Vakkina Panagiotidis

Vakkina Panagiotidis was born in Greece and migrated to Australia in 1956, partly for the adventure, but also to achieve her dream of owning her own clothing factory. At an early age, she became a painter and a seamstress, though her real passion was to succeed in business. A very independent person and keen to prove that women can succeed in commerce, she started with a home-based business and ended by establishing her own clothing factory. Fate intervened and she lost the company and had to start again. She has two children, a daughter, and a son who died in 2005, leaving her grief-stricken, and two grandchildren. Despite all this, she continues her struggle to succeed.

The Triumph of Tragedy