{"id":45849,"date":"2023-10-20T15:46:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/australias-leading-female-entrepreneurs-get-frank-on-the-discrimination-they-regularly-encounter-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:46:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:46:46","slug":"australias-leading-female-entrepreneurs-get-frank-on-the-discrimination-they-regularly-encounter-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/australias-leading-female-entrepreneurs-get-frank-on-the-discrimination-they-regularly-encounter-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s leading female entrepreneurs get frank on the discrimination they regularly encounter – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ladies<\/div>\n

Successful people leading startups or businesses usually avoid giving much notice to narrow-minded comments, but when you are constantly faced with discrimination it still hurts and it’s hard to stay quiet.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Australia\u2019s first Ladies Who Launch panel, League of Extraordinary Women\u2019s Sheryl Thai, Sidekicker\u2019s Jacqui Bull, Bellabox\u2019s Sarah Hamilton and Butterbing Cookie Sandwiches\u2019 Simone Clarke got candid on what life is like as successful business leaders in a predominantly male industry.<\/p>\n

The event, hosted by Square as part of Startup Week, was held in Melbourne following similar events in San Francisco and Toronto.<\/p>\n

Hamilton grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and has always been surrounded by the business world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never realised I was discriminated against until I became a mother,\u201d Hamilton says.<\/p>\n

Just a couple of years ago Hamilton raised $6 million in funding to take Bellabox to the next level, and she also heads a team of 30 people across Australia and Singapore.<\/p>\n

But at a recent event, many guests refused to believe this, instead assuming she must be a work-at-home mum because she has children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a business, and I happen to be female, and I happen to have kids,” Hamilton says.<\/p>\n

She says assumptions by people in general that women in business are all \u201cmumpreneurs\u201d undermine the many achievements and success of female entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one assumed I had a business that employs people,\u201d Hamilton says.<\/p>\n

The struggle to be taken seriously<\/h3>\n

Butterbing Cookie Sandwiches is Clarke’s first business and she calls herself a \u201cwholesale cookie manufacturer\u201d so people recognise her as a legitimate business owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t get taken seriously and it\u2019s very frustrating,\u201d Clarke says.<\/p>\n

Whether she\u2019s reaching out to suppliers or purchasing industry standard equipment, Clarke has encountered many people either not wanting to take her money at all, over quoting her or ignoring her entirely.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Clarke now supplies cookies to more than 100 cafes across Melbourne, she leads a team of seven to 10 people and she\u2019s on the brink of expanding her business to new markets interstate and overseas.<\/p>\n

She has made a dedicated effort to surrounding herself with inspiring people and business leaders in her space.<\/p>\n

Before launching League of Extraordinary Women, Thai says she experienced similar issues in the early days of building her sugary empire Cupcake Central.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo a certain extent, I had to fake it till I make it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to sell the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning to be self-confident played a critical role in turning people around and making them take her seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow people knock down our doors,\u201d Thai says.<\/p>\n

Step up and inspire others to lean in<\/h3>\n

Thai says that she seizes every opportunity to speak at events, panels, conferences and schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe everyone on this planet has something special to give to the world,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She wants more women leaders to speak up because it has great potential to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Thai\u2019s own entrepreneurial flame was ignited when she was in high school and a visiting guest speaker talked about running a successful business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I ever thought I could run my own business was on speech night in Year 11,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I could be that.”<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a key driver motivating Thai in her latest venture as she works to change the landscape of opportunities for entrepreneurs around the world with the League of Extraordinary Women.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of women decline speaking gigs \u2013 they don\u2019t think that they have a story worth telling,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I talk about Cupcake Central, I only had a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be a champion for great talent<\/h3>\n

The question of using quotas to tackle the diversity problem in Australian workplaces was a contested topic on the panel.<\/p>\n

But one thing was clear: the best person should get the job but the opportunities for the best people to apply also need to be created.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her own journey, Thai says she had people along the way who empowered her to move upward in her career.<\/p>\n

If you know someone is doing a great job, tell them, something that Thai says can be as easy as meeting them for a coffee and showing recognition for their efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a champion pushing me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter and <\/em>LinkedIn.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Successful people leading startups or businesses usually avoid giving much notice to narrow-minded comments, but when you are constantly faced<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,28,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}