Karen From Finance is the premiere ‘corporate’ queen of Melbourne, Australia. She lives alone with her budgie ‘Dantè’ and enjoys tax time, office-based bonding activities, and invoice archiving.
After being made redundant from the accounts team at a small pie wholesaler in Geelong, Karen From Finance has since moved to the big smoke to become a real team player here in Melbourne. Make her feel welcome! CC her in on an email. Heck, BCC her if you must! Karen From Finance will always Reply To All. Specialising in BAS statements, Payroll Systems, and Accounts Payable, Karen From Finance takes her role in your office very seriously.
Karen celebrates her New Years on July 1st each year, and isn’t shy of the odd Friday night after-work drink with the ladies. Her weaknesses include the ATO, Revolver, cute temps from the Agency and conjoined paper clips.
Jamila is Editor-at-Large of the Nine Network’s Future Women, host of their podcast Future Women Weekly and weekly columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She is also a regular commentator on The Project, Today, The Drum, Q and A, an occasional host on ABC Radio Melbourne.
“One of the conversations I think we also need to be having alongside that financial security conversation for women, is about happiness and being able to be a full person.”
Layne Beachley AO is regarded as the most successful female surfer in history. Layne’s dedication to success saw her as the only surfer, male or female, to claim six consecutive world titles between 1998 and 2003. Layne went on to win a 7th world title in 2006 before retiring from the ASP World Tour in 2008. In retirement, Layne spends her time travelling nationally and internationally as a motivational Keynote speaker for some of the world’s top commercial firms, sharing her stories about sustaining success, overcoming challenge and maintaining a winning mindset. She is also a trainer and facilitator of a series of workshops, igniting potential in everyone she works with. Layne is also the Founder and Director of her own foundation, Aim For The Stars, Chairperson of Surfing Australia and an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Lorraine Baloyi is the Co-Founder and Director of African Family Services organisation (partnered with the Victorian Women’s Trust and Global Reconciliation). Lorraine has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Legal Studies (from Curtin University of Technology) and she is a qualified Project Management Practitioner. Specialty Areas: Legal, Corporate Governance, Project Management, Community Development, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice.
Lorraine has developed strong and trusted relationships throughout her career and is engaged with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities across Victoria; bridging social gaps, increasing accessibility to social services, providing advocacy and gender equity empowerment initiatives.
Van Badham is a Melbourne-based theatremaker, journalist, critic, academic, activist, novelist and occasional broadcaster. She is currently employed as a weekly political columnist and culture critic for The Guardian Australia, while as a theatremaker she’s had more than 100 international productions of her work.
Van’s work for stage and musical theatre have appeared at international festival such as the Edinburgh Festival, New York Summer Play Festival, Royal Court Theatre, and have toured across the UK, US, Europe, and Australia.
Van has extensive experience as a keynote speaker, host, panelist, and consultant. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Creative Arts/Arts, and a Masters in Writing for Performance (First Class). She has lectured in Writing for Theatre and Writing for Film and Television, and tutored in Visual Art Theatre at the University of Wollongong. She has additionally taught programmes for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Tower Hamlets Idea Store (UK), the Central School of Speech and Drama (UK), Arts Tasmania, the NSW Writers Centre, the South Coast Writers Centre and Writers Victoria. She is presently a tutor for Guardian Masterclasses.
