Serial entrepreneur Yvette Adams launched her marketing, public relations and website design business The Creative Collective from home after the birth of her second child in 2007. As owner-director of the rapidly-growing creative services agency Yvette now manages four staff, 25 “virtual” contractors, a franchisee and has more than 200 active clients located throughout Australia. Yvette won funding from the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation for the Creative Collective to deliver 25 webinars on general business topics such as marketing, finance, start-ups and business planning. Under another contract, she is currently delivering six month education programs to 100 small business owners across the Whitsundays, Bundaberg and the Sunshine Coast regions featuring more webinars, e-lessons, computer labs and live training. Yvette, a former New Zealand water polo representative, also runs “Web Wednesdays,” a monthly professional development and networking event for Sunshine Coast business owners.

Having moved to Australia with no job prospects and little money, Lindy Chen decided to establish ChinaDirect Sourcing, a business that could help companies realise their product ideas by sourcing suppliers from her home country. While recognising there were already a number of importers and deal makers with links to China already established, Lindy carved out a unique positioning for ChinaDirect Sourcing. With many Australians cautious about dealing with China, Lindy developed a service and supporting business model that would address concerns. The ChinaDirect business model was founded on the idea that all services should be designed, and based foremost on a fiduciary obligation to the client, not only in terms of legality, but also from an ethical and economic point of view. This approach has seen the business grow from a one person operator to a company with 14 staff and revenue growth of 25 per cent in the past year.

As CEO of PhysioMax, a physiotherapy practice established in 2002, Philippa Gilbert has expanded her role from physiotherapist to CEO as a result of her development of the Disc replacement Life Recovery System (DeLoRes), an international recovery program that assists patients in their recovery from spinal surgery. Philippa’s management role involves continued research, establishment of systems, education and promotion of the DeLoRes method. Philippa has presented 2 research papers on the DeLoRes program receiving national and international recognition. Overcoming a learning disability to become one of the industries leading keynote speakers, Philippa is a regular presenter at universities, medical training conferences and business leader forums. Inspired personally by her parents who never accepted ‘can’t’ and professionally by Robin McKenzie and Dr Matthew Scott Young whose mentoring led her to the spinal recovery program that has changed the international approach to treating backs.

Karen Le Comte is the owner of Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers’ Cleveland franchise, which she established in April 2006. One of Australia’s most successful and awarded mortgage advisers, Karen received one of the industry’s highest accolades when she was named Mortgage Broker of the Year for 2010. Drawing on more than 25 years banking and broking experience, Karen and her team of three people help hundreds of families every year to achieve their financial and life goals, writing approximately $75 million in loans for the 2009/2010 year. The success of her business has provided Karen with the opportunity to take on a leadership role within the Smartline group, currently serving as a member of Smartline’s Queensland and national Charity Committees, contributing to the group’s Franchise Advisory Council and mentoring colleagues. Karen is actively involved with African Equity –supporting an orphanage in Kenya, the Australian Orangutan Project and several local charities.

In 1998, Claire Richardson decided to draw on her experience and education in air quality and acoustics to establish her own company, Air Noise Environment Pty Ltd. The company, headquartered in Brisbane with a second office in Sydney, provides specialist air quality and acoustic consultancy to a range of businesses throughout Australia. Claire’s initial objective was to work as a sole operator three days a week. Within just five months the business had won in excess of $400,000 in contracts, necessitating the recruitment of new staff. Today, Claire’s company is recognised as a leader in the fields of Air Quality and Acoustics. It is sought after to provide specialist advice for some of the largest infrastructure projects in Australia and also provides expert advice to the Planning and Environmental Court. In addition to running the business and being its principal consultant, Claire has been a university guest lecturer and a published author of technical papers and research reports.

“In my experience, the professional and business environment in Australia is far more supportive of small business operators, and women in particular, than the UK business environment” – Claire Richardson.

Amber Werchon is the founder, franchisor and Principal of Amber Werchon Property (AWP). Established in June 2008, the agency specialises in property management, residential and commercial sales. Amber’s passion for property began with her first investment at 16 years of age. At 17 she started working as a property firm receptionist and was soon promoted to an agent role. During this time Amber received the Real Estate Institute of Queensland’s Salesperson of the year award three times. In 2005, she launched a property business as a franchisee for a larger group. In 2009, less than a year after launching her own independent agency, she opened the first AWP franchise in Caloundra. Following the death of her uncle Ian Bell to motor neurone disease, Amber has taken an active role as ambassador for the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Queensland (MNDAQ) raising funds and awareness through an annual golf charity day.

With the family business under pressure to make significant changes as a result of the global financial crisis, Angela Gambell the Director Sales and Marketing for Stockwell International implemented the "New Importer Program". The online "how-to" guide for clients and new importers details the complex maze of processes, legislation and third party requirements, and saw the company find and define a market differentiator and generate some 71 per cent of its sales for the financial year. It has also positioned Stockwell International – a leading "total logistics provider" – as a trusted business partner, resulting in the development of long term customer relationships. Stockwell International was established by Angela’s father, Brian Stockwell, but it was not until she worked for other family businesses that the importance of 'family values' hit home and she applied for an entry level position at Stockwell. With no favouritism shown, Angela says she had to "earn my stripes" before applying for senior positions.

Melanie Gordon became the first woman to ever hold the position of Maintenance and Engineering Manager for BHP Billiton in an Australian operation. Melanie is responsible for 164 people who maintain the BMA underground Broadmeadow mine, which yields some 4 million tonnes of coal annually. She is also one of ten members of the company’s Asset Management Council which is responsible for the strategic direction of maintenance at its Queensland coal mines. Since her appointment, Melanie has implemented many initiatives to improve the business including a "back to basics" maintenance strategy she designed to improve site maintenance planning and execution. This strategy has resulted in an increase in equipment reliability, effectiveness of maintenance time and an increase in production. She also has been the driving force in implementing the "Lean" program, which has led to improvements in the three key areas of safety, cost and production.

As CEO of the Brisbane City Council-backed independent entity, CitySmart, Megan Houghton is showing how governments can work with industry to deliver projects that make it easy for consumers, corporate and residential to change behaviours for the good of the environment. Having built CitySmart from the ground up, Megan has overseen the company achieve commercial and environmental outcomes in its first year by gaining corporate support of targeted environmental initiatives in Brisbane. One of the key initiatives she has driven was the $23 million EzyGreen program, which through government and corporate support, is assisting residents to reduce their energy consumption to remove more than 300,000 CO2t from the Brisbane atmosphere. In addition to helping raise awareness and change behaviours among the consumers, the initiative will help CitySmart deliver more programs, through the success sharing arrangements Megan negotiated, which are expected to return $2 million over the program life - a 100 per cent return on investment. In addition to her role with CitySmart, Megan is a non-executive director with Unity Water and the Wide Bay Water Corporation.

Having successfully developed an online quality certification system for Caltex’s Lytton refinery, which reduced lab testing from three hours to five minutes and saved millions of dollars each year, Chief Chemist Lisa Roobottom sought new challenges. In 2008, Lisa broke tradition by being appointed a Production Superintendent, a role typically filled by former operators or chemical engineers. Traditionally it is unheard of to have a chemist, let alone a female one, move into this position in refining. Since taking the role, she has also been appointed as acting Production Manager where she is an active member of the Refinery Management Team. In this position she is responsible for directing and controlling the production activities of her 195 staff. The certification system that Lisa developed, with no additional budget to the labour costs invested, continues to save time and money for Lytton and is being considered for roll out in other parts of the company.

Volunteer work for a local church highlighted the barriers faced by some in the community and was the impetus for Jennifer Fulcher driving the establishment of a number of community service programs in the Logan City area. With the help of other dedicated volunteers, Jennifer pioneered a local Community Care and Foodbank Association. While holding the role of co-ordinator at Community Care, she was approached by a mental health worker in the community to start a day program for people with mental illness. With one successful program achieved, Jennifer once again set out to put together a group of volunteers, form a management committee, gain it charity status and identify the best program to cater for the people with mental illness in Logan City. The group adopted the International Centre for Clubhouse Development model and with the support of State and Federal funding today delivers a psychosocial rehabilitation program for some 616 local people with mental illness.

A stint at a Christian rehabilitation centre proved life changing for Bronwen Healy, who left a life of drugs and sex working and is now dedicating her life to help women escape prostitution - and often abuse. After gaining a Certificate 4 in Christian Counselling, she met with pro-bono solicitors and shared her vision of establishing a service to help other women find the freedom from drugs and the sex industry that she had found. This resulted in the development of the HOPE Foundation, of which Bronwen is the founder and CEO. Today the HOPE Foundation - a national charity based in Brisbane with networks in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales - helps about 100 often-overlooked women in the sex industry create new and fulfilling lives each year. In addition to committing much of her life to the Foundation and its programs such as Hope on the Streets, Bronwen has published a book on her life - "Trophy of Grace' – and is currently working on her second book which will be titled "I have issues, don't you?"

After successfully managing communications for the amalgamation of eight local governments into the Toowoomba Regional Council in just 174 days, Debra Howe was appointed as Manager for the council’s Tourism and Events branch. One of her first tasks was to stage the 59th nationally recognised Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers in just six months. In August 2009, the Economic Development branch was added to her responsibilities. Debra is also responsible for Sister City relationships, sports tourism development, Visitor Information Centres and attracting business investment to the local economy. Debra is an active participant in promoting women in local government and is the current President of the Board of the Toowoomba and Golden West Regional Tourist Association. She also supports Queensland breast cancer organisations following her own experience with the disease – three years ago, she joined 12 other breast cancer survivors in launching a fundraising calendar.

As the Volunteering Services Officer for peak body, Volunteering Gold Coast, Leticia Vargas has helped grow the organisation to support some 2,000 different community groups spanning from Coolangatta to Tambourine Mountain and Beenleigh. Leticia’s role includes training Volunteer Co-ordinators from every major city in Australia and supervising volunteer and paid staff to deliver Volunteering Gold Coast’s services. From 2006 to 2008, she managed about 450 volunteers for Schoolies Week, a program that won the organisation the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships in 2008 and enabled it to employ some of the volunteers on a casual basis. She has also been behind the development and implementation of a comprehensive marketing strategy and promotional plan which has increased the organisation’s funding from $250,000 to $1.6 million in four years. With community engagement “burning” through her veins, Leticia volunteers much of her own time and sits on other boards committed to volunteering.

Having almost 30 years experience in mental health care services, Jennifer Bowers set about establishing the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health Queensland. The Centre, established in November 2006, has a statewide and increasingly national focus to improve the mental health and wellbeing of people living and working in rural and remote communities. One of the services it delivers is an innovative range of educational strategies for mining and resource companies to promote awareness and proactively manage mental health. This includes raising awareness about mental health within companies, improving managements’ ability to identify anxiety and depression and integrating protective strategies into workforce training. The strategies can also be used for building relationships to support communities impacted by mining and resource development. The Centre’s strategies are working towards further adoption in Australia and other countries where multi-national mining and resource companies operate.

Philippa Gilbert, a physiotherapist with 30 years experience in the treatment of backs and necks, is CEO of PhysioMax which she established as a solo practice in 2002. The business has expanded to eight full-time equivalent employees with a team of five physiotherapists. Attaining a diploma of physiotherapy in 1979, Philippa became credentialed in the approach to diagnosing and treating disorders of the spine pioneered by New Zealander Robin McKenzie. A defining moment in her career came in 2000 when treating a patient three months after he had undergone total disc replacement (TDR) surgery. This led to Philippa using her knowledge and research experience to create an internationally-recognised and clinically-proven patient recovery system after anterior approach spinal surgery. Philippa, now Associate Teacher of Physiotherapy at Bond University, regularly presents at tertiary and medical conferences on the system that she developed which is known as Disc replacement Life Recovery System (DeLoReS).

Dr Kirsten Heimann and her research in algae could hold the key to rapid reductions in carbon emissions from coal fired power stations and the return of the carbon into much valued resources. The director of the North Queensland Algal Identification/Culturing Facility at James Cook University, Kirsten is currently leading the multi-million Microalgal BIO-CCS project which uses algae to capture carbon before it enters the earth’s atmosphere. Already proving successful in trials and soon to be rolled out at three coal fired power stations, the invention sees carbon turned into protein, sugar oil and high-value co-products such as fish oil replacement, animal feeds, pharmaceuticals and biodegradable plastics. Most exciting is the potential of algal oil, which can reduce the demand on dwindling world-wide oil reserves as its composition can be used in existing jet, car and truck engines. The research was made possible as a result of Kirsten’s push to create and develop the North Queensland Algal Identification/Culturing Facility.

During discussions with her customers, founder and managing director of air quality and acoustic consultancy Air Noise Environment, Claire Richardson, identified the opportunity for a low cost personal noise dose meter. Industry feedback highlighted that while a noise dose meter incorporating a warning alarm is an existing requirement, no product on the market had such a feature. In addition, most existing instruments that measure workplace noise generally cost in excess of $2,000. Claire developed a prototype monitor, 'Noise Watch', that alerts the wearer when action needs to be taken to prevent the risk of hearing damage, a disease that imposes significant personal and economic costs. The product, currently in test phase, could reduce exposure to excessive noise for an estimated 12 percent of the Australian working population. It could also reduce industry’s exposure to compensation for occupational induced hearing loss, which the Australian Government estimates at $10 million.

Yvette Adams has packed as much as possible into her 33 years, from being a freelance writer, editor, and marketing consultant, to establishing a creative services agency - The Creative Collective - for a range of clients on the Sunshine Coast. In her latest venture, the 2007 Queensland Small Business Champions Award for Young Entrepreneurs recipient has also embarked on delivering online training for small businesses. This has already yielded Yvette great results, including recognition as a leading online training organisation and a Government contracts. Setting out just five years ago, Yvette grew her business from a one person operation to a company with four staff, 25 virtual contractors and one franchisee. Key to her success has been the innovative business structure she has established. As CEO, she encourages all parties involved in the company to contribute to its growth and culture on a continuous basis, has an ‘open book’ accounts policy and enables staff to determine their own rewards for meeting KPIs.

Thirty-one year old Melanie Gordon has achieved two firsts in her career – becoming the first female appointed as a Maintenance and Engineering Manager at BHP Billiton in an Australian operation and becoming the youngest female appointed to an operational management role in BHP Billiton worldwide. Starting in the traditionally male dominated mining industry ten years ago, Melanie has worked in engineering, projects, maintenance, risk management and safety fields. With a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours), she has won the Resources Award For Women and Queensland Smart State Award (Engineering). She has been a role model for women working in non-traditional roles, initiating the first regional networking group in Queensland for women in the resources industry, presenting at conferences, universities, schools, careers fairs and industry forums. Melanie is also one of ten members of the company’s Asset Management Council which is responsible for the strategic direction of maintenance for its Queensland coal mines.

The purchase of her first property at 16 fuelled Amber Werchon’s passion for real estate, which saw her develop her own real estate franchise at the age of 25. Determined to pursue her passion at a time when it was rare for women, particularly young women, to gain a role as a real estate agent, Amber took on a receptionist role. For 18 months, she set about proving to the principal that it was worth giving her a chance and when he finally agreed, Amber worked hard to prove herself. During her career, she was the only person to be a three time recipient of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland's Salesperson of the Year Award. In 2008, she founded Amber Werchon Property which is now a successful independent brand with three franchises on the Queensland Sunshine Coast. Now 27, Amber’s long-term goal is to establish a state-wide and potentially nationwide franchise in key strategic locations.