Make Nice: An Un-Conference for Creative Women

Paris-based designer Leslie David graduated from Les Arts Décoratifs of Strasbourg and launched her own studio in 2009.

She dedicates her work to print and global branding in many fields such as fashion, beauty, art and music. Leslie likes to work comprehensively and her work is refined, meticulous and very instinctive - always exploring a large spectrum of mediums going from photography, hand-drawn elements to collage and paint.

She has worked for brands such as Nike, Chanel, Colette, A.P.C., Lancôme, Maison Kitsuné. She won an award at the French Art Directors Club and has been selected by Print Magazine as one of the 30 people under 30 to follow in 2010. Her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Copenhagen and Paris.

www.leslie-david.com

In her studio, Adi and and the team create all sets in-house and by hand. They find it critical to maintain them handmade in a time when digital tools have taken dominance in most creative fields. Adi’s work is not limited to Set Design. She has also progressed to directing commercials, designing interiors, doing production design, illustration, photography, animation, event design as well as furniture design.

She is inspired by art history, foliage, the history of craft, traveling for new found inspiration, printed matter and instills all of these ideas into the worlds she creates.

She has received awards which include the Presidential Merit Scholarship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Director’s Club Young Guns Award. Some of her clients include Sony Music, RCA, Apple, Macklemore, Nickelodeon, Facebook, Wieden + Kennedy and The Hollywood Reporter.

www.adigoodrich.com

Elizabeth Weinberg lives and works in Los Angeles by way of Boston and Brooklyn. With an educational background in photojournalism, she specializes in storytelling and portraiture that mixes a loose, effortless style with measured precision that produces cinematic, timeless work. She has expanded her decade of professional experience in still photography into a newfound love of directing evocative motion pieces.

Her skills in imaging post-production set her apart. She believes that the finessing of color, saturation, and grain is just as important to a still or moving piece as its content. She loves to be hands-on in applying her signature colour style to best convey a story's particular mood.

Elizabeth has been recognised with awards and features from PDN's 30 Photographers to Watch, the Art Directors Club's Young Guns, and Communication Arts.  Her clients include the New York Times, ELLE, Billboard, Target, Nike, Starbucks, Urban Outfitters, and Reebok. She lives on the east side of LA with with her husband and son, and drinks at least two cold brew coffees per day.

www.elizabethweinberg.com

After graduating with a BA in Communication Design from RMIT in 2003, Suzy Tuxen cut her teeth for several years at Studio Round in Melbourne. She then spent two years in London working for multidisciplinary design studio Multistorey. In 2009, she moved home (after getting too cold) and set up her own practice A Friend of Mine in the second bedroom of her rental flat.

Seven years on, A Friend of Mine remains a deliberately small design practice comprising of just Suzy and Cassie Brock, who joined the team as a designer 3 years ago after completing an internship (Suzy found she just couldn't let her go). There have been several other valued collaborators including friends, freelancers and interns who have contributed along the way.

Instead of having a distinctive 'house style' A Friend of Mine prefers to keep project designs varied which allows them to be continuously curious and engaged with the creative process. By tailoring design responses to the specific needs of an increasingly broad client base this ensures Suzy and Cassie never get bored. Suzy has a 1 year old baby boy and has managed the juggle running a business and spending time with her baby with the help of her progressive husband and supportive mum.

www.afom.com.au

Jess Scully is a curator, policy thinker, festival director and media producer who is passionate about using creativity to inspire social change: she seeks to curate projects that inspire curiosity, spark conversation and explore opportunities for the arts and creativity to deliver impact in communities and add value to the broader economy. Jess is the curator of Vivid Ideas: an annual event connecting creative practitioners and businesses with global leaders, to support professional development and expand market opportunities for the sector. Spanning industries from art and architecture to gaming and filmmaking: the Vivid Ideas program now brings together close to 80,000 participants and has been recognised by the Guardian as one of the top ten ideas festivals in the world.

Jess is one of the curators of TEDxSydney: since 2013 she has collaborated with a talented team of volunteers to help deliver one of the most sophisticated talks events in the world. As a public art consultant, Jess is delivering permanent public art and temporary projects for Green Square Library and Plaza. She is also public art curator for 60 Martin Place and Barrack Place, and public realm activations at Quay Quarter Sydney. In the past, Jess served as policy advisor to the NSW Minister of the Arts, directed the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA), and edited magazines including Empty, Yen and SummerWinter.

www.jessscully.com

Brodie Lancaster is a Melbourne-based editor and writer whose work explores pop culture, feminism and feelings. Her writing has been featured in magazines, books and websites including Rookie, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Vulture, Jezebel, Smith Journal, The Walkley Magazine and The Pitchfork Review. In 2012, she founded Filmme Fatales, an independent publication exploring the places where film and feminism intersect. It is produced in Melbourne with contributors, readers and stockists all over the world.

Brodie is a senior editor at Melbourne writing studio The Good Copy, she is the managing editor of Rooftop Cinema and a co-ordinator at the annual Independent Photography Festival. In 2015, she delivered a TEDxYouth talk on expectations of and contradictions around women’s likeability on screen.

She is an occasional and mediocre DJ, specialising in packing as many Nicki Minaj guest verses as possible into a set. Her first book—a pop culture memoir called No Way! Okay, Fine—will be released by Hachette in 2017.

www.brodielancaster.com

Elize Strydom is a documentary photographer and ABC radio journalist based in Sydney, Australia. She has been photographing live music, weddings and the world around her professionally for seven years. In 2011, Elize travelled to New York City to study photojournalism under Frank Fournier at the International Center of Photography.

In September 2012, she began the independent project 'Small Town Girl' in New South Wales, Australia. In 2013/14 she continued the project in six US states and in early 2015, Elize travelled to South Africa to live with and photograph another six teenage girls in out of the way places. 'Small Town Girl - Australia' was exhibited as part of the Head On Photo Festival in May 2013 and at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery in December 2013. That same year, Elize was named 'runner-up' in the photography category of the national Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards.

In 2015 ‘Small Town Girl - Australia, South Africa and the USA’ was exhibited at Gaffa Gallery in Sydney’s CBD as part of the Head On Photo Festival.

Images from the project have been published in the Weekend Australian Magazine, Frankie Magazine and Incandescent Magazine as well as online via BuzzFeed and Vice.

www.elizestrydom.carbonmade.com

Niccola has over thirteen years’ experience working across direct, digital, print, design and TV. She loves creating big ideas that work hard and produce great results for clients. The agencies that she has worked at include M&C Saatchi, DDB/RAPP Sydney and MercerBell and she is now Head of Art at LIDA, part of the M&C Saatchi Group.

Niccola has received industry awards and commendations from the Webbies, AC&E, ADMA and the Echoes. She has judged the AWARD and AC&E Awards, and is on the AWARD Committee. She is a National AWARD School Chair for 2016, and has recently championed a networking and mentoring program for female creatives called The Power of Ten.

Niccola is also a breast cancer survivor and is one of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research's ambassadors. Niccola spends her spare hours writing, taking photographs and creating sculptural works. She has been exhibited in various Sydney and Melbourne galleries and has been the recipient of sculpture and photography prizes.

www.niccolaphillips.com