Vanessa Li: Winner of the 2024 Great Companies International Women Entrepreneur Award

Name: Vanessa Li

Business Name: BLOOM BY HER

Location: Sydney , Australia

Establishment (Year): 2021

Category: Advertising & Marketing

Profession/ Specialty: Marketing (Social Media)

Website: https://www.bloombyher.com/

Social Media: LinkedIn

Company Detail:

BLOOM BY HER is a talent agency that empowers creators of all colours, backgrounds, and experiences. Female-founded and female-run, they believe in reimagining the digital media landscape with diverse faces. One collaboration at a time, they connect brands with digital creators to produce beautiful and authentic content.

Unique Selling Proposition or Competitive Advantage:

Here at BLOOM, the focus is on diversity, and the approach is creator-first. Stemming from the Founder's own experiences, Vanessa felt and noticed a strong lack of cultural diversity within the social media industry. Inspired to create a space and platform for content creators who look like her, Vanessa founded BLOOM. From the outset, their mission was to reimagine the social media landscape with diverse faces. BLOOM is now a place that brands come to collaborate with a diverse global portfolio of influencers and UGC creators.

Challenges Faced During the Journey:

As an Asian female founder, Vanessa faced challenges in establishing and positioning her business within an industry that did not have room for faces like hers. BLOOM was founded in Vanessa's third year of law school and in the midst of working two other jobs — as a young person, her age was at times seen as a weakness and a sign of inexperience even before she had the opportunity to speak.

Advice for Women Entrepreneurs:

What women entrepreneurs tell themselves can either be their greatest weapon or their greatest weakness. This is a learning from Vanessa's years in business and law school that she continues to preach daily. No matter what point of the business journey one is in, limiting beliefs and 'what ifs' are the one main thing stopping entrepreneurs from building the business and life they dream of.