Hayden graduated from QUT in 2000 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He accepted a position as a graduate Engineer with the Department of Main Roads, before settling into a Project Management role in their Strategic Planning division. A musical side project that started while Hayden was at University led to an unexpected and irresistible opportunity to record and tour as a professional musician in a band with three friends and to his resignation from his Engineering role. The band toured extensively for the next three years, visiting hundreds of schools, winning multiple awards, playing on some of the largest national stages and picking up airplay on national mainstream and Christian radio where several of their songs reached Number One. In 2007, Hayden was offered another unexpected position as General Manager of a small community radio station Life FM. The station was in a difficult position at the time but Hayden and his team re-positioned and relaunched the station as Juice 1073. It has since become one of the Gold Coast's fastest growing community and media outlets. In 2015 Hayden took on the role of Director of Strategic Partnerships in addition to his role with Juice 1073, helping national partners and clients to work with CMA's 45 Member Stations and the communities of some 3 million listeners they represent. His message to graduating Year 12s is to allow life to become an adventure that shapes you into who you were born to become.