2017 Full steam ahead! Careers scholarship

Rebekah is an education and administration officer with AgCommunicators, responsible for delivering Food and Fibre Education SA activities including attending careers events to promote industry and development of the Full STEAM Ahead Career Scholarship.

Rebekah is from a farm north of Mannum in the Murraylands where her family operates a piggery and broadacre cropping operation. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at the University of Adelaide and aspires to be an agronomist when she graduates. She aims to work with producers to better understand their production systems and new technologies. She is secretary of Murray Plains Farmers and works within the agricultural industry during harvest, in both the grains and horticulture industries.

In 2014, Rebekah participated in the former Primary Industries Centre for Science Education Scholarship and through the experience has developed a passion for educating others on the importance of agricultural industries and soil science.

Tina Brock started her career in event management before moving into secretarial, administrative and customer service roles. However, her enjoyment for meeting people and organising things brought her back to events with AgCommunicators. She has studied travel and tourism at Adelaide TAFE and her career has led her to work with a number of well-known companies in South Australia including the Hilton Hotel, Berrivale Orchards, BAE Systems, Virgin Australia and University of Adelaide.

Tina has a passion for meeting and communicating with people and enjoys travelling – both in Australia and around the world.

Tina enjoys spending time with her son watching, and participating in, various sports and outdoor activities.

Rachael brings a wealth of experience in journalism and communication to the AgCommunicators team.

She grew up on a grain farm near Moonta on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia and studied a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with the University of South Australia. She took on a role as a journalist at the Murray Valley Standard at Murray Bridge and was a journalist at The Courier newspaper in the Adelaide Hills town of Mount Barker. While working as a journalist, Rachael furthered her studies to  complete a Graduate Diploma in Communications at the University of South Australia and a Masters of Communication with Deakin University. Rachael also spent five years as the media officer for the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia before making the move to Perth and taking on the role of grains writer for WA’s agricultural newspaper Farm Weekly.

On her return to SA, Rachael used her skills and knowledge of the grains industry to work in communications for the Grains Research and Development Corporation. Rachael enjoys working within an industry that is close to her heart and contributes to AgCommunicators’ content development for a range of clients.

Alison has nearly 20 years’ experience in marketing, working with both local and national companies to manage campaigns promoting products and services. Her role within AgCommunicators focuses on event, and in particular the associated marketing and stakeholder engagement elements that are vital to a successful conference.

Majority of Alison’s career has been spent in the banking industry, starting her career at NAB in a number of finance roles before moving to Rabobank in an agribusiness finance role. With a passion for people and events, she moved into marketing with Rabobank and took on the State Marketing Manager position, managing a number of states from Victoria to Western Australia over a 10-year period.

Most recently Alison held the role of National Marketing Manager at Quality Wool and Livestock, based in Adelaide. Alison grew up on a farm at Naracoorte in South Australia’s South East and enjoys returning to the region as often as possible.

Cara assists with administration and accounting functions for AgCommunicators.

Cara completed a Bachelor of Business at the University of South Australia and has since worked in a variety of industries ranging from engineering and fabrication, energy and food manufacturing.

Within these roles, Cara has worked in the areas of Administration, Accounts, Human Resources and Customer Service.

Cara enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter and Labrador.

Tracey undertakes the financial and management accounting functions for AgCommunicators.

Tracey grew up on a mixed family farm in SA’s Mid North.  Following on from a Bachelor of Arts in Accountancy at the University of South Australia, Tracey completed the CPA Program to become a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA).

In her working life, Tracey has undertaken a variety of roles including in tax in a chartered firm, auditing within the South Australian Government and senior financial management roles in the private sector.  Tracey’s experience crosses a wide range of industries including agribusiness, manufacturing, professional services and retail.

Tracey lives in the Adelaide Plains with her husband and numerous pets and is an active participant in her local community.

Jane McLean is a South Australian-based graphic designer, with 18 years industry experience. Since 1999, Jane McLean Design has been committed to developing creative design solutions efficiently and effectively. She has an excellent ability to deliver unique ideas and visuals, to meet exactly what the audience is after.

Jane has worked with the AgCommunicators team for the past four years to deliver a range of outputs including annual reports, fact sheets, website design, logo development, corporate branding and signage.

Jane is responsible for much of the look and feel of products developed for AgCommunicators’ clients such as the GRDC, Livestock SA, Grain Producers SA, the Australian Society of Animal Production, Food and Fibre Education SA and more. She uses her creative design flair and each client’s corporate identity and colour palette to design fresh new material that enhances communication of the overall message.

Jane’s design skills extend to a variety of applications including corporate display systems, advertising, brochures, booklets, books, annual reports, prospectuses, corporate identity and stationery design, posters, education resources, packaging and CD covers – to list a few!

Joshua is AgCommunicators’ digital marketing assistant and brings a broad array of experience in the traditional and digital media spaces to the team.

Joshua grew up on a hobby farm at McLaren Vale. After studying graphic design, Joshua travelled the world using his photography skills before returning to his home town of Adelaide to pursue digital design.

He has operated his own photography small business, incorporating website and graphic design services through use of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. He is a problem solver and his passion for design and a constant challenge has led him to pursue professional video editing and further website design opportunities with AgCommunicators. He is excited by the vast digital media landscape and enjoys keeping up-to-date with rapidly evolving technology.

Adding to Joshua’s vast skill set, he recently completed certificates in marketing and small business management. He works with a wide range of AgCommunicators’ clients on a range of technical issues, such as design, websites and coding and digital marketing.

Joshua enjoys spending quality time on skiing holidays with his wife, two daughters, family and friends.

Rebecca Barr is a science writer and communications officer who specialises in translating highly technical scientific topics into easy-to-understand, everyday language.

A chemical engineer by trade, Bec started her career with eight years at a mining and steelworks business, focusing on development of young engineers, project management and writing and presenting scientific papers.

As part of a ‘tree-change’, Bec and her husband move to Eden Valley in South Australia to take over a small winery, which is when she joined AgCommunicators, taking on science writing and communication portfolios.

When she’s not writing and talking about agriculture, Bec is out in the paddocks practising it! She spends her time tending to her vineyard and cattle and working as the winemaker for her family business.

Miranda is the most recent editor of Stock Journal and has been an agricultural journalist for 10 years. She managed a team of 10 journalists and contributors to deliver the most up-to-date agricultural news and information to the newspaper’s readership base.

Miranda is a passionate advocate for primary production, having reported extensively on the livestock and cropping industries in South Australia. She is an award-winning communicator, recognised by Rural Media South Australia as Best Rural Print Journalist in 2011 and highly commended in 2013 as well as runner-up in the Australian Star Prize for Rural Writing in 2012.

Miranda grew up on a sheep and cattle property in the Clare Valley before completing a Bachelor of Science (Agricultural Science) and a Diploma of Teaching and Learning, Secondary Education and Teaching. Her experience as a journalist and her teaching qualifications mean she has a rare mix of proven communication ability and genuine education knowledge, which is hard to find in primary production. She is a social media manager, operating accounts for clients across Facebook and Twitter.

With an extensive knowledge and background in agriculture, science and teaching, Miranda is well placed to deliver creative yet effective strategies for AgCommunicators’ clients.

Alistair is a communication specialist with AgCommunicators, writing and developing digital media products across a range of projects.

Alistair grew up on a dairy farm near Meningie, in South Australia’s Upper South East. After studying a Bachelor of Journalism at the University of South Australia, he gained the opportunity to combine his passion for dairying and writing by taking on the role of dairy reporter at Stock Journal, SA’s premier rural weekly newspaper.

In more than three years at Stock Journal, Alistair developed a greater understanding of the industry and a passion for agriculture beyond dairying, writing across the beef, grains, sheep, wool and pig industries. He was highly commended for his writing in the Rural Media SA Awards in 2012 and 2013.

Alistair contributes to AgCommunicators’ social and digital media content, developing video clips and contributing to Facebook and Twitter for clients. He enjoys getting out on the road to collect client stories and his eye for detail and ability to clearly communicate make him a valuable part of the team when it comes to content generation.

Bridget is a project manager with AgCommunicators, specialising in writing and tailoring messages to suit specific audiences while appreciating the demands on journalists.

Bridget grew up on a mixed cropping and sheep farm at Tooligie Hill, near Lock on central Eyre Peninsula, before moving to Adelaide to pursue a career in journalism. After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) along with an Associate Degree in Language and Culture Studies (Italian) at the University of South Australia, she worked at The Advertiser and Messenger newspapers. A move to the Southern Cross Catholic newspaper within the Catholic Communications team sparked an interest in public relations and Bridget returned to university part-time to complete a Graduate Diploma of Public Relations.

Before joining AgCommunicators, Bridget spent five years at Viterra in senior communication roles. She project-managed the Grain Business magazine and was responsible for the production of the company’s 2010/11 Post Harvest Review reports. She was involved in ABB Grain’s shareholder vote to approve the Viterra takeover and was also involved in the later transition to Glencore Grain.

Rebecca is a multi-skilled communication and event manager with experience across a range of rural and metropolitan projects.

Her background includes a Bachelor of Business Management (Tourism) and 10 years’ in regional tourism, community and economic development, and the convention and events industry.

She enjoys organising, collaborating and delivering multiple projects for AgCommunicators’ clients and thrives on work plans and deadlines. When Rebecca’s not dreaming about planning a successful event, she’s actually organising one, and believes a job worth doing is worth doing thoroughly. She’s fast, efficient and yet has an unparalleled attention to detail – making her every client’s dream! Her skills in social media management – such as Facebook, Twitter – make her the ultimate all-rounder.

She understands farming life, having grown up on a cereal and sheep property in the South Australian Mallee. Rebecca’s passion is to empower people and implement strategies that develop resilient communities. Rebecca now combines her skills in communication and events to engage and build capacity of those in the agricultural community.

Belinda is a science communicator and educator with a passion for primary production. She has 15 years’ experience in using colour, fun and credibility to communicate science to non-scientific audiences – and has received national accolades for her work.

With a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and a Graduate Diploma in Scientific Communication, Belinda engages audiences using a range of hands-on and interactive platforms, such as practical displays and demonstrations and all forms of traditional, social and digital media. She has extensive experience in designing education and training programs which use enquiry-based learning principles and is an engaging science presenter, a skill gained as part of the Questacon Science Circus.

Belinda’s previous industry positions include FarmBis Program Leader and Youth Development Leader with Primary Industries and Regions SA and Education and Communication Officer with the Primary Industries Centre for Science Education. She spent five years as Communications and Education Manager for the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics where she developed Get into Genes, an education program which has reached more than 30,000 students. Under her tenure, the program received the Cooperative Research Centre Association Award for ‘Excellence in innovation in education and training and public outreach activities’. She was also the science consultant for Beyond Television Productions and helped develop ABC children’s science program Backyard Science.

Belinda has received two Next Generation Scholarships from the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of SA (RA&HS) to represent South Australia at the international Royal Agricultural Society Conference in Scotland and New Zealand. These trips enabled her to review agricultural education initiatives and discuss best practice techniques with the President of the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth, HRH Princess Anne.

Belinda is a skilled public speaker and Master of Ceremonies. She has hosted radio show Blond Science and the Oliphant Science Awards and officiated at the launch of the Do Dairy campaign, in addition to many industry and school events.

Belinda is a RA&HS Board Member and Vice Chair of the RA&HS Education Foundation, an Executive Member of the Royal Adelaide Show and Councillor of its Grains and Fodder Committee. She lives on a farm near Owen in SA’s Mid North with her husband and four children.

Deanna is a journalist, editor and communicator specialising in primary production, natural resources and agripolitics.

In 2016, she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study communication and engagement methods to improve the understanding of agriculture – both in rural and metropolitan audiences. As part of the fellowship, she will travel through the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and develop a report for the Churchill Trust.

Deanna’s broad media experience includes both regional and metropolitan media across Australia. She has a rare mix of agricultural knowledge, political experience and communication ability, gained through her role as an adviser in the Premier’s Media Unit, working with the Minister for the River Murray and Water Security during the millennium Murray-Darling Basin drought.

She is a former editor of South Australia’s rural weekly the Stock Journal, and was a national commodity journalist specialising in the sheep and wool industries, writing for all the Fairfax rural weeklies, including The Land, Stock & Land, and Farm Weekly.

Deanna is an award-winning journalist and has previously been recognised as the South Australian Rural Journalist of the Year and the Australian Young Leader in Rural Journalism, a national award recognising leadership potential in agricultural journalists. Her writing was awarded internationally as part of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ award for reporting of sustainable agriculture.

Deanna holds a Bachelor of Journalism and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and maintains an active membership with the organisation.

Deanna and her husband Steen Paech farm in South Australia, cropping cereals, pulses and oilseeds, and running sheep and “a handful” of cattle over 4000 hectares at Palmer.