In Australia women represent only 34 per cent of entrepreneurs, yet the number of female entrepreneurs is growing at a faster rate than for men. Determined to empower women and shift the gap, Future Women and Sylvia Jeffreys are sharing the inspirational stories behind some of Australia’s most distinguished female entrepreneurs and investors.

This panel discussion focuses on female start-ups and entrepreneurs who are breaking the mould. Host Sylvia Jeffreys will drive the discussion with boundary-pushing women who’ve made their mark in business. Hear the solid gold advice from lessons they’ve learnt along the way.

On the agenda

• Personal stories behind the business and founder

• Advice for budding female entrepreneurs

• Lessons learnt from failure

• How to jump from a start-up success to a scale-up success

In the Future Women Sylvia Jeffreys Podcast host Sylvia Jeffreys interviews the movers and shakers who are disrupting industries and commanding attention from VCs from the likes of Kayla Itsines of Sweat With Kayla, Pip Edwards of P.E Nation, Bree Johnson and Jess Hatzis of Frank Body.

Speakers

Cyan Ta’eed, founder of Hey Tiger and the co-founder and Executive Director of Envato

Cyan was named the 2015 Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year, Australian Financial Review’s 2016 100 Women of Influence Enterprise Winner, and InStyle Magazine’s 2017 Woman of Style, Business Enterprise Category.

With a background in graphic design, Cyan co-founded Envato in 2006 in her parent’s garage. The creative eco-system has since grown to the world’s largest marketplace for creative assets and creative people, delivering over US$700 millions in earnings to its creative community. The company is widely considered one of Australia’s most successful scale-ups with over 10 million members globally.

In 2017, Cyan founded Hey Tiger, a speciality chocolate company based in Melbourne. Each chocolate bar is handmade from quality and ethically sourced ingredients combining surprising and delicious flavours. A passionate social enterprise, Hey Tiger benefits cocoa farming communities in West Africa, where 60% of the world’s cocoa is grown.

She is passionate about supporting early stage, female-led businesses and ideas with a social impact. 

Pip Edwards, co-founder of PE Nation

With an impressive history in Fashion and a Bachelor of Commerce/Law, Pip’s longstanding career has seen her work in PR and Design for ksubi, whilst also being a freelance stylist with DLM – before landing her Senior Creative and Accessories Designer role at Sass & Bide. This is where her working and creative relationship, and friendship, with P.E co-founder, Claire Tregoning, was cemented. It was only after Edwards made the pivotal move to General Pants Co as Design Director, that she was able to fully grasp and understand the retail landscape. She’s now made a mark, utilising her own name sake initials and retro-tomboy style, to launch P.E Nation.

P.E Nation comes from a need for multifaceted activewear, given the global shift towards juggling fast pace life. This gap in the market is what led two best friends with an impressive history in fashion to create P.E Nation. Their design and business pedigree, together with a clear and distinct vision for the brand, has seen them create covetable and adaptable activewear that is taking on the international scene.

Catriona Wallace, CEO & founder of ASX listed Artificial Intelligence company Flamingo Ai

Dr Catriona Wallace is the Founder and CEO of Flamingo Ai, Artificial Intelligence FinTech and ASX Listed company (ASX:FGO) Flamingo Ai, provider of Machine Learning based Cognitive Virtual Assistant and FAQ & Knowledge Retrieval technologies. Flamingo Ai is the second only woman led (CEO & Chair) business ever to list on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Catriona has a PhD in Organizational Behaviour: Human Technology Interaction and is a well published author and commentator. Catriona is one of the world’s most cited experts on the Future of Customer Experience, Artificial Intelligence and Bot Strategy.

Based in NYC and Sydney, Dr Wallace has been recognised by the Australian Financial Review as the Most Influential Woman in Business & Entrepreneurship (2018); she was achieved Advance Australia’s highest award in Technology & Innovation for Australian’s working abroad and recently won the FinTech Leader and Overall Excellence in Finance award by Women in Finance (2018). Catriona has been named among the Top 9 Female Entrepreneurs by the Sydney Morning Herald and Top 30 Women redefining business by Womens’ Agenda.