Our Team

Hello, come and meet our team at Storytowns.

Our Amazing Staff

Jarrod Pickford

Founder

A podcast professional and the Founder of Storytowns, Jarrod’s had 20 years of audio experience producing radio for the likes of Nova, Dave Hughes & Kate Langbroek, Kyle & Jackie’O, Alice Cooper, as well as Ryan Seacrest on America’s Top 40. His podcast career has seen him travel the world creating unique content, which has featured on the BBC. He’s also acted as a key judge in the Australian Podcast Awards. Jarrod is a visionary whose love of travel, meeting people, and exploring different cultures and local customs shows up in full with the creation of Storytowns. With an abundance of life experience to inspire and motivate, Jarrod has the ability to find the remarkable within the unassuming, and the big moves being made in tiny towns.

Emily Edge

Co-Founder

A Senior Media Communication Specialist, Emily has spent the past 6 years working in federal politics for senior government members. Including three years as a Media Adviser for the current Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Tied in with a background in creative design, she is dynamic, enthusiastic and harnesses her multidisciplinary skills when it comes to running a business. Having grown up on a cattle property near the rural town Casterton, Emily understands the need to support small local communities. She is passionate about travel, meeting new people, and promoting regional tourism.

Bruce McDonald

Audio Designer

Bruce is a genius when it comes to audio design, spanning 30 years of audio experience encompassing everything audio including studio, live and broadcast production, Bruce brings a wealth of experience to the Storytowns team. Having grown up in country NSW and Victoria, from two generations of dairy farmers, he understands the value of a good yarn in regional Australia.

Claudia Ross

UX Designer

Claudia Ross is also from Western Victoria and a recent graduate from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Design Computing. Claudia has joined our team as the junior UX designer. When not on the road researching doing market, she’s back in the office trialing and testing news ideas for the App.

Mitch Grace

UX Designer

You may be asking why we have two UX designers? It’s actually one of the most fundamental positions in this tech company. UX is using a human-centered approach to ensure we create a unique product that meets the needs of our travelling listeners. For 3 years Mitch was the Senior UX Designer for the Japanese Government and teacher at tech-giant, General Assembly which boasts 35 campuses around the world

Lauren McBriarty

Project Management & Sales

Lauren is ambitious, mature and hardworking which is why she’s our newest member to the Storytowns team! Lauren McBriarty began her career working in many managerial roles for Belgravia Leisure. Over the course of 2016 – April 2018 Lauren completed a Bachelors in Business (Tourism Management) through Torrens University and an internship in Sri Lanka on destination management and hotel management.