About 2nd Story

We’ve been in your shoes. And we’ve learned a lot along the way

Executive experience. Commercial thinking. Practical solutions.

We’ve spent our careers helping businesses grow, navigate change, solve difficult problems and build stronger foundations.

Between us, we’ve held senior executive roles across operations, commercial strategy, marketing, customer experience, people and organisational transformation. We’ve worked in founder-led businesses, private equity-backed companies and listed organisations — and seen firsthand what happens when businesses grow, ownership changes, markets shift or the structures that once worked are no longer enough.

That experience taught us something important. Whatever their size, businesses face remarkably similar challenges. Growth creates complexity, decisions get harder, customers expect more and the demands on owners keep increasing.

That’s why we created 2nd Story — to bring what we learned in larger, more complex businesses to established small and medium-sized organisations, without the corporate layers or expensive consulting machinery. We work directly with owners and their teams to understand what’s happening, find the opportunities and put practical solutions in place.

Because good business advice should come from people who understand what it takes to deliver it.

Experience that matters

Senior roles. Real accountability.

  • We've led businesses, not just advised them.

    Senior executive responsibility across commercial, operations, marketing, customer experience and people.

  • We've worked through growth and change.

    From founder-led businesses through private equity and listed company ownership, including acquisitions, major system implementations and organisational transformation.

  • We know how to turn strategy into action.

    Delivering commercial improvements, stronger teams, customer performance and complex operational change.

No account manager in the middle and no junior hand-off after the first meeting.

Kathryn + Veronica, partners

The partners

Kathryn and Veronica

Kathryn Hutchins, partner at 2nd Story

Areas of expertise

  • Business strategy
  • Commercial performance
  • Operations
  • Organisational design
  • People & leadership
  • Systems transformation
  • Governance & risk

Kathryn Hutchins

Business strategy, operations & transformation

Turning business complexity into commercial and operational results.

Kathryn brings more than 20 years of executive leadership experience across operations, commercial management, organisational strategy, people, customer experience and business transformation.

Having held senior executive roles, including Chief Operating Officer and Chief People & Quality Officer, she has worked across financial services, early education, healthcare, disability and professional services. Her experience spans founder-led, private equity-backed and listed organisations, including businesses navigating significant growth, acquisitions, organisational change and increasingly complex regulatory environments.

Kathryn has held responsibility for large operating budgets, multi-site businesses and substantial workforces. She has led major organisational restructures, enterprise technology implementations, commercial improvement programs and workforce transformations, always balancing financial performance with customer outcomes, team capability and long-term sustainability. She knows what it's like to make decisions when resources are stretched, priorities compete and the business has to keep performing while change happens.

Through 2nd Story, Kathryn brings that experience directly to owners and leadership teams — strengthening operations, improving commercial performance, building capable teams and putting the right structures in place for sustainable growth.

Veronica Makiv, partner at 2nd Story

Areas of expertise

  • Brand & marketing strategy
  • Growth & lead generation
  • Communications & content
  • Customer experience
  • Website strategy
  • Full-funnel marketing
  • Operational processes & systems

Veronica Makiv

Brand, marketing, customer & growth

Connecting great brands and customer experiences with business growth.

Veronica brings more than 20 years of experience across brand strategy, marketing, customer experience and commercial growth, combining the creative expertise of leading advertising agencies with the practical experience of growing and transforming businesses.

Her career includes senior roles at M&C Saatchi, DDB and The Campaign Palace, working on some of Australia's best-known brands, including Qantas, Westpac, Telstra, Bonds and Berlei. From major brand launches to national marketing campaigns, she has developed a strong understanding of how customer insights, brand positioning and effective marketing translate into commercial results.

Moving from the agency world into executive leadership, Veronica spent 12 years with Only About Children, ultimately becoming Director of Marketing & Customer. During that time, she helped grow the organisation from 18 to more than 85 centres nationally, through founder-led ownership, private equity investment and acquisition by a US-listed company.

Her experience extends beyond traditional marketing to customer acquisition and retention, digital transformation, customer journey design, marketing systems and the operational processes that support growth.

At 2nd Story, Veronica helps businesses strengthen their marketing positioning, develop effective marketing plans and build lasting customer relationships, supported by systems and the teams they need for sustainable growth.

Everyones Got a 2nd Story

Four quick questions. Two very different answers.

Vee

A side hustle working towards becoming an ocean therapy practitioner - usually with surfboards on the roof, a car full of boys and sand everywhere, exploring Sydney's beaches and tackling a home renovation that never seems to end!

Kathryn

Turns out the "reliable one" had a creative side hiding the whole time. Elbow-deep in various craft projects and now fully engaged with accelerated  learning in all things AI - from website builds to new product platform builds. 

We all have a 2nd Story — it just depends whether yours is showing up in the business, at home, or somewhere in between. Ours happen to include an ocean-therapy trainee and a reformed "reliable one" turned AI enthusiast. We'd love to hear yours.

Why the two-partner model works

The value is not that Kathryn does one list of services and Veronica does another. It is that both perspectives can be brought into the same problem. The business gets a commercial and operating view, a customer and brand view, and two senior people who are comfortable moving between strategy and delivery. Better still, both Kathryn and Veronica bring a network of pre-qualified senior specialists across their fields — called on when a specific engagement needs deeper expertise, or to work inside an organisation supporting the business.

Let’s talk about what comes next for your business

No polished brief needed — just a practical conversation.

Let’s talk