This International Women’s Day, we’re not doing a listicle. We’re acknowledging four founders we partner with who looked at a gap in the market, decided no one else was going to fix it, and got to work.
Carla Oates didn’t set out to build a brand. She was trying to fix her daughter’s skin. What started with lacto-fermenting whole foods in a Bondi kitchen became @thebeautychef - a category she invented, now backed by a state-of-the-art bio-fermentation plant in Sydney. A $3,000 bet on a genuine problem, compounded over years.
Kirstin Ash started making resin-cast keepsakes in her Sydney apartment at 21. Most people would have kept it a side hustle. Instead, alongside her brother and business partner, Nick, she bet on digital early, built a high-performance online store, and turned it into the primary engine of a globally recognised jewellery brand. Proof that the right platform, in the right hands, compounds. @kirstinash
Kathryn Carter spent years as GM of Snapchat across APAC, then hit perimenopause at 39 and found nothing worth buying. So she built @mypause.health: science-backed, TGA-approved, AI-personalised. And grew it 250%+ in three months on Shopify Plus. That’s what happens when someone who actually understands the problem builds the solution.
Megan Pentland built @daughtersofindia to reject the fast fashion playbook entirely with no production deadlines, no compromises on the artisans behind the work. She backs that commitment with $10,000 a month in ongoing donations to women’s empowerment NGOs in India. That’s not a marketing line. That’s a business model built around a belief.
Four different industries. Four different origin stories. The same underlying logic: build something real, for people who need it, and don’t cut corners on the experience, or the tech that powers it.
That’s ecommerce that connects and we love being a part of their journeys.
Happy International Women’s Day.
#IWD2026 #ShopifyPlus #ProcessCreative #EcommerceLeadershipd