Work.
I’m a dynamic digital media executive with a track record of growing audience, revenue and talent, fast. I’m obsessed about building and serving communities.
I’ve been a journalist for 20+ years, beginning my career at The Sunday Times in London, where I reported the first dot com boom and bust, before covering entertainment for The Times. In Australia I’ve reported for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and Far North Queensland’s mighty Cairns Post. From 2013-19 I was founding editor and then GM of BuzzFeed Australia.
My first book – an internet guide for Virgin Books – was published in 2000. My most recent – 88 Reasons Why Australia Is The Craziest for Harper Collins – hit bookstands in 2016 (available in all good bookshops, and at Booktopia). I’m currently writing a meteorological history of Australia for Allen & Unwin.
2022-24
Editor-in-Chief, Smart Co. Media
private media
I am EIC of the B2B arm of Private Media — which also publishes Crikey and The Mandarin. Day-to-day I am responsible for SmartCompany and Inc. Australia, and with my colleagues in commercial, events and marketing, for our rapidly expanding Pitch, Scale Up and Smart50 award and event franchises. It’s a lot of fun!
Co-founder
*PS MEDIA
I am a co-founder of *PS Media, a collaborative local news startup, co-created and co-owned by the communities that we serve. We piloted our model in three locations in 2022/23: Brimbank and Port Phillip in Melbourne, and Logan in south east Queensland. Follow our progress at psmedia.com.au.
2013-19
Editor-in-Chief
buzzfeed australia
The founding editor of BuzzFeedOz, I led our Publish website of the year-winning editorial team as they created impactful and shareable news, entertainment and lifestyle content. In five years, BuzzFeed became Australia's biggest cross-platform digital publisher, reaching 10.9m Australians a month (Nielsen DCR).
2011-13
Visual Story Editor
NEWS Corp australia
My team created visual news, multimedia, infographics and video for news.com.au and Sydney's Daily Telegraph, Melbourne's Herald Sun and Brisbane's Courier Mail.
2010-11
Online Editor
The cairns Post
The Cairns Post Media Group covers Far North Queensland (an area the size of the UK). I led a team of digital specialists and introduced innovative multimedia storytelling techniques that helped us become Australia’s Regional Newspaper of the Year.
1998-2009
Arts Editor, Times Online
THE TIMES
I led a skilled team of digital journalists, worked closely with print, marketing and advertising colleagues, and managed cross-platform editorial campaigns including the Cannes and London film festivals, Edinburgh book festival and Glastonbury, plus a Sony Award-nominated podcast.
Reporting and editing
THE SUNDAY TIMES
I worked on the Magazine and Culture sections, and covered the dot com boom and bust as associate editor of the paper's 48-page technology section.
Play.
Love to cloud watch
Cloud Appreciation Society Member 3222
love to-do lists
30 Seconds, 7 Minutes, 5:2, 8/8/8, 3 Positive Things etc!
Love to travel. Who doesn’t?
55+ Countries and counting
Cirrus Cirrocumulus Cirrostratus Altocumulus Altostratus Nimbostratus Stratocumulus Stratus Cumulus Cumulonimbus love ‘em all
Australia New Zealand Fiji French Polynesia Argentina Brazil Bolivia Chile Peru Ecuador Colombia Panama Costa Rica Honduras Guatemala Belize Mexico USA Ireland UK France Holland Germany Denmark Finland Portugal Spain Italy Switzerland Austria Slovenia Poland Greece Turkey Estonia Latvia Russia Syria Jordan UAE Qatar Egypt Morocco South Africa Mozambique India Sri Lanka Uzbekistan China Vietnam Laos Cambodia Thailand Malaysia Indonesia Philippines South Korea Japan
Everyone has a favourite quote. Here’s mine. “If you believe, you can achieve. Innit?!” – Dizzee Rascal.
ROOTS
Edinburgh, Scotland
favE things
Beaches, Bushwalks, Books
values
Positivity, Creativity, Passion
A short list of personal achievements
1988 – paperboy on Auld Reekie’s mean streets
1990 – walked the West Highland Way
1994 – first solo overseas trip, backpacking India
1998 – spent the summer reporting in Moscow
1999 – first (proper) job, at The Sunday Times
2000 – wrote Virgin Internet Guide
2003 – saved someone’s life on the GBR
2004 – web editor at Friends of the Earth
2005 – hired by The Times of London
2007 – interviewed Brangelina, Cannes
2009 – in DJ booth with Basement Jaxx, Ibiza
2011 – got married in Galle Fort, Sri Lanka
2012 – presented live broadcast of a solar eclipse
2014 – founding editor of BuzzFeed Oz
2016 – 88 Reasons Why Australia Is The Craziest
2018 – my team won a Cannes Golden Lion
2023 – moved to the Apple Isle aka Tasmania
