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Annie Stonehouse’s business journey has taken her through property investment, importing, construction, consulting, retail and hospitality.
But behind the businesses, awards and leadership experience is a much deeper story about resilience, kindness and the difference the right people can make in someone’s life.
Speaking with Antoine Vidal on Your Number 1 Business Podcast, Annie shared the experiences that shaped her as a business owner and leader, as well as the deeply personal journey that eventually led her to Lovewell Foundation and Lovewell Cafe.
Today, Annie and the Lovewell team support women from vulnerable backgrounds to rebuild their confidence, gain employment experience, reconnect with their purpose and take the next step forward.
Annie’s introduction to business began when she was just 14.
After earning money through a school holiday job, her father and grandfather allowed her to invest a small amount in a block of units they were purchasing.
Her share may have only represented what she jokingly describes as the front door of one unit, but the experience taught her about saving, investing, rental income and the value of putting money to work.
It also helped establish a strong work ethic.
Annie learned that money could be divided between spending, saving and investing, creating opportunities that may not otherwise have been available.
That early exposure became the foundation for a varied and entrepreneurial career.
After finishing school, Annie spent time living in Malaysia before returning to Australia to study psychology.
Her career would eventually include work as a psychologist, but business and creativity continued to draw her in different directions.
Over the years, Annie became involved in importing shoes and handbags, renovating and selling houses, building homes, pharmacy, consulting and operating two cupcake parlours.
Rather than seeing these as unrelated ventures, Annie believes each experience gave her transferable skills that helped prepare her for the next challenge.
Her importing business began with a love of fashion.
Having learned to sew from her grandmothers, she developed an interest in clothing, handbags and shoes. When she realised many of the products she wanted were too expensive, she began investigating how to import them herself.
With limited internet access and far fewer online resources than are available today, much of the process involved trial and error.
Mentors and other business owners helped guide her, while international travel gave her the confidence to explore suppliers and opportunities outside Australia.
Like many entrepreneurs, Annie’s first business taught her as much about what not to do as it did about what worked.
Annie also discovered an interest in property renovation.
As a young mother working part-time, she began purchasing older homes, improving them and selling them.
Over approximately six or seven years, she renovated and sold 12 houses.
She completed the work she could handle herself and brought in qualified tradespeople for the rest.
The renovations provided additional income, but they were also creative and therapeutic. Annie often spent evenings painting and improving the properties after completing her other responsibilities.
After being made redundant from a later role, she decided to explore the construction industry more seriously.
She worked for an established company for six months to understand how the industry operated before starting a business with her partner at the time.
The business performed well, although the Global Financial Crisis created challenges when they were left holding two unsold properties.
They rented the homes until the market improved and eventually sold them profitably.
It was another reminder that business rarely goes entirely according to plan.
One of Annie’s most creative ventures began when she visited a cupcake business to order a birthday cake for her son’s girlfriend, who is now her daughter-in-law.
Annie fell in love with the business and began discussing possible expansion and franchising with its owner.
When the owner later decided she was ready to move on, Annie purchased the business.
She developed the original location, opened a second store in Bulimba and operated the cupcake parlours for around eight or nine years.
At the height of the cupcake trend, the team produced large orders for weddings, events and corporate clients, including one order of around 10,000 cupcakes for the Ekka.
The experience also strengthened Annie’s approach to leadership.
One of Annie’s strongest business lessons came from an early involvement in a Chinese restaurant.
The chefs held significant influence because the owners did not know how to perform their roles.
From that experience, Annie decided she would learn every job within any business she operated.
At the cupcake parlour, she learned the production, decorating, customer service and operational roles before eventually stepping back from daily tasks to work on the business rather than constantly working in it.
Knowing every role did not mean micromanaging employees.
Instead, it gave Annie the knowledge to train people properly, understand the challenges they faced and set realistic expectations.
She focused heavily on staff development, fair wages and building an environment where employees felt respected.
Team members were encouraged to take their birthdays off with pay, creativity was celebrated and mistakes became opportunities to learn rather than reasons for anger.
Annie also employed people who were described at the time as having disabilities, but whom she now prefers to describe as having different abilities.
She saw how quickly the wider team embraced those employees and how valuable an inclusive workplace could be for everyone involved.
As the cupcake business grew, Annie recognised that she needed to release control over some parts of the operation.
She could not expand while remaining responsible for every individual task.
Learning to trust others allowed her to focus on strategy, growth and leadership.
That trust was not always rewarded, and Annie acknowledges that people can be one of the greatest challenges in business.
However, she also recognises that she can be challenging for others.
Self-awareness has helped her understand that strong leadership involves listening, adapting and recognising when to step forward or pull back.
For Annie, business became less about controlling everything and more about establishing clear processes, training people well and giving them room to succeed.
One of Annie’s most memorable business lessons began with a customer who entered the cupcake parlour and said the cakes were beautiful but unaffordable.
Instead of ending the conversation, Annie invited her to sit down for coffee.
She learned that the woman was going through an extremely difficult family situation and desperately wanted to give her son something special for his birthday.
Annie offered to make the birthday cake at no cost.
She did not know that the woman was connected to a large network of people and businesses.
The simple act of kindness eventually led to numerous referrals, including corporate customers who placed substantial orders.
The experience reinforced several important lessons.
Never judge someone by their appearance. Never assume you understand what another person is experiencing. And never underestimate the effect a small act of generosity can have.
Even without the referrals, Annie believes helping the woman would still have been worthwhile.
Annie first became involved with the organisation that would become Lovewell through her Rotary Club.
At the time, it operated as Hope Foundation.
After volunteering and getting to know the founder, Annie joined the board.
When the founder later left and the COVID-19 pandemic changed the organisation’s operating environment, Annie had an opportunity to review its programs and direction.
The organisation was rebranded as Lovewell Foundation and Lovewell Cafe.
Its mission remained focused on helping women, but its programs and employment pathways were redesigned.
Lovewell Foundation supports women from vulnerable backgrounds as they rebuild their lives.
Lovewell Cafe then provides employment experience for women who are ready to return to the workforce, develop confidence and discover the direction they would like their careers to take.
Lovewell Cafe operates as a commercial business, but Annie describes it as a business that leads with its heart first and financial figures second.
That does not mean financial sustainability is ignored.
The cafe still needs to generate enough income to pay wages, serve customers and remain viable.
However, its operations are designed around the needs of the women it supports.
Participants may have experienced domestic and family violence, homelessness, addiction, trafficking, long-term unemployment, disability or other forms of significant trauma.
Many arrive with limited confidence or previous negative experiences of employment.
Some begin by working only a few hours each week.
As they become more comfortable and confident, they may take on more shifts, pursue further education, move into other employment or establish their own businesses.
Lovewell has supported women who have gone on to careers in nursing, law and other professions.
It also offers an entrepreneurship program, with several participants establishing businesses of their own.
Annie describes the approach as offering a hand up rather than a handout.
Although Lovewell is a caring and supportive environment, employees are still expected to make a commitment to their team.
They need to attend their shifts, communicate when something is wrong and accept responsibility for their role.
Annie believes this balance is important.
The women are joining a new team and a new community that will care for them, but they also need to contribute to that community.
When additional support is needed, the foundation can work alongside them while they continue building their employment skills.
The objective is not to create permanent dependence.
It is to help women grow strong enough to make their own decisions, pursue their goals and stand confidently on their own feet.
One story captures the impact of Lovewell particularly clearly.
Annie remembers meeting a woman who was washing dishes in the cafe kitchen.
She introduced herself and explained that if the woman ever needed anything, she only had to ask.
The response was direct.
The woman told Annie that the best way she could help was by leaving her alone.
Annie respected the boundary but said she would continue greeting her every day and that one day she hoped to receive a smile in return.
Over the following eight years, that woman progressed through the organisation, became a team leader and eventually became the cafe manager.
Annie describes her as someone who has rebuilt her life and family through determination and hard work.
She now helps lead the same organisation that once gave her a place to begin again.
For Annie, watching that transformation has been one of the most meaningful parts of her work.
Annie’s commitment to helping women is also shaped by her own experience.
As a young psychologist and mother, she was living with domestic violence.
Although she was professionally supporting children and families, she found herself unable to safely leave her own relationship.
After a severe attack left her with extensive injuries, Annie realised she could not return.
Police protection allowed her to leave Queensland temporarily, but family court proceedings later required her to return so her young son could maintain contact with his father.
During this frightening and uncertain period, two friends made it clear that they would be there whenever she needed them.
The most difficult part for Annie was learning to ask for help.
Those friends sat with her, supported her and provided safety during moments when she felt she could not continue alone.
Annie made herself a promise that, when she was able, she would support another woman facing similar circumstances.
Lovewell became the place where she could fulfil that promise.
Annie believes people can become a different version of themselves when they are willing to do the work and have the right support around them.
The past may shape a person, but it does not have to define their future.
She does not judge the women who come to Lovewell by where they have been, what they have experienced or the choices they may have made.
Her focus is on where they are now and where they want to go next.
Support does not mean doing everything for someone.
It means walking alongside them, offering stability when they need it and helping them develop the confidence to stand independently.
One of the strongest themes throughout Annie’s journey is the importance of having the right people around you.
Mentors helped her start businesses.
Employees helped her grow them.
Friends helped her survive an extraordinarily difficult period of her life.
Professional networks gave her connection and support when leadership felt lonely.
Today, Lovewell gives women the opportunity to find a new community of people who believe in them.
Annie believes resilience requires personal determination, but it is made stronger by having people around you who are willing to help.
Annie’s story is a reminder that business can create far more than financial returns.
It can create employment, confidence, connection, belonging and meaningful social change.
Across every stage of her career, Annie has learned that people remember how they were treated.
Strong businesses are built through trust, kindness, accountability and the willingness to create opportunities for others.
At Lovewell, those lessons are now helping women rebuild their lives and imagine futures that once may have felt impossible.
In this episode of Your Number 1 Business Podcast, Annie Stonehouse shares more about:
Listen to the full episode of Your Number 1 Business Podcast for an honest and inspiring conversation about leadership, resilience, second chances and the power of walking alongside others.
Women seeking support can contact Annie and the Lovewell team directly.
There is no formal referral process, and initial conversations can remain anonymous.
Phone: 0466 603 166
Lovewell may not be able to provide every service directly, but the team will work to connect women with other organisations where additional support is required.