30under30 2016

Name: Melissa Ran with Susan Zhang Age: 30 (Born: November 1986) & 29 (Born: March 1988) Gender: Female State: NSW Known for: China Ambition Pty Ltd - https://chinaambition.com Melissa Ran, 30, along...

Rachel McLean, 28, started McLean Social Media in 2012 when she found most of her entrepreneurial friends kept coming to her for social media advice. At that time she worked for an advertising agency that didn’t offer social media marketing as a service, so she quit and started her own consultancy. Five years later, McLean offers social media coaching, public speaking, social media strategy and management, and advertising as services to clients.

Morgan Koegel, 25, is a self-described ‘employee with entrepreneurial wisdom and flair’. At 20 Koegel became CEO of Engage Education, a not-for-profit that supports Australian students to complete their studies. At 24, she became CEO of One Girl, a not-for-profit that focuses on education in Africa. Koegel’s ambition is driven by a desire to change the world. As a girl born to gay parents in Middle America, she’s been told countless times that she can’t do it. However, the thousands of students she has helped are a testament to just how wrong the cynics can be. She feels as though she has an obligation to raise her voice for those who can’t, and that’s a responsibility she takes very seriously.

Rechelle Coombes, 29, founded Socielle in 2016 with the intention of creating a central place for retail consumers to purchase socially conscious goods. Socielle sources artisans from around the globe who provide handmade, ethical, ecofriendly, and/or socially responsible items to help the consumer shop consciously.

Rochelle Rich, 30, created Financier in 2009 with the help of family and friends she was able to embark on her entrepreneurial endeavour. Though she started her entrepreneur journey at the age of 18, refining her idea throughout university and strived to outperform any competitors. Financier is an Australia-wide online loans company that provides the simplest and easiest way for people to apply for and receive a personal loan. Applications take no more than five minutes to complete and the loan is sent straight to that persons account if approved during business hours. Offering fast and secure transfer options, Financier helps people invest.

Sarah Timmerman, 30, felt inspired after a trip to Paris for her 21st birthday to recreate that shopping experience back home in Brisbane. In 2008, from the comforts of her bedroom she started Beginning Boutique (BB), an online clothing shop designed specifically with the customer in mind. Since then, it has grown so much that it is now operated in an office environment, and Timmerman employs over 15 full-time staff members, along with an off-site warehouse location.

Elyse Daniels, 29, started Exodus Wear in 2009 at the age of 21 with the premise of creating completely customisable jackets—inside and out—for Year 12 students and community groups. Daniels dove right into the making of her first order with no planning or experience, of course, she ‘completely stuffed up the order’ but corrected the problem and learned a lot in the process.

Emma Blomfield, 30, understood from an early age that she doesn’t like being told what to do. This was evident to her when she first started working as an employee, her entrepreneurial spirit kept shining through, until she decided to take the leap into the business world by starting up two businesses of her own: her online decorating business and The Decorating School. Blomfield has built buzz by taking her decorating skills on the road via hosting workshops in retail stores in rural areas. The regional market is starved of interior design advice, so by physically showing up in a local store has helped her create buzz both online and offline.

Gina Lednyak, 30, started L&A Social in 2012 out of the hallway in her home. With a dream to help brands grow through technology and social media, Lednyak built a successful company with a culture that would change employee’s lives for the better. Five years since then, L&A Social works with over 40 innovative global and national clients and consists of engaged, talented and passionate team of 12 people, with offices in Sydney and Los Angeles. As L&A continues to grow rapidly, so does the scope of services they offer.

Holly Kershaw, 29, pursued her dream of “being paid to blow stuff up for a living” and she achieved just that when she got hired as the Education Director for Fizzics Education. Fizzics is a company that delivers engaging science programs to over 250,000 kids a year. Kershaw is passionate about delivering quality science education to kids across Australia and internationally. Recognized for her efforts, in 2016, Holly won the Young Business Executive section of the Western Sydney Awards for Business Excellence.

Jacqui Pretty, 30, started Grammar Factory in 2013, by chance. At the time she was doing a business-coaching program for another business idea and part of the program involved writing a book. She got up in front of the group of 50 people and pitched them on her editing skills. “That led to my first couple of clients and the rest, as they, is history!” Grammar Factory helps entrepreneurs write awesome books by working with 100+ authors across the fields of business, finance, health, property, personal development and more.

Jessica Nazarali, 29, is a Business Strategist and Certified Master Coach for women. Her brand is her namesake, but under that, she created an online training academy around the term ‘It Girl’ and added her own definition to the concept. “An It Girl is someone who is confident, successful and fun. She is willing to do what it takes and commands excellence from herself.”

Katie Prowd, 25, started Fantasy Insider with her business partner Darryl Woodford in 2013. Fantasy Insider is Australia’s only Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) information source, community and tool that provides exceptionally accurate projections and data to help people win money-playing DFS from a beginner to an advanced level.

Lauren Davenport, 27, started LACD (pronounced ‘laced’) in 2013. An Australian active apparel brand that delivers technical features for performance, style through flattering silhouettes and colour, and comfort through fit and fabric. LACD provides new, innovative collections twice yearly. Each seasonal range is technical, complete and designed for all weather elements. LACD can be found in more than 75 stores Australia-wide and is the clothing of choice at Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s luxury Fijian resort – Laucala Island along with several of the world’s top 100 golf courses (Cape Wickham, Victoria Golf Club, Royal Melbourne Golf Club).

Bradley Clair is a man of many passions, one of which is combining this great number of passions to create a unique social enterprise — AMPLFY. “The business aims to provide an alternative to mass manufactured portable speakers, which typically look the same, sound the same, offer no benefit to society and ultimately end up as landfill,” says Clair about his company.

Sheng Yeo and Alex Sharp have taken cloud technology to new heights. Orion VM is a revolutionary cloud infrastructure, “enabling the delivery of high-performing, highly reliable cloud solutions at market-leading price-to-performance ratios,” Sheng and Alex say. This platform, which consists of virtual storage, compute, orchestration and virtual networking, is built for either internal consumption or resale, Sheng and Alex say.

Jay Wright’s team knows more about promoting small businesses than many small business owners and they’re ready to pass on their knowledge. Search Insights helps businesses generate more leads and sales through strategic digital marketing. “I entered this space because there was so much noise and gimmick in the market place, and not enough firm strategy available to small to mid-sized businesses looking to scale online,” Jay says.

Being an entrepreneur is more than starting a company, it’s more than being a go-getter, it’s more than never giving up — being an entrepreneur takes an innovative mind and a dedicated heart, which is exactly what Henry Innis has. At the age of 23, he achieved partnership at a major marketing firm, which he believes is leading the way in the world of digital strategy. This firm, as well as Henry himself, has a history in investing in startups, he says.

Imagine being a social media professional, meaning all hours spent managing followers and uploading photos deemed a paycheck. This is what Harley Mitaros does for a living. Pryzm began when Harley realised businesses weren't taking advantage of all social media has to offer. He had always hoped to embark on an entrepreneurial journey, but didn't force the idea. When Harley came to this realisation, a lightbulb went off and it “just felt right,” he says. He ran with the opportunity and turned down three post graduate studies offers to start the business.

Everyone knows how it feels to be short on time and money, especially small business owners. Darren Brown’s app Expense Check is an expense managing tool for business owners who want to save money. The app analyses business expenses by integrating with the company’s accounting software. It then compares current suppliers against the market and makes it easy to switch to more efficient suppliers.