Emily's an incredible people and operations leader who is passionate about doing things differently. Her latest project is Kic, a fitness app quashing diet culture—founded by Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith. In this episode, we explore her journey from corporate to startup land; leading inside a unicorn to a bootstrapped company with year-on-year growth. There were so many, but highlights include: Balancing anxiety and mental health around leadership and the techniques that have defined Emily. Scaling from employee #90 at Linktree to leading a 20-person people and culture team through rapid growth. Reshaping Kic's strategy from product-led to a community and content-led fitness empire. Why community-led brands will win and how to embed a community-first mindset into your company planning. How mentors and coaches can 10x your personal and career growth.
Find Emily Robinson on:
Emily’s Northstars and frameworks:
ANZ operators—ones to watch:
- Maxine Minter, General Partner at Co Ventures, Founder and Advisor at Co Lab
- Mikayla Hopkins, Head of Marketing at Tracksuit
Other folks mentioned in the episode:
- Laura Henshaw (CEO and co-founder at Kic)
- Steph Claire Smith (Chief Community Officer and co-founder at Kic)
- Isa Notermans (Chief People Officer)
- Anth Zaccaria (Co-founder of Linktree)
- Alex Zaccaria (CEO and co-founder of Linktree)
- Jessica Trumble (CEO & Founder at We Are Charlotte)
- Michael Stocks (Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific at Squarespace)
- Do I want Kids? Miniseries with Laura Henshaw
- Co Lab (Matching high-growth founders with executive coaches)
- Simon Sinek
Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show?
Please share your suggestions with me via LinkedIn.
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A note from your host, Laura:
My goal for Calling Operator 2.0 is to open-source stories with startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people tackling similar challenges. I want this podcast to open a line for operators in Australia and New Zealand to learn from each other—diving into the execution behind big ideas, pivotal career moments, successes, failures, lessons and personal stories.