Starting my career in medicinal chemistry taught me early on that the most interesting problems sit at the intersection of science, people, and experimentation. That curiosity eventually led me into People and Talent, with one very caffeinated detour along the way: co-founding a specialty coffee roastery and café in Melbourne. It taught me a lot about people, pressure, leadership, and the chaos of business.

Fifteen years later, I’m still focused on the same fundamentals, just with better tools and fewer coffee burns. Today, I’m Head of People and Talent at Fortiro, a Melbourne-based AI fraud prevention scaleup. I also consult and coach early-stage founders on building people functions that actually hold up under pressure, not just look good on paper.

I’m an accredited coach, have built people functions from scratch across multiple high-growth startups, and I’m deep in exploring what AI can genuinely do for People teams. The jury is still out on some of it, but the results so far are interesting.

If you're a solo or small-team People leader, chances are you're spending more time reacting than leading. This session is for the People professional who's ready to stop waiting for founders to set the agenda and start building one that's commercially grounded and data-driven. We'll cover practical steps to get on the front foot, from using AI tools integrations with your existing ATS and HRIS to build better reporting and dashboards, to speaking the commercial language that earns you a seat in the strategy conversation. Walk away with tools or ideas you can put to work tomorrow.

‍

What you'll leave with:

1. How to shift from reactive order-taker to proactive People leader, without a big team or budget, by building a people strategy that's visibly aligned to commercial and growth outcomes.
2. Practical ways to use AI or MCP integrations with your existing ATS and HRIS to create real-time reporting and dashboards that give you the data to lead with confidence rather than wait to be directed.
3. How to speak the commercial language founders and leadership teams respond to, so your people initiatives land as business strategy, not HR activity.