LADY-BRAINS

In a world where brands are constantly vying for people’s attention, how do you truly connect with those who make the crucial financial decisions in our homes?

Christie Nicholas is the brains behind Mumpower – Australia’s leading agency dedicated to understanding, engaging, and empowering the most influential household spender – mums.

In 2009, while working for some big-name brands, Christie knew deep down there was a better way to reach and communicate with mothers. This led her to quit her dream job to go all in on Mumpower, which now boasts a vast network of influencers, creators, product review panellists and market researchers.

In this chat you'll hear from Christie on: 

• Why she thought she could do a better job at speaking to Mums as buyers
• Quitting her dream job to start Mumpower 
• Overcoming her limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome 
• The harsh truths she had to face after a decade into business
• Understanding your customer intimately and the pain points along the customer journey 
• The 3 strategies she uses time and time again to ensure personal, business and team success. 
  
  

Does your business need support during the busy e-commerce sales period? Check out Australia Post's FREE Peak Playbook to help you create a better customer experience and get your packages in their hands on time: www.auspost.com/peak

SAY HEY

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au
Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains
Learn more about Mumpower at www.mumpower.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is sponsored by Australia Post.

Anna Hoang is the founder and creator of ANNA QUAN, a contemporary Australian fashion label. The brand epitomises simplicity, elegance and quiet luxury. 

You may know the label for its bread and butter item, the white button down shirt. Anna has managed reimagined and redefined this staple , and has people from all over the world coming back for time and time again. 

Anna opens up in this rare interview, about her transition from law to fashion, her struggle in the first few years with gaining traction in the Aussie market and the bold move she made next, how her values help her hire the right people, and the important questions she asks herself as she hits 10 years in business.

In this ep, you’ll learn about: 

• The transition she made from law school to fashion school
• Her first business failure and finding the confidence to go it alone
• The Paris showroom debacle and what happened when she tried to rent her own Airbnb for showings
• Why she's big on iterating styles that have been left on the cutting room floor to create a version that customers actually want 
• Why it's important to have a bread and butter product
• Her thoughts on greenwashing and sustainable fashion
• The type of brand she wants to build and the values that underpin it
• The questions she asks herself after reaching a decade in business

Does your business need support during the busy e-commerce sales period? Check out Australia Post's FREE Peak Playbook to help you create a better customer experience and get your packages in their hands on time: www.auspost.com/peak

SAY HEY

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au
Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains
Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse
Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get a free fitting and find your perfect bra at theonetwo.com, and use the code LB20 at the checkout for 20% off your entire order.

The last time you heard from Margot & Maria they’d raised $100k from over 700 backers during their Kickstarter pre-sale campaign. They were on a high and excited to hard launch their brand in time for the Christmas rush.  

But just as they were about to go live, their online custom fit algorithm (the one they’d spent over a year getting right) broke. Christmas came and went. They missed their deadline...again.  

But the duo didn’t let that stop them. They were on the home stretch and a few months later they finally launched The OneTwo into the world.  

So how have their first few months in market been? What has the response been from customers? What other curve balls have been thrown their way?  

Created in partnership with lady-brains.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get a free fitting and find your perfect bra at theonetwo.com, and use the code LB20 at the checkout for 20% off your entire order.

The year was 2022 and by now, Margot and Maria had been working on bringing The OneTwo to life for over two whole years. COVID had played havoc with their timeline, their product taking years longer to develop than they originally planned and their cash reserves slowly but surely running out.  

Thing were heating up and the duo decided to run a Kickstarter pre-sale campaign. Not only did they need to raise money to keep the wheels turning, but they also were out to prove to their investors that despite the delays, the fire in The OneTwo’s belly was still burning brightly. 

Created in partnership with lady-brains.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get a free fitting and find your perfect bra at theonetwo.com, and use the code LB20 at the checkout for 20% off your entire order.

After the world and supply chains ground to a halt and the world became locked down, Margot and Maria’s factory pulled out of the partnership and left them high and dry, without a manufacturer to make their bra. After searching high and low, they finally found a factory in Sri Lanka who were amazed by their innovative approach, and believed in what they were trying to create.  

A bra that is engineered for women’s breasts of ALL shapes and sizes. 

But with the world turned upside down and unable to leave the country to visit their factory in person, will they be able to finalise samples in time to meet their production deadlines?  

Will their rapidly decreasing cash runway last long enough for them to pull through? 

Created in partnership with lady-brains.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get a free fitting and find your perfect bra at theonetwo.com, and use the code LB20 at the checkout for 20% off your entire order.

Fundraising is one of the most crucial parts of getting a startup off the ground and it’s no secret that doing this as a woman is hard. It’s even harder for two women who are pitching their bra product to a table of men, most of whom struggle to understand the product or problem.  

So, how did Margot and Maria pitch their revolutionary bra in order to raise six figures to turn their dreams into a reality? How did they manage to get a breast surgeon on their cap table? And why did we (lady-brains) decide to invest? 👀 

Created in partnership with lady-brains.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get a free fitting and find your perfect bra at theonetwo.com, and use the code LB20 at the checkout for 20% off your entire order.

Welcome to this special lady-brains podcast series documenting the incredible story of Margot and Maria, the co-founders behind new bra tech startup The OneTwo.  

Over the next five episodes we’re diving deep to hear about the trials and tribulations they’ve encountered in the lead up to launching. From meeting during an accelerator program in 2020, to challenges fundraising while pitching a product for to a room full of men, to dealing with the fallout of COVID and its impact on their supply chain, to Margot finding out she was pregnant just as things were heating up...this story has it all! 

We’re proud to present this story of two women, creating a product for women in a category that has largely been neglected, and forging their own way in a male-dominated business world. Strap in! 

Created in partnership with lady-brains.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was produced in partnership with Who Is Elijah. 

Raquel Bouris is the founder of Who Is Elijah, a beautiful fragrance brand that absolutely took off during the pandemic. She was inspired to create a perfume after a trip to Coachella, and what started as a little side project to a scent just for her, has now taken on a life of its own and grown into a multimillion-dollar brand.  

In this ep, you’ll learn: 

• How she generated traction early on and secured DJs as a retailer with a slick marketing deck 
• Her ambitions to scale into the US, and what Sephora US asked her to do before they ranged her brand 
• In 2021, why her accountant told her she’d have to radically cut costs or she wouldn’t have a business in a few months 
• Why she hired two of her best mates into the business, and what it was like to fire them 
• How she’s built confidence in her own skills along the way 

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au
Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains
Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse
Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is sponsored by Twisted Healthy Treats Australia’s first and only female-led ice cream manufacturer. Get their delicious Oat Milk Ice Cream Bars, Watermelon and Mango Fro-Yo, and Coconut Pops at twistedhealthytreats.com.au or your closest supermarket. 

Kim Teo is the founder of tech start-up Mr Yum. If you’ve ever been to a restaurant, browsed the menu on your phone and ordered through a QR code, chances are you’ve used the Mr Yum platform. 

In 2021, she raised an $89M Series A round – the largest ever Aussie Series A for a female led company. But soon after she raised this cash, the tech bubble burst and the economic environment dramatically shifted, and in 2022 she made the hard decision to lay off 17% of the team.  

In this chat, you’ll learn: 

• Why this was a necessary response to the changing economic climate and Mr Yum’s need to maintain a longer runway in the face of so much uncertainty 
• How she’s thinking about her business as we move into a recession 
• Her decision-making process around those latest redundancies 
• Who she leans on for support when times get tough 
• Why transparency is her most important leadership trait 

~ Connect with us ~ 

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s it like to completely pivot your business three times, before you even launch? Katherine Clayton, co-founder of Peachii Insurance shares how she's pivoted the business three whole times before they've gone to market, why a change in regulation almost meant their idea was dead in the water, and how she's leveraged her sales skills to raise a bunch of cash. 

You’ll learn: 

• How they’re making insurance sexy and accessible to the younger generation 
• That their original fundraising aspiration was a $2M pre-seed round, and how they had to adjust their expectations and raise smaller cheques from angels instead 
• How they responded when government regulations changed meaning their original product was almost dead in the water (but how it’s actually worked out well in the end!) 
• How they approached the equity split with a three person co-founding team 
• The art of doing a deal, and how Katherine approaches selling 
• How she deals with investors who ghost her  
• What they’re doing in the lead up to launch! 

~ Connect with us ~ 

Learn more about Peachii Insurance at www.peachii.com

Find us at www.ladybrains.com.au  

Follow us on Instagram @lady.brains 

Chat to us in the Facebook group, the lady-brains clubhouse

Sign up for our online business course BASE CAMP here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.