From Strength to Strength

On any seemingly normal day, a sliding door moment can range from insignificant to momentous, but regardless of how it feels at the time, it can be a moment that alters the trajectory of our lives. 

For Old Girtonian, weightlifting champion and founder of Australia’s first women’s only fitness club, Diana Williams, her sliding door moment was the latter – just another day. 

After 15 years as a stay-at-home mum, her decision to join the gym would reveal a strength she never could have imagined.

“I was amazed about the fact that working out with weights could have such a positive impact on me physically, emotionally and metabolically,” said Diana. “However, the gym was not a place I felt comfortable, and not many women went for that reason. 

“If they did go, they didn’t do any weight training because that part of the gym was thought to be for men and not ladies.”

This sparked the idea of opening a gym for women – where women could work out with weights and not feel intimidated or embarrassed. A place where women felt comfortable with “the little touches that women appreciate”. 

With two young children and no formal qualifications, Diana opened her first club in 1989 with second-hand equipment in Bendigo.

“I never intended it to be a proper business, it was more of a lifestyle hobby where I could share my discovery of the benefits of weight training with other women,” Diana said. 

“This is probably when my ambitiousness kicked in. My vision started to crystalise, I could see how this concept could really take off and I was like a dog with a bone - never leaving it alone, making improvements, working on every aspect of both the business and my own personal development as I embarked into the business world.”

Fernwood Fitness now has almost 70 clubs and more than 70,000 members throughout Australia and enjoys a reputation as one of the most respected brands in the Australian health and fitness industry. Diana has been awarded Telstra Businesswoman of the Year, has been invited to sit on a number of Boards, and has been acknowledged in honour rolls and halls of fame for her great business achievements.

Despite her success, Diana still considers herself the quiet girl who started her business without any aspirations for greatness at the time. 

Diana attended Girton from 1959 to 1963 as a Boarder and a member of Aherne House. Her favourite subjects were Biology and History. “I especially loved Biology and naturally because I loved it - I always did well,” she said. 

“I also enjoyed the maths subjects, and regret not choosing to study physics, but I didn’t understand what it was when I was choosing my subjects and we didn’t get a lot of advice on which subjects to select that students get today.”

Diana fondly remembers one of her teachers in particular. “Miss Jean d’Helin probably influenced me more than any other teacher at the time,” she said. “Although she was very intimidating to me, she had a kind and caring side. Overseeing a school of teenage girls must have been quite a challenge, and she certainly was up to any challenge we girls threw her way, although as teenagers we really didn’t appreciate that at the time.”

Back then, Diana said teachers and parents didn’t focus on further education and careers for girls, with most school leavers accepting roles in clerical, nursing, teaching and retail areas.

“The 60s was a time of fantastic change for women but there was still a huge gap between men and women being accepted into senior management roles, Board positions and business ownership,” Diana said. 

“My mother was also very strict in her beliefs that women should not work after they had children and that their role in life was to be a homemaker for their husbands and family.  She was not overly impressed with me for starting my own business. I had no real ambition to take on any particular career when I left school - I think the ambitious side of me took many years to develop.”

After completing Year 11, Diana worked in an administrative role at Hospital Benefits Association in Bendigo, followed by five years as the Program Manager’s secretary at a tv station called BCV8, now WIN. She had two children and embraced the role of mum, supporting her husband who ran a retail store.

After Fernwood came to fruition, Diana completed a Degree in Business Management, and other short courses in accounting, leadership, and company directors courses. However, she believes her main education came from the “university of hard knocks”. 

“I had a crash course in operating a successful business over the first few years,” she said.

Today, while Diana is CEO of Fernwood, she considers her job to be easy - with a strong team of highly regarded professionals doing the heavy lifting. She travels regularly with her husband Larry, and is making up for lost time during the height of the pandemic with domestic and European trips in the calendar. She enjoys family time with her two grandchildren and great-granddaughter.

“When women say to me that they couldn’t do what I do, I think to myself how wrong they are,” she said. 

“When something lights a flame of inspiration, you find your passion to work on it and become better and dedicate time and commitment to nurturing it – then anything is possible.”