Hello, I'm Tory Archbold. For two decades, I've nurtured the world's top performing retail brands and celebrities. Now I'm asking entrepreneurs, CEOs and influencers to share their own secrets to success. They're highs, their lows, the game changing moments, and how they got to where they are today. It's a podcast equivalent of opening the best Little Black Book of Contacts ever.
If this resonates with you and you're ready to step outside of your comfort zone and into your power zone, I invite you to join my exclusive community via our website, The Powerful Josh Steps dot com.
Welcome to Powerful Leadership, a collaboration between Powerful Steps and Fear and Greed. This is a six part series examining leadership and becoming the leader you wish you had. Part one, I'm chatting to the wonderful Tory Archbold, pr guru, publicist extraordinaire and founder of Powerful Steps. Good morning, Tory.
What an introduction. Thank you, Sean.
Now many of us know you from the last few years, but let's talk about the early days. Where were you born? Where'd you grow up?
I grew up on the North Shore in Sydney.
Okay, a little more. This is a very tory thing to do, is to not say too much about herself. But I'm going to bring it out of you today.
I love it. Okay. I am the eldest of four girls. I grew up in a loving family. I went to school and I was probably placed in a box which I wanted to jump out of.
Sean, I'm sure there are a lot of people in that boat. So what was the box that you were in?
I think because I was an average student. I was fifties and sixties at school, no one really believed in what I was capable of. I was a big talker, I was a disruptor, and I was the person that probably got sent outside the classroom door.
No, a lot, not you. Sure it was me?
And so my mom and my dad said to me, maybe when you leave school, you'd be better off getting married to a really nice man, staying on the north Shore, and maybe studying interior design. So when my hsc rolled around and I blew everyone out of the water and almost got ninety percent in my exam, and I had enrolled in interior design because I really didn't have that forward thinking brain that I now do, I said to myself.
I'm going to do this interior design course and I'm going to see if I do want to be placed inside that box. And if it doesn't work out, I'm going to jump out of it.
So what happened? Did you start it?
I started, and I jumped out of it, and I ended up booking myself on a flight to London for the working holiday visa. And that's really where I got my education. And when I talk about education, my eyes opened up to the world. And I had the opportunity to work with some incredible people on media and entertainment,
and I fell in love with storytelling. So I worked with Viacom so I had the opportunity to work alongside the lady that launched MTV in the Middle East, which was pretty incredible because MTV at that point was really at the forefront of media and entertainment. We had the Spice Girls, we had Howard Stern.
You not talking nineties here, I think you're aging yourself.
Oh, it was a nineties nineteen ninety six around those timings.
WG.
You know what it was all about storytelling in a way that was disruptive. But also what I loved about it was the passion that people had to tell that story, and so I did a couple of stints in the licensing company. You know, I got to work alongside George Lucasfilms Columbia trista little stint in advertising because in those days, the working holiday visa was all about a twelve week stint. So when people say, you degree educated, do you believe in it? I absolutely believe in it if it's right
for you. But what was right for me was human connection and leaning into the best of the best. So when I arrived back into Australia, I realized very quickly that the media was very behind what had been going on in London and what I'd been exposed to in Europe and obviously through that Howard Stern process in the US. And I said to myself, I think I can do better, and.
So I did tour Star.
Twenty four years old, I decided that I was going to start my own agency. I wanted to create a brand communications agency that believed in the power of storytelling, that would create and build powerful brands. But most importantly, Sean, I wanted to work with the best of the best, and I wanted to attract the best of the best. But the only problem was is I had no money and no media connections.
You had a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of passion. How did you do it?
I decided that I was going to build the foundations of my business and my values because I really truly believe that no matter where you are in life, your values act as as super attractor. It's a law of attraction. So for me, I really thought long and hard about what those would be and how they would actually build not only my powerful brand, but would attract the brands that I wanted to work with. So I broke it down like this, I'm a passionate person, obviously have a
lot of energy. I love being around passionate people that want to make a difference, that want to lead, that want to disrupt, not afraid to be agile, but most importantly love what they do. So that was my first one. My second one was integrity because I really didn't want to work with assholes. And I was adamant about that because I grew up in the times where you know what things went on behind the scenes and the media and entertainment business that it just didn't sit well with me.
But I thought if I'm going to be a part of this. I just want to work with the people that respect me, that also respect what we're doing together. But most importantly, my third value was delivery. Because you're only as good as the last podcast chat that we're having here, the last zoom call in today's society, but in those days, it was the last, you know, project that you delivered, or media release that you wrote that went viral, or brand that you created. And so off
the back of that my business was born. And when you asked me about media connections and I say I didn't have any, again, I had to anchor that back to the passion, integrity, delivery and go out and find the right people to help me on this journey.
So your values led you. But how did you land your first big brand? What was it and how'd you do it?
Meghan Gal for David Jones, and I believe she was the most successful brand ambassador for David Jones, who at that point in time was a number one retailer in Australia. And that's a great question because no one in Australia would give me a go. So even though I'm an Australian citizen, I built my business in Australia, I managed to attract the world's top performing brands, which are global. Where did that first connection come from to get David Jones.
It actually came from a connection in London, right. Yeah. So I'm a big believer in coffee eights three week I always have, even when I was doing the working holiday visa. It's all about the art of conversation, leaning in listening to people, reading their energy, understanding what the runway of life is for them, but also for me. And so when I was in Australia and I said to myself, I actually need to have a client that everyone is going to go. How the fuck did you
get that? Right? I needed that aha moment. So I called the agency that had placed me into my working holiday visa Experiences and I said to them, I'm studying my own business in Australia and she said to me, nothing surprised me, Tori. And I said, well, the thing that's going to surprise you is that I need a client in Australia. Can you help me, because I know that you've just started your agency out here, And she said, yes, I can. David Jones are looking for a publicist. They'd
just fired theirs. They were exposed. They just signed Megan Gal as the face of David Jones. Can you write a press release and send it off? And I was like, yes, I can. But the thing was, Sean, I'd never written one in my life. But what I had done was I'd been exposed to media. I'd exposed myself to the best to the best. I was an avid reader and you would know these from being you know at Fairfax and what you do now in fear and greed, you need to lean into what's going on around the world.
So I tapped out this press release, I hopped on a bus, I went into my dad's office in the city. I faxed it off and I got the job.
Fantastic. So you had a number of brands from there. So twenty years or so, a bit longer than that, you had tor Star. What were some of the other names you were working with? What were some of your favorites.
Some of my favorites would have to be Zara, which goes down as the biggest retail launch in Australian history but possibly the world. For Indidex as well, that was an incredible experience because Indidex it's a multi billion dollar brand. I believe they're the best of the best in terms of retail in the world. They found me through my values, the passion, integrity, delivery was you know, the power of attraction,
but also the power of connection. I absolutely love working with them because we were so much in alignment with what we wanted to create in this industry. Look, I loved launching Amazon Shopbop into this market because I worked with the most incredible communicator who had also had the opportunity to work alongside Anna Winter from Vogue magazine, which in those days, I mean she was the power house in media. Yeah, and so Steph Horden hired me to launch chop Up and I learned so much from her.
If you switch around to the UK, I got to work with Misguided, which at the time was the you know, the biggest fast fashion brand in the world. And when we talk about fast fashion, let me tell you that was a fast account to run, because it was really when influencers started coming into the world and making their
mark more so than magazines or radio or TV. And so I had the opportunity to work along the best influencer management teams in the world, and I learned and I grew so much so when you asked me about one of my favorites, I mean, those are just a few, but every single brand that I worked with, you know, from added Us to Mowlbury to Everlane. You know in Nespresso, Sephora, c Folly, Sukin as like a roll call of incredible brands. The best thing about working with these brands with the people.
Yep, yep. It sounds so glamorous, and from the outside looking, I'm sure it was, but we all live real lives. You had Bella, your daughter in two thousand and four. You know, you went through a breakdown of your relationship. You were very unwell there for a while, whether it was that six months where you were recovering. How did you manage all that yet still give that appearance of enthusiasm, passion loving what you do? It must have been hard.
I'm going to say something quite controversial here, because when you're a woman in business, but also a woman in charge of a business, which I was, I call it success and survival. No one wants to know your data little secret, right, so you know on the outside you are willing and dealing with the world's best. You are
delivering extraordinary results. Everyone wants to work with you, everyone wants to be on your team, and that energy is just so incredibly inspiring for everyone that comes into your orbit. And you know, sometimes you can't talk about what actually happens when you close the door, when you walk into your home at night time. And so for twelve years I lived too lives and it got to the point in twenty thirteen when living those two lives became too much.
I was you on a flight to London, my pandis first at two am in the morning, I'm rushed into surgery. I ended up having step to see me or I lost eight kilos in five days and I was literally burnt to the ground. So when you talk about how do you rise like a phoenix from the ashes, I had to learn about what it was that I truly
wanted and what mattered to me. And I think that whether you're a man or a woman in a leadership role, you can have the highs that are so high and so inspiring to everyone around you, but then you can have the deep, dark lows. And I'm grateful for both of those experiences because it's enabled me to create my new business powerful steps, but most importantly, It's enabled me to really anchor myself to what's important to me, to live in alignment with my truth and make a difference.
Okay, you said that you started Powerful Steps. Why did you give up a tour Starle? Why did you leave? It must have been very difficult.
It was actually an easy decision. I know, I knew for three years before I shut the doors on Powerful Steps that something magical was going to unfold, but I just wasn't sure what that was. And I know that a lot of people in leadership roles as well. They rise to the top of their game and they go what's next? And I think I had that feeling, and so gradually what I was doing. I had twenty two staff,
I had two assistants at that point in time. And I'm a big one about trust instinct, believe that you can do something and you will if you surround yourself with the right people. If you've got that, get up and go to connect with others to build powerful partnerships and deliver anything is possible. But for me, it was you know, what, it's time for new beginnings? What does that look like? And so when people started getting other roles or moving overseas, I just didn't start replacing them
in the business, so my team was shrinking. I had the opportunity to sell my business. I decided not to do that because I didn't want to sell my soul. I really wanted to focus on my daughter and I and what the next journey.
Was for us.
But most importantly, it was a moment in time where I discovered that I had been very, very visible in my career, and then I was invisible in my career. And it was around the time that we were launching Kate Spade into Australia. And what had happened was my team had said, Ohtore, I know you don't like getting up in the mornings, but will you come along. The leadership's down from Southeast Asia. It's really important. They licensed all these powerful brands from around the world. We need
you to be there. Because I had trusted everyone to do everything for me and I wasn't as involved in the business. I arrived. You know, it was a great launch, but I said to them, what other brands are you launching? And they said to me, well, in six weeks time, we're about to launch Victoria's Secret, which was a billion
dollar laundry brand. Which was a number one in the world, and you know, we have X, Y, and Z, but the one that stood out for me was like, I have always wanted to be at that Victoria's Secret show, behind the scenes making it happen, but actually understand the power of why these girls are here, right? Why are they here? What's the machine behind the scenes that makes this the most watched show in the world. And I
said to them, why haven't you considered us? And she said to me, well, I don't really know who you are, And of course I'm like, well we're Tori told Torsta laun Cizara, you know, all these other big brands into the country, and she said, well, we're down to the short list of three agencies, but I will give you a chance. I went back to the office and I said to everyone, guys, we are invisible. We need to become visible. We need to remind people about the power
of our story and what we have to deliver. At seven o'clock that night, we had created the best storytelling that we could of what we could deliver on behalf of ELT Brands. We sent it off in a credentials document and I just said, you know what, let's just leave it up to the universe. We'll see what happens. Eleven o'clock that night, Boom, you are one of two agencies selected, and I was like, gosh, this is awesome,
but how do I get to the finish line? So I hopped on LinkedIn and I looked at people that knew the people that were making the decision, and I asked them to advocate for me. And at the same time, because I realized we weren't visible, I started reminding people of all the success stories of all the big brands that would launch into Australia, all the results that we'd delivered, and so bit by bit what happened was people were like, Okay,
we're giving you Victoria's secret. Then Steve Badden, like the billion dollar shoe man, says we want you to launch Steve Madden into Australia. Then all of a sudden, I get an email from Drew Barrymore's best friend out of la that I had a coffee date with a couple of years before, saying, Hey, my girlfriend's launching a beauty brand in Australia. Would you be interested in launching? And I'm like, yeah, absolutely, who is it? Boom? The next
emails Drew Barrymore. Now during that process of launching, flying to New York, working with the media, being told that I have to wear black, being told that I was invisible watching one of the world's top supermodels having a panic attack, just like I had at the top of my career, right because I wasn't anchored, and I'm saving her with my lavender oil. I was like, maybe I can help people in a different way. Maybe I can share the power of stories in a different way that
empowers other people. So I came back to Australia, we launched Steve Madden. That was all influencer base. It was boom boom boom, and I was like, this is amazing. Then Drew came out. I'm like, this is even more amazing. But the thing that anchors a good leader is their family. And my daughter wanted to come to this launch with
Drew and she wanted to get her picture taken. And I've never had a photo taken with celebrities and I've worked with the best of the best, And in that moment in time where Drew pulled me into this photo with my daughter and you know, the camera goes click, I was like, it's time to pass the batten. It's time for new beginnings. Those three years of that boom boom boom in my stomach was like, yes, the time
is now. And so then I decided to share the power of my own story, and my own story became a brand, which became Powerful Step.
Powerful Steps is the subject of our second interview. But before we finish this one, I want to find out what the Buddhist monk in Thailand told you, because you have said that you had a discussion with a monk and it really made a difference.
Well, basically on two trips he told me I'd be dead if I didn't get my shit.
Together right, fair candid those monks.
He was so candid, and I mean he was extraordinary. He said to me, pick a cart, and I picked a cart and it was this warrior princess just like ah, you know, breaking free of all these shackles. And he said to me, one by one everything that's holding you back, aka the success and survival in your story, those shackles are going to come off and you're going to be the warrior princess. It breaks free. But you need to prepare yourself for this moment in time and she said
to me, you actually need to put yourself first. What do you do to meditate? What do you do for yourself every day? And I said, I don't have time to do anything. I'm busy, busy, busy. And he said, I can't tell you how many CEOs have flown around the world to see me, and told me exactly the same thing. But do you know how they step up into their game and do you know how they deliver the best of the best to the people that they lead. I said no. He said, because they put themselves first.
And so this is what you're going to You're going to come and see me twice. And the first thing he said to me was when you're driving to work, turn everything off. And so I was driving. It was like a ten minute drive into the city every day. Turn the radio off, turn my phone off, just listen to what was going on, and all of a sudden you discover, oh my gosh, there's a bird. Oh god, people are so angry on the roads, and you really just start becoming aware of yourself. So I went back
to Thailand. I saw him again and I said, I've done that, and I'm starting to see what other people are doing and he goes, well, your eyes are starting to open to the world. Now, your next powerful step is is who do you have a shower with in the morning? And I said myself, And he said, every morning you're going to anchor your values, your intent, in your purpose to what you want to achieve in the day. And so every single morning for over a decade now,
I get three drops of lavender oil. You can bite anywhere. It's less than ten dollars at chemist warehouse, I put on my declage I'm in how in and out I anchor myself and I trust my intuition about what I'm supposed to do, and each and every day my intuition never fails me. But most importantly, I end it with gratitude. So if you have a shower at the end of the day as well, Sean, you should do this as well.
You thank yourself to the lavender oil again and you just say thank you, like you know, thank you for this collaboration with Sean that we're doing today. I'm so grateful. But that idea of doing this came to me in the shower. Yeah, So showers are the best ways to give back to yourself, but also trust and believe in what you're capable of delivering in this lifetime.
Torri Archbold, thank you for talking to Powerful Leadership.
You're most welcome, Sean, I'm sure.
And I Alma, and don't forget to hit follow on your FA favorite podcast player so you can get the second episode of Powerful Leadership.
Thank you for being here with me today. I trust that you enjoyed listening to yet another powerful story. Sometimes we can forget just how incredible we are as women and how important it is to support each other. I'd love for you to take a moment to review the podcast and help support the show. You can also take a screenshot of this episode and share it across your social media. Be sure to tag me so that I
can give you a shout out too. I'm a true believer of women supporting women, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon. Much love, torri