Women from the top
What it’s like to run a Member business We sat down with our Member Directors Julie Wadley and Lydia Stjepanovic to discuss what it’s like to run an automotive business in 2022 and demonstrate the career opportunities for aspiring women.
Member Directors Julie Wadley and Lydia Stjepanovic In 2019, the University of Sydney released their report titled One of the boys, investigating the work and career experiences of Australian women working in automotive trade occupations. One of the recommendations to improve women’s participation in the automotive industry was to increase the visibility of tradeswomen to give women role models. Capricorn currently has three women sitting on our Board of Directors. Two Member Directors, Julie Wadley and Lydia Stjepanovic, and Independent Director, Donna Vinci. Whilst Donna has vast experience across finance and IT (other traditionally male-dominated industries), for International Women’s Day, we sat down with our Member Directors Julie and Lydia to discuss what it’s like to run an automotive business in 2022 and demonstrate the career opportunities within the industry to aspiring tradeswomen. Both Lydia and Julie are Capricorn Member Directors, meaning they simultaneously run successful automotive businesses and represent Member interests on the Capricorn Board of Directors. Both are busy positions that require a lot of experience, dedication, and time. Julie began in the automotive industry when she and her husband opened their collision repair business in 1972. The business was a family passion, and when her husband became unwell and lost a hard-fought battle with cancer in 2008, Julie took on the management of the business by herself.
share one thing: a love for all things automotive. Julie and Lydia are no different, with different paths, and for different reasons, but both share the love for the automotive industry. Julie’s husband was keen to be his own boss, so Julie worked to support their dream of business ownership in their early days. After spending years passionately running the business with her husband, developing the systems and processes to keep the business running smoothly, Julie transitioned to managing the business by herself when her husband fell ill. Lydia, by contrast, was born into the automotive industry, so you could almost say she inherited her love. After helping her parents in the business during high school, Lydia finished a business management degree, fell into a customer experience role, and spent some time in the wine industry. When the opportunity to help her parents out became available, she returned to ‘help’ and has never left. As she explains, she and her husband ‘wake up in the morning, excited to go to work.’ When asked what keeps them going on the tough days, Julie and Lydia noted loving the challenges thrown their way as business owners. Constantly overcoming the challenges keeps them passionate. As Julie mentioned, ‘if you can solve it, you’ve succeeded.’
Julie is Capricorn’s first-ever female Director, appointed in 2014, after dedicating years to the ongoing development of the automotive industry through numerous boards and committees. Julie has also busted the glass ceiling a few times, being the first person to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the MTA WA, the second woman to receive a similar award from the National Collision Repairer and winning the 2005 AAMI/Paint & Panel Best Small Shop award.
Lydia mentioned getting a thrill when she can change people’s perceptions about the automotive industry. She enjoys demonstrating that the modern workshop is a professional, specialised workplace full of passionate team members.
Lydia is our most recent addition to the Capricorn Board after being born and raised in the industry. A second-generation automotive business owner, Lydia initially explored a successful career outside the automotive industry before returning to her family business. Since purchasing her parents’ business in 2019, Lydia and her husband have driven doubledigit business growth, won multiple awards in business and customer service and been consecutive finalists in a national business award.
Running a business
Why the automotive industry Everyone comes to the automotive industry for different reasons, and on different paths. However, most people working in the industry all 1 6 CAPRICORN IGNITION FEBRUARY 2022
Their advice when things get tough? When it’s difficult, you realise how good you are, and how much you love what you do.
It’s important to celebrate the wins we experience when running our businesses, no matter how big or small. After spending so much time under the hood of a car, or swept up in paperwork, it can be hard to see how far we have come. As many Members’ reading will know, building a business from scratch is really hard. Breaking into the collision industry with different insurers and established repairer networks can be even harder. Proving her business was good enough and they could do the job is an achievement Julie is incredibly proud of.
