You founded Coote Agency in 2015 with over 15 years in beauty and lifestyle PR. What made you take the leap? 

I started in PR as an intern when I was 20 and worked my way up to GM - so I really understood the space by the time I was in my mid to late 20’s. You were starting to see this entrepreneurial Founder spirit - more in the US but in Aus as well. These incredible founders, with brands people would fall in love with if they only had a way in with PR. The industry standard back then was big retainers and 12 month lock-in contracts, and if a brand couldn't commit to that, there was nowhere for them to go.

That was the gap I wanted to fill. So 10 years ago I launched my own agency - one that now has the reach and relationships of a big agency, but still the flexibility for a brand to plug in with a smaller scope. That has never changed. A global name can run a 12-month full service program (where we are essentially their outsourced marketing team) and a start-up could sit alongside them on our book and get the same strategic thinking but a paired back scope. 

We currently work with global icons like Caudalie, Carmex, Nuna Aussie majors like The Memo (who just raised 20M to scale!) and Napoleon and then lots of other wonderful brands in earlier stages of their growth and brand story - like Summer Sun. 

I have spent the first half of this year building a new arm of the agency that is really exciting as well -  that allows brands that have much smaller budgets, to access parts of PR. It is more automated and it is in testing now with some fantastic clients. 

Your product is people. What's been the hardest and most rewarding part of building a team and culture? 

I think what is interesting about PR is that the service really has changed year on year as we see different platforms pick up popularity in market. I would say last year, PR had a deep focus on getting content for brands into Tik Tok. At the beginning of this year, real world moments really started becoming important to brands. And I would say in the last couple of months PR is aggressively adding back into the mix earnt Editorial as a key pillar, because that is what delivers brand GEO or rather visibility in Chat Gpt, Claude etc. 
PR is the key to good, robust GEO - so we find ourselves as key players in the world of AI. 

So that is just to say - in a business where the service is changing - you really have to hire team that are willing to dig in, upskill and be comfortable in a role that is changing. That can be hard to find. 

Over the years I have tried to surround myself with a team who live and breathe PR - and people that are clever, dedicated, and just really good humans. So far, I think I have done a good job of that!

What's the client win or campaign you're most proud of, and why? 

There are so many wow moments that I could talk about here. But the moments I am most proud of, they probably live in the margins the quiet successes. Because to run an agency for 10 years takes a consistency, it isn’t built on the one off campaigns. We have retained a client of ours Celebrity Stylist Anthony Nader and his online store for over 10 years, global brand Caudalie have been with us for going on 4 years recently The Memo came back for a second PR campaign with us - these are the moments that truly build a successful agency.

WHEN FERTILITY

WHEN came from your own fertility journey. When did you decide it needed to become a business, and how did you build something so personal, so publicly? 

When I was 33 and newly engaged, I had my AMH tested and got a result that was considered very "low" for my age - I didn’t know what it meant or what my next steps were.

As I worked through months of panic, bad advice, into good advice and egg freezing - I knew I had to fix the journey. I realised how many women were also in the dark when it came to reproductive health. The intersection of reproductive health and fertility was so woefully misunderstood when I started looking at this category - but along with our Medical Advisors who are some of the top specialists in the country - we are changing that story. Looking at reproductive health is just general Women’s Health - it isn’t about having a baby or wanting a baby. We have brought out one blood test so far, but are accredited for 10 others. Along with Women’s Health being a government priority - more proactive approaches to looking at your AMH, FSH, oestrogen levels etc. combined with symptoms, will improve a women’s journey. I am so excited about the future of proactive testing in helping women navigate their reproductive health through the various stages we face. It is an approach that is overdue.

You created Australia's first at-home egg count test. What were the biggest hurdles bringing it to market? 

Building Australia's first at-home egg count test meant doing something genuinely hard - delivering accredited at-home blood testing in Australia. Something already being done brilliantly in the US and UK - but a relatively new category here. That's a world away from a typical wellness product - it meant the right device and lab partnerships, navigating the regulatory environment and building the whole thing so it's not just a number landing in your inbox but a result delivered responsibly by Fertility Specialists, with the context and support to actually understand it. Getting to market was the hurdle!

HOTSOURCE PR

HotSource sits at the intersection of media, credibility and commerce. Where did the idea come from, and what gap were you solving? 

HotSource came straight out of running the PR agency - in fact it began inside Coote Agency as Coote Experts. Over the years, journalists kept coming to us needing credible expert voices to quote - a dermatologist, a nutritionist, a real authority - and brands kept telling us they wanted that same third-party credibility behind their launches. Meanwhile the experts themselves, who are brilliant at what they do, often had no one representing them or turning that expertise into genuine commercial opportunities. Three groups, all needing each other, and no one properly joining the dots.

So what started as Coote Experts grew into a business in its own right, and became HotSource - which my brother is now running and building the 2.0 version of. And the name says it all. In media, a "source" is who a journalist calls when they need someone credible to speak; we set out to be the hot source, the first place they call. It sits right at the intersection of media (getting the right expert in front of the right journalist), credibility (these are genuine, trusted authorities, not rented faces) and commerce (turning that authority into real partnerships for brands and real income for the experts). For our PR clients it's a superpower - we can hand a brand not just coverage, but a credible voice to carry the message. We can build a brand a Fractional Medical board - from ambassador to advisory! 

How do you think about building three very different businesses at once - what does a Monday morning look like? 

Ha - chaotic, but a good kind of chaotic! Along with running my businesses, I have a beautiful four-year-old daughter and a seven-month-old, so a Monday morning usually starts somewhere between a school run and clearing my inbox!

And I work with family as well, my brother runs HotSource and I work with my husband in WHEN - I am not running 3 businesses alone. 

THE BUSINESS BEHIND IT ALL

What was your biggest financial or funding mistake across any of your businesses, and what did it actually cost you?

Key Client risk in the agency -  in the beginning we were heavily weighted to some really big accounts - lose those accounts and there goes a big chunk of your base revenue and you are playing catch up to backfill. Not fun. 

What would you do differently on capital or money if you were starting today? 

I review the financials with a fine tooth comb, weekly, sometimes multiple times a week. 

It is not a natural capability that I have, it is learnt and it actually brings me a lot of peace. In the beginning, when I was in my late 20’s starting the agency - I didn’t dedicate the time to understanding the financials and because of that always felt out of control. 

This one is super boring, but I also open accounts for BAS/PAYG & SUPER and I transfer into that account monthly so those funds are clearly marked for what are non negotiables. 

What has been your most profitable decision - not revenue, but actual profit? 

Knowing the numbers and reviewing expenses. I review every business expense monthly. And I am ruthless, if I can get back $10 on an expense like a subscription or always on type business cost - think mobile phone plans - I will ask. Small costs compound and become big costs year on year.

A subscription we didn’t need or unnecessary expense can seriously keep me up at night. 

What do you know now about running a business that you wish you'd known at the very beginning? 

I bring a ‘most things are figure-outable’ attitude to everything I do. I very rarely believe I can’t do something, fix something, work something out. The whole skill of running a business is just getting back up and trying again.