There’s no shortage of incredible, passionate and inspiring women in Australia (and beyond). From entrepreneurs to tech founders to media personalities, women across the country are forging their own paths and elevating other women along the way.
Here at Stella, we’re passionate about elevating the voices of women. Why? Well, the more we lift each other up and see examples of what success (in all its forms) can look like, the more we can succeed as a collective.
This month, we’ve been amazed and inspired by these incredible Australian women who are redefining industries, building female-first products and helping women to step into their power. Here are six powerful women you need to know about in 2022.
Meggie Palmer, Founder of PepTalkHer
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing Meggie Palmer speak at a conference or event, you’ll know she has the power to light up a room. Meggie is a founder, speaker and journalist who spent 15 years working as a foreign correspondent for the likes of BBC News, CNBC and SBS.
Today, this proud Aussie calls NYC home and is the founder of PepTalkHer – an organisation on a mission to close the gender pay gap through corporate workshops, online courses and their very own career coaching app.
Plus, you’ll find her speaking across the globe and helping companies retain female leaders and achieve meaningful diversity in their teams.
Meggie is passionate about tackling the systemic issues behind the gender pay gap, as well as arming women with the tools to improve their own financial position.
As Meggie shared with SmartCompany, “It is about changing women’s views of themselves and their self-worth. I believe if we can change that, then women will be better able to advocate and negotiate and then, hopefully, conditions will improve.”
Christy Laurence, Founder and CEO of Plann
Founding a tech company and recovering from severe brain trauma might not sound possible, but that’s exactly how Christy Laurence build the successful social media scheduling app, Plann.
After being struck down with a vicious flu strain that spread to her brain, Christy was forced to leave her advertising job. With more time on her hands, she came up with the idea for Plann: to help anyone in the world make smarter decisions using social media.
Now, Plann boasts over 3 million users, employs a global workforce across 10 countries and has gone on to become a multi-award winning product. Over the past 6+ years, Plann has gone from strength to strength and is now one of the leading social media scheduling platforms in the market.
Michelle Battersby & Lucy Mort, Co-Founders of Sunroom
Michelle and Lucy are no strangers to working in the tech world. In fact, prior to launching Sunroom (an exciting new social app supporting women and non-binary creators), the pair had built products used by hundreds of millions of people at Hinge and Bumble.
Essentially, the duo wanted to help women and non-binary creators make money through their audiences. On Sunroom, creators can sell access to their unfiltered content through monthly subscriptions and micropayments.
What makes Sunroom such a powerful platform is that its moderated through a women’s lens and uses industry-first safety features (like their SunBlock anti-screenshot technology). It’s all designed to help creators earn a sustainable income and express themselves without fear.
Zara Seidler, Co-Founder of The Daily Aus
At just 24 years old, Zara Seidler boasts a very impressive resume. The former political adviser turned media publisher is now the co-creator of The Daily Aus, a media platform that shares the latest breaking news to hundreds of thousands of young Australians every single day.
From podcasts to Instagram posts and email newsletters, Zara and her co-founder help to educate Gen Z about what’s happening in politics and current affairs on a daily basis.
As a young woman who has worked in politics, Zara knows what it’s like to infiltrate ‘the boys club’ better than most. In a recent conversation with Harpers Bazaar, Zara spoke of the challenges she has faced being taken seriously by traditional media outlets.
“When we were in budget lock-up, one of the editors of a major newspaper in this country said ‘Oh, you’re the TikTokers’ in the most condescending way possible. But, we ultimately have access to a market that they don’t, so we’re just going to try and expand that and reach as many people as possible.”
Sarah Agboola, Founder and CEO of mtime
Sarah Agboola has always been an entrepreneurial problem solver. She’s co-founded youth leadership and innovation communities and hosted events and masterclasses to help normalise the presence of Women of Colour in positions of power and influence.
Most recently, Sarah has been working as the Founder and CEO of mtime, a platform that matches busy parents with family assistants that do nannying and housekeeping in one role.
Sarah is on a mission to help women get into and return to the workforce and actively recruits women in their Monceirge team. She is passionate about shattering the assumptions that women have to ‘do it all’ and making it simple and easy for working women to ask for help.
These incredible and inspiring women all have one thing in common: they’re not afraid to shatter stereotypes or pave their own paths. We hope you found their stories as uplifting and motivating as we did!
