Brett Conley (2008)
Fairytale Career: The path to a dream job at Disney
Brett Conley likes to joke that never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she would become an accountant.
`Let’s be honest, `wildest dreams’ and `accounting’ don’t usually belong in the same sentence,’ she laughs, poking fun at the perception it's a rather dull profession.
But for Brett, accounting has been anything but boring, leading her—via a major medical curveball—to a dream job at the Walt Disney Corporation, where she is Manager of Commercial Finance for Disney+ Australia and New Zealand.
`We handle the numbers behind the magic,’ she explains. `It’s a rare opportunity to sit at the intersection of storytelling and commercial decision-making.’
Her path to Disney, however, has been anything but straightforward.
`If you’d told 17-year-old me—scraping through Maths—that I’d be managing Disney+ that turns over hundreds of millions of dollars a year, I would’ve laughed. And I think Dr Jenkins (her Girls Grammar Maths teacher) would’ve laughed too,’ she says.
At School, Brett threw herself into any and all activities, with a dizzying roster of cricket, netball, softball, touch football, gymnastics, rowing, clarinet and euphonium. Little wonder she ended Year 12 as Captain of Gibson.
`I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have attended BGGS. It was a significant financial commitment for my parents, and one I’ve never taken lightly. The experience fundamentally shaped both my career trajectory and my personal development - I have no doubt I would be a different person had I completed high school elsewhere.’
Choosing a career initially proved as difficult as settling on just one sport, until Dr Bruce Addison, Deputy Principal (Academic) —then an Economics teacher—provided the spark that ignited a passion.
`His enthusiasm for the subject (of Economics) directly influenced my decision to pursue degrees in Economics and Commerce.’
Initially, Brett also had Biology in the mix, but in typical self-deprecating fashion, she declared it too `science-y’ once at university and shifted her focus to accountancy.
`It’s often perceived as dry, rigid, and lacking in excitement,’ she admitted. `In reality, it’s one of those professions that opens doors globally without the need to retrain or sit additional exams, and that kind of mobility is powerful and exciting.’
After graduating and working with major players Deloitte and ANZ, Brett had her sights set on taking her career to London. But life had other plans.
On Valentine’s Day 2018, at the age of 26, she was diagnosed with leukaemia. The cancer was too aggressive to be treated with chemotherapy but, incredibly, she was matched with an anonymous US donor and underwent a successful stem cell transplant.
`Years after deciding science wasn’t for me, it was science—the brilliance of medicine and research—that gave me a second chance.'
Particularly impactful during this period, Brett reveals, was receiving a personal card from BGGS Principal Jacinda Euler Welsh.
`It was an incredibly touching gesture—10 years after leaving the School, BGGS was still there for me. That moment reminded me that the values of care, community and connection instilled at Grammar are enduring.’
After treatment and recovery, a move to London wasn’t feasible anymore. What’s worse, the job she once loved with Country Road Group had lost its lustre. `Having received so much bad news, I wanted a job that made me happy.’
Out of the blue Brett received an offer to join the team at Disney+. What could be more cheerful than working for a company that built `the happiest place on earth’?
`It felt like a full-circle moment; the fresh start I was looking for. Where everything I’d done suddenly made sense.’
She joined the team in 2021 and relishes her role `enabling creativity’.
`Working at Disney has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. No two days are the same. It’s a dynamic environment where I’m not just analysing numbers, I’m negotiating large-scale partnerships, driving strategic initiatives like pricing, and building business cases that shape the future of the platform.’
The quirky data insights are a bonus: `Australians spend an astonishing amount of time each week watching Grey’s Anatomy.’
Brett credits BGGS with gifting her the skills and resilience to succeed. `I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have attended BGGS. I was never the top academic performer, but through a combination of team sports, leadership opportunities and academic challenges, I learned that perseverance, collaboration and commitment can carry you through almost anything.’
Brett, right, was Gibson House Captain in 2008