Bronwyn Carabez

Name: Bronwyn Carabez
Age: 44
Occupation: Jewellery Designer, Managing Director, Principessa Boutiques, Founder and Director of the Carabez Alliance (Charity for Deaf Children in the Pacific Islands)

She's a mother of three children, a jewellery designer and business woman running high end fashion boutiques. Her passion is her charity, which is helping deaf children in Fiji. She is motivated by striving to be MY BEST and making a difference and not wanting to pass through this life not having done something

Who was your role model/s when you were a teen?
My role model when I was a teen was this glamorous woman I met once called Mabbs Walsh. She was at a Christian Women's convention my mother was attending and she was the owner of Bruce and Walsh Jewellers. I realised that gorgeous women could have substance and that all Christian women weren't daggy. Another role model when I was a teen was my older sister. She taught me everything I know.

How did your role model/s help you?
My role models helped me to see that all the things I thought as fact growing up where not necessarily so. Mabbs Walsh showed me that women in business did not need to look like men but could be both glamorous and clever. She was a woman of substance and with a social conscience. I loved that.

Usually all my Mums friends were daggy women I did not aspire to. But when I laid eyes on this beautiful woman who stood up for what she believed, it gave me inspiration to be brave enough to have a go and that to do something worthwhile did not mean you had to dress in unattractive clothes and not look after yourself as well. She helped me to be brave enough to just be myself and not try to be like everyone else.

What role or influence do you think role models have?
Role models have huge influence and responsibility. People are watching you and watching how you just "do life". Role models need to be real. They need to show people not only their strengths but also their weakness and struggles. It is no good to anyone if a role model just shows the good and successful public face that is not going to help anyone through life. Life can have hardships and challenges, we all face them. A role model needs to show you, that when these situations arise, how to conquer them and rise above them. Once you have risen above a challenge you are able to help someone else through theirs.

What were some of the issues you faced as a teen?
Wow, so many. Very low self esteem for one. I think that I probably bordered on anorexia; I did not like my body shape. I did not like my looks. I was looking for love but did not value myself enough to recognise it anyway. I was placing myself worth in whether a boy liked me or not. I was dealing with some of the hard issues of my upbringing and some things that my family had gone through that really deeply affected me and how I saw myself. I was figuring out if I was worthy of expecting anything exciting out of life or to just expect mediocrity.

I was lucky that I did not have to face pimples, but I never really felt pretty or attractive. I always saw myself as gawky and awkward and not well coordinated.

How did you overcome these issues?
The low self esteem was a long journey. It doesn't matter how many people tell you how amazing you are, if you do not see it in yourself, it is hard to move past it and you do some really dumb things to try to make yourself feel better. I overcame that very slowly by starting to be less hard on myself and recognising when I did something well, to start giving myself permission to see that I actually did a good job.

For a long time I would pretend to be someone I wasn't, and that just gets tiring. You cannot do that 24/7. You need to just start to have confidence to be yourself and trust in yourself. I always used to think that I had to act a certain way or look a certain way for people to like me, but as I started to just be myself, people seemed to like me more. That turns out to be a blessing, because, you actually see that who you really are is someone people like and that gives you the confidence to keep going. I still am on the journey at 44, but certainly not where I started. I have come a long way.

What do you remember most about being a teen?
I remember being really concerned with having a boyfriend. I didn't feel very pretty so I thought that no one would like me enough to go out with me. I also remember fighting a lot with my Mum. It was a time I was learning to stand up for myself and growing into a woman.

I remember not knowing what I wanted to do with my life but I did know I wanted to be a wife and a mother. I remember sneaking into pubs when I was under 18 and going to discos, as they were called then. Everyone loved to dance in those days.

What qualities do you think you possess that have helped you succeed in your chosen field?
I have a natural sense of proportion and a very good eye for detail. I am naturally artistic. I did not see that in myself until I was in my '30s. I think that my best quality is that I have a deep empathy for people. When it is not always about you, you go a lot further than if your whole world revolves around you. I meet a lot of people like that, they are really selfish and all they think about is how things affect them. They never seem to go very far in life and seem to lose friends because of it. I think when you really take an interest in the people around you and see if there is anything you can do to help them, all of a sudden , your problems don't seem to be as big and it's amazing how much more people are willing to help you in return.

I think my best quality is that I am able to humble myself to clients and really serve them, going out of my way to make them feel really lavished special and beautiful.

Outside of career success, what is it that you are most proud of?
I am by far most proud of my three kids. They are amazing people. They have grown up well and with all my faults. I am also very very proud of the charity that I have set up in Fiji and the Pacific Islands. My oldest daughter is deaf and wears two hearing aids.

With all the knowledge I acquired along the way to help her, it needed to be put to good use to help someone else. I started the Carabez Alliance in 2005 and have raised over $200,000 plus donations of hearing aids to the value of about $150,000 to take audiologist and hearing aids to the deaf children in Fiji and Samoa.

We have given away over 200 hearing aids, started educating teaching professionals in deafness education and changed the destinies of some amazing children in Fiji that I have grown to know and love as my own kids. I travel to Fiji almost once a month. So, in effect, I am really the mother of over 60 children in my own way. That is by far the greatest thing I have ever or will ever do.

Do you undertake activities to help others/community?
Apart from my own charity, I help fundraise for Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Research Centre. The other thing I have started this year is that at at my Principessa boutiques, we don't over discount our clothes at the end of the season. Once the season is over, the clothes are removed from the shop. For Mother's Day this year, as part of the church I attend, we donated over $250,000 of our beautiful designer clothes to Mums who needed a hand up. Mums who have been through some things, who could never dream or afford to buy our clothes. So we lavished them (130 of them actually) and brought in hair and makeup artists (even makeup artist to the stars Fiona Corrigan- Robertson) to make them feel loved, valued and beautiful.

One of the best stories from the day for me was a single Mum of four kids. I don't know her story, but I know she had one. She was starting an advertising business from home to make her family's life better. We outfitted her in Max Mara, George Gross, Symbol by Simona and David Pond. She felt so beautiful and told me for the first time, she can actually see herself as being able to do it. That was worth the whole day.

Your advice to youths about realising their own potential...
Don't underestimate what you can do with your life. It does not matter where you start; it is where you intend to go. Don't waste too much of your life looking back at things that have happened. Nothing in the world will change that, ever, it has happened, and it may have been horrible, but it cannot be undone. What can be done is that your future can be shaped.

You must always look forward and keep walking towards the goal. If you keep your eyes fixed on the future, you will make decisions that will be good, because you will be focusing on where you want to go and how you will get there.

Don't be too harsh on yourself or your looks. Everyone has beauty in them, whether they see that in themselves or not. Don't be your own worst critic, you don't deserve that. You need to become your own cheer squad!!!

When it comes to how you live your life, what are the most important factors/values?
The most important thing to me is how I treat people around me. I love to give and be a generous person. If that means when I cook a meal for a friend, I put my all into it or if someone needs something, I go out of my way to see if there is anything I can do to help them. It's no fun to succeed if you cannot bring some people along for the ride. My most important value is my faith in God. He has taught me lots and lots.

Why do you think you make a good role model?
Because I have struggled through life like everyone else. I have tried my best to overcome my past and try to make a bright future. Business does not bring you success; it is what you do with the resources that make you successful. Whether that is building up the people that work for you and encouraging them to be their best or giving someone the confidence to have a go and start their own charity to help a cause close to their heart. I never expected my life to be touched by deafness, but when it was, and after we conquered it as a family, we certainly had a lot to give. If I can just even inspire a few people to have a go and help someone else, I am a happy woman.