Interview with Bronwyn Bate

I first discovered Mettle Women Inc. during one of the most tender seasons of my life. I was deep in the ache of infertility when a dear friend sent me one of their self-care boxes - and I still remember opening it, feeling a flicker of light in a time that felt otherwise heavy. What I didn’t yet realise was that the beauty in my hands extended far beyond me, that this simple act of care was also creating employment, safety and renewed possibility for women rebuilding their lives after domestic violence.

Today, ahead of International Women's Day - I have the honour of sharing a conversation with the extraordinary founder behind Mettle, a 2026 Australian of the Year nominee and WA Local Hero, whose work is a powerful reminder that what we choose to buy, gift and bring into our homes can carry impact far beyond ourselves.

Hi Bronwyn, take us back to your childhood - what were your interests and how do you think your upbringing shaped you to become the founder of such an incredible, purpose led business leader?

I’m the eldest of four girls, raised by an eternal optimist of a mother and wildly creative tradie dad. Our home was a magical, often chaotic, mix of art projects, fairy gardens, music, and bespoke furniture my dad would build from timber burls he’d find on bushwalks. Both of my parents actively modelled that no challenge was too big and no dream too far-fetched. If mum felt an itch for adventure, within ten minutes all four of us kids would be in the car, a canoe strapped to the roof. She had a way of just getting things done, sometimes against all odds. That sense of possibility shaped me profoundly.

They taught me to trust my own capability and to back myself before asking for help. Our home was always full of a motley crew of friends, and everyone was welcomed with warmth and generosity, even when there wasn’t much to give. My upbringing became the benchmark for how I lead today, grounded in creativity, grit, and kindness. 

Tell us about Mettle Gifts? What is a social enterprise and how does it all work?

Mettle Women Inc. (Mettle) is a charity that operates a work integrated social enterprise, which means that we employ the people that our charity exists to support (those facing homelessness due to domestic & family violence) and provide them with access to opportunities, finances & support programs that have been withheld from them.  Our national gifting service is the mechanism that that employs, trains and financially empowers our clients. Every gift you purchase contributes to the safe futures that victim-survivors deserve through safe paid work, scholarships, crisis funds, rental support and holistic, survivor designed programs. 

I first discovered your incredible business when I was in the depths of my infertility battle and my dear friend sent me one of your self care boxes. I cannot describe the joy it brought me when I was otherwise feeling pretty awful and sorry for myself. And then to learn that this joy was extended beyond my own nourishment from receiving it - that it actually supported your cause and helped people too - incredible. What inspired you to create this business?

I’m so glad that Mettle brought you a moment of joy during such a challenging time.

TRIGGER WARNING:

There are so many women who inspired Mettle. One story that really clarified our structure was meeting a woman named Sarah*. Sarah was residing in a women’s refuge with her children after fleeing domestic violence. Her income was tied to her affluent husbands, a lawyer. At the time, Sarah was not eligible for Centrelink and finding a job was the only thing that would allow her to move out of crisis accommodation. She had large gaps in her employment history, was medicated for injuries and her confidence was completely eroded. After her 4th ‘failed” interview, Sarah made the decision to return to her husband, noting that he wasn’t hurting the kids and she’d rather try to re-build with him that expose them to a life of poverty. Sarah returned to refuge 2 months later, this time with heightened safety risks and life-threatening injuries.

Although Sarah’s experience is unique, 52% of those who present to specialist homelessness services as a result of fdv have been there before. I spent a year interviewing women in similar situations to Sarah to find out what they needed to feel safe in establishing financial security. The resounding answer was a discreet, safe, employment opportunity that would allow them to gently develop their skills & confidence whilst providing access to holistic support. Mettle was the result.

Congratulations on your 2026 Australian of The Year nomination! What a milestone. By the time of reading this, they will have announced the winner but you are already a winner in everything you do and took out the WA Award for Local Heroes, how does all this acknowledgement feel regardless of the outcome?

It always feels so uncomfortable to be the name attached to these accolades because Mettle is the product of the lived experience of the hundreds of women and the under the radar efforts of my sister and co-founder, Alesha. This award shines a light on the power of safe work force participation for victim-survivors of domestic & family violence & I’m truly grateful for the exposure it has given our small but mighty charity.

Working so closely with people in crisis, the intersection of care and commerce - I imagine you see and navigate a lot on a daily basis, how has this reshaped your understanding of what self-care really means?

I used to take great pride in the fact that I was ‘in charge’ of every intricate detail of Mettle. I thought that I was doing our charity budget a favour & removing burden from my team by being the ‘fixer’. I was achieving the opposite. I was inhibiting my team by not letting them in on the things I perceived to be outside of their PD, not giving them the chance to shine and explore areas of potential growth. I was accidentally fostering a culture in which I would contradict the policies I had created to encourage self-care. Having my daughter drastically shifted my work capacity and forced me to be more strategic in protecting my time & modelling the self-care I wanted for my team. Honestly, it’s still a work in progress & I’m constantly  trying to figure out the correct balance.

I find self-care in sharing deeply present moments with daughter, the peace that comes with a beach or bush walk, and by surrounding myself with friends that regenerate me with their presence. 

The Baby Essentials

The Self Care Rituals

You’ve seen firsthand how dignity-affirming work can be part of healing. What transformations do you witness that go beyond housing or employment - the quieter shifts that aren’t captured in impact reports?

The most special observation is when our participants shift into a space where they have capacity & sincere desire to support their peers. The conversations we overhear have our office in happy tears constantly! You’ll hear someone share feelings of defeat, followed by a choir of peers offering encouragement, love and tangible support. The friendships formed within our walls are a honour to behold. This has nothing to do with our programs, this is just courageous, big hearted, brilliant women knowing inherently how to lift each other up. 

Many people feel guilty spending money on themselves during hard seasons. What would you say to someone navigating infertility or crisis who struggles to justify investing in care - especially beautiful, intentional things that bring moments of nourishment?

The guilt of treating ourselves can be so real and so uncomfortable to address. I even feel awkward typing about it, especially in conjunction with talking about women who don’t have the means to indulge in the way that they SO deserve to. We’re so fortunate to have platforms, like yours, now that support conscious consumerism and alleviate some of that guilt. There are incredible social enterprises like The Social Studio, that are my go to for small batch, ethical products that are made by people who will really benefit from our purchasing choices.

The women that I have the privilege of working alongside don’t have the luxury to link self-care to a transaction (i.e. a massage, a new face oil, etc.). I’ve learned from them that self-care predominantly sprouts from community. Community that holds you accountable to be as gentle, celebratory, kind & encouraging to yourself as you are to others. 

Mettle is a deeply mission-driven organisation, but it also has to function as a viable business. What have you learned about holding compassion and commercial reality at the same time?

It took us about 5 years to really figure this one out. By our third year of operating, my sister and I were the emergency contact for around 20 of our past clients. We fall so deeply in love with each of them and when they have no one else (literally, not one friend or family member that is safe enough to be in contact with), we would of course say yes to every request, attending every court appearance, helping with the house move when they got a rental etc. These early years built the foundation for what our non-negotiables are with how we want our clients to be supported. Our last 2 years have focused on how we scale commercially so that we could provide dedicated support that didn’t detract from our commercial success. We are four weeks away from announcing an exciting merger with one of our states more respected social service providers. This means that when our clients need crisis support, we will have that in house and our human resources won’t be depleted in delivering the support that our clients need. Increased commercial success equals increased social impact and we really feel like we are positioned to achieve this now. 

Money - especially for women - is still something we’re often discouraged from discussing, to our collective disadvantage. Many of us are now re-imagining wealth as something purposeful: money with a mission. Research even shows that women tend to engage more broadly in philanthropy, giving more frequently and across a wider range of causes. As a mission-led founder, how do you personally think about money - not just as revenue, but as a tool to fund vision, protect values, and sustain long-term impact?

54% of the women in our program were not allowed access to a bank account before commencing with Mettle. Often believing that they were “too dumb” to handle any finances. I’ve always felt uncomfortable talking about money because I didn’t grow up with a lot of it. This often led to business decisions that were too risk adverse, holding us back from scaling as rapidly as we could have. I sat on a huge balance sheet of cash in bank rather than putting that hard earnt capital to use. It was women in philanthropy who backed us from the beginning and allowed us to exist that encouraged me to re-frame how we could spend money to generate increased impact. 81% of our funders are the female director of a private ancillary fund, determined to invest their wealth through a gender lense.

We know that empowering women financially doesn’t just benefit individuals, it transforms families, communities, and entire economies. According to the UN Women, women reinvest 90% of their income back into their families, compared to 35% by men. Leading to better education outcomes for kids, healthier households, and stronger communities.

Looking ahead, what do you hope people ultimately understand about Mettle - not just about what it does, but about what’s possible when care, commerce, and courage coexist?

The only reason we’re successful is because the lived experience of those who generously welcomed us into their world during our research phase was intertwined into every business decision we’ve ever made. We want to make driving change as simple as giving a gift or buying yourself something for a moment of self-care. Your purchase power can be transformative to the lives of those who don’t yet have capacity to have any purchase power themselves.

For more on Mettle, visit them here