Team

Meet the StartSomeGood Leadership Team

Tom Dawkins - Co-Founder and CEO

Tom Dawkins is an experienced social entrepreneur, having founded several non-profits and social enterprises before co-founding StartSomeGood in 2010. Tom is Australian and has lived and worked in Washington DC and San Francisco, returning to Sydney to start his family in 2012. Before StartSomeGood he founded Australian youth non-profit Vibewire, opened the first co-working space in Australia, was the first Digital Communications Director at Ashoka in Washington DC and was the founding Director of the Australian Changemakers Festival. Tom has organized dance parties and film festivals, youth journalism projects and new media conferences, co-working spaces and Burning Man theme camps and has supported numerous non-profits, governments and arts organizations to refine their story and build their community. Tom has been recognized with awards and fellowships from the World Summit Youth Awards, The International Youth Foundation, Nexus Summit and the Social Enterprise Awards and is a global speaker on social innovation and entrepreneurship. He is a Director of the Centre for Social Impact and the Social Enterprise Council of NSW and the ACT (SECNA).

Renata van Diest - Co-Founder and CTO

Renata is the Chief Technology Officer at StartSomeGood, and is in charge of all things tech. Previously she worked as a Software Engineer at Microsoft in Seattle, and she has worked with several tech startups in the London, UK area on tech and business strategy. She is passionate about businesses that combine technology with a social mission in order to improve people's lives. Renata has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington in Seattle, and an MBA from London Business School. Renata has lived, worked and studied in the US, the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands, and has traveled to more than 50 countries on all 7 continents. She is an avid travel photographer and also loves snowboarding, kayaking, sailing, and trekking, and most of all going on adventures with her Pittie mix rescue pup, Shorty.

Nimmity Zappert - Learning & Support Manager

Before joining StartSomeGood and founding her own enterprises, All of the Good Things and Authentic Selling, Nimmity worked for 25+ years in senior management in the software industry. Working across a broad international landscape, this included working in Africa, Middle East, Europe (including Russia and Central Europe), Scandinavia, Asia and the Americas. As well as fantastic experiences exploring the world, these experiences also highlighted the extreme contrast in her living and travelling circumstances, and those she saw in her travels. This sparked a passion in the Fair Trade movement. Nimmity currently volunteers as the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand. She enjoys hiking, exploring new cities, art, camping and reading fantasy novels.

Jasper Vallance - Marketing Director

Jasper heads up marketing with over 20 years experience in sales and marketing roles at Google, Flight Centre and in a range of consulting, teaching and facilitator roles. A mad cyclist, adventurer and party organizer! Well known in the burner community for starting Sunset Island at Burning Seed, a sunset theme camp party where 1000's dance into sunset. But he saw one big issue in Australia’s party scene - the overconsumption of alcohol and drugs and the negative consequences on mental health. Jasper then set out on a new mission - still creating epic parties - just sober - to inspire a more healthy party culture. Launching Xstatic Sunsets in 2019 with the largest sober dance party in Australia on Shark Island in Sydney Harbour! But then Covid hit - leading to an idea for a crowdfunding campaign on StartSomeGood which successfully raised 50k to finally deliver (after a few postponements!) Xstatic Wonderland Festival at Sydney Town Hall on the 22nd October 2022. A graduate of the Good Hustle Program, Jasper knows our products and is passionate about supporting others on their journey to creating an impact.

Ayush Jain - Crowdfunding Coach

Ayush works at the intersection of entrepreneurship and social change as a Crowdfunding Coach at StartSomeGood, where he empowers and supports social entrepreneurs making a difference in their community. In his previous role at SPARK Deakin, he helped run an accelerator program and curated events to connect students to the booming startup ecosystem in Melbourne. Ayush has lived, studied and worked in major international cities such as Singapore, Dubai, and Sydney. He has also worked on projects with multinational corporations to startups such as the Woolworths Group, Lowe Lintas Group, State Bank of India, and Social Change Central. He is also super interested in hospitality based social enterprises and is learning about micro-franchising and the open hiring model, while also designing his own master's degree.

Cameron Price - StartSomeGood Network Manager

Bio coming soon.

Gabriella Pirintji - Programs and Support Assistant

Gabriella is the Programs and Support assistant at StartSomeGood. She studied a Bachelor of Development Studies at the Australian National University. Her studies, work and personal experiences have taught her the importance and effectiveness of grassroots, community-driven work. She has volunteered and worked in a variety of social enterprises, both in Australia and internationally, such as Outline India in Delhi and Crees Manu in the Manú Biosphere Reserve. Gabriella is interested in the power of urban agriculture for community-building and social change. She also has a keen interest in dance and the arts, and wants to further explore their role in enhancing individual and community wellbeing.

Rabia Fathima - Customer Success Assistant

Bio coming soon.