The Mentor with Mark Bouris

Stories from the Green Wave: This week I'm joined by Sarah Cichy, who is the founder of a PR company specialising in a rapidly growing industry - cannabis. SHUK Communications tells the stories of various new businesses looking to get into the market with various products, and has worked with some of the biggest ‘green wave' industry companies in the world...

This week is our Mother's Day special episode, with Kelly Taggart, the Chief Operating Officer of the Roses Only Group. Kelly has been with Roses Only for over a decade, and was one of its first employees when it launched in 2008. We talk about the journey from her early days with the company to being an instrumental part of it growing to over 160 staff with warehouses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane...

This week I'm joined by Dave Sharma, who is currently the Liberal Party candidate for Wentworth, which is former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's old seat. I'm fascinated by Dave - he's an incredibly smart guy who has seen a lot of the world, including recent senior postings in the public service. Dave spent four years as Australian Ambassador to Israel and worked in Papua New Guinea for the High Commission, but is now back in Australia and dipping his toe into politics...

“Come for the social aspect, stay for the running.” Fitness crazes come and go all the time, but one that has really got some legs is Parkrun. It's a free, 5km social run held every weekend - rain, hail or shine. Parkrun CEO Tim Oberg joins me to talk about how he brought the Parkrun concept to Australia from the UK, and has built it to more than 350 locations holding weekly events with over 500,000 people taking part...

“We've got the technology that can help save a species.” This week is a very different episode for me - but a really amazing and important story. I'm joined by cricket legend Kevin Pieterson and David Wild, who is the chief technology officer at Cisco Systems, one of the biggest tech companies in the world...

“People at work want something healthy." Conor Reynolds is the founder of Snackwize, delivering healthy snack boxes to corporate clients all around Australia and New Zealand. His business is giving office workers the choice of reaching for a snack with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives for the mid-afternoon munchies, instead of relying on vending machines to get them through the day...

“What our customers wear has a big impact on their sense of self.” I'm joined by Dean Jones, the CEO of hugely successful fashion rental company, Glamcorner. I first met Dean many years ago on a pitch episode of the podcast, and it's great to hear how the business has grown so much since that time...

“There's no doubt in my mind, the NRL is in the entertainment business.” I'm joined by National Rugby League CEO, Todd Greenberg, who gives us an enormous insight into how he leads the business of the NRL. We talk about how Todd worked his way from a cricket game development officer into the NRL CEO position, how his family life influences his leadership approach, and most importantly, we dig deep into the business approach of the NRL...

Ben Mills is the founder of Shelter, a space that combines fitness classes with relaxation and wellness. Shelter incorporates spin classes and boxing with ice baths, saunas and a custom juice bar - and Ben has big plans. We talk about the story behind Shelter, how to capitalise on the ‘Australian' elements of a brand, particularly with a view to market that internationally, and why Ben wants to take Shelter overseas...

“We want to be the world's biggest digital gym.” The fitness industry is a huge global business - and this episode I'm joined by one of its biggest Australian players, Tobi Pearce. Tobi and his partner, Kayla Itsines, run the online female fitness program, Sweat. The app has been downloaded more than 30 million times, topped the App Store charts in 142 countries, and the business is on track to make $100 million this year...