People

Ms Quentin Bryce’s achievements and participation in professional and community service are immense and outstanding. She has made choices throughout her professional and community life that reflect her strong sense of responsibility to the community; her commitment to advancing human rights and equality, the rights of women and children, and the welfare of the family; and her willingness to share her skills and experiences to improve the lives of many.

Her former roles include: inaugural Director of the Queensland Women’s Information Service, Office of the Status of Women; Queensland Director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner; and, founding Chair and Chief Executive of the National Childcare Accreditation Council.

Currently the Business Development Manager of Adidem Enterprise Services and Founding Director of Footsteps Enterprises, Alex has extensive experience in working with diverse communities through the Asia-Pacific region to develop programs, frameworks and strategies for local and sustainable economic development.

Alex has worked with over 30 Indigenous communities around Australia in relation to economic development and works extensively throughout the Pacific with indigenous communities and individuals. Recently, Alex assisted the French government to develop a framework for economic development with young indigenous people in New Caledonia.

Alex has variously held positions of: Governor of the Foundation for Young Australians, Founding Director of The Big Issue Australia, Founding Director of Speak Out limited, and National Training Advisor for the Commonwealth Youth Program.

Alex is co-author of Australia’s first guide to social enterprise development for young people and is regularly asked to speak at conferences and events related to youth enterprise and youth development.

Athol is a cultural and community leader and advocate with over 20 years experience in the arts, events and community development sectors.

Previously the Chairman of La Boite Theatre Company, Athol joined the SpeakOut board in 2006.

He is currently employed by Brisbane City Council, having returned from a 12 month secondment to Caxton Street Catering. He identifies, develops and supports creative community programs and organisations that seek to encourage active, inclusive and sustainable communities.

Athol has been involved in the implementation and delivery of some of Brisbane’s most significant cultural and community events including: Australia Remembers 1945 -1995, Warana Festival, Out of the Box Festival of Early Childhood, Stage X Youth Festival, Brisbane Festival, Christmas in the City, the Brisbane City Council's City Entertainment program and Stylin’ UP.

Tarryn joined the SpeakOut board in June 2005, and was appointed Company Secretary in December 2005.

She is currently the Head of Group Strategy & Managing Director's Office at the Bank of Queensland, where she established the Bank's first community relations strategy.

Tarryn has several years experience in the not-for-profit industry, including being the inaugural staff member of Financial Basics Foundation, a charity established to improve the financial literacy skills of young people; and working in fundraising and marketing for the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation.

Rupert has extensive experience in developing career opportunities and options for young people. For 12 years he has worked in human resource and consulting positions and is able to offer strategic planning advice for organisations wanting to enhance their performance through their human capital.

Through his current role as Director and Executive Coach at Performance Strategies, Rupert manages a successful group of coaches and business consultants specialising in leadership development and training managers as coaches. He has worked as a lead coach, consultant and manager for respected businesses including the Australian Institute of Management, Davidson Recruitment and Ernst & Young.

Rupert has recently completed a Masters in Organisational Psychology, with a thesis already completed on the effectiveness of coaching in the workplace and he is a Registered Psychologist.

Aleem is a change agent, entrepreneur, facilitator, mentor and executive with over 15 years experience in the business, community, cultural and government sectors.

He has consulted for and been contracted to, Brisbane City Council, Youth Arts Queensland, Federal and State Government Departments, small to medium enterprises and Community organisations.

Aleem has established and managed nationally-acclaimed mentoring programs, facilitated youth conference programs, developed and delivered numerous youth-centred community and cultural development projects and lead the development and growth of leading enterprises.

Other professional activities have included Peer Advisor on various funding panels; Lecturer at QUT – Creative Industries in Arts Business Management; and, participation as one of 90 young Australian leaders at the 2006 Australian Future Directions Forum.

In 2001, Aleem co-founded and established Speak Out limited in Brisbane. Working with a committed and skilled team, SpeakOut has grown from an idea to a social change agency that positively impacts the lives of over 2000 individuals and 20 communities.

In 2008, Aleem was appointed as a Director of the Foundation for Young Australians and Chair of the Regional Arts Fund (Qld) Panel.

Prior to joining SpeakOut, Robert was the Enterprise & Partnership Development Officer for Brisbane City Council’s Community Development Services Branch. His role included managing their Social Enterprise Fund, developing the Brisbane Social Enterprise Hub, undertaking Social Return on Investment analysis, and coordinating their in house Employee Volunteering Program. As a Senior Policy Officer, Robert also developed Brisbane City Council’s CSR strategy and Social Procurement Policy.

Robert was also co-founder of the Brisbane Corporate Community Network (BCCN) – established to raise the profile and impact of Corporate Social Responsibility in Brisbane.

Robert has over ten years commercial accounting experience, including the preparation of financial statements, project evaluations, business planning and strategic development and has volunteered his skills both in Australia and overseas.

Robert holds a Bachelor of Business Degree and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Services and is a qualified Certified Practising Accountant (CPA). He also has a keen interest in social documentaries, having made documentaries for the Red Cross and the Kianh Foundation.

Jade has been working in the Arts and Community Cultural Development, Education and Youth and Social sectors for the past eight years. She graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Arts (Drama) and a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) in 2000 and has been developing her practice and philosophy around the belief that arts and culture are both tools for social and systemic change along with the universal communication techniques and ways of working.

Jade’s areas of expertise include: Community Cultural Development, Education (Alternative and Mainstream) and Training, Youth Support, Facilitation and Workshop development, Community Arts, Consultation with young people and their communities, Project Management, Concept and framework development for work with young people, Policy development and interpretation.

Clare is a highly-skilled Youth Worker who has been working with young people for the past 6 years in many different fields including juvenile justice, mental health, drug & alcohol, community job placements, and employment & training.

Clare can’t imagine working in a different field, and really enjoys her work with young people. Her philosophy is driven by an understanding that young people have as much to offer the world as the world has to offer them.

She is passionately creative and loves music, dance, fashion, film & capoeira! Clare has travelled all around the world and plans to keep doing more of the same.

Mick Byrne is a youth arts worker with ten years experience creating opportunities for creative young people to be inspired, develop their skills and gain access to resources. Throughout his career Mick has worked with young people from a diverse range of backgrounds and artistic interests and has made art with young artists across different artforms.

Highlights in his career prior to his role with SpeakOut include:

• Manager of Youth Arts Queensland’s Transit Lounge- where he managed a young artist resource hub, the Navigation art business training program and the Young Artist Mentoring Program.
• CCD worker at the YWCA of Toowoomba and South West Queensland – where he managed the Skoolies Forum Theatre Project, three Art for the Dole projects and established two art galleries for emerging visual artists the Office of Arts and Leisure Affairs and The Shed.

Angie Forrest holds a Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design from Queensland College of Art. She likes dogs and plants and squishy things from under the sea.

A belief that government is an agent of the people led her to strapping herself in on the public sector roller-coaster. Over a dizzy 15 years of working with the Queensland and New South Wales education sectors she supported teaching and learning outcomes in multimedia, distance education and virtual learning. As both a Senior Designer and Team Leader she mentored younger team-members and managed project teams and finances across print and multimedia production.

After taking time away from design to hammer and saw an extension on her house she found herself on Speak Out's doorstep in 2006. Now working in arts administration as Staff and Finance Coordinator she enjoys her fancy title and is committed to supporting the Speak Out crew through very speedy letter
opening, date stamping everything in her path and accidently cutting people off on the switchboard. [sorry].

Benjamin has a Bachelor of Screen Production in Digital Media and an Assosciate Degree in Arts (Writing). He has edited no-budget film clips, directed short films, produced and played music, written and drawn comics for zines and co-owns a very small independent record label - www.merenoise.net

Steph is passionate about social change and in working with communities to develop their ability to articulate and actualise their needs and preferences within a clear understanding of sustainability and participation. With a background in social justice and environmental advocacy, Steph has combined this practical activist experience with tertiary environmental planning studies and social planning experience.

He has worked since 2002 with Dr Wendy Sarkissian, internationally renowned community engagement practitioner, and more recently through his own agency Positive Community Developments. Last year, Steph worked with Plan C, a Brisbane-based cultural planning consultancy working in the public space realm. Steph joined SpeakOut in February this year, coordinating the participation of young Indigenous people from regional communities in the Big Trip component of Stylin UP.

Steph is particularly interested in the power dynamics of participation and more specifically, the way in which young and marginalised people are involved in community growth. He is currently working on a publication for Earthscan entitled Kitchen Table Sustainability which addresses community level participation in sustainability and how this can be facilitated.

Fran has been working as a community cultural development worker for the past 6 years. After completing a BA Applied Theatre, majoring in Community Cultural Development, she formed her own business Spiral A.R.Ts where she worked with various communities in educational, urban and regional settings. Some of her projects have been commissioned by QLD Department of Housing – Community Renewal Program, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane City Council, Logan City Council, Education Queensland and Griffith University. Fran also in this time worked for organisations such as Epoch Musical Instruments and Golden Fiddle Awards Ltd where she organised several music events and developed professional development string music programs for young people and schools.

Prior to joining SpeakOut in early 2007, Fran worked for the Gold Coast City Council, as Cultural Development Officer. During this time, she developed and managed the Gold Coast Indigenous Art and Design Award, Robina Art Gallery, Creative Juices Professional Development Program and worked closely with the Indigenous community in coordinating Naidoc Week celebrations.

Briana has qualifications in Social Planning, Arts and Anthropology. She uses these skills to inform her practice as a Project Support Officer at SpeakOut. With an interest and passion for Community Cultural Development, Briana has worked on projects such as Viewfinder and Are You Making A Difference? Having worked in the Local Government and now, NGO sectors, Briana is gaining a good understanding of young people and how their needs and capacities are reflected in policy, planning and practice.

Andrew has been involved in all things pixel related since 2001. Before joining SpeakOut he founded and managed Think Tank Creative, an audiovisual production company. He has extensive experience filming and editing live events, documentaries, music video clips and corporate videos.

Andrew regularly performs as 'Simulcast' a live audiovisual producer-VJ and has provided live visuals for events including The Big Day Out.
His short documentary on a day in the life of a Bollywood movie extra won him the STA Travel 'Road to Adventure' competition, sending him to Egypt for further documentary work. Andrew has also taught video production in a Kenyan orphanage and facilitated numerous VJ workshops.

He has completed a Bachelor of Journalism (Television) and a Bachelor of Film & TV.

James graduated from the QCA with a Bachelor of design in 2000. Since then he has had the opportunity to work for 6 years with Billabong on a wide range of design projects including; print design and illustration for garments, promotional merchandise from CD and DVD packaging through to murals on walls and a bus, as well as art direction for advertising campaigns and POS. During this time he was able to work for several youth oriented brands including Billabong, Von Zipper and Element. James has also worked in Australia and London on a freelance basis for a variety of clients including Puma, HSBC, Kyocera and Triple Zed.

James is also a painter and illustrator and has exhibited in Brisbane, The Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and London. His work has been featured in Artillery, Chick and Clay Magazines.

Having worked within various areas of design, Dan has a broad range of skills encompassing print, web and motion graphics for video. Over six years working for design companies such as Bigfish, Bullet Creative and Big Bridge, Dan has filled roles as graphic designer, flash animator, 2D motion graphics animator, art director and now Senior Designer at SpeakOut Creative. In this time Dan provided multimedia design solutions for a range of clients from large corporations & State Government to small business and arts organisations. In the interest of maintaining the balance between good & evil, Dan likes to use his spare time playing in rock’n’roll bands and doing design work for bands, record labels and artists. He’s created designs for Universal Music, The Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane Writers Festival, The Third Asia Pacific Triennial and a host of rock bands.

Zoe graduated from Concordia University in Montreal in Graphic Design in 2002. She majored in Print Media (traditional processes such as silkscreen printing, textiles, lithography and intaglio) and Digital Image, and often combining the two.

After graduating, she worked at an artist-run centre where she worked directly with visual artists, working in French. She then went on to work as a graphic designer for Buffalo Jeans, working alongside a fashion designer designing catalogues, developing designs for textile prints, stitching, embroidery and patches. She has also worked on illustrations, photography and design contracts for various freelance clients.

In 2004 Zoe joined SpeakOut Creative, upon returning home to Australia after seven years away. Zoe also has over two years of experience in facilitating workshops in art and design through SpeakOut Connect, and enjoys the time away from the computer screen, engaging directly with young people.

Katie considers herself to be a generalist in the commercial sense, drawing on skills gained from a broad range of experience across such fields as professional services, healthcare, property development and government.

She holds Bachelor degrees in Commerce and Business Management (majoring in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour).

Katie has a strong interest in human experience, behaviour, and creativity, which has been enhanced through dabbling in areas such as neuro-linguistics, hypnosis, and improvised theatre.

Inspired by SpeakOut’s purpose and business model, Katie has joined the Creative team to bring her unique style of organisation to complement the work of great designers.