AWE Network Mentee Registry

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Alex Moore
Municipal Recovery Manager, City of Casey

Experienced emergency management practitioner (Local Government setting) looking for guidance/mentorship in managing family life, furthering…
Alison Cheney
Gender Equality Program Lead, Ambulance Victoria
Alison is the Gender Equality Program Lead for Ambulance Victoria, responsible for the development and…
Ally Backholer
Ambulance Victoria

Ally has now been matched with Amanda Lamont as her Mentor – Commenced April 2020…
Alyssa Britnell
Emergency Management Policy Officer/ Firefighter

Hi! I have been working in emergency management for 2 years as a Firefighter and…
Amber Balfour-Cunningham
Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services Active Fire Fighter, Department of Fire and Emergency Services

Meet Amber, a dedicated Volunteer Firefighter with the Western Australian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service…
Angel Benham
Passionate about firefighting, emergency and disaster management in general

Good morning everyone, I’m 27F and am very passionate about firefighting and emergency and disaster…
Annie Ingram
Team Leader - Emergency Services - Australian Red Cross

Hello! My name is Annie, I currently work for Red Cross in the Northern Territory…
Ashleigh Bartlett
Trainer, Victoria SES

I have over ten years’ experience as a volunteer in the Queensland and Victoria SES…
Carla Bailey
Director, C3 Resilience

I’ve been working in Disaster and Emergency Management since 2015 when I decided I wanted…
Caroline Murray
International vet locum
Dr Caroline Murray aka The Wilderness Vet, was born in Australia, brought up in England…

Alex Moore

Municipal Recovery Manager, City of Casey

Experienced emergency management practitioner (Local Government setting) looking for guidance/mentorship in managing family life, furthering my skill set and enhancing my opportunities for growth in the Emergency Manager sector.
Looking to learn more about Recovery settings and how climate change interacts with the current emergency landscape.

Alison Cheney

Gender Equality Program Lead, Ambulance Victoria

Alison is the Gender Equality Program Lead for Ambulance Victoria, responsible for the development and implementation of the Gender Equality Action Plan and other obligations under the Victorian Gender Equality Act (2020). Alison has strong background in workplace culture reform, diversity and inclusion within government and emergency services in Victoria, driving change through connecting the strengths of first responders to benefits of inclusion to improve service delivery to the Victorian Community.

Ally Backholer

Ambulance Victoria

Ally has now been matched with Amanda Lamont as her Mentor – Commenced April 2020

I currently work at Ambulance Victoria as a Registered Nurse in the referral service. My background is Emergency Nursing and Nurse Education. I also volunteer for the Country Fire Authority as a volunteer firefighter and for the Red Cross as a volunteer as part of the Incident Management Team as one of the wellbeing co-leads.

I grew up in north east Victoria and now live in Melbourne in the outer east.

In terms of study I have completed my Graduate Diploma in Emergency Care and am currently completing my Graduate Certificate in Emergency and Disaster Management.

I am motivated by solving complex problems creatively and believe we should never stop learning. With the Current statistic that women hold only approx 34% of emergency management jobs, I look towards the future with the AWE community to even this statistic. My long term goal is a role in emergency management and health and hope the mentorship program will provide me a great mentor to guide and challenge me to be the best emergency manager (hopefully one day!) I can be.

Alyssa Britnell

Emergency Management Policy Officer/ Firefighter

Hi! I have been working in emergency management for 2 years as a Firefighter and over a year as a Fire and Emergency Management Policy Officer. I have a Bachelor of Laws (Environmental Law Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Environmental Politics). I am eager to participate in the mentoring program to learn from others in the industry and expand my knowledge for my career in emergency management!

Amber Balfour-Cunningham

Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services Active Fire Fighter, Department of Fire and Emergency Services

Meet Amber, a dedicated Volunteer Firefighter with the Western Australian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service (VFRS) in Northam. With five years of service, she’s a passionate advocate for diversity, leadership, and mentoring in the firefighting community.
Amber recognizes the importance of diversity within the VFRS and actively supports initiatives aimed at improving inclusivity. She firmly believes that a diverse team is a strong team, and she’s committed to making the VFRS a welcoming place for all.
One of her key roles is mentoring and leading the younger members of the VFRS, helping them develop into capable firefighters and community leaders. Her dedication to nurturing the next generation’s potential is unwavering.
Beyond her firefighting duties, Amber actively contributes to the VFRS Association Youth Committee, where she helps shape the organization’s future to better serve the community’s evolving needs. Additionally, she plays a leadership role in the VFRS Female Firefighter Group, inspiring and empowering women in other brigades.
Amber’s journey as a Volunteer Firefighter is driven by a deep passion for service and an unwavering commitment to fostering diversity and leadership within the VFRS, dedicated to keeping it safe and strong.

www.linkedin.com/in/amber-b-83380354/

Angel Benham

Passionate about firefighting, emergency and disaster management in general

Good morning everyone,

I’m 27F and am very passionate about firefighting and emergency and disaster management in general. I have applied for QFES this year for the 2023 intake – as a recruit firefighter (preferred) and comms officer.

Just a bit of context; I have worked in a disaster control centre for cyclone Debbie (Logan City Council), where I stood up an evacuation centre as well as acted as a liaison officer and organised logistics etc. I was also a volunteer RFS bush firefighter during the south coast fires in 2019/20 where I worked a lot of 12+HR shifts protecting houses, fighting grass and bush fires and backburning etc. I also worked comms during that time too.

Look forward to connecting! Thank you :)

Annie Ingram

Team Leader - Emergency Services - Australian Red Cross

Hello! My name is Annie, I currently work for Red Cross in the Northern Territory as Team Leader for Emergency Services. This is my first time managing a team and I would love some support in navigating being a young female leader in the emergency sector.

This mentoring program couldn‚Äôt have come at a better time. I have been feeling that I could really use some support from other women who are further along in their careers about how they have managed some of the issues I am facing. I would be so grateful to hear from any women who feel they could assist.

I am 30 years old, I live in Darwin and enjoy the laid back Territory tropical lifestyle and the abundance of Laksa. I recently bought an apartment and am spending a lot of my free time in this time of distancing and staying at home doing renos, which I didn‚Äôt know I was into until now!

I am originally from Adelaide and found my way to Darwin after living on and off in Indonesia for 2.5 years. Before Indonesia I lived in Papua New Guinea for a year. I‚Äôd love to get back into working overseas again at some point. My background is in international development and communications but I decided disaster management and humanitarian issues was where my real passion was. I decided to do a Masters in Humanitarian Assistance to shift into that side of things which I‚Äôll complete in one month and have been loving working in the emergency sector. I have had lots of opportunities to work with Aboriginal communities around disasters and have enjoyed getting experience as an Incident Commander in emergency responses up here.

Ashleigh Bartlett

Trainer, Victoria SES

I have over ten years’ experience as a volunteer in the Queensland and Victoria SES and in the time I have been in the SES I have played a number of roles from crew member to leadership roles, and I am currently a sector lead in the training space at my Unit. I have worked in rural and metro SES Units and been a part of several large-scale disasters over the time.
I’m looking to expand and develop my skills in the training space, and am particularly interested in learning how I can best support and encourage women and gender diverse people into training spaces that predominately are taken by men, and making the process into these spaces easier for others than it has been for me in the past.

Carla Bailey

Director, C3 Resilience

I’ve been working in Disaster and Emergency Management since 2015 when I decided I wanted a career change from being a registered nurse. I was an SES volunteer at the time and transitioned to my new career in QLD Local Government, sticking there for a mere three years before moving back into the health sector. I feel so fortunate to be able to combine my health experience with my DM experience and still be working in this field.
In 2019, while continuing to work full time, my business partner and I started our own DM consultancy and we have been going strong working across Queensland and South Australia in that time. We support local governments, completing projects they don’t have the capacity to do (e.g., planning, exercising, training, reviews, etc.). I now (currently) work in the Queensland Health Disaster Management Branch as well as working in the business and I enjoy overlapping/swapping between available short-term contracts and business projects.
I love to see a project completed from end to end, and have a particular passion for contextualising DM into the health sphere. I’ve had experience in lessons management including undertaking after-action reviews and post-event analysis, developing and delivering training and exercises, and volunteer management. In 2020 I completed my coaching certification and have enjoyed working with women in small business all across the world.
My favourite experience (though also the most stressful) was working in the Health Emergency Operations Centre for my health service through the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately this led to a severe episode of burnout and I am now passionate about supporting women to find and advocate for balance in the workplace and appropriate remuneration.
Personally, I have two rescue greyhounds instead of children, love to wear statement earrings, and live by the beach on the Gold Coast.

Caroline Murray

International vet locum

Dr Caroline Murray aka The Wilderness Vet, was born in Australia, brought up in England and has lived in New Zealand for nearly 20 years, so is a professional wanderer and explorer. She feels happiest on top of a horse and/or on a mountain in the remote wilderness somewhere hot, and has worked, travelled and volunteered extensively in UK, Africa, Asia, Australasia and South America. Antarctica is on her long bucket list. She is also a human first responder, search and rescue and civil defence volunteer in NZ, has trained in NLP (neurolinguistic programming) and loves helping animals as well as coaching other people to help themselves. Currently she is doing a mixture of locum and mobile work in NZ, whilst participating in disaster rescue training and has a dream of establishing a drone network to deliver emergency aid during natural disasters such as bushfires and floods.