Twelve years ago Alexandra Smart was in her final MBA year, pregnant with her first child and needing to theoretically re-engineer a business unit for the strategic management final project. While the rest of her cohort, of which I was a member, chose to focus on a part of the organisation that employed them, the co-founder of fashion company Ginger And Smart took the opportunity to plan a new business.
At the time, Alex told me she felt she had no choice but to start a business as the career opportunities on hand to her as a pregnant woman in the media industry in 2002 were limited. Alex had previously worked as a publisher across fashion and lifestyle magazines.
Last Monday The Australian Human Rights Commission released its Headline Prevalence Data for its National Review entitled Supporting Working Parents: Pregnancy and Return to Work National Review. The Review found that one in two women reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace during their pregnancy, parental leave or on return to work. According to the report this has a negative impact on a woman’s career opportunities which is why “high numbers of women” leave their jobs as a result.
I was literally hidden away in a cupboard (the room I returned to work in was not much bigger) to work on ‘special projects’ following the birth of my first child 20 years ago, so I changed jobs before my self-esteem could be eroded. Alex Smart did the same when she reached her own career crossroad due to pregnancy.
I watched the seeds of the Ginger And Smart dream unfold on paper during the final half of our MBA year. Alex understood the commercial side of fashion and her sister Genevieve was a successful designer for fashion label Lisa Ho at the time. The Ginger And Smart show at Mercedes Australian Fashion Week on Tuesday showcased the very best of the sisters’ talents. Sitting there, surrounded by the entire fashion media industry, I was overwhelmed with how far Alex has come since that original business plan born from career necessity.
Alex launched her business with one baby and has grown it in parallel with the extension of her family to include two more children. I know it’s been tough for her to run a business that has consumed her life with small children because she has shared those details with me over coffee during the years but Alex is evidence that it can be done. She is an amazingly determined woman.
The MBA was a catalyst to a number of career changes for my cohort. What it offered was a fresh way of looking at business challenges and opportunities. Following graduation a number of our fellow students changed companies, others changed industries and a few like Alex changed their lives.