Welcome to Startup Life: Unscripted, a newsletter by The Nudge Group, where we feature candid conversations with startup operators about their career journeys and experiences. If you received this email as a forward, you can read our past interviews and subscribe right here.

From Hospitality to Venture Capital: Unraveling Paloma Newton's Fascinating Startup Career Journey

Welcome back to Startup Life: Unscripted! Today, we are super excited to have Paloma Newton, who is the Marketing & Storytelling Lead at Blackbird Ventures, an Australasian VC firm, as well as the host of the startup-focused podcast, Calling Operator.

Having navigated an intriguing career path from hospitality, nonprofits, and advertising to the startup ecosystem, Paloma's journey is a testament to her adaptability and tenacity. Now, with a key role at Blackbird Ventures, she brings her wealth of experiences to bear on the dynamic world of startups and venture capitalism.

Join us for a candid conversation with Paloma as we explore her incredible career transitions and her diverse roles in the fast-paced startup landscape. If you're eager to uncover what goes on behind the scenes at a leading venture capital firm, you won’t want to miss this interview!

Key interview takeaways:

🔀 Paloma's career crossroads: From hospitality to nonprofits, advertising, and ultimately to the startup ecosystem, Paloma's unique career trajectory showcases how determination, resilience, and a learner's mindset can help you traverse distinct industries and roles.

📚 Learning and evolving: Paloma's transition from various fields to the dynamic world of startups wasn't without its challenges. But, by consistently seeking more, adapting to new environments, and harnessing skills from previous roles, she has crafted a vibrant and impactful career.

🎙️ Mastering multiple roles: Besides being a critical player at Blackbird, Paloma is also the host of the 'Calling Operator' podcast. She discusses how she balances her time between these diverse commitments and why it's crucial to allow yourself some slack in the process.

🌍 Driving change: As the Marketing & Storytelling lead at Blackbird, Paloma aims to inspire a new generation of creators and innovators. She envisions Blackbird's narrative playing a key role in shaping Australia as a hub of pioneering ideas, and she shares how she plans to bring this vision to life.

💡 Paloma's career wisdom: If you're charting a non-linear career path like Paloma's, her advice is invaluable. She emphasizes the importance of following your interests, excelling in your current role, and the freedom to change your mind anytime.

Hey Paloma, thanks for joining us today! You've had quite a fascinating career journey — from hospitality to nonprofits to advertising and finally the startup ecosystem. Can you talk about the transitions and what you brought with you from each experience to the next?

Yeah for sure! Like many young people, I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was finishing uni, but whenever I did anything, I always wanted to do the best I could at that thing. That led to 'falling' into a lot of careers but I also just enjoyed them all. You don't think of leaving when you're doing well at something and progressing. That's certainly what happened with hospitality. I think my career transitions happened mostly when I started wanting more or feeling stagnant.

Your days must be pretty jam-packed. Can you take us through a typical day in your life as the Marketing and Storytelling Lead at Blackbird Ventures and Podcast host at Calling Operator?

Ha! This will probably be a very different answer to when we spoke last, as suspected, I have gotten very busy. Honestly, every day looks different. I know a lot of people say that, but for me it's never been more accurate than now.

I'll wake up, go to the gym, walk the dog then head into the office where normally I'll make a coffee and get stuck into all of our social channels, read the comments, check any media or news that may have come through, reshare anything etc. From there, I'll probably have a couple of meetings, WIPS with different teams or 1:1s with our different product leads.

After lunch I tend to get stuck into product work, that can look like anything from writing copy for Sunrise and planning campaign assets, doing campaign strategies for Giants, the Lilypad or foundry or working through campaign assets for any of the above.

From there, I'll think about blog content we might need to develop and then either plan that out or write a couple of things. In the late afternoon, I'll jump back on socials, see if there is anything we might need to post for the week and schedule our posts.

I'd call that a generic day. There are obviously some days where you're hyper-focused on one or two things!

Startmate Women's Fellowship seemed to be a game changer for you. Could you tell us more about the fellowship and what about it spoke to you so strongly?

The women's fellowship was the first time I made an 'active' choice in my career that wasn't driven by anyone else. I loved advertising, but I went into it by wanting to do something else rather than hospitality and having two parents who had done it. The moment that I chose the women's fellowship was really the moment that I started to make active choices and think about what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be.

I think through the fellowship, I learnt the breadth of the world and realised how many things I could do and impact. For me, the idea of being able to work on something that was going to have a lasting impact on the world, something that could possibly outlive me was incredibly exciting. I'd come from a world where I put everything into my work, and it was fun, but once that three-month campaign was over, it was gone. Through the fellowship, I learnt I could put that in, and watch something grow indefinitely.

You describe the startup ecosystem as having the community of hospitality, the drive and creativity of advertising, and the tenacity of starting a NFP. Can you elaborate on that and how these elements intersect in your current role?

For sure, so the community of hospitality: one of the reasons I stayed in hospitality for so long was the people. To this day, they are some of the smartest people, business owners and creators I've worked with and they genuinely care about each other — I see a lot of the hospitality industry in the startup ecosystem the same way if I ran out of limes at 10 pm I knew I could run to a bar down the street and borrow limes, I know if I have a gap I need filled, I can reach out to someone in the startup ecosystem, and they'll happily help me.

Drive and creativity of advertising, advertising taught me how to get shit done and also how to think differently from everyone else because if you can't think differently, you can't cut through. I worked with some incredible producers and creatives and learned so much from them.

The tenacity of an NFP, if you're trying to do something that doesn't exist, you have to believe you can do it. Similarly, if you're working on a cause, you have to hustle to make people give a shit. There are so many worthy causes in the world. Caring takes a lot of energy, so to get up every day and fight for something you truly believe in takes some tenacity which I think is displayed in the founders, operators and investors who get up every day, and believe these startups can do the thing and work their asses off to achieve that.

Global startup job opportunities:

• 👨‍💻 Mid - Senior Software Engineer

• 🔍 Paid Media Manager - Search

• 📲 Paid Social Media Manager

• 🎯 Account Director

• 🗂️ Junior Office Administrator

• 📈 Head of Marketing & Monetisation

• 🌐 Online Media Manager - Search & Social

• 📞 Sales Development Representative

• 💼 Chief of Staff - FinTech

• 🤝 Business Development Manager

• 🔧 Senior Tech Engineer - Managing Projects

As the Marketing and Storytelling lead at Blackbird Ventures, what's your vision for the company's narrative and how do you intend to bring it to life?

Yikes, a huge question. My vision for Blackbird's narrative is that we truly inspire a new creative nation. That we are part of the generation that rebuilds Australia as a country full of creators and innovators and that globally, Australia is thought of as the pioneering land of new ideas. I'd love it if we lived in a world if anytime someone had an idea, they thought, 'I should talk to Blackbird about that' - not just startup ideas, but young people wanted to come with their creative ideas to Protostars, people working on a problem want to come with their ideas to Giants and scientists first come to foundry and so on...

Can you give us a peek into your day-to-day at Blackbird and how you juggle it with hosting your podcast, Calling Operator?

So my day-to-day is totally dependent on what's going on, there is always more to do (in the best way possible), and Blackbird is a ripe environment where there really is no limit. How do I juggle that with the podcast? I work a 9-day-fortnight, giving me a day every fortnight to plan, record or edit the podcast. On top of that, I cut myself slack. I love the podcast, it's my hobby that hopefully gives something back to the world, but if I need a break, I take a break.

How would you say hosting Calling Operator has enriched your perspective on the startup ecosystem, and how do you see it influencing your role at Blackbird?

It's given me an enormous amount of context and an incredible insight into the people behind them. I have such enormous respect for founders and operators, and having the podcast has given me this really unique insight into their stories which helps me think about stories that should be told from Blackbird and our portfolio companies. Interestingly, the podcast has become one of my biggest personal L&D opportunities. What better way to learn about storytelling for startups than to tell stories from inside them?

Finally, what advice would you give to someone looking to carve out a similar, non-linear career pathway in the startup world?

I think my biggest advice is to follow what you're interested in, remember you can change your mind literally whenever you want and just do the best job you can do whatever you're doing. My career has been amazing, but there have been times when it's also been challenging, there have been jobs that I thought would be amazing and weren't what I thought, and there were jobs that I wasn't sold on and ended up adoring. If you turn up every day, do the best you can do and treat everyone the way you want to be treated, you'll honestly have a great time.

Give It A Nudge

On our latest episode, Steve sat down with Joey Moshinsky, Co-Founder and Joint CEO of the groundbreaking educational startup, Tutero. They talk about the behind-the-scenes story of the venture, from ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic to achieving exponential growth. Check out the this super interesting conversation and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!

And that's a wrap! We hope you've enjoyed this edition as much as we loved putting it together. Stay curious, keep learning, and above all, enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is Startup Life. Catch you in the next one! 👋 Not subscribed yet? Do it here and don't miss out! Subscribe Now.