There’s no denying Roxy Jacenko is a female powerhouse.
Indeed, the 38-year-old has single-handedly founded of one of Australia’s most renowned PR firms, Sweaty Betty, given birth to two children, written several books and had her own battle with cancer.
READ NEXT: Roxy Jacenko & Oliver Curtis: Everything you need to know about the PR power couple
There’s no denying Roxy Jacenko is a female force to be reckoned with. She’s pictured here with husband Oliver Curtis. (Image: Instagram)
Furthermore, her marriage has captured headlines the country over, but Roxy and former investment banker Oliver Curtis – who served time in jail for insider trading – seem to be keeping things steady despite a few hiccups.
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And to prove there’s so much more to the PR maven, Roxy recently opened up to Woman’s Day in a revealing Q&A, and we’ve got all the insights into her colourful life.
From her thoughts on success, her approach on social media, and even what she thinks about James Packer’s former flame, Tziporah Malkah – keep scrolling for everything running through Roxy Jacenko’s head right now.
Roxy, how do you define success?
I don’t! The reality is the second you think you’re successful, is the second you fall. I’ve always been the person to push the boundaries until I’m blue in the face.
There isn’t one day where I think: “You’ve made it”. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’ve done a good job at the businesses I’ve got but I still think I’ve got a long way to go.
I’m fourteen years in and every day I’m learning. You learn to be better; I don’t look at anything as success, when you get too comfortable you start to plateau.
I always think of success as something I can do better, it’s sick but it’s true.
In the age of a side hustle, where is the best place to start a business?
The best place to start is by being willing to work 7 days a week. You can’t think because you own the business that you’re going to work less.
I think an advantage I had growing up was that I came from an upbringing of ‘if you want, you work!’ I had the understanding when I first started, that I wasn’t going to be doing Friday lunches and tennis on Saturdays, I was going to be at my desk morning, noon and night and I am still to this day.
The second you take your foot of the accelerator and you hit the break, because you think someone else will do it, you will fail.
WATCH: Roxy Jacenko on her toughest year yet:
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What makes a good boss?
Someone who wants to see you grow, not someone who wants to answer the questions for you.
Whether you like me or you loath me, my job is to make sure I bring the best out of you from a career perspective. To do that, I need to correct you when you’ve not done it the correct way or there’s a better way of doing it.
Not everyone likes that, but those who want to grow are appreciative of it.
How do you approach being transparent on social media, do you have any advice for others?
If you’ve got a nose job, two black eyes and a cast on your nose – don’t hide for the next two weeks because you want to pretend you woke up with a smaller nose. Own it!
That’s my policy with social media, I think the more truthful you are the more your following will grow.
People follow me because I’m real; you get an insight into my life, the highs and the lows.
After so many years working in the PR industry, how do you define your personal brand?
My personal brand is fast. You look at my life and every day is different.
I went from having my husband go to jail and getting cancer to cancer two weeks later to being on a Superyacht in Italy a year later.
My fast life has come from being savy. All those opportunities have come because I’ve welcomed them and I’ve worked hard for them.
My book is the perfect example of this; I didn’t even read a book when I was at school… why do I now have a book? Because I said yes! I have an open door policy. I grab everything and I run, regardless whether I can do it or not.
Who is one celebrity or Australian media personality that you would love to give a PR make over to?
Tziporah Malkah! A PR makeover for her would be using her good heart and pulling back from all that publicity.
I feel like the direction she’s being pulled in from a PR perspective isn’t very smart. Whoever’s telling her to get into the water and jump up and down for paparazzi – it’s not helping.
I’d rather be seeing her raising awareness for charity, using her time for better things than just money. I think she’s obviously gone through some really difficult times, and having her wheeled out every five minutes to do interviews about a romance that was 25 years ago isn’t helping her.
Sure it’s lining her pockets in the short term, but it’s not helping her in the long term and it’s not helping her to get her health back on track. Is it helping her to lose that weight to make sure she doesn’t end up with heart disease? No, it’s not; it’s merely short term wins from a financial perspective.
Tziporah is a celebrity in need of a PR makeover, according to Roxy. (Image: AAP)
How do you balance running three businesses, multiple clients and motherhood?
When It comes to juggling multiple businesses and motherhood, I don’t fit it all in.
As I talk to you, I’m cleaning up my office. I don’t pre-plan, I take every second of the day as it comes. I use every second well; I do two things at once. If you’ve got something to do, do it today, never put it off for tomorrow.
How do your kids respond to your media attention?
Pixie said to me the other day, “Why does everybody know your name!” I said, “I don’t know Pix, maybe because it’s on my handbag”.
They’ve got no idea, I’m very happy for them to have no idea! The reality is my aim in life was never to become someone who ever knew my name, my aim was to be successful.
WATCH: Pixie Curtis busts a move with mum Roxy Jacenko in the car:
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Do you have any plans to return to reality TV, following your time on Celebrity Apprentice?
Watch this space!
Dancing with the Stars?
No, I can’t dance.
What it’s in the pipeline for the rest of the year?
We’re moving in to our family home in February, and I’ll be making sure my health stays on track.
I’ll be continuing my work with the National Breast Cancer foundation, and working towards the aim of achieving zero death by 2030 for breast cancer. We could all do a lot more, and having experienced it and watching my mother go through it, that’s what I want to be doing.
A stint on reality TV doesn’t appear to be out of the question for Roxy! (Image: Instagram / @roxyjacenko)
*You’ve just released a new nonfiction book, named Roxy’s Little Black Book of Tips and Tricks: The no-bullsht guide to all things PR, social media, business and building your brand, what inspired you to release a nonfiction work after three fiction books at this point of your career?**
The Tips and Tricks seminars that I do have become something people come to three and four times. They don’t just come if they live in Sydney – they travel interstate to see it again and again.
When Allen and Unwin came to me and said, “Look we should turn this into a book, there’s lot of people who might live remote Australia who can’t access the seminars, and it’s a great resource for them”, I agreed.
It’s not just a book for PR people, it’s for developing social media skills, business building, building a brand and also a guide for small businesses – it’s got a broach reach.
The book is referred to as a no BS guide, how do you detect and avoid BS in the industry?
Most people you meet have a façade up. The one thing about me is that I’m black and white, there’s no grey area. What you see, is what you get, not everyone is going to like that.
I don’t sweat the small stuff, if you like me great, if not – I don’t give a f*ck! I don’t get absorbed by the industry, I’m busy looking for the next big thing to grow my business and my staff.
There’s a section in the book that tackles industry gossip, how you manage it?
I’m used to gossipers in the industry, its everyday, you just have to look away and know that they’re selling you more books.
If you’re not talked about, you’re being forgotten about. There is all sorts of sh*t out there about me, I read every bit of it! It would be obnoxious of me to ignore what’s being said.
Your family, friends and clients will know who you are, so long as you’re mindful of that, and so long as you’re not absorbed by the bullsh*t you’ll be fine.
There’s always going to be competitors, there’s always going to be jealousy. If you succeed, people will always want to tear you down – f*ck them! Look as their gossip as constructive, my biggest distractors are actually my biggest motivators.
