WEBVTT - #212 Kate Reid: What Formula 1 Taught Me About Building a Bakery Empire 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:01.560 Okay, read welcome, straight Talk. 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.120 Thank you so much for having me, Thank. 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.040 You for wearing your ballgan today. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:10.440 Hey, straight talk, I'm no angel, but. 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:12.760 I like it. I love it. It's awesome. Don't worry. 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:15.920 They can't sue me. They're can only sue me from 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.200 and you from here up. But we'll flash it you later, 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:19.800 so don't worry. 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:21.800 Having fun. 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:27.400 Already, engineer here an error. You're an aerospace engineer, correct, 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.360 but probably better known, well, probably maybe not better known, 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.680 but soon to be better known. As a word is 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.760 patissier batisseri. What was the French word for. 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.040 Well, I think it's chef petissier, chef bertissier. But I 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.000 wouldn't exactly call myself that. I spent a month in 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.520 a bou lingerie in Paris, which is certainly not long 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.319 enough from a training perspective to be formally classified as 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:55.760 that I learned just enough to give myself the confidence 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:58.240 to come back and open a business that specialized in 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.480 only croissants, which was also so not nearly enough. But yeah, 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.360 I think some people call me a pastry chef, but 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.800 I would not call myself that. You're definitely a founder, Yes, 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:08.800 definitely a founder. 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.880 You're a founder of a well known business, which I 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.160 don't tell me you've never had my mark. I am right. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.119 I heard you because I've been down the other room 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.240 and I just heard you trying to sort something out 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.120 for cast Race Street. My building is right across the 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:25.760 road from there. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:26.560 Perfect. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.680 So my main office, our head office where all our 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:33.360 staff are not for this for another business, is in Chiffley. Okay, wow, yeah, 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.480 So we had a floora chiefly there so and of 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:40.400 course everyone in my building was extraordinarily excited when I hope, 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:42.600 hopefully I pronounce a word right because I only know 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.120 what to look at it from spelling. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.560 But it's luna loon loon, so luna is the Italian 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.960 pronunciation and lone is the French pronunciation of the word moon. 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.720 Right, Okay, the word moon, since the word we'll come 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:59.080 back to that a moment. Like but it's a cross 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.400 crosshant shop, if I could say, and as plain as 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:06.400 Aussie language, I think that's perfect cross on shop. That's 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:07.320 actually what I call it. 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.239 Like I'm going down to the croissant shops. 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.480 And it's just around the but it's pretty bloody good. 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.480 I've had them and they're very good and I've taken 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.399 them home and I've actually lined up. 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.960 You've actually lined up, actually lined up impressed. 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.320 Not at the beginning. So when you first opened, there 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.280 was like mental lines going right up into the new 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:30.600 railway station there. I waited to start over. Time has 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:32.320 dropped off a little bit, but if you get at 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.360 a busy time, you still get on a decent line. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.200 But I've worked out at the times of the day 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.360 when it's not as busy and there might only be 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:39.679 four or five people on the line, and then I 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:40.440 can just jump in. 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.720 I think for your sake, I would not mention those 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.359 times because they might not be so quiet after you 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:46.080 about them. 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:47.280 I'm not going to tell them. I'm not going to 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.079 reveal my secrets. But I do really enjoy your exotic 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.400 cross once amazing. Thank you Exotic. But we'll talk about 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:55.840 a bit later, because at first I want to talk 0:02:55.840 --> 0:03:02.440 to you about is Kate Reid, the aeronautical engineer you 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.200 know in my business, I have to if I just 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.519 might explain this to you, I have a young guy 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:09.640 when he's young, he's probably forty something, just had. 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.120 A kid young. I like that. 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:14.240 We'll go with that as relative. It's age a relative things. 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:19.639 So I found out about three years ago that he 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.600 was formerly an aeronautical engineer okay, and he's from South Astralia, 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:28.959 and that he would be my number one most successful 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:34.160 mortgage broker Australia by numbers of transactions by because you know, 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.920 he's lending into Soustralia. People borrow less moon in so Australia. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.080 Therefore he doesn't lead as much into the toddle volume, 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:42.520 but interns of the numbers of transactions he does more. 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.560 And I once went to his office in Southstralia, should say, 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.560 and I said to him, Andy, can you explain to 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.080 me why he wrote so much business? I just wanted 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.040 to know. He's all he'sed to be an aeronautical engineer. 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.480 And he said to me, when I was doing that job, 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:01.960 he said, to look around the people in the room 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:03.360 with me, they're all much older to me. And he said, 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.200 I thought to myself, I don't want to be doing 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.800 this when I'm sixty or seventy or whatever. He said. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:09.440 I couldn't think of anything worse. So I decided to 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.000 go on a mortge broke and said what I've done? 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:16.920 He said, I've broken up the process and remapped it 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.039 from the moment summarrings the phone to make an inquiry 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.600 about them all, which the moment the mortgage settles. And 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:29.039 so I've broken up into every single part and I've 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:34.719 now automated ninety percent of every one of those parts 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:37.839 and only ten percent of it does it require a 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.560 human And as a result of that, I've been able 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.479 to do I can process a greater percentage of my 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.200 inquiries because I've just got more hours to work with. 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.120 And I imagine also that small component that still requires 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.840 the human element, he can put more effort into that 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.440 one so that people still feel like they're getting that 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.160 human connection part does That's very smart. That's my next 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:01.760 career done. 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:04.440 So we then borrowed that. I said, can I borrow 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:09.200 your process? My point being is this aeronautical engineers engineers generally, 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:13.960 but aeronautical engineers are very good at steps in a process. 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:16.480 And I want to I would I want to talk 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:21.160 to you a moment about have you employed that engineering 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:26.160 learning process skill into your business to make your business successful? 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.160 Because your business is not just about cool, sexy looking 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.280 cross on Twitter are exotic looking and having all the 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:33.960 very good on photos and some of that, but it's 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.280 also about execution, about delivery. You've got to get the 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.159 shit out and getting but you've got to get these 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.320 things out. You've got to get a manufactured made vart 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.480 off a customer to buy. And I noticed your whole 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.000 shop is a process. It's a process going on. I 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.360 can see it from the back. I'm intrigued about that. 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.000 I will talk about that. But is the fact that 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.880 you were an error a autical engineer. Did that affect 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.000 you like it affected him? Like he got bored off 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.000 his head, had to do something different? Why did you 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.880 go from meronautical engineering into being founder of across On business. 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.120 It's so funny. No one's ever put it to me 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.679 quite like that. Did you get bored off your head? 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.840 I think you've maybe just gotten right to the heart 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:20.279 of it. When I was younger, my father loves cars. 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.839 He loves motorsport in particular, loves Formula one and F one. 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.440 For me, was this perfect opportunity to get to spend 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:28.400 time with my dad, you know, one on one time, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.000 us hanging out, bonding over fast cars. But then I think, 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.000 as a little girl, as like you know, from my 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.360 earliest memories, I can remember sitting watching F one races 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.040 with him, you know the ones that travel around the 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.280 world with video them when I was really young, and 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.680 then we'd wait till the Monday night and watch them together. 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:46.320 And then when I got old enough, I was allowed 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.719 to stay up late on a Sunday night. And then 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:52.160 in nineteen ninety six, the Grand Prix moved from Adelaide 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:54.279 to Melbourne and for the first time I got to 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.200 witness it in person, and it was that defining moment 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.480 that made me think, I actually want my entire life 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:01.560 to be about these cars. 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:02.360 How old were you there? 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:02.839 Thirteen? 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.480 No, so I just stop there. 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:08.520 Okay, I can't imagine a third year old girl. 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.440 I can't imagine a ten year old girl, six year 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.280 old girl watching these cars race around the joint, especially 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.120 if you watch you on television. Then at thirteen saying 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.200 this is where I want to be. That's amazing. It's 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:20.200 pretty crazy. 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.360 I think I've always been someone that when I find 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.840 the thing that like I'm obsessed about or passionate about, 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.520 I just lock onto it and then everything in my 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.320 life becomes about how to work towards that thing and 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.480 achieve the goal. And experiencing the cars in person for 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.200 the first time, I mean I'm sure you've been to 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:38.400 an F one race before. 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:42.560 I've been to Monte Color Grand Prix four times, You've been. 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.280 To Monaco four times. 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.080 In may Nico is. 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.000 My favorite, and I've been three times, so it's it's 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.800 unlike anything else, and especially Monaco. I mean, the cars 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.400 really shouldn't be allowed to race around that circuit. It's 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.920 by today's modern circuit standards. It's dangerou, especially. 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:02.239 When it comes up the hill, pass the the casino there. 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.920 Exactly, and then through the tunnel, Like, have an accident 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.320 in that tunnel, you're done. But I mean, it's it's 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.320 a spectacle. It feels like a feat of human engineering 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:14.840 that is beyond what we could have ever imagined. These 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.920 cars traveling so quickly on circuits that are narrow, I 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.960 mean three hundred kilometers an hour. It's wild. And when 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.440 you experience one in person, And when I was thirteen, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.280 it was the V ten still and like that's the 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.680 sound of that car just rips through you. It's like 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.280 and I remember it. I could put myself back on 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.600 Brocki's Hill on that May that March day in nineteen 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.280 ninety six, and I can remember what it was like 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:40.880 to still witness that, and for me, I thought that 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:46.040 engineering Formula one cars would be the most exciting thing 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.520 on the planet. Like, yeah, maybe working as an engineer 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.800 at an automotive company like Ford or Holden back in 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.160 the day, that wasn't for me. I knew that that 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.000 wasn't going to move at the pace that I wanted. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.400 But working in F one sounded like you were working 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.240 at the edge of technology, creating things that might one 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.839 day cascade down into the automotive industry. Like I think 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.120 Williams created active suspension and now that's on every car 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.199 that you buy these days, but that's started in Formula one. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.840 And I think because the turnover of the design is 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:20.359 so fast, I imagined these groups of like brilliant engineers 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.920 working in a really collaborative environment with a lot of resource, 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:26.760 a lot of money, the best equipment, wind tunnels, everything, 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:31.440 The whole thing sounded just fabulous, glamorous. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.800 Is it glamorous or is it more intellectually exciting? 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.640 So the only experience I'd had with Formula one was 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.440 trackside as a little girl, because you know, you can't 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.880 get work experience in a Formula one team, So the 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:49.400 only interaction I'd had was the glamorous side. I knew 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.320 that engineering wasn't going to be trackside. I knew I 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:54.600 was going to be based in a factory, but I 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.520 imagined that being based in the factory would be some 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.600 sort of extrapolation of what you saw on the track. 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.640 I think, not glamorous, but definitely highly engaging from a 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.000 technical perspective, because. 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.640 The drivers are glamorous. That they are, I mean, they 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:11.640 really are. I was there in eighty six when I 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:13.600 met in Santa One in Monica. 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.120 Oh my god, you saw ed and winning. 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.079 Actually, I tell you something. I had a bed on him. 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.640 So I went to a Calcutta and as my first 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.720 Calcutter i'd ever been to. I didn't go to the Calcutta, 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.120 but I invested in a group of guys who went 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:29.719 to the calcuttter in Monte Carlo. They're older guys. I 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.120 didn't get invited because I was pretty young, and but 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:33.720 they asked me would I like to put a thousand 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:35.240 bucks into the Calcutter. I didn't even know what a 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.440 Calcutta was, but they explained what it was to me. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:38.920 I don't know what it is. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.079 You go, you go along to a night. It's like 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:47.800 a big event. And syndicates of people can buy the driver. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.080 So you you don't buy the driver, you can say, 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.240 well we'll we as Cindy will bid for that drive. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:55.360 You bid on his success. 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.920 Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you bid for the person who's 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:00.439 going to win the win the So it's not like 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:02.720 under the chair. I've been putting one thousand bucks onedon 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.400 Center where everyone could do that. You actually buy it, 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:07.360 and so you are the highest bit of buys iton Center. 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.720 And I was part of the syndica that they all 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:13.440 had more money than me, but I was part of 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.480 the part of it. I put a thousand bucks on it, 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:16.760 and I've got a very good return. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.320 One thousand bucks in nineteen eighty six was of money 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:19.600 as well. 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.320 It was a lot of money. Yeah. And by the way, 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:22.680 you have to put it up front, which is great. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.560 I was punding that. I was hoping you'd win or 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:28.720 second or third, Lise, I get some money back and 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.240 then I wouldn't have to pay. But we and he 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:33.679 did win. But I never forget it. I'll never forget 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:38.160 the glamour and excitement. And I was like eighty six, 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:42.040 so we're talking twenty forty years ago. I was thirty. 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.360 I was twenty nine, so I mean it was really 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:46.280 exciting for me, Like. 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.720 It was eating center like he is, he is not human, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.840 He was a legend. He was he was a god 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.960 amongst men at that time in motor racing. 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:56.160 I think. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.240 I think he was a very spiritual man as well. 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.000 And you like the way he's spoke about being in 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.240 the car. It was almost like he levitated out of 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.920 his body. And it's to watch him win a race 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:07.880 in Monaco would have been my all time dream. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:12.120 It was. It was amazing. Was it was hot, it 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.240 was hot, the noise. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.640 It's all the senses. You still remember senses. 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.840 I mean I could smell, I could smell the fuel 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:24.280 and rubber, and you're right, the speed which they got 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.440 around this kind of like you were, it was amazing, 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.160 Like you would think to yourself, that's not possible. How 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.440 could anyone sit monastering will and do that? Exactly crazy? 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.720 So you're right, all the senses a sort of going crazy. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.760 Well, I love hearing you describe it now, like almost 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.640 forty years later and you're remembering the smelling, sound and everything. 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.640 It's yeah, And that's how I feel about my first 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:47.240 nineteen ninety six Grand Prix. 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:52.920 Yeah, So that's and you're saying, as a young girl, 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.840 that was enough to sort of form in your mind 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:03.880 at least an academic career or a career in terms 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.640 of academia. So what you're going to study towards it 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.439 end up going to do couniversity. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.280 It was done and dusted that day. So I was 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.240 a huge fan of Damon Hill, who raced for the 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.040 Williams F one team, and that year he won the 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.920 World championship and for Christmas, Mum and Dad bought me 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.600 a coffee table book celebrating his championship winning year. And 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:25.599 years later, when I was moving to the UK to 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.160 work for Williams, I pulled the book out of the 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.120 shelf and a note fell out of the front, and 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.400 I'd written a pledge to myself at that age saying 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.040 that by the age of twenty five I would be 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.480 offered a job by the Williams F one team. And 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:39.560 I got it when I was twenty three, So like 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.240 literally that moment I experienced it, I was dead set 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.760 that that was going to be my thing, and I 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:47.920 went along to the ri MIT career day. I thought 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.000 I'd study automotive engineering, but as you said earlier, it 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.280 really is. Aerospace is the pinnacle. You know, if you 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:56.160 can figure out how to get a rocket into space 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.200 and landed on the Moon, that's one of the most 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:02.400 technically difficult things to a problem to solve. So e 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.280 lecturer at THET day said to me, look, how about 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.439 you consider studying aerospace engineering because what you want to 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:11.520 get into is one of the hardest jobs in the world. 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.080 Because there are so few jobs, you need to give 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.600 yourself the best chance. So that's what set me down. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.440 The trajectory of aerospace and. 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.160 When you went and did this at university and what 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.680 was the process of getting a job at Williams. 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.000 Huh, that's such a good question. I think a lot 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.920 of people out there, especially with the new interest in 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:33.840 F one ju to drive to survive. I get asked 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:35.920 so often, so how should I get a job in 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:41.240 Formula one? Literally you just have to do everything in 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.720 your power to make you stand out more than the 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.920 other thousands and thousands of people that want that job. 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:49.480 I mean, if you think about it, in F one, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:54.320 there was maybe fifteen aerodynamicists at Williams, and there are 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.400 at the moment ten teams on the grid. So you're 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.360 looking at one hundred and fifty jobs in the world 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:02.280 to be an aerodynamicist F one team, and there are 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.360 hundreds of thousands of aerospace engineers out there and many 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.080 of them probably who have that dream. So you need 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.760 to be loud. You need to get experience wherever you can. 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:16.800 Like I during university, I volunteered at a Formula three 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:21.240 team based in Melbourne, and that was tough. Like I'd 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.360 come from an all girls school, an all girls private 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:27.560 school in Melbourne, and then when I started studying aerospace engineering, 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:29.480 I was one of I think one of eight girls 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.680 in a course of one hundred and twenty guys. So 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.320 I went from all girls to all guys. And then 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.920 when I showed up at this F three team asking 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:41.040 to volunteer, these mechanics were they were like old school, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.800 rough as guts, and they just saw this like wet 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.960 behind the years, private school educated girls studying aerospace engineering, 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.160 and like they literally ate me. 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.160 Alive, get the box of hammers and all that sort 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.720 of stuff. Oh, like they box sparks. 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.520 Like I think, like they bullied me and they teased 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.520 me and ribbed me, but I didn't care because I 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.080 knew that being around them, and I think that This 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.320 made me a bit more thick skinned as well. I 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.040 knew that being around them simply by osmosis. If I 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.680 just watched what they did and listened to their conversation, 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.720 I would learn. And years later, when I got the 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.200 job at Williams, I was living with one of the 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.800 race mechanics and one night I was speaking to. 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.280 Him about WIMS or yeah. 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.280 Yeah, he was my housemate, and I was telling him 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.320 about this time that I volunteered with the F three team, 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.080 and he said, you don't know how invaluable even just 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.200 being around those mechanics would be. Because if you design 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.600 a a component of a car theoretically as an engineer, 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:40.920 but in F one it takes you half an hour 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:45.080 to change the part, it's completely useless from a practical perspective, 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.560 Like in a race engineering moment, you have to be 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:49.680 able to change that part in ten seconds or you've 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.120 lost the race. And he said, like, they taught me 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.240 how to break down a gearbox and change suspension components, 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.640 and I learned so much practical hands on stuff from 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.680 them that I then took into my engineering Korea. But yeah, 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.520 I think that was one of the examples of me 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.360 maybe trying to set myself apart from everyone else who wanted. 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:10.720 Them and telling everyone about it though because you have 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:12.600 to talk about it, doesn't have to talk about it 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:14.000 and be prepared to prosecute it. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:18.280 Yeah, absolutely, But how does a Philly daunting? 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:21.160 So Williams is in the UK. I don't know which 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:22.960 part of the UK, but London. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.359 I was somewhere, I don't know where, southwest of London, 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:27.879 just near Oxford, Okay, so I think it's called the 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:30.800 Motorsport Valley. There's a lot of F one team's base there. 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:35.200 So you're here applying for the job. 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.359 Yeah, so you're I'm writing off to every single F 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.400 one team And then I started to go down the list, like, Okay, 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.000 if I can't get a job in F one, maybe 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.800 I'll start in F two or F three or A 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.119 one was big at the time. I wrote to Lemon's 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.200 team's rally teams. I just wanted to get my foot 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.639 in the door. I mean, if you owned a motorsport 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:57.360 team back in the mid two thousands, you probably got 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.320 a letter from me. And I got a lot of 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.000 silence and a couple of rejection letters. But then one 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:07.880 day I got an email from Williams from the team 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.840 that was my dream team to work for. And I mean, 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.560 I think this goes against my scientific engineering brain, but 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.520 I am a bit of a believer in fate and 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:19.679 like for the one team to actually reply to me 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:21.800 to be the one that i'd written that note about 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:23.680 saying you're going to get a job with them. 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.000 Did you tell them that, yeah again in your application? 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.080 Actually no, not in my application, but maybe that would 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:30.320 have been. 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:32.600 A good idea there. 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.200 Well, they sent me an email saying we're actually recruiting 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.560 for junior aerodynamicists and we'd like to interview you. So 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.320 that was like, that's all I needed. I'm I think 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:47.600 I'm pretty compelling in an interview perspective, Like, once you 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:49.439 get your foot in the door, you can really let 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.720 your personality and your passion shine. And I knew that 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:54.440 if I could just get my foot in the door 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.440 and be interviewed by a team. I mean, I had 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.320 the aerospace engineering degree like everyone else. I'm sure other 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.400 people had experience working in volunteering with other teams. I'd 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.440 done my thesis on the study of the rear wing 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.280 of an F one car. I'd tried to do all 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.320 the right things, but once they talked to me. I 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:13.639 was pretty sure I could convince them to hire me, 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:14.320 and they did. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:18.040