Ep 31. Growth Enzyme Mindset: Taylor Fox-Smith on Academia, Channel Partnerships and Building Community at Airwallex

Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

Today, I'm connecting with Taylor Fox-Smith, Head of Community Partnerships at Airwallex. In this episode, we explore Taylor's formative years and Montessori education and dive into her latest project: building the community function at fintech unicorn Airwallex, a cross-border payments company. We also unpack her lessons from scaling channel partnerships across various stages and verticals (PropTech and ClimateTech), her journey of finding a deep sense of self amidst the ebbs and flows of startups, and her mission to become a growth enzyme for founders.

Find Taylor Fox-Smith on:

• LinkedIn

Taylor’s Northstar:

• Her Dad, Gavin Fox-Smith

ANZ Operators—Ones to Watch:

• Emily Casey, Founder & Director at What the Health
• Annie Liao, Chief of Staff at Relevance AI and Founder of Build Club

Other Folks Mentioned in the Episode:

• Jethro Cohen (Investor at Square Peg)
• Ben Hanley (Product at Trace)
• Mina Radhakrishnan (Co-Founder/ex-CEO at :Different)
• Andrew (Soro) Sorokovsky (VP Sales/BD @ Immutable)
• Elizabeth Broderick (Founder and Convenor at Champions of Change Coalition)

Do you have an operator on speed dial who could be perfect for the show?

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A note from your host, Laura:

My goal for Calling Operator 2.0 is to open-source stories with startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people tackling similar challenges. I want this podcast to open a line for operators in Australia and New Zealand to learn from each other—diving into the execution behind big ideas, pivotal career moments, successes, failures, lessons and personal stories.