Editor’s Letter: Unstoppable Is Back With the Next Gen Who Are Breaking Barriers in Tech

POPSUGAR Australia is dedicating the month of October to featuring the next generation of inspired thinkers and courageous individuals who are building and manifesting a brighter future — because the next gen is unstoppable. We will deliver personal essays from young Australians who are making a name for themselves, as well as inspiring thought pieces and interviews with rising talent in the Web3 space throughout the month. Find all of our pieces here.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a writer. The annual Book Fair in primary school was my favourite time of the year and I always had a plan for how I could extract as much cash to spend there from my parents as possible. After learning what a narrative was, I would spend my time writing stories and attempting my own (badly drawn) illustrations, then forcing my family to read them.

In later years I became obsessed with magazines, Dolly in particular, and decided there could be no better job than being a Features Writer. Aside from reading the features, my favourite page was always the editor’s letter. Reading it felt like a cool older sister talking to me, giving me a glimpse into a life and career that looked, in one word, incredible.

During early high school I entered a Dolly writing competition to receive a letter in the mail (remember those?) weeks later notifying me that I had won. I spent my school holidays as a then teen in the Dolly offices learning how the magazine and its pages were put together, taking vox pops of passers by in Pitt Street Mall and having my words printed in an issue that had Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen on the cover. The. Dream.

After those formative few weeks borrowing my sisters’ clothes to fake being a grown up and the thrill of catching the train to and from the CBD, my dream of being a writer was firmly cemented (it might have even been upgraded from Features Writer to Editor). I knew I wanted a career in media but I had exactly zero idea of how I was going to get there.

Coming out of university there had been a big and obvious shift to digital and it looked like the window of getting a job in print was getting smaller and smaller. I applied for an internship at one of the only female-focused online websites I knew of at the time. It was a guess that paid off and the rest is as they say, history.

Most aren’t so lucky when it comes to landing their dream job. In fact, many might not even know what opportunities are available to them, particularly when pushing into a new space or industry. After all, you can’t be what you can’t see. That’s where POPSUGAR Unstoppable comes in. It’s a dedicated month where we feature the next generation of inspired thinkers and courageous individuals who are building and manifesting a brighter future.

Our mission on POPSUGAR is to power a brighter tomorrow by creating a brave and trusted space that encourages women to explore everything they’re curious about. Our Unstoppable initiative is just one way we fulfil this mission.

This year, our focus is women who are breaking barriers in the tech industry. When considering that tech positions offer some of the highest paying roles, yet less than 30% of the industry is made up of women, our role here is vital. We want to shine a light on some of the women playing a part in building the new internet to inspire other women to join the ranks.

That’s why we’re delivering personal essays from young Australians who are making a name for themselves in the Web3 space, like Koko Singleton, Megha Tripathi and our very own Natasha Bazika to name a few. We’ll also be bringing you inspiring thought pieces and interviews with rising talent including Bianca Beers, Caitlin Lomax and Serwah Attafuah throughout the month.

Being the first is always hard. There is no roadmap or neatly laid out plan to follow. But it’s also exciting, invigorating, and rewarding. You get to write your own rules. And that’s what makes these women and you, the next gen, truly unstoppable.