ILAN STYLE
When business becomes a movement
for First Nations women
At Ilan Style, gender equality is not a checklist or a compliance exercise. It is the reason the business exists.
A hundred percent Indigenous owned and women led, Ilan Style is built by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who know first hand what it means to navigate the intersecting barriers of gender and race. That lived experience shapes everything, from how the team works, to how money flows, to how culture is carried into the future.
“We are proud of what we have created, not just as a business, as a movement,” the team says. “We want to prove that gender equity efforts do not leave Indigenous women behind.”
Work at Ilan Style is designed around the realities of women’s lives. The company has a four day working week with one remote day built in. This is not a trendy perk. It is a deliberate response to burnout, unpaid caregiving and the cultural and community responsibilities that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women shoulder.
Flexible work is genuinely reimagined. Roles and workflows are structured so women can meet family and community obligations without parking their career ambitions. Cultural safety is constantly nurtured through conversation, listening and accountability, not left to a policy on a shelf.
Leadership at Ilan Style is unapologetically Indigenous and women centred. Decision making draws on matriarchal traditions and Indigenous knowledge systems that place collective wellbeing at the heart of success.
Rather than including Indigenous voices as an add on, Ilan Style centres them and invites others to stand alongside.
Economic empowerment is treated as a community investment strategy. Every product sold contributes to the Ilan Style Fellowship Program, which funds First Nations creatives, particularly women, to produce resources in language. Profits are reinvested into cultural, linguistic and creative projects led by women and elders, supporting the transfer of knowledge between generations and turning culture into a form of shared currency.
Inside the business, pay is handled with the same care as culture. Internal reviews check gender pay equity across roles and levels, and a transparent, strengths based remuneration and progression framework is used. Negotiation, which so often recreates inequality, is deliberately taken off the table. Structured, bias free processes guide decisions, so no one has to fight alone for fair pay.
Development and succession are equally intentional. Mentoring and growth pathways are focused on lifting Indigenous staff and creatives into leadership. Performance conversations are collaborative and centred on capability building, recognising that leadership can look very different in different cultural contexts.
Storytelling runs through everything. Designs, campaigns and partnerships celebrate the strength and stories of Indigenous women and communities. Ilan Style uses its platform to elevate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in business, arts and culture, turning visibility into another form of power.
As a small, purpose driven business, the team makes time to review their impact, invite feedback and evolve in consultation with staff and community partners.
“We have no fear of being held accountable. It is essential to our growth and our authenticity,” they say.
Ilan Style is more than a successful brand. It is a working model of what happens when gender equity, Indigenous self determination, cultural revitalisation and ethical enterprise are treated as one project, not four separate ones. That is why its recognition as Best First Nations Business matters, it shows what doing business differently can look like when Indigenous women lead the way.
