Being a mother can effectively be a full time job on its own, let alone running your own business too.
Yet Browns Plains award-winning entrepreneur Rie Bredow has managed to do both – on top of living with an invisible disability.
Inspirationally, the 34-year-old mum has turned her hurdles into hoops and now is the proud owner of a successful disability support service, Rie Care, which has earned her a silver medal win at the 2022 AusMumPreneur Awards.
Rie Care is a disability support service that operates across South East Queensland and covers all of Springfield.
In September, Rie was named as the “Disabled Business Excellence Award” second-place winner in front of hundreds of talented award nominees from across the country, at a special ceremony held at The Star in Sydney.
“I was absolutely ecstatic when my name was called!” Rie said. “This award means the world to me as I am living with a few disabilities that you can’t actually see.
The AusMumpreneur Awards are presented by The Women’s Business School, and celebrate and recognise Australian mums in business achieving outstanding success in areas such as business excellence, tech, product development, customer service and innovation.
Rie has struggled with an acute anxiety and depression disorder since she was a child, and after developing Graves’ Disease (an autoimmune system disease) in 2013, simple tasks that were already difficult to do became near impossible.
Graves’ Disease is an incurable autoimmune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones which affects approximately 2 to 3 per cent of the general population.
The main side effects for those who have Graves’ Disease (who sometimes refer to themselves as “Gravers”) include muscle weakness and aches, heat sensitivity, unpredictable waves of extreme fatigue, tremors, weight loss, tachycardia, insomnia, and even hair loss.
Graves’ Disease can also cause anxiety symptoms which is “awful when you already suffer with an anxiety and depression disorder,” Rie said.
“I have to literally take each day as it comes to me.”
Rie said she lives to empower others and also to inspire her two children.
“Being a mother forces me to stop regularly and ensure that my children are still coming first,” she said.
“Having the business succeed throughout everything, allows my children to see that it can all be done, career and family.
“I take pride in being a good role model for my children and I get excited when I catch them playing games like schools or mums and dads, but instead of being a student they pretend they own the school or are a business owner Mum or Dad!
“I will use this award as a stepping stone to become a voice, ambassador and advocate for all people facing the challenges of invisible disabilities.”
For more information about Rie Care, visit www.riecare.com.au or email info@riecare.com.au.
