From idea to international growth
Speaker Julie Hirsch knows what it takes to turn an ambitious idea into a business with international reach. As Cofounder and COO of Eloments Natural Vitamin Tea, Julie helped create a world-first 100% natural vitamin tea after two years of research alongside Cofounder Nicole. The result was a range of organic teas and tisanes infused with nine essential vitamins and minerals.
The company grew quickly, securing shelf space in 2,000 stores around the world in just over a year. Fairtrade-certified Eloments has since been available in more than 2,500 stores worldwide, including Woolworths Supermarket in Australia and Holland & Barrett in the U.K.
Behind that rapid growth was a much longer process of research, innovation and persistence. Julie shares the realities behind entrepreneurial success and shows audiences how strategic thinking and disruption can help transform a strong idea into a scalable business. Her keynotes offer an engaging combination of personal experience and actionable takeaways relevant across different levels of an organization.
Entrepreneurship with positive impact
Julie’s entrepreneurial vision goes beyond creating successful products. As the founder of two Fairtrade businesses, she is passionate about building companies with ethical practices, innovation, disruption and fair trade at their core.
Her background in the NGO sector shaped her perspective on the role businesses can play in society. Julie recognized that companies, and startups in particular, have an opportunity to create positive impact through the decisions they make from the very beginning. This philosophy has informed her approach to entrepreneurship, from product development and supply chains to sustainability and responsible growth.
When you book speaker Julie Hirsch for your event, audiences gain insights into topics including:
- Entrepreneurship, innovation and business growth
- Ethical business and positive impact
- Fairtrade and responsible supply chains
- Sustainability and climate change
- Startup leadership and disruption
- Engaging and empowering young people
Julie makes these subjects accessible and relevant, connecting bigger questions around sustainability and responsibility with the practical decisions organizations and leaders face every day.
Climate action and youth engagement
Before building her entrepreneurial career, Julie developed extensive experience in the NGO sector. At just 22, she opened and ran a voter registration office. She later became deeply involved in climate change action and worked her way to the position of Deputy Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
Julie has also served as the Australian Youth Climate Coalition’s Board Secretary on a voluntary basis. This combination of leadership, campaigning and organizational experience gives her a valuable perspective on sustainability, climate change and how organizations can meaningfully engage younger generations.
Her work across both business and the nonprofit sector enables Julie to speak about sustainability from multiple perspectives. She understands the ambitions of entrepreneurs who want to grow, while also recognizing the responsibility and opportunity businesses have to consider their wider impact.
Recognition as an entrepreneur
Julie Hirsch’s achievements have earned recognition in Australia and internationally. In 2020, she was named on Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 List. That same year, she received the Telstra Business Woman of the Year and Telstra Emerging Leader of the Year awards in Victoria. In 2019, Business News Australia named her Melbourne Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Food and Beverage.
Her journey also includes navigating a persistent challenge for female entrepreneurs: access to investment. Eloments successfully raised Series A investment in 2019, during a year when just 2.7% of venture capital funding went to female founders.
Julie’s entrepreneurial story has attracted coverage from publications and media including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Herald Sun and Kochie’s Business Builders. These achievements support a story grounded in firsthand experience of developing products, raising investment, building brands and taking an innovative concept into international retail.
Book Julie Hirsch for your event
Book speaker Julie Hirsch for an energetic and insightful perspective on what modern entrepreneurship can achieve when innovation and impact work together. She draws on her experiences with Eloments, Fairtrade businesses, climate action and youth leadership to demonstrate how organizations can pursue commercial ambitions while making thoughtful choices about their wider impact.
Julie speaks confidently on entrepreneurship, sustainability, ethical business, positive impact, supply chains, Fairtrade, climate change and engaging young people. Her approach is motivational while remaining practical, giving audiences ideas they can apply within their own teams and organizations.
From building a world-first product to securing international retail distribution and championing climate action, Julie Hirsch brings a distinctive combination of entrepreneurial ambition and purpose to the stage. Her keynotes encourage audiences to think differently about innovation, challenge established ways of working and recognize how individual business decisions can contribute to meaningful change.
