Maz Farrelly is a force of nature in the creative and media industries. With a career that spans some of the world’s biggest shows, budgets, and audiences, Farrelly’s keynote at this year’s B&T Women In Media Awards is set to be inspiring and impactful. Filled with her trademark wit and wisdom, Farrelly’s appearance promises to leave a lasting impression on attendees.
Ahead of B&T’s Women In Media Awards this Friday night, B&T sat down with Farrelly to unpack the joy of the creative industries, empowerment and breaking barriers.
B&T: What excites you most of all about being involved in B&T’s Women In Media Awards this year?
Farrelly: I have no plans to die any time soon, but I do want to leave this beautiful earth a better place than when I arrived in it, especially for women. It’s a big driver in my life.
I reckon I was one of the first wave of women that really got a foot in the door in the media, and we didn’t really ask if we could come to the party, we just kinda turned up, lipstick on, bottle in hand, and just pushed our way in. I reckon, in the recesses of my sweet brain, there may be some techniques and strategies I used to get ahead, in a world where no on really wanted me to. I want to share these strategies, stories from my mad media life, My Maz ComMAZments, in the hope that one or two may help one or two people in the audience.
And I will do my best not to name and shame – like an episode of CSI, ‘the stories you are about to hear are true, but the names will be changed to protect the (not so) innocent’.
B&T: How do you see the role of platforms like the Women In Media Awards in shaping the future of the industry?
Farrelly: Every event that brings women together so they can laugh and learn, let off steam, feel supported, shake a leg and have a gin, is a winner in my book. I hear lots of men have bought tickets and this warms my soul – unless we’re all in the same boat, rowing furiously together, things will take longer to change. And they need to change – BTW, when I say ‘rowing’ I mean ‘row’ as in Toe and not ‘row as in Tao.
B&T: Can you describe your journey in the creative and media industry and how it’s shaped your career?
Farrelly: I’ve run some of the biggest shows on earth, with the biggest budgets, teams, audiences and stars – my content has been watched about 8 billion times and I once broke X (Twitter) deliberately.
My greatest joy is being a creative, and I am good at it – I am not about to your budget or sort out a schedule, I have the organisational skills of bucket of spaghetti thrown at a wall, but I am creative with a BIG C.
Is there anything more beautiful than having an idea, your colleagues loving your idea, someone buying your idea, and millions or billions of people watching that idea and loving it? The fact that I could be creative for a living and be paid for it, is wild.
And I’ve worked with some of the greatest humans with the greatest brains on earth, world leaders, change makers, influencers, the works. The best teams in the industry, and some of the wrongest, funniest, smartest people in Media. It’s been a ride.
Now I speak at conferences and train teams up on how to think harder, how to outwit, outsmart and outplay their competition, how to have The X Factor (I know how – I made the show and we won a Logie) I couldn’t do my job now ,without having had all the experiences I had in the media – what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
B&T: What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a woman in this industry, and how have you overcome them?
Farrelly: I never really thought of myself as a woman in the industry and I think that was good. Some of ’them’ thought of me as a woman and treated me differently, for sure, but I never gave it much thought. While ’they’ were worrying about me being a woman, I focused on taking their jobs. I think my time was better spent.
I like to think of work like a game – how can I win? And then I set about it – it makes life way more fun than taking it too seriously. There were times for sure, when people tried to bully me, undermine me, take the credit for ideas I’d had, and generally be a bit of a bad ‘un, but I tried to work out their motivation, and generally, it was nothing to do with me – it was all about the pressure they were under, their past and the way they’d been treated, and their fears. Understanding their motivation, made it much easier to deal with – happy people are generally nice bosses and colleagues. Kindness is very underrated in the workplace, but it’s a crazy wild weapon. Double your kindness. Life will change for the better, I reckon.
B&T: What advice would you give to young women entering the creative and media fields today?
Farrelly: So, my keynote is a bunch of advice broken down into the Maz ComMAZments – bite size smarts from crazy things that have happened to me and nuggets from very smart people around me. I’m hoping they resonate and make the room twice as successful in half the time.
B&T: What role do you believe mentorship plays in advancing women in media, and have you had any mentors who were particularly influential in your career?
Farrelly: As you know, TV is very much hurry up and wait, so I’ve sat around and chewed the fat with a whole heap of famous people. The moments that have stayed in my mind and influenced my life were spent with Tony Curtis, Mark Bouris, Mel B, Mary J Blige, Gretel Killeen, James Brown, Usher, Arnie, and Michael Hutchence. These beautiful souls created moments that made me think about my life and change my thinking and attitude. I’ve been very blessed.
