Kiri Delly is the CEO of the Council of Textiles and Fashion Industries of Australia and has the epitome of a self-driven success story.

Growing up in Auckland, New Zealand and then relocating to Canberra for her final school and university days, Kiri was always wide eyed about the future and her possible career prospects.

With her mind set on working abroad, Kiri managed to save up enough money in her year after graduating from Public Relations and Communications to get herself to London, where she would then work for a further eight years.

“I always wanted to work overseas,” she says.

“I think it’s really important that you have an opportunity to work with different cultures and different countries. It gives you a really full perspective on life and on the different ways of doing things.”

Fortunately her first job in London progressed from the role of office manager to an events manager, which lent her exciting experiences such as working with clients like Disney and Fox.

One of the more enthralling projects working alongside Disney, involved travelling around on a train for two months to 40 different European countries, as scenes from the then new movie Hercules were played to families and children.

“That opportunity to live on a train and promote a film and experience different cultures – because we had people from all of those countries on board as well, that was quite fun and quite exciting,” she says.

Then after a build up of life changing international fun, Kiri felt it was time to return home. Ending up in Melbourne, the events capital of Australia, Kiri felt both nervous and excited for her future in the city.

“It was actually quite a tough time, I didn’t have any contacts here, I didn’t know anyone because I hadn’t been in Melbourne before,” she says.

Wanting to get her foot in the door, and to make a few connections, Kiri put her hand up to volunteer at the Melbourne L’Oreal Fashion Festival, where she would later become the events manager and then the general manager.

“They saw my CV and said “wow you have done heaps, you want to volunteer?””

After progressing from a volunteer position in a short six months to a paid role within the festival, Kiri decided she would recruit new staff in the same way.

“Volunteering is a really good way of showing what you can do and getting an understanding of the organization and what’s needed,” She says.

Now, almost ten years on, Kiri appears to view Melbourne as home.

“It’s such a great city, there’s this vibrancy,” she says, “it’s very open to creativity and new ideas.”

“And my family are here now.”

Kiri has now been working with the TFIA, which has been supporting the industry since the 1940s, for almost two years; an experience that has been invaluable for her.

“I’m really interested in what it takes in getting the designers to the right stage, and what has to happen at the very beginning… and what support they could get,” she says.

“It’s crucial because we can be a voice that often small businesses can’t be.”

Another great service that Kiri and TFIA have been involved in setting up is the Textiles and Fashion Hub that operates in conjunction with Kangan Institute in Richmond.

“It’s quite a flexible project, we listen to what the industry tell us they want, and take it from there,” she says, “if they say they want a workshop on leather, we’ll put it on.”

The Hub also has services such as knitting machines, 3D body scanners and digital printers, which are open to the industry and small and medium sized businesses for use.

Kiri’s role as CEO is certainly keeping her busy, as she is often juggling conversations between the media, the industry, business owners, government and universities on a range of topics and solutions, while organizing big workshops and events too.

“I recently just got back from a women’s dialogue conference in Malaysia, that was all about empowering women through textiles and tourism,” she says.

No two days are the same for Kiri, but it seems she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve always liked things that take people out of the grind of the day, by providing things that are visually stimulating and engaging – that’s why I enjoy events,” she says.

Though she has already come so far and achieved so much in her self-driven career, the future remains endless and full of ideas for Kiri; and it may not stop at Melbourne.

“I’ve always liked getting yourself part of a culture… having that opportunity to live in it,” she says.

“And I think that is something that will continue throughout my life.”