It was just before the pandemic – towards the end of 2019 – when Sophie Stewart realised she needed to create more conversations. At the Business Chicks 9 to Thrive summit in Sydney she was inspired to build a platform that helped women around the world.

The powerful words of Ita Buttrose left an impression on the then 27-year-old as she listened intently to the importance of sharing knowledge and the role of women in leadership.

She noticed a gap in the market and decided to create a platform for women to share their stories while having access to relevant resources in one place.

This is how Got You Girl was born – a program created to support and “[start] conversations on the topics we don’t often like to talk about as women,” Ms Stewart explains.

“What I’ve been trying to work on for the last year and a half, is creating a platform that covers every topic – we try to have as much information as we can and share peoples’ stories on the website because there is so much power in people sharing their story,” she says.

“People don’t often want to talk about what they’ve been through, but they’ll happily read something and go ‘this is me in this article but it’s not me’… and they feel seen.”

Got You Girl acts as a portal and works with other organisations to bring awareness to different women’s issues. Ms Stewart says the goal was never to become one of these organisations but rather help spread their messages and communicate why each of them is important.

“There are so many charities out there that are doing such great jobs that I didn’t want to start anything new – I just want to help create more awareness of what they are doing and provide a platform where people can write freely on their own experiences or their business, and why they do what they do; to help give them more exposure,” she says.

“We don’t aim to be the head of breast cancer awareness or cervical screening; we want to provide information on other organisations or people’s stories so they can reach out to these other businesses.”

Almost two years after the launch of Got You Girl, the 28-year-old has expanded the business to reflect other gaps she has noticed in the market.

“Got You Girl is the first of many projects. The umbrella company for Got You Girl is called Got You Group,” she says.

“We have already kind of launched Got You Mumma, which will be within the Got You Girl platform – that will be a support network for mums pre and postnatal, plus anyone who’s planning on having children.”

An increase in online resources for women has been positive, but it also highlights the lack of resources that offer men the same amount of support and without judgement.

“Down the track I want it to be coeducational or even just for guys because I think there’s a lot of these programs for girls now,” Ms Stewart says.

She points to education playing a big role in understanding and awareness of the different conversations that Got You Girl explores.

“I think that people don’t realise just how important starting the conversations early are. I’m hoping that we as Got You Girl can come in and break that gap to be able to help,” she says.

“I’m currently working on school empowerment workshops, on a whole array of different things. Consent is going to be one of them, domestic violence and harassment, periods, being uniquely yourself, and not falling to social media.”

When she reflects on the last year and a half, Miss Stewart says running Got You Girl has been a great opportunity to learn and grow.

Her hard work and dedication to the business have not only helped those who visit the site, but also the women who are brave enough to share their stories.

The power Got You Girl has had on others is still surreal to Ms Stewart.

“I still pinch myself because I’m just an average person, but I have a platform that people are wanting to share their stories on, and most of the time it’s for the first time. I’ve had people say I love what you’re doing, I want to support you, I want to share my story.”

As the business takes on more responsibilities and the Got You Group community grows, Ms Stewart says she wants to continue to help educate more people.

“We started and continue to educate, empower and inspire women globally to help them be in the know so they can live their best life. And that’s through storytelling, sharing experiences, facts, professional advice, creating a one-stop-shop type thing for all of that information,” she says.

“It’s such early days still, and I see so much growth and opportunity for the business – this is just the start of creating more conversations.”