Your Say: Eliana Glover On Gender Stereotypes
Eliana Glover
Founder/Director, Hill St
I’d name my autobiography… It’d probably include some kind of terrible baking pun, like ‘You’ve gotta whisk it to get the biscuit’ ‘Baked’ or ‘Bake it ‘til you make it’.
Best advice I’ve been given… Things don’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.
I made my first dollar… Hustling my parents for pocket money.
The most rewarding part of my job… When our customers share stories of their baking experiences with us. It’s so special to know that our products make their experience a little bit easier or more fun. We’re lucky to have such an amazing community behind our brand!
Life motto: Make every day count.
Favourite book: I’m obsessed with Ghosts by Dolly Alderton at the moment. It’s the perfect beach read – the social commentary is a little biting, yet oh so relatable.
My goals for the next 12 months are… about progress, not perfection. I want to continue to grow and expand the business and work to reduce our environmental impact further. On a personal level, I want to continue to learn more about (and do) the things that make me feel happy and inspired.
The women who inspire me: I’m lucky that I don’t have to look far for strong, inspiring women in my life. My friends and family provide that in bucket loads.
The main challenge for women in business is… Unfortunately, we still face a lot of the same challenges we always have – achieving pay equality, finding a work-life balance and being heard and respected by the ‘boys club’. The challenge or perception I personally encounter the most often is that people seem to have lower expectations for me and my business. It’s frustrating, but on the flip side it does make it easier to surpass them.
We need pay equality because… pay inequality isn’t something that impacts us just once, it has a compounding effect that reduces our earnings over a lifetime. In an age where we will rely on superannuation more than ever, it will result in a huge difference to the money we have saved for retirement.
Diversity in the workplace is… essential. Creativity and problem solving is always made easier when you have different perspectives, backgrounds and approaches.
The change I want to see in the next 12 months is… to see more local businesses (Hill St included) looking for new and improved ways to reduce their environmental impact. Whether that is reimaging how they do business or small changes – every little bit helps.
The gender stereotype I can’t stand: That women only start a business when it’s a ‘passion project’.
