Michelle MacRae was raised by a mum who was her number one fan and a dad who’s a professional treasure hunter, or as she puts it, a pirate. That mix of structure and adventure led her from regional NSW to Google, where she helped launch Task Mate and found a way to pay women in Mexico without bank accounts through OXXO convenience stores. At 38 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with melanoma, and it left her grateful for the scientists whose research saves lives. Today she’s Co-Founder and CEO of Bower, a Gold Coast startup giving scientists smart glasses that replace the safety glasses they already wear and capture their lab work through video, images and voice, so they can stay in flow and get back to discovery.

In this episode, Michelle shares the people, purpose and price rule that has guided every career move she’s made, what it was really like building Bower at night while leading generative AI at Microsoft, and why some investors passed on her because she’s a mum. She also talks about being the only woman in the room in deep tech, why you can build a startup from a regional town, and her advice to do the thing that looks like work to everyone else but feels like play to you.

If you’re curious about a career building AI or founding your own startup, this one is for you.

Bower is hiring! michelle@bowerlabs.ai
Michelle MacRae LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-macrae-90820025/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/
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Jade Loyzaga is a Senior Engineering Director at Canva, where she leads a 500-person tech team across content discovery and AI. She studied computer science and fine arts, then worked as a software engineer and tech lead at Twitter in the US before moving home to Australia to join Canva.

Jade shares her career advice on moving from engineer to engineering manager to director, the two books she recommends to everyone (The Manager’s Path and Staff Engineer), and how Canva builds with AI. She opens up about her return to work after parental leave, what she looks for when hiring tech leaders, and what has worked at Canva to get more women in tech into leadership. She also answers the big question on every student’s mind: should you still study computer science in the age of AI?

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/
Jade Loyzaga LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jadeloyzaga/
Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/
Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD

Sarah Bradley is Director of Data Science & AI at Nasdaq, where she leads the AI and machine learning behind the platform's market surveillance technology, used by exchanges and regulators worldwide to catch financial crime. Before that, she was a classically trained musician who performed as a soloist at the Sydney Opera House and didn't write a line of code until university.

In this episode, Sarah unpacks how AI models spot market manipulation, why she disagrees with the classic advice to just follow your passion, and what she tells the hundreds of school kids who ask if it's too late to learn to code.

Get Into Tech Free Resource: https://techcouncil.com.au/your-career-in-tech/

Sarah Bradley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbradley-ai/

Adair Robins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adair-robins/

Music Credit: License code: KR2VLJP5QV5P7LDE License code: 5LA5IAVKYG26HASD