By Ninja

Together, different.

At By Ninja, I connect good people doing good things in businesses with good customers, and help them grow through strategic and thoughtful experiences. 

I don't just think outside the box, I fold the box into a paper crane. 

Our teams are brought together on a project basis to deliver exceptional creative outcomes. This keeps us agile, lean and efficient, while staying true to the outcome. We have delivered award-winning creative for startups, small businesses, state governments, and local and international beauty brands.

Visit our website to learn more👇
www.byninja.com.au

Creative Overlord

Freelance Graphic Designer

Design Ninjas

Design Ninjas is a subscription-based design service that brings lightning-fast creativity to the forefront. 

No frills, just skills.
After years of working alongside marketers, brand managers, co-designers, and agencies, I uncovered a common challenge – the need for high-quality design that's accessible and efficient. We believe that exceptional design should be within reach for everyone, and Design Ninjas is here to make it happen.

Check out the website to learn more👇
www.designninjas.au

Founder

Communify 

As a member of the Communications Committee I advise and support the Communify team on the strategy and execution of their marketing and communications plan.

Communify Queensland is an established community organisation providing a diverse range of services, from early childhood, mental health services to aged and disability services, including day respite and aged care packages. As one of Brisbane's largest and most active charities, Communify supports the community on all sides.

Communications Committee Member

Focused Marketing Solutions Pty Ltd

Lead Designer

QinetiQ Australia

Achievements:
QLD PICA Gold Award for the Flipper Book
National PICA Silver Award for the Flipper Book

Graphic Designer

Ashdown-Ingram

Assistant Senior Graphic Designer

Salton Group

Achievements:
Design of product which rated GfK top 10 for more than 5 months running
Developed a processes and training guide for New Product Development processes
Introduced a graphics brief system which reduced draft re-work by more than 50%.

Australian Department of Defence; and HTR Engineering and IT Professional Services

As a contractor to the Australian Department of Defence, I was responsible for the development and amendment of technical illustrations for a number of high priority projects. This position required me to obtain a Defence clearance at RESTRICTED level.

Technical Illustrator - contractor

RSEA Pty Ltd

Boeing Defence Australia

This position required me to obtain a Defence clearance at SECRET level.

Junior Graphic Designer

This position required me to obtain a Defence clearance at SECRET level.

Achievements:
Selected to participate in the Boeing Leadership Development Program
Finalist in the 2006 Boeing Young Leader Award
Nominated and short-listed for the 2006 Queensland Training Awards.

Technical Illustrator

For years I worked in the creative industry, delivering multi-million dollar projects for design houses that fell short on delivering value and ingenuity for their brands.

I found myself seeking more from an industry that offered low prospects for designers and brands alike — something that was creatively challenging, but also impactful. I had reached a turning point.

I freelanced as a designer while pursuing a mechanical engineering degree. A real change occurred when I began working with brands that shared my values, and that experience led to a profound transformation.

From this journey, By Ninja was born — a brand studio that differentiates itself through a deep commitment to customer intimacy and innovation.

We create meaningful impact, aligned to the values of the brands we work with. Our approach has earned us a reputation for excellence, exemplified by high retention and professional accolades.

Now, I empower beauty brands to craft unforgettable experiences that drive growth, through conscious branding and product design. 

We take your product idea from concept to consumer; crafting brand, design and packaging experiences for the conscious consumer. 

Our clients and their results are testament to our approach:

𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐚
👉 Cell Forté Serum Violet Grey top seller, selling out 3 times in 2 months. 
👉 BFCM D2C sales soared by 300%, with a 60% repurchase rate.

𝐑𝐄-𝐃𝐎𝐗 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐛
“Kathleen has an amazing ability to understand your needs and vision for your brand and translate that into a brand and product that exceed your expectations.”

𝐋𝐔𝐗𝐄 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬
“They transformed not only our branding but also our brand voice and digital presence in such a way that our business has grown in triple digits since the start of the partnership.”
👉 Doubled traffic and checkout value.
👉 Increased customer retention.
👉 Triple-digit growth in 9 months.

𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩
👉 Featured in Vanity Fair and Beauty Independent for branding and sustainability.
👉 Reduced transport emissions by up to 90%.
👉 Increased D2C sales by 65% within 12 months.

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞
👉 Reduced carbon footprint by 24%.
👉 Diverted >1 tonne of plastic from landfill.

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬
👉 Minimised start-up costs.
👉 Mitigated product breakage.
👉 Eliminated ~0.3kg of carbon emissions per product.


Interested in working with me and my team:
🌟 Bespoke Branding & Product Design - www.byninja.com.au
⭐ Unlimited Graphic Design Support - www.designninjas.au 

Reach out to me kathleen@byninja.com.au

Kathleen Casford

Lasoo Habits

Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer

O'Connor Coaching & Advisory

At O'Connor Coaching and Advisory, we are committed to empowering individuals, teams, and organisations in reaching their full potential by integrating cutting-edge HR technology with tailored executive coaching and organisational development solutions. Our mission is to cultivate leaders, optimise team performance, and nurture a culture of success through actionable insights, innovative HR tech applications, and professional guidance.

With a keen understanding of the ever-evolving business landscape, we focus on helping clients overcome challenges, seize opportunities, and thrive at every level of their organization. By harnessing the power of technology to solve pressing HR issues, we create customised solutions that drive sustainable growth and foster long-term success.

Managing Director

Royal Australian Navy

Leading the development of an innovative web portal for Navy personnel, designed to foster career growth, wellbeing, and professional mastery through a collective learning approach. The portal, accessible on personal devices, incorporates user-generated content and promotes healthy contestability through an engaging forum. 

Skillfully growing a fully virtual team, with a focus on creating an environment based on trust and safety, and prioritising team development. Utilising Microsoft Teams and Power Automate to streamline collaboration and content moderation processes.

Successfully launched a Beta version of the platform within two months, incorporating user feedback to refine and improve its features. 

Navigating a complex ICT landscape, striving to achieve security accreditation by May 2023 and launch of the website across the organisation in mid-2023.

Key milestones include delivering a minimum viable product (MVP) in May 2022 and continuously iterating based on user input.

Deputy Director - Program Horizon

Leading a transformational organisational development project focused on the redesign and implementation of a new performance development process for Navy. Project will impact 16,000 employees across the organisation, and will reshape the performance assessment, learning and development, coaching, and people capability framework for Navy. 

IMPACT:
* Performance: Developing Performance Development System (PDS) strategy and implementation plan (including communications and change management plan). 
* Social Mastery Competency Framework: Developing a framework focused on the importance of emotional and social competence to generate high functioning individuals and teams who achieve results with and through our people.
* Stakeholder Engagement: Identifying and engaging with numerous key stakeholders across Navy and the other Services to establish business process requirements and build relationships that focus on an openness to process improvement in preparation for HRIS implementation.

Deputy Director - Navy Performance Management 

Contributed to the ADF's support to Operation COVID-19 Assist in a casual, part time (Navy Reserve) capacity during a period when my permanent employment was significantly impacted by the pandemic.

Divisional Officer - COVID-19 Emergency Support Group

Akyra Strategy & Development

HR & Organisational Development Consultant

Burrana

Initially this role was permanent, a newly created Global HR executive role to develop and drive the strategic people and culture agenda for this business, which is a provider of In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity (IFEC) Systems to global airlines. My role was impacted by the COVID pandemic in March 2020, when my hours were significantly reduced before being made redundant in September 2020. I continue to support the business in an ongoing casual consulting capacity. 

ROLE FOCUS: Following a major acquisition in 2019 and a significant growth in headcount, the business had been in consolidation phase, particularly focused on cultural consolidation. 

IMPACT: 
* Developed the first business-aligned People and Culture Strategy, endorsed by the Board of Directors in February 2020.
* Developed and implemented a Performance Development process, including the development and delivery of training globally. 
* Led the people-related response and internal communications related to the COVID-19 global pandemic, which had a devastating impact on the airline industry.

Vice President, People Capability and Culture

Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service

Contracted to analysis phase of an organisational development project within the Workforce Division (OD) aimed at driving efficiency and effectiveness in HR Service Delivery. Led review of talent, capacity, capability development and structure, delivering 12-point recommendation plan for potential improvement focal opportunities.  

IMPACT:
* Workforce Analysis: Mapped co-dependencies, processes and workflows across the workforce of 80, identifying points of duplication and missing pieces of workforce structure.
* HR Business Partner (HRBP) Competency Framework: Developed a competency framework for Senior HRBP across the Health Service, structure to enhance capability beyond ‘Reactive Advisory’ and towards a strategic business partnering approach. 
* Project Recommendations: Developed 12-point recommendation of initiatives for innovation project, aimed at optimising future development of workforce division performance and capability.

Project Lead - Organisational Design and Development 

Russell Mineral Equipment

Global Human Resources lead | Team of 20 supporting 450 staff across 6 countries | Budget $>3M | Executive Leadership Team | Functional Leadership: Human Resources, Health Safety & Environment, Facilities, Project Management Office, & Quality.

ROLE FOCUS: Within a continually expanding scope, worked with the leadership group to strategically transform RME’s people and culture function during a double-digit growth phase with a rapid enterprise development focus.

VALUE DELIVERED: Developed a new strategic Human Resources framework for the conversion of human capital into organisational value across the employee lifecycle through capability enhancement and cultural development. Automated manual systems and led shift to a proactive Business Partnership model with a continuous improvement and people-centric focus.

IMPACT:
*  Created Human Resources future vision and secured commitment to a significant human capital investment in 2018/19.
*  Instilled vibrant Learning & Development function and new Learning Management System (LMS) system that moved RME from static-training events to employee-driven learning culture. Created frameworks needed to support global talent requirements. 
*  Implemented a four-tiered Competency Framework spanning Leadership, Behavioural and Technical competencies.  
*  Oversaw vendor selection and implementation for new HRIS system. Replaced manual systems with technology offering efficiency savings and first real time HR data in data repository. 
*  Drove business-wide leadership training, attended leadership events and championed leadership strategy and structures for performance conversations.
*  Led the creation of a new Project Management Office (PMO) function into the business, enhancing capability, governance, and execution of large scale strategic projects. 
*  Key role with executive team in shaping business strategy, HR budgets, business plan, and strategic direction. Championed open, values-based culture.

Group Manager - Capability and Culture

John Deere

Australia & NZ | Human Resources Business Partner for 6 Business Units ~ 450 staff | Recruitment, compensation, organisational design, job evaluation, L&D, performance management and IR. | Group Privacy and Compliance Officer.

ROLE FOCUS: Managed the full HR spectrum as a business partner in this ANZ arm of the Deere and Co. conglomerate during period when a key area of operations was pursuing ambitious revenue goals.

VALUE DELIVERED: Developed John Deere’s ‘Ultimate Potential’ capability-development model, increased annual engagement and led analytics shift and responses enabling rapid rectification of ‘Baby Boomer exodus’ risks. Enhanced systems, processes, relationships and HR value integration across discrete business units spanning 2 countries.

IMPACT:
* Rapidly turned around engagement dip impacting JD’s exceptional culture. Introduced “Leaders Training Leaders” program with engagement focus that saw double digit increases in  2 years, restoring JD’s benchmark results.  
* Led data analytics shift from ‘reporting trends’ to ‘delivering insights’ identifying employee mobility perception issues and potentially dire leadership capability risk from ‘Baby Boomer exodus’. 
*  Implemented recruitment system Taleo, bringing first-time alignment with Deere & Co global best practice. Managed the internal recruitment function, and hands on recruitment of key executive positions. 
* Oversaw multi-country, multi-industry payroll (manufacturing, finance, clerks, warehousing, distribution, forestry) ensuring compliance. Managed immigration and visa requirements for expatriate employees.

Group Human Resources Operations Manager

Defence Force Recruiting

Worked across key roles supporting capacity planning, talent acquisition and people attraction, recruitment and selection and Human Resources policy. Created marketing plans and Jobs Campaigns that built ADF’s talent pipeline across 8000+ organisation-wide unskilled, technical trades and professional roles. Led hundreds of recruitment events.  Improved candidate management systems, reporting and candidate insights.  

Championed female participation in the workforce. Delivered keynote speeches at International Women’s Day events and industry functions, including the Clubs Queensland ‘Heels of Steel’ event in 2010.

IMPACT:
* Led best practice end to end recruitment of candidates to determine eligibility and suitability for military service, and match for thousands of available jobs spanning across all three services, against over 8000 positions organisation-wide, furnishing reports on candidate suitability against skill /organisational fit.

* Created targeted marketing plans and activities for defence jobs campaigns. An example of this was the ‘Mapping the Battlespace’ day; a collaboration between Navy hydrographic and Army topographic personnel and equipment which introduced prospective candidates to two critical positions which were difficult to recruit for. 

* Improved accountability and effectiveness through the creation of more efficient market research and statistical tools to track and assess candidate trends for marketing purposes. I also suggested changes to candidate management IT system, which were rolled out nationally involving content/layout to enable more efficient operation of the system.

Recruitment Manager / Executive Officer

Drove communications initiatives to optimise RAN’s employer and workforce brand. Led media management for internationally-visible controversial issues and produced communications for media. Communicated with stakeholders globally. Created Fleet Command Communication & Reputation Management Plan. Planned events with Ministerial Representation and provided input into Ministerial Reports, Hot Issues Briefs and Senate Estimates Briefs. 

IMPACT:

*  Media crisis management of multiple controversial issues including Armidale Class Patrol Boat defect rectification issues, Collins Class Submarine manning shortfalls and the arrest and incarceration of two sailors in San Diego, USA.

*  Created Navy Fleet Command Reputation Management Plan and Submarine Search and Rescue Crisis Management Plan.

*  Admiral’s Commendation for consistently producing media product of an exceptional standard and contributing to the positive and professional image of the Royal Australian Navy.  

*  Event coordination, such as Farewell and Welcome home ceremonies for ships deploying to the Persian Gulf, involving Ministerial presence, as well as sponsorship and branding activities and media cross promotional activities such as hosting ten V8 Supercar drivers onboard HMAS Collins, a submarine, whilst at sea for the day off Melbourne.

Communications and Reputation Manager

Led 30+ staff in complex environments including Middle East deployments. On the job trainer / mentor for 12 early managers. Modelled excellence in interpersonal skills, leadership and teamwork, and strategies to successfully thrive and work autonomously in high-tempo environments.

IMPACT:

*  On the job trainer and mentor for twelve trainee leaders, leveraging my personal experience to aid junior employees to build skills and confidence.

*  Motivational and influential leadership to junior personnel in complex operational scenarios.

*  Commanding Officer’s Commendation (2004) for personally assisting a stricken container vessel in arduous conditions off the West Australian Coast (HMAS Arunta).

Officer

Passionate about the transformative power of technology in the HR landscape, I am dedicated to helping organisations unleash their full potential by integrating innovative digital solutions into their human resources strategies. With a strong background in HR management and a keen interest in emerging tech, I strive to bridge the gap between people and technology, ensuring organisations adapt and excel in the ever-evolving digital era.

My experience in diverse industries and roles has given me a comprehensive understanding of how technology can revolutionise HR processes, enhance employee engagement, and drive organisational success. I am committed to staying at the forefront of HR tech trends and using my expertise to create customised, tech-driven solutions that empower businesses and their people to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

With an infectious enthusiasm for the application of technology trends to solve HR challenges, I'm excited to collaborate with fellow trailblazers, exchange insights, and co-create the future of our industry. My ability to balance personality and professionalism in the HR world sets me apart, adding a touch of flair to both strategic and technical aspects.

Ready to dive into the vibrant world where HR and technology collide? Let's connect, share stories, and embark on this exhilarating journey together!

Accomplishments:

1. Successfully implemented HRIS platforms across multiple organisations, streamlining processes and improving efficiency.
2. Pioneered a data-driven approach to talent management, leading to better decision-making and increased employee satisfaction.
3. Implemented AI-powered recruitment tools, significantly reducing time-to-hire and increasing overall talent quality.

Interests:

HR Technology
Artificial Intelligence in HR
Workforce Analytics
Virtual & Augmented Reality in L&D
Future of Work
Blockchain in HR
Gamification in Talent Management

taplio

The Battle

Kathleen Casford

Sally O'Connor, FCPHR

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