Nicole Chvastek is a highly regarded journalist, producer and executive trainer, with a wealth of experience across Australian radio and television.
She began her career working with the legendary newsreader Brian Naylor in the Nine Newsroom (whose 2IC was an ‘up and-comer’ called Peter Hitchener) and where her passion for broadcast journalism was ignited. Nicole trained at the ABC as a cadet and later returned there as an evening news reporter and anchor on ABC TV Asia Pacific.
She then took on the role of Chief of Staff – setting each day’s news agenda in the early hours of the morning, identifying great stories and assigning on-the-road TV and radio reporters and camera crews to the scene of breaking news.
Nicole was also there covering big news stories as a TV journalist for the Seven Network and ABC, including reporting on the bloody Underworld Wars, the Walsh Street killing court hearings and the catastrophic Black Saturday bushfires. Emergency broadcasting during bushfire season to traumatised communities in real time was part of the brief.
She was the senior producer for the award-winning ABC Radio Jon Faine Mornings show, identifying the big news stories of the day and chasing down interviewees from leaders to sporting legends, authors, academics, and rockstars. She managed non-negotiable daily news deadlines and juggled multiple demands in a live studio setting.
At the same time, she was training young journalists and producers, who have progressed to carve out distinctive careers and positions of leadership in a competitive media industry.
Most recently, Nicole hosted a successful daily ABC Radio Drive program. She’d grill politicians, unpick elections, uncover injustices, pressure authorities, bring critical information on natural disasters to listeners and deliver amazing stories for three hours each day, while taking talkback and being a trusted voice in kitchens and loungerooms and on car radios. You may have also heard her filling for Raf Epstein on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne.
Nicole has a finely honed sense of what makes news and how to get it – fast. She is highly skilled at taking complex information and transforming it into a narrative which will grab the attention of audiences.
She has also worked as a media trainer of many corporate executives and company leaders, leading her to being a valued member of the Communication & Media Manoeuvres team.
