Council to host two inspiring events to promote community resilience

A social entrepreneur with heart, grit and intelligence, Samantha Gash’s authentic storytelling shows you that “if you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you have never done before”. Her story is riveting, filled with humour, sadness, depth, and incredible resilience.  

Sam is a former lawyer turned ultra-marathon runner and social impact champion who has raised over $1.4 million through running and social impact campaigns including the viral Relief Run for the Red Cross Australian Bushfire Appeal which saw 19,000 participants run in over 60 countries. 

After an epic 537-day Antarctic expedition with the rest of world experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, David Knoff has endured uncertainty and circumstances far beyond any modern Antarctic leadership experience, requiring every ounce of resilience, motivation, and inspiration from himself and his team.  

David speaks about teamwork, culture, mental health, crisis management, adaptive leadership, and a bunch more. Oh, and he also has some great visuals of penguins! 

Beau Miles is a You-tuber, writer, ultra-athlete, and dad. As a local to the region, he is also known as ‘The Backyard Adventurer’ which is also the name of his book title. Beau is often seen running with a shovel, groceries, or deep in the bush sporting an inch-thick layer sunscreen.  

Beau is the former Director of Outdoor Education at Monash University where he gained his PhD and an ambassador for Outward Bound Australia. Beau is a keen advocate for outdoor life, practical skills, and is a great resistor of fashion trends. 

Following 14 years in the AFL as a player career, Wayne Schwass has gone on to establish himself as a respected sports media broadcaster with a career spanning nearly two decades. During his AFL career, Wayne experienced his own mental health challenges and has since become a wellbeing champion with a leading voice on mental health and emotional wellbeing.  

Wayne is the founder of PukaUp where he continues his work of normalising the conversation around mental health and giving people the opportunity to take control of their own wellbeing, before reaching crisis point. 

Bianca was one of the youngest players ever to have debuted for the Australian Diamonds at the age of 18. She made a name for herself on the court as one of the toughest defenders, winning both gold and silver medals at the Commonwealth Games alongside a host of premiership victories and awards. 

Since retiring from the sport in 2015, Bianca has gone on to become one of the most prominent female voices in Australian sport working across a variety of TV and radio shows. In 2016 Bianca launched her first book called Every Girl Needs A Plan which seeks to empower women to find their passion, navigate through the fear of change, and nail down a game plan to make it happen.