Industry Leaders EP18 with Julie Ockerby

Seton Walsh-Rose sits down with Julie Ockerby, Director of Client Relationships & Design at WMK Architecture and the founder of Meli Studio — one of Australia’s early innovators in aged care, retirement and healthcare interior design. Julie’s path is anything but linear: a few intense years as a registered nurse, then marketing roles at Qantas and Design Hotels across APAC, before a personal experience finding aged care for her father drew her into design.

It’s a warm, wide-ranging conversation about reinventing an ‘invisible’ sector, building a business around dignity and community, and merging a beloved studio into a national practice. Julie makes the case that aged-care design should feel residential and aspirational rather than sterile, that AI is a tool that supports designers rather than replaces them, and that good design can’t survive without a good business behind it. She closes on the idea that has guided her whole career: be part of something memorable — something that could be a legacy.

Episode Chapters

• 00:05 Welcome & Introduction
• 00:26 Condensing a Non-Linear Story
• 00:48 Starting Out as a Nurse
• 02:06 What Nursing Taught Her
• 03:29 The Turn into Marketing
• 04:42 Qantas & Design Hotels APAC
• 05:20 Marketing Is Curiosity
• 05:57 Unconventional Hoteliers
• 09:01 Olympics, 9/11 & Change
• 10:03 A Personal Catalyst
• 10:44 A New Mum Needing Flexibility
• 11:29 Founding Meli Studio
• 11:48 Reinventing Aged Care
• 12:44 Creating a Fabric Line
• 15:03 Materials Matter
• 15:32 Designing for Community
• 16:22 Living Should Continue
• 18:27 Merging Meli with WMK
• 19:27 Three Choices
• 20:07 Why It Was Smooth
• 20:30 Like a Marriage
• 21:36 Women Leaving the Industry
• 24:07 What Mattered Most
• 25:25 A Strategic Partnership
• 27:52 AI & the Investment Question
• 28:24 AI as a Tool, Not a Replacement
• 29:44 The ‘Canary’ Industry
• 31:42 Aged Care After the Royal Commission
• 34:33 Designers Need Business Acumen
• 36:37 You’re the Expert
• 38:53 It’s Okay to Make a Profit
• 40:42 Books & People’s Stories
• 43:04 Failure Was Never an Option

Key Takeaways

• Non-linear careers are a strength
  Nursing, hotel marketing and design all feed each other — the through-line is people.
• Great marketing taps into curiosity
  Give people a reason to wonder ‘why’ and they’ll want to know more.
• The best ideas often come from personal pain
  A distressing search for her father’s aged care sparked Meli Studio.
• Aged care should feel like a home
  Residential, intergenerational and aspirational — living doesn’t stop at the door.
• Design down to the materials
  Julie created her own fabric line to solve a chronic product shortage.
• A merger is a marriage
  Collaborate first, so there are no surprises when you commit.
• Culture and DI outweigh the deal
  Chemistry and representation mattered more to her than the terms.
• AI is a tool, not a replacement
  ‘We didn’t hire you to replace you’ — people skills are irreplaceable.
• Designers must understand the business
  You can’t do good work without a sustainable business — and it’s okay to make a profit.
• Every good design needs a story
  You’re the expert, so tell the narrative and don’t always fold.

Sound Bites / Quotes:
“The core of marketing for me is to tweak on people’s curiosities. If people are curious, they want to know why.”
— Julie Ockerby, ~05:40

“That living continues, and it should — and if for nothing else, it should be aspirational.”
— Julie Ockerby, ~16:48

“If we wanted to replace you as a person, we wouldn’t have hired you for your talents. Use it as a tool — it doesn’t replace you as the artist.”
— Julie Ockerby, ~29:03

References & Resources

• Julie Ockerby — WMK Architecture profile: https://wmkarchitecture.com/people/key-staff/julie-ockerby/
• WMK Architecture: https://wmkarchitecture.com
• Meli Studio — aged care, retirement, healthcare & hospitality interior design (founded by Julie): https://www.melistudio.com.au
• WMK joins with Meli Studio — merger announcement (effective 1 September 2025): https://wmkarchitecture.com/blog/wmk-joins-with-meli-studio/
• Design Hotels — the boutique hotel collection Julie marketed across APAC (now part of Marriott): https://www.designhotels.com
• Claus Sendlinger — founder of Design Hotels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_Sendlinger
• Qantas — an earlier stop in Julie’s marketing career: https://www.qantas.com
• NAWIC — National Association of Women in Construction (referenced on women in the industry): https://www.nawic.com.au
• Aged Care Royal Commission — the reforms that reshaped the sector: https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/aged-care