Gemma Sisia spent her early years on a fine wool sheep property just outside Guyra in northern New South Wales, Australia. She is the only daughter with seven brothers. After completing her secondary studies at St Vincent’s College in Sydney, Gemma decided to pursue a Science Degree (majoring in Genetics and Biochemistry) at Melbourne University and then an Honours Program (where she was awarded First Class) in the Northern Territory.

After completing a Diploma of Education she fulfilled a long held desire to help the poor in Africa, and travelled to Uganda to work for three years as a volunteer. This experience lead to her passionate belief that free yet high quality education should be the right of all children in the world as education is the strongest weapon in the fight against poverty, corruption and political instability.

On her return to Australia, Gemma decided that this was the sort of work she wanted to pursue and so started a small group effort to help educate the poor in East Africa. A gift of a small plot of land in Arusha, Tanzania, from her father-in-law allowed her to realise her dream. In 2002 The School of St Jude opened with only a handful of sponsored children. With hard work and determination, the school has exploded to over 1300 children (on three campuses) all of whom are given a free education through sponsorship from individuals, families, clubs and schools from around Australia and abroad. The school also gives employment to over 330 local Tanzanian staff, including three sets of local Headmasters and their academic teams who run each school.

Even though The School of St Jude is very young, its academic results have already proven to be excellent with all the students in the examination year, being placed in the top 10% of Tanzania in the 2008 Tanzanian National Examinations. Then in 2009, only the second time that the school participated in the National exams, St Jude’s moved up in the rankings, number 21 out of over 15,000 nationwide.

Gemma is married with three children – Nathaniel (8), Jacob (7) and Isabella (2). Her autobiography, St Jude’s, was published in Australia by Pan Macmillian and remained on the best sellers list for over two months after it was released in 2007. Gemma’s story featured twice in the high rating ABC TV documentary program, Australian Story. In 2007 Gemma’s achievements were honoured by an Order of Australia medal.

The School of St Jude is a non-profit organisation enjoying continuing success only because of our dedicated and generous supporters and the hard working team on the ground. Monetary contributions to St Jude’s are tax deductible in Australia, UK and the US. Guided by the school’s philosophy of Fighting Poverty through Education Gemma Sisia is determined that St Jude’s will continue to grow and maintain the high standard of academic achievement it currently enjoys.

She has held visiting positions at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, Trinity College Dublin and the University of Melbourne. Professor Brennan is the author of The Politics of Australian Child Care (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and co-editor with Louise Chappell of ‘No Fit Place for Women’. Women in New South Wales Politics, 1856-2006 (UNSW Press, 2006) as well as numerous scholarly articles in the areas of gender, politics and family policy. She has contributed to national and international debates in her field and has advised both the Australian and UK governments on the development of policies for families and children. She is the immediate past-President of the Australian Political Science Association.

She has a MA in Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney, where she received a High Distinction for her final project, and a BA in Performance Theory and Practice from Theatre Nepean at the University of Western Sydney. Talia was previously Executive Producer of Arts and Culture at FBi Radio 94.5FM where she oversaw on-air coverage of visual arts, theatre, performance, literature, design and architecture – focusing on supporting emerging artists in all fields.

Along with fiction, Talia’s interest is arts writing and her stories and articles have appeared in Art & Australia, City Hub, Runway, the literary compilation Lines of Wisdom published by Affirm Press, and in the 2007 UTS Writers’ Anthology What You Do and Don’t Want.

Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Travel + Leisure, Luxury Travel and Australian Traveller.

Leah was born in Sydney, Australia in 1981 and graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2003 with a Bachelor of Media Communications. Last year she completed her Masters in Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney.

As part of her Masters Leah was successful in obtaining the competitive International Herald Tribune internship in Paris. Spending a semester at their headquarters as a paid intern in 2008, she now continues with her freelance work and The Modern Woman’s Anthology in Sydney, surrounded by family, friends and great harbour views.

Leah is passionate about raising the profile of mental health in Australia, and plans to increase awareness and raise money through a series of creative projects.

Sharing a wealth of experience and local knowledge, they joined forces to realise their common vision of creating an agency with a uniquely personal touch. Both firmly believe that success is built on the strength of the relationships fostered with their valued clients.

The pair strive for excellence through integrity and innovation.

Graduating an Opera Singer, she worked in Russia and Europe before returning to Sydney and completing a Masters of Media and Production at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Rosa is currently auditioning for Opera Australia.

Rosa was strongly affiliated with the Jewish community in Moscow, and recently joined the Board of Directors of the Newtown Synagogue.

OzHarvest is a not-for-profit organisation that rescues unwanted food from restaurants, retailers, food outlets and corporate kitchens across Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong, to feed communities at risk.

Ronni, a former event organiser, who arrived as an immigrant from Israel in 1988, set up OzHarvest in 2004 after she was appalled by the amount of wasted food in the hospitality industry. OzHarvest now has more than 600 food donors and delivers more than 110,000 meals each month to 163 charities in Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong, with plans to roll out nationally this year.

Not only does OzHarvest help the vulnerable, it also diverts thousands of tonnes of food from being dumped as landfill. Ronni has also been integral in changing the legislation in four states that protects donors from any liability when supplying unwanted food.

In 2001 she graduated with honours in Media and Communications and Sociology at the University of NSW. During this time she was film editor for the university’s paper Tharunka and performed with PACT Youth Theatre, alongside small roles for television and film.

After completing her degree, Kate took a year’s hiatus on her own in India and Nepal. This began her love of travel – now having been to India twice, Morocco, Italy, France, Vietnam, Thailand, Spain and most recently, Sweden and Germany.

On her return, Kate’s love of acting took her through the grueling drama-school auditions. She secured herself a position at Theatre Nepean – a training institution that has housed the likes of Ruth Cracknel, David Wenham and Joel Edgerton.

In 2003 Kate scored her first major role in The Saddle Club series 2. This work lead to a long time business and personal relationship with the producers and crew and Kate subsequently worked as a chaperone and understudy for The Saddle Club Live Arena Show at The Royal Easter Show in 2004, and again as it went into its third series in 2007. She played a lead guest role and was the Drama Coach to all major and guest cast.

Kate has performed and trained with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre in Brisbane, performed at the Queensland Theatre and for New York contemporary artists William Duckwell and Nora Farrell. She has trained with renowned Butoh artists Sankai Juku and trained and performed in Italy with Butoh master Atsushi Takenouchi.

She currently runs specialised workshops for Neighbours cast members, and in her 30th year she is also putting passionate energy and focus into her career as a writer.

Kate Engler has worked in public relations and publicity for almost twenty years. Her clients have included World Vision, Australand, Bedshed and the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Kate applies a very down-to-earth philosophy to working with her clients – results are all important and getting the right exposure in the media is her speciality.

Prior to her successful speaking and coaching career, Kate held senior positions with leading Melbourne and Perth PR agencies, where she managed major accounts including Dilmah Tea, Australand, TDT Australia, P&O, Sausage Software, Cardia Technologies Ltd, EmU Tech Pty Ltd, Data & Commerce Ltd, Starlight Children’s Foundation, World Vision, Solace Limited, Cable and Telecoms Ltd Government property (Central Park), Finance providers (IF&I), private property developers (Richard Noble & Company, Sanwa Vines, Ellenbrook.), Government agencies (GESB, Keystart) The Make-a-Wish Foundation and retailer BedShed.

In addition to consulting experience, Kate has experience working in-house as National Public Relations Manager with International Financing and Investment Ltd (IF&I). She is a media management and issues management specialist, has created successful relationship marketing and sponsorship campaigns, and is vastly experienced in corporate communication – written and verbal, internal and external.