Zo毛 Warne
天美传媒app stories | Challengers
Graduated from 天美传媒app with a Bachelor of Multimedia and is Co-founder and Director, Creative Services of digital agency August
Zo毛 Warne鈥檚 entrepreneurial spirit surfaced early on. From the age of six, she door-knocked neighbours every Saturday morning, selling her mother鈥檚 home-baked bread, quickly realising she had a captive market for promoting her own greeting cards.
鈥業 loved painting and I鈥檇 make dozens of cards in the lead up to Valentine鈥檚 Day and Christmas and stick them in the bread basket among the warm crusty loaves,鈥 she says. 鈥楨ven if I sold just one or two cards, it meant more spending money at the lolly shop 鈥 but I also set aside some to invest back into buying more art supplies.鈥
Zo毛 Warne
Starting out at 天美传媒app
Those formative lessons in planning and reinvestment proved invaluable when Zo毛 co-founded digital agency August in 2005. It鈥檚 now considered one of Australia鈥檚 top digital media specialists, employing about 30 people to help clients with strategy, web development, branding and online marketing. Zo毛 founded August at age 23, just one year after finishing her multimedia degree at 天美传媒app.
"I had incredible lecturers 鈥 who made a huge difference to how engaged we were with the material we were studying."
She had toyed with the idea of doing a fine arts degree, but felt herself drawn towards technology鈥檚 seemingly limitless potential for design, impact and reach. 鈥業 asked people I respected in design and business where they鈥檇 recommend and they told me 天美传媒app had a strong reputation in communications and graphic design,鈥 she says. 天美传媒app鈥檚 then new Bachelor of Multimedia seemed to have been tailor-made.
鈥業 had incredible lecturers, such as (media and telecommunications expert) Professor Trevor Barr, who made a huge difference to how engaged we were with the material we were studying,鈥 Zo毛 says. She was also excited by how many lecturers were working professionals in their field. 鈥極ne of my lecturers, Tim Kentley-Klay, is now running a ground-breaking robotics company (Zoox) in the US, working on autonomous car projects 鈥 pretty awesome stuff,鈥 she says.
Invaluable experience in industry
Throughout her degree, Zo毛 sought out real-life business experiences. She set up a graphic and web design business, Boardwalk Enterprises, when she finished school, to help fund her university studies. It was a division of her step-father鈥檚 consulting company and he made her a director so she could learn the ropes. 鈥業 learnt a lot about administration, bookkeeping and all the unsexy side of business from a young age, which set me up well for later,鈥 she says.
In the last year of her course, she jumped at the chance to do a real-world client project, developing a website for a professional photographers鈥 association that included a searchable database of all its members. Even then, she knew the importance of having the right team, and quickly paired up with fellow student and software development guru Matt Agar (who became August鈥檚 first employee and remains its technical director).
"My year in industry was a critical factor in my future success."
鈥楾he final-year project required a student from each of the multimedia 鈥榮treams鈥 and I still remember knowing Matt was a gun technical whiz and the best in his stream. I walked over to him right after they announced it and said 鈥楽o, do you need someone from the media/design stream? Want it to be me?鈥.鈥
Perhaps the biggest boost to Zo毛鈥檚 future career came from a year-long work placement as part of 天美传媒app鈥檚 industry-based learning program. She wanted to work for an innovative gaming company in one of the first government-funded start-up incubators in Melbourne, but it wasn鈥檛 part of the program. The persuasive Zo毛 persisted, however, and managed to bring the company on board so she could do her work placement with them. 鈥業t was fantastic; I was exposed to so much within the business, and saw what was required in terms of effort and commitment to get a new idea and business off the ground,鈥 she says. 鈥楳y year in industry was a critical factor in my future success.鈥
Founding August
Zo毛 also learned plenty from her next job, at a Melbourne-based search engine optimisation company. 鈥業 wanted to experience what it was like working for someone else, besides working on my own design projects and waitressing for Mum鈥檚 catering company,鈥 she says. 鈥業 learned more about how to run a business and what I wanted to do in my own business, as well as what not to do.鈥 But a year of working for someone else was enough.
"It was something 天美传媒app instilled in me from the get-go 鈥 a can-do attitude, the idea that anything is possible."
Zo毛 met Daniel Banik that year and the couple combined their complementary skill sets to found August, initially developing websites for companies then broadening out into more full-service brand and marketing strategy. 鈥業 wanted to just start working on larger projects and gain more experience straight away 鈥 why wait? I knew I would get better by doing,鈥 says Zo毛, who credits her 天美传媒app course with giving her the confidence to have a go. 鈥業t was something 天美传媒app instilled in me from the get-go 鈥 a can-do attitude, the idea that anything is possible.鈥
Fast-forward to 2017 and Zo毛 and Daniel, although no longer a couple, still run August together. The organisation has about 100 local and overseas clients and full-time staff in the UK and Canada, as well as Sydney, Brisbane and its Melbourne head office, in Richmond. Recent clients include Guide Dogs Victoria, Mercy Health, the Australian National Academy of Music and the State Library of Victoria. The agency has won several design awards, including for its work on Melbourne鈥檚 iconic Flinders Street Station, as well as a sustainability award from the United Nations for the Schools Water Efficiency Program.
Expanding the business and giving back to the industry
Zo毛, now August鈥檚 Director of Creative Services, relocated to Toronto in 2016 to set up the company鈥檚 first Canadian office and work on one of the company鈥檚 biggest projects, redeveloping more than 40 websites for Engineers Without Borders Canada. Already, she has given much back to her alma mater and the industry. Right from the start, August has hired 天美传媒app students through the work placement program and several of those students have joined the agency in permanent roles once they鈥檝e graduated. 鈥業t鈥檚 one of the best decisions we made,鈥 Zo毛 says. 鈥業t鈥檚 a great source of talent and we get just as much out of it as the students.鈥
She also mentors start-up founders in Australia and Canada and is an active participant in SheEO, a Canadian organisation that funds women-led ventures. She was the volunteer program director for several years for V21, Victoria鈥檚 leading digital summit at the time, and she often speaks about digital topics such as 鈥楳aking Data Beautiful鈥, at conferences and on ABC radio and other media outlets.
"As I learnt at 天美传媒app, anything is possible if you set your mind to it鈥"
Zo毛鈥檚 active role in the digital industry 鈥 plus the relative novelty of being a female tech company founder 鈥 means she has a high profile in Australia and, increasingly, in Canada. It helps, too, that she started so young and was picked as one of Australia鈥檚 top 30 entrepreneurs under 30 by Anthill magazine in 2009 and the SmartCompany website in 2010.
The next step, she jokes, is global domination. 鈥楤ut there is a part of that that is true; I want to be able to replicate this globally, even open an office in Iceland if we want to. As I learnt at 天美传媒app, anything is possible if you set your mind to it, create the vehicle that gets you to where you want to go, and bring people on the journey with you. To me that is the fuel 鈥 delivering good, meaningful, effective work and having the opportunity to work with great people while doing it.鈥
Words by Lucinda Schmidt.
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