Nedahl made a career switch at 43 after quitting her dream corporate job to start a business in her garage. She's now built a $15 million dollar empire Nedahl Stelio was working her dream job as a magazine editor in Sydney At 43, she made a career switch - starting her own business from her garage Fast forward, she has built a $15 million dollar luxury, natural fragrance brand By Cindy Tran for Daily Mail Australia Published: 11:16, 10 August 2024 | Updated: 11:18, 10 August 2024 e-mail View comments Nedahl Stelio was working her dream job as a magazine editor when she upended her life to switch careers at 43. The mum-of-two quit her corporate job so she could start her own business from the garage of her family's home in Sydney 's Bondi Beach.
'I started thinking that I’d been a journalist for so long and had really done everything I wanted to do with that. I thought it was time to start something different and new," she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I do love a challenge so I decided it’s never too late - and you're never too old - to start a business.
.. and I completely made over my career.
'I took a huge leap, left my big job and went freelance to focus on the business.' The spontaneous decision led the now-49-year-old to building a $15 million dollar luxury, natural fragrance business. 'It’s tough, really tough to start a business while trying to work and pay your mortgage and also bring up young children,' she explained.
'I was running around to my formulators, sourcing packaging, working with designers and literally driving all over Sydney in those early stages, and my children were quite young so I feel like that whole time was a blur, all in fast forward.' Nedahl Stelio was working her dream job as a magazine editor in Sydney Nedahl with her husband and their two daughters, aged 10 and 12 Long before starting her business, Nedahl was a lifestyle journalist for 20 years - working as an editor across Cleo, Cosmopolitan and the Good Food, as well as having her byline in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Following years of struggling to get pregnant, she began using all-natural products after cutting harsh chemicals out of her life.
'It took me years to finally conceive and one of the very many things I did in that time was transform my beauty cabinet and household with all clean products,' she said. But when she made the switch to natural alternatives, she noticed there was a lack of non-toxic fragrances on the market. The mum 'missed the luxury of spraying a gorgeous fragrance' on her skin - but knew a scented product can contain up to 3000 chemicals.
'Fragrance is one of the worst offenders,' Nedahl said. 'The fragrance industry is self regulated - companies don’t have to list the individual ingredients on the box as the formula is considered proprietary, so they all go under the umbrella of "parfum" on the ingredient list. 'I stopped using perfume all together when I ditched toxins all those years ago.
'There was nothing on the market at the time that was clean and filled that luxury gap I was craving without the nasty chemicals, so I decided to create one.' The mum-of-two pictured with a carload of boxes containing her products She began her humble business from her garage, before moving things into the family's home So her brand RECREATION was born in 2019. After walking away from her office job, Nedahl began working with world renowned perfumers to develop her own range of clean fragrances.
'Once we launched I focused solely on the business, there was no other income coming in from my side which is very confronting and I had to totally downsize on all of my spending. No more designer shoes,' she said. 'I started the business in my garage.
I remember getting the first delivery of packaging and it was just everywhere - the living room, kitchen, garage and even the kids room.' But shortly after launch, Covid hit - throwing her a huge curveball. 'We were in lockdown so I was also trying to homeschool the kids while doing everything in the business as I couldn’t bring staff in my home because of Covid.
It was hectic, to say the least,' she said. 'I was using our house as a location for photo shoots, store products, and to send orders out. It was a mess.
' Two-and-a-half years after launching, her husband was able to leave his job to work with her on the business full time. The mum-of-two quit her corporate job so she could start her own business from the garage 'So that was a big moment for our household to be solely supported by our business,' she said. 'It was a good few years where our house was literally overrun with boxes before we moved into our first office.
' Her hard work paid off as her business has made almost $15 million dollars in revenue over the past five years. 'We were pretty lucky in the beginning as it was generating revenue straight away, but I put almost all of it back into the business to grow it. So it’s basically spent as soon as it hits your bank account.
This took some getting used to,' she said. Despite her hectic work schedule, the busy mum always finds time to exercise and hang out with her two young daughters, aged 10 and 12. 'I work out as soon as I wake up four times a week, and I coach my daughter’s netball team one morning a week.
After that I have breakfast, get ready and take the kids to school then head straight to the office,' she explained. 'Work is a mix of different things - we have a production meeting every morning which is basically a get together for everyone to give updates on where they’re at, so I’m across all aspects of the business. 'Then it’s a mix of everything from marketing to finance to logistics to product development, forward planning and strategy.
' Her husband and their two daughters help with packing orders at home From 4pm, she would take one of her daughters to sport. 'It’s really important to me to take time to spend with the kids while they’re young and still want to hang out with me before they hit their teenage years,' Nedahl said. 'Then I usually work from home before or after dinner to make up for the time out in the afternoon that I spend with the girls.
' Before she goes to bed at 10.30pm, she likes to enjoy some alone time. 'A bit of TV or scroll time, relaxing before bed.
.. I still make sure I get in a full skincare routine morning and night,' she said.
So what makes her fragrances different from every other brand on the market? 'We’re creating them using real ingredients without all of the nasties, so I think that’s a big difference,' Nedahl said. 'We focus on the whole package and the way our fragrance makes you feel - it’s our mission statement - to make people feel good after using our products and that’s what drives us as a brand and drives every decision behind product development. 'I wanted a custom bottle that only RECREATION would have, it needed to look organic and clean and minimal but also be beautiful and luxurious, so I found an incredible designer and worked with them to create our bottle.
' Her business has made almost $15 million dollars in revenue over the past five years The brand's packaging is made from bamboo so it's 100 per cent sustainable. 'If I was going to put something out in the world, I wanted it to align with my values and not contribute to the mountains of plastic we throw out every year,' she said. For those looking to start a business, Nedahl says: 'I would say to do it step by step, put one foot in front of the other, and you’ll suddenly see how far you’ve come.
'I didn’t know if I could even start a fragrance company in Australia so I thought, I’ll just see if I can find a perfumer who will work with me on this, and I did. 'Then I started looking at sourcing packaging, and it was one step, then another step, then another step. It feels like a very slow process but after you put all the steps together, you have a business.
'I kept thinking, if I do each step incredibly well, this will work. There’s a lot of self belief that goes into starting something so don’t lose that.' Share or comment on this article: Nedahl made a career switch at 43 after quitting her dream corporate job to start a business in her garage.
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