Newday

Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is a trailblazing mountaineer, tech innovator, and humanitarian who became the first Peruvian woman to summit Mount Everest and one of the few women in the world to complete the Seven Summits. From leading over a million people in a march for girls’ rights in Peru to addressing world leaders at the United Nations, her life’s work has centred around empowerment, healing, and justice for vulnerable communities.

In 2014, she founded Courageous Girls, a nonprofit that helps survivors of sexual abuse heal through physical endurance, creativity, and mindfulness. Recognised by Fortune 500, CNET, and the Peruvian government for her impact in both technology and social justice, Silvia continues to inspire through her advocacy and storytelling. Her memoir, In the Shadow of the Mountain, is a powerful testament to resilience, adventure, and the strength that lies within every survivor.

Corey White shares harrowing personal experiences in ways that spark recognition and provoke tears – often of laughter. Corey grew up in foster care and survived domestic violence. He's recovered from drug addiction and, like many, works through serious mental illness. There have been few dull moments in his 31 years.

In his short time as a comedian, Corey has won plaudits at the world's comedy festivals and fans through his appearances on ABC television, including 2018's hit, 'Corey White’s Roadmap to Paradise', a documentary series that finally solves "all the world’s problems".

Corey's memoir, 'The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory', is released in July. And we just may have some copies for him to sign at the summit.

Nicola Lipscombe is a heart-centred speaker who connects with genuine depth and warmth.

This belies Nicola's near obsession with academia, a passion that has led to degrees and certifications in Pharmacy, Higher Education, Neurolinguistic Programming, TAA, Management Practices, Mental Health First Aid, Resilience and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology. But she's not doing this for little letters after her name... learning is not just something Nicola does. She's a knowledge seeker.

After spending most of her career in the pharmaceutical industry leading from her head, Nicola's doctors made an alarming discovery: in 2011 a tumour the size of a grapefruit was detected on her lung – and it had started attaching itself to her heart.

With the safe removal of the tumour, Nicola started to listen more to her heart and HeartWise Leadership was born. Nicola will share from her experience and translate cutting-edge research into practical and engaging advice to help you and your organisation lead for the greater good.

Tom didn't make it as a racing driver, so he became a black belt in karate and then a psychologist and professional speaker. Even today, he wants to keep pushing himself out of his comfort zone to reach more exciting, expanding horizons. More than anything, Tom gets joy out of teaching others how to expand theirs.
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Tom is now a Director of Healthy Minds Education & Training, a leading provider of preventive mental health services to schools and companies in Australasia.

Tom's is the author of 'Apples for the Mind' a result of years of work helping people to overcome challenges and discover the foundation of their quality of life: wellbeing. The two most misunderstood aspects of wellbeing are psychological skills and the link between wellbeing and performance.

At Newday, Tom will address the misunderstandings by revealing the things you need to know now in order to create emotional balance, peak performance and lifelong wellbeing.

As a softly spoken introvert, Megumi used to believe that her quieter nature was a disadvantage. Throughout her career with some of Australia's largest organisations, including banks, super funds, insurers and government departments, Megumi came to realise that the ‘fake it till you make it’ approach was not only unfulfilling for her; it was unsustainable.

In 2016, Megumi launched Quietly Powerful to share the successes, challenges and learnings from a new approach to leadership.

In our uncertain and interconnected world, Megumi believes that the ‘alpha’ or ‘hero’ leadership style alone is outdated and inadequate. Quietly Powerful expands the definition of what good leadership looks, sounds and feels like and empowers quieter professionals and those outside majority groups to fulfil their potential.

Mickey Kumatpi Marratyu O’Brien is an Aboriginal person and descendant of the Kaurna (Adelaide Plains) and Narrunga (Yorke Peninsula) peoples. He has been providing cultural advice for many years and is a proud ambassador for the Kaurna people. His warm Welcome to Country is always a highlight at our summits.

Culture is an important part of Mickey's life and he honours the responsibility passed down to him by his father, well-known Kaurna elder, Uncle Lewis O’Brien, by incorporating culture into every Welcome to Country. He is truly valued as a Newday Leadership advisor.

With a beautiful family and a role as director of multi-national consumer goods company, Nick Lee had good reason to be happy and optimistic about his future. That changed in an instant when his wife Jodi was diagnosed with stage IV bowel cancer at the age of 39. After battling with the disease for 2 years, Jodi passed away in 2010.

After Jodi’s death, Nick made the brave decision to leave his job and use his experience to do all he could to stop others suffering a similar experience. He established The Jodi Lee Foundation to inspire others to protect themselves against bowel cancer and make positive choices to improve their health. The work of the Foundation has saved many Australian lives. This passion to improve the health of ordinary people continues to grow.

Nick has a wealth of corporate experience and is able to relate his own personal experience to current thinking about mental health, coping with stress and making the right choices when confronted with critical hurdles in our lives.

Durkhanai is an Afghan-born migrant to Australia. She is a restaurateur, running restaurants with an ethos of food as a means for sharing stories, breaking down barriers and reshaping narratives. She is also a writer, with opinion pieces in various publications nationwide and an editor and co-founder of an online magazine, Sultana's Dream, written by Muslim women from across Australia.

Durkhanai is an Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity – a global Fellowship which brings together change makers from across the world with a shared vision of advancing fairer, healthier and more inclusive societies. She is currently writing a book on food and migration.

Fiona is a world-renowned academic researcher, author, consultant and speaker. Dr Kerr is on a mission “to change the way we think about how we think.”

Consulting across continents with governments and corporations to discuss the neurophysiological effects of the interactions between humans and multiple types of technology, Dr Kerr is a powerful advocate for the transformative qualities of human interaction. Encouraging organisations to understand how leaders change our brains and how to maximise face to face contact through technology.

Dr Kerr was a part of the 2018 Newday Summit via a video interview and by popular demand she will join us in person at the Newday Leadership Summit teaming up with Dr Gills Hicks to discuss 'Out of Touch' – how human contact can make all the difference in the world.

Considered one of the most thought-provoking, powerful and life-affirming speakers in Australia, Gill Hicks’ determination to triumph over tragedy is nothing but inspirational. A survivor of the 2005 London terrorist bombings, she founded M.A.D For Peace. To this day she continues to work with extremist organisations around the globe, including those whose violent doctrines almost took her life.

At Newday 2019, Gill will partner with Dr Fiona Kerr to discuss 'Out of Touch' – how human contact can make all the difference in the world.

Matthew Wright-Simon is delighted to be working with Katrina and the Newday Leadership team on bringing this event together and hosting our inspiring leaders on stage as our Emcee. As he did in 2018 & 2019, Matthew will link the intimacy of what's shared with the big picture and the events that shape our lives as leaders.

Matthew engages changemakers to confront tough personal, social and economic challenges — while having as much fun as possible in the process. His diverse commercial work is informed his roles in thought leadership, philanthropy and conservation with TEDxAdelaide, the Awesome Foundation and Landscape Partnerships, an environmental NGO he co-founded several years ago.