Carla Thurgate is one passionate lady. As the head honcho of consultancy, Frominsideout, she is a driving force for women who want to make changes in their lives. She strongly believes in education and, through an individualised toolkit, she teaches women how to build self-esteem and confidence.
I met Carla through my lovely well-connected neighbour, Brigit. Carla and I got together for an iced tea and what struck me most was her very special, generous heart and her beautiful, sparkly, authenticity and energy. I swear she emits glitter and sunshine and unicorns from every pore.
Carla truly practises what she preaches, having overcome challenges both personally and professionally to be the well-rounded and educated person she is today. She is a ‘corporate refugee’ with a background in education and HR project management, turned entrepreneur. I chatted with Carla about her background, passion and her drive to succeed.
Carla, tell me about your journey and how you ended up here today as a business owner and entrepreneur.
I ended up as a business owner and entrepreneur by making the decision – some say ‘crazy decision’ – to throw-in a stable job to follow my dreams of helping people, in particular women. Someone once told me “your skills and your belief in yourself are your stability for your career, not a company”.
You told me that someone recently said that only 10% of businesses like yours succeed. Why are you so passionate and why do you think you will be a survivor?
I believe the above advice, my skills and belief in myself are my stability. I also believe knowledge is power, I research and learn before making decisions. A lot of people think being a business owner and entrepreneur is taking risk. I disagree, it is educated and calculated risk. I am incredibly passionate about what I do and for me ‘can’t’ isn’t an option.
That doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes have days where I think “what am I doing, can I really do this?” Of course, everyone has those days but I just turn it around and say “Calm down, I’m right where I need to be”. I also surround myself with the right people. I believe this is very important; surround yourself with people who are positive and supportive
You’re looking for funding, aren’t you, for a school program targeted at young teenage girls? What’s that all about?
I have developed a program for girls which incorporates the concepts of all facets of my business for teenage girls, including building self-confidence, resilience, hair-care, fashion styling, healthy lifestyles and career coaching. I believe there is an opportunity to help the future generations improve themselves for the better which could contribute to them getting a job, living a healthier lifestyle physically and mentally and an increase in self-awareness and confidence.
Who inspires you?
My mum inspires me, she is a courageous, positive and bubbly woman who has overcome many challenges in her life and despite these challenges has always triumphed still smiling and on top.
As a busy person, how do you maintain a balance and make sure you are looking after you?
I maintain balance by ensuring I continue to learn more about myself and my body. I exercise regularly, practise yoga, read up on the nutrition and how the body works. I also take ‘me time’ out for things that make me happy; the little things like reading a magazine and having a coffee or treating myself to a girly day with my sister getting pedicures. Again, this is something my mum taught me from a young age, you need to love yourself, show gratitude and generosity to yourself and others as well as taking the time out you need. My sister and I have a gratitude jar in our kitchen filled with little things we are thankful for and that we love about ourselves.
Tell me about your upcoming Dinner Soiree for Ladies.
The new and original concept of “Dinner Soirees for Ladies” series will bring events with food, wine and connected conversation in fashion styling, organisation for mums, hair and make-up styling, and health and wellness to name a few throughout 2014. It’s a new way to do Saturday nights for over thirties with no hangovers but fabulous food, wine and connected conversation for the ladies of Brisbane who want to keep their finger on the pulse and take a little me time out of their busy lives.
Do you drink champagne? Tell us where and when you most enjoy a glass?
I love champagne! I enjoy a class mostly in the good company of family and friends.
Frominsideout consultancy has been born in 2014 by Carla Thurgate who has a passion to be the driving force for women who want to make a change in their life from the inside out. Carla is a ‘corporate refugee’ with a background in education and HR project management turned entrepreneur.
The vision for Frominsideout consultancy, is to help women ‘look good and feel good Frominsideout’ through educating them on how to build or re-gain self-esteem and confidence by providing the tools women need in these areas as well as style, hair-care, health, career and life coaching is carried through all facets of the business.
Carla also provides one on one coaching, HR consulting and is currently looking for support to pilot an education life coaching program for teenage girls aged 14-16 yrs.
Carla believes that courage and enthusiasm are a powerful combination and likes to think outside the box. Her strengths lie in cultivating lasting working relationships, coaching and project management to deliver successful business outcomes, managing budgets and stakeholders as well as developing and writing key communications.
Wow what an inspiring read! It’s stories like these that give me the inner strenght to fight on to reach and achieve my goals.
Thank you Camilla for your kind words and if you need a hand to achieve those goals I’m happy to help! Xx
What a fantastic woman, and I think 14 is a great age to get girls believing in themselves and finding empowerment. Reading this makes me want to try and do a little bit more than ‘just be’ 🙂
Hi Emily, thanks for the support, me too I’m very passionate about helping young women to believe in themselves. Go for it! Xx
This is an awesome idea! I have self-esteem issues and also believe that if you feel good about yourself you look good!
This is great! I have self-esteem issues and believe it is important to feel good about yourself.
Hi Sam, thanks for your kind words, it is important to feel good about yourself. Get in contact if you want to chat further. Lots of love
Fabulous idea! I’ll keep an eye out for future events – my styling could certainly do with some help! 🙂
Cooker and a Looker we would love to see you at an event. There are still tickets available to the styling workshop, just drop me a line and I’ll send the info. Xx
LOVE the idea of your program for teenage girls – really inspiring, if you can make change at that age you can set up a massive flow on effect! I’m not in Bris, but if you do anything in Melb, let me know, as I’ll be happy to support!
I love the idea of a school program for girls – I really hope you can get the support you need to get it off the ground!
Very inspiring read indeed and I agree, starting a new business is a calculated risk. The program for girls sounds fantastic and would be something I’d support, especially as I’m a mum to young girls.
The program for teenage girls sounds fantastic. I really hope you can get it up and running and help girls learn to believe in themselves, respect themselves and make the right decisions. I wish there was something like that around when I was young.
Good on you Carla. Interested in the program for teenage girls. My oldest is a tween now (almost 11). I’ve also been experimenting with children’s meditation and have some videos on you-tube at the moment – firmly believe we need to equip our kids with tools for self-love, calm and resilience (and ourselves too!)
Ooh, can you post a link to your YouTube vids please? I’m sure there would be a few people interested in seeing that. My 9-year-old daughter loves meditating and it’s definitely something I want to encourage.
What a wonderful lady. Anyone who can emit glitter and sunshine and unicorns from every pore must be pretty special!
I love what she is doing for women and in particular the drive to teach teenage girls. I hope funding is reached and this can be rolled out across Australia.
What an inspirational lady! I’m impressed by anyone who seeks to build confidence in young girls. It’s such a necessary thing I think.