Bess is an Australian born social media scientist with a background in community development and high-performance sport. She has represented Australia as a youth footballer and coach as well as recently represented Hong Kong in cricket.

Bess is a Technical Advisor to the UNDP’s Being LGBTI in Asia Project, Asia Pacific Transgender Network and The Australian LGBTI Media Centre. Bess just wrapped 4 years with Out Leadership, an NYC-based global LGBT business organisation. She has recently founded Planet Ally, an LGBTIQ and ally travel website and visual story telling platform, with a particular focus on allyship and solidarity.

She also has set up the Friends of Michael Kirby, a social media platform for the openly gay former High Court Judge and global human rights defender Hon Michael Kirby. Bess is currently named in the Top 10 people to follow on Twitter for Business and Inclusion.

She is a TEDx curator and advisory Board member for Social Media Week Hong Kong and an organizer of Rainbow Families Hong Kong

Bess formerly Directed Pink Season, Asia’s largest LGBT Cultural Festival, has been Coordinator for IDAHOT Hong Kong and also Events Coordinator for Kids Ocean Day in Hong Kong. Bess was a Co-founder and coach of Australia’s first women’s refugee football team, a guest women’s football coach at the 2008 Homeless World Cup as well as FIFA media liaison at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Prior to joining Out Leadership and founding Planet Ally, Bess ran a successful corporate team building company focused on creativity, productivity and performance. A wife and mother of 2 young boys, Bess now spends much of her time between raising her sons and being the proud curator and online voice for Planet Ally. An active LGBTI community member in the Asia-Pacific region and champion of positive change, Bess specialises in online and offline community engagement.