01 — THE DROP-IN
Hi angels 🤍
^^ Editors note if you prefer to listen.
You’ve probably noticed it’s taken me a little longer than a fornight to get back in your inbox with the These are the girls who get it newsletter. In the words of Gabbi Whipps, we’ve been going through some things but I am so stoked that we are here now.
Two weekends ago I watched Jemma Sbeg backstage at DomeFest and I don’t have the words for what it feels like to watch an Australian woman operating at that level. And then on stage — Mundanara from Black Magic Woman, Abbie Chatfield, Big Small Talk, Gabbi Whipps, Ebony May from R U O’Cake — every single one of them brought their community into that room and the Hordern Pavillion was completely electric. I’m so honoured to have a played a small part. Chookas to Soph & Bella for pulling it off. So proud. Women who’d found their people, in a room, being absolutely feral about it in the best way.
That’s the whole brief. That’s what we’re building here.
And then while I was still coming down from all of that, some news dropped in the chat. What came back stopped me.
“You built this from the ground up.” “The Australian community wouldn’t exist without you.” “Wherever you go next, we’re following.” Honestly yep, I have very little words. So grateful.
So. Here we are. Aussie Angels — properly ours now. New home, same women, same energy.
You told us what you need: IRL events worth leaving the house for, introductions that actually go somewhere, women in your city doing real things. Getting practical. That’s the brief. That’s what this is.
Speaking of which — Sydney, we’re on. IRL meetup next Tuesday 21st April. RSVP here. I’m itching to see everybody. 🤍
Fortnightly. No fluff. Just us. Let’s go. x
Aussie Angels is Australia’s answer to the serendipity Americans take for granted. The room where founders, operators, corporates and creatives are in the same group chat — and it turns out they needed each other. IRL events, real conversations, and the introductions that actually change things.
These are the girls who get it. And this is where they live.
02 — ANGEL OF THE FORTNIGHT
Meet Sophie Augyen. Sydney · Founder of MYRRAR.
What are you actually building right now? MYRRAR — an AI-powered beauty app that helps women understand their unique facial features and discover the looks, techniques and products that actually suit them. It started from a personal problem: most beauty guidance isn’t personalised, it’s just filtered product recommendations dressed up as advice. MYRRAR is building something genuinely different — real guidance, based on your face.
What’s the most unhinged thing you’ve done for your career / business / a dream? I tend to do things because my gut says it’s a good idea and it’ll work out exactly how I want. Latest example: I decided a makeup touchup station at a club would be interesting. It’s never really been done before. I wanted to do it, so I made it happen.
What are you gossiping about right now? Two things. One: the beauty industry is run by old white men who have no idea what women actually want — so they manufacture unrealistic beauty standards and sell them back to us as aspiration. Two — and I’ll let this one land — pretty privilege doesn’t exist. Under the patriarchy, being pretty is a punishment.
The thing you’re most embarrassed to admit you want? I’ve become pretty shameless throughout this journey, but here it is: my gut tells me MYRRAR will become a multi-billion dollar company that ends up on the NYSE. Said it.
What do you want the angels to find you for? Collabs with beauty brands, and honestly — help growing the email list. If you’re building in beauty, wellness or tech and see a way to work together, I’m here for it.
Where can we find you? @_myrrar · @sophieauyeung_· myrrar.com
Want to be featured? Reply to this email.
03 — WHAT THE AUSSIE ANGELS ARE MAKING
The output from this community right now is not normal.
→ Dr Diamond — Layla left her job at HiSmile to back herself on this one following the kind of serendipity moment you can't manufacture: she slipped the product into Hailey Bieber's hands in Sydney, and now her IG bio reads "as seen in Hailey Bieber's handbag." Iconic. Last week they launched in By Charlotte stores across the country with pop-up events — and if you were at our SXSW Aussie Angels meetup you might have got a sample early. They're currently sold out. I'm hoarding my tube. See the launch →
→ Cat Spanti — the Miu Miu video. Go. Right now. Cat has the best taste on the internet and I say that with full authority — she is the creative director behind KIT, her wedding style business, and she did all of my wedding creative direction and outfits. I am biased. I am also correct. Watch →
→ Cathy Karuga — took Yanneth to New York to launch her Aus made luxury fashion brand and documented the whole trip on TikTok. The kind of content that makes you feel like you’re right there with her — and a reminder that Australian women are building on the world stage, quietly and beautifully. Watch →
→ DomeFest — Sophie Greiner and Bella Filacuridi built Australia’s first podcast festival from nothing and it sold out. The mainstage lineup: It’s A Lot with Abbie Chatfield, Big Small Talk with Hannah Ferguson and Sarah-Jane Adams, The Psychology of Your 20s with Jemma Sbeg, Missing Perspectives, and Momentum with Kat Sasso. I hosted the Conversation Corner — six intimate live shows — and that’s where the real magic happened. And then there was Alison Rice. More on her below. Cannot wait to be back on a stage. DomeFest →
→ Modern Empress — I was in Brisbane and got to Jess Smalley and Andrea Clarke’s Modern Empress event and it recalibrated something in me. Andrea Clarke is a fierce leader and Adapt is the book you need right now — read it. The dinner is 16 women, a private room, a managed conversation about self-leadership, and you leave having made a decision with a commitment to act on it within 24 hours. Melbourne is next. See the diary. → andreaclarke.com.au
→ Kirby — is mentoring for She Codes and building our founder/tech matchmaking platform with me The Match Deck. Watch this space — and if you’re in Brisbane, go to the She Codes+ Showcase. See the diary.
→ Lucinda at Bayly PR — is in NYC for Ad Week. We’re living vicariously and waiting for the hot takes. Today she was in the same room as Emma Grede who said “I’m not a celebrity CEO, I’m a CEO that’s done so well you know my name”. Follow along.
→ Real Fine Studio — Eliza and Elyse are Brissy girls doing big things in LA and they’re back on home turf for a pop-up tour across the country. If you haven’t been following along, now’s the time — and if you need any more convincing, Meghan Markle was recently spotted wearing their signature puffy heart earrings. See the tour →
→ Perry Howell / Pilates Gang — I went to Perry’s event in collab with Spicy Pilates and Bloch Active and I’m obsessed with what she’s building. Fresh from LA where she was Head of Brand for Tinder and Paris Hilton, she’s now in Australia and building a fitness community that actually has energy. Bloch is back in a big way — I remember begging my mum for jazz pants, a wrap top, and those fancy black jazz shoes all the big girls wore. Seeing the brand have this moment is everything. Get to Perry’s events. Watch → · @pilatesgang_
→ Rolodex Conduit Dinner — Mufaro and Jade hosted at Otto in Sydney and I've got the most FOMO. Loved the takeaways they shared online after: women are not given the same grace as men when startups fail. A man fails and it's a learning. A woman fails and it follows her. That reframe, sitting over dinner with the people actively working to change it, is exactly the kind of conversation we need in Australia. Watch what these two are building. Rolodex Media
Shipped something? Drop it in the chat. You might end up here.
04 — WHAT WE’RE YAPPING ABOUT
Coachella. Hot take: Traditional Coachella brand activations have been dead for ten years and Coachella 2026 is just the first time I’ve paid enough attention to confirm it. We’re in a global economic crisis. People are anxious. And brands are spending millions on tents in the desert for an $11,000 ticket crowd (yes I know this is the artist pass, but still). The whole thing feels manufactured at exactly the moment when people are craving something real. That’s not a brand strategy problem — it’s a values misalignment problem.
The activations that cut through right now are the ones that feel like they were made by someone who actually thought about it. Skylar Leah Kate’s sunscreen reapplication station. Hot Girl Pickles glow up recreating their ground up success from 2025. Small, considered, specific. Meanwhile Fayt did a Coachella-inspired event in Australia and we liked it infinitely more, because it was built for us.
The format shift worth paying attention to: brands this year moved away from massive influencer houses stuffed with thirty creators who’ve never met and don’t like each other, to something smarter. One anchor creator, they curate the guest list, and you get their actual friend group. Poppi did this with Jake Shane and Micky Gordon. Friend group content is popping off right now because it’s the closest thing to intimacy at scale. You’re not watching an ad, you’re watching people who actually know each other. That’s the direction. We’ll see more of this on social campaigns in 2026.
The Biebers. Justin headlined as “Bieberchella” and the people who were there for it were absolutely there for it. The moment that got me: mid-performance, singing Everything Hallelujah, he looked straight into the camera and called out Hailey and baby Jack. The online critics had thoughts. Hailey was “SO proud” and didn’t elaborate and didn’t need to. Meanwhile Rhode had a full “Rhode World” pop-up on-site and Justin’s SKYLRK brand ran a 10,000-square-foot Oasis activation. The Biebers didn’t just attend Coachella, they owned it from every angle. Rhode x Patrón — odd it wasn’t with 818, right?
Pinterest went offline. Their whole activation was phone-free, guests locked their devices in a secured pouch at the door and spent the time making custom charms, getting beauty touch-ups, building physical junk journals with stickers and lenticular photos. The question everyone’s asking is: when do we see the content? Maybe never. Maybe that’s the point. In a sea of brands paying to be seen, Pinterest paid to actually be remembered. I keep thinking about that.
Emma Grede’s new book. I saw Emma speak at NRF in New York earlier this year and it elevated my obsession with her to a new level. She is genuinely such a weapon — co-founder of SKIMS, founder of Good American, and someone who has built real commercial businesses with real foundations, not just a personal brand with a merch drop attached. The book lands different when you’ve watched her command a room. We’re all reading it. Book club incoming. Watch this space.
The ecommerce number that should change how you’re thinking: Australians spent $82.6 billion online in 2025 — up 14% year on year, with 24% of all retail now happening online. This is exciting, but here’s the context that makes it really interesting: Asian markets have been sitting at close to 80% online for years. Australia was stuck around 12% for a long time — and honestly, that’s still the reality for many of the billion-dollar retail brands I work with. We are finally catching up, and the gap between where consumers are going and where most brands currently operate is your opportunity. The Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026 just dropped and it’s essential reading. Read it →
Alix vs Alex. Not elaborating. You know where to find Soph Greiner on TikTok for a hot take. I’m waiting for Sofia to enter the chat.
05 — THE AI EDIT
Here’s what I’ve actually been doing with AI, because I think it changes things: I’ve connected my email, Slack, Salesforce, Asana and internal knowledge base into one interface - Claude (ok technically I’m using Kiro/Obsidian with a Claude backend, because #WomenInSTEM) - and I am now essentially working out of that single window. It sounds like a small thing until you realise how much of your day is just moving information between tabs. I have my Technical partner’s Claude backend connected to mine, so we have a giant shared brain.
My favourite workflow so far? I send a lot of partner and client emails. Every single one of those used to mean searching for context, drafting then going back into Salesforce afterwards to log it, update the contact, add notes. That’s all automated now. Email sent, CRM updated, done. And last week I sent 96 personalised event invites to Australia’s Retail C-Suite — each one written with context pulled from what I know about that specific client. Not a mail merge. Actually personalised. At scale.
The angels who are building businesses: this is the unlock. Not AI as a concept. AI connected to your actual systems, doing the actual admin, so you can focus on the work only you can do.
→ Arielle Thomas — the Process podcast dropped an episode on making AI actually practical. Bella from Pondd is featured with her pro tips. This episode is exactly what it sounds like: useful, not theoretical. Listen →
We’re going to keep talking about this. What are you building with it? Drop it in the chat.
06 — IN THE DIARY
No excuses. Here’s where we’re showing up:
18 Apr · Sydney — Hayley Westaby’s first female founder dinner and the response since she announced it has been something else — founders globally sliding into her DMs saying this is exactly what they’ve been looking for. 6–8pm in Darlinghurst. Special guest is Grace from @graceexperiments. A few seats left — DM @hayleywestoby to get in.
18 Apr · Sydney — Polly is hosting a private screening of The Drama this Friday via YSO Cinema Club. Devil Wears Prada 2 sold out in five minutes (of course) but she’s adding 30 more tickets this weekend. Tickets →
21 Apr · Melbourne — Networking drinks for women in taboo industries — sextech, femtech and everything in between. Hosted by Laura Blagys. RSVP →
21 Apr · Sydney — Aussie Angels IRL Meetup. We’re on, angels. Next Tuesday. RSVP so I can lock down the venue — coming solo is absolutely how most of us showed up the first time and it’s always worth it. RSVP here →
23 Apr · Melbourne — The Social Summit. A full-day conference for creators, marketers and brands at Rydges Melbourne — and it exists because angel Amy Dickinson willed it into being. Amy built this from scratch: 500 attendees, a genuinely stacked speaker lineup, and a room that brings together the best of social, content and commerce in one place. Angels on stage: Cat Spanti, Jordyn Christensen, Arielle Thomas and yours truly. Use code ANGEL25 for 25% off. Tickets →
27 Apr · Melbourne — LiftWomen Asia-Pacific Female Founders Grant Pitch Night. Two of our own — Rach Tucker and Stella RiceGirl — are pitching live to investors and VCs for non-dilutive equity. Go back them. Tickets →
30 Apr · Sydney — Blackbird’s Sunrise at Carriageworks. Lineup is stacked. Tickets →
8 May · Melbourne — Modern Empress Supper Club. Private dining room at QT Hotel. 16 seats. A dinner for women who want to be more deliberate about their life — you leave having made a decision and committed to acting on it within 24 hours. Book here → · DM @jess.smalley
23 Apr · Brisbane — She Codes+ Showcase. Kirby — one of our own, mentor for She Codes and building the Aussie Angels founder/tech matchmaking platform with me — is part of this graduation showcase celebrating women entering tech. Come support. Use code MENTORLOVE for tickets. Tickets →
13 June · Sydney — Vogue Codes Summit. Angel Maeva — founder of Bread Beauty — is featured, and the speaker lineup includes astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg. This one is genuinely special. Details →
Running something? Tell me. If it’s worth the angels’ time, it goes here.
07 — THE CAP TABLE
Co-founder opportunities, investment intel, and capital that’s actually moving.
Female founders: the number worth celebrating. Startups with at least one female founder captured 24% of total capital raised in Australia in 2025 — up from just 15% in 2024. The strongest result in years. The women making it happen right now: Grace Brown at Andromeda ($23M raise), Proseek Bio (Brisbane startup raises $1.5m to commercialise its ovarian cancer detection blood test), Understanding Zoe ($770k raised for AI platform supporting neurodivergent kids) — and plenty more coming. My money is on Grace Toombs and her work in healthcare.
The funding landscape right now: $1.41B raised across 54 equity rounds in Australia so far in 2026 — a 57% increase on the same period last year. Median deal sizes: $1M at Angel/Pre-Seed, $2.5M at Seed, $11M at Series A.
Angels pitching this fortnight: Rach Tucker and Stella RiceGirl at the LiftWomen grant pitch night, April 27, Melbourne. Non-dilutive equity. Live audience of investors and VCs. [Details here →]
Open seats — via Jade at Willis Global Family Office:
→ Death-Tech / Legal-Tech — Co-Founder & CTO — Technical founder to lead product development and own the roadmap. Multiple funding rounds under your belt, fast-moving, fluent in AI and automation. Joining a founding team of three. Gold Coast preferred, open to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. → willis.global
→ E-commerce Consumer Brand — Co-Founder & CEO — Ambitious operator with e-commerce and China sourcing experience. Own everything from ops and product sourcing to supply chain and logistics. Fitness-adjacent, not apparel or supplements. Gold Coast preferred, open to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. → willis.global
Have a co-founder role, investment opportunity, or funding news to share? Reply to this email.
08 — THE CLASSIFIEDS
The angels need things. The angels have things. Let’s sort it out.
→ Alison Rice has an open EOI for Serve — her mentorship program. I have to say something about this properly. In 2018 I used to walk home from KPMG listening to Alison’s podcast and cry, because I knew I wanted more for myself and I didn’t know how to get there yet. She was the voice in my ear when I was figuring it out. Spending time with her at DomeFest was full circle. If you’re at that point — or even if you’re not and you just want to level up — this is the one. → Expressions of Interest
→ Cheek Media — Partnerships Manager — Australia’s sharpest feminist media brand, and yes — you’d get to work alongside Hannah Ferguson and Soph Greiner. If you know how to build commercial relationships without compromising the editorial, this is the one. (I’m applying in secret. Don’t tell anyone.) → Apply →
→ Two Aussie brands doing cool shit here & in the US are hiring: SIR — Global Wholesale Manager → Apply → and Mode Mischief Studios — Marketing Manager → Apply →
→ Georgia McFarlane / The Content Files — the content editor who has been quietly levelling up video for some of the best creators in the community. If you need video services, she’s your girl. → @thecontent.files
→ Rach Tucker at Smooch — building a prize pack and needs a connection to an Aus-based lube or condoms brand. Spicy, yes. Also a real ask. DM her. @smooch.drinks
Drop your asks in the chat. We’ll make it happen.
09 — JOIN THE CHAT
This newsletter is the highlight reel. The WhatsApp is where we actually live.
Clarissa said it best: “Industry agnostic — just keen to yap and make friends with others building cool shit.”
200+ angels. Every city. Come find your people.
🔗 Join the Aussie Angels chat →
This fortnight: the serendipity gap is real. The right room, the right introduction, the right moment — Australia has been under-indexed on all of it. That’s what we’re here to fix.
See you in two weeks angels. 🤍
Brooke x