Marisa Vecchio AM

Marisa Vecchio AM donates every cent from this talk to Women's Legal Service Queensland. Her story starts in the corporate world, where she led a company nationally as CEO and was named Queensland's Telstra Businesswoman of the Year in 2004. In 2012 she bought Hanworth House, among the oldest homes in Brisbane, and set about restoring it. Weeks before it was due to open in 2013, an arson attack destroyed most of the building. She rebuilt. Today the house takes in 22 guests at once, and it has raised a large sum for charities around Brisbane. Her sessions cover resilience, philanthropy and women in business, which makes her a good choice for a women's leadership lunch or a fundraising dinner where the cause matters as much as the speaker. She's based in Brisbane and takes bookings within 50 km.