They’re successful, rich and have the sort of fabulous lives only big money can buy
One of these 18 wildly successful Melbourne women is worth $1.163bn, while two are worth more than $800m. They range from young TikTokkers to elderly fruit and vegie empire matriarchs.
Victoria
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From retail rich listers, fruit and vegetable empire matriarchs, flamboyant real estate agents, modern businesswomen and social media stars, to heirs of Melbourne family fortunes — here are 17 Victorian women with money to burn.
Some are self-made success stories that built their huge businesses from the ground up, others work hard for their money, while yet others have inherited wealth and privilege, or made their names off the back of others — but all have an enviable amount of cash to splash.
1. Retail richlister: Naomi Milgrom
Sportsgirl and Sussan owner Naomi Milgrom has an estimated wealth of $1.163bn.
A businesswoman and philanthropist, she was last year named in a list of the top 20 richest Australian women.
Naomi is the third generation of one of the wealthiest retail dynasties in Australia, that traces its history back to a lingerie store opened by her grandmother in Melbourne in the 1930s.
The eldest daughter of Eva and Marc Besen — a billionaire in his own right — Naomi bought Sportsgirl in 1999, then a struggling national chain of about 100 fashion stores, and transformed it into a booming business.
2. Fruit and vegie empire matriarch: Shirley Costa
Named the 20th richest woman in Australia last year, Shirley Costa is wife of late Geelong fruit and vegetable king and beloved former Geelong Cats president Frank Costa — who died in 2021. Shirley is not only a more-than-capable businesswoman, she has raised eight go-getter daughters. After taking over the family business with his brother at the age of 21, Frank Costa was the driving force in turning the Costa Group into the largest fruit and vegetables wholesaler in Australia. His net worth before his death was estimated at $802m.
Frank was survived by his wife, Shirley, and their daughters, Rona, Laurelle, Gillian, Caroline, Suzanne, Geraldine, Edwina and Kate, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
3. Retail richlister: Tania Austin
Tania Austin is one of the richest women in Australia, but few people would know who she is by name or face — and that’s just the way she likes it.
The owner of successful fashion label Decjuba lives in Melbourne but flies under the radar, preferring to spend downtime at home with her kids and animals, rather than attend glamour VIP events around town.
The former wife of richlister and reclusive Geelong billionaire Nigel Austin — the owner of retail empire Cotton On — Tania has built one of the biggest Australian retail success stories in recent decades.
Tania is ranked 162 on the 2022 Financial Review Rich List, with an estimated worth of $814m.
Decjuba has just celebrated its 15th birthday, proving the label is certainly not a flash in the pan. Tania has taken Decjuba from five stores to 140 across Australia and New Zealand.
4, 5 & 6: Real estate: Sarah Case, Antoinette Nido, Chelsie Cargill
Toorak’s most flamboyant real estate agent Sarah Case sells more than $300m worth of luxury property a year and makes no secret of her love for glamorous travel, cocktails and cars.
And she’s not the only female agent in RT Edgar Toorak’s stable selling, and making, serious coin in Melbourne’s well-heeled patch.
The average sale price of Antoinette Nido’s properties is more than $7m, and the former
tax director for Ernst & Young inked an off-market deal for one property at an estimated $34m — the highest sale price achieved by a female agent in Victoria.
RT Edgar Toorak’s Chelsie Cargill is also one of the state’s top sellers
Ms Case has said her secret to real estate success is in her connections and relationships.
“If someone says they want to buy ‘this’ house, chances are I know the owner, or someone knows them, and I can call them up and say ‘I’ve got a really good buyer for your house’, so it comes down to experience and knowing how to handle the situation,” she has said.
7 & 8. Young businesswomen: Bianca and Bridgett Roccisano
Co-founders of Booby Tape — a promised breast lift in a box — these Mildura sisters have been seen on private jets and hosting Hollywood A-list parties in LA with guests, including Brooklyn Beckham. The family home is a mansion but they have created their success off much hard work and networking. They launched the Booby Tape brand in 2018 using a $15,000 credit card. It’s now worth multiple millions. The company is projected to make $20m in revenue this year alone, with their product now sold in 60 countries.
9 & 10. Heirs to a fortune: The Geminder girls
The granddaughters of recycling king and billionaire Richard Pratt often post glimpses into their glamorous lives. Georgia shows that business nous runs in the family having made the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List in Asia with her flourishing oral health care brand GEM. She also posts TikToks and Instagram pictures of her luxurious home and travels. Bella is a model on the rise. Georgia was married last year to investment director, Matthew Danos.
The Chuppah took place in the late afternoon followed by a black-tie dinner in an enormous and elaborate custom built marquee at Raheen, the Pratt family’s seat of power, in Kew.
11. TikTok star: Katherine Denton
An aspiring gemmologist, Katherine is already a fashion influencer who regularly showcases luxury brands. With an infectious personality, her fashion blog TikTok videos have taken off.
Her unboxing videos also draw attention, where she opens up her gifts and purchases, usually from her impressive list of partnered brands including Valentino and Tiffany & Co.
Her lush Yarra Valley wedding to Louis caught people’s eye last year, as she donned an Alex Perry wedding dress paired with Harrolds’ Manolo Blahniks shoes, inspired by Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and The City.
12 & 13. Society sisters: Priscilla and Chantel Giannarelli
These successful Toorak sisters have a well-heeled family lifestyle but have also built their own brand. They are the founders and owners of the fast-growing luxury event company Giannarelli International. They also own Lusso Event Hire, which specialises in providing bespoke tableware for weddings and events.
14. ‘It girl’: Sacha De Winter
The Melbourne “it girl” married into Victoria’s blue-blood Baillieu family dynasty in a next-level Victorian vineyard wedding when she wed Hamish Baillieu, a descendant of influential politician William Baillieu and the son of Samantha and Charlie. De Winter’s father, Peter, is a renowned property developer and her mother, Kim, an esteemed Melbourne stylist.
15. Old money: Lauren Thurin
The granddaughter of mega philanthropist John Gandel and wife Pauline, Lauren Thurin cemented her place in Melbourne society when she wed Ollie Howard in a stunning wedding in Toorak. Ollie is the son of Victorian Governor Linda Dessau and former County Court judge Anthony Howard.
16. WAG and influencer: Bec Judd
The wife of former West Coast Eagles and Carlton AFL star Chris Judd, Bec is one of Melbourne’s most identifiable faces, with an enviable lifestyle. A fashion icon and influencer, she is also mother to four children and on VIP guest lists throughout the city.
Bec is a successful entrepreneur with her athleisure label Jaggad as well as being in a number of paid partnerships as a social media influencer.
As Rebecca Twigley, she shot to fame wearing THAT dress to the Brownlows in 2004, and hasn’t looked back.
In September 2019 the family of six moved to a $7.3m home they bought — and then extensively renovated — in Brighton, and that a lavish house-warming party dubbed ‘Juddchella’.
She frequently attends no-expense-spared events and enjoys costly tropical and skiing holidays — with money seeming to be no object in her lush life.
17. Travel guru and farmer: Catriona Rowntree
Victorian travel guru Catriona Rowntree recently delivered a masterclass in how to dress for the pointy end of the plane, donning a “easy but chic” outfit she said showed “I belong in business class!”. And she probably does.
Rowntree — who lives on a sprawling property in Little River between Melbourne and Geelong — states on her Facebook page she is “Australia’s Most Travelled Woman” after more than 25 years at the helm of popular travel show Getaway.
She also recently collaborated with French-inspired women’s fashion brand Blue Illusion, and is married to wealthy farmer James Pettit.
The pair has renovated a stately 1870s, Georgian bluestone homestead on Pettit’s parents’ farm into an elegant, French-inspired mansion.
With more nights spent in luxury overseas destinations than probably any other Australian, and a beautiful home to return to, few would argue Catriona Rowntree enjoys the sort of lifestyle we’d all love.
18: Popstar: Kylie Minogue
She might be the most famous and among the richest on the list with an estimated net worth of $120m but just because the songbird bought a $8m home in Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs in late 2021 — and she made a cameo appearance in the Neighbours farewell (that wasn’t) — doesn’t mean she spends enough time here to really call Melbourne home these days. But we’ll claim her anyway.
With a career that spans acting, singing and now also wine, following a collaboration with De Bortoli, the star has the financial means to own homes in as many countries as she wants these days — and travel in luxury between them all, whenever she wants.
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