There is something wonderfully infectious about Jess Redfern. She is bright, warm, ambitious and full of colour, rather like the fashion label she is building from her home in Wellington in Central West NSW.
But long before SAVVI the Label, before the businesses she built and sold, before three babies under three and a foundation created to help other women take their next bold step, there was a Year 8 girl sitting her parents down at the dining room table with documents she’d printed from the internet.
Jess had decided she wanted to go to boarding school.
Her parents hadn’t been boarders. It wasn’t a path their family had travelled before and financially, it wasn’t an obvious choice. But Jess wasn’t happy where she was. She knew she needed something different and, remarkably for someone so young, she’d researched the school, printed the information and even booked the interview.
By the end of their school tour, her father, who had initially been completely against the idea, turned to her mother and said, ‘Now that we know this is here, we have to make this happen for her.’
And they did.
Her dad spent harvests working out west to help pay for it, a sacrifice Jess understood even as a teenager. She knew what her parents were doing to give her that opportunity, and she was determined to grab it with both hands.
Looking back, Jess believes she was probably born ambitious. Boarding school didn’t create that part of her. What it gave her was confidence, independence, connections and the freedom to discover who she was outside the familiarity of home.
In a small community, she explains, you’re often known through your family. Going away meant nobody had a preconceived idea of who Jess was supposed to be. For the first time, she simply got to be Jess.
Perhaps that helps explain the woman she has become.
Her entrepreneurial journey has taken her from personal training and wellness events to building and selling an NDIS business, and now to SAVVI the Label, a colourful Australian fashion brand into which she has poured herself financially and emotionally.
Alongside it sits SAVVI the Foundation. A donation from every SAVVI order helps fund grants for women ready to take their next bold step, whether that’s in business, education or another opportunity capable of creating a ripple through their community.
Jess says when you lift up one woman, she rarely comes alone. She reaches back and brings others with her.
And perhaps that’s the most beautiful connection of all.
Years ago, Jess’s parents stretched themselves to give their daughter an opportunity to discover what she was capable of.
Today, she’s doing exactly the same thing for other women.
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