Joanne Marriott
Founder and Director at MOJO Creative Leadership + Culture
Fast Five is our quickfire interview series where we hit up some legendary movers, shakers and innovators with, you’ve guessed it, five big questions.
For classroom teachers, Fast Five is a great way to introduce your students to some awesome real-life changemakers and have them think about life as an entrepreneur or innovator.
In this week’s edition we talk to Activator Joanne Marriott, who is the Founder and Director at MOJO Creative Leadership + Culture in WA.
Activators are thought-leaders, innovators, and all-round epic humans with diverse real-life experience who volunteer as “Entrepreneurs in Residence” with Future Anything’s Activate schools.
Q1: Give us three words that describe your life
Outdoorsy, playful, collaborative
Q2: Tell us a little about your current role. What does a day in the life of you look like?
My days and weeks are so variable! Most of my time is spent designing and facilitating leadership team programs. If I’m planning or designing a program I’ll work from home. On a good day I’ll start with an early walk and a coffee at the beach, breakfast with my kids before school drop off, and then I’ll be planning, designing or facilitating leadership team programs. I might be meeting clients in person to scope out and design a new program or having a call to review it together.
If I’m facilitating a program, I’ll usually be at the venue early setting up all the kit and getting ready to welcome people. I love weaving in elements of play, creativity and challenge, and tailoring the activities to meet the client’s needs. It takes a lot of energy so I usually plan a quiet evening after a big workshop. Evenings for me usually involve some games, art or reading with my kids and dinner together.
Q3: Tell us about being an Activator. What has this looked like, and what’s been a highlight?
I’ve worked with schools locally and also interstate, mentoring students online or in person, by asking stretchy questions, giving feedback on pitches and connecting students with useful people and ideas in their community.
The highlight for me has been experiencing the passion and inspiration behind all the amazing ideas that have come from the Future Anything Activate program. I love understanding the why and the story behind the ideas because I think that’s the rocket fuel that will power those ideas forward.
Q4: What’s one thing you wished you’d learned at school? And where could people can go to learn more about this?
I wish I’d learned more about my natural talents at school. When I look back now, they’ve been showing up pretty consistently throughout all different phases of my life and in my career experiences. I didn’t really recognise them when I was at school and I certainly didn’t get feedback on them from my teachers that would have allowed me to appreciate them and develop them further and really build my confidence.
We all have such different natural talents and to get feedback on them and learn about them is gold. It allows us to unleash them in the world and have a massive impact. I am a huge advocate for building a strengths-based culture in schools and supporting educators to recognise and appreciate the diversity of strengths in their classrooms.
Q5: What’s one book, website or podcast you’d recommend to aspiring young entrepreneurs, and why?
Start With Why by Simon Sinek, because I think it’s important to understand your purpose and get really clear on the impact you want to have in the world. But also, Citizens (Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us) by Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad, to look at the collective impact we can have if we work together to effect positive change in our communities. Many entrepreneurs get so focused on their individual business purpose that they miss the opportunity to unite around a bigger collective purpose.
More about this week’s Fast Fiver, Joanne Marriott
Joanne Marriott is a Leadership and Team Development Consultant and Facilitator. Her company MOJO Creative Leadership + Culture is focused on supporting leaders to develop future-focused capabilities and grow connected, creative and courageous teams. She designs and facilitates engaging and impactful leadership, team development and culture transformation programs for schools and businesses.
Discover our other 2025 Activators here.
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