Joanna James is the Chief Ambassador for The Successful Woman, a change-making movement to inspire women to make positive contributions to the world.
Joanna is a promoter of independence and competition in the business world, and her advice and profound wisdom are sought after by government and industry bodies and top business leaders.
Joanna is known as a powerhouse leader in male-dominated domains and now heads The Successful Woman, a business, community, and movement committed to women reaching their full potential. Every woman deserves to experience a full life where she has the freedom to create a meaningful lifestyle for her family, as well as doing important work that contributes to the world.
To fulfill its mission to empower more women, The Successful Woman leadership academy has taken a global approach so that women in emerging nations can experience similar opportunities to change the world. Joanna James is truly a powerhouse who has seen many of her mentees become influential entrepreneurs and owners in their own right. Joanna is now shaping the next line of female directors to break the glass ceiling where as few as 3% of CEOs in India are women.
The Successful Woman advocate is a woman of many hats. Her career spans five different professions: architecture, construction, building biology, hospitality, and finance. Joanna James's experience over many professions has enabled her to evolve through roles ranging from an entry-level casual worker to becoming a female general manager. Her innovative nature makes her a prosperous entrepreneur and business founder. This unique combination of experience inspired Joanna to guide other female founders on their journeys to transform into foundherpreneurs. This is when a woman has been able to integrate both roles of being a founder and an entrepreneur to ensure sustained business growth.
Today, Joanna has received several accolades due to her positive contributions to the world as a woman. She has been featured in publications such as Entrepreneur, The Advisor, MPA, Australian Broker, CIO, and Insights Success. Joanna also holds the title of the youngest female architect and builder in Australia. She is also an author, creator of the world's first 'Bio' home, and creator of the Shambhala@byron retreat, which welcomed celebrity singer Sting as her first guest.
In addition, Joanna James as a leader in the International Ezy Group, transformed it into an industry powerhouse in the Australian lending sector, managing over $4.5 billion of home loans. During her tenure at Ezy, she set an example of a business with 55% of women holding executive leadership and management roles simply because they were the best person for the position. Her change-making contribution shines through the company's 32 Industry awards, including three times "BRW Fastest Company" and "ALA Best Non-Bank."
Joanna's journey has not been without its setbacks, but she is grateful that the crisis also came with opportunities. 2020 was her tipping point. With the emergence of the Covid-19 global pandemic, she faced challenges with the Mortgage Ezy business. With over 100 families relying on her abilities, Joanna contributed to stabilize the company during several years of unparalleled conditions in the financial markets. She rose above this, returning the business to record volumes as well as being a key contributor to the creation of a new company, Source Funding, which would ensure the group's long-term success.
Joanna James believes that building confidence and progression for women will catalyze societal change. She aspires to build The Successful Woman movement to play a pivotal role globally in providing essential success skills not available through current mainstream education.
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