Her Magazine is New Zealand’s only women’s business lifestyle magazine! Her Magazine highlights the achievements of successful and rising New Zealand businesswomen. Her Magazine encourages a healthy work/life balance.
Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/67815
I am really an accidental business woman. I was first and foremost an artist, though a very motivated one with a solid belief in a good idea. I have met a good number of 'knockers' in my journey from beginning to now. People who really don't want to see others achieve and I had lots of people tell me what was wrong with my idea. In the end I surrounded myself with people who were creative and inventive and who were keen to rise to the challenge. For many years my office was the kitchen table. Nothing comes without hard work and the confidence in ones self to achieve the outcome – respect and treat others as you would be treated yourself. I am continually motivated by all the amazing artists and designers who enter the Brancott Estate WOW Awards each year and by the passionate team I work with. WW: What does a typical day involve for you? I am usually up and about by 7.30 a.m. Mornings are my most creative time. I start with a cup of coffee and sit on my veranda in the stillness of my garden where I often write and draw up ideas for the script, props and costume ideas. After 25 years I still continue to work at my kitchen table. In all that time there has rarely been a clear space. WW: How are you 'paying it forward'? I have just become Patron of Purple Cake Day, a children's charity set up by Emily Sanson-Rejouis. This is a charity that is close to my heart and encourages children to be aware and learn about their role in the global community by empowering them to take action for children in need worldwide. Emily is at present helping to set up schools in Haiti and Nepal. WW: What advice would you give to up and coming businesswomen? My best career steps were to have the courage to do what I loved most and become a full time artist in the 1980s without any formal training. I was self- taught. Sculpting became my passion and I stated a successful art gallery to sell my work in the countryside near Nelson. It was through this gallery that World of Wearable Art began – initially as a small provincial awards show to help promote the gallery and there I thought it would stay! With the success of the first two shows I knew I had something special and took a courageous step in the third year by taking it to Nelsons largest sports venue the Trafalgar Centre. I had no qualifications or previous experience in event management or theatre production. I learnt by my mistakes and enjoyed the challenge of making it work. In the early years the manager of the Nelson Provincial Arts Council, Robbie Burton played an important role as my mentor. WW: What has been your key to success over the years? In the past 10 years we took another giant step and relocated WOW to Wellington. We had the business looked at by an economist who told us that unless we went to a bigger city WOW would slowly but surely die. Other copycat shows had started throughout New Zealand and one in Auckland was starting to grow with big council backing. There was no way I was going to see 17 years of hard work fall over. Wellington has embraced WOW and the City Council has played a large part in its success. We now have an audience of 50,000 coming to the shows. It has grown internationally with over a third of the entries coming from all over the world. w WHO'S WHO 2012 | 15 w