Byron’s badass business women tackle key topics

THE Byron Badass Women of Business held its International Women’s Day event on Tuesday at Byron Bay Spirit Company.

Byron Bay International Film Festival director J’aimee Skippon-Volke and Indigenous chef Mindy Woods facilitated the knowledge-sharing gathering that aimed to put women at the centre of engaging discussions, insights, ideas, and topics such as leadership, growth, balance, and intuition.

Skippon-Volke led the roundtable discussion on ‘Being You: How Your Unique Identity Drives Business Success’ and said organisers and attendees were grateful to have snuck the event in before the imminent cyclonic weather event reached the Northern Rivers.

“We are probably one of the only International Women’s Day events to go ahead in the region, unfortunately,” she said.

“It was fantastic, and we sold out. The round table format provided an intimate opportunity for people to connect very quickly.”

The so-called soft skills, such as intuition, compassion and diplomacy, were up for discussion.

“We looked at things often seen as typically female traits and how they can be a real force for business prowess,” Skippon-Volke said.

“One table talked about community over competition and collaborating instead of making competitors the enemy somehow.

“Mindy facilitated the power of storytelling and harnessing your own story to propel your business and brand forward.”

The groups also tackled hard issues such as equality, equity and pay gaps.

“We’re still not at a stage where we have parity in business, and when you look at the figures, especially with startups, there is a lot of positivity and productivity that comes with female-led businesses that don’t match up with the statistics,” she said.

“We won’t have real 50/50 equality for a while. There’s still quite a way to go.

“It takes women being supported and supporting each other, and together with men as well, obviously.”

Initially held last year as a panel event, attendee feedback for this event expressed a desire for businesswomen to come together more often than once a year, which organisers are exploring.

The event ended efficiently with the impending weather at the forefront of many minds.

“We felt it was a good thing that as a group of women in the community, we could come together before the onslaught and just ground ourselves and get ready to roll up our sleeves and be helpful,” Skippon-Volke said.