Nikki Durkin
(Image courtesy of thenextwomen.com)
The young and extremely fashionable Ms Durkin has been an entrepreneur since she was 15, when she was pulling in $500 a week designing and selling t-shirts online. Now she has developed 99dresses – an “infinite wardrobe” allowing people to trade clothes with each other. Nikki’s success is a great example of hard work, ingenuity and perseverance.
Read her thoughts on the benefits of boarding school below.
What boarding school did you go to?
Kambala
What was your best experience at Boarding School?
There were lots of little experiences that made it fun. I definitely have fond memories of just chilling in my friend’s dorm room watching movies together and giggling about nothing. The close friendships I made were fantastic.
What is your favourite memory from Boarding School?
Having a mudcake fight after dinner with one of my friends in the Prep area amongst all the toys. I came out with mudcake smeared all over me, and it was pretty funny.
What are you doing now?
As soon as I finished high school I started a company called 99dresses.com, which aims to deliver women an ‘infinite wardrobe’ so they never have to wear the same thing twice. Most recently I was accepted into Y Combinator, the most #1 startup accelerator in the world (located in Silicon Valley). I spent 5 months in the USA and secured investment from some of the top venture capitalists and angel investors in America, with the product launched in the US market. I’m currently back in Australia building out the product and the team which is challenging but fun
Has anything you learnt at boarding school helped you with your current career?
Mainly independence. You have to be a bit independent earlier than most other girls when living away from home and I think that has really helped me in this industry.
Any advice for young kids going to boarding school?
Have fun and embrace the friendships on offer. Its a great experience.
Resources:
Sydney Morning Herald