Mates Rates Ambassadors

Alice Armitage is a serial entrepreneur from North-West NSW with a background working in the venture capital space. Having worked and studied in metropolitan Australia and abroad, Alice has now returned to the regions.

Spending more of her time focusing on supporting grassroots initiatives and innovation happening in regional Australia as well as founding The Pandaemonium Paper. Merging her regional upbringing with the best practice of her experience in the tech and venture sector to build the perfect ecosystem to support a prosperous future for the regions. 

Jamila Rizvi is a diversity, equity and inclusion expert, best-selling author and sought-after public speaker. She is Deputy Managing Director of FW, a start-up that supports women who face barriers to employment return to work and advises employers on gender equality.

Jamila is also a columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and previously worked as an adviser to the Rudd and Gillard Governments. She lives and works on Wurundjeri country.

Laura Thompson is a Gunditjmara woman with an inspiring history of building impactful businesses through passion and purpose.

An experienced and public health professional, Laura founded The Koorie Circle and in 2018 co-founded Clothing The Gaps an Aboriginal-led and controlled social enterprise & B-corp that has become a well-known Aboriginal street wear label in Australia.  

Clothing The Gaps provides a platform through which Mob and allies alike can express their values and spark important conversations though fashion and a cause. 

As well as being a thriving business in its own right, Laura and her team use their business as a vehicle to fund the crucial work of the Clothing The Gaps Foundation, an independent Aboriginal-led not for profit that exists to get Aboriginal people active so that years are added to their lives.

Nick Pearce is the Co-Founder of HoMie, a Melbourne streetwear clothing social enterprise that launched in 2015. HoMie uses 100% of its profits to achieve their mission of supporting young people affected by homelessness or hardship.

From humble beginnings as a pop-up concept between three mates, HoMie now has a thriving online business and a bricks and mortar retail store that also acts as a base for HoMie’s Pathway Alliance Program - an
initiative that sees young people experiencing hardship participate in
training, where they gain paid on-the-job experience and accredited learning.

A business leader that is passionate about making a positive social impact, Nick was awarded the Victorian Young Achievers Award
for Leadership in 2017, the National Retail Association's Young Retailer of the Year in 2018 and GQ Magazine’s Social Force Award in 2019.