What made you want to be part of PPL – and what were you doing before?
Prior to PPL, I was living in Sydney, Australia, working as a Training Lead for one of the country’s leading supermarkets. When I made the decision to move to London, I wanted to go to as many live music events as humanly possible in the UK and across Europe.
I knew I wanted to stay in the Training space for my next career move. When the opportunity came up at PPL for a Training Lead in their project team, it felt like the perfect opportunity for me, especially being part of PPL’s mission to pay hundreds of thousands of members for the use of their recorded music through licensing in the UK and collecting royalties from around the world
You work in the Projects team. What does that mean in terms of your priorities?
There’s a very strong culture of continuous professional development here, and we’re constantly exploring how we can enhance our internal operations to benefit our members.
My role is to ensure our people have the skills needed to deliver on PPL’s projects. It’s about helping them adapt to new processes, and determining the business impact on new ways of working.
Tell us about a typical day in your role?
I spend most days engaging with our internal subject-matter experts to build content for training and guidance materials. That often involves discovery work to capture ‘as-is’ and ‘to-be’ processes, so that we can assess the full impact of a project on the business.
What are some of the biggest challenges?
I’m new to London so adjusting to living and working in a completely new city has been my biggest personal challenge, but PPL has been an amazing company to continue building my career – and so welcoming.
Coming from a distribution and operational background, my biggest professional challenge has been taking in a lot of technical information and learning about the music industry from a different perspective, not just as a spectator.
What’s the most rewarding thing about your job?
I love setting people up for success by equipping them with the knowledge and confidence to adopt business change and new ways of working through training. It’s what attracted me to a career in Training in the first place.
Seeing a colleague or new starter grow through training is always rewarding. I’m a firm believer that anyone can be taught anything as long as they are willing to learn.
I’m also very proud to be part of an organisation that’s as passionate about music as I am. The world would be such a dull place without music so to be able to give back to our members so that they can continue to make music is a great aspect of my job.
What’s something you’ve helped make happen at PPL that you’re particularly proud of?
I am proud of leading meetings which required important decision-making from internal stakeholders to keep our projects moving in the right direction. We’re always working to a common goal to achieve objectives, and along the way we explore different perspectives and incorporating people’s expertise into our final plans.
You won an employee award recently. What was that for?
It was for my work to identify training plans for two major projects. My role was to engage our subject matter experts, align our communication plans with wider project roadmaps, and come up with a straightforward and methodical approach to delivering tasks.
It was a big surprise to be nominated and then win, considering I joined PPL in August 2024. My work is made much easier thanks to support from my peers and line manager.
On to the music questions! What are you most excited about in the music world?
I am excited to see the support PPL is giving to up-and-coming artists. As someone who is constantly listening to music throughout the day, I am always looking for new music and artists to discover.
Who are your ones to watch?
I am really vibing Rules at the moment. ‘Close My Eyes’ was released in 2024, but it is still on regular rotation for my playlists. I’m excited to see him release more new music and hopefully see him live this summer.
I also came across Chance Pena’s music late last year and have been hooked ever since. His voice is smooth and calming so it’s perfect for when I’m in a mellow mood.
Any recent live music highlights?
Peggy Gou’s set at the closing party at Pacha Ibiza in October 2024 was so much fun to dance into the early hours of the morning with friends, and a great way to end the closing weekend of the season. Dom Dolla at Drumsheds in late 2024 was also a highlight. An amazing set with new music and remixes of nostalgic throwbacks. It’s cool to see a fellow Aussie making big waves in the UK.
What’s a track that always makes you smile – and why?
‘Music Sounds Better With You’ by Stardust is a feel-good song that I’ll never tire of listening to. I have so many good memories dancing to this song. If I’m ever sitting down and this song comes on, I’m guaranteed to be on the dance floor.
