Unofficial fastBREAK Launch 2012 – Wrapup

On Thursday night six innovative thinkers, each pushing the boundaries of their own industry, took to the stage at the Unoffical Launch of fastBREAK 2012 to tackle the topic of ‘Beginnings’. The room was filled well beyond capacity with dozens of curious minds who crammed into the room to be inspired by our amazing speakers.

George Phillip – Entrepreneur 

“The biggest thing holding people back is self doubt” 

George Phillip kicked the night off by talking about his adventure off the beaten path which eventually led him to his dream job and his dream boss – himself. After toughing it out at a bank, Phillip went out on a limb and started his own freelance consultancy company.

Dr Rachael Dunlop – Medical researcher, science communicator and campaigner

Few people could tackle the daunting task of establishing a convincing connection between the  indigenous people of Guam, blue-green algae, bats and an Alfred Hitchcock movie, all within the space of sixty seconds. Yet Rachel Dunlop’s career has uncovered this mysterious link and brought the scientific community a step closer to finding a cure for motor neuron diseases.

Johnathon Nicholas – CEO of the Inspire Foundation 

 “Mental Health will be the biggest health issue in Australia over the next 15-20 years because it affects us, someone we love or someone we know”

Johnathon Nicholas confronted the crowd with some audience participation and some startling statistics. A quarter of the room were told to stand up, representing the 1 in 4 Australians who will experience mental illness. The sobering statistic is one that hits close to home with Nicholas who was inspired to begin the website Reachout.com after losing his best friend to suicide. Nicholas believes the conversations surrounding mental health issues need to be reframed if we ever hope to tackle the problem once and for all.

Sarah-Jane Collins – Journalist at the Global Mail 

“The best things happen to us when we take a risk”

Sometimes the beginning of one thing spells out the end of another. Sarah-Jane Collins, journalist at the Global Mail talked about the death of outdated media outlets and the rise of alternative news sources. Collins sees the end of outdated traditional news outlets as the opportunity for new alternative media outlets to take up the mantle where legacy media has fallen short.

Scott Drummond – Host Sydney social media director/ Awesome Foundation board member

“Foster your creative and imaginative capabilities on the things that matter most in the world around us”

Spoken like a modern revolutionary, Drummond urged the captivated audience to foster their creativity to create solutions and reinvent broken institutions. He highlighted Kiva (Loans that change lives), The Sydney Story Factory and Code for America as organisations who have been able to implement innovative solutions to social problems.

Hannah DeMilta – Curator of The Fetch 

Hannah Demilta sees new beginnings everywhere she goes and in everyone she meets.  Demilta spoke about networking lifestyle and how far networking can get you. In Demilta’s case it took her from Cleveland, USA to Sydney Australia where she is now working as the curator of The Fetch – a fortnightly ‘what’s on’ guide to Sydney.

Want more? Come along to our next fastBREAK 24 February 8am at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum. Tickets available here.