o Quay CEO Jodi Bricker, young women need to be encouraged and actively supported to build confidence and develop true leadership skills.  “In order to flourish, I believe the next generation of female leaders need ongoing mentorship and to practise taking risks, which together help build confidence,” Bricker told Inside Retail. “Some research suggests that the career and pay gap between women and men largely stems from women getting left behind in the first step to [management]. “One of the insights show that women often wait until they are 100 per cent ready before they apply for the next role or push for a promotion. Sometimes we aim for perfection and we’re too afraid to take risks because we don’t want to fail. I encourage women to believe in themselves and their ideas. I coach my team that it is okay to fail, just fail fast, learn from your mistakes and move on. That’s how you grow.”  The new Quay collection includes a mix of sunnies and blue-light glasses, featuring Graham as the face of the campaign.  As well as a successful supermodel, Graham is also an author, podcast host and entrepreneur who has used her voice and influence in recent years to challenge beauty standards and collaborate with fashion labels to advise and design size-inclusive fashion collections.  “I’m so excited to partner with Quay in honour of International Women’s Day this year. This campaign is all about celebrating confidence and empowering women to own who they are,” Graham said in a statement. “Ashley defines what it means to be a powerful woman today. She is a beacon of confidence and positivity who transcends generations and has redefined an industry with her voice and influence,” said Bricker.  Females to the front During her career, Bricker has held leadership roles at Old Navy, Gap and Levi’s, where she has found inspiration and support from other women. In fact, most of the companies she has worked in had a 70 per cent or higher female employee population, but there was still a distinct lack of women at the top end of the business.  “None of the companies I worked for had female CEOs or boards that represented the demographics of the customer or employee base, so I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to get my message across to stakeholders and understanding the currency, language and content required to get ideas across the line,” she observed. Among the women leaders that Bricker admires is tennis champion Serena Williams, who “revolutionised the sport of tennis with her powerful style of play and fierce tenacity”. Bricker added: “I think [American journalist] Esther Wojcicki is extremely interesting and an example of someone who has raised remarkable women. She is a teacher and mother of two successful female tech CEOs in Silicon Valley: Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, and Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe. Her guiding principles for raising successful leaders is TRICK, which stands for trust, respect, independence, collaboration and kindness. These are useful principles to study as both a mother and a female leader.”