The Long Road to HoMie for Steph
Staff ReporterSince joining HoMie, Steph has played a key role in strengthening the organisation’s employment and training pathways, which combine retail, education and wraparound support to help young people build confidence, stability and long-term career opportunities. Under her leadership, HoMie continues to bridge the worlds of social impact, fashion and culture, proving that commercial success and meaningful social change can co-exist.
Steph describes her role as “enabling everybody in this organisation to do what they do best”, supporting the team behind HoMie’s youth employment programs while helping expand the organisation’s reach nationally. She is particularly focused on scaling the Pathway Alliance program, which currently sees 86% of participants engaged in employment or further education 12 months after graduation.
Before becoming CEO at HoMie, Steph built her career across media, sport, communications and the social enterprise sector. She previously held senior communications roles at The Reach Foundation and The Big Issue Australia, where she developed a strong interest in purpose-led storytelling and social impact communications. Earlier in her career, she worked in digital and marketing roles at the Port Adelaide Football Club and in journalism. Her background spans strategic communications, brand partnerships, digital marketing and community engagement.
Steph is passionate about social enterprise because it offers what she describes as “your hands on the steering wheel” — combining commercial strategy with direct social impact. She is particularly interested in creating pathways between corporate Australia and young people experiencing disadvantage, positioning HoMie as a connector between sectors rather than a traditional advocacy organisation.
Originally from a small farming community outside Adelaide, Steph grew up in a values-driven family environment centred around community, volunteering and looking out for others. She often credits her father, a GP and long-time community volunteer, as one of her biggest influences, shaping her strong sense of ethics, responsibility and care for others.
Outside work, Steph is deeply connected to nature and community. She loves hiking, birdwatching and spending time outdoors, and values meaningful relationships and small-scale community connection over status or visibility. She is inspired by “good people doing good stuff when nobody’s watching.”
Steph’s leadership style reflects HoMie’s broader philosophy: practical optimism, collaboration and tangible action. Rather than positioning the organisation as combative or politically adversarial, Steph sees HoMie’s role as creating real-world opportunities and building bridges between sectors to create lasting change for young people.
Read on for our interview with Steph!
Describe your career trajectory and how you got to your current position.
After school and in my early career, I followed the path of least resistance without any clear idea of what exactly I wanted to do. I’d always been a strong communicator and I was naturally interested in philosophy and politics, so I studied Arts & Media with a vague idea that perhaps I’d be a foreign correspondent one day. After cutting my teeth as a journalist at a country newspaper for a few years, I naively stepped into the commercial AFL world in a digital media & marketing role. I quickly learned that while I thrive in a fast-past and dynamic environment, I felt there had to be more meaningful work out there that more closely aligned with my values. So I made the decision to transfer my skills to the non-profit & social enterprise sector, with senior communications & marketing roles at The Big Issue and The Reach Foundation. When the gig to lead HoMie came up - a social enterprise I’d long admired from afar - it was a no brainer to throw my hat in the ring, and it’s truly been the best decision of my career. I’ve never felt more fulfilled, challenged & grounded.
What drives you to do the work that you do?
I’m driven by a strong sense of justice, equity and the power of community. Through my work, I’ve seen time and time again what a person can achieve with access to the right opportunity and support. Being a part of the HoMie community, helping create employment opportunities and watching young people step into their own power is a privilege that’s never lost on me - it drives me every day.
I’m also motivated by social enterprise as the business model of the future. To navigate the biggest social and environmental challenges of our time, we must change the way we’re doing both business and charity. I believe social enterprise can be that change.
If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself as you first embarked on your career?
I’d tell myself two things:
1. Trust the process. The path ahead isn’t obvious or linear, but there’s something to be gained from every stop along the way.
2. It’s not about you. The collective power of the communities you’re a part of is so much more important than any individual success.
Any words you live by day to day?
You are not your thoughts. And; don’t be a dickhead.
What are you currently watching / reading / listening to?
Watching: Secrets of the Bees - a National Geographic series that shows the incredible lives of earth’s most important animal and pollinator of the world’s food. It’s mind blowing and heartwarming and awe inspiring all at once.
Listening: Against the Odds - dangerously bingeable podcast with 68 seasons of stories of human resilience, sharing thrilling stories of survival. You’ll find me plugged in for hours on end while gardening or running.
Reading: I’ve just finished re-reading Ethics in the Real World by Peter Singer…it’s left me with more questions than answers, in the good kind of way.
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From Southwest Sydney to the World Stage
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Rewriting The Pathways for young people
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Building Systems That Don’t Exclude
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Designing Dignity Into the Business Details
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Building Toward a More Just and Peaceful World
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Challenging Power Through Law, Human Rights and Persistence
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Building the systems we need for a changing world
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Building a fairer future for all through human rights law
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Driving Policy Change For Now And For What's Next
