Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Meggie Palmer has made a vibrant home in New York City over the past seven years, blending local living with her global ambitions. As the founder of PepTalkHer, she is fiercely dedicated to closing the gender pay gap, drawing on her extensive experience as a journalist for heavyweights like BBC World and Vogue. When she’s not enhancing female leadership and diversity in workplaces worldwide as a sought-after speaker, Meggie enjoys exploring her favorite Brooklyn neighborhood spots with her family, reveling in the dynamic pulse of the city. Her journey from reporting across continents to spearheading significant social change encapsulates her relentless drive and commitment to making a difference
Where do you live in NYC, and what are some of your favorite spots?
We live in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and love it. Some of my fave local haunts include BanBe on Sackett Street in Carroll Gardens. It’s a quirky Vietnamese place only open on Sundays—divine vegetarian bahn mi’s.
We love the Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain. It’s a step back in time and an amazing dessert date night spot or somewhere to take friends in town from Oz (share the sundaes—they’re huge!)
Brooklyn French Bakery is also amazing if you want a carb hit that’s not gross like American bread. I honestly don’t think I’ve had better-baked goods other than in Paris or at my sister’s bakery in Oz Cubby Bakehouse in Chinderah near Kingscliff en route from the Gold Coast to Byron (check it out next time you’re in Northern NSW it’s unreal!)
I miss really good (Aussie-style) Thai food in NYC—Soothr in Gramercy is the best I’ve found!
What inspired you to start PepTalkHer, and how does your personal experience contribute to the organization’s mission?
When I was working as a news reporter, I (by accident) discovered I was being paid less than my male colleagues. This totally opened my eyes to the pay discrimination women face in the workplace. I wanted to change that so others didn’t have to go through what I did. And so PepTalkHer and the App were born!
How does PepTalkHer empower its users?
The PepTalkHer App is like a FitBit for your career! It helps you track your career success and focus on your work wins. It’s totally free and will collate all your brags in one spot—that one spot, come performance review and pay raise time, you have all the data and evidence you need to advocate for your salary increase and promotion.
And it works! The PepTalkHer App has helped women increase their pay from $5000 extra a year to more than $100,000! Awesome, right?
What are you working on right now?
We’re gearing up to launch our next 5-Day Challenge. The PepTalkHer Know Your Worth challenge is an amazing free resource that we offer yearly to support our community with practical, psychology-based hacks to shift how you perceive yourself and your value. It’s 5 minutes for 5 days. We’ve had more than 10,000 people go through our challenges, and the results have been wildly transformational. We’ve had people negotiate five figure pay raises as a result.
We also have an epic Mastermind Community for women seeking like-minded people focused on professional, personal, and financial success. AWNY members can join for a free month using code AUSSIEWOMEN here.
Can you share some insights into how PepTalkHer aims to address the gender pay gap and what specific actions the organization takes to achieve this goal?
Sadly, we’ve got a way to go. We’re not done until the gender pay gap is closed. At this rate, I’ll be long dead when that happens—the UN estimates we’re looking at 100-200 years until parity. I’m optimistic, though. I’d like to be unemployed and out of a job much sooner! We’re moving the needle every day with the app and our resources, so we hope that these small ripples will lead to a bigger tidal wave of change.
What’s PepTalkHer’s role in helping corporations achieve gender diversity, and perhaps provide examples of the types of programming the organization offers?
We support big companies that want to retain top, diverse talent. We work with PWC, and they have an attrition rate of 20% across the organization. That attrition rate dropped to less than 5% for the folks who went through our program – we’re super proud of this impact! We run similar programs for UBS Bank, Salesforce & Dell. We’ve just acquired another consulting firm to grow our impact and capability, which is super exciting. I have a team of Executive Coaches who also work one-on-one with folks. I speak worldwide for company conferences, sales team meetings, and Employee Resource groups. We developed these super cool Career Conversation Cards for our interactive workshops—we haven’t publicly released them yet, but here’s a sneak peek for AWNY!
In what ways does PepTalkHer support women in advancing their careers, and can you highlight any notable outcomes from the organization’s online Career Level Up program?
We’ve had wild success stories from women through our program. It’s very normal for people to get a pay increase of $5,000-$20,000 after eight weeks. (Much less than that, and we’re disappointed!) I had a text yesterday from someone who just got an extra $38,000 more a year. We’ve had a few dozen people who’ve received six figure pay increases (yup, $100k+!) Which is amazing. It doesn’t happen daily, but we love seeing it when it does! One of our students put in a pool for her daughters because of the extra cash she now earns. Another student was able to leave a domestic violence relationship because she finally hit her goal of a salary of more than $100,000 a year.
What questions should I ask in the interview to negotiate my salary?
Really, the interview is just the tip of the iceberg. Think of yourself as a detective before your next salary negotiation, gathering clues and hunting for information.
A lot of your research should happen BEFORE you even get to the interview itself. Think informational interviews, all of the Google research, and chats with peers and mentors about salary expectations. This way, you’ll be prepared, armed with facts and figures.
Who are some Australian Women in New York that you admire?
I love reading Katie Robertson in the media section of the NYT. I’m a huge fan of CJ Hendry’s artwork (obviously), and I adore Nabila, a legendary journalist at Bloomberg. Also, I have a sweet tooth, so of course, I am obsessed with Boomerang Bites!
Any advice for other women looking to make a move to NYC?
For folks wanting to move here, I would say, “Get busy!” Sitting back and expecting jobs and networking coffee dates to come to you isn’t going to happen on its own. It’s definitely overwhelming, but being proactive about connecting with folks is likely going to be the best use of your time. Also, give yourself 6-9 months to land a job—at least.
The good news is Aussies do super well here because we work hard and are not afraid to muck in and GSD. When I worked at the Financial Times, I found it much more hierarchical than media organizations in Australia or London. I find the Americans awesome to work alongside, albeit a bit more siloed in terms of what they’re willing to do or not do.
When it comes to salary and pay in the USA, the good news is that it’ll likely be more lucrative for you eventually than in Australia. We have a heap of advice on how to deal with negotiation. A free resource that is helpful is this Pay Rise Cheat Sheet.
Also, follow America Josh – he’ll have a blog to answer any questions you have!
Tell us the best advice you’ve ever received…
“Leap and the net will appear.”
Also…KNOW YOUR WORTH. If you don’t, who else will?
AWNY | Australian Women in New York 