Sheree Smith, Prue Peters, Jamie Lea: Nine of Shepparton’s top business women
Shepparton has some amazing business women, who are constantly astounding others with their innovation and growth. Here’s our list.
Goulburn Valley
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From a bra-fitting specialist who has taken her business global, to a woman putting live music back on the map, the Goulburn Valley is packed with inspiring examples of female small business owners.
Here’s a list of some of the most inspirational women in business in the region.
SHEREE SMITH, INTIMO LINGERIE
After her sister drove all the way from Melbourne to Shepparton to offer a bra-fitting service for women in the area, Sheree Smith knew she needed to do something.
“It was a service we were lacking in,” she said.
“I realised I could help my local community.”
Soon after, Ms Smith started her bra-fitting business from Shepparton where her goal was to “help women feel amazing”.
In 15 years, it has not only expanded through the region, but internationally.
She has 10,000 clients and 1500 consultants working across Australia and New Zealand.
Despite the overwhelming success, she said Shepparton has remained the strongest team and Ms Smith continues to offer bra-fitting services from home.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has opened another door, with droves of women opting for virtual bra-fittings via zoom.
“We have more reach than what we ever had,” she said.
Another important aspect for Ms Smith is supporting charities and local causes, which includes fundraising for breast cancer awareness and research and donating preloved bras to hospice groups.
She hopes to continue growing her business while supporting others with their goals – and with well-fitting underwear.
“I’m one of those people who’s always looking for what’s next,” she said.
PRUE PETERS, PRUE PETERS PHOTOGRAPHY
Prue Peters describes her business as “a bit of a fluke” which started around the time she had her firstborn.
“We bought an SLR camera and started taking photos of her,” she said.
“I really liked it.”
Fifteen years later, her business has taken off and she has become the go-to photographer for events and businesses across the region.
It’s not an easy profession in the social media age where everyone has a camera, but Ms Peters remains humble and keeps her skills honed with mentoring and workshops.
“You’ve just got to keep evolving and concentrating on the end goal,” she said.
“But it hasn’t affected me to be honest – competition is a good thing.”
While COVID-19 has made things difficult this year, Ms Peters absolutely loves her work and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love all the different people I get to meet and capturing their significant times of their lives.
“It’s such a beautiful thing to be involved with.
INGRID THOMAS, THE TELLER COLLECTIVE
Ingrid Thomas was working in agriculture, but knew she wanted to start a restaurant.
“My husband and I were foodies and I always would’ve liked to work in food,” she said.
Less than 10 years after taking the plunge, her restaurant the Teller Collective has become one of the standout venues in town, serving customers as The Food Store by day, and the Teller by night.
It started with humble beginnings, with Ingrid working at a restaurant part time.
Now, she does everything from the cooking and making coffee, to managing front of house.
Through the pandemic, she’s put on another hat, operating the back-of-house digital side through a new website, social media, as well as looking to grow their pre-packaged meals business.
“We’ve been managing and coming up with new ideas to change our business,” she said.
While the entrepreneurial mindset is now first and foremost, she said it all comes down to her love of food.
And she’s credits the Shepparton community for helping to make it the success it is.
“Shepparton area is becoming an exciting place to be a business owner and you can achieve your goals,” she said.
“Just put out to the universe what you might think is a far-fetched idea.”
JAMIE LEA, JL PRODUCTIONS AND HIRE
If you’ve been to a gig, wedding, or any other event in the Goulburn Valley which has blown your socks off, chances are Jamie Lea is behind it.
“We can do anything and everything when it comes to music co-ordination, live music promotion, space creation and event logistics,” she said.
“We just love making things different and unique.”
Though JL Productions and Hire, Ms Lea is dedicated to promoting live music in Shepparton, while also creating unique and individualised experiences.
“We don’t want to hold the whole market – we would just rather do things differently.”
Her vision is driven in part by a desire to be sustainable, which can be seen in their new warehouse on Hoskin St filled with recycled and second-hand props.
“Everything from cane furniture, to rugs, to lampshades,” she said.
Ms Lea’s dream for the future is to own and run a permanent live music venue, all with the goal to bring people together and make everyone feel welcome.
“Our business is complementary to the rest of the region,” she said.
“We are a really unique and special community with an amazing Indigenous population and a wonderful multicultural population.
“It’s about the collective success of our region.”
RACHEL MATTHEWS, SIMPLY STEMS BOUTIQUE FLORIST
Rachel Matthews knew nothing about flowers when she bought Simply Stems eight years ago.
She said she was motivated to learn more about blooms and bouquets after seeing the “most amazing arrangement” at her cousin’s wedding.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” she said.
The learning curve came after buying the business, where Ms Matthews said she went through a lot of trial and error and personal sacrifice.
“There was a lot of learning about the product – including how to keep things alive,” she said
But the risk she took eight years ago has paid off, and she has grown the business from a “one woman show” to having a team behind her.
However, there’s plenty more to come. A self-described “dreamer”, Ms Matthews said she “always wants to grow”.
But that doesn’t stop her from stopping to smell the roses.
“I love watching everybody in my team grow – the girls just support each other so much,” she said.
“It really has a great culture.”
CAT ARMSTRONG, LUSH SKIN AND LASER CLINICS
Cat Armstrong says she has “the best of both worlds”, operating two LUSH Skin and Laser Clinics in Melbourne and Shepparton.
“I love being able to travel back and forth from Melbourne to Shepparton to see my clients,” she said.
While her business story started in Melbourne in 2012, Ms Armstrong was carrying out non surgical cosmetic treatments from Shepparton before opening her second clinic four years ago.
It has not been an easy ride. Within two years of opening the Shepparton clinic, Ms Armstrong started a family.
“Juggling the business and babies was certainly the biggest challenge especially in the early stages,” she said.
But took the challenge in her stride, driven by her passion for skin and seeing her clients have restored confidence.
Her message is for all business owners to have confidence in their ideas and not to be held back by fear of failure.
“When you know exactly why you do what you do, the rest will start to fall into place,” she said.
KIRSTY RICHARDSON, MES AMOURS
Mes Amours is Tatura’s one-stop-shop for handmade products and giftware from talented local makers.
It all started as a market store in 2016, where Kirsty Richardson would sell baby shoes and sunhats after having her first child and leaving full-time work.
But it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Terrible sickness with her second child forced her to sell all stock and stop doing markets.
However, she reopened again in June 2018 with a pop-up shop – which eventually became a permanent fixture on Hogan St.
“Somehow it gave me the chance to learn how to juggle having a new baby, a toddler and a business while being able to develop lovely relationships with my customers, which is another one of the absolute joys of the business,” she said.
“Tatura has the most amazing and supportive community and they have really helped to encourage me to continue.”
And now, she’s dedicating next year to give back to the local community which has supported her so much.
“We’re offering the chance for small home businesses who have been affected by COVID-19 to take the opportunity to set up a pop-up shop within our store or to showcase their products in our store under a consignment arrangement,” she said.
“We already have 40 handmade businesses on consignment and are always happy to receive more inquiries.”
THESS ALEGRE, NANNA MARCE
Nanna Marce is known for their delicious Filipino food, served from their bespoke caravan at events, markets and weddings across the Goulburn Valley region.
The delicious chicken recipes belong to Thess Alegre, and are inspired by her mum Mama Marce, who worked as a street food vendor in the Philippines.
“I watched her serve love through food to every person who came up to her stall,” Ms Alegre said.
After taking time off from working at the local hospital’s cafe to help raise her granddaughter, Ms Alegre’s daughter inspired her to embark on a new chapter.
“Two years ago my daughter had written up a heartfelt proposal to begin a foodtruck and to call it Nanna Marce as tribute to my mum,” she said.
“I was so moved, I cried and realised that this is what we could do as a family.”
It launched in August 2019, and while business has been fulfilling, Ms Alegre said the pandemic has meant they have not been able to do their usual events.
But there has been a silver lining. They’ve decided to keep trading in their caravan from their Kialla backyard and have received an “amazing” response from the community.
As for what’s next, Ms Alegre said she was proud of the culture she has created with her business and wants to keep giving back to the community through social justice and sustainability projects.
“We like the idea of the business being small, family oriented and hopefully knowing our customers by name,” she said.
“We hope to stay true to our mission: love through food, from our family to yours.”
JO MATTHEWS, DELIGHTFUL RAINGLOW
If you’re looking for the perfect gift or game, Delightful Rainbow is the place to go.
Jo Matthews started her wacky and wonderful business 10 years ago, where she travelled from market to market, and had a few pop-up stores in Shepparton.
After being shown so much support from the community, she set up permanently in the Star Bowl Arcade on Fryers St six years ago.
She said the best part was dealing with her customers, who were like “one big happy family”.
“Hearing positive stories makes it all worth while, which confirms I’m on the right track,” she said.
While COVID-19 restrictions ruined business for many retailers across town, quite the opposite happened for Ms Matthews.
Isolation ended up being their saviour, as people developed a new-found appetite for puzzles, educational games and crafts – all which Delightful Rainbow specialises in.
“We ended up being closed for months and we thought our business may slow down a little,” she said.
“But instead it went ballistic and we were run off our feet working long hours.”
Despite the busy few months, Ms Matthews said there was no time to be complacent.
“We are always thinking of new ways to grow our business and to stay different and stand out from the rest.”
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