Lisa Wilkinson inspires at Business Chicks event
This month, Spinach had the pleasure of taking some of our clients to the Business Chicks Breakfast at Crown Casino featuring journalist and presenter Lisa Wilkinson.
Clients from Transurban, Hudsons Coffee and The Reject Shop joined us to hear Lisa share her career highlights, lowlights and her personal journey.
Lisa had a room of more than 900 people – mostly women – captivated for an hour speaking from the heart with no props or notes. She generously shared personal insights from her 30 year career in the media industry including the challenges she faced from the time she left school (and missed a group overseas trip), to take on a Girl Friday role at Dolly magazine. She subsequently ended up in the editor’s chair at 21 with no formal media training.
Lisa openly discussed her sudden departure from the Nine Network and subsequent new role at The Project. Despite media reports, she still loves Karl and shares a great working relationship with co-host Carrie Bickmore.
Through sheer tenacity, passion and a supersonic work ethic, Lisa took on the giants of publishing including the fearsome Kerry Packer regaling an hilarious tale of her first meeting with him where, terrified and covered in seagull poo, she was choppered in to a lunch to be greeted by him in very brief stubby shorts.
Lisa spoke candidly about the challenges for women in the early days her career, and now, recalling, “It was tough. As women we have a tendency to be grateful for everything that comes our way, which is fine, but we’ve got to move beyond that.” It was a salient point given the current climate where women are gaining momentum and support to stand up against the status quo and feel supported thanks to campaigns such as #metoo. It was particularly relevant to our industry.
“There’s a train coming, and blokes that want to be part of a boys club realise that we have steam behind us and there’s no stopping us.”
Lisa is an inspirational example to women of all ages groups and walks of life. She highlighted the importance of strong leadership and a group voice to drive confidence for women in senior roles as well as mentorship for juniors coming through the ranks. We all walked out of the room with even more respect for Lisa for helping pave the way.
Her parting words, “There’s a train coming, and blokes that want to be part of a boys club realise that we have steam behind us and there’s no stopping us.”
Amen.
Images courtesy of Business Chicks and Mel Hobbs Photography.