Mia
Klitsas

Mia Klitsas is a Melbourne-based entrepreneur with a passion for marketing, bringing disruptive new brand and product ideas to life, and equally, women’s health, rights and social issues.

A conversational and engaging speaker, her talks are fuelled by experience-shares of having resilience, grit and guts in business (and life) - often in the face of adversity. After all, that’s what it means to have ‘moxie’.

Once described in a media publication as “the mouse that roared”, Mia first launched her start-up in 2005 as a then 22-year-old, fresh out of university, with an innovative take on a then stagnant and mature product category that at the time, was dominated by huge multi-national brands.

With “a laptop, $5,000 in savings and no fear of failure - despite the fact that no-one took me seriously”, she says, her range of progressive period care, ‘Moxie’, complete with cute refillable and recyclable tins (to prevent products rolling around in the user’s bag) was born in early 2006.

Current Work

Now in her 18th year in business, Mia has experienced all the stages of running a business and brand and has lived to tell the tales. As she tells it, her business only narrowly escaped the GFC, she’s made some terrible business decisions and has failed more times than she can count; but she’s also made some great decisions and has achieved a ton of successes, too.

She managed to secure national distribution for Moxie in Woolworths as her very first stockist and Coles as her second. It soon became an international brand with global stockists, and Mia became an advocate for women’s issues. As the brand grew, so did her voice for championing change.

In 2014, she was named both Telstra Young Businesswoman of the Year for Victoria (she was also a national finalist) and one of AFR and Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence for her social impact work with period poverty, both in Australia and Internationally.

Mia is currently Director of Moxie and is incredibly hands on across all facets of the business, though her passion lies in marketing and e-commerce. She manages a tight-knit team (family members included).

Mia holds a BA (Hons) In Business (Marketing) from RMIT University and frequently consults with brands and business on how to launch ‘disruptors’ in mature product categories and industries, or how to reinvigorate mature brands in the ever-changing retail landscape.

She also regularly provides commentary for local and national media for contribution on topics like gender equality, period poverty, marketing, entrepreneurship, and start-up business. She’s been featured in publications like Financial Review, The Age, The Herald Sun, Mumbrella, and Fashion Journal, and on podcasts like Mamamia’s Lady Startup Stories, Startup Diaries by Pivotal Conversations and Lady Brains; not to mention, the Girl’s Got Moxie podcast, that’s recorded and produced by Mia for Moxie. She continues to mentor students and start-ups.