Jasmin Herro & Michael Micallef

Publisher’s note: This story is a collaboration between Jasmin Herro and Michael Micallef representing Winc ANZ. They share here the genesis of their successful collaboration: between a creative SME and one of the largest corporate office and workplace suppliers, and how they’ve complemented each other’s brands and businesses through a special approach, resulting in a uniquely Indigenous offering.

Jasmin: “I’d like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people and their elders past, present and emerging. The land of the Gadigal has been my home for more than half my life and I respectfully enjoy the environment, land, sea and waterways of this beautiful city and country.  Walking barefoot at the beach in Coogee, the parklands of Centennial Park or beating the pavement of Barangaroo, I often stop to reflect on what the ancestors of the Gadigal might have been doing tens of thousands of years earlier, at that very spot, and what it might have looked or sounded like.

“Everything I’ve done in my business (JHerro) in the last five years has been a result of my connection to culture and a need for helping my children understand the richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.  I strive daily to change the stereotypical attitudes and ideas about what a successful Indigenous Australian is.

“I’m not an academic, I can’t kick a football, I’m not an elite athlete and people have asked me not to sing or dance – I’m just a business person.”

Michael:

“At Winc we are incredibly proud of the engagement we have with Indigenous businesses and communities for a number of years now including releasing our fourth Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2018.  Our business has changed and evolved and we are excited about the work that OfficeMax has done with Jasmin and the Tjindgarmi and Teter Mek brands and of course the Teter Mek Foundation.

 

“Integrating two of the largest ranges of Indigenous branded products into our business will offer our customers a solution they can be proud of engaging with, that provides a transparent social outcome.  Jasmin has spent time around the country meeting with customers, and many of my team members, and the response has been overwhelming from all aspects of the business. I look forward to working with Jasmin and sharing the journey with our customers and the supporters of Teter Mek.”

 

Jasmin was born in Cairns, her father migrated to Australia when he was just fourteen, and her mother is from Thursday Island and a descendant of Mer (Murray) Island – known as the birthplace of Eddie Koiki Mabo.

“Growing up in seventies and eighties, Cairns had a very different social landscape compared to today. I always knew that we had Indigenous blood but my brother Kevin (co-author of the Teter Mek storybooks) remembers only being told about our lineage when he was about eighteen or nineteen.  

“We always knew that we were half-Chinese and most of the Chinese families we associated with would remind us that we were.  I felt we were raised to fear being taken away from our family, as many Indigenous children were at the time. There is still a stigma about being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.”

Jasmin consciously supports her children with their struggle to keep connected with their different cultural identities. “It has been very important to me as a parent, as I really understand the feeling of not fitting in.”

Jasmin has utilised her love of storytelling and her thirst for cultural knowledge. JHerro Pty Ltd is a totally Indigenous-owned and managed business, with two brands: Tjindgarmi (pronounced Jind–Gar–Mee) which is the largest range of Indigenous-branded office and furniture products, and Teter Mek which is a series of educational stories and workbooks, plus a huge range of arts and crafts products for schools and educators. The company has formed a strategic alliance with Winc/OfficeMax, the largest supplier of office and workplace products in Australia.  

“Tjindgarmi and Teter Mek products were created and designed to provide a commercially viable opportunity for government, corporate and education sectors to engage with confidence, show multiple levels of value and a clear and transparent social outcome.  Besides the colourful uplifting artwork and engaging stories our initial intention has always been clear: to change the way mainstream Australia feels about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, art and culture. By doing that we believe it will create a foundation for healing, reconciliation and a more inclusive Australia for all.”

For many years Jasmin has been a registered artist with the Australian Indigenous Artcode, an organisation that provides information about Indigenous art dealers and artists.

“When I was approached in 2014 by OfficeMax to submit a proposal to build an Indigenous engagement solution for their corporate, government and education customers, I wasn’t sure where to start, but somewhere in my heart I felt that this could be the start of something amazing that would not only change my business world but had the ability to impact many other lives.”

She searched for someone to help and approached a number of Indigenous artists, storytellers and business people; however no one wanted to help her. It seemed that many didn’t see the value or potential in the project and she almost gave up.

Determined to disprove the doubters and deliver a meaningful, engaging and impactful project, Jasmin decided to do it herself: “I was a registered artist, I felt I had a story to tell and quite frankly I was tired of all the stereotypical attitudes in this space, especially looking from a business lens.

“I started this business separately to any of my other businesses and called it JHerro; when you create a business in your name, it’s your personal brand. Having a business that creates and sells products that are reflective of you, your story and culture should not be taken lightly, especially as the business and products have the potential to leave a legacy that would outlive me.”

Jasmin believes that a successful business is about relationships, and understanding who your customers are, and what they’re trying to achieve. Creating a safe and respectful environment to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses is an important part of their success.  

“My first challenge was to navigate away from the stereotypical expectations about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I’ve always kept to talking about business and commerce and not the politics of Indigenous affairs. That has been one of the conscious decisions I made which defines the parameters of our business values and beliefs.”

Since the rise of the ‘Indigenous business sector’ and the Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy launched in 2015 there has been an increase in engagement with Indigenous businesses.  With this comes a strong expectation to show a social impact – more so than any other business type or sector.

“While it can be said that an Indigenous business person, pays taxes, has a job, children attend school and families participate fully in society; it seems like that is not enough. Customers want to see a social outcome now. Some say it isn’t fair to expect a small or medium size business to show a social outcome and still be competitive, however, the market almost demands it.  

“When I started JHerro finding a clear and transparent social outcome was essential. Could I build a product or service that would help customers and end users engage with confidence, show multiple levels of value, with transparency,  and a social outcome that was commercially viable, scalable and sustainable?”

On this Michael adds: “The part Winc/OfficeMax plays in supporting JHerro with Tjindgarmi and

Teter Mek is providing the scale and logistics that makes it possible for Jasmin and the other Indigenous businesses we deal with to engage on the the large scale level that is expected from corporate and government agencies.

 

“Many of the Winc executives have supported Jasmin on what it takes to do business on that level. It’s been great to see her take that knowledge and improve how she does business. This has been integral to the Federal Government’s initiative of the Indigenous Procurement Policy: growing Indigenous business through contracting them to provide goods and services.  

 

“We see Jasmin’s story of courage and entrepreneurship as a timely message on promoting solution-thinking with suppliers and it plays to the narrative of diversity in gender and race.”

 

In the Beginning: Tjindgarmi

For Jasmin the most significant part of her Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture was her totem: the tiger shark. The Torres Strait was the world centre for pearls in the early Twentieth Century and it is hugely abundant. The challenge was to bring all these things into an artwork-based story that all  made sense.

“I also wanted the art style to resonate with end-users and observers,” she recalls.

“Tjindgarmi is a story about a great fictional warrior – who was a protector and leader of his people and community – respected by many, even his enemies. In a former life he was the twin brother of the tiger shark and after a lifetime full of battles and adventures he sensed it was time to transition to his next life.  He dragged his tired body into the water and asked his brother the tiger shark to dispatch him from his humanly form. The tiger shark can’t do this for his beloved brother, so they pray to the god who changes the warrior into an octopus. Now if you visit the top end of Australia and particularly the Torres Strait you can see the two brothers swimming together.”

The initial setback of no one wanting to collaborate with Jasmin means the artwork, story and all the elements belong to her. She’s in a very unique position of being the owner, creator, storyteller, artist and business person behind the business and the brands.  

“Under most licensing agreements, the artist is normally commissioned for a design or piece and the relationship stops there. I’ve been able to build relationships within the Winc/OfficeMax organisation and with our customers. They’ve welcomed the opportunity to participate in the journey, using Tjindgarmi as a communication tool internally and externally to engage their own customers, stakeholders and staff in their reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It gives them a visual product to be able to talk about the diversity of Indigenous cultures and language groups around the country that’s commercially competitive and takes away the anxiety of engaging with Indigenous people or businesses that they have struggled to engage, due to fear of causing unintentional offence or even pronouncing things incorrectly.”

For Jasmin it’s about always being approachable and never making people feel uncomfortable about asking from a respectful place. “Beyond the stories and colourful artwork, what I am most proud of is that I have managed to influence thousands of non-Indigenous Australians to think and feel differently about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“Winc/OfficeMax are the largest suppliers to the education sector and when I was asked about what I thought would be a great way to help teachers and schools to engage with Indigenous culture I thought about how as a parent I would have teachers approach me at my children’s schools, and ask me if I had ideas about activities students could do for NAIDOC week.

“I used to wonder why that was happening, and it was one of the teachers that explained that she didn’t know any Indigenous people; she didn’t know who to talk to about it without them judging her. It was surprising to talk to more and more teachers who felt the same way – it was not because they didn’t want to talk or engage with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander culture but they also felt fearful of causing unintentional offence.  

“So armed with this information and an idea that would truly help teachers, we created a range of storybooks and workbooks that were curriculum-aligned from lesson plans written by Aboriginal teachers and still competitive in price.

“Again, I lacked the confidence of doing this myself and went on a search for others including writers to help me produce these stories. Alas, no one wanted to help me, so I wrote the story myself, teaming up with my brother Kevin, who was studying literature at the time.”

“Teter Mek”

The story is about a little girl from the Torres Strait, who is swept out to sea in a storm surge and drifts for days. Injured, she has lost her memory and ability to speak and she is near death. She is rescued by an old fishing boat. The crew think they heard something on the radio about an island that had been devastated by flooding and take her there, but everything is washed away.  The only thing left are the footprints in the mud.

The girl speaks for the first time and says the words “Teter Mek” which directly translated means footprints.  This becomes her nickname and she and the crew embark upon a journey travelling around the country trying to find out who she is and where her parents are.  

In the process she connects with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and learns something about their culture. She finds various objects and takes them to the local elders and ask them to tell her a story.

“We make those learnings into the storybooks. In a sense, this has become a metaphor for this part of my life as I continue to travel around the country talking to many people about culture and art, learning new things and sharing what I have learnt from my travels.”

Currently, JHerro’s arts and crafts range for schools consists of a hundred and forty products and the storybooks aimed at school years 4, 5 & 6: Teter Mek and the Mystery of Pearl Shell Island and Teter Mek and the Stolen Crocodile Eggs were released 2017 and 2018 respectively. The first workbook was created for the lesson plans of three Aboriginal teachers.

“In 2019, we will be publishing our third book Teter Mek and the Tiger Snakes of Crystal Cave. We’ve committed to writing nine books, but it won’t stop there: my dream is to have input from young and emerging Indigenous writers around the country, telling their stories by connecting with Teter Mek’s journey of self-discovery and identity.”

Jasmin realised that social purpose is an important influence on purchasers. “The Teter Mek Foundation was set up because I couldn’t find a not-for-profit that aligned with the missions, values and beliefs that were important to our purpose.

“The foundation is a not-for-profit charity with DGR status supported by King & Wood Mallesons and EY.  Its programs encourage school children from all backgrounds to enquire about and connect with their local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and also to help preserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture by documenting and retelling stories of local legends around Australia.”

The foundation derives its income from JHerro donating between thirty and fifty percent of the profits from the sale of Tjindgarmi and Teter Mek products. “Many companies have featured Tjindgarmi and Teter Mek in their Indigenous participation and procurement plans including Telstra, BP and Origin Energy to name just a few.”

Michael adds: “What OfficeMax has created with Jasmin and her brands is a great value-proposition and the close working relationship Jasmin has with many of my team and the whole business is a testament to innovative collaboration.  The passion and commitment to quality outcomes is what drives Jasmin and is something that sets her and her brands apart from any other offer out there.”

 

Jasmin continues, “When I started working on the Tjindgarmi and Teter Mek brands I reached out to the Melbourne Business School, where I’d attended the Murra Indigenous Business Master Class, in 2013. It was created by the Asia Pacific Social Impact Centre and the SEMBA class of 2003 – where I met my mentor Frank Zipfinger, former Chairman of Mallesons (now King & Wood Mallesons), and Chairman of the Teter Mek Foundation.”

 

Jasmin aims to be a sustainable successful case study for Indigenous business inclusion with corporates and government agencies that leaves a legacy of commercial outcomes, modelling best practice. She is motivated to inspire emerging Indigenous business entrepreneurs, artists and storytellers to follow their dreams and goals.

“Our customers and stakeholders feel an emotional connection to what we have created.  The final proof of our successful outcome is the school children who have enjoyed reading the stories and thinking differently about Indigenous culture.”

For Jasmin “Leadership is the ability to create value for all involved and to inspire those we work with by our actions, ensuring that everyone’s values and beliefs are aligned beyond a commercial return.

“Everything that JHerro does is with an authenticity, and customers and end-users enjoy making a deeper more meaningful connection through the storytelling used.

“My energy comes from the value I create for our customers.  When they feel empowered to ask questions about Indigenous business and how that can work for them it’s a step in the right direction.”