Leadership ‘I Turned What Was A Real Need For Myself Into A Reality’: Phoebe Simmonds The Blow founder Phoebe Simmonds opens up about her new business, the value of brand and Julia Gillard wandering into her salon. By jitendermittal Published 10 July, 2025 Leadership ‘I Turned What Was A Real Need For Myself Into A Reality’: Phoebe Simmonds The Blow founder Phoebe Simmonds opens up about her new business, the value of brand and Julia Gillard wandering into her salon. By jitendermittal Published 10 July, 2025 Previous article On Our Radar: Greta Thunberg Next article Just A Thought: When Leaders Use ‘We’, We All Win Phoebe Simmonds was never the woman with perfect hair. Until she landed a top brand management role for LVMH in Sydney, and found herself with impostor syndrome. She was young for the role. Confidence was an issue, so she booked herself a blow dry. Then another. And another.The blow dries were fine, but finding a salon open before her morning meetings was a challenge. The best salon in town also had photos of Korean pop stars stuck to the walls. “I couldn’t believe that in Australia, no one had thought to bring together brand experience but also the convenience of a blow dry which exists in a really successful way in the [United] States,” said Simmonds. “So I turned what was a real need for myself into a reality.” “When you’re establishing a business, you need to be confident you’re filling a need in the market that you believe no-one else can fill,” says Simmonds. “When creating a brand, you need to take the same approach. Be super disciplined in making sure you’re saying something no other brand can.” Here are Simmonds’ three tips to creating a brand that says something: thedebrief Best Of Future Women Leaders Why Ilya stepped back from the business she poured her heart into By Ben Tweedie Leaders The most surprising part of being a first time mum had nothing to do with me By rosa762070 Leaders The #1 mistake employers make when multiple women leave By jitendermittal Leaders This is an exciting article title By Ben Tweedie Leadership New FW partnership to boost number of women in cybersecurity By jitendermittal Gender diversity Soft Power By jitendermittal Gender diversity Be honest. Did you think Bluey was a boy? By jitendermittal Gender diversity Cyber expert laments “lost generation” in online misogyny panel By jitendermittal Your inbox just got smarter If you’re not a member, sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Future Women in your inbox.