“The one thing that every entrepreneurial journey has in common is that there are many many steps on the road to success.”
Tory Burch inspires millions of women around the world every single day. She launched her namesake brand in February 2004 – and for the entrepreneurs reading this, you’ll know that launching a company and growing it over almost two decades takes immense grit and passion. Luckily, she has both in spades, and the brand’s unique aesthetic has resonated from the beginning, growing into a huge global company.
And since empowering women is something we strive to do every single day, we couldn’t have been more excited to team up with Tory Burch to host our very first IRL event in over a year – finally! – at the Tory Burch store in Chadstone, Melbourne.
Tory is a huge supporter of women, and has been from the very beginning. Her ‘Embrace Ambition’ campaign was launched in 2017 and seeks to address the monumental challenges that ambitious women still face. In her own words: “Most women are ambitious, but many are afraid to show it. Our goal is for women to take a moment to think about whether they’ve been hiding their ambition, and to question that.” Embrace Ambition is related to one of the pillars of the brand’s DNA – women’s empowerment. Which is why we brought together three incredibly empowering and dynamic women for a panel event at the store. We talked empowerment. We talked ambition. And we talked about the ups and downs of chasing your dreams.
We heard from Australian photographer, writer and director Robyn Lea, who has been working internationally for over 20 years. Robyn moved to Milan in her late teenage years to work as a photographer’s assistant and never looked back. Her newest book, ‘A Room of Her Own: Inside the Homes and Lives of Creative Women’, features the dazzling homes of twenty extraordinary women around the globe.
We also welcomed the incredible Dinzi Amobi-Sanderson, who is the founder of fashion and homewares brand ULO, inspired by her African heritage. In her former life, Dinzi was a lawyer, and we loved talking through her career pivot. Through ULO, Dinzi strives to evoke joy, instigate wonderful conversations about culture and connection, and encourage story-telling around her heritage.
Finally, we heard from Rebecca Jefferd, the co-founder of cult skinscreen brand Ultra Violette. Ultra Violette really rebranded SPF as a category and is now stocked at Sephora and Adore Beauty – and the brand has sold 220,000 units of their amazing ‘skinscreens’ since they launched in January 2019.
So here’s a peek at the special event, which reminded us how much we’ve missed getting together and feeling the buzz of collective energy. It was a perfect reminder that together we really are stronger, and that there’s not much a group of women can’t conquer together. We’re so looking forward to continuing to share our stories face to face. But in the meantime, here’s your digital backstage pass….