Jodie Fox The Telstra Australian Business Women's Award Interview

Jodie Fox The Telstra Australian Business Women's Award Interview

Continued world class innovation by Australian business women is critical to the nation's social and economic future, according to Kate McKenzie, Group Managing Director Telstra Innovation, Products & Marketing.

'Australian women are brave, smart and passionate about adopting technology and using social media to add value to their business. They are innovating in health, education, retail, manufacturing, construction, and tourism. The Awards reveal that women in every sector of Australian business – and that includes government and charities – are driving innovation that will underpin Australia's future," Ms McKenzie said, who is the Ambassador for the Telstra Business Women's Awards.

The Telstra Australian Business Women's Awards are open for the 18th year, celebrating the achievements of women who are business owners, from the private or corporate sector, and from community or government organisations.

Ms McKenzie said: 'Thousands of women have been recognised in the Awards since 1995 and there have been many outstanding examples of innovation in sales and marketing, process, products and service.

'In 2011, two national Award winners were taking their innovation globally - a scientist who developed -green steel' technology that uses waste resources and cuts carbon emissions during production and the founder of an online retail business where women can design their own shoes. Another national winner was giving elderly Australians the ability to be safe and independent through new medication compliance solutions."

Catherine Burn, the 2011 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year who has led cultural change initiatives to improve community relationships as Deputy Commissioner, Corporate Services, NSW Police Force, urged anyone who was considering participating in the Awards to do so.

'They are a great way of acknowledging and honouring the contribution that women make to the community and the business world in particular. I have been excited by the opportunities that this Award has provided and the doors that it has opened. I have met some impressive individuals – people I admire, respect and can learn from.

'This Award has increased my self confidence and, I believe, improved my capacity to be an effective Deputy Commissioner of Corporate Services. I hope that in some way it will inspire other women to join the NSW Police Force – it's a great career choice," Ms Burn said.

Benefits for finalists and winners of the Telstra Business Women's Awards include increased public profile, wide networking opportunities and a chance to share in more than $200,000 in cash and prizes.

There are three qualifying categories in the Awards:
Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award: Open to owners with a 50 per cent share or more in a business with responsibility for key management decision making.
Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award: Open to employees in the private and corporate sectors, or owners with less than a 50 per cent share in a business.
White Pages® Community and Government Award: Open to employees in government departments, statutory bodies or not-for-profit organisations.

There are two specialist categories:
Nokia Business Innovation Award: Recognising innovation across a number of areas including sales and marketing, process, product or service.

marie claire Young Business Women's Award: Open to entrants in one of the qualifying categories aged 34 years or under as at 30 June 2012.

Awards are offered in each category in every state and territory and winners will be announced at public events held between 18 September and 16 October.

State and territory winners are eligible for the national Awards which will be announced at the 2012 Telstra Australian Business Women's Awards in Sydney on 21 November.

Entries are open from today until midnight on 19 June.
To nominate business women or for further information about the Awards, please visit: www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com or call 1800 817 536 between 9am and 7pm AEST Monday to Friday.

Interview with Jodie Fox

'We have empowered women to fully and confidently express their style. We've changed the way they shop." – Jodie Fox.

Jodie Fox dabbled in law and worked in advertising before she, along with husband Michael and friend Mike Knapp, committed to launching a website where women can design their own shoes. Shoes of Prey offers shoppers a choice of style components, colours and materials, leads them through the design process, and then ships their handmade footwear in four to six weeks. In just over a year, women all over the world have created tens of thousands of pairs of bespoke shoes. Jodie helps drive strategic direction, while also leading design, product development, human resources and marketing. The success of her innovative fashion concept has seen the business expand to China, Japan, Russia and the Netherlands and attracted international media attention, adding spokesperson to Jodie's list of responsibilities. Earlier this year, she was invited to Federal Parliament to consult with political leaders on fostering innovation among Australia's small and medium businesses.

Question: Can you talk about the experience of winning the Hudson Private and Corporate Sector Award at the Telstra Australian Business Women's Awards?

Jodie Fox: I received a couple of nominations and I moved forward on an anonymous nomination. Once you receive a nomination you need to complete an application form which takes 24 – 30 hours to fill. It was great to have amazing questions and for me, as an entrepreneur, I don't take enough time to look at my business as a whole which is why it was an amazing exercise; as well as having the ability to reflect on the achievements we've made in the last two and a half years.

If you're shortlisted from your application you go forward to a panel interview and the finalists for each state are drawn from that interview. If you are successful at a state level you go to the nationals which involves another panel interview and the night itself.

It is a long and very exciting process and the women I have met along the way have been absolutely extraordinary and it is a wonderful network to be a part of.


Question: How did the award benefit you and your business?

Jodie Fox: It has been quiet incredible and for me personally it has been something that has certainly given me confidence and I learnt quiet a lot as well. It is a really nice affirmation of you personally and professionally. In terms of benefiting the business the award has raised awareness particularly amongst my target market. We have been relatively well rewarded since we started two and a half years ago which has been very exciting and this is another one of those things that helps to affirm the good decisions we have made to date and our success obviously points to that as well which is yet another affirmation for myself and my team.


Question: What advice do you have for women who are nominated for this year's Telstra Australian Business Women's Award?

Jodie Fox: Just remember that it could be you!

I didn't really think it could be me; to even be nominated for the process caused a rally of support from my friends and family let alone being a finalist, let alone to win something at a state or national level. It's important to remember it could be you and use the process to get more out of your business. Filling out the application does take a reasonable time away from your business but it's something that will help you with a future perspective on your business and get your mind into gear about looking at your business as a whole picture.

This is an organisation and an award that is fostering real change for women and I think to be a part of that movement is really important as women start to really embrace that change of role and it is important that women get together and figure out the change so other women can have better journeys in the future.


Question: What originally inspired you to create the business, Shoes of Prey?

Jodie Fox: My two founders Michael and Mike were working at Google and they were all very excited about the online retail market as we believed there was a lot of opportunity there and they were looking for a unique idea. I had been designing shoes and I fell in love with them when I realised I could be designing my own shoes and as my shoe collection grew my girlfriends began to ask -how are you getting those shoes?' and they asked me to begin designing shoes for them. Shoes of Prey was a marriage of those two ideas.


Question: What is a typical day like for you?

Jodie Fox: I am responsible for all of our communications including PR and Marketing as well as our product development. My day can be focused around celebrity outreach to media (interviews) and networking at events all the way through to sketching out new designs and components to put to the designer as well as creating palette recommendations. The list is endless.

We also have a label called Sneaking Duck which is online optical fashion at a price everyone can afford so you can wear glasses as an accessory rather than having to spend lots of money on one pair. Sneaking Duck was started in October 2011 and I dedicate my time to that, as well. We have a fourth founder for Sneaking Duck who is also the CEO, Mark Capps. It is a business we're very excited about; it is growing a lot faster than Shoes of Prey did at this point. The website is: www.sneakingduck.com.

Question: Do you regularly set goals for your business? How do you go about achieving them?

Jodie Fox: Yes I do, I have a Mi Goals Diary which is a really good system because it forces you to think through your big goals, for the year and also asks you questions about how you are going to achieve the goals. I use the Mi Goals Diary to set my goals and I break down how I am going to work on them every single day. I also use Trello which is a great online resource for organising your tasks and keeping an eye on things.

As a business we do quarterly goal setting and share that with the team. Our individual goals slot within the company goals for the quarter. Not only do we have an overall idea of where we're heading as a company but everyone else is directly focused on that, as well.

This quarter we have done something a little bit different and set out a -Culture and Values' document because that is very important to a business especially as we are growing quiet quickly and in many ways culture gets over looked which is a very dangerous thing as it puts your identity in danger.


Question: What's next for you and Shoes of Prey?

Jodie Fox: What isn't next? Shoes of Prey is hiring at the moment; we have gone from a team of three to a team of 19 in two years and we have six offices around the globe as most of our market it offshore. We are ready to recruit again and we are recruiting for five people for the marketing department, in Sydney. We have a lot of new materials and styles coming out soon and we have just released an Oxfords collection which is beautiful.

For Sneaking Duck we have some more exciting collections coming up through the year. We have been doing some research into retail experienced and have introduced something incredible with Sneaking Duck that marries the retail experience with the wonderful things people look for in online retail. Sneaking Duck's website allows you to upload a photograph of yourself and it then puts the glasses on your face but sometimes you want to see it, hold it and try it on with different outfits so we've started a program called Try It On At Home. The free services allows people living in the city of Sydney to choose five frames and we will cycle them over to them to try on and send them back five days later. It comes from the idea of taking something that works well offline (touch a physical product) and figuring out how that works in the online world.

The first pair of Sneaking Duck glasses is $180 and that includes lens and everything and every pair thereafter in the same order is $90 – the whole point is to have as many pairs as you want for the same price as one pair you've bought in store. I honestly wake up in the morning and picking my glasses is the hardest part of my outfit. I am thrilled to have many different glasses because I have been attending Sydney Fashion week shows and I am glad to be able to put together cool outfits including my glasses and shoes.


Interview by Brooke Hunter