Rachel Abad launches new consultancy

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).  

Good Humans PR has expanded its team with the appointment of Robyn Rigoli as Social, Influencer and PR Manager and Felicity Clifford as Publicist.

Robyn joins with more than seven years’ experience across Melbourne’s PR agencies, having worked with clients including Fed Square, City of Melbourne, The LUME, Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters and Toddy Shop, alongside retail and consumer brands STIHL, Harris Scarfe, Anaconda, Spotlight and SPC. She has experience across media campaigns, creator strategies and launch activations. Robyn's appointment comes in response to increasing demand for campaigns that integrate PR, social, influencer and content from the outset.

The new appointments also mark an expansion of the agency’s national footprint, with Felicity joining as the team's first Sydney-based team member. She joins following her time at live entertainment producer, Michael Cassel Group, where she delivered national campaigns for productions including Hamilton, Beetlejuice The Musical, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Titanique.

Director, Remy Chancerel, said the appointments reflect the agency’s focus on building a team of experts who provide confidence, value and an understanding of real results.

“We’re building a team of expert individuals who provide dedicated hands-on support. Both Robyn and Felicity bring such comprehensive and diverse sets of skills, as well as a shared belief in thoughtful, integrated work that genuinely supports our clients," she said.

Pictured L-R: Robyn Rigoli and Felicity Clifford)