How this young female entrepreneur is scaling up her charity

Georgia Verry is a black belt, just like her mother. Now she’s using her strength to combat the fallout of gender-based violence with her charity, Conscious Combat Club.

Overcoming barriers

Amidst the long months of COVID lockdowns, Georgia Verry hatched an idea.

"All of the fitness industry shut down, and everybody pivoted to doing things online,” she says.

“I really saw that as an opportunity to pilot something for almost $0."

With little more than a webcam, she not only launched a new initiative but one that harnessed her biggest passion for good: kickboxing for women living with trauma.

The organisation, now known as Conscious Combat Club, provides a space for survivors of gender-based violence, particularly violence against women, to reclaim their body, confidence, and strength through trauma-informed martial arts.

“There's a real gap for women who have experienced violence. Not to mention those spaces are often filled with men,” Georgia says.

But Georgia quickly realised that running a charity involved an entirely new set of challenges.

Her acceptance into the Emerging Social Purpose Leaders program came at an opportune time.

It not only transformed her skillset, but it also grew her network of fellow social entrepreneurs.

“My goals were very hard skill related. The course focused on leadership-based skills and then things that were very specific to social purpose organisations. And all of my goals were to do with very specific skills that I needed to operate in the social purpose space,” she says.

Kickboxing for good 

“My mother did karate. She was never a professional, but she's a black belt just like me,” Georgia says.

“And when she got back into it after becoming a mother, I was like, I want to do that, too.”

Despite wanting to follow in her mother’s footsteps, it wasn’t an instant passion.

“Fighting really, really terrified me. And I've tried to do things in my life that have scared me as much as I possibly can,” she says.

Georgia soon not only conquered her fear but rose through the ranks to become a professional kickboxer, competing on some of Australia’s top fight cards.

At the same time, she began a career helping everyday people live better in their bodies.

“For me, I wanted to do something that really changed somebody's life, made a real significant impact. That's how I got into working with chronic pain management and then eventually into this space,” she says.

Experiencing joy

Combining her skills as a black belt, with her new knowledge from her degree enabled Georgia to grow her lockdown idea, with it blooming into the charity Conscious Combat Club.

Working with psychologists, Georgia designed a program that is truly transformative.

"I get to work with people who are at the point in their journeys where they're really wanting to reclaim their power."

- Georgia Verry | Conscious Combat Club

“I get to work with people who are at the point in their journeys where they're really wanting to reclaim their power,” she says.

Trauma-informed movement practice focuses on how trauma impacts the body, complementing traditional therapeutic approaches that center on thought and narrative.

“And we get to have so many beautiful moments when their faces light up with joy or when we have conversations in class with people who have shared experiences.”

Real initiative

Georgia got her first taste of business leadership while working in exercise science.

"I was the principal exercise scientist, which was a management role. I was involved in helping set up a new franchise in the CBD,” Georgia says.

But stepping into the role of CEO needed an entirely new skillset.

“All of a sudden, I was thinking, this seems like a social enterprise,” she says.

“We developed a social enterprise business plan, decided to become a registered charity, and went down all of the pathways of trying to become a public benevolent institution and get dual charitable status.”

Emerging Social Purpose Leaders

The call for applicants to the Emerging Social Purpose Leaders program came at a perfect time.

“It was our first year as a registered charity, which meant it was my first time doing annual reporting, including reporting on our finances,” she says.

“It was my first year of applying for grants. We were starting to think about our annual general meeting. So it arrived right at the perfect time.”

The immersive 12-week program equips not-for-profit and social purpose leaders with little or no prior business management training with the skills to lead their teams to generate social impact and financial sustainability for their organisations.

We learned things like building our stakeholder engagement map. I wanted to learn how to read a profit and loss or balance sheet and work with our accountant to do our financial reporting, Georgia says

Strength in numbers

As well as gaining concrete business skills, sharing the experience with like-minded individuals was deeply rewarding.

Georgia was amazed by the other participants who were each making a unique impact on the world.

"I had never really met anybody else who was working in the social purpose space. So when I saw it, I just thought, this is going to be such a good opportunity to network and meet people who are also working in similar industries.”

She never expected the networking opportunities to be so immediate.

We had to submit a planning permit to the local council, and another woman in the course was starting a charity doing pro-bono planning. She needed clients to build case studies, so we were able to help each other out.

The final awards night had a lot of alumni from Melbourne Business School who are involved in social purpose work, and being in that room was just really inspiring — seeing the different types of work people were doing.

International Women's Day

International Women's Day is a day when Georgia takes the time to reflect on the women who inspire her work and help her mission.

I'm always reflecting on those incredible women — women psychologists, women on the MBS program like Libby and Julie, the women on our board.

The program at MBS, along with her organisation and community, helps Georgia see the light amid the darkness."

I think it was very hopeful. A recurring theme for me in the past year has been intentionally looking at all the good that's happening in the world.

Applications for this year's intake of the Emerging Social Purpose Leaders program are now open, with generous scholarships available.

To find out more about studying at Melbourne Business School, visit our Degree Programs and Short Courses pages, or learn about our range of services For Organisations.