Look up the definition of a self-made woman and you might find a photo of Prene founder Tammy Green. After dropping out of uni, she started an eight-figure business in her parents' Melbourne garage, but for years she had to hide her identity – even her name – just to be taken seriously. "Being a young woman in the industry, no one thought Prene was my business," she tells 9honey.
READ MORE: Sandy made $8 million selling item every Aussie already owns "People would laugh at me, they would laugh in my face. They would not give me the time of day. They would belittle me.
" Important people would call and ask to speak to her boss, not realising the 20-year-old that answered the phone was the boss. No one believed Green could possibly be an entrepreneur and aspiring business woman, so she had to hide who she was. "I didn't want my picture out there.
I wouldn't talk on the phone anymore. I would sign off on emails with a fake name," she reveals. It was frustrating, but it seemed like the only option if she wanted her business to succeed.
And god, did she want it to succeed. Prene began as a side-hustle, one of many Green ran out of her childhood bedroom while failing a business degree at university. At 20, she had the drive for business – she sold Justin Bieber t-shirts on eBay, rented out dresses to friends – but not the "mathematical brain" for the degree.
Green spent more time admiring women's handbags on the tram to and from classes than reflecting on her coursework. That's where her eight-figure business idea struck. "I would look at these beautiful women carrying these expensive designer leather handbags, and where were these bags going? On the dirty floor," she says.
READ MORE: Argylica started a business with $1,000. Now it's worth $60 million Flabbergasted by the sight, Green dreamed up a design for a washable, budget neoprene bag and decided to get a sample for herself. That's as far as the bag was supposed to go until she loaned it to her mum for a night out.
"Five people stopped her in the street and said, 'Where did you get your bag?' That's when I knew it was onto something," Green says. So she dropped out of uni, used her savings to order about 700 more bags, and set up an Instagram account and website all from her bedroom – that's how Prene was born. In a matter of months, her parents' garage had transformed into a makeshift warehouse and distribution centre and they were driving all over Melbourne to deliver orders.
Green didn't pay herself a single dollar at first; all the profits went straight back into the business, which she ran on a shoestring budget. "I had other side hustles and jobs on the side that could allow me to do that and support me if it didn't work out," she says, but she needn't have worried. The first 700 bags sold out in presale and soon Green was fielding calls from retailers and wholesale agents across the country.
Sure, they asked to talk to her boss, but it was still a win. Then in 2019, an email landed in her inbox that Green was certain was a scam. "The Australian Open approached me to create a custom bag to be sold at the tournament and gifted to all players," she recalls, "which was just mind-blowing.
" Prene also launched collaborations with local stars like Bec Judd, Chloe Fisher and Holly Kingston, the bags selling out in record times. But the business was growing faster than Green anticipated and she struggled to keep up physically and mentally. READ MORE: Kate makes an extra $8,000 a month using nothing but her voice "I wasn't sleeping.
I was working around the clock. I had debilitating anxiety. I was diagnosed with endometriosis," she says.
The brand was thriving, but Green's relationships, mind and body were paying the price. Something had to give and in 2023, it did. "I definitely hit rock bottom," Green admits.
It forced her to take a step back from the business and reprioritise after battling burnout for years. It was time to get off the hamster wheel and find a bit of balance. "Going into this year, I have never felt more at peace, more calm, more happy, more enthused," she says now.
Green still runs Prene like a family business with a small staff, but she's better at delegating and making time for the other things that matter in her life. She's also trying to care less about whether people will take her seriously as a young, female founder. "Sadly, I still think you have to work twice as hard to prove your success," she confesses.
"But it makes you stronger. That's the message that I like to share with other young women: it's not easy, but you can do it." Almost nine years after launching the brand from her bedroom, and fresh off the back of her latest collaboration with Rozalia Russian, Green never dreamed she'd be standing at the helm of an eight-figure business.
She's sacrificed a lot to get here, but looking back she just has one piece of advice for her 20-year-old self. "You need to have a voice. Speak up, stand up for yourself, and if you've built a business on your own, then you need to walk into that room like the owner.
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