Meet the members shaping our community - Fiona Jefferies

Fiona founded Diva Works in 2001 at her dining table with a laptop and a $5,000 loan, and has since built it into Australia’s only all-women agency designing and delivering sales offices for blue-chip property clients such as Stockland, Lendlease and Mirvac (a client for over 20 years). With more than 1,000 sales offices behind her, she creates environments that win customers and sell out developments sooner, though she’ll tell you her real job is eliminating stress. Clients trust Fiona to manage the myriad moving parts of a project and deliver on time, on budget and on concept. As she puts it, she’s not just an interior designer; she finds solutions to problems most people take a pass on.

Outside work, she’s a mental health advocate, a live music and festival devotee, a keen baker and the author of Snarky Life Advice from a Scorpio, with a third book underway.

Best advice you’ve ever received, and do you actually follow it?

The song "Up for it" by Henry Rollins contains excellent life advice. It was be a personal afront to Henry not to follow it.

What’s (still) on your bucket list?

Taking my nieces and sister to Paris. Walking with my partner Graeme (aka “G”) in Italy.

What impact are you hoping to make through your work?

To increase female participation in the construction industry. It's woeful.

Favourite local restaurant, and what are you ordering?

Shorties. The buttermilk chicken and chips and a generous glass of Pinot Grigio.

If you could sit with any woman for a long lunch, who would it be and what would you ask?

Patti Smith. I would not ask her anything, I would just let her talk and listen to the wisdom.

What helps you get into your best work zone?

Double J and a cookie.

You can only pack three things in your handbag. What’s coming with you?

Anyone who has seen my handbag knows it contains everything. You need to be prepared for every possible outcome.

What book or podcast has made an impact on your business?

I'd pick the music of Patti Smith, Amyl and the Sniffers, Peaches, Madonna, Lana Del Ray, Emma Donovan, The Bamboos, You Am I, Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Bikini Kill, The Hard Ons, The Hives, Hole and Shirley Manson.

What’s something people may be surprised to learn about you?

I worship at the Church of Rock 'n Roll.

What are you excited about next?

The next gig, the next day, the next kiss, the next smile.