Resident of Yarraville, dog walker, music lover, choir singer.
Moving around while growing up
My parents thought the commute to school would be too gruelling for my two sisters and me, so we moved from Sydney to the Gold Coast. It helped that my grandparents were around too. I would call myself a Queenslander, even though I spent the first nine years of my life in Sydney.
I lived in Queensland for 15 years. Queenslanders don’t take themselves too seriously and enjoy being active. There are stereotypes of women being bimbos, and fortunately, that’s not me. The stereotype of some Queenslanders are racists and close-minded; fortunately, that’s not me either.
I grew up in a home where working towards something was valued. My parents didn’t go to uni, although both would have loved to have gone. It’s something us three girls were very encouraged to do.
I did the typical Australian thing and spent one year in the UK, staying mainly in Scotland. I really resonate with the people in Scotland, particularly their non-stuckupness. I like how Scots are real and authentic.
A memorable and funny moment happened in Scotland. For a short period of time, I worked in an auction house in Edinburgh. I would answer phone calls about the artwork and fancy things, knowing nothing about it. Once, a man living on an island off Scotland called, and he had a really thick accent. He sounded like Brad Pitt in the movie ‘Snatch’. I could not understand a word he was saying so I told him to spell out every word.
The man did, but I didn’t know if he won the auction the following day.
I returned to the Gold Coast in 2002 and decided to become a chartered accountant, following on from my Bachelor of Business a few years earlier. That’s when I learnt how to study with a hangover. It was hard graft, but I became good at prioritising. I got good at compartmentalising studies and play, and also got into yoga.
I used yoga before all the exams, and I would go out to the exam room and start doing yoga. Sometimes I would pop into a cubicle of the toilet to calm myself down. It definitely worked.
Unusually, I passed all my exams in my first very attempt. I knew I succeeded not because I was more intelligent than anyone else, but I had put the time in. Oh, and yoga helped too. I graduated in 2005.
I was still in the Gold Coast then. Mum and Dad had met in Melbourne in 1971, and they had lived in Elwood while they were dating. Mum has always told me she knew I would love Melbourne, and she was right. She knew I would love the music, the culture and the open-mindedness of the people who lived here. At the back of my head, I knew I would give Melbourne a go one day.
When I was 27, a travel agent friend of mine won a trip for herself to Nepal or India. She chose Nepal and wanted a buddy to go with her. She called me and said ‘We’re going to Nepal. Don’t say no as I’ve already booked it.’
There was going to be a lot of walking involved in Nepal, so I spent four weeks up in Mount Warning in Queensland. I walked up Mount Warning four times to train and acclimatise myself and had additional walking in Burleigh Headland National Park.
When we were in Nepal, we travelled all over the country, including the Annapurna Circuit. It was during this part of my trip when I realised I wasn’t enjoying my accounting job anymore.
On the fourth day of walking, I had felt unwell. As a result, the local medic was concerned about my health and kept close to me. A couple of local kids walked up towards us, and one of them had a huge cut on the foot. They had seen the first aid box and needed medical attention. To my surprise, the medic refused to stop and help them as he had been employed to take care of the foreigners.
I remember stopping and got my backpack out, trying to find something to help the children. All I had was some band-aids and barley sugars, and I gave the children both. Little did I know they didn’t know what to do with a band-aid; I was showing them with my hand but they were too frightened to let me show them. The whole thing really upset me, and I couldn’t believe the medic wouldn’t help the children.
Somewhere in the four weeks, I realised I wasn’t enjoying my life. I quit my job when I returned, packed my Corolla and left enough room in the front seat for my best friend who came for the road trip to Melbourne. I was 27 when I quit my job. I arrived in Melbourne in 2006, and I have not left.
Following in my parents’ footsteps, I found a place in Elwood and lived there for ten years. I was lucky enough to secure the best job in the world atMountain Goat Beer. The owners were passionate about sustainability, being different, independent and were creating a movement.
Their ideologies were similar to mine, and they were practising it in their business. For the first time, I was seeing all the things I wanted a business to be.
Craft beers were still quite underground then, and it was a growing scene. It’s nothing like it is now, where it’s everywhere. Mountain Goat Beer was one of the pioneers of craft beers in Melbourne, and the owners were really interested in being
good corporate citizens. They installed solar panels on the roof, collected rainwater and used it for the toilet, and had a policy where employees would be paid $1.50 a day if you rode your bike into work.
I started as their Finance Manager and ended up as a General Manager. They really let me spread my wings in business and allowed me to try things that I would not have thought of.
I left after three years, just as the company was recovering from the GFC. The business went on to do amazing things, and I’m still friends with the owners of the business, along with the people I worked with.”
A life-changing meeting in Mount Zero and the growing of a Peach
“Leaving Mountain Goat, I found employment with some venture capitalists. That’s where I learnt about technology, impact investing, philanthropy and entrepreneurship. Some of the projects did better than others, but I learnt a lot and felt I had contributed as much as I could.
A graphic designer friend of mine knew I was ready for the next move in my career. She had been trying to make me come to the Grampians for rock climbing. I had told her I would love to go, but the idea of camping and snowing wasn’t really appealing to me as I was from Queensland. In Queensland camping is all about the warmth and you’re near a beach.
One weekend, I was invited again. This time, they were staying in a cabin. Naturally, I tagged along. We were in a place called Mount Zero, and I had a conversation with the Jane Seymour, the founder of Mount Zero Olives. We had a conversation in the olive grove that changed my path in life. This was in August 2010.
Jane was really interested to know all about me and my skill set. She had wanted to hire me and ended up becoming my first client. She wanted me to help her get another business off the ground. While I was talking to her, I realised she was exactly the kind of business I want to work with. Jane was someone who was interested in sustainability, Australian produce and making a positive impact on the world.
Within a couple of days, I had dreamt up my business concept. The word ‘Peach’ came in the middle of the night. I remember thinking ‘That’s it. That’s the word.’
I wanted my business to be about growing businesses, being organic and holistic. The idea of a beautiful peach that grew from a seedling, and into a fruit. It’s all a little cheesy sounding, but it meant something to me. I started my business with this idea that I could bring together all these skills and personality traits that I had.
One of my biggest assets is my empathy, and being able to work with businesses that are making a positive impact on the world. I knew I could use my empathy to help people succeed. I have strong beliefs in business. Businesses have the power to change the world, more than anything in society. You can use that for good or bad. I think politicians and governments have the power to do certain things, but businesses have the ability to do more.
For example, Google and Apple are making and doing good things for the world, but also doing many things that aren’t ‘good for the world.’ The government can’t do anything to curb it. More people should think about the power of businesses, and harness it for the good of many, instead of the few.
I have a memory of a nine-year-old Fiona at a school fete, working inside an ice cream van. It was even more fun than playing in a fake supermarket with my sisters at home. Taking money from people, serving them ice cream, and getting the change right – I loved it! They had to drag me out of the van so someone else could have a go at it. I love the intricacy of how businesses worked, and working at Mountain Goat was the first time my ideas got out of my brain and into the real world. It was no longer a concept.
Peach has been around for eight years now. I like to call myself an Accounting Communicator. I made the job title up. I feel like so many small business owners are so intimidated by their finances, and they find numbers scary. My job is to help them understand their own numbers, and which ones they need to keep their eye on.
If you’re a chef, you actually know numbers as you know how many grams of something needs to go into a dish. If you’re an online retailer, you would know how many orders you process a day. People know numbers. However, when it comes to money, those numbers somehow bear more weight. That’s why people get intimidated by them.
My office was based in Elwood for four years, which I loved. In 2015, I moved to Yarraville as my tenancy had come to an end. When I first moved to the Inner West, I had been looking around for an interesting place to work. I saw this renovated church space come up for lease. It was filled with natural light, and different from most workspaces. My plants absolutely love being here. People who walk in here, they are inspired as this place has so much character. It’s been around since 1885 and it’s such a great gathering place. That’s what churches were built for.
I’ve always wanted to be a choir singer. I love music more than I can explain. I take regular quick showers as wasting water is frowned upon by my family, but I love singing in the shower! I’m one of those who would spontaneously cry while listening to music. If I’m not in my church or singing in the shower, you’ll also find me walking my standard schnauzer Flynn around the area
