Mamamia CEO Natalie Harvey has been awarded the 2025 Maureen Kerridge AM Scholarship, an accolade that honours one outstanding woman in Australian media, advertising or television each year with a $35,000 grant to pursue an executive education course anywhere in the world.
For Harvey, the scholarship is not just a professional milestone; it’s a full-circle moment rooted in the earliest days of her media career.
“My first office job was as an office assistant to the CEO of Seven,” she shared. “That was my first real exposure to senior women in the industry. I didn’t realise at the time how rare that was. Looking back now, I feel so fortunate.”
Kerridge made history as the first female CEO of a free-to-air television network globally and was posthumously made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2020 for her contributions to media, the arts and charity. Her legacy lives on through the Chief Executive Women scholarship named in her honour.
Harvey will use the scholarship to attend an intensive leadership course at INSEAD in Abu Dhabi in November. The program focuses on business transformation through technology, AI, and change management—areas Harvey is passionate about as Mamamia builds for the future.
“I’m a really big believer that it doesn’t matter how big or small your business is, the desire for change and understanding of what’s possible has to come from the top,” Harvey said. “This course was exactly aligned to what I’ve been trying to build here [at Mamamia]. I want to come back with 10 new ideas, which is probably going to freak my team out, but also some really practical ways to strengthen our industry”.
At Mamamia, Harvey leads a predominantly female team (93 per cent), producing more than 50 podcasts and a vast stream of digital content for a loyal audience. The company’s agile, entrepreneurial approach is what drew her in, and it’s part of why she sees so much potential in its next phase.
“We’re kind of the perfect size,” she explained. “We’ve got senior people with incredible experience, and a big enough team to activate new ideas quickly. There’s a real opportunity to globalise our content, especially with podcasts, and we’re not bound by traditional IP or sales restrictions.”
But beyond Mamamia’s walls, Harvey is acutely aware of the broader structural issues facing women in media, particularly in publishing leadership. “Even now, there aren’t many female CEOs of media businesses,” she said. “And when I look at the last few senior appointments from a publisher side, they’ve all been men. That’s not to say they weren’t the right choices, but it shows how much more work there is to do”.
She has had many women reach out to her since taking on the role at Mamamia, curious about her unconventional career path, from office assistant to CEO, and seeking advice. “There are a lot of senior women feeling stuck,” she said. “And if the senior women are feeling like that, then the younger ones are going to feel it even more.”
Her advice? “Keep putting yourself out there. Don’t let impostor syndrome hold you back. This industry needs loud voices from younger people, especially women, because they understand audiences in ways leadership often doesn’t.”
Harvey also believes that publisher-side media organisations in particular need to do more to cultivate the next generation of women leaders. “Agencies are better on this. If you compared the gender balance of senior roles between agencies and publishers, I think you’d see two very different stories.”
Even at Mamamia, a women-focused brand, DE&I isn’t taken for granted. “We don’t get a lot of men applying, but we want diverse talent, cultural, generational and professional. Our last senior hire was a man. We’re a women’s media brand, but we’re not a business only for women.”
As she prepares to head overseas for her scholarship course, Harvey is clear about the opportunity in front of her, not just personally, but for the industry she cares deeply about.
“I’m concerned about what the future looks like. There’s been a lot of downsizing, and I don’t believe there’s enough innovation happening. But maybe I can come back with some ideas, some for Mamamia, and some for the whole media industry.”
And for other women wondering whether to take the leap, she has a final piece of advice: “Just go for it. Even if you don’t win, it forces you to reflect on where you want to go, where you can have the most impact, and where you’ll find the most joy.”
