Celebrating wonderful women on International Women’s Day
It’s International Women’s Day, and the perfect excuse to celebrate some of the amazing women I’m proud to call my clients. Here’s a little introduction to some of the absolute rockstar women I have the privilege of working with. From award entries to PR campaigns, website copywriting to high-level messaging and feature articles, I love helping raise the profile of these women and their work.
So here we go, in no particular, 18 wonderful women for International Women’s Day 2021.
Kate Toon
Kate Toon is an award-winning ‘misfit’ entrepreneur, who’s on other mission: to help other business humans create their own version of success. She’s an author, a speaker, a podcaster, an educator and a straight-talking marketing coach.
Through her StayTooned group of companies: the Digital Masterchefs, The Clever Copywriting School, and The Recipe for SEO Success, Kate’s helped more than 10,000 other businesses demystify digital marketing, grapple the Google Beast, and grow their success.
Kate was named Businesswoman of the Year at the 2020 My Business Awards and is Australia’s current ‘Queen of Clubhouse’. If you’re looking to get started on the world’s fastest-growing social platform, check out Kate’s free guide to your first 7 days on Clubhouse, and for business fun with a misfit-twist, check out Kate’s Misfit Entrepreneurs group on Facebook.
Linda Goldspink-Lord
Linda Goldspink-Lord is the founder of Poseidon Equine, Australia’s fastest-growing horse gut-health supplement business, which she runs with her husband and family from their beautiful property in the Illawarra.
Linda’s love of horses and her own experience of the transformational powers of gut health on overall health and wellbeing, led to the creation of Poseidon Equine. With thousands of amazing customer testimonials and plenty of awards and recognition under their belt, Poseidon Equine is a business which is proactive in trying new things, offering fantastic customer service, and educating and empowering horse owners.
She’s also a powerful presenter and an advocate for resilience and growth. As someone who is driven to educate others, Linda is determined to share her own life-changing experiences, as a way of empowering her audience.
Danielle Dobson
Danielle Dobson is an author, coach, advocate and speaker, who helps women and organisations unlock the Gender Code to fulfil their potential.
What is the Gender Code? It’s that default set of beliefs we have about the ‘natural’ differences between men and women – that men are providers and women are carers. Danielle’s incredible book, Breaking the Gender Code, is all about rewriting your own ‘code’ for life, and releasing pressures around perfectionism and the idea that we can somehow ‘have it all’.
Danielle is based in Wollongong and works with organisations all over Australia to make real progress towards gender equality.
Stephanie Rodden
Stephanie Rodden is the founder of Celebrate T21, an organisation that provides support to families receiving a Down syndrome (also known as Trisomy 21 or T21) diagnosis during pregnancy or after birth. When Stephanie received a Down syndrome diagnosis during pregnancy with her son Lincoln, now aged four, she knew she wanted to keep her baby, but felt unsupported in this decision.
Through Celebrate T21, Stephanie helps to educate, empower and advocate for families and their choices, by supporting and celebrating their child with Down syndrome, and extending a hand of comfort and compassion when a diagnosis is received.
Stephanie is also a talented photographer, and she works with photographers around the country to capture beautiful portraits of Down syndrome families, which are showcased through her Celebrate T21 books, and most recently in a very special exhibition. It’s World Down Syndrome Day on 21 March 2021, and Stephanie will be coordinating a Picnic Parade to celebrate.
Phuong Barraclough
Phuong is an advocate for the disability and aged care communities, and through her business Connect My Community Consultancy, she helps high-quality small businesses get registered as NDIS providers and My Aged Care providers.
Using her fluency in ‘government speak’, Phuong makes the registration process easy for small businesses, and is focused on helping NDIS participants in our local area have access to more options for service providers. Particularly service providers who are community-minded small businesses.
Phuong has created a hub for connecting local disability services through her business, and she celebrates the amazing people who are making a real difference to people’s lives, and helping them live in a more empowered way.
Natasha Nutt
Natasha Nutt is the founder of Movementum, an Occupational Therapy practice in Wollongong which helps people to move well and live well. Natasha and her team help clients to move well, but they also take the approach of caring for the carers – giving advice, training and equipment so that carers can move their clients or loved ones in a safe way.
Movementum offers a combination of workshops, training, assessments and consultation to ensure both individuals and their support teams are informed, educated and empowered to deliver quality care.
Claire Quigley
Claire Quigley inspires innovation and champions change, through her business Launchpad9. She works with organisations to help them embrace innovation, and to align innovation with their corporate strategy.
She’s all about helping find clarity, and reintroducing businesses to their potential, by offering an objective, pragmatic and informed approach to organisational innovation. Claire asks the hard questions, and navigates internal structures, to help bring a fresh approach to business, which is why her clients rave about the positive impact she makes.
Sharyn Cleaver
Sharyn Cleaver is a celebrant in Wollongong for funerals, weddings and other special events. She brings decades of experience to her work, and has built a reputation for her calm and caring approach to every occasion.
She really takes the time to know every couple and family she works with, and says the intimate ceremonies are her favourite – often it’s the simple gathering in a park that means the most. Sharyn has been helping bring meaning to life’s milestone moments for decades.
Janaki Gunawardhana
Janaki Gunawardhana is Global Network Leader for Rio Tinto, based in WA, and has built an impressive career in Australia after moving here from Sri Lanka 16 years ago.
Janaki is a highly skilled telecommunication and tech leader, and in 2020 she orchestrated moving a global workforce of 26,000 peple online for Rio Tinto when COVID-19 struck. She’s also a committed mentor, focused on encouraging more women and diversity into the tech sector. Her work was recognised last year when she won a WiTWA Tech [+] Award.
Sarah King
Sarah King is the owner of Husk Beauty Bar in Melbourne, and also one half of the duo behind Mali Skincare, with her best friend Peta Sullivan. I’m a big fan of Mali’s products – they’re simple to use and great for time-poor busy mums. Mums like me!
Sarah had a tough 2020, thanks to Melbourne’s strict COVID-19 lockdowns which meant her business had to be closed for a lot of the year, but Sarah proactively used that time to refresh her business website, create engaging content for her audience, and offer DIY beauty tips for Melburnians stuck at home.
Dr Olga Lavalle
Dr Olga Lavalle is the founder of a thriving psychology practice in Wollongong, and she’s built a reputation as a proactive and creative business owner. Her resilience was recognised when she received the Resilience in Micro Business award at the 2020 Illawarra Business Awards.
Olga also introduced a new team member to the practice in late 2020 – Dre, the toy cavoodle. Dre is a therapy dog, who’s undergoing training to welcome patients to the clinic and also assist with therapy sessions. Olga was the first psychologist in Wollongong to introduce a therapy dog – and Dre has already built a loyal following of fans with his very own Instagram account.
Rachel Lee
Rachel Lee is the owner of Scribbly Gum Photography, a photography business in Wollongong that offers newborn, family, pet and corporate photography services.
Rachel has built a loyal following since starting her business, and she’s also provided some amazing photography services to my clients as part of the packages we create together.
As a photographer, Rachel helps capture the personalities of her subjects, while also bringing technical excellence to everything she does: it’s why she’s got a heaving shelf full of photography awards. She’s also the founder of the Coal Coast Pregnancy & Baby Exhibition, which she created as a way to promote the amazing local small businesses which offer products and services for new and expectant parents.
Carmen Rudd
Carmen Rudd is a highly regarded businesswoman in Wollongong, but more than that she makes a point of elevating other women into success in any way she can.
Carmen is the founder of The Consortium Lounge – a co-working space and business community which is all about helping its members to collaborate, connect and thrive. She’s also the founder of Zig Zag Hub, which offers entrepreneurial programs for primary school and high school students, school leavers and adults.
Her focus on innovation and promoting entrepreneurship has helped her to inspire the next generation of business creatives and owners through her programs.
Tenielle Knox
Tenielle Knox is the founder of TK Business Support, a virtual admin and reception business which provides specialist business management services to the building and construction industry.
Tenielle has built a team of admin specialists based around Australia, and in just one year has created a business with an excellent reputation. She’s an organised problem solver and brings years of expertise in WHS, document management and project management to her business. Tenielle is also a big believer in collaborating with other women, and working with other people who have complementary skills, which is why her network has grown so rapidly.
Tanya Edwards
Tanya Edwards is the founder of Wollongong Strata and a proud Wiradjuri woman, who actively mentors and encourages other indigenous businesses through her own successful strata management business.
Tanya’s business is built in the principles of open communication – she proactively connects with her owner’s corporations, agents, developers and clients, so that they are kept up to date with every aspect of their strata management. She also embraces innovation, with a paperless office, and an online portal so that all files and votes can be filed remotely. Although her business is less than two years old, Tanya has built a strong reputation as a high-quality operator, built on her decades of experience and her pragmatic approach to helping others.
Judy Barker
Judy Barker’s business Zenith HR is a specialist HR consultancy, all about helping businesses create meaningful, healthy and cohesive working relationships and cultures that foster performance and productivity.
Judy specialises in leadership development and offers workshops in resilience, remote leadership and emotional intelligence. Since the pandemic hit, she’s transitioned to offering her workshops online, and also offering free one-hour workshops on topics such as leading remotely, to help give back to businesses who have been impacted.
Jessica Turney
Jessica Turney was only 17 when she started her floristry business Brilliant Blooms, but her hard work and creative approach have seen the business thrive, even through the COVID-19 year when they were forced to close and lost the majority of their event bookings.
Jessica’s keen to inspire other young people about alternative career pathways such as the one she’s taken, where she combined her final year of schooling with TAFE training and establishing a business. She’s always looking at new ways to add value to her customers, from stocking high-quality giftware sourced from Australian makers, to hosting floristry workshops in people’s homes and supplying floral arrangements to nursing homes in the hope of brightening someone’s day.
Jodie Cameron
Jodie Cameron is a creative graphic designer based in Temora, in regional NSW, who’s business Elusive Dream Design offers design and branding services to other small businesses in her local area.
Jodie has taken a proactive approach to her career development and learning, and loves sharing her insights and skills to help her clients improve the design and marketing of their businesses. Jodie is also the founder of Momentous Food, where she shares PCOS-friendly recipes and supports other PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) sufferers through sharing her own journey.
Are you an inspirational woman looking to amplify your message?
Let’s chat about how I can help.
Happy International Women’s Day everybody!
