What are you working on?

I am the Founding Director of GetAboutAble (trading online as getaboutable.com), a social enterprise focused on empowering people with mobility, hearing, vision, and other access needs to participate in travel & leisure with their families and friends, and helping the travel & leisure sector be more inclusive for people with accessibility needs. Think of getaboutable.com like a Trip Advisor for people with disability (as well as baby-boomers) who don’t want physical limitations to stop them from enjoying life.

Why is innovation important to you?

Innovation is important to me in making the world a better place “on the shoulders of giants”. Innovation is how we find new ways to apply and improve current systems and processes to solve the world’s problems.

What drives you to make a difference?

I founded GetAboutAble to address a huge pain-point for people with disability: the lack of easy to find information about accessible, adaptive and inclusive travel & leisure options. I am a strong believer in equitable access, value and representation, and GetAboutAble is designed to achieve that for people of all abilities in the travel & leisure sector.

Do you have any advice for getting more women into the innovation ecosystem?

Have the courage to:
• Follow your passion
• believe in yourself and have a go
• trust your gut

Be careful to:
• protect your personal finances
• avoid harming your own well-being or relationships
• build a team with complementary skills and personalities to help you achieve your goals, including mentors, advisors, and staff/co-founders
• learn from – but don’t be daunted by – your mistakes

What are you proud of right now?

The under-served accessible tourism market is already worth $10.8billion to the Australian economy – more than Chinese tourists (pre-COVID) – with 80% of that demand being domestic. GetAboutAble is helping the travel & leisure sector cater to this often overlooked market as a driving force in its post-COVID recovery.

I am super proud of the GetAboutAble journey so far and look forward to where it’s going. Anyone wanting to invest in this huge opportunity can contact me through LinkedIn.