Last week we had the absolute privilege of hearing from the one and only Lisa Messenger. As the CEO of the Messenger Group and Editor in Chief of Collective Hub magazine you can see why she's our Inspiring Woman of the Month!
Check out our Q&A below to see how amazing she really is!
Q&A with Lisa Messenger
Can you tell us a bit about what makes you 'you'?
I think its probably a rich tapestry of everything I have experienced in life to date from personally and professionally. I’ve been through a lot and certainly don’t lead a dull life staying open to every opportunity. And so its all the hiccups and speedbumps along the way that have taken me in perfect synchronicity to where I am now. I wouldn’t change any of it. We can’t control what life throws us, but we can control how we react and I consciously choose to use everything that comes my way as an opportunity to learn and grow. I constantly live in gratitude as a result.
What do you do on a day-to-day basis?
Well I certainly never repeat a single day. I’m in an unusual position in that I have many roles. I am CEO of The Messenger Group (under which Collective Hub falls) and so lead a pretty big organization that is now across 37 countries and has multiple business units and revenue streams so in that role I’m constantly in and out of strategy and partnership meetings and am really the brand architect and visionary. Then I am Editor in Chief of Collective Hub which now spans multiple platforms so I am constantly across all content, distribution and marketing aspects of what is essentially an insanely high growth start up. And then there is me – Lisa Messenger – author and entrepreneur which has me in an increasingly public position doing speaking gigs and all our community interfacing stuff. Let me tell you there is never a dull moment. I do manage a lot of “me” time though to reset and recharge and I have an extraordinary empowered team which gives us scale and leverage.
What is your go-to attire for the office?
Again – depends – if its an internal meetings kind of day I’m generally in activewear or kicks and ripped jeans. Then there is the whole “editor” side of me which is constantly in every Australian designer conceivable to go to a myriad of launches, showings and all things “editor”. If I’m in external meetings I’m generally in rock chic – black, white, grey, leather, denim, metalics.
What led you to starting the Collective Hub?
Frustration largely – always the best place to start anything I’ve found. If you’re cranky with something, chances are loads of other people are as well. There was nothing out there in the media for entrepreneurs that was really inspirational and aspirational and told the story behind the story.
What are your goals for the Collective Hub?
Well the vision is unwavering – for Collective Hub it is to empower people to live their best life by giving them extraordinary curated content. For Lisa Messenger it is to be an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs living my life out loud showing that anything is possible. The delivery mechanism is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if it’s a print mag, speaking, www.collectivehub.com, social media, books, workshops etc etc. Its important to be where people want you, at a time they want you, on a platform they want you. So you need to be able to be nimble and flexible and morph, pivot and change to stay relevant. The goals are BIG. As big as you could ever imagine. To reach and empower as many people on this planet as we possibly can.
What projects are you currently focusing on?
I am always building a new component of the business. That way, as an entrepreneur I can never get bored. For example for the print magazine, when we launched I had no idea what I was doing and I had a team of 3 people all under the age of 25 who also had no idea. So we learnt. From Issues 1 – 8 (we’re now up to issue 35) I was in every word of the mag and every aspect of marketing and distribution. Then once I had learnt every aspect I put a team in place and built systems and processes and then stepped back. Then I started building the online platform, same process. Then the events aspect. Same process. I have some VERY BIG and very audacious projects now that you will see evolve in the next few months. Learn. Build. Put teams and processes in place. That is the trick to a scaleable exciting business.
What would you tell young entrepreneurs who want to start their own business?
Fail Fast. Believe in Yourself. Surround yourself with an exceptional team.
Now for the fun questions! Let's learn a little more about what really makes Lisa tick..
What is your favourite food/snack? Green smoothie.
Your fave celebrity or style icon?
Iris Apfel – for her courage at any age. Sir Richard Branson – for his screw it lets do it attitude (we’ve spent a lot of time together recently and he truly is who I look to the most for entrepreneurial mindset), Nelson Mandel (27 years in prison and was still so humble and such an extraordinary leader). So many others. I get inspiration from so many people every single day.
Fave weekend activity?
Having absolutely NO plans. I am always completely spontaneous on weekends as my weeks are timetabled to the second. I love lots of outdoors time, beaching, being in nature, brekky with great friends. Snuggles with my pooch Benny. Lots of long walks and good movies. I love great dinner parties with close friends.
Fave movie or book?
So many – but mostly anything with strong social messaging. Movies - Blood Diamond, Erin Brockovich, Food Inc, Hotel Rwanda, Ghandi. I also love anything Sci-Fi that pushes the limits of the mind and possibility – The Matrix. The Divergent Series etc. Books – Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela and about a zillion others. I have dipped in and out of thousands of books – mostly biography’s and anything that looks into human psychology.
The one song that’s on repeat your car?
Oh so embarrassing – I am just hard core deep house remixes most of the time when I drive – it’s also what I listen to a lot meditating. It’s quite trancy for me. But I’m also into all sorts of other more mellow music. Depends on my mood or more so what mood I want to be in. Music sets a lot of tone.
And thats a wrap! Isn't she beautiful. She inspires us every time she speaks, get your hands on her stunning collective hub mag or book, you won't regret it!
Images via: @lisamessenger
Below: sneaky pic of our Esther girls with Lisa at MBFW.