This International Women’s Day we sat down and interviewed a few of our favourite women in business about what inspires them, their advice for other women and their business story. Read on for some inspiration!
Our interviewees include:
-Renee Gangemi, Head of Marketing TEDxSydney and Director of The Marketing Equation
-Lindsay Rogers, Co-founder and creative force at Chello and Telstra Young Business Woman of the year 2015
-Demi Markogiannaki, one of four founders and Sales Marketing dynamo for WeTeachMe
-Gina Lednyak, L&A Social Founder & CEO and Telstra Young Business Woman of the year 2016
Top 3 Business Tips
1. Positive work culture is critical to success
Renee has seen the devastating effect stress can have on the success of an event that can quickly flow from the team, to talent and even spread to attendees.
“If the team is stressed, the talent on stage stresses and the audience picks up on this immediately, so whatever happens on the day just go with it, act cool,” Renee recommends.
Creating a positive work culture creates an absolute ripple effect Gina explains, a strong work culture means that as a team we are able to learn, thrive and grow and also inspire others in our lives. When an individual thrives at work this positively impacts their wellbeing and creates a positive ripple effect throughout their friends and families.
According to Demi it’s about finding A+ players that present a good match for organisational culture. She explains that it’s important to have a team that not only has a great understanding and respect for each other, but also has the resilience to overcome challenges both as individuals and as part of a team.
Lindsay echoes these sentiments, describing how meticulous her team are when hiring, as experience has taught her that good work culture is a delicate ecosystem that needs constant care to maintain. “Hire slow, fire fast,” muses Lindsay.
2. Always move forward
No one is going to punish you for working hard, making an effort, even though occasionally you may fail to achieve great results, points out Demi. Disappointing results are never as disappointing as never taking action.
Gina explains that one of L&A’s company values is ‘embrace the organised chaos’, circumstances may never be perfect and in a growing business environment things will always be a little crazy. The most fun and rewarding thing you can do is to jump in and give it your absolute best shot.
“It’s so easy to think that you can only launch a business when you’ve got everything right,” explains Lindsay. “It’s better to get it a little bit wrong than never start at all.”
Renee advises that when you hit a challenge it’s beneficial to step outside of the problem or issue and take a look at it for what it really is. She believes most of the time we don’t have the saber-tooth tiger we picture chasing us and everything will be ok.
3. Seek people to learn from
“I feel that every time you see someone doing something with total joy, you’re pushed to do things that are just as gratifying in your own life,” explains Lindsay.
The people who surround you will be the ones who inspire you and who you will aspire to be like, it is important to seek inspiration from people who inspire you and are not afraid to challenge you. Gina adds ‘I have always believed that you can learn something from just about everyone you meet, as long as you listen and are open to the learning.’
Renee says “…my advice is always be open to new opportunities where you might meet new people or learn new things.”
Finally Demi advises to “always try to put yourself out there, seek out people who have achieved great things, and learn whatever you can from their experiences.”
Get all the answers
Keep an eye out on our blog throughout March as we celebrate International Women’s Day throughout the month of March and feature full interviews with Demi, Gina, Lindsay and Renee.
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