Kate Fisher, Founder of Milkshakes for Marleigh, has won gold for the podcast of the Year, Author of the Year and Woman Changing the World of the Year at the 2024 AusMumpreneur Awards.
Kate also won third place, and bronze awards in Non-Profit and Making a Difference (People’s Choice).
Kate says, “blood donors don’t just keep people alive they keep families together. 1 in 3 Australians need blood in their lifetime and when Marleigh is at her sickest, we can only prolong her life for 10 days at a time with plasma infusion. If not enough people donate between her infusions, her life is in danger.
I am deeply honoured to win these awards but the irony is that no amount of gold trophies can save Marleigh’s life. I need Aussies to keep donating the liquid gold (plasma) so that Marleigh can have more bonus years with us!”
In May, 2024 Kate was invited by the Duchess of York, Sarah Fergusson, to the United Kingdom to address The Women Changing the World Summit about the way she is revolutionizing blood donation advocacy. While in London, she was awarded the Women Changing the World Global Impact: Non-Profit Award in recognition of the thousands of lives that are saved every year by the blood donations made by those the Milkshakes for Marleigh story inspires.
Kate balances her advocacy alongside being a mother at the helm of a family with additional needs. She gives this advice to others thinking about starting their own enterprise: “Sometimes the most potent business ideas are inspired by the challenges we face. Don’t be afraid to embrace the creative ideas and business ideas that emerge in the moments of great desperation and vulnerability that motherhood can bring.”
