When did you start your business?
I registered my Social Enterprise in 2020 during the lockdown. This was a formation and amalgamation of the ideas that had been on my mind and heart for many years, but the silence of Covid helped me to weave a story with those threads and create something beautiful with it.

What was the inspiration behind your work/business?
Many little and big things in life led me to this. There is no single moment. I stand on the shoulders of giants and I am grateful for the privilege that enables me to do what I do.
I believe that to arrive at a destination, we need to walk a journey of a thousand steps. Th!s is Me is not just about the models, the guests or me. It's about the very first moments where someone dares themselves to believe that they are enough and deserve to be celebrated. It's the phone call that leads them to say yes. It's the day itself where they emerge on stage and realise that they are worthy. It's about the audience who see representation and talk about it among themselves or with others long after the day has finished. It's about the impressions we leave behind.
The money we raise, all of our profits are channelled to a school in Kolkata India to support vulnerable children to develop soft skills so that they might find meaningful employment and opportunities. Kolkata being particularly important to me due to this city being the home of Mother Teresa whom I have and continue to admire as my role model in life.
We can only do what we do because others embrace our stories and because we once dared to believe that yes we can.

What are you most excited about in your work/business?
I am most excited about the year to come where we will co-create around children, a program that fits their needs and helps them to soar beyond what they imagined possible. The fruits of this might take time, however there is much greatness in the process not just the destination. I’m looking forward to the pieces of the puzzle coming together with professional volunteers here in Australia, money raised through fundraising and our partners and collaborators on the ground in India.

What has been the most challenging thing about starting your work/business?
Funding, for most social enterprises it is that which stops us in our tracks and depletes us in a way that nothing can. However the root of this points to many things. The real challenge for me is apathy, to have to convince people to care about poverty and injustice. To understand that they have privilege and a responsibility to share this with the world.
It is this that brings me to my knees. I am an empath. I saw a child in India who was trafficked and would not ever receive an education or exit from the cycle of poverty. That was 20 years ago and he still haunts me.
We walk past injustice every day and rightly many of us need to de-synthesise from it or risk feeling overwhelmed with hopelessness.
I want people to walk alongside a slither of the grief, pain and despair that our world is feeling. I want people to care hard enough to take action and that is the biggest challenge.
Fundraising, social media, attempts at media coverage and publicity and building networks is exhausting and not entirely sustainable. Each year I feel that I need to convince people to buy tickets, to donate money, to care about something, anything.
There is no magic pill or formula. I think it's people like me who stand at the coal face of injustice that truly see things that can't be unseen. It is our burden and privilege to stand as advocates with those who don't have a voice.
I lean in on others often. I seek advice from mentors, my coach, people who I respect and admire and I learn from doing and my mistakes. I have paid for myself to attend courses that have helped me to think differently and to adopt smarter strategies. And I laugh often, love deeply and thank myself for continuing to strive for the impossible. I wake up each day and choose opportunity over risk or failure. I fill my own cup so that I can replenish the cups of others who are far less privileged than me.

What advice would you give to other women thinking about starting a work/business?
If you are not uncomfortable, you are not growing. Fear is a darkness that is an inhibitor to innovation, growth and transformation. If you don’t step into the space where you are risking something, it means that you are giving your power away. Grasp it wholeheartedly and believe that your vision and dream is worth the risk. Even failure can teach us lessons we cannot learn any other way.

Why did you enter the Women Changing the World Awards?
I have felt small most of my life, it was worlds, culture, the colour of my skin, my gender and other things that caged me and it was my self talk that held the lock in place. I am at the age where I have shed the self deprecating cloak that I have been wearing and I feel that I am ready to unashamedly celebrate myself. The awards were tremendously significant. Simply entering them felt audacious but winning a Silver was extraordinary.
The award has helped my personal brand so that I have credibility when speaking to partners and collaborators. It has also helped to bring attention to the work that we are collectively doing which I hope will translate to philanthropic outcomes so that our work can be sustained into the future.

What did you enjoy the most about being part of the awards?
I have reached out and connected with other winners and nominees and I feel that I am a part of a connected and wise community where we can celebrate each other and allow ourselves to lean in and out as needed.

What surprised you most about the awards?
The diversity of the awards and the invitation for women from various backgrounds and passions to see themselves in the categories was deeply important to me.

How did the awards help you in your work/business?
Having the award featured as part of my professional profile and website has helped me gain credibility and response. An accumulation of consistent actions, behaviours and contributions have led me here. The award is a big part of my success and something that I am incredibly proud of.

What advice would you give to other women thinking about entering the awards?
You have absolutely nothing to lose. The process itself helps you to think about and articulate the wonderful achievements, dreams and outcomes that you have achieved. This enables you to acknowledge yourself in the process even if you don’t win. Nominating yourself can be an important step for you to validate your own narrative and allow others to see you.

What has been the best thing about starting your own work/business?
Having a sense of purpose and a vision that I am doing something meaningful with this one life that I have been given. It’s important for me to share my privilege with those who do not have it. It’s also important that I do what I can as a global citizen and custodian of this world to leave an imprint that is bigger than me.

What’s happening next in your work/business?
We are planning what we can here in Australia and a team of us plan to travel to India next year to co-design a program with the children from the school, teachers, parents and community. It will be an exciting phase of our mission and one that will see us immersed in a world that we do not always see or feel.

What are your big plans for the future?
I would love to see this program realise the success we hope it will have and for our vision to manifest itself into more schools across India or even the world. As audacious as it is to dream big, I feel that I owe it to myself and children who languish in poverty to at least try.

How can we connect with you?

www.fullcirclesocialenterprises.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-brunet/
https://www.facebook.com/thisismemelbourne