#awinewith Kat Walsh, SPARK Biz Grants Round One Winner!
Announcing the winner of the SPARK Biz Grants - Round One.
Congratulations to Kathryn Walsh from @practice.studio who has WON Round One of the SPARK $10k Women in Business grant!
Practice Studio is an emerging designer workroom, store and gallery that champions innovative, ethical and sustainable design. We are so thrilled to support Kat on her mission to champion change in the fashion industry and can't wait to follow her business journey!
Stay tuned as we check in with Kat again in 6 months and find out how the $10k has changed the game for her in business!
Round Two opens on November 1!
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:05):
So let's start by telling everybody who you are and what you do, just so we can give people a bit of context.
Kat Walsh (00:10):
So my name is Kat and I run Practice Studio, which is emerging designer, workroom, store, gallery, kind of all in one. And the idea is we're bringing process and product together to encourage people to be more mindful in their consumption practices, plus platform emerging designers who are doing really cool stuff.
Danielle Lewis (00:28):
That's so cool. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. And congratulations because you're round one, 10k winner. How does that make you feel?
Kat Walsh (00:40):
As I was saying before, it's like I haven't let myself believe it yet because really of that sort of mindset of you just use what opportunities you have and you make it work either way. So I was like convincing myself I wasn't going to get it and that it didn't matter, but now that it's here, so the last couple of days I've just been thinking so much about what we could do and the creative possibilities that it opens up. And I think all the stuff that you don't get time to just fantasize about when you're in fight or flight, making it work every day and you just keep up. It's like, okay, cool. This is actually going to be huge.
Danielle Lewis (01:18):
Totally. So what do you plan on spending the 10 K on?
Kat Walsh (01:21):
Well, it's going straight to rent. We've got this space that's quite central in this creative precinct in Brisbane, so that's covering us rent, electricity, insurance for three months. And in that time I really want to train some people to help me with alterations, which is another thing that we do in the space to encourage mindful consumption. And it's coming to this point I feel like with the business where I can't do everything myself, but there's also not, I don't have someone that I can just replace myself with. So it's going to be a matter of making them, which will improve the growth and profit for us going further on. So it's really an incubator sort of phase where we're just going to put everything into building to forward in the future.
Danielle Lewis (02:11):
That's so exciting. So I mean, obviously we think sustainability, but tell me about the impact that you want to have in the world.
Kat Walsh (02:23):
I think we need to tackle the fashion industry in a couple of key ways, and I think sustainability and ethics are crucial, and the way I see in moving forward is actually bringing people, people together and of being a part of the process again, because we're so separate from it that we're just disconnected from the impact that our choices make. So you don't see people suffering enslaving away and you don't realize that your textiles when you get rid of them, they're just going straight to landfill or getting shipped overseas, accumulating, and they're just not going to be disposed of thoughtfully. So if we can actually educate people just by doing what we're doing and getting 'em to actually be a part of it, then I think we can have a really big impact in shaping mindsets, which is the key. It's not just like, oh, here's how we deal with the problem after we've created it. It's like, how do we solve the problem going forward?
Danielle Lewis (03:25):
Yeah, absolutely. That's incredible. So talk to me about the grant process. Was it hard? How long did it take you to actually apply for the Spark Grant?
Kat Walsh (03:34):
Okay, so I know you were like do 15 to 30 minutes, but it took me two hours to make a two minute video that I was happy with. I was so judgmental and I was like, oh, I sound like an idiot, or I need to strike that balance of being likable. And you are very
Danielle Lewis (03:52):
Likable. Don't worry.
Kat Walsh (03:56):
Yeah, I feel like it was so worth doing. Even as I said before, I'm going through the process of either way, making sure each decision I make is going to have an outcome either way, whether I win or whether I don't. This one was really good for promoting myself and figuring out how to put myself out there, and it really challenged me to put my face in front of people and be like, this is me and this is my business. And then also be on that, just chatting to people individually, regulars that we come in or friends I had and be like, did you know that we're doing this? We would love your vote. If we could do it, it would make a huge difference. And yeah, it was a good challenge, I think, and a good PR opportunity regardless of the outcome.
Danielle Lewis (04:46):
Yeah, absolutely. And that's a really good point. So obviously for round one it was votes driven for round two we're introducing votes and also a judging panel, but super keen to know. So how did you get the votes? What did you do?
Kat Walsh (05:03):
It was crazy. I feel like I've got a really supportive community of people that I've built over the four years of running the business and I've helped so many people out. So there was a core group of people that were really keen to just jump on, tell all their friends, be like, Hey, cat's doing full stuff, please help out. But it was surprisingly less engagement than you would think. If it's maybe I've got 5,000 followers, it's 500 that would be like, yes, vote to tell your friends, I really want to support this. And then I think people either missed it or just didn't realize that you're in the social media trance and you don't realize, oh, I can actually make a difference to this person's life. So it's actually in that last week I literally reached out to people, not everyone obviously, but people that I knew and I was like, Hey, in case you missed it, this is happening. And I think that was really helpful to do because everyone wants to support. Everyone wants to help a good cause.
Danielle Lewis (05:59):
Yeah, and it is interesting. I think you're right, we do get trapped in that just scrolling through posts and kind of don't think that we can actually actively engage and make a difference. So sometimes that one-on-one little nudge does actually help people. But I'm so impressed that you were talking to people walking in store and sharing with everybody. I mean, why not? But yeah, I know it can be daunting. Exactly like you said, we had people even through the application process, say, oh, I just don't want to do the video. And I was like, oh, it's a two minute, just show up. And all you have to do is talk about your business. And I know it is daunting for some people, but if you can move past that, the reward and like you say, the PR opportunity could be massive
Kat Walsh (06:43):
Completely. And I think we've had a lot of organic growth. People were just telling friends through word of mouth and it was the same thing. And it was an opportunity to really condense what you're doing and share that in a really personal way. And I being quite shy myself, I found it a really good opportunity to test myself and it paid off really well.
Danielle Lewis (07:10):
That's so cool. And I mean, timeline wise, one of the things we really wanted to achieve with this grant was speed. A lot of the feedback we had when we were designing the program was that some grants, especially government-based grants, take a long time to A apply, but B be awarded. How do you feel about the timeline of this one?
Kat Walsh (07:32):
Oh, insanely cool. You've transferred the money to my account. It's there. I'm so excited. This is a month from start to finish and it means that I can start planning and I'm not waiting for a response. I can right now start to action these things that I've been thinking about. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (07:51):
Amazing. I'm so impressed by you, Kat. I'm so excited. And thank you for sharing your story with the Spark community as well. I hope it inspires other amazing women in business to apply as well.
Kat Walsh (08:05):
Absolutely. You've got to do it. It's worth it just for you for that personal development and the chance to win. Just get your name out there, start doing it. It's really worth it.
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
