Light bulb moment
“I was solving a problem of my own. I’d always liked shoes, but I never loved them because I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. I found someone with whom I could commission shoe designs, and when my shoe collection became really exciting, my girlfriends asked me where I was getting my footwear. Concurrently, my two business partners, Mike and Michael, were at Google and becoming really excited about the opportunities in online retail. They just needed an idea. We all came together and Shoes of Prey was conceived.”
Growth
“We’ve gone from three people on a couch to a multimillion-dollar global business in under four years, and still showing very strong progress with a 250 per cent growth rate over the past 12 months. We took on $3 million from a syndicate of investors in July 2012, and further investment late last year.”
All you need is…
“To make a decision and see what happens. You’ll never have a perfect situation and you’ll never know the outcome. If it’s the wrong decision, you have to be prepared to own it and then steer the ship in another direction.” Kick up your heels: “I learnt to have the confidence to value my own thoughts enough to speak up and be heard. In fact, it’s probably the greatest lesson of my career. I wish I’d known how strong I could be. I wish I’d known that it was possible to face and conquer all your fears.”
Career highlights
“Winning the Telstra Business Woman of the Year Private and Corporate Sector Award in 2011, and the World Retail Award for best store design in 2013 [when I was up] against Karl Lagerfeld for his concept store in Paris.”
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