On Tuesday 8^th March, The Joyful Business Club and Canberra Innovation Network hosted a special Female Founders event in celebration of International Women’s Day.

During the sell our event, Serina Bird spoke with the panel, made up of four women from the innovation and entrepreneurial community, about the importance of equality and sustainability for the future.

Meet the panel:

Sophia Hamblin-Wang is the Chief Operations Officer of Mineral Carbonation International, a technology platform that transforms carbon dioxide into building materials and other valuable industrial products, and recently won COP26’s The Clean Energy Start-up Pitch Battle. Sophia is also a member of the ACT Climate Change Council, Curator of the Canberra Hub for the Global Shapers, and a Sessional Lecturer at University of Sydney.

Mia Swainson is a qualified environmental engineer, executive coach, strategist, and member of the ACT Climate Change Council. By making one small change at a time, Mia created a paradise of urban sustainability in her family home. She is proof that living greener, simpler and carbon positive is within everyone’s reach. Mia is President of the Canberra Environment Centre and Chair of Canberra’s Zero Waste Revolution. Mia’s book, Happy Planet Living, is due out in September 2022.

Ilea Buffier is the founder of Evalue8 Sustainability, an enviro tech company with the mission of making it easy for all organisations to measure and reduce their carbon footprint. A Climate Active registered consultant and actively involved in the carbon accounting industry since 2005, she is also the owner of Ninetwofive Interiors, which is a dealer for Steelcase, the world’s largest commercial furniture manufacturer.

Claire Chesterton is the co-founder of MIIROKO, a home hair colour company that offers salon-grade hair colour that’s vegan, cruelty free and comes with a reusable kit, sold via a virtual salon. Claire started her career as a hairdresser in Canberra, and then worked for a hair colour company in Sydney before moving to Tokyo to build her very own brand. She aims to set a new standard for beauty companies in both sustainability and inclusivity.

After the panel discussion wrapped up, the Canberra Innovation Network growth team lead an interactive workshop where participants were encouraged to challenge assumptions and see how biases can be broken, all while using lean innovation techniques.

If you missed out on this event, check out the photos here and make sure you subscribe to our newsletter.

You can also get involved with the community by registering for our Female Founder’s Coworking Day, Coworking Open Day and First Wednesday Connect.