Our Team

Joel studied engineering and psychology at UWA. His design won 2008 WA Inventor of the Year and he was a finalist on ABC’s The New Inventors in 2007. He is currently completing his PhD - developing next-gen orthopaedic implants. Joel was Science Magazine’s 2011 Dance Your PhD winner. He is co-founder and licensee of TEDxPerth.

Fuelled by a love of reading, Victoria gained a Bachelor of Arts, (Hons) degree in English Literature with Language and Communication, and combined this with her passion for education in which she undertook a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education.

Since arriving in Perth, Victoria has developed her expertise in teaching and learning by undertaking a Post Graduate degree at UNSW, specialising in Gifted and Talented Education. She has worked in the private sector for the past five years through which she continues to develop a culture of excellence and embed her love of technology and futuristic thinking.

Marilyn’s role as Head of Academic Excellence allows her to focus on educating and motivating students to develop problem solving, critical thinking, innovation and creative skills through integrated inquiry-based learning projects which are fast becoming part of the learning culture in the boys’ college where she works.  She coordinates and runs the Gifted and Talented program, STE[A]M projects and promotes the idea of global citizenship, taking students as far afield as NASA and Beijing. Her passion is to inspire students to develop a love of learning through curiosity, independent thinking, gratitude and grit.

Marilyn is first and foremost a Maths teacher whose mantra is ‘If you’re going to limit your dreams, at least tend them to infinity’. She has taught at both secondary and tertiary levels, worked in teacher development programs, co-authored a series of middle school text books linking Maths and Culture and a number of research papers on various aspects of student engagement and learning. Her ongoing interest in action research and collaboration between schools and universities is an integral and rewarding part of her role at present.

Her most important role, however, is to inspire her three sons to follow their dreams with courage and integrity.

At age 13, Lexi released her first community venture - the app Girlgonehappy, providing forums and resources on mental health and wellbeing for young women. This led Lexi to becoming a National Youth Week representative, and a Channel 7 Ambassador for Youth.

Lexi is also heavily involved in the global World Scholars Cup competition, as both a scholar and volunteer. Winning the global level of the competition in 2018, Lexi noticed that significant financial and educational inequality dictated the performance of students in the competition. In order to combat this, she went on to form an online tutoring group to improve the disparity between students in the competition. World Scholars Club supports more than 100 underprivileged competitors weekly on curriculum content, debate, and leadership skills.

In 2017, Lexi undertook an astronomy research project with UWA, compiling a research paper eventually submitted to the Association of Variable Star Observers. Building on this experience, Lexi undertook the National Youth Science Forum flagship program, developing leadership and science research experience, and has since been selected for the program’s nationally recognised Student Leadership program.

Paris is a second year law student at Curtin University, a Curtin Excellence Scholar and the recipient of the J&J Top Solutions Opportunity Bursary for displaying entrepreneurial spirit for 2019.

Paris is a graduate of the John Curtin Leadership Academy, the flagship leadership program at Curtin University, where she worked with REmida WA for eight months to attempt to change perspectives regarding sustainability and reuse.

Paris is heavily involved with Curtin Volunteers! and is currently the program leader of the Boronia Pre Release Centre for Women Resume Squad where volunteers work with the residents to create resumes and cover letters after being out of the work force for a number of years.

She is also involved in developing content for a student leadership workshop series termed the “Game Changers” which Paris and her team will facilitate at Curtin University in 2020.

As a Global Ambassador for No Girl Left Behind ­— a social venture company dedicated to uniting and empowering girls globally — Paris promotes pertinent issues faced by young girls such as positive self-talk, creating a sense of sisterhood and the impact that tall poppy syndrome has on a women’s fight for equality.

11 year old Reuben Saggar is our youngest Youth Panel member at TEDxPerth. As a committed climate activist, Reuben is dedicated to spreading the message that 'no-one is too small to make a difference', and strongly believes that there is no age limit on climate activism. He recently started up a drop-in lunchtime 'Fridays for the Future' club at his school, to raise awareness about how we can all make small changes in our lives that have a positive impact on the environment. His lunchtime group sessions often allow younger children to feel that their actions can also contribute to the global movement for change.

In a recent event at the Centre for Stories Reuben spoke about his passion for a more sustainable future, he said; "We, as children, are the leaders of tomorrow - so we have a right to actually know what the problems are, in order to have any chance of solving them". He believes every word of that to be true and is very excited to be part of TEDxYouth@Perth!

Financial planner by day, food enthusiast by night. Kabir works in his own financial planning busines, is highly active in volunteer roles and is known to organise food events. Kabir is ecstatic to be apart of the TEDxPerth team.

After graduating from her master’s in marketing, communication and the media, Olivia's passion for the Seventh Art quickly led her to work on the production of many short films, features and TV commercials in Paris.

With over 10 years' experience as a casting director both in France and Australia, Olivia has recently been dedicating her time and energy to support community-based and not-for-profit projects, campaigns and events, big or small, for local and international organisations, while raising her two children.

Olivia is passionate about bringing people, talents and aspirations together and feels privileged to have met unique emerging artists and inspirational leaders through her eclectic experience in Perth.



She is thrilled to be joining the TEDxPerth Production Team this year.

In her spare time, Parul enjoys reading, playing board games and spending time with her two boys.

Benjamin studied lighting design at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, during which he worked with the Australian Ballet on the Royal Birmingham production of the Nutcracker.

After graduation Benjamin worked as a freelance engineer working with a variety of different arts organisations around Australia, including ballet, opera, rock and roll, and dance.

In 2009 he moved to Mauritius to be Lighting Designer and Consultant for theatre, dance, corporate and Presidential events. His work involved large scale dance concerts, corporate entities, such as HSBC, Air Mauritius, The Shaolin Monks and events for the President and Prime Minister.

Returning to Australia in 2010, Benjamin became Head of Lighting at West Australian Ballet, working with the company for two years and including a lot of regional touring. Subsequently he moved to London to work with White Light, the leading production supplier of lighting and AV services to the entertainment and corporate event industries.

Returning to Perth, Benjamin established his own company What Noiz, specialising in design, installation and production management for corporate events and theatre. He has been Lighting Designer for the West Australian Ballet and offered technical solutions for a large range of companies, including Toyota and the Perth Arena, in space activation and live streaming events such as the UFC Romero and Rockhold Fight at The Perth Arena.

Laura is an experienced professional in the not-for-profit sector, specialising in arts administration, education and project management. She has held several positions with cultural and educational institutions, including the Royal Ontario Museum and Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada, and the University of Western Australia.

Growing up in Canada as the daughter of a museum curator, Laura was immersed in scientific and cultural programming from an early age. This fostered a lifelong fascination with literature, history, ecology, music and the performing arts. She completed degrees in piano performance and music history as well as her Associateship with the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada. She has dedicated her personal and professional lives to advocating for the arts and is committed to fostering community engagement through dynamic cultural programming and storytelling.

Laura moved to Perth in 2015 and quickly fell in love with the city. Since then she has been an active participant in its vibrant cultural scene as a patron and a community volunteer. She is delighted to take up a role within the TEDxPerth team and hopes to put her skills and passions to use in showcasing Western Australia’s most creative, impactful and inspiring individuals.

As a professional geospatial analyst, Samantha is passionate about why things are where they are and where they should be. Sam has studied and worked across Australia and has recently moved to Perth for a new role. Whilst pursuing her love of all things geospatial, Sam is a representative for her workplace community group and enjoys donating her time and energy to community based events. Sam believes sparking conversation is the start of change, and cannot wait to contribute to ideas worth spreading at TEDxPerth.
 
Samantha is excited to be a part of the TEDxPerth team for the first time in 2019.

Shivani graduated in law from London in 2013 and has three years experience as an Operations and Creative Manager with a Nepalese movie production and distribution company.

Shivani moved to Perth in 2018 and joined the TEDxPerth team in 2019.

Hayley is a Research Officer at the Committee for Perth, with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Human Geography and Planning and a Graduate Certificate in Urban Design. She has a passion for research and learning, which is what motivated her to join the TEDxPerth volunteer community. Other interests include attempting to stay active, good food, and arts and culture. She’s excited to be working alongside the rest of the TEDxPerth team!

Kayla is an emerging arts and events manager. She has a background in theatre, and works in arts administration and front of house at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, as well as freelance producing and publicity for a variety of independent theatre shows across Perth. For the last three years, she has been one of the event coordinators of Spoken Word Perth, Perth’s largest poetry event, and she recently completed her studies in Arts and Cultural Management at Deakin University. This is the second year  Kayla has been involved with TEDxPerth, and is excited to be a part of the team.

Chris is an experienced Talent Acquisition leader with local and international experience across oil & gas, banking, finance, digital and technology markets.

He has provided advice at executive board level in multinational organisations, as well as worked with ASX top 10 listed companies. His experience is supplemented by acting in a consultant/advisory roles on two international office start-ups and a passion for continuous improvement and process automation.

In his spare time, Chris can be found coaching Auskicks, playing amateur soccer and being a father to his two sons and his daughter.

He is enthusiastic and passionate about bringing all he can to bring value to the TEDxPerth community.

Jiaranai is an IT student at the University of Western Australia who shines brightest when using her skills to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical problems. IT has become part of everything in the world she knows, Jia understands that knowledge from various domains is interconnected and even greater when combined. However, Jia's background was all about people, not machines, she was involved in a personal development project, helping the young generation in her community realise their potential. With this project, she was nominated for the Western Australia Young Leadership Award in 2018.

Her love for Perth has grown tremendously since moving here in 2016. Jia has joined TEDxPerth to support Perth’s brightest minds to spread their ideas that can potentially transform the world.

Lydia joined the team in 2020.

Anthony is a leading communications consultant with more than 25 years experience in a wide range of industries, both in Australia and internationally. He is Managing Director of Clarity, the leading brand and communications agency, which he co-founded in 1999.

Kai is a 15-year-old entrepreneur, broadcaster, freelancer, speaker and trailblazing change agent, motivated by a strong sense of social justice and a passion for content creation. He’s on a mission to follow his curiosities, and help others to do the same.

At age 12, he began producing and presenting on local radio, sparking his interest in creating content across various mediums. Months later he established The Tech Thread Co, his first e-commerce enterprise, immersing himself in the realities of business.

Going on to creating POV (Point of View), his own podcast, at 13, he further explored the potential of content for good.

Quickly realising that it’s not all plain sailing as a young entrepreneur, but still passionately curious, he started Millennial Studios, a media incubator for young people with the vision of creating a platform for impactful content.

With the co-creation of peer-to-peer tutoring agency Student Tutors United in late 2018, Kai had started and operated three enterprises in various industries.

He is now focussing on sharing his experiences, lessons and skills with other young people and enterprises, through speaking, consultancy and freelance work.

Kai was a speaker at TEDxPerth, The Age of Wonder, at Perth Concert Hall in 2018. He joins the team to help us develop and deliver TEDxYouth@Perth in 2020.

This position is currently available.

Charlie Gunningham sits on various advisory boards and is active among Perth’s tech startup sector. His full-time role is with the federal government’s Accelerating Commercialisation programme providing access to commercial advice and matching grants of up to $1 million for eligible projects. Having landed in Perth in 1997, Charlie topped the MBA at the UWA Business School, cofounded and then later sold aussiehome.com, ran reiwa.com and was CEO of Business News.

Michael Tucak is Principal Lawyer at creative legal, a specialist legal firm for WA's creative industries. He is a board member of pvi collective and the Chamber of Arts and Culture (WA), and a previous board member/chair at RTRFM 92.1, board member/secretary of Emerging Writer's Festival and board member at Artrage (Fringeworld).

Michael is passionate about developing the creative capacity of Western Australia and championing the benefits that flow from our own creative abilities. He has lectured in Arts Law at WAAPA and in Fashion Law and occasionally presents RTRM 92.1's 'Siamese Dream' show. He was recently elected as a local Councillor.