Team – Cancer Confidence

A multidisciplinary movement needs a multidisciplinary cast.

From business to governance, the creative arts, neuroscience and coaching.

MELISSA STEFANO

Founder, Creative Director and Master Coach

An award-winning choreographer, internationally recognised ‘why’ coach and alchemist to the emotionally rich and uniquely famous, Melissa’s ultimate ‘why’ is to end homelessness for women who have experienced chronic illness and financial abuse.

SANDI ROE

Executive Assistant & Partnerships

The ultimate support person, multitasker and energy maker, Sandi’s ability to bring calm and patience into the team means, even the trickiest moments are easy peasy. More than that, Sandi’s a ninja when it comes to intuition, she can make things happen a little bit like magic.

LINDSAY GILL

Brand Coordinator & Lead Designer

The fixer of all things, throw anything at her and it is sorted. Lindsay’s multipotentiality means she is good at creativity, detail and everything in between, a must have motion when you are working in a startup. A to do list up to her eyeballs doesn’t get her down.

KAY CAVEY

ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANT

Everyone needs a Kay! Someone to do all the things that get left out in the cold. Kay’s a lover of people, cats and tidying up everyone else’s mess. We love that Kay gets the niggly things sorted out on task and on time.

OUR PEOPLE

A quintessential team of professional consultants, leading with unique insight for expansive results.

BARBARA BRANGAN

Grants Strategist by Human Design

Barbara’s unique ability to capture a founder’s inner workings takes time to marinade, but never a moment is wasted with this woman. She sees and catches everything. The amalgamation of grants strategy and human design means a honed projection towards the ultimate vision.

GO LAUNCH

everything assistants

We don’t do all the digital stuff by ourselves. Our people are more than virtual assistants. More than back-end developers and copy-writers, they are 100% invested in the cause. We feel their love. The GoLaunch team makes us want to wave our pom poms – Gooo Launch!

KAREN CROMBIE

editor and writing coach

Karen is the ultimate ally when it comes to writing. A meticulous eye for detail coupled with her skills in teaching speech and drama means the Cancer Confidence Movement performance and artistic experiences are accessible as they are sophisticated.

TIFF NG

SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

Refusing to build Cancer Confidence with cheap tricks, Tiff’s passion for social impact means everything she does is about making the world a better place and keeping us on track and avoiding distraction is a good thing in the social media jungle.

KATRINA FOX

Public Relations

PR can sometimes be BS. Katrina’s 35 years in Journalism, Public Relations and Copywriting means she is about getting noticed authentically. An intuitive and intelligent amplification strategist, Katrina is professional and reliable especially when she is dressed in glitter.

VERN SCHULZ

FINANCE

Who said keeping books is boring? Vern somehow makes bookkeeping fun. His love for the cause and infectious smile give our books all the love they need. We rely on him to do all the number-y stuff.

COACHES & SPECIALISTS

The movement is founded on the principles of trauma-informed language and the practice of minimising cancer trauma. Our coaches are up on the lingo that reduces fear contagiosity.

EMMA BENNETT

Head Coach - Family and Friends; TRAUMA-INFORMED MINFULNESS & JIN SHIN SPECIALIST

Emma’s zone of genius is revealing potential through adversity. She is the ultimate holder of space when it comes to trauma and crisis management, and the soothing energy emana-ting through the timbre of her voice resonates through your body like a warm cup of tea.

ALI WILLIAMS

HEAD COACH - CANCERLIGHTS; TRAUMA-INFORMED MIND & SUBTLE BODY SPECIALIST

A two-time Olympic Gold Cancerlight, Ali’s lived experience and professional library of human experience remedies for trauma means you are safely in the hands of an all-rounder who gets it all. What is good for you, the people around you and the greater good.

GOVERNANCE

Accountability at its finest with a team of professionals, specialists in their respective fields.

BRIDGET CAIRD

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Bridget was one of the first people to let Melissa know that it’s time to turn an idea into a policy. Strategic leadership at its best Bridget brings a genuine passion for the needs of our indi-genous community and other groups who need extra sparkly support.

ABBEY PANTANO

ETHICAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY STRATEGIST

When you are in the social cause space, you only want to be con-nected to businesses that are also doing the good stuff. Abbey knows them all. But even more than that, the space she Oli and Jeremy have curated is like a home away from home.

matt desailly

brand & digital

What do you get when you merge a product developer, brand cura-tor and digital ninja? You get a Matt. His multipotentiality is unrivalled when it comes to con-necting research to a relevant digital human experience. He’s a little bit Einstein and a whole lot of love.

VANESSA WATSON

Environmental, social & governance

Vanessa has been keeping people and corporations accountable for more than 40 years and she advises on how to instill good practices even when you’re a start-up.

JEREMY FLEISchNER

STRATEGY AND AMPLIFICATION

Sometimes you need answers to questions endlessly swimming around in your head. The master of strategy and amplification, Jeremy isn’t a marketer or a busi-ness mentor, he just gets how to smash all of the usual start-up chaos together and make it fly.

JILLIAN ZSIDY

BUSINESS AND INVESTOR STRATEGY

She’s an Angel and sometimes a little devil. Jillian loves the start-up environment and all of the twists and turns it brings. Her logical and practical savvy and heart-centred approach with founders means the whole pro-cess is less stressful, especially through the tricky times.

CREATIVE

To spread the word, we will co-create film and performances requiring a team of distinguished specialists.

VINCE CICCARELLO

Performance Business

Formerly Managing Director of Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Vince’s holistic view of performance in all genres facilitates the direction of how best to amplify the message.

ANNE WIBERG

CREATIVE PRODUCER

Anne is a music industry magnate with a heart for social justice. Artistic and Creative Director for thousands of musically inspired events, Melissa and Anne are excited about collaborating via a new medium—Film

RAIN TYLER

Multidisciplinary Artist and Film Development

When a multidisciplinary artist spans across many genres you know they will have the depth required to advise on a multidisciplinary move-ment. Dance, film, voice, and theatre, Rain’s broad eye, catches the nuances some-times missed that when applied—electrify the narrative.

CORNEL WILSCEK

COMPOSER

Cornel is an Australian award-winning screen composer and music producer. Cornel and Melissa share the same desire to see music and message as the heroes of work sometimes; not just accompanying the story, but driving it.

NEUROSCIENCE

Research spanning neuroscience, philosophy, coaching methodology, wisdom attainment and more. They are the brain, mind and relationship people holding space for us to unfold new findings and challenge our frameworks.

DAVID HAUSER

Social/Personality Psychologist

Melissa was enamored with David’s research in 2016 when he first released the problems with the war metaphor. Since then she has observed David’s collective repertoire.

FRANK PLACANICA

NEUROPYSCHOTHERAPY & ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Making change happen from the top, Francesco is keeping founder Melissa accountable from day one. Revealing the ‘invisible dynamics’ that can happen in leadership groups and communities, Francesco is the ultimate soundboard when it comes to navigating human behaviour.

DR. FIONA KERR

NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

A true multi-disciplinarian when it comes to how humans shape each other, Fiona’s tour de force is her approach to alchemising technology and the creative arts in relation to the brain and the human experience.

MENTAL HEALTH COACHES

SCOOTER COCO

Cuddle therapist

A ragamuffin and rascal, Coco is a professional cuddle therapist and Clairevoyant. She can not only see the future, she can also smell turd burgers from a mile away. Coco has a PhD in cuteness overload and is hoping to find the love of her life on tiktok.

MANGO

Play therapist

A staunch feminist Mango is about equal opportunity for dogs and hoomans and is working to close the poodle pay gap. He is an advocate for ‘run free at the dog park’ and the founder of ‘dog harnesses suck foundation’.

NIGELLA PAWSON

Sleep therapist

Nigella’s overbite is not a disability in her eyes. She can suction crumbs with the best of them. An inclusion and diversity specialist for dogs, she ensures that we are equal opportunity employers of the canine variety, ensuring poodles don’t have all the fun.