Our team of international storytellers are on a mission to challenge assumptions, dismantle dominant narratives and change up the conversation.
Together, we tell stories to strengthen human connection.
Jessica Carter
Jessica is a media and international development professional from Sydney, Australia, who believes that the stories we tell shape the world we live in. She is passionate about harnessing the power of storytelling to build wiser, kinder and more just global communities. She currently works with Opportunity International Australia, supporting its programs empowering women living in poverty in the Asia region. Previously, Jessica was based in Bangladesh and China. Besides word-smithing, she loves drinking tea and playing the ukulele.
Arieta Rita Tora
A born storyteller, Arieta has been writing for as long as she can remember. As a digital communications specialist, she’s written stories for charity organisations, businesses and publications in Sydney and across the Pacific for the last four years. Her deep connection with the Pacific led her to found Talanoa, a digital storytelling platform for Pacific people around the globe.
Weh Yeoh
Weh is the Founder and Managing Director of OIC Cambodia, a project that aims to establish speech therapy as a profession in Cambodia. Weh started OIC in 2013 and wants to see speech therapy accessible to the one in 25 Cambodians who need it. He is also a professionally trained physiotherapist who has travelled through remote parts of Asia, volunteered in an orphanage and adult shelter for people with disabilities in Vietnam, interned in India, and studied Mandarin in Beijing. He is an obsessed barefoot runner and connoisseur of durian.
Daniel Chrisendo
Daniel is from Indonesia and currently lives in Germany, studying an International Master of Science in Rural Development. He is an advocate for sustainable agricultural practices that uphold the true value of food, cherish our food producers and conserve the environment’s biodiversity, and is making his message known from the rural villages of Indonesia to the agricultural hubs of Europe. He dreams of writing a children’s story book, which will share how wonderfully diverse our world is. He is also an avid finger puppet collector.
Pip Bennett
Pip is a youth development specialist, writer and professional supervisor from New Zealand. She is obsessed with finding better ways to change the world without burning out. As well as working to strengthen the voice and capacity of young people, she works with women passionate about social and environmental change, supporting them to be purposeful and engaged in their work and keep themselves well on Hermosas Chispas.
Margaret Sirrengo
Margaret was born and brought up in the rural parts of western Kenya and currently works as a teacher in Busia in western Kenya. As a young girl in high school, she won the African Young Playwrights Award in 2008 by Australian Theatre for Young People. In 2010, Margaret was selected as an international youth representative as part of Oxfam International Youth Partnerships and she has since used her writing to bring a voice to the voiceless through journalistic reporting, plays and poetry.
Erin Gough
Erin is a 24-year-old New Zealander born in South Africa. Disabled and proud of it, Erin works in human rights. She is passionate about exploring the world, good food and drink, and challenging assumptions along the way.
Iris Brazen
Iris is a life coach, online writer and psychology student from Mainz, Germany who helps creatives, entrepreneurs and mothers simplify their lives so they feel more grounded and less stressed. Iris combines the training she received from Integral Coaching Canada with intuition and storytelling to help her clients make sustainable changes through her coaching business. She is wildly passionate about writing on reducing our plastic waste, the art of minimalism and psychology from her old laptop.
Shokooh A
Shokooh is a young writer, poet and artist from the Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan. She is a passionate student who is studying medicine at Cheragh Medical School, English language classes at AUAF American University of Afghanistan and calligraphy at Turquoise Mountain traditional arts institute. She dreams of being an obstetrician in the future, serving women and children in her community and wants to help bring about positive changes in their lives. She loves playing the violin and guitar, swimming, riding her bike and reading about the world.
Carolyn Trott
Carolyn is a teacher, writer and transformative teaching coach from Mount Beauty in Victoria, Australia, who works with those who want to see the world differently. Her work at A Life Transformed teaches individuals and teachers how to enable transformative learning in themselves and their students. Because it’s from the ‘edge’ that Carolyn believes we best grow, learn and transform.
Fenton Lutunatabua
Fenton lives in Suva, Fiji, and elevates the stories of people at the forefront of the injustices brought about by climate change. He is the Pacific Communications Coordinator for 350.org and has been part of the growing global climate movement for the better part of a decade through grassrooots organising, mass public actions and online campaigning. He also writes on his own blog Beyond the Narrative on seeking truth, purpose and justice in this world.
Claudia Bailey
Claudia is a passionate storyteller from Adelaide in South Australia who uses her words for a greater purpose. She has recently completed a Bachelor of International Development and volunteers her time campaigning to increase Australian aid as well as facilitating student immersions in Timor-Leste. Claudia has lived, travelled, and worked in Timor four times in the last three years, and is committed to finding sustainable, community-driven solutions to development issues particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.