About Me - My Biography

They say people will have three careers in their lifetime. Flavia’s first career was in media and the second was in management consulting, in communications. Flavia firmly believes that everything we do in life prepares us for where we are now – so while media introduced her to consumer mindsets and psychographics, management consulting exposed her to business, strategy and critical thinking, all of which would form the framework and reference points for setting up future businesses – her third career.

In 1998, Flavia embarked on the biggest life-changing experience, when she established the first family business. As with most start-ups, City Clinic was born from a casual conversation based on a personal experience noting a lack of an integrated approach to injury management/rehabilitation. The Sydney based City Clinic centre was the first of its kind in Australia to offer a patient-centric model, offering a multidisciplinary approach to injury management-all under one roof.

The early walk as an entrepreneur came with the typical ups and downs characterised by a business that is growing organically, which Flavia states “will test your stamina, motives and the relationship with your bank manager.”

An opportunity to acquire a business which had been supplying City Clinic, presented itself in 2001 and with this acquisition Bolster Trading Pty Ltd was established and Flavia realised her lifetime ambition to have a business that made people’s lives better. The flag-ship product is the BodyBolster, which was originally created by a team of physiotherapists to promote movement and support the back ‘actively.’

CityClinic practitioners were already using and recommending it to patients prior to the acquisition, so in the tradition of the ‘Gillette story’ she says “we loved it so much we bought the company.”

She had no idea that the first 18 months would be spent dealing with manufactures, patent solicitors and medical device legislators. Life had NOT prepared her for this – but she ground her teeth through it all recognising the necessary evil that comes with the territory.

The BodyBolster is now sold in 13 countries and the business is steadily growing. The main distribution channel has been through allied health practitioners, who act as the pseudo sales force and educators. More recently, with the advent of social media and YouTube, the company is leveraging new mediums to educate and sell online.

About Bolster Trading

Bolster Trading Pty Ltd. was established in 2001 and are manufacturers and distributors of a range of exercise tools and educational resources for allied health professionals and end users. Bolster’s products are designed to specifically improve posture and physical function and are developed with the end-user in mind, to educate, offer comfort and optimise therapeutic results. Bolster Trading is committed to reducing ‘new age’ musculoskeletal disorders born from today’s sedentary lifestyle.