Born to Disrupt: Revolutionizing Business Through a Community of Leaders
Women2Watch Julie Mathers, Dimity MacDiarmid, and Federica Casoni co-hosted leaders from a cross-section of industries in AfterPay’s new office for an inspiring workshop on how to break free from fear and build confidence to ask for what you want.
Hallmarks of Born to Disrupt include the honest conversation and active feedback that takes place as the group discusses the topics of leadership cultivation and innovation. In this workshop led by Kelly Stickel, the group coalesced around the following lessons:
Finding Authenticity and Responsibility in Retail with Flora & Fauna
After an inspiring day with Born to Disrupt, Kelly ventured to Gaston to visit the homestead of Julie Mathers, CEO of Flora & Fauna. Flora & Fauna sources over 4500 beauty, skincare, and household products from 200+ brands from Australia and beyond that are ethical, cruelty-free, and recyclable. Leading by example, Flora & Fauna has removed the use of plastic from all of their orders and only uses biodegradable and recyclable materials.
“As a world we're over consuming, creating waste and our planet is suffocating,” Julie said. “I strongly believe businesses have a critical role to play and I take responsibility for turning business on its head and doing things differently with ethic and sustainability at the core of our decision making. I want to give consumers knowledge and power so they can choose what is right for them.” With Julie’s mindset and leadership, it’s no surprise that Flora & Fauna won Best Small Independent Online Retailer at ORIAS this year! Online Retailer 2018: Where Future Meets Retail
Online Retailer celebrated its 10th anniversary this year at ICC Sydney. Organized by event director and Women2Watch honoree Alice Kuepper, Online Retailer is Australia’s largest eCommerce expo and conference.
This year, we’re excited to share that 45% of the speakers at Online Retailer were women, including Janie Yu, Phoebe Yu, Lindsay Wilner Sturman, Jo Harris, Sarah Donges, and Kelly Stickel. We were thrilled to reconnect with the leaders in our community, as well as meet new disruptors and innovators at the Leader’s Summit and the Women in Leadership Lunch. Here are some of the highlights from talks led by women in the retail community: 
Global Tech Investments: A VC's Perspective
Janie Yu, partner at Fung Capital, gave a keynote overview of the key global tech investment trends within the value chain of retail, supply chain, and logistics. In addition to calling out key investment areas to look out for, she discussed how to gain a clear vision of the role that tech startups play in shaping the retail industry of the future. In her international keynote, she implored the audience to detach themselves from their lens as retail professionals and put on their consumer hats. Janie highlighted a few companies who were doing just that. “Imagine this: Shop now, pay later with no interest. What a simple idea for the costumer,” she said. “By understanding the next generation of consumers, AfterPay is able to encompass a new mentality of shopping. This is exciting for a VC… it’s all about post purchase management. Once you hit the buy button on an eCommerce site, optimize the eCommerce purchase. You create recurring customers.” “Product journey… is not as difficult as customer journey,” she added. 
Delighting Customers Through Physical Touch Points
Founder and CEO of Ettitude Phoebe Yu emphasized the importance of building meaningful connections with customers through personalized experiences in retail, especially in the pureplay environment. When customers love your product, they’re more loyal to your brand and more likely to be a channel for word-of-mouth marketing. In an interview with Online Retailer, Phoebe discussed the shift in perspective of environmental issues as she moved from China to Australia: “The things I learned during that period of time was how to work and communicate with suppliers. They are happy to go for the eco-friendly option if clients want that and are willing to pay for it. Normally, it won’t cost too much extra. Suppliers also like to work with clients who are happy to pay a bit more. They look for quality long term relationships, which delivers slightly better margins than working with big chain stores, who just want the cheapest price on the market.”
Making it Personal: How Under Armour Icon Changed the Customization Game
In her international keynote, Lindsay Wilner Sturman, Director of Product Customization for Under Armour Icon, shared how technology enabled UA ICON to take a more personal approach to product customization. She opened her talk by sharing a personal story about experiencing foot pain at the beginning of her first Ironman Triathlon, overcoming it, and crossing the finish line. “Will finds a way,” Lindsay remarked of her experience. “This is what Under Armour is doing differently—capturing what inspires and motivates the athlete.” She outlined the steps Under Armour Icon took as they built their customization program:
Celebrating Leadership and Innovation at ORIAS
We’d like to congratulate Women2Watch Julie Mathers of Flora & Fauna for winning Best Small Independent Online Retailer and to Jo Harris and Lucy Glade-Wright of Hunting for George for winning Best Pop Up Experience at ORIAS this year! The Australia Post Online Retail Industry Awards celebrates the excellence of Australasia’s vibrant and innovative multichannel and online retailing visionaries, and we’re so proud to include Julie, Jo, and Lucy among this group of visionaries!
What’s Next
There is boundless innovation happening across all verticals in Australia and around the world, and Remodista is excited to celebrate our network of leaders at our Global Community Day on September 20th. The Remodista community will be gathering in New York City and Sydney for our annual Women2Watch Innovation Award Show.
Remodista Community Day is a culmination of a year's worth of innovation across the globe. If you are a disruptor or industry professional interested in participating in our program, feel free to email [email protected] to request an invitation. Preference is given to retail professionals and business disruptors.
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