International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on 8 March offering an opportunity to reflect on progress made, to call for change, and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.
Saxton Speakers has a range of IWD female entrepreneurs who inspire both personal and professional creativity and drive to help build successful individuals and companies.
Engage one of our top female entrepreneur motivational speakers for your next conference or business event, and join the movement to #BreakTheBias
Find the best keynote speakers on entrepreneurship for your school, business event, or conference via the links below!
Founder RedBalloon, co-founder of The Big Red Group & Shark Tank investor
Naomi Simson is an award-winning entrepreneur, best selling author, judge on Channel Ten's 'Shark Tank' and the most followed Australian on Linkedin. She began Red Balloon in the front room of her house with $25,000... nowadays it has 3.6 million customers and is one of six business subsidiaries of The Big Red Group that Naomi co-founded. She's won awards from Telstra Businesswoman of the Year to EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Australia, and Naomi's presentations are packed with advice on starting and building businesses, social influence and more!
Founder and Managing Director, Boost Juice Bars
Janine Allis is not your everyday self-made businesswoman. She grew her juice and smoothie empire in 2000 from her kitchen bench, to an international success story (Boost Juice Bars are now in 13 countries with two new brands of Salsas Fresh Mex Grill and Cibo espresso totaling over 500 stores).
Janine’s business approach has made her a leader in her field, with BRW listing Janine as one of the top 15 people who have changed the way business is done in the last 25 years.
Creative force behind Glasshouse Fragrances
Nicole Eckels is the Co-founder and Creative Director of successful and popular up market fragrant candles, Glasshouse Fragrances and the Sapphire Group, employs more than 100 people and turns over $50 million each year
Nicole is an accomplished business person who will share her story about how she built Glasshouse and how she continues to grow the business by continuously learning and being relentlessly curious.
Mathematician, author, writer, and media presenter.
Mathematician, Dr Clio Cresswell PhD, believes the answers to most of the big questions lie in mind-bending equations. After years of research, she explained her theories on finding the perfect relationship in her book, Mathematics and Sex.
Now, she turns the same boundless energy and humour to some of the other biggest challenges facing humanity, including Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Social Media.
Best selling author, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Collective Hub
Lisa Messenger is the vibrant, game-changing founder and CEO of Collective Hub, an international speaker, best-selling author, and an authority on disruption.
Having had her own companies (many in industries she knew nothing about) for the entire 21st century, Lisa knows a thing or 50 about shaking up the business world!
For Lisa, it’s always been about pushing the boundaries so she had to break a lot of rules and do things very differently to the way they’d been done in the past.
Award-Winning Entrepreneur, Innovator & Advocate for Fairer Business
Julie Hirsch is an Award winning female entrepreneur who won the 2020 Telstra Business Woman of the Year Victoria and was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
Julie’s acumen in ethical business, including her many years working in sustainability, led her to be recognised as Telstra’s Victorian Business Woman of the Year and honoured on Forbes 30 Under 30 list last year.
Host of the She's on the Money Podcast & Financial Adviser
Victoria Devine is the founder and host of She’s on the Money, a chart-topping personal finance podcast for millennial women. Victoria is passionate about empowering women to make smart money decisions. After one season in production, She’s on the Money has quickly become a progressive online community of more than 150,000 women, a podcast with more than 2 million downloads, and a financial education platform empowering women with the tools and confidence they need to change their financial situations.
Founder of Ascension Media
Sasha Kutabah Sarago is a proud Wadjanbarra Yidinji, Jirrbal, and African-American woman.
A former model, Sasha, grew frustrated by the invisibility of multicultural women in fashion and media. In 2011, Sasha founded Ascension - Australia's first digital lifestyle platform for women of colour. As a speaker, Sasha raises awareness around culture, diversity, and equity in the business, media, and lifestyle sectors.
Sasha's incredible TED Talk Decolonizing Beauty, delivered at TEDx Sydney 2020, has been featured on TED.com with over 800,000 views.
High growth entrepreneur, fashion, technology, culture, branding
Jodie Fox is a serious entrepreneur who will share her methods for building a business – how to cope with rapid growth and the fear and exhilaration that comes with it – she will tell you it’s not an overnight success – it’s hard work – knowing your purpose and creating a strategy/plan that aligns with that purpose – she understands high touch customer service as well as how to create loyal customers through the effective use of technology.
While plenty of entrepreneurs are willing to share their ups and downs on the path to success, they usually then stop at the success. Rarely do we see what happens next for so many: in Jodie’s case, this included taking out kidnapping insurance as their factory in China slowed down, and stepping into the CEO role during Shoes of Prey’s final days and most tumultuous period.
Founder & Director of Moxie Progressive Period Care
Mia Klitsas started her business at 22 whilst interning at a huge multinational and still at uni – she knew nothing about starting a business and essentially learned everything on the job. She was constantly told she was too young, too inexperienced, that it was a "bad idea"... but she managed to disrupt a stagnant and mature grocery category and achieved national ranging in one of Australia's biggest retailers with not much more than a laptop and a container full of tampons. The last 16 or so years have been a (wild) ride, to say the least, and it all makes for a great story!
The Spiritual Entrepreneur
Pauline Nguyen’s story is that of survival first. Escaping war-torn Vietnam as a toddler, Pauline eventually made it to Australian shores after a year in a Thai refugee camp. Having jumped from the frying pan, Pauline was thrust into the fire – going on to suffer tremendous physical and emotional abuse until she was a young woman. It’s this staggering adversity Pauline now refers to as her training – rising from the ashes of her trauma to become one of Australia’s most sought after development coaches, a leading entrepreneur, an award-winning author and an international key note speaker. Described by Huffington Post as, “The most grounded spiritual entrepreneur on the planet”, recognised as an original ‘Rare Bird’ – Australia’s top 50 Influential Female Entrepreneurs and included in Blackwell and Hobday’s global recognition of ‘200 Women Who Will Change the Way You See the World’, Pauline is nothing short of extraordinary. Unable to be pigeon holed, the mother of two speaks and teaches from direct experience with a unique process to self-mastery, which has helped heal and uplevel thousands of her followers. Known for combining science with spirituality, the award-winning author also co-founded the world’s most awarded Vietnamese restaurant, Red Lantern.
Broadcaster, Writer, DJ, & Clean Beauty Entrepreneur
Faustina Agolley began her career interviewing her idols like Alicia Keys to then icons-in-the making like Adele, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga while bringing joy to Australian homes on Video Hits.
Since early 2021 Faustina has embarked on her entrepreneurial journey, founding a haircare brand for textured hair that will launch in the United States at the end of 2022. This brand was selected to be part of Credo For Change, an entrepreneurial program for BIPOC founders established by America's fastest-growing clean beauty retailer, Credo.
Co-Founder & Executive Director of Adore Beauty
Beauty advocate Kate Morris, CEO and founder of AdoreBeauty.com.au, started Australia’s first beauty e-commerce site in 1999 from a garage in Melbourne at the age of 21. Starting with just $12,000 and two little known cosmetic companies on board, Adore Beauty has since grown to more than 160 brands, 12,000 products, and hundreds of thousands of customers. A university job on the cosmetic counters led Kate to realise that most women found department stores intimidating and unpleasant. Kate was inspired to create a disruptive beauty shopping experience that empowered consumers.
Click Here to view the full list of IWD entrepreneur speakers Saxton has to offer
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