Joe Pollard: Media and marketing maven

Just two marks stood between Joe Pollard and the career she once wanted as a physiotherapist – and they were the best two marks she never got. 

Instead, Joe has had a career that’s taken her far and wide: from a stint in Hong Kong to running global media for Nike, to Tokyo and back to Australia to head up Ninemsn and Telstra. Today, she holds non-executive board positions for a diverse range of companies including oOh!media, Washington H. Soul Pattinson and the Endeavour Group. 

With a CV that rich, it’s perhaps unsurprising that she sees her career in chapters, as she tells host Caroline Hugall. What would those chapters be called? Something like “Great Bosses”, “Good Mentorship”, “Letting Go of Working-Mum Guilt, and “The Bridesmaid Pep Talk with David Gyngell”. 

And she’s got a pep talk of her own to share, from why you should take the job you can’t do, to a message aimed straight at the hearts of women in their 40s. 

The first series of Pep Talk recognises Fitted For Work, a not-for-profit that helps disadvantaged women get work and keep it through mentorship and other work readiness programmes.