Women With GRITT: Doone Roisin On The Power Of Building A Community For Female Founders And Why You Shouldn’t Sweat The Small Stuff

Hi Doone! Thank you for speaking with us today. Before we chat about Female Startup Club, we want to know a little more about you. What was your childhood like? 

I used to struggle to tell my story because I was embarrassed that my childhood looked different to my friends. I’ve recently started to cherish my upbringing and the sacrifices that my mum made for me.

When I was little, the two of us lived in this tiny town on the side of a mountain in the Australian bush. We didn’t have electricity in the early days. We lived off the land. I was the only person in my grade for two years! All that got flipped on its head when my paternal grandparents gave me an opportunity—something I’ll be forever grateful for—and changed the course of my life: boarding school! Going from not having a lot to getting this incredible opportunity was such a game-changer and it’s shaped the rest of my story.

You’ve inspired so many women through your podcast, Female Startup Club. Who’s your biggest inspiration and why?

My mum is my biggest inspiration. She had to work really hard to make minimum wage to support and feed me growing up. That’s what drives me in terms of wanting to change my circumstances and give back to my mum, and make sure that she is proud of me for being able to do the things that she has never been able to do. 

Let’s talk about Female Startup Club! When and how did you come up with the idea for it?

Before starting Female Startup Club, I was building a direct-to-consumer business—a sparkly jewellery brand called Kincs. We grew it organically. It took me to China, Indonesia, Thailand, Bali and Paris Fashion Week. It was worn by influencers and spoken about online in places like Vogue and Who What Wear. I always wanted to start an e-commerce brand and use that skill set. Jewellery is where it started. But by the second year mark, I thought I might have picked the wrong product. I wanted to do something that solved a problem that I could truly lean into and stack all those marketing things on there.

So, I started talking to my girlfriends. I was like, “What are you doing? What industry are you in? Can I ask you some questions?” I realised that I was having these interesting gold-filled conversations around what was working for them, how they were building out teams or how they were raising money. I was like, “This is so cool that I get to be privy to these conversations. I should start sharing these online.”

At the same time, I’m reading ‘Tools of Titans’ and was thinking about how all those guys were so badass. I loved that they took this direct, no bullshit approach to business. I learn a lot from men, truthfully. I feel like I have a lot of masculine energy and I want to understand how they’re building businesses but I also want to hear that same energy from women. That’s when I started doing videos and posting them on Instagram, which quickly led to the podcast. It wasn’t meant to be anything special. It was something that I was doing on the side. I whipped up a quick website on Wix. I did some casual branding myself. It was not planned. It was the classic bedroom floor side hustle.

Female Startup Club is in the top 0.5 per cent of podcasts globally. Congratulations! What do you think has made it so successful? 

It is without a doubt the women that I have the honour of interviewing on the show. These conversations are consistently the highlight of my week and after interviewing 400+ women to date, I still learn so much every single time. The show is what it is because of those willing to share their time, experience and expertise with the rest of us, and I’m super grateful for that. 

The podcast has taught me so much too! Especially how building a business is a journey full of highs and lows. What have been the highlights and challenges of building Female Startup Club? 

Besides connecting with some of the most incredible minds in business, my biggest highlight has to be the freedom this adventure has given me. It took a few years but my husband and I have both worked really hard to build businesses that are entirely online and allow us to be wherever we want to be, when we want to be there. We were able to spend almost two years pre-pandemic dotting around Indonesia, Australia and Europe. Being able to work from anywhere in the world has been a real gamechanger. We’re in Australia at the moment, and it’s bliss.

When it comes to the challenges, there are many. In the very beginning when I didn’t have any credibility and the show had just started, I was often getting ‘no’ or being ghosted on my emails. It was something I had to learn not to take to heart. (Even to this day it’s still the case—I get ‘no’ all the time from women who I admire so much!) One of the very first people I emailed asking to be on the show was Arianna Huffington. Since then I’ve emailed her on the same date each year: November 2019, November 2020, November 2021, November 2022. I always get a response but it’s not the ‘yes!’ I hope for. 

When you’re small and just starting out it’s easy to take everything personally but over the last few years, I’ve come to realise that rejection is part of the journey, but also that a ‘no’ isn’t a no forever. When you’re committed to building something special, it really does take time and persistence.

You recently launched Majic—can you share more about what it is and who it’s for?

Majic is a tool for new-ish founders and future founders from around the world. You come to Majic to meet other women who are building their first businesses. You come to Majic to access frameworks, blueprints and SOPs that can be implemented immediately into your business. And you come to Majic to learn from world-class experts and mentors so that we can support each other, be as productive as possible, work towards creating generational wealth and build businesses with impact and purpose (it feels SO good to say that).

I’m truly proud of Majic. We’ve built something very special and I have our community members to thank for that. We kept hearing that entrepreneurs felt lonely because they’re early on in the journey. They want to have a network, mentorship and people that they can bounce ideas off. We launched a beta version of Majic in July 2021 and spent about a year focusing on getting this group comfortable and getting the gist of exactly where the value lies in the group. Based on all that we brought Majic, our version 2.0, out into the world.

You talk to some incredible female founders on your podcast—what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from your guests?

Build your online presence and start building it today! My advice to everyone that aspires to have a business one day is to pick something you’re interested in enough to talk about every day and begin crafting content on TikTok and YouTube; having an audience will help you so much on the day you want to launch something. We see that time and time again on the show. The world has changed so much and you now have the power to build a community from scratch and for free just with an iPhone and time. Being able to create compelling content and stories is the most important skill set of our generation.

Even if you’re still working your nine to five, think about future-you and what your goals are when you look down the track. I encourage you to jump on TikTok and take advantage of its craziness—it could literally change your life.

What’s next for Female Startup Club?

On a business scale, we have some very exciting things in the works for 2023. Things are turning up a notch—you’ll see much more of us in this new year.

When it comes to the bigger picture, we’re on a mission to keep amplifying this conversation. I’ve been told over and over again by these women that they’re happy to share so deeply because they wish there had been a platform like this when they were starting out. If we can show other women-in-progress that anyone can do it, and that we all start from the same place (an idea!), we can empower women to dream big and think bigger.

I’m a strong believer that the empathy and sensitivity more often linked to feminine energy has the power to move mountains when it comes to creating a better future for us all, and that is why we want to see more female founders in the world. Making that happen will always be what’s next for us.

Let’s talk beauty! What are the beauty products you can’t live without? 

I recently moved back to Australia and have been loading up on the Standard Procedure SPF50+ to protect my skin. Winden’s shampoo case is another favourite. It’s perfect for travelling with a shampoo bar and it’s 3D printed out of recycled plastic. I use the True Botanicals Repair Nightly Treatment at night and it feels like heaven on my skin! My final favourite is the Bangn Body Illuminated Firming Lotion. I’ve just started using it and I’m really excited to see how it changes my skin.

Final question: what’s your best piece of beauty advice? 

Honestly, don’t sweat the small stuff. I struggled with feeling content for a lot of my 20s. I was always chasing this thing. It’s so easy to always be in a race with yourself. Going faster, doing everything, doing more, achieving more. Focus on enjoying the journey and the day-to-day, it beats any expensive cream, serum or treatment out there.