Download this press release (360KB PDF) • scroll down to download photographs of the finalists
PRESS RELEASE March 1, 2010
The judges of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award today released the amazing list of Australian finalists for the 2010 Award. They are:
The winner of the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2010 will be announced on Monday March 8, 2010, by Stéphane Baschiera, global President of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, at a lunch attended by 100 of the country’s most powerful businesswomen at Café Sydney. The winner will receive return business class travel to Reims, France, to join past and present laureates from other countries at the Annual Veuve Clicquot International Businesswomen’s Forum, where a vine will be christened in her name. Each year on Madame Clicquot’s birthday, she will receive a gift of La Grande Dame champagne.
The Australian judging panel comprises: Chairman of The John Holland Group and chair of the Award, Janet Holmes à Court AC; The Honourable Justice Annabelle Bennett AO; Director of Marketing and Special Events for Consolidated Press Holdings, Deeta Colvin; Group General Manager of David Jones, Colette Garnsey; Chairman, Future Fund Board of Guardians, David Murray AO; Director, Paspaley Pearls Group, Marilynne Paspaley AM; Managing Director of Moët Hennessy Australia, James Paton; and CEO of the Bennelong Group, Alison Watkins.
The Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award began in France in 1972 to commemorate Madame Clicquot, and to honour women who also possess her qualities of vision, innovation, entrepreneurial drive, leadership, individuality and tenacity. It is a global award given to a leading woman entrepreneur in 17 countries annually. In 2010, the Award places a greater focus on Corporate Social Responsibility, seeking out successful business women who have embedded social and environmentally responsible practices within their businesses.
For further enquiries or information on the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2010, please contact:
Brooke Tabberer
BLACK Communications
Ph: 02 8399 3005
Mobile: 0409 844 467
Email: brooke@blackcommunications.com.au
SARAH-JANE CLARKE and HEIDI MIDDLETON
Co-directors and co-founders, sass & bide
Sarah-Jane Clarke & Heidi Middleton are co-founders and co-directors of sass & bide, one of Australia’s best known fashion brands, recognised globally for modern, distinct designs. What began ten years ago as a cult denim label, quickly expanded into a seasonal ready-to-wear business, evolving from an underground phenomena in Australia to the runways of London and New York. sass & bide today employs more than 80 staff working across design, sales, communications, finance, production and retail business.
A former accountant and advertising art director, Sarah-Jane Clarke (sass) and Heidi Middleton (bide) are an anomaly in an industry where fashion college or working as a design assistant is a rite of passage. The brand was born in 1999 at a stall in London’s Portobello markets selling customised pieces, and grew through invitations to show at Australian, London and New York fashion weeks over the brand’s history. They also operate the business according to their own ethics and principles. Sarah-Jane & Heidi are motivated by their hearts, their instincts and their moral compass: passionate about family, staff and helping out the broader community wherever they can, particularly children. They work four days a week, one day from home to ensure valuable family time, and the business is proudly staff-centric, creating a modern day culture where people love to work. In their dealings with suppliers in Australia, Bali, India, China, Philippines and Turkey, they set strict company terms and conditions to ensure that labour laws, environmental policy and best industry practice is followed. Heidi and Sarah-Jane are also passionate supporters of charities, working with organizations such as Barnardos for almost ten years. To celebrate their tenth year, they founded their own sass & bide charity initiative with Barnardos, The Shine Collective, with all proceeds going to creative workshops and grants for ten children in Australia and London.
BELINDA DAVID-TOOZE
CEO and founder, Envirosax
Belinda David-Tooze is the CEO and founder of Envirosax, a business she started five years ago in Burleigh, Queensland, which is now the world leader in designer reusable bags, selling in 57 countries with offices in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany and additional warehouse facilities in Canada and New Zealand. The bags can be seen carried by celebrities around the world such as Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner and Kyra Segwick, and have been taken on by some high profile retail department stores such as Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus in the United States; Tie Rack, John Lewis and Fenwicks in the United Kingdom; and Galeries Lafayette, Globus and Corso Como in Europe.
Environmental stewardship and ethical business practices are the heart of the Envirosax business, as a result of Belinda’s personal stance on environmental issues. The company beliefs are summarised in its Ethical Business Policy, a series of guidelines by which the worldwide business operates. They cover everything from the function of the company’s core product, devised to save the planet from plastic bag pollution, to ways the company operates, such as using eco-friendly waterless printing, to the suppliers with whom the company partners, who are assessed for their ethics from a fair trade point of view as well as their environmentally friendly processes.
Belinda and her family also “practice what they preach”, developing and living in an eco house in Currumbin, which pushes the boundaries of sustainable building technology and incorporates geothermal energy as well as the increased use of sustainable resources such as solar power and rainwater.
KYLIE KWONG
Chef/restaurateur/writer/presenter and owner of Billy Kwong
Kylie Kwong describes herself as chef, restaurateur, cookbook writer and television presenter. Her business combines her greatest passions: her Chinese heritage and her commitment to quality, sustainable produce. The restaurant Billy Kwong is at the heart of her business.
Born into a third generation Australian-Chinese family, in Sydney, Kylie learnt the fundamentals of Cantonese cooking at her mother’s side, then went onto work in some of Sydney’s finest restaurants including Rockpool, Wockpool and Restaurant Manfredi. In 2000, Kylie realized her dream of owning her own restaurant, opening Billy Kwong in Sydney’s Surry Hills. Keen to share her passions with a wider audience, Kylie diversified into television in 2002 with her first series Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul. Her next venture was to continue to de-mystify Chinese cooking with her cookbook: Simple Chinese Cooking. Her books have found a wide audience and consequently great commercial success. She has now undertaken three more cookbooks and two television series, which air in Australia on the Lifestyle Channel and internationally on the Travel and Discovery Channel.
Kylie is an avid supporter of all things pertaining to ‘sustainability’, serving only locally grown, organic and biodynamic produce in her restaurant. Kylie is the ambassador for the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand, and is the New South Wales patron for the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. In 2007, Kylie’s restaurant became the first restaurant in New South Wales to become carbon neutral. Through carbon-offsetting, Kylie purchases renewable energy credits from wind farms in China, effectively making the power consumption of the restaurant 100 percent renewable. Billy Kwong won the inaugural Good Food Guide Sustainability Award 2009.
Download this press release (360KB PDF) • scroll up to download photographs of the finalists
