The Ripple Lineup:
Get to know some of our incredible speakers and performers.
Rhiannon Tracey
Founder of Rhiannon Tracey My Wheel Life
Some people face adversity.
Rhiannon Tracey turned hers into a mission.
Just before her 21st birthday, a pool accident left Rhiannon a quadriplegic. But instead of letting that moment define her, Rhiannon rebuilt her life and created a movement in the process.
She’s now a motivational speaker, TEDx presenter, model, life coach, and founder of Australia’s first Not-for-Profit Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Centre. In 2019, she made Australian history as the first female on wheels to walk the runway at Melbourne Fashion Week.
Named Cosmopolitan’s 'Game Changer' Woman of the Year and a passionate ambassador for mental health and women’s causes, Rhiannon continues to break barriers on stage, online, and in the lives of those she empowers.
As a proud neurodivergent woman living with ADHD, Rhiannon celebrates what makes her different. Her story is one of resilience, reinvention, and radical self-belief.
At Ripple Festival, Rhiannon will speak about what it's like to launch and grow a social enterprise that improves and transforms the lives of injured and disabled community members. All while working on her own healing, growth and personal goals, even when the road looks nothing like the one you planned.
Renae Brennen
Some artists sing. Others reach straight into your chest.
That’s Renae Brennen — Melbourne-based folksinger, songwriter, and storyteller.
Renae has been writing and performing her own songs for over a decade, drawing on folk, country, and blues influences to create music that’s raw, soulful, and full of heart.
With a voice that can move from vulnerability to defiance in a single line, her performances speak to love, loss, resilience, and the moments that shape us.
At Ripple Festival, Renae will perform a live set on Nov 12 — and then guide us through a grounding, soul-soothing sound bath session later the same day. One to lift you up. One to bring you home to yourself.
Dante St James
Entreprenuer, Speaker and Coach at Dante St James
If anyone knows how to build a personal brand that actually connects, it’s Dante St James.
A digital educator, automation expert, and all-round legend, Dante is flying in from the NT to join us at Ripple Festival. He’s known for making big topics feel human and giving small business owners the tools to do more with less.
Dante is also multi-passionate, balancing a thriving consultancy, content creation, coaching, and community education all while staying grounded and generous with his time. He’s proof that spinning multiple plates isn’t a flaw, it’s the future.
At Ripple, he’ll speak on LinkedIn, AI, and the ethics of automation, helping you show up online with clarity, creativity, and integrity. If you’re someone who refuses to get stuck doing the same thing forever, you’ll love what he brings to the stage.
Tahnee Edwards
Founder of Gammin Threads
There’s power in what we wear, and no one channels that power quite like Tahnee Edwards, founder of Gammin Threads.
A proud Yorta Yorta and Taungurung woman, Tahnee is a designer and community worker whose creative expression is a love letter to culture, resistance, and pride. Gammin Threads isn’t just a label, it’s a movement that celebrates community, strength and staunch aunty energy, with bold colours, cheeky slogans, and powerful messages woven through every stitch.
At Ripple Festival, Tahnee will run a hands-on workshop inviting you to create your own piece of wearable meaning, something that represents your voice, values, or just for pure joy. You’ll walk away not just with something tangible, but with the experience of being part of a space where creativity, self-expression and culture meet.
You’ll press, print, design and play with Tahnee guiding you the whole way.
Jen Sharpe
Founder & Managing Director of Think HQ
Please welcome to the stage one of the most quietly powerful forces in Australian communications… Jen Sharpe.
Jen started her agency from her kitchen table with no capital or connections, just a clear vision to create work that drives real social change.
15 years, two kids, and 100 employees later, Think HQ is a B Corp certified, female-owned, independent powerhouse doing just that.
From launching multicultural agency CultureVerse to acquiring Sydney’s LOUD, Jen has shown us all that you can scale a business and stay values-driven.
And that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand.
And that being a woman at the helm is a competitive advantage, not a limitation.
At Ripple Festival, Jen will deliver a keynote and lead a leadership panel on what it really takes to scale a business by investing in people.
DJ Dan Toop
Meet DJ Dan Toop aka The Rumpshaker, your official permission slip to let loose at Ripple Festival.
He’s played at some of the most iconic venues, underground parties, and Melbourne’s best events and now he’s bringing the absolute vibe to Ripple. Think bangers, throwbacks and all the best dancefloor anthems.
Get ready to dance like nobody’s watching!
Stef Hanson
Creative Director at Stef Hanson Productions
Your marketing needs to make an impact. Stef Hanson Stef Hanson Productions makes sure it does.
As a creative director, videographer, and photographer, Stef unearths stories and captures them in ways that make grown women cry (the good kind, promise). She has a knack for disarming people just long enough for them to bare all—because that’s where the magic happens.
Best known for her witty puns, dreamy drone shots, and attention-grabbing video campaigns, Stef is the person you call when you need marketing that stands out but you’re all out of creative juju.
A former triathlete, she doesn’t do anything by halves. And neither should your brand.
Fipe Preuss
Founder of Living Koko
Chocolate that tells a rich story.
Fipe Preuss (also known as Fipe Keanu) is the Samoan–German founder of Living Koko, a zero-waste, ethical chocolate company rooted in ancestral wisdom and driven by modern activism.
Born in Samoa and raised in Aotearoa, Fipe is a creative force, Polynesian dancer, activist, scuba instructor, performer, and entrepreneur who channels culture, community, and sustainability into everything she does.
From her chocolate kitchen in Braybrook on Wurundjeri Country, she transforms Samoan cacao into bean-to-bar delights, cacao husk tea, skincare scrubs, and soul-nourishing gatherings that centre connection, movement, and Pacific food sovereignty.
If you’re ready for a sensory and cultural journey, where taste, tradition, and transformation meet, Fipe is the one to lead it.
Sheree Rubinstein
Founder of One Roof
Please rise for the Queen of Community.
Former corporate lawyer turned entrepreneur, Sheree Rubinstein, is the founder of One Roof, a renowned digital membership and professional network for women leaders and entrepreneurs.
What began as Australia’s leading co-working space for women-led businesses has evolved into a thriving online community with over 1,500 members across nine countries.
Sheree is affectionately known as the Queen of Community, and for good reason. She’s been recognised as one of AFR’s 100 Women of Influence, a finalist in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards, and a multi-time nominee for leadership and entrepreneurship accolades.
She’s also a sought-after speaker, a board advisor (Victorian Women’s Trust), and a straight-talking mentor on a mission to smash gender barriers in business.
At Ripple Festival, Sheree will be leading a high-energy speed networking session, connecting brilliant minds and building community, just like she always does.
Aarti Vincent
Sometimes we need a good belly laugh to stop taking ourselves seriously. Especially in small business.
Thank the world for comedians, for the way they observe the everyday and turn it into comedy gold. There’s no such thing as too many laughs.
We’re thrilled to announce that Aaarti Vincent will be making us laugh at Ripple Festival, with her own comedy gold. Aarti is an independent comedian who uses comedy to take insightful swipes at religion, family and the patriarchy, with her own fresh and cheeky perspective. The badass brown mum (in her own words) has been wetting audiences' pants with her observational comedy across multiple continents. Whether she's bending minds or bending backwards, this bilingual comedian delivers side-splitting observational humour in English and Hindi.
The parents in the crowd are especially going to love the way Aarti pokes fun at family life with her storytelling and cheeky wit.
Nataleigh Elzein
Business and Marketing Strategist at Pinch Studios
Sales don’t have to feel icky, just ask Nataleigh Elzein.
Marketing might get all the spotlight, but sales is a necessary, overlooked and avoided part of running a successful SME. No one makes sales feel more human (or fun) than Nataleigh Elzein.
Once an actor, now a sales and strategy powerhouse, Nataleigh is the founder of Pinch Studios and she’s on a mission to help business owners sell with confidence, clarity, and zero sleaze.
At Ripple Festival, she’s bringing a fresh, practical workshop:
“5 Acting Lessons That Will Make You More Confident in Sales.”
No fluff. No cringe. Just tangible tools
Maddie Connors
Founder of Yarli Creative
Nothing tells a story like art does.
And no one tells a visual story quite like Madison Connors of Yarli Creative. A proud and strong Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Gamilaroi woman, Maddie’s art aims to evoke connection and rich conversations.
As our resident festival artist, Maddie will share her talent as an illustrator, artist and contemporary designer with us live at Ripple Festival.
She’ll capture the experience and essence of what’s happening at Ripple Festival, before our very eyes. Creating an artwork that will tell the story of Maddie’s deep connection to country, her roots and the stories and traditions of her ancestors. Weaving in what’s happening on the stage, whispers of conversation around the venue and the creativity and inspiration coming from the stage.
Georgia Fields
Singer/Song Writer At Georgia Fields Music
The world needs more music, and we want more Georgia Fields music
Our independent Australian musicians need our support more than ever, and we need their art and storytelling like we’ve never needed them before.
We love Georgia and we know you will too. Immerse yourself in Georgia’s music on the Ripple Festival main stage on 12th Nov 2025.
Kon Karapanagiotidis
CEO and Founder of Asylum Seeker Rescue Centre
“When we lead with love and give everyone a seat at the table, we build a community brave enough to transform the world.”
Kon Karapanagiotidis is the founder and CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), Australia’s largest independent human rights organisation, supporting over 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers each year.
A human rights lawyer, social worker, teacher, and proud son of Greek immigrants, Kon built the ASRC from a class project in 2001 into a movement, powered by 125 staff, 1,200 volunteers, and over $250 million raised through grassroots generosity.
Kon’s story is one of radical hope. Raised in rural Victoria in a working-class migrant family, his early experiences of racism and hardship became fuel for justice. By 18, he was already volunteering in homelessness, Indigenous, youth, and HIV/AIDS services.
By age 28, he launched the ASRC from his kitchen table with a vision: no one would be turned away.
Today, the ASRC delivers legal, educational, employment, health, housing, advocacy, and social enterprise programs that centre on humanity, dignity, and care.
At Ripple Festival, Kon will share the kind of truth that cracks hearts open and rebuilds them stronger
Lucy and Rosie Thomas
Co-Founders of Project Rockit
People want to belong but what stops us from building a kinder world where everyone feels they do?
Enter Lu and Rosie Thomas, cofounders of Project Rockit, Australia’s leading youth-driven movement against bullying, hate, and prejudice.
Since launching their mission straight out of high school, Lucy and Rosie have spent two decades working with over 700,000 young people, building spaces where difference is celebrated and kindness leads the way. Their impact has reached classrooms, boardrooms, and global tech platforms learning them both the Order of Australia Medal and recognition from UNICEF, Meta, and the Family Online Safety Institute.
At Ripple Festival, they’ll dive into what it really takes to launch, grow and maintain an impact led business. From growing a team, to wooing partners, managing money and curating a culture where people really want to work. Project Rockit and their team are tackling bullying head on. With young people, for young people. From navigating online spaces to challenging systems of discrimination, Lucy and Rosie bring raw honesty, deep experience, and radical hope.
Odette Barry
Founder of Odette and Co
Odette Barry gets out of bed to help leaders create impact and legacy.
She’s a publicist and PR mentor with over 15 years of experience working with some of Australia’s most well-known brands, including Westpac, the Australian Physiotherapy Association, TAFE NSW, and Women’s Fitness magazine. Today, she’s taught over 5,000 founders how to “hack your own PR” through her podcast, online programs, and intimate coaching sessions.
Through her consultancy, Odette & Co, the team has worked with small and enterprise businesses across Australia and New Zealand in sectors like technology, education, beauty, wellness, health, and fashion.
The world is in trouble, and we need the ideas, innovation, and lived experience of impact-makers, original thinkers, and honest experts. Odette teaches change-makers how to tell their story.