Amelia Jones laughs when asked about her career journey.
‘I really don’t feel like I’ve achieved anything of substantial value yet,’ she says, despite being at the forefront of technology initiatives since the 1990s, building and running the hugely successful adventure experiences website Adrenaline and now sitting on the board of her cryptocurrency company CryptoStar Corp.
In fact, Amelia has achieved a great deal. After leaving Trinity and completing the last six months of her degree at King’s College (London), she worked in e-commerce before returning to Melbourne for a role in e-business strategy at top-tier professional services firm PwC.
Although Amelia had broken gender barriers during her time at Trinity (in 1995, she became one of the first females to be elected as Senior Student, and was TCAC treasurer the previous year), she eventually hit the proverbial glass ceiling at PwC. This prompted her to pursue a career in media strategy at ID Media.
In 2001, Amelia and her business partner, now-husband David Jellins, were invited to meet with BHP to discuss the live streaming of the company’s annual meeting to shareholders. This marked the beginning of STREAMX, catapulting Amelia and David to the forefront of streaming media. ‘I threw every dollar I had into it,’ she says. ‘I’ve never been risk averse. My attitude was, “If it all goes wrong, I’ve got nothing to lose; I’ll just start again. I've still got my skills”.’
Amelia focused on the sales side of the business and learnt on the fly. ‘We didn’t know what we were doing as the technology was brand new,’ she says, ‘but we worked it out.’ The company was such a success that it soon counted over half of Australia’s top 200 public companies as clients, streaming results announcements, AGMs and even the Melbourne Cup.
STREAMX was ultimately sold to Thomson Financial Services in 2004 and, after a period of consultancy, Amelia started looking for a new challenge. The couple set up Trackcorp, running drive days for motorsport enthusiasts and corporate clients on racetracks around the country. Soon, they partnered with adventure experience company Adrenaline to sell experiences online, such as rides in a Porsche with champion driver Jim Richards. When Adrenaline went into voluntary administration in 2008, Amelia and David decided to buy it.
The couple had some experience with online marketing, so David was certain they could grow the online booking and gifting company. Amelia schooled herself in all areas of marketing and, together with David, steadily grew the business, eventually turning over more than $30 million a year. They launched the Adrenaline business in the US, and ultimately sold the Australian company to their biggest competitor.
In 2017, cryptocurrency became a topic of interest for Amelia and she and David began investing in cryptocurrency mining operations. Their next company, CryptoStar, was born. The future of money is clear, according to Amelia, and it won’t be cash. She notes that cryptocurrency isn’t controlled by any one government, so if governments fail, investors will be safe.
Following her impressive business achievements, Amelia is now intent on having a positive impact on the world. She has the skills and corporate contacts to effect change and wants to use them. Concerned about how the environment has been pillaged, she says, ‘I really need to shift my focus to doing something that will set the next generation up.’ On a micro level, she has started by removing plastic from her home, as well as assisting her children’s schools, but she knows more action is needed nationally. If Amelia’s track record is anything to go by, it’s almost certain her next big idea will hit the macro level in no time.
By Danielle Norton
This article first appeared in issue #89 of Trinity Today.
