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Meet Your Speakers
Learn from experienced leaders in health, neuroscience, and high-performance wellbeing.
The Leading Wellness Forum is led by experts who combine science, practical experience, and real-world application — delivering tools you can immediately apply in your health, leadership, and daily life.
Expert Panel Sessions
PANEL 1
Burnout, Stress &
Nervous System Recovery
Learn why so many high-performing women feel constantly “on”, exhausted, and emotionally drained — and what actually helps.
What attendees will gain:
Understand the hidden signs of burnout
Learn how chronic stress impacts the body and brain
Discover practical tools to regulate the nervous system
Explore sustainable strategies for energy, clarity, and resilience
Hear real-world insights from experienced health professionals
PANEL 2
Menopause, Hormones &
Women’s Wellbeing
An empowering conversation around hormonal health, menopause, energy, mood, and thriving through life transitions.
What attendees will gain:
Better understanding of hormonal changes and symptoms
Practical support strategies for energy, sleep, and wellbeing
Expert insights into menopause and women’s health
A safe and supportive space for honest conversations
Tools to feel informed, empowered, and supported
3rd September 2026
9.00AM - 3.00PM
Geelong Library
Allyson Brown
PhD, Nutritionist, Health Coach & Breathwork Facilitator
Allyson is a nutritionist, author, and speaker dedicated to helping individuals improve their health through practical, sustainable approaches.
She specialises in supporting chronic health conditions and reducing inflammation through targeted dietary and lifestyle changes. Her work focuses on empowering individuals to take control of their wellbeing with strategies that are both realistic and effective.
What She’ll Cover:
Nutrition and lifestyle strategies for long-term health
Reducing inflammation and improving energy
Practical approaches to sustainable wellbeing
Simone Boer
PhD, Brain Hacks & Neurocoach
Simone is an expert in neuroscience, leadership, and personal transformation. She combines scientific insight with practical strategies to help individuals improve performance, decision-making, and resilience.
With a strong background in education and leadership, Simone uses innovative “brain hacks” to support lasting behavioural change in both personal and professional environments.
What She’ll Cover:
Brain-based strategies for performance and focus
Tools to improve clarity, decision-making, and resilience
Practical techniques to support sustainable change
Sally Sparks-Cousins
Founder of OmniSAM
Sally Sparks-Cousins is the founder of OmniSAM, a proudly Australian business automation platform helping service-based businesses create calmer, clearer, and more sustainable systems behind the scenes.
Speaking at Leading Wellness, Sally brings a practical business-wellbeing lens to the conversation, showing how smart automation, follow-up systems, marketing technology, and AI tools can reduce overwhelm, support better leadership, and help founders grow without burning out.
She is the author of The Fortune is in the Follow-Up and host of the Strategy with Sally podcast, voted #2 in Australian Women Lifestyle Podcasts. With a global community of more than 120,000 followers, Sally is known for blending innovation with heart and helping founders scale with clarity, consistency, and excellence.
What She’ll Cover:
Systems that reduce overwhelm and mental load
Simple automation for calmer client follow-up
Using AI with heart to create more breathing room
Brianna Waring
Naturopath and Women's Health Specialist
Brianna is a degree-qualified Naturopath with a special interest in women’s health, driven by both professional expertise and her personal experience navigating PCOS. She is passionate about helping women better understand their bodies and empowering them to take an active role in their health journey.
Using an evidence-based and functional medicine approach, Brianna combines comprehensive health assessment, pathology interpretation, and personalised treatment strategies to identify and address the underlying drivers of symptoms. She believes healthcare works best when patients are informed, supported, and actively involved in decision-making.
Brianna is a strong advocate for collaborative care, working alongside GPs and specialists to help women achieve sustainable, long-term health outcomes. Her goal is to provide realistic, practical guidance that enables women to feel confident, informed, and in control of their wellbeing.
What She’ll Cover:
Perimenopause: The Transition Many Women Don't Recognise
Beyond Hot Flushes: Understanding the 70+ Symptoms of Perimenopause & Menopause
Thriving Through Menopause: Practical Strategies for Busy Women
Alicia Carroll
Risk Manager & Principal Lawyer
Alicia is a Risk Manager and Principal Lawyer at Coulter Legal, with over 25 years’ experience across Family and Commercial Law. In her role, she leads the firm’s risk management strategy, with a strong focus on risk mitigation, compliance and governance. Alicia also continues to advise long-standing clients in commercial law, with particular expertise in leasing and franchising.
She is a Board Member of the APCO Foundation, a local registered charity supporting individuals, families, and not-for-profit organisations facing challenges in poverty, health, education and disaster relief. Alicia previously served on the Board of Bethany Community Support and is a graduate of the Leaders for Geelong program.
Alicia has two teenage daughters and strives to achieve a balanced lifestyle that supports both her career and family wellbeing.
What She’ll Cover:
Recognising Burnout Before It Becomes a Crisis
Balancing Career Success, Leadership & Personal Wellbeing
Rebuilding After Burnout: The Changes That Made the Difference
Jo Surkitt
Positive Change Facilitator and Practitioner
Jo Surkitt is a wellness educator, keynote speaker and practitioner with over 25 years of experience helping individuals, workplaces and communities create positive change.
Drawing on both extensive professional experience and her own personal health journey, Jo brings authenticity, compassion and practical wisdom to her work. After experiencing severe burnout, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and other significant health challenges while working in the travel industry in the late 1990s, Jo left the corporate world to study naturopathy and holistic therapies. Since 2000, she has dedicated her career to helping others navigate burnout, chronic stress, compassion fatigue and overwhelm.
Jo also brings both personal and professional insight to menopause and healthy ageing. She has supported women for two decades through counselling, wellness coaching, retreats and seminars, with a strong focus on nervous system regulation.
Known for her warm, engaging and practical style, Jo inspires audiences with evidence-based strategies that create lasting positive change. Jo regularly presents for International Women’s Day, Women’s Health Week, R U OK? Day, Mental Health Week and Carers Week, and has extensive experience participating on expert panels discussing menopause, burnout, resilience, mental health and wellbeing.
What She’ll Cover:
Burnout Recovery: Lessons from Lived Experience
Nervous System Regulation for Sustainable Wellbeing
Navigating Menopause with Confidence and Compassion
Riaza Manricks McPherson
Leadership and Performance Coach
Riaza Manricks is the leadership coach, culture strategist, and speaker people find when they've run out of patience for advice that doesn't stick. She gets to the heart of it fast.
With 20 years spent inside organisations across Australia and internationally, and now running her own coaching practice, she knows what gets in the way of smart people doing their best work. She has lived it. Now she names it and fixes it.
On stage, Riaza brings the same energy her clients describe: sharp enough to be credible, real enough to be in the room with you. She is the human shortcut most leaders didn't know they needed. Audiences leave with clarity on what is actually happening inside their teams and within themselves, and what to do about it.
What She’ll Cover:
Why High Achievers Are Most at Risk of Burnout
Balancing Leadership, Career Growth & Family Without Losing Yourself
Sustainable Performance: Redefining Success Beyond Constant Productivity
3rd September 2026
9.00 AM - 3.00 PM
Geelong, VIC
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