Leading with lived experience

Drawing on her lived experience of disability and prior careers in tourism, hospitality and real estate, Stephanie Agnes delivers practical, sustainable strategies that drive meaningful change. Stephanie has been a trusted advisor to government agencies, corporations, and organisations across sectors including healthcare, tourism, banking, retail and utilities. She played a key role in developing and managing RecruitAble, a national pilot program aimed at transforming mainstream recruitment practices to be accessible and inclusive for people with disability. A compelling keynote speaker and facilitator, Stephanie shares personal stories that inspire resilience and challenge outdated perceptions of disability. Her speaking engagements include the National Disability Summit (2024), Destination Q (2023) and the National Jobs and Skills Summit (2022). 

Stephanie now brings her open, collaborative approach to her new role as People Experience Manager at First2Care, where she leads initiatives to enhance employee engagement, foster inclusive workplace culture, and champion accessibility across the organisation.

Describe your career trajectory and how you got to your current position.

I started my career in real estate, working in property management and then sales admin, office management and training roles allowing me to understand all facets of the industry. across 11 years. In between whilst travelling I also worked in management positions in hospitality and tourism.

After 11 years in real estate I found myself at an organisation where they were not supportive of my vision loss and would regularly hide my belongings and experiencing other bullying behaviours, I left that organisation. However, could not find employment for 2 years due to employers perceptions of employing someone who is blind. Not wanting to give up, I studied a Diploma of Remedial Massage and opened my own business in the apartment complex I was living in at the time, providing onsite remedial massage therapy for residents.

In 2019 I had the fortunate opportunity present itself for a role within a Disability Inclusion and Accessibility Consultancy. Whilst I didn’t have any consulting experience I had the lived experience of my disability and transferable skills from previous roles. Over 6 years I progressed up in the company from an admin role to a Senior Consultant and became a trusted advisor to government departments and organisations. One of My specialist areas was the inclusive recruitment of people with disability. Bringing my own lived experience around the barriers people with disability face gaining meaningful employment I worked with many organisations including Kmart, Bendigo Bank and others. To further support me with my consulting and managing my team I completed my Certificate IV in Human Resource Management. I saw an opportunity for the positive change I could make within an organisation if I were in a permanent HR Role rather than an in and out consultant, so earlier this year I accepted the People Experience Manager position with First2Care.  

Can you tell us a bit more about what the organisation is all about?

First2Care is a trusted, independent provider of plan management services, dedicated exclusively to participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Backed by over 40 years of financial management experience, we deliver tailored, transparent, and Participant-focused support that empowers Participants to take full advantage of their NDIS funding.

As a fully independent plan manager, we are free from conflicts of interest – our sole priority is the effective and ethical management of our client’s NDIS funds. We simplify the complexities of plan administration, giving Participants the confidence and clarity to pursue their goals and live a life filled with meaning, purpose, and independence.

We are committed to ensuring that our team represent our community and currently, 13% of our employees have disability, plus others have connection to disability such as having children or family members with disability. This lived experience enables our staff to provide exemplary service to our participants, nominees and providers.   

Take us through a typical day of work for you.

I usually get up at 6am, have a coffee, get ready for work and feed my guide dog, Rocky. 3 days a week I commute into the Brisbane office from the Gold Coast. My driver picks me up at 7am and depending on the traffic we usually get to the office around 8:30am. 

From there my days are very different depending on what is happening in the organisation. I tend to all things HR for our 50+ staff. This could be recruiting for a vacant position, implementing workplace adjustments, facilitating inductions and training for staff, providing coaching and mentoring for managers, supporting performance and compliance reviews and identifying opportunities to improve experiences for staff and participants. Another large part of my day to day role is ensuring accessibility, I review our social media and other content ensuring the use of inclusive language and digital and print accessibility. Ensuring our events, both for participants and staff are accessible and inclusive. 

Currently, I am designing training for all of our staff to assist them in increasing their understanding of disability, inclusion and accessibility. Everything I do is underpinned by the principles of inclusive leadership and providing equitable experiences for all.  

What is the biggest challenge you’ve encountered in your career, and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge has been people’s perceptions of what I am capable of due to my disability. In the early days when I had low vision it was a bit easier but once I became completely blind, I came up against all sorts of bias both unconscious and conscious. I have become as confident as I can and try to constantly educate people on how I do things and the skills I can bring to an organisation. Often people think that I can’t use a computer, which is definitely a misconception, I am a wiz at technology and have inbuilt screen readers that allow me to use a computer and mobile phone just like everyone else.

Despite numerous studies proving the benefits of employing people with disability including higher retention rates, increased staff morale, equal or betteR productivity and increased customer loyalty, In 2025, the unemployment rate for people with disability is still nearly double that of people without disability and this has barely changed OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS.    

This is one of the main reasons I do what I do, to try to remove these barriers for other people with disability so we can continue to ensure that people with disability have equitable access to meaningful employment opportunities.  

If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself as you first embarked on your career?

I was diagnosed with my degenerative eye condition in my first year of working in real estate, and I thought my life was going to be over. I would tell myself that losing your vision definitely doesn’t mean your life is over and you are going to have a successful career and all of these amazing opportunities including speaking in Parliament at the National Jobs and Skills Summit, walking in a Melbourne Fashion Week show, being an ongoing judge of the Queensland Tourism Awards and so much more. But most importantly you are going to have a career where you work hard to improve the lives of people with disability and contribute to sustainable change across Australia.      

How do you unwind after work?

I spend time with my husband, listen to an audiobook, podcast or listen to a show on Netflix. A recent hobby that I have discovered and has fast become my favourite thing to do to switch off is mosaicing. It is a bit of a challenge mosaicing without sight, but like most things, I have created methods that work for me, and I absolutely love my creations!

What was the last thing you watched, read or listened to?

• Audiobook – The Women by Kristin Hannah 
• Watching – The Diplomat