Melanie Tran is a woman in tech, a traditionally male-dominated industry sector, who challenges the status quo not just because she is female but also because of her disability. “I often find myself working twice as hard just to prove my capability,” she says. But she has not let that stop her.

At 19, Melanie took on her first board role with Digital Literacy Foundation (previously known as LeepNGO), a not-for-profit organisation, focused on digital inclusion and addressing the challenges of the digital divide. She has continued to step up when others step back never letting anything hold her back. She was also on the board before becoming Chair for Children and Young People with Disability Australia.

Feeling like she has more to give and wanting to make a real difference, Melanie has stepped onto the board of the International Youth Foundation with initiatives that directly serve millions of young people across the globe to promote youth agency, economic opportunities and leadership. She is an Australian representative advocating for young changemakers. Melanie is not someone that has had to chase these roles. When asked how she got that position, she humbly replies they gave her a call.  She first met them when she participated in the Laureate Global Fellowship, where she travelled to Spain to take part in a leadership and social entrepreneurship retreat alongside 19 young people from across the globe.

It was an amazing experience for her and clearly, she made an impression on the foundation’s leaders, who then chased her up many years later.

In her day job, Melanie is a Product Designer. Currently, she is very proud of the work she has done at Hireup to simplify the experience for those with a disability to find, manage and hire support workers who are able to assist with daily living activities.

When asked about working as a woman in tech and in the intersection of design, innovation and social impact, Melanie said “It is about creating platforms for unique and powerful voices to be heard, and empower women across the globe to create opportunities for themselves and those around them.”

Eight years ago, she vowed she would use her skills and expertise, as well as her own lived experience as a catalyst to drive innovation and positive social change in the healthcare and technology sectors, and today that dream has crystallised into her research project. She is currently doing her PhD on harnessing the power of design and technology to improve the communication experience between young people with chronic conditions and clinicians who specialise in paediatric emergency medicine. Her mission is to create a solution that may address some of these communication challenges, driven by the voices of young people, their parents/caregivers and paediatric emergency clinicians.

As you can see, nothing will hold Melanie back. Her advice to others wanting to challenge the status quo, is, “Be bold and brave” and “It’s okay to make mistakes because we can learn from these lessons. It’s about embarking on the journey of continuous transformation.”

Leonie Noble is a force for change. She uses her role as President of the National Rural Women’s Coalition to influence and create space for women both in Australia and internationally.

For Leonie, “It all started when I married a fisherman.” Being a fisherman’s wife in Western Australia meant spending 5 to 6 months a year at the Abrolhos Islands. It was during one of these stints, after yet another government edict which had a significant impact on the local fishing community, that Leonie lost patience. She felt the government should be consulting prior to delivering their changes. So, she rounded up the local fisher folk and started an organisation which in rapid time grew and became the voice of the Abrolhos with governments consistently consulting in a respectful and professional way. 

After much letter writing, their voice was heard, and the Minister came to visit. He was impressed with the Abrolhos community and their stewardship but in the case of Leonie, the then Minister for fisheries felt if she wanted greater input then she would need to become part of the team that developed policy. Soon she was allocated to a number of boards and committees. As the only woman in attendance, she was often confused with the tea lady. One time, she recounts, she was greeted with, “It’s great to have you here Leonie, now can you make the coffee.” To which she replied: “No thanks, but I will have a tea with one sugar.”

Leonie is passionate about stopping bullying behaviour and discrimination regardless of who is displaying it. She is immensely proud of the culture her team has created at the National Rural Women’s Coalition (NRWC) of which she is the National President. They work with Rural Regional and Remote women, Indigenous and migrant women, the LGBTQI+ community, and Women with Disabilities to name a few. Leonie says, “We do this because we believe that by empowering women, we empower a community. The lessons of equity and equality, and the difference between the two, become easy lessons to take home and be shared with and by everyone.”

Many of her other actions were driven by the desire not to be the token woman and to help other women obtain a voice. She soon discovered awards were a wonderful way to give women a profile which allowed them access to sponsors, governments, and open doors. In the seafood industry, to balance the men recognised for lifetime achievements, she created the Women in Seafood’s Honour Role. This launched in 2019 with an inaugural twenty women recognised. 

As President of Women in Seafood Australasia (WISA), she automatically became part of the Rural Women’s Coalition. It was her roles in WISA and the NRWC that aided Leonie’s application to become an Australian Delegate to attend the APEC WEF in Peru. As part of the delegation, she realised many of the issues women face are the same across the globe. Whilst there she connected with the Chilean delegation and soon became a mentor for their women from the seafood industry.

Since then, Leonie has not looked back. For the past decade, she has been working in the Civil Society Human Rights arena fighting for equality and equity across the globe. This is through speaking at forums such as international conferences and attendance at the UN Commission for the Status of Women (CSW) in New York each year and the Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific in Bangkok. She humbly comments about how much of an impact the Australian Rural Women’s contingent has had on some of the global policies and that Australia is highly regarded on the world stage. 

These days, she is still not taking no for an answer and continues to find new ways to open doors for civil rights and women’s leadership and influence in many locations. Her advice is, “Do what you need to do, make it happen, and don’t worry about what others think.”