Celebrating a Spicers Star for International Women’s Day

March 8, 2022

Andrea Martin, or Anj as we call her, is an inspiration to Spicers Retreats team. As Chief Operating Officer, Anj lives the Spicers values of Happy, Humble and Smart. She credits her career success to the amazing talents of the people around her – and we all love her! So, for International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8 March, we’re putting Anj in the spotlight to celebrate and promote the role of women in the Spicers family.

We feel Anj is a stellar example of the #IWD2022 theme of #BreakTheBias. She’s a Brisbane-based executive who has done things her way to embrace change and exceed all expectations.

As a member of the Board and Senior Leadership team at Spicers Retreats, Anj’s amazing people skills and emotional intelligence are matched by relentless hard work and an analytical, detail-focussed mind, thanks to her previous life as a commercial litigation lawyer.

Even so, it’s Anj’s nature as a person we cherish, the way she puts everyone before herself, and leaves the ego at the door while never compromising her values. She leads from the front and by example, with the same generosity of spirit we embrace at Spicers Retreats.

“Imagine a gender-equal world.
A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.
A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
A world where difference is valued and celebrated.
Together we can forge women’s equality.
Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.”

Excerpt from the IWD website

Follows her heart
Anj’s journey with Spicers is fascinating. In 2014 opportunity knocked and she was offered a role at Spicers Peak Lodge. She left her role as a lawyer and relocated from Melbourne to live on-site at the Lodge among 8,000 acres and a backdrop of World Heritage Listed national park.

Her irrepressible enthusiasm and desire for service improvement quickly took Anj up the ranks at the Lodge.

Recognises talent
Later in 2015 Anj relocated to Spicers Hidden Vale, taking over as General Manager. Working closely with the talented team, they transformed the loss-making retreat into a sought after experiential and dining destination. The result of their vision and hard work was achieving a $1 million turnaround in 12 months and profit growth for the first time in its history.

Deals with disruption
Anj’s success at Spicer Hidden Vale soon saw her tapped to take on bigger roles at Spicers Retreats as Regional General Manager and then to Chief Operating Officer in March 2018. She is now overseeing the day-to-day operations of all retreats and restaurants across the group.

Her foresight in creating crisis management solutions for Spicers ensured the retreats were able to continue operating during the series of critical situations soon to impact Spicers, such as the 2019-2020 bushfire season, seasonal flooding and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocate for improvement
In every role, Anj has been incredibly valuable to Spicers Retreats and all of the people who work here, as a leader, educator and mentor, but also as a friend and colleague who’ll be there to help, whatever the job, displaying her usual common sense, intelligence and extraordinary communication skills.

Importantly for IWD, Anj truly embraces diversity, managing multi-faceted teams and working closely with people from many cultures and backgrounds.

Anj’s career has so far to run and yet she’s achieved so much and become an influential woman with a growing profile in Australia’s hospitality industry. Best of all she’s someone you want to meet and work with, as she leads the way in breaking the bias.