125: What does it take to be the first and only female CEO in your industry? By Cecily McGuckin

Today, we continue the conversation with Managing Director of the most-visited, privately-owned attraction in Australia: Scenic World. Anthea Hammon is 3rd generation Hammon family to take control of the World-Heritage-Listed Blue Mountains attraction, which has seen her navigate some tumultuous terrain these past 2yrs with devastating bush fires for months – only to be followed up with a pandemic that has crippled the entire “attractions” industry.

With a strong focus on family succession planning, she was well supported to navigate unfamiliar terrain. She has been determined to maintain the culture and iconic scenic attraction that began in 1945 when her grandfather Harry Hammon converted the abandoned Coal Mine into the Scenic Railway.

With an engineering background, she has taken her fascination for how machinery works and sculpted a working environment that includes her 2 & 6 yr old in tow - the family culture is truly felt the moment you are on site.

In spectacular fashion, Nat & I met Anthea in her natural habitat...her youngest child Hamilton in a pram being cuddled by one staff member to another, Anthea, overseeing the room that she’d organized for her community to be inspired by a heroes journey (my Nat!!) and of course her daughter Hazel running back and forth reminding us all who was really in charge! The values in her business place and living and breathing!

I am looking forward to speaking to a leader that has forged a new model – not so much deliberately but moreso organically – constantly bringing family values into the forefront and demonstrating how powerful it really can be to operate from this platform!

The Goods on Anthea:

Graduating from university with an engineering degree it seemed that Anthea’s career would be one of finding solutions to problems or maximising opportunities.

As the 3rd generation member of the Hammon family to take control of Scenic World , the last two years have tested all of her problem solving skills and then some.

Anthea is the Managing Director of what is the most visited, privately owned attraction in Australia, attracting over one million visitors annually. Set within the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains, the company is a third generation family business. Established in 1945 (for the past 76yrs) when Harry Hammon converted the abandoned Katoomba Colliery into the Scenic Railway, it continues to be owned and operated by th

The Podcast's 7th Season
Welcome to In the Game, a podcast where we aim to touch, move and inspire you to what's possible in life. My name is Sarah Maxwell and I am a self-proclaimed relationship engineer. Ever since I was a little girl, I was curious about how people work and how they interact with one another. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball, retiring from sport into mindset and purpose coaching, I now spend my days running Chatta-box Media, where we aim to story-tell for brands through the medium of podcasting, all while raising an eight-year-old daughter with my partner of 24 years. We are now in season seven of this podcast, featuring a special series on women called who Knew that Was Work aimed at young women who want to broaden their horizon when it comes to career choosing.
Go deeper into the pod and discover incredible stories of changemakers who manifest their dream lives. Gain tangible tools to apply to your own life by scrolling back to that initial season where we were more workbook focused. Have a laugh when we initially were coined the Nat and Sarah show, when my five-time Olympian partner, natalie Cook, and I bantered and had loads of fun interviewing and discovering our common passion individuals who rise to the occasion in life. Okay, now it's time to dive on in to this episode.
Ge...