Branding and Imagery

Brand + Imagery

Key Messages

Everything you need to create a thriving virtual assistant business

Helping women ditch the overwhelm and kick-start their virtual assistant business or take it to the next level.

Contact Info

If you have any questions or would like to reach out for speaking opportunities and interviews, you can contact us via [email protected]

Find Us

The Sam + Jo VA Show Podcast https://pod.co/the-sam-and-jo-va-show

Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/TheVAFoundry

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thevafoundry

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/18254545

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thevafoundry

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.nz/thevafoundry

Bios

These are our official bios. Feel free to use these when we appear as a guest on your podcast, guest write on your blog or speak at your event.

Joint Bio - Long

After creating highly successful virtual assistant (VA) businesses in their own right, Sam Browne and Jo Jensen first met on a Zoom call in 2019 and quickly became each other’s ride or die in business.
Before that initial meeting was over, they had hatched their first business collaboration - the international Virtual Assistant Summit - bringing together a stellar line up of speakers and VAs eager to grow their businesses.

After the success of the Summit, Jo invited Sam to join her as a business partner in a VA school she had started. They combined their zones of genius and took the VA school to the next level, by creating The VA Foundry.

Through the VA Foundry, Sam and Jo support VAs around the world to take the guesswork and stress out of building an in demand VA business. They do this through a suite of courses, 1:1 coaching, a mastermind, and a supportive community.

As an OG in the New Zealand VA scene, Jo Jensen is regarded as the queen of scaling.

Over 10 years, Jo built her own seven figure VA Agency, Strictly Savvy. She now has a 30 strong team and a general manager to run the agency without her, enabling her to focus on mentoring up and coming VAs.

As a freelance VA, Sam niched her services and successfully positioned herself as a premium, booked-out VA with a waitlist of ready-to-invest clients.

An incredible community architect, Sam also created the New Zealand Virtual Assistant Network, to help businesses find highly skilled, right-fit VAs with ease. In the VA Foundry, Sam uses her community superpowers to nurture camaraderie between members and to create an empowering environment to inspire growth at the individual and collective level.

Claiming their space as leaders, Sam and Jo’s mission is to lift the profile and reputation of the VA profession. They want VAs and business owners alike to experience the benefits that come from higher industry standards.
They are also co-hosts of the Sam and Jo VA show - a popular podcast for VAs all over the world - that now has more than 37,000 downloads and climbing!

The Virtual Assistant Summit that started it all, also remains a regular fixture on VA calendars worldwide.

Joint Bio - Short

Before that initial meeting was over, they hatched their first business collaboration - the international Virtual Assistant Summit - bringing together a stellar lineup of speakers to help VAs around the world to grow their businesses.

After the success of the VA Summit, Sam and Jo created The VA Foundry - a coaching community to help VAs take the guesswork and stress out of building an in-demand VA business.

As a premium, booked-out VA and a 7 figure VA agency owner, Sam & Jo are owning their space as leaders in their industry, actively working to elevate the profile and reputation of the VA profession.
They are also co-hosts of the Sam and Jo VA show - a popular podcast for VAs all over the world - that now has more than 37,000 downloads and climbing!

The Virtual Assistant Summit that started it all, also remains a regular fixture on VA calendars worldwide.

Jo Jensen

Co-owner, The VA Foundry
Founder of NZ’s leading VA Agency, Strictly Savvy

Virtual Assistant Specific Long Bio

Never say never to Jo Jensen.

As a brand new mum, Jo still wanted to continue working as an executive assistant, but be able to work remotely. So (naturally) she created a virtual assistant business. That’s when Strictly Savvy was born, back in 2012.

Before long, Jo started hiring to keep up with the new clients she was signing...but if this sounds like it’s leading to a 'Happily Ever After' ending, think again...success doesn’t come that easily.

Jo went through the ups and downs so many small business owners experience: running out of cash, clients who didn’t pay, new hires who didn’t quite work out. She even stopped paying herself at one point.

Success finally did come, thanks to Jo’s level head and a 'never-give-up' attitude, but she earned it the hard way and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars along her journey.

Today, Jo’s VA business, Strictly Savvy, is New Zealand's leading virtual assistant agency. In 2016, Jo also founded The VA Foundry to help women across New Zealand create their own in-demand virtual assistant businesses.

Jo credits her mentors as well as hard work for where she is today. She also deeply believes in the power of taking risks and building strong relationships.

In 2020, when Jo met Sam, they decided to join forces. Together they created the first NZ Virtual Assistant Summit, to share their secrets of success. They’ve since created courses, started coaching VAs and have launched their very own podcast: The Sam & Jo VA Show.

Jo always believed she could do what she loved with a balance of freedom, control and flexibility. And she’s achieved it by consistently taking imperfect action. That's earned her awards: for her Young Business Person of the Year for 2015 at the Wellington Region Business Excellence Awards and 2017 Best Professional Services Award.

What's most important to Jo, however, is that she now has the freedom to choose where and when she works. She's created the dream life she wanted for herself and her family. And she wants you to be able to do that too.

That’s why she wants you to know how to be smart about how you set up your business to work for you, and not the other way around!

When she’s not working, Jo is off on adventures with her two boys, and partner, who also doesn’t let anything stop his forward momentum. Together they’ve renovated the home they now live in and are always cooking up the next 'project' to tackle.

Generic Short Bio

As Founder of New Zealand’s leading virtual assistant company, Strictly Savvy, Jo is a rising female leader. For her outstanding leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity and vision for the future, Jo was awarded the Young Business Person of the Year 2015 at the Wellington Region Business Excellence Awards. Strictly Savvy was also honoured with the best Professional Services Business award in 2017.

In true entrepreneur style, Jo has many ventures on the go and also runs The VA Foundry where she teaches other women how to create their own virtual assistant business, runs her short term rental in Ohakune, and invests in property with her husband.

Samantha Browne

Co-owner, The VA Foundry
Founder of Virtual Assistant Network New Zealand
Numero Uno VA at My Girl Friday

Never one to shy away from a challenge (or three), Sam Browne took the New Zealand Virtual Assistant (VA) world by storm in 2019 on a mission to empower VAs to become kick-ass business owners.

A small seed of an idea grew mighty roots and Sam founded the Virtual Assistant Network New Zealand (VANNZ). It quickly became the go-to resource for NZ business owners to easily find their match made in VA heaven.

After accidentally tumbling headfirst into the world of virtual assistance in 2016, Sam grew her own business - My Girl Friday - into a thriving, in-demand service.

Sam was hooked at the freedom and flexibility of being a VA. She could enjoy a satisfying career AND care for her young family.

But, at times Sam found working on her own from home bloody lonely. She craved connection, water cooler banter, and business comradery.

That’s when the idea for VANNZ sprouted. Its mission: to bring together like-minded Kiwi VAs, raise the visibility and profile of the VA community, and provide members with a safe place to support one another.

In 2020, Sam joined forces with Jo Jensen from The VA Foundry to host the first NZ Virtual Assistant Summit - bringing together a stellar line up of speakers and VAs eager to grow their businesses.

Since then, Sam has joined Jo as a business partner in The VA Foundry. Together they help VAs to grow their own in-demand businesses, through courses, coaching, a membership, scholarship, and now their very own podcast - The Sam & Jo VA Show.

When she’s not busy working for her own clients and growing her empire, Sam likes to chill watching her favourite TV show with a fierce “don’t talk to me - I’m watching Survivor" face, while quaffing champagne and cuddling up to her favourite chips and dip.