For Haley McDonald, winning the Entrepreneur/Founder Award at B&T’s Women in Media Awards last year wasn’t validation that she had ‘made it’, but recognition of a decade spent putting one foot in front of the other to build her business from scratch.
The founder of 3P Studio has grown the business from a freelance operation she kicked off after being made redundant, into one of Queensland’s largest artist-owned independent content houses, with offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland.
Today, the post-production and VFX studio has expanded into technology through AI-powered venture Neosframe, and McDonald has quickly become one of the industry’s most highly respected entrepreneurs.
Enter B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media!
As entries flow in for this year’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media, B&T sat down with McDonald to discuss her Entrepreneur of the Year win and the journey behind starting a business from the ground up.
Despite leading one of Australia’s fastest-growing independent production businesses, McDonald admitted she was genuinely surprised when her name was called on the night.
“It was probably one of the proudest moments I’ve had in the last 10 years because I know how difficult it was to get to that point,” she said. “All of the blood, sweat and tears that went into building the business with my own hands just came together in that moment.”
While the award recognised McDonald’s entrepreneurial achievements, she told B&T it was never really about her. One of the highlights of the evening was being able to acknowledge her team and the people who helped her along the way.
“My very first employee was a woman and she’s still with me today,” she said. “I’ve had women work alongside me for eight years through thick and thin. Awards like this are really a reflection of all the people who helped build the business.”
Among those sitting in the room was a particularly special guest, McDonald’s first-ever freelance client.
After losing her job and deciding to strike out on her own, McDonald opened her laptop and began cold-emailing Brisbane agencies. One woman replied to her, and 10 years later, that woman was sitting in the audience as McDonald accepted Entrepreneur of the Year.
“I wanted to thank her publicly in my speech because another woman in business took the time to answer a cold email from somebody she’d never met,” McDonald said. “If that’s not an example of women supporting women, I don’t know what is.”
And it wasn’t just her first employee she thought of on the night, but her mother too.
“I grew up in Housing Commission. My mum, me, and my three sisters,” she said.
“Even though my mum worked in a laundry for 30 years, she taught us to always be kind to people, but don’t put up with anyone’s crap, and I’ve been in business for 10 years now. I’ve seen it all, done it all, experienced it all and met every type of character, had every type of client.
“There isn’t much that I haven’t done, seen or experienced working in advertising, let alone post production. But it wasn’t an overnight success story.”
That moment of remembering others who helped you in your career is one of the reasons McDonald believes the Women in Media Awards remains “one of the industry’s most important nights”.
“It’s a room full of women all striving towards similar goals,” she said.”We’re all trying to grow businesses, build careers and create opportunities. It is a really special atmosphere.”
She also praised the mix of people in attendance, from rising stars to some of the industry’s most senior leaders.
“You have people at completely different stages of their careers sitting together and cheering each other on,” she said. “Even at our table on the night, we had everybody filming each other when they won. It’s like you create your own little community at the table.”
Enter B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media!
As for founders considering entering this year’s awards, McDonald believes recognition is valuable, regardless of the size of the business.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got five people or 500 people,” she said. “Everyone should enter. The exposure, the people you meet and the chance to be recognised alongside some incredible women in the industry is something you can’t really put a value on.”
Her biggest piece of advice, however, remains the same advice she has followed since launching 3P Studio. Don’t focus on everything that could go wrong.
“I know where I want to be in two years’ time, but I focus on what’s in front of me today,” she said.
“You can’t spend your time worrying about all the things that might happen. Your success is in your own hands.”
For McDonald, that’s the reality of entrepreneurship.
Enter B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media!
When asked what separates successful founders from everyone else, McDonald said it comes down to three things.
“It’s investing a lot of time, effort and energy into something that might work and it might not,” she told B&T.
“It’s not about waiting for the perfect moment, finding the perfect idea or having all the answers. It’s about showing up every day, solving the next problem and putting one foot in front of the other.”
