SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Chill cotton the left chill cut the left hand finishes good chill cut underneath strong move that's a three on three move three pointers going she's got more three-pointers in a college screen than Steph Curry and Chilcott with the two Welcome back to Finance Friends, your personal seat at the table with leaders shaping the financial world in this exclusive season in the high-profile, incredibly successful athletes who achieve the greatest heights on the sports field and are now dominating the finance world. Today on Finance Friends Podcast, we're excited to welcome someone who has achieved excellence in not just one, but two highly competitive arenas. Izzy Chilcott. Before stepping into the world of funds management, Izzy carved out an impressive career on the basketball court. She played college basketball in the United States at the University of San Diego before returning home to Australia, where she competed in the WNBL for a decade across multiple teams. Now Izzy is the director and fund manager at Centuria Bass Credit, who are a leader in real estate credit, managing$2.3 billion. Her journey is a true testament to discipline, adaptability, and dedication. We're thrilled to have Izzy on the podcast sharing her story. Hi, Izzy. Welcome to the Finance Friends Podcast. How are you today?

SPEAKER_02: 1:43

Good thanks, Fabian. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 1:45

Well, thanks for coming in. Um I've never met a professional basketball player before. So are you still playing?

SPEAKER_02: 1:54

Uh no, no, I'm a I'm a washed-up professional basketball player now. So those dreams are are long gone.

SPEAKER_00: 2:00

Yeah, well, you've achieved those dreams, haven't you?

SPEAKER_02: 2:03

Uh yes, yes. I'm very proud of uh what I've what I've achieved in on reflection, but um now just uh enjoying golf when I can and uh running and all the other hobbies that I didn't have time for when I was playing sport.

SPEAKER_00: 2:18

Yeah, well I'd imagine with your current uh work position and also you mentioned you've got a young one, probably don't have a lot of time to throw the ball around.

SPEAKER_02: 2:27

Time is time is limited, but um I've uh over a lot of all the years I was playing professional basketball, I was I was working as well, so I um am very used to time management and and uh doing a lot with not much. So I'm uh just focusing on work and and getting getting out there for my hobbies whenever I can.

SPEAKER_00: 2:49

Yep. So you basketball, was it since you were really young? Did you play multiple sports and then were just good at basketball or a little bit.

SPEAKER_02: 2:59

Um I've got two older brothers, so it's the the uh the classic story of just wanting to do whatever they do. I grew up on the Gold Coast Um and was very much into a lot of sports, anything that my brothers did. Um, my family are all um avid surfers. Um my mum actually started a surf school, so um I grew up surfing and playing a lot of basketball. Um, but I kind of got to the end of end of high school and um was a little bit of a fork in the road whether I wanted to keep competitive surfing or or go down playing um basketball a little bit more seriously, but um getting a college or university education was always very important to me and always something I wanted to do. And I got the opportunity to go play um basketball in the in the States at a at a college, so I got a US scholarship, um, so to type, decide to go down that route.

SPEAKER_00: 3:54

Wow, which university did you end up at?

SPEAKER_02: 3:56

Uh University of San Diego. Um, like I said, I grew up on the Gold Coast, so I choose chose a school that was uh in a location as similar to the Gold Coast as I could find.

SPEAKER_00: 4:05

Um San Diego's in California, is that right? South of LA.

SPEAKER_02: 4:09

Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep, just on the border between uh California and Mexico. So yeah, it was a great, great experience. Loved it. Very thankful that I got to experience that.

SPEAKER_00: 4:19

Because college sport in the US is insane.

SPEAKER_02: 4:24

Yeah, it's huge.

SPEAKER_00: 4:25

It's almost bigger than the professional league because the alumni that all went to that university are just still so in tune to the sport.

SPEAKER_02: 4:34

Yeah, it's yeah, like you said, it's it's bigger than professional sport in in Australia. You know, the amount of money, viewership, I mean, America's just you know, supersized on everything, but college sport is huge. And to be a part of that was very cool, especially coming from you know the Gold Coast where you know there wasn't the Suns had just I think they started after I went to college, so we didn't have a professional sports team on the Gold Coast. So to get over there was very cool.

SPEAKER_00: 5:00

Yeah, because the Gold Coasters struggled with professional sports team like the A-League team, yeah, dropped off, I think the rugby league team.

SPEAKER_02: 5:08

Yeah, they're still the Titans.

SPEAKER_00: 5:11

Yeah, they've struggled.

SPEAKER_02: 5:12

There was a MBL, a basketball team, men's basketball team that's come and gone, and um yeah, it hasn't been a huge success success, any professional sports in the Gold Coast.

SPEAKER_00: 5:22

So I'm keen to know how many people or how many women on the roster, as they would say in the US, or I don't know if they ref they say that NFL, but um at the university, was there like three teams or was there 15 or 18 players that made up the well I guess five that played regularly?

SPEAKER_02: 5:42

Um so at our school there's just one, usually one team for every sport at the university. Um there was I think there was 12 or 14 on our um on our team. Usually there's about 12 full scholarships, and then maybe a couple, they call them walk-ons, which are just people that go to the school and try out for the team or training players. Um we also had practice players, which were typically boys that went to the school that wanted to get a run out there with us. So um, yeah, there was on on most basketball teams you kind of capped at 12, 12 kind of suiting up and and playing.

SPEAKER_00: 6:19

Yep. So can you share some insight into what it was like being a college basketballer? So what's your schedule?

SPEAKER_02: 6:27

Yeah, I mean, it was kind of pretty full on. Um, you know, like university at any, you know, at any level or any country, you got a full full-time course load, and then we're training kind of every we might have one day off a week, and then you're training kind of three hours on court, a couple hours in the gym. Yeah, it's pretty intensive.

SPEAKER_00: 6:49

Um and traveling as well. Traveling, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 6:51

There was there was a lot of traveling games all over the the country. So I like to say I've you know spent four and a half years living in the States. I've seen a lot of basketball stadions and hotel rooms. I haven't haven't seen a lot of you know outside of that. But um, no, like I said, it was a great experience and glad to really glad that I got to do it.

SPEAKER_00: 7:10

Yep. And were you a regular in the team or was it quite challenging to get a spot?

SPEAKER_02: 7:15

No, I mean I um I was a starter and I had a pretty successful um career there. Um, you know, like any any uh any athlete or any basketball player knows you have your ups and downs in terms of court time and um different things, but kind of that kind of just goes hand in hand with with playing basketball and but no, it was it was a good, it was very good.

SPEAKER_00: 7:40

So what advice would you give to a young Yeezy that's just going over to San Diego to play basketball on a scholarship?

SPEAKER_02: 7:47

Uh I mean I think just enjoy it. Um I was pretty, you know, some people go over there and um, you know, really enjoy it, party hard and different things like that. I was pretty focused. I've always been pretty um pretty focused and you know education was really important to me. So I I studied hard and I and I trained hard. I didn't have a lot of time for too much else. But um, I mean, I think I'm very happy with the experience I had and um I think just I wouldn't change anything.

SPEAKER_00: 8:16

Yeah. And to be like to continue the scholarship, do you need to like pass your subjects? Is there a certain grade you need to get, or is that university dependent?

SPEAKER_02: 8:24

Yeah, you have to have a certain GPA to qualify to play, but um it's it's it wasn't overly, you know, it was like basically had to class pass at least three of your subjects or something to to qualify. It wasn't really uh, you know, you if you weren't showing up to class, you couldn't qualify, but yeah, that was that was it.

SPEAKER_00: 8:43

That was it. Yeah. And were there other sports teams that you sort of connected with and was it common that the sports players of the university would hang out together?

SPEAKER_02: 8:54

Yeah, we uh there was a lot of different sports. Um my school had kind of everything football, volleyball, track, golf, you know, all the all the sports like a lot of the schools do. And um, yeah, there was a lot of commingling am amongst the athletes. Um so yeah, I met a lot of people and it was it was great.

SPEAKER_00: 9:14

Yeah, so what did you study at university?

SPEAKER_02: 9:17

Uh finance. Well, they call it over there business administration, but majoring in finance.

SPEAKER_00: 9:21

Yeah. And what made you choose finance?

SPEAKER_02: 9:24

Um I think I kind of have a uh a bit of an objective personality. I I um math, I I was a lot stronger at math than I was at English, just you know, the the black and white nature of it. So um finance was kind of it always appealed to me and um I kind of fell into it and it just that's how it happened.

SPEAKER_00: 9:49

Yeah. So then you finished your four-year course, was it? Yep. Yeah. So then can you share what what your experience was after that four-year period?

SPEAKER_02: 9:57

So I came back to Australia and um started playing professional basketball in Australia. So in the WMBL, the Women's National Basketball League. Um, I played for a number of different teams um in the WMBL in in Brisbane and Perth and finished my career in Melbourne over a time frame of about 10 years. Um did that. Um I was in an interesting position while I was playing professional sport. It was women's professional sport, so um there wasn't, you know, the pay wasn't really sustainable to to both to even though it was a a full-time commitment, it wasn't necessarily a full-time wage. So um I was working throughout throughout that period as well.

SPEAKER_00: 10:44

Which is obviously extremely challenging. Did you have like how were the businesses that you worked for, they obviously understood your commitment to sport and were quite flexible?

SPEAKER_02: 10:56

Yeah, I had some great employers during that time that um enabled me to be able to juggle both both sport and and work career. Um I think during the the time I was very um critical of myself, you know, that while I was I was doing both and able to juggle both, I never felt like I was excelling or being the best version or being the best that I could at at either, which was hard, but in reflection, I'm you know I'm really proud of what I was out able to achieve both, you know, in my sporting career and um where my career's taken me to this point.

SPEAKER_00: 11:35

So what's been the highlight of your sporting career?

SPEAKER_02: 11:38

Um I think one was the the opportunity to go play in college, not probably not athletically, but in terms of experience and something I'm grateful for.

SPEAKER_00: 11:46

I really have experience as well.

SPEAKER_02: 11:48

Exactly. Um sporting career. Um I the last game I actually played was um with the Melbourne Boomers, the grand final, the WNBL, which which we won, which was a very congratulations. Thank you. That was a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_00: 12:02

22 or 20 years.

SPEAKER_02: 12:04

22. Um, so just to go out, you know, my last game ever being a grand final, which we won, was a very special moment.

SPEAKER_00: 12:10

Did you know that at the time this was going to be your last game?

SPEAKER_02: 12:12

Yeah, uh, I knew the whole season this was gonna be my last um hurrah, but I kind of joked they had to carry me off the court to to make sure I didn't come back. But uh no, it was a it was you know a really surreal moment and you know a great way to finish.

SPEAKER_00: 12:26

Yeah, and I guess it's it's probably because you'd been working throughout that period, it's less, it's it's a lot would you say it's a lot easier to transition.

SPEAKER_02: 12:36

Definitely the adjustment I you know I didn't finish and try and have to find my um you know my passion in terms of what I wanted to do after sport. Um, so that was a lot, I guess, of a softer transition. But that being said, I still really did struggle post post-sport, you know, the the routine and the competitive outlet and all those things that you know embedded or what you've been doing for you know, it was close to 20 years. My whole yeah, exactly. Um, kind of comes to a very sharp stop. And um, so it was a huge adjustment, but I was just lucky enough that I was already, you know, progressed in my career. I knew what I wanted, you know, I was already in a career, I wasn't trying to find myself outside of sport. Um, so I was lucky in that aspect, but I can very much sympathize with those that are play sport for however many years and just finish and then trying to find what their what their where their passion lies after that. It's uh it's hard.

SPEAKER_00: 13:34

What's next? Yeah. And so let's go talk about your career, your maybe share your current role and and what you do at the moment and who you work for.

SPEAKER_02: 13:42

Yep. Um, I'm a director and fund manager for a company called St. Juria Bass Credit. So what we are is we're a non-bank lender for commercial real estate.

SPEAKER_00: 13:52

Okay, so let's break that down. We say non-bank lender, because maybe some of our audience don't know what a non-bank lender is. Can you?

SPEAKER_02: 13:59

Yeah, sure. So um what we do is we provide loans to developers or borrowers um for the purpose of purchasing or developing commercial real estate. Typically it's, you know, for large-scale land subdivisions or um a block of apartments. That's what I mean by commercial real estate. How we uh get those funds to provide to the borrowers is we raise funds, capital from high net worth or ultra-high net worth individuals. Um, then we on land that to the borrowers, we charge borrowers interest rates and fees, which we then pass back to investors in the way of an income distribution.

unknown: 14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 14:40

So essentially we act like a bank, but um, instead of playing with you know the bank's money, we're um raising funds from individuals.

SPEAKER_00: 14:50

Yeah, because I think the definition of a a bank is a deposit-taking institution. So you can have a bank account at Westpac and then they'll use that money to to on lend. Exactly. So you raise the capital from investors. That's right. Yeah. So why would a developer go to you or why, you know, for for funding when they maybe can go to a bank?

SPEAKER_02: 15:10

It's a great question. Um, there's no secret that we are more expensive than a bank. So I think um that's the first thing people typically ask. But what we're able to do is provide really fast and flexible um terms to our borrowers. So our borrowers are um developers, might have one, two, multiple projects. Um, so they're willing to pay a premium to get um certainty of that capital of those funds in um a shorter term time frame than a bank would be able to provide it to them. Um also banks, because their deposit, you know, their their money comes from everyday um deposits from from um you know people with bank accounts. There's very stringent rules on the types of loans they can provide um to borrowers. Exactly. So we're able to be a lot more flexible. Um, we're able to tailor our um, you know, lending solutions to those borrowers that that really fits and and helps those borrowers um be able to achieve their goals. And we work with those borrowers to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00: 16:17

So in terms of your role, are you you obviously need to assess the risk of the development and and what are the the things that could potentially go wrong?

SPEAKER_02: 16:26

So I'm a fund manager. I kind of sit in between both the deal origination team that assess each of the loans, the borrowers and manage those loans, and then the distribution team that uh raises the capital. Um I manage, we have um two pooled diversified funds, about$700 million worth of discretionary capital, which we manage for investors. So I manage those pooled funds, um, the daily, the day-to-day operations of those funds, um, and really just ensuring the best outcome for those investors within that fund. So um I'm a bit of a you would say generalist in, you know, we have over 500 investors in these funds and we have over 60 assets. I kind of need to be across all of that to make sure we're managing um the best outcomes for those investors.

SPEAKER_00: 17:16

So if you were to to invest in your fund, what are some things you need to be mindful of? Obviously, you mentioned a high return. Can you share some insight around what what is the like average return that an investor would normally receive for the pooled investment fund?

SPEAKER_02: 17:33

So um we have a type of couple of different investment options. One of our funds is just purely first mortgage. So um we hold security over the underlying property asset if things were to go um if there was a default or we had to step in and and um take control of that asset asset, we have the the downside protection of being able to sell that asset or that um piece of land for the the underlying value. Um but you know, this this or this investment is not risk-free. Um, you know, it's subject to the value in which you can abstract from that that piece of that asset, that piece of land. Um so we can only um recover to the extent to which what's available to recover of the value of that that um real estate. So um typically the the return on a first mortgage is uh between six and ten percent, depending on the the the asset.

SPEAKER_00: 18:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 18:31

Um and then we have another fund that has first and second mortgage exposure. So second mortgage is just the subordinated after that that first mortgage um sits behind the the first mortgage in in terms of priority and repayment. Um and you can uh expect a bit higher premium for for that type of um uh investment because it's up the up the risk curve, say eight to twelve percent.

SPEAKER_00: 18:55

And obviously that return will depend on where the RBA cash rate is as well.

SPEAKER_02: 18:59

Yeah, yeah. It's um typically linked all our loans to our borrowers are linked um cash rate plus a margin. So we think of um first mortgage, it's typically kind of RBA cash rate plus four to five, and then anything behind that second mortgage is you'd say six six to eight type of range. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:20

So how do you keep on top of all the assets?

SPEAKER_02: 19:23

Um, I mean, it's not there's we have a big team at Centuria Bass and some really um some really high quality um individuals that that manage these these loans and have extensive experience both um managing and and originating. So um it's a team effort, but um being across each each deal and early intervention and and early management of a of a loan when when it needs it is um is really key to to being able to um recover um capital but also extract as much value out of out of the out of the loan and and asset.

SPEAKER_00: 20:02

Yeah, and obviously you may share some synergies that you've learned from playing basketball, both professionally but also at college, that's helped you in your career today.

SPEAKER_02: 20:13

Yeah, I mean I think there are so many attributes um that sport teaches people in a professional um capacity, you know, playing sport at any level. And the the the easy ones are, you know, uh teamwork, um resilience, um time time management. Time management, absolutely, um performing under pressure. Um something that resonates mostly with me is just being able to expect the most from myself and expect expect a really high quality of um expecting a really high quality from myself not only from myself but my um my teammates or my colleagues. Yeah, you know, that's that's really important. I think finance off obviously is can be a very high pressure environment, environment, and playing professional sports, that's an environment I'm I'm comfortable in. And um yeah, there's been a lot of a lot of times where I think my background has held me in good stead to in my professional career.

SPEAKER_00: 21:13

Yeah, and do you are you still involved in the basketball in basketball today?

SPEAKER_02: 21:16

No, besides being a um a uh a watcher or an enjoyer of the sport, I'm not I'm not involved.

SPEAKER_00: 21:23

Yeah. Do you um do you see yourself getting back into the basketball world or is that door closed?

SPEAKER_02: 21:31

I think I think that that door's closed for me. Um I'm happy just to be a spectator and a and a and a um fan of the sport.

SPEAKER_00: 21:39

Yeah, and the sport seems to be growing globally.

SPEAKER_02: 21:44

Yeah, yeah, especially the women's side of the game. Um, I don't know how familiar are you are with some of the players in the US, Caitlin Clark and the Caitlin Clark effect, but um, you know, the the game has grown so much over in the States, and hopefully that translates to you know viewership in Australia. It's it's always um been a bit puzzling for me. Um Australia in terms of our our women's national team has kind of been top two or three ranked in you know globally for for years and years. Um we have a really strong national competition, the WMBL, but we've always just lacked the um the viewership, the sponsorship, the the investment that um you know you would you would expect for such a high quality product.

SPEAKER_00: 22:35

Is that just the nature of there's just so many sports in in the country?

SPEAKER_02: 22:41

I don't I don't I don't know to be honest. I think basketball is having a little bit of a resurgence in Australia in terms of the MBL, definitely. Um I hope that translates over to the WMBL. Um and I mean I'm in no way having to go at AFLW or you know, Supernetball or anything like that. I'm you know, these athletes are very impressive also. But um this the WMBL has been such a strong and great product for a long time, but um it just doesn't, it's not really at the same level that even, like I said, AFLW or the Supernetball or anything is um at at the moment. So I would love to see um the the the game in Australia, women's game in the Australia grow and and um develop into you know follow suit with yeah. How do you think that will happen? Um I think exposure is is one thing, you know, media exposure, sponsorship, obviously. Um but it just takes time. I think it you know, as we kind of have to keep just chipping away at um building the game, building our reper reputation, um, getting out into the community, um, showing that you know there is this great this great product being the WMBL and um get people along.

SPEAKER_00: 23:57

Yeah, because basketball at um uh uh uh for children or kids is is massive. Like most most my niece just told me she's nine and she's made into the under-twels team and she's all excited.

SPEAKER_02: 24:09

So I'm pretty sure it has the highest participation rate uh in juniors um in Australia. I think I might just be making that stat up. We'll go with it. Yeah, yeah, let's go with it. Um so it's interesting that it it's so high at the junior level, but um support at the professional level isn't you know, doesn't follow suit with that. But hopefully time will change and um I would love to see the WNBL into a you know a really high quality and high-viewed um sport in the future and and these athletes getting paid full-time wages to compensate them for the time and commitment.

SPEAKER_00: 24:49

So how many uh Australian uh women uh are in the WNBA in the US?

SPEAKER_02: 24:55

Oh, I think we have over ten now. Um we've you know we've always had really high representation in the WNBA and not just participating or not just you know, kind of players at the end of the bench. You know, these are really high quality and um important players in in the WMBA. Um so I mean I expect that you know there's we have a lot of juniors, good juniors coming up, and that that's just gonna grow and um increase the strength of our our national team.

SPEAKER_00: 25:28

Yeah, well hopefully it continues to grow and maybe if we can win you know some medals at the Olympics, I think that always gives a bit of a boost over the next four years.

SPEAKER_02: 25:36

Yeah, I would love to see Australia get back on the uh the po back on the gold, you know, gold medal podium. We've consistently got uh silvers and bronze, which is you know an amazing accomplishment.

SPEAKER_00: 25:48

But uh comparing to the US, like it's yeah, it's very hard to compare.

SPEAKER_02: 25:53

It is it is hard to compete with the US, but you know we're getting we're getting closer and um I expect to be a very, you know, strong rivalry in the future, and hopefully we can uh pip them at some point.

SPEAKER_00: 26:06

Yeah, no, that's really good. Thanks for sharing. Also, I want to touch on there's not a lot of women in in funds management. So you maybe share some experience about you know being a a leader in in funds management as as a lady, and because it can be obviously quite challenging to get to the level that you're at, and I don't know how you manage your time and play professional sport, do your job, and also a mother. Um I struggle to get out of bed to go to the gym.

SPEAKER_02: 26:32

So yeah, I think um especially in um real estate credit, there's um not a lot of female representation in real estate in Australia and not a lot in finance in Australia. So to combine the two, it's even you know less. Um I think I'm very self-motivated, and um, while there's not a lot of women, I've also this has also given me a lot of opportunities in my career where there's you know they've required repres women representation and I've been there to be able to step up and um provide that in circum circum certain circumstances. Um I don't I don't know what the why there's not a lot of women um in in finance or in executive positions or director positions, um senior management positions. Something I would love to see and um I d I don't know what the answer is, but I think I think in in in terms of myself, I've always been um very, very motivated and very um I would say comfortable in in male-dominated spaces. So um that's not necessarily for all women, um, but I would love to see changes where more representation at at those higher levels for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 27:53

Yeah. No, that's thank you for sharing. And um, yeah, hopefully we can see some more you know women represented in in senior positions, especially like you said, um real estate credit. I I don't know too many women that are in you know that field and and definitely not at the seniority of that you're at. I just want to uh sort of go towards the end of the discussion and just maybe share how you got to where you are. Like where did you what was your first job and maybe just a quick timeline of of your career?

SPEAKER_02: 28:21

Yeah, sure. So um, like I said, I finished college and was playing um WMBL or basketball around different teams around Australia and I knew I had to start my career somewhere. Um I would say my most I mean, I did a few different odd jobs for different companies along the way, but my first really foray into a corporate professional sense was um I worked for Deloitte. Um I was a little bit older at this stage because I had been playing basketball. I think I was 25 and um a lot of my colleagues were were grads and um it was a funny environment. I think I really struggled because I felt in the the role and the the team I was in, um uh promotions and different acknowledgements was more based on tenure rather than merit. And as a professional athlete, that's something I really struggled with. Like people not um, you know, performing or not really caring about their output, um, and not, you know, if you did perform really well or you were really great at your job, there was no ability to kind of be recognized for that. Um, so that was a a bit of a reality check, realizing that um, you know, the feedback that you get in sport, you train well, you play well is is instant, you reward it with more court time, or you know, it's it's very visible the the the reward or the um the opposite.

SPEAKER_00: 29:46

If you're not performing, then you're out of the team.

SPEAKER_02: 29:48

Exactly. Um and people, you know, really take pride in their you know, their ability and their work when you're in a professional sporting um team or environment where you know, of course. Corporate work, I couldn't understand that people didn't really care about their output and you know were just kind of going through the motion. So um I, you know, stayed there a couple of years and so what were you doing at Deloitte? Um I was on a um seconded to a bank doing a um it was a Royal Commission remediation work. So I mean it wasn't overly, you know, it wasn't uh an environment where you really had the opportunity to, you know, perform or really be challenged. Challenged and things. So um I didn't last there too long, but I um from there I stumbled into working for a company called Maxcat Group, who's another non-bank lender, and that's where at the time it was a small, a smaller company, and now they've had massive growth and um were bought by Apollo um global management. So, you know, a pretty significant partner, but um that's where my first exposure into real estate credit that was close to 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_00: 31:05

And um so what what were you doing at Maxcap at that point?

SPEAKER_02: 31:09

Um it was a little bit of a kind of an operations portfolio management role, um which suited me. I think the way, again, is a little bit more of a generalist role, um, which kind of suits my personality or the way I even played basketball, where I was a little bit, you know, each team has their superstars, but then also you need kind of role players and big glue guys, I guess, to make a successful team. And that's kind of how I saw myself at at MaxCap in this particular role. Um, but through there, I think um there was there was even times people would say I was to a point um aggressively ambitious in terms of you know, I'm always trying to, you know, progress my career or learn more or take on more responsibility. Um, so I kind of grew, did different roles at that company, and um that led me about close to five years later to Centuria Bass Credit and um the position position I'm in now. And I started at Centuria Bass as um an associate director in uh investor relations, so a little bit more on the investment management side and um assisting investors and capital raising, but now I've transitioned more into the the fund management role and um managing stakeholders both internally and externally.

SPEAKER_00: 32:29

And Centuria Bass has had exceptional growth over the last well since how long have you been there for?

SPEAKER_02: 32:36

Um I've been there close to four years, and yeah, it's had exceptional growth, like you said. Um it's a really you know exciting place and and and an incredible company. And um when I started the original the the we have the original two founders who founded Bass Capital, um, and they went into partnership with Centuria Um Capital, who's an ASX listed company, and formed Centuria Bass Capital, um sorry, Centuria Bass Credit, um, and we've yeah had exceptional growth over the last um four or five years and have now have$2.3 uh billion dollars under management and um you know have big plans for future future growth as well. So it's a very exciting time and company to be a part of.

SPEAKER_00: 33:17

Yeah, no, that's great. Thank you for sharing. Um I don't have any other questions for you. I love the conversation. Thank you for sharing um, you know, your story and obviously one thing like as a listener and someone that's never played professional sport, I'm just thinking how challenging it would be to be a professional athlete, but also have to almost self-fund that and still work.

SPEAKER_02: 33:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 33:40

And balancing both.

SPEAKER_02: 33:43

Yeah, it was it was really challenging, but I mean, I was extremely passionate about both. Um I was I mean, on one hand, it was some in some way a blessing. I think a lot of athletes, you know, while they you have you dedicate so much time to your sport or your craft, you often have a lot of free time at the end of the day to then go home and think about the mistakes you made in a game or the mistakes you made at training or whatever. Um it can it can be a slippery slope in terms of the mindful or you know um running through that in your head. For me, I went I went to training, I had a game and I was leaving as soon as it finished to go go to my job and then crank out a few hours of sitting behind a desk or whatever it might be. I didn't have time to dwell on different things. And I mean, I was that worked for me because um I was present at basketball when I had to be there, and then I would go and have this um mental out outlet when I went to work later. And uh for me it felt like while it was demanding and and and a really a struggle at times, um it kind of was an outlet for both, and yeah, I enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_00: 34:58

Yeah, Ted Richards, who we had on um the show uh on the Finance Men podcast. I'm not sure exactly what episode it was on, but uh maybe five or six episodes ago and he he shared the same thing. It's like you know, you you're playing football, and then next you're you know, you're working, so you're not thinking about football anymore. And then when you go back to football, you can focus on football.

SPEAKER_02: 35:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:19

And um, which is yeah, really, I think it makes a difference. The last question I've got for you, yeah, because we hear it a lot about um teenagers or or young professionals getting homesick.

SPEAKER_02: 35:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:30

Did that affect you at all? Did you miss surfing on the Gold Coast?

SPEAKER_02: 35:34

Yeah, I when I was in the States, I definitely had moments of being um homesick. Like I said, the times I was homesick was the times I wasn't busy, or you know, I was at home in my dorm room or whatever it was, and I just kind of was sit there and think. Um, I think I just tried to appreciate what a great experience it was. And um, you know, I was very lucky. My parents came over and visited me every year, so I was never, you know, too far away from a visit. But yeah, I mean it's challenging. I was 17 when I when I left Australia and moved over there. I was I was very young. Um, so yeah, there was definitely some challenging moments, but um for the most part I was pretty busy with training and and schoolwork and things like that. I was didn't have too much time to dwell on it.

SPEAKER_00: 36:22

And how about playing when you went um came back to Australia and played in the um WNBL because you played all around the country? So was there did you get that element of of homesickness as well, or less because you're a bit more mature and you still got to see your family quite regularly?

SPEAKER_02: 36:38

Less so um than when I was in the States. Um yeah, I think Yeah, I was I wasn't I was never homesick when I was over here, I think because it always felt so much closer than another country. Um there was there was definitely I would say the biggest thing playing in Australia is all the sacrifices I had to make in terms of like, you know, missing weddings or friends' birthday parties or whatever, holidays or things that I sacrificed um to play in a season that not everyone, you know, had a lot of friends outside of the sport as well. Um but I was always very appreciative of the ability to play at that level and um and the experiences I got that I tried to think of the positive rather than what I was missing out on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 37:24

And I I think the I'm gonna leave it the conversation by saying all our guests talk about the success they had, whether it be the premiership, and the best part of that is the reunion. Yeah. So you're looking forward to do you do a five-year reunion, an annual reunion, a 10-year reunion?

SPEAKER_02: 37:40

That's a good question. We haven't uh we haven't done done anything or have anything planned. Um I'll have to suggest that to some of the girls, but uh nothing, nothing in plans. A lot of a lot of the players that I'm that I won that championship with are still playing. So they're probably not thinking about a reunion yet. They're still you know trying to.

SPEAKER_00: 37:59

Maybe you need to do the 10 years, they'll be they'll be retired by then.

SPEAKER_02: 38:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 38:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:03

So um I'll I'll get back to you on that one.

SPEAKER_00: 38:05

Awesome. Well, thank you, Izzy. Thanks for being a guest on the Finance Friends podcast. I've really enjoyed the discussion and all the best with your um you know career ahead of you.

SPEAKER_02: 38:14

Thanks, Fabian. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 38:20

Thanks for listening this week. Stay tuned for our next episode and keep up to date with us by following the Finance Friends podcast on Instagram and TikTok. Plus, connect with us and our guests over on our LinkedIn page, all linked in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01: 38:41

Disclaimer, this podcast exists for informational and entertainment purposes. The personal opinions of the speaker and guests do not represent the view of any other people. If this recording contains reference to financial products, that reference does not constitute advice nor recommendations and may not be reliable.