Angela Priestly is a journalist through and through! She has always loved current affairs, politics, and writing and in her early years, she was a freelance journalist writing for a number of custom and niche publications across a variety of topics. After a stint writing for Private Media where she launched an investigative journalism title, The Power Index for Crikey.com, she identified a huge gap in the market. Quality journalism for women in business. And so The Women’s Agenda was created. This publication is at the top of the tree when it comes to politics, business, leadership, and more.
When it first came out, in 2011, it was a breath of fresh air for the Australian media landscape and it still is! These days The Women’s Agenda runs events, maintains an annual Leadership awards program, and lots more. In 2018 Angela co-founded Agenda Media which recently launched Women’s Health News and other new titles covering women’s sport, STEM, climate leadership, and more. If there was only one publication you should follow in Australia as a woman in business, this would be it! Angela is amazing and you are bound to be inspired by her story and her purpose. This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
To find out more about She’s The Boss Group, and our other podcasts, go to https://shesthebossgroup.com/
Martina is turning education as we know it on its head. Thank goodness for women like her! As a school teacher and principal for many years, Martina knew that something needed to change and so she created The School Beyond Limitations, an online school for students from all over the world. The School Beyond Limitations has students of all different ages that share the same virtual classroom (just like real life where we have to interact with people of all ages and abilities) and follow the subjects and topics that interest them.
Christina takes a holistic view when it comes to education, so the students can work on one subject and then look at the related areas such as geography, maths, history and biology to make the content relevant and stimulating for all ages. the lessons go for 3 hours, the students are offered the opportunity to conduct classes themselves if they would like and it completely changes their lives! The students also get the incredibly exciting opportunity to meet three times a year, in real life, in different geographic locations (how cool is that!) where they can socialise and learn together about the country or city they are in. This woman is a complete game changer when it comes to education. This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
To find out more about She’s The Boss Group, and our other podcasts, go to https://shesthebossgroup.com/
Casey Burgess, who recently released her first solo album, is an amazing actress, musician, and television presenter with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. Having grown up in a musical family, Casey’s first role was in Annie while she was still at school, and on the back of that, she was mercilessly bullied by her schoolmates. As a result of her breakout stage role in the musical, she was offered a role as the presenter of Girl TV on Channel 7.
What a great way to show her bullies that she wasn’t going to let them get her down! Following on from Girl TV, Casey auditioned for the children’s group Hi-5 and was chosen to replace Charli. She stayed with Hi-5 for 4 years, traveling the world but also working incredibly hard. Finding it hard to be taken seriously after her stint in a children’s group, Casey eventually got acting roles then the Pandemic hit, and the time at home made her want to realise her dream of a solo album. That album is now out, fully funded by Casey and is called Space to Breathe.
Sue Fennessy has been an entrepreneur since she left school, and is one of the most successful, and nicest female founders out there! Sue’s story started with a fax machine in her bedroom when she started her first business, MM Communications, a marketing and PR agency in Melbourne. This was followed by a move to Shanghai where she started the Chinese arm of Frontier Entertainment and brought international acts. such as Andrew Lloyd Webber productions to China for the first time. Then she came back to Australia and started the Standard media Index (SMI) to bring transparency to where brands were spending their marketing dollars. As SMI grew, Sue moved to New York to expand the business into the USA.
This was followed by a lightbulb moment where Sue realised that the $550 billion dollars that social media platforms like Facebook were earning from advertising, and the data that was being mined, should be handed back to the people. So she created WeAre8, bringing brands and people together to change the world. Sue still lives in New York and has spent the last 10 years building WeAre8. She explains how, at one stage she realised the model was wrong and had to pare back to a tiny team, reassess the situation and rebuild. It’s now taking off around the world. Sue is an absolute hero of Jules’ (they have known each other for years) and this interview will definitely inspire anyone who has plans for global disruption!
Noga Edelstein is my latest guest on the She’s The Boss show. What a woman! She started her career as a lawyer and talks about why she left the law to set up UrbanYou, a cleaning and housekeeping marketplace. She raised capital a couple of times before negotiating a successful exit from a multinational company.
Their strategy of the acquisition was fascinating and it worked! Noga is now looking at becoming an investor herself, and is involved with a number of initiatives, including being on the board of Springboard Enterprises (SBE Australia).
Cynthia is a Property Advisor and Buyers Advocate through her business, Metrolinx, but she has a twist! She only works with one person at a time which means she gives them her undivided attention until they have the house of their dreams and then she takes the next client. Howzat?! She also loves working with generations within the same family – first home for the kids, downsizing for the parents, upsizing for the kids when they have kids of their own, and so on. What a great model!
Growing up in South Africa, Cynthia and her husband
Sheree Rubinstein is such an inspiration! She created One Roof as a co-working space for female entrepreneurs and it has everything a business woman would want, from childcare to courses to social events and business support. Starting out as a lawyer, it didn’t take Sheree long to realise it really wasn’t for her. She wanted to build something herself. The concept of One Roof took off fast and Sheree was lucky to be given access to a space in Southbank, Melbourne that was ideal. She invested time and resources to make it perfect, including an event space.
After 4 years, she was given notice and had to find a new space. In order to do that she needed money and Sheree describes what it was like to capital raise (her experience with her female investors sounds like the ideal scenario!) and then COVID hit. Where many women would have curled up in a ball as co-working spaces became unworkable, Sheree pivoted to online and created One Line, making the community and support services available to women around the country (and overseas). You’ll love this story from a woman who is determined to support Australian female founders. Get inspired!
Oh wow! Natasha Price is brilliant. She is an elite adptive athlete, an entreprerneur, speaker, awards winner and author. Tash is truly a woman who has overcome obstacles most of us couldn’t even begin to comprehend, and yet she is the most positive, inspiring woman I have interviewed yet! Born in England, Tash’s father was an A-League soccer player for Aston Villa, which led to some bullying at school, making life difficult for her as the family also moved around a lot due to football commitments. In year 12 she got sick and, with no support from her school after medical issues, she was kicked out. Tash went on to complete school by herself.
Upon leaving school, Tash, who has Type 1 diabetes, headed to Australia for a 12 month holiday. Her story of having her car (and insulin) stolen in a remote part of WA, and the repercussions, are a massive story in itself, but this was only the beginning of the challenges life has thrown at her. Upon returning home, she persuaded her entire family to move to Australia, before she returned, for what she thought would be a year, to the UK with her little sister to look after her while she completed her education.
At this point, Tash’s story becomes quite harrowing. She woke up on Boxing Day at a relative’s house, and was blind in one eye. A week later, she lost the sight in her other eye and yet the doctor’s didn’t know what it was, so they didn’t offer any treatment. As a result, Tash suffered permanent damage to her sight and has never recovered any sight in one eye, and has limited vision in the other. The doctors still couldn’t work out what was wrong.
She later went on to lose the use of the lower half of her body and then, cruelly (and very fast), became completely paralysed to the point of not being able to even speak. It took four years of rehab for Tash to regain some independence and at that stage, she managed to return to her beloved Australia to be reunited with her parents. But she was bedridden and very unhappy.
Then, in 2017 she watched the Brisbane Marathon from her sick bed and told her fmily that she was going to compete the following year…and she did! Despite just about everything that could go wrong, going wrong, she completed the marathon which led to a training camp for wheelchair atheletes, which led to her trying to find a coach. Enter Adam Shepherd.
These days Tash and Adam run InvincAble – giving visibility to disability and empowering people regardless of ability, they do a lot of motivational speaking, coaching and consulting on Diversity and Inclusion. She has even become an author! Tash’s story is truly inspirational, and if you realise what she has overcome herself, it should put any of your own issues into perspective. I can’t wait to see what she does in the future. She’s amazing!
Nafisa’s story is absolutely fascinating. From growing up in Hong Kong and being ‘good at maths as well as art, Nafisa studied for her medical degree to please her parents. As soon as it was finished, she started an activewear fashion brand that went global and she ran that for ten years before deciding to pursue her first love, portraiture. She went on to found Portraits Artists Australia, an NFP to support artists. She went on to win the Archibald Prize and the Gold Medal for Painting at the Florence Biennale and her work hangs in the National Gallery.
Another of Nafisa’s great loves throughout her life has been wildlife and animals. She is now dedicating the rest of her life to wildlife protection as the co-founder of Animalworks International where they will be raising funds for specific equipment – and focusing on solar-powered water pumps. This is a woman who excels at everything she turns her mind to. A total inspiration!
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Heidi Dugan is by no means your usual television celebrity! Growing up in Australia in a family that valued self-improvement, she knew intimately the advice and encouragement of every well-known self-improvement expert from Tony Robbins to Wayne Dyer and everyone in between. As a university student, she signed up for a program to learn to teach English as a Second Language in China, which led to her being in a TV studio twenty years ago, on the day they decided it was time to have China’s first foreign-born host. Heidi got the gig.
Since then she has hosted a daily show called ‘You Are The Chef’ with over 6 million viewers per episode! She is fluent in Chinese and has a Chinese husband, and is dearly loved by millions. These days, Heidi has added another string to her bow by working with Australian lifestyle brands that want to access the Chinese market. Her endorsement can make the difference in whether a brand will sink or swim, and she loves introducing new products into the Chinese market as she knows it so intimately. You will love Heidi and not only what she has achieved in the past, but also what she is doing now for Aussie brands.
Lisa Andrews is, as she says, ‘actively working on solving the global grand challenges’ by using technology and innovation to make the world a better place. She has not had your average career. With a deep love of numbers, she went down the accounting route for many years, resulting in her creating a firm with 82 employees, before she chose a completely different path and started to explore working with entrepreneurs and visionary disruptors.
Lisa has also experienced two kidney transplants, both times with kidneys donated by family members, and to a certain extent, it is her experience of having an ‘invisible disability’ that has shaped her dramatic change and exciting future! Lisa has really had an extraordinary career, including spending hours, one-on-one with Richard Branson on Necker Island, and going to Davos in Switzerland. By the time you get to the end of this interview, you should be all fired up and ready to take on the world!
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Genine Howard is just fabulous! She now teaches women how to unwind everything they have been taught about business, step into their own feminine power and intuition and lead the life they have always wanted! She always looks like a model but she’s the most down-to-earth woman you could know.
Genine grew up in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, before heading north to Queensland as soon as she graduated. After arriving with almost nothing but her car and her optimism and can-do attitude, within a week she had a house, a job, and a new life. From tour guide to management and then a segway into magazine publishing, Genine is not a woman to sit on her laurels!
After a brief stint back in Melbourne, Genine is now living the life she always wanted on the Sunshine Coast, and she has picked a lot into her life so far. You will love her story!
Lisa Cox wants to change the way disabled people are featured in the media. By the end of this episode, you will feel the same way. Lisa’s story is quite shocking as she had a stroke and then got sepsis in her 20s whilst in the midst of her career trajectory in advertising. After the initial 3 years of rehabilitation (which included two years learning to type again), she optimistically went out to reclaim her career, with the same resume and awards, but rather than being embraced back into the fold, she was basically patted on the head, told she was ‘brave’ but no one offered her a job.
Lisa knows firsthand what it is like to be affected physically but to be treated as if she is mentally impaired. She also knows that there are very few disabled role models that are ‘normal’ people – not Paralympians or geniuses – and she wants to change that. This is a super inspiring episode.
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Kerry Howard is a psychologist, an author, speaker, coach, advocate for change within the health system, adventurer, and all-round bad arse!
You will love her story.
After growing up as the youngest of 5 with a single Mum, Kerry somehow blamed herself for her father’s departure from the family a few months after she was born. This has informed many of her decisions in adult life. She also got knocked down by a bus which led to PTSD and her becoming a psychologist and specialising in trauma.
After growing up in a variety of homes, starting off in outer suburban Victoria, Kerry took off overseas as soon as she finished school.
After she returned, she married very young and soon had two young kids. After her marriage broke down she headed to security and stability in Canberra.
Using her secretarial skills to work for government departments, Kerry soon rose up the ranks, and it was after the birth of her kids and her divorce that she decided to have some counseling, and then become a counselor.
Kerry has written two serious books – and one about dating that is very funny and compares men to shoes – and has had a psychology counseling business for over a decade. But that’s all about to change.
As we were recording the interview, Kerry is planning a long trip overseas to reassess her life and see where she wants to go next. You will absolutely love this woman and her adventurous spirit!
Rochelle Courtenay is one inspiring woman! Not only has she built Share the Dignity into a huge brand that has built awareness of the lack of sanitary products available for homeless women, or as she calls it, ‘period poverty’ but she has also agitated successfully for the removal of the GST that was applied to tampons and sanitary products for years and years. And that’s not half of it!
Watch the show to find out how she grew a volunteer network of over 5,000 ‘Sheroes, how she created free vending machines with ‘period packs’, and what she doing to help our indigenous sisters and the women caught in the bushfires or caught out by COVID. She explains the challenges she is facing right now, as many of her annual drives have been canceled because of the pandemic, and what she is doing to get around the obstacles. Share the Dignity is more important than ever as we come out of the pandemic and lockdown, with more and more women needing access to sanitary products.
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Wow! This interview with the amazing Lucy Lloyd is a bit special! Lucy is the co-founder of Mentorloop, which is all about mentor matching, and making mentoring mainstream, and she shares her story about building the business, raising investment and how they coped during COVID with an openness and honesty that you will love.
She came back from the UK after working in digital marketing for many years, and soon after she and her friend, and co-founder, Heidi Holmes had the idea of making mentoring much simpler for people. Lucy was a little reluctant at first but Heidi encouraged her to give it a go, so they created a strategy, built a SaaS platform and went to market. the premise for Mentorloop is simple, people can register as mentors or mentees, and find their perfect match online. The software then keeps the relationship accountable for each mentor-mentee partnership with scheduling, reminders and more. Mainly aimed at corporates and big business, it has been a huge success to date.
They have done two cap raises for the business. One for $250K to get them started, and then a further raise of $750K to allow them to scale. She is very funny where she describes how they started off with big hopes for one or two investors, and ended up with 14 – all of whom they adore – many of whom invested less than they had initially thought they would allow.
With 8 aunts on her monther’s side, she has had some amazing role models and mentors of her own on her journey. You are SO going to love Lucy’s interview!
Angela Vithoulkas is perhaps the most entrepreneurial of all the women I have interviewed so far, having started and sold almost 30 businesses in her life. She is passionate about helping the small business sector (SMEs) have a voice, both politically and in the media. It’s something she knows so well. having been brought up with parents who also ran businesses. So much so that she founded the SME Party that stood for the last Federal Election, she has also been elected twice as a City of Sydney Councillor, championing small business, and she has won numerous awards, including Telstra Businesswoman of The Year for NSW.
Moving on to the media, Angela founded her own radio station, Eagle Waves Radio in Western Sydney for years, again focusing on small business. These days Angela can be found hosting and producing her own TV channel, SME TV, twice a week. There’s no doubt that she won’t stop there! Watch this show if you want to be totally inspired.
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Ann Dettori has a fascinating story to share. After having four kids, she decided to get back into the workforce part-time, started a job with a book printing company as the bookkeeper, and ended up talking it over! Her business Post Prepress has only grown from strength to strength and she creates books for many of the big traditional publishers.
Then she started Independent Ink, a one-stop shop production company for self-published authors, and then co-founded Indie Experts, where they help authors from the idea through to the published book and beyond – understanding the overall goal of the author and helping them market the book once it is published. She offers some great insights into the publishing world and has, of course, also published her own book, The Entrepreneurs Guide to Self Publishing.
Ann is one of the nicest and most generous women you will meet and you will love her personal story of growing up in an Italian family in Queensland too!
Wendy Squires is one of Australia’s top journalists and her story is truly inspirational. From a terrible start, being homeless in Year 12, she ended up getting a job as a copygirl at the Herald Sun. From there, and after two long years, she became a cadet and that is when her life took off! From spending years in New York working across most of the Australian magazines, she returned to Australia to start her stellar career with News Ltd and Channel 9.
She talks about the amazing women that were at the helm of the ACP magazine stable, like Lisa Wilkinson and Mia Freedman, at a time when magazines were hugely popular and there were exciting new titles being created all the time. Lachlan Murdoch asked Wendy to start Australian Style and then she went on to work on a variety of titles including Who Weekly and The Australian Woman’s weekly. Her story is so exciting, this is one episode you will not want to miss!
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Dana Hilmer is the co-founder of Camp Reinvention, a global company that provides transformational programs and community for women 50+ who are at a crossroads, want to get clear on what they want, make it happen and enjoy their life a hell of a lot more.
Christina’s entrepreneurial spirit is inherited. So many members of her family, from her father to her uncles, invented and innovated. Choc tops, Violet Crumble and Talking Books were all a result of her family’s fresh way of looking at things. And Christina is the same. As a young Greek girl, Christina felt she didn’t really fit in at school, but she excelled at schoolwork.
After killing it in her exams, she decided against studying law (much to her mother’s dismay) and instead, went into The Arts. After studying Drama at uni, she then started her career in the television industry and there have been lots of interesting twists and turns since then. These days she is the Co-CEO of SingularityU Australia. These days she describes herself as an eternal optimist, idealist and seeker of opportunities, on a mission to inspire and empower leaders to find solutions to humanity’s grand challenges. She works with corporates, startups, scale-ups and universities and creates programs and retreats to activate innovation and growth.
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Kristy’s story is not your average one so hold on tight for this woman’s amazing journey. Kristy was born into one of the ‘rougher’ suburbs of Melbourne, to a father who was a career criminal, constantly in and out of jail, and a drug dealing mother. Kristy was super talented at running and was working with Debbie Flintoff-King towards the 2000 Olympics, when at the age of 15 she was told that she would never be able to run professionally again. This had been her goal and focus for so many years, so when it was taken away halfway through year 10, she dropped out of school and took to drugs and alcohol with her best friend. What was the point of going on if her dreams had been snatched away?
Then, after 18 months she suf=ddenly ‘came to’ and went back to school, funding her school years herself. She ended up at a selective school (for bright students) and finished year 12 determined to become a travel agent, which she now is.
Kristy’s story is filled with obstacles (eight miscarriages, cancer, Crohns Disease) but she continues to pick herself up and keep going. She is now Australia’s only certified Autism-friendly travel agent, she has won a host of awards (and is a finalist for many more) and she is such a positive woman, you wouldn’t believe what she has gone through to get here. You will LOVE Kristy!
It’s hard to know where to start with the accolades for this incredible woman of many talents! An early adopter of digital technology and a huge fan of yoga and ‘being of service’, Polly’s interview is fascinating. On her website, she describes herself as an ‘All Purpose’ human but she is also an author, speaker, business strategist, yogi and good hustler, As one of only 400 people worldwide to have attended Brene Brown’s master course and become a Certified Dare To Lead facilitator, these days she and her business partner, Zoe Coyle (who also did the course), are running workshops around the country through their company Pilot Light.
Jules and Polly have known each other for a few years now so they discuss how they met and their combined love of startups, female founders and innovation in all its forms. They move on to Polly’s emergence from academia and her curiosity about the digital world. She has been at the forefront of innovation for decades now. Polly’s lust for life, her certainty that she was put on this planet to be of service to others and her mixture of ‘woo woo’ and business savvy make this an interview not to be missed.
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Jodie Harrison is an extraordinary woman! Growing up in Australia, she headed off to America at a young age. She met her first husband Peter Carrette in Sydney who was a photographer and the two of them set up Icon Images. Prior to the paparazzi phenomenon, Jodie and Peter supplied stories and images to media globally. Jodie mentions that it was actually her and Peter who introduced Angelina Jolie to Cambodia, where she adopted her first child, Maddox. Jodie spent many, many years taking celebrities to third-world countries and highlighting situations around the world where people needed help.
After Peter died, Jodie started to work with brands to help them with PR and, marketing, and because she had such a fabulous network she was brilliant at it! These days she is a partner at The Shannon Company, an agency that works with purpose-driven brands to affect behavioural change and during the Pandemic she led COVID communications for the Victorian Government. These days she is working with Julian Assange’s team to raise awareness of his situation and hopefully get him out of jail. Freedom of speech is just one of the causes Jodie is passionate about. This is a fascinating insight into an amazing woman. You won’t want to miss it!
Lucy Bloom is one in a million (and it’s not just the luscious pink Mohawk!) and she’s a funny, generous, insightful guest. Her experience in advertising land and then morphing to work in an NFP, ultimately becoming CEO is so inspiring. The accident that nearly cost her a leg, her great advice around being ‘let go’ as a CEO and her brilliant tips and stories around being a speaker make this a great interview!
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Emma is extraordinary. Coming from a family that thrived on innovation and entrepreneurship, she grew up helping her parents with their magazines, with the expectation that she would continue. But Emma wanted to go out on her own. In this interview, she takes us through the various incarnations of her career before the pandemic – which includes running a directory and an events company. While many people didn’t do much during the lockdowns, Emma isn’t one of those people! She and her husband, as foster parents themselves, realised there was a huge gap when it comes to preserving memories for foster children, many of whom can move around up to 20 times before they are 18.
The launch of CaringLife has gone incredibly well and they have now launched in the UK and the USA as well as Australia. Emma also launched Plezed.com which is a digital platform that is addressing the fact that from next year, no one will be able to use cookies on their websites, therefore they won’t get the same insights into their customers’ behaviour. Plezed will allow organisations to speak directly with their customers to ask them for their preferences. It is a game-changer! This woman is totally inspiring and you will love this episode!
The latest episode of She’s The Boss Leaders features the fabulous Zoe Coyle who is just wonderful to talk to and sounds a little bit like Joanna Lumley! Her start in the theater set her up well for her coaching and speaking career as the Founder of Pilot Light Consulting. She is also a voiceover artist, speaker, entrepreneur and the author of a new book, ‘Where The Light Gets In’ which came out in early 2022.
Zoe is also one of only 400 women worldwide who have been taught directly by Brene Brown and she now teaches the Certified Dare to Lead course. She is amazing!
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/
Trenna Probert is amazing! After a career that culminated in her being Head of Strategy APAC for Macquarie Group, and the same role at Blue Chilli, Trenna struck out on her own. As an experienced entrepreneur, she has started multiple businesses, and her passion stems from a rich tapestry of personal experience. Her greatest passion currently is Super Fierce, a business Treena founded. Super Fierce is a social enterprise Fin Tech that was built to help close the $30 Trillion gender wealth gap. Superannuation, for younger Australian women, is their largest financial asset.
Trenna wants women to be able to fund the retirement that they deserve and The Super Fierce platform is one that enables women to do this, as well as saving them $3,000 – $4,500 that they would normally pay if they were to seek the help of a financial advisor. Trenna wants to make appropriate, affordable advice is accessible to every single woman in this country. She wants to empower women to age with dignity, self-confidence and have the ability to become financially resilient. Her life experience has taught Treena how vital it is for women to stand on their own two feet.
Sam White is the CEO and Founder of The Freedom Services Group in the UK and of Stella Insurance for women in Australia. During the interview, we talk about how Sam went from a naughty (she says not so!) school girl to a woman running insurance businesses that turned over £23 million last year!
We have a great discussion talking about her career path, women in business, female founders, and funding and how we all need to make it change for the better.
Stella is a new car insurance product especially for women, with lower premiums because statistically, women have fewer accidents! It was launched in Australia in July 2020.
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/.
Hazel Herrington is one of the world’s leading marketing and personal branding experts. She is a celebrity interviewer who has worked with and met with a list of celebrities, global leaders, politicians and billionaires. She has interviewed celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen and Quincy Jones. Hazel is also the founder of Herrington Publications Worldwide. Herrington Publications empower women to build powerful global brands. Hazel had a desire and a purpose to help women, after seeing them struggle financially, whilst growing up in Zimbabwe.
She decided she was going to do something about it, in order to make them economically independent. Hazel has experienced many life struggles and these struggles have motivated her to become a leader. She’s had wealth, travelled the world and has met numerous celebrities but this doesn’t drive or define Hazel. She has a purpose, she has a destiny and she just wants to be happy, have loving people around her and earn an honest living. Hazel is the definition of integrity!
Louise Mahler is an absolute joy to chat with! An internationally renowned speaker and executive coach, she is also very funny and has loads of stories to tell. From growing up in the suburbs of Brisbane, Louise headed off to Europe and sang in operas from Vienna to Stuttgart and everywhere in between. And then she realized she had had enough and returned to Australia, a young divorcee with a small baby in tow.
This led her to find a ‘proper’ job so she worked with a big mining company in ‘Quality Control’ for a few years before leaving to focus on helping leaders have a voice of influence and a charismatic presence. “It’s all about communication,” she says. Starting off with free talks and working her way up to being able to command a fee of $US25,000 for a one-hour talk in a stadium in the US, Louise has a career many Australians would envy. And yet she is still down-to-earth, generous, and humorous with her stories. One to listen to!
This episode is sponsored by Brand for Brands. Brand For Brands is a branding agency run by two sisters, located in Sydney. They specialise in building and refreshing brands that speak to the right people, the ones that will invest in your products and services. To find out more, go to https://brandforbrands.com/.
Jasmine Batra founded the award-winning digital growth agency Arrow Digital in 2007 and is working with a range of businesses, from small to mid-size to corporates. Arrow Digital has gone through two evolutions and currently, Jasmine is working on an exciting project with tech startups, who are looking to scale and expand internationally, specifically in India. This program is called the ‘Big Leap’. Jasmine is helping businesses to think beyond their borders.
She came to Australia, from India, 18 years ago and as she struggled to find a job suited to her experience and education, Jasmine’s first job in Australia was working in a call centre, where she handled sales calls. Here, she became a top salesperson. Within a few years, she was running her own business. Jasmine’s claim to fame came about in India where she once was a TV news presenter, for a local news channel. Her love for TV didn’t end there. Jasmine has a special skill and she’s brilliant at tongue twisters. So she entered a TV reality show and almost won herself a car!
The fabulous Judith Rizzio is a style activist, an LGBTQIA activist, and her mission in life is to empower 50+ women in order to make fashion accessible to everyone. She has a very fun business called Out Of Our Closet. Judith has a real love for fashion but she discovered a long time ago that fashion is focused on youth and it’s becoming less and less part of her life, but this isn’t by choice. Judith’s love affair with fashion started in the Bowery in New York. At the Salvation Army, she would dig through bins to find vintage clothes that she could tear apart to create something new. She’s spent more than 40 years collecting, creating, and styling. Judith has run non-profit thrift stores and costumed high school theatre shows.
She learned to sew when she was in fifth grade and her love for stylish clothes came from her father and grandmother. Judith famously patched a pair of jeans for JFK Junior after he admired a pair of patched jeans she was wearing. She lived in a commune in the 70s and has even had a mini-documentary made about her through Vice Media. For 26 years Judith was involved in community relations on management teams for two of Portland’s largest HIV agencies and this helped shape her life. She saw over 400 predominantly gay men die from the disease. She was also hired by HNM to be Iris Apfel’s body and stunt double for a commercial. In Judith’s words, “It’s a damn right to look good in your clothes, in your body and in the world!”
Lauren Ryan is the BDM-Investments for ThinkTank Commercial Finance. She joined Thinktank in 2018 to create brand awareness in the investment market. Lauren is passionate about helping investors achieve their income goals. Lauren is also passionate about sports. S
he’s always played high-level sports and has a love for theatre. Lauren began studying Creative Arts at university but decided she didn’t want to be a struggling artist so chose finance instead. Her first job was at MLC. Lauren is a young successful, ambitious and competitive woman, In 2019 she did about 80 flights for work, played semi-pro football and was running a business chamber for a sporting club. She did all this under the age of thirty!
Christina Ryan established the Disability Leadership Institute in 2016 as a professional hub for disabled leaders to build and support disability leaders. It is the first organisation of its kind globally, run by and for disability leaders. Christina advocates for the single largest minority group in the world and the UN reported that 15% of disabled people make up the global population, but Christina believes that it’s closer to 25%. In Australia, only four out of 900 parliamentarians have a disability, and only one is a woman.
Frighteningly, violence in the disability sector is endemic. About 90% of women with a cognitive disability will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, most of these women more than once. People with disabilities are often on the receiving end of discrimination and vilification. Christina has been a feminist since the age of eight and the women in her family have always been active in the women’s movement, including her grandmother. Christina grew up knowing she could change things and make a difference. She did her apprenticeship at home!
Stephanie Odell is disrupting the ageing process by changing the face of ageing, for women. Six years ago she started a blog and four years ago, Stephanie created Celebrate The Gray, a modelling and consulting agency for 50-plus women. Stephanie empowers women! She works with brands to help them understand everything about the 50-plus woman and is so successful that more and more brands are reaching out to her for models. Stephanie re-discovered her love for fashion in her forties and she is motivated to change the narrative.
She has styled more than 6,000 women throughout her career as a stylist. Stephanie started the Agency when she discovered no one was employing fifty-plus models, especially when she researched the spending power of these women ($15 trillion). These women will spend more than two and a half times other consumers. Celebrate The Gray has over 100 grey-haired models and 300 strong influencers as well as a database of approximately 2,000 women who have reached out to Stephanie.
Emma Lovell is the Founder of Lovelly Communications and she’s also a personal branding coach. She helps female leaders to show up and make an impact and to live and love their brand, just as Emma loves her brand. Emma comes from PR originally but she has acquired many kills along the way. She lives and breathes her brand and is passionate about helping others do the same. As Emma says, “Everyone has a story. Everyone is unique.” Growing up in Engadine, NSW, Emma comes from a family of freight forwarders. Both her parents work in the industry and so do a couple of her siblings. Emma was always a gifted child and by the age of 9, she was sent to a selective school that only had 30 students.
She suffered PTSD in her final year of school and now she’s a volunteer speaker for the Black Dog Institute. Emma has a passion for travelling and an adventurous spirit and has travelled to India 11 times. She started her own blog in 2009, got into social media and started her business the same year, while she was still studying at university. Emma credits her fortune over the years to have many mentors who have helped her develop herself and her business. Her biggest lessons were; always asking for help, learning from others and networking. Two quirky facts about Emma. She broke her back when snowboarding and has done a 10-day silent meditation in India which was life-changing for her.
Most people know Jaqui as the book lady because in over 20 odd years she’s published 400 business histories. She also has a business called the Book Advisor. Her vision is to change the world one book at a time. She does this by helping business people, executives and entrepreneurs share their knowledge and insights through writing, publishing and marketing their own, quality business books.
Jaqui’s really passionate about writing and reading books and she’s driven by helping and sharing knowledge. Jaqui has actually written 27 books and began writing as a corporate historian. When growing up Jaqui had a cousin who was NZs first female diplomat and this inspired her to study politics. Jaqui became the Youth Director of the NZ National Party at the age of 24. She’s also researched and written a book about the history of entrepreneurship in Australia. She spent two years interviewing all of Australia’s leading business people and entrepreneurs. Jaqui keeps fit by going to the gym, walking, swimming and enjoying taking long hikes. She also has a Master’s degree in Russian Politics and has been learning to play the saxophone for two years.
If you’re a fan of MAFS then you’ll know Tracey Jewel. Her background is in Marketing but since her stint on reality TV, Tracey has moved into mental health, which has always been her passion. She recently launched a new business called Batherapy after completing a diploma in Mental Health. Batherapy offers DIY sessions where you can create and take home your own soaps, candles, bath bombs, shower steamers, and soaks.
Having a marketing background has allowed Tracey to convert her hobby into a business. She’s been able to create a brand with a story through her extensive marketing skills and experience. It’s all about women supporting women and it’s an opportunity for women to learn a new skill and create their very own income stream. Tracey has always loved self-care because it has been really helpful in managing her anxiety since MAFS.
Pascale Helyar-Moray has over 20 years of financial services marketing and brand building experience. She’s a seasoned entrepreneur and startup advisor and her latest venture are Super Rewards. Super Rewards is cash rewards for women for super, in a bid to help women close their super gap. This platform allows you to grow your super with your everyday spending. More than 500 retailers are linked, including key categories such as utilities, fashion, beauty, holidays, and insurance. Every time you shop at a Super Rewards retailer, cash is paid into your super!
Currently, it’s an online platform however, instore is coming soon. The best part is that it’s free to join. Previously Pascale was the Head of Marketing for the Investment Trusts and WealthManager businesses of PJ Morgan Asset Management in London and has also held senior marketing roles at BT Financial Group and BNP Paribas. She is also the Director of Communications for the Australian Gender Equality Council, an independent national organisation dedicated to achieving gender equality.
Bron Williams is the Bias Specialist and as the Bias Specialist, she works in the area of unconscious bias. She’s a keynote speaker and a writer. Bron wrote a book last year and anticipates launching it later this year. The book is called, What’s Your Water. Bias is simply part of the way we think and Bron’s goal is to normalize the conversation about bias to take away any stigma, guilt or judgment.
Working with asylum seekers on the Pacific island of Nauru shook Bron. She went there voluntarily when she was a Salvation Army Minister and she’d rarely mixed with anybody who didn’t look or think like her and somewhere along the line, she learned that difference was a threat. Realizing her own unconscious bias, which lay latent through her conservative background growing up in white Australia, Bron had an “aha” moment. Rather than aiming to eliminate unconscious bias, she knows we are better served accepting that we are the result of our environment and inherently biased.
Jaci Hicken is a country girl at heart and she’s combining her love of food with her love for the community. Jaci is the founder of Jacican Cooking School and Food Studio. Based in Mirboo, Gippsland, Jacican is all about regional produce and Jaci runs cooking classes, as well as mentoring and coaching for food businesses. She started the business in 2012 and all of the products she uses are grown in her own garden. Jaci grew up on a dairy farm and as a young girl she would read her mum’s cookbooks and she loved to bake.
Her dream was always to retire in the country, grow vegies and cook and that’s exactly what she’s doing. She got her chef’s qualification in order to do this but she also has a business degree and journalism qualifications, so Jaci’s got all bases covered in order to run a successful business. Anybody who wants to learn to cook or requires help with food-based businesses or marketing, Jaci is the woman for you!
Sam Winch is fabulous and she’s a firecracker! Sam is also the Course Creator and she spends her time building online courses and helping others create their own courses and workshops. Sam has over 16 years of experience facilitating and a decade of building courses and she’s an expert at what she does. Sam fell into it by accident. She never really knew what she wanted to do and dropped out of University during her first semester.
Sam says she’s only average but she’s definitely far from it. Her first job was a casual position at Kmart, at the age of 17 but by the time she turned 24, Sam was the General Merchandising Manager at her store and was in charge of millions of dollars in turnover. She also had 2 little children at the time and was working 60 hours a week. This was the turning point in Sam’s life and the end of her retail career. She’s unstoppable!
Sandy Davies is a Menopause Advocate and Founder of Happy Pause. When Sandy found herself going through peri-menopause, she found herself going through many physical changes, and she soon discovered that she wasn’t going to get many answers from doctors. Sandy tried many products to assist with her symptoms, specifically vaginal dryness, but she either reacted badly to them or found that they didn’t work.
So Sandy founded Happy Pause, an all-natural product to help women suffering from dryness caused by menopause, chemotherapy, and periods. Sandy lives in Far North QLD, in the Daintree but grew up in a small town in Kansas, USA.
Cathy Dimarchos is a big believer that you need to be the “whole of you” and not wear masks. She says that if you actually allow yourself to be seen for who you are, people will relate. Cathy calls herself the Alchemist of Strategy and she hears what people DON’T say, and works out what they really want to do. Cathy’s background is in finance and business. Through the business she founded, Solutions 2 You, Cathy has also developed leadership programs for young kids in Tanzinia, Africa. These programs teach kids skills that aren’t taught in schools.
She and her teenage daughter once lived with a Maasai in Africa for three weeks. Cathy has been returning to Africa for seven years now where she works in orphanages, helps build water tanks, and helps build skills as well as mentoring entrepreneurs, and this has now developed into her leadership programs. Everything Cathy does is based on her values and boundaries. It’s a cornerstone of how she does business. Cathy walks her talk!
