Our stories are powerful - and can be used to create real change.
Zoë Condliffe is the CEO & Founder of She’s A Crowd and a researcher in gender and crowdsourcing technology at Monash University. Zoë’s work uses crowdsourcing technology to make cities safer for women and address the gender data gap.
Zoë started her first social enterprise in a village in rural Cambodia and has since gained experience across the university, NGO and start-up sectors, becoming an outspoken leader in the social change sector.
Current Work:
Zoë is passionate about the power of storytelling to change the world, her story starts in the early 90s, growing up in war torn Cambodia with a UN family, before returning to Cambodia as a young adult. While she expected to be challenged by the prospect of starting an organisation from a rural village, Zoë did not expect to end up having to survive an abusive relationship in the process. This experience left Zoë passionate and determined to address gender-based violence.
In 2016 Zoë started working in gender advocacy for a large international NGO where she pioneered Free To Be, a digital mapping tool for young women to map street harassment. From there she decided to start her company She’s A Crowd, to use the power of storytelling to address the data gap in gender-based violence. She’s A Crowd has grown into an award-winning feminist tech startup that is already expanding globally. She pairs her role as founder and CEO of She’s A Crowd with her work as a researcher into digital feminist activism at Monash University.
Zoë’s deep academic understanding of digital feminist activism and storytelling, lived personal experience and current role running a data-driven feminist tech company made her a unique Speaker. In her presentations Zoë seamlessly weaves heartbreaking experiences with entertaining anecdotes, peppered with bold opinions and relevant statistics that leave her audiences informed, and inspired.
Previous Experience:
Awards & Accolades: Zoë has been named one of the Top 100 most influential, creative and provocative people in Melbourne by The Age, one of the Women’s Weekly Women of the Future for the Innovation and Technology in 2019 and her company was listed on the Smart Company Smart30 List for in 2018 and 2019. She has also been the winner of multiple pitch competitions including the City of Melbourne Knowledge Week International Prize.
Zoë is alumni of the Foundation for Young Australians, SheStarts and Blackbox Connect (San Francisco), sponsored by Google for Startups.
Zoë is a Young Social Pioneer with the Foundation for Young Australians, a fellow of the Oaktree Leader’s Trust, alumni of the Global Engagement Summit, and the winner of Anthill Magazine’s 30under30 young entrepreneurs award.
Talking Points
Share the story, change the story: why your story matters
Bridging her childhood on a UN mission in war torn Cambodia with today’s #metoo movement, Zoe draws on her expertise in digital feminism activism and her work international development to capture just how our stories can change the world. Showcasing vulnerability through a brave retelling of her own story, Zoe captures the essence of how stories can heal us, save us, and even drive transformative change. Returning to Cambodia to start a non-profit organisation at the age of 21, her life, goals and her work were disrupted by an abusive relationship, which drove her to eventually start her company, She’s A Crowd. Zoe talks about how women's stories can be translated into powerful datasets to address gender-based violence and explores her own experiences with finding healing from violence through storytelling. Storytelling is powerful, and Zoe shows us just how it can be used to heal ourselves and change the world.
Share the story, change the story: why your story matters
Leave me(n) out of it: the future of technology and the gender data
Data is the new black, and the data revolution is well underway. We’re all complicit in the data revolution: whether we like it or not. But is data shaping our lives and our jobs more than we even know? Leave me(n) out of it: the future of technology and the gender data
In this talk, Zoe shares funny, enlightening and sometimes shocking stories about what it’s really like to run a data-driven feminist tech company in an industry dominated by men while holding onto a bigger and more pressing question: how can we all ensure we design for a future that is safe, equal, inclusive and accessible for everyone?
How to start a company from your van
In 2018, Zoe quit her job and decided to start her own company (from her van). Within four months she had gone from living in her van to pitching her startup in highrises in New York City and Silicon Valley. In this talk she shares nuggets of wisdom from her experiences diving headfirst from cushy NGO job into the cut-throat startup industry. She spans practical advice about how to run your own company and back yourself to the best #vanlife locations and how to fool everyone into thinking you have showered recently. Zoe is no stranger to roughing it: she started her first organisation in a village in rural Cambodia. Over the years she has developed a survival kit for new entrepreneurs based off her experiences, which she shares in this talk.
How to start a company from your van
Video
Why your story matters | Zoë Condliffe | TEDxUniMelb
Storytelling is powerful, and for women who have experienced harassment, sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence, our stories are changing the world. Zoë is passionate about the power of storytelling and believes that online storytelling by women is defining the current feminist movement. She talks about how women's stories can be translated into powerful datasets to address gender-based violence and explores her own experiences with finding healing from violence through storytelling. Zoë Condliffe is the CEO and founder of She's A Crowd. She's A Crowd uses storytelling data to make cities safer for women. Using digital crowdmapping technology and data analytics, She's A Crowd collects geolocatied data about harassment and sexual assault to empower decision makers to take preventative action on gender-based violence.Zoë Condliffe | Your Story Matters | Saxton Live
Zoë Condliffe explores the importance of storytelling in addressing the data gap in gender-based violence. Zoë is the CEO & Founder of She’s A Crowd and a researcher in gender and crowdsourcing technology at Monash University. She uses crowdsoruced data to make cities safer for women and to provide a platform for women to tell their stories. The presentation was given at Saxton Live, our speaker showcase, at AIME 2020.Saxton Fireside Chat with Founder and CEO of She's A Crowd, Zoë Condliffe
Content Warning: This video discusses domestic violence, harassment and other forms of gender-based violence. The exchange of stories and ideas is more important now than ever. In this bi-weekly series of virtual Fireside Chats, you can gain unprecedented access to the world's greatest storytellers and thought leaders. In this session, Zoë shares the story of how she came to found her organisation, She's A Crowd. She's A Crowd used crowd-sourcing to technology to allow women to share their stories of gender-based violence. This data is then used by organisations and governments to make spaces safer for women.Meet Zoë Condliffe | The People Australia Needs | Bank Australia
Zoe Condliffe is the CEO & Founder of She’s A Crowd, the startup which uses data as a catalyst for countering gender based violence. She believes in gender equality and is committed to building a movement that will create change from the streets to the council chambers.Zoë was super engaging in the way she delivered her information, while remaining emotive and serious about an important issue in our society. The entire crowd was engrossed in what she was s ... keep reading VICICT4.WOMEN
Zoe moderated a panel of female leaders in the Brisbane music industry following a documentary screening of 'Her Sound Her Story'. We were incredibly impressed by her professionalism, and her adaptability in speaking about an industry outside of her own. Her preparation prior to the event, as well as her engagement with the speakers during the night led to a fluent and stimulating discussion. She ensured the voices of the audience were heard, followed timing and included her own humour. We have had nothing but positive feedback from attendees, and are looking forward to having Zoe speak again at future events.
Zoe is an inspiring and provocative speaker who thoroughly engages the audience and drives social change through always ensuring commitment to action.
