yLead is proud to partner with the following speakers for across the five locations of our residential conference. These young people are all role-models in their community, committed to driving change and making a difference in the world. We are excited to welcome them to the ASLC stage to inspire and empower the 2024 Year 12 cohort.
Find the speakers for your specific location below.
Alex Dekker is an inspiring young leader and the visionary founder of Alex Makes Meals, a Melbourne-based charity providing high-quality, nutritious meals to vulnerable people across Greater Melbourne. His journey began in 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Alex responded to an urgent need for food relief. What started as a simple gesture of cooking for friends and neighbors quickly grew into a powerful movement.
Under Alex’s leadership, Alex Makes Meals has delivered over 700,000 meals to date, partnering with more than 35 community organizations to provide food relief to individuals and families experiencing hardship. Every week, the charity produces over 3,000 fresh meals, directly supporting people affected by poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, and other forms of disadvantage.
Alex’s innovative, impact-first approach to food relief has earned widespread recognition. In addition to being named Young Melburnian of the Year 2024, he has been featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and has led Alex Makes Meals to win prestigious awards, including the 2022 Premier’s Sustainability Award and the 2023 National Banksia Award, reflecting the organization’s contributions to both community welfare and sustainability.
Alex will be speaking at: ASLC Victoria
Toni Lamb (Tons) and Bella Hanson (Bell) are the founders of The Cowgirl Channel, an unfiltered podcast with a mission to create a community of inclusion for the girls living in remote and rural Australia and those longing to be. They cover isolation, careers, mental health, working on the land, friendships, love, imposter syndrome, navigating your twenties and all things in between through conversations with cowgirls and cowboys alike. They hope that the advice shared in CC episodes helps others to navigate their own challenges, accompanied with a good story and a laugh.
Since launching in Feb 2024, they’ve hit #3 for top society and culture podcasts and #11 for most popular in Australia – all from their living room and kitchen table.
Outside of the podcast, Tons is a qualified primary school teacher and Bell is a journalist and photographer, but both find fulfilment in working remotely on the land. Between them, they’ve worked multiple jobs from nannying to governessing, contracting, teaching, producing rural media, media consulting, working on family properties, realising that opportunities aren’t limited to your location if you’re willing to take initiative.
Bella and Toni will be speaking at: ASLC Central Queensland
Fiona Goodsite is the CEO and cofounder of Tutbob. Driven by a passion for impactful innovation, the AI-powered tutor revolutionises learning with real-time transcription, note-taking, and quizzes. She is dedicated to enhancing student learning experiences, earning her Sweat Female Tech Entrepreneur winner at the SA Young Achiever Awards with her cofounder. Tutbob bridges learning barriers, supports student mental health and empowers students and educators. Their impact on the educational landscape signifies a transformative shift towards personalised, accessible learning tools through innovative solutions..
Fiona will be speaking at: ASLC South Australia
Georgia Hayward [she/her] is an artist, writer and artsworker of Mardigan/Maranganji and Anglo-Celtic descent. Based in Meanjin [Brisbane], Georgia works as the director at Outer Space, a non-for-profit contemporary arts organisation focused on supporting the ambitious development and professionalised practice of emerging, early and mid-career artists. Georgia is also a co-chair, editor and board member for Runway Journal, an experimental digital art platform. Through knowledge-sharing and collaboration, Runway commissions and publishes critical and artistic works that respond to thematic callouts and engage with current threads of Australian and international contemporary art..
Georgia will be speaking at: ASLC South-East Queensland
Jamie Bucirde is an Adelaide-based, university-qualified sexologist specialising in sexuality and relationships education, research, writing, and activism. She founded On The Cusp, a business dedicated to delivering workplace training on sexual violence awareness, respectful relationships, and bystander intervention. Jamie also writes a fortnightly column, On the Cusp, for CityMag, where she writes about the culture of sexuality.
Her academic achievements include the publication of Not So Hospitable, a groundbreaking report produced in collaboration with the University of Melbourne. This report represents one of Australia’s first in depth studies on the culture of sexual violence within Adelaide’s hospitality industry. Jamie’s impactful work earned her the title of South Australia’s Young Achiever of the Year in 2024. She served as MC for the Adelaide Violence Against Women rally in 2024, further highlighting her commitment to social change and women’s safety.
Jamie will be speaking at: ASLC South Australia
Kristy-Lee and Luke are coffee enthusiasts, who set up Coffee Presto, a coffee supplier born from a vision to have world-class coffee roasted locally, accompanied by local premium products. Kristy-Lee and Luke saw an entrepreneurial opportunity to wrap coffee appreciation, innovative technology, local products, and sustainable practices with their foundations in professional service . They brought this new and authentic offering to their North Queensland home region.
Kristy-Lee and Luke will be speaking at: ASLC North Queensland
Mikayla graduated from JCU in 2016. She spent her first year practicing as a veterinarian in Northern NSW, then moved back north to join the Southside Veterinary Surgery team in 2018. Mikayla loves educating clients about their pets’ health. Other than her vet practice, Mikayla has been a contestant on The Amazing Race. She loves the outdoors, including hiking, water-skiing and fishing.
Mikayla will be speaking at: ASLC North Queensland
Samantha is the cofounder of community run club Run and Rump. With 120 regular runners, Run and Rump has had up to 500 runners at one time and regularly partners with local businesses to get them involved in the social enterprise. Samantha is also agribusiness manager at NAB and was selected for NAB’s inaugural female talent and leadership course 1500 Degrees, a program to develop women and support them in their career progression.
Samantha will be speaking at: ASLC Central Queensland
Tom Price founded You Are Not Alone in late 2021 as a year 11 student, after seeing first hand how mental health affected him and people around him. He found that speaking about mental health was the best way to normalise the struggles that young people face, and wanted to raise awareness. Tom made a short film with the support of his peers, which featured young people, celebrities and community members speaking about mental health. He continues to build on the initiative, and has grown significantly since 2021, with the awareness Fun Run being the pinnacle of You Are Not Alone’s work in 2023. Funds raised through the event will allow the organisation to introduce positive mental health programs into schools around Australia.
Tom will be speaking at: ASLC South-East Queensland
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