Justine Teggelove is having a bit of an Oprah moment …
Our Global CEO, Emma Isaacs, recently got an email from Premium member and CEO of construction company Rodine, Justine.
It went a little something like this:
“I wanted to run something by you – an idea I’ve been thinking about to support women and engage them in the Business Chicks network.
The best part about being your own boss is being you own boss – and therefore determining where you want your money and company to go. Rodine is already in partnership with not-for-profit programs (including The Huddle and Pakt4change), as these line up with our ethos of ‘building communities’ . Now that I’m part of the Business Chicks community, and can see and experience the benefits and support, I would like to make a proposal.
As part of my personal belief of ‘paying it forward’, I would like to offer to cover a number of annual memberships. Women who need a leg up or who are doing it tough, women running start-ups, isolated women … or women who just want to get a business going. Basically, women who need help in some form or another.”
Pretty lovely, huh?
This woman rocks. She seriously rocks.
Justine started her career in nursing in WA, specialising in psychiatry. Her last job in this field was managing an eating disorder clinic at a private hospital. Leaving nursing to have her children, she thought she’d go back to work six months later … seven years on, she was still happily a stay-at-home mum.
A few years after she and her husband moved to Melbourne for better employment opportunities, they started a construction business, answering phones in their home. Six months later, the company had grown so rapidly they had to find an office. Within three years, Justine went from an office manager to CEO of a multimillion-dollar construction company.
Today Rodine is not just your average construction company; it’s the one company in Australia that takes on challenges that others find too daunting. The projects that make you go ‘wow’.
Justine says her strengths lie in managing people. (She says “A surprising key trait of good leadership, is humour. How can someone be angry with you when they’re laughing?”) She’s also big on building on people’s strengths, not their weaknesses.
We also think a sign of a good leader is one who gives back – and she’s certainly done that.
Justine tells us: “I’ll be completely honest – I signed up to Business Chicks a while back, but I wasn’t a hugely active member. And then one day I got an email from Emma Isaacs to say she’d nominated me for a Telstra Women’s Business Award. I was honoured! Em asked me what I thought of Business Chicks events … and I had to confess I had never been to one.
“When an invite to the Business Chicks and Virgin Unite Leadership Gathering on Necker Island – Richard Branson’s home – popped in my inbox, I didn’t think twice. The funny thing about my time there was that while I was expecting to be inspired, it dawned on that it wasn’t about ME. Hearing from incredible speakers talking about the importance of community, I realised that I had an opportunity to help others and pay it forward.”
“I’ve had incredible women and mentors in my life, and I want to give other women the opportunity to meet incredible women, too.”
We’re extremely grateful to Justine for her generosity in gifting these memberships to the Business Chicks community.
Over the next few months, we’ll asking our Premium members to nominate someone in their lives you needs a Business Chicks membership. Maybe that person has experienced financial hardship. Maybe they have an amazing business idea and need some help to get it off the ground. Maybe it’s a friend or a family member who you know will benefit from the support and connection of the Business Chicks community. The only thing we ask is that the person you nominate will love and value their Business Chicks membership as much as you do.
To nominate someone you know and love, head over to the nomination form here and we’ll be in touch with the lucky recipients after July 1.
CONNECT WITH JUSTINE HERE.
