From a business degree to burn out within the first decade of her career, to leadership author, world-champion sailor, high performance executive coach and sustainability leader at Amazon Web Services, Bella Zanesco's journey is nothing short of inspiring.
But while the Southern Cross University alumnus wonders about the connection between her many achievements, there is a thread she's followed throughout her life — finding purpose, balance and joy and aligning her career to those themes.
This was an ability, though, that Bella had to learn to master the hard way.
"After taking my first solo flight for an exchange year in Canada at 16, I thought I wanted to be an airhostess," she says.
Following this passion, Bella began a Bachelor of Business majoring in Tourism at Southern Cross University's Coffs Harbour campus — but then, she says, her 'sensible side kicked in'.
"I decided I should do a more general business degree," she explains, half joking that: "I guess I was thinking about becoming a responsible adult, something I've since realised was a fool's errand so early in my 20's."
Bella switched to marketing and HR and thrived in her degree, gaining the skills she needed to land a highly coveted graduate position in the fast-moving consumer goods industry in Sydney, where she worked across sales, marketing, sponsorship and business development, accelerating her career thanks to the opportunities large corporations provide.
"The support of Southern Cross University was invaluable to shaping my early career decisions," she says.
Over the next decade, Bella moved into innovation, mergers, acquisitions, strategy and growth for several global corporations including PepsiCo and San Miguel — where she was behind the launch of Grain Waves chips and the acquisition of National Foods and Berri — before working for a growth and innovation consultancy firm across New York and London and finally moving back to Australia to support entrepreneurs building start-ups.
But despite all her achievements, Bella couldn't find the balance. The 'sensible side' she listened to during university had driven her to create a successful career, but it wasn't sustainable. She experienced a period of burnout and depression, which led her to temporarily leave the corporate world in 2012 to re-evaluate what was important.
"I knew I had to focus on rebuilding my health and energy to become sustainably high performing," she says. "And I had to rebuild my career in a way that was purposeful, had balance and felt joyful."
Bella started by asking herself what made her feel joy when she was younger. And as a result, she reignited her passion for sailing — a love that grew from a childhood on the water with her father. After a seven-year hiatus, she took out the world sailing championship title at age 38, a feat she had missed out on nine times before.
"Going through burnout taught me the importance of doing things for the joy of them," Bella says. "There were times I'd fallen out of love with sailing, and it all became about winning, but it's when I started again for the joy of it that I actually won a world championship."
Deciding to listen to what her heart and intuition were telling her, she then began working and speaking with executives who were experiencing similar challenges with burnout and, like her, wanted to reinvent themselves, change their careers, and find more passion and purpose in a holistic, sustainable way. She built a coaching practice that helped give executives the tools to be healthy, thrive at work and choose career steps that felt more authentic to them.
"Sometimes the universe taps you on the shoulder to take an opportunity," Bella says. "I got tapped for this work, and it felt good."
This experience led her to write her book, Smart Girls Screw up Too: the no-nonsense guide to creating the life you want .
"The book helps people who are feeling stuck with practical guidance. It gives them the tools to reflect on their values, needs and belief systems, and to attract meaning and purpose in their life," Bella explains. "It also looks at all our health centres, from hormonal and physical to mental and spiritual, and how we can get those into alignment so we can make more authentic and in-tune decisions."
In 2018 Bella was named Southern Cross University Vice Chancellor's 'choice' Alumnus of the Year, relishing the opportunity to speak to graduates about her career and learnings. "It was so nice to be recognised for the work I was doing, and to help empower graduates to shape their careers in a way that is authentic to their values."
In 2020 Bella returned to the corporate world, pivoting her career to leading sustainability at Amazon Web Services across APJ while supporting builders and leaders to prevent burnout.
Now, her advice to recent graduates is simple: "Be brave enough to embrace a career and life you love and find joy in, not just one that is expected of you."
