Local entrepreneurs are advancing their business ambitions with support from the Lord Mayor’s Women in Business Grants program, which is helping recipients develop innovative products and services.
Among this year’s grant recipients is Emma Thomson, founder of Pitch It Up, a Wavell Heights-based business that produces a cricket training aid designed for batting, catching, fielding and wicket-keeping.
With the grant, Emma plans to purchase a 3D printer to develop an audible cricket ball to support blind and low-vision players.
“I see Pitch It Up removing a lot of the traditional barriers to entry,” Emma said. “Cricket can sometimes require space and equipment that not every child has access to.
“By simply changing to an audible ball whilst using Pitch It Up, students with low vision and blindness can participate alongside their peers in PE lessons at school, when at the cricket club and at home, so no one is left on the sidelines.”
How Women in Business Grants Are Empowering Local Entrepreneurs
Emma said young players had been engaging with the product and building confidence and skills.
“It’s been particularly rewarding to see players of every ability, both boys and girls, those with neurodiverse conditions and those with physical disabilities, feel successful at batting, catching and fielding, and want to keep coming back,” she said.
“We’d like every player, regardless of ability, background, or experience, to feel like cricket is a game for them. If we can help more kids pick up a bat, build confidence, and enjoy the game, then we’re achieving exactly what we set out to do.”
Another grant recipient, Jen Ryan of Creative Connection in Geebung, is using the funding to enhance her art-based counselling services by purchasing an interactive whiteboard.
Jen said that as a guidance counsellor and teacher, she had witnessed firsthand the growing anxiety, disconnection and overwhelm in young people, which traditional support systems weren’t reaching.
“The clinical, formal nature of conventional mental health services felt cold and intimidating to young people needing warmth and a soft place to land,” she said. “That gap inspired me to create Creative Connection, a space where healing feels less like an appointment and more like an invitation, and where art, story, and creativity become the bridge to emotional wellbeing.
“Our programs use art, storytelling, and creativity to help participants safely identify, express, and process emotions.”
Jen said her dream is for Creative Connection to be a trusted, recognised space where creative healing is the first call, not the last resort.
“I hope to expand our team with more talented therapists who share this heart-centred vision, deepening the impact we can have across our community,” she said.
Other local recipients sharing in the $250,000 funding pool include Sarah Hall from Cymbal Agency in Chermside, Amanda Marsilio from His and Hers Beauty and Skin Solutions in Aspley, and Jessica Hardwick from Jessica Hardwick Architecture in Geebung.
Read more stories from the Chermside Guide’s print magazine here:
- Chermside Connect: Updates from the Community
- Podcast Review: Uncanny
- Movie Review: German Film Festival
- Fish of the Month
- Organic Gardening in May
- Kumbartcho Sanctuary Offers Nature, Education and Family Fun
- Chocolate Fudge Pudding
- Six Decades of Play At Aspley East Kindy
- Nundah Set for Nostalgic Aussie Rock Revival
- Handmade Pasta, Local Heart and Big Flavour
- Rocket Man Touches Down in Chermside with Elton Classics
- Early Years Expo Brings Support, Learning and Music
- Kedron Wavell Women’s Auxiliary Welcomes New President
- Line Dancing Steps Back Into the Spotlight
- Growl Theatre Presents Classic Farce Moon Over Buffalo
- Spirit of the Dreaming Teaches Kindness, Connection and Culture
