About the Award

Carol Mudford

2025 NSW/ACT Winner

Carol Mudford is a shearer, wool handler, registered nurse, and the founder of sHedway, a national not-for-profit tackling suicide prevention and mental health in the shearing industry. Based in Dubbo, NSW, Carol launched sHedway in 2023 after the loss of a fellow shearer to suicide and the growing need for mental health support in sheds across Australia.

In its first year, sHedway delivered 42 events across every mainland state, opening up honest conversations and practical support. Carol was named the 2025 NSW AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award Winner for her leadership and commitment to improving wellbeing in one of Australia’s most iconic and under-supported industries.

Isabella Thrupp

2025 Western Australia State Winner

Isabella Thrupp is the founder of Prinking in Pindan, a clothing brand inspired by life on cattle stations in the Kimberley. Currently managing Leopold Downs Station alongside her partner Jacob, Isabella has spent the past five years living and working on remote stations.

Her debut product, The Pindan Jeans, sold out within minutes, highlighting the demand for stylish, durable clothing designed for station life. Passionate about empowering rural women, fostering connections between rural and urban communities, and championing sustainability, Isabella is redefining fashion for the outback.

Nicole McNaughton

2025 Queensland State Winner 

Nicole McNaughton is the CEO of the Food and Agribusiness Network (FAN), one of Australia’s leading food industry clusters, representing over 470 members across the Sunshine Coast, Gympie, Noosa, Moreton Bay, and beyond.

With over 20 years’ experience in strategic communications, including global roles with brands like Heineken, Nicole is passionate about helping regional agrifood businesses grow, collaborate, and thrive. Through FAN’s flagship Grow National program, she champions connection and community-led growth for producers, makers, and entrepreneurs across regional Australia.

Kelly Johnson

2025 South Australia State Winner

Kelly Johnson is the creator of SPhiker, an agribusiness dedicated to sustainability, innovation and supporting rural communities by creating eco-conscious, shelf-stable meals tailored for outdoor enthusiasts. As one of the only 100% sustainably made and packaged hiking meal brands on the market, SPhiker champions responsible consumption by transforming surplus and second-grade produce direct from South Australian farmers into nutritious, ready-to-eat meals.

Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Zero Hunger, Responsible Consumption and Climate Action, SPhiker aims to close the circular economy loop. By rescuing produce that might otherwise go to waste, the business supports local agriculture, reduces food waste and fosters environmentally responsible practices.

Over the next year, SPhiker will strengthen rural economies and provide farmers with a consistent market for surplus produce. Recently winning the Premier’s Food and Beverage Award for Sustainability, SPhiker has solidified its position as a leader in sustainable outdoor food solutions. This initiative is not just about meals—it’s about setting a new standard for sustainable hike products.

Kristy Hollis

2025 Northern Territory Winner

With over 23 years of experience, Kristy Hollis is a dedicated naturopath, herbalist, entrepreneur, industry advocate, and mentor. She brings a unique perspective to rural and remote healthcare in the Northern Territory, shaped by an evolving journey, from using insects to control weeds to recognising their value as medicinal herbs. This transformation fuels her passion for bridging traditional and modern medical approaches, particularly in chronic disease prevention.

As former President of the Complementary Medicine Association of Australia, Kristy has been a strong advocate for integrating naturopathic care into public health policy. Through her initiative, Women’s Business, Kristy continues to champion accessible naturopathic healthcare in rural communities, empowering individuals through holistic health education, collaborative care, and community-driven support.

Looking ahead, she is committed to supporting women across remote regions and forging partnerships with First Nations healers—fostering a holistic approach to healing that benefits individuals, communities, and the nation as a whole.

Dr Mary Cole

2025 Victoria State Winner

Dr. Mary Cole is an internationally recognised expert in mycology, plant pathology, and soil microbiology with a career spanning over five decades. A pioneer in biological farming and founder of Agpath, she has spent more than 45 years advocating for regenerative agriculture, proving that sustainable practices can enhance yields while significantly reducing input costs.

Her work has helped transform farming operations, restore degraded landscapes, and challenge conventional chemical-based agriculture. She has advised farmers globally, led groundbreaking research, and played a key role in legal victories against major chemical corporations. A passionate educator, she recently collaborated on launching a Certificate III in Horticulture focused on industrial hemp production.

With urgent concerns over global soil degradation, Dr. Cole remains committed to sharing her knowledge, advancing sustainable farming practices, and ensuring a healthier future for agriculture.

Sarah De Jonge

2025 Tasmania State Winner

Sarah De Jonge is the heart and hands behind 1000 Hearts, a kindness movement that began in 2016 with a simple yet profound idea, sewing and sharing tiny handmade pure woollen hearts as tokens of love, hope, and comfort. Based in Kingston, Tasmania, Sarah has a background in psychology and counselling, with years of experience in the non-profit sector supporting people through life’s toughest moments.

1000 Hearts started as a personal project, with Sarah hand-stitching a thousand pocket-sized hearts to give away as random acts of kindness. What began as a heartfelt gesture soon grew into a global movement, embraced by schools, hospitals, community groups, and individuals seeking a way to spread compassion in times of grief, trauma, illness, or uncertainty.

Sarah’s work is deeply personal. Her own experiences of loss, resilience, and healing have shaped her belief that small acts of kindness can create meaningful change. She has seen firsthand how carrying a simple heart can offer solace to those facing challenges, from anxiety and depression to natural disasters and global crises.

At its core, 1000 Hearts is about human connection, bringing people together through creativity, community, and the shared belief that kindness has the power to heal. Each heart is an opportunity for mindfulness, a symbol of love, and a reminder that no one is alone.

Beyond the hearts, Sarah continues to advocate for mental well-being, social connection, and sustainable practices, ensuring that 1000 Hearts also promotes eco-friendly materials and responsible crafting. She lives in Tasmania with her family, grateful every day for the community that has embraced 1000 Hearts and the kindness it continues to inspire.

Jeanette Long

South Australia

With over 20 years in leadership, facilitation and extension training, Jeanette Long champions regional and rural talent development. Her facilitation expertise serves both farmers and agricultural professionals, highlighted by her work with the Red Meat Profit Partnership in NZ QDAF, Dairy Australia, Sugar Research Australia, the National Grower Group Collective and recently as the Master Facilitator for the NB2 Program sponsored by MLA.

Jeanette’s academic accolades include advanced degrees in Business Administration and Agriculture, and is a certified facilitator, coach, and trainer. She’s also been honoured with the SA Rural Woman of the Year (2004), the Centenary Medal (2003) and the SA Young Achiever Award for Regional Development (1996). She farms at Undalya and on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia with her husband, Bill, and son, Will. As the Chair of the Alumni for the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award, Jeanette is dedicated to supporting and elevating past award recipients.

Ann Ross

Queensland

Ann has a background in start-ups with a focus on emerging industries and is a regionally renowned bee keeper based on the Sunshine Coast, QLD. Her company Hive Haven specialises in the manufacture of award-winning native bee boxes and the production of Australian stingless bee honey and pollinator seed mixes.

Ann’s future vision for the Rural Women’s Award is that rural women identify themselves as a movement of leaders who are proud of the role, they play in developing and supporting Australia’s rural industries. Ann believes that every woman has a personal journey, with no two the same.

Ann’s aspiration for the rural industry is ‘conservation of the food chain’. Ann says we currently utilise approximately 1% of edible plant species to fuel our diets. Ann is committed to supporting more innovation around the development of highly nutritional food sources.

Maree Gooch

Western Australia

Maree is an engaging, successful entrepreneur and management consultants with more than three decades of experience spanning almost 25 years as hands-on farmer, 10 years in hospitality and catering, and a number of roles in SME’s, NFP’s and government.

Her strengths are in Business Strategy, Business Transformation, Governance and Financial Management. Maree gives much of her time generously for philanthropic pursuits, especially regional and rural initiatives. She sits on a number of boards, in WA and nationally.

Maree co-founded Value Creators in December 2018. Value Creators offer a new way to create value, by creating unique environments and the essential link for people to develop their strengths and capabilities, translating to successful and sustainable business transformation. Value Creators develops and deliver programs, often with mentoring built into the delivery, by working across 3 pillars – helping people in business flourish and grow which improves business output, efficiencies and culture, which in turn flows to industry and is a wrap-around to and for the community.

Donna Digby

Northern Territory

Donna Digby is passionate about showcasing the best of remote and Northern Australia. Her connection to the NT spans 25 years and she has lived and worked in most regions of the NT. She values authenticity, inclusion, collaboration and creating a positive impact.

Donna embodies a people-centred, place-based and purpose-driven approach. For the past two decades, Donna has worked with local people in Victoria and the NT to inform, shape and achieve their futures through the lens of regional economic and community development.

She is an inclusive and community focused leader that believes we can achieve richer outcomes for our communities when we create spaces and opportunities to draw on the ideas, experiences and expertise from within our community, as well learning from other communities in Australia.

Donna is driven to support NT leaders to reach their leadership potential by drawing on their lived experience, creating pathways for leadership development, connecting and building networks, mentoring and attracting investment to facilitate this.

Cressida Cains

New South Wales / Australian Capital Territory

Cressida is dedicated to challenging the status quo of Australian farming and fostering innovative approaches to agriculture. As an entrepreneur and innovator, she leverages technology and forward-thinking solutions to support Australian farmers. She firmly believes that by creating pathways to further education, upskilling, and vocational training, many workforce challenges in regional, rural, and remote (RRR) areas can be addressed, ultimately driving the productivity of the agricultural sector and strengthening rural communities.

Cressida is a strategic thinker with strong financial acumen and corporate governance expertise, honed through her experience in both commercial enterprises and not-for-profit organizations. Her passion lies in education, particularly in advancing women in small business and inspiring young people to pursue careers in agriculture.

In 2011, Cressida co-founded Pecora Dairy, an innovative cheesery that has received numerous awards for excellence in research and innovation. Notably, Pecora Dairy was the first in Australia to obtain a license for producing raw milk cheese. Over her 15 years in the dairy industry, Cressida has been a staunch advocate for small dairy farmers. In 2021, she founded Dairy Cocoon, an online platform designed to help dairy farmers explore opportunities for moving up the value chain.

Cressida is deeply engaged in her local community and contributes her expertise to various committees and industry advisory groups. In recognition of her contributions to agriculture and rural communities, she was honored with the 2020 NSW/ACT Rural Women’s Award and was named the National Runner-Up.

Kimberley Furness

Victoria

With a background as a regional journalist, Kimberley Furness loves telling stories about rural and regional women.

In 2017, the mother of four launched OAK Magazine in just six weeks from concept to print from her home in Bendigo. OAK shares the stories of women in business across regional and rural Australia, and is a community ecosystem of print, digital, events and the chat topping podcast, A Friend of Mine.

Kimberley is passionate about celebrating female changemakers and has been recognised as one herself being awarded 2022 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National Runner Up and Victorian Winner.

“I understand all too well the opportunities the alumni network provides having interviewed many state/territory finalists and winners for OAK Magazine. It’s the primary reason I applied for the 2022 awards. And it hasn’t disappointed!”

Sally Murfet

Tasmania

I am a highly experienced people and culture consultant with a deep understanding of the Australian farming and agribusiness sectors. With over 25 years of on-farm and industry experience, I have a unique perspective on what drives success in agricultural businesses, from the field to the boardroom.

I am passionate about making a difference in the agricultural industry and empowering individuals to thrive. Through my agricultural consultancy, Inspire AG, I am dedicated to supporting Australian farmers, agribusinesses, industry bodies, and government organisations in building stronger and more profitable businesses through their people.

I am thrilled to have been appointed as the Tasmanian Chair of the Rural Women’s Award Alumni. As a past state finalist of the award, I have personally experienced the growth and opportunities it provides. In this role, I am committed to supporting past and future Alumni members in creating connections and opportunities that enable their individual success and positive impact in agriculture.