WHO WE ARE

Niamh has a passion for ideas and challenging stereotypes of what working in STEMM looks like. Niamh brought the idea, energy and drive to make the gallery a reality. Niamh’s goal was to use audiovisual media to create a gallery that can be accessed by anyone online and adapted for unique installations in the future. The huge interest from the local STEMM community, hearing the participants' stories and witnessing the immense passion of the team has been a truly humbling experience. 

Michelle is a keen photographer and a sucker for a challenge. How could she pass up the opportunity to capture portraits of more than 40 fabulously interesting people, with only 15 minutes to help each of them get comfortable and relaxed? An unassuming natural light ‘studio’ (a work corridor with a kitchen stool from home) and heavy use of self-deprecating humour may or may not have helped. But she found it an honour and joy to try to capture the warmth and intelligence that was obvious in every gallery participant.

Doing her best to capture the heart and soul that went into the gallery, Olly recorded behind-the-scenes footage of the team at work. From there, Olly produced and edited a short film of the process from the interview to photograph stages, incorporating the voices of the participants to deliver a film that will hopefully be shown at future events to help inspire more people to follow their dreams of a career in STEMM. When not filming, Olly also had the pleasure of interviewing some of the incredible participants and hearing their tales. 

The idea of doing something different to highlight diversity in STEMM in Tasmania led Mibu to putting her hand up to join the organising team. A self-proclaimed introvert meeting and interviewing such an amazing group of people in STEMM was a great opportunity to further push the comfort zone, but to also hear brief snippets of stories of others who are passionate in their selected fields. Turning those interviews into short snappy phrases to be shared on social media platforms is a daunting task, but a fun one. 

While well and truly overcommitted (including growing a baby), Kelsey couldn’t resist being involved in the Diversity in STEMM Gallery. She was notorious at going over time and off-script with every interview due to getting caught up in the participant’s fascinating stories. The most rewarding part of the experience was putting the website together – uploading everyone’s beautiful portraits along with their inspirational quotes was really moving and she could tell we have created something wonderful.

The Gallery has been Penny’s first foray into big wide world of TWICS! She has at least somewhat conquered her fear of technology to master the art of interviewing, and found the experience incredibly rewarding – how often do you get to spend all day talking to utterly inspiring people? She has also been turning her inner red pen fiend to the task of editing participant bios.