TAS
Contact the Enlighten Education head office on 1300 735 997.
Enlighten's Founders and National Directors
Dannielle Miller, OAM. CEO, Enlighten Education
Bachelor of Education (Secondary), Graduate Certificate in Management (Professional Practice), Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training
“When working with teenagers, it is important to engage them emotionally; if you can capture their hearts, their minds will follow. I am incredibly proud of the work we do and passionate about acting as a catalyst for change.”
Dannielle Miller began her career as a high school teacher, then took on a role as a senior educator to develop an innovative program for students at risk of dropping out of school, The Lighthouse Project.
Dannielle is now the co-founder and CEO of Enlighten Education, Australia’s leading provider of in-school workshops for teens since 2003. Enlighten conducts workshops with more than 25,000 young people each year in Australia, New Zealand, and south-east Asia.
Dannielle has been the parenting expert for channel 9’s breakfast programs, se is the author of five books including the best-selling The Butterfly Effect: A Positive New Approach to Raising Happy, Confident Teen Girls (Random House), a weekend newspaper columnist for the Daily Telegraph, and has written cover features on domestic and family violence for Body + Soul magazine.
Dannielle is also the Director of Education and Special Projects at Women’s Community Shelters and initiated and created both their Walk The Talk schools program, and their new corporate domestic and family violence literacy program which centres survivor’s voices and has a clear call to action. In 2021 she delivered fourteen Walk The Talk corporate programs to over one hundred Partners and Directors at KPMG nationally with outstanding engagement; testament to how well the program was received is the fact that they then asked her to complete an additional series of keynote presentations for the audit team.
Other presenting highlights include delivering keynotes on women’s leadership for Mercer nationally and in Singapore, and presenting at the All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House twice – once on the main stage alongside Germain Greer, Eva Cox and Tara Moss.
In 2021 Dannielle was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to education, to woman, and youth. In 2018 she was one of four Finalists for the NSW Premier’s Award for Woman of the Year, and the winner of the Suicide Prevention Australia Life Award for excellence in media reporting. She has been named the NSW/ACT Small Business Champion Entrepreneur (2007) and received an Australian Leadership Award by the Davos Foundation (2012).
Giving back to community is important to Dannielle. She has been an Ambassador for various charities, a pro bono board member for a women’s refuge, and also launched a social change initiative, The School Toilet Project which has gone global (this aims at encouraging schools to let students reimagine these often bleak spaces).
Francesca Kaoutal
Bachelor of Education (Secondary)
“My greatest achievements include having a wonderful family and a satisfying career. My aim has always been to inspire in young people a belief in their own potential and a belief that learning can be fun and relevant to their world.”
In Francesca’s teaching career before co-founding Enlighten Education, she combined creativity with technologies expertise. She worked as a Learning Technologies Coordinator and has led curriculum development within various high schools, devised new curriculum for the Higher School Certificate Technology courses in New South Wales, devised a cross-curricular teaching program to integrate social justice into the classroom, and led students to enhance their business IT skills by developing and creating IT-based products and services for the school and business communities.
Francesca has also brought her creativity and her desire to empower students to her role as a costume designer for the annual Rock Eisteddfod. Francesca particularly enjoys sharing her passion and flair for creating and designing in the “Style File” component of our programs. In our “Get It Together” workshops, she specialises in helping young women learn to prioritise, become organised and maximise their potential.
Nikki Davis – Senior Presenter
Bachelor of Arts (Communications)
“I get the most amazing reaction from people when I tell them about Enlighten and what we do. I believe that many people – both genders, all ages and walks of life – are becoming more and more aware of the need for the work Enlighten does with today’s girls. I have never been more proud to talk about my work and the fact that I get to remind all these gorgeous girls just how special they are.”
A trained dancer and former dance teacher, Nikki spent a number of years performing as a dancer and modelling professionally after completing her Communications degree. Her passion for writing led to a position as the editor of a magazine for young dancers, and a scriptwriting role with a production company followed. Then she moved into a producer role, working on the creation of videos and special events, and often appearing on camera as host.
Training to be a volunteer telephone counsellor with Lifeline gave Nikki the opportunity to explore her interest in counselling and psychotherapy, which she continues to study. It quickly became clear to Nikki during her time at Lifeline that she was particularly interested in social issues related to girls and women.
A former high school student of Enlighten’s CEO, Dannielle Miller, Nikki wanted to be involved the moment she saw the work Enlighten was doing in the community. Experienced in front of a crowd, with lots of stories to tell and a special interest in young women, Nikki has a proven rapport with school-aged girls and offers a unique insight into the worlds of fashion, entertainment and the arts.
Testimonials from local schools
I attended the Enlighten Education workshop in my role as Youth Health Nurse at St Brendan-Shaw College, and I have to say the day that you provided the girls was fantastic. They seemed to get so much out of it, as I did!! I wish every teenage girl in Australia could partake in this, I am sure it would have a lasting impact and give them lots of skills and knowledge for their years as a teenager. Becca was a fabulous presenter and really connected with the girls. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to attend.
It was an awesome event student and adult feedback says it all. The challenge we face is to address more people on the issues and there is a desire to do something major to stop the impact on young/old girls at the source idealistic perhaps; but your events were empowering!
…I was so impressed with your presentation and the obvious passion and skills you have to deliver such important messages… to stand alone as a full day presenter, I think you are a wonder! Some of those girls sitting to your right were making things difficult and your handling of them was great – I may not have been as calm if it were me!!!! That in itself was good learning for me. On return from the session I had all the girls and staff share in a reflective circle. The kids rated themselves 1-10 on how they felt before the session and a rating after and to explain why? Everyone was 9’s and 10’s and had made huge progress throughout the day. They had to describe you as a person in one word – inspirational, motivating, brave, caring, funny, gorgeous, passionate came up lots. They had to share one thing they had got out of the day – a number of girls were emotionally open about not feeling worthy and now had a new perspective on… it’s what’s on the inside that counts! When I arrived at school this morning I was greeted with smiling faces and a Hi Couchy with left wrists raised – proudly showing the pink wrist band off with a Girl Power attitude!. I had an all girls class early in the day and we debriefed again about what they had shared at home with others and what they had thought about. The girls were really open and honest and had picked up on so many of the workshop details, one being assertive with her Mum to just stand still so she could completely listen to what she had to tell her and not do it while hanging the washing out…ha ha.bless! We then did make-up and girly stuff which also created great discussion and fun.
We had a Grade Assembly too and I was explaining to the group that we had had a wonderful day together and asked if anyone was willing to stand up out of their comfort zone to describe to the boys and male staff what it was all about. This beautiful young lady (who debriefed the day before that you had changed the way she now feels about herself) jumped up and described your entire workshop in complete detail, activities, messages, your story, the effect it had on her, what she had felt before the session and now after and the significance of our pink wrist bands…I was completely blown away and you would have been so chuffed to have heard it.
Thanks for making your story such an avenue for changing the thinking of my beautiful Grade 8 girls. I now have 64 sisters I can care for at an even deeper level…..Gorgeous!
You have a God given gift to connect with this age group. Thank you so much for sharing yourself with us. The whole thing was fantastic. Even as an adult, and for me, a soon to be first time mum, it is so good to be reminded that we are beautiful. I have made a promise to myself that I will pass this on to my children and continue to truly believe this myself. Thank you Gorgeous!
We are proud to work with these schools
BURNIE
Devonport High School
Latrobe High School
Parklands High School
Wynyard High School
Penguin High School
Sheffield High School
LAUNCESTON
Prospect High School
Launceston Church Grammar School
Deloraine High School
St Patrick’s College
Lilydale District
City Campus
DEVONPORT
St Brendan-Shaw College, Devonport