OUR PATRONS
Dr June Oscar AO
Dr June Oscar AO is a proud Bunuba woman from the remote town of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. She is a strong advocate for Indigenous Australian languages, social justice and women’s issues.
June was the first female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, publishing the landmark Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) Report to advance First Nations gender justice and equality in Australia.
Dr June Oscar AO chairs the The Wiyi Yani U Thangani First Nations Gender Justice Institute at the Australian National University to advance the voices of First Nations women and girls.
“WOW is an important space of dialogue and action which unites women from diverse backgrounds from across Australia and the world. I look forward to working together and ensuring that the voices of First Nations women and girls are at the forefront of Australia’s fight to achieve gender equality.”
The Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO
Dame Quentin Bryce is a distinguished Australian public figure and advocate for gender equality. She was the first woman to serve as Australia's Governor-General from 2008 to 2014.
Throughout her career, Quentin has championed the rights of women
and non-binary individuals, focusing on issues such as gender violence, economic empowerment, and health disparities.
Her dedication to advancing gender equality has been instrumental in driving cultural and social change, making her a prominent and influential figure in the fight for equal rights.
“Gender equality is the key to our human rights, and to our economic future. We need to lead our community to a better place – one in which women and girls are kept safe and valued and are able to make their full contribution, and in which we reap all the benefits of their drive, ingenuity, talents, skills, and wisdom.”
OUR FOUNDERS
Of One Mind was established in 2014 by Leigh Tabrett PSM, Cathy Hunt AM and Brian Tucker, to create and invest in cultural activities that deliver social outcomes, including working with the global WOW Foundation to grow the WOW - Women of the World movement in Australia.
We believe that to deliver social change, such as a more gender just world, we need to change culture: beliefs, values, processes and systems. Only by changing culture, including the way we approach problem solving, will we succeed. In our experience this can be brought about through one of the outputs from culture itself – creative expression- through storytelling, art, performance and community cultural gatherings such as WOW festivals and events.
Cathy Hunt AM
Cathy Hunt AM is a successful cultural sector consultant and businesswoman with over 30 years’ experience providing research and advice to governments, architects, planners, arts and cultural organisations in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong. Formerly a festival producer in the UK, Cathy returned to that role in 2014, bringing the WOW - Women of the World Festival movement to Australia. As co-founder of Of One Mind, Cathy has been the Executive Producer of WOW Festivals and events across 12 locations in Australia over the last 10 years. Cathy is currently Executive Chair as she moves away from directly producing events.
Cathy is a Board Director of Screen Queensland, the Queensland Government’s film investment company and a Director of the Kindness Out Loud Foundation. In 2023 she became a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the arts, culture and women.
Chair
Leigh Tabrett PSM
Leigh Tabrett PSM has worked as a secondary teacher, university administrator, and public servant, where she worked in higher education policy and planning, and in the arts, finishing her career as Deputy Director-General in Queensland’s Department of Premier and Cabinet. Since leaving government, she has been a member of several Boards in the arts sector, including as inaugural chair of the Bleach* Festival, and eight years as Deputy Chair of the Queensland Performing Arts Trust. She has also contributed to the work of DVConnect over many years, including a period as Board member, and to the Coaldrake Review of Culture and Accountability in the Public Sector (2022).
She is the co-founder, with Cathy Hunt, of Of One Mind Pty Ltd, the company which brought the WOW – Women of the World Festival to Australia, and is a long-term advocate for gender equality.
TreasurerBrian Tucker
Brian spent forty years working as an arts accountant, twenty of which exclusively as an auditor of Arts Organisations and Indigenous Art Centres across Australia. He has used this experience to advocate for and promote the arts and artists, appearing before Senate committees in Canberra to presenting workshops for the Directors of Art Centres in Darwin.
His work as auditor gives him valuable insight into the financial affairs of the not-for-profit arts sector and its resilience in the face of enormous challenges which continue today. He is presently the Treasurer of seven organisations and Chair of another and has occupied similar positions on over twenty organisations, from the tiny Queensland Poets Society to the somewhat larger Queensland Performing Arts Trust.
OUR BOARD
Dr Faiza El-Higzi, OAM, Director
Dr Faiza El-Higzi OAM is an early career researcher and nationally recognised professional awarded an Order of Australia Medal and a Queensland Outstanding Achiever Award for her contributions to the community. Of African, Mid-Eastern descent, Faiza has worked in Australia and overseas, in the public, private and the NGO sectors and has more than ten years public sector experience in Australia providing strategic policy advice at both the State and Federal levels.
Faiza's interest is in knowledge translation with a focus on ideas that address social inequality across gender, faith and culture. Her research focuses on social issues such as gender and Islam; health anthropology investigating cultural views of blood donation, concepts of health, and domestic and family violence in culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Renai Grace, Director
Renai Grace is the Executive Director Museums and Engagement, Museum of Queensland. Renai has extensive experience in the arts and cultural sector, having spent the past two decades working for some of Queensland’s leading cultural institutions and projects including the Museum of Brisbane Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Women of the World Festival and craft and design centre Artisan. Renai has also served as director of investment and development at Arts Queensland.
Sandra McLean, Director
Sandra McLean has an extensively 20-year career as a journalist and editor working in Australia and the UK. The author Late Babies (Random House 2004) on late life motherhood and the myth that women had late babies because they wanted it all, inspired by her own late baby Hamish.
Human rights, equality and safety for women and girls were key drivers from her 20s. Influenced by sexist behaviour in journalism and inspired by her peers and sister. Sandra first took up the microphone on women’s rights on TripleZed in Brisbane on a show called MegaHertz. She carried on volunteer work with Zonta International, a global organisation that advocates to end gender-based violence, end child marriage and boost equality for women by fighting for better education; a member since of Zonta Brisbane Club since 2019, Club President 2022-2024 and State Representative since 2024.
A proud public servant , Sandra has held senior roles across multiple departments, including media and communications, stakeholder engagement, disaster recovery and resilience and program design and delivery.
