate between art and music and currently film has made it into the ranks mainly because since Covid restrictions have eased I have been to so many amazing films at an actual cinema. And of course film encapsulates music, story, art etc but thats a cheats answer to the question. So you know what at this moment in time I am going to answer Art. I’ve recently engaged with the incredibly powerful work of Traditional owner Mavis Ngallametta at QAGOMA. Her work and the scale of it is utterly breathtaking, not to mention she took up painting at the age of 64! Absolute legend!