Welcome to Episode 34 of our podcast, Courageous Conversations, hosted by Leanne Pilkington.
In this episode, we hear from Natalie Fitzgerald, General Manager of Concierge at Home. She talks about starting her career in strata management, the Women in Strata group and its impact on the community, the importance of nurturing confidence in women, how she is helping to improve engagement between strata managers and developers, and her commitments to the charity, Share the Dignity.
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00:20 – How Natalie started her career in strata management
00:50 – Women in Strata; how Natalie started her passion project
01:50 – The impact of the Women in Strata events and community.
02:30 – The importance of the conversations around women and thinking ‘bigger picture’ when it comes to inclusion
04:15 – Reflecting on the feedback received by Women in Strata; including one such comment: ‘You are bringing strata into disrepute.’
05:00 – Conveying the message that women’s events aren’t about ‘man-hating’; it’s about being a platform for positive reinforcement.
07:00 – Women’s groups create a safe space that isn’t about having to compare yourself to others; it’s about building a circle of trust.
08:15 – Why confidence is the biggest aspect that prevents women from breaking into leadership roles.
09:00 – Natalie’s mentoring program to help support women wanting to build their confidence
10:00 – Balancing passion projects with your day-to-day job: “There’s so much more to life and work is a big part of that. It shouldn’t be something you HAVE to do. It should be something that you get accomplishment from.”
12:00 – The impact of having more confidence on, not just yourself, but others around you.
13:00 – Natalie’s work on improving how the strata community engages with property developers.
14:00 – A breakdown on how the communication between strata managers and developers begins.
15:00 – When defects arise and the challenges around strata managers acting on them, and others ignoring them; it is up to the strata manager to act on behalf of the owners’ corporation to get defects resolved.
16:20 – Getting business from developers versus the owners corporation.
17:00 – Identifying the people in the owners corporation to generate business
18:00 – Combustible cladding; how Natalie has been facing the issue personally within the strata industry
19:45 – What’s involved with combustible cladding remediation regulations.
21:50 – Reflecting on Opal Tower and what was learned.
24:00 – Research the builders, the developers, the records, etc before buying off-the-plan.
24:40 – About Natalie’s charity that she supports, Share the Dignity.
27:00 – Natalie’s three tips for having courageous conversations