Imagine you’re a bright teen ready to take on the world. Now imagine that a devastating condition comes out of nowhere to upend all your plans. Dr Elise Stephenson (B Communications/Asian and International Studies ’14; B Government and International Relations Honours, ’16; PhD Government and International Relations, ’20) knows how that feels. And she's used that lived experience to fight for a more equal world.
Elise developed bilateral hand injuries when she was 16. By the time she got to year 12, she couldn’t use her hands at all. “I had to finish school assessments early. I couldn’t complete my last exams – I couldn’t write,” she says. “When I finished high school, all I knew was that I was going to have to take a gap year and have surgery. My mother told me that I wasn’t going to sit around the house and signed me up to work on a ranch camp for young people with challenging backgrounds in America!”
Finding a path
Elise thought that her hands would be fine after the surgery. They weren’t. But at the ranch, she had a revelation. “I could be miserable and sit at home, or I could be happy being outdoors and helping young people. I could be an active participant in my future,” she says.
Back home, she was keen to study at Griffith but didn’t know how her hands would cope. So, she made a booking with disability support services. “I don’t think I’d ever considered that I had a disability,” she says. “I just had an issue with my hands. But the support that Griffith provided was just phenomenal and completely changed the direction of my life.”
She wanted to truly make a difference. But how? Griffith, she says, allowed her to carve a path that was uniquely hers as an entrepreneur, strategist and researcher. “It gave me the intellectual freedom and practical opportunities to test my ideas in the real world,” she adds.
Social network
In 2016, she put that theory into practice, co-founding a digital social enterprise Social Good Outpost (SGO). For every 10 hours of paid work, SGO donates one hour of co-design services to community, women-led, indigenous-led or LGBTIQ+-led businesses.
In its first five years, SGO’s work received national and international acclaim from organisations such as Impact Boom, the Foundation for Young Australians, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Pro Bono Australia – and won Elise the Griffith Outstanding Young Alumni Award 2020.
Now, Elise’s work takes her from Australian embassies in Asia to Arctic think tanks, national defence forums, and digital media labs. She built a tiny home – and travelled more than 75,000 kilometres across rural and remote Australia in it, determined to learn from everyone she met.
She’s won numerous accolades, including being one of Google, Energy Australia and Deloitte’s most Outstanding LGBTI+ Leaders. And she’s currently Deputy Director for the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, founded and chaired by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Single vision
Her projects may seem very different. But they’re connected by one driving force: achieving equality. Diplomacy, national security and entrepreneurship are traditionally dominated by a narrow demographic – so that’s where she’s focused on driving inclusion and diversity. She’s worked tirelessly to amplify the voices of women and gender-diverse leaders.
Winning the Outstanding Young Alumni Award was, she says, “a moment of validation”. It reassured her that meaningful work doesn’t have to be conventional. It connected her to people across the country who wanted to help her realise her vision. Then and now, she’s reimagining the spaces where power is negotiated and decisions are made.
“We’re at a tipping point,” she says. “The future of leadership is inclusive, global, and collaborative. I’m excited to help build that future.”
Image captions (top to bottom):
- Elise competing in eventing in year 9 for Brigidine College.
- Elise's Tiny Home while on the road in Central Australia.
- Elise with Julia Gillard and Leigh Sales, and the GIQL Team.
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