Money commentator and educator across media platforms and high schools Nicole Pederson-Mckinnon has a way for communicating finance that almost anyone can understand. It's because talking money was just the way she grew up and as she says "it was on the menu." Her collision with equality and old-school newspaper men was something she has faced off against in her career but it's also what has driven her to challenge the status quo to get more women reading about money and how to invest it.

She is also the author of best-selling new book, How to Get Mortgage-Free Like Me, in which real Aussies reveal how they’ve accomplished the real Australian dream faster, smarter and cheaper.

Nicole was an editor with Financial Times Business in London by the age of 24 and, on her return to Australia at age 28, launched and then edited The Australian Financial Review’s Smart Investor magazine for eight years. Her money insights have now appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald/Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age newspapers, and on all related websites, for more than 15 years. 

She has won the awards for best personal finance and investment journalist in Australia and the United Kingdom, respectively, and – usually – travels the country giving speeches and MC-ing events, including on multiple occasions at Canberra's Parliament House.

Alongside plenty of TV appearances and Zoom presentations, Nicole has been giving social media updates on the financial help available in these crazy coronavirus times, reaching more than half a million people. She also went public with her recent breast cancer fight and victory, to try and help other women get diagnosed early.