Testimonial Donut

Helping you convert leads to customers with easy to collect and display video testimonials on your website so sweet you can't resist.

Co-Founder

Founderoo 

Helping share the stories and wisdom of founders from all walks of life.

Ignition

From impressive online proposals to automated engagement letters and payments, Ignition frees you up to focus on what matters most - your clients.

Principal Product Manager

Kaddim

Kaddim is a document and information collection platform designed to help businesses save time, improve customer experience and ensure the security of client data.

Invoice2go

Invocie2go (acquired by Bill.com) is the all-in-one solution for small businesses. Manage customer relationships, send professional invoices and estimates, accept payments and have an online presence.

Senior Product Manager

Sypht

Sypht helps businesses unlock the potential of data hidden in documents by using the latest in machine learning to automatically extract and interpret key data to power business processes and decisions.

Airtasker

Responsible for partnership projects, with a focus on developing and delivering solutions and products that leverage the Airtasker platform in collaboration with strategic partners.

Manager (Partnerships) - Product and Strategy

1981 Consulting - www.1981consulting.co

1981consulting seeks to provide services and support to startup founders who may be lacking expertise in areas such as technology, legal, financial, marketing, and fundraising. If there are special requirements beyond our expertise, we engage and project-manage experts from our network of industry leaders in each field, allowing you to receive preferential servicing and pricing.

Director

ResMed

Responsible for the development of new medical device products and the lifecycle management of existing products.

Product Development Manager

Working in product development as the technical lead in the Respiratory Care division on the development of new and innovative ventilation platforms for the treatment of respiratory disorders.

Systems Engineer (ventilation products)

In the absence of a project manager I served as both the project manager and systems engineer for a NPD project; the development of an IoT medical device platform which was successfully launched globally.

Acting Project Manager

Product Life Cycle Engineer

Gammasonics institute for medical research

Gammasonics is an R&D institute, focused on delivering innovative radiation detection technology. My role as project engineer included various responsibilities such as research, engineering, verification and working with suppliers. I gained experience conducting product development in a bootstrapped high achieving environment.

Project Engineer

I interview/study successful founders + share their stories. Product at Ignition. Founder at Founderoo, Testimonial Donut + Kaddim

I love building products and studying entrepreneurs.

Farzan M.

May Samali, MPP, CPCC, PCC

👋🏽 Hi, I’m May.I’m the Founder and CEO of Human Leadership Lab. I work with organisations and individuals to unlock leadership potential and sustain high performance.As a speaker, facilitator, coach, researcher, investor and board director, I draw on multiple disciplines to help people excel, lead well, and be well.LEADERSHIP &amp; FUTURE OF WORK EXPERTISEI serve on the Board of Directors of Inspirato (NASDAQ: ISPO), a One Planet Group company. I’m a Fellow at the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School and an Adjunct Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT University’s Centre for Future Skills and Workforce Transformation.I’m also a Venture Partner at 77 Partners and NextGen Venture Partners, and sit on the John Monash Foundation’s Leadership Academy Advisory Board and Investible’s Climate Tech Fund Advisory Panel.My insights have been featured in Forbes, the Australian Financial Review, ABC Radio National, and Stanford Social Innovation Review.LEADERSHIP TRAINING FROM TOP INSTITUTIONSI’m a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach and hold a Professional Certified Coach credential from the International Coaching Federation. I was recognised as one of the Top 15 Coaches in Sydney by Influence Digest in 2024.My work is grounded in frameworks from the Co-Active Training Institute, Conscious Leadership Group, Leadership Circle, and Positive Intelligence.I hold a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University, where I studied as a Gleitsman Leadership Fellow and Australian John Monash Scholar. I received first-class degrees in Law and Economics from the University of Sydney.COMPANY BUILDING, OPERATING &amp; INVESTING I’ve navigated multiple career pivots across industries and geographies. Before founding Human Leadership Lab, I served as CEO of Ventures at the High Resolves Group, leading global cross-functional teams and technology ventures in the education sector. Prior to that, I was the first employee at Urban Innovation Fund, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, and a Director at Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator in the US. Earlier in my career, I worked as a strategy consultant, a lawyer, and a judge’s associate in Sydney. These early career experiences sparked my fascination with helping people develop the mindsets, skills, and systems for human leadership and sustainable high performance.💼 If you’re interested in working together, feel free to send me a DM.

Venture Partner

NextGen Venture Partners is a network-driven venture capital firm that brings together part-time venture capitalists who invest in and support a portfolio of exceptional early-stage entrepreneurs. I am engaged in sourcing and investing in seed stage companies across a variety of industries.

May Samali

I learnt these lessons by repeating reasonable decisions long enough to feel their cost.

Most of them only became obvious in hindsight.

Here are three leadership lessons from 2025 that only became clear once I stopped arguing with the data.

1️⃣ Growth without leverage quietly erodes performance.

There were periods last year where everything looked good on paper. New team members. Revenue was steady. Demand was strong. My calendar was full.

And yet decision-making felt heavier than it should have. More coordination. More context switching. More effort to protect quality.

I noticed I did my best work when I stayed close to judgement-heavy decisions, chose fewer but deeper partnerships, and added complexity deliberately rather than by default.

The lesson wasn’t “don’t grow”. It was that growth without leverage introduces friction faster than value.

2️⃣ Leadership capacity is constrained by physical health, whether we admit it or not.

I used to think leadership lived mostly in the head.

2025 dismantled that belief.

When training slipped or sleep was inconsistent, the impact showed up quickly. Less patience. A lower tolerance for ambiguity. A tendency to rush decisions rather than sit with complexity.

When health routines were consistent, my leadership felt steadier. I was more regulated and less rattled. More available and less distracted.

Health stopped being about personal optimisation and became a prerequisite for doing my job well and for living well.

3️⃣ Carrying responsibility for other adults undermines accountability.

This was the hardest lesson to learn.

I noticed how often care had slipped into carrying. Anticipating problems. Over-functioning. Filling gaps that weren’t mine to fill.

When I stepped back, ownership increased and my energy stabilised.

My leadership improved not because I cared less, but because responsibility finally sat where it belonged.

Looking back, the hardest part about learning these lessons was admitting the patterns were mine to change.

💬 What’s a lesson you only learned after repeating the wrong move long enough to feel the cost?

* * * 
👋🏽 I’m May, Founder and CEO of Human Leadership Lab. 

I partner with organisations, teams, and individuals to unlock leadership potential and high performance.

Founder & CEO, Human Leadership Lab | Speaker • Facilitator • Coach • Board Director | I work with organisations and individuals to unlock leadership potential & sustain high performance

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January is loud with advice about what you should do.

I prefer to start the year with a different question.

What kind of person do I want to be in 2026?

Because what you do tends to follow what kind of person you decide to be.

It helps to start by briefly looking back on 2025. 

What went well? 
What didn’t? What surprised you? 

Not to dwell. Just to close the loop.

Then you get to choose who you want to be and how you want to show up.

For example, instead of setting a goal like “exercise more,” you might choose an identity such as I am a fit and active person. 

From there, the question becomes simple: what does a fit and active person do?

They eat protein with most meals. 
They take the stairs. 
They move their body most days, even when life is busy.

You do those things long enough, and you don’t just chase the identity. You become it.

Sometimes it helps to choose a word or focus for the year to anchor that identity.

My word for 2026 is Vigour. 

For me, vigour is about energy, strength, and forward momentum. It’s aliveness with intent. Showing up fully, with edge and enthusiasm, in how I live and lead.

Choosing who you want to be might be the most powerful place to start the year.

💬 What’s ONE WORD that captures your intention for the year ahead?

Performance is shaped by how you lead yourself under pressure.

Patterns like overthinking, perfectionism, and the need to prove yourself drain energy and make decision-making heavier than it needs to be.

That cost compounds during periods of transition - when you’re building something new, stepping into greater responsibility, or redefining how you work and lead.

That’s why I’m running “Beyond Tomorrow: The Future of Self-Led Leadership.” 

In this interactive and intimate workshop hosted by herhive co. , I’ll introduce a Mindset Mastery Framework for modern leadership, designed to support women as they build what’s next, whether inside an organisation or as they consider taking a bigger leap. 

Together, we’ll learn how to notice, name and tame automatic patterns, reframe fear responses, and move forward with greater clarity and intention.

I only run a handful of public workshops each year. This is the only one I’m hosting in Q1.

Grounded in neuroscience, behavioural science, and leadership psychology, the session blends research-backed insight with practical tools you can apply immediately to support clearer judgement, stronger self-trust, and steadier leadership under pressure.

📍 Canva Space
🗓 Tuesday 10 February
⏱ 5pm for a 5:45pm start 
🎟 RSVP here: https://luma.com/uovrsnzs

If this resonates with where you are right now, I’d love for you to join us! 🎉

Women in Sydney who want to level up their mindset for leadership and high performance. This one’s for you.

I’m running a small, in-person workshop on mindset mastery for modern leadership.

We’ll explore what gets in the way of high performance under pressure. Overthinking. Perfectionism. The need to prove yourself. And how to move beyond it.

This is an intimate session. Limited seats. Thoughtful conversation. Practical tools you can use immediately.

🗓 Tuesday, 10 February at 5:45pm
📍 Canva Space, Surry Hills
💛 Hosted by herhive co.
🎟️ Register here: https://luma.com/uovrsnzs

I have ONE complimentary ticket available. DM me to claim your spot!

* * *
👋🏽 I’m May, Founder & CEO at Human Leadership Lab.
 
I partner with organisations, teams, and individuals to unlock leadership potential and sustainable high performance.

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Farzan M.

May Samali

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}May Samali's LinkedIn Performance

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