Published March 2025
Michelle Wooldridge believes in the importance of “diversity of thought” – something she is no doubt exposed to daily between her job as CEO of a property development company and her role as mother to eight-year-old triplets.
“I’m a big one for diversity of thought, and I think property brings the best of that out of people, because it’s creative, you’ve got design, you’ve got commercial things you’re dealing with; lots of elements that go into making a property development successful,” Ms Wooldridge said.
She joined Pikos Group in 2023, marking a new direction in her career after 10 years at Lendlease, moving from transformative city-shaping projects to boutique residential apartments.
Ms Wooldridge started out in finance at Lendlease.
“I’ve always been a bit of a big thinker and quite entrepreneurial, and in my role at Lendlease I stepped over the boundaries into management-type roles.”
She was earmarked for potential and went on to be a Director for the Brisbane Showgrounds and Cross River Rail projects, and the master planned Yarrabilba community.
Now at Pikos Group, she has switched from breadth to depth, and loves the fast paced environment.
“We are so into detail and across everything – you have to be when you’re at that high-end luxury market; quality is really critical to us.”
“We like to keep things classic and simple, with lots of natural finishes like limestone in Gaia, travertine in Skye.”
“We consider the risks and we’re very diligent and how we move forward, but we move forward at a pace like I’ve never seen or worked at before, because you’re nimble and when you’re a private company you’ve got to be able to respond quickly,” she said.
She has drawn on the knowledge of place-making she gathered during the Brisbane Showgrounds project for Pikos’ residential project Gaia at Kangaroo Point, which will feature an open landscaped ground floor with communal amenities for residents.
“Developments now are about community, fostering a sense of place and wellbeing… whether it’s a worm farm, a community garden, or watching the football.”
Ms Wooldridge has been Queensland Division Council Vice President for the Property Council of Australia since 2021 which has informed her strategy at work.
“Having that diversity of my peers that sit on division council and hearing all the perspectives from everyone absolutely informs your strategy and just how you engage with government,” she said.
As a woman working within a male-dominated industry, she said it can be exhausting, and they still have a long way to go.
“There are countless times where I walk into a room and I’m not only the only female, but also sometimes the youngest,” she said.
Despite this, she credits many people who have advocated for her, challenged her, and pushed her out of her comfort zone.
“We always comment that we’re really lucky with Ped (founder Pedro Pikos) because we always say Ped’s a ‘girl dad’… he’s really supportive of females.”
On the topic of balancing parenting with work, she said: “I don’t think balance actually exists, it’s just the ebbs and flows, and some days you feel more in control than others.”
“The kids love it – Sam has got the golden shovel from the sod turning at Gaia in his room… they’re really proud of what we’re doing.”
She said their ethos is not to be the biggest, but to be better than what they did last time, every time.
