Shannon Parry is a retired rugby union player who excelled in both the 15 a side and sevens formats of the game, captaining her national teams earning major international honours throughout her career. Parry made her Wallaroos debut at the 20210 Women’s Rugby World Cup and when on to represent Australia at four Rugby World Cups, three of which she was the captain. In sevens, Parry became a key figure in Australia’s rise on the world stage. She co-captained the Australian women’s sevens team to gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the sport’s inaugural Olympic tournament, and also competed in Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.

Known for her leadership, Parry captained the Wallaroos, Australian 7s and Queensland Reds Super W teams, earning respect for her commitment both on and off the field. After a 13-year international career she continues to be involved in the sport through coaching as the current Australia A Women's 7s Head Coach and Queensland Academy of Sport Rugby 7s Head Coach mentoring the next generation.

Jenny Woodward OAM is well known to audiences across Queensland.

Her television career started in Toowoomba, followed by time in Brisbane with the much-loved, award-winning children’s program “Wombat”. Over the years she has worked as a presenter, writer, editor, and producer over a broad range of shows, but has now become synonymous with the weather. Jenny has presented the weather from many amazing locations; with her much loved EKKA reports an overall favourite.

The award-winning journalist has contributed to many books, compered concerts and facilitated panel discussions over a wide range of topics and presented her own one woman sell out stage show "Weathering Well" that toured Queensland. She is a Fellow of the University of Southern Queensland, a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and in 2024 was honoured with an OAM for her service to Broadcast media.

A lover of colour, design and storytelling, Jenny is constantly looking for creative outlets and recently developed a passion for painting. She had her first exhibition (joint) in September last year.

In 2025 Jenny celebrated 50 years in television and this year will mark 40 years with the ABC.

Louise Bezzina is a nationally recognised arts leader with 25 years’ experience delivering transformative cultural programs. She is the CEO/Artistic Director of Brisbane Powerhouse, where she is leading a bold new chapter of artistic ambition, community connection and future-focused cultural innovation.

Before joining Brisbane Powerhouse in 2025, Louise served as Artistic Director of Brisbane Festival, transforming it into Australia’s largest-attended international arts event and doubling box office revenue while increasing philanthropic support fivefold. Her programming highlights included the acclaimed Salamander by Maxine Doyle and Es Devlin.

Louise is known for courageous leadership, particularly in 2020 when she delivered one of the only live arts festivals in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, commissioning 28 new works across all 190 Brisbane suburbs.

She is the founder of Bleach* Festival – Australia’s largest regional arts festival – and served as Creative Lead for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival.

In 2024, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Griffith University for her contribution to the arts in Queensland.

At Brisbane Powerhouse, Louise continues to champion creative excellence, cultural inclusion and a vibrant, deeply local artistic vision.

Serena Zipf is an award-winning businesswoman in aquaculture with a remarkable back story of Aussie comeback success.

She started her career diversifying a sugar cane farm into aquaculture and founded Rocky Point Aquaculture on the Gold Coast in 2017 building a thriving prawn farm on the Logan River. Disaster struck in 2016 with the outbreak of a deadly crustacean disease that wiped out the business.

After two years working closely with scientists at CSIRO, University of Queensland and Bribie Island Research Centre, Serena was back with a fully sustainable aquaculture system to farm black kingfish and Queensland giant Grouper. Her brave move won her business the Producer of the Year award, the Australia’s most prestigious awards program for fresh produce.

This year, Serena has expanded into Singapore with Bangkok and Italy planned for a 2026 launch. She is on seafood industry boards and has been a guest lecturer at Macquarie University and the Mt Eliza School of Business (Monash University).