Broken Brains

Jamila Rizvi is a broadcaster, public speaker and social policy expert, as well as the bestselling author of Not Just Lucky and The Motherhood. As deputy managing director of Future Women, Jamila champions women’s economic security and gender equity in Australian workplaces. She has been named one of Culture Amp’s 25 Emerging Global Culture Creators, included in the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence and won the Women and Leadership Australia Award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership in 2020. At age 31, Jamila was diagnosed with a rare type of recurrent brain tumour, and now lives with complex disabilities due to acquired brain injury.

Rosie Waterland is an author, comedian, podcaster and public speaker, but mostly calls herself a writer. Her first two books, The Anti Cool Girl and Every Lie I’ve Ever Told, were critically acclaimed, national bestsellers. Her podcasts ‘Mum Says My Memoir is a Lie’ and ‘Just the Gist’ have over 20 million combined downloads, earning her an Australian Commercial Radio Award and Australian Podcast Award. She had written for various TV projects and nationally toured three one-woman shows. Rosie has spent much of her adult years dealing with the debilitating symptoms of trauma caused by prolonged exposure to abuse and toxic stress in her childhood.