Rural Women LEAD
2026 Workshop Details and Facilitator Bios
Workshop #1: The Superpowers of You with Dr Jodie Fleming.
Join clinical & health psychologist Dr Jodie Fleming for an empowering experiential workshop designed to help you unlock your invisible superpowers—emotional intelligence, strengths, and self-compassion.
Set in the stunning surrounds of The Stables in Koroit, this workshop is created to inspire, connect, and elevate women in rural communities. Through engaging activities, real conversations, and practical strategies, you'll discover how to harness your inner Wonder Woman—not by doing more, but by embracing what’s already within you.
Expect a day of growth, connection, and plenty of ‘aha’ moments—with a little bit of fun thrown in!
Unleash your superpowers. Lead with confidence. Flourish.
Date: 5 June 2026
Location: The Stables - Koroit
Arrive: 9.45am for a 10am start.
Concludes: 2.00pm.
Workshop #2: Leading Self for Life and Profession Fulfillment with Jessica Fishburn.
FOCUS: True leadership begins with self-awareness and intentional action. In this interactive workshop, we will explore the brain’s optimal arousal zones, wellbeing, and neurobiology to biohack your nervous system for sustainable success - whatever that may be for you. Learn how to harness flow states and take control of what is within your reach to lead yourself effectively in both life and career. Through guided goal-setting strategies, including the SMART goals, you’ll set a clear agenda for personal and professional fulfillment. Walk away with practical tools, a renewed sense of purpose, and the confidence to take meaningful action toward your leadership journey.
Date: 19 June 2026
Location: Sterling Place - Dunkeld
Arrive: 9.45am for a 10am start.
Concludes: 2.00pm.
Workshop #3: Future Voice: Expressing Ideas That Create Change with Lynne Cazaly
What are you passionate about and what do you find yourself having strong views on?
Your internal voice has the power to advocate, influence, impact and shape the future ... through your thoughts, ideas, words and expression.
This workshop will help us explore our thoughts and ideas, building the clarity of our messaging as a leader.
Learn how to articulate your ideas with precision, advocating for what matters and inspiring action through compelling thinking, well presented.
We'll explore public speaking and presenting ideas and information, writing your thoughts and insights and having conversations about your ideas. We'll explore the art of influence and persuasion and how individual ideas can have many different levels of understanding, depending on how we'd like that idea to grow.
Date: 17 July 2026
Location: The Union Station Hotel - Woolsthorpe
Arrive: 9.45am for a 10am start.
Concludes: 2.00pm.
Workshop #4: Becoming Her: a self-leadership intensive with Karen Foster
This experiential journey will guide women through a series of activities designed to help them move from where they are today to where they want to be.
This session has been designed for busy women who may have lost touch with their dreams and perhaps even with themselves.
Working through the pillars of self-awareness, self-trust and self-leadership, participants will leave feeling inspired and clear about who they want to be and what their next steps are.
Date: 7 August 2026
Location: Conlans - Port Fairy
Arrive: 9.45am for a 10am start.
Concludes: 2.00pm.
Workshop #5 Media Ready: Pitch, Perform, and Be Heard with Kirsten Diprose
This engaging 90-minute workshop is designed to help you confidently pitch stories to the media and show up as a compelling, credible guest. You’ll learn what journalists are really looking for, how to shape your ideas into a strong, timely pitch, and how to avoid the common mistakes that get emails ignored. We’ll also cover how to prepare for interviews, deliver clear and memorable messages, and handle tricky questions with confidence. Whether you’re new to media or looking to sharpen your approach, this practical session will give you the tools, tips, and real-world insights to get your voice heard and make every media opportunity count.
AND
Workshop #5: Indigenous Story Telling through art with local Keerray Woorroong/ Yorta Yorta artist Sherry Johnstone.
Learn about Sherry’s journey to becoming a self-taught contemporary Aboriginal artist and the importance of being a positive role model and inspiring leader, encouraging other Aboriginal women to believe in their abilities. Sherry will help you explore Aboriginal traditional symbolism, speaking to her artworks, sharing their meaning and different representations throughout. See how she blends the old with the new, whilst importantly continuing her ancestors ancient form of storytelling through her art. Sherry also invites you to create your own small canvas inspired by what connects with you from the session, with all materials supplied.
Date: 21 August 2026
Location: Warrnambool (TBC)
Arrive: 9.45am for a 10am start.
Concludes: 2.00pm.
Facilitator bios
Lynne Cazaly
Lynne Cazaly is an international keynote speaker, facilitator and award winning author with her ideas and thoughts published in her 10 books.
She delivers practical workshops and keynotes and consults to leaders, teams and businesses guiding them through their adoption of new ways of working.
Lynne is an experienced broadcaster and published in leading business magazines and media. She has mentored more than 90 business owners in exploring their ideas and intellectual property and how to express and share their thinking.
Karen Foster
Karen is an experienced community leader and communications professional.
A Councillor (and former Mayor), she is an active Board Director and Chair, coach, mentor and facilitator.
Karen started her career in Journalism, later establishing a PR and Marketing agency which she lead for more than a decade.
Today she is a sought after motivational speaker and leadership development coach who also offers online self-leadership and leadership development programs for women.
Dr Jodie Fleming
Driven by her Core Desired Feelings: Connected; Purposeful; Flourishing; and, Serene, Dr Jodie Fleming takes the skills & knowledge developed over a long & successful career as a clinical & health psychologist, replacing the traditional deficits focus of psychology with the strengths approach of positive psychology, allowing her to develop into a therapist with a difference. Combining the therapeutic benefits of nature, movement, breath and being, Jodie proudly creates unique pathways for her clients to thrive in their rich, meaningful lives.
Jodie owns & operates her private practice The Psychology of It as a Clinical & Health Psychologist, Positive Psychology Practitioner; Meditation Teacher; and certified Run Walk Talk Practitioner. She is also the Co-Director of the Being Well Collective, a Positive Psychology based company focused on promoting wellbeing in the workplace, as well as facilitating wellness retreats.
In her spare time, she writes and travels and plans and dreams.
Jessica Fishburn
Jessica is an experienced Pelvic Health & Pain Physiotherapist and a dedicated advocate for population health education. With a strong commitment to improving health and wellbeing outcomes for rural women, she leads with compassion, humility, and a drive for meaningful change. As a business leader, Jessica is a Co-Director of Gen Health Hamilton (@gen_health_) and ProFeet Footwear Hamilton (@profeetfootwear_hamilton), overseeing a thriving combined allied health clinic and a specialist podiatry footwear store, both of which play a vital role in enhancing community health.
Passionate about bridging the gap between rural communities and high-quality healthcare, Jessica leverages the latest evidence, technology, and professional networks to drive innovation and accessibility. A champion for women’s health literacy, she thrives in presenting and facilitating discussions at events, forums, conferences, and universities, using her platform to inspire action and foster change.
Beyond her professional roles, Jessica is a lifelong learner dedicated to personal and leadership development. She actively challenges the status quo, embraces opportunities for growth, and is committed to creating a lasting impact. Grounded in the philosophy of "thinking global and acting local," she continues to drive progress in both business and community leadership.
Outside of her working roles, Jess is a mum, a wife, a volunteer, a retired board chair, a hiker, a veggie gardener, and a novice aerial hoop artist.
Sherry Johnstone
Sherry Johnstone is a proud Keerray Woorroong (Gunditjmara) / Yorta Yorta woman and contemporary Aboriginal artist living in Warrnambool, running her own business called Spirit and Soul Creations since 2018.
Sherry’s art blends traditional knowledge and symbolism with the new. Infusing cultural connection, story, and perspective in a contemporary style.
She is passionate about sharing her culture to help create a greater understanding and awareness, building respectful relationships, working together, moving forward towards a more united future.
Kirsten Diprose
Kirsten Diprose is a communications and podcast business specialist who lives on a sheep and cropping property near Caramut, in south-west Victoria.
Kirsten founded the Rural Podcasting Co, a podcast coaching and agency service, specifically for people in rural areas. She has experience in media and marketing, previously working for Deakin University and agrifood venture capital firm, Tenacious Ventures. Kirsten also founded and co-hosts a podcast specifically for rural women, called ‘Ducks on the Pond.’ And her new podcast is Town Criers, to tell the big stories of the small towns of Australia.
Prior to this, Kirsten worked as a TV and radio journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in both regional and metropolitan newsrooms. You can still hear her as a fill-in radio presenter on ABC Radio Melbourne’s The Conversation Hour and as a regular guest on ABC TV’s News Breakfast.
Kirsten is also the Deputy Chair of South West TAFE, and a PhD candidate in journalism at Deakin University, studying podcasting and local news sustainability.