Jodie Fox: The Aussie Who Let Women Design Their Own Damn Shoes

She liked shoes. She didn’t love them. Not until she realized she could make her own.

That’s when things clicked.

She started getting custom shoes made for herself, just the way she wanted them. Not long after, her friends were hounding her to do the same for them. Around the same time, her mates Michael Fox and Mike Knapp both working at Google were seeing how big online retail could get. They teamed up, and in 2009, Shoes of Prey was born.

A few years later, it was a global, multi-million dollar business.

The Pitch Was Simple: Build Your Own Shoes

Shoes of Prey let women design exactly what they wanted to wear from the heel height to the color to the fabric. It was the first of its kind, and it took off fast. Customers around the world spent more than 20 million minutes creating their dream pair of shoes.

It wasn’t just an online store. It was interactive. It was fun. And it gave women total control.

Jodie handled everything from product development to media to being the public face of the brand. She took her background in law and advertising and used it to turn a passion project into an international success.

Awards, Headlines and All That Jazz

Jodie’s work didn’t go unnoticed. She racked up awards like:

• Telstra Business Women’s Award (Private and Corporate Sector)

• Named in the Top 30 Most Influential Women in Australian Retail

• Top 10 Australian Female Entrepreneurs

• One of the Top 8 Entrepreneurs to Watch

But none of that came easy. It was a grind. And Jodie was all in.

Her Take on Business: Find a Mentor

One of the smartest moves she made? Finding the right mentors.

“They’ve helped me avoid stupid mistakes, think bigger, and make better calls when things got tough,” she said. “A mentor sees what you can’t. They’ve been through it. They get your vision. They tell it to you straight.”

And for women in business, she says, mentors are even more crucial.

“There just aren’t as many women in top business roles, which means fewer built-in mentors. So we have to go out and find them. No excuses.”

One of her best lines? “They said you can have it all. What they really meant is, you can have it all just not all at once.”

That kind of perspective only comes from doing the hard yards.

Where’s She At Now?

Jodie’s based in the U.S. these days, chasing the next big idea. While Shoes of Prey had its ups and downs, her story is still one of the best examples of what happens when you take a bold idea and run with it.

So if you’ve got something in the back of your mind that’s been eating at you something that might work, something you wish existed take a page from Jodie’s book. Go build it.

Image Credit: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6105219/Shoes-Prey-shut-founder-Jodie-Fox-confirms-business-struggles.html