why I’m wearing make up

"You look like you could do with a glow up," she said.

"A what?"

"Sit here," she hummed, studying my face.

I was about to walk on stage and speak to 1,000 mainly young women about money. This was definitely the weirdest financial talk I'd ever given – and I wasn't even on stage yet.

Welcome to MECCA, where the beauty business meets something much deeper: a CEO who actually gives a damn about her team’s financial futures.

Jo Horgan didn't just build one of the world's biggest beauty empires. She employs 7,000 people, 94% of them women, many in their first jobs. And she's cracked something most employers miss entirely: you can't expect financially stressed workers to thrive.

"If they're lying awake at night worried about rent, they can't give their best during the day," she told me backstage.

That's revolutionary thinking in corporate Australia. Most bosses think a pizza party and a motivational poster solve everything.

For too long, employers have treated financial stress like someone else's problem. Pay the salary, offer some vague "wellness" seminars, job done. Meanwhile, workers are drowning in a cost-of-living crisis with zero financial education from school.

But something's shifting. Smart employers are finally connecting the dots: financially confident workers are productive workers. Stressed workers cost more in sick days, turnover, and mistakes than any training program ever will.

This shift forced me to do something I hadn't done in seven years: create something entirely new.

The Barefoot Investor principles work everywhere – including the workplace. But here's the thing: most workers don't have time to read a whole book when they're stressed about money. They need bite-sized help that fits into their actual lives.

So, starting with MECCA I built a program specifically for employees – ten short video lessons and a full guided journal that tackle their biggest money fears, designed to fit into a coffee break. One small win each week to rebuild their financial confidence from the ground up.

Because here's what I've learned: when someone believes they're "hopeless with money," no amount of budgeting advice will stick. You have to change the script first.

Look, MECCA could have just stuck to lipstick and left their team members to figure out money on their own. Instead, they're doing something most companies won't: actually helping. The companies getting ahead of this aren't waiting for schools to fix financial literacy. They're stepping up.

Because here's what Jo understands: when your teams win with money, everybody wins.

Tread Your Own Path! 

 Photograph: Hugh Davies, Instagram: @hughdaviesphoto, LinkedIn: Hugh Davies