In this interview, we are joined by Sharndré Kushor, a remarkable leader who has built a legacy of innovation and impact by the age of 30. From co-founding Crimson Education at just 18, to transforming access to global education for thousands of students, Sharndré 's journey exemplifies tenacity and purpose. In this live conversation. we dive into Sharndré 's story on how she broke barriers to education, her transition into philanthropy with her 1 Billion Foundation, and her unwavering mission to make the world a better place. Get ready to be inspired by her vision, resilience, and commitment to creating a lasting impact.
In this episode of She Started It, we’re thrilled to share our live conversation with Peri Drysdale, founder of Untouched World and a pioneer in sustainable fashion since 1981. Peri's journey from starting a knitwear business in her garage to building a globally recognized, purpose-driven brand is nothing short of extraordinary. A champion of environmental and social sustainability, Peri has navigated decades of change, balancing profit with purpose. Her insights on trusting your gut, adapting to innovation, and embedding sustainability into business DNA are inspiring. Join us as we explore Peri's story and learn from her legacy of impact and resilience.
Sophie Hallwright has had an incredible career as a producer for some of the biggest shows in Australasia. Her experiences have led her to now being a co-founder and producer for The Curve, an award winning investing and financial education platform for women. In this episode, Sophie candidly shares that she does not identify with the idea that people are “born entrepreneurs” and personally, never saw herself as one - largely because growing up, it wasn’t something she was surrounded by.
But now, here she is as a business owner, podcast host and content creator for one of the largest female investing communities online. Sophie shares in this episode how she has overcome self-doubt to embrace this next stage of her life - and how you can too! She shares with us her interesting career from radio producer, to living in fiji producing survivor for 6 months, to travelling the globe and everything else in between and how this has prepared her for the work she is doing now. Sophie’s story is such great encouragement for those who are currently in the throes of a fast growing business or career progression, as well as for those who feel like they are in a stage of just trying to figure everything out. For those of you who have listened to the Curve podcast, you will know that Sophie is absolutely hilarious - so it was a pleasure to speak with Sophie on this month's episode of the She Started it Podcast.
In this episode, Sophie shares on her story on:
- Managing the demands of a growing business
- Finding the right business partner
- Being 'authentically you' in your business
- Her globally ambitious plans for growing community
- Making financial education engaging and empowering
- How to start a business that is inline with your own risk tolerance
Claudia has achieved global success. She left her promising career as a young lawyer at Russel Mcveigh to move to New York in 2002. She had ambitions to combine her love of technology, marketing and make up. While that didn’t go exactly to plan her optimism and work ethic opened up many more opportunities. She went on to found and exit two startups. The first being Massive, a gaming ad network which was sold to Microsoft in 2006. Then Victors & Spoils which pioneered crowdsourcing in an advertising agency. Havas acquired a majority stake in the agency in 2012.
Claudia returned to New Zealand in 2021, she now contributes her global knowledge and experience as a board director for Air NZ and Vista Group and as Chair of Serko.
In this episode she shares on:
- Trusting your intuition and jumping into the unknown, lessons learnt from her business ventures and successful career moves. - What it means to live a squiggly life.
- Her experience moving to New York as a young lawyer and how she had to unlock her inner strength to make it work.
- Unlocking her inner strength to succeed when moving to New York as a young lawyer
- Authentically building your network and relationships and the benefits that come from having female power circles.
- How she sets goals and measures what matters in her life and career.
- Practical advice for just getting started on your business ideas, big dreams and goals.
- Encouragement on being your authentic-self and how she carries this with her as a super-power in the board room.
Booksreferenced: https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/measure-what-matters/27567130?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAk9itBhASEiwA1my_69cHMxaegfo5UkgBdDhi-xUdbhEfoIhGyN_8vZtxty8rvBtz5hFSdRoCefUQAvD_BwE
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17134189
Elise Hilliam is the Co-Founder and Chief Operations Offer of Menu Aid - an online meal planning platform that is solving the "what's for dinner" dilemma for thousands of people with personalised recipes and smart shopping lists.
In this episode Elise shares with us:
https://menuaid.co.nz/
Siân Simpson is the Founder and CEO of Public Rally, an agency dedicated to building world class communities and content strategies and has clients in the technology, music, AI, crime, legal and education sectors. Along with this, Siân has recently launched her latest venture Bountifull Media which is a media company growing community and global connections through the simplicity of garden-to-plate living.
In this episode Siân shares with us:
- Her inspiring and interesting career journey which has now found her launching her new global media company, focused on bringing garden-to-plate joy to people all over the world.
- How she has created a career and life for herself that is in line with her values and passions, with tips on how you can do the same.
- The importance of community building, opening up on her extensive experience and tips from a diverse career of community building for companies all over the world.
- How she has overcome burnout and exhaustion by coming back to nature and grounding ourselves
Read more about Siân's ventures:
https://www.bountifullworld.com/about/
https://www.siansimpson.com/my-story.html
https://indigoandiris.co/blogs/i-i-blog/an-interview-with-sian-simpson
Natalia Lopez is a Director and the Chief Operations Officer at Kitea Health, a medical technology company transforming healthcare for people living with chronic conditions.
Natalia shares about the inspiring work she is leading in the medical technology space, and how her career journey has been filled with many different experiences ranging from studying electrical engineering in the US, to working in the automotive industry, to her current role now.
Natalia's story is great encouragement for anyone who is considering or going through a career pivot and Natalia is also an inspiring role model for women in STEM and Engineering, as she shares her story of how she was one of only two women in her entire engineering class at university.
We hope your enjoy this month episode!
Lisa King is the formidable Entrepreneur behind Eat My Lunch and most recently, AF drinks. Her story proves that it is not only possible but also profitable, to create businesses that have a strong sense of purpose.
In this episode of She Started It, Lisa King shares with us:
--> About her recent trip to America and how she is launching her business globally, including into America's biggest whole-foods retailers.
--> Her learnings from her 15 year corporate career and how she transferred these skills to start her own business.
--> The importance of knowing your customers and market, along with some creative and cost-effective ways for startups to understand their consumers.
--> How she has brought her kids along for the ride on her entrepreneurial journey.
--> When she knew it was time to step back from her first venture Eat My Lunch, and how this transition was as for her.
--> Her current business and how she is distrusting the alcohol-(free) market, along with sharing on her own journey of sober-curiosity.
Today I am joined by Janine Grainger. Janine is the Co-Founder and CEO at Easy Crypto. Janine first got involved in cryptocurrency in 2015 and saw massive opportunity. After founding Easy Crypto in 2017 with her brother, Janine has been a common name in the crypto scene in New Zealand. Easy Crypto is now a fast growing New Zealand start up and Janine is leading the way and challenging the gender biases which heavily skew the cryptocurrency and finance industry.
In this episode Janine shares about her career journey leading up to being the CEO at Easy Crypto, she also shares honestly about the importance of having female representation in the finance and cryptocurrency industry and how she is leading the way so that other young women can follow.
If you want to find out more about Easy Crypto, check out their website: https://easycrypto.com/nz
In this episode we are joined by Dr Jenny Kruger. Jenny is the cofounder of JUNOFEM which is a start-up company with a product called Femfit, which aims to help women manage their journey to pelvic floor health. JUNOFEM ‘s technology originated from Auckland Bioengineering institute and is now being trialed in NZ, Australia, Canada and the UK. Jenny is on a mission to educate and empower women when it comes to their health to regain independence, and resolve pelvic discomfort once and for all.
In this episode Jenny shares about female pelvic floor health, which is a topic that is not often spoken about! She also shares on the inspiring work she is doing to help women in this space along with sharing pearls of wisdom from her (very successful and interesting) career journey.
https://www.junofem.com/
In this Episode we are joined by Emily Blythe who is the founder and CEO of Pyper Vision. Pyper Vision is an aviation startup with a product that disperses fog to provide the visibility pilots and air traffic controllers require at every stage of their aerodrome operations. Emily’s company is gaining global attention and investment, as she tackles an ambitious problem which affects millions of people when they travel.
In this episode Emily shares what it is like being a female founder in the aerospace industry, how she says motivated and inspired while developing and launching this groundbreaking technology and the importance of having a good support network around you.
To read more about Pyper Vision and connect further with Emily check out their website https://pypervision.com/
In this episode we are joined by Veronica Stevenson, who is the CEO, founder and executive director of Humble Bee Bio. Humble Bee Bio is on a mission to take plastic pollution out of the realm of individual responsibility and replace the materials that are used by industry when creating consumer products. Through their research, Humble Bee Bio have found a species of solitary bee that produces a remarkable bioplastic to waterproof their nests and protect their larvae from the environment. The bee’s DNA has been used to provide a unique platform to engineer sustainable materials with tailored properties for multiple market applications.
In this episode Veronica shares openly about her journey as a bold and innovative founder, her views on imposter syndrome (and how we actually can use it to help us!) and how to navigate the highs and lows of following your passions. Veronica also shares her top tips for pursuing an innovative career in the science industry.
To connect with Veronica further and take a look at the work she is doing, website is below:
https://www.humblebee.co.nz/
In this episode we are joined by Amelia Gain. Amelia is the co-founder and CEO of leading hotel management platform Preno. Amelia started her career in IT before operating a world-leading hotel in Queenstown. She became passionate about hotel operations and the guest experience, which led her to the concept of Preno - it’s an autopilot for independent hotels, removing all repetitive tasks and admin, allowing operators to focus on more important value adding tasks. Now, Preno has customers all around the globe and is the core tool for their business.
In this episode Amelia shares about her career journey and how she came to found Preno. She also shares her top tips for growing confidence and achieving your big goals and dreams!
https://prenohq.com/nz/
In this episode we are joined by Imche Fourie. Imche is the co-founder and CEO of Outset Ventures. Outset is the home of deep technology, it is an early-stage investment fund and a physical space for technology incubation. As CEO of outset, Imche thrives at the intersection of deep technology commercialisation, venture capital, and community building. Imche founded Outset after starting her career in the laboratory researching neurodegenerative diseases, but she has since navigated through life sciences consulting, research commercialisation and venture capital. In this episode, Imche shares some of the incredible work which she is currently doing along with speaking honestly about the journey to finding your passions and your professional mentors and champions.
In this episode we are joined by Lauren Fong. Lauren is the network manager for ArcAngels, which is the female-led startup fund for Ice House Ventures. The purpose of ArcAngles is to increase investment in New Zealand businesses which are led by women. Arc Angles have raised and invested millions into female led ventures in New Zealand and Lauren has been instrumental in leading and managing this. Lauren is currently raising the second ArcAngels Fund ($10m-$20m) that will invest in 50 women-led companies in NZ. Lauren sat on the Entrepreneurship sub-group for the Women Employment Action Plan alongside Theresa Gattung, helping to put forward policy to Cabinet by the Ministry of Women. In her spare time, Lauren also pursues her music passions as a professional DJ performing at some of the largest festivals in New Zealand, she has a new single launching this week called 'Remedy'.
You can follow Lauren and connect with her via:
LinekdIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/lauren-fong
Instagram (DJ and Music Page): @laurengin_
In this episode we are joined by Dr Sandra Grau-Bartual. Dr Sandra is a trained chemical engineer, she completed her PhD at AUT which led to developing a ground breaking innovation in respiratory humidification technology. Dr Sandra is now leading the commercialization of this technology as CEO of RespirAq, which is a world-first development in medical airway humidification technology. Dr Sandra and her team have secured over one million dollars in funding to launch and grow RespirAq, in this episode Dr Sandra shares about her journey to becoming CEO of RespirAq, the importance of following your passions and doing what you love and how she has the confidence to keep backing herself and trying new things.
You can find out more about RespirAq here: https://www.respiraq.com/
In this episode we are joined by Sarah Balle, founder of Supie. Supie is on a mission to provide a better and fairer grocery alternative for Kiwis. Supie brings a new model of grocery shopping online, replacing in store habits with digital experiences for customers, while delivering game changing differentiation for suppliers. The ambitious woman behind all of this is Sarah Balle, who on this episode shares about her brave story which has led her to becoming the founder of Supie. Sarah shares about Supie's successes so far including raising $2.5 million in their first feed funding round. Sarah also shares about the importance of knowing your 'why' and how this is the key that can keep you going in the face of challenges and adversity.
Show Links:
Supie: https://supie.co.nz/landing-page
LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/sarahballe
Cecilia Robinson is the founder and creator of one of New Zealand’s most successful ever start-ups My Food Bag – Cecilia is one of NZ’s leading entrepreneurs. A serial entrepreneur and innovator, Cecilia is now the founder and Co-CEO of Tend Health. Cecilia has won more awards than you can shake a stick at (Supreme Winner 2017 Women of Influence Awards, Next Magazine Businesswoman of the Year 2014, EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013, HER Businesswoman of the Year 2012 to name a few).
In this episode, Cecilia shares on how her and her husband James Robinson have worked hard with their multiple business ventures to create the lives they have built for themselves today. Cecilia shares her top tips for budding entrepreneurs as well as sharing advice for ambitious young woman - encouraging us to focus on what we want, stay true to our values and our own happiness.
Follow Cecilia on instagram @ceciliarobinsontend
Website https://robinsonduo.co.nz/about-us/
