Sonya | Your Styled Collective (00:01.39)
Welcome everyone to this week's episode of Style and Strategy. I am absolutely privileged to have on the show this week Gillian Fox, who is an absolute seasoned executive, entrepreneur, author and keynote speaker with an absolute wealth of experience in driving gender diversity initiatives and leadership development strategies. As the creator and lead of the Rise Accelerate and Rise Elite programs,
Gillian is dedicated to empowering women in their career journeys. With a background as a senior executive at News Corp and Pacific magazines has managed large teams and spearheaded impactful leadership programs for renowned organizations like Microsoft, NAB and Telstra. As the MD of Gillian Fox Group and your brilliant career, she's committed to guiding women towards success by helping them unlock their potential and navigate their professional paths.
She's also a respected mediator, mediator. She is also a respected media commentator and author, author, excuse me, let me just re -say that. Gillian is also a respected media commentator, authoring columns for the Australian and contributing to women's agenda among other outlets. Her book, Woman of Influence and podcast, Your Brilliant Career, serve as great resources for women seeking.
that next step in their leadership career. Welcome Gillian to the podcast.
gillian fox (01:33.252)
Thank you, Sonia. My goodness, that's a long bio, isn't it? Thank you for indulging, indulging us all.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (01:36.526)
Thank you.
Well, you've got this amazing wealth of experience that you are now sharing with the world. And I think you've done that all the way through. So why don't you tell me a little bit, how did you actually go through that leadership journey and where maybe personal brand and a little bit of style played a role?
gillian fox (01:59.45)
Okay, well, let me start just giving a little bit of professional background because I think that the context of that is really important before you sort of hit the brand pace. So I started my career unexpectedly in the media industry. So my ambition was to become a lawyer. So I was studying law at the time and I just got married, got married very young and I thought I'll just take this job.
in media, it was at News Corp and I'll finish my degree because I was married. I thought I'll study part time finishing my law degree and then I'll go back. But the thing is, I fell in love with media immediately. I loved the madness. I loved all the energy, the people. I could feel the opportunity from a career perspective as well. And I just threw, it was less than a year. The law degree was thrown over the shoulder.
And I was now in the media industry. And I come from a family in the media industry and I married into someone in the media industry. So I don't know, there was a lot of pieces that felt right in making that decision at the time. And it did serve me well. By the time I was 25, I was managing a small team and I spent nine years at New School.
And then I was offered a role at Pacific magazines, which is that time was the second largest magazine publishing company in Australia. And I took that role. I would have been 31 at the time, I think, Sonia, going way back here. And it was a big job. Like it was a big step up. It was 120 people in my team. It was 12 magazines at that time.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (03:36.366)
Yeah.
gillian fox (03:47.764)
And then we acquired more magazines. We acquired Better Homes and Gardens, Murray Clare Men's Health. It was a great period of growth and very dynamic leadership experience. And then my last gig in media was with EMA, which is an international media organization. And I was the commercial director of the women's division there.
So I had a great career and then I stepped out and I started my own business, which would have been about 15 years ago now. And it started as a leadership consultancy and then it kind of evolved in the most organic way to supporting women in the workplace. So our business is all about women's career advancement and helping them navigate their career, which is why you and I have so much in common.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (04:39.438)
Yes. That's an incredible journey. So just to give everyone a little bit of colour around Pacific magazines at that time, and you touched on some of the publications, you know, this day and age, we're seeing less and less of sort of the magazine side of things. What, what sort of other publications were part of that fold?
gillian fox (04:59.866)
Yeah, you would be familiar with a lot of them. So New Idea, Girlfriend, Home Beautiful. That's life. We had Your Garden, we had some periphery ones as well. What other homemaker ones did we have? We really had a lot of ownership in the homemaker and also...
the tween area, so we had these two tween titles as well. I think there was about 15 overall magazines and then later they also acquired another publishing company which was InStyle and some other titles. So it was very, it was a very fun, dynamic time and it was a little bit like the Devil Wears Prada in some moments of my career in there, it really was.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (05:47.886)
We love that.
gillian fox (05:50.426)
And it was such an eye -opener for me. I reported directly to the CEO. I was part of an executive leadership team that would meet every week. And that was very insightful for me because I really got to understand the types of conversations that happened around that table, the importance of influence, and that whole mechanic of how important decisions about appointments or decisions in the business,
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (06:00.174)
Yeah.
gillian fox (06:20.154)
can be made at the end of a meeting or very structured in a meeting. And it really just taught me a lot, which I think helps me today. Some of the experiences were very hard. Of course, Sonia, not all of them were easy. I was only in my early thirties. So there's a lot of things that you don't know that you don't know. But what I can credit myself with during that period is I certainly had a very big appetite.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (06:41.038)
Definitely.
gillian fox (06:49.434)
to go in every day and do my absolute best. Like I really wanted to be successful and I gave so much energy and time to the role to try and create that. And in terms of results, the team produced some extraordinary results over that period, which I'm very proud of. But you know, it wasn't all easy and glossy, lots of glimmy events, but it was, you know, there were some tough.
There were some tough moments too, as there is in any good career, right?
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (07:20.82)
Anymore. Absolutely. And I think some of those tough times is actually where you the grit kind of comes into it to push through. And then at the end of that, you've got some real learnings around that that you can take on for those next whether it's the next opportunities and so forth. So through that journey that you've had really up to the entrepreneurial part, what
What was the impact do you think around your personal brand that you'd started to develop, you know, getting into the media and then moving forward and how did that really impact your style?
gillian fox (07:57.082)
Well, I know, Sonya, when you think of personal brand, it's very aligned to style and that appearance piece, which I love. Like, I think that's such a beautiful way because as humans, we're so judgmental. We make all these decisions, don't we, in those initial seconds. So the way you present yourself in business certainly has an impact, that's for sure. And for myself, like, I love clothes. And when you talk about the connection between
personal style and style, it feels like chicken in the egg for me. Like does style come first and then the brand or is it cultivating the brand and then style? And I feel like for me, they're intrinsically linked in some strange way because when I started my role at the very early days at News Corp, I can remember it being very important that I go and buy the right outfits. You know, that was part of the whole confidence and...
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (08:30.254)
Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (08:38.862)
Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (08:49.23)
Mmm.
gillian fox (08:55.51)
right of passage that had to happen. And my mom was very much a catalyst of that. She would be like, right, let's go do this. And you know, then I would get a promotion and off we go again, the two of us would go shopping. So that punctuation was really lovely for me because when you, and I'm one of those bulk shoppers, Sonia, so I don't just go buy one or two pieces.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (09:07.95)
Yeah.
gillian fox (09:20.602)
I don't go regularly, but I buy books. So it's this lovely punctuation in those moments in my career where I have used clothes and styling to really think about who do I want to be in this next role or in this next organization. And you can fully appreciate going from a newspaper organization to a magazine company where the whole fashion stakes were dialed right up. Like that shopping expedition was fabulous, Sonya.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (09:43.414)
next.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (09:49.57)
I can't imagine, I am getting visuals of the Devil Wears Prada in my mind.
gillian fox (09:54.836)
That's That's ugly. But that was, I think, it's very much, that was very much for me and managing myself. I really see it as a self -leadership piece because it allowed me to step into that role and own it and feel good about myself. And I was very conscious of wanting to present and be experienced in that business environment in a particular way.
And I felt clothes helped me do that, the way I hold myself, walk into a room. It just, it helped me either blend or stand out, whatever, do you what mean? I was trying to achieve at that time.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (10:35.918)
No, that's fantastic. So what do you think overall through that part of the journey? And like I said, I'll come to the entrepreneurial side in a moment, but you know, through that journey of your career, what would you say were some of the biggest lessons that you could take away?
gillian fox (10:51.898)
Oh, could write a book on that, couldn't I? Which is great, right? Because I always think, you know, if you've got lots of lessons, you've truly stretched yourself in your career. Yeah, because you know what I mean? You are out of your comfort zone trying new things. But yeah, let me let me share a couple and I think that will really resonate with your corporate audience to Sonia. I think one of them was learning to stop
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (10:54.574)
you
gillian fox (11:22.042)
being the pleaser in the workplace and learning how to say no a little bit more assertively. And I'll tell you how this point landed so poetically for me while I was working in magazines. I had one of the editors, quite a influential editor, call me in one day and kind of demand that my team help her with an event that was the following week. And it really wasn't in our remit, but there was a lot of fear.
from me around the consequences of not helping her. And the extra layer of pressure in all of that is at that time my team, they had a lot of other things on. So to impose that on them was a whole nother layer of stress. But the bottom line is I was terrified that she would kind of marginalize me a little bit in my career. And I didn't actually know how to say no. So I said yes.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (12:07.022)
Hmm.
gillian fox (12:20.442)
And my poor team had to take all of that on and I felt like a terrible leader. Like I was very aware of the impact of doing that and how it felt wrong. And my realization was after that event is far out. I need to figure this stuff out because I have lots of big personalities to deal with. And, you know, it is irresponsible of me not to give this the due diligence that it actually needs so I can.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (12:47.948)
Mm.
gillian fox (12:49.05)
create better outcomes for my team in the future. So learning how to say no, and I see this as a frustration for lots of women, right? I've even written a guide on it. That's how passionately I feel. Because I think, you know, as women, we're told to speak up, which is fabulous, like great. But when we want to speak up, Sonja, we want to do it eloquently. You know, we want to be compelling. There's one way to ask your boss for a raise and...
There's another where you can be a lot more convincing and have a business case. I mean, there's, you know, there's so much to be said about your style of communication as well. And I love this idea and helping women with this idea of, well, how do you say no elegantly? You know, without losing your reputation, but how do you do that? And that comes directly from my, you know, pain.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (13:29.518)
Yes.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (13:38.444)
Mmm.
gillian fox (13:46.074)
in my career. I would say the other important lesson that I learned.
And I learned it at a couple of intervals to be quite honest with you is what got you here won't get you there. And it's this idea of landing. And I remember landing at Pacific in the first four weeks, working really, really hard, trying to do all the right things. And then another four weeks went by and I haven't started to achieve the desired results.
And in my area of the business was the commercial area that was very visible. Like you got the results or you didn't get the results. It was simple as that. And I wasn't getting the results. And I can remember being at a meeting with a couple of editors and the finance person and they said, what are you going to do differently, Gillian? And that one question, like I remember that moment so distinctly. And I remember going back to my office and I remember the tears welling up in my eyes and
feeling so inadequate. And my realization though, and it did take me probably a couple of weeks to figure this out, my realization was I was doing all the things that got me there. So you can be, you know, saying yes is a great example. You can be the go -to girl. No problem. I've got the can -do attitude. Leave that with me, which really serves you well at the front end of your career. But then there's a point where you need to be more strategic.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (15:00.502)
Mmm.
gillian fox (15:16.282)
You know, you need to showcase your business acumen. You need to elevate your conversations a lot more. And the realization was far out. I need to build some new skills here. What got me here is not going to get me there. And indeed, I need to do some things differently. And I think once you have that epiphany, you can be a lot more pragmatic about it. So what do I actually need to achieve? And that's what the process was for me.
And it helped me a lot that, gosh, there's a lot of pain associated with that. And I wish in hindsight that I knew that and I could have prepared for that before I got the step up opportunity.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (15:59.95)
Yeah, those two areas, I've got goosebumps actually. So thank you for sharing those because I think so many of us can absolutely resonate that with it. Especially, you know, the being able to say no in a pragmatic way that is elegant is really challenging because you want to be seen, you sort of strive for that. But I want to be seen as I'm proactive and I'll take that on. But then when you are,
have that larger team, I can certainly say in my corporate career, I've learned that lesson many times as well. And you absolutely once you've done it, and if you've got a great working relationship with your team, your team will tell you.
And so this is putting more stress on us and you feel it as a leader and you're absolutely right in that you won't make that mistake again and you will learn those boundaries of what is appropriate and what can be done and sort of the parameters around what can work or it becomes a whole, you know, stop, start, continue exercise or a prioritization discussion that you as a leader take on with, you know, your senior management or the
those execs as well. So absolutely feel you on that one. And then the secondary one, like I said, both of them had really given me goosebumps around because I've been in those kind of scenarios. So but yeah, definitely the no is one of those challenging areas, especially when we're fighting imposter syndrome to some extent. And I know some people don't.
necessarily believe in imposter syndrome and that everybody goes through it. But there is some element of, I need to prove my worth or I need to say yes to the to certain situations. So having a strategy in place, being able to know, you know, the different ways of being able to say no in a different way can can make a real difference.
gillian fox (18:06.234)
I think so too. I think so too. And I think having the language, like we provide scripts and we should share it. We should share as a full guy, we'll do it. Because I think I believe in giving women scripts sometimes because if you get the language part right, that goes in your toolkit and it builds your confidence. Because at this stage of our career, Sonia, we can navigate that stuff. Sorry about that. We can navigate, you know, those moments.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (18:12.622)
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (18:22.35)
Hmm.
gillian fox (18:35.706)
a lot more confidently because we have the experience and you know you you have that clarity of mind and you have you're practiced in it seasoned in it but when you're not there's a lot of fear in the tank around it and I think a lot of the fear comes around comes from not knowing how to do it well because you know your listeners and the women I work with too like they're high achieving women like they have high standards for themselves.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (18:45.358)
Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (18:50.19)
Mm.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (18:56.876)
Mmm.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (19:02.862)
Okay.
gillian fox (19:05.37)
They want to come across in the business environment in a way that, you know, where they're respected, they're taken seriously, they're impressive. And I think that's a great thing to aspire to. So if you're going to learn something, why not learn it well? And I feel that language gives you that confidence to step in and be able to do things. Plus your style. Don't let's, yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (19:22.19)
Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (19:28.716)
Yeah.
No, absolutely. I think, you know, I always talk about and you touched on it as well is once you've got that piece on it links to who you are as that branding component. It's just going to help you show up and be able to make that the language will, you know, it ends up being like a bit of a composer, right? You've got the music right in terms of the language. You've got the look right. And actually it all just ticks those boxes for you. So everything just becomes.
more authentic and it's you being able to portray that. So yeah. Yeah, exactly.
gillian fox (20:02.746)
And you just feel more elevated, right? In that moment, you know, it's just, you just feel like, and then, and then with that confidence, you fill in the gaps for the other parts, which is amazing.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (20:12.526)
And so, so now, you know, you've been working in that entrepreneurial space for a number of years now, working with lots of, you know, mid to senior to executive leaders really around leadership, their brand and so forth. So what would be the sort of three pieces of advice that you would give, you know, that maybe an aspiring, you know, mid to senior later in reaching that next level from your perspective and what you've seen worked?
gillian fox (20:40.474)
Yeah, I would say the first piece of advice would be own your career. Does own your career. Don't you might have a terrific boss. You might have a fantastic HR person, mentor. You might believe in the universe. But I am a big believer in taking full ownership of your career because you will have seen this too. Maybe you've been experienced at first hand. There's the front end of your career.
If you're a high performer is largely taking care of you get promoted, things happen, it all clicks into place. But then as you get more senior, things slow down and you have to own your career to create those next opportunities and understand how to navigate some of those complexities. So that would be my first thing. And it's a mantra that I always express to anyone that joins our programs. You have to own your career. You have to plan it. You have to drive it.
And that is the good news, right? Because no one's going to care more about your career than you. No one ever. So get on board with that. I think the second tip would be what we spoke about earlier and that is sure, speak up, learn to speak up. It's great, but learn to do it well. Yeah. You know, have standards around that. If you're going to speak up, learn to do it eloquently, be compelling.
and keep practicing that skill because your communication ability regardless of what direction you go in your career is always going to be an asset. So that would be my second thing. And I think my third thing.
would probably around be building your business and strategic acumen. Cause one of the things that I observed with a lot of the women that I work with, when they hit that moment in the career where the promotions don't come thick and fast anymore, things kind of slow down because they're at that mid level about to go to the next level. Some of the feedback that they get when they do 360s or just other feedback is,
gillian fox (22:46.554)
You're highly capable, you're reliable, you're a great team player, you're an expert at what you do. Rave reviews on All France, but they're not strategic enough. And it's fascinating, right? There's a great TED Talk by Susan Clontuano, and it's called The Career Advice You Never Got. And in it, she talks about how men and women have a different experience through their professional career.
And women miss out on being educated on their business strategic and financial acumen. And I am with her all the way on that one. And she actually uses the example in her TED talk if if we were mentored, Sonia, and you're the female and let's say I'm the man, you would be mentored on confidence as a female and I would be mentored on the commercial acumen.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (23:21.58)
Mmm.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (23:31.182)
Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (23:38.222)
Yeah.
Yeah.
gillian fox (23:41.978)
And that's what her research is an academic and that's what her research revealed. And I'm all for women learning how to build their business strategic and financial acumen, like take an interest in the business. What are the big goals? Ask your boss, what are the strategic initiatives? And then think about what are you going to hang your hat on this year? Like don't be the doer in the trenches doing everything. What is the thing that you really want to shine and be known for?
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (23:59.79)
Mm.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (24:05.518)
Yeah.
gillian fox (24:11.546)
at the end of the year. And that is part of being strategic, right? Because you're going to choose the thing that is going to add the most value to the business and it's going to allow you to make your value in the organization more visible.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (24:16.974)
Absolutely.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (24:26.958)
Yeah, no, for sure. It becomes really your your North Star. So if you go back to what do I want to be known for? What what taking control of my career, then having your North Star there in terms of trying to navigate your way forward, at least then you've got you've got a bit of a strategy there that that's, you know, taking you in in that direction. And yet no, I couldn't agree more. I've seen many cases and you know, even myself at the beginning of my career, where that's where I'm
those challenges had sort of, you'd got there and thought, oh, hang on a second, there's a whole piece here that I'm missing. And so how do I do that? How do I get more of that? And that's really that whole being proactive and taking control, talking to people, getting to know others around it, and really trying to, I think, work that muscle. So let me...
In looking over both from the beginning of your career all the way through into your entrepreneurial side, what, is there an outfit at all? So let's get into some of the fun stuff. Is there an outfit at all that you would remember wearing or something that had significant milestone, whether good or bad, that you remember through your sort of career journey?
gillian fox (25:34.298)
Oh
gillian fox (25:45.07)
Mmm.
gillian fox (25:50.074)
Yeah, I remember too, in my magazine days, and I'll talk about how I approach things now, which is quite different. I remember buying two Diane Von Furstenberg dresses. One was a classic wrap dress. And it was a long time ago and her brand was just, it's still beautiful, but it was unbelievably beautiful back then because I suppose she was still at the helm and it was just, you know, the fabrics and everything was so beautiful. And I loved those dresses.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (26:09.166)
Yeah.
gillian fox (26:19.866)
loved, love, love, you know, whenever I put particularly the wrap dress on, it was my confidence boost and it was white and blue and it was a really lovely modern dress. Yeah. So I have such fond memories of that. And the other, I'm going to give you multiple examples now. And the other thing I remember during my magazine days, it was actually while I was on maternity leave. So when I started that big job, I also had a little baby.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (26:37.326)
Hahaha!
gillian fox (26:49.754)
who wasn't even one at that time. But before I took on the job while I was on maternity leave, I saved up and I bought a Colette Dinnigan dress. And then in that role, I had a lot of events to go to, at least minimum two every week after work. And so I had this sort of like a dusty pink Colette Dinnigan, it was a two piece. And I just wore that all the time.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (26:51.79)
and
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (27:00.782)
Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (27:16.142)
I love it.
gillian fox (27:16.986)
I just wore that all the time to every function. I had a black dress and I had that and they were basically on rotation. But I always felt good in that. You know what mean? It was my go -to and I thought, well, if people see me, you know, there's that woman again in the pink dress. I still felt that I looked nice in it. So might be same same, but I felt good and I felt it was professional.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (27:35.756)
Yeah.
Oh, your cosplay would have been fantastic on that.
gillian fox (27:41.914)
Yeah, I really, I really loved it. And I did save up for that dress. You know what I mean? It was it felt like the splurge, the splurge buy. And then today, I do have if I open my wardrobe, I do have go to outfits for different things. Like if I'm doing a keynote speak, speaking gig, I have a navy blue dress that I really love. If I'm on a panel, I always wear black pants, and maybe a pop of color at the top. If I'm doing
coaching in the city, you know, I have outfits. I kind of see a little bit more bandwidth with that because it's how I feel, but there's, but it's still got to be professional. And then if I'm in the, your brilliant career space where I'm presenting to my public programs, the rise programs, I feel like I have a little bit more creative scope versus being in a CBA or you know, KPMG or whatever. So I can be a little bit more flamboyant with my.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (28:16.686)
Mm.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (28:28.558)
Yeah.
gillian fox (28:36.442)
clothing so I might wear more color and just more fun things maybe more informal as well. So I have a lot of fun with my wardrobe. I really do link how I want to feel and who I want to be in that moment to thinking about the outfit and I know that's not the case for everyone but that just seems to be something very inherent in me.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (28:51.79)
Mm.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (28:58.638)
And I'm sure as I know, as I've looked at your sort of website and seen some of the programs and things like that, that there's this thread still of you very much, but it's a dial up or a dial down or a dial to the side around, but fundamentally it's very representative of you as well.
gillian fox (29:19.546)
you get older as well you become very comfortable in who you are in a multi -dimensional way. Yeah, yeah. I remember it was this week I was down at the beach and took a photograph there on the stories and it was really quite unattractive Sonia, I have to tell you. I just got out of the water. But at the same time it was vibrant and happy and you could see the pleasure.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (29:27.694)
Yes.
gillian fox (29:46.682)
Do you know what I mean? And I posted it because like that's all me, every part of it. But I know the people that work with me, if I'm going to be delivering something to you, I will be professional, frocked up, ready to rock and roll. But you know, I'm not like that when I'm going shopping with the boys or doing other things. And I think it's great that we have this world where...
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (29:46.69)
Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (29:50.478)
with the internet.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (30:05.966)
Yeah.
gillian fox (30:14.202)
we can be multidimensional in that way and have different aspects to our personal brand and style that suit us. Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (30:23.534)
Yeah, exactly. And it really comes down to the whole, you know, people say, oh, I'm tired of hearing the word authentic, but that effectively is, that's your full 360 of who you really are as well. Okay, so three quick questions. One is you've pretty much answered this already, but if you had to say one signature style piece that you would be your go -to.
gillian fox (30:55.194)
me. You know what? I think it is my go -to safe outfit and it's a coral pair of Victoria Beckham pants. Yeah. And you'll see them on the website because I wear them. And in fact, this week I had a meeting in with the editor, which is the ex editor of Vogue now, Edwina McCann. And it's like, well, what do you wear? Like you don't want to be over the top because it's quite casual in there. I was like, let me pull out the coral pants again.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (31:05.87)
That's the best pants.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (31:17.358)
Yes.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (31:24.334)
Love it. Love it!
gillian fox (31:27.226)
So I would say they are, at the moment when I think about my wardrobe, they are my little go -to piece, yes.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (31:34.766)
Okay, transformational read. So for our listeners looking for a little bit of inspiration, what book maybe are you currently reading or listening to?
gillian fox (31:46.074)
Yeah, I'm reading lots of things at the moment to be quite honest with you. I tend to do that. But in terms of recommendations, like what really has stood out to me, there's been a couple of books actually in the last probably six months. One is Kimmy Nick for Pills book, it's called Power. And you probably know Kimmy.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (32:10.606)
Yeah, yeah.
gillian fox (32:11.066)
And she is an incredible woman. She writes so beautifully. I just couldn't believe how beautifully she writes. And she talks about everything from her experience being adopted and it just brought so many...
leadership things to life for me, but also cultural diversity issues to life in a way that I've never experienced before. So I absolutely like that really filled my cup. I loved that book in so many ways. And the other one is by Chelsea Pottinger and it's the mindful high performer. And I think if anyone's listening to your podcasts on you, not only do they want to progress, but I imagine that they think of themselves holistically.
and how they can continue to improve as a person. And if you're of that mindset, I think you would love Chelsea's book because she talks about everything from sleep to nutrition to just managing yourself in stressful situations. And she's very good at bringing it back to real life scenarios. So it's not at all woo woo, it's not detached. I feel like there's, her gift is that she provides a lot of very practical things that you can apply.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (33:18.082)
Yes.
gillian fox (33:26.106)
And the book is groaning with tips and insights, but you take what you want from it, right? And I found it very nourishing and very helpful. Some things were a reminder and other things were like, I love that. You know what I mean? I'm going to be doing that. Yes.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (33:31.054)
Good.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (33:39.534)
Yeah, yeah, fantastic. I haven't read that one. I will put it on my list as well. So last question, mindset ritual. So we all have those days where we need an extra boost. So what's your quick mindset reset that you would recommend?
gillian fox (33:57.242)
Well, I am a stickler for getting up early, always have, and I journal. So if I have a problem on my mind, it could be a work related problem or anything really, I tend to hit pen and paper. I make a cup of coffee and then I sit down. I love the peace in the morning. So my husband or son, no one's up. So it's, I've got the joint to myself. And sometimes I'll put Spotify on in the background.
and just listen to a little bit of music. But then I write and I think about how I might navigate that problem. I think about what do I need to be intentional about for the day? All those sort of things. You know, I did it this morning. I do it most mornings and I absolutely love it. It is the thing that allows me to have a better chance of being really productive and
Just approaching the day with the right attitude and energy. Yeah.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (34:56.238)
Yeah, that's fantastic. And I think, you know, it does help with those days where you want to shoot back an email to somebody and you think, no, I'm not going to do that and just get it all out of your head and really start to focus in on, you know, what is going on up there and putting it down on paper can really give you that release to some extent as well. Gillian.
gillian fox (35:18.938)
I love the morning and I think you can come up with some awesome ideas as well. I come up with some of the best ideas for the business and solutions in that time, which is hilarious. So by the time the team comes in, I'm like, I've got an idea. They're like, oh really?
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (35:25.132)
Hmm.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (35:33.634)
No, that's fantastic. Look, Gillian, thank you so much for joining me on the Style and Strategy podcast. So why don't you tell us how everyone can find you and maybe some of the programs. I know I've touched on them as well, but I will have all the details in the show notes. So.
gillian fox (35:57.882)
Thank you. Thank you. So our signature program is Rise Accelerate, which is a 90 day career program. It's live, it's online, but it attracts a brilliant cohort of women. And we have one coming up. So it's in March, we're only around a couple of years. It's in March and it's a great program for all the resources, building your toolkit, you know, working alongside a like -minded group.
women. I also do uh group coaching in that so you get this chance to be coached one on one in the program. So all of that is at your brilliant career. So if you jump on there you'll see the program, you can go to the podcast, there's freebies to get, all that sort of stuff. And the other link that perhaps we can include Sonya is the free download on how to say no. So we'll we'll leave that because I think you know people might be interested in having a sticky beak at that as well.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (36:46.03)
Yes.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (36:53.358)
No, absolutely. So like I said before, I will have everything in the show notes. So you just have to go there, click on the link and connect with Gillian. So thank you very much for all your insights and I will chat to you soon.
gillian fox (37:07.482)
Well, Sonia, thank you. I think the work that you're doing is absolutely brilliant. And you're such a good role model for doing this because I think you bring the corporate and the style component together so well, which is really inspirational, I'm sure, for the women that work with you. And I loved our conversation. So thank you.
Sonya | Your Styled Collective (37:25.762)
Thank you Gillian.
gillian fox (37:28.058)
Okay.
