29 year old Jodie (pictured) has developed the website, Shoes of Prey, which gives women the chance to become their own shoe designer.
Online shoppers can choose from a range of style components, colours and materials and the personalised footwear is shipped within six weeks.
The Shoes of Prey website was launched in October 2009. Since then it has grown into a multi-million dollar global business, with offices in Japan, China, the UK, Russia, the Netherlands and Australia. It employs 19 staff, mainly in Sydney and China.
In the past year, women from all over the world have created tens of thousands of pairs of shoes, spending a total of 20 million minutes online choosing colour, style and materials.
Jodie developed the concept with two friends from Griffith Law School; Mike Knapp and Michael Fox, who has since become her husband.
Jodie helps drive the company’s strategic direction, while also playing a leading role in product design and development. She also has a hand in human resources and marketing. She says her Business and Law degrees from Griffith have equipped her with vital negotiation skills, and an understanding of the complex business environment.
She also says Shoes of Prey has changed the way women shop.
“It’s giving them the confidence to express their own sense of style,” Jodie said.
Earlier this year, Jodie was invited to Federal Parliament to advise political leaders, on how best to foster innovation among Australia’s small and medium businesses. And this awarded business woman is only just getting started.
“Shoes of Prey has grown much faster than we had expected, but we still have enormous plans for the next three to five years,” Jodie said.
Those plans include branching out with a new online optical fashion concept called Sneaking Duck. Jodie says customers can choose frames and send off an order with their lens prescription. The glasses will then be delivered.
“It’s a collection of frames you won’t see off the shelf anywhere else at a price that means you can buy a pair for every outfit, instead of one super-expensive pair that has to go with everything,” Jodie said.