There was a time when marketing entrepreneur Mellissah Smith declined to tell people she was from Charters Towers.
Today, she is digging deep to give back to the community and help budding entrepreneurs turn their ideas into commercial realities.
The 43-year-old, whose outsource marketing company Marketing Eye was listed as the highest ranked Australian marketer in the world last year, credits her country upbringing for providing the foundation for great things.
“I climbed the corporate ladder because I grew up on a property and anything you start you finish,” Ms Smith said.
“How many people in the workforce do that – not many – so it makes you a standout from the start.
“Being from the country made me stand out from the crowd.
“I use to be embarrassed to say I was from Charters Towers in the big city because I thought they would think I was a hick until one day my mentor, Jack Cowin, asked me where I was from and then I realised, it is a really good place and I shouldn’t be ashamed.”
Ms Smith and her team pulled together the unimaginable last week – the first ever North Queensland Entrepreneurs Conference in Townsville – featuring some of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs, all friends of Mellissah’s.
Her story is quite amazing.
Ms Smith started her own marketing and public relations business at age 25, building it up over a decade during which she expanded into America. She is now moving it into Europe.
“My dream one day is to be the largest small to medium size business in the outsource marketing department space in the world,” Ms Smtih said. “We have gained traction.
“It was damn hard. I failed so many times but kept trying and trying and eventually something happened, something changed and we grew exponentially.”
Earlier this year, Ms Smith brought The World Incubator to her hometown, which supports people to turn ideas into commercial realities. Four startups from the first round presented at the conference.
“I don’t take equity in any of those startups, it’s not a loan it’s a gift and the way that you can reward me is being successful,” Ms Smith said.
“We are going to do it virtually so we can have other people in rural and remote locations in Queensland. We want to create a not-for-profit platform so people feel free to share ideas. I wasn’t born an entrepreneur I was made one.”
Ms Smith credits her unique relationship with mentor and fast food billionaire Jack Cowin as critical to her success.
“I’m lucky to have the best of the best,” Ms Smith said. “He is rock solid.”
