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Since then I’ve been an editor and author of (award-winning) non-fiction children’s books, led the Career Services team at the University of South Australia, had two children and started my own business.

I don’t regret the almost 20 years I spent preparing for a career that was never going to work for me – I met wonderful people, had truckloads of fun and developed skills I still use every day.

But the moment of realising that after almost two decades I had it wrong has never left me. I’d based my career plan on a goal that entailed sacrifices I hadn’t bothered to contemplate and wasn’t willing to make.

And I wasn't alone: it struck me that most people are more thorough about planning their evening's Netflix viewing than they are about planning their career. 

In 2008 I launched my first business when my firstborn was six weeks old (‘naïve’ doesn’t even come close!). My mission: to support women to take charge of their lives and careers. Over the next six years I worked with hundreds of women through 1:1 coaching and two flagship development programs, Catalyst Women in Leadership and Springboard Women’s Career Development Program.

While I loved working with women, I knew that systemic and cultural change is what really makes a difference when it comes to equality and inclusion. In 2014 I decided it was time to turn my attention to the big picture, and merged Anna Lee Consulting with my brother Diarmid's existing organisational development consultancy, Leed Consulting.

For the past eight years I’ve worked as an executive coach, leadership facilitator and keynote speaker, partnering with small community organisations through to universities, government and big corporates such as NAB, Santos and AGL. I’ve developed an obsession with using insights from the realms of behaviour design, social psychology and neuroscience to make change stick, and coached hundreds of women, from CEOs to those in their first leadership role.

I can’t promise overnight attainment of your dream job or rapid transformation into a calm, confident, fulfilled woman who always has her sh*t together. Because neither of those things exist. I can promise practical tools, insights and ‘aha’ moments galore and the uplifting sense of having someone in your corner who knows her stuff.

So that's my career story. I'd love you to help you write yours.


My Career Story


At age four I decided I wanted to become an actor.


At age 18 I went to drama school.


At age 22 I got an agent and moved to Sydney, on track for the Oscars circa 1999.


At age 23 I realised that not even an Oscar would be sufficient reward for years of waiting for auditions, waiting for callbacks and waiting on tables (lots of waiting on table).

 

Since then I’ve been an editor and author of (award-winning) non-fiction children’s books, led the Career Services team at the University of South Australia, had two children and started my own business.

I don’t regret the almost 20 years I spent preparing for a career that was never going to work for me – I met wonderful people, had truckloads of fun and developed skills I still use every day.

But the moment of realising that after almost two decades I had it wrong has never left me. I’d based my career plan on a goal that entailed sacrifices I hadn’t bothered to contemplate and wasn’t willing to make.

And I wasn't alone: it struck me that most people are more thorough about planning their evening's Netflix viewing than they are about planning their career. 

In 2008 I launched my first business when my firstborn was six weeks old (‘naïve’ doesn’t even come close!). My mission: to support women to take charge of their lives and careers. Over the next six years I worked with hundreds of women through 1:1 coaching and two flagship development programs, Catalyst Women in Leadership and Springboard Women’s Career Development Program.

While I loved working with women, I knew that systemic and cultural change is what really makes a difference when it comes to equality and inclusion. In 2014 I decided it was time to turn my attention to the big picture, and merged Anna Lee Consulting with my brother Diarmid's existing organisational development consultancy, Leed Consulting.

For the past eight years I’ve worked as an executive coach, leadership facilitator and keynote speaker, partnering with small community organisations through to universities, government and big corporates such as NAB, Santos and AGL. I’ve developed an obsession with using insights from the realms of behaviour design, social psychology and neuroscience to make change stick, and coached hundreds of women, from CEOs to those in their first leadership role.

I can’t promise overnight attainment of your dream job or rapid transformation into a calm, confident, fulfilled woman who always has her sh*t together. Because neither of those things exist. I can promise practical tools, insights and ‘aha’ moments galore and the uplifting sense of having someone in your corner who knows her stuff.

So that's my career story. I'd love you to help you write yours.

Who I work with

Who I work with

Women

 





I work with women who want to be CEOs, and women whose ambition is to work part-time for the rest of their lives (which of course need not be mutually exclusive aims!).

I work with women who know precisely where they want to be in five years time, but have no idea how to get there, women for whom the next few years are crystal clear but the longer term future is a conundrum, and women who are moderately content but want to take a more proactive, positive approach to their work and life.

I work with women who have been in the same profession or organisation their whole lives, and women whose CVs read like a patchwork quilt. I work with women who’ve always identified as intensely ambitious, and women for whom no job has ever been more than a means to earn a living.

I work with women who want work to be more than a job, and life to be more than work.

Organisations

 

 

 

 

I work with employers, women’s professional associations and organisations that are committed to cultivating inclusive workplaces and professions through personal development and cultural change. In addition to delivering keynotes, programs and workshops focussed on career navigation skills for women, I work with organisations more broadly through Leed Consulting, the consultancy I run with my gorgeous brother Diarmid

Women

Organisations

What I believe

What I believe

I believe that:

Meaning and purpose are important to a fulfilling life – and it’s wonderful if your career is fuelled by either or both. But intensely satisfying paid work is not a pre-requisite to a life well-lived. If you enjoy your job and fulfillment lies in harvesting vegetables you’ve grown, or plunging into the ocean or coaching your kid’s soccer team, then that’s great too. The trick is to get crystal clear on the role of paid work in each phase of your life, so you can make work work for you.

Most of us have more strength, power and possibility within than we believe. We’re unlikely to find fulfillment in the outer world until we explore our inner terrain.

The gender stereotypes that permeate our society (and our brains) can profoundly shape our self-perception, our experiences, how we respond to the world and how the world responds to us. Understanding gendered messages and gender dynamics is the first step in dialling down their impact.


Systemic, social and cultural change are key to diminishing the role of gender in career identity, opportunity, experience and trajectory. But while the big stuff remains a work in progress, equipping individual women with the skills and courage to navigate workplaces that were designed for and by men is both pragmatic and necessary.

What I believe

What I believe

I believe that:

➥ Meaning and purpose are important to a fulfilling life – and it’s wonderful if your career is fuelled by either or both. But intensely satisfying paid work is not a pre-requisite to a life well-lived. If you enjoy your job and fulfillment lies in harvesting vegetables you’ve grown, or plunging into the ocean or coaching your kid’s soccer team, then that’s great too. The trick is to get crystal clear on the role of paid work in each phase of your life, so you can make work work for you.

➥ Most of us have more strength, power and possibility within than we believe. We’re unlikely to find fulfillment in the outer world until we explore our inner terrain.

➥ The gender stereotypes that permeate our society (and our brains) can profoundly shape our self-perception, our experiences, how we respond to the world and how the world responds to us. Understanding gendered messages and gender dynamics is the first step in dialling down their impact.


➥ Systemic, social and cultural change are key to diminishing the role of gender in career identity, opportunity, experience and trajectory. But while the big stuff remains a work in progress, equipping individual women with the skills and courage to navigate workplaces that were designed for and by men is both pragmatic and necessary.