Business
In this episode, the story of a young Swedish farm girl who moved to Australia when shewas 22, and with little command of the English language, managed to create a globalstationary business that now has over 100 stores in 5 countries employing up to 1,000people in the busy time … plus an online store selling to 147 countries.Kristina Karlsson is the founder and Creative Director of Kikki-K … a global Swedish designand stationery business she launched in 2001 when she cleverly managed to convince herthen partner (now husband) Paul, to sell his home and max out all his credit cards in orderto bring her dream to life.Well, her power of persuasion worked a treat, as Kikki-K is now a household name on theAustralian stationary scene … a brand, that in Kristina’s own words is ‘empowering andinspiring stationery lovers everywhere to live their best life’.But, as you’re about to find out, the growth of this retail juggernaut hasn’t all been smoothsailing, as Kristina juggled opening up stores in multiple countries, with the pressures offamily life and growing her dream business.I caught up with her at Kikki-K’s inner-Melbourne headquarters.Support the show.