Marcia Griffin

Marcia Griffin is an awarded entrepreneur, author and speaker who inspires all those around her to live and work to their very best potential. She was the first Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year and the first woman to run a Japanese company in Australia.

Marcia Griffin has grown a direct selling business from start up to a team of nearly 5000 and established her own skincare brand. She has held numerous roles as non-executive director and was the first female chair of the leadership-mentoring organisation, TEC. Along the way Marcia has experienced her own personal challenges, which have helped to inform the inspirational messages that she delivers in her high-energy presentations.

Marcia Griffin’s business life began at the Australian Wool Corporation where she travelled the world as a very young woman visiting the major wool consuming countries, researching and analysing demand for Australian Wool. She left the corporate world to take on more entrepreneurial challenges but before doing so completed a second degree from Melbourne University and an MBA (preliminary).

Armed with a BA,Dip. Ed,B.Com, MBA (prelim) Marcia Griffin’s life changed dramatically when she was asked to start up Pola Cosmetics in Australia and New Zealand. She eventually became CEO and part owner of the company, managing and motivating the sales team she built from zero to nearly 5000 consultants. Marcia’s achievements at Pola Cosmetics were recognized with the first Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year in 1995.

Marcia sold her shares in Pola Cosmetics and, in 2008, founded griffin+row, a company that wholesales and retails a range of natural, Australian plant based skincare products. She launched the range in 150 Target stores and sold through selected pharmacies, but soon discovered the benefits of doing business online.

Always ready for a new opportunity, Marcia is an investor in start-ups, including tailorsmark.com. Marcia Griffin has held roles on numerous Boards including the public company PMP, Australia’s largest printing business, National Pharmacies, The World Masters Games, Tourism Victoria, Melbourne Storm, The Queen Victoria Market and the Mansion at Werribee Park, Care Connect, National Seniors and The Australian Physiotherapy Council. She was the first female chair of The Executive Connection (TEC) and was appointed Chair with the CEO Institute.

Marcia Griffin has written a business autobiography, High Heeled Success, published in 1998 and now in its third print. She collaborated with a psychologist to author her second book, Finding Meaning in Life, a powerful conversation about meaning, purpose, resilience, mental health and success. In 2016 she collaborated with Dr Paul McQuillan, to write a new “bookazine” called Finding New Meaning in Life. The unique collaboration between a businesswoman and a Franklian therapist joins the dots between positive self-help and mental fitness. Based on the philosophy of renowned psychiatrist Dr Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) and his groundbreaking bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning, the 160-page book-magazine hybrid aims to introduce a new generation of Australians to Frankl’s belief that all people seek meaning in their lives and suffer without it.

Marcia believes most of all in being her best and encouraging others to do so. A polished speaker, her unique and varied career enables her to inspire and motivate her audience through her stories of success as well as some of the mistakes she has made along the way. Marcia shares these lessons in a humorous and honest manner that engages her audience at all levels in business and life. She delivers the tools that help us stay mentally fit and enable us to live life to the fullest.