SOLES, STORIES & LESSONS IN BUSINESS & LIFE
By Marcia Griffin
What if the most important shoes a woman ever wears… are the ones someone else chose for her?
Marcia Griffin believes too many women spend years trying to fit into shoes that were never made for them.
Someone else’s expectations. Someone else’s dreams. Someone else’s definition of success.
Until one day they realise they’ve been walking in the wrong shoes.
‘For centuries, women were told our place was at home—stockings, not stock options.’
As outdated as it sounds, Marcia Griffin, author of Step Up & Wear the Damn Shoes, believes many women are still living lives shaped by beliefs they never consciously questioned.
Those stories influence the careers we pursue, the relationships we stay in, the financial decisions we avoid and the futures we imagine for ourselves.
‘Boys are taught to run towards ambition. Women are too often taught to carry someone else’s shoes instead of stepping into their own.’
Marcia knows because she spent years living a life that looked successful, while quietly walking a path that no longer felt like her own.
From the outside, she appeared successful. She lived in a Toorak mansion, drove a luxury car and wore Italian suits. But behind the polished image, she lost almost everything following a painful divorce.
And she didn’t just lose her marriage …
She realised that somewhere along the way, she had lost something even more valuable: her financial confidence, her independence and, with it, the freedom to choose her own future.
‘A woman can walk into a room in beautiful shoes and still be living with fear, silence or self-doubt behind the scenes,’ Marcia says.
Starting again demanded courage she didn’t know she had.
But she went on to build a multimillion-dollar business, become the first Caucasian woman to lead Japanese skincare company Pola Australia, be named the first Victorian Telstra Business Woman of the Year, publish books and even step into the political arena.
Yet for Marcia, the greatest lesson wasn’t how to become successful.
‘I also learned that financial independence is not about being rich, but about being free.’
Freedom begins with confidence: the confidence to ask questions, make decisions and back yourself.
‘You don’t wait until the shoes feel comfortable. You walk in them until one day, you realise they’ve carried you further than you ever dreamed.’
Marcia believes that lesson has never mattered more.
As she writes in her book, around 7300 Australian women over 55 are experiencing homelessness. Many more remain in unhappy or unsafe relationships because they don’t believe they have a financial choice.
Today, she has one piece of advice she believes every woman should hear, regardless of age or income: Know where you are financially.
Step Up & Wear the Damn Shoes is the kind of book mothers will want to place in their daughters’ hands—not because it promises wealth, but because it teaches something far more valuable: how to build a life with choices.
‘My hope is that the next generation of women won’t just squeeze into the glass slipper, they’ll smash the glass floor beneath it and make it their own.’
If this book achieves one thing, Marcia hopes it will encourage women to choose their own shoes much earlier in life, so they never spend years walking in someone else’s.
Publisher: Hill of Content Publishing
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-7637882-3-7
RRP $29.99
Release Date: July, 2026
Step Up & Wear the Damn Shoes is available wherever you buy your books.
About the Author
Marcia Griffin’s business life began at the Australian Wool Corporation, where she travelled the world visiting the major wool consuming countries, researching and analysing demand for Australian Wool.
Her life changed dramatically when she met with the franchisee of Pola Cosmetics and started the business in Australia, eventually becoming the company CEO, managing and motivating a sales team of 5000 consultants across Australia and New Zealand.
She was awarded the first Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year in 1995.
Marcia has been on the board of many companies, including the public company PMP, National Pharmacies, The World Master Games, Tourism Victoria, Melbourne Storm, The Queen Victoria Market and the Mansion at Werribee Park
She recently sold a second skincare business she co-founded, griffin+row, a range of natural Australian skincare products based on an Aboriginal medicinal plant extract.
Marcia was elected to Stonnington Councillor for two terms and chaired the Economic and Cultural Development Committee. She is currently a Chair with the CEO Institute, a CEO mentoring organisation, and the Deputy Chair of National Seniors Australia.
Marcia’s first book was High Heeled Success, a business autobiography, published in 1998, now in its third print.
In her second book Finding New Meaning in Life, Marcia collaborated with a psychologist to combine business wisdom with the empowering psychology of Viktor Frankl.
Her third book Step Up & Wear the Damn Shoes is a fascinating and encouraging read for all women who wish to live life to the fullest, with a sense of curiosity and on purpose.
https://www.marciagriffin.com.au/
