Eliza Greene

My name is Eliza Greene, I am 26 years old and am the Co-Founder & Director of MyTab, Founder of GRNSTR and winner of the 2023 WA Business News 40 Under 40 award. I have been in the surfing industry for fifteen years and have competed since I was nine years old. I have won six WA state titles and have travelled the world competing on the WSL World Qualifying Series surfing tour along with my sister Mikaela Greene. 

GRNSTR:

Growing up, the “surfer girl” aesthetic felt strictly policed; if you weren’t blonde and petite you were invisible to the major brands and their sponsorship opportunities. For the better part of a decade, the models used for surfing campaigns fit a very specific casting call. Everything changed for me when COVID struck and I was no longer able to travel and compete. I was suddenly afforded with something I’d never had before: the time and space to focus on my dream. Thus GRNSTR was born: the innovative and unapologetic brand that breaks the stereotypical image of a surfer girl. Almost immediately, I came up against my first hurdle: size templates. It blew my mind to realise that within an industry that had been around for decades, I was one of the first to be manufacturing a wetsuit in a women’s size 18. While commercial mens wetsuits catered for sizes up to 4XL, women’s wetsuits stopped at size XL. At the age of twenty-two, I had to create my own women's sizing template for sizes that should have been standard. This reaffirmed to me the important role that GRNSTR was going to play in the industry and be at the forefront of celebrating  women’s strength, tenacity and individuality with the variety of sizes being customised for a flawless fit, because confidence comes in all shapes and sizes.

MyTab:

In between surf training and competing, my sister and I financed our travels through working in hospitality as baristas, bartenders and waitresses. These experiences provided us with a unique insight into the fundamental mechanics of the hospitality industry, while highlighting the efficiency issues accompanying traditional ordering methods. Surely there was a more convenient way to combat customer indecisiveness and collecting payments before preparing an order?

From 2017 to November of 2019, we continually revised and adapted our concept of MyTab and by the end of 2019, we had our first screens of our application. Our inspiration to create MyTab was driven by our determination to support our local hospitality industry - primarily our small regional businesses - with the opportunity to provide an innovative, efficient, profitable ordering platform. It was important to us to create an inclusive application for our community, MyTab accommodates immune compromised, hearing impaired and disabled customers- as it removes the stress for customers and/or their carers queuing and communicating their orders to staff in a loud, busy environment.

The ocean was where we had many of our major breakthroughs, from the screen flow of our application to the name. As professional athletes, utilising our perseverance, drive and dedication to succeed were crucial to thrive within the hospitality and tech space. With no industry networks or connections, we have worked tirelessly to forge our own path and to gain the trust and recognition as strong, reliable and credible business women.

In our first year, MyTab was crowned Australia’s Emerging Small Business of the Year by Xero, gaining international recognition. Additionally, MyTab won the BCCI 2022/2023 Innovation Award, Rising Star Business Excellence Award, Young Entrepreneur Award and was awarded the 2023 WA Innovation Business Grant by the WA Government.