Ellerton & Co. grows its ASEAN client portfolio

 Rachel Abad has announced the launch of Looped-in, an Australian-based communications consultancy with a focus on gathering real human insights and turning them into marketing and communications strategies.

She holds 15 years of experience in communications, which includes senior roles such as Associate Director at behaviour-change consultancy, Ellis Jones and Group Account Director at Papermill Agency. 

Rachel has also worked in comms for Australian organisations and purpose-led initiatives such as the Level Crossing Removal Project, the Victorian Disability Workers Commission, The Australian Public Service Commission, the Lung Foundation and The Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change.

Director of Looped-in, Rachel said: “Across sectors, the organisations seeing the strongest outcomes are the ones that are undertaking consultation with their audience to understand how the strategy should be positioned, then testing out campaign outputs before going live.

"When you understand what people need, how they make decisions, and what barriers they face, communications become far more effective." 

GWPR Australia (GWPRAus) has announced Anastasiia Nazarenko of Palin Communications and Sophie Budzevski of DEC PR as the recipients of the 2026 GWPRAus Mentoring Scholarships, marking an expansion of the program following the success of its pilot year.

Launched in 2025, GWPR said the scholarship program was created to address a gap in leadership development for early to mid‑career women in PR and communications, a cohort that's responsible for leading teams and client outcomes, yet overlooked by traditional mentoring programs.

Delivered in partnership with Beaumont People and BlueChip Communication, the scholarship provides recipients access to Beaumont People's six‑month LEAD Program, a personalised, strengths‑based leadership initiative combining one‑to‑one mentoring, strengths assessments, coaching, masterclasses, and peer connection.

Carden Calder, Chair of the GWPR Australia Mentoring Program, said: "The strength and volume of applications made it clear there is significant demand for leadership development at this career stage, which is why we decided to expand the scholarships to support two emerging leaders this year.

"We congratulate the 2026 scholarship recipients and thank all applicants. The calibre of applications and level of engagement are a clear signal of how strongly this program resonates across the industry."

^{(Pictured: Anastasiia Nazarenko and Sophie Budzevski)} 

The IMPACT Agency has promoted Victoria O'Neill to General Manager. She has been at the agency for more than 17 years, most recently as Chief Operations Officer. Victoria has also served as Group Account Director and prior to this was Editor at Mortgage Business (now The Adviser).