Jet Swain — Founder of The Affection Economy, keynote speaker, and leadership coach
Values-led leadership, mentoring, and speaking for courageous change.
From rural Australia to global boardroom
Jet Swain is a strategist, mentor, speaker, and the founder of The Affection Economy, a values-led leadership practice that is reshaping how we live, lead, and belong. Raised on a seventh-generation merino wool property in northwest New South Wales, Jet comes from a long line of resilient women who taught her the power of grit, grace, and holding space for others.
With more than 35 years of experience in creative industries, executive leadership, consulting, and purpose-driven design, Jet has worked at the intersection of business, human behaviour, and systems change. She has led major advertising, design, architecture, technology, and management consulting projects and mentored hundreds of women (and men) through growth, visibility, and transformation.
She is a breast cancer survivor, a solo parent to two now-grown daughters, and a fierce believer in equity, agency, and affection as a form of leadership.
Jet’s work lives where heart meets strategy. Whether she’s guiding an executive team, facilitating a workshop, delivering a keynote, or mentoring one-on-one, her focus remains the same: to lead with clarity, courage, and kindness—and to help others do the same.
Personal writing — ‘She Who Holds the Map’
Alongside my work as a keynote speaker and founder of the Affection Economy, I share personal essays on Substack through She Who Holds the Map — a memoir project honouring matriarchs, memory, and women’s stories of resilience and belonging.
Read She Who Holds the Map on Substack.
Why Jet Swain founded the Affection Economy
Jet created The Affection Economy because she’s seen what happens when systems lose their soul. She knows what it feels like to succeed on paper but feel disconnected in practice. And she’s sat in countless rooms where values are printed on the wall, but absent from the culture.
The Affection Economy gave language to what Jet had always known deep down: that affection, connection, and kindness aren’t soft skills—they’re survival strategies. They’re the foundation of trust, belonging, and long-term impact.
The framework emerged from her lived experience—years navigating boardrooms, burnout, cancer, solo motherhood, and everything in between. It was shaped by the women she’s mentored, the leaders she’s guided, and the wisdom passed down through generations of strong matriarchs. It’s also a response to the countless individuals and organisations who crave a more human way to work, lead, and live.
Today, the Affection Economy sits at the heart of Jet’s work. It’s not just a concept—it’s the operating system she brings to every keynote, every workshop, every mentoring session, and every room she enters.
