Dr. Greg Blackburn – My Journey

The Early Years

I didn't start out in technology or education. My working life began with a paintbrush in hand, apprenticing as a painter and decorator in Hobart, Tasmania, while my father ran a small paint factory. After finishing a pre-vocational course at TAFE, I found myself working at Cascade Brewery, doing a four-year apprenticeship I quickly realized wasn't for me. The work was tough, the environment tougher. But those years taught me resilience - and the conviction that I wanted something different.

Travel opened my eyes to that possibility. I lived abroad, studied German, and eventually returned to Tasmania to pursue university studies in Administration, Information Systems, and German at UTas. I graduated with First Class Honours, proving to myself that I could excel academically despite early doubts and family tensions that had often left me questioning my path.

The Transformation

It was in Brisbane that my two daughters, Viola and Solara, were born. Becoming a father reframed everything for me - success was no longer just about building a career, it was about creating a future where work left more time for people, for families, and for life. That desire to build something lasting, something I could one day hand to my daughters, began to crystallize.

At the same time, I was moving deeper into learning and development. My curiosity about how people learn and grow led me to publish research and teach thousands of organisational staff. Eventually, I pursued a PhD by publication at City, University of London, where my thesis focused on critical thinking and problem-solving in student-centred eLearning. With my PhD in Professional Education, I built a reputation as a researcher and thought leader in learning and development.

By the time I became Chief Learning Officer at Communardo, I had spent more than 20 years in corporate L&D. But something else was happening in parallel: I was listening closely to the struggles of the people closest to me - family members who were teachers. Their stories echoed what I had seen in companies. Endless hours lost to admin. Creativity drained by repetitive communication. Whether in classrooms or boardrooms, the pattern was the same: admin was swallowing human connection.

Zaza Technologies

Zaza Technologies builds AI-powered tools that free professionals from admin so they can focus on what matters most - whether that's teaching students or closing deals.

We operate on two pillars:

Across industries, the problem is the same: repetitive communication steals time from high-value human work. Zaza gives that time back - whether the result is teachers gaining 5+ hours per week and reducing burnout, or professionals turning faster responses into higher revenue.

The Blend

Looking back, every chapter of my journey - from my apprenticeship in a factory, to corporate strategy at Telstra, to publishing research, teaching thousands of staff, and leading L&D at Communardo - has shaped the skillset needed to build Zaza. I learned resilience, technology, management, research, pedagogy, and the realities of work across industries.

That unique blend allowed me to see the universal problem and design a universal solution: an ecosystem of AI assistants built to help humans thrive.