Our team · Women-led since 2016

About us

SGO team

Who we are

Helping changemakers unlock change.

Social Good Outpost is a purpose-led communications and strategy studio, founded in 2016 by two sisters with a shared commitment to clarity, equality and meaningful design.

We’re a women-led team working across impact storytelling, public diplomacy & curated events — with a particular focus on empowering women entrepreneurs and gender-equality organisations across Australia and Southeast Asia.

SGO Impact

Impact measurement and storytelling

Supporting measurement, evaluation and emotional engagement with the change your work creates.

SGO Curates

Convening the region

Public diplomacy, strategy and regional program delivery, working with partners across government and civil society.

The founders

Our work brings together creative, strategic, and evaluative practices

Co-founder · Communication, storytelling, design

Lara Stephenson

BCI · Cert IV Small Business Management

A communication designer and strategist working at the intersection of design, social impact and systems change. With over a decade of experience, Lara helps purpose-led organisations turn complex ideas into clear, compelling communication, from visual frameworks and digital products to reports, campaigns and participatory workshops.

Her practice brings together deep listening, storytelling of change and considered design, with a strong grounding in accessibility, collaboration and care.

Communication designStrategyStorytelling
Co-founder · Public diplomacy & research

Dr Elise Stephenson

PhD · BAsIntSt · BComn · BGovIntRelHons(I) · GAICD

A 2022 Fulbright Scholar and New Colombo Plan alumna — a researcher, strategist and entrepreneur recognised for her work in social impact and gender equality by Google, Deloitte, the United Nations Association and others. Elise curated the Young Entrepreneurs & Leaders Speaker Series across ASEAN as part of DFAT’s Australia now program.

Alongside her entrepreneurship, Elise is the Deputy Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, a researcher in the National Security College, ANU, and an adjunct at Griffith Asia Institute, where her research focuses on gender and sexuality diversity, public diplomacy, national security, and international affairs.

Public diplomacyResearchPrograms

What guides us

Designing with context and care

01

Women designing for equality

A women-led team, often working with women-led organisations. We draw on feminist design principles — equality, accessibility, inclusivity — and design with context.

02

Research-backed design

We create design and digital solutions mindful of the people they’re for — grounded in research, real conversations and best-practice standards.

03

We're purpose-led, too

Our social-enterprise model offers strategic mentoring to under-represented groups, supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals for Quality Education and Gender Equality.

A little of our story

Charting our course, year by year.

From a two-sister design studio to a women-led enterprise working across Australia and Southeast Asia — a few of the waypoints along the way.

2016

Two sisters begin — a social-enterprise studio helping non-profits reclaim their brand, voice and confidence.

2019

Curates takes flight: public diplomacy and youth programs across ASEAN, for 'Australia now'. We become an accredited social enterprise.

2020

Clarity first. We focus on strategic design that helps social enterprises find their purpose and direction.

2021

We take the reins of the Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP) for the first of 3 years.

2024

Our measurement tool, Impact Recorder, launches alongside a third A2ELP cohort.

2025

Master Storytelling course shared and tools to help organisations communicate with integrity.

We’re here to help

Talk through an idea with us.

Reach out if you’d like to work through a problem you’re solving, a program you’re designing — or just to say hi.

Social enterprise model