Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Allora Gardens Nursery’s Estelle Cornell opens up about her triumphs and trials after winning a national small business award

Transcript

Allora Gardens Nursery’s Estelle Cornell opens up about her triumphs and trials after winning a national small business award · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There's always so much happening around the place. And I
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: tell you Wash, I was very excited to see over
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the weekend that beautiful, well known territorium was recognized on
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  Speaker 1: a national stage. Many of you will know my next
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  Speaker 1: guest Estelle Cornell, from a Laura Garden's nursery. She was
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  Speaker 1: named Champion Small business Woman Icon at the inaugural Australian
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  Speaker 1: Women's Small Business Champion Gala dinner over the weekend and
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  Speaker 1: she joins me on the line right now. Good morning
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  Speaker 1: to Ustelle.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. I still haven't slept, would you believe.
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  Speaker 1: I was so excited when I saw that vote are
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  Speaker 1: you well? Firstly, you look absolutely beautiful in the photo,
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  Speaker 1: but then I thought, how wonderful and how deserving for
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  Speaker 1: you to pick up that national award.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it certainly blew me away. I was one of
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  Speaker 2: ten finalists in the whole of Australia. I would hate
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  Speaker 2: to be a judge on any of the award categories.
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  Speaker 2: I think there was over the many, many categories. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: there was about three thousand, eight hundred entrance and then
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  Speaker 2: it got down to about two and a half thousand
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  Speaker 2: receives in shortlisted that's over all the categories. I'm not
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  Speaker 2: sure in my actual category. I'm hoping to find out,
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  Speaker 2: but that's not important at the end of the day.
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  Speaker 2: It just goes to show that, you know, we're all
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  Speaker 2: playing girls doing a playing job, and here we are.
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  Speaker 1: I thought it was wonderful. I was so tough to
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  Speaker 1: see that you'd taken out this national award. Estelle, how
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  Speaker 1: did you feel when your name got called out in
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  Speaker 1: front of more than one thousand guests there?
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  Speaker 2: Well, like yourself, it's actually surreal, Katie, because I know
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  Speaker 2: you're in the award, and I was actually privileged that
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  Speaker 2: I was a finalist, so I guess I didn't expect
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  Speaker 2: anything else other than that. I thought, wow, you know,
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  Speaker 2: to come away to Sydney and be a finalist with
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  Speaker 2: nine other amazing business women in the country, that is
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  Speaker 2: a winner for me, and that is, you know, fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And then when they went through all the finalists on
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  Speaker 2: the big screen and then they yelled out my name,
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  Speaker 2: I just put my hands in my head in my
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  Speaker 2: hands and actually had a bit of an emotional fear
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  Speaker 2: because I thought, oh my god, oh my god. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't think I was going to win. I haven't got
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  Speaker 2: a speech. Bah blah blah.
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  Speaker 1: That is that makes it even better, Estella, I love that.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wow. And of course Jessica Rowe was the MC. Well,
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  Speaker 2: she was a hoot all night, so full of energy.
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  Speaker 1: Oh how incredible now, estlle, we know why you are incredible,
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  Speaker 1: and we know about the wonderful work that you do.
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  Speaker 1: But tell me a little bit about what you were
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  Speaker 1: recognized for.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I guess being a businesswoman icon forty two years
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  Speaker 2: in business, I'm hoping that sort of means something. So
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  Speaker 2: to recognize the territory and their opportunities. All businesses have
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  Speaker 2: their ups and down and I guess it's easy. I
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  Speaker 2: remember I went to one of the Chief Minister's budget
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  Speaker 2: releases a few years ago, and the fellow who sat
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  Speaker 2: next to me we introduced each other. Oh, he said,
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  Speaker 2: you're the lady that's had You're the lady that's had
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  Speaker 2: cyclones and breaken entries. He said, why don't you just shut?
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  Speaker 2: Why don't you just sut the place? And my heart
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  Speaker 2: sank and I thought, are you heerious? I put my
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  Speaker 2: heart and soul in and he must have saw the
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  Speaker 2: look on my face and he probably thought about it later.
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  Speaker 2: Because the look on my face was just, oh my gosh,
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  Speaker 2: I could never do that. You know. My family were
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  Speaker 2: raised and raised up in the Laura Gardens and it
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  Speaker 2: was an opening to make an extra few dollars way
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  Speaker 2: back when my husband wasn't well, and I gave it
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  Speaker 2: a go, you know. And I guess coming from the
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  Speaker 2: background from my mother and father in the trucking industry
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  Speaker 2: in Queensland. Between those two and my husband, they taught
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  Speaker 2: me tough love. They taught me so many great principles
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  Speaker 2: in life. If you don't work, you don't eat. You know.
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  Speaker 2: We were kids thrown up into the top of the
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  Speaker 2: stock crates to clean the stock crate. That didn't matter
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  Speaker 2: whether you're a boy or a girl. Mum taught me
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  Speaker 2: how to do general alleges as a ten and eleven
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  Speaker 2: year old girl. It was just a part of our upbringing.
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  Speaker 2: And then I came to Darwin, and I mean everyone
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  Speaker 2: knows Porky. He's very famous. He's got an oim himself
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  Speaker 2: for all the charitable work he's done. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: it just evolves from that that never ever, you know,
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  Speaker 2: get up, dressed up, show up, my mother taught me.
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  Speaker 2: But never ever give up.
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  Speaker 1: I love that, Estelle, I absolutely love that. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: forty two years in business, that is incredible. How have
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  Speaker 1: you had to evolve and change over those forty two years?
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  Speaker 2: Forty two years? Well, my main project was to be
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  Speaker 2: a good mother and a good ambassador and a good
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  Speaker 2: leader for our industry. Whether I was escorting an over
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  Speaker 2: dimensional load out of the wharf, whether I was doing
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  Speaker 2: a talk to the senior citizens in the garden center
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  Speaker 2: or having a children's group at a Laura. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we have to be the people that encourage the next
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  Speaker 2: generation and the generation before that. We have got lots
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  Speaker 2: of obstacles yet to go. But everybody in business, if
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  Speaker 2: you're listening, I know it's tough. I know we can't
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  Speaker 2: find stuff, but find people teach them. There are people there.
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  Speaker 2: We need to get out and teach them and help
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  Speaker 2: them get involved into your community and all the events
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  Speaker 2: that are around us. The morning of the cyclone, I
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  Speaker 2: had a lady walk in. We had cyclone markers and
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  Speaker 2: I lost one point eight million dollars worth. You know
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  Speaker 2: that was a tough one because I wasn't twenty five. Yet,
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  Speaker 2: as you evolve and you get old, say okay, I've
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  Speaker 2: just got to pull the boots up and put the
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  Speaker 2: big girl and he's on and get on with this.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, the morning of the cyclone, I had
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  Speaker 2: beautiful people through the community who bought their rakes and
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  Speaker 2: their gloves, and they came to the nursery and I said, oh,
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  Speaker 2: I help you. We're not really open, we're not here
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  Speaker 2: for that. Are we here to help you? Well? I cried.
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  Speaker 2: I think every time somebody walked into the garden center.
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  Speaker 2: And then about two hours into it, somebody else walked
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  Speaker 2: in and said, oh, hello, I'm from such and such
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  Speaker 2: group and I'm here to pick up a I was
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  Speaker 2: hoping you could donate something for our raffle next week.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm thinking, have you not got eyes in your head?
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  Speaker 2: And I felt like crying, But you know what, I
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  Speaker 2: rubbled her all the broken glass us, the statues. I
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  Speaker 2: found a little water feature. I wrapped it up for
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  Speaker 2: her and blessed her on her way. You know, But
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  Speaker 2: that's what you do in business. It's all about our community,
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  Speaker 2: our society, and it is so so important. It's not
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  Speaker 2: about me, it's about all of us. And I'm bringing
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  Speaker 2: this statue home to the Northern Territory, to all the
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  Speaker 2: amazing business women. This isn't just for me, this is
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  Speaker 2: for all of you, Welle.
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  Speaker 1: We are so incredibly proud of you, and you know
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  Speaker 1: you're such a generous person. You do so much for charity,
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  Speaker 1: you run incredible businesses. But you're a really wonderful human
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  Speaker 1: and I love the way that you said even at
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  Speaker 1: the start of that, you know, over a forty two
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  Speaker 1: year period, you know, when your main priority as well
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  Speaker 1: was being a good mum and trying to juggle everything.
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  Speaker 1: You are an incredible person. I think it's wonderful for
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's the Northern Territory should be very proud
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  Speaker 1: of you this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I certainly hope so, Katie, because it's quite an
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  Speaker 2: emotion of time. My phone hasn't stopped the messages coming in.
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  Speaker 2: I'm thinking, oh, don't tell me too many things. I'll
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  Speaker 2: get a pet, I'll get.
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  Speaker 1: I enjoy it. You're so hard and you are so
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  Speaker 1: deserving Stelle. A big congratulations from us to you, and
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  Speaker 1: I think all of the Northern Territory will be so
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  Speaker 1: incredibly proud to hear that you've taken out this national award.
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  Speaker 2: Oh thank you. Well, I'm coming home and it's Christmas, hip,
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  Speaker 2: business and for everything Bluren, you name, it is happening.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you. STLL lovely to talk to you and
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  Speaker 1: we'll talk to you again very soon.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you Katie, have a great day you too.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much