A Seat at the Table
Michelle Redfern, Australia
She’s been described as brave, vivacious and so damn real. Just a few of the reasons we love Michelle Redfern, founder of Advancing Women, an enterprise providing research and advisory services on equality, inclusion, and gender diversity.
We also love Michelle’s GSD (aka Get Shit Done) approach to life and the way that she has committed her life’s work to uplifting and empowering women, while tearing down the social constructs and the business and public policies that marginalize women globally.
We’re teaming up with Michelle to provide women in produce with a quarterly leadership webinar series, so thought it only appropriate to grab a ‘Seat at the Table’ with her to learn more about what fuels her mission of advancing women and why she’s bringing her special brand of women’s empowerment to the produce industry. We also learned what keeps her physically fuelled to be able to work across multiple time zones and passion projects. Spoiler alert: it’s veggie based!
Q: You’ve worked with women around the world looking to advance themselves and their careers. What are some of the universal experiences you hear from these women?
A: You’re right. I’ve worked with literally thousands of ambitious women across the globe. Obviously, every woman’s career pathway and experiences are unique to her, yet there are consistent themes to the advancement of more women into leadership.
For example, I know that 97% of women are still missing critical career advice that is essential to their career advancement. This critical career advice is related to business, strategic, and financial acumen and we call this The Missing 33%. My friend and colleague in A Career that Soars! Susan Colantuono has a Ted Talk, “The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get,” that explains it beautifully.
I also know that whilst there are structural barriers that (currently) stand in the way of gender equality in leadership, many women haven’t yet had the internal identity shift and acknowledged that firstly, they want leadership and secondly, they are leaders. I work with women to unlock their ambition, aspiration, and potential so that they can lead for outcomes and have not only A Career that Soars! but contribute more fully and visibly to sustainable and prosperous organisations.
Q: You’ve made achieving global gender equity in your lifetime a personal mission – when did you know this was your calling?
I can’t say that I had one moment… more a collection of moments over a few years that I suddenly started paying attention to!
I am a lifelong feminist and when leadership called very early in my career I didn’t hesitate to leap at the opportunity. My career has been in predominantly male dominated environments, primarily because I was in leadership roles so early and because of some of the industries or sectors I chose. The more senior I became, the less women there were. And in my last two workplaces, leadership heavily skewed towards men in executive positions and, as a result, the more notable gender inequity became. I was frustrated, in fact angry, that as I neared my 50th birthday that this inequity still hadn’t been dealt with.
I knew that I had to be part of the change I wanted to see. So, I had been involving myself in employee action groups, women’s equality and disability inclusion initiatives within my place of employment, and I loved that part of my role. The days when I was working in gender equality, diversity, and inclusion were the good days. I wanted more good days, and I wanted to have a global impact. This realization, along with completing an Exec MBA course on entrepreneurship and innovation, gave me the aha moments that I could follow my bliss and build a viable business from it.
Q: What advice do you have for women considering starting their own business?
A: Before you quit your job and take your idea or side-hustle to a full-time gig, ask yourself these questions:
- What problem are you trying to solve? For who?
- Can you get paid for solving this problem? Enough?
- What are your financial goals? Can you meet them with this business?
- How much working capital do you need for the start-up phase?
- Pay attention to the numbers, the financials and always remember: Cash is Queen!
- Network! Your network is critical, and it is never too early to alert your network to the fact that you are considering venturing.
You can see that I have responded with a very financial lens to your question, because frankly, I often have conversations with potential entrepreneurs and business owners who have a great idea, but have no idea how, or even if, they can monetize it.
If you hanker to run your own business one day, surround yourself with a board of advisors. Those people who have diverse business expertise and who will give you constructive feedback. Join a women entrepreneur’s group(s) – they are great sources of inspiration and ideas. Research. But also, have a go. I ran my business as a side-hustle for a year before I left my executive role to test my market, build a product, reputation and a pipeline of opportunities.
The other tool I really value is the Lean Business Canvas. Download it and complete it before you do anything. It helps to sort the wood from the trees very quickly!
Q: Why have you brought your mission to the produce industry?
A: Because I admire the mission and purpose of Global Women Fresh and because they are so aligned to my own mission and purpose. When Monica Bratuti first approached me after I had run a conference for Meat Business Women in 2019, I was intrigued. The more I learned about the sheer size of the industry, how much opportunity there is to create more gender equity and how under-served women were, you couldn’t hold me back.
I visited Fruit Logistica in Berlin in February 2020 and facilitated a session for GWF and had the opportunity to meet so many of the powerful, dynamic women in the fresh produce industry. As part of running that workshop, I was able to analyze the global survey results that GWF had facilitated. The data was compelling, and in some cases, heart-breaking for me. Women were sharing their workplace experiences ranging from disappointment at consistently being overlooked for higher roles because of their gender, to their awful experiences of harassment and bullying at the hands of men.
Women are the most under-utilized resource in the world, and the fresh produce industry is yet to tap into that resource fully enough. I want to be part of making that change, and to support the women in the industry at the same time.
Q: You have so many projects going on and are helping so many women across the globe. How do you take care of yourself so you can care for so many others?
A: I’m on a magnificent 21 day jumpstart with a nutritionist that is fresh produce based. This is my go-to “Green-ish” Smoothie:
"Green-ish" Protein Smoothie
Ingredients:
- 1 cup spinach or kale
- 1/2 Lebanese cucumber, chopped
- 1 stick of celery, chopped
- Handful of blueberries or choice of berries, fresh or frozen
- 1 tablespoon of cashew or almond butter
- 1 tablespoon of soaked chia seeds
- 1 cup coconut water
- 1 cup filtered water
Blend… drink… YUM!
