Melbourne’s most influential business women in the western suburbs
Melbourne’s western suburbs are full of amazing business women doing great things in the community. Here’s a list of some of the west’s most inspirational female small business owners.
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We all love a strong, independent woman, and Melbourne’s western suburbs are full of amazing business women doing great things in the community.
Here’s a list of some of the west’s most inspirational female small business owners.
Lorisa Barraza, Derrimut Dance Studio
Lorisa Barraza, 23, knew she loved to dance.
So when the former owner of Derrimut Dance Studio approached her with an offer to sell the business, Miss Barraza said she didn’t miss a beat.
“It was a little bit of a unique situation how it sort of happened,” Miss Barraza said.
“It was always my dream to own a dance studio … I knew that I loved dancing and that I loved to teach.”
Miss Barraza said she put her professional communications course at RMIT on hold and quit her retail job so she could throw herself into her new venture.
Her hard work paid off and she said her business moved from strength to strength.
“At the start of the year when I bought the business we had about 40 students, and by the end of the first term we built it up to 100 students,” Miss Barraza said.
“At dance you not only learn the steps and the moves and stuff, it’s about building that community and those friendships. It’s learning that everything is achievable through hard work.”
During the coronavirus lockdown Miss Barraza said she moved her classes online.
Derrimut Dance Studio specialises in all styles of dance ranging from jazz and tap to hip hop and ballet, with classes catering to children as young as two right up to adults.
Now that Melbourne’s lockdown restrictions are easing, Miss Barraza said she was looking forward to welcoming people back to her studio.
Address: 2 Markland Dr, Derrimut
Phone: 0430 923 413
Laura Mundy Dog Training
After completing her studies in human psychology at the University of Melbourne and the University of Ballarat, Laura Mundy said it didn’t take long for her to work out what she’d do for a job.
Ms Mundy said she’d grown up in the country surrounded by animals, and after landing a role working with an organisation that trained assistance dogs, she said she immediately found the perfect fit between her love for animals and her academic pursuits.
“The transition was just a natural one I guess,” Ms Mundy said.
Ms Mundy completed a Certificate III in Dog Behaviour and Training with the National Dog Trainers Federation and has spent her career helping to bridge the gap between dog’s and their owners.
The most rewarding thing about her job, Ms Mundy said, was helping to improve the relationship between people and their furry best mates.
And while COVID had made the process more difficult by forcing her to run sessions online instead of in person, she said she’d been able to continue her work training assistance and therapy dogs to help with people with autism, post traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric conditions.
She also hosts training programs for family pets.
“I got (clients) to set up cameras around the house so I could watch them with their dog … a lot of it has been education and remote coaching,” Ms Mundy said.
As lockdown eases, Ms Mundy said it was important to help dogs that felt anxious about being left at home alone when their owners returned to work.
Other dogs, particularly young puppies not used to other dogs, may need socialisation training before being taken to a dog park for the first time, she said.
Address: Altona Meadows
Phone: 0412 732 771
Sue Martin and Wenche Osland, Book and Paper
Friends Sue Martin and Wenche Osland hail from very different professional backgrounds.
But it was their shared love for books and a desire for a career change that prompted them to take the plunge and open a book shop, Book and Paper, in 2009.
Since then, Ms Martin said they haven’t looked back.
“We were from very different walks of life. So my background is teaching, I taught English for 25 years, and Wenche’s background is administration, so it was really a perfect marriage,” Ms Martin said.
“We knew each other and we were friends, not close friends, and it was really a dream or a passion that brought us together.”
Ms Osland’s administration background and organisational skills came in handy when the pandemic hit and they had to rethink the way they did business, Ms Martin said.
Together they launched an online store and Ms Martin said they’d been blown away by support they’d received from the community.
“It (the business) has certainly been impacted like lots of businesses, and lots of good businesses aren’t going to survive this,” Ms Martin said.
“We developed an online store, we’d been talking about it for some time, and this pushed us to do that.”
Ms Martin said she’d noticed a shift in reading preferences during lockdown.
Demand increased for books within the fantasy and fiction genres and she said she believed this was because the books helped provide an escape from the hum drum of life indoors.
“It certainly changed people’s reading habits, people were wanting more light fiction,” Ms Martin said.
Address: 36 Douglas Parade, Williamstown
Phone: 9397 7784
Nornie Bero, Mabu Mabu
Growing up on Mer Island — English spelling “Murray Island” — in the Torres Strait, Nornie Bero said she was surrounded by a mix of cultures.
This was reflected in the island’s food, she said, and inspired the recipes at her Yarraville cafe, Mabu Mabu.
Her brunch products draw on native Australian ingredients and range from bush tacos, (comprised of desert spiced emu fillet, market fish or desert spiced yams), to coconut wattleseed porridge and strawberry gum panna cotta.
The dinner menu serves up kangaroo tail and lemon myrtle green curry, and Mrs Bero said they sold sauces, teas and spices to specialist delis across Melbourne and interstate during the lockdown.
“We’re kind of a food business because we not only have the restaurant, we have all our other elements as well,” Mrs Bero said.
“During lockdown we were really lucky we did have our products … we now wholesale our products to 31 different stores.”
The cafe turned one last month and Mrs Bero said this year’s been tough.
Just like any business owner, she said she was worried about how she’d keep her cafe afloat and her staff employed, but she said she just refocused her efforts and she’d “upped the ante” by expanding her product range.
“We were like, ‘We already make this stuff and people love it, so why don’t we bottle it?” Mrs Bero said.
“We actually took it to another level.”
Address: 13 Anderson St, Yarraville
Phone: 0438 860 013
Anna Stojanovski, Mortgage Choice Point Cook
Finance professional Anna Stojanovksi had just finished renovating the shop that would become her Mortgage Choice franchise in Point Cook when the coronavirus hit.
The former Werribee Charcoal Chicken shop owner said she’d worked in the finance sector for more than a decade, including as a lending manager at the National Australia Bank and a home lending executive with the Commonwealth Bank.
But at the end of last year she said she decided to go it alone and open her own business.
Finally, after months of waiting, Mrs Stojanovksi said she was excited to open her doors this week to clients.
Mrs Stojanovksi, who’s lived in Wyndham for 18 years, said Melbourne’s outer west was a fast growing area and she enjoyed helping families and the area’s many immigrants purchase their first home.
“I want to be local, I have a lot of customers follow me for many years, all from Point Cook, Werribee, Tarneit,” Mrs Stojanovksi said.
“I’ve helped a lot of people buy the land, buy their houses. It is very rewarding to help them establish themselves.”
Address: Shop 76, Sanctuary Lakes Shopping centre, 300 Point Cook Road, Point Cook
Phone: 8323 9998
Kate Matheson, Cake Creations by Kate
Kate Matheson said she threw herself into baking when her grandmother, an avid baker, died four years ago.
Now 22, Ms Matheson said she’s passionate about making sweets and it was a no-brainer she would study to be a pastry chef at the William Angliss Institute.
“You do anything when you miss someone you love, so it really helped me to get through that time,” Ms Matheson said.
Ms Matheson now employs 28 staff in her business, Cake Creations by Kate, including her mum and two other family members.
She said she didn’t even finish her studies at William Angliss — a nasty ankle injury forced her to defer half her course — but she said she started baking at home to keep herself occupied while she recovered and customers at markets snapped up her products.
Since then she said she’s barely had a chance to catch her breath and three years ago she established her bricks and mortar store in Point Cook.
“I think if you’re really passionate about something you can do anything,” Ms Matheson said.
During lockdown Ms Matheson said she developed a delivery service ferrying cakes across Melbourne.
Now she said she was looking forward to welcoming people back in store and catering for weddings, birthdays and other functions.
Address: Shop 111, Corner of Main and Murnong Streets, Point Cook
Phone: 9395 9656
Jo Woodhouse and Yvette Jennings, Circus Fit Studio
Yvette Jennings’ physical prowess and Jo Woodhouse’s brain power makes the Wyndham mums a formidable team.
The women, whose children did kindergarten gym together, opened their gym, Circus Fit Studio in Hoppers Crossing, five years ago.
Gymnast and former Silvers Circus performer Ms Jennings oversees classes and Ms Woodhouse runs the reception and business operations.
“I might have seen (Yvette’s) act now fifteen hundred times and each time it’s absolutely incredible,” Ms Woodhouse said.
“I mainly do all the office work and all the accounting.”
Circus Fit Studio hosts classes in aerial silks, trapeze, rings, lyra, hula hopping, juggling and more.
Age groups range from circus monkeys, (one to five years old), right through to adults and cater to all skill levels, including specialised classes for people with disabilities.
Ms Woodhouse said it was all about getting fit and strong but having fun at the same time.
She also said the classes helped children to build their confidence.
“A lot of our children come here and they’re so shy and it’s incredible … it just creates their own independence,” Ms Woodhouse said.
During the lockdown she said she and Ms Jennings put their costume making skills to work by sewing and selling masks to earn an income.
It was “heartbreaking” to temporarily shut their business down, she said, but they were looking forward to getting classes back up and running again soon.
Address: 57 Elm Park Drive, Hoppers Crossing
Phone: 9974 6612
Jing Chen, JING tcm clinic
Chinese medicine runs through Jing Chen’s family.
Having grown up around the herbal remedies and ancient practises, she said it was always something she knew she wanted to do as a career.
“It’s a family business, my mum was doing this and my grandfather he does that and he passed it on to my mum,” Ms Chen said.
“Our focus is basically for the pain relief, for back pain and joint pain, and fertility and anxiety and depression as well.”
Treatments include acupuncture, remedial massage, cupping, Chinese herbal medicines and Chinese meridian massages.
Ms Chen said she was looking forward to welcoming customers back at her Williams Landing JING tcm clinic as soon as Melbourne’s lockdown restrictions eased.
“When you do something and you can have quick feedback from your customers and they tell you they feel better from your help, I feel satisfied. It makes me keep going,” Ms Chen said.
Address: 5 Freya Drive, Williams Landing
Phone: 8589 3179
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