Rod Kirkham

Rod Kirkham’s career has been a vibrant mixture of corporate, entertainment and privately owned businesses.

Music, Music, Music

Rod began his professional life at the age of 10, appearing in a weekly musical entertainment television show in Melbourne, Australia, called “Brian and The Juniors”, before being chosen as one of the six original members of the much loved, nationally televised variety show, “Young Talent Time”.

He went on to become a ‘pop star’ in his late teens, achieving a couple of Top 40 hits, and also hosted his own afternoon children’s television show. He appeared as a solo artist on most of Australia’s television variety shows before joining a cabaret show band and extending his already extensive musical abilities into the area of arranging and producing.

He then hosted a 13 week series of the television talent show, “Star Quest” and also guest-hosted a regional television variety show.

After his marriage to Australian actress, Barbara Llewellyn, Rod opened his own singing school before moving into the advertising world and, in partnership with his talented wife, writing, arranging and producing some of Australia’s most catchy jingles and promotional songs.

In 1984 Rod and Barbara moved to Los Angeles and were very quickly signed to a music publishing contract, and continued to pitch their extensive range of talents to the music and films industries. They returned to Australia in 1987 to begin their son’s schooling and re-established their advertising music consultancy.

Acting

Rod began his acting career in the popular night-time television soapie “The Box”, where he met his future wife, Barbara. Rod played the ‘bad boy’ who after several months of ‘doing the dirty’ eventually found that he could have a happier life being a good man.

Rod appeared with Barbara in several episodes of “Falcon Island”, a children’s television adventure series before he went on to co-host a ABC national radio series called about travel and music.

He also worked occasionally in the voice-over industry and now voices many of the pieces showcased at The Bright Light Café and Bright Light Multimedia product.

The Corporate World

While in Los Angeles, Rod entered the technology industry, selling high-end computer software into some of America’s most powerful corporate and government establishments. This exceptional experience paved the way for Rod to work at Microsoft Australia in both managerial and national marketing executive positions. He went on to work as a corporate sales executive for Oracle Corporation and as a branch manager (of 30 staff) for a large Apple Computer reseller.

In the early 1990’s, Rod launched a training consultancy and divided his time between facilitating computer software and human resource training courses for corporate clients, and co-hosting personal development seminars with Barbara.

The consultancy grew to encompass business analysis, project management and software application development for some of Australia’s most successful companies. Today, Rod’s skills as a Senior Business Analyst sees him contracting to various state government departments and agencies.

As a co-publisher of Bright Light Multimedia, Rod handles sales, marketing and finance, provides customer and technical support, and contributes his vast musical and technical knowledge to the development and production of all Bright Light Multimedia product. He also co-judges and co-produces Bright Light Café competitions and products.

Privately Owned

Rod and his wife and partner, Barbara, have owned and operated a number of businesses since the late seventies and delight in the autonomy given by these sorts of enterprises. There are long hours and enormous responsibilities but Rod feels that the constant learning and gaining of knowledge in this arena is worth it for the sense of control and honour.