Welcome to the SA Woman Summit 2023! A jam-packed day to celebrate women and the achievements, successes, journeys and career paths they have undertaken and are currently on. With a focus on elevating yourself in business, career and life, this year’s Summit is set to be a fantastic day of presentations, panel discussions, workshops and keynote speakers. All in the presence of an incredible group of women from around South Australia.
Scroll through to find LinkedIn links, speaker bio’s and websites for everyone involved in our SAW Summit this year. Please also take the time to check out the women and businesses who have supported the SAW Summit as a Summit Support or Major Event Partner. Their generous support allows us to continue reaching as many women as possible and we are forever grateful!
Speakers are listed alphabetically by surname, after our Partners and Supporters.
Enjoy getting to know them all!
xx The SA Woman Team
OUR MAJOR EVENT PARTNERS
My Ability Pathway (MAP) provides a wide range of home, community, social and independent living services to people with disability in regional South Australia. Our services are designed to build connections, resilience and skills that create strong positive relationships where everyone is engaged in something they love doing.
Website: www.myabilitypathway.au
Facebook: My Ability Pathway
Instagram: @my_ability_pathway
The Pole Boutique was established in 2011 and is Adelaide’s premier Pole Dance, Aerial and Movement Studio. The Pole Boutique holds classes from Beginner through to Professional level aerial and pole classes as well as dance, flexibility and fitness courses. Whether you just want to get fit, have a bit of fun or train seriously, we have all the right classes to for you.
Website: www.poleboutique.com.au
Facebook: The Pole Boutique Adelaide
Instagram: @thepoleboutique
We are an experienced finance broker team whose number one goal is to provide you with the highest level of service & knowledge. We hold your best interests at the forefront of what we do. We go above and beyond every step of the way to ensure we are listening to your specific needs and requirements and aligning you with the best possible Car & Finance options available to you. We are able to assist in business finance & equipment for commercial customers! We also offer loans to the self-employed.
Website: www.ausloans.com.au/strathalbyn
Facebook: Ausloans Finance Strathalbyn
Instagram: @ausloansstrath
Make your daily skin care ritual pure, simple and nourishing with Barossa Body. The all natural body and skincare products, inspired by native Australian plant-based ingredients, are handmade in the Barossa, South Australia and contain only the highest quality natural ingredients. Barossa Body takes the guess work out of what you are putting on your skin.
Website: www.barossabody.com.au
Facebook: Barossa Body
Instagram: @barossabody
OUR SUMMIT SUPPORTERS
OUR SUMMIT SPEAKERS
Milly Albers | MILCO media + design
Milly has a wealth of experience in brand building and marketing, spanning over 12 years. With a visual communications degree and a drive for transforming the image of entire sectors, she has worked with both small businesses and corporate companies. Her journey has been filled with unique experiences, from co-founding an award-winning startup in The Netherlands, to running a start-up in San Francisco and being mentored by Yahoo’s first female founder.
Odette de Beer | Amplify Business Coaching & Consulting
Odette de Beer, a certified Customer Experience professional and Managing Director of Amplify Business Coaching and Consulting is revered for her transformative impact on businesses. With over a decade’s experience in business growth and customer-centric design, she has fostered revenue augmentation by bridging the gap between customer expectations and deliverables. Deeply committed to uplifting women in business, Odette envisions a future where talented entrepreneurs are recognised and rewarded for their contributions. Her belief in the power of exceptional customer experiences as the bedrock of competitive advantage, coupled with her passion for transforming unpredictable revenue into sustainable models, makes her an influential figure in the realm of business growth and customer experience.
Kirrilly Falivene | The Inspired Mind Counselling & Psychotherapy
Kirrilly spent 15 years in the professional creative industry, honing her craft at advertising agencies before moving into freelance writing. Her career took a new direction when Kirrilly chose to follow her passion for self-development qualified as a counsellor and psychotherapist. After working as a counsellor for Skylight Mental Health, an Adelaide based organization providing support to individuals and groups experiencing mental illness, Kirrilly started her own private practice, focusing on supporting women and teenage girls. Now a specialist in interpersonal trauma, Kirrilly sees her role as a healing facilitator, helping clients heal from past traumas and grow into empowered, self-aware individuals who know their own worth, live to their values and speak their truth.
Emily Hilder is an ocean-loving, loud-laughing straight shooter, from a family of Welsh boat builders, artists, and Huckleberry Finn engineers. She’s also a brand strategist and speaker, and founder and director of Human Brands, a boutique branding and marketing consultancy that specialises in helping businesses create authentic and purpose-driven brands. Emily’s known for her insight and strategic vision, as well as her big laugh and highly developed sense of mischief.
Chanelle Le Roux | Ninki Content Marketing
Chanelle is a proud feminist, part-time performer and passionate owner of NINKI Content Marketing. A strategy and content marketing agency that launched in 2018. With over 10 years of experience in the digital marketing industry and a lifetime of creative storytelling, Chanelle and and team at Ninki are equipped and ready to help businesses build real human connections and lifelong customers.
Melina Lipkiewicz | PeopleQ Pty Ltd
Melina is a passionate high performer who has coached hundreds of leaders, teams and professionals. Optimistic and resilient, she has held key leadership roles herself, transforming teams and creating start up divisions that achieved 100% growth year on year. She teams her qualifications with insights gained from 18 years of corporate leadership experience, delivering people solutions across Australia. Melina is an IECL certified coach across all levels, sixseconds assessor, Genos practitioner, Heartmath Coach & Resilience trainer, Strengthsprofile certified and C-IQ practitioner, as well as having a Bachelor of Business and a degree in Human Resources.
Sunita Miranda | Cornerstone Alliance
I’m a passionate supporter of authentic inclusion and diversity through communications, marketing and engagement (not just the policy-driven, check-the-box kind). I specialise in disability communications, multicultural communications, and engagement through participatory and contributory involvement of community members. I own a creative agency that works at the highest level with national peak bodies in Canberra, supporting both people with disabilities, and people from ethnic and multicultural backgrounds access communications and messaging in a cultural appropriate and inclusive way.
Alice is a journalist and presenter with the Nine Network, and recently returned to the Adelaide newsroom where she is currently presenting the weekend weather and afternoon news bulletins. This follows a five year stint in the Sydney newsrooms presenting across all network news programs. Alice is also an Event MC and Host and creates and presents masterclass workshops on value proposition and positioning yourself successfully in your industry and career.
Madhavi Nawana Parker | Positive Minds Australia
Madhavi Nawana Parker, Director of Positive Minds Australia, is one of Australia’s leading experts on Wellbeing and Resilience. Madhavi is known for her warm, optimistic, and compassionate attitude towards others. She is a passionate supporter of young people, their families, and schools, and as a widely published author, Madhavi’s books and programs are implemented in schools, homes, and allied health care settings around the world. Madhavi specialises in Workplace Wellbeing, Mindset training and Parent Coaching.
Hayley Osborne | Hayley Osborne
Hayley has helped hundreds of small business owners grow their businesses by infusing their story and personality into their marketing, coaching them around becoming more aligned with themselves and what they do. Starting her first business at the age of 25 and continuing to build 3 successful businesses along the way, Hayley has made her mark in the business world.
Kendall Richardson | Mindset Procurement
Kendall is an experienced senior procurement executive with more than 15 years of experience in the government, defence and administration industry, working for large organisations with complex spends, regulatory pressure and high risk challenges. Kendall offers a verifiable record of success in delivering multi-million dollar contracts for goods, services and construction. She does so by thoroughly understanding the needs of stakeholders allowing her to develop a strategic and customised plan of action to resolve the organisational issue at hand.
Catherine is a driving force behind transformative change in high schools, championing inclusivity among students, teachers, and communities through her multi-faceted approach to teaching, research, and public speaking. She is neuro- and gender-diverse, as are her children and many of her students, and as someone who was late diagnosed with autism and ADHD, she brings personal insight and empathy to her advocacy. Her dedication to inclusivity originates from childhood experiences and seeing her Autistic son struggle in education, propelling her to challenge inequality in gender, neurotype, race and education. Catherine’s influential endeavours encompass ground-breaking initiatives like SWIFT (Strong Women in Future Technologies), where she was recognised as a STEM Women Changemaker at the Catalysing Gender Equity Summit in 2020. She also designs teacher-centric presentations on neurodiversity and has crafted a curriculum fostering executive functioning and essential life skills hacks for high school students.
Bel Ryan | Ignite Wellbeing Co.
Bel Ryan is a wellbeing speaker who specialises in using art therapy to minimise stress, reduce burnout and ignite your potential. With a 20+ year career in art therapy, counselling, facilitation and mental health training, she is passionate about the power of using creativity to overcome adversity in your life and empower yourself to thrive.
Her distinct fusion of creative and experiential approaches positions her uniquely working with organisations and individuals to cultivate reflection, understanding, learning and insight.
Anita Schneyder | Teams on Purpose
Anita is an experienced teams and leadership consultant specialising in team development, leadership development, strategic & business planning and executive coaching. With a background in accounting, business advisory and leadership, Anita has bona fide management experience and lived experience of the different ‘hats’ that leaders are required to wear. This gives her a practical understanding of the challenges and perspectives that come with leadership.
Anita’s growing company, Teams on Purpose, has worked with leaders at corporates, non-profits and private enterprise, as well as high-growth start ups and social enterprises, helping them to invest in their people, transform culture and empower leaders to reach their full potential.
Esther Simbi | Zion Disability Services
Esther Simbi is a former South Sudanese refugee, the youngest of six children, the first one in her family with a university degree and a single mother of two beautiful daughters. Esther is a polio survivor, the Founder and Managing Director of Zion Disability Services Inc, a social worker, a mediator, an award-winning author, a motivational speaker, a disability community educator, a disability advocate, events manager, organiser and coordinator, and a member of the Rotary Club of Campbell Town. Esther is the first African woman from a refugee background to ever run for Parliament in Australia to represent people with disability in the Upper House. Esther won the Author and Publisher of the Year 2022 Award in May last year as part of the Annual Africa Day Celebration in Adelaide.
Vicky is an ex-Police officer spanning almost 20 years and 2 countries. Her police career was exciting and brilliant for the most part; however, working in a broken system resulted in her having to resign to save her own sanity. Vicky resigned from her position in October 2021 and applied for her ABN to set up the first caravan brokerage company in Australia in November 2021. After 20 years of love, laughter and tears in the police, sheer resilience gave her the discipline, determination and damn right stubbornness to be where she is today.
Kimberley Wanganeen | Kimberley Wanganeen Consultancy
Kimberley Wanganeen is a proud South Australian First Nations woman, born on Boandik Country and now living and working on Kaurna Country. Kimberley is a business owner, having founded Kimberley Wanganeen Consultancy in 2022 to share her extensive experience in providing cultural advice and guidance to organisations in their endeavours to achieve best practice cultural safety for their workers, clients and the community. Kimberley applies an intersectional feminist approach when advocating for gender equality and prevention of violence against women and their children, ensuring that the disproportionate rates of inequality and violence faced by First Nations women are highlighted and considered throughout all conversations.
Charlotte Williams | My Ability Pathway
Charlotte’s desire to be a part of a community organisation where decision-making achieves the best outcomes for individuals led her to the role of General Manager at My Ability Pathway (MAP). Armed with a Bachelor of Business and a Graduate Diploma in Social Science, Charlotte brings extensive skills and experience in business development and planning, communications, brand management and marketing. This, combined with her strong sense of justice and diplomatic relationship management, makes her the ideal person to lead the team at MAP. Charlotte seeks various perspectives and meticulously researches to arm herself with knowledge for problem-solving and decision-making.