5 Leadership Lessons for Tradies from Melbourne Chippy Chick’s Stefanie Apostolidis

Guest: Stefanie Apostolidis

Episode: Season 2, Episode 7

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Stefanie Apostolidis, known across the industry as Melbourne Chippy Chick, is a qualified carpenter and founder of two platforms reshaping what the trades look like for women in Australia, Tradie Lady Hire and Tradie Lady Club, built from nothing more than an Instagram page documenting her day-to-day on the tools.

Here’s what advocating for change has taught her about leadership:

Lesson 1: What Leadership Means for Women in Trades

For Stef, leadership isn’t about being out front alone; it’s about doing something outside the ordinary with such confidence that others feel able to follow.

What started as a personal Instagram page showing her life as a carpenter quickly attracted other women in the trade, and that small community became Tradie Lady Club.

“Leadership to me is bringing other people up with you… leading a pack, showing that you know what you’re doing,” Stef says.

That's the leadership Tradie Lady Club runs on: not a title, just enough visible confidence for other women to follow.

Lesson 2: Building Confidence as a Woman in a Trade

Stef traces her ability to back herself in a male-dominated trade back to childhood, when her dad had her playing soccer with grown men at age nine. She didn’t experience that as intimidating; she didn’t think about gender at all, and that same instinct carried straight into carpentry.

“I feel like that confidence was built into me, maybe from my dad or just at a young age,” Stef says.

For Stef, that's simply never changed: she still measures a good day by whether she's genuinely enjoying the work, not by who's watching or what they think.

Lesson 3: How Knowledge Builds Leadership Credibility

Working across her dad’s building business, her husband’s concrete platform, and her own brands, Stef has learned that deep knowledge of the work is what makes leading feel effortless rather than forced.

Stepping away from the tools recently to learn the business and marketing side of running multiple platforms was its own uncomfortable but necessary evolution.

“If you are knowledgeable and you know a lot, that pretty much helps you lead in a way that you don’t need to try,” Stef says. Her point applies beyond a business: never stop learning, on and off the tools.

Lesson 4: Balancing Business and Parenting in the Trades

Raising three kids while running multiple businesses means Stef doesn’t get every day right, and she’s stopped expecting to. Some mornings the whole day disappears into time with her kids before daycare; other days she knuckles down on whatever earns the most.

“If I’m outta whack, the whole family and all the businesses are outta whack,” Stef says, describing regular days of doing nothing much at all as a non-negotiable part of staying functional in every other role.

Lesson 5: Increasing Visibility for Women in Trades

Stefanie believes the biggest lever for change hasn’t been convincing individual employers one at a time; it’s been making it impossible to ignore how many tradie women already exist.

Events, social media and the sheer size of the Tradie Lady Club community have done more to shift perception than any single conversation could.

“Just showing and talking about it has really helped people grasp the idea: we exist, we’re real,” Stef says.

It's a reminder that shifting an industry's perception rarely takes one big conversation, just consistent visibility over time.

Stef’s Advice on Everyday Leadership

Lead with confidence in yourself above all else: if something needs to be said or asked, don’t let the fear of how it might look stop you. “Focus on what you are gonna get out of the answer… don’t worry about anyone else,” she says, arguing that confidence, not experience or title, is what most often holds people back from stepping up.

Catch the full conversation with Stefanie Apostolidis on Tradies Who Lead for more leadership lessons for tradies, out now wherever you listen to podcasts.