Grace Garrick
Founder & Director, MVMNT Agency & No Boundaries and Co-Founder, Disco Stick
Grace Garrick, Founder & Director of MVMNT Agency and No Boundaries and Co-Founder of Disco Stick, is a PR and communications specialist who has worked with some of the leading brands in the beauty, lifestyle, fashion and hospitality industries. Grace leads strong creative campaigns and projects with a range of high-tiered clients both domestically and internationally.
Grace is a determined and ambitious woman whose passion for business and the multi-faceted corporate world was developed at a young age. As a teenager, she had her heart set on becoming a CEO. With qualifications in commerce, majoring in management and human resources, Grace finished her degree with a clear awareness that she wasn’t interested in human resources outside of the walls of university. She happened to have studied an introductory communications unit where her passion was truly born. Claiming she can ‘talk under wet cement’, Grace’s love for interacting with people and her creative spark led her to creating MVMNT Agency. Grace also seized an opportunity to launch Disco Stick which provides a range of on-the-go hair wax products. The popular brand grew rapidly and launched into Chemist Warehouse stores in early 2024.
MVMNT Agency’s and No Boundaries’ point of difference
Grace started MVMNT, abandoning financial security and taking on high reputational risk to respond to what she felt the industry needed, an agency that was agile in their approach and connected the gaps between traditional media, social media, activation and events. MVMNT is passionate about continuing to drive activations and generating press off the back of these projects. She believes that the Australian market hasn’t captivated on these opportunities to encapsulate different facets of the media and develop the voice, personality and really build the community of a brand that people want to associate with. In today’s world, she believes a brand really needs to extend beyond their product or service offering. No Boundaries was introduced into the market for small to medium businesses that were interested in dipping their toes into public relations, but did not necessarily have the budget for traditional PR. The concept is a ‘pay-as-you-go PR offering’, positioned as a flexible and accessible option.
Starting out in business
Her advice for those starting out with their business idea or venturing on their own is to not put so much pressure on themselves. When she started MVMNT, Grace says that she was setting herself ridiculous financial targets and started to shift her focus to meeting these targets rather than focusing on the creative aspect of the work and her point of difference, why she started the agency in the first place.
Although ensuring that there is a healthy income stream is important, she enjoys the challenge of running the business from the ground up, “everyday I’m learning somethingnew about how to better communicate to our partners, how to continue to evolve our communicate our messages to media and consumers, I want to keep pushing the boundaries to ensure that MVMNT doesn’t stagnate with outdated approaches. I always say to myself, remember why you started!”
Continuous education and improvement are key interest areas for Grace, stating that it’s so important to have a positive workplace renowned for its culture. In acknowledging the world that we live in today, she outlines that it’s integral to foster a flexible working environment which responds to the needs of staff. This will undoubtedly result inincreased employee productivity and optimum performance. With work being a huge part of everyone’s life, having a positive approach to work is more important than anything.
Focus and wellbeing
In terms of keep herself focused and taking care of her wellbeing, Grace meditates and exercises daily, which is entirely non-negotiable. She truly notices a difference if she hasn’t exercised or meditated and says it can lead to poor performance. When Grace was at the forefront of building MVMNT, in the first few months she focused on work with paying only minimal attention to her wellbeing, which she says impacted on her heavily. After acknowledging this, she hired a trainer and got back into a routine, seeing results almost instantly in her fitness and her mental health. She says “I believe that these two work hand in hand, you can never work at your peak if your mental health isn’t in order, mental health is important to me and it’s something I put first, always.”
A normal day for Grace starts off at 5:00am where, living in Paddington, she either goes for a walk on Bondi Beach or visits Flow Athletic for a gym class. She swiftly gets ready for the day and meditates for a short period, leaving to start a full day in her office in Surry Hills. To set herself up for success, Grace is strict about her schedule and only sets meetings on Wednesdays and Thursdays to allow for productive thinking time for client campaigns and projects on other days of the week. She also thinks it’s incredibly important to have at least a 20-minute break each day to be able to recharge and then re-focus for the afternoon. The work doesn’t stop when she gets home, ensuring that she is set up to work after 8pm for what she calls the ‘Night Shift’. She tends to really focus on building the brand of MVMNT at nighttime, noticing that some PR and events agencies tend to lose focus in their own brand when they are spending so much time focusing on executing campaigns for clients. Grace also likes to read, when she gets ‘spare time’.
Reflecting on her achievements
When reflecting on her achievements in the last twelve months, aside from starting MVMNT, Grace pinpoints a particular moment where she spoke on a panel at a Business Chicks and Zip Pay event to a room full of esteemed women. Although there were initial nerves, Grace recounts the event as a huge honour, being able to speak about MVMNT’s journey, offering advice and more generally discussing her passion for communications.
She says, “there is no word that can explain the feeling when your brand and vision comes to life, and you are truly living your truth.” MVMNT Agency has grown to develop some strong partnerships with well-known brands, which is a real credit to Grace and her work ethic.
Want to and out more about Grace Garrick and MVMNT?
Grace’s Instagram: @gracegarrick
MVMNT Instagram: @mvmnt_agency
MVMNT Website: https://www.mvmnt-agency.com/